;<.^' 
 >^,/^'^' 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Clc7<.S 
 
LETTERS OF RICARDO 
 
 TROWER 
 
HENRY FROWDE, M.A. 
 
 PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK 
 
LETTERS 
 
 OP 
 
 DAVID RICARDO 
 
 TO 
 
 HUTCHES TROWER 
 
 AND OTHERS 
 
 18II 1823 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 JAMES BONAR 
 
 M.A. OXFORD, LL.D. GLASGOW 
 AND 
 
 J. H. HOLLANDER 
 
 PH.D. 
 ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF FINANCE, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BALTIMORE 
 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 1899 
 
\^.1 
 f' 
 
 # 
 
 PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 BY HORACE HART, M.A. 
 PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 GENERM 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Since the publication by the Clarendon Press of the 
 Letters of Ricardo to Malthus (1887), two collections of 
 Ricardo's letters have appeared : (1) the privately printed 
 'Letters written by David Ricardo (i(S22) during a Tour 
 on the Continent' (Gloucester, 1H91); (2) the 'Letters of 
 David Ricardo to John Ramsay McCulloch, 1816-1823; 
 Edited, with introduction and annotations, by J. H. Hol- 
 lander, Ph.D.', published for the American Economic Asso- 
 ciation by Macmillan and Co., New York, Sonnenschein 
 and Co., London, 1896, This collection was presented to 
 the British Museum by Mr. H. G. Reid, the last surviving 
 executor of McCulloch, in April, 1894. 
 
 After the publication of the Letters to McCulloch, our 
 attention was turned to the Letters of Ricardo to Hutches 
 Trower, in the library of University College, London ; and 
 further inquiry led to the discovery of the earlier half of 
 that correspondence. Hutches Trower (born July 2, 1777) 
 was a member of the firm of Trower and Battye, Stock- 
 brokers, I Bank Street, Cornhill ; and it was on the Stock 
 Exchange that he formed the acquaintance of Ricardo and 
 discovered their common interest in economics and political 
 philosophy (see Letter XVIH). Like Ricardo, he was a 
 shareholder in the Bank of England, and attended the 
 meetings of its Court (see VII). He was also concerned 
 
vi Introduction 
 
 in the East India Company, spoke often at its meetings, 
 and took a lively interest in its general policy (see II). 
 In 1813 (Aug. 4) he married Penelope Frances, third 
 daughter of Gilbert Slater or Sclater, a partner of his 
 brother's in Eastcheap ^ ; and his marriage was followed, 
 at the end of 1814, by his purchase of Unsted Wood, 
 Godalming, Surrey, and his retirement to a country life. 
 He became Chairman of the Guildford bench of magistrates, 
 and studied his law books carefully. He was Grand 
 Sheriff of Surrey in 1830. He took an active part in 
 county politics. He was a warm supporter of Savings 
 Banks. He was an occasional contributor of articles to 
 the Times, and he wrote letters to that paper and others on 
 various public questions. It was probably his letters to 
 the Morning Chronicle in 1809 on the Bullion controversy 
 that led to his first acquaintance with another contributor 
 of letters to the Chronicle, Ricardo, in whose career as an 
 economist that controversy made an epoch. In Ricardo's 
 first letter, or rather communication, of August 29, 1809, 
 on ' The Price of Gold,' he had attributed ' all the evils 
 of our currency ' to the over-issues of the Bank, 
 
 ' to the dangerous power with which it was entrusted of 
 diminishing at its will the value of every monied man's property, 
 and by enhancing the price of provisions and every necessary of 
 life, injuring the public annuitant and all those persons whose 
 incomes were fixed, and who were consequently not enabled to 
 sliift any part of the burden from their own shoulders.' 
 
 This letter provoked, among other replies, Trower's letter 
 of Sept. 14, 1809. He thinks Ricardo has exaggerated 
 the evils of the situation, and has misconceived the causes 
 of the High Price of Gold, which are, in Trower's opinion, 
 (1) the discredit brought by the French Assignats on all 
 
 * See Post Office Directory, 1817. His brother is mentioned in 
 Letter XXVI, page 77, and XLVIII, 158. 
 
Introduction vii 
 
 paper money, and (2) the neediness of nations engaged in 
 war. It is (he says) really to the high or low rate of Interest 
 that we should look in order to ascertain the proportion 
 which the circulation bears to the demands of the people. 
 Ricardo's second letter is largely a refutation of this latter 
 idea. So Trower's second letter contained the statement 
 that ' Silver is the only measure of value,' and Bank Notes 
 represent Silver, — an idea refuted by Ricardo in his third 
 letter (Nov. 23), and in the paper given below (Appendix 
 A (2)). We can therefore say with truth that Ricardo's 
 famous pamphlet on the High Price of Bullion, being as 
 it was a free version of the letters to the Chronicle, owes 
 much of its shape to Trower. 
 
 Trower became an intimate friend of the whole family 
 of Ricardo (see LXVI). He was a scholarly man of wide 
 reading, interested not only in economics, politics, and 
 social reform, but in theology, literature, geology, and tree- 
 planting. He was ' aye stickin'-in a tree ' and transform- 
 ing the landscape (LXIV). In political economy, if not 
 a match for Ricardo, he was often acute in his criticisms 
 (XLVIII and Appendix). The following passage occurs in 
 an undated fragment of his MSS. : — 
 
 ' It must be confessed that Political Economists in their specu- 
 lations " take no note of time." They point out the general rules 
 Avhich govern the subject of which they treat, but they forbear 
 to designate the obstacles by which these rules are opjiosed in 
 their operations, and the period that elapses before these obstacles 
 are removed. And yet time is a mighty ' ingredient in all human 
 affairs. It is the great artificer which brings all things to per- 
 fection, and bears them onward^ to their destination. These 
 principles are not the less true because, in practice, circumstances 
 may arise to interfere with their operations, and to obstruct their 
 progress, their predictions are not the less infallible, nor their 
 effects the less unerring. 
 
 ' 'Grand' written under 'miglity.' ^ 'Along' under 'onward.' 
 
viii Introduction 
 
 ' Great injustice and great mischief have been done to the 
 science of political economy, by attributing to its j^recepts a more 
 unerring certainty than is claimed for them by their advocates. 
 What is the object of that science ? To discover a very difficult 
 problem : What are the circumstances that constitute the wealth 
 of nations, — which influence their commercial prosperity, assist or 
 retard their progress in riches, and which improve or deteriorate 
 the condition of the people. These, it must be confessed, are 
 objects of sufficient importance to be well worthy the most serious 
 attention of the philosopher.' 
 
 It may not be quite true that the element of time was 
 altogether overlooked ^, but it certainly was not sufficiently 
 regarded by the older economists. Trower himself sided 
 with Rieardo against Malthus, and Avas of the ' New 
 School ' which had (says Samuel Turner, ' Considerations,' 
 i(S2 2, pp. 1, 2) converted Liverpool, Londonderry, Van- 
 sittart, and Huskisson. 
 
 Hutches Trower outlived Rieardo ten years, dying on 
 June 5, 1S33, from an injury to his spine. He left four 
 daughters ; and his widow survived till 1H75. His daughter, 
 Miss Frances Trower, of Twyning Manor, Tewkesbury, 
 Gloucestershire, to whom we owe most of the above facts, 
 wrote (on Nov. 12. 1^95) nearly a year before her death: — 
 
 ' I have frequently heard my mother speak of that corre- 
 spondence, of which she was very proud, and state that, when 
 (I should suppose about 50 years ago) a new edition of Ricardo's 
 works was contemplated, she sent up to the Publisher all 
 Ricardo's letters to her Husband. These letters unfortimately 
 reached the publisher too late to be included in the book, which 
 was already in the Press. That these letters were not returned, — 
 probably remained with the then Publisher, is I imagine certain, 
 as my mother looked forward to the possibility of another edition 
 of Ricardo's Avorks being printed in which the Editor would then 
 include his letters to my Father. 
 
 ^ See Letters to Malthus, Pref. p. xvi ; Letters to MacCulloch, Introd. 
 p. xxi. 
 
Introduction ix 
 
 * Only lately, in looking over old papers I came upon a letter 
 
 from my mother, in which she refers to this Correspondence, 
 
 adding: "It does an honour to any man to have corresponded 
 with Ricardo." ' 
 
 It was McCulloch who edited the first collection of 
 Eicardo's collected Works in 1846 (Preface dated April of 
 that year), Murray being the publisher. The letters sent by 
 Mrs. Trower for McCulloch could onl}^ have been the 
 collection preserved for the last fifty years in University 
 College^ and consisting of the last twenty-two letters ad- 
 dressed to Trower in the present volume together with two 
 letters of Anthony Austin (LXV, LXVI). They are carefully 
 bound in full calf, lettered along the back ' Mr. Ricardo to 
 Mr. Trower. MS. Letters 1820-23 ' ; and on the fly-leaf is 
 written : " ' MS. Letters of Mr. D. Ricardo, i vol. 4to., Dona- 
 tion of Mrs. Trower through Mr. Greenough.' Copy of an 
 entry in University College London Additions to Library, 
 vol. 4, under date of Feb. 22, 1844. The words underlined 
 are printed headings. A. Wheeler [librarian], Sept. 1895." 
 
 Mrs. Trower must have forgotten that she had presented 
 the collection to University College library, where McCul- 
 loch could easily have used them if he had been so disposed, 
 in good time for his edition of Ricardo's Works. 
 
 There was a collection of letters (the first thirty letters to 
 Trower in the present volume) which were not sent in 1844, 
 but remained unobserved among the MSS. of Hutches 
 Trower till Miss Trower came upon them and kindly lent 
 them to us at the end of 1895, giving us also an oppor- 
 tunity of looking through such miscellaneous papers of her 
 father's as seemed to be of public interest. Among these 
 papers were two in Ricardo's handwriting (Appendix A (2) 
 andB(i)). 
 
 Through the kindness of Miss Trower's executors the 
 whole Collection is now in the possession of University 
 College, London, which has given its ready consent 
 
X Introduction 
 
 and help to the publication of it. We have included, 
 with these Letters, some papers from the Trower MSS. 
 that bore on the subjects of the Letters, and also some 
 correspondence of Ricardo which, if previously published 
 at all, was not now easily accessible, such as with Sinclair, 
 Place, Wheatley, and Goldsmid. The judgement of econo- 
 mists on Ricardo is noticeably a more favourable one 
 now than it was before the publication of the letters to 
 Malthus ^, The later collections should have a like effect. 
 In view of the present series of letters to Trower, we should 
 no longer speak of Ricardo as legislating for Saturn (Malthus 
 and His Work, p. 212). In Letter XLI for example, in 
 dealing with the positions of Malthus, he shows greater 
 regard than that economist for the immediate effects of 
 any change as compared with the ultimate ; corn does not 
 at once raise up its own consumers ; the effect of high 
 wages will not be at first more mouths but greater demand 
 for workmen's luxuries. We must not argue on the as- 
 sumption that land is held by one man, but, as it is held 
 now, by many different owners, who produce for private 
 gain under the stimulus of prices (XL). So he com- 
 plains of Tooke : ' He will not allow you to reason with 
 a view to practice from the observations of the produce for 
 ten years/ but will look to results over half a century 
 (LXII). In theory, Ricardo approved of a Sinking Fund 
 raised from taxes, but as a practical politician he came to 
 think it worse than useless from the inability of ministers 
 to avoid tampering with it, and so, ' if we are to be taxed 
 only for the purpose of creating a sinking fund, I for one 
 dissent from it' (XXXI), Yet he had just been main- 
 taining its theoretical justification against Francis Place 
 (XXIX, XXX). In a somewhat similar spirit he supports the 
 
 ' See for example Professor Gonner's Preface and Introduction to hi; 
 'dition of the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (Bell, 1891). 
 
Introduction xi 
 
 Resumption of Cash Payments, although according to his 
 own plan the currency could have been put on a solid basis 
 without Resumption (XIV, XXV, XXXVI, XLIX). He is a 
 Free Trader ; but the Resolutions he laid before the Agricul- 
 tural Committee strike even the cautious Trower as savoui-- 
 ing of Protectionism (LVI). Ricardo says he despaired of 
 doing any good now in the way of making better laws, but 
 'hoped to lay the foundation of a better system in the 
 future.' He considers that a direct levy on property to 
 buy out a great part of the National Debt would be better 
 than a sinking Fund (XXXII), but (as has just been 
 observed) he is not averse to all Sinking Funds. He 
 admits that, like other Bullionists, he at first considered 
 gold and silver to be less variable than they have turned 
 out to be (VI). On the other hand, he was never shaken 
 in his opinion that (i) the depression of Agriculture after 
 the war was due to over-production, and (2) the distress of 
 industry generally was due to want of the capital absorbed 
 by the Debt, though in these letters we hear more of the 
 first contention than the second. His political views are 
 equally steadfast ; he evidently enjoyed his hard fights in 
 Parliament (' I like business,' LI) ; he does his best to 
 convert Trower to the principles of the Radical Reformers, 
 though Avith little success (XX, &c.). 
 
 Trower agrees with him to some small extent in politics, 
 but most fully in love of economic studies. Ricardo M^ould 
 have wished him to throw himself even more unreservedly 
 into economic work ; ' men of education and liberal 
 views ' in Trower's position might help to introduce im- 
 provements in agriculture, and to break down the deep- 
 rooted prejudices of agriculturists (XXXI). Under free 
 trade, he thought, though a few individuals might suffer, 
 political economy would be able to guard the mass of the 
 people against every domestic revulsion, unless such were 
 caused (a) by political revolutions outside ; (6) by industrial 
 
xii Introduction 
 
 improvement in other countries ; or (c) by the caprices 
 of fashion (XLI). Hence he deplored the slow advance and 
 small influence of political economy (XXXIV, XXXVIII), 
 and deplored the differences among economists that could not 
 but hinder the good cause. When three or four economists 
 meet together and discuss rising or falling values, they 
 have three or four different measures of value b}^ which to 
 judge (LXII). 
 
 For himself his heart was in economic work. He could 
 not judge well whether Mill's Elements were good for their 
 purpose: 'I have thought so much on the subject myself 
 that I can form a very inadequate idea of the impression 
 which his work is calculated to make on one who is a 
 learner ' (LII). He would wish to devote all the talent 
 he possessed to the clearer establishing of those doctrines 
 on rent, profit, and wages, in regard to which he differs 
 from Adam Smith and Maltlius (V). There is need, at this 
 time more especially, for a patient thinker (XXVIII) who 
 will consider the question of taxation and the revenue of 
 the State, because no doubt government does best to leave 
 agriculture, commerce, and manufacture alone, but the 
 State must still ' interfere ' in order to get money for its 
 proper functions (XXXI). He would willingly labour 
 himself on this subject if he had any leisure left, Malthus 
 had not touched it, and, if he had touched it, they 
 might not have agreed. Their other points of difference 
 are discussed with some warmth. One question between 
 them ia summed up neatly in Letter III : Do the profits 
 of the farmer regulate the profits of all other trades ? 
 Does the production of food regulate the profits of all 
 other production? — The possibility of a Measure of 
 Value, discussed at such length in the correspondence with 
 Malthus, comes up again for discussion here chiefly in 
 Letters XXXVIII, XXXIX, LXIII, LXIV. They are hardly 
 equal in vigour to the onslaught on Malthus and Trower in 
 
Introduction xiii 
 
 the earlier Letters, about the relation of the supply and 
 demand to the price of corn. Ricardo, whose political 
 economy may be said ^ to have ' entered the court as 
 plaintiff and left as defendant,' has been held responsible 
 for a more cruel view of wages than he actually held. 
 We read in these letters that wages should be above 
 the minimum of necessaries in order that saving may 
 be made possible (XVIII), and the writer put that merci- 
 ful principle into practice : ' I believe they have lowered 
 the price of labour here, but I. as a gentleman I suppose, 
 always pay the same ' (XLII). Yet we know from 
 Bentham ^, and from the ' Tour on the Continent/ that in 
 the way of bargain Ricardo would cavil on the ninth part 
 of a hair. 
 
 These letters cover a greater variety of topics than will 
 be found in the letters to McCulloch or to Malthus. Ire- 
 land, Savings Banks, and Queen Caroline, take up almost 
 as much room as pure economics and finance. The MSS. 
 of Hutches Trower, kindly placed at our disposal by 
 Mr. Walter Trower, sometimes enable us to see both sides 
 of a dispute, and understand Trower 's case as presented by 
 himself. We have given no analysis of the economical 
 arguments, which as a rule are those of the Letters to 
 Malthus and to McCulloch. The spelling and punctuation 
 of the original manuscripts have been preserved wherever 
 
 With the present volume practically all of Ricardo's 
 informal writings have been made accessible. The series 
 of letters to Malthus, McCulloch, and Trower, and the pri- 
 vately printed correspondence of the continental tour have 
 not only modified the common estimate of Ricardo's personal 
 character, and of certain of his fundamental doctrines, but 
 
 ' Cf. Letter XLYIII. 
 
 ^ Letters to Malthus, p. 55, Eentham, Works, x. 498. 
 
xiv Introduction 
 
 have made possible, for the first time, an acquaintance with 
 the details of his every-day activity. Two appreciable 
 desiderata still remain, — literary evidence of his long and 
 close intimacy with James Mill, and the important ' Notes 
 on Malthus/ to which frequent reference is made in the 
 following pages. Inquiry in various directions has failed 
 to reveal the existence of either collection. Until some 
 fortunate accident or more successful search brings to light 
 the additional sources, it seems likely that our acquaintance 
 both with Eicardo's personality and with his economic 
 system will be based upon the material now in the hands 
 of the public. 
 
 ^ J. BONAR. 
 
 \ J. H. HOLLANDER. 
 
 London, July, 1899. 
 
 The mother of Hutches Trower was Miss Smith, an aunt of Sydney- 
 Smith. He was born at Clapton and was adopted by a Mr. Palmer 
 who made him his heir and left him a house in the city where it is 
 said a quantity of diamonds were found, greatly contributing to 
 Trower's fortune. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 I. ElCARDO TO Bentham, Augnst 13, 1811 
 
 Regretting that he is unable to visit Bentham in the country 
 to meet Mill. 
 
 II. RicARDO TO Trower, Norember 8, 1813 . . . . 
 
 Acknowledging receipt of Trower's pamphlet on the proposed 
 Church establishments in India, and expressing agreement with 
 Trower's opinion on the subject. 
 
 Note on Trower's pamphlet 
 
 III. Ricardo to Trower, March 8, 1814 
 
 Describing the nature of his dispute with Malthus in regard 
 to the employment of capital in Agriculture, — whether its 
 extension in agriculture is a condition precedent of its extension 
 in other fields, Ricardo maintaining the invai'iable precedence 
 and Malthus denying it. 
 
 IV. Ricardo to Sinclair, October 31, 1814 . . . . 
 
 Describing the mental attitude of the average member of the 
 Stock Exchange, and mentioning some superior men who might 
 be of use to Sinclair in his inquiries into the currency. 
 
 V. Ricardo to Trower, October 2g, 1815 . . . . 
 
 Telling of his labours on a new pamphlet [Economical & 
 Secure Currency] and of his project of a more general treatise, 
 — commenting also on the character and career of Napoleon. 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGB 
 
 V[. RiCARDO TO Trower, December 2$, 1815 . . . .11 
 Describing his difficulties in public speaking, expressing his 
 agreement with Trower on the Bullion question, and his hopes 
 for a revival of Agriculture and Trade, in spite of the Debt. 
 
 VII. RiCARDO TO Trower, February 5, 1816 . . . • 14 
 
 Remarking on the prospects of an attack on the policy and 
 position of the Bank of England, discussing the position of 
 Savings Banks, giving his views on English Agriculture, its 
 misfortunes and its consolations, hoping for the maintenance 
 of the Sinkiiig Fund, and deploring the condition of his own 
 house in Brook Street. 
 
 VIII. RicARDO TO Trower, March g, 1816 . . . . 17 
 Expressing satisfaction at the favourable reception of his 
 
 pamphlet [Economical & Secure Currency], discussing Savings 
 Banks, and touching on the trials and labours of Malthus, the 
 speeches of Western, and the proposed Property Tax. 
 
 Note on Samuel Turner 19 
 
 IX. RiCARDo TO Trower, JuIi/ 15, i 816 20 
 
 Giving an account of his fortnight's holiday, criticizing the 
 views of Weyland on Population, especially in regard to 
 Ireland, defending the English people against Trower's charge 
 that they had been degraded by the war, and giving some 
 details of London Savings Banks. 
 
 Note: Letter of Greenough to Trower on the 
 
 STATE of public AFFAIRS AND THE CAUSE AND 
 REMEDY OF THE PRESENT DISTRESS, December I4, 1816 23 
 
 X. RiCARDO TO Trower, January 27, 1817 . . . . 24 
 
 Discussing the policy and administration of the Poor Laws, 
 and disputing the wisdom of a certain clause in Eose's Saving 
 Bank Bill [permitting Poor Law relief to be given to members 
 of Provident Institutions]. 
 
 XL RicARDO TO Trower, February 24, 1817 . . . . 27 
 Continuing the discussion of the Poor Laws and Rose's Bill. 
 
 XII. RiCARDO TO Trower, March 30, 1 817 . . . .. 29 
 
 Describing the difficulty he has found in getting parlia- 
 mentary papers for Trower, and asking his candid opinion 
 of 'Political Economy and Taxation,' now being published. 
 
 XIII. RicARDO TO Trower, il/a// 9, 1817 31 
 
 Discussing the privileges of Depositors in the Savings Banks 
 
 as regards Government Debentures. 
 
Contents' xvii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XIV. RicARDo TO Sinclair, May 4, 1817 • • • • 33 
 Defending the return to Cash Payments, while allowing the 
 
 wisdom of a properly secured paper currency. 
 
 XV. RiCARDO TO Trower, Antwerp, Jwte 15, 1817. . . 34 
 
 Giving an account of his tour on the Continent, and his 
 impressions of the condition of Manufacture, Trade, and Agri- 
 culture there and in England. 
 
 XVI. RiCARDO TO Trower, August 23, 1817 .... 37 
 Jocularly referring to Owen, describing interviews with Say 
 
 in Paris, quoting a criticism of Malthus on the ' Political 
 Economy and Taxation,' mentioning his own relations with 
 Torrens, and alluding to a financial scheme of Trower. 
 Note: Robert Owen in London, 1817 .... 41 
 
 XVII. RiCARDO to Trower, December 10, 18 17 . . . 41 
 
 Regretting the death of Princess Charlotte, and speaking of 
 the Report of the Commons Committee on the Poor Laws, the 
 success of his book, the struggles of Savings Banks against 
 the prejudices of the workmen, and the new works of Mill and 
 Malthus. 
 
 XVIII. RiCARDO to Trower, January 26, 1818 . . . 45 
 Recalling his first meetings with Trower, and the good effect 
 
 on him of conversations with his friends generally, alluding 
 to various reviews and singling out Sumner's for special praise, 
 recurring to the Poor Laws and Savings Banks, and eulogizing 
 Mill's ' British India ' now about to appear. 
 
 XIX. RiCARDO TO Trower, March 22, 1818 .... 49 
 Thanking him for congratulations on his elevation to the 
 
 Sheriffship, and for praise of his book, — making some remarks 
 on Birkbeck's ' Journey in America,' Vansittart's Stock Notes, 
 Bentham's 'Parliamentary Reform,' and Llandaff's ' Life.' 
 
 XX. RiCARDO TO Trower, June 27, 1818 .... 53 
 
 Commenting on the General Election and parliamentary 
 representation in general, with some strictures on Brougham. 
 
 XXI. RiCARDO TO Trower, September 18, 181 8 . . . 56 
 Mentioning his recall to London throvigh his brother's 
 
 illness, discussing the reviews of his book, especially in 
 regard to price and rent, and giving his views on parlia- 
 mentary reform. 
 
 XXII. RiCARDO TO Trower, November 2, 1818 ... 60 
 Arguing on behalf of parliamentary retorm, on Utilitarian 
 
 principles, and telling of his own approaching election. 
 
 b 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XXIII. RiCARDO TO Trower, December 20, i8l8 . . . 66 
 Dealing with Trower's objections to reform, especially those 
 
 founded on a desire to preserve the alleged present balance of 
 powers and present checks with only an indirect representa- 
 tion of the mass of the people, — mentioning a French translation 
 of his ' Political Economy,' and alluding to a visit of Malthus. 
 
 XXIV. RiCARDO TO Trower, Fehruary 28, 1819 ... 71 
 Announcing his election to a seat in Parliament, and allud- 
 ing to conversations with members of the Committees on 
 Currency. 
 
 XXV. RiCARDO TO Trower, May 28, 1819 . . . . 73 
 Recording the decision of the House in favour of Resump- 
 tion, and describing his own part in the deliberations, as well 
 
 as his views on various other topics before Parliament. 
 
 XXVI. RiCARDO TO Trower, June i, 1819 . . . . 75 
 Advising him as to investment in Bank of England Stock, 
 
 and giving reasons for caution. 
 
 .XXVII. RiCARDO TO Trower, July 8, 1819 . . . . 77 
 Saying that he is satisfied on the whole with the work of 
 the Session and the financial prospects of the country, explain- 
 ing his attitude to Robert Owen, and describing what 
 happened at the meeting in London. 
 
 Note on Owen's Committee 81 
 
 XXVIII. RiCARDO to Trower, September 25, 1819 . . 81 
 Telling of his attempt amidst the distractions of a country 
 
 life to write on the Sinking Fund, praising Hamilton's book on 
 the Debt, admitting the need of a good work on Taxation, 
 estimating the extent of the popular education in economics, 
 and giving his views of the Manchester Massacre. 
 
 XXIX. RiCARDO to Francis Place, November i, 1819 . . 85 
 Refusing to join him in condemnation of all Sinking Funds, 
 
 distinguishing between a Sinking Fund raised by loans and 
 one raised by taxes, and maintaining that the latter kind is no 
 delusion, apart from the bad faith of Ministers. 
 
 XXX. RiCARDO TO Place, November i, 1819 . . . . 90 
 Contending that Hamilton would not have denied that there 
 
 could be a Sinking Fund from taxes which would diminish 
 the Debt by compound interest. 
 
Contents 
 
 XXXI. RicARDO TO Tbower, November 12, 1819 ... 92 
 Wishing he had time to study the best way for the State 
 
 to raise funds, and regretting that Malthus does not deal with 
 it in his new book, — vindicating the right of the people to hold 
 meetings [to protest against the Manchester Massacre], — and 
 deploring the alleged intention of Government to defer Ke- 
 sumption and to impose an Income Tax. 
 
 XXXII. RiCARDO TO Richard Heathpield, December 19, 
 
 1819 96 
 
 Expressing general agreement with Heathfield's plan, which 
 is in fact his own, for the extinguishing of the National 
 Debt, but pointing out details in which he cannot follow 
 Heathfield. 
 
 Note (I ): Heathfield's Plan ...... 98 
 
 Note (2) : David Hume ok Hutcheson's Plan . . 99 
 
 XXXIII. RiCABDO to Tbower, December 28, i8ig . . .100 
 Criticizing the policy of the Six Acts, defending his pro- 
 posal for a direct contribution towards payment of the Debt, 
 
 and commenting on the Debates in the House of Commons. 
 
 XXXIV. RiCARDO TO Tbower, January 28, 1820 . . .103 
 Discussing the effect on prices of an Income Tax as com- 
 pared with a Tax on Goods, and remarking on the effects of 
 Taxation in general. 
 
 XXXV. RiCARDO TO Tbowee, March 13, 1820 . . .107 
 Agreeing to visit him with Mill, denying any intention of 
 
 changing his seat, making remarks on the Election, on the 
 present iDosition and influence of Political Economy, and on 
 the Petition of London Merchants in favour of Free Trade. 
 
 XXXVI. RiCARDO TO Sinclair, Mai/ 11, 1820. . . . no 
 Maintaining the rightness of Resumption without prejudice 
 
 to his own plan of a pvirely j^aper currency, insisting on the 
 desirability of not only paying off the Debt, but forbidding any 
 new Debt, and contrasting point by point his own views with 
 Sinclair's. 
 
 XXXVII. KiCARDO TO MacVey Napier, London, May 15, 1820 1 1 1 
 Returning (with remarks) the proof of his article on the 
 
 Sinking Fund. 
 
 XXXVIII. RiCARDO TO Trower, BrightoTi, July 21, 1820 . 112 
 Regretting the proceedings against the Queen, discussing the 
 
 views of Malthus on price, cost, and rent, pointing out his 
 misrepresentations of Ricardo, and singing the praises of 
 Joseph Hume. 
 
 b 2 
 
Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XXXIX. RiOARDO TO Trower, September is, 1820. . .117 
 Describing an excursion on the Wye with Mill, giving 
 comments on various passages in Malthus' ' Political Economy,' 
 especially in regard to Measure of Value, and the paradox that 
 corn raises up its own demanders. 
 
 XL. RiCARDO TO Trower, September 26, 1820. . . .124 
 Arguing at some length against Trower that the supply of 
 corn follows and does not precede the demand for it, conclud- 
 ing with a defence of Say's view that demand is only limited 
 by production. 
 
 XLI. RiCARDO TO Trower, Octobers, 1820 . . . .128 
 Pointing out that an equally increased production of all 
 articles may not leave their value unaffected, necessaries having 
 a limited demand and luxuries an unlimited, contending that 
 apart from miscalculation production follows demand, and 
 that it is best to leave trade free. 
 
 XLII. RiCARDO TO Trower, November 26, 1820 . . .134 
 Expressing his indignation at the treatment of the Queen, 
 and despondency about politics, — quoting some specimens of 
 his own unpublished Notes on Malthus in regard to the Nature 
 and Measure of Value. 
 
 XLIII. RiCARDO TO Trower, January 14, 1821 . . .139 
 Disapproving of Mr. Vansittart's treatment of the Sinking 
 Fund, doubting whether Five Per Cents can have the 
 popularity of Three Per Cents, and asking Trower's opinion 
 about his Notes on Malthus, now with McCulloch. [Letter 
 imperfect.] 
 
 XLIV. RiCARDO TO Trower, March 2, 1821 . . . .143 
 Referring to the Surrey (County) Meeting to protest against 
 the persecution of the Queen, mentioning his controversy with 
 Malthus on the alleged good effects of expenditure, describing 
 his dispute in the House with Baring on the Currency, and 
 giving his views on the Agricultural interest and the Catholic 
 claims. 
 
 Note: County Meeting at Epsom 146 
 
 XLV. RiCARDO to Trower, April 21, 1821 . . . .146 
 Touching on Godwin's book against Malthus, Mill's 
 'Political Economy,' the claims of Ireland, and at greater 
 length on the Agricultural Committee. 
 
 XLVI. RiCARDO TO Sinclair, June 15, 1S21 . . . .150 
 Refusing to approve Sinclair's proposals for an increase of 
 paper currency. 
 
Contents 
 
 XXI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XLVII. RiCARDO TO Trower, July 4, 1821 . . . .150 
 Vindicating some of his positions in regard to the Measure 
 of Value in the Notes on Malthus, and remarking on the 
 political situation. 
 
 XLVIII. RicARDO TO Tbower, August 22, 1821 . . .154 
 Describing his share in the proceedings and report of the 
 Agricultural Committee, continuing the discussion on Value, 
 and adding remarks on the Queen, the prospects of Peace, 
 Mushet's Tables, and the valuation of Tithes. 
 
 XLIX. RiCARDO TO John Wheatley, Septemher 18, 1821 . 159 
 Maintaining that the price of corn must be referred not only 
 to supply and demand, but to cost of production, — that the nation 
 have not been losers by Eesumption of Cash Payments, the 
 farmers and manufacturers having as much less to give as they 
 have to receive, but admitting there have been inequalities, 
 and there has been real increase of Taxation, — denying that 
 he recommended Resumption at a time when depreciation was 
 30 per cent. 
 
 L. RiCARDO TO Trower, October 4, 1821 161 
 
 Touching on the Agricultural Committee, believing in spite 
 of Tooke that England will always be an importing country, 
 hoping with Trower that statesmen Avill be more guided by 
 principles of Political Economy than they now are, discussing 
 whether tithes are or are not a good investment as compared 
 with land, and referring to articles in the Edinburgh Review 
 by Sydney Smith and Malthus. 
 
 LI. RiCARDO TO Trower, December 11, 1821 .... 166 
 Describing his visit to Hereford and the Dinner in honour 
 of Joseph Hume there, mentioning various signs of progress in 
 the diffusion of sound doctrine, defending himself against the 
 charge of responsibility for Eesumption as actually effected, 
 and making remarks on the political situation. 
 
 LII. RiCARDO TO Trower, January 2$, 1822 . . . .170 
 Insisting that Agricultural Distress must not be ascribed to 
 taxation, but mainly to the low prices caused by over-supply, 
 for Resumption accounted at most for 10 per cent, of the fall, — 
 and giving his views on the condition and prospects of Ireland, 
 and on the writings of Mill, Godwin, and McCulloch. 
 
 LIII. RiCARDO TO Sinclair, January 1% 1822 . . . 174 
 Reminding him that they do not agree on the causes of the 
 Agricultural Distress, and finding a flaw in his criticism of 
 Attwood's view of the relation of the exchanges to the price 
 of corn. 
 
xxii Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LIV. RiCAEDO TO Tkower, February, 20, 1822 . . -175 
 Condoling with him on his misfortunes at a Surrey (County) 
 Meeting to consider Agricultural Distress, contrasting his own 
 better fortune in the House, and dilating on the fallacies of 
 Cobbett. 
 
 Note (i): Meeting at Epsom 177 
 
 Note (2): Letter of Grenside to Trower . . ,178 
 Note (3) : Brougham and Ricardo 179 
 
 LV. Ricardo to Trower, Marcli 5, 1822 .... 180 
 Criticizing Trower's proijosal to allow compounding for 
 assessed taxes as a rival scheme to the Sinking Fund, mention- 
 ing a suggestion of Parnell's for the better control of the latter 
 by the conversion of perpetual into terminable annuities, 
 deploring the imperfections of parliamentary reporters, and 
 making general remarks on the position of affairs in parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 Note: Trower on Assessed Taxes 183 
 
 LVI. Ricardo to Trower, Mardi 25, 1822 . . . .185 
 Explaining why he and Mill cannot visit Trower at present, 
 complaining of the uselessness of the Sinking Fund as at 
 present administered, and giving his views and his hopes 
 about the Agricultural Committee. 
 
 Note: Ricardo's Resolutions on the Corn Duties . 187 
 
 LVII. Ricardo to Trower, May 20, 1822 . . . .189 
 Telling of his project of another tour on the Continent, and 
 discussing Samuel Turner's pamphlet and other matters con- 
 nected with the Corn Laws and public affairs generally. 
 
 LVIII. Ricardo to Trower, June g, 1822 . , . .191 
 Reporting that he is trying through Mill to procure insertion 
 in the Chronicle for a letter of Trower on the monetary situa- 
 tion, and discussing the said letter. 
 
 LIX. Ricardo to Trower, December 14, 1822 . . -193 
 Describing his visit to Holland, Switzerland, and France, 
 and his conversations with Dumont, De Broglie, Sismondi, 
 Say, and Garnier, — and remarking on the economical and 
 financial situation. 
 
 LX. Ricardo to Trower, January ^o, 1823 .... 199 
 Explaining his jwlitical position as an advocate of reform 
 who is unable to attribute the present distress to taxation and 
 misgovernment, — touching on public events, on a pamphlet in 
 
Contents 
 
 PAQB 
 
 defence of the Government, and on the prospects of changes 
 in Currency. 
 Note: County Meeting at Hereford .... 202 
 
 LXI. RicARDo TO Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, April 4, 1823 204 
 
 Expressing his views on religious toleration. 
 
 LXII. Ricardo to Trower, July 24, 1823 .... 205 
 Regretting that Trower is so little in London, tlie meeting- 
 place of 6,11 the talents, — regretting also that economists differ 
 so "much about value, and giving his views on the proposals of 
 Owen ^nd others for the relief of Ireland, and on the theories 
 of 'Vocjke in regard to Agricultural Depression. 
 
 LXIII. Ricardo to Trower, July 24, 1823 .... 209 
 Responding to his questions about Parliament, and criticizing 
 Malthus' ' Measure of Value.' 
 
 LXIV. Ricardo to Trower, August 2,1, 1823. . . .211 
 Hoping to have a visit from Trower, to meet Mill, in 
 September, — and touching on his difference from Malthus and 
 McCulloch in regard to a Measure of Value, on the good harvest, 
 the Spanish War, and on the growth of trees at Unsted Wood 
 and Gatcomb. 
 
 LXV. Austin to Trower, Septembers, 1823 .... 214 
 Telling of Ricardo's illness, which was not considered serious. 
 
 LXVI. Austin to Trower. September 12, 1823 . . .214 
 Telling of Ricardo's death. 
 
 Appendix— 
 
 A. Hutches Trower on Silver Bullion and Depreciation of 
 
 Bank Notes 217 
 
 Ricardo in reply to Trower and Trotter .... 222 
 
 B. Ricardo on Taxation of Corn, and its alleged effect on the 
 
 Currency 234 
 
 Trower on the same 235 
 
 Index 237 
 
LETTERS OF DAVID RICARDO 
 
 TO 
 
 HUTCHES TROWER 
 
 AND OTHERS 
 
 1\ 
 
 [To Bentham.] 
 
 DeaK SiE, Mile end, 13 Aug., 1811. 
 
 I BEG you to accept my thanks for your kind 
 communication. I should have been most happy to have 
 passed a few vreeks in your neighbourhood, as besides the 
 pleasure of Mr. Mill's society it would have afforded me 
 the opportunity which I have long desired of procuring the 
 gratification of your acquaintance ^, but there are obstacles 
 in the way of my wishes which cannot be surmounted. 
 My family is large, and for Mrs. Ricardo's comfort it would 
 be necessary to have the whole of it with us. She would 
 not be happy if one child were absent. At the present 
 time this would be unattainable unless we were to with- 
 draw the greatest part of our children from school, to 
 
 ^ The original is in the British Museum, Bentham Papers, Correspon- 
 dence, vol. viii. 1803-1812, Add. MSS. 33, 544, f. 549. 
 
 ^ It thus appears that Kicardo became acquainted with Bentham 
 through Mill, instead of with Mill through Bentham, as suggested by 
 Professor Bain ('James Mill,' p. 74). For his later relations with 
 Eicardo, see Letters to Malthus, p. 55, and article Bentham in Palgrave's 
 Dictionary of Pol. Ec. vol. i. (1894), especially p. 132. Mill became ac- 
 quainted with Ricardo on the appearance of Mill's ' Commerce Defended' 
 (1807). See J. S. Mill, Pol. E. III. xiv. § 4. 
 
2 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 which they have, after a long vacation, but just returned. 
 I regret that I have been the occasion of so much trouble 
 to you. I trust that on your return to London, to 
 compensate me for my present disappointment, you will 
 give me your company at Mile end, — a pleasure which 
 Mr. Mill has often flattered me with and to which your 
 obliging letter appears to have given me a new claim. 
 I am, Dear Sir, with great esteem, 
 
 Your obed*. Serv*., 
 
 David Ricakdo ^ 
 J. Bentham, Esq'. 
 
 II ^ 
 
 Dear Trower, Upper Brook Street, 8*1 Nov., 1813. 
 
 After reading the Pamphlet^ which you were so 
 kind as to send me, I fully intended calling on you ^;, to 
 thank you for the pleasure and information which I had 
 received from it, — but I am so circumstanced at present 
 that I am seldom at this part of the town at an hour when 
 I am likely to meet you. Even yesterday, — a day generally 
 at my disposal, I was obliged to leave home immediately 
 after breakfast, and I did not return till this evening. In 
 about a fortnight my family will return from Ramsgate, 
 when I shall live more like a rational being. I shall then 
 hope to see you both at your house and at mine. 
 
 I have read the letters written by you and Laicus (for 
 the first time) with very great interest. All that can be 
 said on the subject has, I think, been ably said on both 
 sides. My opinion coincided with yours before I read your 
 
 1 On the reverse of the last sheet are memoranda, probably by Bentham 
 himself : ' iSri, Aug. 14, Ricardo (David) of Mile End, [to] J. B. Q. S. P. 
 [Queen's Square Place], declines the house [?] at Bletchingley.' 
 
 * No cover or address. ^ See Note. 
 
 * Trower was then living in Harley Street close by. 
 
Indian Missions 3 
 
 letters, and it is now very much strengthened by the facts 
 and reasoning which you have brought forward. I quite 
 rejoice that your time is so usefully employed. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 Note. — The family papers now in possession of Mr. Walter 
 Trower enable us to assign to Hutches Trower the editorship of 
 the pamphlet : ' Christianity in India. Letters between Laicus and 
 an East India Proprietor, as they appeared in the Times news- 
 paper in the months of August, September, and October, 1813.' 
 London, Rivington, &c., N. D. The correspondence attracted some 
 notice: see Gentleman's Magazine, Nov. 1813, Critical Review, 
 Nov. 1 8 13. The exciting cause of the whole was a remark by 
 the Times in August on the renewal of the Charter of the East 
 India Company : ' The conversion of the Hindoos, however, is 
 a measure pregnant with danger; nay, the mere discussion of 
 it may tend to excite those apprehensions, which it is of so much 
 importance to calm, or to keep dormant.' ' Laicus ' wrote on 
 August 7*^ questioning this statement ; ' East India Proprietor ' 
 (Hutches Trower), on August 26^^, defended it; we must (he said) 
 avoid the remotest appearance of an intention to effect compulsory 
 conversion, or else we shall rouse a rebellion that will drive us 
 from the Peninsula (p. 22 of the pamphlet). The establishment of 
 bishops now conceded by charter might produce that appearance. 
 Laicus (who declares himself also an East India Proprietor) 
 returns to the charge in a second letter, and the correspondence 
 goes on over seven letters, filling 102 pages of an 8vo pamphlet. 
 Laicus is allowed to have the last word (Oct. 7). Though Trower 
 is orthodox, devout, and politically a very moderate Whig, he goes 
 so far as to say that the conversion of the Hindoos, even if expedient, 
 is impossible ; and he has the assent not only of Ricardo (in the 
 above letter), but of G. B. Gi-eenough, who says : ' In reading 
 the letters of the East India Proprietor, I could not fail to derive 
 great pleasure from seeing you support so good a cause with 
 so much good temper and good sense ' (letter in Trower MSS., 
 dated 'Parliament Street, Nov. 6, 1813'). Hutches Trower's 
 eldest brother, John, seems to have differed from him, and to have 
 B Q, 
 
4 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 prepared a pamphlet on the other side (mentioned in the Trower 
 MSS.). Hutches Trower had frequently spoken his mind on the 
 matter in the Court of East India Proprietors, e.g. June 24, 1813, 
 on the motion of Mr. John Bebb, afterwards Deputy-Chairman 
 of the Company. For previous discussion of the subject, see 
 Edin. Rev., April 1808 (p. 151), and April 1809 (p 40); Annual 
 Register, 1813 [p. 58], cf. 315 (Debate and Bill). 
 
 Dear Trower Uppke Beook Street, &^ March, 1814. 
 
 I called at your house yesterday ; I wished to tell 
 you that though well disposed to enter into the defence of 
 my opinions, I was now so much occupied by business, 
 that I could not devote the necessary time to it. Not 
 having found you at home, I must tell you so by 'these 
 present' \sic\. At the same time I must observe that what 
 I feared, I believe has happened. To one not aware of the 
 whole difference between Mr. Malthus and me, the papers ^ 
 you read were not clear, and I think you have not entirely 
 made out the subject in dispute. 
 
 Without entering further into the question, I will 
 endeavour to state the question itself. When Capital 
 increases in a country, and the means of employing Capital 
 already exists, or increases, in the same proportion, the 
 rate of interest and of profits will not fall. 
 
 Interest rises only when the means of employment for 
 Capital bears a greater proportion than before to the 
 Capital itself, and falls when the Capital bears a greater 
 proportion to the arena, as Mr. Malthus has called it ^, 
 
 ^ The last sheet of the letter is used as the cover, and addressed, 
 ' Hutches Trower, Esq., 33 Harley Street.' 
 
 ^ See following note. 
 
 * 'This country, from the extent of its lands, and its rich colonial 
 possessions, has a large arena for the employment of an increasing capital.' 
 'Essay on Population,' 5th ed. (1817) vol. ii. p. 406. 'Of the Commercial 
 
Capital and Agriculture 5 
 
 for its employment. On these points I believe we are all 
 agreed, but I contend that the arena for the employ- 
 ment of new Capital cannot increase in any country in 
 the same or greater proportion than the Capital itself \ 
 unless there be improvements in husbandry, — or new 
 facilities be offered for the introduction of food from 
 foreign countries ; that in short it is the profits of the 
 farmer which regulate the profits of all other trades, — 
 and as the profits of the farmer must necessarily decrease 
 with every augmentation of Capital employed on the 
 land, provided no improvements be at the same time 
 made in husbandry, all other profits must diminish, and 
 therefore the rate of interest must fall. To this pro- 
 position Mr. Malthus does not agree. He thinks that 
 the arena for the employment of Capital may increase, 
 and consequently profits and interest may rise, altho' 
 there should be no new facilities, either by importation, 
 or improved tillage, for the production of food ; — that the 
 profits of the farmer no more regulate the profits of other 
 trades, than the profits of other trades regulate the profits 
 of the farmer, and consequently, if new markets are dis- 
 covered in which we can obtain a greater quantity of 
 foreign commodities in exchange for our commodities, than 
 before the discovery of [such] ^ markets, profits will increase 
 and interest will rise. In such a state of things the rate 
 of interest would rise as well as the profits of the farmer. 
 
 System,' Book III. ch. ix. As the phrase first appears in the fifth edition, 
 we may suppose that Malthus had communicated to Ricardo his draft 
 of the rewritten chapter (ix.) containing it (see also Preface to fifth 
 edition). They may have exchanged their views in letters now lost. 
 Reference to the Letters of Ricardo to Malthus (Clar. Pr. 1886) will 
 show a gap between January i and June 26, 1814. But Ricardo's 
 expression ' papers ' would better apply to a draft. 
 
 * Ricardo adds in a footnote, at this point, * the following to be inserted : 
 unless Capital be withdrawn from the land ; ' and Trower adds in pencil, 
 ' because the employment of capital depends upon the existence of capital.' 
 
 * Covered almost entirely by the seal. 
 
6 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 he thinks, even if more Capital were employed on the land. 
 Do you understand ? Nothing, I say, can increase the 
 profits permanently on trade^ with the same or an increased 
 Capital, but a really cheaper mode of obtaining food. 
 A cheaper mode of obtaining food will undoubtedly increase 
 profits, says Mr. Malthus, but there are many other circum- 
 stances which may also increase profits with an increase 
 of Capital. The discovery of a new market where there 
 will be a great demand for our manufactures is one ^ 
 Believe me, yours very faithfully, 
 David Ricaedo. 
 
 I have written this in great haste after devoting the 
 necessary time to my accounts. You must excuse the 
 scrawl and corrections. 
 
 IV. 
 
 [To Sir John Sinclair 2.] 
 
 Gatcomb Park, Minchinhampton, 
 
 Dear Sir, 31^* ocmer, 1814. 
 
 I have not quite given up the Stock Exchange ; 
 but for a few months in the year, I mean to enjoy the 
 calm repose of a country life. 
 
 Though I have a few acres of land in hand, I am not 
 yet become a farmer. I leave the management of them 
 wholly to others, and hardly take sufficient interest in 
 
 ' For a statement of the theory here advanced, see Ricardo's ' Essay 
 on the Influence of a Low Price of Corn on the Profits of Stock, &c.,' in 
 'Works' (ed. McCuUoch), pp. 371 et seq. 
 
 * Sir John Sinclair's Correspondence (1831), voL i. 371. Sinclair says : 
 ' I had conceived the idea that much information on the subject of 
 circulation might be obtained from the members of the Stock Exchange, 
 and had requested Mr. Ricardo to inform me who were the proper 
 persons to apply to.' 
 
The Stock Exchange 7 
 
 what is going on, to make it probable that I shall ever 
 be conversant with agricultural subjects. 
 
 The Stock Exchange is chiefly attended by persons who 
 are unremittingly attentive to their business, and are well 
 acquainted with its details ; but there are very few in 
 number who have much knowledge of political economy, 
 and consequently they pay little attention to finance, as 
 a subject of science. They consider more, the immediate 
 effect of passing events, rather than their distant conse- 
 quences. Amongst the most enlightened, I should name 
 
 Mr. ^ Mr. 1, Mr. ^ and Mr. ^; but 
 
 I cannot answer that they will be able to afford time, 
 or feel sufficient zeal, to engage in financial discussions. 
 I am going to write to my brother, Ralph Ricardo, who 
 is a member of the Stock Exchange, and I will request 
 him to mention your wish to the above gentlemen, so 
 that they will be prepared for any application you make 
 to them. 
 
 I am, Dear Sir, 
 
 your obedient and humble servant, 
 
 David Ricakdo. 
 
 Gatcomb Park, Minchinhampton, 
 
 Dear Teower, 29th Oct., 1815. 
 
 I sincerely congratulate Mrs. Trower and you on 
 the increase of your family, which I hope will be attended 
 with an increase of happiness. 
 
 You observe justly that having friends staying with us 
 unsettles our regular habits. I find it very materially 
 to interfere with my pursuits. Reading or writing, when 
 
 * Left blank in the letter as printed by Sinclair. 
 
 ° The last sheet of the letter is used as the cover, and addressed, 
 ' Hutches Trower, Esq. , Unsted Wood, Godalming, Surry ' [sic\. 
 
8 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 one has an object in view, should be followed systematically, 
 and at no distant intervals, for after a time our thoughts 
 are turned into new channels, and we cannot easily recal 
 \sic\ the ideas which were only beginning to be indistinctly 
 formed in our minds. I have scarcely been a week with- 
 out visitors since I have been in the country, and to that 
 I ascribe the imperfection of the little that I have done 
 in the writing way. So far from imitating the illustrious 
 example that you set before me, and improving as I go on, 
 each successive attempt is attended with less success than 
 the former, and it invariably happ'ens that my last per- 
 formance is the worst. I have hitherto done nothing 
 than write what would make a very small pamphlet on 
 Bank affairs, which I took with me to town, where I 
 was obliged to go for a few days, a fortnight ago '. I had 
 very little intention of publishing it, but I thought I 
 might as well ask my friend Malthus' opinion of it. That 
 opinion was not unfavourable to the matter, but was de- 
 cidedly expressed respecting its inferiority in style and 
 arrangement to my two first pamphlets^. Thus you see 
 that I have no other encouragement to pursue the study 
 of Political Economy than the pleasure which the study 
 itself affords me, for never shall I be so fortunate however 
 correct my opinions may become as to produce a work 
 which shall procure me fame and distinction. I am deter- 
 mined, however, not to be daunted by common difficulties. 
 I shall again set to work to endeavor to improve the 
 style and arrangement of what I have just written, not 
 that I am quite sure that I shall publish it if I succeed, 
 
 * ' 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.' The pamphlet was not actually published 
 until the following year. See Letters of Ricardo to Malthus, pp. 96, 
 100, 109. 
 
 ^ At this time Ricardo had already written his three most important 
 pamphlets : ' High Price of Bullion ' (1810) ; ' Reply to Bosanquet ' (i8i i) ; 
 * Influence of a Low Price of Corn on the Profits of Stock ' (1815). 
 
Current Events 9 
 
 but at least it will afford me an opportunity of exercising 
 the limited powers which I possess. Mr. Malthus and 
 I continue to differ in our views of the principles of 
 Rent, Profit, and Wages. These principles are so linked 
 and connected with everything belonging to the science of 
 Political Economy, that I consider the just view of them 
 as of the first importance. It is on this subject, where 
 my opinions differ from the great authority of Adam 
 Smith, Malthus, etc., that I should wish to concentrate 
 all the talent I possess, not only for the purpose of estab- 
 lishing what I think correct principles, but of drawing 
 important deductions from them. For my own satis- 
 faction I shall certainly make the attempt, and perhaps 
 with repeated revisions during a year or two I shall 
 at last produce something that may be understood. 
 
 The anecdote you gave me respecting an article ^ intended 
 to have been inserted in the last number of the Edinburgh 
 Review is very amusing. It shows that nothing is more 
 dangerous than to set up for a prophet, unless we use 
 such ambiguous language that with a little stretch of 
 the imagination may suit all occurrences. Our politicians 
 are not so wary in this particular as I should have ex- 
 pected, witness their prognostics concerning the war in 
 Spain, the utter impossibility of beating Bonaparte, not 
 to mention the Bank restriction bill, &c. &c. 
 
 Respecting this last-named personage, I quite agree with 
 [you that] - a man's character and renown must be esti- 
 mated upon a reference to the whole of his conduct. ' We 
 must cast up the account of the good and bad qualities 
 and strike a balance.' It is by this rule that I would 
 try Bonaparte, and by this rule he will be tried by the 
 future historian. I thought you departed from it, when 
 after his brilliant career for twenty years, you pronounced 
 
 ' Prepared on the assumption that Napoleon was victorious. 
 * MS. torn. 
 
lo Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 his glory wholly effaced by being obliged in consequence 
 of an unsuccessful battle, bravely contested, to surrender 
 himself a prisoner. It was the balance only that I was 
 contending for, which I still think is on the credit side 
 of the account. 
 
 Having given you so particular an account of my 
 employments, allow me to ask what are yours ? Are you 
 amusing yourself with desultory reading, or is your atten- 
 tion engaged by some particular subject? If the latter, 
 I should hope that your thoughts are turned towards the 
 press, for one who can stimulate others to exertion and 
 perseverance so well, ought himself to be animated with 
 a desire to shine, and where every advantage of leisure 
 and qualifications are given, it would be unpardonable to 
 preach a doctrine which you did not yourself practise. 
 
 Mr. Mill writes to me that he has nearly finished his 
 ' Indian History i.' He is this Autumn where he was last, 
 with Mr. Bentham at Ford Abbey, Somersetshire, where 
 they have both ample leisure for their literary pursuits ". 
 Mr. Malthus is, I believe, engaged in preparing a new 
 Edition of his Essay on Population for publication^. 
 Some of the doctrines on Political Economy in that work 
 required revision. I hope they will receive a radical 
 amendment, Mrs. Ricardo and my daughter join with 
 me in kind regards to Mrs. Trower, whose health we hope 
 is quite restored. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 David Eicardo. 
 
 ' Not actually published until early in 1818. 
 
 2 See Bain, 'James Mill,' p. 146, and for a letter of Ricardo to Bentham, 
 see above, p. i. 
 
 2 See above, p. 5 n. 
 
The Bank Court ii 
 
 Gatcomb Park, Minchinhampton, 
 
 Dear Trowee, 25th Dec, 1815. 
 
 Since I received your letter, I have been in London. 
 I attended the Bank Court, and even ventured to give 
 my opinion on the subject under discussion, which I did 
 with considerable agitation to myself, but which I believe 
 was not apparent to those whom I was addressing 2. You 
 appear to me to have got over the first difiiculties of public 
 speaking ^ I have them all to encounter, and they really 
 assume too formidable an array for me to dare to wrestle 
 with them. As I am busily employed on my MS. ^ with 
 a view to publication, and as you will there see my senti- 
 ments on Bank affairs, I shall not make them the subject 
 of my letter. So much has already been said on the 
 Bullion question that I have thought it better to say very 
 little on that subject. I may therefore be permitted to 
 express here my entire assent^ with your opinions on the 
 prices of bullion and other things. 
 
 I have very little doubt but that there has been a 
 considerable rise in the value of money, which I think 
 has been effected by the many failures of country Banks, 
 which has increased the use of Bank of England notes 
 
 1 The last sheet of the letter is used as the cover, and addressed, 
 'Hutches Trower, Esqr., Unsted Wood, Godalming, Surry.' 
 
 ^ 'I spoke for five or ten minutes with considerable inward agitation.' 
 Letters to Malthus, XL. (Dec. 24, 1815), p. 104, where Ricardo gives the 
 drift of his speech. 
 
 ^ Hutches Trower had, for example, spoken at the Court of East India 
 Proprietors, 1813, on the question of Missions, the opening of the Indian 
 trade, and, generally, the topics connected with the renewal of the Charter 
 in that year. 
 
 * See above, p. 8, note i. 
 
 ' They did not always agree. See Appendix. 
 
12 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 in the country, both as a circulating medium, and as 
 a deposit against the alarm which always attends extensive 
 failures in the country. I believe too that bulhon has 
 had a real fall, which has also contributed to bring it 
 nearer to the value of paper. The buUionists, and I among 
 the number, considered gold and silver as less variable 
 commodities than they really are, and the effect of war 
 on the prices of these metals were certainly very much 
 underrated by them. The fall in the price of bullion 
 on the peace in 1814, and its rise again on the renewal 
 of the war on Bonaparte's entry into Paris are remarkable 
 facts, and should never be neglected in any future dis- 
 cussion on this subject^. But granting all this it does 
 not affect the theory of the buUionists. 
 
 The description you give me of the mode in which you 
 pass your time leaves me nothing to regret on your account. 
 You have exercise both of the body and of the mind ; you 
 are living in a healthful country, do not know what ennui 
 is, — are surrounded by a charming family, and must neces- 
 sarily be a happy man. Do not however imagine that 
 emulation and ambition are extinct in you, they are 
 only dormant for a time, or perhaps they may have only 
 changed their field of exercise. The love of distinction 
 is so natural to man that he never relinquishes his title 
 to it if he sees it clearly within his grasp, and notwith- 
 standing your present humble system of philosophy you 
 have yourself been stimulated, and do not fail on every 
 occasion still to stimulate others, by the rewards which 
 are held out to successful exertion. 
 
 ' The price of standard gold bars per ounce fell from £5 3s. on May 31, 
 1814, to £5 on June 7, to £4 17s. on June 14, to £4 los. on June 28. 
 It rose sharply from £4 9s. on February 28, 1815, to £5 7s. on April 4. 
 See ' House of Commons Reports from the Secret Committee on the 
 Expediency of the Bank resuming Cash Payments,' London, 1819, 
 Appendix, pp. 307-308. The first Peace of Paris was concluded on 
 May 30, 1814, and Napoleon entered Paris on March 20, 1815. 
 
Depression of Agriculture 13 
 
 I am glad not to hear any complaints from you of the 
 low price of produce, though you must suffer from such 
 low price in common with all other land-holders. Those 
 who have their property in land will not I think for 
 a considerable time regain the advantageous position 
 in which they stood during the war in relation to the 
 rest of the community, — yet the price of corn appears to 
 me unnaturally low and their situation will on the whole 
 improve from the present state of depression. In every 
 change from peace to war, and from war to peace, there 
 must be great changes in the distribution of capital, and 
 much individual distress. In the present case I fully 
 expect that it will be followed by a rapid and brilliant 
 course of prosperity, notwithstanding the disadvantages 
 we labour under from the pressure of our enormous debt ^. 
 I am every day becoming a greater enemy to the funding 
 system. Besides its other evils it disturbs so cruelly the 
 prices of commodities as to give us a serious disadvantage 
 in all foreign markets. If the supplies were always raised 
 within the year, and if in consequence one class of the 
 people were obliged to borrow from another in order 
 to discharge their quota of the taxes,— a debt as large as 
 the present might exist, but the effects would in my 
 opinion be beyond all comparison less injurious. 
 
 But I am getting on high matters at the fag-end of 
 
 my letter, and have barely left myself room to request 
 
 you to give the united regards of Mrs. Ricardo and myself 
 
 to Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Ever truly yours 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 1 Compare Letters of Ricardo to McCuIloch, Introduction, xvi. 
 
14 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 DeAE Trower, [London, February 5, i8i6.] 
 
 I ought to have answered your kind letter before, 
 but I have been much engaged and perplexed by sundi-y 
 domestic affairs, as well as with the printing of my 
 pamphlet ^ — besides which, I have been staying some time 
 at Bath with my eldest daughter^. 
 
 The Bank Directors have, I fear, too much influence to 
 give us any hope of outvoting them in a general Court. 
 They would however be very much discomposed by repeated 
 attacks, particularly as reason and justice are so evidently 
 against them. I wish some of the independent proprietors 
 would try the question in a court of justice, for to my 
 plain understanding the law also is against the directors. 
 I wish you would fight side by side with me, and would 
 infuse a little of your energy into some of the proprietors 
 who think correctly, but are lukewarm from natural 
 timidity. Mr. Bouverie * is not a good speaker — he makes 
 but little impression on his hearers from want of animation 
 and warmth. 
 
 My pamphlet will be out on monday. I have directed 
 Mr. Murray to send you a copy immediately after it is 
 published. 
 
 You ask my opinion of the saving Banks. I think 
 them excellent institutions and calculated to improve the 
 
 ' The last sheet of the letter is used as the cover, and addressed, 
 ' Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godahning, Surry.' The writer 
 gives no date ; but the (London) postmark is of Febi'uary 5, 1816. Cf. 
 Letters of Eicardo to Malthus, p. no, as to the Bank. 
 
 ^ See above, p. 8, note i. 
 
 ^ Mrs. Thomas Clutterbuck, of Widcomb, Bath, later of Hardenhuish 
 Park, near Chippenham, Wiltshire. 
 
 * Probably William Pleydell Bouverie, later third Earl Kadnor, tlie 
 Whig politician. 
 
Savings Banks 15 
 
 condition and morals of the poor, provided they are 
 properly managed. My fear is that though they will at 
 first be established by gentlemen of great respectability 
 and fortune, — as they spread they will at last be under- 
 taken by speculative tradesmen, as a business from which 
 to derive profit. The poor should have some check on the 
 employment of the funds, or the same evils will arise as 
 from the indefinite multiplication of country Banks. 
 
 This check should be afforded by the legislature, or 
 there will be no security against the failure of the under- 
 takers. The poor have no means of discovering the 
 wealth and respectability of the pai-ties who open these 
 Banks. 
 
 The low price of corn is an evil to the landed gentlemen, 
 which no decrease of charges can wholly compensate — they 
 must submit to a fall of rents and they ought to rejoice 
 in the evidence which the low price of produce affords of 
 the yet unexhausted state of the resources of the country. 
 High rents are always a symptom of an approach to the 
 stationary state — we are happily yet in the progressive 
 state, and may look forward with confidence to a long 
 course of prosperity. It is difficult to persuade the country 
 gentlemen that the fall of rents, unaccompanied by loss 
 of capital and population, will essentially contribute to 
 the general welfare, and that their interest and that of the 
 public are frequently in direct opposition. 
 
 I hope the minister will not now touch the sinking fund — 
 I hope he will never touch it. It is the general saving 
 bank ^f the Nation, and should be encouraged on the same 
 principles as encouragement is given to those institutions. 
 I am sorry to observe that amongst those who have 
 the power to decide on these matters, there does not 
 appear any reluctance to meddle with the sinking fund. 
 I am told that Lord Grenville is not averse to such 
 a measure. 
 
i6 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 It is true that I am going to lose another daughter^. 
 If she be happy, I must not repine — yet both Mrs. Ricardo 
 and myself have felt, and do still feel, that in losing the 
 society of these dear girls we have lost a portion of our 
 happiness. 
 
 Report has spoken truth concerning my house in 
 Brook Street. We observed a large crack in the ceiling 
 of the drawing room last winter. I sent for Mr. Cockerell, 
 he said it must be looked to when we left it for the summer, 
 but that it was perfectly safe then. We have since found 
 that we were in the utmost hazard — that Mayor ^ of whom 
 I bought the house was a complete knave, and from the 
 holes in the chimnies and the communication between 
 them and the beams, he perhaps intended that it should 
 be destroyed by fire, so that no one might ever find out 
 the total insufficiency of the materials to support the 
 house. What must I think of Mr. Cockerell, whom I paid 
 to examine it? What compensation can he make me for 
 his shameful neglect? I have not seen him since the 
 discovery. The workmen have been in it ever since July, 
 and it will cost me several thousand Pounds. We go into 
 it on tuesday next but are obliged to be satisfied with 
 the newly plaistered walls, unpapered and unpainted, or 
 we must not have gone into it this season. 
 
 I am glad to hear that you will probably pass some time 
 in London after Easter. I hope I shall see more of you 
 than I did last year. Mrs. Ricardo and my family unite 
 with me in kind regards to Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Very truly yours 
 
 David Ricakdo. 
 
 » Probably Priscilla (the S— (Sylla) of the Letters to Malthus), who 
 married Anthony Austin, of Bradley, Wotton-under-Edge. There is a 
 tablet to their memory, in Hardenhuish Church, as also to the 
 Clutterbucks'. See also the last two letters of this collection. 
 
 ^ Name not clear. 
 
The Bank's Accounts 17 
 
 yiii \ 
 
 Dear TrOWEE, London, 9"^ March, 1816. 
 
 The approbation which you express of the general 
 subject of my pamphlet^ could not fail to give me much 
 pleasure, but I should have been equally obliged to you 
 for your opinion if it had not been favourable. Truth is 
 my object, and if I can succeed in promoting the establish- 
 ment of right principles, it cannot fail to give me satis- 
 faction. Yet I hope I shall not be unwilling to profit 
 from the just criticism of those who differ from me, and 
 to adopt more correct views when they are fairly set 
 before me. 
 
 I have been agreeably disappointed in the interest which 
 my book^ has excited. It has very unexpectedly to me 
 gone to a second edition, and is much better understood 
 than [that on] the more difficult subject on which I before 
 attempted to give my opinion. Mr. Grenfell has published 
 his speech which I heard him deliver ^. It is very clear and 
 satisfactory, but our joint efforts will I fear be of little 
 use. The accumulated treasure of the Bank must however 
 one day be divided, and so confident are some that a bonus, 
 or increase of dividend will be paid next April, that they 
 
 * The last sheet of the letter is used as the cover, and addressed, 
 ' Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godalming, Surry.' 
 
 "^ See above, p. 8, note i. 
 
 ^ Pascoe Grenfell (1761-1838% member of the House of Commons, 1802- 
 1826, v?as a zealous supporter of Wilberforce in debates upon negro 
 emancipation, and a w^atchful critic of the actions of the Bank of England. 
 It is said to have been chiefly through his efforts that the Bank under- 
 took a periodic publication of its accounts. Compare Letters of Ricardo 
 to Malthus, p. 89 ; Works of Ricardo (ed. MeCullocli), pp. 395, 451. 
 
 The speech here referred to vras delivered in the House of Commons on 
 February 13, 1816, upon Grenfell's own motion for a select committee ' to 
 inquire into the engagements now subsisting between the public and the 
 Bank of England.' The speech appears in full in Hansard, Parliamentary 
 Debates, vol. xxxii (1816), 458. 
 
i8 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 venture to make even bets on the subject. I shall how- 
 ever not be satisfied without a statement of accounts, — and 
 I can see no good reason why they should be withheld. — 
 
 I hope your efforts will succeed in establishing a saving 
 bank in your neighbourhood ^ Their general diffusion in 
 all parts of the kingdom will be of great service, if the 
 rich and well informed will continue to bestow some atten- 
 tion on them. They will tend to introduce economy and 
 forethought amongst the poor, which may in time check 
 the propensity to a too abundant population, the great 
 source from whence all the miseries of the poor flow in 
 so profuse a stream. The quakers, who are a very bene- 
 volent people, are about to open a saving bank in the 
 populous borough of Southwark, from which they antici- 
 pate the happiest effects. On my return to the country 
 we shall attempt a similar establishment in our district. 
 I hope you will have a perfect model to offer me. 
 
 Mr. Malthus has been staying a few days with me. The 
 disgraceful disturbances at the College ^ have very much 
 interfered with his leisure, which I very much regret, as he 
 has been prevented from proceeding with the work which 
 he has in hand. He is yet doubtful whether he shall 
 add an additional volume to his Essay on Population, or 
 whether he shall publish a separate and independent work, 
 containing his present views on the interesting subjects of 
 Agriculture and Manufactures, and the encouragement 
 which is afforded them by natural and artificial causes •'. 
 
 ^ See ' An Account of the Provident Institution for Savings established 
 in the Western Part of the Metropolis,' by Joseph Hume, London, 1816 
 (Miiy). Ricardo, Malthus, Trower, and Elwin, are among tlie Managers 
 (pp. 7, 8), as are also Torrens, Edward Wakefield, Hume, Rose, Baring, 
 Colquhoun, and Wilberforce. It was founded by the Society for better- 
 ing the condition of the Poor, on the model of the Bath Provident 
 Institution. 
 
 ^ See Bonar, ' Malthus and his Work,' p. 422, Ricardo to Malthus, p. 104. 
 
 ^ The fifth edition of 181 7 was in three volumes, the third and fourth 
 having been in two. Malthus expressed his views on Agriculture and 
 
Samuel Turner 19 
 
 Mr. Western appears to me to hold very incorrect 
 opinions, yet they are applauded by many in the House 
 of Commons \ 
 
 I am glad to hear from Mr. Turner ^ that we shall soon 
 see you in London. I hope yoa will bring up a petition 
 with you against the property tax. It is more objec- 
 tionable I think as a 5 p.c. than as a 10 p.c. tax, yet 
 I would willingly submit to it if I thought that it 
 would really end in two years. The machinery of it 
 is too easily worked to allow it to be at the disposal 
 of our extravagant ministers during a period of peace. 
 Mrs. Ricardo unites with me in kind remembrances to 
 
 Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Ever truly yours, 
 
 David Ricaedo. 
 
 Note.— Samuel Turner, F.R.S., Trower's brother- in- law, was 
 the author of 'A Letter Addressed to the Right Hon. Robert 
 Peel, &c., late Chairman of the Committee of Secrecy appointed 
 to consider of the state of the Bank of England with reference to 
 the expediency of the Resumi^tion of Cash Payments at the period 
 fixed by law ' (Asperne, Richardson, Hatchard), 1819. The letter 
 is dated 31st May, 18 19. He describes himself (p. 4) as having 
 been for thirteen years a Director of the Bank, though now retiring 
 by rotation. He is opposed to the principles of the Bullion 
 Committee's report, believing as he does that ' wherever the 
 precious metals and paper circulate together, although one may 
 be constantly exchangeable for the other, yet every article is 
 
 Manufactures at considerable length in this fifth edition, though they 
 found expression again in ' a separate and independent work,' the 
 'Political Economy,' 1820. 
 
 * On March 7, 1816, Mr. Western, member for Essex, moved for a Com- 
 mittee to inquire into the distressed state of Agriculture, and brought 
 forward fourteen resolutions in favour of the reduction of the duties on 
 malt, beer, and spirits, the warehousing of home corn and the exclusion 
 of foreign, the further protection of home industries by duties on imports 
 and, in view of the heavy tithes and poor rates, the exemptioii of agri- 
 culturists from other burdens. 
 
 * See Note. 
 
 G 2 
 
20 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 measured by a standard bearing a higher nominal value than it 
 would be possible to obtain, if the precious metals were the real 
 measure' (p. i8). There is a reference (p, 69) to Ricardo's 
 speeches in the House, with a criticism of his ' Plan ' of bullion 
 payments instead of payments in coin (pp. 69-80). For Turner's 
 later pamphlet, see below, letter of 20th May, 1822. It was 
 probably the same ' Mr. Turner of the Bank of England ' that 
 showed Miss Edgeworth over the building. See ' Memoirs ' (for 
 priv. circ.) iii. 39. See also Ricardo to Malthus, p. 164, and 
 Mr. Macleod's 'Theory and Practice of Banking,' vol. i, (1855) 
 § 46, p. 227. 
 
 IX ^ 
 
 Dear Trower, London, 15*" juiy, 1816. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo has already left London and I am 
 preparing to follow her, so that your next letter must 
 be directed to me at Gatcomb. You must not suppose 
 that I have been closely confined to London since your 
 absence from it, for I have been to Bath for a week, and 
 to Gatcomb for another week. Hitherto however the 
 weather has been so unsettled that we have had no great 
 reason to envy you country gentlemen. During my fort- 
 night's holidays, I was not only drenched to the skin by 
 the rain, but was often precluded from leaving the house 
 for a whole day together. At Bath I met Mr. Elwin ^ 
 twice at dinner, once at his own house. He is equally 
 warm as when you saw him in the encouragement of 
 Provident Institutions, and from the little I have seen 
 of him I have formed a very favourable opinion both of 
 his head and heart. Mr. Malthus, who was also on 
 a visit near Bath, dined with Mr. Elwin at Mr. Clutter- 
 
 * The last sheet of the letter is used as the cover, and addressed, 
 ' Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godalming, Surry.' 
 
 ^ ' H. Elwin, Esq.,' is among the Managers of the Provident Institution 
 for Savings, mentioned in Joseph Hume's Account of it (1816), p. 7. 
 See above, p. 18. 
 
IVeyland on Population 21 
 
 buck['s] ^ We passed a very agreeable day, and I have 
 reason to believe these two gentlemen were mutually 
 pleased with each other. 
 
 When I tell you that Mr. Malthus accompanied me for 
 a couple of days to Gatcomb, and that we were held 
 prisoners by the weather, you will naturally conclude that 
 we had ample opportunity to discuss our different views 
 on some of the questions in Political Economy, and although 
 we have approached a little in opinion, we have left 
 ourselves sufficient matter for further controversy. 
 
 I think it very doubtful whether Mr. Malthus will 
 notice Mr. Wey land's book ^, although Mr. Weyland treats 
 him with the greatest possible courtesy. He has, I think, 
 not in the least succeeded in establishing his own doctrines 
 in opposition to those of Malthus on the principle of popu- 
 lation, but he has shewn that in the early stages of society 
 when the population presses against food, no remedy 
 would be afforded by lessening the number of the people, 
 because the evil they then experience proceeds from the 
 indolence and vice of the people, and not in \sic\ their 
 inability to procure necessaries. By reducing the popula- 
 tion you reduce food in perhaps a larger proportion, and 
 rather aggravate than remove their misery. He is sin- 
 gularly inconsistent in denying the truth of this principle 
 when applied to Ireland and really recommends means 
 by which the population of that country should be reduced, 
 whereas the remedy required in Ireland is a taste for other 
 objects besides mere food. Any stimulus which should 
 rouse the Irish to activity, which should induce them to 
 dispose of their surplus time in procuring luxuries for 
 themselves, instead of employing it in the most brutal 
 
 * A son-in-law of Ricardo ; see above, p. 14, note 3. 
 
 "^ ' The Principles of Population and Production, as they are affected by 
 the Progress of Society ; with a view to Moral and Political Consequences.' 
 By John W^eyland, F.R.S. London, 1816. Malthus answered him at great 
 length in an Appendix to Essay, fifth ed., 181 7. 
 
22 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 pursuits, would tend more to the civilization and prosperity 
 of their country than any other measures which could be 
 recommended. 
 
 I cannot agree with you in thinking that the war has 
 had much effect in degrading the morals of the people. 
 The outrages of which they are at present guilty may be 
 sufficiently accounted for from the stagnation in trade! 
 which has never failed to produce similar consequences, 
 I am disposed to think that the people are both improved 
 in morals and in knowledge, and therefore, that they are 
 less outrageous under these unavoidable reverses than they 
 formerly used to be. I am in hopes too that as they 
 increase in knowledge they will more clearly perceive that 
 the destruction of property aggrav[a]tes and never relieves 
 their difficulties. Sure[ly the] ^ disastrous effects which 
 always attend an important change in the employments 
 of capital cannot much longer continue and we shall soon 
 witness a renovation of commercial activity and credit. 
 I have not in the least abated in my confidence of the real 
 stability of the finances of the country, although I do not 
 look with much satisfaction on the defalcation of the 
 revenue at a time when it was already so many millions 
 less than the expenditure. We have ample resources, but 
 we want able ministers and a disinterested House of Com- 
 mons. In our assembly the landed interest is too prevalent, 
 and under very trying difficulties I should not have much 
 reliance on their virtue. 
 
 If your Provident Institution is progressive you have no 
 reason to complain, it will ultimately be productive of 
 much good. Our receipts in Westminster are about £350 
 pr. week. We have realized £3,000 money, and find no 
 difficulty in managing the business. In the City of London 
 we shall commence business on Monday next. We have 
 been hitherto prevented from receiving deposits from the 
 
 ' MS. torn. 
 
The Causes of Depression 23 
 
 want of a proper office, which has at length been supplied — 
 though not I think in the most eligible situation— being in 
 Bishopsgate Church Yard. I am sorry that I cannot give 
 my assistance at the first opening as no other manager 
 has taken the least trouble to acquire the necessary infor- 
 mation. Pray make my kind regards to Mrs. Trower and 
 
 believe me, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 David Ricaedo. 
 
 I wish Mrs. Trower and you would take a trip to 
 Gatcomb this Autumn. 
 
 Note. — An extract from a letter of G. B. Greenougb, the geologist, 
 to Hutches Trower, i4tli Dec, 1816, is given here as showing the 
 opinions of another thoughtful man of the time, on the subjects 
 of the above and following letter (X). Greenougb writes : — 
 
 ' Your opinions and mine square very well on the state of 
 public affairs. It would be melancholy indeed to suppose our 
 distresses more than temporary, for they are universal ; — on that 
 account among others it seems reasonable to refer them to some 
 cause which operates on the rest of Europe as well as on Great 
 Britain. The greatness and suddenness of the change which has 
 taken place in the political situation of the whole civilized world 
 is I have no doubt the main evil — and this will get less and less 
 every day. Time is the only remedy for it, but it is a certain 
 remedy. Then comes a bad harvest all over Europe — to be cured 
 only by having a good one next time and diminishing waste in 
 our families till the good one comes. 
 
 ' In addition to these evils, the latter of which was inevitable 
 since we cannot control the seasons, and the former accomi^anied 
 with so much good that it would have been madness to think of 
 avoiding it, evils under which we suffer in common with both 
 continents, there are others I think peculiar to this country, to 
 which the attention of parliament may properly be directed with 
 a view to discover whether the people groaning under temporary 
 burthens which you cannot remove may not be relieved from 
 permanent ones which you can. The state of the poor is the 
 subject to which I more particularly allude. I have long since 
 
24 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 doubted whether we had any right to plume ourselves on exer- 
 cising charity so much more extensively than other countries, and 
 whether this was not rather a proof of the badness of our system 
 than the goodness of our hearts. The more I reflect on the 
 subject the more do I feel inclined to embrace that opinion. 
 I dare not rail against a virtue so pre-eminently Christian ; else 
 I should say that, as hospitality exercised as it was among feudal 
 barons showed a backwardness in civilization, so the outrageous 
 extent to which charity is carried renders it probable that there 
 is some lack of justice. 
 
 ' I would rather the poor were ensured against necessary distress 
 by a rise of wages than relieved from their distress by a rise of 
 poor rates, and I think I could prove that this rise of wages 
 would not be so incompatible with the interest of their employers 
 as at first sight would appear — if instead of a letter I were to 
 send you a dissertation. 
 
 ' In regard to distress occasioned by their own imprudence the 
 best mode of exercising charity is not the expenditure of money 
 but the diffusion of education — in which last I know not whether 
 you will be pleased or vexed to hear this country is behind almost 
 all the others in Europe.' 
 
 Greenough was a well-known geologist (see Letters to Malthus, 
 p. 75, and Miss Edgeworth's Memoirs vol. i). Miss Frances Trower 
 wrote to one of the present Editors (on Dec. 30, 1895): 'I well 
 remember Mr. Greenough staying at Unsted Wood, and myself as 
 a " little thing " being led by hand by the great man, when deputed 
 to show him the paths through the woods which led to the top of 
 our hills, where the views of the country around are beautiful.' 
 
 Dear Trower, London, 27 Ja?;?/., 181 7. 
 
 Is it not desirable that the poor laws should be done 
 away, and that the labouring classes should receive the 
 recompense for their labour rather in the shape of wages 
 than in that of bounty? If yoa answer in the affirmative 
 then there is no way of preventing the single man from 
 * Last page of letter used as cover, and addressed as before. 
 
Wages and the Poor Laws 25 
 
 receiving more than is sufficient for his support, and I can 
 see no reason to regret it. When the wages of a married 
 man with a family are barely adequate to his own and his 
 family's maintenance, the wages of the single man may be 
 ample. All this I admit, but if it is a necessary conse- 
 quence of the abolition of the poor laws it must be ac- 
 quiesced in under the circumstances of an abolition. Even 
 if it were an evil, which I think it is not, it must be endured 
 for the sake of the good which would accompany it. The 
 ill effects of the poor laws then I suppose to be admitted 
 and their abolition to be desirable[;] the question then is 
 how is it to be effected 1 Can it be by any other means 
 than by gradually limiting their application, by encouraging 
 the poor man to depend on his own exertions only 1 Is 
 not this to be done by refusing all relief in the first in- 
 stance to any but those whose necessities absolutely require 
 it — to administer it to them in the most sparing manner, 
 and lastly to abolish the poor laws altogether? If the 
 poor rates are to be resorted to not only by those who 
 have no other means of subsisting, but by those who are 
 possessed of property, instead of limiting their application 
 you would extend it ; instead of repressing population you 
 would still further encourage it, and would place at a 
 greater distance the ultimate effect which we have in view. 
 It is a painful reflection but not less true on that account, 
 that we can never get into a good system, after so long 
 persevering in a bad one, but by much previous suffering 
 of the poor. The population can only be repressed by 
 diminishing the encouragement to its excessive increase, — by 
 leaving contracts between the poor and their employers 
 perfectly free, which would limit the quantity of labour 
 in the market to the effective demand for it. By engaging 
 to feed all who may require food you in some measure 
 create an unlimited demand for human beings, and if it 
 were not for the bad administration of the poor laws, for 
 
26 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 the occasional hard heartedness of overseers and the avarice 
 of parishes, which in a degree checks their evil effects, the 
 population and the rates would go on increasing in a regular 
 progression till the rich were reduced to poverty, and till 
 there would no longer be any distinction of ranks. The 
 particular clause then in the Savings Bank Bill must be 
 examined in reference to its effects on the poor rates ^. 
 By omitting the clause you narrow the application of the 
 rates ; you encourage a part of the population to maintain 
 themselves and to afford a good moral example to others, 
 and you gradually prepare the way for the adoption of a 
 better system. The only argument of weight in favour of 
 the clause is that without it saving will be discouraged. 
 I cannot believe that this would be found to be the case ; 
 no man saves with the poor house in perspective. Poor 
 and rich all have confidence in their good fortune, and 
 whilst their affaii's are prosperous never dream of a reverse. 
 
 I have scarcely left myself room to thank you and Mrs. 
 Trower for your kind congratulations to Mrs. Ricardo and 
 me, on the birth of our grandchild. I hope you are right 
 and that these numerous ties are calculated to increase our 
 happiness. 
 
 I suppose I must not expect you in London for two or 
 three months ; you generally come in the gayest time. 
 I am sorry to see our finances in so bad a state, and so 
 turbulent a spirit abroad. We want an energetic minister 
 possessing and meriting the confidence of the people in his 
 talents and integrity. 
 
 I am, dear Trower, very truly yours, 
 
 David Ricaedo. 
 
 ' Probably the twenty-first clause of Mr. Rose's Bill,— enacting that the 
 members of Provident Institutions should not be debarred from parish 
 relief. See Quarterly Review, Oct. 1816, p. 113. 
 
Provident Institutions 27 
 
 Dear TeoWER, London, 24 J'eS., 181 7. 
 
 Mr. Rose ^ you will have seen has himself answered 
 }'Our questions concerning his proposed measures for 
 regulating Provident Institutions, by the introduction of 
 his bill into the House of Commons^, which I believe 
 does not in any material point differ from that of last year. 
 It retains the clause respecting giving parish relief to con- 
 tributors, notwithstanding they may have funds in the 
 Bank, which I apprehend will not be suffered to pass 
 without opposition. I am glad to find that we do not 
 differ with respect to the pernicious tendency of the poor 
 laws ; we both wish to see them amended or abolished, 
 but I believe are not quite agreed on the means of obtaining 
 so salutary an end. If I thought with you that the clause 
 in question was calculated to afford great encouragement 
 to the poor to become depositors in these Institutions, 
 I should be friendly to it. My apprehension from its 
 continuing is more that it will not diminish the poor 
 rates than that it will cause any addition to them. There 
 are as you observe two classes of labourers, the single 
 and the married. Notwithstanding that the tendency of 
 the poor laws is to reduce the wages of these classes to the 
 least possible amount on which single men can live, yet this 
 effect is not probably fully accomplished. If it were, neither 
 the single man, who receives no relief from the parish, 
 nor the married man who does, could possibly become de- 
 positors, for they would have nothing to deposit. We must 
 
 * Addressed on last sheet, as before. 
 
 ^ George Rose (1744-1818), the close friend and supporter of Pitt, 
 was the author of 'Observations on Banks for Savings,' London, 1816, 
 and brought in a Bill for the Protection and Encouragement of Provident 
 Institutions or Banks for Savings, May 15, 1816,— withdrawn in that 
 year and reintroduced 18 17. 
 
 ^ Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. xxxv, 222, 348. 
 
28 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 suppose then that the single men receive more than their 
 wants require. Our object is to encourage them to accu- 
 mulate what they can save from their wages, and the 
 question is, what effect the insertion or omission of this 
 clause will have on their minds. You think that the 
 chances of poverty are so constantly before their eyes, and 
 that it appears so probable that they may themselves fall 
 into that state, that they would have no motive to acquire 
 property if the possession of property precluded them from 
 receiving relief. I on the contrary maintain that after 
 expending on their own wants the property they had 
 acquired they would be in no worse situation for having 
 acquired it. This of course you would allow, but I am of 
 opinion that the chances of a reverse of fortune are always 
 considerably undervalued by all of us, and therefore that 
 the fear of falling into poverty can have very little influence 
 on the mind of any man whose wages are such as to enable 
 him to save a part of his earnings. The only good that 
 the most sanguine can expect from these Institutions is the 
 withdrawing of this class from the influence of the poor 
 rates, and thus by diminishing the number of paupers 
 introduce more independent feelings. 
 
 You will accomplish this object most surely if you take 
 security for the permanence of a man's good habits. 
 Exclude the clause, he will know that to preserve his 
 treasure he must be saving and prudent ; insert it, he will 
 as surely know that he may indulge in a week or month's 
 dissipation without infringing on it. I am not so sanguine 
 as many as to the excellent effects which are to follow from 
 these Banks, unless we at the same time raise the general 
 rate of wages by confining the operation of the poor laws 
 to cases of extreme necessity. We are I think beginning 
 at the wrong end. Every thing would go on well if we could 
 rescue the lowest labourers with families from an habitual 
 reliance on the rates. By so doing we should better the 
 
Parliamentary Papers 29 
 
 condition of all above that class and then these Institutions 
 would become powerful auxiliaries. As it is, they may 
 introduce better habits amongst a few who ^ now lavish 
 their money away in idleness and extravagance; but in 
 the other case, the field would be extended, and the result 
 gratifying to every friend of the poor and to the cause of 
 good government. These rates are a yawning gulph in 
 which all that is valuable will be ultimately swallowed. 
 I hope Mrs. Trower continues in good health. Pray make 
 Mrs. Ricardo's and my compliments to her. 
 
 Ever yours 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 [On the last sheet of the letter is written in Trower's band- 
 writing : ' The answer to this argument is that the poor man is 
 liable to difficulties independent of bis own foresigbt and prudence, 
 and that be ougbt to be secured against them by relief if distress 
 should come upon bim.'] 
 
 XII \ 
 
 Dear Trower, London, 30 March, 1 81 7. 
 
 Before I leave London, for a very few days, I am 
 desirous that you should know that I applied the morning 
 after I saw you to the proper officer in the Vote Office of 
 the House of Commons, to get you a set of Parliamentary 
 papers, but I am sorry to say without success. It seems 
 that a very limited number of copies are printed besides 
 those distributed to the members ; these are the perquisite 
 of two gentlemen in the office, but they are all disposed of, 
 and at no price can a single copy now be obtained there. 
 To console you under your disappointment, I can assure 
 you that it will give me great pleasure to lend you, when- 
 ever you may want them, any of my papers or reports. 
 
 ^ 'Who' is repeated by oversight, in original. 
 * Addressed on last page, as before. 
 
30 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 The report of last year respecting the employment of 
 children in Manufactures^ should have been sent to you in 
 town the other day, but I did not know your direction. 
 I heard you say something about Montague Place, but 
 I knew not at whose house you were to be found there. 
 This year there have been very few reports, — the only one 
 of importance is a very thick one containing the laws in 
 reference to Roman catholics in the different protestant 
 countries of Europe ^. If you would like to have this, as 
 well as the one before named, I will send them to you by 
 the coach, and you may keep them for a twelvemonth if 
 you please. 
 
 I called yesterday on my printer, and he appeared more 
 inclined, than on the day you were with me, to promise 
 that my book should be out on the Monday following the 
 next ^. When you read it remember that I want from you 
 the candid opinion of a friend, both respecting the matter 
 and manner. Independently of the desire which I have to 
 form a correct judgment of the merits and demerits of the 
 work, the opinions of those, whose opinions are worth 
 having, will enable me to make such alterations in it as 
 may render it more fit for the public eye if a second edition 
 should be required. Therefore I request you not [to be] ^ 
 sparing in your criticism. 
 
 I hope that on your return home you found Mrs. Trower 
 
 ^ Report on the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee 
 on the state of the children employed in the Manufactures of the United 
 Kingdom, April 25 and June 18, 1816. 
 
 "^ Abstract of the Report of the Committee on the Laws and Ordinances 
 existing in Foreign States, i-especting the I'egulation of their Roman 
 Catholic subjects in Ecclesiastical matters. Dated 1816. The document 
 ends curiously with a quotation from the 'Wealth of Nations' on the 
 Primitive and Medieval Constitution of the Chui'ch. See Annual Register. 
 1816, State Papers, pp. 436-9. In 181 7 there was a very long report on 
 the Poor Laws. 
 
 ^ ' On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation.' By David 
 Ricardo, Esq. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1817. 
 
 * MS. torn. 
 
Provident Institutions 31 
 
 and your children well, and that the former approved of 
 the manner in which you executed your various com- 
 missions in London. If any were omitted I fear I must 
 share the blame ; the incessant talk which I kept up 
 during our walk was well calculated to drive more im- 
 portant matters from your mind. I hope too that you 
 will reconsider your resolution of not visiting London this 
 spring. Living so near town it is a duty which you owe 
 to yourself and to your friends, to meet them at least once 
 in the year. 
 
 With best wishes to Mrs. Trower, in which Mrs. Ricardo 
 most cordially unites, I am 
 
 Dear Trower 
 
 Very sincerely yours 
 
 David Ricakdo. 
 
 XIII \ 
 
 DeAK TeOWEK, London, 9 May, 181 7. 
 
 I write although I can give you little information 
 on the subject of your inquiry. I understand it is proposed 
 that the managers of the three Provident Institutions in 
 London shall meet for the purpose of agreeing on some 
 general regulations, at which [meeting] it will no doubt be 
 discussed whether it will be expedient to alter the rules, 
 to enable us to avail ourselves of the privilege about to 
 be granted of obtaining debentures at a fixed rate of 
 interest, with a return of the money at the will of the 
 trustees. It appears to me so desireable that the depositor 
 should be secured in the receipt of the precise sum of money 
 which he may originally deposit, that notwithstanding 
 there are great objections against the limiting each man's 
 deposit to £50, it should be agreed to, if on no other con- 
 dition this advantage is to be obtained. This point has 
 ^ Addressed on last page, as before. 
 
32 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 not yet been discussed, nor offered for discussion in our 
 particular establishment, and probably will not be till the 
 clause has been approved by Parliament. 
 
 I am very much surprised at Ministers sanctioning such 
 a clause, for it cannot be doubted that if the amount of 
 deposits should become very large, it will not only subject 
 the country to a considerable tax, but may on the breaking 
 out of a war very much embarrass the financial operations. 
 Suppose that a sum as large as 3 millions of debentures 
 should be issued by the Bank in return for deposits made 
 by trustees, when 3 per cents. ^ are at 85, Government would 
 by purchasing 3 per cents, obtain only 3^ per cent, on 
 3 millions for which they would be paying to the holders 
 of debentures more than 4! per cent., thus losing £30,000 
 per ann., and when 3 per cents, fell to 60 they would be 
 called upon for the payment of this sum of 3 millions at 
 a very inconvenient time, as to obtain it they would lose 
 the difference between 85 at which they bought, and 60 at 
 which they would be forced to sell or £750,000. Now 
 though I am a friend to these Institutions I do not think 
 that they are deserving of these extraordinary bonuses, 
 particularly as I am persuaded that this loss to the public 
 would not act as any great encouragement to savings. 
 The depositors whether they received 5, 4 or 3 per cent, for 
 their money, would be of little importance in determining 
 them to economical habits \sic]. 
 
 With respect to the moral influence on the[m of] ^ these 
 Institutions, do you think that a depositor will feel that 
 he has an equal stake in the country and is therefore 
 interested in its peace and good government, whether he 
 have £5 in the funds or in a government debenture 1 In 
 that respect I can see no difference. 
 
 Mr. El win is engaged to dine with me on monday next 
 
 * Written, as almost always, ' p. cts.' 
 =» MS. torn. 
 
Paper Money 33 
 
 when I shall give him your message. I shall not I think 
 see him before. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo joins with me in kind regards to Mrs. Trower. 
 Very truly yours. 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 XIV \ 
 
 [To SiK John Sinclair.] 
 
 Upper Brook Street, 
 
 Sir, 4''^ ^«2/, 1817. 
 
 I thank you for your pamphlet ^, which I have read 
 with attention. I agree with you that a part of our 
 distress has been occasioned by the reduction of the circu- 
 lation ; but I consider it as a necessary price for the estab- 
 lishment of a better system, than that of encouraging an 
 indefinite amount of paper circulation. I cannot think 
 that any but a very small further reduction will be neces- 
 sary to enable the Bank to meet any demands that may be 
 made on them for specie. The remedy, grievous as it is, 
 is the necessary consequence of former error. I hope we 
 shall never try an unchecked paper circulation again, 
 though I have no objection to a paper circulation, and 
 nothing but a paper circulation. It is obvious that, if we 
 have forty millions, or any other given amount of taxes to 
 pay, they will fall heavier on those who are to pay them, if 
 money, by the diminution of its quantity, is raised in value. 
 I have not seen Mr. Attwood's publication ^. 
 
 I am, Sir, your obedient and humble servant, 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 ^ ' Correspondence of Sir John Sinclair,' vol. i. p. 321. 
 * ' On the approaching Crisis or on the Impi-acticability and Injustice 
 of resuming Cash Payments at the Bank in July, i8i8' (1817). 
 
 ^ Letter to N. Vansittart, Esq., on the Creation of Money and on 
 
34 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 Dear TroWER, Antwerp, 15 June, 1817^ 
 
 You will be very much surprised at receiving an 
 answer to your letter dated from this place, but here I am, 
 enjoying in the most delightful weather, one of the most 
 agreeable journeys I have ever taken. My brother Ralph 
 only is with me. We landed on tuesday last at Calais, 
 and have already been through the towns of Cassel ^, Lisle 
 and Ghent. Each place appears to improve on the last, 
 and Antwerp, where we now are, is certainly the grandest. 
 I am quite astonished at the magnificence and splendour 
 of the Cathedrals and Churches in this country, — they far 
 surpass any thing that I have seen in our own country, 
 and the pictures which are to be found in them are the 
 chefs d'oeuvres [sic] of the masters by whom they are 
 painted. To see the descent from the Cross by Rubens, 
 which is in the Cathedral here, is alone worth all the 
 trouble of a journey from London. There are others nearly 
 as good in this and in the other churches, besides innumer- 
 able beautiful specimens of the delightful art of painting 
 in the public and private collections. We intend leaving 
 this place tomorrow for Brussels, from which place we pro- 
 pose going by Namur to Liege and thence to Cologne. From 
 Cologne we shall proceed up the Rhine to Franckfort and 
 
 its Action upon National Prosperity : Birmingham, 1817. See below, 
 p. 149. Thomas Attwood, banker in Birmingham, was the founder of 
 the 'Birmingham School' of theorists on the Currency, and 1^1830) 
 of the Birmingham Political Union (see Wallas, ' Life of Place,' p. 251). 
 
 ' Addressed on last page: ' Hutches Trower, Esq., Godalming, Surrey, 
 England.' English post-mark dated 20th. 
 
 ^ In 1822 he was struck by the diminution in the number of beggars 
 in Franco since 1817, but ' that [1817] was a year of famine over Europe, 
 and it is the producer who is now complaining' [1822]. 'Tour on the 
 Continent,' p. 4. 
 
 ^ The small town of that name between St. Omer and the present 
 French fiontier. 
 
Distress Abroad 35 
 
 Heidelberg, and then we shall make the best of our way 
 to Paris, and after seeing the beauties of that luxurious 
 capital we shall return home. I have long had a desire to 
 make a tour on the continent, but one week before setting 
 out I had not any idea that it was so near its accomplish- 
 ment. Our pleasure is damped by witnessing every where 
 the greatest distress and poverty, proceeding in a great 
 degree from the last bad harvest. We are told that bread 
 is more than three times its ordinary price, and would be 
 higher if other causes did not abridge the ability of the 
 purchasers to pay for it. The poor are obliged to have 
 recourse to food which is never eaten by human beings but 
 on the greatest emergencies. It is some consolation how- 
 ever to see every where around us in this fertile country 
 abundant fields of corn, looking beautifully, and holding 
 out the fairest prospects of an abundant harvest. Besides 
 the evils resulting from dear food the people have to 
 struggle as well as ourselves with a stagnation in trade. 
 At the table d'hote yesterday in conversation with an 
 intelligent man he ascribed much of this to the disadvan- 
 tage of their trade with England, although he was abun- 
 dantly inconsistent on this subject. First he complained of 
 the goods which were imported from England, they were 
 totally unlike what were formerly obtained from that 
 country, and were made only to please the eye. Secondly 
 he insisted on the necessity of rigourous [.sic] enactments 
 against the introduction of British manufactures on the 
 continent while England continued her prohibitory system 
 — they were now obliged, he said, to buy every thing, and 
 were not allowed to sell any thing, and therefore were under 
 the necessity of paying the balance in gold and silver. As 
 well as I could, in my bad French, I endeavoured to set 
 him right, and to correct his erroneous theory, but I fear 
 I have not satisfied him that retaliation in such a case 
 only aggravates the evil sought to be removed. I cannot 
 D 2 
 
36 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 but lament however that England, who ought to be the 
 example to other nations for liberal and correct principles, 
 should be justly accused of being the foremost in departing 
 from the maxims of free trade, and shackling the most 
 advantageous distribution of the general commerce of the 
 world. You will conceive my surprise when I tell j^ou that 
 while I was present at the celebration of Mass today, in 
 the great Cathedral, with all my attention fixed on the 
 mummery by which I was surrounded, I was tapped on 
 the shoulder by our friend Elwin^ who had the evening 
 before arrived from Bruxelles, in his way to Douay, where 
 he is going to see a nephew whom he had a week before 
 left at that place, after which he will immediately return 
 to England. I experienced from him his usual kindness, 
 for he insisted on our dining with him and his com- 
 panion, Mr. Oxley I believe his name, at his hotel. We 
 accepted his invitation, and after very much enjoying his 
 company we went together to the Play, from which we are 
 just returned. He will, I have no doubt, soon write to 
 you himself. 
 
 I have scarcely left myself room to say how very much 
 pleased I was with your observations on my book 2. I 
 shall take it very kind of you indeed to furnish me with 
 every observation which you may think of importance to 
 enable me either to explain what is obscure, or to correct 
 what is faulty, previously to my publishing a second 
 edition. Murray tells me that a second edition will most 
 assuredly be required and you will of course conclude that 
 I shall be most anxious to give it every improvement in 
 my power, you cannot therefore oblige me more than freely 
 to animadvert on every part of it ^. 
 
 Pray make my compliments to Mrs. Trower. I hope 
 
 * See above, p. ao. 
 
 * See above, p. 30. 
 
 ' The second edition did not actually appear until early in 1819. 
 
Family Affairs 37 
 
 that she and your children are well, and believe me with 
 the greatest regard, 
 
 Yrs very sincerely 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 XVII. 
 
 Gatcomb Park, Minchinhampton, 
 My DEAE TrOWER 23^'' Amj. 181 7. 
 
 I congratulate Mrs. Trower and you on the birth 
 of (I believe) your third daughter, and sincerely wish that 
 she may grow up to be all that fond parents can wish, and 
 that she may long add to the happiness of your domestic 
 circle. True, I am a much older parent than you, and now 
 that I am a grandfather, I should be puzzled, even with 
 the assistance of Mr. Mai thus and Major Torrens, to calcu- 
 late the accelerated ratio at which my progeny is increas- 
 ing. I am sure that it is neither arithmetical or geometrical. 
 I have some notion of consulting with Mr. Owen^ on the 
 best plan of establishing one of his villages for me and my 
 descendants, admitting only in addition a sufficient num- 
 ber of families to prevent the necessity of celibacy. Now 
 that the poor man is deserted by the world, and even by 
 the editor of the Times, who had so ridiculously puffed 
 him forward, he will be at leisure to devote all his talents, 
 and all his enthusiasm to so hopeful a scheme. 
 
 I have been returned \8ic\ from the Continent about a 
 month, after an absence from home of little more than six 
 weeks. I assure you that they were six weeks of active 
 exertion which was amply rewarded by the gratification 
 which I had in viewing the different objects which came 
 under my notice. The towns, Cathedrals, and pictures of 
 Flanders ; the country about the Rhine and Heidelberg ^ ; 
 Franckfort, Coblentz, and some other towns in Germany, 
 
 * Addressed on last page, as before, 'Surrey' now taking the place of 
 * Surry.' 
 
 ^ See Note below. ^ Written ' Hiedelberg.' 
 
38 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 have all afforded me very great pleasure, and my fort- 
 night's stay in Paris was not the least agreeable of my 
 journey. An excursion to Paris merely, is so very easily 
 accomplished, that I shall be tempted to go there again 
 with my family. Every body should see the Louvre and 
 Versailles who lives within a week's journey of them. 
 
 I can give you but little information respecting the 
 criticisms on my book ; indeed I have heard of none but 
 from M. Say and Mr. Malthus for some months past. The 
 former I saw several times at Paris, — he was very friendly 
 and agreeable — spoke favourably of my book — was quite 
 sure that in a very few years there would not be a shadow 
 of difference between us, but he complained that I had 
 made demands too gi-eat on the continued exercise of 
 thought on the part of my reader, and had not sufficiently 
 relieved him or assisted him by a few occasional examples, 
 and illustrations in support of my theory. He said that 
 he was reading me with a pen in his hand, making notes 
 to be employed in the next edition of his work, and he 
 found it required all his attention to follow me. In the 
 last edition of his work, published before my book ap- 
 peared, he has spoken of me in very flattering terms, far 
 exceeding my deserts ^. 
 
 In a letter which I lately received from Mr. Malthus he 
 mentions my book in the following manner : ' I have read 
 your book again with much gratification. There is much 
 
 ' ' Traite d'eeonomie politique, ou simple exposition de la manifere dont 
 se ferment, se distribuent et se consomment les riehesses ' ; troisieme 
 Edition, a laquelle se trouve joint un Epitome des principes fondamentaux 
 de I'economie politique.' Paris, 181 7. 
 
 In this edition Say described and commended Ricardo's 'Proposals for 
 an Economical and Secure Currency,' and referred (ii. p. 29, note) to 
 Ricardo himself as ' I'homme de I'Emope qui entend le mieux la th^orie 
 et la pratique des Monnaies.' In the fourth edition of the 'Traite' 
 (.Paris, 1819), Say inserted repeated references to Ricardo's 'Principles'; 
 but the running commentary on Ricardo's exposition, as suggested above, 
 was made by Say only in his annotations to Coustancio's translation of 
 Ricardo's 'Principles,' published in Paris in 1819. 
 
Dispute ivith Torrens 39 
 
 collateral matter in which I quite agree with you. I also 
 quite agree with you that the difficulty of procuring sub- 
 sistence is the necessarily limiting cause with regard to 
 profits, but still I cannot agree with you that labour done 
 in the sense you understand it is either in theory or fact 
 the best measure of exchangeable value ; or that the state 
 of the land practically determines the existing rate of profit 
 in difierent countries. Pray do you allow that in different 
 countries where profits are difierent your theory of value 
 does not hold good? I don't feel quite sure.' On the 
 whole I have reason to be satisfied with the opinions of 
 these distinguished professors. I was told by Mill that 
 Major Torrens had applied to the editor of the Edinburgh 
 Review for permission to review my book in that journal, 
 and the answer returned was that they must first know 
 from Malthus whether he meant to undertake it. As I 
 have every reason to believe that Malthus will not do it, 
 it is probable that Torrens' offer may be accepted. I pre- 
 sented Torrens with one of the first copies of my book ; he 
 was disappointed that I had not mentioned his name in 
 it, and wrote to me to that eff'ect, claiming some merit 
 as the original discoverer of some of the principles which 
 I endeavoured to establish. I had no design of neglecting 
 his merits, and omitted to mention him because none of 
 his doctrines appeared to me strikingly new and did not 
 particularly come with[in the] ^ scope of the subject I was 
 treating. There were so[me things] ^ in his book [about] ^ 
 which I pointedly differed from him, but refrained from 
 [noting] ^ them because I knew he was sensible they were 
 wrong, and had adopted and was going soon to publish 
 more correct views to the public. In the correspondence 
 which ensued between him and me, I endeavoured to shew, 
 and according to Mill's opinion I did shew, that on all those 
 
 * MS. torn ; the words in brackets suggest the probable reading. 
 
40 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 points which I had as I thought for the first time brought 
 forward, his published opinions were in fact in opposition 
 to mine, and on those which he said we agreed upon and 
 for which he claimed the merit of originality, they were all 
 to be found in Adam Smith or Malthus, and therefore 
 neither of us could be called discoverers ^ Our altercation 
 was carried on without the least acrimonj^ and ended by 
 a complete restoration of cordiality, though accompanied 
 with rather more reserve than before. He has dined with 
 me twice since, and the last time he met Mr. Malthus for 
 the first time and stoutly defended my doctrines, to which 
 he is quite a convert, against Mr. Malthus' opposition to 
 them. You will oblige me not to mention his application 
 to the Editor of the Review unless you hear it from some 
 other quarter ^. 
 
 I only staid one day in town on my journey from Paris 
 to Gatcomb, so that I am ignorant of the proceedings of the 
 savings Bank Institution. Your plan-^ is a good one if it 
 do not too much encroach on the fund for expenses. I fear 
 that our reduced treasure can bear no further diminution. 
 
 Our crops are abundant, but we are in bad spirits at the 
 appearance of the weather. We hardly pass a day without 
 heavy rain, and the atmosphere is so cold that we are 
 never without a fire. An abundant harvest is at the 
 present moment of the first importance, — it is at all times 
 a great ingredient towards the happiness of the mass of the 
 people, however it may on some occasions afiect the in- 
 terest of a particular class of individuals., Do you not 
 
 1 For the economic doctrines of Torrens, see Mr. Cannan's ' Production 
 and Distribution, 17 76- 1848' (1893). 
 
 * The notice in the Edinburgh Keview was written by McCulloch. See 
 Letters of Kicardo to McCulloch (Amer. Ec. Assocn., 1895), p. 9. Torrens 
 reviewed Eieardo's ' Piinciples,' or at least the doctrine of Value con- 
 tained therein, in the Edinburgh Magazine, Oct., 1818. See Letters of 
 Ricardo to McCulloch, p. 15. As to tlie general attitude of Ton-ens, see 
 Ricardo to Malthus, p. 112. 
 
 - We have not traced this in the Trower MSS. 
 
Ozven and the ' Times ' 41 
 
 think the funds enormously high with a revenue so 
 
 deficient ? Mrs. Ricardo joins with me in kind regards to 
 
 Mrs. Trower. ^^ , , 
 
 Yrs truly 
 
 David Ricaedo. 
 
 Note. — A full account of Robert Owen's proceedings in 1 8 1 7 
 is given in the ' Life of Robert Owen ' by himself, publ. Effingham 
 Wilson, 1857-8. See toI. i. pp. 154 seq., vol. ii. (called vol. i. A) 
 pp. 53 seq. He proposed to arrange the Unemployed Working- 
 classes into Agricultural and Manufacturing Villages ' of Unity 
 and Mutual Co-operation ' limited to a Population of from 500 to 
 1500 persons. ' This was the announcement of that new state of 
 existence upon earth, which, when understood and applied 
 rationally to practice, will cordially unite all as one good and 
 enlightened family, will enable all rapidly to progress in know- 
 ledge and wisdom, and to enjoy without interruption the highest 
 earthly happiness to which man can attain, 
 
 ' The proceedings connected with these first public meetings 
 which I held in the City of London Tavern, were minutely and 
 accurately narrated in all the London morning and evening 
 newspapers, published for general news at that period. And in 
 this work the Times took the leading interest. And until the 
 meeting at which I emphatically and solemnly at the risk of all 
 that men hold dear, even to life itself, denounced in the strongest 
 terms all the religions as they were taught to the world the Times 
 was the warmest in my praise and in praise of the measures which 
 I recommended, — often giving columns in the same paper to the 
 development of the system as I gave it to the public, — as may be 
 seen by referring to its pages from the 30th of July to the loth of 
 September 181 7 ' (i. 154-5). The denunciation of all the religions 
 took place at the meeting held on the 21st August (ii. 108 seq.). 
 
 XVII \ 
 
 My dear Trower Gatcomb Park 10 Deer. 1817. 
 
 You make your excuses with so good a grace, that 
 
 I could not be angry with you if I would, but what perhaps 
 
 Addressed on last page, ' Hutches Trower, Esqr., Unsted Wood, Godal- 
 ming, Surry.' 
 
42 Letters of Ricardo to Trozver 
 
 more certainly determines me to shew charity to you, is 
 the necessity I am under of frequently throwing myself on 
 the charitable judgment of others — I shew mercy that 
 I may receive it. 
 
 We have here, equally with every other part of the coun- 
 try, mourned over the untimely fate of our late princess^, 
 and are equally sensible of the great national loss we have 
 sustained. All the Princes of the Royal Blood probably 
 now expect to wield the sceptre in their turn, but the 
 probability is that in this expectation they will be dis- 
 appointed. It is a singular circumstance that with so many 
 children our old King should not have one grand-child. 
 A writer in the Morning Chronicle, whose letter I had not 
 time to read, ascribes this to the Royal Marriage Act, and 
 I think the remark well founded. Marriage would be 
 a different thing to all of us if our partners were selected 
 for us, and were necessarily strangers to our sympathies. 
 I know that there are some good state reasons to be ad- 
 vanced in its defence, yet I cannot help thinking that it 
 would be wise not to prevent the younger branches of the 
 family from marrying subjects, either with a view to their 
 own happiness and respectability, or to the interests of the 
 country. Our Princes have certainly not refrained from 
 marriage from a consideration of Malthus' prudential check, 
 and from a fear of producing a redundant Royal population. 
 If they had they would now be actuated by different 
 motives and we might expect that the great demand for 
 Royal infants would be followed by so ample a supply as 
 to occasion a glut, 
 
 I have read the report of the Committee of the House 
 of Commons on the Poor Laws with much satisfaction 2. 
 
 ' Princess Charlotte Augusta, daughter of the Prince of Wales, and wife 
 of Prince Leopold George Frederick of Coburg, died at Claremont on 
 Nov. 6, 181 7, and was buried in Windsor Chapel. 
 
 ^ See Letters to Malthus, p. 126, n. 
 
Reviezus of his Book 43 
 
 I am glad to see sound principles promulgated from that 
 quarter, though I should have been still more pleased if 
 they had insisted more strongly on an efficient remedy. 
 On this part of the subject they shew too much hesitation — 
 recommend measures, and then qualify or abandon them. 
 The whole country is feeling the inconvenience of the 
 present system, and will, I hope, be brought to understand 
 the origin of the evil. All the principal Reviews write well 
 on the subject. In the last number of the British there 
 is a very good review of the Commons' report, which is 
 worth your reading. In the same number there is also 
 a review of my book\ in which in every page I am charged 
 with ignorance and absurdity ; yet it is not done in an 
 ungent[le]manly way, and I have the pleasure to have my 
 friend Malthus associated with me in the censure of having 
 made the subject of rent, which was well explained by 
 Adam Smith, and is perfectly clear, obscure and unin- 
 telligible. The writer does not in fact see the important 
 part of the subject ; he has read but not studied it. Ho 
 has kindly left unattacked those points which were most 
 assailable, and has fastened on those which are incontro- 
 vertible ^. My style and arrangement are fortunately for 
 me not mentioned. A writer in a Scotch paper called the 
 Scotsman has written 'a short Essay in my vindication, and 
 has I think done it ably, for he has expressed my opinions 
 in much clearer language than I could do it myself^. To 
 compensate me also for the censure of the reviewer, I have 
 been made acquainted with Lord Grenville's opinion of my 
 book, which is favourable beyond my expectations. When 
 
 ' See Letters to Malthus, pp. 145-7. 
 
 ^ Compare Letters to Malthus, p. 145. The assailable points included 
 his doctrine of the effects of Machinery, afterwards altered, and his view 
 of the effects which a tax would have on the volume of the currency. 
 See Letter XXXIV. and Appendix B. See also Letter XVI. 
 
 •' The writer was doubtless J. K. McCuUoch ; see Letters of Ricardo to 
 McCulloch, p. 10. 
 
44 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 I go to London I am, at his Lordship's desire, to be intro- 
 duced to him. For Lord Grenville's judgement on matters 
 of Political Economy I have always had the highest re[spect]. 
 
 We have established a Savings Bank in this neighbour- 
 hood in the formation of which I have been very active. 
 I was the only one practically acquainted with such Insti- 
 tutions and therefore my services have been much more 
 highly appreciated than they deserved. We give a half 
 penny per month for every 13s. In six weeks we have 
 received about £11 co, which may be said to be tolerably 
 successful, but we understand that a strong prejudice exists 
 among the manufacturing classes against us. They think 
 that we have some sinister object — that we wish to keep 
 wages down. Time and good temper will overcome this 
 feeling and convince the prejudiced how that the rich have 
 no other personal object in view excepting the interest 
 which every man must feel in good government^ — and in 
 the general prosperity. The success of these Banks would 
 be great if the enormous abuses of the Poor Laws were 
 corrected. 
 
 Several other banks have been opened since ours 
 within 15 miles of us, but every where the same prejudice 
 operates against them. 
 
 Mill's book waits only for the index to be published ^ 
 He has from the remarks I have heard him make given me 
 a great desire to read and study it. 
 
 Malthus has a volume ready which I am also anxious to 
 see, because he expressed in it his views on the subjects 
 on which I have lately written, and which I know differ 
 materially from mine ^. 
 
 1 shall be in London in January, and shall not return 
 
 ' ' History of British India.' 3 vols. 4to. London, 1817-18. Ricardo 
 was then reading an early copy of the work ; see Letters of Ricardo to 
 Malthus, pp. 146, 147. 
 
 ^ Doubtless ' The Principles of Political Economy, considered with aView 
 to their Practical Application' — not actually published until 1820. 
 
Correspondence and Conversation 45 
 
 again here. I hope soon to meet you. To secure a meeting 
 I ought to kill an East India director, a contested election 
 will follow, and then you will infallibly be brought to town. 
 I am annoyed by the prospect of being Sheriff of our county 
 this next year. Of the three named, CoP. Berkeley, son of 
 the late Earl, is first and I second. The CoP. it is said 
 is about to try again for the peerage and therefore it is 
 probable that I may be chosen ^ Mrs. Ricardo and my 
 daughter join with me in kind regards to Mrs. Trower, 
 to whom and to you I wish all manner of good. 
 Very truly yours 
 
 David Ricahdo. 
 
 XVIII 2. 
 
 My Dear TrOWEE, London, 26 Jawj/ 18 18. 
 
 Your last kind letter reached London before I arrived 
 there, and after performing a journey to Gatcomb, was 
 again brought to town in my pocket on the 15th inst. 
 I should have answered it before but I have been inces- 
 santly employed in business that required my immediate 
 attention. I heartily wish with you that we had chanced 
 to fix our residences near to each other, that we might 
 in the calm of the country, have pui'sued those discussions 
 which on many occasions engaged our attention even in 
 the tumultuous scenes where we were accustomed to meet, 
 but where we had neither leisure, nor favourable oppor- 
 tunities, to make them so serviceable to us as we should 
 have done amidst groves, and fields, undisturbed by the 
 stimulating interests which formerly engrossed us. I re- 
 member well the pleasure I felt, when I first discovered that 
 
 * The dignity came in due course ; see p. 49, below. 
 
 "^ Addressed, ' Unsted Wood, Godalming,' on back of last sheet, but 
 without postmarks. Probably sent by hand. The paper is gilt-edged, as 
 is not infrequent in this correspondence. 
 
46 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 you as well as myself was \8iG\ a great admirer of the work of 
 Adam Smith, and of the early articles on Political Economy 
 which had appeared in the Edinburgh Review. Meeting 
 as we did every day, these afforded us often an agreeable 
 subject for half an hour's chat, when business did not 
 engage us. Everything that has since occurred has stimu- 
 lated me to give a great deal of attention to such subjects : 
 first, the Bullion Controversy, and then my intimacy with 
 Mill and Malthus, which was the consequence of the part 
 I took in that question. My discussions with Malthus 
 have been innumerable, and in my eagerness to convince 
 him he was wrong, on some points on which we differed, 
 I was led into a deeper consideration of many parts of the 
 subject than I had before given them, and though I have 
 failed to convince him, and may not have satisfied others, 
 I have convinced myself, and think that I have a very 
 consistent theory in my own mind. This theory I have 
 attempted to commit to paper that I might communicate 
 it to others, but owing to my little knowledge of the art of 
 composition I have not succeeded to my wish, and I now 
 quite despair of ever knowing how to wield that admirable 
 instrument for conveying information. 
 
 The new publication of Malthus, which I mentioned to 
 you, is not yet in the press ^ It has no connection with 
 any former work of his. Among other things it is to con- 
 tain some examination of my opinions, to which I wish 
 them to be submitted. He has a great aversion to contro- 
 versy; I hope this aversion may not induce him to with- 
 hold it. The Review of his Essay in the Quarterly is ^ 
 I think well done, and I am glad to see that so popular 
 a Review is at length employed in advocating the cause of 
 truth ^. The reveries of South ey on questions of Political 
 
 * See above, p. 44, note 2. 
 
 ^ ' Is' is repeated in the original by oversight. 
 
 ^ See 'Malthus and His Work,' p. 364. Quarterly Review, July, 1817. 
 pp. 369 seq 
 
Reviewers of Malthus and Sumner 47 
 
 Economy will I hope no longer be admitted in any respect- 
 able journal. He quite mistakes his talent when he writes 
 on such subjects, and is really no more deserving of 
 attention than Mr. Owen or any other visionary ^ The 
 writer of the article in the Quarterly I suppose you know 
 is Mr. Sumner, a clergyman, the author of a clever book 
 on the Records of the Creation, in which Malthus' system 
 is not only defended for its truth, but for its atibrding 
 proofs of the benevolence and goodness of the Creator. 
 Mr. Sumner's work was reviewed in the Quarterly and 
 report says that Mr. Weyland was the reviewer 2. He 
 has of course carried his own erroneous principles into 
 the Review, and does not do the author justice. — I am 
 sorry to hear that Mr. Sumner does not intend writing 
 any more on political economy — his whole attention in 
 future is to be devoted to the study of theology. Whether 
 in this latter pursuit he will have an equal chance of 
 benefiting mankind, as in the former, I have great doubts, 
 or rather I have no doubt at all ; and I very much regret 
 that the science will no longer be assisted by his distin- 
 guished talents. 
 
 I would gladly compound for such a change in the Poor 
 Laws as should restore them to what appears to have 
 been the original intention in framing them ; namely, the 
 relieving only the aged and infirm, and under some 
 circumstances, children. Any change would be an im- 
 provement which had not a tendency to increase the evil 
 which it proposes to remedy. The present plan creates 
 
 1 Robert Southey, the poet, contributed regularly to the first four 
 volumes (1802-1805) of the Annual Review, and was connected with 
 the Quarterly Review from its establishment in 1808 until 1838. His 
 contributions to the latter journal numbered nearly one hundred in 
 all, upon the widest range of subjects. A complete list is appended to 
 Rev. C. C. Southey's * Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey.' 6 vols. 
 London, 1849-50. 
 
 "^ For Weyland's writings see above, Letter IX. Sumner was after- 
 wards Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
48 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 objects of distress, and these must necessarily go on in- 
 creasing in a geometrical ratio. No man in his sober 
 senses would wish for any sudden alteration of the present 
 plan. The great object should be to teach the labouring 
 classes that they must- themselves provide for those casual- 
 ties to which they are exposed from occasional variations 
 in the demand for particular manufactured goods, and 
 which should not be the subject of legislation. A man's 
 wages should, and would on a really good system, be suffi- 
 cient not only to maintain himself and family wh<in he is 
 in full work, but also to enable him to lay up a provision 
 in r. Savings Bank for those extraordinary calls which 
 you mention. 
 
 To relieve the poor by any extended exercise of private 
 charity would hardly be less objectionable than the evil of 
 which we now complain. Your objection to this tax, or 
 any of the taxes being paid by voluntary contribution 
 is most sound — the selfish would pay nothing, and the 
 whole burden would fall on the generous and humane ! 
 Great evils however result from the idea which the Poor 
 Laws inculcate that the poor have a Tirjht to relief. In 
 the British Keview, which I send you, I think you will 
 find a good article on this subject. 
 
 I have gone through my friend Mill's book, 'The 
 History of India.' It is not a mere dry detail of facts, 
 but contains ample discussions on the most important 
 points, which refer not only to the Government of India, 
 but to the Government of every other country. His ob- 
 servations on Legislation, on Law and on the rules of 
 Evidence, are very interesting, and he shews most trium- 
 phantly, I think, that the administration of Justice, on 
 which so much of the happiness of every people depends, 
 is stiU very deficient in these countries which are con- 
 sidered the most civilized in Europe. I do not see what 
 plausible objections can be made to him. Hastings' Trial, 
 
MilVs 'India' 49 
 
 Mr. Fox's and Mr. Pitt's India bills, give him very good 
 
 opportunities for entering into these discussions. He 
 
 endeavours to refute the prevailing opinion that the Hindus 
 
 are now, or ever have been, a highly-civilized people, and 
 
 enters very fully into an examination of the state of their 
 
 religious opinions, their customs, their laws, their literature, 
 
 and their knowledge of the arts and sciences, with a view 
 
 to prove that they have never made more than the first 
 
 steps in refinement and civilization. I am exceedingly 
 
 pleased with the work, — it is replete with entertainment 
 
 and instruction, and cannot fail to be acknowledged as 
 
 a proof of great talents in the author. By special favour 
 
 I had it before the maps and indexes were completed, 
 
 and therefore several weeks before it was published. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo joins with me in kind regards to you and 
 
 Mrs. Trower. ,, . , ,^ 
 
 Very sincerely Yours 
 
 David Ricaedo. 
 XIX'. 
 
 My dear Trower London. 22 Umch, i8i8^ 
 
 I thank you for your congratulations on the occasion 
 of the high honours which I have attained. The hour is 
 fast approaching when I shall have to appear before the 
 Judges, arrayed in the masquerade suit which I have been 
 obliged to provide. The Assizes for our Count}^ commence 
 on the ist April. I hope I shall sustain my high office with 
 becoming dignity — the difficulty is much increased by ray 
 being so much a stranger in the county, never having been 
 present on any public occasion whatever. From this 
 moment however I may date my public life ; as the ice 
 once broken, I shall not fail to meet my neighbours two or 
 three times a year at Gloucester. 
 
 ' Addressed on last page, as before, ' Unsted Wood, Godalming.' 
 ^ Ricaido was cliosen Sheriff of Gloucestershire in this year. See 
 Ann. Reg. i8i8 {^Chron.) p. 207. 
 
 E 
 
50 Letters of Ricardo to Trozver 
 
 The expense of the office in our county does not exceed 
 ^450, so that on that score I shall be better off than you ^. 
 You may depend on having all the advantage which my 
 experience can give you in the way of instruction previous 
 to your election. 
 
 The perusal of the article in the British Review, has 
 called forth much tco favourable a criticism from you on 
 my book, I am well aware of its great deficiencies which 
 I much fear I shall not be able to remedy in a new edition, 
 if it should be called for. Your suggestion of a copious 
 chapter of clear and concise definitions would be of great 
 use, but it requires a degree of precision and accuracy 
 beyond what I could furnish. My scotch friend continues 
 every now and then to allude to my work with the greatest 
 respect ^, and in an interview which I lately had with 
 Lord Grenville I received from him the most flattering 
 testimony of his favourable opinion of my endeavours to 
 throw additional light on the science of Political Economy. 
 Praise from Lord Grenville on this subject is particularly 
 gratifying to me, because he has given many proofs of his 
 persevering a,ttention to it, and on all great discussions, of 
 the correctness of his opinions. 
 
 Birkbeck's account of his expedition to the back settle- 
 ments of America is highly interesting ^ —I hope he will 
 
 ^ Trower became High Sheriff of Surrey in 1820. 
 
 2 See above, p. 43. 
 
 ' 'Notes on a Journey in America, from the Coast of Virginia to the 
 Territory of Illinois.' London, i8i8. 
 
 The author, Morris Birkbeck, accompanied by a friend, George Flower, 
 came to America in 1817, in the hope of bettering his prospects. In his 
 book, Birkbeck describes the long journey from the sea-board to Edward's 
 County, Illinois, where both men settled, purchasing large tracts of land, 
 and founding the town of Albion. Birkbeck was Secretary of State under 
 Governor Edward Coles, and contributed 'more by his writings than 
 perhaps any one else' to prevent the introduction of slavery into Illinois 
 in 1824. He was drowned soon afterwards, wh le returning from a visit 
 to Robert Owen at New Harmony, Indiana, See Davidson and Stuv^, 
 ' History of Illinois' (Springfield, 1876), p. 349. 
 
Vansittart's Stock Notes 51 
 
 from time to time furnish us with an account of the pro- 
 gress of the little colony which he will soon have about 
 him. His success will not fail to induce many from Europe 
 to follow his example, and there is some reason to fear that 
 the artificial state of things in England in consequence of our 
 enormous debt will co-operate with the natural advantages 
 of a new and fertile country to attract capital to a place 
 where profits are so high that with moderate industry 
 a certain provision may be made for a family ^ I am 
 told that many individuals with an aggregate capital of 
 £100,000 are preparing to follow Mr. Birkbeck to the 
 Illinois Country. 
 
 It is not expected that the dissolution of Parliament 
 will take place before October. It is said that no attempt 
 will be made to increase taxation, so that our nominal 
 sinking fund of 15 millions will be really reduced to 
 3 millions. Mr. Vansittart had a ridiculous project, I hear, 
 of creating a new circulating medium and legal tender, 
 called stock notes, which were to be advanced without any 
 limit, on stock, at the rate of £50 for every £100 stock. 
 If such a plan had been carried into execution it was 
 possible that our money might have been increased to 
 400 millions. I am told that he has now abandoned it, 
 and indeed it is difficult to believe that he ever entertained 
 so ridiculous a project, tho' my authority for the fact is no 
 less than that of Mr. Tierney ^. 
 
 If I could, without much trouble, get into the New 
 Parliament, I would. I should neither be Whig nor Tory ^, 
 but should be anxiously desirous of promoting every 
 measure which should give us a chance of good govern- 
 ment. This I think [will] * never be obtained without 
 a reform in Parliament. I do not go as far as Mr. Bentham. 
 
 ^ Cf. Letters of Ricardo to McCuUoch, xv. seq. ^ See below, p. loi. 
 
 ' See Letters of Ricardo to Malthus, pp. 151, 152 ; also below, p. 62. 
 « MS. torn. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 I regret that his book ^ is so full of invective against those 
 from whom he differs, yet I am convinced by his arguments. 
 There is no class in the community whose interests are so 
 clearly on the side of good government as the people ; all 
 other classes may have private interests opposed to those 
 of the people. The great problem then is to obtain security 
 that the representatives shall be chosen by the unbiassed 
 good sense of the people. The suffrage must be extensive 
 to secure the voters against corrupt influence and the 
 voting must be by ballot for the same reason. There 
 must be an intimate union between representatives and 
 their constituents in order to destroy the dependence of 
 the former on '^ the executive government. The elections 
 should not be less than triennial. Mr. Burke has said that 
 the people may err but it can never be from design ^. The 
 ability of representatives when their interests are opposed 
 to those of their constituents is a great evil because it can 
 only be employed in promoting objects which are mis- 
 chievous to the latter. If the suffrage is not universal 
 there can be no danger of anarchy. A man with a very 
 small property can have no wish for confusion if he be 
 actuated by those motives which have always been found 
 to influence mankind. I have only partially read the 
 memoirs of the Bishop of Landaft' and liked much what 
 I have read'^. He was a reformer and saw pretty clearly 
 
 ^ ' Plan of Parliamentary Reform in the Ff^rm of a Catechism, with an 
 Introduction, showing the necessity of Radical, and the inadequacy of 
 Moderate Refoi-m.' The work was written in 1809, but not published 
 until 1817. 
 
 ^ ' On' rej^eated in the original by oversight. 
 
 3 ' Tlioughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents,' fifth edition, 1775 : 
 * The people have no interest in disorder. When they do wrong it is 
 their error, and not their crime. But with the governing part of the 
 State it is far otherwise. They certainly may act ill by design, as well as 
 by mistake.' 
 
 * Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, born 1737, died 1816. 'Anecdotes 
 of the Life of Richard Watson, D.D., Bishop of Llandaff, written by him- 
 self at different intervals, and revised in 1814' — edited by his son — 
 appeared in 1817. See Edinburgh Review, June, 1818. 
 
Attempts to enter Parliament 53 
 
 the evils of our present representation but I doubt whether 
 he as clearly saw the remedy. 
 
 I am glad to hear that we shall soon see you in London. 
 Mrs. Ricardo joins with me in kind remembrances to 
 Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Believe me 
 
 Ever most truly yrs, 
 
 David Ricaedo. 
 
 XX 1. 
 
 My dear TrOWEE London 27 June 1818. 
 
 Your kind letter dated the 7th June ought not to 
 have remained so long unanswered, but various things have 
 encroached on my time, and I have also been a journey to 
 Gatcomb, and Gloucester, for the purpose of returning the 
 members for our County to Parliament. As there was no 
 contest my task was easy,' and we have, with our usual 
 consistency, sent one member to vote with ministers, and 
 another to vote with the opposition ^, both I believe dis- 
 posed implicitly to follow their leaders. 
 
 My own endeavours to get a seat in the House have not 
 been attended with success, but I believe that amongst all 
 those who are disappointed, in a similar manner, there is not 
 one more resigned than I am ^. I could meet with nothing 
 where I should not have had a contest, which I was 
 exceedingly unwilling to encounter, particularly as I should 
 have been thrown, alone, amongst persons with whom 
 
 ^ Addressed on back, ' Unsted Wood, Godalming, Surrey.' 
 ' Lord R. E. H. Somerset and Sir B. W. Guise, Bart. (Ann. Reg. 1818 
 [Chron^, p. 210). Guise was ' favourable to reform in Parliament, and 
 advocated the immediate abolition of slavery.' He represented the county 
 from i8i2tohis death in 1834 (Annual Biography and Obituary for 1834 
 (Longman, 1835), p. 419). Richard Sharp vpas elected at this Election 
 for Portarlington, the seat that afterwards fell to Ricardo. See below, 
 pp. 72. 107. 
 
 ^ See above, p. 51. 
 
54 Letters of Ricardo to Trozver 
 
 I was wholly unacquainted, and therefore ignorant how 
 far I might depend on their statements. From all that 
 I have seen I am more and more convinced that the 
 system requires great amendment — that Parliament should 
 really represent the good sense of the nation — that the 
 expences of election should be reduced to the minimum — and 
 that the choice should be made by ballot. Under such 
 a mode of choosing representatives we should get rid of 
 the disgusting spectacle of the lowest blackguards in every 
 town assembling about the Hustings, and insulting in the 
 grossest, and most cruel manner, those respectable can- 
 didates against whom their antipathies are excited. Why 
 is such a man as Sir Murray Maxwell to be exposed to the 
 disgraceful treatment which he has received ^ 1 — I am for 
 Sir Samuel Romilly's system of Reform, as avowed to 
 a gentleman whom he authorized to communicate it to 
 Mr. Bentham, and to any other person. — His system is to 
 extend the suffrage to Householders — to limit the duration 
 of parliament to 3 years, and to vote by ballot. This 
 is all the reform that I desire, and I cannot help thinking 
 that if you had continued your walks with Mr. Mill and 
 me, we should have got you to join in so moderate a scheme. 
 Mill saj^s you distinctly admitted that there should be an 
 effectual check on the Government in the people, and as 
 you are a fair and candid reasoner, he is persuaded that you 
 could not fail to admit the conclusions also which would 
 follow from that principle. Those conclusions are that 
 the House of Commons as at present constituted does not 
 afford that check — that it really represents the Aristocracy, 
 or rather a narrow Oligarchy, and not the people. — You 
 are I fear surrounded by Anti-reformers, — wealthy alarmists 
 
 ' Captain Sir Murray Maxwell's misfortunes at Westminster are de- 
 scribed by Miss Martineau, ' Hist, of the Peace,' Book I. ch. xiv. (^Bohn, 
 1877, vol. i. pp. 250, 251). Romilly and Burdett were elected. The 
 election lasted a full week. 
 
Parliamentary Reform 55 
 
 who have in consequence of the French Revolution and 
 the unhappy circumstances which attended it, associated 
 the idea of insecurit}^ of property with the exercise of 
 popular privileges. They must necessarily have some 
 influence on your opinions, but I pray you to counteract 
 the effect by reading what the rational reformers have to 
 urge in favour of their view of the question — read Madame 
 de Stael's posthumous work on the French Revolution 
 which contains an admirable defence of liberal institutions ^ 
 
 I cannot agree with you in thinking that Brougham's 
 was a good speech ^ in answer to Burdett, — it was not in 
 the least degree argumentative, nor did it shew what his 
 own principles now are respecting reform. Brougham is 
 a very clever man, but will never rank very high as 
 a politician, for there is no steadiness in his opinions, and 
 he appears to me [to] sacrifice too much to his immediate 
 objects. Sometimes he wishes to conciliate the Whigs, 
 and then the violent reformers receive no mercy at his 
 hands, — at other times one would conclude that he went 
 as far in the cause of reform as even Burdett himself. 
 A man who wishes to obtain a lasting name should not be 
 a vacillating statesman, too eager for immediate applause. 
 
 I am sorry that you could not consistently with your 
 ideas of prudence seek to be returned for Guildford. You 
 would be quite in your element in the House of Commons, 
 and provided you started with the opinions which I deem 
 right, there are few among my acquaintance whom I think 
 would be more useful members, or whose talents would be 
 
 ' ' Considerations sur les principaux evenemens de la Revolution 
 Fran9aise ; publides en 1818 par M. le Due de Broglie et M. le Baron de 
 Stael,' in * (Euvres Completes de Mme. la Baronne de Stael' ;Paris, 1820), 
 vol. 12-14. 
 
 ^ Upon the resolutions for the Reform of Parliament, drafted by Bentham 
 and introduced in the House of Commons by Sir Francis Burdett on June 2, 
 1818. See Hansard, Parliamentary History, xxviii. ni8; Bowring, 
 ' Life of Bentham,' in ' Works,' vol. x. 491. 
 
56 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 more likely to be made manifest by the discipline which 
 the business of the House of Commons would afford. 
 
 We shall leave London in little more than a fortnight 
 for Gatcomb. If Mrs. Trower and you should at any time 
 during the next six months find it convenient to absent 
 yourselves for a short time from home you will give both 
 Mrs. Ricardo and me great pleasure if you will come into 
 Gloucestershire and let me shew you the beauties of our 
 country. We might take our walks and rides on the banks 
 of the Severn instead of in Kensington Gardens and might 
 too have Mill for our companion, for he has positively 
 agreed to make me a visit this summer. Pray think of it, 
 and if practicable come to us. Mrs. Ricardo joins with me 
 in kind regards to Mrs. Trower. 
 Believe me ever 
 
 My dear Trower 
 
 very sincerely yrs 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 XXI \ 
 
 My dear Trower Gatcomb Park, iS'^ Se-pt, 1818. 
 
 Our third assizes this year, as they may without 
 much inaccuracy be called, commenced on the 31 Aug., 
 and on that day I had again to go through all the cere- 
 monies of meeting the Judges, attending them to the Court, 
 and then to the Cathedral, all which had been so needlessly 
 gone through on the former occasion^ ; but here my active 
 services ended, for I had received the night before such 
 an account of the alarming illness of one of my brothers, 
 whom I believe you do not know, and of his wish to see 
 me, that I was anxious to hurry to London as soon as my 
 presence could be dispensed with. Nothing could be more 
 humane and considerate than the Judges['] behaviour to 
 
 * Addressed on back ' Unsted Wood, Godalming.' 
 2 See Letters to Malthus, p. 155. 
 
Price and Value 57 
 
 me ; — they no sooner knew how I was circumstanced than 
 they insisted on my leaving Glocester \8ic\ immediately. 
 I accepted their indulgence, and on my arrival in London 
 found my brother in a less alarming state than I expected 
 to find him. I passed a fortnight from home and am but 
 just returned. I am happy to say that my brother's health 
 improved daily while I was in London, and I left him with 
 a fair prospect of complete recovery. It is to this inter- 
 ruption that you are to attribute my long silence after the 
 receipt of your kind letter. 
 
 1 am glad to hear that you are pleased with the review 
 of my book in the Edinburgh Review. It gives me great 
 satisfaction, and principally because the writer (Mr. M'Cul- 
 lock) appears to have well understood me, and to have 
 explained my doctrines with great clearness and perspi- 
 cuity ^. I am glad too to have had your observations on 
 the review, for you have called my attention to the inac- 
 curacy of the reviewer in a passage which had not before 
 been noticed by me. In page 68 he has in the first quota- 
 tion you make, used the word 'prke instead of the word 
 value ^ ; substitute the latter word and the whole is con- 
 sistent, though perhaps not quite satisfactory, for it supposes 
 my definition of value to be correct, which may by many 
 be disputed. In the next page he again speaks of real 
 price as synonymous with real value, but his meaning is 
 obvious ^. The word price I think should be confined 
 
 ' Edinbxirgh Eeview, No. LIX (June 1818), Art. II (On ' Ricardo's 
 Principles of Political Economy and Taxation '). See Letters of Ricardo 
 to McCuUocli, pp. 9, 10. 
 
 ^ 'Should the quantities of labour necessary to bring every different 
 species of commodities to market be increased in exactly the same relative 
 proportions, their comparative exchangeable value would remain un- 
 altered ; while their real price would, however, be augmented.' 
 
 ^ ' The real price of commodities would, it is obvious, not be in the 
 least affected by this increase of wages. The quantity of labour necessary 
 to their production would not be increased ; and it would, therefore, be 
 equally easy to obtain them.' 
 
58 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 wholly to the value of commodities estimated in vioney, 
 and money only. If so confined, a commodity may rise 
 in real value without rising in price. If more labour 
 should be required than before to work the mines and 
 to manufacture shoes, it is possible that shoes may con- 
 tinue unaltered in jo^'/re, but both the shoes and gold (or 
 money) will have risen in value. He is very able on the 
 subject of rent, but if he answers the objections of any 
 Review, it cannot be the Quarterly, for the work has not 
 been noticed by it. In America I should think that there 
 was ^o land for which a rent was not paid, but that is to 
 be attributed to their particular institutions. The Govern- 
 ment is proprietor of all uncultivated lands in the interior 
 of the country, which it is read 3^ to sell, and daily sells, at 
 the moderate price at 2 dollars per acre. Rent then must 
 amount in every part of America to the interest which 
 2 dollars would make, per acre, at the least ; but this fact 
 makes no difference in the principle, as you seem to be 
 fully aware. 
 
 ' The Fellow of the University of Oxford " is Mr. West, 
 a barrister. His pamphlet ^ was ingenious, and he had 
 a glimpse of the true doctrine of rent and profits. I am 
 acquainted with him. He has I believe given up the 
 study of Polit. Economy ^. Mr. Mill has been staying a 
 fortnight with me — he returned to London a day before 
 
 ' 'An Essay on the Application of Capital to Land. With Observations 
 showing the Impolicy of any great Restriction of the Importation of 
 Corn.' By a Fellow of University College, Oxford. London, 1815. 
 
 The author, Edward West (born i783\ of the Inner Temple, became Re- 
 corder of Bombay, and, upon the establishment of the Supreme Court, Chief 
 Justice of that presidency. He was knighted in 1822 and died at Poena 
 in 1828. He published in 1826 a tract ' on the Price of Corn and the 
 Wages of Labour,' which was in part a criticism of Ricardo. He was 
 engaged on a more general treatise at the time of his death (Annual 
 Biography and Obituary (1830), p. 109). Ricardo in the above passage 
 wrote first 'Fellow of University College,' and then altered what he had 
 wi'itlen into the less exact plirase in the text. 
 
 ' It was not so. See preceding note. 
 
Parliamentary Reform 59 
 
 I went there. He is very much pleased with the review- 
 he thinks it very well done. 
 
 Both he and I, I observe, have mistaken the extent of 
 your admission respecting the House of Commons. You 
 admit that there should be an effectual check on the 
 Government in the people, but you think that as that 
 House is at present constituted it practically and in effect 
 affords such a check, because it feels the force of public 
 opinion. We are of opinion with you that the force of 
 public opinion is felt, and strongly felt in Parliament, but 
 not in consequence of its good constitution, but in spite of 
 the badness of it. The Parliament itself is controlled by 
 public opinion as manifested through the means of the 
 Press, and therefore it is the Press which is the real check 
 on our Government. The Public opinion and (p. . .) ^ force 
 is irresistible, and it is of this both the monarchy and the 
 oligarchy stand in awe, and to it we are indebted for all 
 the liberty we enjoy. Instead of having this check for 
 the people out of Parliament, would it not be better to 
 have it constitutionally exerted ivithin it — would it not 
 be more efficacious there as an instrument of good Govern- 
 ment ? It would in that case be powerful in correcting 
 abuses on which the fear of insurrection does not now 
 operate. As Parliament is at present constituted can we 
 reasonably expect any important improvements in the law, 
 while there is such a phalanx of interested men who have 
 the power to oppose them ? Why is not a general inclosure 
 bill passed ? because the lawyers['] interest is opposed to 
 the general interest. Why are there so many obstacles to 
 the transfer of landed property ? Why is justice so tardy, 
 and its expenses so great 1 And a thousand more whys, — 
 all for the same reason. No, my friend, Parliament is no 
 check for the people, but happily is yet checked by the 
 people, whose voice and power cannot be wholly stifled 
 ' Word destroyed by seal. ' Popular ' ? 
 
6o Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 while the press is tolerably free. You talk of your pre- 
 ference to a 'mixed Government, over that of a republican. 
 I have no ohjection to the former provided it be adminis- 
 tered for the happiness of the wiany and not for the benefit 
 of the feiv. I know of no security under any form of 
 Government for the happiness of the people, but that the 
 people themselves, through the means of their representa- 
 tives, should have a preponderating voice. I rejoice that 
 you are not one of those who have an antiputhy to election 
 by ballot, for of all those who object to that mode of 
 election I have never heard any solid reasons for their 
 objection ; they are all to be resolved to an antipathy, for 
 which they can give no account. 
 
 Mill was exceedingly pleased with the view of some parts 
 of our County. We performed a little tour to some estates 
 which I have at 27 miles distance from home, and then we 
 went to Hereford and surveyed the beautiful country about 
 the cities of Hereford and Ross. I think you have been in 
 those places. 
 
 Pray remember us all most kindly to Mrs. Trower and 
 believe me very sincerely yrs 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 I believe a Serjeant only can open the Court, and no 
 Serjeant accompanies the Judges in this Circuit. 
 
 XXII ^ 
 
 My dear Trower Gatcomb Park, 2"d Nov., 1818. 
 
 I am not so guilty as you, in the affair of the 
 Partridges, and pheasants. I eat them it is true, but their 
 death, or that of some other animal, is necessary for my 
 subsistence, and I may legitimately pursue them for that 
 purpose. I employ a skilful man who brings them down 
 
 ^ Addressed on back, ' Unsted "Wood, Godalming, Surry.' 
 
The End of all Governments 6i 
 
 with the least sum of pain, that can be inflicted in such 
 a warfare. Are you no more guilty than this ? If our 
 judges were the birds themselves, I should be condemned 
 to the guilotine [siV] simply — you would have to sustain 
 the death of Damiens ^. 
 
 I think it is possible by what you say that you may be 
 mistaking the gentleman who reviewed my book ; it was 
 not Dr. M'Culloch of London 2, but Mr. M'CuUoch of Edin- 
 burgh^ the editor of the Scotsman. 
 
 I am very much pleased at the approbation you express 
 yourself, and which has been expressed by others, in your 
 presence, of my humble efforts to improve the science of 
 Political Economy. The reward which I have received for 
 my labours has far exceeded my expectations. 
 
 I wish with you, that we could more nearly agree in our 
 political opinions, this agreement we shall not probably be 
 able to effect, but we may continue to esteem each other, 
 and give each other credit for sincerity, whether we do or 
 not. You speak with energy of the superior advantages 
 of a mixed government, over that of a republic, as of 
 a question not admitting of a doubt, and seem shocked 
 that any hesitation should be expressed in agreeing to so 
 clear a proposition, and you place it so far on the proper 
 footing, that you prefer a mixed government, only, because, 
 in your opinion, it is best calculated to promote the happi- 
 ness and prosperity of the people. This you appear to agree 
 is the only legitimate end of all government. Democracy, 
 Aristocracy, Monarchy, or the thi-ee mixed, wherever they 
 prevail ougld only to be considered as means to that end. 
 Yours is either a solid well-founded opinion, or it is not. 
 If it is not, then, as you observe, there is an end of that 
 
 ^ Damiens, who tried to kill Louis XV, on January 5, 1757, was torn to 
 pieces by horses, after the tortures to which Pope alludes in the line — 
 ' Luke's iron crown and Damiens' bed of steel.' 
 
 - John McCulloch, M.D , physician, mineralogist, and geologist (b. 1773, 
 d. 1835). 
 
62 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 argument against a reform of parliament that it will make 
 the popular branch of our constitution too strong, and so de- 
 stroy the other branches ; for if a republic be the best form 
 of government, and will best promote the happiness of the 
 people, we must not quarrel with reform for its tendency 
 to give us a republican government. But let us suppose, 
 or take for granted, which I do, that the contrary opinion 
 is well founded, and that a mixed government such as ours, 
 consisting of King, Lords, and Commons, is the best form 
 of government, and let us examine the question of a reform 
 in parliament on that supposition. You and I, and all 
 reasonable persons, impressed with this opinion, having 
 representatives to chuse, would select those only who 
 acknowledged this demonstrable principle, and who would 
 engage to maintain the monarchical and aristocratical 
 branches. Having no private interest to serve, it would 
 be folly or madness in us, if thinking that one form of 
 government would be productive of advantage and happi- 
 ness, another of disadvantage and misery, we should obsti- 
 nately and deliberately reject the former, and prefer the 
 latter. This is evidently improbable, if not impossible. 
 If then the representatives of the people were fairly, and 
 unbiassedly chosen, by the reasonable part of the country, 
 you cannot shew that any motive could exist for chusing 
 any but such as would uphold those branches of the 
 constitution which are demonstrably essential to good 
 government. If you say that the superiority of a mixed 
 government, over a republic, cannot be demonstrated, but 
 can only be inferred as a probable truth, I ask to whom 
 would you refer the question for decision ? not to the 
 King, nor to the House of Peers, but to the reasonable part 
 of mankind in the country, and who have no sinister 
 interest to influence their decision. This then brings us 
 again to the conclusion which I wish to establish, that 
 there is no such security for good government as that of 
 
Who should have the Franchise? 63 
 
 leaving the choice of representatives to the reasonable part 
 of the community, for they have every motive to wish 
 to be well governed, none to be ill governed. This being 
 demonstrated, we must extend the elective franchise to all 
 reasonable men who have no i^artlcular interest in opposi- 
 tion to the general interest, and the most you can require 
 of the friends of reform is the right to challenge such electors 
 as are without the necessary qualifications. Now this right 
 I freely yield to you ; shew the sinister interest, or the 
 probability of a bad choice, and I will consent to deprive 
 the individual to whom they attach of the right of electing 
 members. But I will not allow you to challenge peremp- 
 torily and without shewing cause. Does not your argument 
 run thus ? The advantages of a mixed government are so 
 evident that I am surprised any reasonable man can have 
 a doubt on the subject — let me but fairly state the case, and 
 all who are not biassed by prejudice, or interest, will admit 
 my conclusion. Yet, though they admit it, I dare not trust 
 them with the choice between a mixed government and 
 a republic — these reasonable people are so besotted that 
 they will give up a greater good for a smaller, and if once 
 I allow the democratic part of our constitution to prepon- 
 derate there will be immediately an end of the Monarchical 
 and Aristocratical branches, although it is proved that they 
 are essential to good government. It is not sufficient for 
 your argument to prove, as you appear to think, that the 
 popular part of the constitution would become irresistible 
 if we had a reform ; you are bound also to show that this 
 irresistible power would be mischievously employed, and 
 to do that 3^ou must shew an adequate motive for such an 
 abuse. Men have the power, which is almost uncontroul- 
 able, of destroying themselves, but we confine them in 
 straight [sic] waistcoats only when we discover that they 
 think they have adequate motives for employing this power 
 to their own destruction. 
 
64 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 In answer to my question whether it would not be better 
 that the operation of public opinion should be within the 
 House of Commons, instead of without, you say that it 
 would not be instead, but that the hvo powers acting con- 
 stantly within, and without, would set at nought the other 
 branches of the Constitution, and presently precipitate us 
 into a democracy. To the last of these propositions I have 
 already replied, and you must shew me where my argument 
 is defective. To the iirst, I say that it is a fallacy to speak 
 of two powers, one acting within the house, the other 
 without ; I know only of one power that we were speaking 
 of, the power of public opinion. If it operated within the 
 house, it would be inert without, as indeed it always is 
 there, until the people actually resist. It is only by its 
 operation on the fears of those unthln the house that public 
 opinion produces any effect in our government. If the 
 opinions of the representatives of the people within the 
 House of Commons after a reform coincided with those [of] 
 their constituents without, one power, namely, public 
 opinion, would controul the government, as it ought to do 
 in all governments whose end, and object, is the happiness 
 of the people. If they did not coincide, those within would 
 have the power of opposing public opinion no longer than 
 till the folio win election, when if the constituents were 
 not convinced that they had been in error, representatives 
 would be chosen more obedient to their views. It surely 
 cannot be correct to say that because you take measures to 
 ascertain the real opinion of the people in their own house 
 of Parliament, that you double the effect of public opinion, 
 and give it a strength which would be mischievously 
 employed. According to your view of this question, the 
 right of electing the House of Commons might be safely 
 left with the house of Lords, or we might get rid of the 
 House of Commons, and preserve the house of Lords only. 
 The check from without, whilst we have a free pi'ess, would 
 
Parliamentary Reform 65 
 
 continue to exist, and would operate on the fears of the 
 Lords, as it now operates on the house of Commons, and 
 all the objects of good government would be obtained, for 
 it would still be a mixed government of Monarchy, Aristo- 
 cracy, and Democracy. The democratic part of it indeed 
 would shew itself somewhat irregularly, as it now does, 
 without, but that is the way in which you think its 
 operation is salutary. If this is not your opinion shew 
 me what the advantages are of the present House of 
 Commons, for it seems to be agreed upon between us that 
 it does not faii-ly represent the people, and that you seem 
 to consider one of its great merits 1. All the advantage that 
 I can find out in it is that it is a more enlarged representa- 
 tion of the aristocracy than the House of Peers' would be — 
 that it admits the great landholders and wealthy merchants, 
 and manufacturers to a share of power,and distinction, — that 
 a few popular representatives are somehow or another 
 admitted there whose votes go for nothing but whose 
 opinions are expressed there through the press more 
 effectually than they would be in any other manner, and 
 thus that salutary fear which we both like, but which 
 I would have more regularly and legitimately excited, is 
 kept alive — these I think are all the advantages which 
 flow from the present constitution of the House to the great 
 body of the people. 
 
 After all that I have said about the Hon^^® House, it 
 is highly probable that I shall take my seat in it, — the 
 business is not yet quite settled 2. No one is more sensible 
 of the capabilities and resources of the Country than I am, 
 but I wish to have security for their continuance, and 
 
 * Ricardo's views on these subjects are fully stated in the ' Observations 
 on Parliamentary Reform,' printed among his works (ed. McCulIoch), pp. 
 551-556. McCulIoch received the MS. from Ricardo a short time before 
 Ricardo's death, and first published it in the Scotsman of 24'^ April, 1824. 
 
 ^ Letters of Ricardo to McCulIoch, p. 24, note. Letters to Malthus, 
 pp. 152, 154. 
 
 F 
 
66 Letters of Ricardo to Troiver 
 
 above all I wish that door to be opened by which those 
 reforms which you acknowledge to be necessary might 
 enter, — at present it is doubly and trebly barred. 
 
 Will you have patience to get to this line'? I have 
 severely put it to the test, but you must forgive me. My 
 brother is getting better. Mrs. Ricardo unites with me 
 in kind regards to Mrs. Trower. Believe me ever 
 My dear Trower 
 
 Very truly yrs 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 Torrens I understand is to attack my doctrine of value 
 in the next number of the Edinburgh Magazine, and in the 
 number following M'Culloch is to defend it. It is a friendly 
 contest. These gentlemen have lately met at Edinburgh '. 
 
 XXIII \ 
 
 Gatcomb Paek 
 
 My dear Trower 20'^ Dec. 181 8. 
 
 I was sure that I was not mistaken in judging of 
 your sentiments by my own. I was sure that you would 
 not have a worse opinion of me because I differed in opinion 
 with you on a subject on which we had neither of us any 
 interest to come to a wrong decision, and yet I am glad 
 that I stated this conviction in my last letter, because 
 it has drawn from you an assurance of your regard and 
 friendship, which has given me great satisfaction. I shall 
 proceed now without fear to consider the different argu- 
 ments contained in your last letter, and first I must 
 observe that in an enquiry into measures which are likely 
 to produce good government, we must not confine ourselves 
 to the question whether parliamentary reform would or 
 
 ^ Letters to McCulloch, pp. 15, 16, note. 
 
 -' A sheet and a half. Addressed on back of last half: ' Unsted Wood. 
 Godalming, Surry.' 
 
The End and Means of Government 67 
 
 would not endanger the establishment of King, Lords, and 
 Commons. We must look steadily to the end of all govern- 
 ment, which we agree, is the happiness of the people. As 
 we both think that the establishment above-mentioned 
 is best calculated to secure the object which we have in 
 view, we should if we were legislators, acting under the 
 proper influence^ make it our endeavor to establish it ; 
 but still it must be considered only as means to an end, 
 and those regulations are the best which give us the greatest 
 security that the end will be obtained. It is surely unwise 
 to make the means the end, and thereby limit our enquiry to 
 whether we may chance to strengthen or weaken one of the 
 branches of our constitution. 
 
 I want to get all the wisdom and virtue of the country 
 to act in the Government. "Whether that end can be 
 attained by a parliamentary reform is a different question, 
 and remains for discussion, but your argument is that even 
 if it could be attained you would not make use of it. 
 Why ? because it would endanger the independence of the 
 monarchical and aristocratical branches of the constitution. 
 Is not this saying ' I think a certain form of government 
 the best, and on this point I will not admit the wisdom and 
 virtue of the country to decide.' Now I am a more warm 
 admirer of our constitution than you are, for I am so per- 
 suaded of its excellence that I have no fear of putting it 
 in the power of the wise and good to overturn it. Instead 
 of so using this power, they would more firmly establish 
 it. Without being aware of it you are guilty of a species 
 of intolerance, and on the same principles, you might insist 
 on any particular system of religious belief— any particular 
 doctrines in political economy, or any other opinions that 
 you may have justly or unjustl}^ imbibed. You might say 
 these opinions appear to me essential to the people's happi- 
 ness and I will not admit even wisdom and virtue to decide 
 upon them. I think that you will agree I am justified 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 in these remarks when I call to your recollection the 
 following passage in your letter, ' But even admitting the 
 electors should become as qualified for the discharge of their 
 important duty as could reasonably be expected, under any 
 circumstances, still I contend that if you were to let loose 
 in the House of Commons the full force of the popular part 
 of our constitution it would be impossible for the other 
 branches to preserve for a continuance, anything beyond 
 a mere nominal authority . . . unless the influence of the 
 other branches was silently suffered to operate to a certain 
 extent in that House the whole form of the constitution 
 would be changed ... it would be merely a mixed govern- 
 ment in form, but a Republic in substance.' You appear 
 to me to have changed the subject in discussion — it is no 
 longer an enquiry into the best means of making the people 
 happy, but into the best means of preserving the monarchi- 
 cal and aristocratical branches of the constitution, for you 
 admit that if the practice of the constitution conformed 
 to its theory — if the people were really represented in their 
 house of parliament and were free from the influence of 
 the other branches, irregularly and corruptly applied, they 
 would be the only real and efficient power in the state. 
 Is not this admission at variance with another part of your 
 letter, where you speak of this government being formed 
 on a principle of the due balance of powers, the preser- 
 vation of which you say is essential to its existence? If 
 influence is necessary to the preservation of this balance — 
 influence too not defined nor capable of being either defined 
 or controlled, — which you yourself say ^should be measured 
 and regulated to prevent its undue preponderance,' how can 
 there be in the constitution itself a due balance of powers % 
 No ; depend upon it, there is no check in the constitution 
 against this influence — it will be used at all times for the 
 benefit of those who happen to be in possession of it, and 
 will be under no other controul than that of their own 
 
A Balance of Pozvers 69 
 
 views of advantage. The check is not in the constitution 
 — it is as I said before in public opinion, expressed through 
 the medium of the press — in the trial by jury — in the pub- 
 lished speeches of a few popular members of parliament, 
 who have no influence by their votes, but by their tongues, 
 and in the right of convening public meetings, and thereby 
 organizing opposition — these are the checks to which we 
 owe all the happiness and liberty we enjoy. You may 
 think that this is the most eligible mode for the people 
 to control their government, — I should differ with you, 
 but this is the real question to be discussed with those 
 who are friends to a reform of parliament, and who wish 
 to extend the elective franchise to such of the people as 
 would make a good use of it. It is to this point I want 
 to conduct our argument. I want those who oppose me to 
 acknowledge candidly that the people are not represented, 
 and that they do not think it expedient that they should 
 be ; instead of which I meet daily with people who avow 
 themselves friendly to moderate reform, but when they 
 explain their views it becomes manifest that they wish 
 for no reform at all, for they say that it would be impossible 
 for government to proceed to any good purpose, if the people 
 had even a majority in the House of Commons whatever 
 precautions you might take in bestowing the elective fran- 
 chise. This is Malthus's argument, who has been staying 
 with me for a few days, and has just left me. I could not, 
 however, bring him to confess that he really wished for no 
 reform at all. 
 
 It must I think be admitted without qualification that 
 there is no such thing as a balance of the three powers 
 in our government. If it could for a moment exist 
 it would disappear immediately that either of two out 
 of the three powers should combine their interests against 
 the third. In our government the mutual interest of the 
 monarchy and the aristocracy to combine cannot admit 
 
70 Letters of Ricardo to Trozver 
 
 of a doubt, one possessing the privilege of bestowing every 
 place of honour and emolument, and in a degree never 
 possessed perhaps by any former government, — the other 
 having an overwhelming influence in the legislature, which 
 may be advantageously disposed of to the minister. No 
 reform would be effectual to counteract this powerful 
 combination but such a real representation of the people 
 as should give them a majority in the house of commons. 
 
 In one part of your letter you were disposed to yield 
 the substance of all that I am contending for, but you 
 suddenly recollected that it might endanger the indepen- 
 dence of the monarchy and aristocracy, and you withdrew 
 your concession. You say that if my scheme of reform 
 went further you would be more disposed to go along with 
 me. You call upon me to 'limit the right of voting at 
 Elections to such persons who by their education have the 
 ability to decide correctly,' and then you would have fewer 
 objections to reform. In other words, you would require 
 security for a good choice of representatives, and this 
 is precisely what I want. If I can not obtain it without 
 limiting the elective franchise to the very narrowest bounds, 
 I would so limit it ; but I am persuaded that we should 
 most securely get our object, and should be less exposed 
 to hazards of a different kind, by extending the elective 
 franchise, — not indeed universally to all the people, but 
 to that part of them which cannot be supposed to have any 
 interest in overturning the rights of property. Come back 
 to this admission, and our diflference will not be ver}'^ 
 difficult to settle, but do not mock us with the name of 
 a representative government, denying us all the advantages 
 which may be derived from that form. 
 
 The report that you have heard respecting my daughter's 
 approaching marriage is true, but it is not a subject of con- 
 gratulation to me. 
 
 Everybody joins in lamenting the untimely end of Sir 
 
Say's Notes on Rtcardo 71 
 
 S. Romilly^ He was a very useful man, and would have 
 laboured effectually in procuring for us an amelioration 
 of the criminal law. 
 
 The second edition of my book is in the press-. I have 
 made very few alterations in it. Murray has just received 
 a copy of a French translation of the first edition, the only 
 copy in London — with notes by M. Say '. I have looked 
 over the notes — they may be considered as M. Say's defence 
 of those opinions of his on which I have animadverted. 
 It would not be becoming in me to decide which of us 
 is nearest to the truth. I must leave impartial readers 
 to do that. They are written in perfect good temper, and 
 where his conscience will allow him to praise me, he does 
 it in the most flattering manner. The French edition is 
 in two volumes. 
 
 Malthus came over from Bath, and stayed with me at 
 Gatcomb for a very few days. We have neither of us lost 
 our interest in the discussion of questions which we have 
 so often debated before. His work will not appear till the 
 end of next year. Mrs. Ricardo joins with me in kind 
 regards to Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Ever truly yours 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 XXIV ^. 
 
 My dear Trower London 28 Feh. 1819 
 
 Your last kind letter ought not to have remained so 
 long unanswered, but my natural indolence conspired with 
 a multiplicity of occupations to induce me to defer writing 
 
 ' On November 2, 1818, in his sixty-second year. 
 
 ^ See Letters of Ricardo to McCulloeh, pp. 12-21 passim ; the second 
 edition of the ' Principles ' appeared early in 1819. 
 
 ^ ' Des Principes de I'Economie Politique et de I'lmpot, traduit de 
 I'anglais par M. F. S. Constancio, et avec des notes explicatives et critiques 
 de M. J. B. Say,' 2 vols., Paris, 1819. 
 
 * Addressed on back of sheet to 'Unsted Wood, Godalming.'and franked 
 bv Ricardo himself. 
 
72 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 to you. Besides, the information you gave me that you 
 would be in London in March, made my negligence appear 
 less unfavourable in my own eyes. Before March actually 
 begins however I must assure you of the pleasure which 
 I shall have in seeing you in London, and I hope you 
 will, on the earliest day you can, announce your arrival 
 to me by presenting yourself in Brook Street at our 
 breakfast hour at half-past nine. At that time I am 
 sure to be found, but at any other I may be engaged 
 from home in some of the many objects which now draw 
 my attention. 
 
 My efforts have been at last crowned with success, and 
 I am now a seated member of the House of Commons \ 
 My introduction there was nowise disagreeable as the 
 ceremony of taking the oaths is not very formidable, and 
 the kind expressions of welcome given to me by my 
 friends set me quite at my ease. I fear that I shall never 
 become a very useful member ^. 
 
 The inquiry into the state of our currency and exchanges 
 is proceeding in both houses very satisfactorily. I have 
 had many conversations with several of the Committees of 
 both Houses — with Lord Grenville, Marquis of Lansdown, 
 Lord King, Mr. Huskisson, Mr. F. Lewis, Mr. Grenfell, and 
 others. All have a very perfect knowledge of the subject, 
 and all agree that the progress of the public in compre- 
 hending the question has been very great. The Bank 
 Directois themselves have improved, and they are far 
 behind every other person. I confidently rely on measures 
 
 ^ Ricardo was elected as meinbei- for Portarlington, an Irish pocket 
 borough, in Queen's County, on February 20, 1819. Cf. Letters of Ricardo 
 to McCuIloch, p. 24, and to Maltlius, p. 154. Compare Bentham, 'Works,' 
 vol. X, p. 450, where Bentham says he himself took some pains to get 
 Ricardo a seat. 
 
 ^ For outlines of his speeches, see Letters to Malthus, Introduction x, 
 and passim ; also Mi\ E. Cannan's two articles on ' Ricardo in Parlia- 
 ment ' (Economic Journal, 1894, pp. 249 seq., and 409 seq). 
 
Legislation on the Currency 73 
 
 being taken to place our currency in a satisfactory state. 
 I am told that I shall be examined ^. 
 Believe me 
 
 My dear Trower 
 
 Very truly y" 
 
 David Rtcardo. 
 
 XXV 2. 
 
 My dear Trower London 28 May 1819 
 
 I take advantage of a little respite in the business of 
 the House to acknowledge the receipt of your kind letter, 
 and to inform you that I am every day rejoicing with 
 increased satisfaction at the triumph of science, and truth, 
 over prejudice, and error. You will perceive by the News- 
 papers that Parliament has at length decided that we 
 should revert to a sound currency ■'. The feeble resistance, 
 in point of argument, of the Bank Directors, was easily 
 overcome. I had the courage to set myself foremost in 
 the battle, and was amply rewarded by the support of the 
 House, which enabled me to get to the end of my speech 
 without any great degree of fear or trepidation. I hope 
 that during the next fortnight we shall give the death-blow 
 
 ^ Ricardo was examined before the Committees on the Resumption of 
 Specie Payments, 24*'' March, 1819, &e. See Ricardo's Letters to McCul- 
 loch, p. 26, note. 
 
 ^ Addressed on back as before. Franked by himself. 
 
 ^ Two days earlier (May 26), the House of Commons had agreed to 
 a series of eight Resolutions respecting the Resumption of Cash Payments, 
 and had ordered a bill to the same effect to be brought in. The Resolu- 
 tions adopted Ricardo's ' Proposal for an Economical and Secure Currency,' 
 and recommended that gold bullion, assayed and stamped, should be given 
 in quantities of not less than 60 ounces for bank-notes, at the rate of 
 £4 IS. per ounce, after February i, 1820 ; of £3 19s. 6d. after October i, 
 1820 ; of £3 17s. lod. after May i, 1821 ; in legal coin, after May i, 1823. 
 The repeal of laws prohibiting the melting and export of gold coin, and 
 the repayment to the Bank of £10,000,000 of the advances made to 
 the Government were also recommended. See Hansard, Parliamentary 
 Debates, vol. xl, 802-804. Cf. Letters to McCulloch, p. 27. 
 
 RRARy' 
 
74 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 to the theory of an abstract pound sterling. The alarm 
 that prevailed in the City is incomprehensible ; it must 
 have been occasioned by the imprudent remonstrance of the 
 Bank to Government setting forth the great danger which 
 would attend the reduction of the currency ^. I regret 
 that the Committees have not adopted the measure of 
 obliging the Bank to buy gold at £3 17s. 6d. whenever it 
 is offered to them at that price — the reverting to specie 
 payments appears to me unnecessary, and not likely to be 
 attended with any advantage. 
 
 I sent you by the coach the Lords' Report, as I had two, 
 one from the Lords as a witness who had given evidence 
 before them, the other as a member of the House of Com- 
 mons, but I have only one copy of the report from the 
 Commons' Committee which I will lend you with pleasure, 
 but which I must keep as a valuable document. Tell me 
 whether I shall send it to you. 
 
 There were I think very serious objections against the 
 Poor Law settlement bill ^. — It would have borne very 
 heavy on the towns, particularly on some that are in the 
 neighbourhood of the mines. Why is not a more efficient 
 measure proposed? The fact I believe is that no party 
 in the House dare take upon themselves to propose or 
 support any plan which may make them unpopular. This 
 is one of the ill effects of party ; the public interest is 
 neglected. 
 
 I agree with you that we ought not to add to our debt 
 by loans, we should have the &mness to raise taxes for 
 any deficiency that may now be wanted \iiic\. Our sinking 
 fund is gone, and I am not disposed to raise a new one, for 
 
 ^ This was a ' Representation, agi-eed upon 20*'^ day of May, 1819, by the 
 Directors of the Bank of England, and hiid before the Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer.' It was laid before the House of Lords by the Earl of 
 Liverpool, on May 21, 1819. Hansard, ' Parliamentary Debates,' vol. xl. 
 600-604. 
 
 ^ Ibid., vol. xl. 284 et seq. (May 10, 1819^ 
 
No more Sinking Fimds 75 
 
 the purpose of placing it again at the disposal of ministers. 
 Do what you will, they will not respect it, and after a few 
 years we should be as much in debt as ever. I am for 
 a vigorous system of taxation, if it is for the purpose of 
 paying off debt once for all, but I am sure that ministers 
 will never respect any fund, which is to accumulate at 
 compound interest. With the slightest pressure on the 
 finances such a fund would be diverted from the employ- 
 ment to which it had been destined. 
 
 Mr. Elwin is in London — I saw him for a moment on 
 tuesday — he is looking very well. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo unites with me in kind regards to Mrs. 
 
 Trower. ^ ,. 
 
 Believe me ever 
 
 My dear Trower 
 
 , Very truly y'^ 
 
 DWID RiCARDO. 
 
 I have omitted saying that your name will be remem- 
 bered when we prepare our list. — I have not sold any 
 stock against the loan, for I have been thinking the price 
 low ever since they were 74. 
 
 XXVI \ 
 
 My dear Trower London June i— 1819. 
 
 I write to you without delay to give you my opinion 
 
 respecting an investment of money in Bank Stock at the 
 
 present price. The fall has been great, but I think not so 
 
 great as the facts with which we are now acquainted 
 
 warrant and justify. I calculated on the Bank having 
 
 a much greater surplus Capital than the reports of the 
 
 Committees inform us they have. That Capital is stated 
 
 to be 5 millions ^, I thought it more than double, and so 
 
 ^ Addressed on back as before. Franked by himself. 
 
 3 On January 30, 1819, £5,202,320 ; see ' Second Report from the Secret 
 
76 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 it would have been if the Directors had managed the con- 
 cern intrusted to them with the ability and economy that 
 they ought to have done. 
 
 Let us try if we cannot ascertain what under a good 
 system of management should now be the profits of the 
 Bank, and then let us make a due allowance for the 
 management which the afiairs of the Bank will receive 
 under the present Directors — 
 
 Savings (see Reports of Committees) . £5,000,000 
 Bank notes in circulation after the neces- 
 sary reduction — estimated at . . 23,000,000 
 Deposits, Public and Private, — estimated at 6,000,000 
 
 34,000,000 
 Deduct Treasure to meet demands . . 4,000,000 
 
 30,000,000 
 Suppose these 30 millions to be lent on an 
 average at 4 per cent, and if peace 
 continues that is not too low an esti- 
 mate they will receive annually . . 1,200,000 
 Interest on capital lent to Government at 
 
 3 per cent. ...... 440,604 
 
 For Management of the Debt . . . 280,000 
 
 
 
 1,920,604 
 
 Expences and Stamps 
 
 465,304 
 
 
 Dividend, 10 per cent. . 
 
 iA55,30o 
 
 1,920,604 
 
 If the Bank should have a circulation of 23 millions 
 and manage their affairs well they may continue to pay 
 a dividend of 10 per cent, till 1833 when their charter will 
 expire, and a deduction must be made in consef^uence of 
 the price they must be obliged to pay for a renewal of 
 
 Committee of the House of Commons on tlie Expediency of the Bank of 
 England resuming Cash Payments,' Appendix I. 
 
Management of the Bank 77 
 
 their privileges — if they are renewed — and if they are not 
 they may probably divide 130 — or 140 for every £100 Stock, 
 — But will they be able to keep 23,000,000 in circulation — • 
 certainly not if specie payments are to be restored — that 
 circumstance may probably sink the amount to 15 millions 
 in which case they could not pay more than 8 per cent, 
 dividend. 
 
 After examining these statements you will be able to 
 judge whether it would be expedient to [buy] ^ Bank 
 Stock. — I have thought it right to sell s[ome of] ^ mine, 
 not much indeed (£2500) being firmly persuaded that it is 
 much too high, and that after a little sober examination 
 the price will fall. 
 
 Your brother called on me this morning when I commu- 
 nicated to him my sentiments on this subject. 
 In great haste I am 
 
 My dear Trower 
 
 Yrs truly 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 XXVIP. 
 
 My dear Trower London Juhj 8— 1819 
 
 You have calculated right — I shall in a few days 
 leave London for Gatcomb, no worse in health for irregular 
 meals, and late hours, during my first Parliamentary 
 campaign. Though not necessary to my health I shall see 
 the green fields, and hills of Gloucestershire, again, with 
 great satisfaction. These objects are always pleasing to 
 me, but will be more so now on account of the contrast 
 which a little leisure will afibrd me to the busy and 
 bustling life which I have lately been passing. The daily 
 attendance in the House of Commons, and the time necessary 
 
 ^ MS. torn. - No cover or address. 
 
78 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 to look over the Reports and papers which are so profusely 
 delivered, — to say nothing of Committees which sit in the 
 morning, leave a member no leisure to read even the light 
 publications of the day, so that I am not acquainted with 
 the Legend of Montrose yet^, and have not read more than 
 two or three articles in the last Quarterly and Edinburgh 
 Reviews. 
 
 The triumph of science and truth in the great councils 
 of the Nation, this Session, gives me great satisfaction, 
 which is not a little increased by observing the present 
 state of the price of bullion and the foreign exchanges. 
 Gold is I believe at £'3, i8s. per oz., silver at the mint price, 
 and the exchanges very nearly at par. The best friends 
 to the measures lately adopted could not have anticipated 
 less pressure than what has been hitherto experienced, and 
 I think it but reasonable to hope that the permanent price 
 of bullion will settle at the present rate, without adding 
 much to the slight difficulties which we have already 
 suffered. Our opponents, whose prophecies are all proved 
 to be unfounded, now say that we have had great good 
 luck — that the natural course of events has been favorable 
 to us — they will admit any thing but the truth of our 
 principles. Even Lord Lauderdale, whose theory respecting 
 Mint regulations requires that silver should never be under 
 ^s. 6d., that price which he calls the mint price, maintains 
 that the present market price of silver is an unnatural 
 and disturbed price, which cannot have a long duration ^. 
 I have heard much of Mr. Turner's pamphlet ^, but I have 
 
 1 Cf. Letters to McCulloch, p. 32. 
 
 ^ Lauderdale had published in this year a second edition of his * Public- 
 Wealth ' (ist ed. 1804). 
 
 ' Letter to Sir Eobex-t Peel, by Samuel Turner, Esq., 1819. He main- 
 tained that there was no connection between the price of bullion and the 
 value of bank notes, and opposed Resumption as ruinous to trade and agri- 
 culture. See also Turner's ' Considerations on the Agriculture, Commerce, 
 and Manufactures of the British Empire,' 1822, p. 65 ; cf. pp. 32-9, &c., 
 where he applied mathematics to economics. 
 
Examination of Owen 79 
 
 not seen it — I did not buy it because I have already such 
 a number of publications by me which maintain the same 
 doctrine which he maintains that I did not think it ex- 
 pedient to make the trifling sacrifice which its purchase 
 would cost, to add to the mass. I saw extracts from it in 
 the New Times, which paper has been as loud in his praise 
 as it has been in condemning me. 
 
 I am not a member of a Committee to further Mr. Owen's 
 plans — the Committee was appointed for the purpose of 
 examining, and not of approving those plans. I attended 
 the meeting and had very successfully resisted all entreaties 
 to let my name be on the Committee till attacked by the 
 Duke of Kent and Mr. John Smith. It was in vain that 
 I protested I differed from all the leading principles ad- 
 vanced by Mr. Owen, — that, I was told, was no objection, 
 for I was not bound to approve, only to examine. With 
 very great reluctance I at last consented, and have attended 
 the first meeting, at which I gave my reasons at some 
 length for departing from all Mr. Owen's conclusions. 
 The scheme was chiefly examined with a view to a pauper 
 establishment or a well regulated workhouse, but even to 
 that limited plan there are insuperable objections. Owen 
 is himself a benevolent enthusiast, willing to make great 
 sacrifices for a favorite object. The Duke of Kent, his 
 great supporter, is also entitled to the praise of benevolent 
 intentions, but he appears to me to be quite ignorant of all 
 the principles which ought to regulate establishments for 
 the poor — he has heard of Malthus['] doctrine, and has an 
 antipathy to it, without knowing the reasons on which it 
 is founded or how his difiiculty may be obviated. He, 
 Mr. Preston, and Mr. Owen, appear to think nothing- 
 necessary to production, and the happiness of a crouded 
 [sic] population, but land. We have land ; it may be made 
 more productive, and therefore, we cannot have an excess 
 of population. — Can any reasonable person believe, with 
 
8o Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 Owen, that a society, such as he projects, will flourish and 
 produce more than has ever yet been produced by an equal 
 number of men, if they are to be stimulated to exertion by 
 a regard to the community, instead of by a regard to their 
 private interest? Is not the experience of ages against 
 him? He can bring nothing to oppose to this experience 
 but one or two ill authenticated cases of societies which 
 prospered on a principle of a community of goods, but 
 where the people were under the powerful influence of 
 religious fanaticism. I was in hopes that Sir Wm. de 
 Crespigny would have given me an opportunity to 
 state my opinions shortly on this subject in the House of 
 Commons, but he thought fit to withdraw his motion for 
 a Committee, and therefore I was obliged to be silent ^. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo unites with me in kind regards to Mrs. 
 Trower and yourself. Believe me ever 
 
 My dear Trower 
 
 very truly yours 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 Torrens tells me he is proceeding with his work on 
 Political Economy. Malthus has been staying a few days 
 with me. He calculates on publishing his book by the 
 end of the year. Mill appears to be well satisfied with 
 his new oflice at the East India House ^. — Mr. Bentham's 
 mind and pen are employed at the present moment in 
 elucidating the principles of Government and the safety 
 of extending the representation. 
 
 ^ The opportunity was actually presented some months later, on Decem- 
 ber i6, 1819, when Ricardo addressed the House on Sir William de 
 Crespigny's motion for the appointment of a select committee ' to inquii-e 
 into the plan of Mr. Owen for ameliorating the condition of the lower 
 classes.' See Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. xli. 1206-1209 ; 
 Letters to McCuUoch, p. 47 ; Mr. Cannan on ' Ricardo in Parliament,' 
 Economic Journal, 1894, pp. 415-7. 
 
 * Mill was appointed Assistant to the Examiner of India Correspondence, 
 12th May, 1 8 19. See Bain's ' Life of Jas. Mill,' p. 185. 
 
Owen's New Plans 8i 
 
 Note. — Mr. Owen's proceedings in 1819 have been already 
 mentioned. (See above, p. 79.) The object of the Committee 
 to which Ricardo so unwillingly belonged was to ' investigate and 
 report on Mr. Owen's plan.' They hoped to get lai-ge enough 
 subscriptions to enable them to found something like a New 
 Lanark in England. ' It is now proposed to form a new 
 establishment in which agriciiltural and manufacturing employ- 
 ment shall both be used, but of which agriculture shall be the 
 basis. Mr. Owen's increased experience and the advantage of 
 beginning de novo will enable him to make arrangements much 
 superior to those which exist at New Lanark ; he expresses the 
 most confident opinion that the capital employed will be rapidly 
 repaid wdth interest, that the labourers may be placed in a state 
 of comfort hitherto unknown to that class ; he offers to take upon 
 himself the superintendence, at the same time that he entirely 
 precludes himself from deriving any profit, and he is desirous to 
 communicate in the most open and unreserved manner the w^hole 
 details of his plans.' (' Life of Owen,' vol. ii. pi3. 213-4, Address 
 of the Committee to the Public, Aug. 23rd, 18 19.) The Committee 
 considered the plans practicable ; but (in December, 1 8 1 9) in 
 view of the smallness of the subscriptions they were obliged to 
 give up their task. £100,000 had been needed, and only £8,000 
 had been collected, in spite of the efforts of the Duke of Kent, their 
 chairman (ibid. 249, cf. 242). 
 
 XXVIII \ 
 
 My dear TrOWER Gatcomb Park 25 Sep. 1819 
 
 I was well pleased to see your well known hand- 
 writing after the very long interval which had elapsed 
 since I received your last letter. I was on the point of 
 writing to you, to shew you that I was not disposed to 
 relinquish my intercourse with you, imperfect as it is", 
 when your letter arrived, and my murmuring ceased. 
 
 By rising early in the morning I have two hours to 
 myself for any object I may have in view, without inter- 
 ruption, even when visitors are in my house ; of course 
 
 ^ Cover wanting. 
 G 
 
82 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 when I am alone or when my visitors are those who are 
 nearly related to me there is much more time in the course 
 of the day that I can call my own. It is easier to find 
 time, than to use it profitably. I have been very much 
 drawn away from all serious occupation since I have been 
 in the country by the desire I have felt to enjoy the fineness 
 of the weather. I cannot often refuse the solicitations of 
 my two little girls to accompany them in their morning 
 rides and we are often to be met with in full canter on our 
 respective ponies. 
 
 For the last fortnight I have confined myself a good deal 
 to my desk, endeavouring to put my thoughts on paper on 
 the subject of the Sinking Fund, I was requested to do 
 so by Mill, who had been applied to by Mr. Napier to 
 forward such a request to me. Mr. Napier is the Editor 
 of the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and he 
 wished for an article on the Sinking fund, from me, to 
 appear in the next half volume of his work. I, at first, 
 refused, but on being strongly urged to do it by Mill, 
 I consented to make the attempt. I have made it, but 
 I have not succeeded, and it is now a very doubtful matter 
 whether I shall persevere in my task ^. The truth is that 
 Dr. Hamilton's book on the Sinking Fund - is so good that 
 very little of original observations can be made on the 
 subject. It would be unjust not to refer to him on all 
 occasions, and if you do so it may be asked, whether you 
 have done any thing yourself ? The only point of difference 
 between Dr. H. and me is this, — he would I believe support 
 the Sinking Fund, I would get rid of it entirely, or leave 
 
 ^ The article was completed and published in the ' Supplement to 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica,' vol. iv ; it is reprinted in 'Works' (ed. McCul- 
 loch) pp. 515-548. See Letters to McCulloch, p. 46; Letters to Malthus, 
 pp. 157-158, 165. 
 
 ^ 'An Inquiry concerning the Rise and Progress, the Redemption and 
 Present State, and the Management of the National Debt of Great Britain 
 and Ireland.' Edinburgh, 1813. 
 
The Sinking Fund 83 
 
 it at that small amount as to give security that if the 
 revenue suffered any unexpected defalcation there was 
 this surplus to apply to. I am equally impressed with 
 Dr, Hamilton with the importance of diminishing our enor- 
 mous debt, the question with me is, will the Sinking Fund 
 effect it ? I am persuaded that it never will, for it will never 
 be safe from the gripe of ministers. Have you virtue enough 
 to pay a great part of your debt by the sacrifice of a portion 
 of your property ? This is the question to be put to the 
 country — if they answer in the negative, then I say the 
 next best thing is to submit to the burden of your 
 debt without aggra[va]ting it by new imposts which will 
 certainly be misapplied. But I must remember that I am 
 not now writing my essay, and that I must not forestal 
 the only point on which I think I am entitled to attention. 
 
 I have pretty nearly discarded the subject of bullion 
 from my mind. Every thing regarding its price and the 
 foreign exchanges is going on so much to my satisfaction 
 that I have nothing to wish for. I repose in full confidence 
 on the wise checks which have been put on the Bank 
 Directors^ — if they had been unrestrained they would 
 again have mistaken the object which they ought to have 
 in view ; instead of taking measures to equalise the value 
 of paper and gold they would have been thinking of the 
 public good, and under a mistaken idea of promoting that, 
 they would have administered an increased dose of paper. 
 
 On the subject of taxation ^ a wide field is open for 
 those, who will patiently think, to give instruction to the 
 Public ; but the first step must be to make the first prin- 
 ciples of Political Economy known, and that remains yet 
 to be done. Without correct notions of rent, no man can 
 be made to understand that a land tax does not ultimately 
 
 ^ See above, p. 73, note. 
 
 ^ Cf. Letters to Malthus, p. 164 (Nov. 1819), v^here for Turner should 
 probably be readTrower : Trower had regretted that the political economists 
 gave so little attention to taxation. 
 
 G % 
 
84 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 fall on the landlord, and it would be in vain to talk to 
 him, till he did admit the new doctrine on the subject of 
 rent. We are advancing, and the discussion which Malthus' 
 new work will provoke as well as the other productions 
 which we lately have had, and which we shall have, will 
 tend to the diffusion of right principles. I am very much 
 mistaken indeed if the delay in the publication of Malthus['] 
 book will not have had the effect of very much improving 
 it. I think I perceive in him a very sensible approach, 
 under different words, to opinions which at first appeared 
 to him most preposterous and extravagant. 
 
 This is as it should be. Even Sismondi's errors will be 
 of use to the diffusion of correct opinions ^. Why do not 
 you give your assistance % It is a path in which much may 
 be done, and in which the stimulus of public opinion and 
 public approbation for success, is not wanting. The truth 
 is you are an idle fellow, and are glad to avail yourself of 
 any excuse, such as a want of time and an abundance of 
 other occupations, rather than undergo the toil of writing. 
 
 One word on the Manchester proceedings ^. I am glad 
 to find that the opinion is general amongst all those 
 whom I meet or converse with that the interference 
 of the Magistrates at the late meeting was unwise and 
 inexpedient. I hope it will appear too that it was illegal, 
 for I hope that no law can be produced to justify the 
 violent interference of magistrates to dissolve a meeting 
 of the people, the avowed object of which was to petition 
 legally for a redress of real or imagined grievances. If 
 the right to petition is only to be exercised at the discretion 
 of magistrates, or of any other body in the state, then it 
 is a farce to call us a free people. These large assemblages 
 
 ' ' Nouveaux Principes d' Economie Politique, ou de la richesse dans ses 
 rapports avec la population.' 2 vols., Paris, 1819. 
 
 - ' Peterloo Massacre,' August 16, 1819. Cf. Wallas, ' Life of Francis 
 Place,' (London, 1898), pp. 140-141. Miss Martiueau, 'History of the 
 Peace,' sub data. 
 
PeterloQ 85 
 
 of the people may be regretted — they may in their con- 
 sequences be productive of mischief, but if the security of 
 our freedom depend on our right to assemble and state our 
 wrongs, which in the absence of real representation I believe 
 it does, then we must patiently suffer the lesser evil to 
 avoid the greater. 
 
 Accept my sincere wishes that Mrs. Trower may pass 
 through her time of anxiety with safety. My friend ^ 
 Malthus would not have thought your case one which 
 required his skill, had he been a physician, and possessed 
 of a remedy to prevent the too great increase of population. 
 You would be only legally and beneficially employed in 
 furnishing citizens to the state, whose exertions might 
 benefit, but whose reasonable wants could not injure the 
 rest of the community. Mrs. Kicardo and my family are 
 well ; they unite with me in kind regards to Mrs. Trower. 
 I am ever my dear Trower 
 Truly yours 
 
 David Ricardo, 
 
 XXIX 2. 
 
 [To Francis Place.] 
 
 Gatcomb Park, Minchinhampton, 
 Dear Sir i November 1819. 
 
 My object, as well as yours, is the discovery of 
 
 truth, and therefore there is no occasion for apology on 
 
 either side, for freely commenting on each other's opinions. 
 
 You say, that you do make a distinction between 
 
 a Sink^ Fund provided by taxes, and a Sinking Fund 
 
 '■ 'Friend' repeated by oversight, in the original. 
 
 ^ Addressed on back : 'Mr. Place, Charing Cross, London.' Franked by 
 Kicardo himself. These letters (XXIX and XXX) are in the 'Place' 
 Collection in the British Museum, Add. MSS., 27836, ff. 113-118, and were 
 first printed, at the suggestion of Mr. Graham Wallas, in the Economic 
 Journal, June, 1893. For Ricardo's relations to Place see Wallas' 'Life of 
 Place '(1898), and Ricardo's Letters to Malthus, pp. ix, 43, 96, 207, 209. 
 
86 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 borrowed, but that in both cases there is nothing but 
 delusion. ' To a S. F. borrowed/ you say, ' that there 
 has been no other kind since 1793-' Now I cannot 
 agree to this ; I wish to ask whether during a portion of 
 the time from 1793 ^^ the present day, there was not, in 
 consequence of that which you deem an unfounded and 
 delusive name, less debt contracted than there would have 
 been if no such name had existed. Twenty millions, for 
 example, were required for the extraordinary expences of 
 1796. Besides a million a year for interest, 200,000 pr 
 ann°^ were also provided, by taxes, for what was impro- 
 perly called Sinking Fund. Suppose this to go on for 
 several years, say ten years, is it not true that we shall, at 
 the end of those years, be less in debt, than if we had 
 continued our expenditure of twenty millions, and had 
 provided only one million per ann"" for interest? It 
 is demonstrable that the difference of our debt would be 
 precisely equal to the sum which £200,000 pr ann™, 
 for ten years, another 200,000 for nine years, another 
 for eight years, and so on, would amount to, at compound 
 interest, in ten years, and therefore in comparing these 
 two modes of providing for expenditure together, it con- 
 veys no erroneous idea, to say, that we shall owe less in 
 one case than the other, by all the amount of the sinking 
 fund and its accumulations. Strictly speaking there is 
 no fund, for there can be no fund, and no accumulation, 
 while we are in debt. All that is received is applied to 
 the payment of debt, or to prevent the contracting of it, 
 but still it is correct to say that the difference between 
 A and B is equal to all the accumulations which a fund 
 of any named amount would yield in a given time. Now 
 suppose the S. F. to be borrowed every year, ther^.iJldeed, 
 you may justly say that the whole is a delusion, for it 
 may be demonstrated that with a given expenditure you 
 will be just as much in debt at the end of ten, or any 
 
Place on the Sinking Fund 87 
 
 other number of years, without, as with a sinking fund. 
 Is there not a very marked difference between the effects 
 of one or other of these sinking funds, yet your language 
 would lead us to suppose there was none, for you say, 
 ' that neither in the one case nor in the other is there 
 any thing but delusion.' Suppose Mr. Pitt's plan to 
 have always been fairly acted upon, and I should ask 
 any of its supporters what benefit we had derived from 
 it in diminishing or in preventing the accumulation of 
 debt, would he not be correct if he showed me the amount 
 of stock standing in the names of the commissioners, and 
 told me that but for the operation of the Sinking Fund, 
 the nation would really have owed that amount in addi- 
 tion to the unredeemed debt. How, then, can you call the 
 whole a delusion % I say that the delusion is in ministers 
 not having performed what they promised — they did not 
 provide what they have always called a sinking fund 
 from the taxes, but have for the last feiv years not only 
 borrowed the sinking fund on the loans which they 
 have created, but have not even provided the interest for 
 them, and therefore it has become necessary to take the 
 interest from the sinking fund. I hope now I have made 
 myself understood ; I concede to you that there is no 
 real fund, nor can there be, while we are in debt, but that 
 no delusion will arise from considering the Sinking fund 
 as a real fund, if we wish merely to make a comparison 
 between the actual state of our debt, with a certain pro- 
 vision to check its accumulation, and its state if no such 
 provision were made. 
 
 You deny that Mr. Vansittart took anything from 
 the S. F. when he made his arrangements in 1813, you say 
 ' there was nothing to take.' We will suppose a country 
 to owe twenty mill°^ pr ann"', and to consent to pay 
 twenty-five millions pr ann™. It pays the five millions 
 with the intention of arriving at a term when it shall 
 
88 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 not be called upon to pay anything, or, in other words, 
 it prefers paying twenty-five millions pr ann"" for a limited 
 number of years, to paying twenty millions pr ann"^ for 
 ever. With the five millions pr ann™ payments of capital 
 are to be made, but without affording any relief to the 
 country, which is always to pay twenty-five millions, till 
 the whole debt is paid. The first year twenty millions are 
 paid to the public, and five millions to the Commissioners ; 
 the second year 19,750,000 to the public, and 5,250,000 to 
 the Commissioners ; and so from year to year the payments 
 to the public diminish, while those to the Commiss" increase. 
 Suppose that at the end of a certain number of years, seven 
 millions only are annually paid to the public, eighteen 
 millions to the Commissioners ; and suppose at this time 
 the minister requires a loan of twenty millions. If he 
 provides one million from the taxes, for the interest of this 
 loan, he will pay annually for interest and sinking fund on 
 debt twenty-six instead of twenty-five millions, and though 
 the debt will increase, the sinking fund will not diminish, 
 but suppose he does not so provide the million for interest, 
 he will on]y pay twenty-five millions pr ann"^ : instead, 
 however, of paying as before seven millions for interest, and 
 eighteen millions to the commissioners, he must now pay 
 eight millions for interest, and seventeen millions to the 
 commissioners ; and if foreseeing that he shall want loans 
 of an equal amount for several years to come he should 
 obtain an act of Parliament allowing him to reduce the 
 payment to the commissioners to eleven millions, and 
 increase that to the public, by the creation of new debt, to 
 fourteen millions, will he not have made a substantial 
 inroad on the plan for the payment of debt % This is what 
 Mr. Vansittart has done, and yet you say, ' Nothing was in 
 fact taken, nothing could be taken, because there was 
 nothing to take.' 
 
 If you say so because, strictly speaking, there is no fund, 
 
A Theoretical Possibility 89 
 
 I will not dispute the matter, for it is in fact a dispute 
 about words. But you observe that it is not a dispute 
 about words, what then do we differ about ? If we have not 
 the means of paying off our debt so quickly as we otherwise 
 should do, or, if we cannot check its increase so effectually 
 in consequence of the new arrangement proposed by Mr. 
 Vansittart, then I say he has taken something, and not 
 nothing. Call it S. F., or call it what you please, he has 
 diminished the necessity for laying on new taxes, but he 
 has done so, by accelerating the increase of debt. 
 
 'A S. F. from taxes can only exist when the taxes 
 produce more money than the current expenses of the 
 Government consume, and this has never been the case in 
 any one instance since 1793, so there has been no sink- 
 ing fund from taxes.' This is in other words saying, 
 'I call nothing a sinking fund which does not actually 
 diminish debt.' My idea of a sinking fund is not so 
 strict as yours, — it is a fund which holds out a fair pros- 
 pect of one day being effective to the diminution and the 
 annihilation of debt. If we had a surplus of permanent 
 revenue above permanent expenditure of twenty millions, 
 and for one year only expended more than our permanent 
 income, ;you would say that we had no sinking fund that 
 particular year — I should on the contrary contend that 
 inasmuch as we had twenty m. pr ann™ for ever to set 
 against one single year[ ]s expenditure of twenty-one m. we 
 had a very substantial and a very efficient fund. ' If we 
 had lent out a sum at compound interest, notwithstanding 
 our continual borrowing, we should have a real sinking 
 fund, and might in time pay off our debts, but this we have 
 never done and never can do.'' That we have not lately 
 done it I agree, but why the thing is impossible, except from 
 the bad faith of ministers or parliament I can not see. 
 
 What reason do you give why we can not do it 1 
 ' because we can not create stock with the produce of 
 
90 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 the taxes/ but the commissioners can appropriate the 
 interest on stock ah-eady created with the produce of 
 the taxes, and this will be attended with precisely the 
 same effects as if they had lent the money at compound 
 interest. If you admit which you unequivocally do that if 
 we lent out a sum at compound interest notwithstanding 
 our continual borrowing, we should have a real sinking 
 fund and might in time pay off our debts, you must 
 admit that an equal fund given to the commissioners to 
 purchase stock in the market with the power of appro- 
 priating the dividends on the stock purchased to the 
 making of new purchases, would be equally eflS.cacious. 
 You must withdraw your first admission or you must be 
 prepared to yield the second — it is impossible consistently 
 to maintain one of these propositions and to refuse one's 
 
 assent to the other. 
 
 I am Dear Sir 
 
 Truly Yours, 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 Be so good as to show this letter to Mr. Mill that he may 
 judge between us. 
 
 XXX \ 
 
 Gatcomb Park, 
 
 Dear Sir 3 ^ommw 1819. 
 
 I have looked carefully at the passage which you 
 quote from Dr. Hamilton, but do not see that the Dr 
 shows that there cannot be a sinking fund from taxes. 
 
 The case he supposes of borrowing money at simple 
 interest and lending it at compound interest, I do not 
 clearly understand. If the nation borrows a loan of a 
 
 ^ Franked by himself. Addressed on back : ' F. Place Esq., Charing 
 Cross, London.' 
 
Hamilton not against Ricardo 91 
 
 million, for which it taxes itself £50,000 pr ann'" to pay the 
 interest, and then employs the million at compound interest 
 in the discharge of debt, it will the first year discharge the 
 debt of the million, and will from that time employ £50,000 
 pr ann. at compound interest in the discharge of old debt. 
 In fact it taxes itself £50,000 pr ann. for a Sinking 
 Fund. When a nation or an individual borrows money 
 at simple interest, and lends it at compound interest, it 
 has the interest to pay every year, but never receives any 
 thing in return while it continues the original loan, or, 
 which is the same thing, the annual interest of it, at com- 
 pound interest. So far from this case proving your propo- 
 sition it appears to me to establish mine. A nation taxes 
 itself 50,000 pr ann. without increasing its expenditure. 
 If the revenue and expenditure were before equal this 
 surplus of £50,000 pr ann. being devoted to the pay- 
 ment of debt, will produce the same effects, as if it were 
 lent to A or B at compound interest, and when arrived at 
 a certain sum were employed for the payment of debt. 
 Do you mean to say (I am sure Dr. Hamilton does not) 
 that if our income exceeds our expenditure £50,000 pr 
 ann"", and is devoted to the payment of debt, that it will 
 not diminish our debt at a compound rate of interest? 
 Shall we not be less in debt by £50,000 the first year, 
 £52,500 the second, £55,125 the third, and so on. Call 
 this a S. F. or what you please, for I will not dispute 
 about a name, will not this be the result ? If you say it 
 will what is our diflference'? On this subject I agree 
 entirely with Dr. Hamilton — pray look at Page ^0^ and 
 following pages of the last edition of his book. 
 I am 
 
 Sincerely ¥"■« 
 
 David Eicardo. 
 
 I am very much obliged to you for sending me the 
 
92 Letters of Ricardo to Trozver 
 
 account of the proceedings at the Westminster election. 
 I have read it with a great deal of interest. 
 
 XXXI ^ 
 
 My dear TrOWER Gatcomb Park— 12 Aw-iSig. 
 
 Think not, I pray you, that I meant to make a 
 charge of idleness against you— I knew full well that if you 
 were not employed in sedentary occupations, that you were 
 nevertheless usefully employed'-^. Nothing can be more 
 useful to the public than that enlightened men, with no 
 motives for the misapplication of the powers entrusted to 
 them, should take upon themselves the duties of magis- 
 trates. I am convinced that you are performing very 
 essential services to the community about you by settling 
 the disputes, — preserving the peace, and affording securities 
 for the protection of property within the circle of your 
 influence. Nor do I undervalue your farming pursuits; 
 I am well satisfied that great benefits arise from men of 
 education and liberal views engaj^iug in such speculations. 
 They contribute much to introduce improvements in agri- 
 culture, and to break down those obstinate prejudices 
 against innovation, which are perhaps more conspicuous 
 in farming concerns than in any other. My regret was 
 perhaps selfish. Wishing ardently ^ for the diffusion of 
 correct principles in Political Economy, I wanted the 
 assistance of one to effect that object who appeared to 
 me to have imbibed correct opinions himself, and to be 
 qualified to aid in the further improvement of the science. 
 
 ' Cover wanting. On back (in another hand) 'Mr. H. Trower from 
 Ricardo.' 
 
 ^ The quantity of MSS. left by Trower, and now in the possession of 
 Mr. Walter Trower, would be a sufficient proof that he was never idle. 
 
 ^ Written ' ardendtly.' 
 
Taxation and Revenue 93 
 
 The subject you mention is very important to be well 
 analysed, and explained — namely, the best means of raising 
 the funds which may be necessary for future expenditure ; 
 it is highly interesting, and merits the most patient inves- 
 tigation. The difficulty which encompasses it is almost 
 sufficient to deter one from entering upon it. For my own 
 satisfaction however, and not with any hope to throw 
 much light on so very intricate a question, I would 
 employ my time upon it, if I had any time at my com- 
 mand, which at present I have not : on some future day 
 I will bend my whole mind to the consideration of this 
 subject. 
 
 I am sorry to find that Malthus, whose work I believe is 
 now actually in the press, has left off, without treating on 
 the subject of taxation. Political Economy, when the 
 simple principles of it are once understood, is only useful, 
 as it directs Governments to right measures in taxation. 
 We very soon arrive at the knowledge that Agriculture, 
 Commerc[e], and Manufactures flourish best when left with- 
 out interference on the part of Government, but the neces- 
 sity which the state has for money to defray the expences 
 of its functions, imposes on it the obligation to raise taxes, 
 and thus interference becomes absolutely necessary. It is 
 here then that the most perfect knowledge of the science 
 is required, and I cannot but regret that Malthus has not 
 given us his thoughts on this part of the subject. I hope 
 he will immediately after publishing his volume seriously 
 set about it. 
 
 I am pleased to find that you are friendly to the preserva- 
 tion of the right to the people to meet, and to state their 
 real or supposed grievances. This right may occasionally 
 be attended with grave inconveniences, but I do not think 
 that you can provide against these, in the way you men- 
 tion, without making the privilege itself a mere nullity. 
 A Government is free in proportion to the facility with 
 
94 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 which the people can overthrow it. What security for 
 freedom should we have if no meeting, larger than a parish 
 meeting, was legal. Such meetings might indeed talk of 
 their grievances, but their talking would be no motive to 
 their rulers to alter their measures, but might indeed be 
 an inducement with them to get rid of such meetings alto- 
 gether. The fear of insurrection, and of the people com- 
 bining to make a general effort are the great checks on 
 all governments — these we might have thro the means 
 of a reformed House of Commons — now we have them by 
 the privilege which the people have of meeting — I can not 
 consent to weaken the latter check without having some 
 security for the obtaining of the former, and even if 
 we did obtain it, I am doubtful how far it might be 
 safely accepted as a substitute for the privilege which we 
 now enjoy. 
 
 I agree with you in thinking that the ministers have 
 shewn very little wisdom, and as little liberality, in their 
 dismissal of Lord Fitzwilliam ^ ; as for the conduct of the 
 opposition, in taking advantage of the present circum- 
 stances, or any other which may occur, to oust ministers 
 from their places, it is quite in the regular course of 
 ministerial and opposition tactics, — they appear to me to 
 have no more chance of succeeding now than on many 
 former occasions. 
 
 Before I go any further, let me congratulate you and 
 Mrs. Trower, which I most sincerely do, on the birth of 
 your daughter. I am glad to hear that mother and infant 
 are doing well. 
 
 I have not read Peter's letters to his Kinsfolk, they 
 are in our book society but have not yet reached me ^. 
 
 1 For signing the requisition to the High Sheriff of York to convene a 
 meeting of pi'otest against the Manchester Massacre, Earl Fitzwilliam was 
 dismissed from the lord-lieutenancy of the West Riding. Martineau, 
 Hist of Peace, I. xvii. (Bohn) p. 310. 
 
 "^ ' Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk.' 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1819. A series 
 
Proposal to defer Resumption 95 
 
 I was sworn in as sheriff at my own house, by, I believe, 
 the Clerk of circuit, or Arraigns, in London, and in the 
 month of Feb^ or march — perhaps April. I was not 
 called upon to do any act in discharge of the duties of 
 the office, till I went to meet the Judges at the Assizes. 
 
 I hear with great concern that an application will be 
 made to Parliament to defer the payment of bullion for 
 paper, at the rate of £4 is. pr oz., in gold, from feb''^ next 
 the time fixed by law, to a later period. I am told that 
 ministers have not discharged any part of the Gov* debt 
 to the Bank, and are disposed to accede to the wishes of 
 the Directors and of their friends to the undefined issues 
 of paper, on condition of more time being granted to them 
 for the payment of the money. Surely Lord Liverpool 
 will disgrace himself by listening to any such compromise 
 — nor can it be possible that after the solemn and grave 
 consideration this subject has undergone Parliam* will 
 consent to further procrastination. What will you say of 
 the House of Commons if it consents % 
 
 Have you heard anything of an intention to propose an 
 income tax of 5 p.c*. ? I do not see the necessity for it. 
 If the revenue is very deficient, it can hardly be so much so, 
 as to leave us without any surplus at all for a sinking fund. 
 If we are to be taxed only for the purpose of creating 
 a sinking fund, I for one dissent from it. Besides, is it 
 fair to infer that because the revenue is from peculiar 
 causes deficient this year, it should therefore be deficient 
 also for years to come. Ministers told us last session 
 that they were then arranging a system which was to be 
 the permanent system of the country and that they did 
 not see any probability of their requiring any further 
 assistance excepting only a loan for five millions. — Why do 
 they not raise the interest on exchequer bills % What 
 
 of sketches of Scottish society, published anonymously, but written by 
 John Gibson Lockhart, assisted by Professor Wilson. 
 
96 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 reason have they to persevere in their endeavors to borrow 
 money at 3 p.c. when the market rate is 5 p.c*. % Before 
 you come to this place you will be heartily tired with this 
 letter — I hasten now to relieve you. With the united wishes 
 of Mrs. Ricardo and myself for your and Mrs. Trower's 
 happiness 
 
 I am ever yours 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 XXXIP. 
 
 [To R. Heathfield.] 
 
 Upper Brook Street, 
 Sir, ig"* December, 1819. 
 
 I ought, long before this time, to have thanked you 
 for the present of your excellent pamphlet ^, on the means 
 of paying off the national debt, and to have expressed to 
 you the pleasure which I derived from its perusal ; but 
 I have been so much engaged of late, that, till now, I have 
 not had leisure to make the few remarks which I was 
 desirous of submitting to you on some parts of your clear 
 and perspicuous statement. 
 
 I entirely concur with you in your general view of the 
 desirableness of extinguishing our debt, and declared my 
 opinion to that effect in a publication of mine given to the 
 public about two or three years ago ^. During the autumn 
 which is just passed I have been employed in giving my 
 thoughts rather more in detail, on the same subject, in an 
 article written for the Encyclopaedia Brittannica Supple- 
 
 * See note below, p. 98. 
 
 * ' Elements of a Plan for the Liquidation of the Public Debt of the 
 United Kingdom ; being the draught of a Declaration, submitted to the 
 attention of the landed, funded, and every other description of Proprietor 
 of the United Kingdom. With an Introductory Address.' London, 1819. 
 
 ^ ' Principles of Political Economy and Taxation,' 1817, ch. xv. 'Taxes 
 on other commodities than raw produce,' p. 338; 'Works' (ed. 
 McCulloch), p. 149. 
 
Repayment of Debt 97 
 
 raent, and which was to have been published last month 1. 
 Mr. Napier, the editor of this work, had my article in 
 October last, but has deferred the publication of it till the 
 next period of publication, because he found that he could 
 not reach the Letter to which it was to be appended, without 
 making the volume just published too bulky. As our 
 opinions coincide remarkably on this question, I thought 
 it right to make you acquainted with these facts, that you 
 might not suppose that I had, without acknowledgment, 
 borrowed your arguments. The chief difference between 
 your opinions and mine are the following : You would pay 
 the stockholder at 100, I think he will receive a full 
 measure of justice, if he is paid at the present market price, 
 or about 70, for his three per cents. As we are now pro- 
 ceeding in the payment, or rather, non-payment of debt, 
 he can never reasonably expect to receive loo, but may 
 more justly expect to be eventually a loser of the whole 
 of his capital. Your reasoning on this point, p. 25, is not 
 satisfactory, for you there assume that the stockholder 
 would reinvest his capital at an interest of three per 
 cent. ; such a fall in the rate of interest being, in your 
 judgment, the natural effect of the payment of the debt : 
 but why interest should fall from five to three per cent, 
 without any increase of capital, or diminution of popu- 
 lation, I cannot conjecture, and I do not perceive that you 
 have said anything in favour of such a conclusion. 
 
 We differ, too, on the effect which the reduction of the 
 debt would have on the agriculture of the country. It 
 would not; in my opinion, enable us to compete with foreign 
 
 ^ The article on the Funding System ('Encycl. Brit.,' Supplement to 
 4th, 5th, and 6th edd., vol. iv. 1824, pp. 410-26) is faithfully reproduced by 
 McCulloch in his edition of Ricardo's Works, pp. 515-548. McCulloch 
 has not even corrected a bad printer's mistake in the opening quotation 
 from Professor Hamilton, making him say that the reduction of the legal 
 rate of interest in 1714 was ' unfavourable' to the commercial state of the 
 country, instead of (^as Hamilton wrote) ' conformable ' thereunto. 
 
98 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 growers of corn, in a degree the least more favourably than 
 we now can do, and, consequently, I think that if a corn 
 law be now necessary to favour our landed interest, it will 
 be as necessary when the national debt is paid. You say 
 (p. 10) 'that under the supposed relief from impost, the 
 people would be cheaply fed, and that great and powerful 
 impulse to the agriculture of the United Kingdom would be 
 experienced.' You think, too, (page 11)' that the remission 
 of duties and taxes would greatly augment the demand for 
 manufactures : ' — I cannot help thinking that we should 
 not experience any such advantages. 
 
 I am sure you will forgive me for the remarks which 
 I have taken the liberty of making on your ingenious 
 pamphlet. If you are desirous of knowing the reasons 
 on which these remarks are founded, I shall be glad to state 
 them to you on any morning that you will favour me with 
 a visit. I will make a point of being at home, any hour 
 that may be most convenient to you. 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 David Kicaedo. 
 Richard Heathfield, Esq. 
 
 Note (i). — The above letter is reprinted from a pamphlet 
 entitled : ' Speech on The State of the Nation, delivered in the House 
 of Commons on the Third Reading of the Reform Bill, on Tuesday, 
 March 20, 1832, by General [C. K.] Palmer. To which are 
 prefixed a letter from the late Mr. Ricardo to Mr. Richard 
 Heathfield on the Liquidation of the Public Debt, and some 
 obserTations thereon.' London (Longman, &c.) 1832. 
 
 The Speech is edited by Heathfield, who prefixes a general in- 
 troduction, dated from 8, Regent St., London, 12th April, 1832. 
 Ricardo's letter is given on pages 4 to 6. Palmer in his speech 
 had referred in complimentary terms to Heathfield's pamphlet of 
 18 19, in favour of direct taxation instead of taxation of commodities 
 for the liquidation of the Debt. 
 
 According to J. R. McCulloch, the credit of first devising the 
 
The Plan of Direct Assessment 99 
 
 plan of paying off the national debt by an assessment upon the 
 wealth of the country belonged neither to Ricardo nor to 
 Heathfield, but to Archibald Hutcheson, who in 1 7 1 6 had pro- 
 posed the scheme in the House of Commons, and had deyeloped it 
 in his ' Collection of treatises relating to the Public Debts and 
 Funds' (London, 1721). Hutcheson's plan was referred to by 
 David Hume, thirty years later, in his ' Essay on Public Credit,' 
 and is said to have attracted some notice at that time. See 
 McCulloch, 'Literature of Political Economy,' pp. 319, 337. See 
 also Cobbett's Letter to Lord Liverpool on Heathfield's Plan for 
 paying off the Nat. Debt, Pol. Register, 22nd April, 1820, p. 369, 
 seq., and Cobbett's severe comments on ' Mr. Ricardo's plan of 
 dividing the lands,' Weekly Reg., Oct. 27th, 1821, pp. 974-6 ; see 
 alsoEdinr. Review, July, 182 1, pp. 483-4, ' on the plan originally 
 suggestedby Mr. Hutcheson, and since recommended by Mr. Ricardo, 
 for paying off the public debt by an assessment on capital.' This 
 review was McCuUoch's (see the lists quoted, p. 190). 
 
 It is curious that in the controversy raised, by J. Horsley Palmer 
 in 1837 on the causes and consequences of the Pressure on the 
 Money Market, Mr. Samson Ricardo took part, writing two 
 pamphlets. But his allusions to his distinguished ancestor do 
 not add to our knowledge, of the latter. 
 
 Note (2). — Hume wrote in 1752 : ' There was, indeed, a scheme 
 for the payment of our debts, which was proposed by an excellent 
 citizen, Mr. Hutchinson [sic], above thirty years ago, and which 
 was much approved of by some men of sense, but never was likely 
 to take effect. He asserted, that there was a fallacy in imagining 
 that the public owed this debt, for that really every individual 
 owed a proportional share of it, and paid, in his taxes, a propor- 
 tional share of the interest, besides the expences of levying these 
 taxes. Had we not better then, says he, make a proportional 
 distribution of the debt among us, and each of us contribute 
 a sum suitable to his property, and ^by that means discharge at 
 once all our funds and public mortgages ? He seems not to have 
 considered, that the laborious poor pay a considerable part of the 
 taxes by their annual consumptions, though they could not 
 advance, at once, a proportional part of the sum required. Not 
 to mention, that property in money and stock in trade might easily 
 be concealed or disguised ; and that visible property in lands and 
 houses would really at last ansAver for the whole : An inequality 
 H 2 
 
TOO Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 and oppression, wliich never would be submitted to. But though 
 this project is never likely to take place 'tis not altogether improb- 
 able, that when the nation become heartily sick of their debts, 
 and are cruelly oppressed by them, some daring projector may 
 arise with visionary schemes for their discharge. And as public 
 credit will begin, by that time, to be a little frail, the least touch 
 will destroy it, as happened in France, and in this manner it will 
 die of the doctor' (Essays published 1752, p. 406 of 4to, ed. 1768, 
 vol. i. Essay ix, ' Of Public Credit '). 
 
 J. S. Mill (Pol. Ec. Bk. V. ch. vii. § 2, ist ed. 1848, vol. ii. p. 433) 
 adds the argument, ' If those who have no accumulations, but only 
 incomes, were required to make up by a single payment the 
 equivalent of the annual charge laid on them by the taxes 
 maintained to pay the interest of the debt, they could only do 
 so by incurring a private debt equal to their share of the public 
 debt ' and at higher interest. 
 
 Hume's ' Public Credit ' was reprinted in a Reform pamphlet in 
 181 7 : 'Insecurity of the British Funds. Essay on Public Credit 
 by David Hume (Reprinted from the Edition of 1752), with 
 observations on the sound and prophetic nature of its principles, 
 shewing from indisputable facts, that a perseverance in the Pitt 
 and Paper System must eventually produce a National Bankruptcy, 
 and pointing out the only mode of averting so fatal a calamity, 
 with remarks on the necessity of parliamentary reform, an analysis 
 of Mr. Bentham's Plan, &c. Addressed to the British People by 
 Imlac' London &c,, 18 17. When Hutcheson made his proposal 
 soon after the Peace of Utrecht, the Debt was about 50 millions. 
 In 1752 when Hume wrote his Essay it was about 75, and in 
 1819 about 900 millions. It is now about 620. 
 
 XXXIII 1. 
 
 My dear Trower London, 28 Deer— 1819. 
 
 At length we have obtained a little breathing time, 
 
 and I am enabled to sit down and have a chat with you. 
 
 All the important business in the house has been dispatched, 
 
 and we are now to look forward to a long holiday : indeed 
 
 ^ Cover wanting. 
 
The Six Acts loi 
 
 I think we deserve one for our labours have been incessant 
 during the last month, and it is matter of surprise to me 
 how ministers undergo the fatigue of midnight watchings, 
 added to their other duties. Mr. Tierney ^ is evidently 
 ranch the worse for it, although his attention to the busi- 
 ness, even of the House, is by no means unremitting ; he 
 declares himself that he can no longer undergo the harassing 
 duty of a close attendance at the debates of the House 
 of Commons. You, I have no doubt, approve of all the 
 measures^ which have been adopted to suppress the public 
 discontent — I consider them as serious infringements on our 
 liberties, and deprecate them because I expect that they 
 will not allay the causes of discontent, but increase them. 
 The people complain that they have not a due share in the 
 formation of their government, and they ai-e deprived of 
 a portion of that which they really had. To me it appears 
 that the radical reformers are very unfairly treated — they 
 are all lumped together — without proof or even examina- 
 tion they are declared to be revolutionists in disguise, and 
 on this assumption they are condemned without being per- 
 mitted to say one word in theii' defence. That there was 
 cause for apprehension from the large meetings of the 
 people, and from the publication of atrocious libels, no one 
 can deny, but the efficiency of the laws already in force 
 was never fairly tried, and ministers were not justified in 
 
 ' George Tierney vborn 1756, died 1830), the well-known Whig leader. 
 He fought a duel with Pitt in 1798. He held office both in the Addington 
 ministry of 1802, and in the Grenville ministry of 1806 (' All the Talents'). 
 
 ^ The ' Six Acts,' viz. : (i ) An Act to prevent delay in the administration 
 of justice in cases of misdemeanour ; ^2) An Act to prevent the training of 
 persons in the use of arms and the practice of militaiy evolutions ; ^3) An 
 Act for the prevention and punishment of blasphemous and seditious 
 libels ; (4) An Act to authorize justices of the peace, in certain disturbed 
 counties, to seize and detain arms; 15; An Act to subject certain pub- 
 lications to the duties of stamps upon newspapers, and to make other 
 regulations for restraining the abuses arising from the publication of 
 blasphemous and seditious libels ; (6) An Act for preventing the assem- 
 bling of seditious assemblies. 
 
I02 Letters of Ricardo to Troiver 
 
 adopting new measures of rigour until the old measures 
 had failed of remedying the evil complained of. 
 
 Our finance does not seem so very bad as had been 
 represented — the deficiency this year must be serious, but 
 not so great as to absorb the whole of the Sinking Fund, 
 and unless the whole is absorbed I do not see either the 
 policy or necessity of imposing new taxes. I suppose we 
 shall now go on without any important measure in finance 
 till a new war breaks out, and then it appears to me impos- 
 sible, if faith is to be kept with the public creditor, to raise 
 the annual supplies for the expences of such war, but by 
 taxes equal to such expenditure. 
 
 There must I think be an end of loans ; we cannot go 
 on adding to a debt of 800 millions ^. A great deal more 
 has been said than I intended there should be of an inci- 
 dental observation of mine respecting the payment of the 
 debt and as it usually happens I am attacked by the most 
 opposite parties ^. By some stockholders I am accused of 
 not doing justice to them, by suggesting that they are 
 not fairly entitled, in ready money, to £100, for £100 — 
 3 p. cts., but to the market price of £100 stock, or £70. By 
 another party— the landholders — I am accused of wishing 
 to give the lands of the country to the stockholders, and 
 it is more than hinted that I have an interested view in 
 making the proposal. I may be ignorant or prejudiced, 
 but I am not conscious of being influenced by any motives 
 of interest, and it would really be very difficult for me to 
 determine how my particular interest would be affected 
 by the adoption of the measure. 
 
 ' Of funded debt ; with the unfunded and annuities it reached 900. 
 
 * Four days earlier (^December 24, 1819), in a speech in the House upon 
 a representation of London merchants respecting commercial distress, 
 Ricardo had urged his characteristic recommendation that the whole 
 capital of the country be assessed for the discharge of the national debt. 
 See Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. xli. 1576 ; of. also Letters to 
 McCuUoch, p. 50 ; to Malthus, p. xv. See also above, pp. 96 seq. 
 
The State of the House of Commons 103 
 
 The most serious obstacle which I see against the adoption 
 of the plan is the state of the representation of the House 
 of Commons, which is such as to afford us no security that 
 if we got rid of the present debt, we should not be plunged 
 into another. 
 
 The debates have been very interesting — those of the last 
 week^ afforded an opportunity for the display of great elo- 
 quence and great talent, both on the part of Sir J. Mackin- 
 tosh and Mr. Canning. This display was admirable, and 
 I am told by those who have long had seats in parliament, 
 has not of late years been surpassed. Plunkett and 
 Brougham also have shewn very great abilities. 
 
 I hope Mrs. Trower and your children are well, and are 
 enjoying without alloy the festivities of this season, usually 
 devoted to mirth and cheerfulness. Pray give Mrs. Ricardo's 
 and my kind regards to them. 
 
 I suppose you will be selected for the Sheriff for the 
 ensuing year, in your County. I hope you will find the 
 office an agreeable one, and that it will not be attended 
 with any unusual portion of responsibility from the un- 
 settled state of the times. Adieu my dear Trower. 
 Believe me ever Most truly yrs 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 XXXIV 2. 
 
 My dear Trower London 28 Jan'y. 1820. 
 
 I very much regretted not seeing you at dinner on 
 the day I met you in the Strand, we had a very agreeable 
 day, and some discussions in which you would have liked 
 to participate. 
 
 lam glad to hear that you are again looking at the subject 
 of Political Economy, and that you still see no reason to 
 
 ' On the third reading of the ' Newspaper Stamp Duties Bill ' ; see 
 Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. xli. 1459 et seq. 
 * Cover wanting. 
 
I04 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 doubt the truth of the principles which I have endeavored 
 to establish. I have looked to the passages in my book to 
 which you refer ^ I quite agree with you that in most cases 
 of taxes on income, or on profits, no effect would be pro- 
 duced on prices, and the burthen, which in every case would 
 be equal, would fall on the producer, or the man enjoying 
 the income. But I have supposed a case of our having the 
 mines which supplied our standard, in this country, and 
 that the profits of the miner were not taxed, then com- 
 modities would rise in price to the amount of the tax, 
 or the miner[']s business would be more profitable than any 
 other, and consequently would draw capital to that con- . 
 cern -. If then all commodities rose in price [to] what 
 would they rise ? not in proportion to their value, but 
 in proportion to the capitals employed in their production, 
 and therefore as commodities selling for £4,000 may be 
 the result of the employment of the same amount of 
 capital as commodities which sell for £10,000, these 
 commodities would not rise in proportion to their prices, 
 but if one rose £200 — the other would also rise £200. 
 Now in this situation of things suppose money to rise 
 in value and the goods which sell for £10,200 to fall to 
 £10,000 the other goods which sell for £4,200 will fall to 
 £4,000, but if money should continue to rise in value and 
 consequently the goods which sold for £10,000 should fall 
 to £5,000, then those which sold for £4,000 would fall to 
 £2,000. Up to [a] certain point then they fall in pro- 
 portion to the capitals employed in their production, but 
 subsequently in proportion to the value of the goods them- 
 selves ^. This is the opinion which I wish to express, whether 
 
 ' 'Principles of Political Economy and Taxation,' in Works, chap. xv. 
 (' Taxes and Profits'), esp. p. 127. Cf. Appendix B. I. 
 
 ^ Gold and silver would be relatively cheaper than other commodities, 
 or, if they were not, competition of capitalists would soon make them so, 
 till the flow was followed by the ebb and they became dearer again. 
 
 ^ The position seems to be as follows : The first effect of the tax will 
 
Effects on Price of a Tax on Profits 105 
 
 it be a correct one is another question. On the hasty con- 
 sideration which I can now give it I see no reason to doubt it. 
 
 A tax imposed on goods, exactly equal to the tax on 
 profits which each man would have to pay, will have pre- 
 cisely the same effects. 
 
 I never contemplate as a good practical measure, a tax 
 on profits, without also taxing all other sources of income. 
 Profits can never be known without a minute scrutiny 
 into the afl^airs of those concerned in trade, other sources 
 of income are well known and may be easily come at. 
 The landlord cannot well conceal the amount of his rent, 
 •nor the stockholder the amouut of his dividend, and 
 therefore it might become a question whether you should 
 not tax the profits of trade indirectly, by taxing wages, 
 or necessaries ; and other incomes directly, as rent, divi- 
 dends, annuities, &c., &c. 
 
 As a political economist I say that there is no tax which 
 has not a tendency to diminish production, in the same way 
 as a deterioration of soil or the loss of a good machine, but 
 I mean nothing more than that it is an obstacle opposed to 
 production. You say it is such obstacles as these which 
 stimulate to exertion, and experience proves they are always 
 overcome. I have no doubt that there is a degree of 
 diflBculty in production which acts in the way you mention ; 
 if too strong however it will oppose a physical difficulty 
 
 be uniform as regards profits, and therefore r?o< uniforni for prices, the 
 high-priced articles and the low-priced (under competition) yielding a like 
 rate of profits to the same amount of capital, but being various in number, 
 and therefore not increased or diminished in price by the &ame figure 
 per article; the eventual effect will be a uniform raiding or lowering of 
 the prices per article, through a change in the value of money generally. 
 The first effect proceeds from the total to the items, the second from 
 the items to the total. The process in any case is a slow one. See the 
 chapter (xiii) of Pol. Econ. and Tax. (Works, pp. 113 seq.) on 'Taxes 
 on Gold.' Compare Marx, ' Kapital,' vol. iii. (1894), ch. x. pp. J51 seq. 
 (reproduced in ' Karl Marx and the Close of his System ' by Bohm Bawerk, 
 translated by Macdonald (Fisher Unwin, 1898 , pp. 46-59^ Marx was 
 more Ricardian than Ricardo; but Ricardo had certainly left him models 
 of over-subtlety. 
 
io6 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 which can not be overcome. I think the difficulties in our 
 case are not precisely in the proper degree to ensure the 
 greatest production. Still it is correct to record'the obstacle 
 and acknowledge it to be one. You compare the expences 
 of the rich proprietors and the expenditure by Government 
 of money received in taxes. With respect to future pro- 
 duction it is indifferent whether this portion of the general 
 revenue be expended by one or the other, excepting in this 
 that in the expenditure of government a tax will be re- 
 quired for the future increased production, as well as for 
 that which is usually produced and this may prevent the 
 production of the increased quantity altogether, A tithe 
 on land which cannot afford a rent will prevent that land 
 from being cultivated until the price of corn rises. If 
 there were no tithe the same land might be cultivated for 
 the proprietor[']s benefit. If all I am to get is to be expended 
 by the state I will not produce, if it is to be expended by 
 me, I will. After it is produced it is not of much impor- 
 tance whether the state or I expend it, to the public at large, 
 but it is of immense importance in determining me to be 
 active or idle. Taxes for the benefit of trade itself, such as 
 for Docks, canals, Roads, &c., &c., are on a different footing 
 from all other taxes, and produce very different effects, 
 they may and generally do promote production instead of 
 discouraging it. — I am glad you have not persuaded yourself 
 that taxes are very delightful things. I am very sorry 
 to be obliged to agree with you that there are a very few 
 who are perfect masters of the science of Polit. Econ. 
 
 I have been much entertained by reading Ivanhoe 
 though not in an equal degree as by reading some of the 
 other novels written by the same author. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo joins with me in kind remembrances to 
 Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Ever Y" 
 
 D. RiCAEDO. 
 
Good-tempered Constituents 107 
 
 XXXV \ 
 
 My dear TrOWEK London 13 llch 1820 
 
 Mr. Mill is so constantly occupied at the India House 
 that I seldom see him, except on Sundays, and therefore 
 I delayed answering your letter till after I had met him 
 yesterday. He, as well as I, are \_dc\ much obliged by your 
 invitation, and we have agreed to accept it, if it will suit 
 you to receive us on Saturday the 1st, or the following 
 Saturday, the 8th of april. Mr. Mill is obliged to stipulate 
 for Saturday, as that is the only day on which he can leave 
 the India House. Our visit will necessarily be a short 
 one, but if the weather should be as fine as it now is, we 
 shall have an opportunity of seeing the beauty of the 
 country immediately about you. 
 
 My late constituents at Portarlington appear to be a very 
 good tempered set of gentlemen, and will I am assured 
 elect me without hesitation to the next Parliament ^ The 
 report of my being a candidate for the county of Gloucester 
 never had the least foundation, and was put forth I imagine 
 with no other view than to provoke a contest. I do not 
 soar so high, and am the most unfit of all men to engage 
 in an undertaking so difficult and so expensive as that of 
 contesting a county with an old and powerful family. 
 
 The plot in Cato Street ^ must no doubt be favorable 
 to ministers in the general election, and yet at Brookes' 
 they confidently anticipate rather an accession than a 
 diminution to the ranks of opposition. On this point I am 
 
 * Addressed on back, but without postmarks or frank. 
 
 ^ McCulIoch states that Ricardo never saw the borough of which he 
 was the representative, and therefore 'could speak and vote as he thought 
 proper, without being influenced in any degree by the opinions of his 
 constituents. He was in every sense a truly independent member.' See 
 McCulIoch's 'Treatises on Political Policy' (second edit., 1859), pp. 555, 
 556, note. Compare Letters to Malthus, p. 154, and above, Letter XXIV. 
 
 ^ The plot of Thistlewood and others to murder the Ministers at a 
 Cabinet dinner on Feb. 23. They were betrayed by a spy, and dispersed 
 on that day, at their last head-quarters in Cato Street, Edgeware Road. 
 
io8 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 very little anxious, as whether the ministers have a majority 
 of 200, 100, or 50, will not, I think, in any degree affect the 
 important questions about which the country should be 
 most particularly solicitous. — I should be glad to have 
 some enlightened commercial men added to the small 
 number usually in the House, and therefore I regret that 
 Sharp ^ has been defeated at Maidstone — I hope however 
 that Haldimand '^ will succeed at Ipswich, He is brother 
 to Mrs. Marcet ^ and appears to be a clever man. He is 
 rich and has much influence amongst his brother merchants, 
 Sir Wm. Curtis's * commercial knowledge will not add 
 much to the general stock. 
 
 My thoughts have not been engaged upon any particular 
 branch of Political Economy exclusively, but have wandered 
 over the whole field. At one time I have to defend and 
 explain one principle against an adversary, at another time 
 another, and I have the satisfaction of observing that the 
 opinions which I deem the correct ones are daily gaining 
 ground. Col. Torrens is becoming one of the most efficient 
 advocates for the right principles, as may be seen both in 
 his review of Owen in the Edinburgh ^, and in the last 
 
 ' Richard Sharp, best known as ' Conversation ' Sharp, had Iieen 
 Ricardo's predecessor as member for Portarlington. 
 
 ^ William Haldimand, a director of the Bank of England, and a sti'ong 
 advocate of the resumption of specie payments. In 1828 he removed 
 permanently to his summer villa, Denanton, near Lausanne, and upon 
 his death in 1862, left the bulk of his estate to the blind asylum at 
 Lausanne. 
 
 ^ The well-known author of ' Conversations on Political Economy,' 
 (London, i8i6\ and other educational writings. See Letters to Malthus, 
 p. 132, and Palgrave's Diet, of Pol. Ec, art. 'Marcet.' 
 
 ' Sir William Curtis, Bart. (1752 — 1829), the head of the Tory party in 
 the City of London. He was several times Lord Mayor, and in 1819 was 
 elected M.P. for Bletchingley, Surrey. He was first a biscuit makei-, then 
 concerned in the Gi'eenland Fishei'ies, and finally a banker. In 1822 lie 
 donned the kilt with the king in Scotland. 
 
 s Edinburgh Review, No. LXIV (October, 1819), Art. xi : 'On Mr. Owen's 
 Plans for Relieving the National Distress'; nominally a review of Robert 
 Owen's 'New View of Society,' and three of his "minor tracts. Cf. Letters 
 to Malthus, p. 170; Letters to McCuUoch, p. 52. 
 
The Petition of London Merchants 109 
 
 edition of his work on the impolicy of restraints on the 
 importation of corn^. Lord King too, with whom I have 
 lately conversed, is also marshalled on our side. M'Culloch 
 has I am told an article in the Edinburgh just printed, in 
 favor of free trade, and I dare say it is a good one ^. That 
 we are improving is manifest from this that a petition is 
 preparing in the city to Parliament in favor of free trade, 
 in which the merchants (the petitioners) with great ability 
 urge the advantages which would result from unrestrained 
 commerce. It is very respectably signed and will be 
 presented to the H. of Commons by Mr. Baring ^ That 
 the mercha,nts should condemn and expose the mercantile 
 system is no unimportant evidence of the progress of 
 liberal opinions. 
 
 I am glad that you are not to be plagued with a con- 
 tested election in Surry. As Sheriff it would have involved 
 you in a degree of anxiety and responsibility from which 
 you must be glad to escape. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo unites with me in kind wishes to Mrs. Trower. 
 Believe me Ever 
 
 Truly yrs 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 ' 'An Essay on the External Corn Trade,' &c. ; ist ed., London, 1815 ; 
 2nd ed., 1820. 
 
 ^ Edinburgh Eeview, No. LXV (January, 1820), Art. ix, on 'Taxation 
 and the Corn Laws.' 
 
 ' The petition was drawn np by Thomas Tooke, and signed by leading 
 merchants of London. It was introduced in the House on March 8, 1820, 
 by Alexander Baring, and after a debate, in which Ricardo participated, 
 ordered to lie upon the table. Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. i, 
 N. S., 165-197. The text of the petition is reprinted in McCulloch, 
 ' Literature of Political Economy,' pp. 57, 58. In 1857, the year before his 
 death, Mr. Tooke prepared, for the sixth volume of the ' History of Prices,' 
 a statement of the circumstances under which the petition was prepared ; 
 see Tooke and Newmarch, 'A History of Prices and of the State of 
 Circulation from 1792 to 1856,' vol. vi, Appendix I (pp. 331-344 • This 
 interesting account, together with a portrait of Mr. Tooke and a facsimile 
 of his hand-writing, is reproduced in vol. iv of the ' Proceedings of the 
 Political Economy Club ' (London, 1882). 
 
no Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 XXXVI \ 
 
 [To Sir John Sinclair.] 
 Sir, ii'^'' M^ay 1820. 
 
 I agree with you on the benefits resulting from 
 a paper instead of a coin circulation, and I never ^vish to 
 see any other established in this country ; but we differ on 
 the means of regulating its value and amount. That I think 
 is to be done best, by making it exchangeable for bullion, 
 at a fixed rate. I do not deny that the public has suffered 
 much pressure from the limitation of circulation, but Parlia- 
 ment is not responsible for more than about 5 or 6 j^er 
 cent, of that pressure, the limitation having taken place, and 
 the currency having risen in value, to within 5 or 6 per 
 cent, of the mint value, before the Bank Committee was 
 appointed. An increase of currency now, would undoubtedly 
 lower its value, raise all prices, and very much lighten 
 taxation; but no measure could, I think, be more impolitic. 
 
 It would be unjust to all creditors, and proportionally 
 advantageous to debtors. If the payment of the interest 
 of the national debt is a greater burden than we can bear, 
 which I think it is not, and cannot well be, the fair way 
 would be, to compound with the public creditor, and not 
 make him only a pretended payment. 
 
 Respecting the paying off the national debt, we do not 
 materially differ. I would pay it off entirely, and never 
 allow any new debt, on any pretence whatever, to be con- 
 tracted. You would only pay off a part, and would not object 
 to contract a fresh debt, on any pressing emergence [sic]. 
 You would not exempt foreigners from the necessary contri- 
 bution. I would. You calculate that we consume as much 
 corn, and other things, when prices rise from a scarcity, as 
 when they are cheap from abundance. This I think impos- 
 sible. If there were an equal consumption, there could be no 
 
 * * Sinclair's Correspondence,' pp. 372, 373. 
 
No more National Debts iii 
 
 scarcity, and consequently no rise of price. You would give 
 the home grower of corn the monopoly of the home market, 
 while the operation of paying the debt is going on. I would, 
 when it was completed, take off all restrictions on importa- 
 tion. I would leave the law as it is during the paying off, 
 and would gradually take off all restrictions afterwards. To 
 induce capital, by a monopoly, to go into agriculture, and 
 then remove it afterwards, would be attended with ruin to 
 the agriculturists. The restrictions, I think, should not be 
 increased, with a view, finally, to get rid of them. 
 
 I fear that no plan for paying off the debt will receive 
 any countenance from Parliament. Men do not like to 
 make an immediate sacrifice for a future good ; and they 
 please themselves with imaginary riches, from which they 
 really derive no advantage. Are not those imaginary riches, 
 from the possession of which we only derive a revenue, 
 which we are immediately obliged to pay to the tax-gatherer ? 
 I remain, Sir, your faithful servant, 
 
 David Ricaedo. 
 
 Sir John Sinclaie, Bart. 
 
 XXXVII \ 
 
 [To MacVey Napiee.] 
 
 Sir London, 15 il/aj/ 1820. 
 
 I return the Froof of the article on the Sinking 
 Fund which you sent me ; I wish it was more worthy of 
 insertion in your valuable publication. 
 
 The Table at the end has little to do with the subject, it 
 contains some information and may be omitted or inserted 
 as you think best. 
 
 I will be obliged to you for 2 or 3 separate copies of the 
 
 article. 
 
 I am Sir with great esteem 
 
 Faithfully yours 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 ^ From vol. ii of the Correspondence of Macvey Napier, in the British 
 Museum. 
 
112 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 XXXVIII \ 
 
 My dear TrOWER Brighton 21 Juhj 1820 
 
 I have been here above a week, and ought, before 
 this time, to have acknowledged the receipt of your kind 
 letter of the 5th inst. All business of consequence had 
 been dispatched in the House of Commons before I quitted 
 London, and as my family had left me alone in my large 
 house, I was anxious to join them in this place, which they 
 had chosen for their residence for a few weeks, previous to 
 our journey into Gloucestershire. They are much more 
 partial to Brighton than I am, and are much more per- 
 suaded also of the beneficial effects of sea air to all persons, 
 and to all constitutions, than I ever shall be. — I should 
 have preferred going straight to Gatcomb as soon as 
 I could quit London. It does not appear likely that public 
 business will allow me to stay long in Gloucestershire this 
 year. The enquiry into the charge against the Queen 2, 
 wil], no doubt, make a very early meeting of the House of 
 Commons necessary, and when we meet we shall not, 
 I think, be very soon discharged from our attendance. 
 I am sorry that this unfortunate business was not settled 
 without an appeal to Parliament. Under all the circum- 
 stances of the case I do not think that ministers were justified 
 in making it an affair of state. It can have no other effect 
 but to bring royalty itself into disgrace, and to weaken 
 the attachment of the people to monarchical Government. 
 If these proceedings should lead to a change of ministers 
 I am very far from expecting that the proceedings of the 
 whigs when in administration will be essentially different 
 from those of the men they will displace — something they 
 must do to preserve an appearance of consistency, but it 
 
 * Addressed on back of last half sheet, and franked by ' David Kicardo.' 
 ^ Compare Letters to Malthus, pp. 172, 173, 177. 
 
The True Political Economy 113 
 
 will be very little indeed— the}' are in theii- hearts as 
 little friendly to any real reform as the tories. 
 
 You say more than I deserve in my praise for asserting 
 the true principles of Political Economy in my place in 
 Parliament. I feel that I am quite unequal to do what 
 a better speaker might do, and I am more than usually 
 daunted by observing that on every point where an abuse 
 is to be got rid of there are such powerful interests to 
 oppose, who never fail of making the worse appear the 
 better reason. 
 
 I have not met with many persons who have yet read 
 Malthus' book ^. I am pleased however with the observa- 
 tions you make on what he has said respecting my doc- 
 trine, of price being ultimately regulated by cost of 
 production ^. By the very definition of natural price, it is 
 wholly dependent on cost of production, and has nothing 
 to do with demand and supply. The terms on which 
 a commodity can be produced, so as to remunerate the 
 producer, will remain the same altho' the demand should 
 be for five times tlie quantity produced. We all acknow- 
 ledge the effect of such a demand on market price. 
 
 Mr. Malthus pays me a very unmerited compliment at 
 the end of his chapter on the rent of land ^j but he is ver}' 
 unjust to me in his comments on my doctrine of rent and 
 profit, in that same chapter. He represents me as holding 
 the landlords up to reproach, because I have said that their 
 interests are opposed to those of the rest of the community, 
 and that the rise of their rents are at the expence of the 
 gains of the other classes. The whole tenor of my book 
 shews how I mean to apply those observations. I have 
 
 ^ ' Principles of Political Economy considered with a View to their 
 Practical Application.' London, 1820. 
 
 ^ Ibid., ch. ii, sections ii, iii, iv. 
 
 ^ 'Principles of Political Economy,' p. 238, note. 'A more honourabk- 
 and excellent man I could not point out in the whole circle of land- 
 holders.' 
 
 I 
 
114 Letters of Ricardo to Trozver 
 
 said that the community would not benefit if the landlords 
 gave up all their rent — such a sacrifice would not make 
 corn cheaper, but would only benefit the farmers ^. — Does 
 not this shew that I do not consider landlords as enemies 
 to the public good 'I They are in possession of machines of 
 various productive powers^, and it is their interest that the 
 least productive machine should be called into action ^ — 
 such is not the interest of the public — they must desire to 
 employ the foreign greater productive machine rather than 
 the English less productive one. Mr. M. charges me| 
 too with denying the benefits of improvements in Agri- 
 culture to Landlords. — I do not acknowledge the justice 
 of this charge, I have more than once said, what is 
 obvious, that they must ultimately benefit by the land 
 becoming more productive. Perhaps I have not expressed 
 myself so strongly on this point as I ought to have done, 
 but it was evident that I acknowledged the principle. I 
 refer you to the last Chap, of my book, and particularly 
 to the paragraph beginning ' Another cause of the rise of 
 rent, according to Mr. Malthus, &c. &c.,' ^ for the truth of 
 my assertion. Pray look at Page 237 of Mr. M's book, 
 and you will see an instance of a great (unintentional 
 I am sure) misrepresentation of an adversary's argument. 
 I contend for free trade in corn on the ground that while 
 trade is free, and corn cheap, profits will not fall however 
 great be the accumulation of capital. If^ you confine 
 yourself to the resources of your own soil, I say, rent will 
 
 ' Ricardo, 'Principles of Political Economy,' (2nd ed.), p. 59, in 
 Works (ed. McCulloeh), p. 39. 
 
 * Cf. Malthus, 'Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent,' pp. 
 
 38, 39- 
 
 =■ Ch. xxix. of ist ed., headed ' Mr. Malthus's Opinions on Rent,' 
 pp. 549 seq. ; Works, p. 243 seq., esp. 251. The immediate effect is more 
 food than is wanted, the remote effect is higher rents. In the text Trower 
 has added in pencil '571,' the reference to the ist edition, though more 
 exactly it should be 570. 
 
 * Underlined by Trower in pencil. 
 
Rent and Improvements 115 
 
 in time absorb the greatest part of that produce which 
 remains after paying wages, and consequently profits will be 
 low. Not only individual profits but the aggregate amount 
 of profits will be diminished, notwithstanding an increase 
 of capital. The whole net produce will be increased, but 
 less will be enjoyed by capitalists (see Chap, on Profits, 
 Pages 128-129, 2nd edition)^. Now how does Mr. M. apply 
 my arguments ? ' Do not let cheap corn be imported,' 
 says he, ' because if you do you will lose a part of that por- 
 tion of your surplus produce which now appears in the 
 form of rent.' I agree that this would be the consequence, 
 but then it is known that I contend this would be more 
 than compensated by increased profits, but Mr. M. was 
 my authority for the very opposite conclusion : you will 
 have no compensation in increased profits, he says ^', and 
 I appeal to Mr. Ricardo for the correctness of this opinion, 
 who has admitted that not only each individual capital in 
 the progress of society will yield a continually diminish- 
 ing revenue, but the whole amount of the revenue derived 
 from profits will be diminished. I admit it ! yes I do 
 but in the case of high rents and a high price of corn, not 
 in the opposite case to which he applies it of low rents, 
 and a low price of corn. 
 
 Pray look to Section 6 — Page 192, and you will observe 
 that all the points on which my theory is raised are 
 admitted. There are only two causes for a high price of 
 corn. A fall in the value of money. An increase in the 
 quantity of labour and capital necessary to produce corn ''. 
 After this admission is it not wonderful that anything 
 should be said in favor of a rise in what Mr. M. calls 
 
 • In Works (ed. McCulloch), pp. 68, 69. 
 
 ^ Malthus, 'Pol. Ec. ' (1820), p. 237: 'According to Mr. Ricardo, not 
 only will each individual capital in the progress of society yield a con- 
 tinually diminishing revenue, but the whole amount of the revenue 
 derived from profits will be diminished.' 
 
 ' Malthus, 'Pol. Ec' (1820), p. 193. 
 
ii6 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 real rent when it is caused by an increase in the quantity 
 of labour and capital necessary to produce corn ? and yet 
 this I consider to be Mr. M's argument, for according 
 to him higii rent is in itself a good, independently of its 
 being a sign of wealth and power. Is it not a good to 
 obtain all your productions by the least sacrifice of labour 
 and capital ? I could fill sheet after sheet with what ap- 
 pears to me to be false reasoning and inconsistencies in 
 this book, but I will spare you. 
 
 You have no doubt observed that Hume^ has undergone 
 the ordeal of an election committee with success. The 
 ministers have not a more formidable opponent. He never 
 speaks without a formidable array of figures to back his 
 assertions, and he pores over documents with persevering 
 zeal and attention, which most other men fly from with 
 disgust and terror. His manner of speaking is I think 
 improved— he is however generally too difi"use — speaks too 
 often — and sometimes wastes his own strength, and his 
 hearer[']s patience, on matters too trifling for notice. He 
 justifies this indeed by saying that he contends for sound 
 principles, which are as much outraged by an unjust 
 expenditure of a few hundred pounds, as of a million. He 
 is I think a most useful member of parliament, — always at 
 his post and governed I believe by an ardent desire to be 
 useful to his country. 
 
 I hope Mrs. Trower and your girls are well. Mrs. Ricardo 
 joins me in kind remembrances to them. 
 Believe me ever My dear Trower 
 
 Very truly yrs 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 I have seen no account of the Savings Bank Fund on 
 the table of the House, but I believe one is ordered to be 
 presented, 
 
 ' Joseph Hume, then member for the Border burghs. 
 
Gatcomb and Bromesberrow 117 
 
 XXXIX \ 
 
 I have been here since the 9th of Aug, Gatcomb Park 
 
 15 Sepr., 1820. 
 
 My DEAR Trower, 
 
 I learnt with great concern that you had had the 
 misfortune to dislocate j^our knee. Besides the pain which 
 you must have endured, it was a cruel grievance to one su 
 fond of moving about as you are to be confined for so great 
 a length of time, as you already had been when you wrote 
 on the sopha. I hope you were able to resume your 
 accustomed pursuits before that interesting day to most 
 country gentlemen, the ist of Septr., and that the next ac- 
 count I receive from you will be that you are quite 
 recovered, and looking after your plantations and improve- 
 ments with the same interest and enjoyment as her[e]tofore-. 
 
 I have suffered too long a time to elapse without writing 
 to you, but Mr. Mill is partly to blame. He has been 
 staying with me for more than three weeks, and as he is 
 fond of exercise we have taken advantage of the fineness 
 of the weather, and have been pretty constantly on the 
 move. Our last excursion was down the Wye from Ross 
 to Chepstow. From Chepstow we went to Malvern and 
 passed a few days with my son who is settled in that 
 neighbourhood 2. Mill speaks well of my house and 
 grounds at Gatcomb, but he greatly prefers those of my 
 son. The soil about us is poor; the trees are chiefly 
 beech, which grow very luxuriantly^ but we have few oaks. 
 In the country where my son lives, the soil is good, and oaks 
 flourish better than any other tree ; the ground too is beau- 
 tifully diversified. I wish you would come to see me, and 
 let me shew you the various beautiful spot[s] within a 
 
 '■ Cover wanting. 
 
 ^ Written ' hertofore," as our forefathers used often to pronounce it. 
 
 ^ Osman Ricardo, of Bromesberrow Place, Ledbury. 
 
1 18 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 moderate circuit of us. We were greatly delighted with 
 the scenery on the Banks of the Wye. Report has not 
 exaggerated its beauty — my expectations were at any rate 
 surpassed. We travelled in a low phaeton which 1 have 
 lately bought, and to save a few miles in our journey, and 
 also to see some country which we had not before visited, 
 we resolved to cross the Severn in a boat instead of going 
 over the bridge at Gloucester. When we arrived at the 
 Ferry, opposite Newnham, it was low water, and by the 
 direction of the boatman I drove first over the dry sand, 
 and then into the water alongside the boat which was 
 ready to receive us. I proceeded with perfect safety till 
 I got within three or four feet of the boat, when the 
 carriage began to sink in the sand, and the horses to plunge 
 violently in their efforts to extricate themselves from the 
 place where they also were sinking. The men became 
 greatly alarmed at our awkward situation, in a moment 
 half a dozen of them, besides my servant, were in the 
 water, and if they had not united their strength to support 
 us on the side which was sinking fastest, Mr. Mill, two 
 young ladies who were behind, and myself, would have 
 been all overturned into the water. The first object was 
 to disengage the horses from the carriage, the next to carry 
 us into the boat. The poor horses were so exhausted with 
 their struggles that they lay on the ground with their heads 
 just above the water without making any further effort to 
 get out, and for a short time I thought I should lose them 
 both. At length however they got on their legs and 
 reached firmer ground, but it was nearly an hour before 
 the carriage was lifted up from the sand in which it had 
 sunk. By the aid of levers and the united strength of the 
 men this was at last effected. With the utmost difficulty 
 the horses were made to get into the boat. The carriage 
 was put in after them, and we all at length landed in safety 
 at Newnham, with the very slightest damage to the harness 
 
Dear Corn and dear Labour 119 
 
 and the horses quite uninjured. Our two young ladies 
 behaved like heroines. 
 
 I am glad that you have been employing your leisure 
 time in reading Malthus, and examining the grounds of his 
 difference with me^ I have turned to -p. 125 of his work 
 as you requested and I think it must be admitted that when 
 corn rises from difficulty of producing it, manufactures will 
 generally fall from facility of producing them, which will 
 make a rise of wages on account of a rise in the price of 
 corn often unnecessary. I quite agree with you that the 
 passage in 128 is inconsistent with this doctrine, for in [the] 
 one place he says when corn is high, labour will command 
 a great quantity of other things besides corn, and in the 
 other he says that under the same circumstances it will 
 command only a small quantity of them. The passage 
 in 128 is very faulty and. proceeds on the supposition 
 that 'when corn compared with labour is dear, lalour 
 compared with corn must necessarily be cheap.' But to 
 say that com rkes and will therefore command more 
 labour, is a very different thing from saying that labour 
 foils and therefore will command less corn ; for when we 
 talk of a thing rising or falling we always mean in refer- 
 ence to something which we suppose does not move. 
 Because labour falls in reference to corn, it does not 
 necessarily undergo any variation in reference to other 
 things, and therefore in fact labour does not fall — it is 
 improper to say it does, the truth being that labour is 
 of the same value, but one of the commodities on which 
 wages are expended has risen in value, not only in refer- 
 ence to labour, but in reference to every thing else. Now 
 if we suppose that the same circumstances which are 
 favorable to a rise of corn are also favorable to a fall of 
 manufactures, which was Mr. Malthus['] doctrine. Page 1 2[5] 
 — not only will labour not fall in reference to manufactured 
 ^ There are several pages of notes on Malthus among the Trower MSS. 
 
I20 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 commodities, when it falls in reference to corn, but it will 
 do exactly the contrary ; it will rise in reference to those 
 commodities while it falls relatively to corn. This how- 
 ever would not be the correct way of explaining what was 
 taking place. I should say that labour continued uai- 
 formly of the same value, but that corn one of the objects 
 on which wages were expended rose in value, while manu- 
 factured goods, the other objects on which wages were 
 expended, fell in value. 
 
 Mr. Malthus['] argument for using a mean between corn 
 and labour as a standard and measure of value is full of 
 fallacy when patiently examined. Corn rises because it is 
 more difficult to produce it. In consequence of the rise 
 of this prime necessary, labour rises also but not in the 
 same degree in which corn rises. Now here are two 
 things which rise in value, and Mr, Malthus chuses a mean 
 between the two as a good measure of value. Altho' 
 they both rise in value, yet comparing them with each 
 other and making each the measure of the other, one will 
 appear to fall. Here then says Mr. M[.] I have two 
 commodities which vary in opposite directions, and there- 
 fore a mean between them is an admirable measure of 
 value. Suppose corn to rise from 80 to 100 p"" quarter, 
 and labour from 10/- to 1 j/- p"" week, nobody would deny 
 that they both rose. Now compare corn and labour, 
 a quarter of corn at 80/- would command 8 weeks 
 labour, at 100/ — it will command more than 9 weeks 
 labour. Corn has risen as compared to labour and is 
 therefore dear, but if corn is dear compared with labour, 
 labour must be cheap as compared with corn. 8 weeks 
 labour would command a quarter of corn, 9 weeks labour 
 must now be given for it — who can doubt that labour is 
 cheap'? Do you not observe that the whole argument 
 iiom beginning to end is completely fallacious 1 and that 
 a commodity really become dear is stated to be cheap 1 
 
Diminished Fertility and Rent 121 
 
 I do not think that Mr. Malthus is wrong in Page 
 145 \ I think he means to say that if you diminish the 
 fertility of the land so much that the whole produce must 
 go to the cultivator there can neither be surplus produce 
 to afford profit or rent. If it should be even enough to 
 afford a trifling profit there could be no rent because 
 no worse land could be taken into cultivation. Now 
 says Mr. Malthus if you diminish the fertility of the land 
 one half you will place 11 s in this condition. This is a 
 question of fact and degree, not of principle, and it is one 
 of my complaints against him that he does not answer 
 your principle but wishes to shew that you have taken 
 your case so wide, that it could under no circumstances 
 exist ; but however limited might be your case, the same 
 principle is involved, and it is that which should be 
 answered. 
 
 No commodity is raised unless there is a demand for it. 
 If it were raised without a demand, it would sink in value, 
 and not afford the price necessary to remunerate the labour 
 bestowed upon it, and to afford the usual profits of stock. 
 If this be true, in what respect is corn different from silk, 
 wine or sugar? Those who manufacture, or grow these 
 commodities, will be losers if they produce more than is 
 equal to the demand at a certain price, but is not the 
 producer of corn in the same condition ? He will not raise 
 corn if there be no demand for it at the remunerating price. 
 
 ' ' If the fertility of all the lands in the -world were to be diminished 
 one-half . . . the largest portion of the lands in most countries would be 
 thrown completely out of cultivation, and wages, profits, and rents, par- 
 ticularly the latter, would be greatly diminished on all the rest. I believe 
 there is hardly any land in this country employed in producing corn 
 which yields a rent equal in value to the wages of the labour and the 
 profits of the stock necessary to its cultivation. If this be so, then, in 
 the case supposed, the quantity of produce being only one-half of what 
 was before obtained by the same labour and capital, it may be doubted 
 whether any land in England could be kept in tillage' ('Pol. E.,' 1820, 
 pp. 145, 146). 
 
122 Letters of Ricardo to Troiver 
 
 If any man wishes to increase his capital he produces that 
 which he has good reason to think he can sell at a remune- 
 rative price. It is with money he is to pay labour, and 
 it is money which he seeks to obtain. He may indeed 
 anticipate that the commodity which will be immediately 
 demanded in greater quantity than before will be corn, but 
 then he will produce that as a means to an end, in the same 
 way as he would produce any other commodity. Corn 
 is produced because it is immediately demanded, or an 
 additional demand for it is reasonably anticipated, but 
 we should not on that account be justified in saying that 
 corn raises up its own demanders, or that its plenty bribes 
 people to come into existence, because that always sup- 
 poses a price of corn below the natural or remunerating 
 price, and it is no man's interest to produce it on such terms. 
 An increased demand for labour is not immediately supplied 
 by an additional number of people — higher wages induce 
 the same number of people to do more work. An increase 
 of capital, then, and a demand for labour, does not neces- 
 sarily produce an increased demand for food, but an in- 
 creased demand for other things agreeable to the labourer. 
 It is those things which will be produced in the first 
 instance, and corn will not be demanded, in any unusual 
 quantity, till the number of children are increased, then 
 the commodities demanded in the first instance will be 
 relinquished [,] and an increased demand will take place 
 for corn. I hope you will think this a justification of 
 the opinion which I have given that corn does not raise 
 up demanders, any more than coats raise up wearers, or 
 wine, wine drinkers. A producer has a right to demand 
 either his own commodity or some other. If he intends 
 to add to his capital he naturally seeks to possess himself 
 of that commodity which will be in demand by those whose 
 labour he wishes to dispose of: it may be corn, but there 
 is no more necessity for its being corn than cloth, shoes, 
 
Demand for Food and Labour 123 
 
 stockings, tea, sugar, iron, or any other thing. I do not 
 think then with you, that a demand for labour is the same 
 thing as a supply of necessaries. Labour and necessaries 
 may come in additional quantity into the market at the 
 same time, in which case neither of them will falP ; they 
 will both be supplied and demanded in greater abundance. 
 Suppose the necessaries only to come into the market in 
 additional quantity, that will not occasion any greater 
 demand for labour than if an additional quantity of iron 
 was brought to market, for no one wishes to consume it. 
 The way most efiectually to increase capital is to produce 
 a commodity that you know will be demanded and conse- 
 quently will not fall in value, not one that will not be 
 demanded and will fall in value. Pray understand that 
 I am answering Mr. Malthus who contends that there 
 is something peculiar about corn which gives it a character 
 of being able to raise up demanders different from all other 
 things — I contend on the contrary, that there is no differ- 
 ence between them, that nothing is produced until it is 
 wanted unless from mistake and miscalculation. 
 
 You must be tired of reading this long letter. One 
 word only about the Queen. Whatever her conduct may 
 have been can ministers shew that the real interests of 
 the country required a bill of pains and penalties under 
 the circumstances of the cruel usage she has received % 
 Every one must answer this question in the negative. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo unites with me in kind compts to 
 Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Very truly yours 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 There is nothing new in the second edition of my book. 
 ' Word a little doubtful, being bound up. 
 
124 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 GrATCOMB PaRK 
 
 My Dear Trower 26 septr iQzo. 
 
 You see that I follow your good example, and while 
 the subject is fresh in my memory oifer the best reasons 
 I have in vindication of the view which I take of it. 
 
 The point in dispute is this, Does the supply of corn 
 precede the demand for it, or does it follow^ such demand ? 
 You are of the former — I of the latter opinion. You have 
 not answered one important objection I made to you, 
 namely, that if the supply of corn preceded the demand it 
 must be at a lower price than the grower could afford to 
 produce it — this is the inevitable consequence of supply 
 exceeding demand — who under such circumstances would 
 be induced to grow the surplus quantity of corn"? Your 
 mistake appears to me to proceed from considering the 
 case too generally. It is undoubtedly true that if produc- 
 tion were wholly under the control of one individual, 
 whose object it was to increase population, he could not 
 better effect his object than by growing more corn in the 
 country than the existing community consume — it would 
 in that case be at a low price, and the greatest stimulus 
 would be given to population. We might indeed then 
 justly say that it was the abundance of corn which raised up 
 consumers, and that in this respect corn differed from iron, 
 silk or any other commodity, but this is not the question 
 under consideration— what we want to know is, whether, 
 in the pj-esent distribution of property, and under the 
 influence of the motives which invite to production, corn 
 is produced for any other reason than that iron, silk, wine 
 &c. &c., are produced — whether they are not all produced 
 on account of an actual or expected demand for them, and 
 whether this demand is not always indicated by the relation 
 * Cover wanting. 
 
Market and Natural Price 125 
 
 of the market price to the natural price? If the supply 
 existed one moment previously to the demand, the market 
 price must sink below the natural price, and the manu- 
 facturers of the commodity or the grower of the corn, 
 whichever it might be, would not get the usual and general 
 rate of profits, and would therefore be unwilling to produce 
 such a commodity ^ 
 
 What all producers look steadily at is market price, 
 and its relation to natural price. Suppose you to be dis- 
 posed to add from your revenue to capital this year, it 
 would not induce you to change the nature of your produc- 
 tion, for whether you spent your revenue, or employed it 
 as capital, the next year, your immediate object would be 
 to realize it in money. Eut with your increased capital 
 what would you produce next year? Corn, undoubtedly, 
 if the price indicated that the supply did not equal the 
 demand, or if you have good reason to expect that but for 
 your production the supply would not equal the demand. 
 Now what I ask is would not the same motives induce you 
 to employ your additional capital in the manufacture of 
 cloth, iron, silk, &c., if you answer it would not, then 
 I request you to give me your reasons why you, or any 
 other producer, would so obviously neglect your best 
 interest. If you answer that the motives for the produc- 
 tion of either of these commodities are the same, then there 
 is an end to the dispute, for this is all that I am contending 
 
 ^ Compare the tract on Protection to Agriculture (1822, sect. iv. p. 21), 
 Works, p. 467 : ' If we lived in one of Mr. Owen's parallelograms, and 
 enjoyed all our productions in common, then no one could suffer in 
 consequence of abundance ; but, as long as society is constituted as it now 
 is, abundance will often be injurious to producers, and scarcity beneficial 
 to them.' 
 
 The speech reported in Hansard (March 5, 1822), N. S. vol. vi, 919, 
 is probably to be amended in the light of these passages : ' Mr. Kicardo 
 said it was true that, if the produce of the land was divided into certain 
 proportions, evei-y party would be benefitted by an abundant crop.' 
 Instead of 'certain' we should probably read 'equal.' 
 
126 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 for. Suppose a man intent on saving were to employ his 
 savings in producing corn — he would do unwisely if he 
 did not expect the price of corn to be at least as high as its 
 natural price, — in this you must agree — he will not then 
 produce corn. But corn is as high as its natural price ? 
 then there is an end of the argument, for it can not be so 
 if the supply preceded the demand. You will not say that 
 he may as well produce corn as any other commodity, 
 because it is possible that corn and all other commodities 
 may be under their natural price, for that would be to 
 adopt the great and fundamental error of Mr. Malthus, who 
 contends that there may be at one and the same time 
 a glut of all commodities, and that it may arise from a want 
 of demand for all — he indeed argues that this is the specific 
 evil under which we are at present suffering. This is I 
 think the only defence you can make for ^^our opinion, 
 and if you do make it, I shall know how to deal with you 
 in a subsequent letter — at present I shall content myself 
 with saying that I have no conception of any man know- 
 ingly and wilfully producing a commodity which will sell 
 under its natural price. I do not deny that it is often done, 
 but then I say it is from error and miscalculation, and 
 cannot continue for more than one or two years. 
 
 You say that ' the surplus produce of necessaries must 
 in the first instance have preceded the surplus produce of 
 conveniences,' but did the surplus produce of necessaries 
 precede the demand for them ? — this is the question. I say 
 they did not, for the men who had their labour to offer 
 in exchange for them were effective demanders of this 
 surplus produce, and the conveniences are the result of 
 this demand. 
 
 A man first produces necessaries because he himself has 
 a want or demand for them — he produces more of these 
 necessaries because he wants conveniences, and he can 
 obtain them by other men's labour which his necessaries 
 
Demand before Supply 127 
 
 will command. Hitherto he has produced nothing for 
 which there is not a demand. But he wants to increase 
 his possessions, and it can be done only by having the 
 power to employ more people ; must not his first step 
 be to provide necessaries for such additional number of 
 people ? Not absolutely, because he may have the power 
 of employing more people, and others may have the means 
 of employing fewer — his capital will increase whilst that 
 of another man diminishes. But no other man[']s capital 
 diminishes ! The aggregate capital will be increased ! If 
 labour cannot be procured at the usual price no more work 
 will be done with the additional capital, but wages will 
 rise, and the distribution of the produce will be favorable 
 to the workmen. In this case no more food will be pro- 
 duced if the workmen were well fed before, their demand 
 will be for conveniences, and luxuries. But the number of 
 labourers are increased, or the children of labourers ! Then 
 indeed the demand for food will increase, and food ivill be 
 2^Toduced in consequence of such demand. It would be 
 wrong to infer always that an increase of capital will pro- 
 cure an increased quantity of work to be done, it will be 
 followed by no such effect, if the labourers happen to be in 
 a position to enable them to command the whole addition 
 to the fund for the maintenance of labour, without doing 
 any more work * 
 
 I thought of leaving off half an hour ago but my pen 
 runs on. I cannot even now conclude without expressing 
 my satisfaction at the improvement in your knee — I hope 
 all traces of your late accident will soon be lost. 
 
 Ever yrs 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 * It is on this ground that I dispute your position that 
 a demand for labour is the same thing as a supply of 
 necessaries. 
 
128 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 There is a part of your letter I have not noticed, 
 I mean that part which refers to M. Say's doctrine of 
 demand being only limited by production ^. His doctrine 
 appears to me to be correct. You say it must be limited 
 by the due distribution of capital. Undoubtedly you are 
 right, but M. Say would answer that private interest 
 would alwajT^s lead to such a due distribution. He would 
 not deny that errors might be made and more of one, 
 two, three or of 50 commodities be produced than what 
 there was any effective demand for, but he would not 
 agree with you that for any length of time there could 
 be high profits on manufactures and low profits on land. 
 High profits are the consequence of high price — high price 
 of increased demand — increased demand of an imperfect 
 distribution of capital, it is the remedy and not the 
 grievance. 
 
 XLI \ 
 
 Gatcomb Park 
 
 My Dear Trower 3 oar. 1820. 
 
 We are agreed upon so many points, connected with 
 the subject under discussion, that I do not think we can 
 long difier upon that on which there is now a contrariety 
 of opinion. You are perfectly right in estimating profits 
 in the way you do. If the expenditure of 1000 qrs. of 
 corn would procure 1200 qrs., 1200 qrs. would be the gross 
 income, and 200 the net income, or profit. If the expendi- 
 ture of 1000 lbs. of iron would ensure a return of 1200 lbs., 
 200 lbs. would also be the net profit ; but your mistake, 
 
 1 'Traite d'Economie Politique,' livre i. chap. 15 (' Des Debouches'). 
 In the Preface to the first edition of the 'Principles of Political Economy 
 and Taxation,' Ricardo alluded to this section of Say's treatise as con- 
 taining ' some very important principles, which I beheve were first 
 explained by thits distinguished writei-.' 
 
 2 Franked by himself, and dated, ' Minchinhampton, October four, 1820.' 
 Back of last sheet used as cover, and addressed, ' Hutches Trower, Esq., 
 Unstcd Wood, Godalming, Surrey.' 
 
Profits, how estimated \2ic^ 
 
 I think, is this, you suppose that because when 1200 qrs, 
 of corn are produced, and by the same expenditure 500 cwt. 
 of iron and 100 pieces of cloth, and consequently they are 
 all of the same value, therefore when the quantity of each 
 of these commodities is doubled they will still be of the 
 same value : — it may affect the division of the gross pro- 
 duce you think between the capitalist and the labourer ^, 
 but as this will affect all commodities alike, their relative 
 values will remain the same. If one is below, for a time, 
 its natural price, all will be so. Now on the truth of this 
 doctrine depends the whole question. I contend that in 
 all ordinary cases some commodities will under the circum- 
 stances supposed be very much below their natural price, 
 that is to say below the relation which they should bear 
 to other commodities. If 1200 qrs. of corn be of the same 
 value as 500 cwt. of iron, and 100 pieces of cloth, as before 
 supposed, those are the relations which should be preserved 
 between them to keep them all at their natural value, and 
 to afford equal profits to the producer of each, however 
 their quantity may be multiplied. But the market price 
 of every commodity depends on the relation between 
 demand and suppl}^, and it is the interest of all the sup- 
 pliers of commodities to cease producing them when they 
 fall below their natural value. The demand for corn, with 
 a given population, is limited ; no man can have a desire 
 to consume more than a certain quantity of bread, if there- 
 fore more than that quantity is produced, it will fall in 
 relative value to those commodities which are produced 
 only in such quantity as is required. But the demand for 
 commodities such as luxuries ; or for services, such as are 
 performed by gardeners, menial servants, builders &c. &c. 
 is unlimited, or rather it is only limited by the means of the 
 demanders. Under these circumstances it is not necessary 
 
 * He first wrote ' producer.' 
 K 
 
130 Letters of Ricardo to Trozver 
 
 to produce any thing for which there is not a demand, 
 and therefore it is not necessary that any thing should be 
 under its natural price. If the demand for corn were for 
 1000 qrs. it would be absurd to employ 1000 qrs. when we 
 knew that the result would be 1 200 qrs. for 200 qrs. would 
 be unnecessary, and it would be much better policy to 
 employ 833 qrs. to obtain 1000 and the remaining 166 
 to obtain some convenience or luxury the demand for 
 which could be positively anticipated. The same remark 
 applies to iron, cloth &c. &c. If we were under any obli- 
 gation to produce them, or to produce nothing, there might 
 be an universal glut, and the glutted market of one com- 
 modity might continue in its former relations to the glutted 
 market of another commodity, but there would be no glut 
 of any commodity, because the capital of the country could 
 always be employed in producing commodities for which 
 there would be a demand. If in the division of the gross 
 produce, the labourers commanded a great proportion, the 
 demand would be for one set of commodities — if the masters 
 had more than a usual share, the demand would be for 
 another set. Suppose the labourers were so well off, they 
 would not demand more corn than they wanted for them- 
 selves, but yet none of their revenue would remain unex- 
 pended, an unusual quantity of the luxuries and conveniences 
 of the labourer would be demanded. When would the 
 demand for an additional quantity of corn commence "? 
 then only when an unusual number of children were born, 
 and this would eventually take place for it never fails to 
 follow the easy and happy situation of the labourer. 
 Before this there would be no demand, and before this 
 there would be no supply. It follows I think irresistibly 
 from your own doctrine. ' Profit is the mighty hinge, 
 upon which all productive capital turns \' In every state 
 
 ' Malthus uses the metaphor, Edinr. Rev. Feb. 1811, p. 341 (' the main 
 hinge on which the principles of circulation must necessarily turn '). 
 
Profit the Mighty Hinge 131 
 
 of society there will be a demand for some commodities, 
 and it is these which it will be the interest of capitalists 
 to produce. If they produced corn before there was a 
 population to consume it, they would produce more of 
 that commodity than could be consumed, and consequently 
 it would fall in relative value to those things which would 
 be demanded. If I satisfy you on this point the argument 
 must be at an end. The capitalist says, ' if I produce corn, 
 I shall lose ; for it will fall in relative value.' ' If I pro- 
 duce iron in greater quantity, that may perhaps not be 
 wanted, but if I produce those luxuries required by the 
 labourer I am sure I shall find a market for them, and 
 their price will afford me a better profit than if I produced 
 more corn or more iron.' If all commodities were on a par, 
 and whichever I produced would glut the market, then 
 I should agree with you, but being perfectly sure that 
 there would be a demand for commodities of some descrip- 
 tion — on the part of the capitalists if profits were high — 
 on the part of the labourers if wages were high — I feel 
 confident that the production of no commodity except from 
 miscalculation, precedes the demand or anticipated demand 
 for it. Our difference then [is] you say that if corn and 
 all other commodities be increased in [the] same propor- 
 tion, they will continue at the same relative value to [each 
 ot]her ^. To which I answer If the population do not 
 immediately increase, there will [be no] additional demand 
 for corn, but there will be an additional [dem]and — for 
 other things, consequently corn cannot be produced with- 
 out afibrding less profits than can be obtained by the 
 production of those other things. It is most true that 
 ' if this growing produce is not accompanied by a propor- 
 tionate growth of population it alters the relative proportion 
 of capital and labor, and the exchangeable value of com- 
 
 » MS. defective. 
 K 2 
 
132 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 modities in reference to labor ' but the labourers will 
 chuse what commodities they shall buy with their addi- 
 tional wages, we are quite sure that corn will not be one 
 of them, and as sure that some convenience or luxury will 
 be chosen. I recollect that if the production of corn costs 
 more, on account of the rise of labour, so will also the 
 production of other things, and therefore if they bore the 
 same relation to each other, there could be no motive for 
 producing one rather than the other ; they might all then 
 be in great abundance. But I say they will not continue 
 in the same relation to each other, one will be demanded 
 the other will not. It is not a question of cost of produc- 
 tion, but of the relation of market price when produced, 
 to cost of production. Look into your own household and 
 tell me what would be the effect of doubling your income. 
 You would spend it all, but would you double your demand 
 for every commodity you now consume in your family ? 
 Should you purchase twice the number of loaves, twice the 
 quantity [of] meat, poultry, horses, carriages &c. &c. % No ; 
 you would con[sume] more bread — you would probably 
 have a little more m[eat] and fish because you would keep 
 more company, but you [would] spend much more than 
 double what you now do on pictures and many other 
 [things] ^ to please yourself and Mrs. Trower. No mistake 
 can be greater than to suppose that the demand for every 
 thing increases in the same proportion. You say the 
 labourer is not a consumer of conveniences. Is this true % 
 If he is not, must we not impute it to his poverty 1 Give 
 him the means, and do you think he wants the inclination '\ 
 Will he not improve his house and furniture, his clothing, 
 and that of his wife and children — will he not purchase 
 more fuel, and indulge himself in the enjoyment of better 
 beer, tea, tobacco and snuff? 
 
 * MS. defective. 
 
No absolute security against Revulsion 133 
 
 I forget what I said about M. Say's doctrine, but what- 
 ever it was I agree with you that a great inequality in the 
 profits afforded by productive capital may produce much 
 individual suffering, by the inducement which it offers to 
 the change of employments. This evil however generally 
 follows from bad legislation. If free trade were now 
 established, how many individuals would suffer ! Political 
 Economy would teach us to guard ourselves from every 
 other revulsion^ but that which arises from the rise and 
 fall of states— from the progress of improvement in other 
 countries [than] our own, and from the caprices of fashion ; 
 — against these [we canjnot guard, but we are not per- 
 manently to deprive our country [of many] & important 
 benefits because the adopting of a good instead of [a bad 
 syst]em, will be attended with loss to individuals — I would 
 make [the]ir fall easy, but I would not to support them, 
 perpetuate abuse, and countenance bad laws. It is a safe 
 rule to legislate for the public benefit only, and not to 
 attend to the interests of any particular class. In these 
 sentiments I have no doubt I shall have your concur- 
 rence. 
 
 I have answered your letter without delay, because 
 I expect a few friends ^ to-morrow, and my time will for 
 some time be fully engaged. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo unites with me in kind remembrances [to] 
 Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 David Ricakdo. 
 
 ' Henry Warburton, and the Smiths of Easton Grey; see Letters to 
 Malthus, p. 173. 
 
134 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 XLII \ 
 
 My Dear Trower, Gatcomb, 26 mw, 1820. 
 
 Hardly a day passes, without some new and extra- 
 ordinary circumstance occurring, to keep up the agitation 
 in the public mind, respecting the Queen. What could 
 induce ministers to prorogue parliament without finally 
 concluding their proceedings against this persecuted 
 woman ? If they thought the bill expedient, why did they 
 not send it to the commons ? If they thought a vote 
 of censure necessary, as appears to be your opinion, why 
 not now propose it to parliament ? What good can be 
 expected from putting off this question, which so engrosses 
 the public attention, for two months longer, and put it 
 off too in such a manner, by proroguing the parliament 
 without a speech from the throne? Can the Queen do 
 otherwise than court the mob? Has she any hopes of 
 safety from the malignancy of her enemies but in the 
 support of the people? To that she has hitherto been 
 indebted for protection ; — without it she would have been 
 crushed by her enemies ; and while these proceedings are 
 hanging over her head she will be greatly to blame if she 
 suffers the spirit which has been raised in her favor to 
 subside. 
 
 I am glad that you are pleased with the proceedings in 
 'the House of Lords stopping where they did. For my 
 part I think they should never have commenced, and never 
 can I consent to hold up my hand to censure or degrade the 
 Queen, with the knowledge I have of the means which 
 have been used to ruin her. If she has had an adulterous 
 connection with Bergami, which I think is by no means 
 
 ^ Franked by himself. The reverse of the last sheet is used as the 
 cover, and addressed, 'Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godalming * ; 
 dated, ' Minchinhampton, November Twenty Seven.' 
 
Queen Caroline 135 
 
 proved, never had woman so many reasons of justification 
 to urge an extenuation of her fault. Considering all the 
 circumstances, a veil of oblivion should have been thrown 
 over her conduct, instead of employing the basest means 
 for detecting and proving her guilt. I most heartily join 
 in feelings of indignation against all the Queen's persecu- 
 tors, and of compassion for her. Though it is to be 
 lamented that she is the rallying point of the discontented 
 and disaffected — she is absolutely driven to such an alliance, 
 and the only way of detaching her from her present con- 
 nections is to cease to persecute her ^. 
 
 I very much fear that we shall have no change of 
 ministers, and I am not sanguine, if we have, in my hopes 
 of their adopting the wise measures which you think so 
 essential to our safety, and future prosperity. What 
 ministers, with the present constitution of the House of 
 Commons, can succeed in sweeping away many of our 
 commercial restraints, particularly the greatest, the re- 
 straints on the importation of corn? What ministers will 
 dare to encounter our financial difiiculties, in the only way 
 in which they should be met, or will seriously commence 
 the work of retrenchment in our expences'? We may 
 probably find men who will remove the disabilities from 
 the Roman catholics, and make some amendments in our 
 criminal laws, but this will be all, we must not expect 
 much more improvement, and when we are involved in 
 another war, then will come the time for those efforts which, 
 if we were wise, we ought to make now. 
 
 I am glad to find that you do not think our differences 
 great on the question which we have lately been discussing. 
 — I fully expected that we should approximate in our 
 opinions when we came fully to understand each other. 
 
 * See ' Proceedings in the House of Lords upon the Bill of Pains 
 and Penalties against Her Majesty.' Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, 
 
 vols, ii, iii (N. S.). 
 
136 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 I have been lately employed in writing notes on Mr. Mal- 
 thus' work, with a view to defend my opinions, when 
 fairly attacked — to place them in a true light, when unin- 
 tentionally mis[8]tated — and to detect the fallacies which 
 appeared to me to lurk under the author's arguments ^. 
 My task is now ended, but with what success must be left 
 to the judgment of others. The whole might occupy about 
 150 pages if printed. It is not however probable that I 
 shall publish them, because they are not in an inviting 
 form, and would consequently have few readers. Wherever 
 I have met a passage against which I have an objection to 
 make I have quoted the few first words of it, and then 
 written my comments — in this way for example Page 103 
 "If we were determined &c. &c.^' ['] If equal capitals 
 yielded commodities of nearly equal value, there might be 
 some grounds for this argument ; but, as from a capital 
 employed in valuable machinery, such as steam engines &c. 
 a commodity of a very different value is obtained, than 
 from a capital of the same value, employed chiefly in the 
 support of labour, it is at once obvious that the one term 
 thought to be the more correct by Mr. Malthus, would be 
 the most incorrect that could be imagined.' This being 
 a short comment I have copied it as a specimen, and you 
 will from -it be able to judge how little interest general 
 readers would take in such a performance. I have also 
 
 ' Cf. Letters to McCulloch, p. 84, note, Letters to Malthus, p. 172, 
 and Ricardo's Works, p. xxxi, where McCulloch writes of Ricardo : ' He 
 also left "Notes" on Mr. Malthus's "Principles of Political Economy," 
 containing a vindication of his own doctrines from the objections of 
 Ml-. Malthus, and showing the mistakes into which he conceives Mr. M. 
 had fallen. But we doubt whether they have sufficient interest to war- 
 rant their publication.' 
 
 ^ ' If we were determined to use only one term, it would certainly be 
 more correct to refer to capital rather than to labour, because the ad- 
 vances which are called capital generally include the other two [wages 
 and rent].' From the Chapter (ii) on the Nature and Measures of Value, 
 section iv : Of the Labour which a Commodity has Cost considered as 
 a Measure of Exchangeable Value. 
 
Ricardo^s Notes on Malthiis 
 
 137 
 
 added a few comments on M. Say's letter to Malthus, which 
 I think is written with more self satisfaction than its merit 
 deserves ^ I remember a remark of yours on a passage, 
 Page 128 of Malthus['] work, and as I fully agree with 
 you in your comments, and you will only have the trouble 
 of reading what I write, I am tempted though it is long to 
 copy what I have said as another specimen of my labours. 
 Page 128. ' Though neither of these two objects &c. &c.'^ 
 ' A complete fallacy seems to me to be involved in the 
 whole of this argument. Corn is a variable commodity, 
 says Mr. Malthus, and so is labour variable, but they 
 always vary in different directions : if therefore I take a 
 mean between the two, I shall probably obtain a measure 
 of value approaching to the character of invariability. 
 Now is it true? do corn and labour vary in different 
 directions? When corn rises in relative value to labour, 
 labour falls in relative value to corn, and this is called 
 varying in different directions. When cloth rises in 
 price, it rises as compared with gold, and gold falls as 
 compared with cloth ; but this does not prove that 
 they vary in different directions ; for at the same time 
 gold may have risen as compared with iron, hats, leather 
 and every other commodity except cloth. What then 
 would be the fact? that they had varied in the same 
 direction; — gold may have risen 10 pc. in value compared 
 with all things but cloth, and cloth may have risen 25 pc. 
 compared with all things, excepting with gold, relatively to 
 which it would have risen only 15 pc. We should think it 
 
 ' ' Lettres a M. Malthus sur differens sujets d'economie politique, 
 notamment sur les causes de la stagnation gen^rale du commerce.' Paris, 
 1820. Say had sent Ricardo a copy of the work, with an accompanying 
 letter ; see Letters to McCulloch, pp. 84, 85. For Ricardo's acknow- 
 ledgment, see Say, Melanges et Correspondance, p. 108 ; Letters to 
 Malthus, p, 181. 
 
 ^ ' Though neither of these two objects, however, [corn and labour], taken 
 singly, can be considered as a satisfactory measure of value, yet by combin- 
 ing the two we may perhaps approach to greater accuracy.' Ch. ii. sect. vii. 
 
138 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 strange in these circumstances to say that we should in 
 chusing a measure of value take a mean between cloth and 
 gold because they varied different ways, when it is abso- 
 lutely demonstrable that they have varied the same way. 
 This is however what Mr. Malthus has done in respect to 
 corn and labour. A country finds increasing difficulties in 
 supplying the corn necessary for a continually increasing 
 population, and in consequence corn rises as compared with 
 all other commodities. As corn rises, which forms so 
 material an article of consumption to the labourer, though 
 not the only one, labour also rises, but not so much as 
 corn : — if corn rises 20 pc. labour may probably rise 10 pc. 
 In these circumstances, estimated in corn, labour appears 
 to have ftillen — estimated in labour corn appears to have 
 risen, but it is evident that they have both risen though in 
 different degrees for they will both be more valuable 
 estimated in all other commodities. A mean then is taken 
 between two commodities which are confessedly variable, 
 and it is taken on the principle that the variation of 01. - 
 corrects tlie effects of the variation in the other ; as how- 
 ever I have proved that they vary in the same direction, 
 I hope Mr. Malthus will see the expediency of relinquish- 
 ing so imperfect, and so variable a standard. From 
 Mr. Malthus' argument in this place, one would suppose 
 that labour fell when corn rose, and consequently that with 
 a given quantity of iron, leather, cloth &c. &c., more labour 
 would be obtained ; the contrary is the fact : labour as 
 well as corn rises as compared with these commodities. 
 Mr. Malthus says so himself in Page 125 "In the progress 
 of improvement and civilization it generally happens, that 
 when labour commands the smallest quantity of food, it 
 commands the greatest quantity of other commodities," 
 what is this but saying that when a great quantity of 
 other commodities is given for food, a great quantity of 
 other things is also given for labour ; or in other words 
 
The Notes Continued 
 
 139 
 
 that when food rises labour rises?' I would not h[ave] ^ 
 troubled you with this if it imposed any heavier task on 
 yo[u than] ^ reading it. 
 
 I have not seen Godwin's answer to Malthus 2. Mill 
 writes to me that it is a most contemptible performance. 
 
 I send you my article on the Sinking Fund ^. Tel] me 
 freely your opinion of it. 
 
 I believe they have lowered the price of labour here, but 
 I, as a gentleman I suppose always pay the same. Mrs. 
 Kicardo unites with me in kind regards to Mrs. Trower. 
 Believe me 
 
 Ever, my dr Trower 
 Yrs truly 
 
 David Kicardo. 
 
 My man filled my lamp too full of oil. I have let 3 drops 
 fall on the first sheet ; pray take it with all its imperfections. 
 
 XLIIP. 
 
 Gatcomb Park 
 
 MiNCHINHAMPTON, 
 
 My Dear Trower, J<^-<^- 14— 1821. 
 
 I am sorry that so long a time has elapsed without 
 my returning an answer to your last kind letter, but since 
 I received it I have not only been a great deal employed 
 at home, but I have been to Gloucester ; to my sons near 
 Malvern, and to my daughters near Bath^. 
 
 You give me great pleasure by the favorable opinion 
 
 ^ MS. defective. 
 
 2 ' Of Population ; An Enquiry concerning the Power of Increase in the 
 Numbers of Mankind, being an Answer to Mr. Malthus's Essay on that 
 subject.' London, 1820. 
 
 ^ ' Supplement to the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Editions of the Encyclo- 
 paedia Britannica' (Edinburgh, i8i5-i824\ vol. iv. pp. 410-426; reprinted 
 in Works (ed. McCulloch , pp. 515-548. Cf. Letters to McCulloch, p. 46. 
 
 * Cover wanting. 
 
 ' See above, pp. 14, 117. 
 
140 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 you give of my Essay on the Funding System ; I am glad 
 to have your sanction to the view which I have taken 
 of that subject and that you condemn equally with myself 
 the breach of faith to the Stockholder which is so hypo- 
 critically defended by our present Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer, who really would have us imagine he performs 
 all that was engaged to be done, by his nominal sinking 
 fund of c€i 6,000,000, while he is every year borrowing 
 1 2 millions and adding that sum with 2 or 3 more millions 
 to the public debt. What you say about the market of 
 5 pets, becoming more expanded by frequent repetition 
 of funding large sums in that stock is most true, but as 
 the capital of 3 pets, was already so large at the com- 
 mencement of the late war, I doubt whether it would not 
 have been an exceedingly difficult thing to give the same 
 currency to the 5 pc. Stock which has been so long possessed 
 by the 3 pc*^ Probably Dr. Price and Dr. Hamilton have 
 over-rated the advantage one way ^, and I have under-rated 
 it the other. At some future time perhaps, I may try 
 whether I can say any thing worth publication in the shape 
 of a pamphlet on the subject of the policy and practicability 
 of paying off the debt. 
 
 My remarks on Malthus's work have been sometime 
 with M[']Culloch, who long ago requested me to shew him 
 any observations I might make on Malthus's book. I am 
 desirous of having his opinion on the remarks themselves 
 as well as on the expediency of publishing them ^. I expect 
 
 ' See Ricardo's 'Works' (ed. McCulloch), p. 538 (Essay on the Funding 
 System, from Suppl. to Eneycl. Brit.) : ' Di-. Hamilton has followed 
 Dr. Price in insisting much on the disadvantage of raising loans during 
 war in a 3 per cent, stock, and not in a 5 per cent, stock. In the former, 
 a great addition is made to the nominal capital, which is generally 
 redeemed during peace at a greatly advanced price,* &c. See also 
 Ricardo to Malthus, p. 157 seq., and the two letters to Place above, 
 pp. 85 seq. 
 
 ^ Cf. Letters to McCulloch, pp. 89, 90 ; for McCuUoch's unfavourable 
 opinion, ibid., pp. 93, 94. 
 
Ricardo's Notes on Malthiis 141 
 
 soon to hear from him and to have my papers returned 
 to me. Although they are in a very rough form you shall 
 see them if they possess the least interest in your estima- 
 tion. Your opinion, I perceive, is in favor of publishing 
 them as an appendix to a -new edition of my ' Principles 
 of Political Economy.' That was the form in which I at 
 first had an idea of giving them to the public, but I was 
 strongly dissuaded from it by Mill, who thought I ought 
 by all means to avoid giving too controversial a character 
 to my book, and indeed he advises me not to notice any 
 of the attacks which have been made upon me, in my third 
 edition, which will I apprehend be printed soon after I get 
 to London. I shall not urge the objection which you 
 appear to anticipate, that the new modelling of my book 
 is a work of time and labor — I should not grudge however 
 much of these [I] should be called upon to bestow on it, 
 if I thought I could gx^Q it a better chance of success, 
 either with the present race, or any future race of Political 
 Economists. I have carefully looked over every part of 
 it;, and with my limited powers of composition I am con- 
 vinced I can do very little to improve it. When Mill, 
 M[']Culloch, Malthus, and you have seen these notes of 
 mine, and have given me your opinions of them, I shall 
 know what to resolve upon respecting the mode of dis- 
 posing of them. Perhaps the fire will be the proper place 
 to which to consign them. 
 
 I have lately had a visit here from Malthus — he came 
 with the expectation of seeing my notes and he would 
 have seen them had he not after engaging to come to me, 
 been detained in town by the illness of his sister ^, which 
 made him think that his visit to me must be put off 
 altogether. Before I knew of his coming I had engaged 
 to send the notes to M[']Culloch, and detained them when 
 
 ' Mary Catherine Harriet, born 1764, died isth March, 1821 (J. 0. Payne, 
 ' Family of Malthus,' priv. pr. 1890). 
 
142 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 I had reason to expect him, but finally sent them off when 
 I despaired of seeing him. While here he was as good- 
 natured and agreeable as ever. We spent many hours of 
 each day in discussion, the result of which was only to 
 understand more clearly the points of difference between 
 us. He must be as well acquainted with my objections 
 to his work as if he had read my notes themselves, for 
 I believe there was not one which I forgot to urge, but 
 he is still desirous of seeing the notes. I have promised 
 to pay him a visit, with them, as soon as they are returned 
 to me. 
 
 You are mistaken in supposing that it is possible I may 
 th[ink] you a very idle fellow, by the apology with which 
 I accompanied the long quotation I sent to you. I know 
 you are something very different from an idle fellow, and 
 I insist that you had no right to come to any such con- 
 clusion because I hesitated about sending you a long winded 
 pei-formance of mine. If you never studied at all, I should 
 not call you an idle fellow, I know that much of your time 
 is very usefully employed. I hope now I have appeased 
 your irascible spirit. 
 
 It was not one of the acts of the late Bishop of Landaff ^ 
 which has contributed much to his fame, his selling his 
 library when he retired into the country. It surely must 
 have arisen from a sordid passion for money, for he could 
 not fail to have preserved his relish for books. 
 
 I leave the country on thursday next, and expect to feel 
 a great deal of interest in the approaching session of 
 parliament. I hear that Ministers are relaxing a little 
 in their severe measures respecting the Queen. I am told 
 that they will propose £50,000 p' Ann. for her, and a suit- 
 able sum for the . . 
 
 [The conclusion of the letter is missing. At the bottom of the 
 last sheet is written, in red ink and by another hand, a note : 
 
 ' Kichard Watson. See p. 52. 
 
Trower at a County Meeting 143 
 
 ' The rest wanting. Ch. A. Secy, May 12.' The writer was prob- 
 ably Charles C, Atkinson, who was secretary of the Council of 
 University College in 1843-44.] 
 
 XLIV \ 
 
 My DeAK Trower, London 2 March 1821. 
 
 Before I address you on any other subject, 1 must 
 express the great pleasure I have felt from hearing from 
 all quarters, and from all parties, commendations of your 
 impartiality and talents, on the occasion of the County 
 meeting in Surrey at which you presided^. Before the 
 meeting I was sure that the part to perform would be 
 done in a way to reflect credit on you, but I confess I did 
 not expect that the opportunity would have been so favour- 
 able for the display of the good temper, moderation and 
 talents which so certainly belong to you. 
 
 I was disappointed in not seeing you on your late short 
 visit to London. I hope that you will soon be disposed 
 to take another trip to this busy scene, and that then you 
 will not forget the satisfaction you will afford me by 
 giving me your company as often as you may find it 
 convenient. 
 
 Mr. Malthus has now had my notes for five weeks — he 
 has been interrupted in the examination of them by the 
 death of Mr. Dalton, a friend of his in Lincolnshire, to 
 whose funeral he was obliged to go^. I expect to see him 
 in London next week at which time he will no doubt 
 return me my MS. I am glad that you speak with appro- 
 
 1 Cover wanting. * See note below. 
 
 ' Sydenham (son of a Daniel Malthus and father of the Daniel Malthus 
 whose son was Thomas Robert) married Anne Dalton ; and Daniel, father 
 of the economist, bequeathed the botanical collections that he had from 
 Rousseau to * Mrs. Jane Dalton.' See J. 0. Payne's ' Family of Malthus,' 
 pp. 88, 100. 
 
144 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 bation of the spirit in which I carry on the contest with 
 Mr. Malthus — I always wish him to see what I have to say 
 against his opinions before I pubhsh them [sic], that I may 
 be sure that I have not misunderstood him, and therefore 
 not misrepresented him. He certainly has not done the 
 same thing to me, and has, I am sure, without intending it, 
 misrepresented me in many important particulars. 
 
 A writer in the Times of this morning appears to have 
 adopted some of Malthus' principles, and the conclusions 
 he draws from them are so wild and extravagant, that 
 if we had no other reason for suspecting their fallacy, 
 these would afford them. This writer recommends that 
 we should raise loans now instead of the taxes with which 
 we are burthened, and for this sagacious reason, because 
 it will promote expenditure and take off the superfluity 
 of our productions ^. 
 
 In my dispute with Baring the House listened to me 
 with great attention 2. The subject of the two standards 
 will again come under discussion, and I shall be prepared 
 to shew from Baring's evidence that there are insuper- 
 able objections to the alterations which he proposes. He, 
 I am sure, ascribes too much to the rise in the value of 
 money, and I am prepared to shew that even measured 
 by silver, that is to say by the exchange with France, 
 or Hamburgh, the rise in our currency has not been more 
 than 10 pc, in five years, — he may answer that silver itself 
 has risen in value, — that may be, but then it is common 
 
 ' The letter, which occupies two and a half columns in The Times of 
 March 2, 1821, is the fourth of a series 'On the Revenue aiid Taxation,' 
 and is signed ' Abraham Tudela.' 
 
 ^ On February 8, 1821, in the debate upon the Birmingham merchants ' 
 petition for an inquiry into the causes of national distress ; see Hansard, 
 Parliamentary Debates, vol. iv. (N. S.) 530 et seq. Alexander Baring 
 testified before both the Lords and the Commons Committees of 1819 
 on the Resumption of Cash Payments. See Commons' Peports : Minutes 
 of Evidence, p. 180 et seq. ; Lords' Report : Minutes of Evidence, 
 p. loi et seq. 
 
The Rise in the Value of Money 145 
 
 to all countries that use silver as a standard, and I should 
 be glad to know what security we can have against such 
 an inconvenience, whilst we use the metals as a standard, 
 and by what means he would guard us against it. Would 
 he give us the paper system again unchecked by a fixed 
 standard % 
 
 I am sorry that no security can be found against the 
 forging of Bank notes 1, — the recalling of the one pound 
 notes cannot fail to enhance the value of the currency. 
 
 You speak of the landholder most justly — he is an 
 interested being seeking unjustly to load the other classes 
 of the community with his share of the public burthens. 
 I am however disposed to concede that if we are to have 
 restrictions on the importation of foreign corn the most 
 eligible mode would be by a fixed duty, not more operative 
 in excluding corn than the present restrictions ; for I think 
 it is better to have a steady price of corn, rather than one 
 which must alternate from low to high and then from high 
 prices to low ones again. On the present plan we are 
 either overwhelmed with foreign corn, or totally deprived 
 of it. 
 
 Mr. Plunkett's speech the other evening was a very fine 
 one ^— I thought Peel tame and feeble ■^. Surely no reason- 
 able man can apprehend danger to the United Kingdom 
 from according the catholic claims in Ireland — I believe 
 that the church establishment in Ireland would be more 
 secure, but I should not see much to regret if Ireland had 
 a catholic establishment, in the same way as Scotland has 
 a presbyterian one. If there be an established religion it 
 
 ^ See the ' Eeport of the Committee of the Society Of Arts, together 
 with the approved communications and evidence upon the same, relative 
 to the mode of preventing the forgery of Bank Notes' (London, 1819). 
 
 - On his own motion for the consideration, in the Committee of the 
 whole House, of the Roman Catholic Claims ; see Hansard, Parliamentary 
 De])ates, vol. iv. (N. S.) 961 et seq. 
 
 " Ibid., 988 et seq. 
 
 L 
 
146 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 should be that of the greatest number. In this I do not 
 
 expect you to agree with me. Fare you well, my dear 
 
 Trower^ and believe me ever y^^ 
 
 David Ricaedo 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo begs to join with me in kind remembrances 
 to Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Note.— A meeting of the nobility, gentry, clergy, and free- 
 holders of the county of Surrey, was lield at the Spread Eagle 
 Inn, Epsom, February 2, 1821 : — 
 
 ' to take into consideration the propriety of petitioning the two 
 houses of Parliament to adopt such measures as will prevent all 
 further proceedings against the Queen, secure the country against 
 the revival of discussions injurious to the morals and painful to 
 the feelings of the people, and thereby enable the great council 
 of the nation to attend to the various and important questions of 
 foreign and domestic policy, which in the present distressed state 
 of the country, urgently call for the immediate consideration of 
 Parliament.' 
 
 Hutches Trower, Esq. as High Sheriff of the County presided. 
 The Meeting, after animated debate— over which the chairman 
 seems to have presided with skill and tact — adopted resolutions 
 (i) Supporting the reigning House of Brunswick, (2) Urging 
 economy in expenditure, (3) Deprecating the Bill of Pains and 
 Penalties against the Queen, urging the restoration of the Queen 
 to her former status, and the reinsertion of her name in the 
 Liturgy. 
 
 For a full account of the meeting, see Times, February 3, 1821. 
 
 XLY\ 
 
 Upper Brook Street 
 My DeAK TrOWEK 21 April 1 82 1 
 
 I was very much concerned to hear of the accident 
 you had met with; and yet considering how very near 
 you were to a result much more serious I ought rather to 
 congratulate you on your narrow escape, than condole 
 
 * Cover wanting. 
 
Godwin on Population 147 
 
 with you on the shght injury you have received. Since 
 receiving your letter I have heard of you twice ; once 
 from Mrs. Trower, when you were in town for a day, and 
 another time from your brother, whom I accidentally met 
 in the street. I am glad to find that you are getting 
 well. 
 
 Our discussions in the House on the currency question, 
 are I hope now closed^ — I trust that we shall have no 
 more proposals to deviate from the course which after due 
 consideration has been determined on. 
 
 Your view of Godwin's book exactly agrees with mine. 
 The real question at issue is not whether under favorable 
 circumstances population will double in 35 or in 50 years, 
 but whether it has not a tendency to increase faster than 
 the capital which is to employ it, and if so what measures 
 of legislation should be pursued. It must be manifest 
 that the principle of population is strong enough for 
 human happiness, and it neither wants poor laws nor 
 any other laws to encourage it. 
 
 Mr. Mill's book is not yet quite finished, though in 
 a state of great forwardness. His object is to give a clear 
 exposition of all the elementary principles of Political 
 Economy as they are at present understood. He does 
 not mean to notice any other writer, nor to attempt to 
 controvert the errors into which he may think they have 
 fallen. It may probably be a month or two before his 
 book will be published^. 
 
 The catholic bill is lost ^. I am sorry for it, though 
 
 1 On February 13, 1821, the House of Commons passed the bill 
 (i and 2 Geo. IV. c. 26) permitting the Bank of England to begin to pay- 
 its notes in coin on May i, 1821, instead of a year later as provided by the 
 Resumption Act of 1819 (59 Geo. Ill, c. 49) ; see Hansard, Parliamentary 
 Debates, vol. v. (N. S.) 208. 
 
 ^ ' Elements of Political Economy' (London, 1821). In July the work 
 ■was passing through the press ; Bain, ' James Mill,' p. 194. 
 
 ' Defeated in the House of Lords on the second reading, by a vote of 
 159 to 120 ; see Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. v. (N. S.) 356. 
 
 L 3 
 
148 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 I cannot but think that it is only delayed. You are 
 undoubtedly right, 'the real fear is the ultimate conse- 
 quences of that spirit of cession in which the measure 
 originates. Test and Corporation Acts, Tithes, Church 
 Establishments — these are the real foundation of the 
 alarms.' If by good legislation the resources of Ireland 
 were fairly brought forth, they would contribute greatly 
 to the wealth of the United Kingdom. What a quan- 
 tity of capital might be advantageously employed in 
 that country, and no doubt would be if there were not 
 fears for its security in so disturbed a region. This 
 resource is however in store for us. We landholders 
 have formidable rivals in the landholders of that country. 
 Our alarm is excited by the rivalship and competition 
 of Poland, Kussia and America, but we never think of 
 Ireland the most formidable of them all. The tillage of 
 Ireland continues uniformly to increase and will I have 
 no doubt for many years to come. When the improve- 
 ments in husbandry so well followed in England are 
 introduced into that country the effects must be very 
 marked on the price of corn, and on the interests of 
 English landlords. 
 
 I have worked very hard in the Agricultural Committee 
 and I hope not without effect in correcting mistaken 
 principles. We have had many farmers before us who 
 have given a sad but I believe a true picture of the great 
 prevalence of distress. These farmers were questioned as 
 to remedies, and were all for protecting duties, amounting 
 almost to the prohibition of foreign corn. It was my 
 business to shew how little they were qualified to be 
 advisers on this important question, by exposing their 
 ignorance of the first principles which should guide our 
 judgments ^ 
 
 1 See Ricardo to McCulloch, pp. 97, 104, and notes. 
 
The measuring of the Crop 149 
 
 Mr. Attwood ^, a great publisher of Essays on the cur- 
 rency, was called before us, and if he were to be believed, 
 there is no other cause for a fall of prices but an increase 
 in the value of money. His claims to infallibility have 
 been sifted by Huskisson and myself, and I believe it 
 will appear that he is no great master of the science. 
 Mr. Hodgson - and Mr. Tooke have been our best informed 
 witnesses. Mr. Hodgson is a merchant and corn dealer of 
 Liverpool, who expends annually a large sum of money 
 in sending people about the country to examine into the 
 state of the crop just before it is reaped^. They do so 
 by going from field to field at two or three miles distance 
 from each other, and actually counting the ears, and 
 weighing the grains in a square foot or yard ; by which 
 means they are enabled to compare it with the crops of 
 former years. The last appears to have been an unusually 
 abundant crop, greater than for many years before. This 
 evidence is confirmed by more than one land surveyor, 
 Mr. Tooke who is a good political economist gave us some 
 valuable information of the effect of abundance on price, 
 particularly with such a corn law as is now established, 
 when we are deprived of the markets of other countries 
 until our prices are below theirs. 
 
 This is in fact the present cause of the great depression 
 in the price of corn. A little eSect may be ascribed to the 
 currency but abundance is the great operating cause. 
 
 * Thomas Attwood, the bitter opponent of resumption, has been already- 
 mentioned, above p. 34; for a sketch of his life, and a list of his 
 writings, see Palgrave, Dictionary of Political Economy, suh nom. For 
 his examination see ' Evidence,' 1821, pp. 342-263. He attributed Depres- 
 sion to Resumption, considering that Resumption had lowered prices 
 30 p. c. (252). 
 
 * David Hodgson of Cropper, Benson, and Co., large corn merchants 
 and importers in Liverpool. The survey was meant in the first place to 
 serve their business, and in the printed evidence Hodgson is chary of 
 details as to the way it was carried out. 
 
 ^ 'Minutes of Evidence,' 1821, pp. 263-283. Compare Cobbett's 'Rural 
 Rides,' (London, 1830}, p. 127 ; and his Weekly Register, 1821, pp. 582, 
 734). 
 
150 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 You will have seen that we made a stand for good 
 principles on the question of the Timber duties, without 
 success at the present moment, but not I hope without 
 making some impression. The debate was very briefly 
 and very badly reported ^ 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo joins with me in kind remembrances to 
 Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Ever y'^ 
 
 David Ricaedo. 
 
 XLVI^. 
 
 [Tg Sir John Sinclair.] 
 
 Dear Sir, 56 Upper Beook Stkeet, i5*'i June, 1821. 
 
 Your plan is neither more nor less than a proposal 
 to depreciate the currency 20 'per cent. If I could con- 
 sent to such a measure, I should propose to do it openl}^ 
 without disguise ; but I do not think such a plan necessary 
 or expedient, and confidently expect, that in no long 
 time, we shall surmount all our difficulties. I remain your 
 obedient servant, 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 XLYII^ 
 
 Gatcomb Park, Minchinhampton, 
 
 My Dear Trower, 4 J-^iy 1821. 
 
 Before I left London I gave directions to Mr. Mitchell;, 
 
 at the Vote Office, to send you a copy of the printed 
 
 Minutes of Evidence of the Agricultural Committee as 
 
 soon as it should be obtainable, which I have no doubt 
 
 ' Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. v. (N. S.) 264. Cf. Mr. Cannan 
 on Ricardo in Parliament, Econ. Journal, 1894, p. 410. 
 
 * ' Sinclair's Correspondence,' pp. 374, 375. 
 
 ^ Franked by himself; dated ' Minchinhampton, July foui'th, i82x,'and 
 addressed, ' Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godalming, Surry.' 
 
Definitions of Value 151 
 
 he will do. I hope that you are satisfied with a great 
 part of the Keport ^, there are some absurdities and contra- 
 dictions in it, but considering how the committee was 
 formed, and the opposition which was given to sound 
 principles by the landed gentlemen, I think it on the 
 whole creditable to the Committee. 
 
 I am glad that you think I have vindicated my book 
 against Malthus's attacks, in my notes — if I have not, it 
 is owing to my weakness, and not to his strength, for 
 I am quite sure that his book abounds with inconsistencies 
 and contradictions. 
 
 I am not surprised that you should not agree with me 
 in my definition of exchangeable value, but when you 
 say that 'the labour expended upon a conimodity is the 
 measure by which the accuracy of its exchangeable value 
 is ascertained and constantly regulated ' you admit all 
 I contend for. I do not, I think, say that the labour 
 expended on a commodity is a measure of its exchange- 
 able value, but of its positive value. I then add that 
 exchajigeabl-e value is regulated by positive value and 
 therefore is regulated by the quantity of labour expended. 
 
 You say if there were no exchange of commodities they 
 could have no value, and I agree with you, if you mean 
 exchangeable value, but if I am obliged to devote one 
 month's labour to make me a coat, and only one week's 
 labour to make a hat, although I should never exchange 
 either of them, the coat would be four times the value of 
 the hat ; and if a robber were to break into my house 
 and take part of my property, I would rather that he 
 
 * 'Report from the Select Committee, to whom the several Petitions 
 complaining of the Depressed State of tlie Agriculture of the United 
 Kingdom were referred ; Minutes of Evidence ; Appendix.' London, 
 1821. A Summary is given in the Annual Register 1821, Appendix to 
 Chronicle, pp. 506 seq. Spencer Walpole (History of England, vol. ii) 
 gives a spirited account of the Committee and its treatment of and by 
 the farmers' friends. 
 
152 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 took three hats than one coat. It is in the early stages 
 of society, when few exchanges are made, that the value 
 of commodities is most peculiarly estimated by the quantity 
 of labour necessary to produce them, as stated by Adam 
 Smiths 
 
 I confess I do not rightly understand what meaning you 
 attach to the words ' exchangeable value,' when you say 
 that ' the labour which a commodity can command is what 
 actually constitutes its exchangeable value.' A yard of 
 superfine cloth we will suppose can command a month's 
 labour of one man, but in the course of a year, from some 
 cause, it commands only a fortnight's labour of one man, 
 you are bound to say that the exchangeable value of cloth 
 has fallen one half. You are bound to say this whether 
 the cloth be produced with a great deal less labour in 
 consequence of the discovery of improved machinery, or 
 the food and some of the other necessaries of the labourer 
 be produced with so much difficulty that wages rise and 
 therefore labour rises as compared with cloth and many 
 other things. You would say then cloth has fallen one 
 half in exchangeable value although it should exchange 
 for precisely the same quantity of gold, silver, iron, lead, 
 hats, tea, sugar and a thousand other things, and you 
 would use precisely the same language if, by the discovery 
 of machinery cloth was produced with great additional 
 facility and consequently would exchange for only one-half 
 the same quantity of gold, silver, iron, lead, hats, tea, sugar 
 and a thousand other things. Now the difference between 
 you and me is this : in the latter case I should say with 
 you that cloth had fallen to half its former exchangeable 
 value and my proof would be that it would exchange for 
 only half the former quantity of labour and of all other 
 
 ' W. of N., i. ch. vi. (beginning) : ' Of the Component Parts of the Price 
 of Commodities.' 
 
Labour and Value 153 
 
 things^, but in the other case I should say cloth has not 
 altered in exchangeable value, because it will exchange 
 for precisely the same quantity of all other things. It is 
 true it will exchange for more labour, and why ? because 
 labour has fallen in exchange value, and the proof is it 
 will exchange for only half the quantity of gold, silver, 
 lead, iron and all other things, excepting perhaps corn and 
 some other necessaries, which have also fallen in value. 
 I cannot approve of your saying that cloth has fallen in 
 exchangeable value merely because it will exchange for 
 less labour, no more than I can approve of the same terms 
 being applied to the fact of its exchanging for less salt, 
 or for less sugar. Surely such a use of the words exchange- 
 able value tends to perplex and mislead. Labour rising in 
 value is one thing, commodities falling in value is another, 
 but once admit your language and these two different 
 things are confounded. It would be quite accurate to say 
 in both cases that cloth had fallen in exchangeable value 
 estimated in labour, as it would be to say it had fallen in 
 value estimated in salt if such should be the fact, but then 
 the medium by which you measure exchangeable value is 
 named and you only express a fact — this is very different 
 however from saying that cloth has fallen in exchangeable 
 value without mentioning the medium in which [s/c] its 
 alteration in value is specifically confined. 
 
 In what I have said respecting natural and market 
 price I have obviated your objections in regard to the 
 difference between cost and value. Cost is an ambiguous 
 word and sometimes includes the profit of stock, and 
 sometimes excludes it. In the way you use it, and I think 
 properly use it, there is no ambiguity, you include in it 
 the profits of stock. 
 
 I cannot but flatter myself with the hopes of a continuance 
 
 ^ Words in italics are underlined in the original. 
 
154 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 of peace m Europe — the agitations which at present exist 
 will I think subside, and we shall witness a general 
 course of prosperity. When our purses are again filled 
 indeed, we may as usual become quarrelsome, but I hope 
 nations are becoming wiser, and are every day more con- 
 vinced that the prosperity of one country is not promoted 
 by the distress of another — that restrictions on commerce 
 are not favorable to wealth, and that the individual parti- 
 cular welfare of each country, as well as the general 
 welfare of all, is best encouraged by unbounded freedom 
 of trade, and the establishment of the most liberal policy. 
 I must do our ministers the justice to say that I believe 
 they view these questions in their true light and would 
 make great improvements in our commercial code if they 
 were not thwarted and opposed by the narrow and selfish 
 policy of the particular interests which are so powerfully 
 exerted in the H. of Commons to check improvement and 
 support monopolies. — 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo unites with me in best regards to Mrs. 
 Trower and yourself. 
 
 Ever Truly y'"^ 
 
 David Ricakdo. 
 XLYIIP. 
 
 Gatcomb Park 
 
 My Deak Trower 22 Aug 1821 
 
 It is nearly a month since your letter to me was 
 written, and it ought long before this to have been 
 answered ; but the fact is that in proportion to my time 
 being unoccupied by business I become more and more idle, 
 and feel more and more disposed to indulge in excursions 
 of pleasure and amusement. Since I have been here I have 
 always had some friend with me, and a great deal of my 
 
 1 Franked by himself ; cover dated ' Minchinhampton, August twenty- 
 two, 182 1 ' ; addressed ' Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godahning, 
 Surrey.' 
 
The Agricultural Committee 155 
 
 time has been passed in visits to my son, who lives in 
 a beautiful country, which I always shew to my friends, 
 and to other places within a moderate distance of my own 
 habitation ^. 
 
 I am glad you approve on the whole of the Report of the 
 Agricultural Committee. I had no other hand in its con- 
 struction than using the best arguments I could in support 
 of those doctrines which I thought correct, and never sparing 
 the doctrines of my opponents when I thought they were 
 unsound and could be shewn to be so. When the Com- 
 mittee broke up there were very few points on which 
 Mr. Huskisson and I differed. 
 
 The Committee has done, and will, I thuak, do good, by 
 giving information to the House itself. The agricultural 
 gentlemen will soon have enough of committees. I feel 
 quite sure that if we had a committee every year, the 
 restrictions on the trade of corn, instead of being in- 
 creased, would be after a very few years wholly abolished. 
 Mr. Huskisson justly observed to me that the landed 
 gentlemen entered the committee as plaintiffs and left 
 as defendants. I am quite astonished that the evidence 
 is not yet published— it m.ust appear soon, and when it 
 does a copy of it shall be sent to you. 
 
 With respect to our difference of opinion on the subject 
 of exchangeable value, it is more an apparent difference 
 than a real one. In speaking of exchangeable value you 
 have not any idea of real value in your mind — I invariably 
 have. Your criticisms on passages in my book are I have 
 little doubt correct, because they are also the criticisms 
 of others on the same passages. A pamphlet has appeared 
 ' On certain verbal disputes in Polit. Econ.' where the 
 same ground of objection is taken as you take '^ ; the fault 
 
 ' See above, p. 117. 
 
 ^ ' Observations on Certain Verbal Disi^utes in Political Economy, 
 particularly relating to Demand and Supply.' London, 1821. [Anon.] 
 
156 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 lies not in the doctrine itself, but in my faulty manner of 
 explaining it. The exchangeable value of a commodity 
 cannot alter, I say, unless either its real value, or the real 
 value of the things it is exchanged for, alter. This cannot 
 be disputed. If a coat would purchase four hats and will 
 afterwards purchase five, I admit that both the coat and 
 the hats have varied in exchangeable value, but they have 
 done so in consequence of one or other of them varying 
 in real value, and therefore if I use the word value without 
 prefixing the word exchangeable to it, it will be correct for 
 me to say that the coat has risen in value whilst hats have 
 not varied, or that hats have fallen in value while coats 
 have remained stationary. With this explanation look 
 at the passage (Pages 3/4 and 12^) which you quote and 
 tell me why they are objectionable. 
 
 The troubles of the poor Queen are now at an end, and 
 if ministers had not grossly mismanaged tlie business she 
 might have been carried to her grave, with the sympathy 
 of the people indeed, but without any increased odium 
 to the Government 2. Her will, directing where her body 
 should be buried, had removed all difficulty from the ques- 
 tion of her interment — why then should not ministers have 
 humored the people in any wish they might have formed 
 respecting the course of the procession ? Can there be the 
 least doubt that the public tranquil[l]ity would not have 
 been disturbed if the strongly expressed opinion that the 
 Queen's remains should go through the city had been 
 complied with. 
 
 From the high price of the English and French funds we 
 are I suppose to conclude that the peace of Europe is not 
 to be disturbed by the disputes between Turkey and her 
 
 ^ Pp. 3, 4, and 12 of 'Political Economy and Taxation,' third ed., 
 1821. 
 
 ^ Queen Caroline died on August 7, 1821. At her funeral there was 
 a riot resulting in the death of two persons. 
 
Mushefs Tables 
 
 157 
 
 greek subjects ^ I hope that peace will be maintained, 
 but considering the great effect which war would have 
 at the present moment on the price of the public securities, 
 I think it quite astonishing that with such appearances 
 of angry discussions being likely to take place between 
 Turkey and Kussia they keep at their present elevation. 
 
 Mushet has published a curious set of tables, to prove 
 that the Stockholder has, on the whole, derived no advan- 
 tage, first from the depreciation, and then from the restora- 
 tion in the value of money. He has in his methodical 
 manner, and with great labour calculated the advantage 
 or disadvantage from year to year, has considered each 
 loan separately, and shewn what ought to have been, and 
 what actually has been paid to the public creditor. The 
 result is, and I believe it is a correct one, that the Stock- 
 holders as a body if they had received uniformly what was 
 really due to them, might now have been entitled to 
 £72,704 pr. ann. more than they actually receive, in money 
 of the standard value ^. 
 
 You ask me how I should value tithes — whether I should 
 value them in reference to monied or landed capital. 
 I differ with you, and think in reference to the latter. 
 I think Tithes at 28 years purchase is [sic] a much cheaper 
 purchase than Land at 28 years purchase, particularly if 
 you contemplate the increasing prosperity and population 
 of the country. In an improving country Tithes always 
 increase in a greater proportion than rent, because they 
 are always the same proportion of the gross produce of the 
 
 ^ The Greeks rose in insurrection, March, 1821. 
 
 ^ 'A Series of Tables Exhibiting the Gain and Loss to a Fundholder 
 arising from the Fluctuations in the Value of the Currency from 1800 to 
 1821.' By Kobert Mushet, Esq. London, 1821. 
 
 As originally published the work contained certain fundamental errors 
 ■which were pointed out by Ricardo, and corrected by Mushet in a ' Second 
 edition, corrected,' published in the same year (cf. Letters to McCulloch, 
 pp. 111-113). Ricardo's reference, above, is to this corrected edition. 
 
158 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 land ; rent, even when it increases, is probably always 
 a diminished proportion of the gross produce. Should the 
 rent of your land in ^o or a hundred years rise 50 pc, 
 I have no doubt whatever that the Tithes on the same land 
 will rise very considerably more than 50 pc. If your 
 Tithes are at a fair valuation, and not unusually high, you 
 would do well I think to purchase them at 28 years 
 purchase. 
 
 Matters are bad enough in this part of the country. 
 Kents are falling, and tenants much distressed. Poor-rates, 
 wages, and tradesmen's bills also fall, but tithes I believe 
 keep up. Labourers appear to be well off, no scarcity of 
 work, and wages fully adequate to obtain for them more 
 than the usual quantity of necessaries and comforts. Manu- 
 facturing labour is also fully employed, but the masters say 
 they do not get their usual profits — by usual I suppose they 
 mean unusual and exorbitant profits. 
 
 I did not know that your brother was a country gentle- 
 man, or rather that he resided in the country. I should 
 not expect that he could enter much into country amuse- 
 ments ; but what enjoyment can be greater to a man fond 
 of Books than a good library in a beautiful and healthy 
 retirement — particularly if it be varied with the pleasure 
 of society in London for 2 or 3 months in the year. I hope 
 your brother [']s eldest son will realise the expectations 
 which he has raised — it will be very gratifying to his 
 father. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo joins with me in kind remembrances to 
 Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Ever truly y"^^ 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
Causes of the Price of Corn 159 
 
 [To John Wheatley.] 
 
 Gatcomb Park 
 
 MiNCHINHAMPTON 
 
 Sir i8Se2)<i82i 
 
 I received your letter and the pamphlet- which 
 accompanied it yesterday. Although I agree in principle 
 with you, on the evils of a variable currency and the 
 impolicy of a country's using measures to raise the price 
 of its corn as compared with its manufactures, yet I do not 
 agree with many of the arguments and conclusions in the 
 pamphlet. My opinions on these subjects are before the 
 public, and therefore I shall only now say that I think 
 it an error to suppose that the price of corn is regulated 
 by supply and demand, only, without reference to the cost 
 of producing it. 
 
 In manufacturing goods and exporting them for corn, 
 the cost of that corn is the cost of production of the goods, 
 and if by restricting the importation of corn we, instead of 
 making the goods, raise the corn at home, the only loss we 
 sustain is the greater cost of producing it. From the tenor 
 of your pamphlet I should think you estimated the loss 
 much higher, and attributed the high price of corn to the 
 diminished quantity and not to the greater difficulty of 
 producing it. 
 
 ^ British Museum, Add. MSS., Autograph Lettei's of Sheridan, &e, 
 29,764, f. 44. Franked by liimself. The last sheet is used as the cover, 
 addressed, 'Jolin Wheatley, Esq., Shrewsbury,' and dated 'Minchin- 
 hampton, September Eighteen, 1821.' 
 
 ^ The pamphlet referred to is doubtless vol. ii of Wheatley's '■ Essay 
 on the Theory of Money and Principles of Commerce.' The title-page 
 is dated 1822, and probably advance sheets were sent to Eicardo. The 
 first volume of Wheatley's interesting though neglected work appeared 
 in 1807. 
 
i6o Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 On the question of tlie currency, your calculations would 
 lead us to infer that the nation had been great losers by 
 restoring it to a fixed and increased value : — now I will 
 agree that in some cases such a measure might be very 
 unjust, but I do not see how it can affect the interests of 
 a country as a whole. You say that the farmers and 
 7)ianufacturers have lost £230,000,000 millions ^ a year by 
 the reduction of prices ^. I ask has no one gained these 
 £230,000,000 1 and if you say some have, I again ask who 
 have, if they be not farmers and manufacturers 1 You 
 will not say that the stockholder has gained this immense 
 sum, for the whole of his annual interest amounts only to 
 £29,000,000, — you will not say that the stockholders and 
 public officers together have gained it, for the whole 
 public revenue of the country from which they are paid 
 amounts only to £54,000,000 — the fact is that some manu- 
 facturers, and some farmers, have been gainers, and others 
 losers, as always is the case when the currency is tampered 
 with — the only injury which these classes have sustained, 
 as classes, is the real increase of taxation, which may 
 probably amount to 5 or 6 millions pr, ann. on the depre- 
 ciation of 1813. 
 
 I perceive that you rather misconceive my opinions on 
 tliis question — I never should advise a government to restore 
 a currency, which was depreciated 30 p.c, to par ; I should 
 recommend, as you propose, but not in the same manner, 
 that the currency should be fixed at the depreciated value 
 by [lowerin]g the standard, and that no further deviations 
 should [take] place. It was without any legislation that 
 the cu[rrency] from 181 3 to 1819 became an increased 
 value, and within 5 p.c. of the value of gold, — it was in 
 this state of things, and not with a currency depreciated 
 
 1 So in the original, by an evident oversight. 
 
 2 ' Essay on the Theory of Money and Principles of Commerce,' vol. ii. 
 p. 128 (a reference kindly supplied by Professor H. S. Foxwell). 
 
Britain an Importer of Corn i6r 
 
 30 p.c, that I advised a recurrence to the old standard. 
 The advice might have been bad, and the measure unwise, 
 but in judging of it, injustice would be done to me, and 
 those who agreed with me, by referring to a state of things, 
 which had ceased to exist, for more than 4 years. 
 I am Sir 
 
 Your obed. Serv. 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 Bromesberrow Place, Ledbury 
 
 My Bear Trower 4 odr., iSar 
 
 I was much pleased to find by your last letter, that 
 you thought well of the information contained in the 
 minutes of Evidence, which accompanied our Report from 
 the Agricultural Committee, and that in your criticisms on 
 the evidence of the different individuals called before the 
 committee, your opinion coincides so nearly with my own. 
 The only part of Mr. Tooke's evidence in which I cannot 
 agree with him, is that in which he says, that if the trade 
 in Corn were left perfectly free, the growers of corn in 
 the United Kingdom would be able to compete with the 
 corn growers of other countries, meaning thereby, as he 
 explained himself, there would be as much probability of 
 our exporting corn to other countries, on an average of 
 years, as of importing it from those countries ^. This I do 
 not believe — our manufacturing superiority — our greater 
 riches — our dense population, all have a tendency to make 
 us importers of corn, and although the quantity we should 
 import would be only a few weeks ['] consumption, yet 
 I think we should be habitually and constantly an importing 
 
 ^ Franked by himself; cover dated ' Ledbury, October Four, 1821,' and 
 addressed, ' Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godalming, Surrey.' 
 2 Cf. ' Minutes of Evidence,' pp. 288, 289. 
 M 
 
i62 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 country. In the Committee the great holders of land 
 went to the other extreme of Mr. Tooke's opinion, they 
 thought that with a free trade in Corn we should import 
 almost all our corn, and in that case they asked what was 
 to become of the aristocracy — if they were ruined, they 
 wanted to know what class in the community would 
 perform the important services which they rendered as 
 magistrates, grand jurors, &c., &c. If indeed all our land 
 was to go out of cultivation, as these alarmists anticipated, 
 then the question of importation would be a serious one 
 indeed, and we should be obliged to give due consideration 
 to the important political consequences which might result 
 from it. Mr. Jacob[']s facts ^ are interesting, but on the 
 scientific part of the subject I thought him quite wild, 
 and persevered in my questions to him till I believe he 
 thought me rude. I knew by his publications - that he 
 had taken a very prejudiced and unskilful view of the 
 subject. 
 
 On the subject of ' Real value ' and ' Exchangeable 
 value ' you ask why should not these two ideas be kept 
 perfectly distinct, and be expressed by distinct terms ? 
 Why indeed should they not ? I reply, but I ask in my 
 turn whether they are not kept distinct by prefixing the 
 word ' real ' to one, and ' exchangeable ' to the other 1 
 
 I have neither seen Torrens' publication ^, nor Lord 
 
 ^ Probably in support of the statement that, ' none of the countz-ies 
 from which England derives supplies of corn, were able to export much 
 more than three days of their own consumption.' See ' Minutes of 
 Evidence,' 1821, 368 et seq. ; cf. 355. 
 
 "^ William Jacob, F.E.S., of Chelsham Lodge, Surrey, had written : 
 Considerations on the Protection required by British Agriculture and 
 on the influence of the price of corn on exportable productions (18141. 
 A Letter to Samuel Whitbread, Esq., M.P. [on the same subject, with 
 remarks on West, Kicni-do, and Torrens] (1815). See Cannan, 'Production 
 and Distribution' (1893), p. 320. 
 
 ^ ' An Essay on the Production of Wealth ; with an Appendix, in which 
 the Principles of Political Economy are applied to the Actual Circum- 
 stances of this Country.' Loudon, 1820. The promised ' Ajjpendix ' was 
 never published. 
 
Importance of the Study of Taxation 163 
 
 Stourton'a letter to Lord Liverpool^. Of the last I have 
 heard nothing, but of Torrens' book I have heard a favor- 
 able account from Malthus — he says it is well and clearly 
 written, and on the whole he thinks it makes as much for 
 his (Malthus's) view of the question, as for mine. I do not 
 know why Mill's book does not appear, I believe he has 
 finished it ^. 
 
 I, as well as you, would like to see an application of the 
 Principles of Political Economy, as now understood, to the 
 practical operation of taxation, and I hope it will not be 
 long before such a work appears. Ministers will always 
 look more to the facility with which they can raise money 
 by a tax, and the produce they can obtain from it, than to 
 its consequences on the prosperity and future resources of 
 the country (witness the legacy duty) ; this however is no 
 argument against the general dissemination of good doc- 
 trines, for if a minister was not restrained by an honest 
 legislature, he would receive no inconsiderable check from 
 an enlightened public. You make a great mistake in 
 supposing me capable of producing so important a work. 
 
 About Gatcomb, we have not lost a great deal of corn 
 from the badness of the weather, though it has suffered 
 some damage, but I hear great complaints made by the 
 farmers in the part of the country where I am now Avriting 
 — their crops are entirely spoiled. 
 
 The proceedings of the Coroner's Inquest on the late 
 affray at the Queen's funeral ^ have a better chance than 
 
 ^ In the British Museum, 1027. b. 22 ( 10) is a tract of Stourton's : ' Two 
 Letters to the Right Hon. the Earl of Liverpool ... on the Distresses of 
 Agriculture . . . with Observations on Cash Payments and a Free Trade.' 
 Second edition, with additions. London, 1821. In the following year, 
 a third letter was written, and the work republished as ' A New Edition, 
 with Additions,' with the title 'Three Letters,' &c. It states that the 
 'First Letter' was published in the summer of 1820. 
 
 ^ See above, p. 147, and below, 173. 
 
 ^ Duringthe funeral procession, on 14th August, i82i,the troops fired on 
 the mob, and two men (Honey and Francis) were killed. See Hansard, 
 
 M 2 
 
164 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 ever of being made the subject of discussion in Parliament, 
 since they have ended in the dismissal of Sir R, Wilson 
 from the army. According to what we at present know, 
 I think he has been very harshly used ^ 
 
 I cannot agree with you that in the investment of one's 
 money it is necessary to take a much more limited view 
 than what would include the probable variation of half 
 a century. Although we shall not be alive then, our 
 children or our children's children will, and in investments 
 of money we never fail to estimate a future and contingent 
 benefit at its just value, accordingly as it may be near or 
 distant. In comparing the purchases of land and of tithes 
 it is quite right to estimate the advantages of the former, 
 in the shape of influence, enjoyment and amusement at its 
 just value; but the objection you make, that in buying 
 tithes you only make the common rate of interest and you 
 would have made as much if you had employed the same 
 amount of capital in improving your land, or else you would 
 not so employ it, is not a good one, and entirely changes 
 the question in dispute. 
 
 What we were discussing was whether it would be more 
 advantageous to buy land, or buy tithes ; but the proposi- 
 tion as stated by you would be, whether it was more advan- 
 tageous to employ a capital in improving land, or in buying 
 tithes. I have no doubt that in an improving country the 
 
 N. S. vi, March 6, 1822 ; Cobbett, Weekly Eegister, 1821, p. 289 seq., 534 seq. 
 The straight road between Hammersmith and Harwich, where the body- 
 was to be shipped for Brunswick, would have taken the procession through 
 the heart of the City. By diverting it to the north to avoid the City, 
 the Government excited the wrath of the people, who, by barricades of 
 -w aggons and stones, forced the procession back into the direct i-oute through 
 the City to Whitechapel and Mile End. Cobbett deals with the dismissal 
 of Wilson, ib , 890, 942, 1059, 1131. Cf. Brougham, 'Life and Times,' 
 written by himself, vol. ii. 425 seq., and (as to Wilson) 439. 
 
 ' The debate on his removal took place on 13th Feb., 1822. See Hansard, 
 suh dato. He was dismissed from the army as having, when present in 
 a private capacity, interfered with the soldiers in the discharge of their 
 duty. 
 
Land versus Tithes as an Investment 165 
 
 latter would be most advantageous but it is essentially a 
 different question from that which we were before discuss- 
 ing — if you buy land you have no capital with which to 
 improve land, you obtain only the rent and that rent will 
 improve in proportion as it becomes the interest of your 
 tenant to expend a greater capital on that land, even 
 although he should not in the least improve it. By such 
 expenditure he may derive more from it, and of that in- 
 creased quantity he may be constrained to give you a 
 portion — you will have a larger portion, and each portion 
 will be of a greater value, but I contend the tithe holder 
 will be still better off— his proportion of the whole produce 
 will be as before — he will not only have a larger portion, 
 but the same proportion [;] the landlord[']s j^^Wortion of 
 the whole produce will be probably diminished. 
 
 Sj^dney Smith and his family passed a couple of days 
 with me on their way from Taunton to York ^ He was 
 in his usual good spirits and we were sorry to lose him 
 so soon. His articles in the Edin. Review on Spring 
 Guns, and Prisons, are I think both very good^ — he is 
 a good reasoner, and has much the best of the argument 
 with the Judges. I like the article on Godwin[']s book, 
 I have not heard who the writer is but I have no doubt 
 whatever that it was written by Malthus himself^. His 
 doctrines are very fairly vindicated against the calumny by 
 which they are usually assailed, and I think the principles 
 themselves most successfully established. In Malthus['] 
 
 ' ' I liave travelled all across the country with my family to see my 
 fathei', now 82 years of age.' Letter of Syd. Smith to Jeffrey, written 
 from Taunton, 7th August, 1821. Memoir &c. by Lady Holland, ii. 
 217. He was back at Foston, his Yorkshire parsonage, by i6th Sept. 
 (ib. 219). 
 
 ^ Edinburgh Keview, July, 1821 (No. LXX), Art. ii and viii. 
 
 ^ Edinburgh Review, July, 1821 (No. LXX). See Letters to Malthus, 
 pp. 198, 206 : ' I have mentioned my suspicions respecting the writer 
 of the article on population in the Edinburgh Review to several persons. 
 I will not utter them from this time.' 
 
i66 Letters of Ricardo to Trozver 
 
 book there is much attackable matter, but he is very 
 unfairly used by his antagonists, and his leading principle 
 is studiously kept out of view. 
 
 I am passing a few days with my son, who is living in 
 a fertile and beautiful country. A walk of ten minutes 
 takes one to the summit of the first and lowest of the 
 Malvern Hills from whence there is an extensive prospect, 
 and a good view of Eastnor Castle (Lord Somers') and Park. 
 I dare say you know the country. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo unites with me in compliments to Mrs. 
 Trower. 
 
 Believe me 
 
 My dear Trower, 
 
 Ever truly yours 
 
 David Ricakdo. 
 Sydney Smith when a youth lived in this very spot ^ 
 
 Bromesbereow Place 
 
 My Dear Trower uDecr.iSzi. 
 
 It appears to be your fate to receive letters from me 
 dated from this place. I intended writing to you before 
 I left home, but I had various things to do which obliged 
 me to defer it till this moment. I came here on Wednes- 
 day last on my way to Hereford, to which place I was 
 invited, by the admirers of Mr. Hume, to attend a public 
 dinner, which they meant to give him in that town, on the 
 occasion of presenting him with a hogshead of Cider, and 
 
 ' The Memoir by Lady Holland is silent on this sojourn. 
 ^ Addressed and franked on back : — 
 
 Gloucester December Twelve 1821 
 Hutches Trower Esq'® 
 
 Unsted Wood 
 Godalming 
 David Kicardo 
 
Hunter's Reception at Hereford 167 
 
 a silver tankard, which had been purchased from a fund 
 created by subscriptions of one shilhng. I went to Here- 
 ford on friday, and soon after my arrival there, saw my 
 friend Hume arrive in a carriage drawn by the people, and 
 preceded by a great number of horsemen and banners. 
 The whole population of the town appeared to be in the 
 streets, and the windows were crowded with women. He 
 was greeted with that portion of noisy acclamations which 
 is usually bestowed on popular favorites. In a moment 
 he was in the balcony of the Inn, next to a window which 
 I occupied, and from thence made a long speech to the 
 gentlemen in the street which was constantly interrupted 
 with cheering. At 3 o' Clock we sat down to dinner. Our 
 number was 250 mostly consisting, I should think, of 
 farmers and trades-men ; perhaps there were about 50 of 
 the higher class of gentlemen of fortune in the neighbour- 
 hood. After dinner we had plenty of speaking — Hume 
 performed for an hour and a half, the rest who were 
 called upon, of which number I was one, spoke for a very 
 moderate time ^. The day went off well and a large party 
 of us went, as was previously agreed on, to Mr. Price[']s, 
 the member for the County (whose father is the author of 
 a work on the Picturesque)^ where we were handsomely 
 entertained for 2 days. 
 
 Hume as you may believe is highly gratified. He was 
 to be yesterday at Monmouth, and he will to day join me 
 here, and return with me to Gatcomb. You wiU caU all 
 these proceedings by the name of ' Radical,' but I believe 
 they are calculated to do much good — to increase the 
 
 ^ See Letters to Malthus, p. 208, but especially Letters to McCulloch, 
 pp. 122-125. 
 
 ^ Sir Uvedale Price, of whom Sir Walter Scott wrote that 'he had 
 converted the age to his views.' The work here mentioned, 'An Essay 
 on the Picturesque, as compared with the Sublime and the Beautiful, 
 and on the use of studying Pictures for the purpose of improving real 
 Landscape,' first appeared in 1794; it was ti'anslated into German at 
 Leipsic in 1798. 
 
i68 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 interest of the people in the affairs of government, and to 
 make them better judges of what constitutes good and 
 what bad government — at the same time this will be 
 useful to our governors, and incline them to economy and 
 forbearance. 
 
 Your remarks on the article in the Quarterly Review, 
 on the Agricultural Report, appear to me to be very just ^, 
 I am glad I have got so good an ally, for what I think the 
 correct principles, and you must partake of the pleasure 
 which I feel in observing that they are every day making 
 way. Mrs. Marcet's last edition is a very improved one, — 
 in it she recognizes much of which her former editions did 
 not speak at all, or of which they spoke doubtingly ^. 
 The Champion has given a series of papers on Rent, Wages. 
 Taxes, &c. &c. all of which appear to me sound ^. Mill has 
 just published his book too in which all the good doctrines 
 are advocated. So that we ought to be satisfied with the 
 progress we are making. In the country I find much 
 error prevailing on the subject of the currency, every ill 
 which befals the country is by some ascribed to Peel's Bill, 
 and Peel's Bill is as invariably ascribed to me. The whole 
 fall in the value of corn and cattle is by such persons 
 said to be merely nominal, these things they say have not 
 in fact fallen, it is money which has risen, — they will 
 not hear of a variation in the value of money of lo pc. 
 which I am very willing to allow them, nor will they 
 listen to my defence of myself against their unjust accusa- 
 tion. I proposed a scheme by the adoption of which there 
 
 ^ Quarterly Review, July, 182 1 (No. L), art. ix. Nominally a review of 
 the 'Report on Agricultural Depression,' and of Sir Edward West's 'Essay 
 on the Application of Capital to Land.' 
 
 2 ' Conversations on Political Economy, in which the Elements of that 
 Science are familiarly Explained.' Fourth edition. London, 1821. 
 
 = ' The Champion : Weekly Review of Politics and Political Economy.' 
 The head-piece of the paper was a printing-press with Hornc Tooke's 
 sentence as a motto : ' The liberty of the Press is like the air we breatlie, 
 when we have it not— we die.' Cf, Letters to Malthus, p. 208. 
 
Management of the Gold Currency 169 
 
 would not have been a demand for one ounce of gold, either 
 on the part of the Bank, or of any one else, and another 
 is adopted by which both the Bank and individuals are 
 obliged to demand a great quantity of gold and I am held 
 responsible for the consequences ^, If I had been a bank 
 director, and had had the management of this currency 
 question, I maintain that I could have reverted to a 
 metallic standard by raising money (only) 5 pc, I do not 
 say that having a metallic standard I could protect it from 
 the usual fluctuations to which standards have at all times 
 been subject. Cobbet[t] says ^ I am little better than a 
 fool in speaking of gold as a standard, that the only fair 
 standard is corn. He shews his ignorance in saying so, 
 but supposing it true, can he tell me what is to secure us 
 from variations in his standard, — it would perhaps be 
 more variable than any other. But it is useless to say all 
 this to you who know it so well. 
 
 Hume says Ministers cannot make out anything of a case 
 against Sir Rob. Wilson ^, that they thought they had a 
 case against him, but that they were wholly deceived by 
 false statements. 
 
 What think you of the late changes in the Administra- 
 tion ? * Is not Peel very much elevated 1 Do his talents 
 entitle him to fill so prominent a situation 1 Will things 
 be arranged finally without some provision being made for 
 Canning ? He is a formidable opponent, but I suppose 
 he cannot under any circumstances fairly come over to 
 our side. 
 
 ' Cf. Letters to McCuUoch, pp. 118-121 (xxix, 3rd Jan., 1822), which 
 go more fully into the matter. 
 
 2 ' To I'efer to the market price of gold as a standard is exactly what the 
 Oracle did.' ' This queer, this 'Change Alley, this Jew-like notion of the 
 price of gold being the standard.' Cobbett, Weekly Register, Oct. 20, 1821, 
 pp. 925, 926. Ricardo goes a little beyond the words of Cobbett when he 
 passes judgment on him. 
 
 ' See preceding letter. 
 
 * Robinson in place of Vansittart ; Peel in place of Sidmouth. 
 
lyo Letters of Ricardo to Troiver 
 
 There will be many interesting questions brought before 
 Parliament next Session. Economy and Retrenchment 
 will be a standing dish. We shall have the question of 
 the Corn LawSj the disturbance in Ii-eland — Sir Rob. 
 Wilson's case — the criminal law and many others — I like 
 business. 
 
 Pray give my kind remembrances to Mrs. Trower, and 
 believe me ever mj^ dear Trower 
 
 yrs truly 
 
 David Ricahdo. 
 
 Gatcomb Park 
 
 My Dear Trower 25 Jmn, 1822 
 
 This day week I shall leave Gatcomb for London, 
 and shall soon after enter with all my energies on my 
 parliamentary duties. I expect that the Agricultural ques- 
 tion will occupy a great deal of attention, and I am not 
 without my fears that some injudicious measures may be 
 adopted, in consequence of the general prevalence of ei-ror 
 on that important subject. I have read with attention all 
 that has been said at the different meetings, and although 
 I think I see a decided improvement in the public mind on 
 the policy of corn laws, yet it appears to me that very few 
 take a rational and scientific view of the origin of the dis- 
 tress, and of the true means of remedying it. They all 
 concur in attributing the want of a remunerating price 
 to enormous taxation, in which opinion I cannot agree ; 
 although I am willing to allow that an immediate repeal of 
 some of the taxes which affect agricultural produce, would 
 materially relieve the farmer. There is an interval between 
 
 ' Franked by himself ; dated, 'Minchinhampton, January Twenty-four, 
 1822,' and addressed, 'Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godalming, 
 Surrey.' 
 
Excessive Supply and the Distress 171 
 
 the repeal of a tax which falls indirectly on a commodity, 
 and the fall of the price of such commodity, that is favor- 
 able to the producer, and the benefit of this interval would 
 be enjoyed by farmers. It might, if the distress is owing 
 to temporary causes, be sufficiently long to enable them 
 to surmount the difficulty which immediately presses upon 
 them, it would however be quite unscientific therefore to 
 say that it was the burthen of taxation which was the cause 
 of the low price of corn. The cause of the low price is 
 nothing else but the supply exceeding the demand. Why 
 it should do so now, and why it should have done so for two 
 years back is an interesting enquiry, and many may have 
 their different theories to account for it. When I say the 
 cause of the low price is nothing else than the supply ex- 
 ceeding the demand, I am not quite correct, for I appear to 
 exclude the alteration in the value of the currency as one 
 of the causes, which I am not desirous of doing. To that 
 cause I ascribe an effect of 10 pc. and in so doing I am 
 making a liberal allowance. I perceive that a meeting of 
 your county is called to consider this subject — I hope you 
 will do what you are so well able to do, express your own 
 corject views on this most important question, and not let 
 the reveries of a Webb Hall ^, and the exaggerated, and 
 often wicked, statements of a Cobbett^, pass every where 
 uncontradicted ^. I shall look to the public papers with 
 great interest for a full and correct account of your 
 speech. 
 
 I agree with much of what you say about Ireland, but 
 on some points we differ. I think it desirable that small 
 farms, and small tenancies, should be got rid of, but I do 
 not look upon these, and many other things which might 
 
 ' Of Sneed Park, Gloucester. See Ricardo's 'Protection to Agi-iculture,' 
 Works, p. 479, and 'Agricultural Comm., Evidence,' 1821, pp. 163-175. 
 ^ Cf. Letters to McCulloch, p. 119, note a, 
 ^ In place of ' unx'efuted,' struck out. 
 
172 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 be advantageously corrected in Ireland, as the cause of the 
 evils under which that unfortunate country groans, but as 
 the effect of those evils. If Ireland had a good system of 
 law — if property was secure — if an Englishman lending 
 money to an Irishman could by some easy process oblige 
 him to fulfil his contract, and not be set at defiance by 
 the chicanery of sherifF[']s agents in Ireland, capital would 
 flow into Ireland, and an accumulation of capital would 
 lead to all the beneficial results which every where follows 
 [sir-] from it. The most economical processes would be 
 adopted — small farms would be laid into large — there 
 would be an abundant demand for labour, and thus would 
 Ireland take her just rank among nations. The evils of 
 Ireland, I, in my conscience believe, arise from misrule, 
 and I hope that during the administration of Lord Welles- 
 ley a commencement will be made in the reformation of 
 the enormous abuses under which that country labours. 
 Hume I believe means to attack the Tithe System of Ire- 
 land in the House of Commons. I do not know whether 
 he is sufficiently skilful to meddle with so intricate a 
 subject advantageously, but he will not fail I think to 
 do some good. The oftener that abuses of all kinds are 
 stated and discussed the better ; it sets able heads to 
 work, and the people become informed as to their real 
 interests. This reacts on the Government, and thus abuses, 
 even on our present imperfect system, are often finally 
 redressed. 
 
 You will have received Mill's article on Government, 
 which I sent you many days ago. — You will not approve 
 of it, but I think it an excellent article, and well reasoned 
 throughout. Since writing that article he has written two 
 others for the Supplement to the Encyclopedia, which 
 are I think both very good — one is on Jurisprudence, the 
 other on the Liberty of the Press. If you cannot conve- 
 niently get the Encyclopedia, I can lend you the articles, 
 
Mill as an Author 173 
 
 as I have one copy of each in London, and I think you will 
 like to read them ^ 
 
 I am not a good judge of his book on Political Economy, 
 I have thought so much on the subject myself, that I can 
 form a very inadequate idea of the impression which his 
 work is calculated to make on one who is a learner, 
 but I am told by learners that it is very clear, and fully 
 accomplishes the object which he professes to have in 
 view. 
 
 I received some months ago a letter from M[.] Say in 
 answer to my last observations on his book, to which 
 I intend very shortly to send him my reply. You will 
 probably like to see both his letter and my answer — I will 
 shew them to you when I see you in London^. 
 
 The reviews of Godwin's work both in the Quarterly 
 and Edinburgh were I think very good ; — surely in the 
 minds of all reasonable men the principle for which Malthus 
 contends is fully established. 
 
 I continue to hear, from time to time, from Mr. MCul- 
 loch ; he is a zealous advocate for the correct principles of 
 Polit. Economy and is more actively employed in their 
 dissemination than any individual I know. Besides the 
 excellent articles which he wrote in the Supp' to the 
 Encyclopedia, in the Edinburgh Review, and the Scotsman, 
 he gives lectures on Polit. Economy in Edinburgh, and 
 contemplates the extending them next year to a general 
 instead of a private class— this is as it should be, notwith- 
 standing the wise observations of Lord John Russell on the 
 
 ^ ' Supplement to the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Editions of the Encyclo- 
 paedia Britannica,' 6 vols. (Edinhurgh, 1815 1824). For Mill's other 
 contributions to the 'Supplement,' see Bain, 'James Mill,' pp. 215-259. 
 The more important articles were reprinted for private circulation, as 
 intimated above, ibid., p. 191. 
 
 2 See 'Melanges et Correspondance d'Economie Politique : Ouvragepost- 
 hume de J.-B, Say ; public par Charles Comte' (Paris, 1833), pp. 112-130. 
 Both letters and reply are summarized in Letters to Malthus, pp. 182, 
 183, 209. 
 
174 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 little advantages to be derived from a knowledge of this 
 science, in his letter to the Electors of Huntingdon ^. 
 
 Mrs. Ricai-do joins with me in kind remembrances to 
 Mrs. Trower. Believe me, My dear Trower 
 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 I hope we shall see you very soon in London. 
 
 LIII2. 
 
 [To SrR J. Sinclair] 
 
 Dear Sir Gatcomb Park, Minchin-Hampton, 29^^ J^awwarj/, 1822 
 You are fully aware that you and I do not agree 
 in our opinion of the causes of the present agricultural 
 distress, nor in our views of the remedies which it would 
 be expedient to apply to it. We agree still less on the 
 disadvantage which you suppose to have resulted to the 
 importer of corn, from the increased value of the currency. 
 The question you put to Mr. Attwood is not a fair one ; 
 for the same cause which would elevate the exchange from 
 18 to 25, would lower corn from 40/ to 28/9 loer quarter, 
 and it would be a matter of indifference to the foreign 
 exporter of corn to England if he sold it at 40/, and nego- 
 ciated his bill at 1 8 francs "per pound Sterling, or sold it at 
 28/9, and negociated his bill at 25 francs. Is it not a fallacy 
 to suppose money so to rise in value that gold should 
 appear to fall from £5: 10/ to £3:17: loi, the exchange 
 rise from 1 8 to 25, and yet suppose wheat to remain steadily 
 at 40/ per quarter 1 
 
 I remain, Dear Sir, your faithful and obedient servant, 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 1 In the letter (dated from Woburn Abbey, 14*'^ Jan. 1822) ho speaks of 
 'a party among us distinguished in what is called the science of Political 
 Economy ' as wishing to ' substitute the corn of Poland and Russia for our 
 own,' to the ruin of our farmers. See Morning Chronicle i8"i Jan. 1822 
 and Cobbett, Weekly Register, Feb. 2, 1822, pp. 274, 287. 
 
 ^ Sinclair's ' Correspondence,' i. 375. 
 
A Delicate Question 175 
 
 20 Feb. 1822 
 My dear TeOWER London 
 
 I thank you for the account you have given me of 
 your proceedings at the County meeting ^. I was sorry 
 to find, before I received your letter, that your speech had 
 been cut short by the impatience and clamor of your 
 audience. I wish you had not ventured on the delicate 
 topic of the repeal of taxes having been the cause of Agri- 
 cultural distress, for if that doctrine be true, which I very 
 much doubt, it was one which could not be successfully 
 handled in such an assembly. They would not perhaps 
 have been more civil to you if you had supported the less 
 unpalatable doctrine of which I profess myself to be the 
 advocate, that taxation is not the cause of Agricultural 
 distress, and that a repeal of taxes will lighten the burthens 
 of all, but will not afford particular relief to the Agricul- 
 tural class. — 
 
 This doctrine I was advancing in the H. of Commons on 
 the same day you had been speaking at Epsom, and as 
 I had a more polite, and a less numerous audience, the 
 expression of my opinions was listened to with patience 
 and attention ^. I flatter myself that in the progress of 
 the debates on this subject many will be found to advocate 
 the same doctrines, — I wish that the Table * you gave the 
 
 ^ Franked by himself; dated, 'London, Februaiy Twenty, 1822,' and 
 addressed, ' Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godalming.' 
 
 ^ See Note following this Letter. 
 
 ^ February 18, 1822, on the Marquis of Londonderry's motion for the 
 appointment of a new Agricultural Committee, to consider further 
 petitions on agricultural distress, and the report of the earlier Committee. 
 Ricardo attacked the Sinking Fund, argued that taxation was not re- 
 sponsible for the prevailing depression, and vindicated his estimate of 
 a five per cent, fall in prices, resulting from the resumption of specie 
 payments. See Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. vi. (N. S.) 479. 
 
 * Statistics of quantities and prices of grain, &c. after harvest, for 
 1820-1, and 1821-2. They are unfortunately not complete in the MSS. 
 The letter given below (note, p. 178) has a bearing on the matter. 
 
176 Letters of Ricardo to Trozver 
 
 reporters may be published — if it is not, send it to me, and 
 I will endeavor to get it into some of the papers. Every 
 thing which tends to shew the excessive quantity at market, 
 whether of corn, of cattle, or of sheep, will be highly useful 
 towards the establishing of correct notions on this important 
 subject. Cobbett and his followers contend that the altera- 
 tion in the value of money has been of inestimable advan- 
 tage to the working classes \ they contend therefore that it 
 has increased the demand for provisions, and yet he as well 
 as others give us constant accounts of the quantities of corn 
 remaining at market unsold, and of cattle and sheep penned 
 at fairs for which there is no adequate demand — can we 
 have a stronger proof of increased supply % An alteration 
 in the value of money is a sufficient reason for an altered 
 price of commodities, but it can have no effect on quantity. 
 If it plunges the farmer and landlord into distress, why 
 are the other classes of producers exempted from its effects ? 
 Is not taxation from the same cause increased to the 
 merchant, the manufacturer, &c., &c. ? Never was there 
 a greater fallacy than that of ascribing the present distress 
 either to taxation, or to the altered value of money ^. 
 Cobbett is a mischievous scoundrel^ ; he ascribes the evils 
 
 ' This is hardly Cobbett's position. He contends that 'a paper 
 system is never prosperity. There has been an appearance of it ; and 
 the return to cash payments intensifies distress' i e.g. Weekly Register, 
 1820. pp. 706, 737) ; but he says, ' Peel's Bill ought not to be repealed. 
 I was half dead with fear when it was a matter of doubt ' (Weekly I'egister, 
 27th Oct., 182 1, p. 970). It would be no easy task to prove Cobbett 
 consistent throughout ; but Eicardo, wincing a little under Cobbett's 
 rudeness, seems unwilling to allow that he is ever in the right. 
 
 * These views were developed in Ricardo's tract, ' On Protection to 
 Agriculture ' (,8vo., London, 1822, in ' Works,' ed. McCuUoch, pp. 455-498), 
 published two months later (Letters to McCulloch, p. 133). McCulloch 
 stated that the tract was written because Eicardo did not choose ' to 
 have his opinions identified with those of the Eeport'; he added, 'Had 
 Mr. Eicardo never written anything else, this pamphlet would have 
 placed him in the very first rank of political economists' (' Literature of 
 Politii-al Economy,' p. 78). 
 
 ■^ The genial Sydney Smith calls Cobbett 'that consummate villain' — 
 
Cobbett's Impudence 
 
 177 
 
 under wLich the country is laboring to the altered value 
 of money, and yet recommends the people to hoard gold^, 
 which he knows will increase the value of money still more. 
 It is confusion he wants, and he cares not what means he 
 takes to produce it. But in spite of him the country will 
 get over its difficulties, and when it is again prosperous he 
 will have the insolence to say that he foretold it. — 
 
 What say you to Brougham's speech ^ ? What a falling 
 off was thei'e ! I have not heard for a long time from any 
 man who pretends to know anything of Political Economy 
 so many absurd opinions as were delivered by him on 
 Monday sen'night, — they will be a standing dish for the 
 remainder of the Session. — 
 
 Believe me ever 
 
 Most truly yrs 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 Note (i). — A detailed account of the meeting of the freeholders of 
 the county of Surrey, held at Epsom on February 18, 1822, and men- 
 tioned above, is contained in 'The Times' of February 19, 1822. The 
 purpose of the meeting was ' to take the sense of the county upon 
 the propriety of petitioning Parliament for a reduction of taxation, 
 and a reform in the representation of the people in the Common[s] 
 House.' In the course of the meeting, ' Mr. Trower expressed his 
 regret that the important questions of agricultural distress and 
 parliamentary reform had been mixed up together on the present 
 occasion. It was not so much to Mr. Peel's bill, as to that lament- 
 able corn bill which was passed in 1815 that the present low 
 jirices of agricultural j)roducts were to be attributed. In saying 
 this he did not intend to advocate the fooleries of Mr. Webb Hall. 
 He thought that much of the present agricultural distress was 
 attributable to the late abundant harvests. The hon. gentleman 
 proceeded in this position at some length amidst general outcries 
 from the meeting ; in the midst of it he was interrupted by some 
 
 adding, 'he is still a great deal read.' (See the letter dated 12th January, 
 1819, in the Memoir by Lady Holland, ii. 168.) 
 
 ^ See below, 182. 2 gg^ Note (3). 
 
 N 
 
178 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 person asking him whether he thought taxation to be among the 
 probable causes of the distress now existing among the farmers. 
 Upon his answering that the farmers had suffered most from the 
 taxes that had been taken off, so great a confusion was created in 
 the multitude, that the speaker found it impossible to proceed. 
 Having made two or three ineffectual attemjjts to obtain a farther 
 hearing, he gave way to Mr. Grey Bennet, who stated that he was 
 not surprised that the startling proposition of Mr. Trower, that 
 the country was too little taxed, had caused the commotion which 
 had just taken place. After ridiculing the strange sophistry 
 which could have led a gentleman of his sound understanding to 
 patronize such a delusive statement, Mr. Bennet,' &c. 
 
 Note (2). — The following letter is among the Trower MSS. : — 
 
 London, 15: feby. 1822. 
 Mt Deae Sm, 
 
 I take the earliest opportunity of handing you a statement, 
 which will I believe, answer your Enquiry and which shews that 
 the low Price of Wheat is in some degree occasioned by a surplus 
 quantity received last quarter, and which I take to be the con- 
 sequence of the superabundant harvest of 1820 — of which we still 
 feel the Effects — 
 
 The returns are published weekly and quarterly — at 4.4. P. an. 
 \sic\. Those that we take are for friends in the Country, but our 
 Clerk keeps a Copy of them — which for the last week or two 
 having been ill, he has neglected — but which we can easily get 
 a friend to supply us with — therefore if you wish any further 
 Information, I beg you will not hesitate to ask for it at this or 
 any future time — there is no Account kept of Corn coming from 
 the Western Counties by the Thames or by Canals — last year the 
 quantity of Wheat and Barley brought thence was considerable, 
 this season the Western Counties send us none, but require 
 occasional supplies from hence — In the autumn of 181 9, Barley 
 was sent into Hertfordshire from hence — 
 
 An Account of Corn Imported into the Port of London (including 
 Foreign). 
 
 From Sepr 27*11 1819 to Jan. i^t 1820 
 
 Wheat Barley Oats Beans Flour 
 
 qrs. 150,712 111,907 208,256 22,164 sacks 128,269 
 
Brougham on the Distress 179 
 
 From Oct. 2^ 1820 to Dec^ 30 1820 
 [Wheat Barley Oats Beans Flour] 
 
 [qrs.] 145.858 7I5882 342,862 28,594 [sacks] 107,417 
 
 [1820-21?] 
 188,378 78,970 221,776 31,635 130.761 
 
 qrs 
 Malt about 50,000 ) in each of the aboye Quarters with 
 and Peas — 22,000/ scarcely any Variation. 
 
 This season, the Hertfordshire farmers can almost supply our 
 Distillers, so abundant is their crop of Barley — You will see by 
 these Instances that the supplies by shipping are regulated in 
 some degree by the probable Demand or superabundance of the 
 inland Counties — 
 
 I remain 
 
 my dear Sir 
 
 Yours Tery truly 
 
 John Geenside \ 
 
 Note (3). — On Monday, Feb. nth, 1822, Brougham concluded 
 a long speech on the ' Distressed State of the Country ' by moving 
 ' That it is the bounden duty of this House, well-considering the 
 pressure of Public Burthens upon all, but especially the Agricul- 
 tural Classes, to obtain for the suffering People of these Realms 
 such a reduction of the taxes as may be suited to the change in 
 the value of money, and may afford an immediate relief to the dis- 
 tresses of the Country.' (Hansard, Pari. Deb., New Series, vi. 
 220-259). 
 
 The motion was lost by 104 votes (108 for, 212 against). 
 Ricardo voted in favour of the motion but made a speech against 
 the arguments of the mover. Taxation, he said, was not the 
 cause of the present agricultural distress. A country might be 
 without taxes and yet in the same distress as England at present. 
 The restoration of the currency had not made so great a change 
 in its value as was thought. The change was not 50 per cent, and 
 if Peel's Act had been judiciously managed might only have been 5. 
 His honourable and learned friend had proved too much when he 
 
 1 Probably of the firm of Grenside and King, Corn Factors, 26, Mark 
 Lane. Cover addressed to ' Hutches Trower Esq., Unsted Wood, Godal- 
 ming, Surry.' 
 
 N a 
 
i8o Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 said that manufacturers could defeat taxation by raising prices ; 
 if they could do so, so could the agriculturists. The cause of dis- 
 tress was really the abundance of produce, through the late good 
 harvest, the quantity of land lately brought into cultivation, the 
 importations from Ireland, and other causes. The remedy would 
 be that much land would be thrown out of tillage. It was unfair, 
 too, to suppose any of us were anxious to transfer the land to the 
 stockholders, though it would as a matter of fact be advisable for 
 the landholder to part with a portion of his property to the stock- 
 holder in liquidation of the debt, and indeed a portion did in 
 a sense belong to the stockholder at that moment as a receiver of 
 interest. 
 
 Brougham in reply defended the statement about manufacturers ; 
 — the tax on leather keeps the large manufacturer free from the 
 competition of smaller men, but there are no agriculturists with 
 capitals so large that they can drive out the small capitalists. 
 
 My Dear Trower London 5 Manu 1822 
 
 I have not been able to examine your plan of paying 
 off a considerable portion of debt^, by allowing persons to 
 compound for their assessed taxes ; but on a cursory view 
 I should conclude that it contained some fallacy which 
 would be detected on a close examination. You propose 
 to allow at the rate of 5 pc: to those who purchase their 
 life interest in the assessed taxes, and the money obtained 
 is to be employed at 4 pc. in paying off debt. You do not 
 add to the whole burden of taxation, and yet with the dis- 
 advantage I have stated you think the debt will be much 
 more diminished on your plan, than if the present mode be 
 persevered in. I might possibly agree that yours was the 
 safest plan because it left little or nothing in the power of 
 ministers, but it is impossible, I should think, to be so 
 economical as the one now in operation. One error is 
 immediately observable ; you suppose that a 5 million 
 
 * Cover wanting. * See Note. 
 
The Repayment of the Debt i8i 
 
 sinking fund will only pay off 60 millions in 12 years, 
 but you forget that it operates at compound interest, and 
 therefore that its effect will be very greatly increased. 
 Perhaps I may be wrong, and if I am you will be kind to 
 set me right. 
 
 Sir H. ParnelP mentioned a plan to me which wouhl 
 have the effect of making the sinking fund available, and 
 at the same time of placing it out of the grasp of ministers. 
 It is as follows : Employ your 5 millions in making your 
 perpetual annuities terminable ones, and you secure the 
 object of extinguishing a large portion of debt in a period 
 of short duration in the existence of a nation. Long ann^ 
 are at 20 years purchase and 4 prc*^ are at 25 years pur- 
 chase in the market. Give 5 millions p'^' Ann to the holders 
 of 500 millions of 4 pc*^ and they will agree to accept 
 25 million p'" Ann'" (instead of 20 million p^" Ann™) on the 
 condition that the interest should cease altogether in i860, 
 the period at which the Long Ann^ terminates. In i860 
 then our debt would be reduced to 300 millions, and indeed 
 might be altogether extinguished if in tlie meantime by 
 a surplus of revenue a larger sum could be diverted to the 
 above purpose. This will explain the principle : it might 
 be desirable to extinguish a smaller sum in fewer years, 
 by devoting the 5 millions to that purpose, or you might 
 extinguish different amounts of debt at differently determi- 
 nate periods — this you will easily understand. 
 
 I am glad you approved of the sentiments I expressed in 
 my speech in Parliament ^. It is a great disadvantage to 
 me that the reporters not understanding the subject cannot 
 
 ^ See his speeches on the subject in 1823 (Hansard, viii. 536, 548), and 
 his 'Financial Keform,' 1829. He was a member of the Agric. Comm. 
 of 1821 and 1822. 
 
 ' Probably the speech of February 18, 1822, noted above (p. 175). Just 
 before writing the present letter, Ricardo had again spoken in the House 
 on Agricultural Distress, and urged that the prevailing low prices were 
 caused by excessive harvests. Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. vi. 
 (N. S.) 919. 
 
i82 Letters of Ricardo to Troiver 
 
 readily follow me — they often represent me as uttering 
 perfect nonsense. 
 
 The country circulation is I believe very much reduced, 
 and I trust it is issued by bankers of character and pro- 
 perty. I have not much fear of their being shaken by 
 a return to specie payments. If Cobbett's recommendation ^ 
 should again endanger the safety of the Bank of England 
 in consequence of an extensive practice of hoarding sove- 
 reigns, which I by no means apprehend, it might become 
 necessary to adopt the Ingot plan of payment once more ^. 
 I should however be very sorry if the present system were 
 not persevered in as long as it was practicable. Cobbett's 
 aim is mischief, but he will not be able to succeed in it, 
 if the Bank manage their affairs with common discretion. 
 The Directors are very ill calculated to regulate a currency 
 situated as ours now is, and if there is anything to fear it 
 is from their incapacity. I shall not fail to repeat my 
 cautions to them from time to time when the subject comes 
 under discussion. — Huskisson must have great influence in 
 the situation which he fills, and he cannot fail to direct it 
 usefully and scientifically. 
 
 I do not think that we shall examine evidence in the 
 Agricultural Committee ^ We have got rid, after a long 
 discussion, of a proposal made by Mr. Banks to devote 
 a million of the public money to the purchase of corn — we 
 negatived it. Some more absurd proposals are before us, 
 but they I trust will meet with the same fate. The present 
 corn law will I think be repealed, and another less objec- 
 tionable, but still a bad one, will be substituted in its place. 
 
 ^ E.g., Weekly Register, Nov. 17, 1821. ' To Money Hoarders,' p. 1188, 
 'There is absolutely no safety but in hoarding.' 'There is no risk in 
 hoarding. Gold will not, cannot lose in value.' 
 
 ^ Ricardo's 'Economical and secure currency.' 
 
 ' A few witnesses were examined (April 24 to May 6) on proposed 
 alterations in the wai-ehouse and distillery laws, and their evidence was 
 appended to the Second Report, ordered by the House of Commons to bo 
 printed on May 20, 1822. 
 
Compounding for Assessed Taxes 183 
 
 I have gained an important and powerful ally, in the 
 Committee, by the nomination of Mr. Whitmore \ who is 
 a zealous advocate for the correct doctrines. On the other 
 hand I have lost the assistance of Huskisson, who absents 
 himself on the plea that Wodehouse made an attack on 
 him in the House,, but I think his real reason is that he 
 cannot approve, and will not oppose, the plan recommended 
 by the Government ^. 
 
 The House broke up early this evening, which has given 
 me an opportunity of scribbling to you. My letter is 
 a strange jumble, compounded much in the same manner 
 as my speeches. You must treat me as the House of 
 Commons does ; try to make out what I mean and excuse 
 the manner of my expressing my meaning. — 
 
 With kind regards to Mrs. Trower, in which I am joined 
 by Mrs. Ricardo, I remain very truly Yours 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 Note. — Hutches Trower's proposal as to the assessed taxes is 
 set forth in one of his MSS. as follows : — 
 
 ' Assessed Taxes, say £6,000,000, Suppose life interest in these 
 Taxes to be purchased. 
 
 Calculation of Lives as follows— /or example 
 
 From 20-30 years old — 14 years' purchase v 
 
 30-40 • 13 do [ at 
 
 40-50 12 do [ 5 P C' 
 
 50-60 I r do ' 
 
 41 50 
 
 12I 
 
 ' See Miss Martineau, • History of the Peace,' Bk. II. ch. i, (Bolin's ed.), 
 vol. i. p. 449. 
 
 ^ For an account of this Agricultural Committee and Ricardo's part in 
 it, see Letters to McCulloch, pp. 130, 131. It had the same Chairman as 
 the previous Committee (Thomas Sherlock Gooch\ and was composed for 
 the most part of the same persons. Tho names are given in Hansard, 
 (N. S.) vol. vi, Feb. 1822, p. 509. Huskisson's name and that of Wodehouse 
 both appear on the list. 
 
184 Letters of Ricardo to Trozver 
 
 and suppose the average 12 years' purchase. The value of the 
 Assessed taxes would then be -£^2,000,000. Suppose this to be 
 applied to the paying off of £^ p. C Stock at par. — It would 
 redeem say £^0,000,000. The annual interest upon this sum 
 is £2,800,000, which would cease ; hut annual Taxes to the 
 amount of £6,000,000 will have ceased; How then is the differ- 
 ence, viz*. £j,200,ooo to be supplied ? This deficiency can be 
 taken out of the £j,ooo,ooo surplus, appropriated to the purchase 
 of the Debt. 
 
 In addition to the original purchase money, received at first, 
 there would be coming in annually, a sum in further reduction 
 of the Debt, arising from persons attaining to manhood, and 
 others newly liable to the assessed Taxes. Thus a constant Fund 
 would be established in aid of the discharge of the debt. 
 
 The Annuities being calculated at the rate oijpC. whilst the 
 Current Interest is £4 pC. would make it worth while for the 
 payers of Assessed Taxes to purchase out the Tax. 
 
 The Principle was adopted in the purchase of the Land Tax, 
 and the recent practice of compounding for Assessed Taxes, for 
 several years certain, seems to evince a disposition to accede to 
 any arrangement that would fix that burthen upon reasonable 
 terms. 
 
 The Assessed Taxes are fixed upon as the only Taxes, upon the 
 regular amount of the payment of which any certainti/ can be 
 ascertained. 
 
 Probably not more than a moiety would be purchased, at first : 
 but if peace should continue, and the rate of interest should 
 diminish, additional purchases would be made. — The value of the 
 Lives purchasing would, of course, be accurately ascertained from 
 the Annuity Tables. The purchase might be made in money, or 
 in 4 p. C. Stock. It is difficult to say what may be the average 
 lives of the larger portion of the payers of Assessed Taxes ; but 
 supposing them to be, generally, between the ages of jo and jo, 
 the average purchase of the life interest would be about 12 years, 
 as it has been stated before in the first page. Supposing, then, 
 the whole amount of the Assessed Taxes purchased at that rate, 
 there would be, during those 12 years, an annual deficiency to 
 supply, out of the .£5,000,000 (set ajiart for the Sinking Fund) 
 arising from the difference between the annual amount of the 
 assessed Taxes redeeme<l, and the annual amount of interest on 
 
Trower's Plan 185 
 
 the Four p. C. Stock redeemed ; but this difference would be 
 annually diminishing, from the growing amount annually receiv- 
 ing from the new payers of Assessed Taxes, who either would 
 redeem their interest in the Tax, or continue its annual payment. 
 In the former case funds would be furnished for the further 
 reduction of the Debt, with the assistance of the unappropriated 
 portion of the £5,000,000; in the latter case these new assessed 
 Taxes would be annually added to amount of Sinking Fund for 
 purchase of Stock. 
 
 A purchase of Taxes upon these conditions appears to hold out 
 sufficient inducement to the payers of these Taxes to redeem them. 
 It would be a relief at the present i^eriod of distress ; in as much 
 as it would diminish the annual expenditure of the purchaser of 
 his Taxes. 
 
 Suppose the annual amount of his Assessed Taxes to be £,jo ; 
 this, at 12 years' purchase, would cost ^600, the interest of which 
 at £4 pC. (the present rate of interest) is £24 — whereas he would 
 be relieved from the payment of an annual sum equal to the 
 interest upon £1,250 (at the same rate of interest) vzt £^"0. It 
 would be a popular measure, in as much as it would be bringing 
 the £5,000,000 Sinking Fund in aid of the present distresses, to 
 the extent of the difference between the annual amount of Assessed 
 Taxes purchased, and the annual interest of the Four pC. Stock 
 redeemed.' 
 
 My dear TrOVVER London 25 March 1822 
 
 I should very much like to accept your kind invi- 
 tation to pass a few days with you during the short 
 vacation of Parliament, but it will not be in my power. 
 I have various engagements which I am bound to fulfil, 
 
 * Franked by himself; the last page is used as the cover, and addressed, 
 ' Hutches Trowir, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godalming,' with date of ' London, 
 March Twenty-four, 1822.' 
 
t86 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 and which will render my absence from London very incon- 
 venient. I very much regret being obliged to deny myself 
 the pleasure which a visit to you would have given me. 
 
 I saw Mr. Mill yesterday and gave him your message. 
 He requested me to say to you that his occupations at the 
 India House will prevent him from being absent during 
 the holidays. It is the period at which the election for 
 Directors takes place, when there are frequent Court days 
 which he is expetsted to attend. He desired to be kindly 
 remembered to you. 
 
 I should be neglecting my duty if with my opinions 
 of the Sinking Fund I did not do every thing in my power 
 to get rid of it. Of what use can it be to diminish the 
 debt in time of peace, if you leave in the hands of ministers 
 a fund which experience sliews will be used only for the 
 purpose of ultimately further increasing the debt % While 
 ministers have this fund virtually at their disposal they 
 will on the slightest occasion be disposed for war. To 
 keep them peaceable you must keep them poor. 
 
 The answer to every proposal for the adoption of good 
 measures in the Agricultural Committee, is that the Agri- 
 culture of the country is in a state of unparall[el]ed 
 distress, and that the Committee was appointed for the 
 purpose of affording it relief. I had no idea of being able 
 to do any good now, in the way of making better laws, 
 but I hoped to lay the foundation of a better system in 
 future. In that hope I shall probably be disappointed, 
 for the regulations which you mention as too restrictive \ 
 are protested against most vehemently by the country 
 gentlemen, who form themselves into a compact body 
 determined to yield no point which has the least sem- 
 blance to diminished protection. We meet today to hear 
 
 ' Probably his ' Resolutions.' See Note to this letter. They certainly 
 Sjhow that Ricardo was not averse to compi'omise. 
 
Resolutions on the Corn Trade 187 
 
 the Report^ read, which was to be prepared by our 
 chairman. 
 
 I was obliged to withdraw my motion for the return 
 of Corn sold in Mark Lane, because I was waited on by 
 the officer to whom the order was directed to say that 
 he had no means of complying with it. I then moved 
 for a return of the corn imported into the Port of London, 
 which has not yet been laid on the table of the House — 
 I will send it to you when it is printed. The return which 
 the officer told me could not be prepared has however been 
 laid before [the] Committee ^, and if I can get a copy I will 
 send it to you. 
 
 I know of no Poor Rate returns made to the House this 
 Session, neither have I seen Mr. Chetwynd's Vagrant Bill-"^. 
 I will enquire for them at the Vote Office this day, and 
 if you do not receive them by the Post, you may conclude 
 that they are not yet in the hands of members. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo unites with me in kind remembrances to 
 
 Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Ever Truly Y" 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 Mr. Chetwynd's bill has been this moment left at my 
 house — I send it by this day's post. 
 
 Note. — Among the Proposed Resolutions for Regulation of the 
 Corn Trade, printed uniformly with the Report of the Select 
 Committee on Agriculture, are Resolutions proposed by Ricardo, 
 and dated 29th April, 1822 (paper 245) (a single sheet). 
 
 ' First Report presented ist April, 1822; Second Report, 20th May. 
 
 ■^ See Appendix to Second Report of Select Committee (1822) on 
 Petitions complaining of the Depressed State of Agriculture, p. 52. The 
 return is dated 25th March. 
 
 3 'A Bill for consolidating into one Act, and amending the Laws 
 relating to Rogues, Vagabonds, Vagrants, and idle and disorderly Persons,' 
 presented in the House of Commons on March 20, 1822. 
 
i88 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 They are : — ' i. That it is expedient to provide that the Foreign 
 Corn now under bond in the United Kingdom, may be taken out 
 for home consumption, whenever the average price of Wheat, 
 ascertained in the usual mode, shall exceed 65/ per quarter, upon 
 the payment of the following duties; viz. 
 
 Wheat 15/ i)er quarter. 
 
 Rye, Pease and Beans . 9/6 per quarter. 
 
 Barley, Bear or Bigg . . 7/6 per quarter. 
 
 Oats 5/ per quarter. 
 
 2. That whenever the average price of Wheat, ascertained in 
 the usual mode, shall exceed 70/ per quarter, the trade in Corn 
 shall thenceforth be permanently free, but subject to the following 
 Duties upon importation ; viz. 
 
 Wheat 20/ per quarter. 
 
 Rye, Pease and Beans . 13/3 per quarter. 
 Barley, Bear or Bigg . .10/ per quarter. 
 Oats 6/8 per quarter. 
 
 3. That at the expiration of one year from the time at which 
 the above duties on Corn imported shall be in operation, they be 
 reduced as follows ; viz. 
 
 On Wheat i / per quarter. 
 
 Rye, Pease and Beans . / 8 per quarter. 
 Barley, Bear or Bigg . /6 per quarter. 
 Oats I \ per quarter. 
 
 4. That a like reduction of duties be made in every subsequent 
 year, until the duty on the importation of 
 
 ^Vlieat be 10/ per quarter. 
 
 Rye, Pease and Beans 6/7 per quarter. 
 Barley, Bear or Bigg . 5/ per quarter. 
 
 Oats 3/4 per quarter. 
 
 At which Rates they shall thenceforth be fixed. 
 
 5. That a drawback or bounty be allowed on the exportation of 
 Corn to Foreign countries, — 
 
 On Wheat 7/ per quarter. 
 
 Rye, Pease and Beans . 4/6 per quarter. 
 
 Barley, Bear or Bigg . . 36 per quarter. 
 
 Oats 2/4 per quarter. 
 
 And that such drawback or bounty, in like manner as the 
 Importation duty, be fixed.' 
 
Relations zmth Huskisson 189 
 
 The substance of these resolutions is given in a Note to the 
 Letters to McCulloch, pp. 130, 131. 
 
 LVIP. 
 
 My Dear TrOWER, London 20 Ma>j 1822. 
 
 I will follow your advice and take care not to 
 expose myself to the resentment of the Farmers when 
 Parliament breaks up. If they knew their own interest 
 well they would feel no resentment against me, because 
 the measures which I have proposed would make their 
 trade a much more secure one than it can be under the 
 operation of the present, or of the amended, law. I believe 
 it will be a good time at the end of the Session to put 
 in execution a project which I have long entertained, of 
 making a short tour with my family on the Continent. 
 I shall probably go as far as Switzerland, and after an 
 absence of a couple of months seek my own retirement 
 in Gloucestershire. My constant attendance in the House, 
 and the little anxiety which the part I have taken on the 
 Corn question naturally has excited makes a little rest and 
 recreation necessary — I think I shall enjoy my journey, 
 and shall improve my health by it. 
 
 Mr. Huskisson and I did not exactly join our forces ; 
 he abandoned his resolutions in the Committee, and I 
 adopted those of them which laid down the correct prin- 
 ciples, and added to them my own practical measure, which 
 I argued was more consonant with his principles than the 
 one which he recommended. Lord Althorp proposed a 
 permanent duty of 20/- on the importation of Wheat, and 
 a permanent drawback of 1 8/- on the exportation of Wheat, 
 which was supported by Brougham. On what principle 
 either the proposer or supporter of such resolutions could 
 
 ' Cover wanting. 
 
igo Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 proceed I know not, nor have either of them ventured to 
 expound it to the House. 
 
 You, have no doubt seen Mr. Turner's Pamphlet^ — he 
 sent it to me with a very kind note, hoping he said that 
 it was written in the fair spirit of criticism. On that score 
 I have nothing to complain of, but he has failed to convince 
 me of a single error in principle in the work which he 
 attacks. Is it not strange that a writer in the present day 
 should say that rent is a cause of high price and not the 
 effect of it 1 
 
 ' The extra rents to the landlord are not the measure 
 of the whole loss sustained by the public in consequence 
 of the Corn law,' says M'Culloch^, and to this doctrine 
 you demur. I apprehend he means to say that the loss 
 to the country is a real one. It must not be supposed that 
 because the landlords get a high price, which is paid b}' 
 the consumer, the whole inconvenience to the country is 
 an improper and unjustifiable transfer of property — it is 
 much more than this, the landlord does not gain what the 
 consumer loses — there is a real diminution of production, 
 and the real loss is to be measured by such diminution 
 of production, without any regard to price or value. 
 
 ^ ' Considerations upon the Agriciilture, Commerce, and Manufactvires 
 of the British Empire, with Observations on the Practical Effect of the 
 Bill of the Eight Hon. Kobert Peel, for the Resumption of Cash Pay- 
 ments by the Bank of England ' ; and also upon the Pamphlet lately 
 published by David Eicardo, Esq., entitled, 'Protection to Agriculture.' 
 By Samuel Turner, Esq., P.R.S. London, 1822. 
 
 ^ The reference is to McCnllocli's article in the Edinbugh Review of 
 February, 1822, on the Eeport of the Committee on Agricultural Distress, 
 pp. 452-482. (For proof of his authorship, see 'Catalogue of Books the 
 Property of a Political Economist' (edition of 1862), and 'Notes and 
 Queries,' 5th Oct., 1878.) McCulloch contends that 'of every ^re millions 
 drawn by them [the Corn Laws] from the j^ockets of the consumers, 
 scarcely one finds its way into tlie pockets of the landlords ! The other 
 fmir are absolutely and totall3' lost to the country' (474^ By forcing 
 recourse to poor soils we increase the value of that portion of the produce 
 required to indemnify the farmer for his expenses, a portion much greater 
 than the landlord's (475) ; Vi^e increase the cost of producing corn (480). 
 
Alone against the Monopolists 191 
 
 I sent you a copy of Mr. Scarlett's bill' — that of 
 Mr. Courtenay is not yet printed ^. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo and I were sorry not to see you on the last 
 evening you were in London, but we acknowledge that 
 your charge was too important to be neglected. 
 
 The South Sea Plan ^ has failed so I need say nothing 
 on that point. We shall see what ministers will do to 
 raise the £2.200,000 p'" ann"^.^ 
 
 I wish you were in the House to give me support in 
 attacking the fallacious arguments for monopolies and 
 restricted trade which are daily brought forward. I do 
 my best, but that is bad enough ;— it is difficult to express 
 oneself in terms sufficiently familiar to be understood by 
 those who either understand nothing on these subjects, 
 or who have imbibed prejudices to which they obstinately 
 adhere. I am a verj^ bad speaker, and am sorry to say 
 I do not improve — I have not one good supporter ; there 
 are some who understand the subject, but they are on the 
 ministerial bench, and dare not always speak as they think. 
 
 Very truly yrs 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 LVIIP. 
 
 My Deae Trowee, 
 
 I am told that nothing has been laid before the 
 H. of Commons in the present Session, respecting the Poor 
 Rates. There is a committee sitting on Poor Rates Returns, 
 but they have not yet made their Report. 
 
 Mr. Mill is acquainted with the Editor of the Chronicle ^ 
 
 1 < To Amend the Laws relating to the Poor of England.' 
 
 " ' A Bill for consolidating and amending the Laws relating to the 
 building, repairing, and regulating of certain Gaols, Bridewells, and 
 Houses of Correction in England ' ; presented in the House of Commons 
 on May 13, 1822. 
 
 ^ A loan from the South Sea House. * Cover wanting. 
 
 = In 181 7 John Black became principal editor, though he had not 
 
192 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 — I have given your letter to him with a view to get it 
 inserted in the above paper ; he will speak to the Editor 
 on the subject, but he has doubts whether so long a letter 
 can be inserted, at the present time, when the Parliamentary 
 proceedings engross so large a portion of the paper. — I have 
 read your letter, and agree with the greatest part of it. 
 I am much flattered by the approbation you express of 
 my plan of bullion payments. You estimate the coin 
 in circulation previous to 1797 higher than I think it 
 really was. The whole amount of circulation, at the 
 present moment, both in London and the country, does not 
 probably much exceed 32 millions, of which there are nearly 
 16 millions of Bank of England notes of 5 pounds and 
 above, 7,500,000 of sovereigns, and nine millions of country 
 Bank notes. If this be true there has been little or no 
 falling off in the amount of Bank of England notes and 
 coin together since 1819, but country Bank notes have 
 diminished to the amount of 7,5oo,ooo£, and if we could 
 get returns it would I think be found to be confined 
 chiefly to the Agricultural districts ; — it is nevertheless a 
 great reduction. 
 
 If paper money displaced 20 millions of notes the whole 
 profit from the interest of 20 millions was not enjoyed by 
 the Bank of England, the country Banks participated in the 
 advantage. — By a return laid before the H. of Commons 
 more than 19 millions of sovereigns have been coined since 
 1817. During the period that the Bank so foolishly issued 
 coin, when it was advantageous to export it, they got rid 
 of 5 millions of sovereigns ; so that if these were all ex- 
 ported more than 14 millions of sovereigns must now be 
 in the country. Besides this quantity of gold it is probable 
 
 entire management of the paper till Perry's death in 1823. (Bain's Life 
 of James Mill, 1882, p. 164.) Perry had been editor for nearly 20 years, 
 and was in a seinse the maker of the Chronicle. See Edinburgh Keview, 
 May, 1823, 'The Periodical Press,' p. 361. 
 
The Amount of the Currency 
 
 193 
 
 the Bank may have a tolerable supply of bullion, and 
 perhaps also some guineas. How badly has this business 
 been managed ! We might safely, even with payments 
 in coin, dispense with 3 millions of gold since we are to 
 maintain the i and 2 £ circulation in the country, — 
 
 On tuesday Mr. Western brings forward his motion 
 respecting Mr. Peel's bill \ I am very much interested in 
 that discussion. 
 
 Mi-s. Ricardo unites with me in begging our kind remem- 
 brances to Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Yrs very truly 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 London 9 June, 1822. 
 
 If your letter is inserted I will send you the paper. 
 
 LIX2. 
 
 Bromesbeerow Place Ledbury 
 
 My Dear Trower, £4 -o^cr. 1822. 
 
 Your letter of the nth July did not reach me till 
 Sunday last, on which day I arrived in Brook Street from 
 Dover. I left London for the Continent very early on the 
 12th July, and proceeded by the Steam Packet from the 
 Tower- Stairs to Calais : this voyage was performed in 
 about 13 or 14 hours. I was accompanied in my tour by 
 Mrs. Ricardo, my two youngest daughters, Miss Lancey 
 (the governess), Mrs. Ricardo's female servant, and a courier. 
 As I could not comply with your request contained in the 
 
 ' It was the occasion of one of Ricardo's longest and most important 
 speeches in Pai'liament; see Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. vii. 
 (N. S.), 938 (June 12, 1822). The speech was reprinted in pamphlet form 
 with the title : ' Mr. Ricardo's Speech on Mr. Western's Motion, for 
 a Committee to consider the Effects produced by the Resumption of Cash 
 Payments, delivered the 12th of June, 1822.' London, 1822. 
 
 * Franked by himself, cover dated, ' Ledbury December Fifteen 1822,' 
 and addressed, ' Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted Wood, Godalming, Surry.' 
 
 
194 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 letter of the nth, mentioned above, to give you an account 
 of the journey I intended to make, I wiD^ now that it is over, 
 lay before you the route we followed. From Calais we 
 went to the principal towns in the Netherlands ; then to 
 Holland, where we visited Rotterdam, The Hague, Amster- 
 dam, Sardam \sic\., Utrecht, &c., &c. From Holland we 
 followed, in an opposite direction, the course of the Rhine, 
 and saw all the beautiful country on the banks of that noble 
 river. We halted for a day or two at Coblentz and Frank- 
 fort. From Frankfort we went to Heidelberg, Carlsruhe, 
 Baden, &c., &c., and entered Switzerland at Bale. From 
 Bale our course was to Schaffhausen, Zurich, Wallenstadt, 
 Zug, Art, Lucerne, Meyringhen, Interlachen, Grindlewald, 
 Lauterbrun, Berne, Lausanne, Geneva, and Chamouny. 
 From Chamouny we returned to Geneva, and from thence 
 went to Mt. St. Bernard, Martigny, Bryg, and then across 
 the Simplon, to Como. From Como we proceeded to Milan, 
 Verona, Venice, Bologna, and Florence. Florence was the 
 extreme point of my tour. We then went to Leghorn, Pisa. 
 Genoa, and Turin. From Turin we crossed Mount Cenis, 
 made the best of our way, through Lyons, to Paris. At 
 Paris I stayed 3 weeks, arrived in London on the 8th of 
 this month, and here on the 12th. I have given you a 
 hasty sketch of the countries through which we have 
 passed and shall only add that we met with scarcely any 
 difficulty worth mentioning ; were all very much pleased 
 with the beauties of nature and of art which we have seen ; 
 and have been uniformly in good health. 
 
 At Geneva I was most hospitably received by my old 
 friend Dumont, who is universally esteemed and respected 
 by his countrymen^^he accompanied us to Chamouny, and 
 was adventurous enough to go up the Montanvert with me 
 and my girls. At Coppet, which is near Geneva, I found 
 the Duke de Broglie, whose acquaintance I had had the 
 pleasure of making last autumn in London. I do not know 
 
Ricardo in Switzerland 195 
 
 whether I ever mentioned him to you — he is married to 
 Madme de Stael's daughter. He and the Baron de Stael, 
 his brother-in-law, paid rather a long visit in England, and 
 employed their time in seeing every thing worthy of notice. 
 They are both clever men, but the Duke is particularly so. 
 Political Economy is his favorite study, and I am happy 
 to say that he is one of the best defenders of those prin- 
 ciples which I think the correct ones I ever met with. 
 I knew this before I went abroad, but at Coppet I had an 
 opportunity of hearing him to great advantage, for on the 
 day that I dined with him there, M. Sismondi, who has 
 published a work on Political Economy, and whose views 
 are quite opposed to mine, was on a visit at the Duke^s 
 house. M. Sismondi advanced his peculiar opinions^ which 
 were combated by the Duke and me — but the difficult part 
 of the contest fell chiefly on the Duke, who defended our 
 common principles so well that it appeared to me Mons"" 
 Sismondi had no chance with him. Mons. S. indeed once 
 or twice confessed he could not answer the points objected 
 to him, but he would never agree that they could not be 
 answered. Mr. Dumont, and Madme de Broglie, sat by as 
 umpires, but they only interfered to see fair play. Madme 
 is a very pleasing lady — she on this occasion, as well as on 
 a subsequent one, for I met them again at Paris, left a very 
 pleasing impression of herself on my mind. 
 
 Notwithstanding my differences with Mons. Sismondi, on 
 the doctrines of Political Economy, I am a great admirer 
 of his talents, and I was very favorably impressed by his 
 manners — I did not expect from Vvdiat 1 had seen of his 
 controversial writings to find him so candid and agreeable. 
 M. Sismondi's \_dc\ takes enlarged views, and is sincerely 
 desirous of establishing principles which he conceives to be 
 most conducive to the happiness of mankind. He holds that 
 the great cause of the misery of the bulk of the people in 
 all countries is the unequal distribution of property, which 
 
196 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 tends to brutalize and degrade the lower classes. The way 
 to elevate man, to prevent him from making inconsiderate 
 marriages, is to give him property and an interest in the 
 general welfare ; — thus far we should pretty well agree, 
 but when he contends that the abundance of production 
 caused by machinery, and by other means, is the cause of 
 the unequal distribution of property, and that the end he 
 has in view cannot be accomplished while this abundant 
 production continues, he, I think, entirely misconceives the 
 subject, and does not succeed in shewing the connection of 
 his premises with his conclusion'. 
 
 At Paris I saw M. Say several times, but never found 
 him much inclined to talk on the points of difference 
 between us. I believe M. Say finds it difficult to converse 
 on these subjects ; his ideas do not flow in a sufficiently 
 rapid course for conversation. Speaking to the Duke de 
 Broglie of M[.] Say he observed that he did not appear to 
 him to have the least notion of the doctrines of the New 
 School,— that his notes in the French translation of my 
 book shewed clearly that he did not know what the subject 
 in dispute was. In France very little is understood al>out 
 Political Economy, altho' they have some good writers on 
 that subject. M. Garnier, the translator of Adam Smith, 
 had completed an additional volume of notes for a new 
 edition of Smith's work when he died. This new edition 
 has just been published, and I had an opportunity while 
 in Paris, of seeing the additional volume, and of reading 
 the lengthened remarks, which he makes on my opinions. 
 M[.] Garnier is in every instance opposed to me when 
 I attack his favorite author, but I am sure that the obser- 
 
 1 Pi-ofessor Bain says ('Life of Mill,' p. 203) : 'In one of Mrs. Grote's 
 letters to which I have had access, dated 14th October [1822], there are 
 a few references to Mill and his friends. [She says: — ] "I i-ead a few 
 days ago an interesting and long letter from Mr. Ricardo to Mr. Mill, 
 a good part of which related to the conversations he had maintained with 
 the great men at Geneva." ' 
 
Notes by the Way 197 
 
 vatioDS of the D[.] de Broglie on M' Say's knowledge of my 
 principles are equally applicable to M. Garnier. M. Say's 
 brother, Louis Say, has written a thick volume of criticism 
 on Adam Smith's, Malthus', his brother's, and my doc- 
 trines ; — he quarrels with all our opinions, but shews pretty 
 evidently that he knows very little about them. M. Ganilh, 
 a deputy, has also made remarks on my work, but I have 
 not seen them— the Duke gave me no encouragement to 
 read them. At Geneva the 1st number of a review has 
 been lately published \ with the names of the writers of 
 the different articles signed to them. There is one article, 
 on two houses being better than one, by M. Rossi — another 
 on law, by Dumont, one on Polit. Econ., by Sismondi, and 
 several others. The Duke de Broglie told me that he had 
 half promised to write an article on my book — if he does, 
 I shall be eager to see it. Besides the gentlemen I have 
 mentioned I met some very clever men, but had too 
 little time to improve my very slight acquaintance with 
 them. 
 
 In all the countries through which I travelled the people 
 appeared to be enjoying ease and plenty. Provisions are 
 everyw[here] uncommonly cheap, and nothing prevents 
 those fine countries from making a most rap[id] progress 
 in wealth and population, but the unsettled state of the 
 governments. Nobody seems to think that the present 
 order of things will continue long on its present footing, 
 which damps all enterprise and speculation that requires 
 a few years to reap the fruits from them. 
 
 ' Possibly the Annales de Legislation et cVficonomie Politique. For 
 a description of the distinguished group assembled at this time at 
 (jeneva, see ' Dictionnaire de I'Economie Politique,' Art. 'Rossi.' 
 
 For notes on the subject of this letter, see Letters to Malthus, pp. 210- 
 214, and to McCulloch, pp. 138 144, where will be found extracts from the 
 ' Letters written by David Ricardo during a Tour on the Continent,' 
 priv. pr. Gloucester, 1891. We may add the reference fp. 8j to travellers 
 smuggling Continental goods into England, He forbids it to his party, 
 and regards it as 'dishonest and immoral.' 
 
ig8 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 M^hen I go to town I will make some inquiry after your 
 papers, I ought to have done so before I left England, but 
 my time was so taken up that I never thought of it. — 
 I wish you had expanded the subject into a pamphlet [;] it 
 is not too late now, and I hope you will undertake it ^ 
 
 We shall I suppose have an active session of Parlia- 
 ment ; — the continued distress of the agricultural class will 
 make the country gentlemen clamorous for some measures 
 to relieve them. They do not see that no relief can be 
 afforded them, but at the expense of the other classes of 
 the community — they must either withhold a part of the 
 dividend of the stockholder, or pay a fewer number of 
 pounds than that which they have contracted to pay, to 
 their mortgagees and other creditors. I do not wonder 
 that a depreciation of the currency is a popular measure 
 with landed gentlemen [,] for it at once enables them to 
 >jttect those two darling objects. Many of them conscien- 
 tiously believe that there would be no injustice in it, and 
 here I am at issue with them. In this county they are 
 very favorable to an income tax, because, they say, it 
 would reach the Stockholders, as if the stockholder was 
 now exempted from his just share of the taxes. They talk 
 of calling a county meeting at Hereford, where some such 
 measure is to be recommended as a fit object for a petition 
 to Parliament — if I am here I shall attend it, and shall be 
 induced perhaps to try to prove the insufficiency of the 
 proposed remedy ^. 
 
 I have not yet read O'Meara's book ^ — I do not wonder 
 at its having been read with great interest. 
 
 ^ Whether the matter was Currency or Poor Relief we have no means 
 of discovering. See preceding letter. 
 
 '^ See following letter. 
 
 ^ ' Napoleon in Exile, or a Voice from St. Helena : the Opinions and 
 Reflections of Napoleon on the most Important Events of his Life and 
 (:^ovornment, in his own words.' By Barry Edwards O'Meara. z vols. 
 London, 1822. The author was confidential medical attendant of 
 Napoleon at St. Helena. 
 
At odds zmtJi the Reformers 199 
 
 I hope Mrs. Trower and your family are well, pray make 
 Mrs. Ricardo's kind regards to her. 
 
 Ever My dear Trower, 
 
 Yrs truly 
 
 David Ricakdo. 
 
 Wedcomb House Bath 
 
 My Dear Trower 30 -Jany 1823 
 
 Before Parliament meets it will be wise in me to 
 discharge my debt to you, and to assure you that I felt 
 great gratification at the receipt of your letter. It was 
 very kind of you to write to me so soon after the receipt 
 of mine. I was very desirous of hearing from you, and am 
 glad to find that you are well, and as usual in the road of 
 improvement, storing your mind with useful knowledge. 
 
 In my last I told you I intended to go to the Hereford 
 meeting, but I could not be at it on account of the late 
 period to which it was postponed. Cobbett as usual asserted 
 falsehoods respecting my opinions ; and the landed gen- 
 tlemen being strongly inclined to confiscate a part of the 
 property of the fundholder sought to cover their project 
 with a shew of justice^ — they of course will magnify the 
 effects of Mr. Peel's bill, and will admit no other cause for 
 their distress but the augmented value of the currency. 
 I am rather singularly circumstanced — agreeing as I do 
 with the reformers, on the subject of parliamentary reform, 
 I can not agree with them that taxation and bad govern- 
 ment has been the cause of our present difficulties : I believe 
 that under the best possible government, and without taxes, 
 we might have been involved in similar troubles. Still 
 less can I support the doctrines of the new converts to 
 
 ^ Franked by himself; cover addressed, 'Hutches Trower, Esq., Unsted 
 Wood, Godalming,' and dated, 'Bath, January 30, 1823.' 
 - See Note following this letter. 
 
200 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 reform, who attribute our distress to every cause but the 
 right one, and who not being governed by principle will 
 quit the cause of reform the moment that the times mend. 
 I on the contrary am a reformer on principle, and whether 
 we get rid of our difficulties or continue to struggle under 
 them shall advocate a reform of the house of commons, 
 because I think it would very materially contribute to 
 good government and to the happiness of the people. I am 
 sorry that you do not agree with me on this subject, — the 
 objection you make, that reformers are not agreed in what 
 they want, is not I think a weighty one, — all real reformers 
 are agreed on the principle : they want a house of com- 
 mons which shall speak the sentiments of the people, and 
 are willing to agree to any details which shall not interfere 
 with that important principle. Lord Folkestone ^ has be- 
 come a staunch reformer, and more nearly agrees with the 
 views which I think correct than any man in the H. of 
 Commons, Burdett and Hobhouse not excepted. You will 
 soon have an opportunity of giving your opinion on this 
 interesting question at the County meeting of Surry — I 
 hope you will speak there — I know beforehand that I shall 
 applaud every thing you shall say on Agricultural distress, 
 but I shall condemn your opinions on Reform. Strange 
 that you should like a House of Commons which represents 
 only the interests of a very small fraction of the people ! 
 
 Thinking as you do that much service would be done to 
 the science of Political Economy by an examination at 
 some length of the different systems advocated by Malthus 
 and me, why do you not undertake it ? I cannot help 
 thinking that you have already prepared the materials for 
 such a work, because you have given a great deal of con- 
 
 ' Afterwards Earl Radnor. Folkestone had joined Brougham and 
 the rest in vigorous opposition to the Income Tax in 1816, spoken on the 
 Radical side in the debates on Oliver the Spy in 1818, and opposed the 
 grant to the Earl of Kent in the same year. 
 
War in Europe 201 
 
 Bideration to the subject and are in the habit of making 
 notes and remarks on every book which greatly interests 
 you ^. You ought to let us have such a work from your pen. 
 Without half the pretensions which you have to offer, 
 I boldly ventured, and as I have had no reason to repent 
 it, why are you not encouraged to follow my example 1 
 
 The die appears to be cast and war will immediately 
 commence in Europe. One would have thought it impos- 
 sible that France would have exposed herself to so much 
 risk, as a war with Spain, against principles of freedom, 
 must involve her in. I hope her defeat will follow, and that 
 the consequences of this rash step may be the establishing 
 of real representative Governments all over Europe. I wish 
 to approve of the conduct of our ministers, and as far as it 
 is yet known it appears to have been firm and judicious. I 
 liope we shall keep out of the contest, but it will be a diffi- 
 cult task to do so if the war should be of long duration. 
 
 You have I conclude read the pamphlet ^ in defence of 
 Government. Many of the points are well put, but how 
 miserably the question of the Sinking fund is handled. 
 A tolerably good case may be made out in favor of the 
 Sinking fund, but the author of this pamphlet has taken 
 up untenable ground, and is constantly contradicting him- 
 self, and exposing his ignorance. What sort of a Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer will Robinson make? He is a 
 good tempered man, a tolerable political economist, and 
 well inclined to liberal principles of trade^ but he is a very 
 timid man. He will not, I fear, dare to act on enlarged 
 views of policy, but will like his predecessors be always 
 for conciliating particular interests. I did not like what 
 he and Lord Liverpool said lately at a dinner in the city 
 
 ^ Trower's MSS. bear out this statement. 
 
 " Probably the anonymous ' State of the Nation at the Commencement 
 of the year 1822, considered under the four deimrtments of the Finance, 
 Foreign Relations, Home Department, Colonies and Board of Trade,' &c. 
 Hatchard, London, 1822 ; see esp. pp. 24-26. 
 
202 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 given by the Shipping interest— I am sure they did not 
 speak their real sentiments. I am surprised that Hus- 
 kisson was not appointed to the office of Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, every body expected that he would be 
 Van's successor^. 
 
 There has been a talk, I believe nothing more, amongst 
 ministers about restoring the two standards, but I am 
 assured all thoughts of it are relinquished. — Lord Liverpool 
 is very decidedly against it. I am sorry to hear that 
 Huskisson is not much disinclined to it. I have lately 
 seen a letter from Lord Grenville on this subject to one of 
 his friends, in which he expresses himself strongly and ably 
 in favor of the single standard. His Lordship's opinions 
 on the subject of the currency appear to me to be very 
 sound. Lord Lansdowne I have been informed is inclined 
 to the two standards — Baring I suspect is the ringleader 
 in this conspiracy. 
 
 I leave Bath on Saturday next — I hope I shall soon see 
 you in London. 
 
 Pray give Mrs. Ricardo's and my kind remembrances to 
 Mrs. Trower and believe me My dear Trower 
 
 Yrs truly 
 
 David Ricarho. 
 
 Note. — On January 17, 1823 a meeting attended by some five 
 thousand persons was held at Hereford ' for the purpose of taking 
 into consideration the propriety of representing to both Houses of 
 Parliament, the unparalleled and daily increasing distress of the 
 agricultural interest of the country, and the several causes thereof; 
 of petitioning them to adopt such measures as they in their 
 wisdom may deem best calculated for its relief — and of expressing 
 to them our api)rehensions of the awful consequences of further 
 delay in affording aid in difficulties so overwhelming.' 
 
 ('obliett made one of the early speeches, in the course of Avhich 
 
 ' Huskisson was soon after appointed President of the Board of Trade 
 and Treasurer of the Navy. Within tlie same year a vacancy was made in 
 the; Board of Trade, to wliich he was immediately called. See ' Biographical 
 Memoir,' prefixed to 'Sjjeeches' (London, 1831), p. 87. 
 
County Meeting at Hereford 203 
 
 he said ' It was Mr. Ricardo Avho had persuaded the ministers 
 that the landlords and tenants were doing so well — it was he who 
 repeated the old Scotch doctrine of Adam Smith, that all taxes 
 fell on the consumer ; this doctrine might be very well as applied 
 in seyeral instances to persons in trade, but not so to real property. 
 The error was in laying down the proposition at all in an 
 extensive way, for it nowhere universally applied. This he could 
 illustrate in the simplest manner. Suppose a maker of candles — 
 the duty upon them at first is dd. per pound, but afterwards 
 the Government laid on is. — will the consumer pay -this ? Yes 
 so far as he buys ; but will he buy the same quantity ? No, he 
 won't ; and what is the result ? that the chandler to get rid of his 
 stock must induce a sale, by reducing the price partially, and 
 selling some beneath the cost. So it was with the landlords 
 and farmers. If all went on smooth with the landlord and 
 tenant, then the consumer undoubtedly paid the taxes ; but if, as 
 was the fact, the case was the reverse, then who paid them ? — 
 not the consumer, but the farmer and landlord in the depreciation 
 of their share of the prices. Out of the gross error that the 
 consumer paid the taxes, arose the whole evil. Ministers, pro- 
 ceeding on this false foundation, were resolved not to alter the 
 currency — not to make bank-notes a legal tender ; but they had, 
 without any premeditated intention, driven the former to the 
 brink of ruin, and the time of resistance must come, if they pressed 
 matters to extremities.' 
 
 The general tenor of the meeting was hostile to Cobbett and his 
 l^roposals, but a subsequent speaker (Rev. Mr. Smithies) said : 
 ■ He agreed that much of the existing evil might be traced to the 
 calculating economy of Mr. Ricardo, and the cold-blooded sophistry 
 of Mr. Peregrine Courtenay ; and also that, in its consequences, 
 an adherence to the system would transfer their estates to the Jew- 
 jobbers of Change-alley.' 
 
 The Petition finally adopted attributed existing distress to 
 extravagant and corrupt expenditures, debased paper currency 
 and transition to metallic payments at the old standard without 
 regard to contracts made in the interval, and prayed that an 
 investigation be instituted as to variations in currency with 
 reference to the adjustment of debts, etc., desiring greater economy 
 in expenditure, revision of Civil List, etc., etc. 
 
 See The Times (London) of January 20, 1823. 
 
204 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 LXI \ 
 [To Isaac Lyon Gold sm id.] 
 
 Upper Brook Street, 
 
 My dear Sir, aiwu 4, 1823. 
 
 The approbation which you express of the senti- 
 ments I endeavoured to deliver in the House a few evenings 
 ago ^, in favor of religious liberty, gives me great satisfac- 
 tion. It appears to me a disgrace to the age we live in, 
 that many of the inhabitants of this country are still 
 suffering under disabilities, imposed on them in less en- 
 lightened times. The Jews have most reason to complain, 
 for they are frequently reproached with following callings 
 which are the natural effects of the political degradation 
 in which they are kept. I cannot help thinking that the 
 time is approaching when these ill-founded prejudices 
 against men on account of their religious opinions will 
 disappear, and I should be happy if I could be an humble 
 instrument in accelerating their fall. 
 
 I carry my principles of toleration very far. I do not 
 know how, or why, any line should be drawn, and I am 
 prepared to maintain that we have no more justifiable 
 ground for shutting the mouth of the atheist than that of 
 any other man. I am sure it will be shut, for no man 
 will persevere in avowing opinions which bring on him the 
 hatred and ill-will of a great majority of his fellow men. 
 
 With best wishes, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 ' Memoir of Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid (1879), p. 91. Sir Isaac 
 Goldsmid ' was meditating the question of emancipating the Jews from 
 their disabilities as early as the year 1823.' A letter of Ricardo to 
 Geo. Grote, dated ' March, 1823 ' (.Personal Life of G. Grote, pp. 42, 43), 
 tlianks Grote for a similar commendation to Goldsmid's. 
 
 * Probal)]y on March 26, 1823, in the debate on Mary Ann Carlile's 
 petition for release, Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, vol. viii. (N. S.) 722. 
 
Life in London 205 
 
 LXII '. 
 
 Gatcomb Park 
 
 My Dear Trower 24 juiy 1823 
 
 The latter part of my residence in London was so 
 taken up by parliamentary business that I had not really 
 time to write to you. Besides the regular attendance 
 which I always give to the House I was obliged to be 
 every day on some committee, which, altogether, entirely 
 occupied my time ; but now that I am once more settled 
 in my peaceable retreat in the country, I remember my 
 debt to you, and hasten to discharge it. 
 
 I regret that I did not see you oftener in London during 
 my six months['] campaign, particularly as you give me no 
 hope of a visit here. I know you are usefully employed 
 as a country gentleman ;— equitably settling differences 
 between 3'our poorer neighbours, and arresting as far as 
 you can the diffusion of erroneous principles amongst your 
 richer ones, yet I would wish to see you more in Londou, 
 for that is the place in which we meet a succession of 
 clever men in all branches of knowledge, and in which we 
 gain instruction by the active opposition which all our 
 speculations whether right or wrong encounter. If you 
 had been there lately you would have met Mr. MCulloch 
 of Edinburgh, the writer of many able articles in the 
 Edinburgh Review, and in the Encyclopedia, on Political 
 Economy ^. Mr. MCulloch is an agreeable, well-informed 
 man, a sincere lover and seeker of truth, and I think you 
 would have been pleased with him. He had a great deal of 
 
 ' Franked by himself. The last sheet is used as the cover ; addressed, 
 ' Hutches Trower, Esq^, Unsted Wood, Godalming,' and dated, ' Min- 
 chinhampton July Twenty four 1823.' 
 
 This letter is misplaced in the collection at University College, where 
 Letter LXIII comes before it. Letter LXIII was written aft&- and 
 Letter LXII written hefore receipt of a letter from Trower. 
 
 ^ It was in the course of this visit of McCulloch to London, and later to 
 Gatcomb Park, that he first actually met with Ricardo. The two had 
 been in correspondence for some years before. 
 
2o6 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 discussion with Blake but did not succeed in weaning him 
 from his newly published opinions ^. With Malthus, as 
 you know, he greatly differs, and their conferences have not 
 been attended with the effect of reconciling them to each 
 other's views. He attended the last meeting of our Political 
 Economy Club and the result of our discussions on that day 
 convinced him, as we all had been long before convinced, 
 that the progress of the science is very much impeded by 
 the contrary ideas which men attach to the word value ^. 
 When Malthus speaks of the rise or fall in the value of 
 a commodity he is estimating it in the particular measure 
 of value which he himself recommends ^ ; MCuUoch, Mill 
 and I are thinking of quite a different measure. Torrens 
 and Warburton again have their particular view of a proper 
 measure ; and therefore until we can agree as to some 
 common measure by which to estimate the variations in 
 the value of the commodities of which we speak, altho' it 
 be not, as it appears impossible any can be, an accurate 
 measure of value, we cannot understand each other. To 
 this task several good understandings are I hope at this 
 time devoted, for all appear to acknowledge the necessity 
 of adopting some general measure. I know MCuUoch's 
 attention is turned to the subject and I expect much from 
 his accuracy and precision. — Malthus is I know quite full 
 of the subject but then his views run in a particular direc- 
 tion from which nothing can make him swerve. — As for 
 myself I mean also to turn my thoughts to the subject, 
 
 1 ' Observations on the Effects produced by the Expenditure of Govern- 
 ment during the Restriction of Cash Payments.' By William Bhike, Esq.. 
 F.R.S. 8vo. London, 1823. 
 
 ^ Tlie meeting occurred on June 2, 1823, with Mr. Basevi in the chair. 
 One of the four questions discussed was the query, propounded by 
 N. W. Senior, 'Can there be an increase of Riches without an increase 
 of Value?' See 'Minutes of Proceedings' of Political Economy Club, 
 vol. iv. (London, 1882). 
 
 ^ Malthus' tract on the 'Measure of Value' had ajipeared in the Spring 
 of this year, 1823. As to Warburton, see Letters to Malthus, p. 96, note. 
 
Irish Landlords 
 
 '20'-] 
 
 but I fear I cannot arrive at any sounder conclusions tlian 
 the acknowledgedly imperfect ones which I have ah-eady 
 published. 
 
 In one of the Committees, which I have lately attended, 
 we were directed by the House to inquire into the cause 
 of the want of employment of the poor in Ireland, and 
 into the best means of remedying the evil which all agree 
 exists ^. It is a favorite plan, with many, for Govern- 
 ment to lend capital to Ireland, in order that the people 
 may be employed. Against such a scheme I have the 
 most decided objections, which I never fail to urge. If 
 the greater part of the L'ish members could have their 
 way, we should not only grant a vast number of charitable 
 loans but we should encourage all sorts of manufactures 
 by bounties and premiums. Amongst other schemes we 
 have listened with great attention to Mr. Owen, who 
 assures us that if we give him 8 millions of money he will 
 make Ireland now and for ever happy. The Irish appear 
 to me to differ from the rest of the inhabitants of the 
 United Kingdom, and not to take a commonly enlightened 
 view of their own interest. They have no idea of waiting 
 patiently for the profitable result of a well considered 
 speculation. An English landlord knows that it is not his 
 interest to make his tenant a beggar by exacting the very 
 hardest terms from him if he had the power of dictating 
 the rent, not so the L"ish landlords — they not only do not 
 see the benefits which would result to themselves from 
 encouraging a spirit of industry and accumulation in their 
 
 ^ A select Committee was appointed on June 20, 1823, 'to inquire into 
 the condition of the labouring poor in that part of the United Kingdom 
 called Ireland, with a view to facilitate the application of the funds of 
 private individuals and associations for their employment in useful and 
 productive labour ; and to report their observations and opinion thereon 
 to the House.' Eicardo was added to the Committee some days after 
 its original appointment. The Keport and Minutes of Evidence were 
 presented to the House and ordered to be printed on July 16, 1823. 
 
2o8 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 tenants, but appear to consider the people as beings of 
 a different race who are habituated to all species of oppres- 
 sion — they will for the sake of a little present rent, divide 
 and sub-divide their farms till they receive from each 
 tenant the merest trifle of rent, altho' the aggregate is 
 considerable. They consider as nothing the severe ^ means 
 to which they are obliged to resort to collect these rents, 
 nor to the individual suffering which it occasions. L'eland 
 is an oppressed country — not oppressed by England, but 
 by the aristocracy which rules with a rod of Iron within 
 it ; England could redress many of her wrongs, but stands 
 itself in awe of the faction which governs. 
 
 What say you to Agriculture and its prospects 1 Is the 
 distress over ? Shall we have a short crop ? If we have, 
 will the ports be opened ? If the ports be opened how will 
 the future prospects of landlords and tenants be affected 
 by it 1 These are interesting topics. You have no doubt 
 seen Tooke's publications - — they are I think very clever. 
 What is your opinion of that theory of his on which he 
 lays so much stress : the continuance, for a succession of 
 years, alternately, of good and bad seasons. Out of twenty 
 successive years he contends you will frequently find only 
 2 or 3 good crops, and then perhaps for the same number 
 of years only 2 or 3 bad ones. He makes the scientific 
 part of the subject very difficult, for he will not allow you 
 to reason with a view to practice from an observation of 
 the produce for 10 years ; according to him you must 
 look to the a[vera]ge result of a period of from 30 to 50 
 years. 
 
 The country about me is looking beautiful, but it is 
 n[ot] possible to enjoy it amidst the incessant rain which 
 at present prevails ; a great quantity of bay will be spoiled, 
 
 ' He Avrote first ' painful.' 
 
 ' ' Thoughts and Details on the High and Low Prices of the last Thirty 
 Years.' 4 pts. London, 1823. 
 
Progress in Parliament 209 
 
 Will the war in Spain soon be at an end to be renewed 
 at some future opportunity by the friends of liberty there, 
 with greater effect, or will they yet offer so much resis- 
 tance to the French, as to prolong the contest, and have 
 a chance of ultimately prevailing over their formidable 
 enemy? I fear their case is for the present hopeless, but 
 I trust might will not long continue to subdue right. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo unites with me in kind remembrances to 
 
 Mrs. Trower, _, ^^ 
 
 Lver Yours 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
 LXIII \ 
 
 My Dear Trower 24*" July 1823 
 
 Just as I was about sending my letter to the Post 
 yours of the 20th. was delivered to me, it came with 
 a weekly dispatch and parcel by the coach from my house 
 in London. I am glad that I wrote before I received it, as 
 you will see I had you in my recollection. 
 
 You have answered some of my questions respecting the 
 approaching crop — I quite agree with you that a price 
 neither too high nor too low is what we now want, but can 
 we long have it with the present corn law ? I think not, 
 and must use my best efforts to get it amended. 
 
 We are deserving of some of the praise you bestow on us 
 for a more liberal spirit than heretofore in Parliament. We 
 shall I hope go on from Session to Session getting rid of 
 some of the absurd regulations which fetter commerce till 
 all shackles are removed. Huskisson behaved very well 
 after I left London in refusing to have anything to do with 
 the Lords' amended bill respecting the magistrates ['] inter- 
 ference with wages in Spitalfields — the bill was quite 
 spoiled, there was nothing left in it worth retaining^. 
 
 1 Probably enclosed in No. LXII. 
 
 ' See Mr. Cannan, 'Ricardo in Parliament,' Economic Journal, 1894, 
 pp. 411, 412, and Letters to Malthus, Introd. p. xi. 
 
 r 
 
210 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 You ask me what I think of Malthus['] ' measure of 
 value ^ '[.] I have in some degree answered your question 
 in my letter, for I have told you that a good measure of 
 value is among the things of which we know little. 
 Malthus's is objectionable because his measure is not 
 invariable which a measure of value should be. 
 
 Suppose an epidemic disorder were to carry off one-fourth 
 of our people[;J labour would rise as compared with all 
 commodities — Malthus would call this a fall in the value 
 of commodities, whereas nothing would have altered except 
 the supply of labour. Malthus objects to my measure of 
 value, and justly, because it is not itself produced under the 
 very same circumstances as the commodities whose value 
 it is to measure. ' Your money ' he says ' is produced 
 with certain [pro-]portions of fixed and circulating capital, 
 and with it you would measure the variations of com- 
 modities produced with other and very different proportions 
 of fixed and circulating capital.' Does he not fall into the 
 same error ? — his money is produced with labour alone and 
 he makes it a measure of the value of commodities pro- 
 duced under all the varieties of mixed proportions of capital 
 and labour. In a country where the people feed on rice or 
 potatoes a great deal of labour may be commanded with 
 a small proportion of the whole produce of labour ; instead 
 of saying as the fact would appear to be that labour was 
 cheap in those countries and dear in England we should be 
 bound to say commodities were dear in those countries and 
 cheap in England although their money price was the same. 
 Surely this cannot be right. 
 
 Ever Yrs 
 
 DR 
 
 1 ' 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. 
 
An Invitation 211 
 
 LXIV \ 
 
 Gatcomb Park 
 
 My Dear Trowee 31 -^wg. 1823 
 
 To make up for my former omissions I lose no time 
 in replying to your last kind letter, and I am the more 
 induced to do so from a hope I entertain that you may not 
 find it inconvenient to pay me a visit here in Gloucester- 
 shire. You say in your letter that you feel a great desire 
 to become acquainted with my residence^ and to take a peep 
 at the beautiful country that surrounds me. Let me ask 
 you then what hinders you from doing so ? Travelling is 
 now so easy all over England that it is no undertaking to 
 go from your house to mine, and I beg seriously to call 
 upon you to do it. I have some temptation too to offer 
 you. I know you are pleased with Mill's company, and 
 although you do not quite agree in opinion with him I am 
 certain that you derive both pleasure and instruction from 
 his conversation. Mill is coming to me in the middle of 
 the next month (September), and you cannot do better 
 than come at the same time — we shall all enjoy ourselves 
 together — we shall walk and ride, we will converse on 
 politics, on Political Economy, and on Moral Philosophy, 
 and neither of us will be the worse for the exercise of our 
 colloquial powers. I entreat you to take this matter into 
 your serious consideration, and to assure Mrs. Trower that 
 we will take great care of you if she will join us in promoting 
 this little scheme. 
 
 Several letters have passed between Malthus and me on 
 the subject of value, and one or two between MCulloch and 
 me'-^. We none of us exactly agree. MCulloch says he is 
 
 ' Franked by liimself. Tlie last sheet of the letter is used as the cover ; 
 addressed, 'Hutches Trower, Esq''. Unsted Wood Godalming' and dated, 
 ' Minchinhampton August Thirty-one 1823.' 
 
 ■■^ See Letters to Malthus, pp. 214-240 ; Letters to McCulloch, pp. 154- 
 179, where a letter of Malthus to Ricardo is given, pp. 161-167. 
 
 P 3 
 
212 Letters of Ricardo to Trower 
 
 not in search of a measure of value, his only object is to 
 know what it is which regulates the relative value of com- 
 modities one to another, and that, he insists, is the quantity 
 of labour necessary to produce them. But MCulloch uses 
 the word labour in a sense somewhat different to Political 
 Economists in general^ and he does not appear to me to 
 see that if we were in possession of the knowledge of the 
 lavi^ which regulates the exchangeable value of commodities, 
 we should be only one step from the discovery of a measure 
 of absolute value. 
 
 Malthus avows that he is in search of a measure of 
 absolute valuCj he does more, he contends that he has found 
 it, and that it is the value of daily labour which is the only 
 permanent and unalterable measure of value. The reasons 
 indeed by which he supports this opinion are far from 
 satisfactory to me[;] they seem so little convincing that 
 I am sure h[e] has not aided us in the search for this 
 important measure. I will mention only one contradiction 
 as it seems to me of his[.] He says that my measure 
 would be a perfect one if all commodities were produced 
 under the same circumstances as my proposed measure, 
 and that it is a perfect one for commodities so produced. 
 Should not then my measure be as applicable to this 
 description of commodities as his? and should not the 
 commodities so particularised vary equally in his measure 
 as in mine ? they do not, therefore either my measure or his 
 is not a correct one, or equally good measures will give 
 different results. 
 
 The rain has given us a little respite here for two or 
 three days, and we live in hopes that we shall be able to 
 house the harvest from our fields. — The crop is said to be 
 a good one. It is quite wonderful to me that corn has 
 continued at so steady a price with the prospect which we 
 have lately had. Can any thing more strongly prove that 
 the supply in the country must have been very abundant 
 
Ti 'ee-pla n ting 2 1 3 
 
 than that corn should have risen no higher with so dismal 
 a prospect as has lately been p[resen]ted to us. Your 
 maxim of ' whatever is, is right ' [is in other] words 
 [sayi]ng that what is inevitable must be patiently borne. 
 
 The preservation of the peace of Europe is a grand object, 
 yet I cannot help regretting that the Spanish cause has 
 not been better supported by the Spaniards themselves. 
 If the French had been driven out of Spain, I do not see 
 why the peace of Europe wd have been disturbed. Other 
 powers might indeed have joined in the attack, and the war 
 would have probably ended as soon as the contest between 
 liberty and despotism had been decided. I fear that 
 Despotism will reign triumphantly for a time in con- 
 sequence of the result of the present contest. I have sold 
 my Spanish stock, I got for it rather a better price than 
 that at which I purchased it. 
 
 I suppose that you continue to plant and improve at 
 Unsted Wood and that you are now seeing in full beauty 
 the effects of your former efforts in the same line. I forget 
 whether your land is of a very good description, its being 
 so or not makes a great difference in the progress of trees. 
 I am living in a country where the soil is very poor. 
 Beech flourishes with us, and larch and fir get on very 
 well. I scarcely saw the place last year and therefore see 
 the improvement of my small plantations more marked now 
 than at any former period. As for improvements I attempt 
 very few and am very much disposed to be satisfied with 
 things as they are — Mrs. Ricardo on the contrary, would 
 always like to have a dozen men active in her employ- 
 ment for tlie mere purpose of altering and improving. 
 
 Mrs. Ricardo and my family join with me in kind 
 remembrances [to] Mrs. Trower. 
 
 Ever, My Dear Trower, 
 
 Truly yrs 
 
 David Ricardo. 
 
214 Letters of Ricardo to T rower 
 
 Lxv^ 
 
 Gatcomb Park 
 
 My Dear Sir, 6 sc-ptr 1823 
 
 I am grieved to tell you that Mr. Ricardo is at this 
 moment confined to his bed by an Illness originating from 
 [a] cold in the ear. The Ladies have been in constant 
 attendance at his bedside for the last 2 days [;] it has 
 therefore devolved on me to write to you. 
 
 There is at present every appearance that a day or two 
 will restore our Friend to health and that he will be able 
 to enjoy your society on the 30th Inst, when he hopes to 
 have the pleasure of seeing you here. 
 
 Should he contrary to all our expectations have a relapse 
 you shall hear again [;] the information I have been able 
 to obtain about the stage coaches is that there is one daily 
 to Stroud (5 miles from h[ere]) and one 3 times a week 
 to Minchin Hampton (one mile from h[ere]), the latter 
 travels by night. ^ 
 
 My Dear Sir 
 
 Yours very truly 
 
 Anthy Austin 2. 
 
 LXVI \ 
 My Dear Sir 
 
 to correspond with you, one of my earliest friends, 
 
 would be a pleasing occupation if the nature of the com- 
 
 ^ This and the following letter, from the pen of Anthony Austin, a 
 son-in-law of Ricardo, are included in the University College collection 
 of Ricardo's letters to Trower. For similar details of Ricardo's unexpected 
 death, see Letters to McCulloch, pp. 179-182, and to Malthus, p. 240, also 
 Life of James Mill, p. 209. 
 
 ' Cover addressed, ' H. Trower, Esq^^ Unsted Wood Godalming.' 
 * Addressed on back : — 
 
 H. Trower Esq»» 
 
 Unsted Wood 
 
 near Godalming 
 altered into J. H. Slater Esq"" 
 
 Newick Park 
 
 Uckfield 
 
Death of Ricardo 215 
 
 munication I am unfortunately called upon to make had 
 not converted it into a painful task, one which I should 
 most unwilling have undertaken if any one of the Gatcomb 
 family had been capable of performing it but the most 
 unexpected death of our much esteemed, (I may say 
 universally esteemed) friend Mr. D. Ricardo has been 
 too great a shock to be easily overcome. You will I dare 
 say be anxious to hear the cause of this misfortune, I will 
 therefore just state the outline of the case, the cold in 
 the ear produced a gathering attended with the most acute 
 pain and so great a degree of consequent inflammation that 
 the bone was injured and the injury communicated to the 
 brain and caused a formation of matter there. 
 
 It is some satisfaction to know that everything which 
 the very best medical and surgical skill, and the most 
 unremitted and affectionate attention could do was done 
 to alleviate his sufie rings and preserve his life, a life valu- 
 able not only to his own family and relations but to his 
 country also. I will not attempt to describe to you the 
 feelings of those who witnessed the event, you may con- 
 ceive and I doubt not will sympathise with them. I am, 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 Yours most truly, 
 
 Anthy Austin. 
 Bradley 
 
 near Wottonunderedge, Septr. 12, 1823 
 
 this melancholy event happened yesterday at about 
 noon, and I returned home with Mrs. Austin in the 
 evening. I am in hopes that Mrs. A.'s bodily health has 
 not sufiered very materially from her constant attendance 
 on her Poor Father, to time we must leave the cure of 
 her mental sufferings. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Only two documents in Ricardo's handwriting, besides 
 the Letters, have been found in the Trower Manuscripts. 
 We have printed them as they were founds side by side with 
 Trower 's contributions to the discussion. 
 
 The first (A (2)) ^ needs a few words of explanation. 
 
 The Bullion Committee submitted its Report and it was 
 ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 8th June 
 1810. At the end of that year Mr Coutts Trotter published 
 a pamphlet entitled : ' The Principles of Currency and 
 Exchanges applied to the Report from the Select Committee 
 of the House of Commons appointed to inquire into the 
 High Price of Gold Bullion &c. &c.' London (Cadell & 
 Davies) 18 10. They had reported 'That there is at present 
 an excess in the paper circulation of this country, of which 
 the most unequivocal symptom is the very high price of 
 bullion, and next to that the low price of continental 
 exchanges. That this excess is to be ascribed to the want 
 of a sufficient check and control in the issues of paper from 
 the Bank of England, and originally to the suspension of 
 cash-payments which removed the natural and true control ' 
 (Report, p. 73). Mr. Coutts Trotter denies both statements ; 
 the paper, he says, is not in excess, and there exists a suf- 
 ficient check and control over its issues. In his concluding 
 chapter (p. 69) he says : ' In the present actual state of our 
 foreign exchanges, when a given quantity of gold pays a 
 larger portion of a debt on the Continent than any other 
 
 ' Part of it was printed in the Economic Journal, March, 1896, p. 64. 
 
2i8 Appendix 
 
 article in this country of equal value, — a judicious merchant, 
 in examining his stores, would determine to export his stock 
 of the precious metals, and, after benefiting by the present 
 certain increased prices, he would trust to a change of 
 times for an opportunity of replacing it, when the tide of 
 exchanges (as sooner or later it will do) sets in the contrary 
 way, and when gold and silver again drop to the Mint price.' 
 
 In the paper now printed (A {%) ), Ricardo begins with 
 a criticism of this passage of Trotter and with the comments 
 of Trower upon it. He then deals (p. 224 seq.) with certain 
 other arguments of Trower expressed in the paper (A (i)) 
 which consists of two half sheets (4to) closely written on 
 both sides, and without heading or date. It may have 
 been a purely private communication, made in the days 
 when the acquaintanceship of the two men was slight, 
 and formality was even more regarded than it was after- 
 wards. Trotter's book was published after the Report of 
 the Bullion Committee ; therefore the first half of the 
 document (A (2) ) falls into the middle of 1810, while the 
 second half may be some months earlier. Trower published 
 his views on Silver as the Standard, in the 2nd of his two 
 Letters to the Morning Chronicle, 14th Sept. and 30th Oct., 
 1809, signed 'A Friend to Bank Notes but no Bank Director,' 
 and Ricardo answered him in the Chronicle of Nov. 23rd, 
 1809, incorporating his answer in his well-known pamphlet 
 at the beginning of i8io\ 
 
 In any case the MSS. show that Trower's paper (A (i)) 
 was a ' 3rd letter,-* and that he set about a 4th. These 
 were the days of slow travelling and long letters. We 
 have only a fragment of the friendly debate before us. 
 
 The second paper (B) is complete in itself. It consists of 
 a single half- sheet (4to), the obverse in Ricardo's unmistake- 
 able clear handwriting (B (i)), at the foot of which Trower 
 writes 'turn over,' adding his comments (B (2)) in his 
 smaller and more angular hand on the reverse. 
 
 ■ The Preface to the pamphlet is dated Dec. i, 1809, and the pamphkt 
 appeared a few weeks afterwards. 
 
Appendix A [\) 219 
 
 A (I). 
 
 I. It is admitted by Mr. Ricardo that Silver would be the 
 measure of value if there did not exist a law prohibiting 
 the coining of Silver Bullion into money, but that, in con- 
 sequence of this law. Gold must now be the measure of 
 value — 
 
 By similar reasoning I may contend, that not Gold but 
 Bank Notes are now the measure of value because there 
 exists a law prohibiting the Bank from pajdng their Notes 
 in Specie. 
 
 I allow, that there is this difference between the two 
 cases, that whereas individuals may, if they choose, take 
 Gold Bullion to the Mint to be coined into money, they 
 cannot do so with silver bullion ; but this difference in the 
 two cases can have no effect upon the question between us, 
 that question being, whether Bank Notes represent Gold 
 or Silver.— Now, in point of fact, they at present represent 
 neither, the Bank being prohibited from paying their Notes 
 in either. In sjieaking of Bank Notes, therefore, as the 
 representatives of specie, reference must be made to the 
 period when the restriction imposed upon the Bank will be 
 removed. If at that period of time the law inhibiting the 
 coinage of silver money shall continue in force, in that case 
 undoubtedly Gold must be considered as the measure of 
 value in this Country. But, at present, that Act according 
 to my notion, has no more influence upon the question 
 between us than the restriction bill itself has. — 
 
 We are agreed in opinion with respect to the circum- 
 stance[s] which constitute the one metal a measure of 
 value, in preference to the other, to those circumstances 
 therefore, and to those only, must we look in order to 
 determine, which is that measure. That circumstance is 
 the low valuation at which one of the metals is rated at 
 the Mint, compared with its market price. It is admitted, 
 that Silver is the metal which is, at present, so circum- 
 stanced. Silver, therefore, must now be the measure of 
 
220 Appendix 
 
 value. Indeed if we look to the fact we shall find, that 
 there is at present more silver coin in circulation than 
 Gold coin. And how can it be otherwise when the tempta- 
 tion is so great for carrying off the latter. I confess there- 
 fore I do not see the force of the objections urged against 
 Silver being now the measure of value, founded as they are 
 upon the Act prohibiting the coinage of that metal. 
 
 2. It is admitted, that if the debased Silver Coin were 
 legal tender the excess of the market price above the mint 
 price of silver bullion would be sufficiently accounted for 
 by that circumstance. 
 
 The reply to this observation is, that if the debased 
 Silver Coin were legal tender, without limitation, the 
 excess of the market above the mint price of that Bullion 
 would not be merely 8 _p7- Ct but a great deal more, and 
 nearly in proportion to the extent of the debasement of 
 that coin. The restriction imposed upon the debased Silver 
 Coin as legal tender, is the cause, therefore, why the 
 difference between the Mint and Market price of that 
 bullion is not greater than it is. 
 
 3. It is said, ' that it is known ^, that the debased coin 
 does not pass in circulation according to its intrinsic value, 
 but according to the value of the metal, which it ought to 
 contain.'- -This is something like begging the question, for 
 it is asserting the point in dispute, the question between 
 us being whether the debased Silver coin do, or do not, so 
 pass. But in proof of this assertion Mr R. makes use of an 
 argument, which, I confess, I did not expect to see him 
 advance, as it can, with the strictest propriety, be so com- 
 pletely turned against him. He says, ' Compared with the 
 Gold coin, which is undebased, is it not of equal if not of 
 superior value to it ? ' My answer is, ' you say that Bank 
 notes are 20 p Ct. discount [;] compare them with the Gold 
 coin, which is undebased, are they not of equal value to 
 it ? ' If there be any truth in your argument, there is equal 
 truth in mine ; and I may exclaim with you ' What pre- 
 
 ' Cf. Ricardo's Reply to Bosanquet, Works, p. 347. 
 
Appendix A {\) 221 
 
 tence can there be then for saying, that the debased value 
 of Bank Notes is a cause of the increase in the price of 
 commodities % ' 
 
 The same remarks may be applied to Mr R's supposed 
 case of a Merchant with his Warehouse full of Goods, 
 desirous of purchasing silver bulHon for the purpose of 
 exportation. Mr R. says ' that if the Merchant could sell 
 his goods, at once, for heavy silver coin, and melt it, he 
 would obtain 8 p Ct. more silver than if with the money he 
 purchased Silver bullion.' This I deny, for I contend, that 
 if the heavy silver coin were in circulation, instead of the 
 light, the present difference between the market and mint 
 price of silver bullion would not exist. The cause for that 
 difference being removed, the effect would necessarily 
 cease. 
 
 Again, Mr R. observes, that the fact is 'that £1000 in 
 such debased Silver will purchase precisely as much silver 
 bullion as £1000 in gold coin' : to this I may reply, with 
 equal propriety, that the fact is, that £1000 in Bank Notes 
 will purchase precisely as much silver Bullion as £1000 in 
 Gold coin. The argument here employed by Mr R. will serve 
 my cause equally well with his own. Mr R.must therefore 
 either abandon this argument by which he attempts 
 to prove, that the debased silver coin passes in circula- 
 tion according to the value of the metal which it ought to 
 contain, or he must entirely abandon the quedion between 
 us. For it is quite as strong to prove, that Bank Notes 
 are not at a discount, as it is to prove, that our Silver coins 
 are not [at] a discount, or, in other words, if it be sufficient 
 to shew, that the debased Silver coin is not a cause of the 
 increase in the price of commodities, it is equally sufficient 
 to shew, that the amount of Bank Notes in circulation is 
 not a cause of that increase. 
 
 I have now observed upon Mr R's remarks as far as they 
 relate to this point, and wait his reply. 
 
222 Appendix 
 
 A (2). 
 
 [Reply of Ricardo to Trotter and Trower.] 
 
 What does Mr. Trotter mean ^ by saying that it may be 
 more advantageous to discharge a foreign debt by the ex- 
 portation of a dear than of a cheap article ; — by the exporta- 
 tion of gold which is dearer than by commodities which are 
 cheaper here than abroad ? This is evidently impossible ; — 
 it implies a contradiction and needs no argument to prove 
 its absurdity. If he means that the exportation of all other 
 commodities will be attended with so much expense as to 
 make it more advantageous to export gold, — then gold 
 cannot be said to be dearer here than abroad because it is 
 under all circumstances the cheapest exportable commodity. 
 When we say that gold is dearer here than abroad and 
 that commodities are not, we must include the expences 
 attending their transportation to the foreign market, other- 
 wise they are not fair subjects of comparison. If Mr. Trotter 
 means that nothing but gold will be accepted in payment 
 of our debt notwithstanding its relative price, — then there 
 is an end of all comparison between gold and other things, — 
 we have contracted to pay gold and nothing but gold will 
 absolve us from our engagements. But it is not with 
 Trotter's ; it is with Mr, Trower 's observations that I have 
 now to deal. 
 
 He observes that if it could be admitted that a foreign 
 merchant would import gold at a loss, it would follow that 
 merchants were bartering two commodities on one of u'hich 
 they both lose (this one I suppose is bullion) [;] their profits 
 then, he says, must be taken out of the other article. The 
 seller must add to the price of the article (of wheat for 
 example) the loss sustained upon the bullion he receives 
 in payment ; the buyer must afterwards add to the price 
 of the article (wheat) over and above his profit the loss he 
 
 ' See Coufcts Trotter's 'Principles of Currency,' &c., anded., Dec. i, 1810. 
 pp. 47, 48. 
 
Appendix A (2) 223 
 
 sustains upon the bullion in which he pays for it. In the 
 first place this is not a fair answer to Mr. Trotter, — he 
 supposes a debt already contracted and which can only 
 be discharged by money ; — his argument has no reference 
 to any new contract which may take place between the 
 exporter of wheat from the continent and the exporter of 
 bullion or of money from England, and in which contract 
 the consideration of the value of these articles must neces- 
 sarily enter. His case is this, an importer of wheat into 
 England has engaged to pay a sum of money, a certain 
 weight of bullion, and the time is arrived at which his 
 creditor will accept of nothing else. 
 
 Secondly, if we admit that the argument is fairly applied, 
 we are not told on whose account the transaction took 
 place ; was it on account of the foreign or of the English 
 merchant ■? We are led to suppose indeed that it is on 
 account of both, and that they have both an interest in 
 the value of bullion because they are both to add to the 
 price of the wheat to compensate them for the loss on the 
 Bullion, — one of them is to do so because bullion is cheap 
 and the other because bullion is dear. If it be said that 
 the importation of the wheat into England is on account 
 of the English merchant only, then the transaction was 
 complete as far as regarded the foreign merchant at the 
 moment he sold the wheat. He bought it in France for 
 a sum of French currency and sold it for a sum of French 
 currency which was to be paid him either by means of 
 a bill of exchange or by the actual transit of bullion of an 
 equal value, — he has therefore no other interest but to take 
 care to receive his payment, and his profit if any should 
 attach to it. It is probable that he might have only been 
 an agent and have no other interest but his commission 
 for his trouble. If then the transaction be on account of 
 the English merchant what possible inducement will he 
 have to import the wheat if the bullion which he has 
 engaged to give in return for it, be dearer in England than 
 in France, that is to say if he cannot sell it for more money 
 than he has purchased it for. 
 
224 Appendix 
 
 If he can do so, does it not prove that bullion is cheaper 
 in England than in France "? that with the commodity wheat 
 more bullion may be bought in England than in France? 
 As far as those commodities are concerned, what greater 
 evidence can we possess of bullion being dearer in France 
 than in England ? Is it a satisfactory answer to say, no ; 
 it is the wheat that is dearer in England ; — dearer for what ? 
 why, for bullion. This I conceive is but another way of 
 saying that bullion is cheaper in England and dearer in 
 France. How are we to distinguish then whether the 
 profit has been obtained by the sale of the money or by 
 the purchase of the wheat, seeing that they precisely express 
 the same thing ? 
 
 In the supposed case then, of the exportation of bullion, 
 notwithstanding its being dearer in the exporting country, 
 in return for wheat, the fact that wheat is cheaper in the 
 importing country is necessarily involved ; — how then can 
 there be any remedy against the disadvantage of exporting 
 bullion by raising the price of the wheat ? It is saying, 
 because wheat is cheaper here than abroad, — I will add to 
 the quantity by importing more and will at the same time 
 increase its price. The same argument may be used if 
 the whole transaction were on account of the foreign 
 merchant ^ . 
 
 ' Now, in point of fact/ says Mr. Trower, ' Bank notes, 
 at present, represent neither gold [n]or silver, the Bank 
 being prohibited from paying their notes in either.' The 
 dispute between Mr. Trower and myself, as I understood 
 it, was, whether a bank note was an obligation to pay either. 
 It is true that the bank is by law exempted from fulfilling 
 its obligations, but that fact does not prevent us from ascer- 
 taining what their engagement is, and in what manner they 
 would be obliged to perform it if the law were repealed. 
 Here then is the diffl'rence in our view of the subject. 
 
 ' Haifa page is left blank at this point; the rest is begun on a fresh 
 sheet, and may have been written sooner than the foregoing. 
 
Appendix A (2) 225 
 
 Mr. Trower contends that if the Bank were suddenly 
 obliged to fulfill their engagements they could and would 
 pay in silver coin it being their interest so to do ; I on 
 the contrary maintain that if so called upon they would 
 be obliged to pay in gold coin, — that the silver coin is insuf- 
 ficient for the purpose and that by an express law there can 
 be no silver coined. I admit that if silver could be coined 
 that ^ metal would be preferred because it could be obtained 
 at the least expence, — but that, whilst there is a law against 
 the coinage of silver it is in fact reducing us to the use of 
 gold only. The full extent of what I am contending for is 
 allowed by Mr. Trower when he says, ' If at that period 
 of time' (when the restriction on the bank shall be 
 removed) ' the law inhibiting the coinage of silver money 
 should continue in force, in that case undoubtedly gold 
 must be considered as the measure of value in this country.' 
 Is it fair that Mr. T should not argue on things as they 
 are, but on those which he supposes may take place at 
 some future period ? The act prohibiting the coinage 
 of silver may be repealed, and when that happens Mr. 
 Trower may be right, silver may then become the standard 
 measure of value, but whilst the law continues in force 
 gold must necessarily be that measure, and the value of 
 bank notes therefore must be estimated by their compara- 
 tive value with gold coin or bullion. 
 
 The fact of there being more silver coin in circulation 
 than gold can be easily accounted for; in the first place 
 there are no bank notes of less amount than one pound [:] 
 hence a necessity for the use of silver in small payments. 
 Secondly, Bank notes being a substitute for gold coins 
 there is absolutely no use for guineas, this joined to their 
 high value compared with their substitute sufficiently ac- 
 counts for their disappearing from circulation, and lastly 
 the gold coin having retained its standard weight whilst 
 the silver coin is debased 40 p ct. renders it advantageous 
 to melt guineas and to retain the silver in circulation. 
 
 ^ In original ' that that.' 
 
 Q 
 
226 Appendix 
 
 With respect to the second point in dispute, the effect on 
 the prices of commodities, and of gold and silver bullion, 
 which Mr. Trower supposes to have been produced by the 
 debased state of the silver coins. Why, I would ask, if such 
 be the fact was not the same effect produced on the market 
 prices of those metals before the restriction on the Bank in 
 1797? 
 
 It will not be a satisfactory answer to say, because gold 
 coin was then the standard measure, and, that coin not being 
 debased no such effects followed. I say this would not be 
 satisfactory because gold was the measure of value, only as 
 it would more advantageously discharge a debt than standard 
 silver coin ; — but we are not now speaking of the standard 
 silver coin but of the debased silver coin. The debased 
 silver would then, as well as now[,] have been comparatively 
 cheaper than the gold coin and could then, if it can now, 
 have been more advantageously employed for the discharge 
 of a debt ; but no such effects followed then ; gold bullion 
 was steadily under its mint price and silver bullion was 
 only above it because of the inaccurate determination of 
 the mint proportions ^. Perhaps a little further considera- 
 tion will make this more clear. In 1797 the silver coin 
 was debased 24 p ct. ; at the same time the proportionate 
 value of gold and silver was, in the market, as 14 J to i 
 whilst in the coin they were estimated as 15 to i, gold 
 was therefore the measure of value if the standard metals 
 be compared ; — but gold compared with the debased coin 
 was as 19 to i, there were therefore the same reasons then 
 as there are now for gold bullion being above the mint 
 price, as far as the debasement of silver was concerned ; 
 therefore I contend, that if as Mr. Trower supposes the 
 price of commodities be now affected by the debased state 
 of the silver coin, they must for the same reason have 
 been equally so in 1797 and for many years before it. Will 
 Mr. Trower explain why no such effect followed. Gold 
 
 ' Cf. High Price of Bullion, Works, pp. 271-3 ; Reply to Bosanquet, 
 ih. 316. 
 
Appendix A (2) 227 
 
 having been before 1797 for 23 years under its mint 
 price ? 
 
 I have said ' Compare the debased silver coin with the 
 gold coin which is undebased, is it not of equal value to 
 it 1 ' Mr. Trower answers ' You say that Bank notes are 
 20 p.c. disct [;] compare them with the gold coin which 
 is undebased, are they not of equal value to it ? ' Mr. 
 Trower in another place observes that if the fact be as 
 I state that £1000 in debased silver coin will purchase 
 precisely as much gold or silver bullion as £1000 in gold 
 coin, so is it also a fact that £1000 in Bank notes will 
 do the same. If then it be admitted that at this time £1000 
 either in gold coin, in debased silver coin, or in Bank notes 
 are precisely of the same value when used in the purchase 
 of commodities, what is the cause that neither of these will 
 purchase as much gold or silver bullion as they did in 1797 
 previously to the Bank restriction bill ? And, tho' they 
 may be of the same value in circulation here at home, is 
 this agreement in their value forced or natural % 
 
 It must be evident that it is not by the value of the 
 undebased gold coin, that the values of the bank notes and 
 of debased silver are at present regulated. If they were so, 
 gold would not be above its mint price because Mr. Trower 
 has always agreed that no one would give more than an 
 ounce of gold for an ounce of gold, gold could not therefore 
 be at £4-10/ or £4- 13/ per oz, if the value of the circu- 
 lating medium were generally equal to that of the gold coin. 
 It necessarily follows that the value 01 the gold coin is 
 brought down to that of the debased silver, or to the Bank 
 notes. But I have already remarked that the debased silver 
 was always previously to 1797 brought up (because it was 
 always moderate in its quantity) to the value of the gold 
 coins, and that altho' it was legal tender to a certain 
 amount, it was neither sufficiently abundant nor sufficiently 
 current to raise the price of gold bullion above its mint 
 price. Not an instance has occurred of a purchaser of gold 
 bullion having paid a penny an ounce more for it in conse- 
 quence of his wish of paying in debased silver coin. 
 Q a 
 
228 Appendix 
 
 If then gold and silver coins be of the same value and at 
 the same time are depreciated in their exchangeable value 
 to \ of their true value ; to the value in short of the Bank 
 notes which are in circulation with them, to what can we 
 attribute this phenomenon but to the depreciation of Bank 
 notes ? Let us suppose the law against the exportation of 
 guineas repealed, Mr. Trower would not then contend that 
 gold coin, silver coin and bank notes would be of equal 
 value, because he has already admitted that more than an 
 ounce of gold would not be given for an ounce of gold ; but 
 under those circumstances gold would continue to sell for 
 £4 - 10/ or £4 - 13/ for bank notes or for debased shillings, 
 but for gold coin it would not be higher than £3 - 17 - \o\ 
 pr oz. 
 
 The present value at which gold coin passes in circula- 
 tion is a forced value ; its natural value is 15 p.c. above its 
 forced value, but repeal the law, withdraw the force by 
 which it is kept down, and it will immediately recover its 
 natural value. If then I were to yield the first point in 
 dispute and allow that Bank notes were obligations to pay 
 silver and not gold coin, it would be evident that no other 
 effect could be produced on the prices of gold or silver 
 bullion, or on any other commodities from the debasement 
 of the silver coin but the trifling one occasioned by a very 
 small proportion of the debased silver coin being considered 
 legal tender. 
 
 Before the recoinage of the gold coin in the year 1774, 
 gold bullion, as I have already observed, was at £4 pv 
 oz, being 2/1 i above the mint price. The debasement 
 of the gold coin must have had a similar effect in raising 
 the prices of all other commodities. This is a principle no 
 longer disputed. Immediately on the recoinage gold fell 
 under its mint price ^. 
 
 Whilst the gold coin was thus debased a guinea fresh 
 from the mint and consequently undebased or any other 
 which had been hoarded and had not partaken of the debase- 
 
 ^ Cf. High Price of Bullion, Works, p. 273, note. 
 
Appendix A (2) 229 
 
 ment, would have purchased no more goods than a worn and 
 debased guinea, but it would not thence be argued that the 
 debased and the new guinea were of equal value, it being 
 manifest that the prices of all commodities were regulated, 
 not by the quantity of gold in the new guineas, but by the 
 quantity actually contained in the old. 
 
 In like manner, now, though a few guineas may be in 
 circulation and may pass in the purchase of commodities 
 for no more than an equal amount in Bank notes, the prices 
 of commodities are regulated not by the quantity of gold 
 which the guineas contain, but by the quantity which the 
 Bank notes will purchase. These two quantities must, if 
 the coin be undebased, and the bank notes not depreciated, 
 be always nearly equal. 
 
 The fact of gold coin having been for near a century the 
 principal measure of value is I think placed beyond dispute 
 by the arguments of Lord Liverpool. They are briefly as 
 follows. The debasement of the silver coin has not during 
 that period caused any excess of the market above the mint 
 price of either gold or silver bullion ; — neither has it pro- 
 duced any effect on the exchanges with foreign countries, 
 whereas the debasement of the gold coin which occurred 
 during a part of the century never failed to produce a rise 
 in the market price of gold and silver bullion and a corre- 
 sponding effect on the rate of exchange ; that immediately 
 on the gold coin being brought to its present state of perfec- 
 tion the price of bullion fell under its mint price and the 
 foreign exchanges were at par, if not favorable to us. 
 
 Lord Liverpool has clearly proved this fact, but has not 
 given any satisfactory reasons why gold should be the 
 standard measure of value in preference to silver. 
 
 It appears to me that gold mud be the principal measure, 
 if not the only measure of value, whilst the relative value 
 of gold and silver is less in the market than the relative 
 value of those metals in the coins, according to the mint 
 regulations. 
 
 Gold and silver coins are equally by law legal tender for 
 all sums if of their legal weight. 
 
230 Appendix 
 
 By the regulations of the mint gold is i5t|4 times the 
 value of silver. In the market up to the period when 
 Lord Liverpool wrote, gold was only i4f times, on an 
 average of a very long period, more valuable than silver. 
 It became therefore the interest of every debtor to pay 
 his debt in the gold coin and also the interest of every 
 person, as well as the bank, who carried bullion to the 
 mint to be coined, to carry gold and not silver for that 
 purpose. Thus, if I were a merchant having my ware- 
 houses well stocked with goods and was in debt £1000 — 
 I could purchase as much gold bullion as is contained in 
 a thousand pounds with less goods than I should be obliged 
 to part with to obtain the quantity of silver bullion contained 
 in a [6<i'c] c€iooo, — this would determine me to purchase 
 the gold and not the silver, and to carry the gold and not 
 the silver to the mint to be coined. Whilst gold was only 
 14-I the value of silver, the price of silver bullion would be 
 always ahove its mint price, there would be a loss there- 
 fore to the bank in purchasing silver bullion to be coined, — 
 whereas there would be no such loss in purchasing gold 
 bullion for that purpose. It appears therefore evident that 
 it is only whlht gold is less valuable in the market compared 
 with silver, than it is by the mint regidations, thcd it will be 
 the only measure of value. Bank notes will whilst this 
 continues be the representatives of the gold coin, because 
 the bank will always pay in the coin which can be coined 
 at the least expence to them. 
 
 But, if in the course of time, as it appears lately to have 
 done, gold should become Tnore valuable, and be in the market 
 at a greater proportion to silver than it is in the coins, — if it 
 should be 15I- or ]6 times the value of silver, gold would 
 be above its mint price and silver would be at or below its 
 mint value. Gold could then be profitably melted and silver 
 could be profitably coined ; silver would therefore become 
 the standard of value ; the bank ivould pay its notes in 
 silver and consequerdly bank notes ivould become the repre- 
 sentatives of the silver and not the gold coin. Indeed 
 this is Mr. Troiver's argument. The high price of gold 
 
Appendix A (2) 231 
 
 bullion \ he justly contends, is no proof of the depreciation 
 of bank notes because gold bullion may rise above its mint 
 value from an alteration in its relative value to silver, tho' 
 a bank note were not in existence. It will be seen by what 
 I have already said that / unequivocally admit the truth 
 of this position. 
 
 But if a high price of gold bullion proceeded from this 
 cause the price of silver bullion would never whilst the 
 coins of full weight only were legal tender, be above the 
 mint price. No one contended when the price of silver 
 bullion M'as above its mint price and the gold bullion was 
 at or below its mint value (and this was the case generally 
 previous to 1797) that bank notes were depreciated ; and, 
 if the price of gold bullion were 20 p.c. above its mint price, 
 and silver bullion were at its mint price, I should allow 
 that bank notes were not at a discount ; — but when the 
 prices of both the metals are above the mint prices it 
 is proof conclusive of bank notes being at a discount. 
 
 Mr. Trower wishes to account for this from the acknow- 
 ledged fact of the silver currency being debased. — If this 
 debased currency were legal tender I should not dispute 
 the point with him, — but it is acknowledged by him that 
 it is not; — the debasement of the silver therefore cannot 
 be the cause of the high price of silver bullion. 
 
 I shall now answer a few of the observations of Mr. 
 Trower on my last letter in the Chronicle ^. 
 
 I quoted the price of silver at 5/9 1 without any view of 
 making my argument better or worse ^. The price of ^/j 
 was not I believe mentioned by Mr. Trower at the time he 
 wrote, nor did I reflect that it was on that price that his 
 calculations were made ; but as he observes, it is for 
 principles we are contending, therefore 5/7 will suit my 
 purpose just as well as 5/9I. 
 
 To Mr. Trower there appear inconsistencies in my saying 
 that, if silver be the standard of currency Bank notes were 
 
 ' Being that of only one sort of bullion. 
 
 2 23id Nov_ 1809. The others appeared on 29'" Aug. and 20'^'^ Sept. 
 
 ' High Price of Bullion, Works, p. 281, foot. 
 
232 Appendix 
 
 in 1797 at a prem°» of 24 p. c. and are now at a prem*^ 
 of 14 ; this is on the supposition of the debased silver 
 currency being the standard, because £100 in bank notes 
 would purchase in 1797 24 p. c. more silver bullion than 
 what was contained in £100 in the debased silver currency 
 and would now at its present price purchase 14 p. c. more. 
 I have said too that ' if we estimate the value of Bank 
 notes by silver bullion they will be found to be 12 p. c. 
 dis^' and in another place ' if silver be the standard cur- 
 rency Bank notes are at a disc*, of 11 p. c' I am called 
 upon to explain these passages. I meant that if our silver 
 currency was perfectly of its mint weight and consequently 
 as good as an equal quantity of bullion, Bank notes would 
 if estimated by such a medium be la p. c. dis*., — but, as 
 our currency is not thus pure, as by law in large paym** 
 a creditor may be forced to accept as much as £25 in 
 debased currency, bank notes were if estimated by our 
 silver currency at a discount of 11 p. c. 
 
 In the calculations made by Mr. Trower he attributes all 
 the excess of the market above the mint price of gold to 
 the debasement of the silver coin, except that part of it 
 which is occasioned by an alteration in the relative value 
 of the two metals. He is correct in estimating the altera- 
 tion in the relative value of gold and silver (at the price he 
 quotes, £4-13/ and 5/7) at 11. 7. 2 pr ct, but he jumps 
 to the conclusion in attributing the balance of the rise 
 of gold above bank notes viz. 8. 1.3 to the debasement of 
 the silver currency, — he takes for granted that which is 
 the subject of dispute and does not explain to us his data. 
 By the same rule if he were to take the present prices of 
 gold and silver bullion viz. £4. 10/ and 5/95, he must for 
 the effects of the debasement of the silver coin calculate 
 on no less than 12 p. c. Now he will not say that the 
 debasement of the silver coin has increased since this dis- 
 cussion commenced, therefore he must find out some other 
 cause for the difference between £8. 1. 3 and £12. — 
 
 Mr. Trower says that if one metal only were in circu- 
 lation the market would exceed the mint price in exact 
 
Appendix A (2) 233 
 
 proportion to the debasement of the coin, but when it 
 consists of two metals it does not follow that the bullion 
 should be paid for in the depreciated currency. From 
 what has already been said, though we have two metals 
 in circulation one must necessarily be driven from circu- 
 lation ; — and as the depreciated silver is not legal tender no 
 value can be estimated by it. 
 
 I am accused of stating an impossible case and it is 
 asked ' what confidence can be placed upon such an hypo- 
 thesis ? it is a mode of reasoning as unusual as it is 
 unavailing.' But is it an impossible case to suppose that 
 my debtor should pay me in silver coin % I am contending 
 with this gentleman that Bank notes are at discount, and 
 in proof of my position I state that if my debtor were to 
 pay me his debt in silver he would by law be obliged 
 to pay me as much as would be equal in value to £1120 
 in Bank notes. Is not this a fair argument to prove that 
 the silver contained in a £1000 is more valuable than 
 £1000 in bank notes ? That \% is impossible that any man 
 should so pay me whilst the law allows him to pay me in 
 a piece of paper which is called £1000 indeed, but can 
 command as much silver as is contained in £900 only, is 
 the injury of which I complain, and the fact of its being 
 worth no more which is not denied is a proof of the injury. 
 
 I agree with Mr. Trower that silver is a legal tender to 
 any amount as well as gold if it be of its mint weight, but 
 this admission on his part is fatal to his argument. With 
 62 standard shillings which he admits to be a pound of 
 silver I can always purchase a pound of silver bullion. 
 This he does not deny. It is expressly allowed by him 
 that if silver coin be not debased silver bullion paid for 
 in silver cannot exceed its mint price. 
 
 But with 62/ in Bank notes I cannot purchase a pound 
 of silver ; I am obliged to give £3. 7 in that medium for 
 a pound of silver or a premium of £8 - i - 3. With what 
 consistency can it be maintained that 62 standard shillings, 
 such as are legal tender, are of no more value than £3 - 2 in 
 bank notes ? 
 
234 Appendix 
 
 If the regulations of our mint had been such that every 
 shilling weighed an ounce, — whilst the shillings were of full 
 weight silver could never rise above a shilling an ounce, 
 and tho' the currency were debased and every shilling 
 should coine to weigh only half an ounce silver would not 
 rise above one shilling an ounce whilst the law protected 
 the seller of bullion from being paid in the debased coin. 
 ' It is true ' he would say ' I have sold you silver at a 
 shilling an ounce but the shilling you tender me is not 
 full weight, you must therefore pay me by weight at the 
 mint price of a shilling.['] The seller would therefore 
 ultimately receive two debased shillings tho' he had sold 
 his silver for one. That such was the state of the silver 
 bullion market we have the experience of near a century. 
 Silver bullion was rarely much above its mint price and 
 the excess which did exist was attributable to the altera- 
 tion in the relative value of gold and silver. It was paid 
 for in gold, and therefore gold was at its mint value ^ 
 
 B (l). [RlCARDO.] 
 
 A., B., and C. each lay out £ioo p^ ann. in corn, when its 
 price is 40/ pr quarter, they each buy 50 quarters. But 
 Government imposes a tax of 10/- pr quarter on corn, and 
 consequently the price of corn rises from 40 to 50 shillings, 
 and the whole 150 quarters consumed will cost £375, instead 
 of £300. In consequence however of the additional price, 
 A., B., and C. can[,] each, only purchase 40 quarters, instead 
 of 50 ; — and therefore they will together purchase : 20 
 quarters instead of 150. There will remain 30 quarters to 
 be disposed of [,] which will be purchased by Government 
 at the market price of 50/- and therefore for S^']^. This 
 sum of £75 is precisely the sum which Government has 
 raised by the tax of 10/- on 150 quarters, I think therefore 
 I have shewn that although it is true that 150 quarters of 
 corn will be disposed of for £375 instead of for £300 no 
 
 • Compare with the whole paper tlie chapter (xxvii) on Currency and 
 Eanks in Ricardo's Pol. Econ. and Taxation, Works, especially pp. Z2\- 
 225, also High Price of Bullion, Works, 261-290. The last is by no means 
 a simple reproduction of the Letters to the Chronicle. 
 
Appendix B (2) 235 
 
 additional quantity of money will be required for the 
 purpose of purchasing it \ 
 
 B (2). [Trower.] 
 
 No additional money is required to purchase it, because 
 although more money is paid for the corn in consequence 
 of the Tax, yet the cost of production of the corn, its 
 natural price, is not increased. And the seller of the corn 
 pays over to Government the extra price he receives in 
 consequence of the Tax. This money, so paid to Govern- 
 ment is given to other persons, by whom that portion of 
 the Corn is purchased, which used to be bought by the 
 taxpayers before the Tax was imposed. 
 
 So that the same £300 purchases the Corn whose price 
 is raised by the Tax to i^'^^']^. And it is enabled to do 
 this in consequence of the increased ratio of its circulation, 
 which the imposition of the tax occasions. Before the tax 
 was imposed the 300 purchased 150 quarters of Corn for 
 3C0, now it first purchases 120 quarters at 50/ amounting 
 to 300 ; and then afterwards, that portion of it which was 
 paid for the tax, vz* 75, purchases the remaining 30 quarters 
 at 50/ amounting to 75. So that that portion circulates 
 twice where before the Tax was imposed it only circu- 
 lated once. 
 
 Thus the only effect of the Tax is to take from the 
 payers of it the power of purchasing 30 quarters of Corn, 
 and to transfer that power to other person[s] ; and this is 
 effected by causing the money to pass through the hands 
 of the seller of the Corn to Government and from Govern- 
 ment to these other persons. The increase in the ratio of 
 circulation is equal to the amount of the Tax — vz* 25 pr. C*. 
 
 ' This is the argument of the note on p. 127 of Works (Political 
 Economy and Taxation, Ch. xv, Taxes on Profits.) The note does not 
 occur in the ist edition of Political Economy and Taxation, 181 7, nor in 
 the 2nd, 1819, but in the 3rd, 1821. The discussion with TroAver may 
 perhaps be responsible for it, and be referred to 1819 or 1820. 
 
 Compare also Letter XXXIV, p. 104, above, and Works, p. 99, note : * It 
 may be doubted whether commodities raised in price merely by taxation 
 would require any more money for their circulation. I believe they would 
 not.' This note also occurs first in tlie third edition. 
 
INDEX 
 
 ' Abraham Tudela,' 144. 
 
 Abstract Pound Sterling, theory of, 
 74- 
 
 Agricultural Reports, 168, 186. See 
 Agriculture. 
 
 Agriculture, relation to capital and 
 interest, 4 seq. ; depression of, 
 13 ; Western's motion on, ig ; 
 Greenough on, 23 ; on the Conti- 
 nent, 35 ; influence of debt re- 
 duction on, 97, 98 ; improvements 
 in, 1 14 ; Parliamentary Committee 
 on, 148-50, 155, 161, 182-3, 186 ; 
 condition of. 170-1, 174, 176, 179, 
 198, 208. 
 
 Althorp, Lord, 189. 
 
 America, 50, 51, 58. 
 
 Annual Ohituary, 53. 
 
 Annual Register^ 4, 53, 151. 
 
 Annual Bevietc, 47. 
 
 Annuities, 181, 183. 
 
 Antwerp, 34, 36. 
 
 ' Arena for capital,' 4. 
 
 Attwood, Thos., 33, 34, 149, 174. 
 
 Austin, A., 16 n. ; letters from, 
 214-5. 
 
 Bain, Prof. A., i, 10, 80. 
 
 Balance of powers, 69. 
 
 Bank of England, Ricardo on, 8, 
 72-4 ; restriction, 9 ; Bank Court 
 meeting, 11, 14 ; notes of, 11, 145, 
 &c. ; treasure of, 17; Turner on, 
 19; Sinclair on, 33; stock and 
 capital of, 75-7 ; directors of, 83 ; 
 Government debt to, 95 ; policy 
 of, 169, 182. 
 
 Banks, country, 11, 15, 181. 
 
 Banks, Mr., 182. 
 
 Baring, Alex., 18, 109, 144, 202. 
 
 Basevi, George, 206. 
 
 Bath Provident Institution, 18. 
 
 Bebb, John, 4. 
 
 Bennet, Grrey, 178. 
 
 Bentliam, Jeremy, in correspond- 
 ence with Ricardo, i ; entei'tain- 
 ing Mill, I, 10 ; views on reform, 
 51-2, 54 5 ; aids Ricardo, 72 ; 
 writing on reform, 80 ; ' Plan ' of. 
 100. 
 
 Berkeley. Colonel, 45. 
 
 Birkbeck, Morris, 50-1. 
 
 ' Birmingham School,' 34. 
 
 Black, John, 191. 
 
 Blake, Francis, 206. 
 
 Bouverie, W. P., 14. 
 
 British Review, 43, 48, 50. 
 
 Broglie, Due de, 55, 194-5. i97- 
 
 Brougham, Lord, 55, 177, 179-80. 
 189. 
 
 Bullion, price of, 12, 83, no ; con- 
 troversy, 46. 
 
 Bullionists, error of, 12. 
 
 Burdett, 54, 55, 200. 
 
 Burke, quoted, 52. 
 
 Cannan, E., 40, 72, 80, 209. 
 
 Canning, George, 103, 169. 
 
 Cajiital, ' arena for employment ' of, 
 4; agricultural and manufactur- 
 ing, 5 ; distribution of, 13, 128, 
 133. See also Profits. 
 
 Caroline, Queen, 112, 123, 134, 142, 
 146, 156, 163. 
 
 Catholic Claims, 30, 135. 145, 
 147-8. 
 
 Cato Street Conspiracy, 107. 
 
 Champion, 168. 
 
 Charity, 24, 48. 
 
 Chetwynd's Vagrant Bill, 187. 
 
 Children's Employment, 30. 
 
 Christianity in India, 3, 4. 11. 
 
 Chronicle, vi, vii, 42, 191 -2, 231. 
 
 Clutterbuck, Thomas, 14, 16, 20. 
 
 Cobbett, William, 99, 149, 169, 171, 
 174-6, 182, 199, 202. 
 
238 
 
 Index 
 
 Cockerel!, Mr., i6. 
 
 Colquhoun, i8. 
 
 Consols, 75, 96-7, 102, 156-7. 
 
 Coiistancio, translation of Ricardo, 
 38, 71- 
 
 Continent, Ricardo's tour on, 189, 
 193-7 ; letters from, 197. 
 
 Corn Law, Ricardo's proposed, 
 187-8 ; McCulIoch on, 190. See 
 Agriculture. 
 
 Courtenay, Peregrine, 203. 
 
 Crespigny, Sir William de, 80. 
 
 Critical Review, 4. 
 
 Currency, variation in value, 11-2, 
 51 ; parliamentary inquiry con- 
 cerning, 72-3 ; paper preferred, 
 no, 144 ; effects of depreciation, 
 160, 168-9, i7i> 174; 176, 179 80, 
 198 ; amount in circulation, 192. 
 
 Curtis, W., 108. 
 
 Debt, National, effect of, 13, 51, 83 ; 
 payment by direct assessment, 
 96, 100, 102, III ; growth of, 
 102 ; effect of resumption upon, 
 no. 
 
 Distribution of capital, 13, 128, 
 133- 
 
 Dumont, 194 et seq. 
 
 East India Company and Missions, 3. 
 
 ' Economical and Secure Currency,' 
 8, II, 14, 17, 38, 73, 183, 192. 
 
 Edgeworth, Miss, 20, 24. 
 
 Edinburgh Magazine, 66. 
 
 Edinburgh Review, on Indian Missions, 
 4 ; on Napoleon, 9 ; on Ricardo, 
 39-40, 57 ; on Bentham, 52 ; on 
 plan of direct assessment, 99 ; on 
 free trade, 109 ; on Godwin, 
 173, &c. 
 
 Elwin, H., 18, 20, 32, 36, 75. 
 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 82, 96, in, 
 139, &c. 
 
 Epsom, county meeting at, 175, 
 177-8. 
 
 Fitzwilliam, Loi-d, 94. 
 Folkestone, Lord, 200. 
 Food, supply of, 119-23, 124-7, 
 
 128 seq. 
 Forgery, of bank-notes, 145. 
 Free trade, 154, 161-2. 
 Funding system, 13,96-7, in. 
 
 Ganilh, 197. 
 Garnier, 196-7. 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine, 4. 
 
 Godwin, William, 139, 147, 165, 173. 
 
 Gold, price of, vi, vii, 12, 78 ; resolu- 
 tions as to bullion, 73 ; as a 
 measure of value, 224 et seq. 
 
 Goldsmid, Isaac Lyon, letter to, 204. 
 
 Greenough, G. B., letters quoted, 3, 
 23-4- 
 
 Grenfell, P., 17, 72. 
 
 Grenside, John, 179. 
 
 Grenville, Lord, on sinking fund, 
 15 ; on Ricardo, 43-4, 50, 72, loi ; 
 on currency, 202. 
 
 Grote, G., 204. 
 
 Grote, Mrs., 196. 
 
 Guise, Sir B. W., 53. 
 
 Haileybury College, i8. 
 
 Haldimand, W., 108. 
 
 Hall, Webb, 171, 177. 
 
 Hamilton, Dr., 82, 90-1, 97, 140. 
 
 Hansard, passim. 
 
 Heathfield, R., letter to, 96-8, 99. 
 
 Hereford, dinner to Hume at, 
 
 166-7 ; coimty meeting at, 198-9, 
 
 202-3. 
 Hobhouse, 200. 
 Hodgson, D., 149. 
 Hume, David, on reduction of debt 
 
 by direct assessment, 99. 
 Hume, Joseph, on savings banks, 
 
 18; election petition, 116; dinner 
 
 to at Hereford, 167-8 ; on Sir R. 
 
 Wilson, 169 ; on Irish tithe 
 
 system, 172. 
 Hnskisson, 72, 149, 155, 182, 183, 
 
 189, 202, 209. 
 Hutcheson, Archibald, 99-100. 
 
 ' Imlac ' on Public Credit, 100. 
 
 Income tax, 95, 104. 
 
 India, missions in, 2, 4, 11 ; Mill's 
 
 History of, 10, 44, 48. 
 Investment of capital, 157 8, 
 
 164-5. 
 Ireland, 21, 145, 148-9,171-2, 207-8. 
 
 Jacob, on corn laws, 162. 
 Jews, disabilities of, 204. 
 
 Kent, Duke of, 79, 81. 
 King, Lord, 109. 
 
 Labour, supply of, 119-23, 124-7, 
 
 128 seq. 
 ' Laicus,' letters of, 2-4. 
 Landholder, taxation of, 145. 
 Lauderdale, 78. 
 Liverpool, Lord, 201-2, 229. 
 Llandaff, Bishop of, 52, 142. 
 Lockhart, J. G., 94. 
 
Index 
 
 239 
 
 Machinery, effects of, 43, 105. 
 
 Mackintosh, J., 103. 
 
 Macleod, H. D., 20. 
 
 Malthus, oncapital andits 'arena, '4; 
 discussion with Ricardo, 8-g ; pre- 
 paring new edition of Essay, 5 n., 
 10, 19 ; difficulties at Haileybury, 
 18 ; criticisms of Essay, 18, 21, 
 
 37, 42, 43, 85 ; criticizes Ricardo, 
 
 38, 39» 40, 113 seq., 119; his 
 Political Economy, 44, 46, 201 ; 
 first acquaintance with Ricardo, 
 46 ; aversion to controversy, 46 ; 
 reviews of, 46-7 ; opinions on 
 reform, 69 ; doctrines in relation 
 to Owen's plans, 79 ; omits taxa- 
 tion, 93; on 'the main hinge,' 130; 
 Ricardo's 'Notes' on, 136 seq., 
 151 ; criticism of Torrens, 163 ; 
 review of Godwin, 165 ; on mea- 
 sure of value, 201, 210-2. 
 
 Malthus, Miss M. C. H., 141 ; other 
 relatives of T. R. Malthus, 143. 
 
 Marcet, Mrs., 108, 168. 
 
 Marriage and pauperism, 27 ; Royal 
 Marriage Act, 42. 
 
 Martineau, Harriet, 4, 54, 84, 94. 
 
 Marx, Karl, 105. 
 
 Maxwell, Sir M., 54. 
 
 McCulloch, J. R., reviews Ricardo, 
 40, 43, 50, 57, 66 ; the wrong 
 McCulloch, 61 ; reproduces mis- 
 prmts, 97 ; on Heathfield, 99 ; 
 on Ricardo's constituents, 107 ; 
 writings of, 109, 173; on Ricardo's 
 'Notes,' 140; visit to London, 
 205-6 ; on measure of value, 206, 
 212. 
 
 Merchants' Petition, 109. 
 
 Mill, James, relations with Bentham, 
 I, 10 ; with Ricardo, i, 46, 56 ; 
 Hi.story of India of, 10, 44 ; on 
 Ricardo's dispute with Torrens, 
 39 ; on McCulloch 's review of 
 Ricardo, 59 ; at India House, 80 ; 
 induces Ricardo to write for 
 Napier, 82 ; to judge between 
 Ricardo and Phice, 90 ; activities 
 of, 107 ; with Ricardo, 117 ; 
 opinion on ' Notes,' 140 ; ' Politi- 
 cal Economy,' 147, 163, 168, 173 ; 
 on measure of value, 206 ; visits 
 Gatcomb, 211. 
 
 Murray, John, 36, 71. 
 
 Mushet, Robert, 157. 
 
 Napier, Macvey, 82, 97 ; letter to, 
 Napoleon, estimate of his character, 
 
 9 ; efi"ects of 18 15 on price of gold, 
 12 and note. 
 
 O'Meara, 198. 
 
 Optimism of Ricardo, 22, 34 n. 
 
 Owen, Robert, 37, 41, 47, 50, 79-81, 
 
 108, 125, 207. 
 Oxley, Mr., 36. 
 
 Palgrave, H. R. I., i n. 
 Palmer, General, sj^eech of, 98. 
 Palmer, Horsley, 99. 
 Parliament, Ricardo's seat in, 
 
 51-3? 65, 72 ; reform in, 51-2, 
 
 54-5> 59-65, 66-70, loi, 199- 
 
 200 ; Ricardo's constituents, 107 ; 
 
 general election, 108 ; questions 
 
 before, 170. 
 Parliamentary papers, supply of, 
 
 29, 74, 150. 
 Parnell, SirH.,onsinkingfund, 181. 
 Payne's 'Family of Malthus,' 141, 
 
 143- 
 Peel, 19, 145, 169 ; Currency Act of, 
 
 168, 193, 199. 
 Peterloo, 84. 
 Pitt, sinking fund of, 86-7 ; India 
 
 Bill of, 49. 
 Place, Francis, 34, 84 ; letters to, 
 
 85, 90. 
 Plunket, Mr., 145. 
 Political Economy, general scope of, 
 
 93 ; few masters in, 106 ; the 
 
 right principles of, 108-9 ! ^^ot a 
 
 panacea, 133. 
 Political Economy Club, 206. 
 Poor Laws, 23-9, 42-4, 47, 74, 191. 
 Population, 18, 21,25-6, 37. 
 Price, Richard, 140. 
 Price, Uvedale, 167. 
 ' Principles of Political Economy 
 
 and Taxation,' 30, 36 ; second 
 
 edition, 71, 96, 104, 123, 141. 
 Profits, determination of, 128 seq. ; 
 
 tax on, 104-5. 
 
 Quakers, and savings banks, 18. 
 Quarterly Eeview, 46-7,58,78, 168, 170. 
 
 Reform, see Parliament. 
 
 Rent, 113 seq., 121. 
 
 Resumption of cash payments, 
 
 Turner on, 19; Sinclair on, 33; 
 
 Ricardo before Cojnmittee on, 73 ; 
 
 Resolutions of Committee, 73, 95. 
 Ricardo, David, passim. 
 
 — his daughters, 16, 70. 
 
 — Ralph, 7. 
 
 — Samson, 99. 
 
240 
 
 Index 
 
 Ricardo, Osraan, 117. 
 Robinson, F. J., 169, 201. 
 Romilly, Sir S., 54. 71. 
 Rose, George, 18, 26-8. 
 Rossi, 197. 
 Russell, Lord John, 173. 
 
 Savings banks, Ricardo's views on, 
 14, 15, 18 ; Southwark, 18 ; 
 Westminster, 22 ; City, 22, 23 ; 
 Rose's clause, 26-7 ; relation to 
 pauperism, 28-9 ; limit of deposits, 
 31-2 ; Gloucester, 44 ; popular 
 prejudices against, 44 ; Trower's 
 plan, 40. 
 
 Say, J. B., 38, 71, 128, 133, 137, 
 173. 196-7. 
 
 Say, Louis, 197. 
 
 Scarlett's Bill, 191. 
 
 Scotch Establishment, 145. 
 
 Scotsman, 43, 50. 65. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 78, 106-7. 
 
 Senior, N. W., 206. 
 
 Sharp, Richard, 53, 108. 
 
 Sheriff-ship, Ricardo's, 45. 49, 56, 
 60, 95 ; Trower's. 103, 109 
 
 Sidmouth, Lord, 169, 
 
 Silver, vii, 78 ; as a measure of value, 
 2ig-2i, 224-34 ; as standard of 
 currency, Append. A. 
 
 Sinclair, Sir John, letters to, 6, 33, 
 no, 150, 174. 
 
 Sinking Fund, savings bank of the 
 nation, 15 ; reduced, 51 ; not 
 respected, 74-5 ; Hamilton on, 
 82 ; from taxes and from loans, 
 85-91 ; Ricardo's objection to, 95, 
 186, 201; essay on, 96-7, m, 
 139; reversion of, 181, 183-5. 
 
 Sismondi, 84, 195, 197. 
 
 ' Six Acts,' loi. 
 
 Smith, Adam, 9, 30, 40. 43, 46, 152, 
 196. 
 
 Smith, Sydney, xiv, 165-6. 
 
 Smithies, Mr., 203. 
 
 South Sea Plan, 191. 
 
 Southey, 46-7. 
 
 Stael, Mme. de, 55, 195. 
 
 Stock Exchange, 6-7, 75. 
 
 Stourton, Lord, 163. 
 
 Sumner, J. B., 47. 
 
 Surrey, county meeting, 200. 
 
 157-8, 
 
 Taxation, of property, 19 ; increase 
 of, 51, 75 ; need of study of, 83, 
 163 ; direct and indirect, 98 ; 
 effects on price, 105, 234-6 ; effect 
 on production, 105-6 ; relation to 
 agriculture, 170-1, 175-6, 178- 
 98 ; Trower's plan of , 
 180, 183-5. 
 
 Tierney, Geo., 51, loi. 
 
 Timber duties, 150. 
 
 Times, 3-4, 37, 41^ 144, 146. 
 
 Times, New, 79. 
 
 Tithes, as investments, 
 164-5 ; in Ireland, 172. 
 
 Toleration, Ricardo on, 204. 
 
 Tooke, Thomas, 109, 149, 161, 208. 
 
 Torrens, Major, 37-40, 66, 80, 108, 
 162, 206. 
 
 Trade, competition in, 35. 
 
 Trotter, Coutts, pamphlet of, 217-8 ; 
 Ricardo's criticism of, 222-4. 
 
 Trower, Hutches, passim. 
 
 — John, vi, 3. 
 
 — Walter, xiii, 3. 
 
 — Miss Frances, viii seq., 24, 37, 94. 
 Turner, Samuel, 19, 78-9, 83, 190. 
 
 Value, measui-e of, 39, 151 seq.,206, 
 210-2, 219-21, 224-34 ; distin- 
 guished from price, 57 8 ; real 
 and exchangeable, 162. 
 
 Vansittart, N., Attwood's letter 
 to, 33 ; Stock Notes of, 51 ; 
 Sinking Fund of, 87-8 ; successor 
 of, 169. 
 
 Wages. 24-5, iig-20. 
 
 Wakefield, E., 18. 
 
 Wallas, G., 34, 84-5. 
 
 Walpole, Spencer, 151. 
 
 War bur ton, 206. 
 
 Wars, continental, 201, 209, 213. 
 
 Wellesley, Lord, 172. 
 
 West, Edward, 58. 
 
 Western, 19, 193. 
 
 Weyland, J., 21, 47. 
 
 Wheatley, J., letter to, 159. 
 
 Whitmore, 183. 
 
 Wilberforce, W., 18. 
 
 Wilson, Sir R., 164, 169. 
 
 Wodehouse, 183. 
 
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