to pay attention enough to Politics. Moreover, our Legislature contains so many gentlemen brought up at this Institution, and is so likely in future to be in the same situation, that a young man going from this College, without some elementary notions relating to this modern branch of knowledge, would be but ill prepared for the duties, which some years hence At any he may be called upon to undertake. rate, an enlightened public will make an enlightened Legislature; and those Representatives who appear ignorant of that which every gentleman ought to know, will not long continue to misrepresent those who are gradually becoming wiser than themselves. In Europe, there is now but one opinion of the absolute necessity of this knowledge to a Statesman. There is but one opinion of its very great and manifest importance to society. The recent applications of the principles of Political Economy, by the enlightened Ministry of Great Britain, (to whom, whatever may be their faults, the civilized world owes much,) have been received with nearly unanimous approbation throughout the Kingdom, as well as in Parliament: and we seem to gain a glimpse of the dawn of a new day; and of peace on earth, and good will toward men. The wicked and destructive tendency of the old maxims which guided the mercantile, and the manufacturing systems, have been clearly developed; and few there are now in Great Britain, who will not readily acknowledge, that men and nations gain in prosperity, in proportion as their neighbours gain also. That cutting the throats or devastating the property of those who would be our customers and consumers, are not the best means of enriching ourselves: and that a spendthrift government and a spendthrift individual, are public nuisances of the same kind, though in different degrees. The time also is fast approaching in Europe, when it will be thought there, as it is known here, the government which is effective at the least expence to the people, is the best government. I confess with infinite regret, that there are symptoms of our neglecting in practice, what we are so willing to acknowledge in theory: but the people are still sovereigns here; and I trust their good sense and encreasing information will be sufficient to stop the progress of practical error in this respect. In drawing up this very brief outline of Political Economy, I have consulted what was likely to be useful in the country, and to the persons, where and to whom these Lectures were delivered. I have dwelt perhaps with needless amplification and repetition on truths that I deemed of peculiar importance. I have but slightly touched those questions which form what may be called the metaphysics of Political Economy. I am not writing for adepts in the study, but for young men who enter upon it without any previous knowledge of its objects or its uses. I have therefore been without scruple, and voluntarily guilty of repetitions, which to readers conversant with the subject, will seem objectionable. I am not writing for that class of readers: by and by the young men who will thank me for repetition now, will lay aside my book to study the more abstruse and nicer, but not more important questions treated by Malthus, Ricardo, and M'Culloch, In the first year of these Lectures, I made use of Mrs. Marcet's very neat compendium of Political Economy, in her published "Conversations" on that subject. Afterwards, of Mr. M'Vickar's republication of M'Culloch's "Outlines," to which he has added some very useful notes. I have now published my own views of the subject, and of some other topics connected with it, because I think my own Lectures have been better understood by the class to whom they were delivered, than the text books I employed. Those who wish to pursue the subject, would do well to peruse Adam Smith, Say, Malthus, Ricardo, M-Culloch and Mill. The last author has drawn up an excellent compend, which well deserves to be republished here. Mr. Cardozo of Charleston in his "Notes on Political Economy" has shewn himself profoundly acquainted with the nicer questions belonging to this Science, and has entitled himself to be read by those who wish to peruse Malthus and Ricardo with full advantage. These Lectures, I trust, will be found useful under the circumstances that have dictated their composition and prompted their publication. Of this I leave the public to judge. July 1. 1826. THOMAS COOPER, M. D. POLITICAL ECONOMY. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER ON THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. CHAP. 1. PART 1. This is much the same in all its principles, with Domestic Economy. To acquire consideration and consequence in society-to enjoy our full proportion of the comforts of life-we must either inherit wealth from those who have labored to acquire it, or we must apply our labor and talents to acquire it for ourselves. There can be no consumption without production. Having earned property, we must know how to distribute it most prudently; what proportion of our annual earnings we can afford to consume or expend upon ourselves; and what proportion it is expedient to save and accumulate for the purpose of laying it out beneficially and productively, for those who come after us. Political Economy, treats of the sources and acquisition of wealth: of its prudent distribution: of its consumption: and its accumulation. A nation like an individual, must practice and promote industry, and frugality, if the individuals who compose it, would live safely and comfortably at home, and be respected abroad. When the maxims of domestic economy, are expanded and magnified by their application to the concerns of a nation, they acquire an importance which is scarcely perceptible when applied to the comparatively trifling concerns of an individual. Of late years, the value of these maxims has been well perceived: for the misfortunes, and the mistakes of every government in Europe, have forced them into public notice; and by and by, the most ignorant part only of every civilized community, will doubt of their truth; or of the great utility of the science that treats of them, now termed Political Economy. This is a science of modern date. Among the antients, we find nothing but a few hints and suggestions of some of the truths appertaining to this branch of knowledge. It was very early known to nations as well as to individuals, that without the means of acquiring and accumulating what we call WEALTH, there were no means of emerging from a state of barbarism: none of the comforts and enjoyments of civilized life: no means of establishing national power and pre-eminence, or of gratifying the public taste. Taste, Knowledge, Literature, Population, Strength, and Security, are, and ever have been, the concomitants of national wealth. In the early stages of society,* individuals attempted to amass wealth by plunder, and by slave labor. Are you pirates says Nestor to Telemachus, or Merchants? (Odyss. L. 3.) The former vocation was by no means dishonorable. By and by the prædatory excursions of individuals were repressed, and nations only, deemed themselves entitled to seek wealth by conquest This was the disposition cherished among the Greeks and Romans; and the riches of individuals in those nations, de pended on the number of their slaves. Cicero denied that there could be any thing gentlemanlike in a shop; and deemed mercantile business even on an extended scale, only not very blameable. (De. Off. L 1 § 42,) haud admodum vituperanda. I know of no exceptions to this prejudice, furnished since Cicero's time, unless by the Hanse Towns, by Florence, Hol land, Great Britain, and this country: even Napoleon I believe was weak enough to speak of England as une nation boutiquiere. So things continued till the time of what we call the dark ages During this period, Europe was governed politically by the maxims of the feudal law, which was expressly invented and digested to regulate the distribution of conquered territory-and by monkish Christianity, which was adverse to the accu mulation of wealth, unless in the hands of the clergy: and I think it must be acknowledged, that this powerful body of men, with all their faults, made a far more liberal and disinterested use of their accumulated riches, during the dark and middle ages, than we have since witnessed, in times when knowledge has been more extended. During the middle ages, the quarrels of Princes and pow * I am indebted for the views of the subject here presented chiefly to Mr. M'Culloch's Discourse on Political Economy, Edinb. 1824. |