The extension of the

One of these is Political Economy. term Economy from domestic to political management, from the stewardship of the family to that of the state, is of great antiquity.(7) The scientific treatment, however, of the natural laws which govern the production and distribution of wealth-the subject of political economy-is of comparatively recent date. Many of the writers who have treated the science of political economy, have objected to its name, as not being sufficiently comprehensive. It has appeared to them that the natural laws which govern the production and distribution of wealth are in- / dependent of political government, and of the political union; and that they have reference only to the higher abstraction of society. Thus Storch makes political economy a branch of social science, while he distinguishes social science from politics. He considers social science as concerned with theory, and politics with practice. 'Social science,' he says, 'has two objects./ One is to discover the natural laws which regulate the development of the human race; or, in other words, the natural mechanism which produces the prosperity of nations. The other is to discover what is just in the social relations of men; in which case it assumes the name of universal law. Politics, on the other hand,' he says, 'is properly the science of government, for purposes of practice. The characteristic function of politics is to point out not only what is just, but also what is expedient, in the different situations in which nations may be placed.' (7) Say lays it down that political economy is the economy of society; and he thinks that social economy would have been a better name for this science. Nevertheless, he considers society as civil

(74) The second book of the Economics, attributed to Aristotle, refers to national or political, not domestic economy. The introduction to this treatise lays it down, that there are four sorts of economy, viz.-1, of kings; 2, of satraps; 3, of free cities; 4, of private persons. For economy defined according to the Stoic doctrine, see Stob. Ecl. Phys. ii. 7, vol. ii. p. 188; ed. Heeren.

(75) Storch makes both 'la science sociale' and 'la politique' branches of the general' science de l'état.' He therefore includes social science in the 'science de l'état,' or politics in the generic sense, as distinguished from practical politics, or politics in the specific sense.-Cours d'Economie Politique, tom. i. p. 12-20. Discours Préliminaire, with the annexed table.

society, inasmuch as he says that the term is synonymous with Tóλıç, civitas, and la cité. (76)

Mr. Mill, in his Essay on the Definition and Method of Political Economy, takes a similar view. 'Political Economy (he says) does not treat of the production and distribution of wealth in all states of mankind, but only in what is termed the social state.' 'Man, who, considered as a being having a moral or mental nature, is the subject-matter of all the moral sciences, may, with reference to that part of his nature, form the subject of philosophical inquiry under several distinct hypotheses. We may inquire what belongs to man, considered individually, and as if no human being existed besides himself; we may next consider him as coming into contact with other individuals; and, finally, as living in a state of society-that is, forming part of a body or aggregation of human beings, systematically co-operating for common purposes. Of this last state, political government, or subjection to a common superior, is an

(76) 'L'économie politique n'est pas autre chose que l'économie de la société. Les sociétés politiques que nous nommons des nations, sont des corps vivans, de même que le corps humain. Elles ne subsistent, elles ne vivent, que par le jeu des parties dont elles se composent, comme le corps de l'individu ne subsiste que par l'action de ses organes. L'étude que l'on a faite de la nature et des fonctions du corps humain, a créé un ensemble de notions, une science, à laquelle on a donné le nom de physiologie. L'étude que l'on a faite de la nature et des fonctions des différentes parties du corps social, a créé de même un ensemble de notions, une science, à laquelle on a donné le nom d'economie politique, et qu'on aurait peut-être mieux fait de nommer économie sociale.'-Say, Cours d'Economie Politique, tom. i. p. 1. Again, M. Say remarks that political economy ought to be treated as a science which lays down the laws of phenomena, not as an art which gives precepts. He then adds:- C'est peut-être à l'erreur des physiociates (que je relève ici) que l'on doit le nom d'économie politique qu'ils ont donné à cette science, et qu'on ne trouve dans aucun écrivain antérieur. Adam Smith, sans partager cette erreur, l'a favorisée en adoptant la denomination d'une science, que, selon moi, il eût mieux fait de nommer économie sociale.'-Ib. tom. vi. p. 387.

M. Say (ib. tom. vi. p. 288) draws a distinction between public and political economy, for which I can see no good ground. He says that public economy concerns a particular nation; whereas, political economy concerns any nation, or society in general.

The objections of other writers (as Sir James Mackintosh, Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy, Works, vol. i. p. 8, and Archbishop Whately, Lectures on Pol. Ec. p. 3) to the term political economy, founded on the word economy, do not require to be here noticed.

ordinary ingredient, but forms no necessary part of the conception, and, with respect to our present purpose, needs not be further adverted to.'(7)

Political economy, considered as a science of positive facts, has only to deal with man in a political state. Of man, considered merely as a social animal, as living a Cyclopian life, in a state of nature, or anarchy, it takes no account. If it adverts sometimes to the economical transactions of mankind in a savage state, this is done incidentally, and in the way of illustration. The subject-matter of political economy consists of the economical relations of men living in civilized societies, with established governments, and a recognised right of property. Political economy, moreover, generally assumes a fixed occupation of the soil, the use of money, and other elementary institutions of a civilized society, which, though generally diffused through the European and American, and even the Asiatic, communities, are, nevertheless, inseparably connected with political government. The doctrine of taxation is an important branch of political economy, which necessarily supposes the existence of political government. Moreover, even those economical questions, such as the natural laws of prices, wages, rent, &c., which appear to be merely social (as, indeed, they are often called), and to be independent of political government, nevertheless imply its existence. All inquiries into these subjects suppose a fixed right of property-and without political government, no rights of property can exist. Accordingly, Mr. Mill, when he proceeds to set forth in detail the subjects about which political economy is employed, assumes throughout a state of things in which political government is not a casual, but a necessary ingre

(77) Essays on some unsettled Questions of Political Economy, p. 133-4. In his Principles of Political Economy, vol. i. p. 25, Mr. Mill says:- In so far as the causes [of the economical condition of nations] are moral or psychological, dependent on institutions or social relations, or on the principles of human nature, their investigation belongs not to physical, but to moral and social science, and is the object of what is called political economy.'

dient, and which, without political government, would not continue, or even arise, except on a scale too small for scientific notice. 'It shows mankind (he says) accumulating wealth, and employing that wealth in the production of other wealth; sanctioning by mutual agreement the institution of property; establishing laws to prevent individuals from encroaching upon the property of others by force or fraud; adopting various contrivances for increasing the productiveness of their labour; settling the division of the produce by agreement, under the influence of competition . . . . and employing certain expedients (as money, credit, &c.) to facilitate the distribution.'(78) Now, upon an examination of the several elements of economical science here specified by Mr. Mill, it will be apparent that they all imply the existence of political government. Without political government, there can be no security for the accumulation of wealth, or for its employment in producing other wealth; there can be no institution of property-no contrivances (except mechanical or physical contrivances) for increasing the productiveness of labour; no security for the equitable division of the produce; no expedients, such as money or credit, to facilitate the distribution. Political economy, it is true, considers the relations of trade between persons belonging to different nations, and so far may be thought to regard man merely as a social, and not as a political being. But even in this case, each party to the exchange is considered as belonging to his own state; and, in this respect, political economy is analogous to international law, which will probably be admitted by all to be a department of politics, in the genuine sense of the term.

All things affecting the economical relations of mankind, not included in domestic economy, belong to political economy. Besides these two, there is no third class. There is no social economy which is neither domestic nor political, which is neither private nor public.

M. Say, in inquiring what are the organs essential to a (78) Essays, &c. p. 138.

society, without which society cannot exist, decides that government is not one of them. His principal ground for this conclusion is, that societies may exist and even prosper with various forms of government. But if societies in an advanced state of civilization, to which M. Say properly confines his view,' all agree in having some form of political government, it surely cannot, from the fact that those forms differ, be inferred that political government is accidental and not essential to civilized/ society.(79) The form, size, number, arrangement, and consistency of the vertebræ may differ in the several species of vertebrate animals; but it would be a strange argument to infer from this diversity that the existence of vertebræ is accidental in the vertebrata.

It may perhaps be said that political economy ought to be considered rather as analogous to ethical science, which often refers to political institutions and legal relations, as something which exists, but is nevertheless not regarded as a branch of politics. Thus the moral duties of kindred, such as parent and child, husband and wife or of domestic relations, such as master and servant, imply the existence of legal rights. Ethics likewise may teach what is due from subjects to rulers, beyond the strict obligation of submission to the law, and what is due from rulers to subjects, in point of personal demeanour and moral bearing. In ethics, however, men are considered principally in their private relations to each other, and without refer

(79) Sous ce rapport, il est permis d'élever la question de savoir si une société peut exister sans aucun gouvernement. Je ne me jetterai pas à cet égard dans une discussion spéculative; je remarquerai seulement qu'il y a quelques exemples de sociétés, comme celle de certains peuples en Arabie ou en Tartarie, dont il serait difficile de caractériser le gouvernement; mais ces peuples n'appartiennent pas à un état très-avancé de la civilisation, qui est celui que nous étudions. Ce qui m'a plutôt déterminé à regarder le gouvernement comme une des circonstances accidentelles où se trouvent les sociétés, c'est qu'on y rencontre des exemples de toutes les sortes de gouvernemens. . . . L'économie politique ne considère pas les motifs qui dirigent les gouvernemens, mais leurs actes; et pour elle, tout commandement en vertu duquel on est tenu d'obéir, soit qu'il parte du législateur ou de l'autorité exécutive, est également un acte du gouvernement.'—Ib. tom. vi. p. 331.

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