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    Jfo. 452, November 20, 1858.] THE LEADER...

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    LITERATURE, SCIENCE, ART, &c.

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    PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ECONO...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Jfo. 452, November 20, 1858.] The Leader...

    Jfo . 452 , November 20 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 1251

    Literature, Science, Art, &C.

    LITERATURE , SCIENCE , ART , & c .

    Principles Of Social And Political Econo...

    PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ECONOMY . Principles of Social and Political Economy . By " William Atkinson . Vol . I . Longman and Co . The work before us is the first of a series of three volumes upon a most difficult and important subject . We arc informed in the preface that the author has besto-wed upon it a vast amount of thought aud study ; that " by arduous ' mental I labour" he has attained " the summit ; " and that , if the reader wishes to share his reward , lie must be content to imitate his labours . There is , indeed , no royal road to such a summit . Let us examine our ^ author ' s claims to have readied it . The chapter of contents seems to promise a very complete discussion of the question which the author undertakes . The leading authorities on the subject pass under review , the measures of statesmen and the theories of economists are discussed at length j . sucli glaring faults are pointed at and such broad remedies suggested that nothing would seem left to perplex the student or reward the future discoverer . We will inquire how far such hopes are < to be satisfied or disappointed in the main body of < the work . < ¦ We find , upon examination , that the volume eon- 1 sists in great part of an attack upon the science of 1 Political Economy , as laid down in theory by its t discoverers , and as carried out bv statesmen in c practice . The grounds of attack" are many and various . The author enlarges upon the different views i of his predecessors , and upon their alleged incon- e sistencies . He complains of the exclusion of re- h ligion from political economy , and prophesies the s most terrible results from the general adoption of a fi system of unrestricted commerce . It might be ti observed that to teach or to deny the principles" of is religion is alike no business of tlie Political Econo- ii mist , whose duty is to point out the necessary or ai probable results of the various laws by which the fc distribution of property may be regulated , the eon- oi cations-under which-production is possible , and the tl operation of the various mental laws which may be re relied upon as certain to influence an average v < number of men in the course of production and of tl ] exchange . He has passed beyond his province when tli he asserts that oue end is in itself more desirable In than another , or more conducive to a nation ' s happiness . He may show , to select an extreme ju instance , that one course of policy is likely to im- fr < povensh . a peoplq , another to enrich them . But m : here his task should end . It is not for him to dis- te suade or to recommend the adoption of either . an Again Mr . Atkinson bestows unmeasured censure bu upon statesmen , whom he accuses of believing one it thing ami professing and recommending another , to The charge is so much exaggerated that , when the inf truth is tiurly stated , the wholo force of the objec- th < tion is destroyed , tfor the political leaders of a a country may bo , and often nro , so far ahead of the o-0 ] mass of their contemporaries , that all they are able to ass carry out may be a . very small part of what they he desire and see clearly to bo for the best . As the wh condition , of attaining 1 anything they must bo ela willing to relinquish much , and to lower themselves as pretty nearly to the level of thoso about them , m'o Such is , m ti-uth , tho bitter complain !; of every man apr oi genius who is called to tho post of constitutional doi minister . Compelled by the , necessities of their to position to keep their own aims and wishes in the tall »«^ z their countrymen to tho truth-discreditsEither hfi Sol candour or fus powers of discernment . K Pniff- i A ° rrorS * . nd incon sistoncies of writers on val Political Economy it would bo difficult ; to point out Jar So ftiUiblo an instrument is human reason that one linn groat busmoss of each generation is to clear away to flou S ? W ° f it 8 VrcdMoBaors . Unfortunato J ? too ! rec on this , , as on other subjects , thoro are would-be wh BUtUpr » tioB who only further encumber tho grouncl \ unaware of tho nature and difficulty of tnV fi boh they un ^ Hako , and too coucoitcd to bo conscous v of their own deficiencies ,. That Mr . Atkinson should ! AL iam °° - iree ub- the of if al , if be 3 d , ne : ry he he js- at 3 h m re re of a- af L . s . \ n d s l- :- e x 2 f is - r 3 ¦ of s ' , s hy ¦ and but it to tlie a he elab as words clouut to talks simp lie have ot forms with valuo airi titles who valuo time

    f be unable to distinguish true from false , aud trace the growth of science from the midst of noxious , choking j weeds , is only one among many proofs of his incompeteace for the task he has undertaken . The little force there may be in the invectives lie flings out so unsparingly against the science of Political Economy is mainly due to the errors of such professors as . himself , who , wise in the dark and blind in the light , unable to discern the truth themselves or to appreciate the labours of their predecessors , bring disfavour upon the subject with which they presume to meddle . ( But it is the doctrine of free trade which Mr . I -Atkinson attacks with the greatest fury . Its i adoption is the certain antecedent , he tells us , of i national disaster and ruin ; the spread of its prin- r ciples throughout the world would involve conse- c quences little less serious than the destruction of i the human race . Equally well acquainted with the course of future events and the secret designs of o Providence , he prophesies evils which the history of s the past shows are improbable , and utters denun- k ciations which might be terrible if supported by v other authority than his own . More , he has- ' dis- w covered , as he ^ asserts , the intentions of the Author c of Mature in permitting the separation of mankind b by the differences of race and language . This has \* been done , he tells us , in mercy , inorder to prevent lc the growth of that free trade ' from which he anti- el cipates such fearful evils . T After this , we need hardly say that Mr . 'Atkinson M ignores such paltry considerations as the real m economical advantages of free trade , and tlie greater se blessing that may possibly accrue from it ' in the an softening of national animosities and the diminished frequency of war . He considers that all expendi- is ture in articles of foreign growth or manufacture se so much drawn from the support of native tu industry ; being apparently unaware that , as imports an are usually paid for by exports , tlie growth of wl foreign commerce leads directly to the production tri some new branch of native manufacture or to chi the extension of those already subsisting . Had he wi ] recognised this law , the greater part of his first an < volume would never have been written , and his ' threats and imaginary terrors would have lost all an < their force and venom : caderent omnes a crinibus alt dri . Sfn In other parts of the- volume we find ample use justification of the general exclusion of religion befrom works on Political Economy . To dispose of ma matters of science off-hand by the misapplication of sul texts of Scripture may saye an author some thought me trouble in constructing more solid arguments ; apr much as the practice may swell the bulk , tell certainly adds nothing in the instance before us latt the conclusivcness of Ms volume . Mr . Atkinson As informs us that the Crystal Palace was typified by ord lower of ] 3 abel , and is likely to be followed by futt similar curse , tfree trade is compared to the of golden image set up on the plains of Dura , and is mak asserted to be the thing intended by our Lord , when had spoke of the abomination of desolation standing of \ where it ought not . Several pages are devoted to V orating This notion ; they principally assent that , arch lroe trade is such a very abominable tiling , no of b could have described it more fittingly . This so £ application of tho prophecy is new to us , and , wo com not , to our readers . It enables us , however , sam < understand Mr . Atkinson ' s meaning when he bnili oi "the duty of presenting religion in her addc le , practical beauty . ' We may thus determine of b ' oxact senso of words which might otherwise hiss seemed vague and indefinite . ft co It will be readily adinittod that a correct analysis lysis tho nature and causes of " valuo in exchange " W iv vory fundamoutnl part of a system of of lc political economy . It niuv be regarded as settled , anal ' all the certainty of a mathematical axiom , that erroi is dotcrinmcd by tho amount of labour ncccs- to oi ly bestowed in production , and that equal quan- as oc of labour oxohango for ono another . It is —an unnooesaary hero to euumomto tlie di / Tereut modi- used UoaUons with wluoli tho abovo axiom must b 6 oxrl ) recoivbd . Its substanliul Iruih is odmitlod by all of t are conversant willi the subject . J 3 ul ; " Mr . mid Atkinson 1 ms ignored il , and avers that I ho relation Tho between supply and demand is the real cause of lotal . Itisiriiollmt this relation product !* from thos to timo lluetuations iu tho valuo of articles ; bo lu s the king , npe- arce un- jmy ; as . the to ing me tfr . Its of in- se- of he of of of n- by is- or id as at ; i- m al ; r . e and d i- is e e s and f i 3 5 will t and 3 1 and ? i used i be [ many " ; app tells latter As of making had of of so cpmp same build a < JcJed of his a lysis W of anal error to off as —and used exp of and Tho totall I ho bo lod

    but it is equally true that nothing will long continue to be produced at a price below its natural value ; that the market will not be permanently oversupplied with one article to the exclusion of others , and that the course of trade tends upon the whole to the establishment of a substantial equilibrium ; or , to use the words above given , that on the whole and in the long run equal amounts of labour exchange for one another . ¥ e have no means of determining whether Mr . Atkinson has intentionally denied this axiom , or whether he was simply unacquainted witli its existence . The subject is one of the first / which it is the duty of the Political Economist to study , and our only excuse for employing so much space in the statement of an admitted truth must be , that a professed teacher of the science in question has shown himself uninformed about its first and most necessary laws . The dread of a general over-production is another Mr . Atkinson ' s hobbies . He is afraid , from observation of the tendency of events , that the markets of the world will at length be over supplied with every thing , and the human race be reduced to want by the superabundance of every article of necessity and convenience . The same theory has been drawn out by M . . Sismondi , and , when he wrote , he was perhaps excusable ; but it has been long since exploded , and cann . ot indeed be stated clearly without carrying its own . refutation with it . The topic has been most ably discussed by Mr . Mill , and the absurdity of the fear completely demonstrated ; but mit der Duntmheit kampfen Goiter selbst vergebens—Mr . Atkinson is still unconvinced apprehensive . In the eighth chapter of the fourth book , which perhaps the weakest and worst ¦ of the entire series , the author , taking a bolder flight , has ventured an attack upon the very basis of all science , pronounced judgment against tlie only method which has been found available for the discovery -of truth . We will not— -though we might do socharacterise this attack as more than audacious , but proceed to examine the nature of his weapons , the skill with which he has made use of them . The chapter contains a discussion on " synthesis ' " analysis , " terms , as the reader will be aware , although Mr . Atkinson is not , which are used ia several very different senses . We find them first in the chemical sense , and rightly explained to —the former , the composition of one body out of ; the latter , the resolution of a complex substance into its constituting elements . Both methods are of course essential in the discovery and lication of ohemical truths ; but Mr . Atkinson us that the former alone is usqful , and that the is not only usolesS i but absolutely prejudicial . no reasons are adduced in support of this extraordinary statement , it is needless to attempt its refutation . The author can have taken counsel only his great courage and his great ignorance ia it . He would bo convinced of its absurdity he the slightest acquaintance with the science which ho writes . We next find tho two words used in relation to architecture , and are told that the synthetical way building is to commence , at the foundation , and go on adding to tho struoture until the wholo is loto ; and that tho analytical plan of doing tho thing would bo to begin with the roof ; arid downwards , the foundation being the last part . A pretty method this , says Mr . Atkinson , building a house ; and he proceeds to triumph in supposed reductio ad ubsurdum as though it wore complete refutation of the whole method of ana-. e are next informed that the synthetical method logical , inquiry is tho right one , and that tho ytical can load to nothing but confusion and . Now on this point we havo two observations er . First , that tho use of tho torm synthesis equivalent to deduction , and analysis to induction it is in this sense that tho terms aro hero —although porlbclly admissible , yoi required lanation alter what ; was said in tliq fonuor part tho chapter . Logical and chemical synthesis analysis havo Holding to do wilh ono another . same words nro used , but tlioir moaning is , y allorod . TJio error iioro pointed oufc is of sninii nature us that ol' a schoolboy who might by a more similarity of liomo to conclude -I

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1858, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20111858/page/11/