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diff --git a/25788.txt b/25788.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e52818e --- /dev/null +++ b/25788.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11740 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The English Utilitarians, Volume II (of 3), +by Leslie Stephen + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The English Utilitarians, Volume II (of 3) + James Mill + + +Author: Leslie Stephen + + + +Release Date: June 14, 2008 [eBook #25788] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ENGLISH UTILITARIANS, VOLUME +II (OF 3)*** + + +E-text prepared by Stacy Brown, Thierry Alberto, Henry Craig, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +THE ENGLISH UTILITARIANS + +by + +LESLIE STEPHEN + +In Three Volumes + +VOL. II + +JAMES MILL + + + + + + + +London +Duckworth And Co. +3 Henrietta Street, W.C. +1900 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +JAMES MILL + + PAGE + + I. Early Life, 1 + + II. Bentham's Lieutenant, 7 + +III. Leader of the Utilitarians, 25 + + +CHAPTER II + +REFORM MOVEMENTS + + I. Political Change, 41 + + II. Law Reform, 47 + +III. Economic Reform, 51 + + IV. Church Reform, 57 + + V. Sinister Interests, 62 + + +CHAPTER III + +POLITICAL THEORY + + I. Mill on Government, 74 + + II. Whiggism, 98 + +III. Conservatism, 109 + + IV. Socialism, 119 + + +CHAPTER IV + +MALTHUS + + I. Malthus's Starting-point, 137 + + II. The Ratios, 147 + +III. Moral Restraint, 156 + + IV. Social Remedies, 165 + + V. Political Application, 174 + + VI. Rent, 181 + + +CHAPTER V + +RICARDO + + I. Ricardo's Starting-point, 186 + + II. The Distribution Problem, 195 + +III. Value and Labour, 204 + + IV. The Classical Political Economy, 216 + + V. The Ricardians, 226 + + +CHAPTER VI + +ECONOMIC HERETICS + + I. The Malthusian Controversy, 238 + + II. Socialism, 259 + + +CHAPTER VII + +PSYCHOLOGY + + I. Thomas Brown, 267 + + II. James Mill's _Analysis_, 287 + +III. James Mill's Ethics, 312 + + +CHAPTER VIII + +RELIGION + + I. Philip Beauchamp, 338 + + II. Contemporary Thought, 361 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JAMES MILL + + +I. EARLY LIFE + +Bentham's mantle fell upon James Mill.[1] Mill expounded in the +tersest form the doctrines which in Bentham's hands spread into +endless ramifications and lost themselves in minute details. Mill +became the leader of Bentham's bodyguard; or, rather, the mediator +between the prophet in his 'hermitage' and the missionaries who were +actively engaged on the hustings and in committee-rooms. The special +characteristics of English Utilitarianism in the period of its +greatest activity were thus more affected by Mill than by any other +leader of opinion. + +James Mill was one of the countless Scots who, having been trained at +home in strict frugality and stern Puritanic principles, have fought +their way to success in England. He was born 6th April 1773 in the +parish of Logie Pert, Forfarshire. His father, also named James Mill, +was a village shoemaker, employing two or three journeymen when at +the height of his prosperity. His mother, Isabel Fenton, daughter of a +farmer, had been a servant in Edinburgh. Her family had some claims to +superior gentility; she was fastidious, delicate in frame, and accused +of pride by her neighbours. She resolved to bring up James, her eldest +son, to be a gentleman, which practically meant to be a minister. He +probably showed early promise of intellectual superiority. He received +the usual training at the parish school, and was then sent to the +Montrose Academy, where he was the school-fellow and friend of a +younger lad, Joseph Hume (1777-1855), afterwards his political ally. +He boarded with a Montrose shopkeeper for 2s. 6d. a week, and remained +at the Academy till he was seventeen. He was never put to work in his +father's shop, and devoted himself entirely to study. The usual age +for beginning to attend a Scottish university was thirteen or +fourteen; and it would have been the normal course for a lad in Mill's +position to be sent at that age to Aberdeen. Mill's education was +prolonged by a connection which was of great service to him. Sir John +Stuart (previously Belches), of Fettercairn House, in Mill's +neighbourhood, had married Lady Jane Leslie, and was by her father of +an only child, Wilhelmina. Lady Jane was given to charity, and had set +up a fund to educate promising lads for the ministry. Mill was +probably recommended to her by the parish minister, as likely to do +credit to her patronage. He also acted as tutor to Wilhelmina, who +afterwards became the object of Scott's early passion. Mill spent much +time at Fettercairn House, and appears to have won the warm regards +both of the Stuarts and of their daughter, who spoke of him +affectionately 'with almost her last breath.'[2] The Stuarts passed +their winters at Edinburgh, whither Mill accompanied them. He entered +the university in 1790, and seems to have applied himself chiefly to +Greek and to philosophy. He became so good a Greek scholar that long +afterwards (1818) he had some thoughts of standing for the Greek chair +at Glasgow.[3] He was always a keen student of Plato. He read the +ordinary Scottish authorities, and attended the lectures of Dugald +Stewart. Besides reading Rousseau, he studied Massillon, probably with +a view to his future performances in the pulpit. Massillon might be +suggested to him by quotations in Adam Smith's _Moral Sentiments_. +There are few records of acquaintanceship with any of his +distinguished contemporaries, except the chemist Thomas Thomson, who +became a lifelong friend. He probably made acquaintance with Brougham, +and may have known Jeffrey; but he was not a member of the Speculative +Society, joined by most young men of promise. + +In 1794 he began his course of divinity, and on 4th October 1798 was +licensed to preach. He lived in his father's house, where part of the +family room was screened off to form a study for him. He delivered +some sermons, apparently with little success. He failed to obtain a +call from any parish; and there are vague reports of his acting as +tutor in some families, and of a rebuff received at the table of the +marquis of Tweeddale, father of one of his pupils, which made him +resolve to seek for independence by a different career. + +In 1802 Mill went to London in company with Sir John Stuart, who was +about to take his seat in parliament. Stuart procured admission for +him to the gallery of the House of Commons, where he attended many +debates, and acquired an interest in politics. His ambition, however, +depended upon his pen; and at first, it would seem, he was not more +particular than other journalists as to the politics of the papers to +which he contributed. He had obtained a testimonial from Thomson, on +the strength of which he introduced himself to John Gifford, editor of +the _Anti-Jacobin Review_.[4] This was a monthly magazine, which had +adopted the name and politics of the deceased _Anti-Jacobin_, edited +by William Gifford. Mill obtained employment, and wrote articles +implying an interest in the philosophy, and especially in the +political economy, of the time. It is noteworthy, considering his +later principles, that he should at this time have taken part in a +strong Tory organ. He wrote a pamphlet in 1804 (the first publication +under his name) to prove the impolicy of a bounty upon the exportation +of grain; and in 1807 replied in _Commerce Defended_ to William +Spence's _Britain independent of Commerce_. Meanwhile he had found +employment of a more regular kind. He had formed a connection with a +bookseller named Baldwin, for whom he undertook to help in rewriting a +book called _Nature Delineated_. This scheme was changed for a +periodical called the _Literary Journal_, which started at the +beginning of 1803, and lived through four years with Mill as editor. +At the same time apparently he edited the _St. James's Chronicle_, +also belonging to Baldwin, which had no very definite political +colour. The _Journal_ professed to give a systematic survey of +literary, scientific, and philosophical publications. For the +scientific part Mill was helped by Thomson. His own contributions show +that, although clearly a rationalist, he was still opposed to open +infidelity. A translation of Villers' _History of the Reformation_ +implies similar tendencies. Other literary hack-work during this and +the next few years is vaguely indicated. Mill was making about L500 a +year or something more during his editorships, and thought himself +justified in marrying. On 5th June 1805 he became the husband of +Harriett Burrow, daughter of a widow who kept a private lunatic asylum +originally started by her husband. The Mills settled in a house in +Pentonville belonging to Mrs. Burrow, for which they paid L50 a year. + +The money question soon became pressing. The editorships vanished, and +to make an income by periodical writing was no easy task. His son +observes that nothing could be more opposed to his father's later +principles than marrying and producing a large family under these +circumstances. Nine children were ultimately born, all of whom +survived their father. The family in his old home were an additional +burthen. His mother died before his departure from Scotland. His +father was paralysed, and having incautiously given security for a +friend, became bankrupt. His only brother, William, died soon +afterwards, and his only sister, Mary, married one of her father's +journeymen named Greig, and tried to carry on the business. The +father died about 1808, and the Greigs had a hard struggle, though two +of the sons ultimately set up a business in Montrose. James Mill +appears to have helped to support his father, whose debts he undertook +to pay, and to have afterwards helped the Greigs. They thought, it +seems, that he ought to have done more, but were not unlikely to +exaggerate the resources of a man who was making his way in England. +Mill was resolute in doing his duty, but hardly likely to do it +graciously. At any rate, in the early years, it must have been a +severe strain to do anything. + +In spite of all difficulties Mill, by strict frugality and unremitting +energy, managed to keep out of debt. In the end of 1806 he undertook +the history of British India. This was to be the great work which +should give him a name, and enable him to rise above the herd of +contemporary journalists. He calculated the time necessary for its +completion at three years, but the years were to be more than trebled +before the book was actually finished. At that period there were fewer +facilities than there could now be for making the necessary +researches: and we do not know what were the reasons which prompted +the selection of a subject of which he could have no first-hand +knowledge. The book necessarily impeded other labours; and to the toil +of writing Mill added the toil of superintending the education of his +children. His struggle for some years was such as to require an +extraordinary strain upon all his faculties. Mill, however, possessed +great physical and mental vigour. He was muscular, well-made, and +handsome; he had marked powers of conversation, and made a strong +impression upon all with whom he came in contact. He gradually formed +connections which effectually determined his future career. + + +II. BENTHAM'S LIEUTENANT + +The most important influence in Mill's life was the friendship with +Bentham. This appears to have begun in 1808. Mill speedily became a +valued disciple. He used to walk from Pentonville to dine with Bentham +in Queen's Square Place. Soon the elder man desired to have his new +friend nearer at hand. In 1810 Mill moved to the house in Bentham's +garden, which had once belonged to Milton; when this proved +unsuitable, he was obliged to move to a more distant abode at Stoke +Newington; but finally, in 1814, he settled in another house belonging +to Bentham, 1 Queen's Square, close under the old gentleman's wing. +Here for some years they lived in the closest intimacy. The Mills also +stayed with Bentham in his country-houses at Barrow Green, and +afterwards at Ford Abbey. The association was not without its +troubles. Bentham was fanciful, and Mill stern and rigid. No one, +however, could be a more devoted disciple. The most curious +illustration of their relations is a letter written to Bentham by +Mill, 19th September 1814, while they were both at Ford Abbey. Mill in +this declares himself to be a 'most faithful and fervent disciple' of +the truths which Bentham had the 'immortal honour' of propounding. He +had fancied himself to be his master's favourite disciple. No one is +so completely of Bentham's way of thinking, or so qualified by +position for carrying on the propaganda. Now, however, Bentham showed +that he had taken umbrage at some part of Mill's behaviour. An open +quarrel would bring discredit upon both sides, and upon their common +beliefs. The great dangers to friendship are pecuniary obligation and +too close intimacy. Mill has made it a great purpose of his life to +avoid pecuniary obligation, though he took pride in receiving +obligations from Bentham. He has confined himself to accepting +Bentham's house at a low rent, and allowing his family to live for +part of the year at Bentham's expense. He now proposes so to arrange +his future life that they shall avoid an excessively close intimacy, +from which, he thinks, had arisen the 'umbrage.' The letter, which is +manly and straightforward, led to a reconciliation, and for some years +the intercourse was as close as ever.[5] + +Mill's unreserved adoption of Bentham's principles, and his resolution +to devote his life to their propagation, implies a development of +opinion. He had entirely dropped his theology. In the early years of +his London life, Mill had been only a rationalist. He had by this time +become what would now be called an agnostic. He thought 'dogmatic +atheism' absurd, says J. S. Mill;[6] 'but he held that we can know +nothing whatever as to the origin of the world.' The occasion of the +change, according to his family, was his intercourse with General +Miranda, who was sitting at Bentham's feet about this time. J. S. Mill +states that the turning-point in his father's mind was the study of +Butler's _Analogy_. That book, he thought, as others have thought, was +conclusive against the optimistic deism which it assails; but he +thought also that the argument really destroyed Butler's own +standing-ground. The evils of the world are incompatible with the +theory of Almighty benevolence. The purely logical objection was +combined with an intense moral sentiment. Theological doctrines, he +thought, were not only false, but brutal. His son had heard him say 'a +hundred times' that men have attributed to their gods every trait of +wickedness till the conception culminated in the Christian doctrine of +hell. Mill still attended church services for some time after his +marriage, and the children were christened. But the eldest son did not +remember the period of even partial conformity, and considered himself +to have been brought up from the first without any religious belief. +James Mill had already taken up the uncompromising position congenial +to his character, although the reticence which the whole party +observed prevented any open expression of his sentiments. + +Mill's propaganda of Benthamism was for some time obscure. He helped +to put together some of Bentham's writings, especially the book upon +evidence. He was consulted in regard to all proposed publications, +such as the pamphlet upon jury-packing, which Mill desired to publish +in spite of Romilly's warning. Mill endeavoured also to disseminate +the true faith through various periodicals. He obtained admission to +the _Edinburgh Review_, probably through its chief contributor, +Brougham. Neither Brougham nor Jeffrey was likely to commit the great +Whig review to the support of a creed still militant and regarded with +distrust by the respectable. Mill contributed various articles from +1808 to 1813, but chiefly upon topics outside of the political sphere. +The _Edinburgh Review_, as I have said, had taken a condescending +notice of Bentham in 1804. Mill tried to introduce a better tone into +an article upon Bexon's _Code de la Legislation penale_, which he was +permitted to publish in the number for October 1809. Knowing Jeffrey's +'dislike of praise,' he tried to be on his guard, and to insinuate his +master's doctrine without openly expressing his enthusiasm. Jeffrey, +however, sadly mangled the review, struck out every mention but one of +Bentham, and there substituted words of his own for Mill's. Even as it +was, Brougham pronounced the praise of Bentham to be excessive.[7] +Mill continued to write for a time, partly, no doubt, with a view to +Jeffrey's cheques. Almost his last article (in January 1813) was +devoted to the Lancasterian controversy, in which Mill, as we shall +directly see, was in alliance with the Whigs. But the Edinburgh +Reviewers were too distinctly of the Whig persuasion to be congenial +company for a determined Radical. They would give him no more than a +secondary position, and would then take good care to avoid the +insertion of any suspicious doctrine. Mill wrote no more after the +summer of 1813. + +Meanwhile he was finding more sympathetic allies. First among them was +William Allen (1770-1843), chemist, of Plough Court. Allen was a +Quaker; a man of considerable scientific tastes; successful in +business, and ardently devoted throughout his life to many +philanthropic schemes. He took, in particular, an active part in the +agitation against slavery. He was, as we have seen, one of the +partners who bought Owen's establishment at New Lanark; and his +religious scruples were afterwards the cause of Owen's retirement. +These, however, were only a part of his multifarious schemes. He was +perhaps something of a busybody; his head may have been a little +turned by the attentions which he received on all hands; he managed +the affairs of the duke of Kent; was visited by the Emperor Alexander +in 1814; and interviewed royal personages on the Continent, in order +to obtain their support in attacking the slave-trade, and introducing +good schools and prisons. But, though he may have shared some of the +weaknesses of popular philanthropists, he is mentioned with respect +even by observers such as Owen and Place, who had many prejudices +against his principles. He undoubtedly deserves a place among the +active and useful social reformers of his time. + +I have already noticed the importance of the Quaker share in the +various philanthropic movements of the time. The Quaker shared many of +the views upon practical questions which were favoured by the +freethinker. Both were hostile to slavery, in favour of spreading +education, opposed to all religious tests and restrictions, and +advocates of reform in prisons, and in the harsh criminal law. The +fundamental differences of theological belief were not so productive +of discord in dealing with the Quakers as with other sects; for it was +the very essence of the old Quaker spirit to look rather to the spirit +than to the letter. Allen, therefore, was only acting in the spirit of +his society when he could be on equally good terms with the Emperor +Alexander or the duke of Kent, and, on the other hand, with James +Mill, the denouncer of kings and autocrats. He could join hands with +Mill in assailing slavery, insisting upon prison reform, preaching +toleration and advancing civilisation, although he heartily +disapproved of the doctrines with which Mill's practical principles +were associated. Mill, too, practised--even to a questionable +degree--the method of reticence, and took good care not to offend his +coadjutor. + +Their co-operation was manifested in a quarterly journal called the +_Philanthropist_, which appeared during the seven years, 1811-1817, +and was published at Allen's expense. Mill found in it the opportunity +of advocating many of his cherished opinions. He defended toleration +in the name of Penn, whose life had been published by Clarkson. He +attacked the slave-owners, and so came into alliance with Wilberforce, +Zachary Macaulay, and others of the evangelical persuasion. He found, +at the same time, opportunities for propagating the creed of Bentham +in connection with questions of prison reform and the penal code. His +most important article, published in 1812, was another contribution to +the Lancasterian controversy. In this Mill had allies of a very +different school; and his activity brings him into close connection +with one of the most remarkable men of the time.[8] + +This was Francis Place, the famous Radical tailor. Place, born 3rd +November 1771, had raised himself from the position of a working-man +to be occupant of a shop at Charing Cross, which became the centre of +important political movements. Between Place and Mill there was much +affinity of character. Place, like Mill, was a man of rigid and +vigorous intellect. Dogmatic, self-confident, and decidedly +censorious, not attractive by any sweetness or grace of character, but +thoroughly sincere and independent, he extorts rather than commands +our respect by his hearty devotion to what he at least believed to be +the cause of truth and progress. Place was what is now called a +thorough 'individualist.' He believed in self-reliance and energy, and +held that the class to which he belonged was to be raised, as he had +raised himself, by the exercise of those qualities, not by invoking +the direct interference of the central power, which, indeed, as he +knew it, was only likely to interfere on the wrong side. He had the +misfortune to be born in London instead of Scotland, and had therefore +not Mill's educational advantages. He tried energetically, and not +unsuccessfully, to improve his mind, but he never quite surmounted the +weakness of the self-educated man, and had no special literary talent. +His writing, in fact, is dull and long-winded, though he has the merit +of judging for himself, and of saying what he thinks. + +Place had been a member of the Corresponding Society, and was at one +time chairman of the weekly committee. He had, however, disapproved of +their proceedings, and retired in time to escape the imprisonment +which finally crushed the committee. He was now occupied in building +up his own fortunes at Charing Cross. When, during the second war, the +native English Radicalism began again to raise its head, Place took a +highly important share in the political agitation. Westminster, the +constituency in which he had a vote, had long been one of the most +important boroughs. It was one of the few large popular +constituencies, and was affected by the influences naturally strongest +in the metropolis. After being long under the influence of the court +and the dean and chapter, it had been carried by Fox during the +discontents of 1780, when the reform movement took a start and the +county associations were symptoms of a growing agitation. The great +Whig leader, though not sound upon the question of reform, represented +the constituency till his death, and reform dropped out of notice for +the time. Upon Fox's death (13th September 1806) Lord Percy was +elected without opposition as his successor by an arrangement among +the ruling families. Place was disgusted at the distribution of 'bread +and cheese and beer,' and resolved to find a truly popular candidate. +In the general election which soon followed at the end of 1806 he +supported Paull, an impecunious adventurer, who made a good fight, but +was beaten by Sir J. Hood and Sheridan. Place now proposed a more +thorough organisation of the constituency, and formed a committee +intended to carry an independent candidate. Sir Francis Burdett, a +typical country gentleman of no great brains and of much aristocratic +pride, but a man of honour, and of as much liberal feeling as was +compatible with wealth and station, had sat at the feet of the old +Radical, Home Tooke. He had sympathised with the French revolution; +but was mainly, like his mentor, Tooke, a reformer of the English +type, and a believer in Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights. He had +sat in parliament, and in 1802 had been elected for Middlesex. After a +prolonged litigation, costing enormous sums, the election had been +finally annulled in 1806. He had subscribed L1000 towards Paull's +expenses; but was so disgusted with his own election experiences that +he refused to come forward as a candidate. Place's committee resolved +therefore to elect him and Paull free of expense. Disputes between +Paull and Burdett led to a duel, in which both were wounded. The +committee threw over Paull, and at the election on the dissolution of +parliament in the spring of 1807, Burdett and Cochrane--afterwards +Lord Dundonald--were triumphantly elected, defeating the Whig +candidates, Sheridan and Elliot. The election was the first triumph of +the reformers, and was due to Place more than any one. Burdett +retained his seat for Westminster until 1837, and, in spite of many +quarrels with his party, was a leading representative of the movement, +which henceforward slowly gathered strength. Place, indeed, had +apparently but scanty respect for the candidate whose success he had +secured. Burdett and his like aimed at popularity, while he was +content to be ignored so long as he could by any means carry the +measures which he approved. Place, therefore, acted as a most +efficient wire-puller, but had no ambition to leave his shop to make +speeches on the hustings. + +The scandals about the duke of York and the Walcheren expedition gave +a chance to the Radicals and to their leader in the House of Commons. +Events in 1810 led to a popular explosion, of which Burdett was the +hero. John Gale Jones, an old member of the Corresponding Societies, +had put out a placard denouncing the House of Commons for closing its +doors during a debate upon the Walcheren expedition. The House +proceeded against Jones, who was more or less advised by Place in his +proceedings. Burdett took the part of Jones, by a paper published in +Cobbett's _Register_, and was ultimately committed to the Tower in +consequence. The whole of London was for a time in a state of +excitement, and upon the verge of an outbreak. Burdett refused to +submit to the arrest. Mobs collected; soldiers filled the streets and +were pelted. Burdett, when at last he was forced to admit the +officers, appeared in his drawing-room in the act of expounding Magna +Charta to his son. That, it was to be supposed, was his usual +occupation of an afternoon. Meetings were held, and resolutions +passed, in support of the martyr to liberty; and when his imprisonment +terminated on the prorogation of parliament, vast crowds collected, +and a procession was arranged to convoy him to his home. Place had +been active in arranging all the details of what was to be a great +popular manifestation. To his infinite disgust, Burdett shrank from +the performance, and went home by water. The crowd was left to expend +its remaining enthusiasm upon the hackney carriage which contained his +fellow-sufferer Jones. Jones, in the following December, was sentenced +to twelve months' imprisonment for a libel. Cobbett, Burdett's special +supporter at this time, was also imprisoned in June 1810. For a time +the popular agitation collapsed. Place seems to have thought that the +failure was due to Burdett's want of courage, and dropped all +communication with him till a later contest at Westminster. + +Place was thus at the centre of the political agitation which, for the +time, represented the most energetic reforming movement. It was in +1811 or 1812 that he became acquainted with Mill.[9] In Mill he +recognised a congenial spirit, and a man able to defend and develop +principles. He perhaps, as Professor Bain thinks, made advances to +Mill upon the strength of the history of India; and in 1814 he was +certainly endeavouring to raise money to put Mill above the need of +precarious hack-work.[10] The anticipated difficulty of persuading +Mill so far to sacrifice his independence was apparently fatal to the +scheme. Place was in occasional communication with Bentham, and +visited him at Ford Abbey in 1817. He became intimate with the great +man; helped him in business affairs; and was one of the disciples +employed to prepare his books for publication.[11] Bentham was the +source of philosophy, and Mill only his prophet. But Mill, who was +capable of activity in practical affairs, was more useful to a man of +the world. The first business which brought them into close connection +was the Lancasterian controversy. The strong interest roused by this +agitation was significant of many difficulties to come. The average +mind had been gradually coming to the conclusion that the poor should +be taught to read and write. Sunday schools and Hannah More's schools +in Somersetshire had drawn the attention of the religious world to the +subject. During the early years of the century the education question +had steadily become more prominent, and the growing interest was shown +by a singularly bitter and complicated controversy. The opposite +parties fought under the banners of Bell and Lancaster. Andrew Bell, +born at St. Andrews, 27th March 1753, was both a canny Scot and an +Anglican clergyman. He combined philanthropy with business faculties. +He sailed to India in 1787 with L128, 10s. in his pocket to be an army +chaplain; he returned in 1796 with L25,000 and a new system of +education which he had devised as superintendent of an orphan asylum. +He settled in England, published an account of his plan, and did +something to bring it into operation. Meanwhile Joseph Lancaster +(1770-1838), a young Quaker, had set up a school in London; he devised +a plan similar to that of Bell, and in 1803 published an account of +his improvements in education with acknowledgments to Bell. For a time +the two were on friendly terms. Lancaster set about propagating his +new system with more enthusiasm than discretion. His fame rapidly +spread till it reached the throne. In 1805 George III. sent for him; +the royal family subscribed to his schools; and the king declared his +wish that every child in his dominions should be taught to read the +Bible. The king's gracious wish unconsciously indicated a difficulty. +Was it safe to teach the Bible without the safeguard of authorised +interpretation? Orthodox opponents feared the alliance with a man +whose first principle was toleration, and first among them was the +excellent Mrs. Trimmer, who had been already engaged in the +Sunday-school movement. She pointed out in a pamphlet that the +schismatic Lancaster was weakening the Established Church. The +_Edinburgh Review_ came to his support in 1806 and 1807; for the Whig, +especially if he was also a Scot, was prejudiced against the Church of +England. Lancaster went on his way, but soon got into difficulties, +for he was impetuous, careless of money, and autocratic. William +Allen, with another Quaker, came to his support in 1808, and founded +the Royal Lancasterian Society to maintain his school in the Borough +Road, and propagate its like elsewhere. Lancaster travelled through +the country, and the agitation prospered, and spread even to America. +The church, however, was now fairly aroused. Bishop Marsh preached a +sermon in St. Paul's, and followed it up by pamphlets; the cause was +taken up by the _Quarterly Review_ in 1811, and in the same year the +National Society was founded to 'educate the poor in the principles of +the Established Church.' Bell had suggested a national system, but the +times were not ripe. Meanwhile the controversy became furious. The +_Edinburgh_ and the _Quarterly_ thundered on opposite sides. Immense +importance was attached by both parties to the scheme devised by Bell, +and partly adopted by Lancaster. The war involved a personal element +and the charges of plagiarism which give spice to a popular +controversy. All parties, and certainly the Utilitarians, strangely +exaggerated the value of the new method. They regarded the proposal +that children should be partly taught by other children instead of +being wholly taught by adults as a kind of scientific discovery which +would enormously simplify and cheapen education. Believers in the +'Panopticon' saw in it another patent method of raising the general +level of intelligence. But the real question was between church and +dissent. Was the church catechism to be imposed or not? This, as we +have seen, was the occasion of Bentham's assault upon church and +catechism. On the other side, Bell's claims were supported with +enthusiasm by all the Tories, and by such men as Southey and +Coleridge. Southey, who had defended Bell in the _Quarterly_,[12] +undertook to be Bell's biographer[13] and literary executor. Coleridge +was so vehement in the cause that when lecturing upon 'Romeo and +Juliet' in 1811, he plunged by way of exordium into an assault upon +Lancaster's modes of punishment.[14] De Quincey testifies that he +became a positive bore upon Bell's virtues. In 1812 Lancaster had got +deeply into debt to the trustees of the Society, who included besides +Allen, Joseph Fox--a 'shallow, gloomy bigot' according to Place--and +some other Quakers. Lancaster resented their control, and in 1812 made +over his Borough Road school to them, and set up one of his own at +Tooting. They continued, however, to employ him, and in 1813 formed +themselves into the 'British and Foreign' School Society. Place had +known Lancaster from 1804, and Mill had supported him in the press. +They both became members of the committee, though Place took the most +active part. He makes many grave charges against Lancaster, whom he +regarded as hopelessly flighty and impracticable, if not worse. +Ultimately in 1814 Lancaster resigned his position, and naturally +retorted that Place was an infidel. Place, meanwhile, was ill at ease +with the 'gloomy bigot,' as he calls Fox. After many quarrels, Fox +succeeded in getting the upper hand, and Place finally withdrew from +the committee in 1815. + +Two other schemes arose out of this, in which Mill was specially +interested, but which both proved abortive. Mill and Place resolved in +1813 to start a 'West London Lancasterian Institution,' which was to +educate the whole population west of Temple Bar. They were joined by +Edward Wakefield, father of the Edward Gibbon Wakefield who in later +years was known as an economist, and himself author of a work of +considerable reputation, _An Account of Ireland, Statistical and +Political_ (1812). The three joined Joseph Fox, and ultimately a +meeting was held in August 1813. Sir James Mackintosh was in the +chair. Mill wrote the address, and motions were proposed by his friend +Joseph Hume and by William Allen. Papers were circulated, headed +'Schools for all,'[15] and the institution was launched with a +sufficiency of applause. But the 'gloomy bigot' was secretary. He +declared that he would rather see the institution destroyed than +permit it to be used for infidel purposes. The Bible was, of course, +to be read in the schools, but Fox wished that the Bible alone should +be read. As the committee, according to Place, included four infidels, +three Unitarians, six Methodists, two Baptists, two Roman Catholics, +and several members of the Established Church, it was hardly a happy +family. To add to the confusion, Sir Francis Burdett, who had +contributed a thousand pounds, had taken it into his head that Place +was a government spy.[16] The Association, as is hardly surprising, +ceased to exist in 1816, after keeping up a school of less than three +hundred children, and ended in hopeless failure. The Utilitarians had +higher hopes from a scheme of their own. This was the Chrestomathic +school which occasioned Bentham's writing. An association was formed +in February 1814. Mackintosh, Brougham, Mill, Allen, Fox, and +Wakefield were to be trustees. The school was to apply Lancasterian +principles to the education of the middle classes, and Bentham was to +supply them with a philosophy and with a site in his garden. There the +old gentleman was to see a small version of the Panopticon building, +and, for a time, he took great delight in the prospect. Gradually, +however, it seems to have dawned upon him that there might be +inconveniences in being overlooked by a set of even model schoolboys. +There were difficulties as to funds. Ricardo offered L200 and +collected subscriptions for L900, but Place thought that he might have +been more liberal. About 1817 they counted upon subscriptions for +L2310. Allen was treasurer, Place secretary, and the dukes of Kent and +York were on the committee. Romilly was persuaded to join, and they +had hopes of the L1000 given by Burdett to the West London +Institution. But the thing could never be got into working order, in +spite of Place's efforts and Mill's counsels; and, after painful +haulings and tuggings, it finally collapsed in 1820.[17] + +The efforts of the Utilitarians to effect anything directly in the way +of education thus fell completely flat. One moral is sufficiently +obvious. They were, after all, but a small clique, regarded with +suspicion by all outsiders; and such a system as could seriously +affect education could only be carried out either by government, +which was thinking of very different things, or by societies already +connected with the great religious bodies. The only function which +could be adequately discharged by the little band of Utilitarians was +to act upon public opinion; and this, no doubt, they could do to some +purpose. I have gone so far into these matters in order to illustrate +their position; but, as will be seen, Mill, though consulted at every +stage by Place, and doing what he could to advocate the cause, was, +after all, in the background. He was still wrestling with the Indian +History, which was, as he hoped, to win for him an independent +position. The effort was enormous. In 1814 he told Place that he was +working at the History from 5 A.M. till 11 P.M. When at Ford Abbey his +regular day's work began at 6 A.M. and lasted till 11 P.M., during +which time three hours were given to teaching his children, and a +couple of short walks supplied him with recreation. How, with all his +energy, he managed to pay his way is a mystery, which his biographer +is unable fully to solve.[18] + +The History at last appeared in 3 vols. 4to, at the end of 1817. Dry +and stern as its author, and embodying some of his political +prejudices, it was at least a solid piece of work, which succeeded at +once, and soon became the standard book upon the subject. Mill argues +in the preface with characteristic courage that his want of personal +knowledge of India was rather an advantage. It made him impartial. A +later editor[19] has shown that it led to some serious misconceptions. +It is characteristic of the Utilitarian attitude to assume that a +sufficient knowledge of fact can always be obtained from blue-books +and statistics. Some facts require imagination and sympathy to be +appreciated, and there Mill was deficient. He could not give an +adequate picture of Hindoo beliefs and customs, though he fully +appreciated the importance of such questions. Whatever its +shortcomings, the book produced a remarkable change in Mill's +position. He applied for a vacant office in the India House. His +friends, Joseph Hume and Ricardo, made interest for him in the city. +Place co-operated energetically.[20] Canning, then president of the +Board of Control, is said to have supported him; and the general +impression of his ability appears to have caused his election, in +spite of some Tory opposition. He became Assistant to the Examiner of +India Correspondence, with a salary of L800 on 12th May 1819. On 10th +April 1821 he became Second Assistant, with L1000 a year; on 9th April +1823 he was made Assistant Examiner, with L1200 a year; and on 1st +December 1830 Examiner, with L1900, which on 17th February 1836 was +raised to L2000. The official work came in later years to absorb the +greatest part of Mill's energy, and his position excluded him from any +active participation in politics, had he ever been inclined for it. +Mill, however, set free from bondage, was able to exert himself very +effectually with his pen; and his writings became in a great degree +the text-books of his sect. + +During 1818 he had again co-operated with Place in a political matter. +The dissolution of parliament in 1818 produced another contest at +Westminster. Place and Mill were leaders in the Radical committee, +which called a public meeting, where Burdett and Kinnaird were chosen +as candidates. They were opposed to Romilly, the old friend of Bentham +and of Mill himself. Both Mill and Bentham regarded him as not +sufficiently orthodox. Romilly, however, was throughout at the head of +the poll, and the Radical committee were obliged to withdraw their +second candidate, Kinnaird, in order to secure the election of Burdett +against the government candidate Maxwell. Romilly soon afterwards +dined at Bentham's house, and met Mill, with Dumont, Brougham, and +Rush, on friendly terms. On Romilly's sad death on 2nd November +following, Mill went to Worthing to offer his sympathy to the family, +and declared that the 'gloom' had 'affected his health.' He took no +part in the consequent election, in which Hobhouse stood +unsuccessfully as the Radical candidate. + + +III. LEADER OF THE UTILITARIANS + +Politics were beginning to enter upon a new phase. The period was +marked by the 'Six Acts' and the 'Peterloo massacre.' The Radical +leaders who upheld the cause in those dark days were not altogether to +the taste of the Utilitarians. After Burdett, John Cartwright +(1740-1824) and Henry (or 'Orator') Hunt (1773-1835), hero of the +'Peterloo massacre,' were the most conspicuous. They were supported by +Cobbett, the greatest journalist of the time, and various more obscure +writers. The Utilitarians held them in considerable contempt. Burdett +was flashy, melodramatic, and vain; Hunt an 'unprincipled demagogue'; +and Cartwright, the Nestor of reform, who had begun his labours in +1780, was, according to Place, wearisome, impracticable, and a mere +nuisance in matters of business. The Utilitarians tried to use such +men, but shared the Tory opinion of their value. They had some +relations with other obscure writers who were martyrs to the liberty +of the press. Place helped William Hone in the _Reformer's Register_, +which was brought out in 1817. The famous trial in which Hone +triumphed over Ellenborough occurred at the end of that year. Richard +Carlile (1790-1843), who reprinted Hone's pamphlets, and in 1818 +published Paine's works, was sentenced in 1819 to three years' +imprisonment; and while in confinement began the _Republican_, which +appeared from 1819 to 1826. Ultimately he passed nine years in jail, +and showed unflinching courage in maintaining the liberty of speech. +The Utilitarians, as Professor Bain believes, helped him during his +imprisonments, and John Mill's first publication was a protest against +his prosecution.[21] A 'republican, an atheist, and Malthusian,' he +was specially hated by the respectable, and had in all these +capacities claims upon the sympathy of the Utilitarians. One of +Carlile's first employments was to circulate the _Black Dwarf_, edited +by Thomas Jonathan Wooler from 1817 to 1824.[22] This paper +represented Cartwright, but it also published Bentham's reform +_Catechism_, besides direct contributions and various selections from +his works. + +The Utilitarians were opposed on principle to Cobbett, a reformer of a +type very different from their own; and still more vitally opposed to +Owen, who was beginning to develop his Socialist schemes. If they had +sympathy for Radicalism of the Wooler or Carlile variety, they +belonged too distinctly to the ranks of respectability, and were too +deeply impressed with the necessity of reticence, to allow their +sympathies to appear openly. As, on the other hand, they were too +Radical in their genuine creed to be accepted by Edinburgh Reviewers +and frequenters of Holland House, there was a wide gap between them +and the genuine Whig. Their task therefore was to give a political +theory which should be Radical in principle, and yet in such a form as +should appeal to the reason of the more cultivated readers without too +openly shocking their prejudices. + +James Mill achieved this task by the publication of a series of +articles in the Supplement to the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, which +appeared from 1816 to 1823, of which I shall presently speak at +length. It passed for the orthodox profession of faith among the +little circle of friends who had now gathered round him. First among +them was David Ricardo. He had become known to Mill in 1811. 'I,' said +Bentham, 'was the spiritual father of Mill, and Mill the spiritual +father of Ricardo.'[23] Mill was really the disciple of Ricardo in +economics; but it was Mill who induced him to publish his chief work, +and Mill's own treatise upon the subject published in 1820 is +substantially an exposition of Ricardo's doctrine. Mill, too, +encouraged Ricardo to take a seat in parliament in 1818, and there for +the short remainder of his life, Ricardo defended the characteristic +Utilitarian principles with the authority derived from his reputation +as an economist.[24] The two were now especially intimate. During +Mill's first years in the India House, his only recreation was an +annual visit to Ricardo at Gatcombe. Meetings at Ricardo's house in +London led to the foundation of the 'Political Economy Club' in 1821. +Mill drafted the rules of the club, emphasising the duty of members to +propagate sound economic opinions through the press. The club took +root and helped to make Mill known to politicians and men of +commercial influence. One of the members was Malthus, who is said, and +the assertion is credible enough, to have been generally worsted by +Mill in the discussions at the club. Mill was an awkward antagonist, +and Malthus certainly not conspicuous for closeness of logic. The +circle of Mill's friends naturally extended as his position in the +India House enabled him to live more at his ease and brought him into +contact with men of political position. His old school-fellow Joseph +Hume had made a fortune in India, and returned to take a seat in +parliament and become the persistent and tiresome advocate of many of +the Utilitarian doctrines. A younger generation was growing up, +enthusiastic in the cause of reform, and glad to sit at the feet of +men who claimed at least to be philosophical leaders. John Black +(1783-1855), another sturdy Scot, who came from Duns in Berwickshire, +had, in 1817, succeeded Perry as editor of the _Morning Chronicle_. +The _Chronicle_ was an opposition paper, and day by day Black walked +with Mill from the India House, discussing the topics of the time and +discharging himself through the _Chronicle_. The _Chronicle_ declined +after 1821, owing to a change in the proprietorship.[25] Albany +Fonblanque (1793-1872) took to journalism at an early age, succeeded +Leigh Hunt as leader-writer for the _Examiner_ in 1826, became +another exponent of Utilitarian principles, and for some time in +alliance with John Stuart Mill was among the most effective +representatives of the new school in the press. John Ramsay M'Culloch +(1789-1864) upheld the economic battle in the _Scotsman_ at Edinburgh +from 1817-1827, and edited it from 1818-1820. He afterwards devoted +himself to lecturing in London, and was for many years the most ardent +apostle of the 'dismal science.' He was a genial, whisky-loving Scot; +the favourite object of everybody's mimicry; and was especially +intimate with James Mill. Many other brilliant young men contributed +their help in various ways. Henry Bickersteth (1783-1851), afterwards +Lord Langdale and Master of the Rolls, had brought Bentham and Burdett +into political alliance; and his rising reputation at the bar led to +his being placed in 1824 upon a commission for reforming the procedure +of the Court of Chancery, one of the most cherished objects of the +Utilitarian creed. Besides these there were the group of young men, +who were soon to be known as the 'philosophical Radicals.' John Stuart +Mill, upon whom the mantle of his father was to descend, was +conspicuous by his extraordinary precocity, and having been carefully +educated in the orthodox faith, was employed in 1825 upon editing +Bentham's great work upon evidence. George Grote (1794-1871), the +future historian, had been introduced to Mill by Ricardo; and was in +1821 defending Mill's theory of government against Mackintosh, and in +1822 published the _Analysis of Revealed Religion_, founded upon +Bentham's manuscripts and expressing most unequivocally the +Utilitarian theory of religion. With them were associated the two +Austins, John (1790-1859) who, in 1821, lived close to Bentham and +Mill in Queen's Square, and who was regarded as the coming teacher of +the Utilitarian system of jurisprudence; and Charles (1799-1874), who +upheld the true faith among the young gentlemen at Cambridge with a +vigour and ability which at least rivalled the powers of his +contemporary, Macaulay. Meanwhile, Mill himself was disqualified by +his office from taking any direct part in political agitations. Place +continued an active connection with the various Radical committees and +associations; but the younger disciples had comparatively little +concern in such matters. They were more interested in discussing the +applications of Utilitarianism in various directions, or, so far as +they had parliamentary aspirations, were aspiring to found a separate +body of 'philosophical Radicals,' which looked down upon Place and his +allies from the heights of superior enlightenment. + +Mill could now look forward to a successful propaganda of the creed +which had passed so slowly through its period of incubation. The death +of Ricardo in 1823 affected him to a degree which astonished his +friends, accustomed only to his stern exterior. A plentiful crop of +young proselytes, however, was arising to carry on the work; and the +party now became possessed of the indispensable organ. The +_Westminster Review_ was launched at the beginning of 1824. Bentham +provided the funds; Mill's official position prevented him from +undertaking the editorship, which was accordingly given to Bentham's +young disciple, Bowring, helped for a time by Henry Southern. The +_Westminster_ was to represent the Radicals as the two older reviews +represented the Whigs and the Tories; and to show that the new party +had its philosophers and its men of literary cultivation as well as +its popular agitators and journalists. It therefore naturally put +forth its claims by opening fire in the first numbers against the +_Edinburgh_ and the _Quarterly Reviews_. The assault upon the +_Edinburgh Review_, of which I shall speak presently, made an +impression, and, as J. S. Mill tells us, brought success to the first +number of the new venture. The gauntlet was thrown down with plenty of +vigour, and reformers were expected to rally round so thoroughgoing a +champion. In later numbers Mill afterwards (Jan. 9, 1826) fell upon +Southey's _Book of the Church_, and (April 1826) assailed church +establishments in general. He defended toleration during the same year +in a review of Samuel Bailey's _Formation of Opinions_, and gave a +general account of his political creed in an article (October) on the +'State of the Nation.' This was his last contribution to the +_Westminster_; but in 1827 he contributed to the _Parliamentary +History and Review_, started by James Marshall of Leeds, an article +upon recent debates on reform, which ended for a time his political +writings. + +The Utilitarians had no great talent for cohesion. Their very +principles were indeed in favour of individual independence, and they +were perhaps more ready to diverge than to tolerate divergence. The +_Westminster Review_ had made a good start, and drew attention to the +rising 'group'--J. S. Mill declares that it never formed a +'school.'[26] From the very first the Mills distrusted Bowring and +disapproved of some articles; the elder Mill failed to carry his +disciples with him, partly because they were already in favour of +giving votes to women; and as the _Review_ soon showed itself unable +to pay its way, some new arrangement became necessary. It was finally +bought by Perronet Thompson, and ceased for a time to be the official +organ of Benthamism. + +Another undertaking occupied much of Mill's attention in the following +years. The educational schemes of the Utilitarians had so far proved +abortive. In 1824, however, it had occurred to the poet, Thomas +Campbell, then editing the _New Monthly Magazine_, that London ought +to possess a university comparable to that of Berlin, and more on a +level with modern thought than the old universities of Oxford and +Cambridge, which were still in the closest connection with the church. +Campbell addressed a letter to Brougham, and the scheme was taken up +energetically on several sides. Place[27] wrote an article, which he +offered to Campbell for the _New Monthly_, who declined out of modesty +to publish it in his own organ. It was then offered to Bowring for the +_Westminster_, and ultimately suppressed by him, which may have been +one of the causes of his differences with the Mills. Brougham took a +leading part in the agitation; Joseph Hume promised to raise L100,000. +George Birkbeck, founder of the Mechanics' Institution, and Zachary +Macaulay, who saw in it a place of education for dissenting ministers, +joined the movement, and among the most active members of the new body +were James Mill and Grote. A council was formed at the end of 1825, +and after various difficulties a sum of L160,000 was raised, and the +university started in Gower Street in 1828. Among the first body of +professors were John Austin and M'Culloch, both of them sound +Utilitarians. The old difficulty, however, made itself felt. In order +to secure the unsectarian character of the university, religious +teaching was omitted. The college was accused of infidelity. King's +College was started in opposition; and violent antipathies were +aroused. A special controversy raged within the council itself. Two +philosophical chairs were to be founded; and philosophy cannot be kept +clear of religion. After long discussions, one chair was filled by the +appointment of the Reverend John Hoppus, an independent minister. +Grote, declaring that no man, pledged by his position to the support +of any tenets, should be appointed, resigned his place on the +council.[28] The university in 1836 became a college combined with its +rival King's College under the newly formed examining body called the +University of London. It has, I suppose, been of service to education, +and may be regarded as the one practical achievement of the +Utilitarians in that direction, so far as its foundation was due to +them. It must, however, be admitted that the actual body still falls +very far short of the ideal present to the minds of its founders. + +From 1822 James Mill spent his vacations at Dorking, and afterwards at +Mickleham. He had devoted them to a task which was necessary to fill a +gap in the Utilitarian scheme. Hitherto the school had assumed, rather +than attempted to establish, a philosophical basis of its teaching. +Bentham's fragmentary writings about the Chrestomathic school supplied +all that could by courtesy be called a philosophy. Mill, however, had +been from the first interested in philosophical questions. His reading +was not wide; he knew something of the doctrines taught by Stewart and +Stewart's successor, Brown. He had been especially impressed by +Hobbes, to some degree by Locke and Hume, but above all by Hartley. He +knew something, too, of Condillac and the French Ideologists. Of +recent German speculation he was probably quite ignorant. I find +indeed that Place had called his attention to the account of Kant, +published by Wirgman in the _Encyclopaedia Londinensis_ 1817. Mill +about the same time tells Place that he has begun to read _The Critic +of Pure Reason_. 'I see clearly enough,' he says, 'what poor Kant +would be about, but it would require some time to give an account of +him.' He wishes (December 6, 1817) that he had time to write a book +which would 'make the human mind as plain as the road from Charing +Cross to St. Paul's.'[29] This was apparently the task to which he +applied himself in his vacations. The _Analysis_ appeared in 1829, +and, whatever its defects of incompleteness and one-sidedness from a +philosophical point of view, shows in the highest degree Mill's powers +of close, vigorous statement; and lays down with singular clearness +the psychological doctrine, which from his point of view supplied the +fundamental theorems of knowledge in general. It does not appear, +however, to have made an impression proportionate to the intellectual +power displayed, and had to wait a long time before reaching the +second edition due to the filial zeal of J. S. Mill. + +James Mill, after his articles in the _Westminster_, could take +little part in political agitation. He was still consulted by Place in +regard to the Reform movement. Place himself took an important part at +the final crisis, especially by his circulation in the week of agony +of the famous placard, 'Go for Gold.' But the Utilitarians were now +lost in the crowd. The demand for reform had spread through all +classes. The attack upon the ruling class carried on by the Radicals +of all shades in the dark days of Sidmouth and the six Acts was now +supported by the nation at large. The old Toryism could no longer +support itself by appealing to the necessities of a struggle for +national existence. The prestige due to the victorious end of the war +had faded away. The Reform Bill of 1832 was passed, and the +Utilitarians hoped that the millennium would at least begin to dawn. + +Mill in 1830 removed from Queen's Square to Vicarage Place, +Kensington. He kept his house at Mickleham, and there took long Sunday +walks with a few of his disciples. His strength was more and more +absorbed in his official duties. He was especially called upon to give +evidence before the committees which from 1830 to 1833 considered the +policy to be adopted in renewing the charter of the East India +Company. Mill appeared as the advocate of the company, defended their +policy, and argued against the demands of the commercial body which +demanded the final suppression of the old trading monopoly of the +Company. The abolition, indeed, was a foregone conclusion; but Mill's +view was not in accordance with the doctrines of the thoroughgoing +freetraders. His official experience, it seems, upon this and other +matters deterred him from the _a priori_ dogmatism too characteristic +of his political speculations. Mill also suggested the formation of a +legislative council, which was to contain one man 'versed in the +philosophy of men and government.' This was represented by the +appointment of the legal member of council in the Act of 1833. Mill +approved of Macaulay as the first holder of the post. It was 'very +handsome' of him, as Macaulay remarks, inasmuch as the famous articles +written by Macaulay himself, in which the _Edinburgh_ had at last +retorted upon the Utilitarians, must still have been fresh in his +memory. The 'Penal Code' drawn by Macaulay as holder of the office was +the first actual attempt to carry out Bentham's favourite schemes +under British rule, and the influence of the chief of Bentham's +disciples at the India House may have had something to do with its +initiation. Macaulay's chief subordinate, it may be remarked, Charles +Hay Cameron, was one of the Benthamites, and had been proposed by +Grote for the chair at the London University ultimately filled by +Hoppus. + +After 1830 Mill wrote the severe fragment on Mackintosh, which, after +a delay caused by Mackintosh's death, appeared in 1835. He contributed +some articles to the _London Review_, founded by Sir W. Molesworth, as +an organ of the 'philosophical Radicals,' and superintended, though +not directly edited, by J. S. Mill. These, his last performances, +repeat the old doctrines. It does not appear, indeed, that Mill ever +altered one of his opinions. He accepted Bentham's doctrine to the +end, as unreservedly as a mathematician might accept Newton's +_Principia_. + +Mill's lungs had begun to be affected. It was supposed that they were +injured by the dust imbibed on coach journeys to Mickleham. He had a +bad attack of haemorrhage in August 1835, and died peacefully on 23rd +June 1836. + +What remains to be said of Mill personally may be suggested by a +noticeable parallel. S. T. Coleridge, born about six months before +Mill, died two years before him. The two lives thus coincided for more +than sixty years, and each man was the leader of a school. In all else +the contrast could hardly be greater. If we were to apply the rules of +ordinary morality, it would be entirely in Mill's favour. Mill +discharged all his duties as strenuously as a man could, while +Coleridge's life was a prolonged illustration of the remark that when +an action presented itself to him as a duty he became physically +incapable of doing it. Whatever Mill undertook he accomplished, often +in the face of enormous difficulties. Coleridge never finished +anything, and his works are a heap of fragments of the prolegomena to +ambitious schemes. Mill worked his hardest from youth to age, never +sparing labour or shirking difficulties or turning aside from his +path. Coleridge dawdled through life, solacing himself with opium, and +could only be coaxed into occasional activity by skilful diplomacy. +Mill preserved his independence by rigid self-denial, temperance, and +punctuality. Coleridge was always dependent upon the generosity of his +friends. Mill brought up a large family, and in the midst of severe +labours found time to educate them even to excess. Coleridge left his +wife and children to be cared for by others. And Coleridge died in the +odour of sanctity, revered by his disciples, and idolised by his +children; while Mill went to the grave amidst the shrugs of +respectable shoulders, and respected rather than beloved by the son +who succeeded to his intellectual leadership. + +The answer to the riddle is indeed plain enough; or rather there are +many superabundantly obvious answers. Had Mill defended orthodox views +and Coleridge been avowedly heterodox, we should no doubt have heard +more of Coleridge's opium and of Mill's blameless and energetic life. +But this explains little. That Coleridge was a man of genius and, +moreover, of exquisitely poetical genius, and that Mill was at most a +man of remarkable talent and the driest and sternest of logicians is +also obvious. It is even more to the purpose that Coleridge was +overflowing with kindliness, though little able to turn goodwill to +much effect; whereas Mill's morality took the form chiefly of +attacking the wicked. This is indicated by the saying attributed by +Bowring to Bentham that Mill's sympathy for the many sprang out of his +hatred of the oppressing few.[30] J. S. Mill very properly protested +against this statement when it was quoted in the _Edinburgh Review_. +It would obviously imply a gross misunderstanding, whether Bentham, +not a good observer of men, said so or not. But it indicates the side +of Mill's character which made him unattractive to contemporaries and +also to posterity. He partook, says his son,[31] of the Stoic, the +Epicurean, and the Cynic character. He was a Stoic in his personal +qualities; an Epicurean so far as his theory of morals was concerned; +and a Cynic in that he cared little for pleasure. He thought life a +'poor thing' after the freshness of youth had passed; and said that +he had never known an old man happy unless he could live over again in +the pleasures of the young. Temperance and self-restraint were +therefore his favourite virtues. He despised all 'passionate +emotions'; he held with Bentham that feelings by themselves deserved +neither praise nor blame; he condemned a man who did harm whether the +harm came from malevolence or from intellectual error. Therefore all +sentiment was objectionable, for sentiment means neglect of rules and +calculations. He shrank from showing feeling with more than the usual +English reserve; and showed his devotion to his children by drilling +them into knowledge with uncompromising strictness. He had no feeling +for the poetical or literary side of things; and regarded life, it +would seem, as a series of arguments, in which people were to be +constrained by logic, not persuaded by sympathy. He seems to have +despised poor Mrs. Mill, and to have been unsuccessful in concealing +his contempt, though in his letters he refers to her respectfully. +Mill therefore was a man little likely to win the hearts of his +followers, though his remarkable vigour of mind dominated their +understandings. + +The amiable and kindly, whose sympathies are quickly moved, gain an +unfair share of our regard both in life and afterwards. We are more +pleased by an ineffectual attempt to be kindly, than by real kindness +bestowed ungraciously. Mill's great qualities should not be overlooked +because they were hidden by a manner which seems almost deliberately +repellent. He devoted himself through life to promote the truth as he +saw it; to increase the scanty amounts of pleasures enjoyed by +mankind; and to discharge all the duties which he owed to his +neighbours. He succeeded beyond all dispute in forcibly presenting one +set of views which profoundly influenced his countrymen; and the very +narrowness of his intellect enabled him to plant his blows more +effectively. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The chief authority for James Mill is _James Mill: a Biography_, +by Alexander Bain, Emeritus Professor of Logic in the University of +Aberdeen, London, 1882. The book contains very full materials; and, if +rather dry, deals with a dry subject. + +[2] Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 70 _n._ + +[3] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 166. + +[4] Gifford's real name was John Richards Green. The identity of his +assumed name with that of the more famous William Gifford has led to a +common confusion between the two periodicals. 'Peter Pindar' assaulted +William Gifford under the erroneous impression that he was editor of +the second. + +[5] Letter in Bain's _James Mill_, pp. 136-40. + +[6] _Autobiography_, p. 39. + +[7] Bain's _James Mill_, pp. 97-106. Mill appears to have said +something 'extravagant' about Bentham in an article upon Miranda in +the _Edinburgh Review_ for January 1809. He also got some praises of +Bentham into the _Annual Review_ of 1809 (Bain, 92-96). + +[8] See the very interesting Life of Francis Place, by Mr. Graham +Wallas, 1898. + +[9] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 78, and Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 66. + +[10] Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 68. + +[11] He 'put together' the _Not Paul but Jesus_ at Ford Abbey in 1817, +and helped to preface the Reform _Catechism_. Wallas's _Francis +Place_, p. 84. + +[12] The article of 1811 was also published separately. + +[13] He wrote only the first volume. Two others were added by Cuthbert +Southey. + +[14] _Lectures_ (Ashe, 1885), pp. 32, 61. + +[15] James Mill, according to Place, wrote a 'memorable and admirable +essay, "Schools for all, not schools for Churchmen only."'--Wallas's +_Francis Place_, 99 _n._ + +[16] This absurd suspicion was aroused by the quarrel about Burdett's +arrest. See Wallas's _Place_, p. 56. + +[17] Mr. Wallas gives an account of these schemes in chap. iv. of his +Life of Place. I have also consulted Place's collections in Additional +MSS., 27,823. + +[18] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 162. + +[19] H. H. Wilson in his preface to the edition of 1840. + +[20] Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 78. + +[21] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 435. + +[22] _Ibid._ p. 433. + +[23] Bentham's _Works_, p. 498. + +[24] See Carman in _Economic Review_, 1894. + +[25] See under Black in _Dictionary of National Biography_. + +[26] _Autobiography_, p. 101. + +[27] See Place's account in Additional MSS. 27,823. + +[28] G. C. Robertson, _Philosophical Remains_, p. 166; and under +George Grote in _Dictionary of National Biography_. + +[29] Letters communicated by Mr. Graham Wallas. See Mr. Wallas's +_Francis Place_, p. 91. + +[30] So Place observed that Mill 'could help the mass, but could not +help the individual, not even himself or his own.'--Wallas's _Francis +Place_, p. 79. + +[31] _Autobiography_, p. 48. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +REFORM MOVEMENTS + + +I. POLITICAL CHANGE + +The last years of Mill's life correspond to the period in which +Utilitarianism reached, in certain respects, its highest pitch of +influence. The little band who acknowledged him as their chief leader, +and as the authorised lieutenant of Bentham, considered themselves to +be in the van of progress. Though differing on many points from each +other, and regarded with aversion or distrust by the recognised party +leaders, they were in their most militant and confident state of mind. +They were systematically reticent as to their religious views: they +left to popular orators the public advocacy of their favourite +political measures; and the credit of finally passing such of those +measures as were adopted fell chiefly to the hands of the great +political leaders. The Utilitarians are ignored in the orthodox Whig +legend. In the preface to his collected works, Sydney Smith runs over +the usual list of changes which had followed, and, as he seems to +think, had in great part resulted from, the establishment of the +_Edinburgh Review_. Smith himself, and Jeffrey and Horner and, above +all, 'the gigantic Brougham,' had blown the blast which brought down +the towers of Jericho. Sir G. O. Trevelyan, in his _Life of Macaulay_, +describes the advent of the Whigs to office in a similar sense. +'Agitators and incendiaries,' he says, 'retired into the background, +as will always be the case when the country is in earnest: and +statesmen who had much to lose, and were not afraid to risk it, +stepped quietly and firmly to the front. The men and the sons of the +men who had so long endured exclusion from office, embittered by +unpopularity, at length reaped their reward.'[32] The Radical version +of the history is different. The great men, it said, who had left the +cause to be supported by agitators so long as the defence was +dangerous and profitless, stepped forward now that it was clearly +winning, and received both the reward and the credit. Mill and Place +could not find words to express their contempt for the trimming, +shuffling Whigs. They were probably unjust enough in detail; but they +had a strong case in some respects. The Utilitarians represented that +part of the reforming party which had a definite and a reasoned creed. +They tried to give logic where the popular agitators were content with +declamation, and represented absolute convictions when the Whig +reformers were content with tentative and hesitating compromises. They +had some grounds for considering themselves to be the 'steel of the +lance'; the men who formulated and deliberately defended the +principles which were beginning to conquer the world. + +The Utilitarians, I have said, became a political force in the +concluding years of the great war struggle. The catastrophe of the +revolution had unchained a whole whirlwind of antagonisms. The +original issues had passed out of sight; and great social, +industrial, and political changes were in progress which made the +nation that emerged from the war a very different body from the nation +that had entered it nearly a generation before. It is not surprising +that at first very erroneous estimates were made of the new position +when peace at last returned. + +The Radicals, who had watched on one side the growth of debt and +pauperism, and, on the other hand, the profits made by stockjobbers, +landlords, and manufacturers, ascribed all the terrible sufferings to +the selfish designs of the upper classes. When the war ended they +hoped that the evils would diminish, while the pretext for +misgovernment would be removed. A bitter disappointment followed. The +war was followed by widespread misery. Plenty meant ruin to +agriculturists, and commercial 'gluts' resulting in manufacturers' +warehouses crammed with unsaleable goods. The discontent caused by +misery had been encountered during the war by patriotic fervour. It +was not a time for redressing evils, when the existence of the nation +was at stake. Now that the misery continued, and the excuse for +delaying redress had been removed, a demand arose for parliamentary +reform. Unfortunately discontent led also to sporadic riotings, to +breaking of machinery and burning of ricks. The Tory government saw in +these disturbances a renewal of the old Jacobin spirit, and had +visions--apparently quite groundless--of widespread conspiracies and +secret societies ready to produce a ruin of all social order. It had +recourse to the old repressive measures, the suspension of the Habeas +Corpus Act, the passage of the 'Six Acts,' and the prosecution of +popular agitators. Many observers fancied that the choice lay between +a servile insurrection and the establishment of arbitrary power. + +By degrees, however, peace brought back prosperity. Things settled +down; commerce revived; and the acute distress passed away. The whole +nation went mad over the wrongs of Queen Caroline; and the demand for +political reform became for the time less intense. But it soon +appeared that, although this crisis had been surmounted, the temper of +the nation had profoundly changed. The supreme power still belonged +constitutionally to the landed interest. But it had a profoundly +modified social order behind it. The war had at least made it +necessary to take into account the opinions of larger classes. An +appeal to patriotism means that some regard must be paid to the +prejudices and passions of people at large. When enormous sums were to +be raised, the moneyed classes would have their say as to modes of +taxation. Commerce and manufactures went through crises of terrible +difficulty due to the various changes of the war; but, on the whole, +the industrial classes were steadily and rapidly developing in wealth, +and becoming relatively more important. The war itself was, in one +aspect at least, a war for the maintenance of the British supremacy in +trade. The struggle marked by the policy of the 'Orders in Council' on +one side, and Napoleon's decrees on the other, involved a constant +reference to Manchester and Liverpool and the rapidly growing +manufacturing and commercial interests. The growth, again, of the +press, at a time when every one who could read was keenly interested +in news of most exciting and important events, implied the rapid +development of a great organ of public opinion. + +The effects of these changes soon became palpable. The political +atmosphere was altogether different; and an entirely new set of +influences was governing the policy of statesmen. The change affected +the Tory as much as the Whig. However strongly he might believe that +he was carrying on the old methods, he was affected by the new ideas +which had been almost unconsciously incorporated in his creed. How +great was the change, and how much it took the shape of accepting +Utilitarian theories, may be briefly shown by considering a few +characteristic facts. + +The ablest men who held office at the time were Canning, Huskisson, +and Peel. They represented the conservatism which sought to +distinguish itself from mere obstructiveness. Their influence was felt +in many directions. The Holy Alliance had the sympathy of men who +could believe that the war had brought back the pre-revolutionary +order, and that its main result had been to put the Jacobin spirit in +chains. Canning's accession to office in 1822 meant that the foreign +policy of England was to be definitely opposed to the policy of the +'Holy Alliance.' A pithy statement of his view is given in a +remarkable letter, dated 1st February 1823, to the prince who was soon +to become Charles X.[33] The French government had declared that a +people could only receive a free constitution as a gift from their +legitimate kings. Should the English ministry, says Canning, after +this declaration, support the French in their attack upon the +constitutional government of Spain, it would be driven from office +amid 'the execration of Tories and Whigs alike.' He thought that the +doctrine of the sovereignty of the people was less alien to the +spirit of the British Constitution than the opposite doctrine of the +legitimists. In the early days, when Canning sat at the feet of Pitt, +the war, if not in their eyes an Anti-Jacobin crusade, had to be +supported by stimulating the Anti-Jacobin sentiment. In later days, +the war had come to be a struggle against the oppression of nations by +foreign despots. Canning could now accept the version of Pitt's policy +which corresponded to the later phase. Englishmen in general had no +more sympathy for despots who claimed a divine right than for despots +who acted in the name of democracy--especially when the despots +threatened to interfere with British trade. When Canning called 'the +new world into existence to redress the balance of the old,'[34] he +declared that English policy should resist threats from the Holy +Alliance directed against some of our best customers. The general +approval had special force among the Utilitarians. In the South +American States Bentham had found eager proselytes, and had hoped to +become a Solon. He had been consulted by the constitutionalists in +Spain and Portugal; and he and his disciples, Joseph Hume in +particular, had joined the Greek Committee, and tried to regenerate +Athens by sound Utilitarian tracts. All English Liberals sympathised +with the various movements which were more or less favoured by +Canning's policy; but the Utilitarians could also see in them the +opening of new fields already white for the harvest. + +The foreign policy was significant. It proved that the war, whatever +else it had done, had not brought back the old order; and the old +British traditions in favour of liberty of speech and action would +revive now that they were no longer trammelled by the fears of a +destructive revolution. The days of July in 1830 gave fresh importance +to the reaction of foreign upon English politics. + + +II. LAW REFORM + +Meanwhile, however, the Utilitarians had a far stronger interest in +domestic problems. In the first place, in Bentham's especial province +a complete change of feeling had taken place. Romilly was Bentham's +earliest disciple (so Bentham said), and looked up to him with 'filial +reverence.' Every 'reformatiuncle' introduced by Romilly in parliament +had been first brought to Bentham, to be conned over by the two.[35] +With great difficulty Romilly had got two or three measures through +the House of Commons, generally to be thrown out by Eldon's influence +in the Lords.[36] After Romilly's death in 1818, the cause was taken +up by the Whig philosopher, Sir James Mackintosh, and made a distinct +step in advance. Though there were still obstacles in the upper +regions, a committee was obtained to consider the frequency of capital +punishment, and measures were passed to abolish it in particular +cases. Finally, in 1823, the reform was adopted by Peel. Peel was +destined to represent in the most striking way the process by which +new ideas were gradually infiltrating the upper sphere. Though still a +strong Tory and a representative of the university of Oxford, he was +closely connected with the manufacturing classes, and had become +aware, as he wrote to Croker (23rd March 1820), that public opinion +had grown to be too large for its accustomed channels. As Home +Secretary, he took up the whole subject of the criminal law, and +passed in the next years a series of acts consolidating and mitigating +the law, and repealing many old statutes. A measure of equal +importance was his establishment in 1829 of the metropolitan police +force, which at last put an end to the old chaotic muddle described by +Colquhoun of parish officers and constables. Other significant legal +changes marked the opening of a new era. Eldon was the very +incarnation of the spirit of obstruction; and the Court of Chancery, +over which he presided for a quarter of a century, was thought to be +the typical stronghold of the evil principles denounced by Bentham. An +attack in 1823 upon Eldon was made in the House of Commons by John +Williams (1777-1846), afterwards a judge. Eldon, though profoundly +irritated by the personal imputations involved, consented to the +appointment of a commission, which reported in 1825, and recommended +measures of reform. In 1828, Brougham made a great display upon which +he had consulted Bentham.[37] In a speech of six hours' length he gave +a summary of existing abuses, which may still be read with +interest.[38] Commissions were appointed to investigate the procedure +of the Common Law Court and the law of real property. Another +commission, intended to codify the criminal law, was appointed in +1833. Brougham says that of 'sixty capital defects' described in his +speech, fifty-five had been removed, or were in course of removal, +when his speeches were collected (_i.e._ 1838). Another speech of +Brougham's in 1828 dealt with the carrying into execution of a +favourite plan of Bentham's--the formation of local courts, which +ultimately became the modern county courts.[39] The facts are +significant of a startling change--no less than an abrupt transition +from the reign of entire apathy to a reign of continuous reform +extending over the whole range of law. The Reform Bill accelerated the +movement, but it had been started before Bentham's death. The great +stone, so long immovable, was fairly set rolling. + +Bentham's influence, again, in bringing about the change is +undeniable. He was greatly dissatisfied with Brougham's speech, and, +indeed, would have been dissatisfied with anything short of a complete +logical application of his whole system. He held Brougham to be +'insincere,'[40] a trimmer and popularity-hunter, but a useful +instrument. Brougham's astonishing vanity and self-seeking prompted +and perverted his amazing activity. He represents the process, perhaps +necessary, by which a philosopher's ideas have to be modified before +they can be applied to practical application. Brougham, however, could +speak generously of men no longer in a position to excite his +jealousy. He says in the preface to his first speech that 'the age of +law reform and the age of Jeremy Bentham' were the same thing, and +declares Bentham to be the 'first legal philosopher' who had appeared +in the world. As the Chief advocates of Bentham he reckons Romilly, +his parliamentary representative; Dumont, his literary interpreter; +and James Mill, who, in his article upon 'jurisprudence,' had +popularised the essential principles of the doctrine. + +The Utilitarians had at last broken up the barriers of obstruction and +set the stream flowing. Whigs and Tories were taking up their +theories. They naturally exaggerated in some respects the completeness +of the triumph. The English law has not yet been codified, and it was +characteristic of the Benthamite school to exaggerate the facility of +that process. In their hatred of 'judge-made law' they assumed too +easily that all things would be arranged into convenient pigeon-holes +as soon as 'Judge and Co.' were abolished. It was a characteristic +error to exaggerate the simplicity of their problem, and to fail to +see that 'judge-made' law corresponds to a necessary inductive process +by which the complex and subtle differences have to be gradually +ascertained and fitted into a systematic statement. One other remark +suggests itself. The Utilitarians saw in the dogged obstructiveness of +Eldon and his like the one great obstacle to reform. It did not occur +to them that the clumsiness of parliamentary legislation might be +another difficulty. They failed to notice distinctly one tendency of +their reforms. To make a code you require a sovereign strong enough to +dominate the lawyers, not a system in which lawyers are an essential +part of a small governing class. Codification, in short, means +centralisation in one department. Blindness to similar results +elsewhere was a characteristic of the Utilitarian thinkers. + + +III. ECONOMIC REFORM + +In another department the Utilitarians boasted, and also with good +reason, of the triumph of their tenets. Political economy was in the +ascendant. Professorships were being founded in Oxford, Cambridge,[41] +London, and Edinburgh. Mrs. Marcet's _Conversations_ (1818) were +spreading the doctrine among babes and sucklings. The Utilitarians +were the sacred band who defended the strictest orthodoxy against all +opponents. They spoke as recognised authorities upon some of the most +vital questions of the day, of which I need here only notice Free +Trade, the doctrine most closely associated with the teaching of their +revered Adam Smith. In 1816 Ricardo remarks with satisfaction that the +principle 'is daily obtaining converts' even among the most prejudiced +classes; and he refers especially to a petition in which the clothiers +of Gloucestershire[42] expressed their willingness to give up all +restrictions. There was, indeed, an important set-off against this +gain. The landowners were being pledged to protection. They had +decided that in spite of the peace, the price of wheat must be kept up +to 80s. a quarter. They would no longer be complimented as Adam Smith +had complimented them on their superior liberality, and were now +creating a barrier only to be stormed after a long struggle. +Meanwhile the principle was making rapid way among their rivals. One +symptom was the adoption by the London merchants in 1820 of a famous +petition on behalf of free trade.[43] It was drawn up by Thomas Tooke +(1774-1858), who had long been actively engaged in the Russian trade, +and whose _History of Prices_ is in some respects the most valuable +economic treatise of the time. Tooke gives a curious account of his +action on this occasion.[44] He collected a few friends engaged in +commerce, who were opposed to the corn laws. He found that several of +them had 'crude and confused' notions upon the subject, and that each +held that his own special interests should be exempted on some pretext +from the general rule. After various dexterous pieces of diplomacy, +however, he succeeded in obtaining the signature of Samuel Thornton, a +governor of the bank of England, and ultimately procured a sufficient +number of signatures by private solicitation. He was favourably +received by the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool, and Vansittart (then +Chancellor of the Exchequer), and finally got the petition presented +to the House of Commons by Alexander Baring (afterwards Lord +Ashburton). Tooke remarks that the Liverpool administration was in +advance, not only of the public generally, but of the 'mercantile +community,' Glasgow and Manchester, however, followed in the same +steps, and the petition became a kind of official manifesto of the +orthodox doctrine. The Political Economy Club formed next year at +Tooke's instigation (April 18, 1821) was intended to hasten the +process of dispersing crude and confused ideas. It was essentially an +organ of the Utilitarian propaganda. + +The influence of the economists upon public policy was shown by the +important measures carried through chiefly by Huskisson. Huskisson +(1770-1830) was a type of the most intelligent official of his time. +Like his more brilliant friend Canning, he had been introduced into +office under Pitt, and retained a profound reverence for his early +leader. Huskisson was a thorough man of business, capable of wrestling +with blue-books, of understanding the sinking-fund, and having +theories about the currency; a master of figures and statistics and +the whole machinery of commerce. Though eminently useful, he might at +any moment be applying some awkward doctrine from Adam Smith. + +Huskisson began the series of economic reforms which were brought to +their full development by Peel and Gladstone. The collection of his +speeches[45] incidentally brings out very clearly his relation to the +Utilitarians. The most remarkable is a great speech of April 24, +1826[46] (upon the state of the silk manufacture), of which Canning +declared that he had never heard one abler, or which made a deeper +impression upon the House. In this he reviews his policy, going over +the most important financial measures of the preceding period. They +made a new era, and he dates the beginning of the movement from the +London petition, and the 'luminous speech' made by Baring when +presenting it. We followed public opinion, he says, and did not create +it.[47] Adopting the essential principles of the petition, the +government had in the first place set free the great woollen trade. +The silk trade had been emancipated by abolishing the Spitalfield Acts +passed in the previous century, which enabled magistrates to fix the +rates of wages. The principle of prohibition had been abandoned, +though protective duties remained. The navigation laws had been +materially relaxed, and steps taken towards removing restrictions of +different kinds upon trade with France and with India. One symptom of +the change was the consolidation of the custom law effected by James +Deacon Hume (1774-1842), an official patronised by Huskisson, and an +original member of the Political Economy Club. By a law passed in +1825, five hundred statutes dating from the time of Edward I. were +repealed, and the essence of the law given in a volume of moderate +size. Finally, the removal of prohibitions was undermining the +smugglers. + +The measures upon which Huskisson justly prided himself might have +been dictated by the Political Economy Club itself. So far as they +went they were an application of the doctrines of its thoroughgoing +members, of Mill, Ricardo, and the orthodox school. They indeed +supported him in the press. The _Morning Chronicle_, which expressed +their views, declared him to be the most virtuous minister, that is +(in true Utilitarian phrase), the most desirous of national welfare +who had ever lived. The praise of Radicals would be not altogether +welcome. Canning, in supporting his friend, maintained that sound +commercial policy belonged no more to the Whigs than to the Tories. +Huskisson and he were faithful disciples of Pitt, whose treaty with +France in 1786, assailed by Fox and the Whigs, had been the first +practical application of the Wealth of Nations. Neither party, +perhaps, could claim a special connection with good or bad political +economy; and certainly neither was prepared to incur political +martyrdom in zeal for scientific truth. A question was beginning to +come to the front which would make party lines dependent upon economic +theories, and Huskisson's view of this was characteristic. + +The speech from which I have quoted begins with an indignant retort +upon a member who had applied to him Burke's phrase about a +perfect-bred metaphysician exceeding the devil in malignity and +contempt for mankind. Huskisson frequently protested even against the +milder epithet of theorist. He asserted most emphatically that he +appealed to 'experience' and not to 'theory,' a slippery distinction +which finds a good exposure in Bentham's _Book of Fallacies_.[48] The +doctrine, however, was a convenient one for Huskisson. He could appeal +to experience to show that commercial restrictions had injured the +woollen trade, and their absence benefited the cotton trade,[49] and +when he was not being taunted with theories, he would state with +perfect clearness the general free trade argument.[50] But he had to +keep an eye to the uncomfortable tricks which theories sometimes play. +He argued emphatically in 1825[51] that analogy between manufactures +and agriculture is 'illogical.' He does not wish to depress the price +of corn, but to keep it at such a level that our manufactures may not +be hampered by dear food. Here he was forced by stress of politics to +differ from his economical friends. The country gentleman did not wish +to pay duties on his silk or his brandy, but he had a direct and +obvious interest in keeping up the price of corn. Huskisson had +himself supported the Corn Bill of 1815, but it was becoming more and +more obvious that a revision would be necessary. In 1828 he declared +that he 'lamented from the bottom of his soul the mass of evil and +misery and destruction of capital which that law in the course of +twelve years had produced.'[52] Ricardo, meanwhile, and the economists +had from the first applied to agriculture the principles which +Huskisson applied to manufactures.[53] Huskisson's melancholy death +has left us unable to say whether upon this matter he would have been +as convertible as Peel. In any case the general principle of free +trade was as fully adopted by Huskisson and Canning as by the +Utilitarians themselves. The Utilitarians could again claim to be both +the inspirers of the first principles, and the most consistent in +carrying out the deductions. They, it is true, were not generally +biassed by having any interest in rents. They were to be the allies or +teachers of the manufacturing class which began to be decidedly +opposed to the squires and the old order. + +In one very important economic question, the Utilitarians not only +approved a change of the law, but were the main agents in bringing it +about. Francis Place was the wire-puller, to whose energy was due the +abolition of the Conspiracy Laws in 1824. Joseph Hume in the House of +Commons, and M'Culloch, then editor of the _Scotsman_, had the most +conspicuous part in the agitation, but Place worked the machinery of +agitation. The bill passed in 1824 was modified by an act of 1825; but +the modification, owing to Place's efforts, was not serious, and the +act, as we are told on good authority, 'effected a real emancipation,' +and for the first time established the right of 'collective +bargaining.'[54] The remarkable thing is that this act, carried on the +principles of 'Radical individualism' and by the efforts of Radical +individualists, was thus a first step towards the application to +practice of socialist doctrine. Place thought that the result of the +act would be not the encouragement, but the decline, of trades-unions. +The unions had been due to the necessity of combining against +oppressive laws, and would cease when those laws were abolished.[55] +This marks a very significant stage in the development of economic +opinion. + + +IV. CHURCH REFORM + +The movement which at this period was most conspicuous politically was +that which resulted in Roman Catholic emancipation, and here, too, the +Utilitarians might be anticipating a complete triumph of their +principles. The existing disqualifications, indeed, were upheld by +little but the purely obstructive sentiment. When the duke of York +swore that 'so help him God!' he would oppose the change to the last, +he summed up the whole 'argument' against it. Canning and Huskisson +here represented the policy not only of Pitt, but of Castlereagh. The +Whigs, indeed, might claim to be the natural representatives of +toleration. The church of England was thoroughly subjugated by the +state, and neither Whig nor Tory wished for a fundamental change. But +the most obvious differentia of Whiggism was a dislike to the +ecclesiastical spirit. The Whig noble was generally more or less of a +freethinker; and upon such topics Holland House differed little from +Queen's Square Place, or differed only in a rather stricter reticence. +Both Whig and Tory might accept Warburton's doctrine of an 'alliance' +between church and state. The Tory inferred that the church should be +supported. His prescription for meeting discontent was 'more yeomanry' +and a handsome sum for church-building. The Whig thought that the +church got a sufficient return in being allowed to keep its revenues. +On the Tory view, the relation might be compared to that of man and +wife in Christian countries where, though the two are one, the husband +is bound to fidelity. On the Whig view it was like a polygamous +system, where the wife is in complete subjection, and the husband may +take any number of concubines. The Whig noble regarded the church as +socially useful, but he was by no means inclined to support its +interests when they conflicted with other political considerations. He +had been steadily in favour of diminishing the privileges of the +establishment, and had taken part in removing the grievances of the +old penal laws. He was not prepared to uphold privileges which +involved a palpable danger to his order. + +This position is illustrated by Sydney Smith, the ideal divine of +Holland House. The _Plymley Letters_[56] give his views most pithily. +Smith, a man as full of sound sense as of genuine humour, appeals to +the principles of toleration, and is keenly alive to the absurdity of +a persecution which only irritates without conversion. But he also +appeals to the danger of the situation. 'If Bonaparte lives,'[57] he +says, 'and something is not done to conciliate the Catholics, it seems +to me absolutely impossible but that we must perish.' We are like the +captain of a ship attacked by a pirate, who should begin by examining +his men in the church catechism, and forbid any one to sponge or ram +who had not taken the sacrament according to the forms of the church +of England. He confesses frankly that the strength of the Irish is +with him a strong motive for listening to their claims. To talk of +'not acting from fear is mere parliamentary cant.'[58] Although the +danger which frightened Smith was evaded, this was the argument which +really brought conviction even to Tories in 1829. In any case the +Whigs, whose great boast was their support of toleration, would not be +prompted by any Quixotic love of the church to encounter tremendous +perils in defence of its privileges. + +Smith's zeal had its limits. He observes humorously in his preface +that he had found himself after the Reform Bill engaged in the defence +of the National Church against the archbishop of Canterbury and the +bishop of London. The letters to Archdeacon Singleton, written when +the Whigs were flirting with the Radicals, show how much good an old +Whig could find in the establishment. This marks the difference +between the true Whig and the Utilitarian. The Whig would not risk the +country for the sake of church; he would keep the clerical power +strictly subordinate to the power of the state, but then, when +considered from the political side, it was part of a government system +providing him with patronage, and to be guarded from the rude assaults +of the Radical reformer. The Utilitarian, though for the moment he was +in alliance with the Whig, regarded the common victory as a step to +something far more sweeping. He objected to intolerance as decidedly +as the Whig, for absolute freedom of opinion was his most cherished +doctrine. He objected still more emphatically to persecution on behalf +of the church, because he entirely repudiated its doctrines. The +objection to spreading true doctrine by force is a strong one, but +hardly so strong as the objection to a forcible spread of false +doctrine. But, besides this, the church represented to the Utilitarian +precisely the very worst specimen of the corruptions of the time. The +Court of Chancery was bad enough, but the whole ecclesiastical system +with its vast prizes,[59] its opportunities for corrupt patronage, its +pluralism and non-residence was an evil on a larger scale. The +Radical, therefore, unlike the Whig, was an internecine enemy of the +whole system. The 'church of England system,' as Bentham calmly +remarks, is 'ripe for dissolution.'[60] I have already noticed his +quaint proposal for giving effect to his views. Mill, in the +_Westminster Review_, denounced the church of England as the worst of +all churches.[61] To the Utilitarian, in short, the removal of the +disqualification of dissenters and Catholics was thus one step to the +consummation which their logic demanded--the absolute disestablishment +and disendowment of the church. Conservatives in general anticipated +the confiscation of church revenues as a necessary result of reform; +and so far as the spirit of reformers was represented by the +Utilitarians and their Radical allies, they had good grounds for the +fear. James Mill's theory is best indicated by a later article +published in the _London Review_ of July 1835. After pointing out that +the church of England retains all the machinery desired for supporting +priests and preventing the growth of intellect and morality, he +proceeds to ask what the clergy do for their money. They read prayers, +which is a palpable absurdity; they preach sermons to spread +superstitious notions of the Supreme Being, and perform +ceremonies--baptism, and so forth--which are obviously silly. The +church is a mere state machine worked in subservience to the sinister +interest of the governing classes. The way to reform it would be to +equalise the pay: let the clergy be appointed by a 'Minister of Public +Instruction' or the county authorities; abolish the articles, and +constitute a church 'without dogmas or ceremonies'; and employ the +clergy to give lectures on ethics, botany, political economy, and so +forth, besides holding Sunday meetings, dances (decent dances are to +be specially invented for the purpose), and social meals, which would +be a revival of the 'agapai' of the early Christians. For this +purpose, however, it might be necessary to substitute tea and coffee +for wine. In other words, the church is to be made into a popular +London University. The plan illustrates the incapacity of an isolated +clique to understand the real tone of public opinion. I need not +pronounce upon Mill's scheme, which seems to have some sense in it, +but one would like to know whether Newman read his article. + + +V. SINISTER INTERESTS + +In questions of foreign policy, of law reform, of political economy, +and of religious tests, the Utilitarians thus saw the gradual +approximation to their most characteristic views on the part of the +Whigs, and a strong infiltration of the same views among the less +obstructive Tories. They held the logical creed, to which others were +slowly approximating, either from the force of argument or from the +great social changes which were bringing new classes into political +power. The movement for parliamentary reform which for a time +overshadowed all other questions might be regarded as a corollary from +the position already won. Briefly, it was clear that a new social +stratum was exercising a vast influence; the doctrines popular with it +had to be more or less accepted; and the only problem worth +consideration by practical men was whether or not such a change should +be made in the political machinery as would enable the influence to be +exercised by direct and constitutional means. To the purely +obstructive Tory parliamentary reform was a step to the general +cataclysm. The proprietor of a borough, like the proprietor of a +church patronage or commission in the army, had a right to his votes, +and to attack his right was simply confiscation of private property. +The next step might be to confiscate his estate. But even the more +intelligent Conservative drew the line at such a measure. Canning, +Huskisson, and even Peel might accept the views of the Utilitarians in +regard to foreign policy, to law reform, to free trade, or the removal +of religious tests, declaring only that they were obeying 'experience' +instead of logic, and might therefore go just as far as they pleased. +But they were all pledged to resist parliamentary reform to the +utmost. Men thoroughly steeped in official life, and versed in the +actual working of the machinery, were naturally alive to the magnitude +of the change to be introduced. They saw with perfect clearness that +it would amount to a revolution. The old system in which the ruling +classes carried on business by family alliances and bargains between +ministers and great men would be impracticable. The fact that so much +had been done in the way of concession to the ideas of the new classes +was for them an argument against the change. If the governing classes +were ready to reform abuses, why should they be made unable to govern? +A gradual enfranchisement of the great towns on the old system might +be desirable. Such a man as Huskisson, representing great commercial +interests, could not be blind to the necessity. But a thorough +reconstruction was more alarming. As Canning had urged in a great +speech at Liverpool, a House of Commons, thoroughly democratised, +would be incompatible with the existence of the monarchy and the +House of Lords. So tremendously powerful a body would reduce the other +parts of the constitution to mere excrescences, feeble drags upon the +new driving-wheel in which the whole real force would be concentrated. + +That this expressed, in point of fact, a serious truth, was, I take +it, undeniable. The sufficient practical answer was, that change was +inevitable. To refuse to adapt the constitutional machinery to the +altered political forces was not to hinder their growth, but to make a +revolution necessary. When, accordingly, the excluded classes began +seriously to demand admission, the only question came to lie between +violent and peaceable methods. The alarm with which our fathers +watched the progress of the measure may seem to us exaggerated, but +they scarcely overestimated the magnitude of the change. The old +rulers were taking a new partner of such power, that whatever +authority was left to them might seem to be left on sufferance. As +soon as he became conscious of his strength, they would be reduced to +nonentities. The Utilitarians took some part in the struggle, and +welcomed the victory with anticipations destined to be, for the time +at least, cruelly disappointed. But they were still a small minority, +whose views rather scandalised the leaders of the party with which +they were in temporary alliance. The principles upon which they based +their demands, as formulated by James Mill, looked, as we shall see, +far beyond the concessions of the moment. + +One other political change is significant, though I am unable to give +an adequate account of it. Bentham's denunciation of 'sinister +interests'--one of his leading topics--corresponds to the question of +sinecures, which was among the most effective topics of Radical +declamation. The necessity of limiting the influence of the crown and +excluding 'placemen' from the House of Commons had been one of the +traditional Whig commonplaces, and a little had been done by Burke's +act of 1782 towards limiting pensions and abolishing obsolete offices. +When English Radicalism revived, the assault was renewed in parliament +and the press. During the war little was achieved, though a revival of +the old complaints about placemen in parliament was among the first +symptoms of the rising sentiment. In 1812 an attack was made upon the +'tellers of the Exchequer.' Romilly[62] says that the value of one of +these offices had risen to L26,000 or L27,000 a year. The income came +chiefly from fees, and the actual work, whatever it was, was done by +deputy. The scandal was enormous at a time when the stress upon the +nation was almost unbearable. One of the tellerships was held by a +member of the great Grenville family, who announced that they regarded +the demand for reform as a personal attack upon them. The opposition, +therefore, could not muster even its usual strength, and the motion +for inquiry was rejected. When the war was over, even the government +began to feel that something must be done. In 1817 some acts were +passed[63] abolishing a variety of sinecure offices and 'regulating +certain offices in the Court of Exchequer.' The Radicals considered +this as a mere delusion, because it was provided at the same time that +pensions might be given to persons who had held certain great offices. +The change, however, was apparently of importance as removing the +chief apology for sinecures, and the system with modifications still +remains. The marquis of Camden, one of the tellers of the Exchequer, +voluntarily resigned the fees and accepted only the regular salary of +L2500. His action is commended in the _Black Book_,[64] which +expresses a regret that the example had not been followed by other +great sinecurists. Public opinion was beginning to be felt. During the +subsequent period the cry against sinecures became more emphatic. The +_Black Book_, published originally in 1820 and 1823, and afterwards +reissued, gave a list, so far as it could be ascertained, of all +pensions, and supplied a mass of information for Radical orators. The +amount of pensions is stated at over L1,000,000, including sinecure +offices with over L350,000 annually;[65] and the list of offices +(probably very inaccurate in detail) gives a singular impression of +the strange ramifications of the system. Besides the direct pensions, +every new department of administration seems to have suggested the +foundation of offices which tended to become sinecures. The cry for +'retrenchment' was joined to the cry for reform.[66] Joseph Hume, who +first entered parliament in 1818, became a representative of the +Utilitarian Radicalism, and began a long career of minute criticism +which won for him the reputation of a stupendous bore, but helped to +keep a steady pressure upon ministers.[67] Sir James Graham +(1792-1861) was at this time of Radical tendencies, and first made +himself conspicuous by demanding returns of pensions.[68] The +settlements of the civil lists of George IV., William IV., and +Victoria, gave opportunities for imposing new restrictions upon the +pension system. Although no single sweeping measure was passed, the +whole position was changed. By the time of the Reform Bill, a sinecure +had become an anachronism. The presumption was that whenever an +opportunity offered, it would be suppressed. Some of the sinecure +offices in the Court of Chancery, the 'Keeper of the Hanaper,' the +'Chaffwax,' and so forth, were abolished by an act passed by the +parliament which had just carried the Reform Bill.[69] In 1833 a +reform of the system of naval administration by Sir James Graham got +rid of some cumbrous machinery; and Graham again was intrusted in 1834 +with an act under which the Court of Exchequer was finally reformed, +and the 'Clerk of the Pells' and the 'Tellers of the Exchequer' ceased +to exist.[70] Other offices seem to have melted away by degrees, +whenever a chance offered. + +Many other of the old abuses had ceased to require any special +denunciations from political theorists. The general principle was +established, and what remained was to apply it in detail. The prison +system was no longer in want of a Howard or a Bentham. Abuses remained +which occupied the admirable Mrs. Fry; and many serious difficulties +had to be solved by a long course of experiment. But it was no longer +a question whether anything should be doing, but of the most +efficient means of bringing about an admittedly desirable end. The +agitation for the suppression of the slave-trade again had been +succeeded by the attack upon slavery. The system was evidently doomed, +although not finally abolished till after the Reform Bill; and +ministers were only considering the question whether the abolition +should be summary or gradual, or what compensation might be made to +vested interests. The old agitation had been remarkable, as I have +said, not only for its end but for the new kind of machinery to which +it had applied. Popular agitation[71] had taken a new shape. The +county associations formed in the last days of the American war of +independence, and the societies due to the French revolution had set a +precedent. The revolutionary societies had been suppressed or had died +out, as opposed to the general spirit of the nation, although they had +done a good deal to arouse political speculation. In the period of +distress which followed the war the Radical reformers had again held +public meetings, and had again been met by repressive measures. The +acts of 1817 and 1819[72] imposed severe restrictions upon the right +of public meeting. The old 'county meeting,' which continued to be +common until the reform period, and was summoned by the +lord-lieutenant or the sheriff on a requisition from the freeholders, +had a kind of constitutional character, though I do not know its +history in detail.[73] The extravagantly repressive measures were an +anachronism, or could only be enforced during the pressure of an +intense excitement. In one way or other, public meetings were soon +being held as frequently as ever. The trial of Queen Caroline gave +opportunity for numerous gatherings, and statesmen began to find that +they must use instead of suppressing them. Canning[74] appears to have +been the first minister to make frequent use of speeches addressed to +public meetings; and meetings to which such appeals were addressed +soon began to use their authority to demand pledges from the +speakers.[75] Representation was to be understood more and more as +delegation. Meanwhile the effect of public meetings was enormously +increased when a general organisation was introduced. The great +precedent was the Catholic Association, founded in 1823 by O'Connell +and Sheil. The peculiar circumstances of the Irish people and their +priests gave a ready-made machinery for the agitation which triumphed +in 1829. The Political Union founded by Attwood at Birmingham in the +same year adopted the method, and led to the triumph of 1832. +Political combination henceforth took a different shape, and in the +ordinary phrase, 'public opinion' became definitely the ultimate and +supreme authority. This enormous change and the corresponding +development of the power of the press, which affected to mould and, at +any rate, expressed public opinion, entirely fell in with Utilitarian +principles. Their part in bringing about the change was of no special +importance except in so far as they more or less inspired the popular +orators. They were, however, ready to take advantage of it. They had +the _Westminster Review_ to take a place beside the _Edinburgh_ and +_Quarterly Reviews_, which had raised periodical writing to a far +higher position than it had ever occupied, and to which leading +politicians and leading authors on both sides had become regular +contributors. The old contempt for journalism was rapidly vanishing. +In 1825 Canning expresses his regret for having given some information +to a paper of which an ill use had been made. He had previously +abstained from all communication with 'these gentry,' and was now +resolved to have done with _hoc genus omne_ for good and all.[76] In +1839 we find his former colleague, Lord Lyndhurst, seeking an alliance +with Barnes, the editor of the _Times_, as eagerly as though Barnes +had been the head of a parliamentary party.[77] + +The newspapers had probably done more than the schools to spread +habits of reading through the country. Yet the strong interest which +was growing up in educational matters was characteristic. Brougham's +phrase, 'the schoolmaster is abroad' (29th January 1821), became a +popular proverb, and rejoiced the worthy Bentham.[78] I have already +described the share taken by the Utilitarians in the great Bell and +Lancaster controversy. Parliament had as yet done little. A bill +brought in by Whitbread had been passed in 1807 by the House of +Commons, enabling parishes to form schools on the Scottish model, but +according to Romilly,[79] it was passed in the well-grounded +confidence that it would be thrown out by the peers. A committee upon +education was obtained by Brougham after the peace, which reported in +1818, and which led to a commission upon school endowments. Brougham +introduced an education bill in 1820, but nothing came of it. The +beginning of any participation by government in national education was +not to take place till after the Reform Bill. Meanwhile, however, the +foundation of the London University upon unsectarian principles was +encouraging the Utilitarians; and there were other symptoms of the +growth of enlightenment. George Birkbeck (1776-1841) had started some +popular lectures upon science at Glasgow about 1800, and having +settled as a physician in London, started the 'Mechanics' Institution' +in 1824. Brougham was one of the first trustees; and the institution, +though exposed to a good deal of ridicule, managed to take root and +become the parent of others. In 1827 was started the Society for the +Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, of which Brougham was president, and +the committee of which included James Mill. In the course of its +twenty years' existence it published or sanctioned the publication by +Charles Knight of a great mass of popular literature. The _Penny +Magazine_ (1832-1845) is said to have had two hundred thousand +subscribers at the end of its first year of existence. Crude and +superficial as were some of these enterprises, they clearly marked a +very important change. Cobbett and the Radical orators found enormous +audiences ready to listen to their doctrine. Churchmen and Dissenters, +Tories and Radicals were finding it necessary both to educate and to +disseminate their principles by writing; and as new social strata were +becoming accessible to such influences, their opinions began to +exercise in turn a more distinct reaction upon political and +ecclesiastical affairs. + +No party felt more confidence at the tendency of this new +intellectual fermentation than the Utilitarians. They had a definite, +coherent, logical creed. Every step which increased the freedom of +discussion increased the influence of the truth. Their doctrines were +the truth, if not the whole truth. Once allow them to get a fulcrum +and they would move the world. Bit by bit their principles of +legislation, of economy, of politics were being accepted in the most +different quarters; and even the more intelligent of their opponents +were applying them, though the application might be piecemeal and +imperfect. It was in vain that an adversary protested that he was not +bound by logic, and appealed to experience instead of theory. Let him +justify his action upon what grounds he pleased, he was, in point of +fact, introducing the leaven of true doctrine, and it might be trusted +to work out the desirable results. + +I must now deal more in detail with the Utilitarian theories. I will +only observe in general terms that their triumph was not likely to be +accepted without a struggle. Large classes regarded them with absolute +abhorrence. Their success, if they did succeed, would mean the +destruction of religious belief, of sound philosophy, of the great +important ecclesiastical and political institutions, and probably +general confiscation of property and the ruin of the foundations of +society. And, meanwhile, in spite of the progress upon which I have +dwelt, there were two problems, at least, of enormous importance, upon +which it could scarcely be said that any progress had been made. The +church, in the first place, was still where it had been. No change had +been made in its constitution; it was still the typical example of +corrupt patronage; and the object of the hatred of all thoroughgoing +Radicals. And, in the second place, pauperism had grown to appalling +dimensions during the war; and no effectual attempt had been made to +deal with it. Behind pauperism there were great social questions, the +discontent and misery of great masses of the labouring population. +Whatever reforms might be made in other parts of the natural order, +here were difficulties enough to task the wisdom of legislators and +speculators upon legislative principles. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[32] _Life of Macaulay_, p. 114. (Popular Edition). + +[33] Canning's _Political Correspondence_, i. 71-76. + +[34] 12th December 1826. + +[35] Bentham's _Works_, v. p. 370. + +[36] Romilly's attempts to improve the criminal law began in 1808. For +various notices of his efforts, see his _Life_ (3 vols. 1860), +especially vol. ii. 243-54, 309, 321, 331, 369, 371, 389-91. Romilly +was deeply interested in Dumont's _Theorie des Peines Legales_ (1811), +which he read in MS. and tried to get reviewed in the _Quarterly_ (ii. +258, 391; iii. 136). The remarks (ii. 2-3) on the 'stupid dread of +innovation' and the savage spirit infused into Englishmen by the +horrors of the French revolution are worth notice in this connection. + +[37] Bentham's _Works_, x. p. 574. + +[38] Brougham's _Speeches_ (1838), ii. 287-486. + +[39] An interesting summary of the progress of law reforms and of +Bentham's share in them is given in Sir R. K. Wilson's _History of +Modern English Law_ (1875). + +[40] Bentham's _Works_, x. 571. + +[41] In Cambridge Pryme was the first professor in 1828, but had only +the title without endowment. The professorship was only salaried in +1863. + +[42] Ricardo's _Works_ (1888), p. 407. + +[43] Printed in Porter's _Progress of the Nation_ and elsewhere. + +[44] See sixth volume of _History of Prices_ by Tooke and Newmarch, +and privately printed _Minutes of Political Economy Club_ (1882). + +[45] _Speeches_, 3 vols. 8vo, 1831. + +[46] _Ibid._ ii. 465-530. + +[47] _Ibid._ ii. 477. + +[48] Bentham's _Works_, ii. 459. We may remember how J. S. Mill in his +boyhood was abashed because he could not explain to his father the +force of the distinction. + +[49] _Speeches_, ii. 246, 332. + +[50] _Ibid._ i. 102-108 (Currency Pamphlet of 1810). + +[51] _Ibid._ ii. 397. + +[52] _Speeches_, iii. 257. + +[53] Ricardo indeed made a reservation as to the necessity of +counterbalancing by a moderate duty the special burthens upon +agriculture. + +[54] In the _History of Trades-Unionism_ by Sidney and Beatrice Webb +(1894), pp. 88-98. The history of Place's agitation is fully given in +Mr. Graham Wallas's _Life_, chap. viii. + +[55] Wallas's Francis _Place_, p. 217. + +[56] First published in 1807-8. + +[57] _Letter_ iii. + +[58] _Ibid._ vi. + +[59] Sydney Smith put very ingeniously the advantages of what he +called the 'lottery' system: of giving, that is, a few great prizes, +instead of equalising the incomes of the clergy. Things look so +different from opposite points of views. + +[60] _Church of Englandism_, ii. 199. + +[61] See especially his review of Southey's _Book of the Church_. + +[62] Romilly's _Memoirs_, iii. 33. + +[63] 57 George III. caps. 60-67. + +[64] Edition of 1828, p. 24. + +[65] _Ibid._ p. 10. + +[66] A Mr. Gray proposed at a county meeting in 1816 that the cry of +'retrenchment and reform' should be raised in every corner of the +island (Henry Jephson's _Platform_, p. 378). I do not know whether +this was the first appearance of the formula. + +[67] Hume had been introduced to Place by James Mill, who thought him +worth 'nursing.' Place found him at first 'dull and selfish,' but +'nursed him' so well that by 1836 he had become the 'man of +men,'--Wallas's _Francis Place_, p. 181, 182. + +[68] Torrens's _Life of Graham_, i. 250-72, where his great speech of +14th May 1830 is given. + +[69] 2 and 3 William IV. cap. 111 (passed 15 August 1832). + +[70] 4 and 5 William IV. cap. 15. + +[71] _The Platform, its Origin and Progress_, by Henry Jephson (1892), +gives a very interesting historical account of the process. + +[72] 57 George III. cap. 19, and 60 George III. cap. 6. + +[73] See Jephson's _Platform_, pp. 167-70. + +[74] See Jephson's _Platform_, i. 348, 455, 517. + +[75] See _Ibid._ ii. 129-40 for some interesting passages as to this. + +[76] _Official Correspondence_ (1887), 308. + +[77] Greville's _George IV. and William IV._, iii. 155, 167-69, 171. + +[78] Bentham's _Works_, x. 571. + +[79] Romilly's _Memoirs_, ii. 67, 222. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +POLITICAL THEORY + + +I. MILL ON GOVERNMENT + +I now turn to the general political theory of which Mill was the +authoritative exponent. The _Encyclopaedia_ article upon 'Government' +(1820) gives the pith of their doctrine. It was, as Professor Bain[80] +thinks, an 'impelling and a guiding force' in the movement which +culminated in the Reform Bill. The younger Utilitarians regarded it, +says J. S. Mill, as 'a masterpiece of political wisdom';[81] while +Macaulay[82] taunts them for holding it to be 'perfect and +unanswerable.' This famous article is a terse and energetic summary of +the doctrine implied in Bentham's _Works_, but there obscured under +elaboration of minute details. It is rather singular, indeed, that so +vigorous a manifesto of Utilitarian dogma should have been accepted by +Macvey Napier--a sound Whig--for a publication which professed +scientific impartiality. It has, however, in the highest degree, the +merits of clearness and condensation desirable in a popular +exposition. The reticence appropriate to the place excuses the +omission of certain implicit conclusions. Mill has to give a complete +theory of politics in thirty-two 8vo pages. He has scanty room for +qualifying statement or historical illustration. He speaks as from the +chair of a professor laying down the elementary principles of a +demonstrated science.[83] + +Mill starts from the sacred principle. The end of government, as the +end of all conduct, must be the increase of human happiness. The +province of government is limited by another consideration. It has to +deal with one class of happiness, that is, with the pains and +pleasures 'which men derive from one another.' By a 'law of nature' +labour is requisite for procuring the means of happiness. Now, if +'nature' produced all that any man desired, there would be no need of +government, for there would be no conflict of interest. But, as the +material produced is finite, and can be appropriated by individuals, +it becomes necessary to insure to every man his proper share. What, +then, is a man's proper share? That which he himself produces; for, if +you give to one man more than the produce of his labour, you must take +away the produce of another man's labour. The greatest happiness, +therefore, is produced by 'assuring to every man the greatest possible +quantity of the produce of his own labour.' How can this be done? +Will not the strongest take the share of the weakest? He can be +prevented in one and apparently only in one way. Men must unite and +delegate to a few the power necessary for protecting all. 'This is +government.'[84] + +The problem is now simple. Government is essentially an association +of men for the protection of property. It is a delegation of the +powers necessary for that purpose to the guardians, and 'all the +difficult questions of government relate to the means' of preventing +the guardians from themselves becoming plunderers. + +How is this to be accomplished? The power of protection, says Mill, +following the old theory, may be intrusted to the whole community, to +a few, or to one; that is, we may have a democracy, an aristocracy, or +a monarchy. A democracy, or direct government of all by all, is for +the ordinary reasons pronounced impracticable. But the objections to +the other systems are conclusive. The need of government, he has +shown, depends upon 'the law of human nature'[85] that 'a man, if +able, will take from others anything which they have and he desires.' +The very principle which makes government necessary, therefore, will +prompt a government to defeat its own proper end. Mill's doctrine is +so far identical with the doctrine of Hobbes; men are naturally in a +state of war, and government implies a tacit contract by which men +confer upon a sovereign the power necessary for keeping the peace. But +here, though admitting the force of Hobbes's argument, he diverges +from its conclusion. If a democracy be impossible, and an aristocracy +or monarchy necessarily oppressive, it might seem, he admits, as it +actually seemed to Hobbes and to the French economists, that the fewer +the oppressors the better, and that therefore an absolute monarchy is +the best. Experience, he thinks, is 'on the surface' ambiguous. +Eastern despots and Roman emperors have been the worst scourges to +mankind; yet the Danes preferred a despot to an aristocracy, and are +as 'well governed as any people in Europe.' In Greece, democracy, in +spite of its defects, produced the most brilliant results.[86] Hence, +he argues, we must go 'beyond the surface,' and 'penetrate to the +springs within.' The result of the search is discouraging. The hope of +glutting the rulers is illusory. There is no 'point of saturation'[87] +with the objects of desire, either for king or aristocracy. It is a +'grand governing law of human nature' that we desire such power as +will make 'the persons and properties of human beings subservient to +our pleasures.'[88] This desire is indefinitely great. To the number +of men whom we would force into subservience, and the degree in which +we would make them subservient, we can assign no limits. Moreover, as +pain is a more powerful instrument for securing obedience than +pleasure, a man will desire to possess 'unlimited power of inflicting +pain upon others.' Will he also desire, it may be asked, to make use +of it? The 'chain of inference,' he replies, in this case is close and +strong 'to a most unusual degree.' A man desires the actions of others +to be in correspondence with his own wishes. 'Terror' will be the +'grand instrument.'[89] It thus follows that the very principle upon +which government is founded leads, in the absence of checks, 'not only +to that degree of plunder which leaves the members (of a community) +... the bare means of subsistence, but to that degree of cruelty which +is necessary to keep in existence the most intense terror.' An English +gentleman, he says, is a favourable specimen of civilisation, and yet +West Indian slavery shows of what cruelty he could be guilty when +unchecked. If equal cruelty has not been exhibited elsewhere, it is, +he seems to think, because men were not 'the same as sheep in respect +to their shepherd,'[90] and may therefore resist if driven too far. +The difficulty upon this showing is to understand how any government, +except the most brutal tyranny, ever has been, or ever can be, +possible. What is the combining principle which can weld together such +a mass of hostile and mutually repellent atoms? How they can even form +the necessary compact is difficult to understand, and the view seems +to clash with his own avowed purpose. It is Mill's aim, as it was +Bentham's, to secure the greatest happiness of the greatest number; +and yet he seems to set out by proving as a 'law of human nature' that +nobody can desire the happiness of any one except himself. He quotes +from Montesquieu the saying, which shows an 'acute sense of this +important truth,' 'that every one who has power is led to abuse +it.'[91] Rather it would seem, according to Mill, all power implies +abuse in its very essence. The problem seems to be how to make +universal cohesion out of universal repulsion. + +Mill has his remedy for this deeply seated evil. He attacks, as +Bentham had already done, the old-fashioned theory, according to which +the British Constitution was an admirable mixture of the three 'simple +forms.' Two of the powers, he argues, will always agree to 'swallow up +the third.'[92] 'The monarchy and aristocracy have all possible +motives for endeavouring to obtain unlimited power over the persons +and property of the community,' though the democracy, as he also says, +has every possible motive for preventing them. And in England, as he +no doubt meant his readers to understand, the monarchy and aristocracy +had to a great extent succeeded. Where, then, are we to look? To the +'grand discovery of modern times,' namely, the representative system. +If this does not solve all difficulties we shall be forced to the +conclusion that good government is impossible. Fortunately, however, +the representative system may be made perfectly effective. This +follows easily. It would, as he has said,[93] be a 'contradiction in +terms' to suppose that the community at large can 'have an interest +opposite to its interest,' In the Bentham formula, it can have 'no +sinister interest.' It cannot desire its own misery. Though the +community cannot act as a whole, it can act through representatives. +It is necessary to intrust power to a governing body; but that body +can be prevented by adequate checks from misusing its powers. Indeed, +the common theory of the British Constitution was precisely that the +House of Commons was 'the checking body.'[94] The whole problem is to +secure a body which shall effectively discharge the function thus +attributed in theory to the House of Commons. That will be done when +the body is chosen in such a way that its interests are necessarily +coincident with those of the community at large. Hence there is of +course no difficulty in deducing the actual demands of reformers. +Without defining precise limits, he shows that representatives must be +elected for brief periods, and that the right to a vote must at least +be wide enough to prevent the electoral body from forming a class with +'sinister interests.' He makes some remarkable qualifications, with +the view apparently of not startling his readers too much by absolute +and impracticable claims. He thinks that the necessary identity of +interest would still be secured if classes were unrepresented whose +interests are 'indisputably included in those of others.' Children's +interests are involved in those of their parents, and the interests of +'almost all women' in those of their fathers or husbands.[95] Again, +all men under forty might be omitted without mischief, for 'the great +majority of old men have sons whose interests they regard as an +essential part of their own. This is a law of human nature.'[96] There +would, he observes, be no danger that men above forty would try to +reduce the 'rest of the community to the state of abject slaves.' +Mill, as his son tells us,[97] disowned any intention of positively +advocating these exclusions. He only meant to say that they were not +condemned by his general principle. The doctrine, however, about +women, even as thus understood, scandalised his younger followers. + +Mill proceeds to argue at some length that a favourite scheme of some +moderate reformers, for the representation of classes, could only lead +to 'a motley aristocracy,' and then answers two objections. The first +is that his scheme would lead to the abolition of the monarchy and the +House of Lords. The reply is simple and significant. It would only +lead to that result if a monarchy or a House of Lords were favourable +to bad government. He does not inquire whether they are so in fact. +The second objection is that the people do not understand their own +interest, and to this his answer is more remarkable. If the doctrine +be true, he says, we are in 'deplorable' position: we have to choose +between evils which will be designedly produced by those who have both +the power to oppress and an interest in oppression; and the evils +which will be accidentally produced by men who would act well if they +recognised their own interests.[98] Now the first evil is in any case +the worst, for it supposes an 'invariable' evil; while in the other +case, men may at least act well by accident. A governing class, that +is with interests separate from those of the government, _must_ be +bad. If the interests be identical, the government _may_ be bad. It +will be bad if ignorant, but ignorance is curable. Here he appeals for +once to a historical case. The priesthood at the Reformation argued on +behalf of their own power from the danger that the people would make a +bad use of the Bible. The Bible should therefore be kept for the +sacred caste. They had, Mill thinks, a stronger case in appearance +than the Tories, and yet the effect of allowing the people to judge +for themselves in religious matters has been productive of good +effects 'to a degree which has totally altered the condition of human +nature.'[99] Why should not the people be trusted to judge for +themselves in politics? This implies a doctrine which had great +influence with the Utilitarians. In the remarkable essay upon +'Education,' which is contained in the volume of reprints, Mill +discusses the doctrine of Helvetius that all the differences between +men are due to education. Without pronouncing positively upon the +differences between individuals, Mill observes that, at any rate, the +enormous difference between classes of men is wholly due to +education.[100] He takes education, it must be observed, in the widest +possible sense, as meaning what would now be called the whole action +of the 'environment' upon the individual. This includes, as he shows +at length, domestic education, all the vast influence exercised upon a +child in his family, 'technical education,' by which he means the +ordinary school teaching, 'social education,' that is the influences +which we imbibe from the current opinions of our neighbours, and +finally, 'political education,' which he calls the 'keystone of the +arch.' The means, he argues, by which the 'grand objects of desire may +be attained, depend almost wholly upon the political machine.'[101] If +that 'machine' be so constituted as to make the grand objects of +desire the 'natural prizes of just and virtuous conduct, of high +services to mankind and of the generous and amiable sentiments from +which great endeavours in the service of mankind naturally proceed, it +is natural to see diffused among mankind a generous ardour in the +acquisition of those admirable qualities which prepare a man for +admirable action, great intelligence, perfect self-command, and +over-ruling benevolence.' The contrary will be the case where the +political machine prompts to the flattery of a small ruling body. + +This characteristic passage betrays an enthusiasm which really burned +under Mill's stern outside. He confines himself habitually to the +forms of severe logic, and scorns anything like an appeal to +sentiment. The trammels of his scientific manner impede his utterance +a little, even when he is speaking with unwonted fervour. Yet the +prosaic Utilitarian who has been laying down as a universal law that +the strong will always plunder the weak, and that all rulers will +reduce their subjects to abject slavery, is absolutely convinced, it +seems, of the possibility of somehow transmuting selfishness into +public spirit, justice, generosity, and devotion to truth. Equally +characteristic is the faith in the 'political machine.' Mill speaks as +if somebody had 'discovered' the representative system as Watt (more +or less) discovered the steam-engine; that to 'discover' the system is +the same thing as to set it to work; and that, once at work, it will +be omnipotent. He is not less certain that a good constitution will +make men virtuous, than was Bentham that he could grind rogues honest +by the Panopticon. The indefinite modifiability of character was the +ground upon which the Utilitarians based their hopes of progress; and +it was connected in their minds with the doctrine of which his essay +upon education is a continuous application. The theory of 'association +of ideas' appeared to him to be of the utmost importance in education +and in politics, because it implied almost unlimited possibilities of +moulding human beings to fit them for a new order. In politics this +implied, as J. S. Mill says,[102] 'unbounded confidence' in the +influence of 'reason.' Teach the people and let them vote freely, and +everything would follow. + +This gives Mill's answer to one obvious objection. The Conservative +who answered him by dwelling upon the ignorance of the lower classes +was in some respects preaching to a convert. Nobody was more +convinced than Mill of the depths of popular ignorance or, indeed, of +the stupidity of mankind in general. The labourers who cheered Orator +Hunt at Peterloo were dull enough; but so were the peers who cheered +Eldon in the House of Lords; and the labourers at least desired +general prosperity, while the peers were content if their own rents +were kept up. With general education, however, even the lower orders +of the people would be fit for power, especially when we take into +account one other remarkable conclusion. The 'wise and good,' he says, +'in any class of men do, for all general purposes, govern the +rest.'[103] Now, the class in which wisdom and virtue are commonest is +not the aristocracy, but the middle rank. Another truth follows 'from +the principles of human nature in general.' That is the rather +surprising truth that the lower orders take their opinions from the +middle class; apply to the middle class for help in sickness and old +age; hold up the same class as a model to be imitated by their +children, and 'account it an honour' to adopt its opinions. +Consequently, however far the franchise were extended, it is this +class which has produced the most distinguished ornaments of art, +science, and even of legislation, which will ultimately decide upon +political questions. 'The great majority of the people,' is his +concluding sentence, 'never cease to be guided by that rank; and we +may with some confidence challenge the adversaries of the people to +produce a single instance to the contrary in the history of the +world.' + +This article upon 'Government' gives the very essence of Utilitarian +politics. I am afraid that it also suggests that the political theory +was chiefly remarkable for a simple-minded audacity. Good political +treatises are rare. They are apt to be pamphlets in disguise, using +'general principles' for showy perorations, or to be a string of +platitudes with no definite application to facts. They are fit only +for the platform, or only for the professor's lecture-room. Mill's +treatise, according to his most famous antagonist, was a mere bundle +of pretentious sophistry. + +Macaulay came forth like a Whig David to slay the Utilitarian Goliath. +The _Encyclopaedia_ articles, finished in 1824, were already in +1825,[104] as Mill says, text-books of the young men at the Cambridge +Union. Macaulay, who won his Trinity fellowship in 1824, had there +argued the questions with his friend Charles Austin, one of Bentham's +neophytes. In the next year Macaulay made his first appearance as an +Edinburgh Reviewer; and in 1829 he took the field against Mill. In the +January number he attacked the essay upon 'Government'; and in two +articles in the succeeding numbers of the _Review_ replied to a +defence made by some Utilitarian in the _Westminster_. Mill himself +made no direct reply; and Macaulay showed his gratitude for Mill's +generosity in regard to the Indian appointment by declining to +republish the articles.[105] He confessed to have treated his opponent +with a want of proper respect, though he retracted none of his +criticisms. The offence had its excuses. Macaulay was a man under +thirty, in the full flush of early success; nor was Mill's own +treatment of antagonists conciliatory. The dogmatic arrogance of the +Utilitarians was not unnaturally met by an equally arrogant +countercheck. Macaulay ridicules the Utilitarians for their claim to +be the defenders of the true political faith. He is afraid not of them +but of the 'discredit of their alliance'; he wishes to draw a broad +line between judicious reformers and a 'sect which having derived all +its influence from the countenance which they imprudently bestowed +upon it, hates them with the deadly hatred of ingratitude.' No party, +he says, was ever so unpopular. It had already disgusted people with +political economy; and would disgust them with parliamentary reform, +if it could associate itself in public opinion with the cause[106]. +This was indeed to turn the tables. The half-hearted disciple was +insulting the thoroughbred teacher who had borne the heat and burthen +of the day, and from whom he had learned his own doctrine. Upon this +and other impertinences--the assertion, for example, that Utilitarians +were as incapable of understanding an argument as any 'true blue +baronet after the third bottle at a Pitt Club'--it is needless to +dwell. They illustrate, however, the strong resentment with which the +Utilitarians were regarded by the classes from whom the Whigs drew +their most cultivated supporters. Macaulay's line of argument will +show what was the real conflict of theory. + +His view is, in fact, a long amplification of the charge that Mill was +adopting a purely _a priori_ method. Mill's style is as dry as Euclid, +and his arguments are presented with an affectation of logical +precision. Mill has inherited the 'spirit and style of the Schoolmen. +He is an Aristotelian of the fifteenth century.' He writes about +government as though he was unaware that any actual governments had +ever existed. He deduces his science from a single assumption of +certain 'propensities of human nature.'[107] After dealing with Mill's +arguments, Macaulay winds up with one of his characteristic purple +patches about the method of induction. He invokes the authority of +Bacon--a great name with which in those days writers conjured without +a very precise consideration of its true significance. By Bacon's +method we are to construct in time the 'noble science of politics,' +which is equally removed from the barren theories of Utilitarian +sophists and the petty craft of intriguing jobbers. The Utilitarians +are schoolmen, while the Whigs are the true followers of Bacon and +scientific induction. J. S. Mill admitted within certain limits the +relevancy of this criticism, and was led by the reflections which it +started to a theory of his own. Meanwhile, he observes that his father +ought to have justified himself by declaring that the book was not a +'scientific treatise on politics,' but an 'argument for parliamentary +reform.'[108] It is not quite easy to see how James Mill could have +made such a 'justification' and distinguished it from a recantation. + +If Mill really meant what Macaulay took him to mean, it would be +superfluous to argue the question gravely. The reasoning is only fit, +like the reasoning of all Macaulay's antagonists, for the proverbial +schoolboy. Mill, according to Macaulay, proposes to discover what +governments are good; and, finding that experience gives no clear +answer, throws experience aside and appeals to absolute laws of human +nature. One such 'law' asserts that the strong will plunder the weak. +Therefore all governments except the representative must be +oppressive, and rule by sheer terror. Mill's very reason for relying +upon this argument is precisely that the facts contradict it. Some +despotisms work well, and some democracies ill; therefore we must +prove by logic that all despotisms are bad, and all democracies good. +Is this really Mill's case? + +An answer given by Mill's champion, to which Macaulay replies in his +last article, suggests some explanation of Mill's position. Macaulay +had paid no attention to one highly important phrase. The terrible +consequences which Mill deduces from the selfishness of rulers will +follow, he says, 'if nothing checks.'[109] Supplying this +qualification, as implied throughout, we may give a better meaning to +Mill's argument. A simple observation of experience is insufficient. +The phenomena are too complex; governments of the most varying kinds +have shown the same faults; and governments of the same kind have +shown them in the most various degrees. Therefore the method which +Macaulay suggests is inapplicable. We should reason about government, +says Macaulay,[110] as Bacon told us to reason about heat. Find all +the circumstances in which hot bodies agree, and you will determine +the principle of heat. Find all the circumstances in which good +governments agree, and you will find the principles of good +government. Certainly; but the process, as Macaulay admits, would be a +long one. Rather, it would be endless. What 'circumstances' can be the +same in all good governments in all times and places? Mill held in +substance, that we could lay down certain broad principles about +human nature, the existence of which is of course known from +'experience', and by showing how they would work, if restrained by no +distinct checks, obtain certain useful conclusions. Mill indicates +this line of reply in his own attack upon Mackintosh.[111] There he +explains that what he really meant was to set forth a principle +recognised by Berkeley, Hume, Blackstone, and, especially, in Plato's +_Republic_. Plato's treatise is a development of the principle that +'identity of interests affords the only security for good government.' +Without such identity of interest, said Plato, the guardians of the +flock become wolves. Hume[112] had given a pithy expression of the +same view in the maxim 'established,' as he says, 'by political +writers,' that in framing the 'checks and controls of the +constitution, every man ought to be supposed a knave and to have no +other end in his actions than private interest.' Mill points this by +referring to the 'organs of aristocratical opinion' for the last fifty +years. The incessant appeal has been for 'confidence in public men,' +and confidence is another name for scope for misrule.[113] This, he +explains, was what he meant by the statement (which Mackintosh +considered to have been exploded by Macaulay) that every man pursued +his own interest.[114] It referred to the class legislation of the +great aristocratic ring: kings, nobles, church, law, and army. +Utilitarianism, in its political relations, was one continuous warfare +against these sinister 'interests,' The master-evil of the +contemporary political state undoubtedly implied a want of +responsibility. A political trust was habitually confounded with +private property. Moreover, whatever else may be essential to good +government, one essential is a strong sense of responsibility in the +governors. That is a very sound principle, though not an axiom from +which all political science can be deduced. If the essay on +'Government' was really meant as a kind of political Euclid--as a +deduction of the best system of government from this single principle +of responsibility--it was as grotesque as Macaulay asserted. Mill +might perhaps have met the criticism by lowering his claims as his son +suggests. He certainly managed to express his argument in such terms +that it has an uncomfortable appearance of being intended for a +scientific exposition. + +This deserves notice because the position is characteristic of the +Utilitarians' method. Their appeals to experience always end by +absolute assertions. We shall find the same difficulty in their +economic inquiries. When accused, for example, of laying down absolute +principles in such cases, they reply that they are only speaking of +'tendencies,' and recognise the existence of 'checks.' They treat of +what would be, if certain forces acted without limit, as a necessary +step towards discovering what is when the limits exist. They appear to +their opponents to forget the limits in their practical conclusions. +This political argument is an instance of the same method. The genesis +of his theory is plain. Mill's 'government,' like Bentham's, is simply +the conception of legal 'sovereignty' transferred to the sphere of +politics. Mill's exposition is only distinguished from his master's by +the clearness with which he brings out the underlying assumptions. The +legal sovereign is omnipotent, for what he declares to be the law is +therefore the law. The law is his commands enforced by 'sanctions,' +and therefore by organised force. The motives for obedience are the +fear of the gallows on one side, and, on the other, the desire of +protection for life and property. Law, again, is the ultimate social +bond, and can be made at will by the sovereign. He thus becomes so +omnipotent that it is virtually assumed that he can even create +himself. Not only can the sovereign, once constituted, give commands +enforced by coercive sanctions upon any kind of conduct, but he can +determine his own constitution. He can at once, for example, create a +representative system in practice, when it has been discovered in +theory, and can by judicious regulations so distribute 'self-interest' +as to produce philanthropy and public spirit. Macaulay's answer really +makes a different assumption. He accepts the purely 'empirical' or +'rule of thumb' position. It is idle, he says, to ask what would +happen if there were no 'checks.' It is like leaving out the effect of +friction in a problem of mechanics. The logic may be correct, but the +conclusions are false in practice.[115] Now this 'friction' was +precisely the favourite expedient of the Utilitarians in political +economy. To reason about facts, they say, you must analyse, and +therefore provisionally disregard the 'checks,' which must be +afterwards introduced in practical applications. Macaulay is really +bidding us take 'experience' in the lump, and refrains from the only +treatment which can lead to a scientific result. His argument, in +fact, agrees with that of his famous essay on Bacon, where we learn +that philosophy applied to moral questions is all nonsense, and that +science is simply crude common-sense. He is really saying that all +political reasoning is impossible, and that we must trust to +unreasoned observation. Macaulay, indeed, has good grounds of +criticism. He shows very forcibly the absurdity of transferring the +legal to the political sovereignty. Parliament might, as he says, make +a law that every gentleman with L2000 a year might flog a pauper with +a cat-of-nine-tails whenever he pleased. But, as the first exercise of +such a power would be the 'last day of the English aristocracy,' their +power is strictly limited in fact.[116] That gives very clearly the +difference between legal and political sovereignty. What parliament +makes law is law, but is not therefore enforceable. We have to go +behind the commands and sanctions before we understand what is the +actual power of government. It is very far from omnipotent. Macaulay, +seeing this, proceeds to throw aside Mill's argument against the +possibility of a permanent division of power. The _de facto_ +limitation of the sovereign's power justifies the old theory about +'mixed forms of government.' 'Mixed governments' are not impossible, +for they are real. All governments are, in fact, 'mixed.' Louis XIV. +could not cut off the head of any one whom he happened to dislike. An +oriental despot is strictly bound by the religious prejudices of his +subjects. If 'sovereignty' means such power it is a chimera in +practice, or only realised approximately when, as in the case of negro +slavery, a class is actually ruled by force in the hands of a really +external power. And yet the attack upon 'mixed governments,' which +Bentham had expounded in the _Fragment_, has a real force which +Macaulay seems to overlook. Mill's argument against a possible +'balance' of power was, as Macaulay asserted, equally applicable to +the case of independent sovereigns; yet France might be stronger at +Calais and England at Dover.[117] Mill might have replied that a state +is a state precisely because, and in so far as, there is an agreement +to recognise a common authority or sovereign. Government does not +imply a 'mixture,' but a fusion of power. There is a unity, though not +the abstract unity of the Utilitarian sovereign. The weakness of the +Utilitarians is to speak as though the sovereign, being external to +each individual, could therefore be regarded as external to the whole +society. He rules as a strong nation may rule a weak dependency. When +the sovereign becomes also the society, the power is regarded as +equally absolute, though now applied to the desirable end of +maximising happiness. The whole argument ignores the simple +consideration that the sovereign is himself in all cases the product +of the society over which he rules, and his whole action, even in the +most despotic governments, determined throughout by organic instincts, +explaining and not ultimately explicable by coercion. Macaulay's +doctrine partially recognises this by falling back upon the Whig +theory of checks and balances, and the mixture of three mysterious +entities, monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. But, as Bentham had +sufficiently shown in the _Fragment_, the theory becomes hopelessly +unreal when we try to translate it into facts. There are not three +separate forces, conflicting like three independent forces, but a +complex set of social institutions bound together into a whole. It is +impossible really to regard government as a permanent balance of +antagonistic forces, confronting each other like the three duellists +in Sheridan's _Critic_. The practical result of that theory is to +substitute for the 'greatest happiness' principle the vague criterion +of the preservation of an equilibrium between indefinable forces; and +to make the ultimate end of government the maintenance as long as +possible of a balance resting on no ulterior principle, but +undoubtedly pleasant for the comfortable classes. Nothing is left but +the rough guesswork, which, if a fine name be wanted, may be called +Baconian induction. The 'matchless constitution,' as Bentham calls it, +represents a convenient compromise, and the tendency is to attach +exaggerated importance to its ostensible terms. When Macaulay +asserted against Mill[118] that it was impossible to say which +element--monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy--had gained strength in +England in the last century, he is obviously looking at the formulae +and not at the social body behind. + +This leads to considerations really more important than the +argumentation about _a priori_ and inductive methods. Mill in practice +knew very well the qualifications necessary before his principles +applied. He showed it in his Indian evidence; and Place could have +told him, had it required telling, that the actual political machinery +worked by very strange and tortuous methods. Yet he was content to +override such considerations when he is expounding his theory, and +laid himself open to Macaulay's broad common-sense retort. The nation +at large cannot, he says, have a 'sinister interest.' It must desire +legislation which is beneficial to the whole. This is to make the vast +assumption that every individual will desire what is good for all, and +will be a sufficient judge of what is good. But is it clear that a +majority will even desire what is good for the whole? May they not +wish to sacrifice both other classes and coming generations to their +own instantaneous advantages? Is it plain that even enlightenment of +mind would induce a poor man to see his own advantage in the policy +which would in the long run be best for the whole society? You are +bound, said Macaulay, to show that the poor man will not believe that +he personally would benefit by direct plunder of the rich; and indeed +that he would not be right in so believing. The nation, no doubt, +would suffer, but in the immediate period which alone is contemplated +by a selfish pauper, the mass of the poor might get more pleasure out +of confiscation. Will they not, on your own principles, proceed to +confiscation? Shall we not have such a catastrophe as the reign of +terror? + +The Westminster Reviewer retorted by saying that Macaulay prophesied a +reign of terror as a necessary consequence of an extended franchise. +Macaulay, skilfully enough, protested against this interpretation. 'We +say again and again,' he declares, 'that we are on the defensive. We +do not think it necessary to prove that a quack medicine is poison. +Let the vendor prove it to be sanative. We do not pretend to show that +universal suffrage is an evil. Let its advocates show it to be a +good.'[119] Mill rests his whole case upon the selfishness of mankind. +Will not the selfishness lead the actual majority at a given moment to +plunder the rich and to disregard the interests of their own +successors? + +Macaulay's declaration that he was only 'upon the defensive' might be +justifiable in an advocate. His real thought may be inferred from a +speech on the charter made in 1842. The chartists' petition of that +year had asked for universal suffrage. Universal suffrage, he replies, +would be incompatible with the 'institution of property.'[120] If the +chartists acted upon their avowed principles, they would enforce 'one +vast spoliation.' Macaulay could not say, of course, what would +actually result, but his 'guess' was that we should see 'something +more horrible than can be imagined--something like the siege of +Jerusalem on a far larger scale.' The very best event he could +anticipate--'and what must the state of things be, if an Englishman +and a Whig calls such an event the very best?'--would be a military +despotism, giving a 'sort of protection to a miserable wreck of all +that immense glory and prosperity.'[121] So in the criticism of Mill +he had suggested that if his opponent's principles were correct, and +his scheme adopted, 'literature, science, commerce, manufactures' +would be swept away, and that a 'few half-naked fishermen would divide +with the owls and foxes the ruins of the greatest of European +cities.'[122] + +Carefully as Macaulay guards himself in his articles upon Mill, the +speech shows sufficiently what was his 'guess'; that is, his real +expectation. This gives the vital difference. What Macaulay professes +to deduce from Mill's principles he really holds himself, and he holds +it because he argues, as indeed everybody has to argue, pretty much on +Mill's method. He does not really remain in the purely sceptical +position which would correspond to his version of 'Baconian +induction.' He argues, just as Mill would have argued, from general +rules about human nature. Selfish and ignorant people will, he thinks, +be naturally inclined to plunder; therefore, if they have power, they +will plunder. So Mill had argued that a selfish class would rule for +its own sinister interests and therefore not for the happiness of the +greatest number. The argument is the same, and it is the only line of +argument which is possible till, if that should ever happen, a genuine +science of politics shall have been constituted. The only question is +whether it shall take the pomp of _a priori_ speculation or conceal +itself under a show of 'Baconian induction.' + +On one point they agree. Both Mill and Macaulay profess unbounded +confidence in the virtue and wisdom of the middle, that is, of their +own class. Macaulay hopes for a reform bill which will make the votes +of the House of Commons 'the express image of the opinion of the +middle orders of Britain.'[123] Mill holds that the middle class will +retain this moral authority, however widely the franchise be extended; +while Macaulay fears that they will be swamped by its extension to the +masses. The reform bill which they joined in supporting was regarded +by the Radicals as a payment on account; while the Whig hoped that it +would be a full and final discharge. The Radical held that no barriers +against democracy were needed; he took for granted that a democracy +would find its natural leaders in the educated and intelligent. The +Whig, to whom such confidence appeared to be altogether misplaced, had +to find some justification for the 'checks' and 'balances' which he +thought essential. + + +II. WHIGGISM + +I have spoken of Macaulay's articles because they represent the most +pointed conflict between the Utilitarian and the Whig. Macaulay +belongs properly to the next generation, but he appeared as the +mouthpiece of the earlier group of writers who in Mill's time +delivered through the _Edinburgh Review_ the true oracles of the Whig +faith. Upon that ground Mill had assailed them in his article. Their +creed, he said, was a 'see-saw.' The Whigs were aristocrats as much as +the Tories. They were simply the 'outs' who hoped to be the 'ins.' +They trimmed their sails to catch public opinion, but were careful not +to drift into the true popular currents. They had no desire to limit +the power which they hoped one day to possess. They would attack +abuses--the slave-trade or the penal laws--to gain credit for +liberality and enlightenment, when the abuses were such as could be +removed without injuring the power of the aristocracy. They could use +'vague generalities' about liberty and so forth, but only to evade +definite applications. When any measure was proposed which really +threatened the power of the privileged classes, they could bring out a +contradictory set of fine phrases about Jacobinism and democracy. +Their whole argument was a shuffle and they themselves mere selfish +trimmers.[124] To this Jeffrey replied (in December 1826) by accepting +the position.[125] He pleaded guilty to a love of 'trimming,' which +meant a love of the British Constitution. The constitution was a +compromise--a balance of opposing forces--and the only question could +be whether they were properly balanced. The answer was fair enough. +Mill was imputing motives too easily, and assuming that the Reviewers +saw the abuses in the same light as he did, and were truckling to +public robbers in hopes of sharing the plunder. He was breaking a +butterfly upon a wheel. The Edinburgh Reviewers were not missionaries +of a creed. They were a set of brilliant young men, to whom the +_Review_ was at first a mere pastime, occupying such leisure as was +allowed by their professional pursuits. They were indeed men of +liberal sympathies, intelligent and independent enough to hold by a +party which was out of power. They had read Hume and Voltaire and +Rousseau; they had sat at the feet of Dugald Stewart; and were in +sympathy with intellectual liberalism. But they were men who meant to +become judges, members of parliament, or even bishops. Nothing in +their social atmosphere had stimulated the deep resentment against +social injustice which makes the fanatic or the enthusiast. We may +take as their interpreter the Whig philosopher James Mackintosh +(1765-1832), a man of wide reading, both in history and philosophy, an +eloquent orator, and a very able writer. Mackintosh, said +Coleridge,[126] is the 'king of the men of talent'; by which was +intimated that, as a man of talent, he was not, like some people, a +man of genius. Mackintosh, that is, was a man to accept plausible +formulae and to make them more plausible; not a man to pierce to the +heart of things, or reveal fruitful germs of thought. His intellect +was judicial; given to compromises, affecting a judicious _via media_, +and endeavouring to reconcile antagonistic tendencies. Thoroughgoing +or one-sided thinkers, and Mill in particular, regarded him with +excessive antipathy as a typical representative of the opposite +intellectual tendencies. Mackintosh's political attitude is +instructive. At the outbreak of the French revolution he was a +struggling young Scot, seeking his fortune in London, just turning +from medicine to the bar, and supporting himself partly by journalism. +He became secretary to the Society of the 'Friends of the People,' the +Whig rival of the revolutionary clubs, and in April 1791 sprang into +fame by his _Vindiciae Gallicae_. The Whigs had not yet lost the fervour +with which they had welcomed the downfall of the Bastille. Burke's +_Reflections_, the work of a great thinker in a state of irritation +bordering upon frenzy, had sounded the note of alarm. The revolution, +as Burke maintained, was in fact the avatar of a diabolic power. It +meant an attack upon the very organic principles of society. It +therefore implied a complete breach of historical continuity, and a +war against the reverence for 'prescription' and tradition which is +essential to all healthy development. To his extreme opponents the +same theory afforded the justification of the revolution. It meant +that every institution was to be thrown into the crucible, and a new +world to arise governed only by reason. The view very ably defended by +Mackintosh was opposed to both. He looks upon the French revolution as +a more complete application of the principles of Locke and the English +Whigs of 1688. The revolutionists are, as he urges,[127] applying the +principles which had been worked out by the 'philosophers of Europe' +during the preceding century. They were not, as Burke urged, +rejecting experience for theory. The relation between their doctrine +and politics is analogous to the relation between geometry and +mechanics.[128] We are now in the position of a people who should be +familiar with Newton, but in shipbuilding be still on a level with the +Esquimaux. The 'rights of man' appear to him to mean, not, as Burke +and Bentham once agreed, a set of 'anarchical fallacies,' but a set of +fundamental moral principles; and the declaration of them a most wise +and 'auspicious' commencement of the 'regenerating labours' of the new +legislators. The French revolution represented what Somers would now +approve if he had our advantages.[129] A thoroughgoing change had +become necessary in France. The church, army, and law were now +'incorrigible.'[130] Burke had seen, in the confiscation of church +property, an attempt to abolish Christianity. To Mackintosh it seemed +to be a reform justifiable in principle, which, though too roughly +carried out, would reduce 'a servile and imperious priesthood to +humble utility.'[131] A poor priesthood, indeed, might incline to +popular superstition. We could console ourselves by reflecting that +the power of the church, as a corporation, was broken, and that +toleration and philosophy would restrain fanaticism.[132] The +assignats were still 'almost at par.'[133] The sale of the national +property would nearly extinguish the debt. France had 'renounced for +ever the idea of conquest,'[134] and had no temptations to war, +except her colonies. Their commercial inutility and political +mischievousness had been so 'unanimously demonstrated,' that the +French empire must soon be delivered from 'this cumbrous and +destructive appendage.' An armed people, moreover, could never be used +like a mercenary army to suppress liberty. There was no danger of +military despotism, and France would hereafter seek for a pure glory +by cultivating the arts of peace and extending the happiness of +mankind.[135] + +No wonder that Mackintosh, with these views, thought that the history +of the fall of the Bastille would 'kindle in unborn millions the holy +enthusiasm of freedom';[136] or that, in the early disorders, he saw +temporary aberrations of mobs, destined to be speedily suppressed by +the true leaders of the revolution. Mackintosh saw, I take it, about +as far as most philosophers, that is, about as far as people who are +not philosophers. He observes much that Burke ought to have +remembered, and keeps fairly to the philosophical principle which he +announces of attributing the revolution to general causes, and not to +the schemes of individuals.[137] When assignats became waste paper, +when the guillotine got to work, when the religion of reason was being +set up against Christianity, when the French were conquering Europe, +when a military despotism was arising, when, in short, it became quite +clear that the French revolution meant something very different from a +philosophical application of the principles of Locke and Adam Smith, +Mackintosh began to see that Burke had not so far missed the mark. +Burke, before dying, received his penitent opponent at Beaconsfield; +and in 1800 Mackintosh took the opportunity of publicly declaring that +he 'abhorred, abjured, and for ever renounced the French revolution, +with its sanguinary history, its abominable principles, and its ever +execrable leaders.' He hoped to 'wipe off the disgrace of having been +once betrayed into that abominable conspiracy against God and +man.'[138] In his famous defence of Peltier (1803), he denounced the +revolution in a passage which might have been adopted from Burke's +_Letters on a Regicide Peace_.[139] + +In a remarkable letter to Windham[140] of 1806, Mackintosh gives his +estimate of Burke, and takes some credit to himself for having +discovered, even in the time of his youthful errors, the consistency +of Burke's principles, as founded upon an abhorrence of 'abstract +politics.'[141] Politics, he now thought, must be made scientific by +recognising with Burke the supreme importance of prescription and +historic continuity, and by admitting that the philosophers had not +yet constructed a science bearing to practical politics the same +relation as geometry to mechanics. He applied his theory to the +question of parliamentary reform in the _Edinburgh Review_.[142] Here +he accepts the doctrine, criticised by James Mill, that a proper +representative system must be judged, not, as Mill maintained, solely +by the identity of its interest with that of the community at large, +but by its fitness to give power to different classes. It follows that +the landowners, the professional classes, and the populace should all +be represented. And he discovers that the variety of the English +system was calculated to secure this end. Though it was only in a few +constituencies that the poorest class had a voice, their vote in such +places represented the same class elsewhere. It was as well that there +should be some extreme Radicals to speak for the poorest. But he +thinks that any uniform suffrage would be bad, and that universal +suffrage would be the most mischievous of all systems.[143] That would +mean the swamping of one class by all--a tyranny more oppressive, +perhaps, than any other tyranny. If one class alone were to be +represented, it should be the favourite middle class, which has the +'largest share of sense and virtue,' and is most connected in interest +with other classes.[144] A legitimate aim of the legislator is, +therefore, to prevent an excess of democracy. With Mackintosh it seems +essential not simply to suppress 'sinister interests,' but to save +both the aristocracy and the middle class from being crushed by the +lower classes. The opposition is vital; and it is plain that the +argument for the aristocracy, that is, for a system developed from all +manner of historical accidents and not evolved out of any simple +logical principles, must be defended upon empirical grounds. + +Mackintosh was in India during the early period of the _Edinburgh +Review_. Jeffrey, as editor for its first quarter of a century, may be +taken more fully to represent its spirit. Jeffrey's trenchant, if not +swaggering style, covered a very timid, sensitive, and, in some +respects, a very conservative temperament. His objection to the 'Lake +Poets' was the objection of the classical to the romantic school. +Jeffrey's brightness of intellect may justify Carlyle's comparison of +him to Voltaire,--only a Voltaire qualified by dislike to men who were +'dreadfully in earnest.' Jeffrey was a philosophical sceptic; he +interpreted Dugald Stewart as meaning that metaphysics, being all +nonsense, we must make shift with common-sense; and he wrote a +dissertation upon taste, to prove that there are no rules about taste +whatever. He was too genuine a sceptic to sacrifice peace to the +hopeless search for truth. One of the most striking passages in his +_Essays_[145] is an attack upon 'perfectibility.' He utterly +disbelieves that progress in knowledge will improve morals or diminish +war, or cure any of the evils that flesh is heir to. Such a man is not +of the material of which enthusiastic reformers are made. Throughout +the war he was more governed by his fear than by his zeal. He was in +constant dread of failure abroad and ruin at home. The _Review_ +provoked the Tories, and induced them to start its rival, not by +advocacy of political principles, but by its despairing view of the +war.[146] He was still desiring at that time (1808) to avoid 'party +politics' in the narrower sense. + +The political view corresponding to this is given in the articles, +some of which (though the authorship was not yet avowed) were assailed +by Mill in the _Westminster_. In an early article[147] he defends the +French philosophers against the imputation of responsibility for the +reign of terror. Their excellent and humane doctrines had been +misapplied by the 'exasperation' and precipitation of inexperienced +voters. His most characteristic article is one published in January +1810. The failure of the Walcheren expedition had confirmed his +disbelief in our military leaders; the rise of English Radicalism, led +by Burdett in the House of Commons, and Cobbett in the press, the +widely spread distress and the severity of oppressive measures, roused +his keenest alarm.[148] We are, he declared, between two violent and +pernicious factions--the courtiers of arbitrary power and the +democrats. If the Whig leaders did not first conciliate and then +restrain the people, the struggle of the extreme parties would soon +sweep away the constitution, the monarchy, and the Whig aristocracy by +which that monarchy 'is controlled, confirmed, and exalted above all +other forms of polity.' Democracy, it was plain, was increasing with +dangerous rapidity. A third of every man's income was being taken by +taxes, and after twenty years' boastful hostility we were left without +a single ally. Considering all this, it seems as though 'the wholesome +days of England were numbered,' and we are on the 'verge of the most +dreadful of all calamities'--a civil war. + +Jeffrey has learned from Hume that all government is ultimately +founded upon opinion. The great thing is to make the action of public +opinion regular and constituted. The whole machinery of the +constitution, he says, is for the express purpose of 'preventing the +kingly power from dashing itself to pieces against the more radical +power of the people.'[149] The merit of a representative body is not +to be tested simply by the goodness of its legislation, but by its +diminishing the intensity of the struggle for the supreme power. +Jeffrey in fact is above all preoccupied with the danger of +revolution. The popular will is, in fact, supreme; repression may +force it into explosion; but by judicious management it may be tamed +and tempered. Then we need above all things that it should, as he says +in his reply to Mill (December 1826), give their 'natural and +wholesome influence to wealth and rank.' The stability of the English +Constitution depends, as he said in 1810, upon the monarchy and +aristocracy, and their stability on their being the natural growth of +ages and having 'struck their roots deep into every stratum of the +political soil.' + +The Whigs represent the view implied in Macaulay's attack upon +Mill--the view of cultivated men of sense, with their eyes open to +many difficulties overlooked by zealots, but far too sceptical and +despondent to rouse any enthusiasm or accept any dogmas absolutely. By +the time of the Reform Bill the danger was obviously on the side of +dogged obstructionism, and then the 'middle party,' as Jeffrey calls +it, inclined towards the Radical side and begged them to join its +ranks and abandon the attempt to realise extreme views. They could +also take credit as moderate men do for having all along been in the +right. But to both extremes, as Jeffrey pathetically complains, they +appeared to be mere trimmers.[150] + +The Utilitarian held the Whig to be a 'trimmer'; the Whig thought the +Utilitarian a fanatic; they agreed in holding that the Tory was simply +stupid. And yet, when we look at the Tory creed, we shall find that +both Whig and Utilitarian overlooked some very vital problems. The +Tories of course represent the advocates of strong government; and, as +their opponents held, had no theories--only prejudices. The first +article of the creed of an Eldon or a Sidmouth was, 'I believe in +George III.';--not a doctrine capable of philosophical justification. +Such Toryism meant the content of the rich and powerful with the +system by which their power and wealth were guaranteed. Their +instincts had been sharpened by the French revolution; and they saw in +any change the removal of one of the safeguards against a fresh +outburst of the nether fires. The great bulk of all political opinion +is an instinct, not a philosophy; and the obstructive Tories +represented little more than class prejudice and the dread of a great +convulsion. Yet intelligent Tories were being driven to find some +reasons for their creed, which the Utilitarians might have considered +more carefully. + + +III. CONSERVATISM + +A famous man of letters represents certain tendencies more clearly +than the average politician. Robert Southey (1777-1843), the 'ultra +servile sack-guzzler,' as Bentham pleasantly calls him in 1823,[151] +was probably the best abused man, on his own side at least, among +Mill's contemporaries. He was attacked by Mill himself, and savagely +denounced by Byron and Hazlitt. He was not only a conspicuous writer +in the _Quarterly Review_ but, as his enemies thought, a renegade +bought by pensions. It is, I hope, needless to defend him against this +charge. He was simply an impatient man of generous instincts and no +reflective power, who had in his youth caught the revolutionary fever, +and, as he grew up, developed the patriotic fever. + +Later views are given in the _Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects +of Society_ (1829), chiefly known to modern readers by one of +Macaulay's essays. Southey was as assailable as Mill. His political +economy is a mere muddle; his political views are obviously distorted +by accidental prejudices; and the whole book is desultory and +disjointed. In a dialogue with the ghost of Sir Thomas More, he takes +the opportunity of introducing descriptions of scenery, literary +digressions, and quaint illustrations from his vast stores of reading +to the confusion of all definite arrangement. Southey is in the +awkward position of a dogmatist defending a compromise. An Anglican +claiming infallibility is necessarily inconsistent. His view of +toleration, for example, is oddly obscure. He would apparently like to +persecute infidels;[152] and yet he wishes to denounce the Catholic +church for its persecuting principles. He seems to date the main +social evils to the changes which began at the Reformation, and yet he +looks back to the period which succeeded the Reformation as +representing the ideal state of the British polity. His sympathy with +the literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries predisposed +him to this position. He would have been more intelligible if he had +been more distinctly reactionary. For all that, his views show the +presence of a leaven which was materially to affect the later +development of English opinions. That Jacobinism meant anarchy, and +that anarchy led irresistibly to military despotism were propositions +which to him, as to so many others, seemed to be established by the +French revolution. What, then, was the cause of the anarchy? Sir +Thomas More comes from the grave to tell us this, because he had +witnessed the past symptoms of the process. The transition from the +old feudal system to the modern industrial organisation had in his day +become unmistakably developed. In feudal times, every man had his +definite place in society; he was a member of a little group; +supported, if controlled and disciplined, by an elaborate system of +spiritual authority. The Reformation was the period at which the +'masterless man' made his appearance. The conversion of pastures into +arable land, the growth of commerce and of pauperism, were marks of +the coming change. It proceeded quietly for some generations; but the +development of the modern manufacturing system represents the +operation of the same process on a far larger scale, and with far +greater intensity. The result may be described by saying that we have +instead of a legitimate development a degeneration of society. A vast +populace has grown up outside of the old order. It is independent +indeed, but at the heavy price of being rather an inorganic mass than +a constituent part of the body politic. It is, briefly, to the growth +of a huge 'proletariate' outside the church, and hostile to the state, +that Southey attributes all social evils. + +The view has become familiar enough in various shapes; and in the +reproaches which Southey brings against the manufacturing system we +have an anticipation of other familiar lamentations. Our manufacturing +wealth is a 'wen,' a 'fungous excrescence from the body politic';[153] +it is no more a proof of real prosperity than the size of a dropsical +patient is a proof of health;[154] the manufacturer worships mammon +instead of Moloch;[155] and wrings his fortune from the degradation of +his labourers as his warlike ancestors wrung wealth from their slaves; +he confines children in a tainted atmosphere, physical and moral, from +morning till night, and a celebrated minister (Pitt) boasts of this +very evil;[156] he treats his fellow-creatures as machines,[157] and +wealth, though accumulated, is not diffused; the great capitalists, +'like pikes in a fishpond,' devour the weaker fish;[158] competition +is not directed to providing the best goods, but the cheapest;[159] +every man oppresses his neighbour; the landlord racks his tenant, the +farmer grinds the labourer; all the little centres of permanent life +are broken up; not one man in a thousand is buried with his fathers, +and the natural ties and domestic affections are prematurely +dissolved.[160] + +Here, too, is to be found the source of the infidel opinions which +call for suppression. London is a hotbed of corruption;[161] a centre +of wealth; and yet, in spite of poor-laws, a place where wretches are +dying of starvation, and which could collect a mob capable of +producing the most appalling catastrophes. In such a place, men become +unbelievers like savages, because removed from all humanising +influences, and booksellers can carry on a trade in blasphemy. +Infidelity is bred in 'the filth and corruption of large towns and +manufacturing districts.'[162] The disappearance of clerical influence +has led to 'a mass of ignorance, vice, and wretchedness which no +generous heart can contemplate without grief.'[163] It is not +surprising that, in Southey's opinion, it is doubtful whether the bulk +of the people has gained or lost in the last thousand years.[164] +Macaulay takes all this as mere sentimentalism and preference of a +picturesque outside to solid comfort. But whatever Southey's errors of +fact, they show at least a deeper insight than his opponent into some +social evils. His proposed remedies explain his diagnosis of the evil. +In the first place, it is not surprising, though it surprised +Macaulay, that he had many sympathies with the socialist, Robert Owen. +He saw Owen in 1816,[165] and was much impressed by his views. In the +_Colloquies_,[166] Owen is called the 'happiest, most beneficent, and +most practical of all enthusiasts'; an account is given of one of the +earliest co-operative schemes,[167] and Southey believes in the +possibility of the plan. He makes, however, one significant remark. +Owen, he thinks, could not succeed without enlisting in his support +some sectarian zeal. As Owen happened to object to all religious +sects, this defect could not be remedied. + +Southey, in fact, held that the absence of religious discipline was at +the root of the whole evil. Religion, he declares, much to the scorn +of Macaulay, 'is the basis upon which civil government rests.'[168] +There must, as he infers, be an established religion, and the state +which neglects this duty is preparing its own ruin. 'Nothing,' he +declares, 'in abstract science can be more certain than these +propositions,' though they are denied by 'our professors of the arts +babblative and scribblative'--that is, by Benthamites and Whigs. For +here, in fact, we come to the irreconcilable difference. Government is +not to be a mere machinery for suppressing violence, but an ally of +the church in spreading sound religion and morality. The rulers, +instead of merely reflecting the popular will, should lead and direct +all agencies for suppressing vice and misery. Southey, as his son +takes pains to show,[169] though he was for upholding authority by the +most stringent measures, was convinced that the one way to make +government strong was to improve the condition of the people. He +proposed many measures of reform; national education on the +principles, of course, of Dr. Bell; state-aided colonisation and the +cultivation of waste lands at home; Protestant sisterhoods to +reproduce the good effects of the old order which he regretted and yet +had to condemn on Anglican principles. The English church should have +made use of the Wesleyans as the church of Rome had used the +Franciscans and Dominicans; and his _Life of Wesley_ was prompted by +his fond belief that this might yet be done. Government, he said, +ought to be 'paternal';[170] and his leading aspirations have been +adopted by Socialists on the one hand, and the converts to Catholicism +on the other. + +For his philosophy, Southey was in the habit of referring to +Coleridge; and Coleridge's _Constitution of Church and State_ is +perhaps the book in which Coleridge comes nearest to bringing an +argument to a conclusion. Though marked by his usual complexities of +style, his parentheses and irrelevant allusions and glances at wide +metaphysical discussions, he succeeds in laying down a sufficient +sketch of his position. The book was originally published in 1830, and +refers to the Catholic emancipation of the previous year. Unlike +Southey, he approves of the measure, only regretting the absence of +certain safeguards; and his general purpose may be said to be to give +such a theory of the relations of church and state as may justify an +establishment upon loftier grounds than those of the commonplace Tory. + +His method, as he explains, is to find the true 'idea' of a +constitution and a national church. The 'idea,' he explains, does not +mean the conscious aim of the persons who founded or now constitute +the bodies in question. An 'idea' is the subjective counterpart of an +objective law.[171] It corresponds to the vital force which moulds +the structure of the social organism, although it may never have been +distinctly formulated by any one of the actors. In this sense, +therefore, we should have to proceed by a historical method. We should +study the constitution as we study the physiology of a physical +body;[172] and he works out the analogy at some length. So far, +Coleridge is expressing the characteristic view that Nature in general +is to be regarded as an evolution; only that evolution is to be +understood in the sense of Schelling not in the sense of either +Darwin. Of course, when Coleridge professes to find the 'idea' of the +church and state, what he really finds is not the idea so much as his +idea of the idea--which may be a very different thing. His theory of +'evolution' is compatible with assuming that evolutions are +illegitimate whenever he happens to dislike them. + +He coincides rather curiously with James Mill in asserting that the +'social bond' was originally formed to protect property, not to +protect life.[173] He discovers accordingly that the ancient races, +Jews, Goths, and Kelts alike, divided the land into two parts, one to +be inherited by separate families, the other to be set apart for the +nation. From the latter or the 'nationalty' springs the church +establishment. This property belongs rightfully and inalienably to the +nation itself. It is held by what he calls the 'clerisy.' Its +functions are, in the first place, to provide a career by which the +poorest classes may rise to a higher position; and secondly, to +provide for the development of all the qualities which distinguish +the civilised man from the savage.[174] Briefly, then, the church is +that part of the national organism which is devoted to educating the +people to be 'obedient, free, useful organisable subjects, citizens, +and patriots, living to the benefit of the estate, and prepared to die +for its defence.' Henry viii. would have surpassed Alfred if he had +directed the 'nationalty' to its true purposes; that is, especially to +the maintenance of universities, of a parochial clergy, and of schools +in every parish. Unluckily, Henry VIII.'s 'idea' of a national church +was vague. Ideas were not his strong point. Coleridge appears to be +especially troubled to work the principles into conformity with his +views of Catholic emancipation. The peculiarity of the theory is that +the church, according to him, seems to be simply a national +institution. It might exist, and in fact, did exist before +Christianity, as is proved not only by the Jewish but by the Druidical +church.[175] That it should be Christian in England is a 'blessed +accident,' or 'providential boon'--or, as he puts it, 'most awfully a +godsend.' Hence it follows that a primary condition of its utility is +that the clerisy should contribute to the support of the other organs +of the community. They must not be the subjects of a foreign power, +nor, as he argues at length, subject to the desocialising influence of +celibacy. It follows that the Roman church is unfitted to be ever a +national church, although, if that danger be sufficiently obviated, no +political disqualifications should be imposed upon Romanists. And +thus, too, the Church Catholic is essentially a body which has no +relations to any particular state. It is opposed to the world, not to +the nation, and can have no visible head or 'personal centre of +unity.'[176] The church which makes such claims is the revelation of +Antichrist. + +We need not inquire into the prophecies. It is enough to say that to +Coleridge as to Southey the preservation of an established church +seemed to be an essential condition of morality and civilisation. They +differed from the ordinary Tory, who was content to defend any of the +abuses by the cry of sacrilege and confiscation. The church was to be +made worthy of its position, and rendered capable of discharging its +high functions effectually. Coleridge, it may be said, would fully +admit that an organ which had ceased to correspond to its idea must +die. It could not continue to preserve itself by mere force of +obstruction, but must arouse, throw off its abuses, and show itself to +be worthy of its high claims. Meanwhile, however, he was perhaps more +anxious to show the Utilitarians that in assailing the institution on +account of its abuses, they were really destroying the most essential +guarantee of progress. He sums up, in a curious passage, the proofs of +modern degradation.[177] The wicked eighteenth century is of course +responsible for everything. The 'mechanic corpuscular theory'; the +consequent decay of philosophy, illustrated by such phrases as an +excellent 'idea' of cooking; 'the ourang-outang theology of the origin +of the human species substituted for the first ten chapters of the +book of Genesis; rights of nature for the duties and privileges of +citizens; idealess facts, misnamed proofs from history, for principles +and the insight derived from them': all these and other calamitous +results of modern philosophy are connected with a neglect of the +well-being of the people, the mistaking of a large revenue for +prosperity, and the consumption of gin by paupers to the 'value of +eighteen millions yearly.' He appeals pathetically to the leaders of +the Utilitarians. They will scorn him for pronouncing that a 'natural +clerisy' is 'an essential element of a rightly constituted nation.' +All their tract societies and mechanics' institutes and 'lecture +bazaars under the absurd name of universities' are 'empiric specifics' +which feed the disease. Science will be plebified, not popularised. +The morality necessary for a state 'can only exist for the people in +the form of religion. But the existence of a true philosophy, or the +power and habit of contemplating particulars in the unity and fontal +mirror of the idea,--this in the rulers and teachers of a nation is +indispensable to a sound state of religion in all classes. In fact, +religion, true or false, is and ever has been the centre of gravity in +a realm to which all other things must and will accommodate +themselves.' + +The existence of the eighteenth century always remained a hopeless +puzzle for Coleridge and his followers. Why at that period everything +went wrong in the higher regions of thought remained a mystery. 'God +is above,' says Sir Thomas More to Southey,[178] 'but the devil is +below; evil principles are in their nature more active than good.' The +devil seemed to have got into the upper air, and was working with his +allies, Bentham and Mill and Paine and Cobbett, with remarkable +success. But, whatever the theories of conservatives in church and +state, the fact that the theories were held is important. The +diametrical opposition between two schools, one of which regarded the +church as a simple abuse, and its doctrines as effete superstitions, +while the other looked to the church and its creed as giving the sole +hope for suppressing the evil principle, was a critical point in later +movements, political as well as religious. + + +IV. SOCIALISM + +I have spoken of Southey's sympathy for Robert Owen. Owen (1771-1858) +is one of the characteristic figures of the time. He was the son of a +village tradesman in Wales, and had risen to prosperity by the +qualities of the virtuous apprentice. Industry, patience, an +imperturbably good temper, and sagacity in business matters had raised +him to high position as a manufacturer at the time of the rapid +advance of the cotton trade. Many poor men have followed the same path +to wealth. Owen's peculiarity was that while he became a capitalist he +preserved his sympathy with the working classes. While improving +machinery, he complained that the 'living machinery' was neglected. +One great step in his career was his marriage to the daughter of David +Dale of New Lanark, a religious and worthy manufacturer.[179] Dale had +employed a number of pauper children who were in that day to be +disposed of by their parishes; and had done his best to make their +position more tolerable. Owen took up this scheme, and carried it out +more systematically. New Lanark, in his hands, became a model village; +he provided in various ways for the encouragement of sobriety, +industry, and honesty among his workmen, set up stores to supply cheap +and good provisions, and especially provided infant schools and a +systematic education. 'The children,' he declares, 'were the happiest +human beings he ever saw.' When his partners interfered with his +plans, Owen bought them out and started the company to which Bentham +and Allen belonged. New Lanark rapidly became famous. It was visited +by all the philanthropists of the day. The royal dukes not only of +England but of Russia were interested; and Owen even believed that he +had converted Napoleon at Elba. So far, Owen was a benevolent +capitalist, exercising a paternal sway over his people. He became +convinced, however, that he had discovered the key to the great social +problems of the day. When the distresses followed the peace, he was +prepared to propound his remedy, and found many willing hearers in all +classes. Liverpool and Sidmouth listened to him with favour, and the +duke of Kent became president of a committee started to carry out his +views. He gave the impetus to the movement by which the Factory Act of +1819 was carried, although it was far from embodying his proposals in +their completeness. + +Owen's diagnosis of the social disease explains Southey's partiality. +Like Southey, he traced the evil to the development of the +manufacturing system. That system involved, as he held, what later +Socialists have called the 'exploitation' of the labouring classes by +the capitalists. With singularly crude notions of political economy, +Owen assumed that the 'dead machinery' was in competition with the +'living machinery.' He made startling calculations as to the amount +of human labour represented by steam-engines; and took for granted +that the steam-engine displaced an equal number of workmen. His remedy +for poverty was to set up a number of communities, which should +maintain themselves by cultivating the soil with the spade, and in +which every man should labour for all. Thus New Lanarks were to be +spread over the country, with the difference that the employer was to +be omitted. Owen, in short, became properly a Socialist, having been +simply a paternal philanthropist. For a time Owen met with +considerable support. A great meeting was held in London in 1817, and +a committee was started two years afterwards, of which Ricardo was a +member. Ricardo, indeed, took pains to let it be known that he did not +believe in the efficacy of Owen's plans. Meanwhile Owen was breaking +off his connection with New Lanark, and becoming the apostle of a new +social creed. His missionary voyages took him to Ireland, to the +United States and Mexico, and attempts were made to establish +communities in Scotland and in the State of Illinois. + +Owen and his followers became natural antagonists of the Utilitarians. +He agreed with Southey in tracing distress to the development of the +great manufacturing system, though he went much further. The +principles essentially involved in the whole industrial system were, +according to him, pernicious. He held the essential doctrine of his +modern successors that property is theft. Between such a man and the +men who took the _Wealth of Nations_ for their gospel, and Ricardo as +its authorised commentator, there was an impassable gulf. On the other +hand, Owen was equally far from the Tory view of religious +principles. Southey's remark that he could only succeed by allying +himself with some religious fanaticism was just to the point. + +Owen was a man of very few ideas, though he held such as he had with +extraordinary tenacity, and enforced them by the effective if +illogical method of incessant repetition. Among them was the idea +which, as he declares, had occurred to him before he was ten years old +that there was something radically wrong in all religions. Whether +this opinion had come to him from the diffused rationalism of his +time, or was congenial to the practical and prosaic temperament which +was disquieted by the waste of energy over futile sectarian squabbles, +or was suggested by his early study of Seneca--the only author of whom +he speaks as having impressed him in early years--it became a fixed +conviction. He had been an early supporter of Lancaster and +'unsectarian' education. When his great meeting was to be held in 1817 +it occurred to him that he might as well announce his views. He +accordingly informed his hearers that the religions of the world were +the great obstacles to progress. He expected, as he assures us, that +this candid avowal would cause him to be 'torn in pieces.' It provoked +on the contrary general applause, and Owen congratulated himself +rather hastily on having struck the deathblow of superstition. + +Owen's position, at any rate, was a significant symptom. It showed +that the Socialist movement sprang from motives outside the sphere of +the churches. Owen's personal simplicity and calmness seems to have +saved him from any bitter animosity. He simply set aside Christianity +as not to the purpose, and went on calmly asserting and re-asserting +his views to Catholics and Protestants, Whigs, Radicals, and Tories. +They agreed in considering him to be a bore, but were bored rather +than irritated. Owen himself, like later Socialists, professed +indifference to the political warfare of Whigs and Tories. When, at +the height of the Reform movement, he published a paper called the +_Crisis_, the title referred not to the struggle in which all the +upper classes were absorbed, but to the industrial revolution which he +hoped to bring about. He would have been equally ready to accept help +from Whig, Tory, or Radical; but his position was one equally +distasteful to all. The Tory could not ally himself with the man who +thought all religions nonsense; nor any of the regular parties with +the man who condemned the whole industrial system and was opposed to +all the cherished prejudices of the respectable middle classes. + +Owen's favourite dogma is worth a moment's notice. He was never tired +of repeating that 'character is formed by circumstances'; from which +he placidly infers that no man deserves praise or blame for his +conduct. The inference, it must be admitted, is an awkward one in any +ethical system. It represents, probably, Owen's most serious objection +to the religions of the world. The ultimate aim of the priest is to +save men's souls; and sin means conduct which leads to supernatural +punishment. Owen, on the contrary, held that immorality was simply a +disease to be cured, and that wrath with the sinner was as much out of +place as wrath with a patient. In this sense Owen's view, as I at +least should hold, defines the correct starting-point of any social +reformer. He has to consider a scientific problem, not to be an agent +of a supernatural legislator. He should try to alter the general +conditions from which social evils spring, not to deal in pardons or +punishment. Owen was acting with thoroughly good sense in his early +applications of this principle. The care, for example, which he +bestowed upon infant education recognised the fact that social reform +implied a thorough training of the individual from his earliest years. +Owen's greatest error corresponds to the transformation which this +belief underwent in his mind. Since circumstances form character, he +seems to have argued, it is only necessary to change the circumstances +of a grown-up man to alter his whole disposition. His ambitious scheme +in America seemed to suppose that it was enough to bring together a +miscellaneous collection of the poor and discontented people, and to +invite them all to behave with perfect unselfishness. At present I +need only remark that in this respect there was a close coincidence +between Owen and the Utilitarians. Both of them really aimed at an +improvement of social conditions on a scientific method; and both +justified their hopes by the characteristic belief in the indefinite +modifiability of human nature by external circumstances. + +I turn to a man who was in some ways the most complete antithesis to +Owen. William Cobbett (1762-1835), unlike Owen, took a passionate and +conspicuous part in the political struggles of the day. Cobbett, +declares the _Edinburgh Review_ in July 1807, has more influence than +all the other journalists put together. He had won it, as the reviewer +thought, by his force of character, although he had changed his +politics completely 'within the last six months.' The fact was more +significant than was then apparent. Cobbett, son of a labourer who +had risen to be a small farmer, had in spite of all obstacles learned +to read and write and become a great master of the vernacular. His +earliest model had been Swift's _Tale of a Tub_, and in downright +vigour of homely language he could scarcely be surpassed even by the +author of the _Drapier's Letters_. He had enlisted as a soldier, and +had afterwards drifted to America. There he had become conspicuous as +a typical John Bull. Sturdy and pugnacious in the highest degree, he +had taken the English side in American politics when the great +question was whether the new power should be bullied by France or by +England. He had denounced his precursor, Paine, in language savouring +too much, perhaps, of barrack-rooms, but certainly not wanting in +vigour. He defied threats of tar and feathers; put a portrait of +George III. in his shop-window; and gloried in British victories, and, +in his own opinion, kept American policy straight. He had, however, +ended by making America too hot to hold him; and came back to declare +that republicanism meant the vilest and most corrupt of tyrannies, and +that, as an Englishman, he despised all other nations upon earth. He +was welcomed on his return by Pitt's government as likely to be a +useful journalist, and became the special adherent of Windham, the +ideal country-gentleman and the ardent disciple of Burke's principles. +He set up an independent paper and heartily supported the war. On the +renewal of hostilities in 1803 Cobbett wrote a manifesto[180] directed +by the government to be read in every parish church in the kingdom, in +order to rouse popular feeling. When Windham came into office in 1806, +Cobbett's friends supposed that his fortune was made. Yet at this +very crisis he became a reformer. His conversion was put down, of +course, to his resentment at the neglect of ministers. I do not think +that Cobbett was a man to whose character one can appeal as a +conclusive answer to such charges. Unfortunately he was not free from +weaknesses which prevent us from denying that his political course was +affected by personal motives. But, in spite of weaknesses and of +countless inconsistencies, Cobbett had perfectly genuine convictions +and intense sympathies which sufficiently explain his position, and +make him more attractive than many less obviously imperfect +characters. He tells us unconsciously what were the thoughts suggested +to a man penetrated to the core by the strongest prejudices--they can +hardly be called opinions--of the true country labourer. + +The labourer, in the first place, if fairly represented by Cobbett, +had none of the bitter feeling against the nobility which smouldered +in the French peasantry. Cobbett looked back as fondly to the +surroundings of his youth as any nobleman could look back to Eton or +to his country mansion. He remembered the 'sweet country air' round +Crooksbury Hill, the song of birds, and the rambles through heather +and woodland. He loved the rough jovial sports; bull-baiting and +prize-fighting and single-stick play. He had followed the squire's +hounds on foot, and admired without jealousy the splendid gardens of +the bishop's palace at Farnham. Squire and parson were an intrinsic +part of the general order of things. The state of the English working +classes was, he often declares, the happiest that could be +imagined,[181] and he appeals in confirmation to his own memories. +Although, upon enlisting, he had found the army corrupt, he not only +loved the soldier for the rest of his life, but shared to the full the +patriotic exultation which welcomed the 1st of June and the Nile. Even +to the last, he could not stomach the abandonment of the title 'King +of France'; for so long as it was retained, it encouraged the farmer +to tell his son the story of Crecy and Agincourt.[182] + +What, then, alienated Cobbett? Briefly, the degradation of the class +he loved. 'I wish,' he said, 'to see the poor men of England what the +poor men of England were when I was born, and from endeavouring to +accomplish this task, nothing but the want of means shall make me +desist.'[183] He had a right to make that boast, and his ardour in the +cause was as unimpeachable as honourable. It explains why Cobbett has +still a sympathetic side. He was a mass of rough human nature; no prig +or bundle of abstract formulae, like Paine and his Radical successors. +Logic with him is not in excess, but in defect. His doctrines are +hopelessly inconsistent, except so far as they represent his stubborn +prejudices. Any view will serve his purpose which can be made a weapon +of offence in his multitudinous quarrels. Cobbett, like the Radicals +of the time, was frightened by the gigantic progress of the debt. He +had advocated war; but the peasant who was accustomed to reckon his +income by pence, and had cried like a child when he lost the price of +a red herring, was alarmed by the reckless piling up of millions of +indebtedness. In 1806 he calmly proposed to his patron Windham to put +matters straight by repudiating the interest. 'The nation must +destroy the debt, or the debt will destroy the nation,' as he argued +in the _Register_.[184] The proposal very likely caused the alienation +of a respectable minister, though propounded with an amusing air of +philosophical morality. Cobbett's alarm developed until it became to +him a revelation of the mystery of iniquity. His Radical friends were +denouncing placemen and jobbery, and Cobbett began to perceive what +was at the bottom of the evil. The money raised to carry on the war +served also to support a set of bloodsuckers, who were draining the +national strength. Already, in 1804, he was lamenting a change due to +Pitt's funding system. The old families, he said, were giving way to +'loanjobbers, contractors, and nabobs'; and the country people amazed +to find that their new masters had been 'butchers, bakers, +bottle-corkers, and old-clothesmen.'[185] Barings and Ricardos and +their like were swallowing up the old country gentry wholesale; and in +later years he reckons up, as he rides, the changes in his own +neighbourhood.[186] His affection for the old country-gentleman might +be superficial; but his lamentations over the degradation of the +peasantry sprang from his heart. It was all, in his eyes, part of one +process. Paper money, he found out, was at the bottom of it all; for +paper money was the outward and visible symbol of a gigantic system of +corruption and jobbery. It represented the device by which the +hard-earned wages of the labourer were being somehow conjured away +into the pockets of Jews and stockjobbers. The classes which profited +by this atrocious system formed what he called the 'Thing'--the huge, +intricate combination of knaves which was being denounced by the +Radicals--though with a difference. Cobbett could join the reformers +in so far as, like them, he thought that the rotten boroughs were a +vital part of the system. He meets a miserable labourer complaining of +the 'hard times.' The harvest had been good, but its blessings were +not for the labourer. That 'accursed hill,' says Cobbett, pointing to +old Sarum, 'is what has robbed you of your supper.'[187] The labourer +represented the class whose blood was being sucked. + +So far, then, as the Radicals were assailing the borough-mongers, +Cobbett could be their cordial ally. Two years' imprisonment for libel +embittered his feelings. In the distress which succeeded the peace, +Cobbett's voice was for a time loudest in the general hubbub. He +reduced the price of his _Register_, and his 'two-penny trash' reached +a circulation of 25,000 or 30,000 copies. He became a power in the +land, and anticipated the immediate triumph of reform. The day was not +yet. Sidmouth's measures of repression frightened Cobbett to America +(March 1819), where he wrote his history of the 'last hundred days of +English liberty.' He returned in a couple of years, damaged in +reputation and broken in fortune; but only to carry on the war with +indomitable energy, although with a recklessness and extravagance +which alienated his allies and lowered his character. He tried to +cover his errors by brags and bombast, which became ridiculous, and +which are yet not without significance. + +Cobbett came back from America with the relics of Paine. Paine, the +object of his abuse, had become his idol, not because Cobbett cared +much for any abstract political theories, or for religious dogmas. +Paine's merit was that he had attacked paper money. To Cobbett, as to +Paine, it seemed that English banknotes were going the way of French +assignats and the provincial currency of the Americans. This became +one main topic of his tirades, and represented, as he said, the 'Alpha +and Omega' of English politics. The theory was simple. The whole +borough-mongering system depended upon the inflated currency. Prick +that bubble and the whole would collapse. It was absolutely +impossible, he said, that the nation should return to cash payments +and continue to pay interest on the debt. Should such a thing happen, +he declared, he would 'give his poor body up to be broiled on one of +Castlereagh's widest-ribbed gridirons.'[188] The 'gridiron prophecy' +became famous; a gridiron was for long a frontispiece to the +_Register_; and Cobbett, far from retracting, went on proving, in the +teeth of facts, that it had been fulfilled. His inference was, not +that paper should be preserved, but that the debt should be treated +with a 'sponge.' + +Cobbett, therefore, was an awkward ally of political economists, whose +great triumph was the resumption of cash payments, and who regarded +repudiation as the deadly sin. The burthen of the debt, meanwhile, was +so great that repudiation was well within the limits of +possibility.[189] Cobbett, in their eyes, was an advocate of the +grossest dishonesty, and using the basest incentives. Cobbett fully +retorted their scorn. The economists belonged to the very class whom +he most hated. He was never tired of denouncing Scottish +'feelosophers'; he sneers at Adam Smith,[190] and Ricardo was to him +the incarnation of the stock-jobbing interest. Cobbett sympathised +instinctively with the doctrine of the French economists that +agriculture was the real source of all wealth. He nearly accepts a +phrase, erroneously attributed to Windham, 'Perish Commerce'; and he +argues that commerce was, in fact, of little use, and its monstrous +extension at the bottom of all our worst evils.[191] Nobody could be +more heartily opposed to the spirit which animated the political +economists and the whole class represented by them. At times he spoke +the language of modern Socialists. He defines Capital as 'money taken +from the labouring classes, which, being given to army tailors and +suchlike, enables them to keep foxhounds and trace their descent from +the Normans.'[192] + +The most characteristic point of his speculations is his view of the +poor-laws. Nobody could speak with more good sense and feeling of the +demoralisation which they were actually producing, of the sapping of +the spirit of independence, and of all the devices by which the +agricultural labourer was losing the happiness enjoyed in early years. +But Cobbett's deduction from his principles is peculiar. 'Parson +Malthus' is perhaps the favourite object of his most virulent abuse. +'I have hated many men,' he says, 'but never any one so much as you,' +'I call you parson,' he explains, 'because that word includes +"boroughmonger" among other meanings, though no single word could be +sufficient.'[193] Cobbett rages against the phrase 'redundant +population.' There would be plenty for all if the borough-mongers and +stockjobbers could be annihilated, taxes abolished, and the debt +repudiated. The ordinary palliatives suggested were little to the +taste of this remarkable Radical. The man who approved bull-fighting +and supported the slave-trade naturally sneered at 'heddekashun,' and +thought savings-banks a mean device to interest the poor in the +keeping up of the funds. His remedy was always a sponge applied to the +debt, and the abolition of taxes. + +This leads, however, to one remarkable conclusion. Cobbett's attack +upon the church establishment probably did more to cause alarm than +any writings of the day. For Paine's attacks upon its creed he cared +little enough. 'Your religion,' said a parson to him, 'seems to be +altogether political.' It might well be, was Cobbett's retort, since +his creed was made for him by act of parliament.[194] In fact, he +cared nothing for theology, though he called himself a member of the +church of England, and retained an intense dislike for Unitarians, +dissenters in general, 'saints' as he called the Evangelical party, +Scottish Presbyterians, and generally for all religious sects. He +looked at church questions solely from one point of view. He had +learned, it seems, from a passage in Ruggles's _History of the +Poor_,[195] that the tithes had been originally intended to support +the poor as well as the church. Gradually, as he looked back upon the +'good old times,' he developed the theory expounded in his _History of +the Reformation_. It is a singular performance, written at the period +of his most reckless exasperation (1824-27), but with his full vigour +of style. He declares[196] in 1825 that he has sold forty-five +thousand copies, and it has been often reprinted. The purpose is to +show that the Reformation was 'engendered in beastly lust, brought +forth in hypocrisy, and cherished and fed by plunder and devastation, +and by rivers of English and Irish blood.'[197] Briefly, it is the +cause of every evil that has happened since, including 'the debt, the +banks, the stockjobbers, and the American revolution.'[198] In proving +this, Cobbett writes in the spirit of some vehement Catholic bigot, +maddened by the penal laws. Henry VIII., Elizabeth, and William III. +are his monsters; the Marys of England and Scotland his ideal martyrs. +He almost apologises for the massacre of St. Bartholomew and the +Gunpowder Plot; and, in spite of his patriotism, attributes the defeat +of the Armada to a storm, for fear of praising Elizabeth. The +bitterest Ultramontane of to-day would shrink from some of this +Radical's audacious statements. Cobbett, in spite of his extravagance, +shows flashes of his usual shrewdness. He remarks elsewhere that the +true way of studying history is to examine acts of parliament and +lists of prices of labour and of food;[199] and he argues upon such +grounds for the prosperity of the agricultural labourer under Edward +III., 'when a dung-cart filler could get a fat goose and a half for +half a day's work.' He makes some telling hits, as when he contrasts +William of Wykeham with Brownlow North, the last bishop of Winchester. +Protestants condemned celibacy. Well, had William been married, we +should not have had Winchester school, or New College; had Brownlow +North been doomed to celibacy, he would not have had ten sons and +sons-in-law to share twenty-four rich livings, besides prebends and +other preferments; and perhaps he would not have sold small beer from +his episcopal palace at Farnham. Cobbett's main doctrine is that when +the Catholic church flourished, the population was actually more +numerous and richer, that the care of the priests and monks made +pauperism impossible, and that ever since the hideous blunder +perpetrated by the reformers everything has been going from bad to +worse. When it was retorted that the census proved the population to +be growing, he replied that the census was a lie. Were the facts truly +stated, he declares, we should have a population of near twenty-eight +million in England by the end of this century,[200] a manifest +_reductio ad absurdum_. If it were remarked that there was a Catholic +church in France, and that Cobbett proves his case by the superiority +of the English poor to the French poor, he remarked summarily that the +French laws were different.[201] + +Thus, the one monster evil is the debt, and the taxes turn out to have +been a Protestant invention made necessary by the original act of +plunder. That was Cobbett's doctrine, and, however perverse might be +some of his reasonings, it was clearly to the taste of a large +audience. The poor-law was merely a partial atonement for a vast and +continuous process of plunder. Corrupt as might be its actual +operation, it was a part of the poor man's patrimony, extorted by fear +from the gang of robbers who fattened upon their labours. + +Cobbett's theories need not be discussed from the logical or +historical point of view. They are the utterances of a man made +unscrupulous by his desperate circumstances, fighting with boundless +pugnacity, ready to strike any blow, fair or foul, so long as it will +vex his enemies, and help to sell the _Register_. His pugnacity +alienated all his friends. Not only did Whigs and Tories agree in +condemning him, but the Utilitarians hated and despised him, and his +old friends, Burnett and Hunt, were alienated from him, and reviled by +him. His actual followers were a small and insignificant remnant. Yet +Cobbett, like Owen, represented in a crude fashion blind instincts of +no small importance in the coming years. And it is especially to be +noted that in one direction the philosophic Coleridge and the keen +Quarterly Reviewer Southey, and the Socialist Owen and the reactionary +Radical Cobbett, were more in agreement than they knew. What alarmed +them was the vast social change indicated by the industrial +revolution. In one way or another they connected all the evils of the +day with the growth of commerce and manufactures, and the breaking up +of the old system of domestic trade and village life.[202] That is to +say, that in a dumb and inarticulate logic, though in the loudest +tones of denunciation, Tories and Socialists, and nondescript Radicals +were raging against the results of the great social change, which the +Utilitarians regarded as the true line of advance of the day. This +gives the deepest line of demarcation, and brings us to the political +economy, which shows most fully how the case presented itself to the +true Utilitarian. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[80] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 215. + +[81] _Autobiography_, p. 104. + +[82] _Miscellaneous Works_ (Popular Edition), p. 131. + +[83] The articles from the _Encyclopaedia_ upon Government, +Jurisprudence, Liberty of the Press, Prisons and Prison Discipline, +Colonies, Law of Nations, Education, were reprinted in a volume 'not +for sale,' in 1825 and 1828. I quote from a reprint not dated. + +[84] 'Government,' pp. 3-5. + +[85] 'Government,' p. 8. + +[86] 'Government,' p. 9. + +[87] _Ibid._ p. 11. + +[88] _Ibid._ p. 9. + +[89] _Ibid._ p. 12. + +[90] 'Government,' p. 9. + +[91] C'est une experience eternelle que tout homme qui a du pouvoir +est porte a en abuser; il va jusqu'a ce qu'il trouve des +limites.--_Esprit des Lois_, Bk. xi. chap 4. + +[92] 'Government,' p. 15. + +[93] 'Government,' p. 7. + +[94] _Ibid._ p. 18. + +[95] 'Government,' p. 21. + +[96] _Ibid._ p. 22 + +[97] _Autobiography_, p. 104. + +[98] 'Government,' p. 28. + +[99] _Ibid._ p. 30. Mill especially refers to the exposure of clerical +artifices in Father Paul's _Council of Trent_. + +[100] 'Education,' p. 20 + +[101] _Ibid._ p. 45. + +[102] _Autobiography_, p. 106. + +[103] 'Government,' p. 31. + +[104] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 392. + +[105] They were reprinted in the _Miscellaneous Works_ after +Macaulay's death. I quote from the 'popular edition' of that work +(1875). + +[106] _Miscellaneous Works_, p. 166. + +[107] _Miscellaneous Works_, p. 132. + +[108] Mill's _Autobiography_, p. 158. + +[109] 'Government,' p. 12. + +[110] _Miscellaneous Works_, p. 169. + +[111] _Fragment on Mackintosh_ (1870), pp. 275-94. + +[112] Essay on the 'Independency of Parliament.' + +[113] _Fragment_, p. 292. + +[114] _Ibid._ p. 276. + +[115] _Miscellaneous Works_, p. 170. + +[116] _Miscellaneous Works_, p. 173. + +[117] _Miscellaneous Works_, p. 138. + +[118] _Miscellaneous Works_, pp. 135-40. + +[119] _Miscellaneous Works_, p. 158, and see pp. 143-47. + +[120] _Speeches_ (Popular Edition), p. 125. + +[121] _Ibid._ p. 128. + +[122] _Miscellaneous Works_, p. 146. + +[123] _Miscellaneous Works_, p. 183. + +[124] A full analysis of this article is in Bain's _James Mill_, pp. +265-75. + +[125] Article upon Sheridan, reprinted in Jeffrey's _Essays_, iv. +(1844). + +[126] _Table-Talk_, 27th April 1823. + +[127] _Vindiciae Gallicae_, in _Miscellaneous Works_, iii. (1846), p. +57. + +[128] Mackintosh thinks it necessary to add that this parallel was +suggested to him by William Thomson (1746-1837), a literary gentleman +who continued Watson's _Philip III._, and may, for anything I know, +deserve Mackintosh's warm eulogy. + +[129] _Vindiciae Gallicae_, p. 59. + +[130] _Ibid._ p. 51. + +[131] _Ibid._ p. 148. + +[132] _Ibid._ p. 68. + +[133] _Ibid._ p. 72. + +[134] _Ibid._ p. 125. + +[135] _Vindiciae Gallicae_, p. 128. + +[136] _Ibid._ p. 84. + +[137] _Ibid._ p. 30. + +[138] _Life of Mackintosh_, i. 125. + +[139] _Miscellaneous Works_, iii. 261-65. + +[140] _Life_, i. 309-16. + +[141] See _Miscellaneous Works_, iii. 3. + +[142] _Ibid._ iii. 203-38 (an article highly praised by Bagehot in his +_Parliamentary Reform_). + +[143] _Miscellaneous Works_, iii. 215-16. + +[144] _Ibid._ iii. 226. Mackintosh in this article mentions the +'caucus,' and observes that the name implies that combinations have +been already formed upon 'which the future government of the +confederacy may depend more than on the forms of election, or the +letter of the present laws.' He inclines to approve the system as +essential to party government. + +[145] _Essays_ (1844), i. 84-106. + +[146] The famous 'Cevallos' article of 1808, said to be written by +Jeffrey and Brougham (Macvey Napier's _Correspondence_, p. 308), gave +the immediate cause of starting the _Quarterly_; and, according to +Brougham, first gave a distinctly Liberal character to the +_Edinburgh_. For Jeffrey's desire to avoid 'party politics,' see +Lockhart's _Life of Scott_, M. Napier's _Correspondence_, p. 435, and +Homer's _Memoirs_ (1853), i. 464. + +[147] April 1805; reprinted in _Essays_, ii. 38, etc., to show, as he +says, how early he had taken up his view of the French revolution. + +[148] Sydney Smith complains in his correspondence of this article as +exaggerating the power of the aristocracy. + +[149] _Essays_, iv. 29. + +[150] I need not speak of Brougham, then the most conspicuous advocate +of Whiggism. He published in 1843 a _Political Philosophy_, which, +according to Lord Campbell, killed the 'Society for the Diffusion of +Useful Knowledge.' No such hypothesis is necessary to account for the +death of a society encumbered by a 'Dictionary of Universal +Biography.' But the book was bad enough to kill, if a collection of +outworn platitudes can produce that effect. + +[151] Bentham's _Works_, x. 536. + +[152] _Colloquies_, i. 253. + +[153] _Colloquies_, i. 171. + +[154] _Ibid._ i. 178. + +[155] _Ibid._ i. 169. + +[156] _Ibid._ i. 167. + +[157] _Ibid._ i. 170. + +[158] _Ibid._ i. 194. + +[159] _Ibid._ ii. 247. + +[160] _Colloquies_, ii. 259. + +[161] _Ibid._ i. 109. + +[162] _Ibid._ ii. 105-7. + +[163] _Ibid._ i. 106. + +[164] _Ibid._ i. 47. + +[165] _Life and Correspondence_, iv. 195; _Selections_, iii. 45. + +[166] _Colloquies_, i. 62. + +[167] _Colloquies_, i. 135. + +[168] _Ibid._ ii. 147. Southey is here almost verbally following +Burke's _Reflections_. + +[169] _Life and Correspondence_, v. 4-6. + +[170] _Colloquies_, i. 105. + +[171] _On the Constitution of Church and State, according to the idea +of each_, 1852 (fourth edition). + +[172] _Church and State_, p. 100. + +[173] _Ibid._ p. 97. + +[174] _Church and State_, p. 85. + +[175] _Ibid._ p. 67. + +[176] _Church and State_, p. 142. + +[177] _Ibid._ pp. 75-79. + +[178] _Colloquies_, i. 37. + +[179] See an early account of Dale (in 1798) in Sydney Smith's _Life +and Letters_, i. 35, and another in Wilberforce's _Correspondence_ +(1840), i. 137 (in 1796). + +[180] Printed in _Political Works_, i. 302. + +[181] _Political Works_, v. 313; vi. 579. + +[182] _Political Works_, i. 473; v. 319. + +[183] _Ibid._ ii. 285. + +[184] _Political Works_, ii. 28; iv. 388. + +[185] _Ibid._ i. 443. + +[186] _Rural Rides_ (1853), p. 311. + +[187] _Rural Rides_, p. 386. + +[188] _Political Works_, v. 436 (22nd July 1819). + +[189] Even M'Culloch had recommended a partial repudiation. + +[190] _Political Works_, iv. 237. + +[191] _Ibid._ ii. 19, 107, 250, 346; and iii. 423. See _Parliamentary +History_, xxx., where the first use of the phrase by Hardinge is +reported. + +[192] _Political Works_, vi. 176. + +[193] _Ibid._ 395. + +[194] _Rural Rides_, p. 446. + +[195] He complains bitterly that Ruggles had suppressed this in a +second edition. _Protestant Reformation_ (1850), ii., Introduction. + +[196] _Political Register_, 29th Jan. 1825. + +[197] _Protestant Reformation_, p. 13. + +[198] _Ibid._ p. 262. + +[199] _Advice to Young Men_, p. 8. + +[200] _Political Works_, v. 405. If our census be not a lie, there +were twenty-seven million Englishmen in 1891. + +[201] _Protestant Reformation_, i. 311. + +[202] Coleridge in a letter to Allsop (_Conversations_, etc., i. 20) +approves one of Cobbett's articles, because it popularises the weighty +truth of the 'hollowness of commercial wealth.' Cobbett, he sadly +reflects, is an overmatch for Liverpool. See Cobbett's _Political +Works_, v. 466 _n._ + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +MALTHUS + + +I. MALTHUS'S STARTING-POINT + +The political movement represented the confluence of many different +streams of agitation. Enormous social changes had generated +multifarious discontent. New wants and the new strains and stresses +between the various parts of the political mechanism required new +adaptations. But, if it were inquired what was the precise nature of +the evils, and how the reform of parliament was to operate, the most +various answers might be given. A most important line of division did +not coincide with the line between the recognised parties. One wing of +the Radicals agreed with many Conservatives in attributing the great +evils of the day to the industrial movement and the growth of +competition. The middle-class Whigs and the Utilitarians were, on the +contrary, in thorough sympathy with the industrial movement, and +desired to limit the functions of government, and trust to self-help +and free competition. The Socialistic movement appeared for the +present to be confined to a few dreamers and demagogues. The +Utilitarians might approve the spirit of the Owenites, but held their +schemes to be chimerical. Beneath the political controversies there +was therefore a set of problems to be answered; and the Utilitarian +answer defines their distinction from Radicals of a different and, as +they would have said, unphilosophical school. + +What, then, was the view really taken by the Utilitarians of these +underlying problems? They not only had a very definite theory in +regard to them, but in working it out achieved perhaps their most +important contribution to speculation. Beneath a political theory +lies, or ought to lie, what we now call a 'sociology'--a theory of +that structure of society which really determines the character and +the working of political institutions. The Utilitarian theory was +embodied in their political economy. I must try to define as well as I +can what were the essential first principles implied, without going +into the special problems which would be relevant in a history of +political economy. + +The two leading names in the literature of political economy during +the first quarter of this century were undoubtedly Malthus and +Ricardo. Thomas Robert Malthus[203] (1766-1834) was not one of the +Utilitarian band. As a clergyman, he could not share their opinion of +the Thirty-nine Articles. Moreover, he was a Whig, not a Radical; and +he was even tainted with some economic heresy. Still, he became one of +the prophets, if not the leading prophet, of the Utilitarians. Belief +in the Malthusian theory of population was the most essential article +of their faith, and marked the line of cleavage between the two wings +of the Radical party. + +Malthus was the son of a country gentleman in Surrey. His father was +a man of studious habits, and one of the enthusiastic admirers of +Rousseau. His study of _Emile_ probably led to the rather desultory +education of his son. The boy, after being taught at home, was for a +time a pupil of R. Graves (1715-1804), author of the _Spiritual +Quixote_, a Whig clergyman who was at least orthodox enough to +ridicule Methodism. Malthus was next sent to attend Gilbert +Wakefield's lectures at the Warrington 'Academy,' the Unitarian place +of education, and in 1784 went to Jesus College, Cambridge, of which +Wakefield had been a fellow. For Wakefield, who had become a +Unitarian, and who was afterwards a martyr to political Radicalism, he +appears to have retained a strong respect. At Jesus, again, Malthus +was under Frend, who also was to join the Unitarians. Malthus was thus +brought up under the influences of the modified rationalism which was +represented by the Unitarians outside the establishment and by Paley +within. Coleridge was at Jesus while Malthus was still a fellow, and +there became an ardent admirer of Priestley, Malthus remained within +the borders of the church. Its yoke was light enough, and he was +essentially predisposed to moderate views. He took his degree as ninth +wrangler in 1788, became a fellow of his college in 1793, took orders, +and in 1798 was curate of Albury, near his father's house in Surrey. +Malthus's home was within a walk of Farnham, where Cobbett had been +born and passed his childhood. He had, therefore, before his eyes the +same agricultural labourer whose degradation excited Cobbett to +Radicalism. Very different views were suggested to Malthus. The +revolutionary doctrine was represented in England by the writings of +Godwin, whose _Political Justice_ appeared in 1793 and _Enquirer_ in +1797. These books naturally afforded topics for discussion between +Malthus and his father. The usual relations between senior and junior +were inverted; the elder Malthus, as became a follower of Rousseau, +was an enthusiast; and the younger took the part of suggesting doubts +and difficulties. He resolved to put down his arguments upon paper, in +order to clear his mind; and the result was the _Essay upon +Population_, of which the first edition appeared anonymously in 1798. + +The argument upon which Malthus relied was already prepared for him. +The dreams of the revolutionary enthusiasts supposed either a neglect +of the actual conditions of human life or a belief that those +conditions could be radically altered by the proposed political +changes. The cooler reasoner was entitled to remind them that they +were living upon solid earth, not in dreamland. The difficulty of +realising Utopia may be presented in various ways. Malthus took a +point which had been noticed by Godwin. In the conclusion of his +_Political Justice_,[204] while taking a final glance at the coming +millennium, Godwin refers to a difficulty suggested by Robert Wallace. +Wallace had[205] said that all the evils under which mankind suffers +might be removed by a community of property, were it not that such a +state of things would lead to an 'excessive population.' Godwin makes +light of the difficulty. He thinks that there is some 'principle in +human society by means of which everything tends to find its own level +and proceed in the most auspicious way, when least interfered with by +the mode of regulation.' Anyhow, there is plenty of room on the earth, +at present. Population may increase for 'myriads of centuries.' Mind, +as Franklin has said, may become 'omnipotent over matter';[206] life +may be indefinitely prolonged; our remote descendants who have filled +the earth 'will probably cease to propagate';[207] they will not have +the trouble of making a fresh start at every generation; and in those +days there will be 'no war, no crimes, no administration of justice'; +and moreover, 'no disease, anguish, melancholy, or resentment.' +Briefly, we shall be like the angels, only without the needless +addition of a supreme ruler. Similar ideas were expressed in +Condorcet's famous _Tableau historique des progres de l'esprit +humain_,[208] written while he was in daily fear of death by the +guillotine, and so giving the most striking instance on record of the +invincibility of an idealist conviction under the hardest pressure of +facts. + +The argument of Malthus is a product of the whole previous course of +speculation. The question of population had occupied the French +economists. The profound social evils of France gave the +starting-point of their speculations; and one of the gravest symptoms +had been the decay of population under the last years of Louis XIV. +Their great aim was to meet this evil by encouraging agriculture. It +could not escape the notice of the simplest observer that if you would +have more mouths you must provide more food, unless, as some pious +people assumed, that task might be left to Providence. Quesnay had +laid it down as one of his axioms that the statesman should aim at +providing sustenance before aiming simply at stimulating population. +It follows, according to Gulliver's famous maxim, that the man who +makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before deserves better +of his country than the 'whole race of politicians put together.' +Other writers, in developing this thesis, had dwelt upon the +elasticity of population. The elder Mirabeau, for example, published +his _Ami des hommes ou traite de la population_ in 1756. He observes +that, given the means of subsistence, men will multiply like rats in a +barn.[209] The great axiom, he says,[210] is 'la mesure de la +subsistance est celle de la population.' Cultivate your fields, and +you will raise men. Mirabeau replies to Hume's essay upon the +'Populousness of ancient nations' (1752), of which Wallace's first +treatise was a criticism. The problem discussed by Hume and Wallace +had been comparatively academical; but by Malthus's time the question +had taken a more practical shape. The sentimentalists denounced luxury +as leading to a decay of the population. Their prevailing doctrine is +embodied in Goldsmith's famous passage in the _Deserted Village_ +(1770): + + 'Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, + Where wealth accumulates and men decay.' + +The poetical version only reflected the serious belief of Radical +politicians. Although, as we are now aware, the population was in fact +increasing rapidly, the belief prevailed among political writers that +it was actually declining. Trustworthy statistics did not exist. In +1753 John Potter, son of the archbishop, proposed to the House of +Commons a plan for a census. A violent discussion arose,[211] in the +course of which it was pointed out that the plan would inevitably lead +to the adoption of the 'canvas frock and wooden shoes.' Englishmen +would lose their liberty, become French slaves, and, when counted, +would no doubt be taxed and forcibly enlisted. The bill passed the +House of Commons in spite of such reasoning, but was thrown out by the +House of Lords. Till the first census was taken in 1801--a period at +which the absolute necessity of such knowledge had become obvious--the +most elementary facts remained uncertain. Was population increasing or +decreasing? That surely might be ascertainable. + +Richard Price (1723-1791) was not only a distinguished moralist and a +leading politician, but perhaps the best known writer of his time upon +statistical questions. He had the credit of suggesting Pitt's sinking +fund,[212] and spoke with the highest authority upon facts and +figures. Price argued in 1780[213] that the population of England had +diminished by one-fourth since the revolution of 1688. A sharp +controversy followed upon the few ascertainable data. The vagueness of +the results shows curiously how much economists had to argue in the +dark. Malthus observes in his first edition that he had been +convinced by reading Price that population was restrained by 'vice and +misery,' as results, not of political institutions, but of 'our own +creation.'[214] This gives the essential point of difference. Mirabeau +had declared that the population of all Europe was decaying. Hume's +essay, which he criticises, had been in answer to a similar statement +of Montesquieu. Price had learned that other countries were increasing +in number, though England, he held, was still declining. What, then, +was the cause? The cause, replied both Price and Mirabeau, was +'luxury,' to which Price adds the specially English evils of the +'engrossment of farms' and the enclosure of open fields. Price had to +admit that the English towns had increased; but this was an additional +evil. The towns increased simply by draining the country; and in the +towns themselves the deaths exceeded the births. The great cities were +the graves of mankind. This opinion was strongly held, too, by Arthur +Young, who ridiculed the general fear of depopulation, and declared +that if money were provided, you could always get labour, but who +looked upon the towns as destructive cancers in the body politic. + +The prevalence of this view explains Malthus's position. To attribute +depopulation to luxury was to say that it was caused by the inequality +of property. The rich man wasted the substance of the country, became +demoralised himself, and both corrupted and plundered his neighbours. +The return to a 'state of nature,' in Rousseau's phrase, meant the +return to a state of things in which this misappropriation should +become impossible. The whole industry of the nation would then be +devoted to supporting millions of honest, simple peasants and +labourers, whereas it now went to increasing the splendour of the +great at the expense of the poor. Price enlarges upon this theme, +which was, in fact, the contemporary version of the later formula that +the rich are growing richer and the poor poorer. The immediate effect +of equalising property, then, would be an increase of population. It +was the natural retort, adopted by Malthus, that such an increase +would soon make everybody poor, instead of making every one +comfortable. Population, the French economists had said, follows +subsistence. Will it not multiply indefinitely? The rapid growth of +population in America was noticed by Price and Godwin; and the theory +had been long before expanded by Franklin, in a paper which Malthus +quotes in his later editions. 'There is no bound,' said Franklin in +1751,[215] 'to the prolific nature of plants and animals but what is +made by their crowding and interfering with each other's means of +subsistence.' The whole earth, he infers, might be overspread with +fennel, for example, or, if empty of men, replenished in a few ages +with Englishmen. There were supposed to be already one million of +Englishmen in North America. If they doubled once in twenty-five +years, they would in a century exceed the number of Englishmen at +home. This is identical with Mirabeau's principle of the multiplying +of rats in a barn. Population treads closely on the heels of +subsistence. Work out your figures and see the results.[216] + +Malthus's essay in the first edition was mainly an application of +this retort, and though the logic was effective as against Godwin, he +made no elaborate appeal to facts. Malthus soon came to see that a +more precise application was desirable. It was clearly desirable to +know whether population was or was not actually increasing, and under +what conditions. I have spoken of the contemporary labours of +Sinclair, Young, Sir F. Eden, and others. To collect statistics was +plainly one of the essential conditions of settling the controversy. +Malthus in 1799 travelled on the continent to gather information, and +visited Sweden, Norway, Russia, and Germany. The peace of Amiens +enabled him in 1802 to visit France and Switzerland. He inquired +everywhere into the condition of the people, collected such +statistical knowledge as was then possible, and returned to digest it +into a elaborate treatise. Meanwhile, the condition of England was +giving a fresh significance to the argument. The first edition had +been published at the critical time when the poor-law was being +relaxed, and disastrous results were following war and famine. The old +complaint that the poor-law was causing depopulation was being changed +for the complaint that it was stimulating pauperism. The first edition +already discussed this subject, which was occupying all serious +thinkers; it was now to receive a fuller treatment. The second +edition, greatly altered, appeared in 1803, and made Malthus a man of +authority. His merits were recognised by his appointment in 1805 to +the professorship of history and political economy at the newly +founded East India College at Haileybury. There he remained till the +end of his life, which was placid, uneventful, and happy. He made a +happy marriage in 1804; and his calm temperament enabled him to bear +an amount of abuse which might have broken the health of a more +irritable man. Cobbett's epithet, 'parson Malthus,' strikes the +keynote. He was pictured as a Christian priest denouncing charity, and +proclaiming the necessity of vice and misery. He had the ill luck to +be the centre upon which the antipathies of Jacobin and anti-Jacobin +converged. Cobbett's language was rougher than Southey's; but the +poet-laureate and the author of 'two-penny trash' were equally +vehement in sentiment. Malthus, on the other hand, was accepted by the +political economists, both Whig and Utilitarian. Horner and +Mackintosh, lights of the Whigs, were his warm friends as well as his +disciples. He became intimate with Ricardo, and he was one of the +original members of the Political Economy Club. He took abuse +imperturbably; was never vexed 'after the first fortnight' by the most +unfair attack; and went on developing his theories, lecturing his +students, and improving later editions of his treatise. Malthus died +on 23rd December 1834. + + +II. THE RATIOS + +The doctrine marks a critical point in political economy. Malthus's +opponents, as Mr. Bonar remarks,[217] attacked him alternately for +propounding a truism and for maintaining a paradox. A 'truism' is not +useless so long as its truth is not admitted. It would be the greatest +of achievements to enunciate a law self-evident as soon as formulated, +and yet previously ignored or denied. Was this the case of Malthus? Or +did he really startle the world by clothing a commonplace in paradox, +and then explain away the paradox till nothing but the commonplace was +left? + +Malthus laid down in his first edition a proposition which continued +to be worried by all his assailants. Population, he said, when +unchecked, increases in the geometrical ratio; the means of +subsistence increase only in an arithmetical ratio. Geometrical ratios +were just then in fashion.[218] Price had appealed to their wonderful +ways in his arguments about the sinking fund; and had pointed out that +a penny put out to 5 per cent. compound interest at the birth of +Christ would, in the days of Pitt, have been worth some millions of +globes of solid gold, each as big as the earth. Both Price and Malthus +lay down a proposition which can easily be verified by the +multiplication-table. If, as Malthus said, population doubles in +twenty-five years, the number in two centuries would be to the present +number as 256 to 1, and in three as 4096 to 1. If, meanwhile, the +quantity of subsistence increased in 'arithmetical progression,' the +multipliers for it would be only 9 and 13. It follows that, in the +year 2003, two hundred and fifty-six persons will have to live upon +what now supports nine. So far, the case is clear. But how does the +argument apply to facts? For obvious reasons, Price's penny could not +become even one solid planet of gold. Malthus's population is also +clearly impossible. That is just his case. The population of British +North America was actually, when he wrote, multiplying at the assigned +rate. What he pointed out was that such a rate must somehow be +stopped; and his question was, how precisely will it be stopped? The +first proposition, he says[219] (that is, that population increased +geometrically), 'I considered as proved the moment that the American +increase was related; and the second as soon as enunciated.' To say +that a population increases geometrically, in fact, is simply to say +that it increases at a fixed rate. The arithmetical increase +corresponds to a statement which Malthus, at any rate, might regard as +undeniable; namely, that in a country already fully occupied, the +possibility of increasing produce is restricted within much narrower +limits. In a 'new country,' as in the American colonies, the increase +of food might proceed as rapidly as the increase of population. +Improved methods of cultivation, or the virtual addition of vast +tracts of fertile territory by improved means of communication, may of +course add indefinitely to the resources of a population. But Malthus +was contemplating a state of things in which the actual conditions +limited the people to an extraction of greater supplies from a +strictly limited area. Whether Malthus assumed too easily that this +represented the normal case may be questionable. At any rate, it was +not only possible but actual in the England of the time. His problem +was very much to the purpose. His aim was to trace the way in which +the population of a limited region is prevented from increasing +geometrically. If the descendants of Englishmen increase at a certain +rate in America, why do they not increase equally in England? That, it +must be admitted, is a fair scientific problem. Finding that two races +of similar origin, and presumably like qualities, increase at +different rates, we have to investigate the causes of the difference. + +Malthus answered the problem in the simplest and most consistent way +in his first edition. What are the checks? The ultimate check would +clearly be starvation. A population might multiply till it had not +food. But before this limit is actually reached, it will suffer in +various ways from scarcity. Briefly, the checks may be distinguished +into the positive, that is, actual distress, and the preventive, or +'foresight.' We shall actually suffer unless we are restrained by the +anticipation of suffering. As a fact, however, he thinks that men are +but little influenced by the prudence which foresees sufferings. They +go on multiplying till the consequences are realised. You may be +confined in a room, to use one of his illustrations,[220] though the +walls do not touch you; but human beings are seldom satisfied till +they have actually knocked their heads against the wall. He sums up +his argument in the first edition in three propositions.[221] +Population is limited by the means of subsistence; that is obvious; +population invariably increases when the means of subsistence are +increased; that is shown by experience to be practically true; and +therefore, finally, the proportion is maintained by 'misery and +vice.' That is the main conclusion which not unnaturally startled the +world. Malthus always adhered in some sense to the main doctrine, +though he stated explicitly some reserves already implicitly involved. +A writer must not be surprised if popular readers remember the +unguarded and dogmatic utterances which give piquancy to a theory, and +overlook the latent qualifications which, when fully expressed, make +it approximate to a commonplace. The political bearing of his +reasoning is significant. The application of Godwin's theories of +equality would necessarily, as he urges, stimulate an excessive +population. To meet the consequent evils, two measures would be +obviously necessary; private property must be instituted in order to +stimulate prudence; and marriage must be instituted to make men +responsible for the increase of the population. These institutions are +necessary, and they make equality impossible. Weak, then, as foresight +may be with most men, the essential social institutions have been +developed by the necessity of enabling foresight to exercise some +influence; and thus indirectly societies have in fact grown in wealth +and numbers through arrangements which have by one and the same action +strengthened prudence and created inequality. Although this is clearly +implied, the main impression produced upon Malthus's readers was that +he held 'vice and misery' to be essential to society; nay, that in +some sense he regarded them as blessings. He was accused, as he tells +us,[222] of objecting to vaccination, because it tended to prevent +deaths from small-pox, and has to protest against some one who had +declared his principles to be favourable to the slave trade.[223] He +was represented, that is, as holding depopulation to be good in +itself. These perversions were grotesque, but partly explain the +horror with which Malthus was constantly regarded; and we must +consider what made them plausible. + +I must first notice the maturer form of his doctrine. In the second +edition he turns to account the result of his later reading, his +personal observations, and the statistical results which were +beginning to accumulate. The remodelled book opens with a survey of +the observed action of the checks; and it concludes with a discussion +of the 'moral restraint' which is now added to 'vice and misery.' +Although considerable fragments of the old treatise remained to the +last, the whole book was altered both in style and character. The +style certainly suffers, for Malthus was not a master of the literary +art; he inserts his additions with little care for the general effect. +He tones down some of the more vivid phrases which had given offence, +though he does not retract the substance. A famous passage[224] in the +second edition, in which he speaks of 'nature's mighty feast,' where, +unluckily, the 'table is already full,' and therefore unbidden guests +are left to starve, was suppressed in the later editions. Yet the +principle that no man has a claim to subsistence as of right remains +unaltered. The omission injures the literary effect without altering +the logic; and I think that, where the argument is amended, the new +element is scarcely worked into the old so as to gain thorough +consistency. + +Malthus's survey of different countries showed how various are the +'checks' by which population is limited in various countries. We take +a glance at all nations through all epochs of history. In the South +Sea we find a delicious climate and a fertile soil, where population +is mainly limited by vice, infanticide, and war; and where, in spite +of these influences, the population multiplies at intervals till it is +killed off by famine. In China, a vast and fertile territory, +inhabited by an industrious race, in which agriculture has always been +encouraged, marriage stimulated, and property widely diffused, has +facilitated the production of a vast population in the most abject +state of poverty, driven to expose children by want, and liable at +intervals to destructive famines. In modern Europe, the checks appear +in the most various forms; in Switzerland and Norway a frugal +population in small villages sometimes instinctively understands the +principle of population, and exhibits the 'moral restraint,' while in +England the poor-laws are producing a mass of hopeless and inert +pauperism. Consideration of these various cases, and a comparison of +such records as are obtainable of the old savage races, of the +classical states of antiquity, of the Northern barbarians and of the +modern European nations, suggests a natural doubt. Malthus abundantly +proves what can hardly be denied, that population has everywhere been +found to press upon the means of subsistence, and that vice and misery +are painfully abundant. But does he establish or abandon his main +proposition? He now asserts the 'tendency' of population to outrun the +means of subsistence. Yet he holds unequivocally that the increase of +population has been accompanied by an increased comfort; that want has +diminished although population has increased; and that the +'preventive' check is stronger than of old in proportion to the +positive check. Scotland, he says,[225] is 'still overpeopled, but not +so much as when it contained fewer inhabitants.' Many nations, as he +points out in general terms, have been most prosperous when most +populous.[226] They could export food when crowded, and have ceased to +import it when thinned. This, indeed, expresses his permanent views, +though the facts were often alleged by his critics as a disproof of +them. Was not the disproof real? Does not a real evasion lurk under +the phrase 'tendency'? You may say that the earth has a tendency to +fall into the sun, and another 'tendency' to move away from the sun. +But it would be absurd to argue that we were therefore in danger of +being burnt or of being frozen. To explain the law of a vital process, +we may have to analyse it, and therefore to regard it as due to +conflicting forces; but the forces do not really exist separately, and +in considering the whole concrete phenomenon we must take them as +mutually implied. A man has a 'tendency' to grow too fat; and another +'tendency' to grow too thin. That surely means that on the whole he +has a 'tendency' to preserve the desirable mean. The phrase, then, can +only have a distinct meaning when the conflicting forces represent two +independent or really separable forces. To use an illustration given +by Malthus, we might say that a man had a 'tendency' to grow upwards; +but was restrained by a weight on his head. The man has the +'tendency,' because we may regard the weight as a separable accident. +When both forces are of the essence, the separate 'tendencies' +correspond merely to our way of analysing the fact. But if one can be +properly regarded as relatively accidental, the 'tendency' means the +way in which the other will manifest itself in actual cases. + +In 1829, Senior put this point to Malthus.[227] What, he asked, do you +understand by a 'tendency' when you admit that the tendency is +normally overbalanced by others? Malthus explains his meaning to be +that every nation suffers from evils 'specifically arising from the +pressure of population against food.' The wages of the labourer in old +countries have never been sufficient to enable him to maintain a large +family at ease. There is overcrowding, we may say, in England now as +there was in England at the Conquest; though food has increased in a +greater proportion than population; and the pressure has therefore +taken a milder form. This, again, is proved by the fact that, whenever +a relaxation of the pressure has occurred, when plagues have +diminished population, or improvements in agriculture increased their +supply of food, the gap has been at once filled up. The people have +not taken advantage of the temporary relaxation of the check to +preserve the new equilibrium, but have taken out the improvement by a +multiplication of numbers. The statement then appears to be that at +any given time the population is in excess. Men would be better off if +they were less numerous. But, on the other hand, the tendency to +multiply does not represent a constant force, an irresistible instinct +which will always bring men down to the same level, but something +which, in fact, may vary materially. Malthus admits, in fact, that +the 'elasticity' is continually changing; and therefore repudiates the +interpretation which seemed to make all improvement hopeless. Why, +then, distinguish the 'check' as something apart from the instinct? +If, in any case, we accept this explanation, does not the theory +become a 'truism,' or at least a commonplace, inoffensive but hardly +instructive? Does it amount to more than the obvious statement that +prudence and foresight are desirable and are unfortunately scarce? + + +III. MORAL RESTRAINT + +The change in the theory of 'checks' raises another important +question. Malthus now introduced a modification upon which his +supporters laid great stress. In the new version the 'checks' which +proportion population to means of subsistence are not simply 'vice and +misery,' but 'moral restraint, vice, and misery.'[228] How, precisely, +does this modify the theory? How are the different 'checks' related? +What especially is meant by 'moral' in this connection? Malthus takes +his ethical philosophy pretty much for granted, but is clearly a +Utilitarian according to the version of Paley.[229] He agrees with +Paley that 'virtue evidently consists in educing from the materials +which the Creator has placed under our guidance the greatest sum of +human happiness.'[230] He adds to this that our 'natural impulses are, +abstractedly considered, good, and only to be distinguished by their +consequences.' Hunger, he says, as Bentham had said, is the same in +itself, whether it leads to stealing a loaf or to eating your own +loaf. He agrees with Godwin that morality means the 'calculation of +consequences,'[231] or, as he says with Paley, implies the discovery +of the will of God by observing the effect of actions upon happiness. +Reason then regulates certain innate and practically unalterable +instincts by enabling us to foretell their consequences. The +reasonable man is influenced not simply by the immediate +gratification, but by a forecast of all the results which it will +entail. In these matters Malthus was entirely at one with the +Utilitarians proper, and seems to regard their doctrine as +self-evident. + +He notices briefly one logical difficulty thus introduced. The +'checks' are vice, misery, and moral restraint. But why distinguish +vice from misery? Is not conduct vicious which causes misery,[232] and +precisely because it causes misery? He replies that to omit 'vice' +would confuse our language. Vicious conduct may cause happiness in +particular cases; though its general tendency would be pernicious. The +answer is not very clear; and Malthus, I think, would have been more +logical if he had stuck to his first theory, and regarded vice as +simply one form of imprudence. Misery, that is, or the fear of misery, +and the indulgence in conduct which produces misery are the 'checks' +which limit population; and the whole problem is to make the ultimate +sanction more operative upon the immediate conduct. Man becomes more +virtuous simply as he becomes more prudent, and is therefore governed +in his conduct by recognising the wider and more remote series of +consequences. There is, indeed, the essential difference that the +virtuous man acts (on whatever motives) from a regard to the 'greatest +happiness of the greatest number,' and not simply from self-regard. +Still the ultimate and decisive criterion is the tendency of conduct +to produce misery; and if Malthus had carried this through as +rigorously as Bentham, he would have been more consistent. The 'moral +check' would then have been simply a department of the prudential; +including prudence for others as well as for ourselves. One reason for +the change is obvious. His assumption enables him to avoid coming into +conflict with the accepted morality of the time. On his exposition +'vice' occasionally seems not to be productive of misery but an +alternative to misery; and yet something bad in itself. Is this +consistent with his Utilitarianism? The vices of the South Sea +Islanders, according to him, made famine less necessary; and, if they +gave pleasure at the moment, were they not on the whole beneficial? +Malthus again reckons among vices practices which limit the population +without causing 'misery' directly.[233] Could he logically call them +vicious? He wishes to avoid the imputation of sanctioning such +practices, and therefore condemns them by his moral check; but it +would be hard to prove that he was consistent in condemning them. Or, +again, there is another familiar difficulty. The Catholic church +encourages marriage as a remedy for vice; and thereby stimulates both +population and poverty. How would Malthus solve the problem: is it +better to encourage chastity and a superabundance of people, or to +restrict marriage at the cost of increasing temptation to vice? He +seems to evade the point by saying that he recommends both chastity +and abstinence from marriage. By 'moral restraint,' as he explains, he +means 'restraint from marriage from prudential motives, with a conduct +strictly moral during the period of this restraint.' 'I have never,' +he adds, 'intentionally deviated from this sense.'[234] A man, that +is, should postpone taking a wife, and should not console himself by +taking a mistress. He is to refrain from increasing the illegitimate +as well as from increasing the legitimate population. It is not +surprising that Malthus admits that this check has 'in past ages +operated with inconsiderable force.'[235] In fact Malthus, as a +thoroughly respectable and decent clergyman, manages by talking about +the 'moral restraint' rather to evade than to answer some awkward +problems of conduct; but at the cost of some inconsequence. + +But another result of this mode of patching up his argument is more +important. The 'vices of mankind,' he says in an unusually rhetorical +summary of his historical inquiry,[236] 'are active and able ministers +of depopulation. They are the precursors in the great army of +destruction, and often finish the dreadful work themselves. But should +they fail in the war of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, +pestilence, and plague advance in terrific array, and sweep off their +thousands and ten thousands. Should success still be incomplete, +gigantic inevitable famine stalks in the rear, and at one mighty blow +levels the population with the food of the world.' The life of the +race, then, is a struggle with misery; its expansion is constantly +forcing it upon this array of evils; and in proportion to the +elasticity is the severity of the evils which follow. This is not only +a 'gloomy view,' but again seems to suggest that 'vice' is an +alternative to 'misery.' Vices are bad, it would seem, but at least +they obviate the necessity for disease and famine. Malthus probably +suppressed the passage because he thought it liable to this +interpretation. It indicates, however, a real awkwardness, if not +something more, in his exposition. He here speaks as if there was room +for a fixed number of guests at his banquet. Whatever, therefore, +keeps the population to that limit must be so far good. If he had +considered his 'moral check' more thoroughly, he might have seen that +this does not correspond to his real meaning. The 'moral' and the +prudential checks are not really to be contrasted as alternative, but +co-operative. Every population, vicious or virtuous, must of course +proportion its numbers to its means of support. That gives the +prudential check. But the moral check operates by altering the +character of the population itself. From the purely economic point of +view, vice is bad because it lowers efficiency. A lazy, drunken, and +profligate people would starve where an industrious, sober, and honest +people would thrive. The check of vice thus brings the check of misery +into play at an earlier stage. It limits by lowering the vitality and +substituting degeneration for progress. The check, therefore, is +essentially mischievous. Though it does not make the fields barren, it +lowers the power of cultivation. Malthus had recognised this when he +pointed out, as we have seen, that emergence from the savage state +meant the institution of marriage and property and, we may infer, the +correlative virtues of chastity, industry, and honesty. If men can +form large societies, and millions can be supported where once a few +thousands were at starvation point, it is due to the civilisation +which at every stage implies 'moral restraint' in a wider sense than +Malthus used the phrase. An increase of population by such means was, +of course, to be desired. If Malthus emphasises this inadequately, it +is partly, no doubt, because the Utilitarian view of morality tended +to emphasise the external consequences rather than the alteration of +the man himself. Yet the wider and sounder view is logically implied +in his reasoning--so much so that he might have expressed his real aim +more clearly if he had altered the order of his argument. He might +have consistently taken the same line as earlier writers and declared +that he desired, above all things, the increase of population. He +would have had indeed to explain that he desired the increase of a +sound and virtuous population; and that hasty and imprudent increase +led to misery and to a demoralisation which would ultimately limit +numbers in the worst way. We shall see directly how nearly he accepts +this view. Meanwhile, by insisting upon the need of limitation, he was +led to speak often as if limitation by any means was good and the one +thing needful, and the polemic against Godwin in the first edition had +given prominence to this side of the question. Had he put his views in +a different shape, he would perhaps have been so edifying that he +would have been disregarded. He certainly avoided that risk, and had +whatever advantage is gained by stating sound doctrine paradoxically. + +We shall, I think, appreciate his real position better by considering +his approximation to the theory which, as we know, was suggested to +Darwin by a perusal of Malthus.[237] There is a closer resemblance +than appears at first. The first edition concludes by two chapters +afterwards omitted, giving the philosophical application of his +theory. He there says that the 'world is a mighty process of God not +for the trial but for the creation and formation of the mind.'[238] It +is not, as Butler thought, a place of 'probation,' but a scene in +which the higher qualities are gradually developed. Godwin had quoted +Franklin's view that 'mind' would become 'omnipotent over matter.' +Malthus holds that, as he puts it, 'God is making matter into mind.' +The difference is that Malthus regards evil in general not as a sort +of accident of which we can get rid by reason; but as the essential +stimulus which becomes the efficient cause of intellectual activity. +The evils from which men suffer raise savage tribes from their +indolence, and by degrees give rise to the growth of civilisation. The +argument, though these chapters were dropped by Malthus, was taken up +by J. B. Sumner, to whom he refers in later editions.[239] It is, in +fact, an imperfect way of stating a theory of evolution. This appears +in his opening chapters upon the 'moral restraint.'[240] He explains +that moral and physical evils are 'instruments employed by the Deity' +to admonish us against such conduct as is destructive of happiness. +Diseases are indications that we have broken a law of nature. The +plague of London was properly interpreted by our ancestors as a hint +to improve the sanitary conditions of the town. Similarly, we have to +consider the consequences of obeying our instincts. The desire of food +and necessaries is the most powerful of these instincts, and next to +it the passion between the sexes. They are both good, for they are +both natural; but they have to be properly correlated. To 'virtuous +love' in particular we owe the 'sunny spots' in our lives, where the +imagination loves to bask. Desire of necessaries gives us the stimulus +of the comfortable fireside; and love adds the wife and children, +without whom the fireside would lose half its charm. Now, as a rule, +the sexual passion is apt to be in excess. The final cause of this +excess is itself obvious. We cannot but conceive that it is an object +of 'the Creator that the earth should be replenished.'[241] To secure +that object, it is necessary that 'there should be a tendency in the +population to increase faster than food.' If the two instincts were +differently balanced, men would be content though the population of a +fertile region were limited to the most trifling numbers. Hence the +instinct has mercifully been made so powerful as to stimulate +population, and thus indirectly and eventually to produce a population +at once larger and more comfortable. On the one hand, it is of the +very utmost importance to the happiness of mankind that they should +not increase too fast,[242] but, on the other hand, if the passion +were weakened, the motives which make a man industrious and capable of +progress would be diminished also. It would, of course, be simpler to +omit the 'teleology'; to say that sanitary regulations are made +necessary by the plague, not that the plague is divinely appointed to +encourage sanitary regulations. Malthus is at the point of view of +Paley which becomes Darwinism when inverted; but the conclusion is +much the same. He reaches elsewhere, in fact, a more precise view of +the value of the 'moral restraint.' In a chapter devoted for once to +an ideal state of things,[243] he shows how a race thoroughly imbued +with that doctrine would reconcile the demands of the two instincts. +Population would in that case increase, but, instead of beginning by +an increase, it would begin by providing the means of supporting. No +man would become a father until he had seen his way to provide for a +family. The instinct which leads to increasing the population would +thus be intrinsically as powerful as it now is; but when regulated by +prudence it would impel mankind to begin at the right end. Food would +be ready before mouths to eat it. + + +IV. SOCIAL REMEDIES + +This final solution appears in Malthus's proposed remedies for the +evils of the time. Malthus[244] declares that 'an increase of +population when it follows in its natural order is both a great +positive good in itself, and absolutely necessary' to an increase of +wealth. This natural order falls in, as he observes, with the view to +which Mirabeau had been converted, that 'revenue was the source of +population,' and not population of revenue.[245] Malthus holds +specifically that, 'in the course of some centuries,' the population +of England might be doubled or trebled, and yet every man be 'much +better fed and clothed than he is at present.'[246] He parts company +with Paley, who had considered the ideal state to be 'that of a +laborious frugal people ministering to the demands of an opulent +luxurious nation.'[247] That, says Malthus, is 'not an inviting +prospect.' Nothing but a conviction of absolute necessity could +reconcile us to the 'thought of ten millions of people condemned to +incessant toil, and to the privation of everything but absolute +necessaries, in order to minister to the excessive luxuries of the +other million.' But he denies that any such necessity exists. He +wishes precisely to see luxury spread among the poorer classes. A +desire for such luxury is the best of all checks to population, and +one of the best means of raising the standard. It would, in fact, +contribute to his 'moral restraint.' So, too, he heartily condemns +the hypocrisy of the rich, who professed a benevolent desire to +better the poor, and yet complained of high wages.[248] If, he says +elsewhere,[249] a country can 'only be rich by running a successful +race for low wages, I should be disposed to say, Perish such riches!' +No one, in fact, could see more distinctly than Malthus the +demoralising influence of poverty, and the surpassing importance of +raising the people from the terrible gulf of pauperism. He refers to +Colquhoun's account of the twenty thousand people who rose every +morning in London without knowing how they were to be supported; and +observes that 'when indigence does not produce overt acts of vice, it +palsies every virtue.'[250] The temptations to which the poor man is +exposed, and the sense of injustice due to an ignorance of the true +cause of misery, tend to 'sour the disposition, to harden the heart, +and deaden the moral sense.' Unfortunately, the means which have been +adopted to lessen the evil have tended to increase it. In the first +place, there was the master-evil of the poor-laws. Malthus points out +the demoralising effects of these laws in chapters full of admirable +common sense, which he was unfortunately able to enforce by fresh +illustrations in successive editions. He attends simply to the +stimulus to population. He thinks that if the laws had never existed, +the poor would now have been much better off.[251] If the laws had +been fully carried out, every labourer might have been certain that +all his children would be supported, or, in other words, every check +to population would have been removed.[252] Happily, the becoming +pride of the English peasantry was not quite extinct; and the poor-law +had to some extent counteracted itself, or taken away with one hand +what it gave with the other, by placing the burthen upon the +parishes.[253] Thus landlords have been more disposed to pull down +than to build cottages, and marriage has been checked. On the whole, +however, Malthus could see in the poor-laws nothing but a vast agency +for demoralising the poor, tempered by a system of petty tyrannical +interference. He proposes, therefore, that the poor-law should be +abolished. Notice should be given that no children born after a +certain day should be entitled to parish help; and, as he quaintly +suggests, the clergyman might explain to every couple, after +publishing the banns, the immorality of reckless marriage, and the +reasons for abolishing a system which had been proved to frustrate the +intentions of the founders.[254] Private charity, he thinks, would +meet the distress which might afterwards arise, though humanity +imperiously requires that it should be 'sparingly administered.' Upon +this duty he writes a sensible chapter.[255] To his negative proposals +Malthus adds a few of the positive kind. He is strongly in favour of a +national system of education, and speaks with contempt of the +'illiberal and feeble' arguments opposed to it. The schools, he +observes, might confer 'an almost incalculable benefit' upon society, +if they taught 'a few of the simplest principles of political +economy.'[256] He had been disheartened by the prejudices of the +ignorant labourer, and felt the incompatibility of a free government +with such ignorance. A real education, such as was given in Scotland, +would make the poor not, as alarmists had suggested, more inflammable, +but better able to detect the sophistry of demagogues.[257] He is, of +course, in favour of savings banks,[258] and approves friendly +societies, though he is strongly opposed to making them compulsory, as +they would then be the poor-law in a new form.[259] The value of every +improvement turns upon its effect in encouraging the 'moral +restraint.' Malthus's ultimate criterion is always, Will the measure +make people averse to premature marriage? He reaches the apparently +inconsistent result that it might be desirable to make an allowance +for every child beyond six.[260] But this is on the hypothesis that +the 'moral restraint' has come to be so habitual that no man marries +until he has a fair prospect of maintaining a family of six. If this +were the practical code, the allowance in cases where the expectation +was disappointed would not act as an encouragement to marriage, but as +a relief under a burthen which could not have been anticipated. Thus +all Malthus's teaching may be said to converge upon this practical +point. Add to the Ten Commandments the new law, 'Thou shalt not marry +until there is a fair prospect of supporting six children.' Then +population will increase, but sufficient means for subsistence will +always be provided beforehand. We shall make sure that there is a +provision for additional numbers before, not after, we add to our +numbers. Food first and population afterwards gives the rule; thus we +achieve the good end without the incidental evils. + +Malthus's views of the appropriate remedy for social evils +undoubtedly show an imperfect appreciation of the great problems +involved. Reckless propagation is an evil; but Malthus regards it as +an evil which can be isolated and suppressed by simply adding a new +article to the moral code. He is dealing with a central problem of +human nature and social order. Any modification of the sexual +instincts or of the constitution of the family involves a profound +modification of the whole social order and of the dominant religious +and moral creeds. Malthus tacitly assumes that conduct is determined +by the play of two instincts, unalterable in themselves, but capable +of modification in their results by a more extensive view of +consequences. To change men's ruling motives in regard to the most +important part of their lives is to alter their whole aims and +conceptions of the world, and of happiness in every other relation. It +supposes, therefore, not a mere addition of knowledge, but a +transformation of character and an altered view of all the theories +which have been embodied in religious and ethical philosophy. He +overlooks, too, considerations which would be essential to a complete +statement. A population which is too prudent may suffer itself to be +crowded out by more prolific races in the general struggle for +existence; and cases may be suggested such as that of the American +colonies, in which an increase of numbers might be actually an +advantage by facilitating a more efficient organisation of labour. + +The absence of a distinct appreciation of such difficulties gives to +his speculation that one-sided character which alienated his more +sentimental contemporaries. It was natural enough in a man who was +constantly confronted by the terrible development of pauperism in +England, and was too much tempted to assume that the tendency to +reckless propagation was not only a very grave evil, but the ultimate +source of every evil. The doctrine taken up in this unqualified +fashion by some of his disciples, and preached by them with the utmost +fervour as the one secret of prosperity, shocked both the conservative +and orthodox whose prejudices were trampled upon, and such Radicals as +inherited Godwin's or Condorcet's theory of perfectibility. Harsh and +one-sided as it might be, however, we may still hold that it was of +value, not only in regard to the most pressing difficulty of the day, +but also as calling attention to a vitally important condition of +social welfare. The question, however, recurs whether, when the +doctrine is so qualified as to be admissible, it does not also become +a mere truism. + +An answer to this question should begin by recognising one specific +resemblance between his speculations and Darwin's. Facts, which appear +from an older point of view to be proofs of a miraculous +interposition, become with Malthus, as with Darwin, the normal results +of admitted conditions. Godwin had admitted that there was some +'principle which kept population on a level with subsistence.' 'The +sole question is,' says Malthus,[261] 'what is this principle? Is it +some obscure and occult cause? a mysterious interference of heaven,' +inflicting barrenness at certain periods? or 'a cause open to our +researches and within our view?' Other writers had had recourse to the +miraculous. One of Malthus's early authorities was Suessmilch, who had +published his _Goettliche Ordnung_ in 1761, to show how Providence had +taken care that the trees should not grow into the sky. The +antediluvians had been made long-lived in order that they might have +large families and people an empty earth, while life was divinely +shortened as the world filled up. Suessmilch, however, regarded +population as still in need of stimulus. Kings might help Providence. +A new Trajan would deserve to be called the father of his people, if +he increased the marriage-rate. Malthus replies that the statistics +which the worthy man himself produced showed conclusively that the +marriages depended upon the deaths. The births fill up the vacancies, +and the prince who increased the population before vacancies arose +would simply increase the rate of mortality.[262] If you want to +increase your birth-rate without absolutely producing famine, as he +remarks afterwards,[263] make your towns unhealthy, and encourage +settlement by marshes. You might thus double the mortality, and we +might all marry prematurely without being absolutely starved. His own +aim is not to secure the greatest number of births, but to be sure +that the greatest number of those born may be supported.[264] The +ingenious M. Muret, again, had found a Swiss parish in which the mean +life was the highest and the fecundity smallest known. He piously +conjectures that it may be a law of God that 'the force of life in +each country should be in the inverse ratio of its fecundity.' He +needs not betake himself to a miracle, says Malthus.[265] The case is +simply that in a small and healthy village, where people had become +aware of the importance of the 'preventive check,' the young people +put off marriage till there was room for them, and consequently both +lowered the birth-rate and raised the average duration of life. + +Nothing, says Malthus very forcibly, has caused more errors than the +confusion between 'relative and positive, and between cause and +effect.'[266] He is here answering the argument that because the poor +who had cows were the most industrious, the way to make them +industrious was to give them cows. Malthus thinks it more probable +that industry got the cow than that the cow produced industry. This is +a trifling instance of a very general truth. People had been content +to notice the deaths caused by war and disease, and to infer at once +that what caused death must diminish population. Malthus shows the +necessity of observing other collateral results. The gap may be made +so great as to diminish population; but it may be compensated by a +more rapid reproduction; or, the rapidity of reproduction may itself +be the cause of the disease; so that to remove one kind of mortality +may be on some occasion to introduce others. The stream is dammed on +one breach to flow more strongly through other outlets.[267] + +This is, I conceive, to say simply that Malthus was introducing a +really scientific method. The facts taken in the true order became at +once intelligible instead of suggesting mysterious and irregular +interferences. Earlier writers had been content to single out one +particular set of phenomena without attending to its place in the more +general and complex processes, of which they formed an integral part. +Infanticide, as Hume had pointed out, might tend to increase +population.[268] In prospect, it might encourage people to have +babies; and when babies came, natural affection might prevent the +actual carrying out of the intention. To judge of the actual effect, +we have to consider the whole of the concrete case. It may be carried +out, as apparently in the South Sea Islands, so generally as to limit +population; or it may be, as in China, an indication that the pressure +is so great that a number of infants become superfluous. Its +suppression might, in the one case, lead to an increase of the +population; in the other, to the increase of other forms of mortality. +Malthus's investigations illustrate the necessity of referring every +particular process to its place in the whole system, of noting how any +given change might set up a set of actions and reactions in virtue of +the general elasticity of population, and thus of constantly referring +at every step to the general conditions of human life. He succeeded in +making many points clear, and of showing how hastily many inferences +had been drawn. He explained, for example, why the revolutionary wars +had not diminished the population of France, in spite of the great +number of deaths,[269] and thus gave an example of a sound method of +inquiry which has exercised a great influence upon later observers. +Malthus was constantly misunderstood and misrepresented, and his +opponents often allege as fatal objections to his doctrine the very +facts by which it was really supported. But we may, I think, say, that +since his writing no serious economical writer has adopted the old +hasty guesses, or has ventured to propose a theory without regard to +the principles of which he first brought out the full significance. + + +V. POLITICAL APPLICATION + +This I take to indicate one real and permanent value of Malthus's +writings. He introduced a new method of approaching the great social +problems. The value of the method may remain, however inaccurate may +be the assumptions of facts. The 'tendency,' if interpreted to mean +that people are always multiplying too rapidly, may be a figment. If +it is taken as calling attention to one essential factor in the case, +it is a most important guide to investigation. This brings out another +vital point. The bearing of the doctrine upon the political as well as +upon the economical views of the Utilitarians is of conspicuous +importance. Malthus's starting-point, as we have seen, was the +opposition to the doctrine of 'perfectibility.' Hard facts, which +Godwin and Condorcet had neglected, were fatal to their dreams. You +have, urged Malthus, neglected certain undeniable truths as to the +unalterable qualities of human nature, and, therefore, your theories +will not work. The revolutionists had opposed an ideal 'state of +nature' to the actual arrangements of society. They imagined that the +'state of nature' represented the desirable consummation, and that the +constitution of the 'natural' order could be determined from certain +abstract principles. The equality of man, and the absolute rights +which could be inferred by a kind of mathematical process, supplied +the necessary dogmatic basis. The antithesis to the state of nature +was the artificial state, marked by inequality, and manifesting its +spirit by luxury. Kings, priests, and nobles had somehow established +this unnatural order; and to sweep them away summarily was the way of +bringing the natural order into full activity. The ideal system was +already potentially in existence, and would become actual when men's +minds were once cleared from superstition, and the political made to +correspond to the natural rights of man. To this Malthus had replied, +as we have seen, that social inequality was not a mere arbitrary +product of fraud and force, but an expedient necessary to restrain the +primitive instincts of mankind. He thus coincides with Bentham's +preference of 'security' to 'equality,' and illustrates the real +significance of that doctrine. Property and marriage, though they +involve inequality, were institutions of essential importance. Godwin +had pushed his theories to absolute anarchy; to the destruction of all +law, for law in general represented coercion or an interference with +the state of nature. Malthus virtually asserted that the metaphysical +doctrine was inapplicable because, men being what they are, these +conclusions were incompatible with even the first stages of social +progress. This means, again, that for the metaphysical method Malthus +is substituting a scientific method. Instead of regarding all +government as a kind of mysterious intervention from without, which +has somehow introduced a fatal discord into the natural order, he +inquires what are the facts; how law has been evolved; and for what +reason. His answer is, in brief, that law, order, and inequality have +been absolutely necessary in order to limit tendencies which would +otherwise keep men in a state of hopeless poverty and depression. + +This gives the 'differentia' of the Utilitarian considered as one +species of the genus 'Radical.' Malthus's criticism of Paine is +significant.[270] He agrees with Paine that the cause of popular +risings is 'want of happiness.' But Paine, he remarks, was 'in many +important points totally ignorant of the structure of society'; and +has fallen into the error of attributing all want of happiness to +government. Consequently, Paine advocates a plan for distributing +taxes among the poorest classes, which would aggravate the evils a +hundredfold. He fully admits with Paine that man has rights. The true +line of answer would be to show what those rights are. To give this +answer is not Malthus's present business; but there is one right, at +any rate, which a man does not and cannot possess: namely, the 'right +to subsistence when his labour will not fairly purchase it.' He does +not possess it because he cannot possess it; to try to secure it is to +try to 'reverse the laws of nature,' and therefore to produce cruel +suffering by practising an 'inhuman deceit.' The Abbe Raynal had said +that a man had a right to subsist 'before all social laws.' Man had +the same right, replied Malthus, as he had to live a hundred or a +thousand years. He may live, _if he can_ without interfering with +others. Social laws have, in fact, enlarged the power of subsistence; +but neither before nor after their institution could an unlimited +number subsist. Briefly, the question of fact comes before the +question of right, and the fault of the revolutionary theorists was to +settle the right without reference to the possibility of making the +right correspond to the fact. + +Hence Malthus draws his most emphatic political moral. The admission +that all evil is due to government is the way to tyranny. Make men +believe that government is the one cause of misery, and they will +inevitably throw the whole responsibility upon their rulers; seek for +redress by cures which aggravate the disease; and strengthen the hands +of those who prefer even despotism to anarchy. This, he intimates, is +the explanation of the repressive measures in which the +country-gentlemen had supported Pitt. The people had fancied that by +destroying government they would make bread cheap; government was +forced to be tyrannical in order to resist revolution; while its +supporters were led to 'give up some of the most valuable privileges +of Englishmen.'[271] It is then of vital importance to settle what is +and what is not to be set down to government. Malthus, in fact, holds +that the real evils are due to underlying causes which cannot be +directly removed, though they may be diminished or increased, by +legislators. Government can do something by giving security to +property, and by making laws which will raise the self-respect of the +lower classes. But the effect of such laws must be slow and gradual; +and the error which has most contributed to that delay in the progress +of freedom, which is 'so disheartening to every liberal mind,'[272] is +the confusion as to the true causes of misery. Thus, as he has already +urged, professed economists could still believe, so long after the +publication of Adam Smith's work, that it was 'in the power of the +justices of the peace or even of the omnipotence of parliament to +alter by a _fiat_ the whole circumstances of the country.'[273] Yet +men who saw the absurdity of trying to fix the price of provisions +were ready to propose to fix the rate of wages. They did not see that +one term of the proportion implied the other. Malthus's whole +criticism of the poor-law, already noticed, is a commentary upon this +text. It is connected with a general theory of human nature. The +author of nature, he says, has wisely made 'the passion of self-love +beyond expression stronger than the passion of benevolence.'[274] He +means, as he explains, that every man has to pursue his own welfare +and that of his family as his primary object. Benevolence, of course, +is the 'source of our purest and most refined pleasures,' and so +forth; but it should come in as a supplement to self-love. Therefore +we must never admit that men have a strict right to relief. That is to +injure the very essential social force. 'Hard as it may seem in +individual instances, dependent poverty ought to be held +disgraceful.'[275] The spirit of independence or self-help is the one +thing necessary. 'The desire of bettering our condition and the fear +of making it worse, like the _vis medicatrix_ in physics, is the _vis +medicatrix naturae_ in politics, and is continually counteracting the +disorders arising from narrow human institutions.'[276] It is only +because the poor-laws have not quite destroyed it, that they have not +quite ruined the country. The pith of Malthus's teaching is fairly +expressed in his last letter to Senior.[277] He holds that the +improvement in the condition of the great mass of the labouring +classes should be considered as the main interest of society. To +improve their condition, it is essential to impress them with the +conviction that they can do much more for themselves than others can +do for them, and that the _only_ source of permanent improvement is +the improvement of their moral and religious habits. What government +can do, therefore, is to maintain such institutions as may strengthen +the _vis medicatrix_, or 'desire to better our condition,' which +poor-laws had directly tended to weaken. He maintains in his letter to +Senior, that this desire is 'perfectly feeble' compared with the +tendency of the population to increase, and operates in a very slight +degree upon the great mass of the labouring class.[278] Still, he +holds that on the whole the 'preventive checks' have become stronger +relatively to the positive,[279] and, at any rate, all proposals must +be judged by their tendency to strengthen the preventive. + +Malthus was not a thoroughgoing supporter of the 'do-nothing' +doctrine. He approved of a national system of education, and of the +early factory acts, though only as applied to infant labour. So, as we +shall see, did all the Utilitarians. The 'individualism,' however, is +not less decided; and leads him to speak as though the elasticity of +population were not merely an essential factor in the social problem, +but the sole principle from which all solutions must be deduced. He is +thus led, as I have tried to show, to a narrow interpretation of his +'moral check.' He is apt to take 'vice' simply as a product of +excessive pressure, and, in his general phrases at least, to overlook +its reciprocal tendency to cause pressure. The 'moral check' is only +preventive or negative, not a positive cause of superior vigour. A +similar defect appears in his theory of the _vis medicatrix_. He was, +I hold, perfectly right in emphasising the importance of individual +responsibility. No reform can be permanent which does not raise the +morality of the individual. His insistence upon this truth was of the +highest importance, and it is to be wished that its importance might +be more fully recognised to-day. The one-sidedness appears in his +proposal to abolish the poor-law simply. That became the most +conspicuous and widely accepted doctrine. All men of 'sense,' said +Sydney Smith--certainly a qualified representative of the class--in +1820, agree, first, that the poor-law must be abolished; and secondly, +that it must be abolished very gradually.[280] That is really to +assume that by refusing to help people at all, you will force them to +help themselves. There is another alternative, namely, that they may, +as Malthus himself often recognises, become demoralised by excessive +poverty. To do simply nothing may lead to degeneration instead of +increased energy. The possibility of an improved law, which might act +as a moral discipline instead of a simply corrupting agency, is simply +left out of account; and the tendency to stimulate reckless population +is regarded not only as one probable consequence, but as the very +essence of all poor-laws. Upon Malthus's assumptions, the statement +that sound political and social theories must be based upon systematic +inquiry into facts, meant that the individual was the ultimate +unalterable unit, whose interest in his own welfare gave the one +fulcrum for all possible changes. The ideal 'state of nature' was a +fiction. The true basis of our inquiries is the actual man known to us +by observation. The main fault of this being was the excess of the +instinct of multiplication, and the way to improve him was to show how +it might conflict with the instinct of self-preservation. In this +shape the doctrine expressed the most characteristic tendency of the +Utilitarians, and divided them from the Socialists or believers in +abstract rights of man. + + +VI. RENT + +Here, then, we are at a central point of the Utilitarian creed. The +expansive force of population is, in a sense, the great motive power +which moulds the whole social structure; or, rather, it forces +together the independent units, and welds them into an aggregate. The +influence of this doctrine upon other economical speculations is of +the highest importance. One critical stage in the process is marked by +the enunciation of the theory of rent, which was to become another +essential article of the true faith. The introduction of this doctrine +is characteristic, and marks the point at which Ricardo superseded +Malthus as chief expositor of the doctrine. + +Malthus's views were first fully given in his _Inquiry into Rent_, the +second of three pamphlets which he published during the corn-law +controversy of 1814-15.[281] The opinions now stated had, he says, +been formed in the course of his lecturing at Haileybury; and he made +them public on account of their bearing upon the most absorbing +questions of the time. The connection of the theory with Malthus's +speculations and with the contemporary difficulties is indeed obvious. +The landlord had clearly one of the reserved seats at the banquet of +nature. He was the most obvious embodiment of 'security' as opposed to +equality. Malthus, again, had been influenced by the French economists +and their theory of the 'surplus fund,' provided by agriculture. +According to them, as he says,[282] this fund or rent constitutes the +whole national wealth. In his first edition he had defended the +economists against some of Adam Smith's criticisms; and though he +altered his views and thought that they had been led into preposterous +errors, he retained a certain sympathy for them. Agriculture has still +a certain 'pre-eminence.' God has bestowed upon the soil the +'inestimable quality of being able to maintain more persons than are +necessary to work it.'[283] It has the special virtue that the supply +of necessaries generates the demand. Make more luxuries and the price +may fall; but grow more food and there will be more people to eat it. +This, however, seems to be only another way of stating an unpleasant +fact. The blessing of 'fertility' counteracts itself. As he argues in +the essay,[284] an equal division of land might produce such an +increase of population as would exhaust any conceivable increase of +food. These views--not, I think, very clear or consistently worked +out--lead apparently to the conclusion that the fertility is indeed a +blessing, but on condition of being confined to a few. The result, in +any case, is the orthodox theory of rent. The labourer gets less than +he would if the products of the soil were equally distributed. Both +wages and profits must fall as more is left to rent, and that this +actually happens, he says, with unusual positiveness, is an +'incontrovertible truth.'[285] The fall enables the less fertile land +to be cultivated, and gives an excess of produce on the more fertile. +'This excess is rent.'[286] He proceeds to expound his doctrine by +comparing land to a set of machines for making corn.[287] If, in +manufacture, a new machine is introduced every one adopts it. In +agriculture the worst machines have still to be used; and those who +have the best and sell at the same price, can appropriate the surplus +advantage. This, he declares, is a law 'as invariable as the action of +the principle of gravity.'[288] Yet Smith and others have overlooked a +'principle of the highest importance'[289] and have failed to see that +the price of corn, as of other things, must conform to the cost of +production. The same doctrine was expounded in the same year by Sir +Edward West;[290] and, as it seems to me, more clearly and simply. +West, like Malthus, says that he has to announce a principle +overlooked by Adam Smith. This is briefly that 'each equal additional +quantity of work bestowed on agriculture yields an actually diminished +return.' He holds that profits fall as wealth increases, but he denies +Adam Smith's view that this is a simple result of increased +competition.[291] Competition would equalise, but would not lower +profits, for 'the productive powers of manufactures are constantly +increasing.' In agriculture the law is the opposite one of diminishing +returns. Hence the admitted fall of profits shows that the necessity +of taking inferior soils into cultivation is the true cause of the +fall. + +Such coincidences as that between Malthus and West are common enough, +for very obvious reasons. In this case, I think, there is less room +for surprise than usual. The writer generally credited with the +discovery of the rent doctrine is James Anderson, who had stated it +as early as 1777.[292] The statement, however, did not attract +attention until at the time of West and Malthus it was forced upon +observers by the most conspicuous facts of the day. Adam Smith and +other economists had, as Malthus notices, observed what is obvious +enough, that rent in some way represented a 'net produce'--a something +which remained after paying the costs of production. So much was +obvious to any common-sense observer. In a curious paper of December +1804,[293] Cobbett points out that the landlords will always keep the +profits of farmers down to the average rate of equally agreeable +businesses. This granted, it is a short though important step to the +theory of rent. The English system had, in fact, spontaneously +analysed the problem. The landlord, farmer, and labourer represented +the three interests which might elsewhere be combined. Prices raised +by war and famine had led to the enclosure of wastes and the breaking +up of pastures. The 'margin of cultivation' was thus illustrated by +facts. Farmers were complaining that they could not make a profit if +prices were lowered. The landed classes were profiting by a rise of +price raised, according to a familiar law, in greater proportion than +the deficiency of the harvest. Facts of this kind were, one must +suppose, familiar to every land-agent; and to discover the law of +rent, it was only necessary for Malthus and West to put them in their +natural order. The egg had only to be put on its end, though that, as +we know, is often a difficult task. When the feat was accomplished +consequences followed which were fully developed by Ricardo. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[203] Mr. James Bonar's _Malthus and his Work_ (1885) gives an +admirable account of Malthus. The chief original authorities are a +life by Bishop Otter, prefixed to a second edition of the _Political +Economy_ (1831), and an article by Empson, Malthus's colleague, in the +_Edinburgh Review_ for January 1837. + +[204] _Political Justice_ (3rd edition, 1798), ii. bk. viii. chap. +ix., p. 514. + +[205] Wallace wrote in answer to Hume, _A Dissertation on the Numbers +of Mankind in Ancient and Modern Times_ (1753), and _Various Prospects +of Mankind_, and _Nature and Providence_ (1761). Godwin refers to the +last. + +[206] _Political Justice_, ii. 520. + +[207] _Ibid._ ii. 528. + +[208] First published in 1795, after the first edition, as Godwin +remarks, of the _Political Justice_. + +[209] _Ami des hommes_ (reprint of 1883), p. 15. + +[210] _Ami des hommes_, p. 26. + +[211] See the curious debate in _Parl. Hist._ xiv. 1318-1365. + +[212] The seventh edition of Price's _Observations on Reversionary +Payments_, etc. (1812), contains a correspondence with Pitt (i. 216, +etc.). The editor, W. Morgan, accuses Pitt of adopting Price's plans +without due acknowledgment and afterwards spoiling them. + +[213] _Essay on Population_, p. 18. In _Observations_, ii. 141, he +estimates the diminution at a million and a half. Other books +referring to the same controversy are Howlett's _Examination of Dr. +Price's Essay_ (1781); _Letter to Lord Carlisle_, by William Eden +(1744-1814), first Lord Auckland; William Wales's _Enquiry into +Present State of Population_, etc. (1781); and Geo. Chalmers's +_Estimate of the Comparative Strength of Great Britain_ (1782 and +several later editions). + +[214] _Essay_ (first edition), p. 339. + +[215] _Memoirs_, etc. (1819), ii. 10. + +[216] So Sir James Stewart, whose light was extinguished by Adam +Smith, begins his _Enquiry into the Principles of Political Economy_ +(1767) by discussing the question of population, and compares the +'generative faculty' to a spring loaded with a weight, and exerting +itself in proportion to the diminution of resistance (_Works_, 1805, +i. 22). He compares population to 'rabbits in a warren.' Joseph +Townsend, in his _Journey Through Spain_ (1792), to whom Malthus +refers, had discussed the supposed decay of the Spanish population, +and illustrates his principles by a geometric progression: see ii. +213-56, 386-91. Eden, in his book on the poor (i. 214), quotes a tract +attributed to Sir Matthew Hale for the statement that the poor +increase on 'geometrical progression.' + +[217] _Malthus and his Work_, p. 85. + +[218] Voltaire says in the _Dictionnaire Philosophique_ (art. +'Population'): 'On ne propage point en Progression Geometrique. Tous +les calculs qu'on a faits sur cette pretendue multiplication sont des +chimeres absurdes.' They had been used to reconcile the story of the +deluge with the admitted population of the world soon afterwards. + +[219] _Essay_ (1826), ii 453 _n._ I cite from this, the last edition +published in Malthus's lifetime, unless otherwise stated. + +[220] _Essay_, ii. 251 (bk. iii. ch. xiv.). + +[221] _Ibid._ (1798), p. 141. + +[222] _Essay_, ii. 449 (Appendix). + +[223] _Essay_, ii. 473 (Appendix). + +[224] _Ibid._ (Second Edition), p. 400. The passage is given in full +in _Malthus and his Work_, p. 307. + +[225] _Essay_, i. 469 (bk. ii. ch. x.). Eden had made the same remark. + +[226] _Ibid._ ii. 229 (bk. iii. ch. xiv.). + +[227] Correspondence in Senior's _Three Essays on Population_ (1829). + +[228] _Essay_, i. 234 (bk. i. ch. ii.). + +[229] Mr. Bonar thinks (_Malthus and his Work_, p. 324) that Malthus +followed Paley's predecessor, Abraham Tucker, rather than Paley. The +difference is not for my purpose important. In any case, Malthus's +references are to Paley. + +[230] _Essay_, ii. 266 (bk. iv. ch. i.). + +[231] _Essay_ (first edition), p. 212. + +[232] _Ibid._ i. 16 _n._ (bk. i. ch. ii.). + +[233] See _e.g._ his remarks upon Condorcet in _Essay_, ii. 8 (bk. +iii. ch. i.); and Owen in _Ibid._ ii. 48 (bk. iii ch. ii.). + +[234] _Essay_, i. 15 _n._ (bk. i. ch. ii.); and see _Ibid._ (edit. of +1807) ii. 128. + +[235] _Ibid._ (1807) ii. 128. + +[236] _Ibid._ (1807) ii. 3 (bk. ii. ch. ii.). (Omitted in later +editions.) + +[237] Mr. A. R. Wallace, Darwin's fellow-discoverer of the doctrine, +also learned it from Malthus. See Clodd's _Pioneers of Evolution_. +Malthus uses the phrase 'struggle for existence' in relation to a +fight between two savage tribes in the first edition of his _Essay_, +p. 48. In replying to Condorcet, Malthus speaks (_Essay_, ii. 12, bk. +iii. ch. i.) of the possible improvement of living organisms. He +argues that, though a plant may be improved, it cannot be indefinitely +improved by cultivation. A carnation could not be made as large as a +tulip. It has been said that this implies a condemnation by +anticipation of theories of the development of species. This is hardly +correct. Malthus simply urges against Condorcet that our inability to +fix limits precisely does not imply that there are no limits. This, it +would seem, must be admitted on all hands. Evolution implies definite +though not precisely definable limits. Life may be lengthened, but not +made immortal. + +[238] _Essay_ (first edition), 353. + +[239] _Ibid._ 42 _n._ (bk. iii. ch. iii.) + +[240] _Essay_, ii. 301-36 (bk. iv. ch. i. and ii.). Sumner's _Treatise +on the Records of the Creation, and on the Moral Attributes of the +Creator: with Particular Reference to the Jewish History and the +Consistency of the Principle of Population with the Wisdom and +Goodness of the Creator_ (1815), had gained the second Burnett prize. +It went through many editions; and shows how Cuvier confirms Genesis, +and Malthus proves that the world was intended to involve a +competition favourable to the industrious and sober. Sumner's view of +Malthus is given in Part ii., chaps, v. and vi. In previous chapters +he has supported Malthus's attack on Godwin and Condorcet. + +[241] _Essay_, ii. 266 (bk. iv. ch. i.). + +[242] _Essay_, ii 268 (bk. iv. ch. i.). + +[243] _Ibid._ (bk. iv. ch. ii.). + +[244] _Essay_, 241 (bk. iii. ch. iv.). + +[245] _Ibid._ ii. 241 (bk. iii. ch. xiv.). + +[246] _Ibid._ ii. 293 (bk. iv. ch. iv.). + +[247] _Ibid._ ii. 425 (bk. iv. ch. xiii.). Malthus expresses a hope +that Paley had modified his views upon population, and refers to a +passage in the _Natural Theology_. + +[248] _Essay_, ii. 292 (bk. iv. ch. iv.). + +[249] _Political Economy_ (1836), p. 214. + +[250] _Essay_, ii. 298 (bk. iv. ch. iv.). + +[251] _Ibid._ ii. 86 (bk. iii. ch. vi.). + +[252] _Ibid._ ii. 87 (bk. iii. ch. vi.). + +[253] _Essay_, ii. 90 (bk. iii. ch. vi.). + +[254] _Ibid._ ii. 338 (bk. iv. ch. viii.). + +[255] _Ibid._ ii. (bk. iv. ch. x.). + +[256] _Ibid._ ii. 353 (bk. iv. ch. ix.). + +[257] _Essay_, ii. 356 (bk. iv. ch. ix.). + +[258] _Ibid._ ii. 407 (bk. iv. ch. xii.). + +[259] _Ibid._ ii. 375 (bk. iv. ch. xi.). + +[260] _Ibid._ ii. 429 (bk. iv. ch. xiii.). + +[261] _Essay of 1807_ (bk. iii. ch. ii., and vol. ii. p. 111). The +phrases quoted are toned down in later editions. + +[262] _Essay_, i. 330 (bk. ii. ch. iv.). + +[263] _Ibid._ ii. 300 (bk. iv. ch. v.). + +[264] _Ibid._ ii. 405 (bk. iv. ch. xiii.). + +[265] _Ibid._ i. 343 (bk. ii. ch. v.). + +[266] _Essay_, ii. 424 (bk. iv. ch. xiii.). + +[267] _Ibid._ ii. 304 (bk. iv. ch. v.). + +[268] _Essay_, i. 75 (bk. i. ch. v.). + +[269] _Ibid._ (bk. ii. ch. vi.). + +[270] _Essay_, ii. 318 (bk. iv. ch. vi.). + +[271] _Essay_, ii. 315 (bk. iv. ch. v.). + +[272] _Ibid._ ii. 326 (bk. iv. ch. vi.). + +[273] _Ibid._ ii. 78 (bk. iii. ch. v.). + +[274] _Essay_, ii. 454 (Appendix). + +[275] _Ibid._ ii. 82 (bk. iii. ch. vi.). + +[276] _Ibid._ ii. 90 (bk. iii. ch. vi.). + +[277] Senior's _Three Lectures_, p. 86. + +[278] Senior's _Three Lectures_, p. 60. + +[279] _Essay_, i. 534 (bk. ii. ch. xiii.). + +[280] Smith's _Works_ (1859), i. 295. + +[281] _Observations on the Effects of the Corn-laws, 1814; Inquiry +into the Nature and Progress of Rent, 1815_; and _The Grounds of an +Opinion on the Policy of restricting the Importation of Foreign Corn_, +intended as an appendix to the _Observations on the Corn-laws_, 1815. + +[282] _Inquiry into Rent_, p. 1. + +[283] _Ibid._ p. 16. + +[284] _Essay_, ii. 35 (bk. iii. ch. ii.). + +[285] _Inquiry into Rent_, p. 20. + +[286] _Ibid._ p. 18. + +[287] _Ibid._ p. 38. + +[288] _Inquiry into Rent_, p. 20. + +[289] _Ibid._ p. 37. + +[290] _Essay on the Application of Capital to Land, by a Fellow of +University College, Oxford, 1815._ + +[291] _Essay_, p. 19. + +[292] _In An Inquiry into the Nature of the Corn-laws_, and again +(1801) in _Observations on Agriculture_, etc., vol. v. 401-51. + +[293] _Political Works_, i. 485, etc. In this paper, I may add, +Cobbett, not yet a Radical, accepts Malthus's view of the tendency of +the human species to multiply more quickly than its support. He does +not mention Malthus, but speaks of the belief as universally admitted, +and afterwards illustrates it amusingly by saying that, in his +ploughboy days, he used to wonder that there was always just enough +hay for the horses and enough horses for the hay. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +RICARDO + + +I. RICARDO'S STARTING-POINT + +David Ricardo,[294] born 19th April 1772, was the son of a Dutch Jew +who had settled in England, and made money upon the Stock Exchange. +Ricardo had a desultory education, and was employed in business from +his boyhood. He abandoned his father's creed, and married an +Englishwoman soon after reaching his majority. He set up for himself +in business, and, at a time when financial transactions upon an +unprecedented scale were giving great opportunities for speculators, +he made a large fortune, and about 1814 bought an estate at Gatcombe +Park, Gloucestershire. He withdrew soon afterwards from business, and +in 1819 became member of parliament. His death on 11th September 1823 +cut short a political career from which his perhaps too sanguine +friends anticipated great results. His influence in his own department +of inquiry had been, meanwhile, of the greatest importance. He had +shown in his youth some inclination for scientific pursuits; he +established a laboratory, and became a member of scientific societies. +The perusal of Adam Smith's _Wealth of Nations_ in 1799 gave him an +interest in the application of scientific methods to the questions +with which he was most conversant. Accepting Adam Smith as the leading +authority, he proceeded to think out for himself certain doctrines, +which appeared to him to have been insufficiently recognised by his +teacher. The first result of his speculations was a pamphlet published +in 1809 upon the depreciation of the currency. Upon that topic he +spoke as an expert, and his main doctrines were accepted by the famous +Bullion Committee. Ricardo thus became a recognised authority on one +great set of problems of the highest immediate interest. Malthus's +_Inquiry into Rent_ suggested another pamphlet; and in 1817, +encouraged by the warm pressure of his friend, James Mill, he +published his chief book, the _Principles of Political Economy and +Taxation_. This became the economic Bible of the Utilitarians. The +task of a commentator or interpreter is, for various reasons, a +difficult one. + +There is a certain analogy between Ricardo and a very different +writer, Bishop Butler. Each of them produced a great effect by a short +treatise, and in each case the book owed very little to the ordinary +literary graces. Ricardo's want of literary training, or his natural +difficulty of utterance, made his style still worse than Butler's; +but, like Butler, he commands our respect by his obvious sincerity and +earnestness. He is content when he has so expressed his argument that +it can be seized by an attentive reader. He is incapable of, or +indifferent to, clear and orderly exposition of principles. The logic +is there, if you will take the trouble to look for it. Perhaps we +ought to be flattered by this tacit reliance upon our patience. 'You,' +Ricardo, like Butler, seems to say to us, 'are anxious for truth: you +do not care for ornament, and may be trusted to work out the full +application of my principles.' In another respect the two are alike. +Butler's argument has impressed many readers as a demolition of his +own case. It provokes revolt instead of adhesion. Ricardo, an orthodox +economist, laid down principles which were adopted by Socialists to +upset his own assumptions. Such a God as you worship, said Butler's +opponents, is an unjust being, and therefore worse than no God. Such a +system as you describe, said Ricardo's opponents, is an embodiment of +injustice, and therefore to be radically destroyed. Admitting the +logic, the argument may be read as a _reductio ad absurdum_ in both +cases. + +Ricardo has involved himself in certain special difficulties. In the +first place, he presupposes familiarity with Adam Smith. The +_Principles_ is a running comment upon some of Smith's theories, and +no attempt is made to reduce them to systematic order. He starts by +laying down propositions, the proof of which comes afterwards, and is +then rather intimated than expressly given. He adopts the terminology +which Smith had accepted from popular use,[295] and often applies it +in a special significance, which is at least liable to be +misunderstood by his readers, or forgotten by himself. It is +difficult, again, to feel sure whether some of his statements are to +be taken as positive assertions of fact, or merely as convenient +assumptions for the purposes of his argument. Ricardo himself, as +appears in his letters, was painfully aware of his own awkwardness of +expression, and upon that point alone all his critics seem to be in +tolerable agreement. Happily, it will be enough for my purpose if I +can lay down his essential premises without following him to the +remoter deductions. + +Ricardo's pamphlet upon Malthus (1815) gives a starting-point. Ricardo +cordially adopts Malthus's theory of rent, but declares that it is +fatal to some of Malthus's conclusions. Malthus, we have seen, wished +to regard rent as in some sense a gift of Providence--a positive +blessing due to the fertility of the soil. Ricardo maintains, on the +contrary, that 'the interest of the landlord is necessarily opposed to +the interest of every other class in the community.'[296] The landlord +is prosperous when corn is scarce and dear; all other persons when it +is plentiful and cheap. This follows upon Malthus's own showing. As +men are forced to have recourse to inferior soils, the landlord +obtains a larger share of the whole produce; and, moreover, since corn +also becomes more valuable, will have a larger share of a more +valuable product. The question apparently in dispute--whether we +should be glad that some land is better than the worst, or sorry +because all is not equal to the best--seems rather idle. The real +question, however, is whether rent, being a blessing, should be kept +up by protection,[297] or, being a curse, should be brought down by +competition? What is the real working of the system? Set the trade +free, says Ricardo, and the capital will be withdrawn from the poor +land and employed upon manufactures, to be exchanged for the corn of +other countries.[298] The change must correspond to a more +advantageous distribution of capital, or it would not be adopted. The +principle involved in this last proposition is, he adds, one of the +'best established in the science of political economy, and by no one +is more readily admitted than by Mr. Malthus.' To enforce protection +would be, on Malthus's illustration, to compel us to use the 'worst +machines, when, at a less expense, we could hire the very best from +our neighbours.'[299] Briefly, then, the landlord's interest is +opposed to the national interest, because it enforces a worse +distribution of capital. He compels us to get corn from his worst +land, instead of getting it indirectly, but in greater quantity, from +our spinning-jennies. + +For Ricardo, as for Malthus, the ultimate driving force is the +pressure of population. The mass of mankind is always struggling to +obtain food, and is able to multiply so rapidly as to exhaust any +conceivable increase of supplies. The landlord class alone profits. +The greater the struggle for supply the greater will be the share of +the whole produce which must be surrendered to it. Beyond this, +however, lies the further problem which specially occupied Ricardo. +How will the resulting strain affect the relations of the two +remaining classes, the labourers and the capitalists? The ultimate +evil of protection is the bad distribution of capital. But capital +always acts by employing labour. The farmer's capital does not act by +itself, but by enabling his men to work. Hence, to understand the +working of the industrial machinery, we have to settle the relation of +wages and profits. Ricardo states this emphatically in his preface. +Rent, profit, and wages, he says, represent the three parts into which +the whole produce of the earth is divided. 'To determine the laws +which regulate this distribution is the principal problem in political +economy'; and one, he adds, which has been left in obscurity by +previous writers.[300] His investigations are especially directed by +the purpose thus defined. He was the first writer who fairly brought +under distinct consideration what he held, with reason, to be the most +important branch of economical inquiry. + +There was clearly a gap in the economic doctrine represented by the +_Wealth of Nations_. Adam Smith was primarily concerned with the +theory of the 'market.' He assumes the existence of the social +arrangement which is indicated by that phrase. The market implies a +constitution of industrial agencies such that, within it, only one +price is possible for a given commodity, or, rather, such that a +difference of price cannot be permanent. According to the accepted +illustration, the sea is not absolutely level, but it is always +tending to a level.[301] A permanent elevation at one point is +impossible. The agency by which this levelling or equilibrating +process is carried out is competition, involving what Smith called the +'higgling of the market.' The momentary fluctuation, again, supposes +the action of 'supply and demand,' which, as they vary, raise and +depress prices. To illustrate the working of this machinery, to show +how previous writers had been content to notice a particular change +without following out the collateral results, and had thus been led +into fallacies such as that of the 'mercantile system,' was Smith's +primary task. + +Beyond or beneath these questions lie difficulties, which Smith, +though not blind to their existence, treated in a vacillating and +inconsistent fashion. Variations of supply and demand cause +fluctuations in the price; but what finally determines the point to +which the fluctuating prices must gravitate? We follow the process by +which one wave propagates another; but there is still the question, +What ultimately fixes the normal level? Upon this point Ricardo could +find no definite statement in his teacher. 'Supply and demand' was a +sacred phrase which would always give a verbal answer, or indicate the +immediate cause of variations on the surface. Beneath the surface +there must be certain forces at work which settle why a quarter of +corn 'gravitates' to a certain price; why the landlord can get just so +many quarters of corn for the use of his fields; and why the produce, +which is due jointly to the labourer and the farmer, is divided in a +certain fixed proportion. To settle such points it is necessary to +answer the problem of distribution, for the play of the industrial +forces is directed by the constitution of the classes which co-operate +in the result. Ricardo saw in Malthus's doctrines of rent and of +population a new mode of approaching the problem. What was wanted, in +the first place, was to systematise the logic adopted by his +predecessors. Rent, it was clear, could not be both a cause and an +effect of price, though at different points of his treatise Smith had +apparently accepted each view of the relation. We must first settle +which is cause and which effect; and then bring our whole system into +the corresponding order. For the facts, Ricardo is content to trust +mainly to others. The true title of his work should be that which his +commentator, De Quincey, afterwards adopted, the _Logic of Political +Economy_. This aim gives a partial explanation of the characteristic +for which Ricardo is most generally criticised. He is accused of being +abstract in the sense of neglecting facts. He does not deny the +charge. 'If I am too theoretical (which I really believe to be the +case) you,' he says to Malthus, 'I think, are too practical.'[302] If +Malthus is more guided than Ricardo by a reference to facts, he has of +course an advantage. But so far as Malthus or Adam Smith +theorised--and, of course, their statement of facts involved a +theory--they were at least bound to be consistent. It is one thing to +recognise the existence of facts which your theory will not explain, +and to admit that it therefore requires modification. It is quite +another thing to explain each set of facts in turn by theories which +contradict each other. That is not to be historical but to be +muddleheaded. Malthus and Smith, as it seemed to Ricardo, had +occasionally given explanations which, when set side by side, +destroyed each other. He was therefore clearly justified in the +attempt to exhibit these logical inconsistencies and to supply a +theory which should be in harmony with itself. He was so far neither +more nor less 'theoretical' than his predecessors, but simply more +impressed by the necessity of having at least a consistent theory. + +There was never a time at which logic in such matters was more wanted, +or its importance more completely disregarded. Rash and ignorant +theorists were plunging into intricate problems and propounding +abstract solutions. The enormous taxation made necessary by the war +suggested at every point questions as to the true incidence of the +taxes. Who really gained or suffered by the protection of corn? Were +the landlords, the farmers, or the labourers directly interested? +Could they shift the burthen upon other shoulders or not? What, again, +it was of the highest importance to know, was the true 'incidence' of +tithes, of a land-tax, of the poor-laws, of an income-tax, and of all +the multitudinous indirect taxes from which the national income was +derived? The most varying views were held and eagerly defended. Who +really paid? That question interested everybody, and occupies a large +part of Ricardo's book. The popular answers involved innumerable +inconsistencies, and were supported by arguments which only required +to be confronted in order to be confuted. Ricardo's aim was to +substitute a clear and consistent theory for this tangle of perplexed +sophistry. In that sense his aim was in the highest degree +'practical,' although he left to others the detailed application of +his doctrines to the actual facts of the day. + + +II. THE DISTRIBUTION PROBLEM + +The rent doctrine gives one essential datum. A clear comprehension of +rent is, as he was persuaded, 'of the utmost importance to political +economy.'[303] The importance is that it enables him to separate one +of the primary sources of revenue from the others. It is as though, in +the familiar illustration, we were considering the conditions of +equilibrium of a fluid; and we now see that one part may be considered +as a mere overflow, resulting from (not determining) the other +conditions. The primary assumption in the case of the market is the +level of price. When we clearly distinguish rent on one side from +profits and wages on the other, we see that we may also assume a level +of profits. There cannot, as Ricardo constantly says, 'be two rates of +profit,' that is, at the same time and in the same country. But so +long as rent was lumped with other sources of revenue it was +impossible to see, what Malthus and West had now made clear, that in +agriculture, as in manufactures, the profits of the producer must +conform to the principle. Given their theory, it follows that the +power of land to yield a great revenue does not imply a varying rate +of profit or a special bounty of nature bestowed upon agriculture. It +means simply that, since the corn from the good and bad land sells at +the same price, there is a surplus on the good. But as that surplus +constitutes rent, the farmer's rate of profit will still be uniform. +Thus we have got rid of one complication, and we are left with a +comparatively simple issue. We have to consider the problem, What +determines the distribution as between the capitalist and the +labourer? That is the vital question for Ricardo. + +Ricardo's theory, in the first place, is a modification of Adam +Smith's. He accepts Smith's statement that wages are determined by the +'supply and demand of labourers,' and by the 'price of commodities on +which their wages are expended.'[304] The appeal to 'supply and +demand' implies that the rate of wages depends upon unchangeable +economic conditions. He endorses[305] Malthus's statement about the +absurdity of considering 'wages' as something which may be fixed by +his Majesty's 'Justices of the Peace,' and infers with Malthus that +wages should be left to find their 'natural level.' But what precisely +is this 'natural level?' If the Justice of the Peace cannot fix the +rate of wages, what does fix them? Supply and demand? What, then, is +precisely meant in this case by the supply and demand? The 'supply' of +labour, we may suppose, is fixed by the actual labouring population at +a given time. The 'demand,' again, is in some way clearly related to +'capital.' As Smith again had said,[306] the demand for labour +increases with the 'increase of revenue and "stock," and cannot +possibly increase without it.' Ricardo agrees that 'population +regulates itself by the funds which are to employ it, and therefore +always increases or diminishes with the increase or diminution of +capital.'[307] It was indeed a commonplace that the increase of +capital was necessary to an increase of population, as it is obvious +enough that population must be limited by the means of subsistence +accumulated. Smith, for example, goes on to insist upon this in one of +the passages which partly anticipates Malthus.[308] But this does not +enable us to separate profit from wages, or solve Ricardo's problem. +When we speak of supply and demand as determining the price of a +commodity, we generally have in mind two distinct though related +processes. One set of people is growing corn, and another working coal +mines. Each industry, therefore, has a separate existence, though each +may be partly dependent upon the other. But this is not true of labour +and capital. They are not products of different countries or +processes. They are inseparable constituents of a single process. +Labour cannot be maintained without capital, nor can capital produce +without labour. Capital, according to Ricardo's definition, is the +'part of the wealth of a country which is employed in production, and +consists of food, clothing, raw materials, machinery, etc., necessary +to give effect to labour.'[309] That part, then, of capital which is +applied to the support of the labourer--his food, clothing, and so +forth--is identical with wages. To say that, if it increases, his +wages increase is to be simply tautologous. If, on the other hand, we +include the machinery and raw materials, it becomes difficult to say +in what sense 'capital' can be taken as a demand for labour. Ricardo +tells Malthus that an accumulation of profit does not, as Malthus had +said, necessarily raise wages[310]; and he ultimately decided, much +to the scandal of his disciple, M'Culloch, that an increase of 'fixed +capital' or machinery might be actually prejudicial, under certain +circumstances, to the labourer. The belief of the labouring class that +machinery often injures them is not, he expressly says, 'founded on +prejudice and error, but is conformable to the correct principles of +political economy.'[311] The word 'capital,' indeed, was used with a +vagueness which covered some of the most besetting fallacies of the +whole doctrine. Ricardo himself sometimes speaks as though he had in +mind merely the supply of labourers' necessaries, though he regularly +uses it in a wider sense. The generalities, therefore, about supply +and demand, take us little further. + +From these difficulties Ricardo escapes by another method. Malthus's +theory of population gives him what he requires. The 'natural price of +labour' (as distinguished from its 'market price') is, as he asserts, +'that price which is necessary to enable the labourers, one with +another, to subsist and perpetuate their race without either increase +or diminution.'[312] This is the true 'natural price,' about which the +'market price' oscillates. An increase of capital may raise wages for +a time above the natural price, but an increase of population will +bring back the previous rate. Ricardo warns us, indeed, that this +natural price of labour is not to be regarded as something 'absolutely +fixed and constant.'[313] It varies in different times and countries, +and even in the same country at different times. An English cottager +now possesses what would once have been luxuries. Ricardo admits +again[314] that the wages of different classes of labourers may be +different, although he does not consider that this fact affects his +argument. We may allow for it by considering the skilled labourer as 2 +or 1-1/2 labourers rolled into one. The assumption enables him to get +out of a vicious circle. He is seeking to discover the proportions in +which produce will be divided between the two classes, and which +co-operate in the production. The 'demand and supply' principle may +show that an increase of capital will tend to increase wages, but even +that tendency, as he carefully points out, can only be admitted +subject to certain important reservations. In any case, if it explains +temporary fluctuations, it will not ascertain the point round which +the fluctuations take place. But the two variables, wages and profit, +are clearly connected, and if we can once assume that one of these +variables is fixed by an independent law, we may explain in what way +the other will be fixed. Having got rid of 'rent,' the remaining +produce has to be divided between wages and profit. If the produce be +fixed, the greater the share of the labourer the less will be the +share of the capitalist, and _vice versa_. But the labourer's share +again is determined by the consideration that it must be such as to +enable him to keep up the population. The capitalist will get the +surplus produce after allowing to the labourer the share so +determined. Everything turns ultimately upon this 'natural price'--the +constant which underlies all the variations. + +One other point is implied. The population is limited, as we see, by +the necessity of raising supplies of food from inferior soils. +Moreover, this is the sole limit. A different view had been taken +which greatly exercised the orthodox economists. It was generally +admitted that in the progress of society the rate of profit declined. +Adam Smith explained this by arguing that, as capital increased, the +competition of capitalists lowered the rate. To this it was replied +(as by West) that though competition equalised profits, it could not +fix the rate of profit. The simple increase of capital does not prove +that it will be less profitably employed. The economists had +constantly to argue against the terrible possibility of a general +'glut.' The condition of things at the peace had suggested this alarm. +The mischief was ascribed to 'over-production' and not to misdirected +production. The best cure for our evils, as some people thought, would +be to burn all the goods in stock. On this version of the argument, it +would seem that an increase of wealth might be equivalent to an +increase of poverty. To confute the doctrine in this form, it was only +necessary to have a more intelligent conception of the true nature of +exchange. As James Mill had argued in his pamphlet against Spence, +every increase of supply is also an increase of demand. The more there +is to sell, the more there is to buy. The error involved in the theory +of a 'glut' is the confusion between a temporary dislocation of the +machinery of exchange, which can and will be remedied by a new +direction of industry, and the impossible case of an excess of wealth +in general.[315] Malthus never quite cleared his mind of this error, +and Ricardo had to argue the point with him. Abundance of capital +cannot by itself, he says, 'make capital less in demand.' The 'demand +for capital is infinite.'[316] The decline in the rate of profit, +therefore, depends upon another cause. 'If, with every accumulation of +profit, we could tack a piece of fresh fertile land to our Island, +profits would never fall.'[317] Fertile land, however, is limited. We +have to resort to inferior soil, and therefore to employ capital at a +less advantage. In the _Principles_ he enforces the same doctrine with +the help of Say, who had shown 'most satisfactorily' that any amount +of capital might be employed.[318] If, in short, labour and capital +were always equally efficient, there would be no limit to the amount +producible. If the supply of food and raw materials can be multiplied, +wealth can be multiplied to any amount. The admitted tendency of +profits to fall must therefore be explained simply and solely by the +growing difficulty of producing the food and the raw material. + +Ricardo's doctrine, then, is Malthus carried out more logically. Take +a nation in a state of industrial equilibrium. The produce of the +worst soil just supports the labourer, and leaves a profit to the +capitalist. The labourer gets just enough to keep up his numbers to +the standard; the capitalist just enough profit to induce him to keep +up the capital which supports the labourer. Since there can be only +one rate of wages and only one rate of profit, this fixes the shares +into which the whole produce of the nation is divided, after leaving +to the landlord the surplus produce of the more fertile soils. +Accepting this scheme as a starting-point, we get a method for +calculating the results of any changes. We can see how a tax imposed +upon rents or profits or wages will affect the classes which are thus +related; how improvements in cultivation or machinery, or a new demand +for our manufactures, will act, assuming the conditions implied in +this industrial organisation; how, in short, any disturbance of the +balance will work, so as to produce a new equilibrium. Ricardo exerts +all his ingenuity in working out the problem which, with the help of a +few assumptions, becomes mathematical. The arithmetical illustrations +which he employed for the purpose became a nuisance in the hands of +his disciples. They are very useful as checks to general statements, +but lend themselves so easily to the tacit introduction of erroneous +assumptions as often to give a totally false air of precision to the +results. Happily I need not follow him into that region, and may omit +any consideration of the logical value of his deductions. I must be +content to say that, so far as he is right, his system gives an +economic calculus for working out the ultimate result of assigned +economic changes. The pivot of the whole construction is the 'margin +of cultivation'--the point at which the food for a pressing population +is raised at the greatest disadvantages. 'Profits,' as he says,[319] +'depend on high and low wages; wages on the price of necessaries; and +the price of necessaries chiefly on the price of food, because all +other requisites may be increased almost without limit.' + +Ricardo takes the actual constitution of society for granted. The +threefold division into landowners, capitalists, and labourers is +assumed as ultimate. For him that is as much a final fact as to a +chemist it is a final fact that air and water are composed of certain +elements. Each class represents certain economic categories. The +landlord sits still and absorbs the overflow of wealth created by +others. The labourer acts a very important but in one respect a purely +passive part. His whole means of subsistence are provided by the +capitalist, and advanced to him in the shape of wages. His share in +the process is confined to multiplying up to a fixed standard. The +capitalist is the really active agent. The labourer is simply one of +the implements used in production. His wages are part of the +capitalist's 'costs of production.' The capitalist virtually raises +labourers, one may say, so long as raising them is profitable, just as +he raises horses for his farm. Ricardo, in fact, points out that in +some cases it may be for the farmer's interest to substitute horses +for men.[320] If it be essential to any product that there should be a +certain number of labourers or a certain number of horses, that number +will be produced. But when the expense becomes excessive, and in the +case of labourers that happens as worse soils have to be broken up for +food, the check is provided through its effect upon the accumulation +of capital. That, therefore, becomes the essential point. The whole +aim of the legislator should be to give facilities for the +accumulation of capital, and the way to do that is to abstain from all +interference with the free play of the industrial forces. The test, +for example, of the goodness of a tax--or rather of its comparative +freedom from the evils of every tax--is that it should permit of +accumulation by interfering as little as possible with the tendency +of the capital to distribute itself in the most efficient way. + + +III. VALUE AND LABOUR + +To solve the distribution problem, then, it is necessary to get behind +the mere fluctuations of the market, and to consider what are the +ultimate forces by which the market is itself governed. What effect +has this upon the theory of the market itself? This leads to a famous +doctrine. + +According to his disciple, M'Culloch, Ricardo's great merit was that +he 'laid down the fundamental theorem of the science of value.' He +thus cleared up what had before been an 'impenetrable mystery,' and +showed the true relations of profit, wages, and prices.[321] Ricardo's +theory of value, again, was a starting-point of the chief modern +Socialist theories. It marked, as has been said,[322] the point at +which the doctrine of the rights of man changes from a purely +political to an economical theory. Ricardo remarks in his first +chapter that the vagueness of theories of value has been the most +fertile source of economic errors. He admitted to the end of his life +that he had not fully cleared up the difficulty. Modern economists +have refuted and revised and discussed, and, let us hope, now made +everything quite plain. They have certainly shown that some of +Ricardo's puzzles implied confusions singular in so keen a thinker. +That may serve as a warning against dogmatism. Boys in the next +generation will probably be asked by examiners to expose the palpable +fallacies of what to us seem to be demonstrable truths. At any rate, +I must try to indicate the critical point as briefly as possible. + +The word 'value,' in the first place, has varying meanings, which give +an opportunity for writers of text-books to exhibit their powers of +lucid exposition. The value of a thing in one sense is what it will +fetch; the quantity of some other thing for which it is actually +exchanged in the market. In that sense, as Ricardo incidentally +observes,[323] the word becomes meaningless unless you can say what is +the other thing. It is self-contradictory to speak as if a thing by +itself could have a constant or any value. Value, however, may take a +different sense. It is the economic equivalent of the 'utility' of +Bentham's 'felicific calculus.' It means the 'lot of pleasure' which +causes a thing to be desirable. If we could tell how many units of +utility it contained we could infer the rate of exchange for other +things. The value of anything 'in use' will correspond to the number +of units of utility which it contains; and things which have the same +quantity of 'utilities' will have the same 'exchangeable value.' +Ricardo can thus consider the old problem of finding 'an invariable +measure of value.' He points out the difficulty of finding any +particular thing which will serve the purpose, inasmuch as the +relations of everything to everything else are constantly varying. He +therefore proposes to make use of an imaginary measure. If gold were +always produced under exactly the same circumstances, with the same +labour and the same capital, it would serve approximately for a +standard. Accordingly he gives notice that, for the purposes of his +book, he will assume this to be the case, and money to be 'invariable +in value.'[324] We can thus, on the one hand, compare values at +different periods. A thing has the same value at all times which at +all times requires 'the same sacrifice of toil and labour to produce +it.'[325] The 'sacrifice' measures the 'utility,' and we may assume +that the same labour corresponds in all ages to the same psychological +unit. But, on the other hand, at any given period things will exchange +in proportion to the labour of producing them. This follows at once +from Ricardo's postulates. Given the single rate of wages and profits, +and assuming the capital employed to be in the same proportion, things +must exchange in proportion to the quantity of labour employed; for if +I got the same value by employing one labourer as you get by employing +two, my profits would be higher. Ricardo, indeed, has to allow for +many complexities arising from the fact that very different quantities +of capital are required in different industries; but the general +principle is given by the simplest case. Hence we have a measure of +value, applicable at any given time and in comparing different times. +It implies, again, what M'Culloch sums up as the 'fundamental +theorem,' that the value of 'freely produced commodities' depends on +the quantity of labour required for their 'production.' What is made +by two men is worth twice what is made by one man. That gives what +M'Culloch calls the 'clue to the labyrinth.' + +The doctrine leads to a puzzle. If I can measure the 'sacrifice,' can +I measure the 'utility' which it gains? The 'utility' of an ounce of +gold is not something 'objective' like its physical qualities, but +varies with the varying wants of the employer. Iron or coal may be +used for an infinite variety of purposes and the utility will be +different in each. The thing may derive part of its 'utility' from its +relation to other things. The utility of my food is not really +separate from the utility of my hat; for unless I eat I cannot wear +hats. My desire for any object, again, is modified by all my other +desires, and even if I could isolate a 'desire' as a psychological +unit, it would not give me a fixed measure. Twice the article does not +give twice the utility; a double stimulus may only add a small +pleasure or convert it into agony. These and other difficulties imply +the hopelessness of searching for this chimerical unit of 'utility' +when considered as a separate thing. It shifts and escapes from our +hands directly we grasp it. Ricardo discusses some of these points in +his interesting chapter on 'Value and Riches.' Gold, he says, may cost +two thousand times more than iron, but it is certainly not two +thousand times as useful.[326] Suppose, again, that some invention +enables you to make more luxuries by the same labour, you increase +wealth but not value. There will be, say, twice as many hats, but each +hat may have half its former value. There will be more things to +enjoy, but they will only exchange for the same quantity of other +things. That is, he says, the amount of 'riches' varies, while the +amount of value is fixed. This, according to him, proves that value +does not vary with 'utility.' 'Utility,' as he declares in his first +chapter, is 'absolutely essential to value,' but it is 'not the +measure of exchangeable value.'[327] A solution of these puzzles may +be sought in any modern text-book. Ricardo escapes by an apparently +paradoxical conclusion. He is undertaking an impossible problem when +he starts from the buyers' desire of an 'utility.' Therefore he turns +from the buyers to the sellers. The seller has apparently a measurable +and definable motive--the desire to make so much per cent. on his +capital.[328] Ricardo, unfortunately, speaks as though the two parties +to the bargain somehow represented mutually exclusive processes. +'Supply and demand' determine the value of 'monopolised articles,' but +the cost of other articles depends _not_ 'on the state of demand and +supply,' _but_ 'on the increased or diminished cost of their +production.'[329] Why 'not' and 'but'? If supply and demand +corresponds to the whole play of motives which determines the bargain, +this is like saying, according to the old illustration, that we must +attribute the whole effect of a pair of scissors to one blade and not +to the other. His view leads to the apparent confusion of taking for +the cause of value not our desire for a thing, but the sacrifice we +must make to attain it. Bentham[330] said, for example, that Ricardo +confused 'cost' with 'value.' The denial that utility must in some +sense or other determine value perplexes an intelligible and +consistent meaning. It is clearly true, upon his postulates, that the +value of goods, other than 'monopolised,' must conform to the cost of +production. He speaks as if he confounded a necessary condition with +an 'efficient cause,' and as if one of two correlative processes could +be explained without the other. But the fact that there is a +conformity, however brought about, was enough for his purpose. The +demand of buyers, he would say, determines the particular direction of +production: it settles whether hats should be made of silk or beaver; +whether we should grow corn or spin cotton. But the ultimate force is +the capitalist's desire for profit. So long as he can raise labourers' +necessaries by employing part of his capital, he can employ the labour +as he chooses. He can always produce wealth; all the wealth produced +can be exchanged, and the demand always be equal to the supply, since +the demand is merely the other side of the supply. The buyer's tastes +decide how the capital shall be applied, but does not settle how much +wealth there shall be, only what particular forms it shall take. +Somehow or other it must always adjust itself so that the value of +each particular kind shall correspond to the 'cost of production.' The +cost of production includes the tools and the raw materials, which are +themselves products of previous labour. All capital itself is +ultimately the product of labour, and thus, as Ricardo incidentally +says, may be regarded as 'accumulated labour.'[331] + +This phrase sums up the doctrine which underlies his theory of value +and indicates its connection with the theory of distribution. Ricardo +had perceived that the supply and demand formula which would serve +sufficiently in problems of exchange, or the fluctuations of +market-price, could not be made to solve the more fundamental problem +of distribution. We must look beneath the superficial phenomena and +ask what is the nature of the structure itself: what is the driving +force or the mainspring which works the whole mechanism. We seem, +indeed, to be inquiring into the very origin of industrial +organisation. The foundation of a sound doctrine comes from Adam +Smith. Smith had said that in a primitive society the only rule would +be that things should exchange in proportion to the labour of getting +them. If it cost twice as much labour to kill a beaver as to kill a +deer, one beaver would be worth two deer. In accepting this bit of +what Smith's commentator, Dugald Stewart,[332] calls 'theoretical' or +'conjectural' history, Ricardo did not mean to state a historical +fact. He was not thinking of actual Choctaws or Cherokees. The beaver +was exchanged for the deer about the time when the primitive man +signed the 'social contract.' He is a hypothetical person used for +purposes of illustration and simplification. Ricardo is not really +dealing with the question of origins; but he is not the less implying +a theory of structure. It did not matter that the 'social contract' +was historically a figment; it would serve equally well to explain +government. It did not matter that actual savages may have exchanged +beavers and deer by the help of clubs instead of competition in the +market. The industrial fabric is what would have been had it been thus +built up. It can be constructed from base to summit by the application +of his formula. As in the imaginary state of deer and beaver, we have +a number of independent persons making their bargains upon this +principle of the equivalence of labour; and that principle is supposed +to be carried out so that the most remote processes of the industrial +machinery can be analysed into results of this principle. This gives a +sufficient clue to the whole labyrinth of modern industry, and there +is no need of considering the extinct forms of social structure, which +we know to have existed, and under which the whole system of +distribution took place under entirely different conditions.[333] A +great change has taken place since the time of the deer and beaver: +the capitalist has been developed, and has become the motive power. +The labourer's part is passive; and the 'value' is fixed by the +bargaining between the proprietors of 'accumulated labour,' forced by +competition to make equal profits, instead of being fixed by the +equitable bargain between the two hunters exchanging the products of +their individual labour. Essentially, however, the principle is the +same. In the last as in the first stage of society, things are +exchanged in proportion to the labour necessary to produce them. Now +it is plain enough that such a doctrine cannot lead to a complete +solution of the problem of distribution. It would be a palpably +inadequate account of historical processes which have determined the +actual relation of classes. The industrial mechanism has been +developed as a part of the whole social evolution; and, however +important the economic forces, they have been inextricably blended +with all the other forces by which a society is built up. For the same +reason, Ricardo's theorem would be inadequate 'sociologically,' or as +a formula which would enable us to predict the future distribution of +wealth. It omits essential factors in the process, and therefore +supposes forces to act automatically and invariably which will in fact +be profoundly modified in societies differently organised and +composed of individuals differing in character. The very fundamental +assumptions as to the elasticity of population, and the accumulation +of capital as wages and profits fluctuate, are clearly not absolute +truths. An increase of the capitalist's share, for example, at the +expense of wages, may lead to the lowered efficiency of the labourer; +and, instead of the compensating process supposed to result from the +stimulus to accumulation, the actual result may be a general +degeneration of the industry. Or, again, the capacity of labourers to +combine both depends and reacts upon their intelligence and moral +character, and will profoundly modify the results of the general +competition.[334] Such remarks, now familiar enough, are enough to +suggest that a full explanation of the economic phenomena would +require reference to considerations which lie beyond the proper sphere +of the economist. Yet the economist may urge that he is making a fair +and perhaps necessary abstraction. He may consider the forces to be +constant, although he may be fully aware that the assumption requires +to be corrected when his formulae are applied to facts. He may consider +what is the play at any given time of the operations of the market, +though the market organisation is itself dependent upon the larger +organisation of which it is a product. He does not profess to deal in +'sociology,' but 'pure political economy.' In that more limited +sphere he may accept Ricardo's postulates. The rate of wages is fixed +at any given moment by the 'labour market.' That is the immediate +organ through which the adjustment is effected. Wages rise and fall +like the price of commodities, when for any reason the number of +hirers or the number of purchasers varies. The 'supply and demand' +formula, however, could not, as Ricardo saw, be summarily identified +with labour and capital. We must go behind the immediate phenomena to +consider how they are regulated by the ultimate moving power. Then, +with the help of the theories of population and rent, we find that the +wages are one product of the whole industrial process. We must look +beyond the immediate market fluctuation to the effect upon the +capitalists who constitute the market. The world is conceived as one +great market, in which the motives of the capitalist supply the motive +power; and the share which goes to the labourer is an incidental or +collateral result of the working of the whole machinery. Now, though +the sociologist would say that this is quite inadequate for his +purpose, and that we must consider the whole social structure, he may +also admit that the scheme has a validity in its own sphere. It +describes the actual working of the mechanism at any given time; and +it may be that in Ricardo's time it gave an approximate account of the +facts. To make it complete, it requires to be set, so to speak, in a +more general framework of theory; and we may then see that it cannot +give a complete solution. Still, as a consistent scheme which +corresponds to the immediate phenomena, it helps us to understand the +play of the industrial forces which immediately regulate the market. + +Ricardo's position suggested a different line of reply. The doctrines +that capital is 'accumulated labour' and that all value is in +proportion to the labour fell in with the Socialist theory. If value +is created by labour, ought not 'labour' to possess what it makes? The +right to the whole produce of labour seemed to be a natural +conclusion. Ricardo might answer that when I buy your labour, it +becomes mine. I may consider myself to have acquired the rights of the +real creator of the wealth, and to embody all the labourers, whose +'accumulated labour' is capital. Still, there is a difficulty. The +beaver and deer case has an awkward ethical aspect. To say that they +are exchanged at such a rate seems to mean that they ought to be +exchanged at the rate. This again implies the principle that a man has +a right to what he has caught; that is, to the whole fruits of his +labour. James Mill, as we have seen, starts his political treatise by +assuming this as obvious.[335] He did not consider the possible +inferences; for it is certainly a daring assumption that the principle +is carried out by the economic system. According to Ricardo rent is +paid to men who don't labour at all. The fundholder was a weight upon +all industry, and as dead a weight as the landlord. The capitalist, +Ricardo's social mainspring, required at least cross-examination. He +represents 'accumulated labour' in some fashion, but it is not plain +that the slice which he takes out of the whole cake is proportioned +accurately to his personal labour. The right and the fact which +coincided in the deer and beaver period have somehow come to diverge. + +Here, then, we are at a point common to the two opposing schools. +Both are absolute 'individualists' in different senses. Society is +built up, and all industrial relations determined, by the competition +of a multitude of independent atoms, each aiming at self-preservation. +Malthus's principle applies this to the great mass of mankind. +Systematically worked out, it has led to Ricardo's identification of +value with quantities of labour. Keeping simply to the matter of fact, +it shows how a small minority have managed to get advantages in the +struggle, and to raise themselves upon the shoulders of the struggling +mass. Malthus shows that the resulting inequality prevents the +struggle from lowering every one to starvation point. But the +advantage was not obvious to the struggling mass which exemplified the +struggle for existence. If equality meant not the initial facts but +the permanent right, society was built upon injustice. Apply the +political doctrine of rights of man to the economic right to wealth, +and you have the Socialist doctrine of right to the whole produce of +labour. It is true that it is exceedingly difficult to say what each +man has created when he is really part of a complex machinery; but +that is a problem to which Socialists could apply their ingenuity. The +real answer of the political economists was that although the existing +order implied great inequalities of wealth it was yet essential to +industrial progress, and therefore to an improvement in the general +standard of comfort. This, however, was the less evident the more they +insisted upon the individual interest. The net result seemed to be +that by accident or inheritance, possibly by fraud or force, a small +number of persons have got a much larger share of wealth than their +rivals. Ricardo may expound the science accurately; and, if so, we +have to ask, What are the right ethical conclusions? + +For the present, the Utilitarians seem to have considered this +question as superfluous. They were content to take the existing order +for granted; and the question remains how far their conclusions upon +that assumption could be really satisfactory. + + +IV. THE CLASSICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY. + +Ricardo had worked out the main outlines of the 'Classical Political +Economy': the system which to his disciples appeared to be as clear, +consistent, and demonstrable as Euclid; and which was denounced by +their opponents as mechanical, materialistic, fatalistic, and +degrading. After triumphing for a season, it has been of late years +often treated with contempt, and sometimes banished to the limbo of +extinct logomachies. It is condemned as 'abstract.' Of all delusions +on the subject, replies a very able and severe critic,[336] there is +none greater than the belief that it was 'wholly abstract and +unpractical.' Its merits lay in its treatment of certain special +questions of the day; while in the purely scientific questions it was +hopelessly confused and inconsistent. Undoubtedly, as I have tried to +point out, Malthus and Ricardo were reasoning upon the contemporary +state of things. The doctrine started from observation of facts; it +was too 'abstract' so far as it neglected elements in the concrete +realities which were really relevant to the conclusions. One cause of +confusion was the necessity of starting from the classification +implied in ordinary phrases. It is exemplified by the vague use of +such words as 'capital,' 'value,' 'supply and demand.' Definitions, as +is often remarked,[337] come at the end of an investigation, though +they are placed at the beginning of an exposition. When the primary +conceptions to be used were still so shifting and contradictory as is +implied in the controversies of the day, it is no wonder that the +formulae should be wanting in scientific precision. Until we have +determined what is meant by 'force' we cannot have a complete science +of dynamics. The economists imagined that they had reached the goal +before they had got rid of ambiguities hidden in the accepted +terminology. Meanwhile it will be enough if I try to consider broadly +what was the nature of the body of statements which thus claimed to be +an elaborated science. + +Ricardo's purpose was to frame a calculus, to give a method of +reasoning which will enable us to clinch our economic reasoning. We +are to be sure that we have followed out the whole cycle of cause and +effect. Capitalists, landowners, labourers form parts of a rounded +system, implying reciprocal actions and reactions. The imposition of a +tax or a tariff implies certain changes in existing relations: that +change involves other changes; and to trace out the total effect, we +must understand what are the ultimate conditions of equilibrium, or +what are the processes by which the system will adjust itself to the +new conditions. To describe, again, the play of a number of reciprocal +forces, we have to find what mathematicians call an 'independent +variable': some one element in the changes on which all other changes +will depend. That element, roughly speaking, ultimately comes out to +be 'labour.' The simplicity of the system gave an impression both of +clearness and certainty, which was transferred from the reasoning to +the premises. The facts seemed to be established, because they were +necessary to the system. The first step to an estimate of the value of +the doctrine would be to draw up a statement of the 'postulates' +implied. Among them, we should have such formulae as the single rate of +profits and wages; which imply the 'transferability' of labour and +capital, or the flow of either element to the best-paid employment. We +should have again the Malthusian doctrine of the multiplication of +labour up to a certain standard; and the fact that scarcity means +dearness and plenty cheapness. These doctrines at least are taken for +granted; and it may perhaps be said that they are approximations which +only require qualifications, though sometimes very important +qualifications, to hold good of the society actually contemplated. + +They were true enough to give the really conclusive answer to many +popular fallacies. The type of sophistry which Ricardo specially +assailed was that which results from neglecting the necessary +implications of certain changes. The arguments for the old 'mercantile +theory'--for 'protection' of industry, for the poor-law, for resisting +the introduction of machinery, the fear of 'gluts' and all manner of +doctrines about the currency--were really exposed by the economists +upon the right grounds. It was absurd to suppose that by simply +expanding the currency, or by making industry less efficient, or +forcing it to the least profitable employments, you were increasing +the national wealth; or to overlook the demoralising effects of a +right to support because you resolved only to see the immediate +benefits of charity to individuals. It is true, no doubt, that in some +cases there might be other arguments, and that the economists were apt +to take a narrow view of the facts. Yet they decisively exploded many +bad arguments, and by the right method of enforcing the necessity of +tracing out the whole series of results. It was partly to their +success in confuting absurd doctrines that their confidence was due; +though the confidence was excessive when it was transferred to the +axioms from which they professed to start. A doctrine may be true +enough to expose an error, and yet not capable of yielding definite +and precise conclusions. If I know that nothing can come out of +nothing, I am on the way to a great scientific principle and able to +confute some palpable fallacies; but I am still a very long way from +understanding the principle of the 'conservation of energy.' The truth +that scarcity meant dearness was apparently well known to Joseph in +Egypt, and applied very skilfully for his purpose. Economists have +framed a 'theory of value' which explains more precisely the way in +which this is brought about. A clear statement may be valuable to +psychologists; but for most purposes of political economy Joseph's +knowledge is quite sufficient. It is the doctrine which is really used +in practice whatever may be its ultimate justification. + +The postulates, however, were taken by the economists to represent +something more than approximate statements of the fact. They imply +certain propositions which might be regarded as axioms. Men desire +wealth and prefer their own interests. The whole theory might then be +regarded as a direct deduction from the axioms. It thus seemed to +have a kind of mathematical certainty. When facts failed to conform to +the theory the difficulty could be met by speaking, as Malthus spoke, +of 'tendencies,' or by appealing to the analogy of 'friction' in +mechanics. The excuse might be perfectly valid in some cases, but it +often sanctioned a serious error. It was assumed that the formula was +still absolutely true of something, and that the check or friction was +a really separable and accidental interference. Thus it became easy to +discard, as irrelevant, objections which really applied to the +principle itself, and to exaggerate the conformity between fact and +theory. The economic categories are supposed to state the essential +facts, and the qualifications necessary to make them accurate were apt +to slip out of sight. Ricardo,[338] to mention a familiar instance, +carefully points out that the 'economic rent,' which clearly +represents an important economic category, is not to be confounded, as +in 'popular' use, with the payments actually made, which often include +much that is really profit. The distinction, however, was constantly +forgotten, and the abstract formula summarily applied to the concrete +fact. + +The economists had constructed a kind of automaton which fairly +represented the actual working of the machinery. But then, each +element of their construction came to represent a particular formula, +and to represent nothing else. The landlord is simply the receiver of +surplus value; the capitalist the one man who saves, and who saves in +proportion to profit; and the labourer simply the embodiment of +Malthus's multiplying tendency. Then the postulates as to the ebb and +flow of capital and labour are supposed to work automatically and +instantaneously. Ricardo argues that a tax upon wages will fall, not, +as Buchanan thought, upon the labourer, nor, as Adam Smith thought, +upon rent, but upon profits; and his reason is apparently that if +wages were 'lowered the requisite population would not be kept +up.'[339] The labourer is able to multiply or diminish so rapidly that +he always conforms at once to the required standard. This would seem +to neglect the consideration that, after all, some time is required to +alter the numbers of a population, and that other changes of a totally +different character may be meanwhile set up by rises and falls of +wages. Ricardo, as his letters show,[340] was well aware of the +necessity of making allowance for such considerations in applying his +theorems. He simplified the exposition by laying them down too +absolutely; and the doctrine, taken without qualification, gives the +'economic man,' who must be postulated to make the doctrine work +smoothly. The labourer is a kind of constant unit--absolutely fixed in +his efficiency, his wants, and so forth; and the same at one period as +at another, except so far as he may become more prudent, and therefore +fix his 'natural price' a little higher. An 'iron law' must follow +when you have invented an iron unit. In short, when society is +represented by this hypothetical mechanism, where each man is an +embodiment of the required formula, the theory becomes imperfect so +far as society is made up of living beings, varying, though +gradually, in their whole character and attributes, and forming part +of an organised society incomparably too complex in its structure to +be adequately represented by the three distinct classes, each of which +is merely a formula embodied in an individual man. The general rules +may be very nearly true in a great many cases, especially on the +stock-exchange; but before applying them to give either a history or a +true account of the actual working of concrete institutions, a much +closer approximation must be made to the actual data. + +I need not enlarge, however, upon a topic which has been so often +expounded. I think that at present the tendency is rather to do +injustice to the common-sense embodied in this system, to the +soundness of its aims, and to its value in many practical and +immediate questions, than to overestimate its claim to scientific +accuracy. That claim may be said to have become obsolete. + +One point, however, remains. The holders of such a doctrine must, it +is said, have been without the bowels of compassion. Ricardo, as +critics observe with undeniable truth, was a Jew and a member of the +stock-exchange. Now Jews, in spite of Shylock's assertions, and +certainly Jewish stockbrokers, are naturally without human feeling. If +you prick them, they only bleed banknotes. They are fitted to be +capitalists, who think of wages as an item in an account, and of the +labourer as part of the tools used in business. Ricardo, however, was +not a mere money-dealer, nor even a walking treatise. He was a kindly, +liberal man, desirous to be, as he no doubt believed himself to be, in +sympathy with the leaders of political and scientific thought, and +fully sharing their aspirations. No doubt he, like his friends, was +more conspicuous for coolness of head than for impulsive +philanthropy. Like them, he was on his guard against 'sentimentalism' +and 'vague generalities,' and thought that a hasty benevolence was apt +to aggravate the evils which it attacked. The Utilitarians naturally +translated all aspirations into logical dogmas; but some people who +despised them as hard-hearted really took much less pains to give +effect to their own benevolent impulses. Now Ricardo, in this matter, +was at one with James Mill and Bentham, and especially Malthus.[341] +The essential doctrine of Malthus was that the poor could be made less +poor by an improved standard of prudence. In writing to Malthus, +Ricardo incidentally remarks upon the possibility of raising the +condition of the poor by 'good education' and the inculcation of +foresight in the great matter of marriage.[342] Incidental references +in the _Principles_ are in the same strain. He accepts Malthus's view +of the poor-laws, and hopes that, by encouraging foresight, we may by +degrees approach 'a sounder and more healthful state.'[343] He +repudiates emphatically a suggestion of Say that one of his arguments +implies 'indifference to the happiness' of the masses,[344] and holds +that 'the friends of humanity' should encourage the poor to raise +their standard of comfort and enjoyment. The labourers, as he +elsewhere incidentally observes, are 'by far the most important class +in society.'[345] How should they not be if the greatest happiness of +the greatest number be the legitimate aim of all legislation? + +It is true that in his argument Ricardo constantly assumes that his +'natural price' will also be the real price of labour. The assumption +that the labourers' wages tend to a minimum is a base for his general +arguments. The inconsistency, if there be one, is easily intelligible. +Ricardo agreed with Malthus that, though the standard might be raised, +and though a rise was the only way to improvement, the chances of such +a rise were not encouraging. Improved wages, as he says,[346] might +enable the labourer to live more comfortably if only he would not +multiply. But 'so great are the delights of domestic society, that in +practice it is invariably found that an increase of population follows +an amended condition of the labourer,' and thus the advantage is lost +as soon as gained. + +I have tried to show what was the logical convenience of the +assumption. Ricardo, who has always to state an argument at the cost +of an intellectual contortion, is content to lay down a rule without +introducing troublesome qualifications and reserves. Yet he probably +held that his postulate was a close approximation to the facts. +Looking at the actual state of things at the worst time of the +poor-law, and seeing how small were the prospects of stirring the +languid mind of the pauper to greater forethought, he thought that he +might assume the constancy of an element which varied so slowly. The +indifference of the Ricardo school generally to historical inquiry had +led them no doubt to assume such constancy too easily. Malthus, who +had more leaning to history, had himself called attention to many +cases in which the 'prudential check' operated more strongly than it +did among the English poor. Probably Ricardo was in this, as in other +cases, too hasty in assuming facts convenient for his argument. The +poor man's character can, it is clear, be only known empirically; and, +in fact, Ricardo simply appeals to experience. He thinks that, as a +fact, men always do multiply in excess. But he does not deny that +better education might change their character in this respect. Indeed, +as I have said, an even excessive faith in the possible modification +of character by education was one of the Utilitarian tenets. If +Ricardo had said broadly that a necessary condition of the improvement +of the poor was a change of the average character, I think that he +would have been saying what was perfectly true and very much to the +purpose both then and now. The objection to his version of a most +salutary doctrine is that it is stated in too narrow terms. The +ultimate unit, the human being, is indeed supposed to be capable of +great modification, but it is solely through increasing his foresight +as to the effects of multiplication that the change is supposed to be +attainable. The moral thus drawn implied a very limited view of the +true nature and influence of great social processes, and in practice +came too often to limiting possible improvement to the one condition +of letting things alone. Let a man starve if he will not work, and he +will work. That, as a sole remedy, may be insufficient; though, even +in that shape, it is a doctrine more likely to be overlooked than +overvalued. And meanwhile the acquiescence in the painful doctrine +that, as a matter of fact, labourers would always multiply to +starvation point, was calculated to produce revolt against the whole +system. Macaulay's doctrine that the Utilitarians had made political +economy unpopular was so far true that the average person resented the +unpleasant doctrines thus obtruded upon him in their most unpleasant +shape; and, if he was told that they were embodied logic, revolted +against logic itself. + + +V. THE RICARDIANS + +It will be quite sufficient to speak briefly of the minor prophets who +expounded the classical doctrine; sometimes falling into fallacies, +against which Ricardo's logical instinct had warned him; and sometimes +perhaps unconsciously revealing errors which really lurked in his +premises. When Ricardo died, James Mill told M'Culloch that they were +'the two and only genuine disciples' of their common friend.[347] Mill +wrote what he intended for a Schoolbook of Political Economy.[348] +Brief, pithy, and vigorous, it purports to give the essential +principles in their logical order; but, as his son remarks,[349] had +only a passing importance. M'Culloch took a more important place by +his writings in the _Edinburgh Review_ and elsewhere, and by his +lectures at Edinburgh and at London. He was one of the first +professors of the new university. His _Principles of Political +Economy_[350] became a text-book, to be finally superseded by John +Stuart Mill. Other works statistical and bibliographical showed great +industry, and have still their value. He was so much the typical +economist of the day that he has been identified with Carlyle's +_M'Crowdy_, the apostle of the dismal science.[351] He writes, +however, with enough vivacity and fervour of belief in his creed to +redeem him from the charge of absolute dulness. An abler thinker was +Colonel (Robert) Torrens (1780-1864).[352] He had served with +distinction in the war; but retired on half-pay, and was drawn by some +natural idiosyncrasy into the dry paths of economic discussion. He was +already confuting the French economists in 1808; and was writing upon +the Bank-charter Act and the Ten Hours' Bill in 1844. Torrens held +himself, apparently with justice, to be rather an independent ally +than a disciple of Ricardo. His chief works were an essay upon the +'External Corn-trade' (1815)[353] and an 'Essay on the Production of +Wealth' (1821). Ricardo pronounced his arguments upon the Corn-trade +to be 'unanswered and unanswerable,'[354] and he himself claimed to be +an independent discoverer of the true theory of rent.[355] He was +certainly a man of considerable acuteness and originality. In these +writings we find the most sanguine expressions of the belief that +political economy was not only a potential, but on the verge of +becoming an actual, science. Torrens observes that all sciences have +to pass through a period of controversy; but thinks that economists +are emerging from this stage, and rapidly approaching unanimity. In +twenty years, says this hopeful prophet, there will scarcely exist a +'doubt of its' (Political Economy's) 'fundamental principles.'[356] +Torrens thinks that Ricardo has generalised too much, and Malthus too +little; but proposes, with proper professions of modesty, to take the +true _via media_, and weld the sound principles into a harmonious +whole by a due combination of observation and theory. The science, he +thinks, is 'analogous to the mixed mathematics.'[357] As from the laws +of motion we can deduce the theory of dynamics, so from certain simple +axioms about human nature we can deduce the science of Political +Economy. M'Culloch, at starting, insists in edifying terms upon the +necessity of a careful and comprehensive induction, and of the study +of industrial phenomena in different times and places, and under +varying institutions.[358] This, however, does not prevent him from +adopting the same methods of reasoning. 'Induction' soon does its +office, and supplies a few simple principles, from which we may make a +leap to our conclusions by a rapid, deductive process. + +The problems appear to be too simple to require long preliminary +investigations of fact. Torrens speaks of proving by 'strictly +demonstrative evidence' or of 'proceeding to demonstrate' by strict +analysis.[359] This is generally the preface to one of those +characteristic arithmetical illustrations to which Ricardo's practice +gave a sanction. We are always starting an imaginary capitalist with +so many quarters of corn and suits of clothes, which he can transmute +into any kind of product, and taking for granted that he represents a +typical case. This gives a certain mathematical air to the reasoning, +and too often hides from the reasoner that he may be begging the +question in more ways than one by the arrangement of his imaginary +case. One of the offenders in this kind was Nassau Senior (1790-1864), +a man of remarkable good sense, and fully aware of the necessity of +caution in applying his theories to facts. He was the first professor +of Political Economy at Oxford (1825-1830), and his treatise[360] lays +down the general assumption of his orthodox contemporaries clearly and +briefly. The science, he tells us, is deducible from four elementary +propositions: the first of which asserts that every 'man desires to +obtain additional wealth with as little sacrifice as possible'; while +the others state the first principles embodied in Malthus's theory of +population, and in the laws corresponding to the increasing facility +of manufacturing and the decreasing facility of agricultural +industry.[361] As these propositions include no reference to the +particular institutions or historical development of the social +structure, they virtually imply that a science might be constructed +equally applicable in all times and places; and that, having obtained +them, we need not trouble ourselves any further with inductions. Hence +it follows that we can at once get from the abstract 'man' to the +industrial order. We may, it would seem, abstract from history in +general. This corresponds to the postulate explicitly stated by +M'Culloch. 'A state,' he tells us, 'is nothing more than an aggregate +of individuals': men, that is, who 'inhabit a certain tract of +country.'[362] He infers that 'whatever is most advantageous to them' +(the individuals) 'is most advantageous to the state.' Self-interest, +therefore, the individual's desire of adding to his 'fortune,' is the +mainspring or _causa causans_ of all improvement.[363] This is, of +course, part of the familiar system, which applies equally in ethics +and politics. M'Culloch is simply generalising Adam Smith's congenial +doctrine that statesmen are guilty of absurd presumption when they try +to interfere with a man's management of his own property.[364] This +theory, again, is expressed by the familiar maxim _pas trop +gouverner_, which is common to the whole school, and often accepted +explicitly.[365] + +It will be quite enough to notice one or two characteristic results. +The most important concern the relation between the labourer and the +capitalist. Malthus gives the starting-point. Torrens, for example, +says that the 'real wages of labour have a constant tendency to settle +down' to the amount rendered necessary by 'custom and climate' in +order to keep up his numbers.[366] Mill observes in his terse way that +the capitalist in the present state of society 'is as much the owner +of the labour' as the manufacturer who operates with slaves. The only +'difference is in the mode of purchasing.'[367] One buys a man's whole +labour; the other his labour for a day. The rate of wages can +therefore be raised, like the price of slaves, only by limiting the +supply. Hence the 'grand practical problem is to find the means of +limiting the number of births.'[368] M'Culloch is equally clear, and +infers that every scheme 'not bottomed on' the principle of +proportioning labour to capital must be 'completely nugatory and +ineffectual.'[369] + +The doctrine common to the whole school led M'Culloch to conclusions +which became afterwards notorious enough to require a word of notice. +Torrens, like Ricardo, speaks of capital as 'accumulated labour,' but +makes a great point of observing that, although this is true, the case +is radically changed in a developed state of society. The value of +things no longer depends upon the labour, but upon the amount of +capital employed in their production.[370] This, indeed, may seem to +be the most natural way of stating the accepted principle. M'Culloch +replies that the change makes no difference in the principle,[371] +inasmuch as capital being 'accumulated labour,' value is still +proportioned to labour, though in a transubstantiated shape. M'Culloch +supposed that by carrying out this principle systematically he was +simplifying Ricardo and bringing the whole science into unity. All +questions, whether of value in exchange, or of the rate of wages, can +then be reduced to comparing the simple unit called labour. Both Mill +and M'Culloch regard capital as a kind of labour, so that things may +be produced by capital alone, 'without the co-operation of any +immediate labour'[372]--a result which can hardly be realised with the +discovery of a perpetual motion. So, again, the value of a joint +product is the 'sum' of these two values.[373] All value, therefore, +can be regarded as proportioned to labour in one of its two states. +M'Culloch advanced to an unfortunate conclusion, which excited some +ridicule. Though Ricardo and Torrens[374] rejected it, it was accepted +by Mill in his second edition.[375] Wine kept in a cask might increase +in value. Could that value be ascribed to 'additional labour actually +laid out'? M'Culloch gallantly asserted that it could, though 'labour' +certainly has to be interpreted in a non-natural sense.[376] Not only +is capital labour, but fermentation is labour, or how can we say that +all value is proportioned to labour? This is only worth notice as a +pathetic illustration of the misfortunes of a theorist ridden by a +dogma of his own creation. Another conclusion is more important. The +'real value' of anything is measured by the labour required to produce +it. Nothing 'again is more obvious' than that equal labour implies the +'same sacrifice' in all states of society.[377] It might seem to +follow that the value of anything was measured by the labour which it +would command. This doctrine, however, though maintained by Malthus, +was, according to M'Culloch, a pestilent heresy, first exploded by +Ricardo's sagacity.[378] Things exchange, as he explains, in +proportion to the labour which produces them, but the share given to +the labourer may vary widely. The labourer, he says, 'gives a +constant, but receives a variable quantity in its stead.' He makes the +same sacrifice when he works for a day, but may get for it what he +produces in ten hours, or only in one. In every case, however, he gets +less than he produces, for the excess 'constitutes profits.'[379] The +capitalist must get his interest, that is, the wages of the +accumulated labour. Here we come again to the Socialist position, only +that the Socialist infers that the labourer is always cheated by the +capitalist, and does not consider that the machine can ask for 'wages' +on the pretext that it is accumulated labour. What, however, +determines the share actually received? After all, as a machine is not +actually a labourer, and its work not a separable product, we cannot +easily see how much wages it is entitled to receive. M'Culloch follows +the accepted argument. 'No proposition,' he says, 'can be better +established than that the market rate of wages ... is exclusively +determined by the proportion between capital and population.'[380] We +have ultimately here, as elsewhere, 'the grand principle to which we +must always come at last,' namely, 'the cost of production.'[381] +Wages must correspond to the cost of raising the labourer. This leads +to a formula, which afterwards became famous. In a pamphlet[382] +devoted to the question, he repeats the statement that wages depend +upon the proportion between population and capital; and then, as if +the phrase were identical, substitutes that portion of capital which +is required for the labourer's consumption. This is generally cited as +the first statement of the 'wage-fund' theory, to which I shall have +to return. + +I need not pursue these illustrations of the awkward results of +excessive zeal in a disciple. It is worth noticing, however, that +M'Culloch's practical conclusions are not so rigid as might be +inferred. His abstract doctrines do not give his true theory, so much +as what he erroneously took to be his theory. The rules with which he +works are approximately true under certain conditions, and he +unconsciously assumes the conditions to be negligible, and the rules +therefore absolute. It must be added that he does not apply his +conclusions so rigidly as might be expected. By the help of +'friction,' or the admission that the ride is only true in nineteen +cases out of twenty, he can make allowance for many deviations from +rigid orthodoxy. He holds, for example, that government interference +is often necessary. He wishes in particular for the establishment of a +'good system of public education.'[383] He seems to have become more +sentimental in later years. In the edition of 1843 he approves the +Factory Acts, remarking that the last then passed 'may not, in some +respects, have gone far enough.'[384] He approves a provision for the +'impotent poor,' on the principle of the Elizabethan act, though he +disapproves the centralising tendency of the new poor-law. Though he +is a good Malthusian,[385] and holds the instinct of population to be +a 'constant quantity,'[386] he does not believe in the impossibility +of improvement. The 'necessary' rate of wages fixes only a minimum: +an increase of population has been accompanied by an increase of +comfort.[387] Wages rise if the standard of life be raised, and a rise +of wages tends to raise the standard. He cordially denounces the +benevolent persons who held that better wages only meant more +dissipation. Better wages are really the great spur to industry and +improvement.[388] Extreme poverty causes apathy; and the worst of +evils is the sluggishness which induces men to submit to reductions of +wages. A sense of comfort will raise foresight; and the _vis +medicatrix_ should be allowed to act upon every rank of society. He is +no doubt an individualist, as looking to the removal of restrictions, +such as the Conspiracy Laws,[389] rather than to a positive action of +the government; but it is worth notice that this typical economist is +far from accepting some of the doctrines attributed to the school in +general. + +The classical school blundered when it supposed that the rules which +it formulated could be made absolute. To give them that character, it +was necessary to make false assumptions as to the ultimate +constitution of society; and the fallacy became clear when the formulae +were supposed to give a real history or to give first principles, from +which all industrial relations could be deduced. Meanwhile, the +formulae, as they really expressed conditional truths, might be very +useful so long as, in point of fact, the conditions existed, and were +very effective in disposing of many fallacies. The best illustration +would probably be given by the writings of Thomas Tooke +(1774-1858),[390] one of the founders of the Political Economy Club. +The _History of Prices_ is an admirable explanation of phenomena which +had given rise to the wildest theories. The many oscillations of trade +and finance during the great struggle, the distress which had followed +the peace, had bewildered hasty reasoners. Some people, of course, +found consolation in attributing everything to the mysterious action +of the currency; others declared that the war-expenditure had supplied +manufacturers and agriculturists with a demand for their wares, +apparently not the less advantageous because the payment came out of +their own pockets.[391] Tooke very patiently and thoroughly explodes +these explanations, and traces the fluctuations of price to such +causes as the effect of the seasons and the varying events of the war +which opened or closed the channels of commerce. The explanation in +general seems to be thoroughly sound and conclusive, and falls in, as +far as it goes, with the principles of his allies. He shows, for +example, very clearly what were the conditions under which the +orthodox theory of rent was really applicable; how bad seasons brought +gain instead of loss to the 'agricultural interest,' that is, as Tooke +explains, to the landlord and farmer; how by a rise of price out of +proportion to the diminution of supply, the farmer made large profits; +how rents rose, enclosure bills increased, and inferior land was +brought under the plough. The landlord's interest was for the time +clearly opposed to that of all other classes, however inadequate the +doctrine might become when made absolute by a hasty generalisation. I +need not dwell upon the free-trade argument which made the popular +reputation of the economists. It is enough to note briefly that the +error as to the sphere of applicability of the doctrine did not +prevent many of the practical conclusions from being of the highest +value. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[294] A life of Ricardo by M'Culloch is prefixed to his _Works_. I +cite the edition of 1880. Ricardo's letters to Malthus were published +by Mr. Bonar in 1887; his letters to M'Culloch, edited by Mr. +Hollander for the American Economic Association, in 1895; and his +letters to H. Trower, edited by Mr. Bonar and Mr. Hollander, have just +appeared (1900). + +[295] He remarks upon this difficulty in the case of Smith's +treatment of rent, and gives a definition to which he scarcely +adheres.--_Works_, p. 34 ('Principles,' ch. ii., 1888). + +[296] _Works_, p. 378. Ricardo, it should be said, complained when +Malthus interpreted him to mean that this opposition of interests was +permanent and absolute. + +[297] Malthus admits the general principle of free trade, but supports +some degree of protection to corn, mainly upon political grounds. He +holds, however, with Adam Smith, that 'no equal quantity of productive +labour employed in manufactures could ever occasion so great a +reproduction as in agriculture' (_Grounds of an Opinion, etc._, p. +35)--a relic of the 'physiocrat' doctrine. + +[298] _Works_, p. 385. + +[299] _Ibid._ p. 386. + +[300] See also _Letters to Malthus_, p. 175. + +[301] 'Your modern political economists say that it is a principle in +their science that all things find their level; which I deny, and say, +on the contrary, that it is the true principle that all things are +finding their level, like water in a storm.'--Coleridge's +_Table-Talk_, 17th May 1833. + +[302] _Letters to Malthus_, p. 96; and see the frequently quoted +passage where he complains that Malthus has taken his book as more +'practical' than he had intended it to be, and speaks of his method of +imagining 'strong cases.'--_Ibid._ p. 167. + +[303] _Works_, p. 40 _n._ (ch. ii.). + +[304] _Works_, p. 53 (ch. v.), and p. 124 (ch. xvi.), where he quotes +from the _Wealth of Nations_ (M'Culloch), p. 390 (bk. v. ch. ii. art. +3). + +[305] _Works_, p. 131. + +[306] _Wealth of Nations_ (M'Culloch), p. 31 (bk. i. ch. viii.). + +[307] _Works_, p. 41 (ch. ii.). + +[308] _Wealth of Nations_ (M'Culloch), p. 36. + +[309] _Works_, p. 51 (ch. v.). + +[310] _Letters to Malthus_, p. 98. + +[311] _Works_, p. 239 (ch. xxxi., added in third edition, 1821). + +[312] _Ibid._ p. 50 (ch. v.). + +[313] _Ibid._ p. 52. + +[314] _Ibid._ p. 15 (ch. i. sec. ii.). + +[315] There is, indeed, a difficulty which I happily need not discuss. +Undoubtedly the doctrine of gluts was absurd. There is, of course, no +limit to the amount of wealth which can be used or exchanged. But +there certainly seems to be a great difficulty in effecting such a +readjustment of the industrial system as is implied in increased +production of wealth; and the disposition to save may at a given time +be greater than the power of finding profitable channels for employing +wealth. This involves economical questions beyond my ability to +answer, and happily not here relevant. + +[316] _Letters to Malthus_, p. 101. + +[317] _Ibid._ p. 52. + +[318] _Works_, p. 174 (ch. xxi.). + +[319] _Works_, p. 66 (ch. vi.). + +[320] _Works_, p. 240 (ch. xxxi.). + +[321] Ricardo, _Works_, p. xxiv. + +[322] Menger's _Das Recht auf den vollen Arbeitsertrag_ (1891), p. 38. + +[323] _Works_, p. 228 (ch. xxviii.). + +[324] _Works_, pp. 29, 60. + +[325] _Ibid._ p. 166. + +[326] _Works_, p. 170 (ch. xx.). + +[327] _Ibid._ p. 7. + +[328] So he tells Malthus (_Letters_, pp. 173, 174) that the buyer has +'the least to do in the world' with the regulation of prices. It is +all the competition of the sellers. 'Demand' influences price for the +moment, but 'supply follows close upon its heels, and takes up the +regulation of price.' + +[329] _Works_, p. 234. + +[330] Bentham's _Works_, x. 498. + +[331] _Works_, p. 250 (ch. xxxii.). + +[332] Stewart's _Works_, x. 34. + +[333] See Bagehot's remarks upon J. S. Mill's version of this doctrine +in _Economic Studies_: chapter on 'Cost of Production.' + +[334] Another illustration of the need of such considerations is +given, as has been pointed out, in Adam Smith's famous chapter upon +the variation in the rate of wages. He assumes that the highest wages +will be paid for the least agreeable employments, whereas, in fact, +the least agreeable are generally the worst paid. His doctrine, that +is, is only true upon a tacit assumption as to the character and +position of the labourer, which must be revised before the rule can be +applied. + +[335] J. S. Mill, too, in his _Political Economy_ makes the foundation +of private property 'the right of producers to what they themselves +have produced.' (Bk. ii. ch. ii. Sec. 1.) + +[336] Mr. Edwin Cannan, in _Production and Distribution_ (1894), p. +383. + +[337] A definition, says Burke in his essay on the 'Sublime and +Beautiful' (introduction) 'seems rather to follow than to precede our +inquiry, of which it ought to be considered as the result.' + +[338] _Works_, p. 34 (chap. ii.). Rent is there defined as the sum +paid for the original and indestructible powers of the soil. + +[339] _Works_, p. 132 (chap. xvii.). He admits (_Ibid._ p. 210 _n._) +that the labourer may have a little more than what is absolutely +necessary, and that his inference is therefore 'expressed too +strongly.' + +[340] See _Letters to M'Culloch_, p. xxi. + +[341] 'The assaults upon Malthus's "great work,"' he says (_Works_, p. +243, ch. xxxii.), 'have only served to prove its strength.' + +[342] _Letters to Malthus_, p. 226. + +[343] _Works_, p. 58 (ch. v.). + +[344] _Ibid._ p. 211 _n._ (ch. xxvi.). + +[345] _Ibid._ p. 258 (ch. xxxii.). + +[346] _Works_, p. 248 (ch. xxii.). + +[347] Bain's _James Mill_, p. 211. + +[348] Editions in 1821, 1824, and 1826. + +[349] _Autobiography_, p. 204. + +[350] The first edition, an expanded version of an article in the +_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, appeared in 1825. + +[351] _Latter-day Pamphlets_ (New Downing Street). M'Crowdy is +obviously a type, not an individual. + +[352] See Mr. Hewin's life of him in _Dictionary of National +Biography_. + +[353] Fourth edition in 1827. + +[354] Ricardo's _Works_, p. 164 _n._ + +[355] _External Corn-trade_, preface to fourth edition. J. S. Mill +observes in his chapter upon 'International Trade' that Torrens was +the earliest expounder of the doctrine afterwards worked out by +Ricardo and Mill himself. For Ricardo's opinion of Torrens, see +_Letters to Trower_, p. 39. + +[356] _Production of Wealth_ (Preface). + +[357] _Production of Wealth_ (Preface). + +[358] _Political Economy_ (1825), p. 21. + +[359] _External Corn-trade_, pp. xviii, 109, 139; _Production of +Wealth_, p. 375. + +[360] Originally in the _Encyclopaedia Metropolitana_, 1836. + +[361] Senior's _Political Economy_ (1850), p. 26. + +[362] _Ibid._ (1825), pp. 55, 129-131. + +[363] Senior's _Political Economy_ (150), p. 125. + +[364] _Ibid._ p. 135. M'Culloch admits the possibility that a man may +judge his own interests wrongly, but thinks that this will not happen +in one case out of twenty (_Ibid._ p. 15). + +[365] See Torrens's _Production of Wealth_, p. 208; and M'Culloch's +_Political Economy_ (1843), p. 294, where he admits some exceptions. + +[366] _External Corn-trade_, p. 87, etc. + +[367] _Political Economy_ (second edition), pp. 21, 22. + +[368] _Ibid._ p. 67. + +[369] _Political Economy_ (1825), p. 329. + +[370] _Production of Wealth_, p. 34, etc. + +[371] _Political Economy_ (1825), p. 318. + +[372] Mill's _Political Economy_ (second edition), p. 102; M'Culloch's +_Political Economy_ (1825), pp. 289-291. + +[373] M'Culloch's _Political Economy_, p. 290. + +[374] Preface to _External Corn-trade_. + +[375] _Ibid._ p. 95. + +[376] _Political Economy_ (1825), pp. 313-18. This argument disappears +in later editions. + +[377] _Ibid._ p. 217. + +[378] _Political Economy_, p. 221. De Quincey makes a great point of +this doctrine, of which it is not worth while to examine the meaning. + +[379] _Political Economy_, p. 221 _n._ + +[380] _Ibid._ p. 336. + +[381] _Ibid._ p. 337. + +[382] 'Essay upon the Circumstances which determine the Rate of Wages' +(1826), p. 113. This was written for Constable's _Miscellany_, and is +mainly repetition from the _Political Economy_. It was republished, +with alterations, in 1851. + +[383] _Political Economy_, pp. 359-61. + +[384] _Ibid._ (1843), p. 178. And see his remarks on the unfavourable +side of the Factory System, p. 186 _seq._ + +[385] 'Wherever two persons have the means of subsisting,' as he +quaintly observes, 'a marriage invariably takes place' (_Political +Economy_, p. 154). + +[386] _Political Economy_, p. 206. + +[387] _Political Economy_, p. 344. + +[388] _Ibid._ pp. 349-52. + +[389] See pamphlet on the rate of wages, pp. 178-204. + +[390] Tooke's _Thoughts and Details on the High and Low Prices of the +last Thirty Years_ appeared in 1823 (second edition 1824). This was +rewritten and embodied in the _History of Prices_, the first two +volumes of which appeared in 1838. Four later volumes appeared in +1839, 1848, and 1857. + +[391] The popular view is given by Southey. The Radicals, he says in +1823, desire war because they expect it to lead to revolution. 'In +this they are greatly deceived, for it would restore agricultural +prosperity, and give a new spur to our manufactures' (_Selections from +Southey's Letters_, iii. 382. See also _Life and Correspondence_, iv. +228, 386). + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ECONOMIC HERETICS + + +I. THE MALTHUSIAN CONTROVERSY + +The Economic theory became triumphant. Expounded from new university +chairs, summarised in text-books for schools, advocated in the press, +and applied by an energetic party to some of the most important +political discussions of the day, it claimed the adhesion of all +enlightened persons. It enjoyed the prestige of a scientific doctrine, +and the most popular retort seemed to be an involuntary concession of +its claims. When opponents appealed from 'theorists' to practical men, +the Utilitarians scornfully set them down as virtually appealing from +reason to prejudice. No rival theory held the field. If Malthus and +Ricardo differed, it was a difference between men who accepted the +same first principles. They both professed to interpret Adam Smith as +the true prophet, and represented different shades of opinion rather +than diverging sects. There were, however, symptoms of opposition, +which, at the time, might be set down as simple reluctance to listen +to disagreeable truths. In reality, they were indications of a +dissatisfaction which was to become of more importance and to lead in +time to a more decided revolt. I must indicate some of them, though +the expressions of dissent were so various and confused that it is not +very easy to reduce them to order. + +Malthus's doctrine was really at the base of the whole theory, though +it must be admitted that neither Malthus himself nor his opponents +were clear as to what his doctrine really was. His assailants often +attacked theories which he disavowed, or asserted principles which he +claimed as his own.[392] I mention only to set aside some respectable +and wearisome gentlemen such as Ingram, Jarrold, Weyland, and Grahame, +who considered Malthus chiefly as impugning the wisdom of Providence. +They quote the divine law, 'Increase and multiply'; think that Malthus +regards vice and misery as blessings, and prove that population does +not 'tend' to increase too rapidly. Jarrold apparently accepts the +doctrine which Malthus attributes to Suessmilch, that lives have been +shortened since the days of the patriarchs, and the reproductive +forces diminished as the world has grown fuller. Grahame believes in a +providential 'ordeal,' constituted by infant mortality, which is not, +like war and vice, due to human corruption, but a beneficent +regulating force which correlates fertility with the state of society. +This might be taken by Malthus as merely amounting to another version +of his checks. Such books, in fact, simply show, what does not require +to be further emphasised, that Malthus had put his version of the +struggle for existence into a form which seemed scandalous to the +average orthodox person. The vagueness of Malthus himself and the +confused argument of such opponents makes it doubtful whether they are +really answering his theories or reducing them to a less repulsive +form of statement. + +In other directions, the Malthusian doctrine roused keen feeling on +both sides, and the line taken by different parties is significant. +Malthus had appeared as an antagonist of the revolutionary party. He +had laid down what he took to be an insuperable obstacle to the +realisation of their dreams. Yet his views were adopted and extended +by those who called themselves thorough Radicals. As, in our days, +Darwinism has been claimed as supporting both individualist and +socialistic conclusions, the theory of his predecessor, Malthus, might +be applied in a Radical or a Conservative sense. In point of fact, +Malthus was at once adopted by the Whigs, as represented by the +_Edinburgh Review_. They were followers of Adam Smith and Dugald +Stewart; they piqued themselves, and, as even James Mill admitted, +with justice, upon economic orthodoxy. They were at the same time +predisposed to a theory which condemned the revolutionary Utopias. It +provided them with an effective weapon against the agitators whom they +especially dreaded. The Tories might be a little restrained by +orthodox qualms. In 1812 Southey was permitted to make an onslaught +upon Malthus in the _Quarterly_;[393] but more complimentary +allusions followed, and five years later the essay was elaborately +defended in an able article.[394] An apology was even insinuated for +the previous assault, though the blame was thrown upon Malthus for +putting his doctrines in an offensive shape. A reference to Owen +suggests that the alarm excited by Socialism had suggested the need of +some sound political economy. + +Another controversy which was being carried on at intervals indicates +the line of cleavage between the capitalist and the landed interest. +James Mill's early pamphlet, _Commerce Defended_ (1808), and Torrens's +pamphlet, _Economists Refuted_, were suggested by this discussion. +Although the war was partly in defence of British trade, its +vicissitudes produced various commercial crises; and the patriotic +Tories were anxious to show that we could thrive even if our trade was +shut out from the Continent. The trading classes maintained that they +really supplied the sinews of war, and had a right to some control of +the policy. The controversy about the orders in council and Berlin +decrees emphasised these disputes, and called some attention to the +questions involved in the old controversy between the 'mercantile' and +the 'agricultural' systems. A grotesque exaggeration of one theory was +given by Mill's opponent, William Spence[395] (1783-1860), in his +_Britain independent of Commerce_, which went through several editions +in 1808, and refurbished or perverted the doctrine of the French +economists. The argument, at least, shows what fallacies then needed +confutation by the orthodox. In the preface to his collected tracts, +Spence observes that the high price of corn was the cause of 'all our +wealth and prosperity during the war.' The causes of the high price +('assisted,' he admits, 'by occasional bad seasons') were the +'national debt, in other words, taxation,' which raised the price, +first, of necessaries, and then of luxuries (thus, he says, +'neutralising its otherwise injurious effects'), and the virtual +monopoly by the agriculturist of the home market.[396] All our wealth, +that is, was produced by taxation aided by famine, or, in brief, by +the landowner's power of squeezing more out of the poor. Foreign +trade, according to Spence, is altogether superfluous. Its effect is +summed up by the statement that we give hardware to America, and, in +return, get only 'the vile weed, tobacco.'[397] Spence's writings only +show the effect of strong prejudices on a weak brain. A similar +sentiment dictated a more noteworthy argument to a much abler writer, +whose relation to Malthus is significant--Thomas Chalmers +(1780-1847),[398] probably best remembered at present for his +leadership of the great disruption of 1843. He had a reputation for +eloquence and philosophic ability not fully intelligible at the +present day. His appearance was uncouth, and his written style is +often clumsy. He gave an impression at times of indolence and of +timidity. Yet his superficial qualities concealed an ardent +temperament and cordial affections. Under a sufficient stimulus he +could blaze out in stirring speech and vigorous action. His +intellectual training was limited. He had, we are told, been much +influenced in his youth by the French philosophers of the time, and +had appeared on the side of the more freethinking party in the famous +Leslie controversy. Soon afterwards, however, he was converted to +'evangelical' views. He still accepted Thomas Brown as a great +metaphysician,[399] but thought that in moral questions Brown's +deistical optimism required to be corrected by an infusion of Butler's +theory of conscience. He could adapt Butler's _Analogy_, and write an +edifying Bridgewater Treatise. I need only say, however, that, though +his philosophy was not very profound, he had an enthusiasm which +enables him at times to write forcibly and impressively. + +Chalmers was from 1803 to 1815 minister of Kilmany, Fifeshire, and his +attention had already been drawn to the question of pauperism. He took +part in the Spence controversy, by an essay upon the _Extent and +Stability of National Resources_.[400] In this he expounds a doctrine +which is afterwards given in his _Political Economy in Connection with +the Moral State and Moral Aspects of Society_.[401] The main purpose +of his early book is the patriotic. It is meant, like Spence's +pamphlet, to prove that Napoleon could do us no vital injury. Should +he succeed, he would only lop off superfluous branches, not hew down +the main trunk. Chalmers's argument to show the ease with which a +country may recover the effects of a disastrous war is highly praised +by J. S. Mill[402] as the first sound explanation of the facts. +Chalmers's position, however, is radically different from the +position of either James or J. S. Mill. Essentially it is the +development of the French economists' theory, though Chalmers is +rather unwilling to admit his affinity to a discredited school.[403] +He has reached some of their conclusions, he admits, but by a +different path.[404] He coincides, in this respect, with Malthus, who +was equally impressed by the importance of 'subsistence,' or of the +food-supply of the labourer. The great bulk of the food required must +be raised within our own borders. As Chalmers says, in 1832, the total +importation of corn, even in the two famine years, 1800 and 1801, +taken together, had only provided food for five weeks,[405] and could +normally represent a mere fringe or superfluous addition to our +resources. His main argument is simple. The economists have fallen +into a fatal error. A manufacturer, he observes, only makes his own +article.[406] The economists somehow imagine that he also supports +himself. You see a prosperous 'shawl-making village.' You infer that +its ruin would cause the destitution of so many families. It would +only mean the loss of so many shawls. The food which supports the +shawl-makers would still be produced, and would be only diverted to +support makers of some other luxury.[407] There would be a temporary +injury to individuals, but no permanent weakening of national +resources. Hence we have his division of the population. The +agriculturists, and those who make the 'second necessaries' (the +cottages, ploughs, and so forth, required by the agriculturist), +create the great wealth of the country. Besides these we have the +'disposable' population, which is employed in making luxuries for the +landowners, and, finally, the 'redundant' or what he calls in his +later book the 'excrescent' or 'superinduced' population,[408] which +is really supported by foreign trade. Commerce, then, is merely 'the +efflorescence of our agriculture.'[409] Were it annihilated this +instant, we should still retain our whole disposable population. The +effect of war is simply to find a different employment for this part +of the nation. Napoleon, he says, is 'emptying our shops and filling +our battalions.'[410] All the 'redundant' population might be +supported by simply diminishing the number of our cart-horses.[411] +Similarly, the destruction of the commerce of France 'created her +armies.' It only transferred men from trade to war, and 'millions of +artisans' were 'transformed into soldiers.'[412] Pitt was really +strengthening when he supposed himself to be ruining his enemy. +'Excrescence' and 'efflorescence' are Chalmers's equivalent for the +'sterility' of the French economists. The backbone of all industry is +agriculture, and the manufacturers simply employed by the landowner +for such purposes as he pleases. Whether he uses them to make his +luxuries or to fight his battles, the real resources of the nation +remain untouched. The Ricardians insist upon the vital importance of +'capital.' The one economic end of the statesmen, as the capitalist +class naturally thinks, should be to give every facility for its +accumulation, and consequently for allowing it to distribute itself in +the most efficient way. Chalmers, on the contrary, argues that we may +easily have too much capital. He was a firm believer in gluts. He +admits that the extension of commerce was of great good at the end of +the feudal period, but not as the 'efficient cause' of wealth, only as +'unlocking the capabilities of the soil.'[413] This change produced +the illusion that commerce has a 'creative virtue,' whereas its +absolute dependence upon agriculture is a truth of capital importance +in political economy. More Malthusian than Malthus, Chalmers argues +that the case of capital is strictly parallel to the case of +population.[414] Money may be redundant as much as men, and the real +causes of every economic calamity are the 'over-speculation of +capitalists,' and the 'over-population of the community at +large.'[415] In this question, however, Chalmers gets into +difficulties, which show so hopeless a confusion between 'capital,' +income, and money, that I need not attempt to unravel his +meaning.[416] Anyhow, he is led to approve the French doctrine of the +single tax. Ultimately, he thinks, all taxes fall upon rent.[417] +Agriculture fills the great reservoir from which all the subsidiary +channels are filled. Whether the stream be tapped at the source or +further down makes no difference. Hence he infers that, as the +landlords necessarily pay the taxes, they should pay them openly. By +an odd coincidence, he would tax rents like Mill, though upon +opposite grounds. He holds that the interest of the landowners is not +opposed to, but identical with, the interest of all classes. +Politically, as well as economically, they should be supreme. They +are, 'naturally and properly, the lords of the ascendant,' and, as he +oddly complains in the year of the Reform Bill, not 'sufficiently +represented in parliament.'[418] A 'splendid aristocracy' is, he +thinks, a necessary part of the social edifice;[419] the law of +primogeniture is necessary to support them; and the division of land +will cause the decay of France. The aristocracy are wanted to keep up +a high standard of civilisation and promote philosophy, science, and +art.[420] The British aristocracy in the reign of George IV. scarcely +realised this ideal, and would hardly have perceived that to place all +the taxes upon their shoulders would be to give them a blessing in +disguise. According to Chalmers, however, an established church +represents an essential part of the upper classes, and is required to +promote a high standard of life among the poor.[421] In connection +with this, he writes a really forcible chapter criticising the +economical distinction of productive and unproductive labour, and +shows at least that the direct creation of material wealth is not a +sufficient criterion of the utility of a class. + +Chalmers's arguments are of interest mainly from their bearing upon +his practical application of the Malthusian problem. His interest in +the problem of pauperism had been stimulated by his residence in +Glasgow, where from 1815 to 1823 he had been actively engaged in +parochial duties. In 1819 he had set up an organised system of +charity in a poor district, which both reduced the expenditure and +improved the condition of the poor. The experiment, though dropped +some years later, became famous, and in later years Chalmers +successfully started a similar plan in Edinburgh. It was this +experience which gave shape to his Malthusian theories. He was, that +is, a Malthusian in the sense of believing that the great problem was +essentially the problem of raising the self-respect and spirit of +independence of the poor. The great evil which confronted him in +Glasgow was the mischief connected with the growth of the factory +system. He saw, as he thought, the development of wealth leading to +the degradation of the labourer. The great social phenomenon was the +tendency to degeneration, the gradual dissolution of an organism, and +corruption destroying the vital forces. On the one hand, this +spectacle led him, as it led others, to look back fondly to the good +old times of homely food and primitive habits, to the peasantry as +represented in Burns's _Cotter's Saturday Night_ or Scott's _Heart of +Midlothian_, when the poor man was part of a social, political, and +ecclesiastical order, disciplined, trained, and self-respecting, not a +loose waif and stray in a chaotic welter of separate atoms. These were +the facts which really suggested his theory of the 'excrescent' +population, produced by the over-speculation of capitalists. The +paupers of Glasgow were 'excrescent,' and the 'gluts' were visible in +the commercial crises which had thrown numbers of poor weavers out of +employment and degraded them into permanent paupers. The facts were +before his eyes, if the generalisation was hasty and crude. He held, +on the other hand, that indiscriminate charity, and still more the +establishment by poor-laws of a legal right to support, was +stimulating the evil. The poor-law had worked incalculable mischiefs +in England,[422] and he struggled vigorously, though unavailingly, to +resist its introduction into Scotland. Chalmers, however, did not +accept the theory ascribed to the Utilitarians, that the remedy for +the evils was simply to leave things alone. He gives his theory in an +article upon the connection between the extension of the church and +the extinction of pauperism. He defends Malthus against the +'execrations' of sentimentalism. Malthus, he thinks, would not +suppress but change the direction of beneficence. A vast expenditure +has only stimulated pauperism. The true course is not to diminish the +rates but to make them 'flow into the wholesome channel of maintaining +an extended system of moral and religious instruction.'[423] In other +words, suppress workhouses but build schools and churches; organise +charity and substitute a systematic individual inspection for reckless +and indiscriminate almsgiving. Then you will get to the root of the +mischief. The church, supported from the land, is to become the great +civilising agent. Chalmers, accordingly, was an ardent advocate of a +church establishment. He became the leader of the Free Church movement +not as objecting to an establishment on principle, but because he +thought that the actual legal fetters of the Scottish establishment +made it impossible to carry out an effective reorganisation and +therefore unable to discharge its true functions. + +Here Chalmers's economical theories are crossed by various political +and ecclesiastical questions with which I am not concerned. His +peculiarities as an economist bring out, I think, an important point. +He shows how Malthus's views might be interpreted by a man who, +instead of sharing, was entirely opposed to the ordinary capitalist +prejudices. It would be idle to ask which was the more logical +development of Malthus. When two systems are full of doubtful +assumptions of fact and questionable logic and vague primary +conceptions, that question becomes hardly intelligible. We can only +note the various turns given to the argument by the preconceived +prejudices of the disputants. By most of them the Malthusian view was +interpreted as implying the capitalist as distinguished from the +landowning point of view. + +To Southey as to Chalmers the great evil of the day was the growth of +the disorganised populace under the factory system. The difference is +that while Chalmers enthusiastically adopted Malthus's theory as +indicating the true remedy for the evil, Southey regards it with +horror as declaring the evil to be irremediable. Chalmers, a shrewd +Scot actively engaged in parochial work, had his attention fixed upon +the reckless improvidence of the 'excrescent' population, and welcomed +a doctrine which laid stress upon the necessity of raising the +standard of prudence and morality. He recognised and pointed out with +great force the inadequacy of such palliatives as emigration, +home-colonisation, and so forth.[424] Southey, an ardent and impulsive +man of letters, with no practical experience of the difficulties of +social reform, has no patience for such inquiries. His remedy, in all +cases, was a 'paternal government' vigorously regulating society; and +Malthus appears to him to be simply an opponent of all such action. +Southey had begun the attack in 1803 by an article in the _Annual +Review_ (edited by A. Aikin) for which the leading hints were given by +Coleridge, then with Southey at Keswick.[425] In his letters and his +later articles he never mentions Malthus without abhorrence.[426] +Malthus, according to his article in the _Annual Review_, regards +'vice' and 'misery' as desirable; thinks that the 'gratification of +lust' is a 'physical necessity'; and attributes to the 'physical +constitution of our nature' what should be ascribed to the 'existing +system of society.' Malthus, that is, is a fatalist, a materialist, +and an anarchist. His only remedy is to abolish the poor-rates, and +starve the poor into celibacy. The folly and wickedness of the book +have provoked him, he admits, to contemptuous indignation; and Malthus +may be a good man personally. Still, the 'farthing candle' of +Malthus's fame as a political philosopher must soon go out. So in the +_Quarterly Review_ Southey attributes the social evils to the +disintegrating effect of the manufacturing system, of which Adam Smith +was the 'tedious and hard-hearted' prophet. The excellent Malthus +indeed becomes the 'hard-hearted' almost as Hooker was the +'judicious.' This sufficiently represents the view of the sentimental +Tory. Malthus, transformed into a monster, deserves the 'execrations' +noticed by Chalmers. There is a thorough coincidence between this view +and that of the sentimental Radicals. Southey observes that Malthus +(as interpreted by him) does not really answer Godwin. Malthus argues +that 'perfectibility' gives an impossible end because equality would +lead to vice and misery. But why should we not suppose with Godwin a +change of character which would imply prudence and chastity? Men as +they are may be incapable of equality because they have brutal +passions. But men as they are to be may cease to be brutal and become +capable of equality. This, indeed, represents a serious criticism. +What Malthus was really concerned to prove was that the social state +and the corresponding character suppose each other; and that real +improvement supposes that the individual must somehow acquire the +instincts appropriate to an improved state. The difference between him +and his opponents was that he emphasised the mischief of legislation, +such as that embodied in the poor-law, which contemplated a forcible +change, destroying poverty without raising the poor man's character. +Such a rise required a long and difficult elaboration, and he +therefore dwells mainly upon the folly of the legislative, unsupported +by the moral, remedy. To Godwin, on the other hand, who professed an +unlimited faith in the power of reason, this difficulty was +comparatively unimportant. Remove political inequalities and men will +spontaneously become virtuous and prudent. + +Godwin accordingly, when answering Dr. Parr and Mackintosh,[427] in +1801, welcomed Malthus's first version of the essay. He declares it to +be as 'unquestionable an addition to the theory of political economy' +as has been made by any writer for a century past; and 'admits the +ratios to their full extent.'[428] In this philosophical spirit he +proceeds to draw some rather startling conclusions. He hopes that, as +mankind improves, such practices as infanticide will not be necessary; +but he remarks that it would be happier for a child to perish in +infancy than to spend seventy years in vice and misery.[429] He refers +to the inhabitants of Ceylon as a precedent for encouraging other +practices restrictive of population. In short, though he hopes that +such measures may be needless, he does not shrink from admitting their +possible necessity. So far, then, Godwin and Malthus might form an +alliance. Equality might be the goal of both; and both might admit the +necessity of change in character as well as in the political +framework; only that Malthus would lay more stress upon the evil of +legislative changes outrunning or independent of moral change. Here, +however, arose the real offence. Malthus had insisted upon the +necessity of self-help. He had ridiculed the pretensions of government +to fix the rate of wages; and had shown how the poor-laws defeated +their own objects. This was the really offensive ground to the +political Radicals. They had been in the habit of tracing all evils to +the selfishness and rapacity of the rulers; pensions, sinecures, +public debts, huge armies, profligate luxuries of all kinds, were the +fruits of bad government and the true causes of poverty. Kings and +priests were the harpies who had settled upon mankind, and were +ruining their happiness. Malthus, they thought, was insinuating a base +apology for rulers when he attributed the evil to the character of the +subjects instead of attributing it to the wickedness of their rulers. +He was as bad as the old Tory, Johnson,[430] exclaiming:-- + + 'How small of all that human hearts endure + That part which kings and laws can cause or cure!' + +He was, they held, telling the tyrants that it was not their fault if +the poor were miserable. The essay was thus an apology for the +heartlessness of the rich. This view was set forth by Hazlitt in an +attack upon Malthus in 1807.[431] It appears again in the _Enquiry_ by +G. Ensor (1769-1843)--a vivacious though rather long-winded Irishman, +who was known both to O'Connell and to Bentham.[432] Godwin himself +was roused by the appearance of the fifth edition of Malthus's _Essay_ +to write a reply, which appeared in 1820. He was helped by David Booth +(1766-1846),[433] a man of some mathematical and statistical +knowledge. Hazlitt's performance is sufficiently significant of the +general tendency. Hazlitt had been an enthusiastic admirer of Godwin, +and retained as much of the enthusiasm as his wayward prejudices would +allow. He was through life what may be called a sentimental Radical, +so far as Radicalism was compatible with an ardent worship of +Napoleon. To him Napoleon meant the enemy of Pitt and Liverpool and +Castlereagh and the Holy Alliance. Hazlitt could forgive any policy +which meant the humiliation of the men whom he most heartily hated. +His attack upon Malthus was such as might satisfy even Cobbett, whose +capacity for hatred, and especially for this particular object of +hatred, was equal to Hazlitt's. The personal rancour of which Hazlitt +was unfortunately capable leads to monstrous imputations. Not only +does Malthus's essay show the 'little low rankling malice of a parish +beadle ... disguised in the garb of philosophy,' and bury 'false +logic' under 'a heap of garbled calculations,'[434] and so forth; but +he founds insinuations upon Malthus's argument as to the constancy of +the sexual passion. Malthus, he fully believes, has none of the +ordinary passions, anger, pride, avarice, or the like, but declares +that he must be a slave to an 'amorous complexion,' and believe all +other men to be made 'of the same combustible materials.'[435] This +foul blow is too characteristic of Hazlitt's usual method; but +indicates also the tone which could be taken by contemporary +journalism. + +The more serious argument is really that the second version of Malthus +is an answer to his first. Briefly, the 'moral check' which came in +only as a kind of afterthought is a normal part of the process by +which population is kept within limits, and prevents the monstrous +results of the 'geometrical ratio.' Hazlitt, after insisting upon +this, admits that there is nothing in 'the general principles here +stated that Mr. Malthus is at present disposed to deny, or that he has +not himself expressly insisted upon in some part or other of his +various works.'[436] He only argues that Malthus's concessions are +made at the cost of self-contradiction. Why then, it may be asked, +should not Hazlitt take the position of an improver and harmoniser of +the doctrine rather than of a fierce opponent? The answer has been +already implied. He regards Malthus as an apologist for an unjust +inequality. Malthus, he says, in classifying the evils of life, has +'allotted to the poor all the misery, and to the rich as much vice as +they please.'[437] The check of starvation will keep down the numbers +of the poor; and the check of luxury and profligacy will restrain the +multiplication of the rich. 'The poor are to make a formal surrender +of their right to provoke charity or parish assistance that the rich +may be able to lay out all their money on their vices.'[438] The +misery of the lower orders is the result of the power of the upper. A +man born into a world where he is not wanted has no right, said +Malthus, to a share of the food. That might be true if the poor were a +set of lazy supernumeraries living on the industrious. But the truth +is that the poor man does the work, and is forced to put up in return +with a part of the produce of his labour.[439] The poor-laws recognise +the principle that those who get all from the labour of others should +provide from their superfluities for the necessities of those in +want.[440] The 'grinding necessity' of which Malthus had spoken does +not raise but lower the standard; and a system of equality would +lessen instead of increasing the pressure. Malthus, again, has +proposed that parents should be responsible for their children. That +is, says Hazlitt, Malthus would leave children to starvation, though +he professes to disapprove infanticide. He would 'extinguish every +spark of humanity ... towards the children of others' on pretence of +preserving the 'ties of parental affection.' Malthus tries to argue +that the 'iniquity of government' is not the cause of poverty. That +belief, he says, has generated discontent and revolution. That is, +says Hazlitt, the way to prevent revolutions and produce reforms is to +persuade people that all the evils which government may inflict are +their own fault. Government is to do as much mischief as it pleases, +without being answerable for it.[441] The poor-laws, as Hazlitt +admits, are bad, but do not show the root of the evil. The evils are +really due to increasing tyranny, dependence, indolence, and +unhappiness due to other causes. Pauperism has increased because the +government and the rich have had their way in everything. They have +squandered our revenues, multiplied sinecures and pensions, doubled +salaries, given monopolies and encouraged jobs, and depressed the poor +and industrious. The 'poor create their own fund,' and the necessity +for it has arisen from the exorbitant demands made by the rich.[442] +Malthus is a Blifil,[443] hypocritically insinuating arguments in +favour of tyranny under pretence of benevolence. + +Hazlitt's writing, although showing the passions of a bitter partisan, +hits some of Malthus's rather cloudy argumentation. His successor, +Ensor, representing the same view, finds an appropriate topic in the +wrongs of Ireland. Irish poverty, he holds, is plainly due not to +over-population but to under-government,[444] meaning, we must +suppose, misgovernment. But the same cause explains other cases. The +'people are poor and are growing poorer,'[445] and there is no mystery +about it. The expense of a court, the waste of the profits and money +in the House of Commons, facts which are in striking contrast to the +republican virtues of the United States, are enough to account for +everything; and Malthus's whole aim is to 'calumniate the people.' +Godwin in 1820 takes up the same taunts. Malthus ought, he thinks, to +welcome war, famine, pestilence, and the gallows.[446] He has taught +the poor that they have no claim to relief, and the rich that, by +indulging in vice, they are conferring a benefit upon the country. The +poor-laws admit a right, and he taunts Malthus for proposing to +abolish it, and refusing food to a poor man on the ground that he had +notice not to come into the world two years before he was born.[447] + +Godwin, whose earlier atheism had been superseded by a vague deism, +now thinks with Cobbett that the poor were supported by the piety of +the mediaeval clergy, who fed the hungry and clothed the naked from +their vast revenues, while dooming themselves to spare living.[448] He +appeals to the authority of the Christian religion, which indeed might +be a fair _argumentum ad hominem_ against 'Parson Malthus.' He +declares that Nature takes more care of her work than such irreverent +authors suppose, and 'does not ask our aid to keep down the excess of +population.'[449] In fact, he doubts whether population increases at +all. Malthus's whole theory, he says, rests upon the case of America; +and with the help of Mr. Booth and some very unsatisfactory +statistics, he tries to prove that the increase shown in the American +census has been entirely due to immigration. Malthus safely declined +to take any notice of a production which in fact shows that Godwin +had lost his early vigour. The sound Utilitarian, Francis Place, took +up the challenge, and exploded some of Godwin's statistics. He shows +his Radicalism by admitting that Malthus, to whose general benevolence +he does justice, had not spoken of the poor as one sprung like himself +from the poor would naturally do; and he accepts modes of limiting the +population from which Malthus himself had shrunk. For improvement, he +looks chiefly to the abolition of restrictive laws. + + +II. SOCIALISM + +The arguments of Hazlitt and his allies bring us back to the Socialist +position. Although it was represented by no writer of much literary +position, Owen was becoming conspicuous, and some of his sympathisers +were already laying down principles more familiar to-day. Already, in +the days of the Six Acts, the government was alarmed by certain +'Spencean Philanthropists.' According to Place they were a very feeble +sect, numbering only about fifty, and perfectly harmless. Their +prophet was a poor man called Thomas Spence (1750-1815),[450] who had +started as a schoolmaster, and in 1775 read a paper at Newcastle +before a 'Philosophical Society.'[451] He proposed that the land in +every village should belong to all the inhabitants--a proposal which +Mr. Hyndman regards as a prophecy of more thoroughgoing schemes of +Land Nationalisation. Spence drifted to London, picked up a precarious +living, partly by selling books of a revolutionary kind, and died in +1815, leaving, it seems, a few proselytes. A writer of higher literary +capacity was Charles Hall, a physician at Tavistock, who in 1805 +published a book on _The Effects of Civilisation_.[452] The effects of +civilisation, he holds, are simply pernicious. Landed property +originated in violence, and has caused all social evils. A great +landlord consumes unproductively as much as would keep eight thousand +people.[453] He gets everything from the labour of the poor; while +they are forced to starvation wages by the raising of rents. Trade and +manufactures are equally mischievous. India gets nothing but jewellery +from Europe, and Europe nothing but muslin from India, while so much +less food is produced in either country.[454] Manufactures generally +are a cause and sign of the poverty of nations.[455] + +Such sporadic protests against the inequalities of wealth may be taken +as parts of that 'ancient tale of wrong' which has in all ages been +steaming up from the suffering world, and provoking a smile from +epicurean deities. As Owenism advanced, the argument took a more +distinct form. Mill[456] mentions William Thompson of Cork as a 'very +estimable man,' who was the 'principal champion' of the Owenites in +their debates with the Benthamites. He published in 1824 a book upon +the distribution of wealth.[457] It is wordy, and is apt to remain in +the region of 'vague generalities' just at the points where specific +statements would be welcome. But besides the merit of obvious +sincerity and good feeling, it has the interest of showing very +clearly the relation between the opposing schools. Thompson had a +common ground with the Utilitarians, though they undoubtedly would +consider his logic to be loose and overridden by sentimentalism. In +the first place, he heartily admired Bentham: 'the most profound and +celebrated writer on legislation in this or any other country.'[458] +He accepts the 'greatest happiness principle' as applicable to the +social problem. He argues for equality upon Bentham's ground. Take a +penny from a poor man to give it to the rich man, and the poor man +clearly loses far more happiness than the rich man gains. With +Bentham, too, he admits the importance of 'security,' and agrees that +it is not always compatible with equality. A man should have the +fruits of his labour; and therefore the man who labours most should +have most. But, unlike Bentham, he regards equality as more important +than security. To him the main consideration is the monstrous mass of +evil resulting from vast accumulations of wealth in a few hands. In +the next place, he adapts to his own purpose the Ricardian theory of +value. All value whatever, he argues, is created by labour. The +labourer, he infers, should have the value which he creates. As things +are, the labourer parts with most of it to the capitalist or the owner +of rents. The capitalist claims a right to the whole additional +production due to the employment of capital. The labourer, on the +other hand, may claim a right to the whole additional production, +after replacing the wear and tear and allowing to the capitalist +enough to support him in equal comfort with the productive +labourers.[459] Thompson holds that while either system would be +compatible with 'security,' the labourer's demand is sanctioned by +'equality.' In point of fact, neither system has been fully carried +out; but the labourer's view would tend to prevail with the spread of +knowledge and justice. While thus anticipating later Socialism, he +differs on a significant point. Thompson insists upon the importance +of 'voluntary exchange' as one of his first principles. No one is to +be forced to take what he does not himself think a fair equivalent for +his labour. Here, again, he would coincide with the Utilitarians. +They, not less than he, were for free trade and the abolition of every +kind of monopoly. But that view may lead by itself to the simple +adoption of the do-nothing principle, or, as modern Socialists would +say, to the more effectual plunder of the poor. The modern Socialist +infers that the means of production must be in some way nationalised. +Thompson does not contemplate such a consummation. He denounces, like +all the Radicals of the day, monopolies and conspiracy laws. Sinecures +and standing armies and State churches are the strongholds of tyranny +and superstition. The 'hereditary possession of wealth' is one of the +master-evils, and with sinecures will disappear the systems of entails +and unequal distribution of inheritance.[460] Such institutions have +encouraged the use of fraud and force, and indirectly degraded the +labourer into a helpless position. He would sweep them all away, and +with them all disqualifications imposed upon women.[461] This once +done, it will be necessary to establish a universal and thoroughgoing +system of education. Then the poor man, freed from the shackles of +superstition and despotism, will be able to obtain his rights as +knowledge and justice spread through the whole community. The desire +to accumulate for selfish purposes will itself disappear. The labourer +will get all that he creates; the aggregate wealth will be enormously +multiplied, though universally diffused; and the form taken by the new +society will, as he argues at great length, be that of voluntary +co-operative associations upon Owen's principles. + +The economists would, of course, reject the theory that the +capitalists should have no profits; but, in spite of this, they might +agree to a great extent with Thompson's aspirations. Thompson, +however, holds the true Socialist sentiment of aversion to Malthus. He +denies energetically what he takes to be the Malthusian doctrine: that +increased comfort will always produce increased numbers.[462] This has +been the 'grand scarecrow to frighten away all attempts at social +improvement.' Thompson accordingly asserts that increased comfort +always causes increased prudence ultimately; and looks forward to a +stationary state in which the births will just balance the deaths. I +need not inquire here which theory puts the cart before the horse. The +opposition possibly admits of reconciliation; but here I only remark +once more how Malthus stood for the appeal to hard facts which always +provoked the Utopians as much as it corresponded to the stern +Utilitarian view. + +Another writer, Thomas Hodgskin, honorary secretary of the Birkbeck +Institution, who published a tract called _Labour defended against the +Claims of Capital, or the Unproductiveness of Capital proved_ (1825), +and afterwards gave some popular lectures on political economy, has +been noticed as anticipating Socialist ideas. He can see, he says, why +something should go to the maker of a road and something be paid by +the person who gets the benefit of it. But he does not see why the +road itself should have anything.[463] Hodgskin writes without +bitterness, if without much logic. It is not for me to say whether +modern Socialists are well advised in admitting that these crude +suggestions were anticipations of their own ideas. The most natural +inference would be that vague guesses about the wickedness of the rich +have been in all ages current among the poor, and now and then take +more pretentious form. Most men want very naturally to get as much and +to work as little as they can, and call their desire a first principle +of justice. + +Perhaps, however, it is fairer to notice in how many points there was +unconscious agreement; and how by converting very excellent maxims +into absolute dogmas, from which a whole system was deducible, the +theories appeared to be mutually contradictory, and, taken separately, +became absurd. The palpable and admitted evil was the growth of +pauperism and demoralisation of the labourer. The remedy, according to +the Utilitarians, is to raise the sense of individual responsibility, +to make a man dependent upon his own exertions, and to give him +security that he will enjoy their fruit. Let government give education +on one hand and security on the other, and equality will follow in due +time. The sentimental Radical naturally replies that leaving a man to +starve does not necessarily make him industrious; that, in point of +fact, great and growing inequality of wealth has resulted; and that +the rights of man should be applied not only to political privilege, +but to the possession of property. The Utilitarians have left out +justice by putting equality in the background. Justice, as Bentham +replied, has no meaning till you have settled by experience what laws +will produce happiness; and your absolute equality would destroy the +very mainspring of social improvement. Meanwhile the Conservative +thinks that both parties are really fostering the evils by making +individualism supreme, and that organisation is necessary to +improvement; while one set of Radicals would perpetuate a mere blind +struggle for existence, and the other enable the lowest class to +enforce a dead level of ignorance and stupidity. They therefore call +upon government to become paternal and active, and to teach not only +morality but religion; and upon the aristocracy to discharge its +functions worthily, in order to stamp out social evils and prevent a +servile insurrection. But how was the actual government of George IV. +and Sidmouth and Eldon to be converted to a sense of its duties? On +each side appeal is made to a sweeping and absolute principle, and +amazingly complex and difficult questions of fact are taken for +granted. The Utilitarians were so far right that they appealed to +experience, as, in fact, such questions have to be settled by the slow +co-operation of many minds in many generations. Unfortunately the +Utilitarians had, as we have seen, a very inadequate conception of +what experience really meant, and were fully as rash and dogmatic as +their opponents. I must now try to consider what were the intellectual +conceptions implied by their mode of treating these problems. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[392] The discussions of population most frequently mentioned are:--W. +Godwin, _Thoughts occasioned by Dr. Parr's Spital Sermon_, etc., 1801; +R. Southey, in (Aikin's) _Annual Review for 1803_, pp. 292-301; Thomas +Jarrold, _Dissertations on Man_, etc., 1806; W. Hazlitt, _Reply to the +Essay on Population_, 1807; A. Ingram, _Disquisitions on Population_, +1808; John Weyland, _Principles of Population_, etc., 1806; James +Grahame, _Inquiry into the Principle of Population_, 1816; George +Ensor, _Inquiry concerning the Population of Nations_, 1818; W. +Godwin, _On Population_, 1820; Francis Place, _Principles of +Population_, 1822; David Booth, _Letter to the Rev. T. R. Malthus_, +1823; M. T. Sadler, _Law of Population_, 1830; A. Alison, _Principles +of Population_, 1840; T. Doubleday, _True Law of Population_, 1842. + +[393] _Quarterly Review_, Dec. 1812 (reprinted in Southey's _Moral and +Political Essays_, 1832). + +[394] _Quarterly Review_, July 1817, by (Archbishop) Sumner, Malthus's +commentator in the _Records of Creation_. Ricardo's _Letters to +Trower_, p. 47. + +[395] _Spence's Tracts on Political Economy_ were collected with a +preface in 1822. Spence is better known as an entomologist, and +collaborated with William Kirby. + +[396] _Tracts_ (1822), p. xiii. + +[397] _Ibid._ p. 59. + +[398] Chalmers's _Works_ were published in twenty-five volumes in +1841-42. + +[399] Chalmers's _Works_, i. 237. + +[400] This essay is not in his collected _Works_, though in vol. xxi. +it is promised for the next volume. + +[401] _Works_, xix. and xx. + +[402] Mill's _Political Economy_, bk. i. ch. v. Sec. 7 and 8. See +Chalmers, xix. 140. + +[403] _National Resources_ (Appendix). + +[404] _Works_, xix. 306. + +[405] _Ibid._ xix. 226, 233. + +[406] _National Resources_, p. 48. + +[407] _Works_, xix. 64. + +[408] _Works_, xix. 226. + +[409] _Ibid._ xix. 235. + +[410] _National Resources_, p. 158. + +[411] _Ibid._ p. 160. + +[412] _Works_, xix. 262. + +[413] _Works_, xix. 75. + +[414] _Ibid._ xix. 118-47. + +[415] _Ibid._ xix. 343. + +[416] See _Ibid._ xix. 171. J. S. Mill speaks of Chalmers's +speculations with a respect which it is difficult to understand. + +[417] Chalmers holds that the Ricardian doctrine of rent inverts the +true order. Fertile lands do not pay rent because poor lands are +brought into cultivation, but poor lands are cultivated because +fertile lands pay rent. He apparently wishes, like Malthus, to regard +rent as a blessing, not a curse. The point is not worth arguing. See +_Works_, xix. 320. + +[418] _Works_, xix. 304-5. + +[419] _Ibid._ xix. 370. + +[420] _Ibid._ xix. 366. + +[421] _Ibid._ xix. 322. + +[422] _Works_, xx. 247, 296. + +[423] _Ibid._ xx. 290. + +[424] _Works_, xix. 380. + +[425] The copy of Malthus's second edition with Coleridge's notes used +by Southey is in the British Museum. + +[426] See Southey's _Political_. + +[427] _Thoughts occasioned by Dr. Parr's Spital Sermon._ A copy +annotated by Coleridge is in the British Museum. + +[428] _Thoughts_, etc., pp. 56, 61, 62. + +[429] _Ibid._ p. 71. + +[430] Lines added to Goldsmith's _Traveller_. + +[431] _Reply to the Essay on Population_, etc., 1807. The book was +anonymous. The first three letters had appeared in Cobbett's +_Register_. Two others with an appendix are added. + +[432] Bentham's _Works_, x. 603, 604; and _Dictionary of National +Biography_. + +[433] See _Dictionary of National Biography_. + +[434] Hazlitt's _Reply_, p. 19. + +[435] _Ibid._ pp. 139-41. + +[436] _Ibid._ p. 117. + +[437] _Reply_, p. 263. + +[438] _Ibid._ p. 344. + +[439] _Ibid._ p. 284. + +[440] _Ibid._ p. 287. + +[441] _Reply_, p. 351. + +[442] _Ibid._ pp. 362-64. + +[443] _Ibid._ p. 352. + +[444] Ensor's _Enquiry_, p. 294. + +[445] _Ibid._ p. 441. + +[446] _Godwin on Population_, p. 506. + +[447] _Ibid._ p. 553. + +[448] _Ibid._ p. 558. + +[449] Godwin, p. 219. + +[450] See account of him reprinted from Mackenzie's _History of +Newcastle_ and _Dictionary of National Biography_. + +[451] Reprinted by Mr. Hyndman in 1822, with a preface. + +[452] See _Dictionary of National Biography_. Hall's book was +reprinted by J. M. Morgan in the 'Phoenix Library,' 1850. See Anton +Menger's _Das Recht auf den vollen Arbeitsertrag_ (second edition, +1891), for notices of Hall, Thompson, and others. + +[453] _Effects of Civilisation_ (1850), p. 86. + +[454] _Ibid._ p. 71. + +[455] _Ibid._ p. 115. + +[456] _Autobiography_, p. 125. See Holyoake's _History of +Co-operation_, i. 16, 109, 278-83, 348, for some interesting notices +of Thompson. Menger (_Recht auf den vollen Arbeitsertrag_, p. 100 +_n._) holds that Thompson not only anticipated but inspired Marx: +Rodbertus, he says, drew chiefly upon St. Simon and Proudhon. + +[457] _An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth +most conducive to Human Happiness; applied to the Newly Proposed +System of Voluntary Equality of Wealth._--1824. + +[458] _Distribution of Wealth_, p. 327. + +[459] _Distribution of Wealth_, p. 167, etc. + +[460] _Ibid._ p. 310. + +[461] He wrote, as J. S. Mill observes, an _Appeal_ [1825] against +James Mill's views on this matter--a fact which no doubt commended him +to the son. + +[462] _Distribution of Wealth_, pp. 425, 535, etc. + +[463] _Labour Defended_, p. 16. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +PSYCHOLOGY + + +I. THOMAS BROWN + +The politicians and economists, of whom I have spoken, took first +principles for granted. The intellectual temperament, which made +certain methods congenial to them, would no doubt have led them to an +analogous position in philosophy. Bentham had touched upon +philosophical points in a summary way, and James Mill, as we shall +see, gave a more explicit statement. But such men as Ricardo and +Malthus had no systematic philosophy, though a certain philosophy was +congenial to their methods. Desire to reach a solid groundwork of +fact, hearty aversion to mere word-juggling, and to effeminate +sentimentalism, respect for science and indifference to, if not +contempt for, poetry, resolution to approve no laws or institutions +which could not be supported on plain grounds of utility, and to +accept no theory which could not be firmly based on verifiable +experience, imply moral and intellectual tendencies, in which we may +perhaps say that the Utilitarians represent some of the strongest and +most valuable qualities of the national character. Taking these +qualities for granted, let us consider how the ultimate problems +presented themselves to the school thus distinguished. + +I have already observed that the Scottish philosophy, taught by Reid +and Dugald Stewart, represented the only approach to a living +philosophical system in these islands at the beginning of the century. +It held this position for a long period. Mill, who had heard Dugald +Stewart's lectures, knew nothing of German thought. He was well read +in French philosophers, and in harmony with one leading sect. The +so-called _ideologues_,[464] who regarded Condillac as representing +the true line of intellectual progress, were in France the analogues +of the English Utilitarians. Destutt de Tracy and Cabanis were their +most conspicuous leaders in this generation. The philosophy of Reid +and Stewart crossed the channel, and supplied the first assailants of +the _ideologues_ with their controversial weapons. Thus, until the +German influence came to modify the whole controversy, the vital issue +seemed to lie between the doctrine of Reid or 'intuitionism' on the +one hand, and the purely 'experiential' school on the other, whether, +as in France, it followed Condillac, or, as in England, looked back +chiefly to Hartley. Both sections traced their intellectual ancestry +to Locke and Hobbes, with some reference to Bacon, and, by the French +writers, to Descartes. Stewart, again, as I have said, was the +accepted Whig philosopher. It is true that the Whig sat habitually in +the seat of Gallio. Jeffrey, whether he fully realised the fact or +not, was at bottom a sceptic in philosophy as in politics. John Allen, +the prophet of Holland House, was a thorough sceptic, and says[465] +that Horner, one of Stewart's personal admirers, was really a +follower of Hume. The Whigs were inclined to Shaftesbury's doctrine +that sensible men had all one religion, and that sensible men never +said what it was. Those who had a more definite and avowable creed +were content to follow Stewart's amiable philosophising. Brougham +professed, let us hope, sincerely, to be an orthodox theist, and +explained the argument from design in a commentary upon Paley. Sydney +Smith expounded Reid and Stewart in lectures which showed at least +that he was still a wit when talking 'philosophy' at the Royal +Institution; and, though he hated 'enthusiasm' in dissenters, +evangelicals, and tractarians, and kept religion strictly in its +place--a place well outside of practical politics--managed to preach a +wholesome, commonplace morality in terms of Christian theology. The +difference between the Whig and the Radical temper showed itself in +philosophical as in political questions. The Radical prided himself on +being logical and thoroughgoing, while the Whig loved compromise, and +thought that logic was very apt to be a nuisance. The systematic +reticence which the Utilitarians held to be necessary prevented this +contrast from showing itself distinctly on the surface. The +Utilitarians, however, though they avoided such outspoken scepticism +as would startle the public, indicated quite sufficiently to the +initiated their essential position. It implied what they fully +recognised in private conversation--a complete abandonment of +theology. They left the obvious inferences to be drawn by others. In +philosophy they could speak out in a well-founded confidence that few +people were able to draw inferences. I will begin by considering the +doctrine against which they protested; for the antagonism reveals, I +think, the key to their position. + +When Stewart was obliged by infirmity to retire from the active +discharge of his duties, he was succeeded by Thomas Brown (1778-1820). +Brown had shown early precocity, and at the age of fifteen had +attracted Stewart's notice by some remarks on a psychological point. +He published at twenty a criticism of Darwin's _Zoonomia_, and he +became one of the _Edinburgh Review_ circle. When the _Review_ was +started he contributed an article upon Kant. In those happy days it +was so far from necessary to prepare oneself for such a task by +studying a library of commentators that the young reviewer could +frankly admit his whole knowledge to be derived from Villers' +_Philosophie de Kant_ (1801).[466] Soon afterwards he took an +important share in a once famous controversy. John Leslie, just +elected to the mathematical chair at Edinburgh, was accused of having +written favourably of Hume's theory of causation. Whigs and Tories +took this up as a party question,[467] and Brown undertook to explain +in a pamphlet what Hume's theory was, and to show that it did not lead +to atheism. Leslie's friends triumphed, though it does not appear how +far Brown's arguments contributed to their success. The pamphlet was +rewritten and enlarged, and a third edition of 1818 gives a full +exposition of his theory. Brown had meanwhile become Stewart's leading +disciple, and in 1810 was elected to be his colleague. Brown held the +position, doing all the active duties, until his premature death in +1820. Brown, according to his biographer, wrote his lectures +immediately before delivery, and completed them during his first two +years of office. His theories, as well as his words, were often, +according to the same authority, extemporised. Brown found that he +could not improve what he had written under 'very powerful +excitement.' Moreover, he had an unlucky belief that he was a poet. +From 1814 till 1819 he brought out yearly what he supposed to be a +poem. These productions, the _Paradise of Coquets_ and the rest, are +in the old-fashioned taste, and have long passed into oblivion. + +The lectures, published posthumously, became a text-book for students, +and reached a nineteenth edition in 1851. Their faults, considered as +philosophical treatises, are palpable. They have the wordiness of +hasty composition, and the discursive rhetoric intended to catch the +attention of an indolent audience. Brown does not see that he is +insulting his hearers when he apologises for introducing logic into +lectures upon metaphysics, and indemnifies them by quotations from +Akenside and the _Essay on Man_. Brown, however, showed great +acuteness and originality. He made deviations, and took pains to mark +his deviations, from Reid, though he spoke more guardedly of his own +friend, Stewart. Stewart, who had strongly supported Brown's election, +was shocked when, on the publication of the lectures, he came to +discover that his colleague had been preaching heresy, and wrote with +obvious annoyance of Brown's hastiness and dangerous concessions to +the enemy.[468] Brown, however, impressed his contemporaries by his +ability. Sydney Smith is probably reporting the current judgment of +his own circle when he says[469] that in metaphysics Stewart was a +'humbug' compared with Brown. I certainly think that Stewart, whom I +should be sorry to call a humbug, shows less vigour and subtlety. +Brown, at any rate, impressed both the Mills, and his relation to them +is significant. + +Brown's essay upon Causation indicates this relation. In this, indeed, +there is little, if any, divergence from Stewart, though he attacks +Reid with considerable asperity. He urges that Reid, while really +agreeing with Hume, affected to answer him under cover of merely +verbal distinctions.[470] The main point is simple. Hume had asserted +that all events seem to be 'entirely loose and separate,' or, in other +words, 'conjoined but never connected.' Yet he points out that, in +fact, when we have found two events to be 'conjoined,' we call one +cause and the other effect, and assume a 'necessary connection' +between them. He then asks, What is the origin of this belief, and +what, therefore, is the logical warrant for its validity? Brown +entirely accepts Hume's statement of the facts. The real meaning of +our statements is evaded by appealing to the conception of 'power.' +When the loadstone (in his favourite illustration) attracts the iron, +we say it has a 'power' of attracting iron. But to speak thus of a +power is simply to describe the same facts in other words. We assert +this, and nothing more than this, that when the loadstone comes near +the iron, each moves towards the other. 'Power' is a word which only +covers a statement of 'invariable antecedence.' Brown traces the +various confusions which have obscured the true nature of this belief. +He insists especially that we can no more discover power in mental +than in physical sequences. The will had been supposed to be the type +of causal power; but volition, according to Brown, reveals simply +another succession of desires and bodily actions. The hypothesis of +'power' has been really the source of 'illusion.' The tendency to +personify leads us to convert metaphor into fact, to invent a subject +of this imaginary 'power,' and thus to create a mythology of beings to +carry on the processes of nature. In other words, Brown here follows +Hume or even anticipates Comte. As J. S. Mill remarks,[471] this +erroneous identification of 'power' with 'will' gives the +'psychological rationale of Comte's great historical generalisation'; +and, so far, Brown, as a follower of Hume, is clearly on the way to +positivism. + +The world, then, is a vast aggregate of 'loose' phenomena. A +contemplation of things reveals no reason for one order rather than +another. You may look at your loadstone as long as you please, but you +will find no reason for its attracting iron. You may indeed +interpolate a number of minute intervening sequences, and the process +often suggests a vague something more than sequence; but this is a +mere illusion.[472] Could we, in fact, see all the minute changes in +bodies we should actually perceive that cause means nothing but 'the +immediate invariable antecedence of an event.'[473] Brown especially +argues against the attempts of d'Alembert and Euler to deduce the +first laws of motion from the principle of 'sufficient reason.'[474] +That, as he argues in detail, is merely begging the question, by +introducing the principle of causation under an alias. + +What, then, is the principle? We believe, he says,[475] that 'every +event must have a cause,' and that circumstances exactly 'similar must +have results exactly similar.' This belief, though applicable to all +events, does not give us the 'slightest aid' to determining, +independently of experience, any particular event. We observe that B +follows A, but, for all we can say, it might as well follow any other +letter of the alphabet. Yet we are entitled to say in general that it +does uniformly follow some particular letter. The metaphor which +describes cause and effect as a 'bond' tying A and B together is +perfectly appropriate if taken to express the bare fact of +sequence;[476] but we fall into error if we fancy there is really any +bond whatever beside the events themselves. + +The belief, then, in causation has precisely the same import according +to Hume and Brown; and both agree that it is not produced by +'reasoning.' The proposition 'B has once succeeded A,' or 'has +succeeded A a thousand times,' is entirely different from the +proposition 'B will for ever succeed A.'[477] No process of logical +inference can extract one from the other. Shall we, then, give up a +belief in causation? The belief in any case exists as a fact. Hume +explains it by custom or association. Brown argues, and I think with +much force, that Hume's explanation is insufficient. Association may +explain (if it does more than restate) the fact that one 'idea' calls +up another idea, but such association may and often does occur without +suggesting any belief. The belief, too, precedes the association. We +begin by believing too much, not too little, and assume a necessary +connection of many phenomena which we afterwards find to be +independent. The true answer is therefore different. There are three +sources of belief, 'perception,' 'reasoning,' and 'intuition.'[478] +Now, we cannot 'perceive' anything but a present coincidence; neither +can we establish a connection by any process of 'reasoning,' and +therefore the belief must be an 'intuition.' This, accordingly, is +Brown's conclusion. 'There are principles,' he says, 'independent of +reasoning, in the mind which save it from the occasional follies of +all our ratiocinations';[479] or rather, as he explains, which +underlie all reasoning. The difference, then, between Hume and Brown +(and, as Brown argues, between Hume and Reid's real doctrine) is not +as to the import, but as to the origin, of the belief. It is an +'intuition' simply because it cannot be further analysed. It does not +allow us to pass a single step beyond experience; it merely authorises +us to interpret experience. We can discover any actual law of +connection between phenomena only by observing that they occur in +succession. We cannot get beyond or behind the facts--and therefore +intuitionism in this sense is not opposed to empiricism, but a warrant +for empirical conclusions. An 'intuition,' briefly, is an unanalysable +belief. Brown asserts that a certain element of thought has not been +explained, and assumes it to be therefore inexplicable or ultimate. +Brown's account of causation had a great influence upon both the +Mills, and especially affected the teaching of the younger Mill. + +Another point is important. Reid, as I have said, had specially prided +himself upon his supposed overthrow of Berkeley's idealism. He was +considered to have shown, in spite of sceptics, that the common belief +in an external world was reasonable. Brown in his lectures ridiculed +Reid's claim. This 'mighty achievement,' the 'supposed overthrow of a +great system,' was 'nothing more than the proof that certain phrases +are metaphorical, which were intended by their authors to be +understood _only_ as metaphors.'[480] The theory was dead before Reid +slew it, though the phrases were still used as a mere 'relic,' or +survival of an obsolete doctrine.[481] The impossibility of +constructing extension out of our sensations is the _experimentum +crucis_ upon which Reid was ready to stake his case. If the attempt at +such a construction could succeed, he would 'lay his hand upon his +mouth' and give up the argument.[482] Brown takes up the challenge +thus thrown out. He holds that our knowledge of an external world is +derived from a source which Reid overlooked. He modifies the Scottish +psychology by introducing the muscular senses. His theory is that the +infant which has learned to move discovers that on some occasions its +movements are modified by a sense of 'impeded effort.'[483] The sudden +interruption to a well-known series excites in its mind the notion of +'a cause which is not in itself.' This is the source of our belief in +an external world. That belief is essentially the belief in some cause +which we know to be other than our own mental constitution or the +series of 'internal' phenomena, and of which we can know nothing else. +It is enough to indicate a theory which has been elaborated by later +psychologists, and plays a great part (for example) in the theories of +Mill, Bain, and Mr. Herbert Spencer. It shows the real tendency of +Brown's speculations. In the first place, it must be noticed that the +theory itself had been already emphatically stated by Destutt de +Tracy. Hamilton accuses Brown of plagiarism.[484] Whether his +accusation be justifiable or not, it is certainly true that Brown had +in some way reached the same principles which had been already set +forth by a leading 'ideologist.' Brown, that is, though the official +exponent of the Scottish philosophy, was in this philosophical tenet +at one with the school which they regarded as materialistic or +sceptical. The path by which he reaches his conclusions is also +characteristic. + +Brown has reversed the interpretation of Reid's _experimentum crucis_. +I will give up my case, says Reid, if you can make the external world +out of sensations. That, replies Brown, is precisely what we can do. +How from sensations do we get what Berkeley called 'outness'? We get +it, says Brown, from the sense of resistance or 'impeded effort.' That +reveals to us the fact that there is something independent of +ourselves, and the belief in such a something is precisely what we +mean, and all that we mean, by the belief in an external world. +Consistently with this, Brown rejects Reid's distinction between the +primary and secondary qualities. The distinction corresponds no doubt +to some real differences, but there is no difference of the kind +suggested by Reid. 'All [the qualities] are relative and equally +relative--our perception of extension and resistance as much as our +perception of fragrance and bitterness.'[485] We ascribe the +sensations to 'external objects,' but the objects are only known by +the 'medium' of our sensations. In other words, the whole world may be +regarded as a set of sensations, whether of sight, smell, touch, or +resistance to muscular movement, accompanied by the belief that they +are caused by something not ourselves, and of which something we can +only say that it is not ourselves. + +Once more, the analysis of the process by which the belief is +generated is significant. From resistance, or the sensation produced +when something 'resists our attempts to grasp it,' we get the +'outness.' Then perception is 'nothing more than the association of +this complex notion with our other sensations--the notion of something +extended and resisting, suggested by these sensations, when the +suggestions themselves have previously arisen, and suggested in the +same manner and on the same principle as any other associate feeling +suggests any other associate feeling.'[486] The odour or colour of a +rose recalls the sensation of touching and of resistance to our grasp. +Thus we regard the whole group of sensations as due to the external +cause which produces the sensation of resistance. Brown seems to +hesitate a little as to whether he shall appeal to an 'intuition' or +to 'association,' but 'as I rather think,' he says, the belief is +founded 'on associations as powerful as intuition.'[487] + +Whatever, then, may be the origin of the belief--'intuition' or +'association'--it is clear that it can give us no knowledge except +such as is derived from sensations. Moreover, Brown is thus led, as in +the doctrine of causation, to accept a really sceptical position. He +declares that he is in this respect at one with both Reid and Hume. +They both accept two propositions: first, that we cannot 'by mere +reasoning' prove the existence of an external world; secondly, that it +is 'absolutely impossible for us not to believe' in its existence. +Hume, he says, pronounces the first proposition in a 'loud tone +of voice' and 'whispers' the second. Reid, conversely, passes +over the first rapidly and 'dwells on the second with a tone of +confidence.'[488] Brown accepts both statements. He has already said +that there is no argument against Berkeley's denial of matter any more +than against the 'infinite divisibility of matter.' But he adds, it is +'physically impossible' for us to admit the conclusion, at least +without 'an instant dissent from a momentary logical admission.'[489] +This, indeed, is but a version of Hume's familiar statement that +Berkeley's arguments admit of no reply and produce no conviction. + +Another essential doctrine of the Mills, the 'association' theory, is +treated differently by Brown. Brown, as we have seen, both in his +theory of causation and in his theory of our belief in an external +world, speaks of principles in the mind which somehow override +'ratiocination.' In the first case, he speaks of 'intuition,' but in +the other, as I have said, he seems to prefer association. The +difference is remarkable because the belief in an external world is +upon his showing simply a case of causation. It means essentially the +reference of our sensations as to an external cause. Now, in the +argument upon causation, he has insisted upon the insufficiency of +association to generate the belief; and he would have found it +difficult to meet his own arguments if applied to the belief in an +external world. Yet it does not seem to occur to him that there is any +difficulty in explaining this belief in an external world as a case +of what Mill called 'indissoluble association.' Brown, as Mill +thought, was not sufficiently aware of the power of this principle, +and the difference between them is marked by this divergence. Brown +had a great deal to say about association, though he chose generally +to substitute the word 'suggestion,' previously familiar to Reid and +Berkeley.[490] He considers it, however, mainly in another relation. +He proposes to trace the order in which 'trains' of ideas succeed each +other in our minds. He does not dwell upon the influence of +association in producing belief. His question is not primarily as to +the logic, but as to the actual succession of our thoughts. He +explains that he uses the word 'suggestion' in order to avoid the +hypothesis that the sequence of two ideas necessarily implies a +previous state of mind in which they were brought together; and +endeavours to explain various cases (as, for example, association by +'contrast' as well as by 'likeness' or 'continuity') by a more +'subtile' analysis.[491] He then works out an elaborate theory of +'simple' and 'relative' suggestion. Simple 'suggestion'[492] +corresponds mainly to ordinary association, as when a friend's name or +his book calls up the thought of the man himself. 'Relative +suggestion' arises when two or more objects are perceived and suggest +various relations of likeness and so forth.[493] This provides a +scheme for working out the whole doctrine of the sequences of ideas so +far as the sequences depend upon the mind itself and not upon external +causes. It thus leads to problems of abstraction and generalisation +and to his whole theory of what he calls the 'intellectual states.' He +again closely coincides with the French ideologists. He starts by +examining Locke and Condillac. He of course professes to hold that +Condillac's version of Locke is illegitimate, and ridicules the famous +formula _penser c'est sentir_. He is, however, equally unwilling to +admit Reid's 'variety of powers.'[494] In fact, his criticism of +Condillac shows more affinity than contrast. Condillac erred, he says, +in holding that thoughts are 'transformed sensations.' This was a +false simplification into which he considers Condillac to have been +led partly by the ambiguity of the word _sentir_.[495] Condillac +applied to the mind the theory, true in 'the chemistry of the material +chemists,' that the 'compounds are the elements themselves.'[496] He +errs when he infers from the analogy that a feeling which arises out +of others can be resolved into them. 'Love and hate' and other +emotions are fundamentally different from the sensations by which they +are occasioned, not mere 'transformations' of those sensations. We, on +the other hand (that is to say, Reid and Stewart), have erred by +excessive amplification. Instead of identifying different things, we +have admitted a superfluous number of 'ultimate principles.' + +The result is that besides the original sensations, we have to +consider a number of feelings, which, while essentially different, are +'suggested' or caused by them. These are parts of the whole +intellectual construction, and, though not transformed sensations, are +still 'feelings' arising in consequence of the sensations. They are +parts of the 'trains' or sequences of 'ideas.' It is accordingly +characteristic of Brown that he habitually describes an intellectual +process as a 'feeling.' The statement of a mathematical proportion, +for example, is a case of 'relative suggestion.' When we consider +two numbers together we have a '_feeling_ of the relation of +proportion.'[497] The 'profoundest reasonings' are 'nothing more than +a continued analysis of our thought,' by which we resolve the 'complex +_feelings_ of our minds' into the simpler conceptions out of which +they were constructed.[498] In other words, Brown, it would seem, +really accepts the _penser c'est sentir_, only that he regards the +_sentir_ as including separate classes of feeling, which cannot be +regarded as simple 'transformations' of sensation. They are 'states of +the mind' caused by, that is, invariably following upon, the simpler +states, and, of course, combining in an endless variety of different +forms. Reasoning is nothing more than a series of relative +'suggestions of which the separate subjects are felt by us to be +mutually related.'[499] Hence, too, arises his theory of +generalisation. He is, he says, not a 'nominalist' but a +'conceptualist,' and here, for once, agrees with Reid as against +Stewart.[500] The 'general term,' according to him, expresses the +'feeling or general notion of resemblance,' which arises upon a +contemplation of two objects. 'In Nature,' as he observes +elsewhere,[501] 'there are no classes,' but the observation of a +number of particular cases and a certain feeling to which we give a +name. Here, again, Brown's view coincides with that of his French +contemporaries. + +We may then say briefly that Brown carries out in his own fashion the +conception of psychology which makes it an inductive science parallel +to the physical sciences, and to be pursued by the same methods. We +have to do with 'feelings' instead of atoms, and with mental instead +of 'material' chemistry. Our sole method is still an analysis such as +guides us in unravelling complex physical phenomena. We have, indeed, +to admit certain first truths--the belief in our own identity is one +of them--which are necessary to our very existence, although the +assertion of such principles was carried to an extravagant and +ridiculous length 'by Reid and some of his friends.' When, however, we +come to ask what these principles are, it must be admitted that they +are very innocent. They are not dangerous things, like 'innate ideas,' +capable of leading us to a transcendental world, but simply assertions +that we are warranted in trusting our sensations and applying a +thoroughly inductive and empirical method. They are the cement which +joins the feelings, and which, as Mill thought, could be supplanted by +'indissoluble associations.' The indefinite power thus attributed to +association became, as we shall see, Mill's most characteristic +doctrine. Meanwhile, I will only mention one inference which +illustrates Brown's philosophical tendencies. Stewart had spoken +doubtfully of the ontological argument for theology. Brown throws it +over altogether. He does not even change it into an 'intuition.' He +has always, he says, regarded it as 'absolutely void of force' unless +it tacitly assumes the 'physical argument.' Nay, it is one proof of +the force of this physical argument that it has saved us from doubts +which would be rather strengthened than weakened by the 'metaphysical +arguments.'[502] The 'physical argument' means the argument from +design, which thus becomes the sole support of theology. + +Hamilton naturally regards Brown as a mere sceptic in disguise. His +theory of perception destroys his theory of personal identity. He has +refused to accept our intuitive belief in one case, and cannot appeal +to it in the other. He leaves no room for 'liberty of will,' and +advances 'no argument in support of this condition of our moral +being.'[503] Indeed, as Stewart complained, Brown, by identifying +'will' and 'desire,' has got rid of the will altogether. It is only +natural that a man who is making a scientific study of the laws of +human nature should find no room for an assertion that within a +certain sphere there are no laws. A physiologist might as well admit +that some vital processes are uncaused. + +Brown thus illustrates the gravitation of the 'common-sense' +philosophy to pure empiricism. He was the last in the genuine line of +Scottish common-sense philosophers. When after what may be called the +unphilosophical interregnum which followed Brown's death, Hamilton +became professor, the Scottish tradition was blended with the very +different theories derived from Kant. Upon Brown's version, the +Scottish philosophy had virtually declared itself bankrupt. The +substance of his teaching was that of the very school which his +predecessors had attempted to confute, carefully as the fact might be +hidden by dexterous rhetoric and manipulation of technical terms. He +agrees with Hume's premises, and adopts the method of Condillac. This +was perceived by his most remarkable hearer. Carlyle went to Edinburgh +at the end of 1809. Brown, 'an eloquent, acute little gentleman, full +of enthusiasm about simple suggestions, relative, etc.,' was 'utterly +unprofitable' to him, disspiriting 'as the autumn winds among withered +leaves.'[504] In _Signs of the Times_ (1829) Carlyle gave his view of +the Scottish philosophy generally. They had, he says, started from the +'mechanical' premises suggested by Hume. 'They let loose instinct as +an indiscriminatory bandog to guard them against (his) conclusions': +'they tugged lustily at the logical chain by which Hume was so coldly +towing them and the world into bottomless abysses of Atheism and +Fatalism. But the chain somehow snapped between them, and the issue +has been that nobody now cares about either--any more than about +Hartley's, Darwin's, or Priestley's contemporaneous doings in +England.'[505] The judgment goes to the root of the matter. The method +of Reid inevitably led to this result. Consider the philosophy as +based upon, if not identical with, an inductive science of psychology, +and the end is clear. You may study and analyse the phenomena as +carefully as you please; and may, as the Scottish professors did, +produce, if not a scientific psychology, yet a mass of acute +prolegomena to a science. But the analysis can only reveal the actual +combinations, chemical or mechanical, of thought. The ultimate +principles which the teachers profess to discover are simply +provisional; products not yet analysed, but not therefore incapable of +analysis. It was very desirable to point them out: an insistence upon +the insufficiency of Hume's or Condillac's theories was a most +valuable service; but it was valuable precisely because every +indication of such an unresolved element was a challenge to the next +comer to resolve it by closer analysis. And thus, in fact, the +intuitions, which had played so great a part with Reid, come in +Brown's hands to be so clearly limited to the materials given by +sensation or experience that any show of 'philosophy,' meaning an +independent theory of the universe, was an illusory combination of +fine phrases.[506] + + +II. JAMES MILL'S 'ANALYSIS' + +James Mill's _Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind_ is on the +one hand an exposition of the principles implied in Bentham's +writings, and, on the other hand, a statement of the position from +which the younger Mill started. J. S. Mill discussed the book with his +father during its composition, and in 1869 he published a new edition, +with elaborate notes by himself, George Grote, Professor Bain, and +Andrew Findlater.[507] The commentary is of great importance in +defining the relation between the two successors to the throne of +Bentham. + +Mill's _Analysis_, though not widely read, made a deep impression upon +Mill's own disciples. It is terse, trenchant, and uncompromising. It +reminds us in point of style of the French writers, with whom he +sympathised, rather than of the English predecessors, to whom much of +the substance was owing. The discursive rhetoric of Brown or Stewart +is replaced by good, hard, sinewy logic. The writer is plainly in +earnest. If over confident, he has no petty vanity, and at least +believes every word that he says. Certain limitations are at once +obvious. Mill, as a publicist, a historian, and a busy official, had +not had much time to spare for purely philosophic reading. He was not +a professor in want of a system, but an energetic man of business, +wishing to strike at the root of the superstitions to which his +political opponents appealed for support. He had heard of Kant, and +seen what 'the poor man would be at.' Later German systems, had he +heard of them, would have been summarily rejected by him as so much +transcendental moonshine. The problem of philosophy was, he held, a +very simple one, if attacked in a straightforward, scientific method. + +Mill, like his Scottish rivals, applies 'Baconian' principles. The +inductive method, which had already been so fruitful in the physical +sciences, will be equally effective in philosophy, and ever since +Locke, philosophy had meant psychology. The 'philosophy of the mind' +and the philosophy of the body may be treated as co-ordinate and +investigated by similar methods. In the physical sciences we come +ultimately to the laws of movement of their constituent atoms. In the +moral sciences we come in the same way to the study of 'ideas.' The +questions, How do ideas originate? and how are they combined so as to +form the actual state of consciousness? are therefore the general +problems to be solved. Hume had definitely proposed the problem. +Hartley had worked out the theory of association of ideas which Hume +had already compared[508] to the universal principle of gravitation in +the physical world; and had endeavoured to show how this might be +connected with physiological principles. Hartley's followers had been +content to dwell upon the power of association. Abraham Tucker, +Priestley, Erasmus Darwin, and Belsham represented this tendency, and +were the normal antagonists of Reid and Stewart. In France the +'ideologists' mainly followed Condillac, and apparently knew nothing +of Hartley. Mill, as his son testifies, had been profoundly influenced +by Hartley's treatise--the 'really master-production,' as he esteemed +it, 'in the philosophy of mind.'[509] Hartley's work, as the younger +Mill thought, and the elder apparently agreed, was very superior to +the 'merely verbal generalisation of Condillac.' James Mill, however, +admired Condillac and his successors. In his article upon education, +Mill traces the association theory to Hobbes, Locke, and Hume, the +last of whom, he says, was succeeded by the two 'more sober-minded' +philosophers, Condillac and Hartley; while he especially praises +Erasmus Darwin, Helvetius, and Cabanis. Mill, therefore, may be +regarded as an independent ally of the ideologists whose influence +upon Brown has been already noticed. Mill had not read Brown's +_Lectures_ when he began his _Analysis_, and after reading them +thought Brown 'but poorly read in the doctrine of association.'[510] +He had, however, read the essay upon causation, which he rather oddly +describes as 'one of the most valuable contributions to science for +which we are indebted to the last generation.'[511] He accepted +Brown's view _minus_ the 'intuition.' + +The pith of Mill's book is thus determined. His aim is to give a +complete analysis of mental phenomena, and therefore to resolve those +phenomena into their primitive constituent atoms. Here we have at once +a tacit assumption which governs his method. Philosophy, speaking +roughly, is by some people supposed to start from truths, and thus to +be in some way an evolution of logic. According to Mill it must start +from facts, and therefore from something not given by logic. To state +clearly, indeed, the relation between truth and fact may suggest very +intricate problems. Mill, at any rate, must find a basis in fact, and +for him the ultimate facts must be feelings. The reality at least of a +feeling is undeniable. The _Penser c'est sentir_, or the doctrine that +all 'ideas' are transformed sensations is his starting-point. The word +'feeling,' according to him, includes every 'phenomenon of the mind.' +'Think,' he says elsewhere,[512] does not include all our experience, +but 'there is nothing to which we could not extend the term "I feel."' +He proceeds to infer that our experience is either a knowledge of the +feelings separately, or 'a knowledge of the order in which they follow +each other; and this is all.' We may add that the knowledge is the +feeling. Reid, Kant, and the Germans have indeed tried to show that +there are feelings not derived from the sensations, but this, as +Hartley and Condillac have shown, is a mistake. This is his first +principle in a nutshell, and must give a clue to the various +applications. + +The next step is familiar. Hume had distinguished impressions and +ideas. 'Ideas' are copies of previous 'impressions.' It is for +psychology to say what are the laws by which they are related to their +originals. The ultimate origin cannot be explained by psychology +alone. Impressions are caused by the outward world acting in some way +upon the mind; and the psychologist can only classify the various +modes in which they present themselves. Mill therefore begins by the +usual account of the five senses, through which comes all knowledge of +the external world. He adds to Reid's list muscular sensations, and +those derived from the internal organs, to which last Cabanis in +particular had called attention. So far he is following the steps of +his predecessors. He is, he says, simply asserting an 'indisputable' +fact.[513] We have sensations and we have ideas, which are 'copies of +sensations.' We may then consider how far these facts will enable us +to explain the whole series of mental phenomena. 'Ideation,' which he +suggests as a new word--the process by which a continuous series of +thoughts goes on in our minds--is the general phenomenon to be +considered. Without, as yet, pronouncing that sensations and copies of +sensations will turn out to form the whole contents of our +consciousness, he tries to show for what part of those contents they +will account. + +Here we come to the doctrine which for him and his school gave the +key to all psychological problems. It was James Mill's real merit, +according to his son, that he carried the principle of association of +ideas further than it had been carried by Hartley or other +predecessors.[514] The importance of the doctrine, indeed, is implied +in the very statement of the problem. If it be true, or so far as it +is true, that our consciousness reveals to us simply a series of +'sensations' and 'ideas,' the question must be how they are combined. +'Thought succeeds thought, idea follows idea incessantly,'[515] says +Mill; and this phrase assumes 'thoughts' and 'ideas' to be separable +atoms. How, then, do they come to coalesce into an apparently +continuous stream? The mind is a stream of 'ideas.' If the stream is +composed of drops, we must, of course, consider the drops as composing +the stream. The question is, What laws can we assign which will +determine the process of composition? The phrase 'association' +admittedly expresses some general and very familiar truths. +Innumerable connections may be established when there is no assignable +ground of connection in the ideas themselves other than the fact of a +previous contact. One idea not only calls up the other, but in some +way generates a belief in an independent connection. We hear thunder, +for example, and think of lightning. The two ideas are entirely +distinct and separate, for they are due to different senses. Yet we +not only think of lightning when we hear thunder, but we have no doubt +that there is a causal connection. We believe in this connection, +again, though no further explanation can be given of the fact. +Thunder and lightning have occurred together, and we infer that they +will, and even must, occur together. When we examine our whole +structure of belief, we find such 'arbitrary' associations pervade it +in every direction. Language itself is learned simply by association. +There is no connection whatever between the sound of the word 'man' +and the 'ideas' which the word excites, beyond the fact that the sound +has been previously heard when the ideas were excited. Here, then, is +a phenomenon to be explained or generalised. We have in countless +cases a certain connection established for which no further reason can +be assigned than the fact of its previous occurrence. On such a +ground, we believe that fire burns, that bread is wholesome, that +stones fall; and but for such beliefs could know nothing of the +outside world. 'Contingent' truth, therefore, or truth derived from +mere contact, pervades, if it does not constitute, the whole fabric of +our whole knowledge. To prove that all our knowledge is derived from +experience is, according to Mill, to prove that in some sense or other +association of ideas lies at the base of all intellectual processes. +When Locke introduced a chapter upon 'Association of Ideas' into the +fourth edition of his essay, he treated it as the exceptional case. +Some ideas had a connection traceable by reason; others were only +connected by 'chance and custom.' Association does not explain +reasoning, only the deviations from reasoning. But with Hume and +Hartley the relation is inverted. The principle, instead of being an +exceptional case, is simply the universal rule from which logical +connection may be deduced as a special case. + +The facts upon which Mill relied, and the account of them which he +gave, require notice and embodiment in any sound psychology. In some +shape or other they form the starting-point of all later systems. +Mill's vigorous application of his principle, worked out with +imperfect appreciation and with many oversights, had therefrom, at +least, the merit of preparing the ground for a more scientific method. +In any case, however, his conclusions, so far as sound, must be placed +in a different framework of theory. It becomes necessary to dwell +chiefly upon the curious defects of his theory, if taken as he wished +it to be taken, for an ultimate scientific statement. The fact that +there is a synthesis and an analysis is expressed by 'association.' +But what more can we say? What are the 'laws' of association? Unless +some rule can be given, we shall get nothing that can be called a +theory. One idea is not suggested by the other through any logical +process. They are still 'conjoined' but not 'connected.' The +connection, therefore, must be given by something different from the +ideas themselves. Now the order of the original 'sensations' depends +upon the 'objects of nature,' and is therefore left to 'physical +philosophy.'[516] They occur, however, either in 'synchronous' or in +'successive' order. Then 'ideas' spring up in the order of +'sensations,' and this is the 'general law of association of +ideas.'[517] The synchronous sensations produce synchronous ideas and +the successive sensations successive ideas. Finally, the strength of +the association between the ideas depends upon 'the vividness of the +associated feelings, and the frequency of the association.'[518] Hume +had said that association depended upon three principles, 'contiguity +in time and place,' 'causation,' and 'resemblance.' Contiguity in time +corresponds to the successive, and contiguity in place to the +synchronous, order. Causation, as Brown had finally proved,[519] means +simply antecedence and consequence. 'Resemblance' remains and is, as +Mill afterwards says,[520] a most important principle; but in an +unlucky moment he is half inclined to reduce even 'resemblance' to +'contiguity.'[521] Resemblance is, he even suggests, merely 'a case of +frequency,' because we generally see like things together. When we see +one tree or sheep, we generally see several trees or sheep. J. S. Mill +mildly remarks upon this quaint suggestion as the 'least successful +simplification' in the book. He argues the point gravely. Sheep, it is +clear, are not seen to be like because they often compose a flock, but +are considered to be a flock because they are seen to be like. To do +James Mill justice, he drops the argument as soon as he has struck it +out. It is only worth notice as showing his aim. 'Likeness' seems to +imply a relation dependent on the ideas themselves; not purely +external and arbitrary. If we could get rid of likeness, all +association would ultimately be 'contiguity.' 'The fundamental law of +association,' as he says elsewhere,[522] 'is that when two things have +been frequently found together, we never perceive or think of the one +without thinking of the other.' The two ideas are associated as two +balls are associated when they are in the same box. So far as they are +themselves concerned, they might be separated without any alteration +in their own properties. What, then, corresponds to the 'box'? +Association depends upon relations of time and space. Things are +associated by occurring in succession or together; the red colour of a +rose is in the same place with the shape of the leaf; the scent is +perceived at the same time with the colour. The thunder follows the +lightning. What, then, he might ask, are 'time' and 'space'? Are they +'ideas' or 'sensations' or qualities of the objects? or, in any case, +as supplying the ultimate principle of association, do they not +require investigation? Before coming to that problem, however, we have +to settle other knotty points. We must clear away illusions which seem +to introduce something more than association. Elements of thought not +at first sight expressible simply in terms of sensations and ideas +must be analysed to show that they are only disguises for different +combinations of the facts. Reasoning, according to most logicians, +supposes, first, concepts, and therefore some process of +classification of the objects of thought; and, secondly, some process +of combining these concepts to bring out hitherto unknown truths. +What, then, is the meaning of the general or abstract symbols employed +in the process? Mill's provision of raw materials consists so far of +sensations and ideas, which are worked up so as to form 'clusters' +(the word is taken from Hartley) and 'trains.' This corresponds to +synchronous and successive associations. How does the logical +terminology express these 'clusters' and 'trains'? Mill answers by a +theory of 'naming.' Language fulfils two purposes; it is required in +order to make our ideas known to others; and in order to fix our own +ideas. Ideas are fluctuating, transitory, and 'come into the mind +unbidden.' We must catch and make a note of these shifting crowds of +impalpable entities. We therefore put marks upon the simple +sensations or upon the 'clusters.' We ticket them as a tradesman +tickets bundles of goods in his warehouse, and can refer to them for +our own purposes or those of others. As the number of objects to be +marked is enormous, as there are countless ideas and clusters and +clusters of clusters of endless variety to be arranged in various +ways, one main object of naming is economy. A single word has to be +used to mark a great number of individuals. This will account for such +general names as are represented by noun-substantives: man, horse, +dog, and so forth. Mill then proceeds, with the help of Horne Tooke, +to explain the other grammatical forms. An adjective is another kind +of noun marking a cross division. Verbs, again, are adjectives marking +other sets of facts, and enabling us to get rid of the necessity of +using a new mark for every individual or conceivable combination into +clusters. J. S. Mill remarks that this omits the special function of +verbs--their 'employment in predication.'[523] James Mill, however, +has his own view of 'predication.' 'Man' is a mark of John, Peter, +Thomas, and the rest. When I say 'John is a man,' I mean that 'man is +another mark to that idea of which John is a mark.'[524] I am then +able to make a statement which will apply to all the individuals, and +save the trouble of repeating the assertion about each. 'Predication,' +therefore, is simply a substitution of one name for another. So, for +example, arithmetic is simply naming. What I call two and two, I also +call four. The series of thoughts in this case is merely 'a series of +names applicable to the same thing and meaning the same thing.'[525] +This doctrine, as J. S. Mill remarks, is derived from Hobbes, whom +Leibniz in consequence called _plus quam nominalis_.[526] My belief +that two and two make four explains why I give the same name to +certain numbers; but the giving the name does not explain the belief. +Meanwhile, if a class name be simply the mark which is put upon a +bundle of things, we have got rid of a puzzle. Mill triumphs over the +unfortunate realists who held that a class meant a mysterious entity, +existing somewhere apart from all the individuals in which it is +embodied. There is really nothing mysterious; a name is first the mark +of an individual, the individual corresponding to a 'cluster' or a set +of 'simple ideas, concreted into a complex idea.'[527] Then the name +and the complex idea are associated reciprocally; each 'calls up' the +other. The complex idea is 'associated' with other resembling ideas. +The name becomes a talisman calling up the ideas of an indefinite +number of resembling individuals, and the name applied to one +in the first instance becomes a mark which calls up all, or, as +he says, is the 'name of the whole combination.' Classification, +therefore, 'is merely a process of naming, and is all resolvable into +association.'[528] The peculiarity of this theory, as his commentators +again remark, is that it expressly omits any reference to abstraction. +The class simply means the aggregate of resembling individuals without +any selection of the common attributes which are, in J. S. Mill's +phrase, 'connoted' by the class-name. Abstraction, as James Mill +explains, is a subsidiary process, corresponding to the 'formation of +_sub-species_.'[529] + +Mill has now shown how the various forms of language correspond to +ideas, formed into clusters of various orders by the principle of +association. The next step will naturally be to show how these +clusters are connected in the process of reasoning. Here the +difficulty about predication recurs. J. S. Mill[530] remarks that his +father's theory of predication consistently omits 'the element +Belief.' When I say, 'John is a man,' I make an affirmation or assert +a belief. I do not simply mean to call up in the mind of my hearer a +certain 'cluster' or two coincident clusters of ideas, but to convey +knowledge of truths. The omission of reference to belief is certainly +no trifle. Mill has classified the various ideas and combinations of +ideas which are used in judgment, but the process of judgment itself +seems to have slipped out of account. He may have given us, or be able +to give us, a reasoned catalogue of the contents of our minds, but has +not explained how the mind itself acts. It is a mere passive recipient +of ideas, or rather itself a cluster of ideas cohering in various +ways, without energy of its own. One idea, as he tells us, calls up +another 'by its own associating power.'[531] Ideas are things which +somehow stick together and revive each other, without reference to the +mind in which they exist or which they compose. This explains his +frequent insistence upon one assertion. As we approach the question of +judgment he finds it essential. 'Having a sensation and having a +feeling,' he says, 'are not two things.' To 'feel an idea and be +conscious of that feeling are not two things; the feeling and the +consciousness are but two names for the same thing.'[532] So, again, +'to have a sensation and to believe that we have it, are not +distinguishable things.'[533] Locke's reflection thus becomes nothing +but simple consciousness, and having a feeling is the same as +attending to it.[534] The point is essential. It amounts to saying +that we can speak of a thought as though it were simply a thing. + +Thus belief not only depends upon, but actually _is_ association. 'It +is not easy,' he says, 'to treat of memory, belief, and judgment +separately.'[535] As J. S. Mill naturally asks, 'How is it possible to +treat of belief without including in it memory and judgment?' Memory +is a case of belief, and judgment an 'act of belief.'[536] To James +Mill, however, it appears that as these different functions all +involve association, they may be resolved into varying applications of +that universal power. Memory involves 'an idea of my present self' and +an 'idea of my past self,' and to remember is to 'run over the +intervening states of consciousness called up by association.'[537] +Belief involves association at every step. The belief in external +objects is, as 'all men admit' ... 'wholly resolvable into +association.'[538] 'That a cause means and can mean nothing to the +human mind but constant antecedence' (and therefore 'inseparable +association,' as he thinks) 'is no longer a point in dispute.'[539] +Association, it is true, may produce wrong as well as right beliefs; +right beliefs when 'in conformity with the connections of +things,'[540] and wrong beliefs when not in conformity. In both cases +the belief is produced by 'custom,' though, happily, the right custom +is by far the commonest. The 'strength of the association follows the +frequency.' The crow flies east as well as west; but the stone always +falls downwards.[541] Hence I form an 'inseparable association' +corresponding to a belief in gravitation, but have no particular +belief about the direction of a crow's flight. + +This gives the doctrine of 'indissoluble association'--the pivot of +the whole scheme--the doctrine, says J. S. Mill, which, 'if it can be +proved, is the greatest of all the triumphs of the Association +Philosophy.'[542] The younger Mill always insisted upon the vast +importance of the principle; but he here admits a difficulty. In a +long note[543] upon James Mill's chapter on 'Belief,' conspicuous for +his usual candour, he confesses the inadequacy of his father's view. +The comment indicates the point of divergence and yet shows curiously +the ground common to both. James Mill's theory states facts in some +sense undeniable. Our 'ideas' cohere and combine to form a tissue: an +imagery or series of pictures which form the content and are somehow +the ground of our beliefs. The process of formation clearly involves +'association.' The scent of the rose is associated with the colour: +both with the visible form and so forth. But is this process the same +thing as believing, or have we to explain the belief by some mental +activity different from, however closely connected with, the +imagination, or in his phrase the 'ideation'? Here J. S. Mill finds a +difficulty. The statement, 'I believe that thunder will follow +lightning,' is something more than the statement, 'the sight suggests +or calls up the sound.' The mental picture considered by itself may be +described as a fact, without considering what belief, or whether any +belief, is implied. J. S. Mill therefore makes a distinction intended +to clear up his father's confusion. There is a difference, he says, +between remembering 'a real fact' and remembering a 'thought.'[544] He +illustrates this by the difference between the idea of Lafayette and +the idea of Falstaff. Lafayette was real, and had been seen by the +rememberer. Falstaff is a figment who, having never existed, can never +have been seen. Yet the idea of Falstaff may be quite as vivid as the +idea of Lafayette. What, then, is the difference between the two +states of mind? One, says J. S. Mill, is a belief about 'real facts'; +the other about 'thoughts.' This, he observes, corresponds to James +Mill's distinction between a 'sensation' and an 'idea,'[545] a +difference which he had admitted to be 'primordial.' Then, says J. S. +Mill, we may as well admit that there is an 'element' in the +remembrance of a real fact not implied in the remembrance of a thought +and not dependent on any difference in the 'ideas' themselves. It, +too, may be taken as 'primordial,' or incapable of further analysis. +This doctrine becomes important in some of Mill's logical +speculations,[546] and is connected with his whole theory of belief in +an external world. It has an uncomfortable likeness to Reid's +'common-sense' view, and even to the hated 'intuitionism'; and Mill +deserves the more credit for his candour. + +Meanwhile it seems clear that the criticism implies an important +confusion. The line of distinction is drawn in the wrong place. So +far as the simple 'imagination' is concerned, there may be no question +of belief or disbelief. The picture of Falstaff or of Lafayette, a +horse or a centaur, arises equally, and is put together, let us +suppose, by simple association. But as soon as I think about either I +believe or disbelieve, and equally whether I judge the object to be a +thought or to be a 'real fact,' whether I say that I could have seen +Lafayette, or that I could not have seen Falstaff. It is not a +question between reality or unreality, but between two classes of +reality. A dream is a real dream, just as a man is a real man. The +question is simply where or how it exists, not whether it exists. The +picture is, in one case, put together by my mind; in the other, due to +a stimulus from without; but it exists in both cases; and belief is +equally present whether I put it in one class of reality or the other: +as we form a judgment equally when we pronounce a man to be lying, and +when we pronounce him to be speaking the truth. J. S. Mill seems to +suppose that association can explain the imagination of a centaur or a +Falstaff, but cannot explain the belief in a horse or Lafayette. The +imagination or 'ideation,' he should have said, accounts in both cases +for the mere contents of the thought; but in neither case can it by +itself explain the judgment as to 'reality.' That is to say, James +Mill may have described accurately a part of the process by which the +mental picture is constructed, but has omitted to explain the action +of the mind itself. Belief, we may agree, is a 'primordial' or +ultimate faculty; but we must not interpret it as belief in a 'real +fact' as distinguished from belief in 'a thought': that is a secondary +and incidental distinction. + +This confusion, as I have said, apparently prevents J. S. Mill from +seeing how deeply his very frank admissions cut into the very +structure of his father's system. He has, as I have said, remarked +upon the singular absence of any reference to 'belief,' 'abstraction,' +and so forth; but he scarcely observes how much is implied by the +omission. His criticism should have gone further. James Mill has not +only omitted a faculty which enables us to distinguish between +'thoughts' and 'things,' images of fancy and pictures of reality, but +also the faculty which is equally present whenever we properly think +instead of simply seeing images passively; and equally whether we +refer an image to fact or fancy. His 'analysis of the mind' seems to +get rid of the mind itself. + +The omission becomes important at the next step. 'Under the modest +title of an explanation of the meaning of several names,' says his +son, James Mill discusses 'some of the deepest and most intricate +questions in all metaphysics.' A treatise on chemistry might almost as +well be 'described as an explanation of the names, air, water, potass, +sulphuric acid, and so forth.'[547] Why does the chapter come in this +place and in this peculiar form? Probably because James Mill was +partly conscious of the inadequacy of his previous chapters. The +problems which he has been considering could not be adequately treated +by regarding ideas as 'things' bound together by association. What, +after all, is a proposition? What is meant by 'true' or 'false,' as +distinguished from real and unreal? If an association actually _is_ a +truth, what is the difference between right and wrong associations? +Both are facts, and the very words 'right' and 'wrong,' that is, true +and false, apply not to facts but to propositions.[548] The judgment +is tested in some way by correspondence to the 'order of Nature,' or +of our sensations and ideas. What precisely is meant by this order? So +far as we have gone, it seems as if ideas might be combined in any +order whatever, and the most various beliefs generated in different +minds. Perhaps, however, the principle of association itself may +reveal something as to the possible modes of coalescence. Mill makes +contiguity an ultimate ground of association; and contiguity implies +that things have certain relations expressible in terms of space and +time and so forth. These primitive relations now come up for +consideration, and should enable us to say more precisely what kind of +order is possible. In fact, Mill now endeavours to analyse the +meanings of such words as relation in general, time, space, number, +likeness, personal identity and others. The effect of his analysis is +that the principles, whatever they may be, which might be supposed to +underlie association appear to be products of association. He begins +by asking what is the meaning of 'relative terms.' Their peculiarity +is that they 'always exist in pairs,' such as 'father and son,' 'high +and low,' 'right and left.' 'If it is asked, Why do we give names in +pairs? the general answer immediately suggests itself; it is because +the things named present themselves in pairs, that is, are joined by +association.'[549] J. S. Mill thinks that no part of the _Analysis_ +is more valuable than the 'simple explanation' which follows. There is +no 'mystical bond called a relation' between two things, but 'a very +simple peculiarity in the concrete fact' marked by the names. In +'ordinary names of objects, the fact connoted by a name ... concerns +one object only'; in the case of relative names, 'the fact connoted +concerns two objects, and cannot be understood without thinking of +them both.' A 'fact concerning an object' is a curiously awkward +expression; but one point is clear. If the two objects concerned are +the same, whether considered apart or together, the 'relation' must be +something more than the facts, and therefore requires to be specified. +If they are, in fact, one thing, or parts of a continuous process, we +must ask how they come to be distinguished, and what ground there is +for speaking of association. James Mill, by considering the problem as +a mere question of 'names,' seems to intimate that the relation is a +mere figment. In fact, as J. S. Mill perceives, the 'explanations' +become nugatory. They simply repeat the thing to be explained. He +begins with 'resemblance.' To feel two things to be alike is, he says, +the same thing as to have the two feelings. He means to say, +apparently, that when there are two 'ideas' there is not also a third +idea of 'likeness.' That would be what Bentham called a 'fictitious +entity.' But this cannot 'explain' the likeness of the ideas. 'Their +being alike,' as his son interprets, 'is nothing but their being felt +to be alike--which does not help us.'[550] So 'antecedence and +consequence' are 'explained' by saying that one of two feelings calls +up the other; or, as the son again remarks, antecedence is explained +by antecedence, and succession by succession. Antecedence and +consequence, like likeness and unlikeness, must therefore, according +to J. S. Mill, be 'postulated as universal conditions of Nature, +inherent in all our feelings whether of external or internal +consciousness.'[551] In other words, apparently, time is an ultimate +form of thought. Time and space, generally, as James Mill thinks, are +the 'abstract names' respectively of successive and simultaneous +order, which become 'indissolubly associated with the idea of every +object.'[552] Space, of course, is said to be a product of touch and +muscular sensations, and the problem as to how these varying +sensations and these alone give rise to apparently necessary and +invariable beliefs is not taken into consideration. Mill is here +dealing with the questions which Kant attempted to answer by showing +how the mind imposes its forms upon sense-given materials, forms them +into concepts, and combines the concepts into judgments and reasoning. +Mill evades the mysterious and transcendental at the cost of omitting +reason altogether. He represents the result of accepting one horn of a +dilemma, which presses upon philosophies of loftier pretensions. Those +who accept the other horn speak of a 'fact' as though it were a truth, +and argue as though the world could be spun out of pure logic, or a +tissue be made of relations without any things to be related. Mill, +with scarcely a glance at such doctrines, tries systematically to +speak of a truth as if it were a fact. The world for him is made up of +ideas sticking together; and nothing else exists. The relation is the +fact; belief is the association; consciousness and reflection, +considered apart, are nothing but the sensations, ideas, clusters, +and trains. The attempt to base all truth upon experience, to bring +philosophy into harmony with science was, as I hold, perfectly right. +Only, upon these assumptions it could not be carried out. Mill had the +merit which is implied even by an unsuccessful attempt to hold by +fact. He raises a number of interesting questions; and I think that it +is more remarkable that so many of his observations have still an +interest for psychologists than that so much is obviously wrong. Mill, +it may be said, took an essay upon association for a treatise upon +psychology in general. He was writing what might be one important +chapter in such a treatise, and supposes that he has written the +whole, and can deduce 'philosophy' from it, if, indeed, any philosophy +can be said to remain. Meanwhile, I may observe, that by pushing his +principles to extremes, even his 'association' doctrine is endangered. +His _Analysis_ seems to destroy even the elements which are needed to +give the simplest laws of association. It is rather difficult to say +what is meant by the 'contiguity,' 'sequence,' and 'resemblance,' +which are the only conditions specified, and which he seems to explain +not as the conditions but as the product of association. J. S. Mill +perceived that something was wanting which he afterwards tried to +supply. I will just indicate one or two points, which may show what +problems the father bequeathed to the son. James Mill, at one place, +discusses the odd problem 'how it happens that all trains of thought +are not the same.'[553] The more obvious question is, on his +hypothesis, how it happens that any two people have the same beliefs, +since the beliefs are made of the most varying materials. If, again, +two ideas when associated remain distinct, we have Hume's difficulty. +Whatever is distinguishable, he argued, is separable. If two ideas +simply lie side by side, as is apparently implied by 'contiguity,' so +that each can be taken apart without change, why should we suppose +that they will never exist apart, or, indeed, that they should ever +again come together? The contiguity does not depend upon them, but +upon some inscrutable collocation, of which we can only say that it +exists now. This is the problem which greatly occupied J. S. Mill. + +The 'indissoluble' or 'inseparable' association, which became the +grand arcanum of the school, while intended to answer some of these +difficulties, raises others. Mill seems to insist upon splitting a +unit into parts in order that it may be again brought together by +association. So J. S. Mill, in an admiring note, confirms his father's +explanation ('one of the most important thought in the whole +treatise') of the infinity of space.[554] We think space infinite +because we always 'associate' position with extension. Surely space is +extension; and to think of one without the other implies a +contradiction. We think space infinite, because we think of a space as +only limited by other space, and therefore indefinitely extensible. +There is no 'association,' simply repetition. Elsewhere we have the +problem, How does one association exclude another? Only, as J. S. Mill +replies, when one idea includes the idea of the absence of the +others.[555] We cannot combine the ideas of a plane and a convex +surface. Why? Because we have never had both sets of sensations +together. The 'commencement' of one set has always been 'simultaneous +with the cessation of another set,' as, for instance, when we bend a +flat sheet of paper. The difficulty seems to be that one fact cannot +be contradictory of another, since contradiction only applies to +assertions. When I say that A is above B, however, I surely assert +that B is below A; and I cannot make both assertions about A and B at +the same time without a contradiction. To explain this by an +association of simultaneous and successive sensations seems to be a +curiously roundabout way of 'explaining.' Every assertion is also a +denial; and, if I am entitled to say anything, I am enabled without +any help from association to deny its contradictory. On Mill's +showing, the assertion and the denial of its contradiction, instead of +being identical, are taken to be two beliefs accidentally associated. +Finally, I need only make one remark upon the fundamental difficulty. +It is hard to conceive of mere loose 'ideas' going about in the +universe at large and sticking accidentally to others. After all, the +human being is in true sense also an organised whole, and his +constitution must be taken into account in discovering the laws of +'ideation.' This is the point of view to which Mill, in his anxiety to +get rid of everything that had a savour of _a priori_ knowledge about +it, remains comparatively blind. It implies a remarkable omission. +Mill's great teacher, Hartley, had appealed to physiology in a +necessarily crude fashion. He had therefore an organism: a brain or a +nervous system which could react upon the external world and modify +and combine sensations. Mill's ideas would have more apparent +connection if they could be made to correspond to 'vibratiuncles' or +physical processes of some kind. But this part of Hartley's hypothesis +had been dropped: and all reality is therefore reduced to the whirl +of vagrant and accidentally cohering ideas in brains and clusters. His +one main aim is to get rid of everything that can be called mystical +and to trace all mental processes to 'experience,' as he understands +experience--to show that we are never entitled to assert that two +ideas may not be joined in any way whatever. + +The general tendency of the 'Association Philosophy' is sufficiently +clear. It may be best appreciated by comparing it to the method of the +physical sciences, which it was intended to rival. The physicist +explains the 'laws of nature' by regarding a phenomenon as due to the +varying arrangements of an indefinite multitude of uniform atoms. I +need not ask whether these atoms are to be regarded as realities, even +the sole realities, or, on the other hand, as a kind of logical +scaffolding removable when the laws are ascertained. In any case, the +assumption is necessary and most fruitful in the search for accurate +and quantitative formulae. Mill virtually assumes that the same thing +can be done by breaking up the stream of consciousness into the ideas +which correspond to the primitive atoms. What precisely these atoms +may be, how the constantly varying flow of thought can be resolved +into constituent fractions, is not easy to see. The physicist at least +supposes his atoms to have definite space relations, but there is +nothing clearly corresponding to space in the 'ideas.' They are +capable of nothing but co-existence, sequence, and likeness; but the +attempt to explain the meaning of those words ends in nothing but +repeating them. One result is the curious combination of the absolute +and the indefinitely variable. We get absolute statements because the +ultimate constituents are taken to be absolutely constant. We have +indefinite variability because they may be collocated in any +conceivable or inconceivable way. This becomes evident when we have to +do with organisms of any kind: with characters or societies an +organism varies, but varies along definite lines. But, on Mill's +showing, the organic relations correspond to the indefinitely +variable. Education is omnipotent; state constitutions can be +manufactured at will, and produce indefinite consequences. And yet he +can lay down laws of absolute validity, because he seems to be +deducing them from one or two formulae corresponding to the essential +and invariable properties of the ultimate unit--whether man or ideas. +From this follows, too, the tendency to speak as if human desires +corresponded to some definite measurable things, such as utility in +ethics, value in political economy, and self-interest in politics. +This point appears in the application of Mill's theories to the moral +sciences. + + +III. JAMES MILL'S ETHICS + +James Mill in his ethical doctrine follows Bentham with little +variation; but he shows very clearly what was the psychology which +Bentham virtually assumed. I may pass very briefly over Mill's theory +of conduct[556] in general. The 'phenomena of thought,' he says, may +be divided into the 'intellectual' and the 'active' powers. Hitherto +he has considered 'sensations' and 'ideas' merely as existing; he will +now consider them as 'exciting to action.'[557] The phenomena consist +in both cases of sensations and ideas, combined into 'clusters,' and +formed into trains 'according to the sense laws.' We have now to +consider the ideas as active, and 'to demonstrate the simple laws into +which the phenomena of human life, so numerous and apparently so +diversified, may all be easily resolved.' + +A desire is an 'idea' of a pleasant sensation; an 'aversion' an idea +of painful sensation. The idea and the sensation are not two things, +but two names for the same thing. Desire, again, has a 'tacit +reference to future time' when applied to a given case. We associate +these pains and pleasures with the causes; and in the important case +our own actions are the causes. Thus the association produces the +motive, and the readiness to obey the motive is, as Bentham says, the +'disposition.' Then, following Hartley, Mill explains the will. Bodily +actions are muscular contractions, which are slowly co-ordinated by +habit--association, of course, acting at every stage of the process. +Now, it is a plain fact that muscular contractions follow 'ideas.' It +is easy, then, to see how the 'idea of a pleasure should excite the +idea of the action which is the cause of it; and how, when the idea +exists, the action should follow.'[558] An 'end' is a pleasure +desired, and gives the 'motive.' When we start from the motive and get +the pleasure the same association is called 'will.' 'Free-will' is of +course nonsense. We have a full account of the human mechanism, and +can see that it is throughout worked by association, admitting the +primary fact of experience that the idea causes the muscular +contraction. + +This, and the ethical conclusions which follow, substantially +coincide with Bentham's doctrine, or supply the first principles from +which Bentham might be deduced. A fuller exposition of the ethics is +given in the _Fragment on Mackintosh_. Mackintosh, in 1829, wrote a +Dissertation upon 'Ethical Philosophy,' for the _Encyclopaedia +Britannica_.[559] The book stirred Mill's 'indignation against an +evil-doer.'[560] He wrote a _Fragment on Mackintosh_, which was +suppressed for a time in consequence of his antagonist's death in +1832, but published in the year of his own death, 1835.[561] According +to Professor Bain, the book was softened in consequence of +remonstrances from Bickersteth. It would be curious to see the +previous version. Professor Bain says that there are 'thousands' of +books which contain 'far worse severities of language.' I confess that +I cannot remember quite 'a thousand.' It is at least difficult to +imagine more unmitigated expressions of contempt and aversion. +Mackintosh, says Mill, uses 'macaroni phrases,' 'tawdry talk,' +'gabble'; he gets 'beyond drivelling' into something more like +'raving'; he 'deluges' us with 'unspeakable nonsense.' 'Good God!' +sums up the comment which can be made upon one sentence.[562] Sir +James, he declares, 'has got into an intellectual state so thoroughly +depraved that I doubt whether a parallel to it is possible to be +found.'[563] There is scarcely a mention of Mackintosh without an +insult. A partial explanation of Mill's wrath may be suggested by the +chapter upon Bentham. Mackintosh there accused the Utilitarians +generally of 'wantonly wounding the most respectable feelings of +mankind'; of 'clinging to opinions because they are obnoxious'; of +taking themselves to be a 'chosen few,' despising the multitude, and +retorting the dislike which their arrogance has provoked by using +still more exasperating language.[564] He suggested that they should +do more justice to 'the Romillys and the Broughams,' who had been the +real and judicious reformers; and he illustrated the errors of Bentham +by especial reference to Mill's arguments upon government and +education. There had long been an antipathy. Mackintosh, said Mill in +1820, 'lives but for London display; _parler et faire parler de lui_ +in certain circles is his heaven.'[565] + +Mackintosh would have been most at home in a professorial chair. He +was, indeed, professor at Haileybury from 1818 to 1824, and spoken of +as a probable successor to Brown at Edinburgh. But he could never +decidedly concentrate himself upon one main purpose. Habits of +procrastination and carelessness about money caused embarrassment +which forced him to write hastily. His love of society interfered with +study, and his study was spread over an impossible range of subjects. +His great abilities, wasted by these infirmities, were seconded by +very wide learning. Macaulay describes the impression which he made at +Holland House.[566] He passed among his friends as the profound +philosopher; the man of universal knowledge of history; of ripe and +most impartial judgment in politics; the oracle to whom all men might +appeal with confidence, though a little too apt to find out that all +sides were in the right. When he went to India he took with him some +of the scholastic writers and the works of Kant and Fichte, then known +to few Englishmen. One of Macaulay's experiences at Holland House was +a vision of Mackintosh verifying a quotation from Aquinas.[567] It +must have been delightful. The ethical 'dissertation,' however, had to +be shortened by omitting all reference to German philosophy, and the +account of the schoolmen is cursory. It is easy to see why the suave +and amiable Mackintosh appeared to Mill to be a 'dandy' philosopher, +an unctuous spinner of platitudes to impose upon the frequenters of +Holland House, and hopelessly confused in the attempt to make +compromises between contradictory theories. It is equally easy to see +why to Mackintosh the thoroughgoing and strenuous Mill appeared to be +a one-sided fanatic, blind to the merits of all systems outside the +narrow limits of Benthamism, and making even philanthropy hateful. Had +Mackintosh lived to read Mill's _Fragment_, he would certainly have +thought it a proof that the Utilitarians were as dogmatic and acrid as +he had ever asserted. + +Mackintosh's position in ethics explains Mill's antagonism. Neither +Aquinas nor Kant nor Fichte influenced him. His doctrine is the +natural outcome of the Scottish philosophy. Hutcheson had both +invented Bentham's sacred formula, and taught the 'Moral Sense' theory +which Bentham attacked. To study the morality from the point of view +of 'inductive psychology' is to study the moral faculty, and to reject +the purely 'intellectual' system. To assign the position of the moral +faculty in the psychological system is to show its utility. On the +other hand, it was the very aim of the school to avoid the sceptical +conclusions of Hume in philosophy, and in ethics to avoid the complete +identification of morality with utility. There must be a distinction +between the judgments, 'this is right,' and 'this is useful'; even +'useful to men in general.' Hence, on the one hand, morality is +immediately dictated by a special sense or faculty, and yet its +dictates coincide with the dictates of utility. I have spoken of this +view as represented by Dugald Stewart; and Brown had, according to his +custom, moved a step further by diminishing the list of original first +principles, and making 'virtue' simply equivalent to 'feelings' of +approval and disapproval.[568] Virtue, he said, is useful; the utility +'accompanies our moral approbation; but the perception of that utility +does not constitute our moral approbation, nor is it necessarily +presupposed by it.'[569] He compares the coincidence between virtue +and utility to Leibniz's pre-established harmony.[570] The position is +familiar. The adaptation of an organism to its conditions may be taken +either as an explanation of its development or as a proof of a +creative purpose. + +Mackintosh takes nearly the same position. Ethical inquiries, he says, +relate to 'two perfectly distinct subjects.' We have the problem of +the 'criterion' (What is the distinction between right and wrong?) and +the problem of the 'moral sentiments' (What are the feelings produced +by the contemplation of right and wrong?). In treating of the +feelings, again, we must avoid the confusion caused in the older +philosophy by the reduction of 'feeling' to 'thought.'[571] Reason +and sensation are distinct though inseparably combined; and hence, he +argues, it is a fallacy to speak with Clarke as if reason could by +itself be a motive. An argument to influence conduct must always be in +the last resort an appeal to a 'feeling.'[572] It is idle to tell a +man that conduct is infamous unless he _feels_ infamy to be painful. +We have then to ask what are the feelings which prompt to morality. So +far as the criterion is concerned, Mackintosh fully agrees with Hume, +whose theory that 'general utility constitutes a general ground of +moral distinctions can never be impugned until some example can be +produced of a virtue generally pernicious or a vice generally +beneficial.'[573] Hume, however, overlooks the 'rightful supremacy of +the moral faculty over every other principle of human action.' +Mackintosh thought that his best service, as he told Macvey +Napier,[574] had been his 'endeavour to slip in a foundation under +Butler's doctrine of the supremacy of the conscience, which he left +baseless.' To slip in a foundation is a very delicate operation in +logical as in material architecture; and the new foundation seems here +to be in danger of inverting the edifice. The 'supremacy of +conscience'[575] means with him that the 'moral sentiments' form a +separate class. They are the feelings with which we contemplate +voluntary actions in general, and therefore those aroused by the +character and conduct of the agent. Mackintosh thus takes an aesthetic +view of morality. We have a 'moral taste' or perception of beauty. The +same qualities which make a horse beautiful make him also swift and +safe, but we perceive the beauty without thinking of the utility, or +rather when we do not think of it. So we admire a hero or martyr for +the beauty of his character without reference to his services to +us.[576] This moral taste, though not identical with the conscience, +becomes 'absorbed into it.' The conscience differs from the 'moral +taste' because it acts upon the will. But its supremacy seems to be +this quality which it shares with or derives from the taste--its +immediate and spontaneous operation. It is, he seems to mean, a direct +perception of beauty in character applied to the regulation of +conduct. Virtue corresponds to an instinctive and so far ultimate +appreciation of beauty of character. Mackintosh insists upon this +intrinsic charm of virtue in the language which struck Mill as simply +foppish affectation. The pleasure of 'benevolence' itself, says +Mackintosh, is infinitely superior to the pleasures to which it may +lead. Could it become 'lasting and intense,' it would convert the +heart into a heaven.[577] To love virtue, you must love it 'for its +own sake.'[578] The delights of being virtuous (as he interprets the +phrase) are greater than any delight from the consequences of virtue. +And he holds up as a model Fletcher of Saltoun, who would 'lose his +life to serve his country, but would not do a base thing to save +it.'[579] + +How, then, is this view to be reconciled with the unreserved admission +of 'utility' as the 'criterion' of right and wrong? One answer is that +Mackintosh fully accepts Hartley's doctrine of association. He even +criticises previous philosophers for not pushing it far enough. He +says that association, instead of merely combining a 'thought' and a +'feeling,' 'forms them into a new compound, in which the properties of +the component parts are no longer discoverable, and which may itself +become a substantive principle of human virtue.'[580] The question of +origin, therefore, is different from the question of nature. He +follows Hartley in tracing the development of various desires, and in +showing how the 'secondary desires' are gradually formed from the +primitive by transference to different objects.[581] We must start +from feelings which lie beneath any intellectual process, and thus the +judgment of utility is from the first secondary. We arrive at the +higher feelings which are 'as independent as if they were +underived,'[582] and yet, as happiness has been involved at every +stage as an end of each desire, it is no wonder that the ultimate +result should be to make the general happiness the end. The +coincidence, then, of the criterion with the end of the moral +sentiments is 'not arbitrary,' but arises necessarily from 'the laws +of human nature and the circumstances in which mankind are +placed.'[583] Hence we reach the doctrine which 'has escaped Hartley +as well as every other philosopher.'[584] That doctrine is that the +moral faculty is one; it is compound, indeed, in its origin; but +becomes an independent unit, which can no longer be resolved even in +thought into its constituent elements. + +The doctrine approximates, it would seem, to Mill's; but was all the +more unpalatable to him on that account. The agreement implies +plagiarism, and the difference hopeless stupidity. To Mill Bentham was +the legitimate development of Hartley, while to Mackintosh Bentham +was the plausible perverter of Hartley. Mill regarded Mackintosh as a +sophist, whose aim was to mislead honest Utilitarians into the paths +of orthodoxy, and who also ignored the merits of Mill himself. 'It was +Mr. Mill,' he says, 'who first made known the great importance of the +principle of the indissoluble association';[585] 'Mr. Mill' who had +taken up Hartley's speculations and 'prosecuted the inquiry to its +end';[586] 'Mr. Mill' who explained affections and motives and +dispositions;[587] and 'Mr. Mill' who had cleared up mistakes about +classification which 'had done more to perpetuate darkness on the +subject of mind than any other cause, perhaps than all other causes +taken together.'[588] Sir James blundered because he had not read +Mill's book, as he pretended to have done. Mill does not say all this +from vanity; he is simply stating an obvious matter of fact. + +Mill's polemic against the Moral Sense theory, even against a moral +sense produced by association, reveals the really critical points of +the true Utilitarian doctrine. Mill would cut down the moral sense +root and branch. The 'moral sense' means a 'particular faculty' +necessary to discern right and wrong. But no particular faculty is +necessary to discern 'utility.'[589] Hence the distinction between the +'criterion' and the 'moral sentiments' is absurd. The utility is not +the 'criterion' of the morality but itself constitutes the morality. +To say that conduct is right, according to the Utilitarians, is the +same thing as to say that it produces happiness. If the moral sense +orders conduct opposed to the criterion, it is so far bad. If it +never orders such conduct, it is superfluous. Happiness, as with +Bentham, is a definite thing--a currency of solid bullion; and +'virtue' means nothing except as calculated in this currency. Mill, +again, like Bentham, regards the 'utility' principle as giving the +sole 'objective' test. The complaint that it sanctions 'expediency' is +a simple fallacy. + +If you do not love virtue 'for its own sake,' said Mackintosh, you +will break a general law wherever the law produces a balance of +painful consequences. Mill replies with great vigour.[590] All general +rules, it is true, imply exceptions, but only when they conflict with +the supreme rule. 'There is no exception to a rule of morality,' says +Mill, 'but what is made by a rule of morality.'[591] There are +numerous cases in which the particular laws conflict; and one law must +then be broken. The question which to break must then be decided by +the same unequivocal test, 'utility.' If a rule for increasing utility +diminishes utility in a given case, it must be broken in that case. +Mackintosh's Fletcher of Saltoun illustrates the point.[592] What is +the 'base' thing which Fletcher would not do to save his country? +Would he not be the basest of men if he did not save his country at +any cost? To destroy half a population and reduce the other half to +misery has been thought a sacrifice not too great for such an end. +Would not Mackintosh himself allow Fletcher, when intrusted with an +important fortress, to sacrifice the lives and properties of innocent +people in defence of his position?[593] What, then, does the love of +virtue 'for its own sake' come to? If you refuse to save your country, +because you think the means base, your morality is mischievous, that +is, immoral. If, on the other hand, you admit that the means cease to +be base, the supposed supremacy is an empty brag. The doctrine is then +verbally maintained, but interpreted so as to conform to the criterion +of utility. In other words, Mackintosh cannot reconcile his admission +of utility as a 'criterion' with his support of a moral sense entitled +to override the criterion. Mackintosh's moral sense is meant to +distinguish the moral motive from 'expediency.' To this, again, Mill +has a very forcible answer. A man is blameable who makes exceptions to +laws in his own private interest. But if a man consistently and +invariably acted for the 'greatest happiness of the greatest number,' +and paid no more attention to his own happiness than to other +people's, he would certainly have a very lofty and inflexible test, +assuming--as we must allow Mill to assume--that we can calculate the +effect of conduct upon happiness at large. Again, upon the assumption +that 'moral' is equivalent to 'felicific,' we get a general rule +entitled to override any individual tastes or fancies, such as Mill +supposes to be meant by the 'Moral Sense.' The rule is derived from +the interests of all, and gives an ultimate 'objective criterion.' J. +S. Mill, describing his father's system, observes that the teaching of +such a man was not likely to err on 'the side of laxity or +indulgence.'[594] It certainly did not. And, in fact, his criterion, +however obtained, had in his eyes the certainty of a scientific law. +This or that is right as surely as this or that food is wholesome. My +taste has nothing to do with it. And, moreover, the criterion +certainly gives a moral ground. If I know that any conduct will +produce more happiness than misery that is a moral reason for adopting +it. A 'moral sense' which should be radically inconsistent with that +criterion, which should order me to inflict suffering as suffering, or +without some ulterior reason, would be certainly at fault. Mackintosh +indeed would have agreed to this, though, if Mill was right, at the +expense of consistency. + +Mill, however, deduces from his criterion doctrines which involve a +remarkable paradox. The mode in which he is led to them is +characteristic of the whole method. Mill, like Bentham, puts morality +upon the same plane with law. Conduct is influenced either by the +'community in its conjunct capacity'--that is, by law; or by +'individuals in their individual capacity'--that is, by morality.[595] +The sanction of one, we may infer, is force; of the other, approval +and disapproval. With this we must take another Benthamite doctrine, +of which I have already spoken.[596] 'Mr. Bentham demonstrated,' says +Mill, 'that the morality of an act does not depend upon the motive,' +and, further, that it 'is altogether dependent on the intention.'[597] +Upon this he constantly insists. Mackintosh's view that virtue depends +upon motive will be 'scorned by every man who has any knowledge of the +philosophy of the human mind.... The virtue does not depend upon the +motive. There is no bad motive. Every motive is the desire of good; to +the agent himself or to some one else.'[598] He gives an analysis of +action to put the point beyond doubt. Action supposes a 'motive,' a +'volition,' and an 'external act' or muscular contraction. So far +there is nothing moral. But then an act has consequences, good or bad, +to human beings, which constitute its utility. To make it moral, the +agent must anticipate 'beneficial consequences,' and must have no +reason to anticipate a balance of evil consequences. Intention means +the calculation of consequences, and without that calculation there +can be no morality.[599] Hence the morality is equivalent to a +'conviction of the general utility' of the action.[600] 'All this,' he +concludes, 'is settled by universal consent. It is vain, therefore, to +think of disputing it.' One may, however, ask what it means. I have +already observed that the view of the non-moral character of motive +was a natural corollary from the purely legal point of view. I must +now consider the results of applying it unreservedly in the +inappropriate sphere of ethics. + +In the first place, the denial of any moral quality in motive seems to +be inconsistent with Mill's own principles. The Utilitarian, according +to him, holds that the moral law is essentially the statement that +certain conduct produces general happiness. If, then, we ask, Who is a +good man? we first reply that he is a man whose conduct produces +happiness. Another conclusion is obviously necessary, and is implied +in Mill's statement that the 'intention' is essential to morality. The +man, that is, must foresee that his conduct will produce happiness. +The 'calculation' is precisely what makes an action moral as well as +accidentally useful. In other words, the man is good to whom the +knowledge that an act will produce happiness is the same thing as a +command to perform the act. The 'intention' could not affect conduct +without the corresponding motive, and Mill can at times recognise the +obvious consequence. The 'physical law' (meaning the law enforced by +physical coercion), he says incidentally, has 'extrinsic' +sanctions;[601] the moral law is different, because it sanctions good +actions for their goodness. 'Moral approval' must therefore include +approval of character. A man, to be moral, must be one who does useful +things simply because they are useful. He must then, it would seem, be +at least benevolent. The same thing is implied by the doctrine of +'intention' or 'calculation.' An action may be useful or the reverse +without being moral when the consequences are unknown to the agent. To +make it moral he must know the consequences--for otherwise he is +merely acting at random; and the foreseen consequences constitute the +'intention.' To this Mill adds that he must have taken into account +the consequences which 'might have been foreseen.'[602] Otherwise we +should have to excuse a man because he had neglected to calculate, +whereas to calculate is the very essence of virtue. A man who fired a +gun down a crowded street would not be excusable because he had not +thought of the result. He 'ought' to have thought of it. The question +of moral approval of any given action turns upon these questions. Did +a man foresee evil consequences and disregard them? He is then cruel. +Did he neglect to consider them? He is then culpably careless, though +not actually malignant. Were the consequences altogether beyond the +powers of reasonable calculation? Then he may be blameless. The whole +moral question, therefore, depends upon the character indicated; that +is, upon the motives which induce a man to calculate consequences and +which determine his conduct when the calculation is made. + +The truth is, I think, and it is characteristic of Mill's modes of +analysis, that he is making an impossible abstraction. He is +separating parts of a single process and treating them as independent. +If actions are bad because they have bad consequences, motives are bad +because they are causes of bad actions. You cannot suppress the effect +without suppressing the cause, and therefore the cause of the cause. +Mill relies chiefly upon one argument. The same conduct will produce +the same consequences whatever the motives. That is undeniable. It is +the same to me whether I am burnt because the persecutor loves my soul +or because he hates me as a rebel to his authority. But when is +conduct 'the same'? If we classify acts as the legislator has to +classify them by 'external' or 'objective' relations, we put together +the man who is honest solely from fear of the gallows and the man who +is honest from hatred of stealing. So long as both act alike, the +'consequences' to their neighbours are alike. Neither is legally +punishable. But if acts are classified by their motives, one is a +rogue and the other virtuous; and it is only then that the question of +morality properly arises. In that case, it is idle to separate the +question of motive and consequences, because the character determines +the motive and therefore the action. Nobody should have seen this more +clearly than Mill as a good 'determinist.' Conduct and character are +related as the convex and concave of the curve; conduct is simply the +manifestation of character, and to separate them is absurd. + +Why did he not see this? For reasons, I think, which illustrate his +whole method. From a scientific point of view, the ethical problem +raises the wide questions, What are the moral sentiments? and, What +functions do they discharge in regard to the society or to its +individual members? We might hold that morality is justified by +'utility' in the sense that the moral rules and the character which +they indicate are essential to the welfare of the race or its +individual constituents. But to Mill this proposition is interpreted +as identical with the proposition that conduct must be estimated by +its 'consequences.' We are to consider not the action itself, but its +effects; and the effects are clearly independent of the motive when +once the action has been done. We may therefore get a calculus of +'utility': general rules stating what actions will be useful +considered abstractedly from their motives. The method, again, might +be plausible if we could further assume that all men were the same and +differed only in external circumstances. That is the point of view to +which Mill, like Bentham, is always more or less consciously +inclining. The moral and the positive law are equally enforced by +'sanctions'; by something not dependent upon the man himself, and +which he is inclined to suppose will operate equally upon all men. +Such language could be justifiable only of an average and uniform +'man,' a kind of constant unit, whose varying behaviour must always be +explained by difference in circumstance. We have sufficiently seen the +results elsewhere, and in this ethical doctrine they are especially +manifest. + +Mackintosh recognised the fact that morality is essentially a +function of character. Mill cannot fully admit that, because he +virtually assumes all character to be the same. Regarding morality as +something co-ordinate with law, he does not perceive that the very +possibility of law implies the moral instincts, which correspond to +the constitution of character, and belong to a sphere underlying, not +on the same plane with, the legislative sphere. They are the source of +all order; not themselves the product of the order. It is impossible +to deduce them, therefore, from the organisation which presupposes +them. Now, in one direction, Mill's theory leads, as his son remarked, +not to laxity but to excessive strictness. The 'criterion' is laid +down absolutely. The 'moral sense' is rejected because it means an +autocratic faculty, entitled to override the criterion by its own +authority. To appeal to 'motives' is to allow the individual to make +his own feeling the ultimate test of right and wrong. If we follow +Mill in this we are not really assuming the moral neutrality of motive +or the indifference, but an impossible profession of character. Men +are not governed by abstract principles but by their passions and +affections. The emotions, as Mackintosh rightly said, cannot be +resolved into the mere logic. Utility may give the true criterion of +morality, but it does not follow that the perception of utility is +implied in moral conduct. The motives are good which in fact produce +useful conduct, though the agent does not contemplate the abstract +principle. It is impossible that men should be moved simply by a +desire for the 'greatest happiness of the greatest number.' What does +and always must guide men is their personal relation to the little +circle which they actually influence. The good man is the man so +constituted that he will spontaneously fulfil his duties. The moral +law, that is, will be also the law of his character and conduct. The +mother is good because she loves her child, not because she sees that +care of her child is dictated by the general maxim of utility. The +'utility' of character means the fitness of the agent to be an +efficient member of the social structure to which he belongs. In +particular cases this may lead to such problems as that of Fletcher of +Saltoun. His sense of honour and his general benevolence, though both +useful, might come into collision; and the most difficult of all +questions of casuistry arise from such conflicts between private and +public affections. Mill is justified in holding that a sense of honour +cannot give an ultimate and autocratic decision. Under some pretext or +other, we shall have to ask the Utilitarian question whether on the +whole it may not be causing more misery than the virtuous action is +worth. But that only means that the character must be so balanced as +to give due weight to each motive; not that we can abstract from +character altogether, as though human beings could be mere colourless +and uniform atoms, embodying abstract formulae. + +Mill is following Bentham, and only brings out more clearly the +psychological assumptions. A man, he says, acts from the 'same motive' +whether he steals five shillings or earns it by a day's labour. The +motive, in this sense, regards only one consequence, whereas the +'intention' regards all. The 'motive,' that is, is only one of the +motives or a part of the character, and this way of speaking is one of +the awkward results of turning 'motives' into 'things.' The obvious +answer is that which Mill himself makes to Mackintosh. Mackintosh and +Butler, he thinks, personify particular 'appetites.'[603] It is not +really the 'conscience' which decides, but the man. That is quite +true, and similarly it is the whole man who steals or works, not the +'personified' motive; and it is accordingly from the whole character +that we judge. We have to consider the relation of the love of five +shillings to the other qualities of industry and honesty. The same +view appears in Mill's characteristic dislike of 'sentimentalism.' +Wishing to attack Mackintosh's rhetoric about the delight of virtuous +feeling, he for once quotes a novel to illustrate this point. When +Parson Adams defined charity as a 'generous disposition to relieve the +distressed,' Peter Pounce approved; 'it is, as you say, a disposition, +and does not so much consist in the act as in the disposition to do +it.'[604] When, therefore, Mackintosh says that he finds it difficult +to separate the virtue from the act, Mill replies that nothing is +easier. The virtue is 'in the act and its consequences'; the feeling a +mere removable addition. Apparently he would hold that the good +Samaritan and the Pharisee had the same feeling, though it prompted +one to relieve the sufferer and the other to relieve himself of the +sight of the sufferer. They had, of course, a feeling in common, but a +feeling which produced diametrically opposite effects, because +entering into totally different combinations. + +If Mill's doctrine leads to an impossible strictness in one direction, +it leads to less edifying results in another. We have omitted 'motive' +and come to the critical question, How, after all, is the moral code +to be enforced? By overlooking this question and declaring 'motive' to +be irrelevant, we get the paradox already accepted by Bentham. His +definition of virtue is action for the good of others as well as of +ourselves. In what way is the existence of such action to be +reconciled with this doctrine? What are the motives which make men +count the happiness of others to be equally valuable with their own? +or, in the Utilitarian language, What is the 'sanction' of morality? +After all Bentham's insistence upon the 'self-preference principle' +and Mill's account of selfishness in his political theory, we are +suddenly told that morality means a lofty and rigid code in which the +happiness of all is the one end. Here again Mill is entangled by the +characteristic difficulty of his psychology. To analyse is to divide +objects into separate units. When he has to do with complex objects +and relations apparently reciprocal, he is forced to represent them by +a simple sequence. The two factors are not mutually dependent but +distinct things somehow connected in time. One result is his account +of 'ends' or 'motives' (the two, as he observes, are synonymous).[605] +The end is something to be gained by the act, the 'association' of +which with the act constitutes a 'desire.' This, we have seen, always +refers to the future.[606] In acting, then, I am always guided by +calculations of future pleasures or pains. I believe this to be one of +the most unfortunate because one of the most plausible of Utilitarian +fallacies. If we are determined by pains and pleasures, it is in one +sense as contradictory to speak of our being determined by future +pains and pleasures as to speak of our being nourished to-day by +to-morrow's dinner. The 'future pleasure' does not exist; the +anticipated pleasure acts by making the present action pleasant; and +we then move (as it is said) along the line of least resistance. +Certain conduct is intrinsically pleasurable or painful, and the +future pleasure only acts through the present foretaste. When, +however, we regard the pleasure as future and as somehow a separable +thing, we can only express these undeniable facts by accepting a +purely egoistic conclusion. We are, of course, moved by our own +feelings, as we breathe with our own lungs and digest with our own +stomachs. But when we accept the doctrine of 'ends' this harmless and +self-evident truth is perverted into the statement that our 'end' must +be our own pleasure; that we cannot be really or directly unselfish. +The analysis, indeed, is so defective that it can hardly be applied +intelligibly. Hume observes that no man would rest his foot +indifferently upon a stool or a gouty toe. The action itself of giving +pain would be painful, and cannot be plausibly resolved into an +anticipation of an 'end.' This, again, is conspicuously true of all +the truly social emotions. Not only the conscience, but the sense of +shame or honour, or pride and vanity act powerfully and +instantaneously as present motives without necessary reference to any +future results. The knowledge that I am giving pain or causing future +pain is intrinsically and immediately painful to the normal human +being, and the supposed 'analysis' is throughout a fiction. Mill, +however, like Bentham, takes it for granted, but perceives more +clearly than Bentham the difficulty to which it leads. How, from a +theory of pure selfishness, are we to get a morality of general +benevolence? The answer is given by the universal 'association.' We +are governed, he holds, by our own emotions; our end is our own +pleasure, and we have to consider how this end dictates a desire for +general happiness. He expounds with great vigour the process by which +the love of friends, children and parents and country may be gradually +developed through the association of our pleasures with the +fellow-creatures who caused them. J. S. Mill regards his exposition as +'almost perfect,'[607] and says that it shows how the 'acquired +sentiments'--the moral sentiments and so forth--may be gradually +developed; may become 'more intense and powerful than any of the +elements out of which they may have been formed, and may also in their +maturity be perfectly disinterested.' James Mill declares that the +analysis does not affect the reality of the sentiments analysed. +Gratitude remains gratitude, and generosity generosity, just as a +white ray remains white after Newton had decomposed it into rays of +different colours.[608] Here once more we have the great principle of +indissoluble association or mental chemistry. + +Granting that the emotions so generated may be real, we may still ask +whether the analysis be sufficient. James Mill's account of the way in +which they are generated leaves a doubt. Morality is first impressed +upon us by authority. Our parents praise and blame, reward and +punish. Thus are formed associations of praise and blame with certain +actions. Then, we form further associations with the causes of praise +and blame and thus acquire the sentiments of 'praiseworthiness' and +'blameworthiness.' The sensibility to praise and blame generally forms +the 'popular sanction,' and this, when praiseworthiness is concerned, +becomes the moral sanction.[609] Here we see that morality is regarded +as somehow the product of a 'sanction'; that is, of the action of +praise and blame with their usual consequences upon the individual. +His sensibility causes him through association to acquire the habits +which generally bring praise and blame; and ultimately these qualities +become attractive for their own sake. The difficulty is to see where +the line is crossed which divides truly moral or altruistic conduct +from mere prudence. Admitting that association may impel us to conduct +which involves self-sacrifice, we may still ask whether such conduct +is reasonable. Association produces belief in error as well as in +truth. If I love a man because he is useful and continue to love him +when he can no longer be useful, am I not misguided? If I wear a +ragged coat, because it was once smart, my conduct is easily explained +as a particular kind of folly. If I am good to my old mother when she +can no longer nurse me, am I not guilty of a similar folly? In short, +a man who inferred from Mill's principles that he would never do good +without being paid for it, would be hardly inconsistent. Your +associations, Mill would say, are indissoluble. He might answer, I +will try--it is surely not so hard to dissolve a tie of gratitude! +Granting, in short, that Mill gives an account of such virtue as may +be made of enlightened self-interest, he does not succeed in making +intelligible the conduct which alone deserves the name of virtuous. +The theory always halts at the point where something more is required +than an external sanction, and supposes a change of character as well +as a wider calculation of personal interest. + +The imperfection of this theory may be taken for granted. It has been +exposed by innumerable critics. It is more important to observe one +cause of the imperfection. Mill's argument contains an element of real +worth. It may be held to represent fairly the historical development +of morals. That morality is first conceived as an external law +deriving its sanctity from authority; that it is directed against +obviously hurtful conduct; and that it thus serves as a protection +under which the more genuine moral sentiments can develop themselves, +I believe to be in full accordance with sound theories of ethics. But +Mill was throughout hampered by the absence of any theory of +evolution. He had to represent a series of changes as taking place in +the individual which can only be conceived as the product of a long +and complex social change. He is forced to represent the growth of +morality as an accretion of new 'ends' due to association, not as an +intrinsic development of the character itself. He has to make morality +out of atomic sensations and ideas collected in clusters and trains +without any distinct reference to the organic constitution of the +individual or of society, and as somehow or other deducible from the +isolated human being, who remains a constant, though he collects into +groups governed by external sanctions. He sees that morality is +formed somehow or other, but he cannot show that it is either +reasonable or an essential fact of human nature. Here, again, we shall +see what problem was set to his son. Finally, if Mill did not explain +ethical theory satisfactorily, it must be added in common justice that +he was himself an excellent example of the qualities for which he +tried to account. A life of devotion to public objects and a +conscientious discharge of private duties is just the phenomenon for +which a cluster of 'ideas' and 'associations' seems to be an +inadequate account. How, it might have been asked, do you explain +James Mill? His main purpose, too, was to lay down a rule of duty, +almost mathematically ascertainable, and not to be disturbed by any +sentimentalism, mysticism, or rhetorical foppery. If, in the attempt +to free his hearers from such elements, he ran the risk of reducing +morality to a lower level and made it appear as unamiable as sound +morality can appear, it must be admitted that in this respect too his +theories reflected his personal character. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[464] For an account of these writers and their relation to the +pre-revolutionary schools, see _Les Ideologues_ by F. Picavet (1891). + +[465] Macvey Napier's _Correspondence_, p. 424. + +[466] Charles Francois Dominique de Villers (1767-1815) was a French +officer, who emigrated in 1792, and took refuge at Luebeck. He became +profoundly interested in German life and literature, and endeavoured +to introduce a knowledge of German speculation to his countrymen. His +chief books were this exposition of Kant and an essay upon the +_Reformation of Luther_ (1803), which went through several editions, +and was translated by James Mill in 1805. An interesting account of +Villers is in the _Biographie Universelle_. + +[467] See Cockburn's _Memorials_ for a good notice of this. + +[468] Stewart's _Works_, iv. 345. + +[469] Lady Holland's _Life of Smith_, ii. 388. + +[470] _Inquiry into the Relations of Cause and Effect_ (third +edition), pp. 178, 180, and part iv. sec. 6. + +[471] _Examination of Hamilton_ (fourth edition), p. 379. + +[472] _Cause and Effect_, pp. 184-87. + +[473] _Cause and Effect_, p. 197. + +[474] _Ibid._ p. 239 _seq._ + +[475] _Ibid._ p. 244. + +[476] _Ibid._ p. 150. + +[477] _Ibid._ p. 357. + +[478] _Cause and Effect_, p. 313. + +[479] _Cause and Effect_, p. 482. Brown thinks that we can logically +disprove the existence of motion by the hare and tortoise argument, +and should therefore disregard logic. + +[480] Brown's _Lectures_, (1851), p. 167, Lect. xxvi. + +[481] Lecture xxv. This question as to whether Brown had or had not +grossly misrepresented Reid and other philosophers, led to an +entangled argument, in which Mill defended Brown against Hamilton. I +will not ask whether Reid was a 'natural realist' or a 'cosmothetic +idealist,' or what Descartes or Arnauld thought about the question. + +[482] Reid's _Works_, p. 128. + +[483] _Lectures_, pp. 150, 158-59. + +[484] _Dissertations_, p. 98. Compare Brown's Twenty-fourth Lecture +with Tracy's _Ideologie_, ch. vii., and the account of the way in +which the infant learns from resistance to infer a cause, and make of +the cause _un etre qui n'est pas moi_. The resemblance is certainly +close. Brown was familiar with French literature, and shows it by many +quotations, though he does not, I think, refer to Tracy. Brown, it +must be noticed, did not himself publish his lectures, and a professor +is not bound to give all his sources in popular lectures. An +explanation would have been due in a treatise. Picavet quotes +Rhetore's _Philosophie de Thomas Brown_ (a book which I have not seen) +for the statement that Brown's lectures often read like a translation +of Laromiguiere, with whom Brown was 'perhaps' acquainted. As, +however, the _Lecons_, to which reference is apparently made, did not +appear till 1815 and 1818, when Brown's lectures were already written, +this seems to be impossible. The coincidence, which to me seems to be +exaggerated by the statement, is explicable by a common relation to +previous writers. + +[485] _Lectures_, p. 166 (Lect. xxvi.). + +[486] _Lectures_, p. 158 (Lect. xxv.). + +[487] _Ibid._ p. 151 (Lect. xxiv.). + +[488] _Lectures_, p. 177 (ch. xxviii.). Brown made the same remark to +Mackintosh in 1812. (Mackintosh's _Ethical Philosophy_, 1872, 236 +_n._) + +[489] _Ibid._ p. 154 (Lect. xxiv.). + +[490] See Hamilton's note to Reid's _Works_, p. 111. + +[491] _Lectures_, p. 255 (Lect. xl.). + +[492] _Ibid._ (Lect. xxxiii. and following). + +[493] _Ibid._ p. 214-15 (Lect. xxxiii.). The phrase is revived by +Professor Stout in his _Analytic Psychology_. + +[494] _Lectures_, p. 213 (Lect. xxxiii.). + +[495] This is one of the coincidences with Laromiguiere (_Lecons_ +(1837), i. 103). + +[496] _Lectures_, p. 210. + +[497] _Lectures_, p. 315 (Lect. xlviii.). + +[498] _Ibid._ p. 314. + +[499] _Lectures_, p. 335 (Lect. li.). See Lect. xi. for a general +explanation. The mind is nothing but a 'series of feelings'; and to +say that 'I am conscious of feeling' is simply to say 'I feel.' The +same phrase often occurs in James Mill. + +[500] _Ibid._ p. 298 (Lect. xlvi.). + +[501] _Ibid._ p. 498 (Lect. lxxiv.). + +[502] _Lectures_, p. 622 (Lect. xciii.). + +[503] _Dissertations_, p. 98. + +[504] Froude's _Carlyle_, p. 25. + +[505] _Miscellanies_ (1858), ii. 104. See, too, _Miscellanies_, i. 60, +on German Literature, where he thinks that the Germans attacked the +centre instead of the outworks of Hume's citadel. Carlyle speaks with +marked respect of Dugald Stewart, who, if he knew what he was about, +would agree with Kant. + +[506] In Caroline Fox's _Memories of Old Friends_ (second edition), +ii. 314, is a letter from J. S. Mill, expressing a very high opinion +of Brown, whom he had just been re-reading (1840) with a view to the +Logic. Brown's 'analysis in his early lectures of the amount of what +we can learn of the phenomena of the world seems to me perfect, and +his mode of inquiry into the mind is strictly founded upon that +analysis.' + +[507] I quote from this edition. Andrew Findlater (1810-1885), a +Scottish schoolmaster, and editor of Chambers's _Cyclopaedia_, was a +philologist (_Dictionary of National Biography_), and his notes +chiefly concern Mill's adaptations of Horne Tooke. + +[508] _Treatise_ (bk. i. pt. i. sec. iv.). + +[509] J. S. Mill's _Autobiography_, p. 68. + +[510] _Fragment on Mackintosh_, p. 314. + +[511] _Analysis_, ii. 42. 'Odd,' because Brown was six years younger +than Mill. + +[512] 'Education,' p. 6. + +[513] _Analysis_, i. 52. + +[514] _Analysis_, i. xvii. + +[515] _Ibid._ i. 70. + +[516] _Analysis_, i. 71. + +[517] _Ibid._ i. 78. + +[518] _Ibid._ i. 83. + +[519] _Analysis_, ii. 42. + +[520] _Ibid._ i. 270. + +[521] _Ibid._ i. 111. + +[522] _Ibid._ i. 362. + +[523] _Analysis_, i. 154 _n._ + +[524] _Ibid._ i. 161. + +[525] _Analysis_, i. 189. + +[526] _Ibid._ i. 163 _n._ + +[527] _Ibid._ i. 266. + +[528] _Ibid._ i. 269. + +[529] _Ibid._ i. 295. + +[530] _Analysis_, i. 162 _n._, 187 _n._ + +[531] _Ibid._ ii. 21. + +[532] _Ibid._ i. 224-25. + +[533] _Analysis_, i. 342. + +[534] _e.g._ _Ibid._ ii. 176. + +[535] _Ibid._ i. 341. + +[536] _Ibid._ i. 342 _n._ + +[537] _Ibid._ i. 331. + +[538] _Ibid._ i. 345. + +[539] _Ibid._ i. 352. + +[540] _Ibid._ i. 381. + +[541] _Analysis_, i. 363. + +[542] _Ibid._ i. 402. + +[543] _Ibid._ i. 402-23. + +[544] _Analysis_, i. 423. + +[545] _Ibid._ i. 413, 419. + +[546] See especially his account of definition, _Logic_, bk. i. ch. +viii., and the problem about the serpent and the dragon. + +[547] _Analysis_, ii. 2. + +[548] This point puzzles Destutt de Tracy. All error, he says, arises +in judgments: 'Cependant les jugements, les perceptions de rapports, +en tant que perceptions que nous avons actuellement, sont aussi +certaines et aussi reelles que toutes les autres.'--_Elements +d'Ideologie_ (1865), iii. 449. + +[549] _Analysis_, ii. 6, 7. + +[550] _Analysis_, ii. 18 _n._ + +[551] _Analysis_, ii. 24 _n._ + +[552] _Ibid._ ii. 132-33. + +[553] _Analysis_, ii. 67-69. + +[554] _Analysis_, ii. 113 _n._ + +[555] _Ibid._ i. 97 _n._ + +[556] Professor Bain points out that Mill is occasionally confused by +his ignorance of the triple division, intellect, feelings: and will, +introduced in the next generation.--_Analysis_, ii. 180 _n._ + +[557] _Analysis_, ii. 181-83. + +[558] _Analysis_, ii. 351. + +[559] Also privately printed in 1830. Later editions, edited by +Whewell, appeared in 1836, 1862, 1873. I quote the last. See M. +Napier's _Correspondence_, pp. 57-59, for the composition. + +[560] Mill's _Fragment_ (Preface). + +[561] See Bain's _James Mill_, pp. 374, 415-18. + +[562] _Fragment_, pp. 190, 192, 213, 298, 307, 326. + +[563] _Ibid._ p. 210. + +[564] _Ethical Philosophy_ (1873), pp. 188, 193. + +[565] M. Napier's _Correspondence_, p. 25. + +[566] _Essay on Sir J. Mackintosh._ + +[567] _Essay on Lord Holland._ + +[568] _Lectures_, p. 500 (Lect. lxxv.). + +[569] _Ibid._ p. 519 (Lect. lxxvii.). + +[570] _Ibid._ p. 522 (Lect. lxxviii.). + +[571] _Ethical Philosophy_ (Hobbes), pp. 62-64. + +[572] _Ibid._ p. 85. + +[573] _Ibid._ p. 145. + +[574] _Ibid._ p. 9. + +[575] _Ibid._ p. 120. + +[576] _Ethical Philosophy_, pp. 14, 170. + +[577] _Ibid._ p. 197. + +[578] _Ibid._ p. 248. + +[579] _Ibid._ p. 204. + +[580] _Ethical Philosophy_ p. 242. + +[581] _Ibid._ p. 251. + +[582] _Ibid._ p. 262. + +[583] _Ibid._ p. 264. + +[584] _Ibid._ p. 169. + +[585] _Fragment_, p. 173. + +[586] _Ibid._ p. 323. + +[587] _Ibid._ p. 221. + +[588] _Fragment_, p. 247. Mackintosh quotes Mill's _Analysis_ at p. +197. It had only just appeared. + +[589] _Fragment_, p. 11. + +[590] _Fragment_, p. 246, etc. + +[591] _Ibid._ p. 246. + +[592] _Ibid._ pp. 269, 270. + +[593] Cf. Newman's _Apologia_. 'The Catholic Church holds it better +for the sun and moon to drop from heaven, for the earth to fail, and +for all the millions on it to die of starvation in extremest agony, so +far as temporal affliction goes, than that one soul,--I will not say +should be lost, but should commit one single venial sin, tell one +wilful untruth, or should steal one poor farthing without excuse.' I +should steal the farthing and assume the 'excuse.' I confess that I +would not only lie, but should think lying right under the supposed +circumstances. + +[594] _Autobiography_, p. 51. + +[595] _Fragment_, p. 251. + +[596] Vol. i. p. 257. + +[597] _Fragment_, p. 161. + +[598] _Fragment_, pp. 315-16. + +[599] _Ibid._ p. 164. + +[600] _Ibid._ pp. 320-22. + +[601] _Fragment_, p. 102. + +[602] _Ibid._ p. 162. + +[603] _Analysis_, p. 73. + +[604] _Fragment_, p. 209. + +[605] _Fragment_, p. 316. + +[606] At one point, as J. S. Mill notes, he speaks of an 'unsatisfied +desire' as a motive, which seems to indicate a present feeling; but +this is not his usual view.--_Analysis_, ii. 361, 377 _n._ + +[607] _Analysis_, ii. 233 _n._ Mill adds that though his father +explains the 'intellectual,' he does not explain the 'animal' element +in the affections. This, however, is irrelevant for my purpose. + +[608] _Fragment_, pp. 51-52. + +[609] _Analysis_, ii. 292-300; _Fragment_, pp. 247-65. Note Mill's +interpretation of this theory of 'praiseworthiness.'--_Analysis_, ii. +298 _n._ + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +RELIGION + + +I. PHILIP BEAUCHAMP + +The application of Mill's _Analysis_ to the views of orthodox +theologians required, one might have supposed, as little +interpretation as a slap in the face. But a respectable philosopher +may lay down what premises he pleases if he does not avowedly draw his +conclusions. Mill could argue in perfect safety against the +foundations of theology, while Richard Carlile was being sent to gaol +again and again for attacking the superstructure. The Utilitarians +thought themselves justified in taking advantage of the illogicality +of mankind. Whether it was that the ruling powers had no philosophical +principles themselves, or that they did not see what inferences would +follow, or that they thought that the average person was incapable of +drawing inferences, they drew the line at this point. You may openly +maintain doctrines inconsistent with all theology, but you must not +point out the inconsistency. The Utilitarians contented themselves +with sapping the fort instead of risking an open assault. If its +defenders were blind to the obvious consequences of the procedure, so +much the better. In private, there was obviously no want of plain +speaking. In Bentham's MSS. the Christian religion is nicknamed 'Jug' +as the short for 'Juggernaut.' He and his friends were as anxious as +Voltaire to crush the 'infamous,' but they would do it by indirect +means. They argued resolutely for more freedom; and Samuel Bailey's +essay upon the formation of opinions--a vigorous argument on behalf of +the widest possible toleration--was enthusiastically praised by James +Mill in the _Westminster Review_. For the present they carefully +abstained from the direct avowal of obnoxious opinions, which were +still legally punishable, and which would undoubtedly excite the +strongest hostility. Bentham, as we have seen, had ventured, though +anonymously, to assail the church catechism and to cross-examine St. +Paul. One remarkable manifesto gave a fuller utterance to his +opinions. A book called _The Analysis of the Influence of Natural +Religion on the Temporal Happiness of Mankind_, by 'Philip Beauchamp,' +appeared in 1822. The publisher was Richard Carlile, who was then +'safe in Dorchester gaol.' No legal notice was taken of 'Philip +Beauchamp.' The reason may have been that the book excited very little +attention in general. Yet it is probably as forcible an attack as has +often been written upon the popular theology. The name of 'Philip +Beauchamp' covered a combination of Bentham and George Grote.[610] The +book, therefore, represents the view of representative Utilitarians of +the first and third generation, and clearly expressed the real +opinions of the whole party. In his posthumous essays J. S. Mill +speaks of it as the only explicit discussion known to him of the +question of the utility, as distinguished from the question of the +truth, of religion. Obviously, it was desirable to apply the universal +test to religious belief, and this very pithy and condensed statement +shows the result. + +A short summary may indicate the essence of the argument. It is only +necessary to observe that the phrase 'natural religion' is part of the +disguise. It enables the author to avoid an explicit attack upon +revelation; but it is superabundantly obvious that the word 'natural' +is superfluous. Revelation is really a fiction, and all religions are +'natural.' A religion is called a 'superstition,' as 'Philip +Beauchamp' remarks at starting, when its results are thought to be +bad; and allowed to be a religion only when they are thought to be +good.[611] That device covers the familiar fallacy of distinguishing +between uses and abuses, and, upon that pretence, omitting to take bad +consequences into account. We must avoid it by defining religion and +then tracing all the consequences, good or bad. Religion is +accordingly taken to mean the belief in the existence of 'an Almighty +Being, by whom pains and pleasures will be dispensed to mankind during +an infinite and future state of existence.' The definition is already +characteristic. 'Religion' may be used in a far wider sense, +corresponding to a philosophy of the universe, whether that +philosophy does or does not include this particular doctrine. But +'Philip Beauchamp's' assumption is convenient because it gives a +rational reasoning to the problem of utility. Religion is taken to be +something adventitious or superimposed upon other beliefs, and we can +therefore intelligibly ask whether it does good or harm. Taking this +definition for granted, let us consider the results. + +The first point is that we are of necessity in absolute ignorance as +to a posthumous state. Now, fear is from our earliest infancy the +'never-failing companion and offspring of ignorance.' Knowledge alone +can rescue us from perpetual suffering, because all security depends +upon knowledge. Pain, moreover, is far more 'pungent' and distinct +than pleasure. 'Want and pain are natural; satisfaction and pleasure +artificial and invented.' Pain, therefore, as the strongest, will +dictate our anticipations. The hope of immortality is by the orthodox +described as a blessing; but the truth, deducible from these +principles of human nature and verified by experience, is that natural +religion, instead of soothing apprehensions, adds fresh grounds of +apprehension. A revelation, as 'Philip Beauchamp' admits, might +conceivably dispel our fears; but he would obviously say that the +religion which is taken to be revealed gives a far more vivid picture +of hell than of heaven.[612] In the next place, it is 'obvious at +first sight' that natural religion can properly give 'no rule of +guidance.' It refers us to a region of 'desperate and unfathomable' +darkness.[613] But it nevertheless indirectly suggests a pernicious +rule. It rests entirely upon conjectures as to the character of the +invisible Being who apportions pain or pleasure for inscrutable +reasons. Will this Being be expected to approve useful or pernicious +conduct? From men's language we might suppose that he is thought to be +purely benevolent. Yet from their dogmas it would seem that he is a +capricious tyrant. How are we to explain the discrepancy? The +discrepancy is the infallible result of the circumstances already +stated.[614] The Deity has limitless power, and therefore is the +natural object of our instinctive fears. The character of the Deity is +absolutely incomprehensible, and incomprehensibility in human affairs +is identical with caprice and insanity.[615] The ends and the means of +the Deity are alike beyond our knowledge; and the extremes both of +wisdom and of folly are equally unaccountable. Now, we praise or blame +human beings in order to affect their conduct towards us, to attract +favours or repel injuries. A tyrant possessed of unlimited power +considers that by simple abstinence from injury he deserves boundless +gratitude. The weak will only dare to praise, and the strong will only +blame. The slave-owner never praises and the slave never blames, +because one can use the lash while the other is subject to the lash. +If, then, we regard the invisible Being as a capricious despot, and, +moreover, as a despot who knows every word we utter, we shall never +speak of him without the highest eulogy, just because we attribute to +him the most arbitrary tyranny. Hence, the invisible despot will +specially favour the priests whose lives are devoted to supporting his +authority, and, next to priests, those who, by the practice of +ceremonies painful or useless to themselves, show that their sole aim +is to give him pleasure. He will specially detest the atheists, and, +next to atheists, all who venture to disregard his arbitrary laws. A +human judge may be benevolent, because he is responsible to the +community. They give and can take away his power. But the invisible +and irresponsible ruler will have no motives for benevolence, and +approve conduct pernicious to men because it is the best proof of a +complete subservience to himself.[616] In spite of this, it has been +generally asserted that religion supplies a motive, and the only +adequate motive, to moral conduct. But the decay of religion would +leave the sources of pain and pleasure unchanged. To say, then, that +the conduct prescribed by religion would disappear if the religious +motives were removed is virtually to admit that it produces no +'temporal benefit.' Otherwise, the motives for practising such conduct +would not be affected. In fact, morality is the same in all countries, +though the injunctions of religion are various and contradictory. If +religion ordered only what is useful, it would coincide with human +laws, and be at worst superfluous. As a fact, it condemns the most +harmless pleasures, such as the worst of human legislators have never +sought to suppress. People have become tolerant, that is, they have +refused to enforce religious observances, precisely because they have +seen that such observances cannot be represented as conducive to +temporal happiness. + +Duty, again, may be divided into duty to God and duty to man. Our +'duty to God' is a 'deduction from the pleasures of the individual +without at all benefiting the species.' It must therefore be taken as +a tax paid for the efficacy supposed to be communicated to the other +branch--the 'duty to man.'[617] Does religion, then, stimulate our +obedience to the code of duty to man? 'Philip Beauchamp' admits for +once that, in certain cases, it '_might possibly_' be useful. It might +affect 'secret crimes,' that is, crimes where the offender is +undiscoverable. That, however, is a trifle. These cases, he thinks, +would be 'uncommonly rare' under a well-conceived system. The extent +of evil in this life would therefore be trifling were superhuman +inducements entirely effaced from the human bosom, and if 'human +institutions were ameliorated according to the progress of +philosophy.'[618] On the other hand, the imaginary punishments are +singularly defective in the qualities upon which Bentham had insisted +in human legislation. They are remote and uncertain, and to make up +for this are represented as boundless in intensity and durability. For +that reason, they precisely reverse the admitted principle that +punishment should be so devised as to produce the greatest possible +effect by the smallest infliction of pain. Supernatural sanctions are +supposed to maximise pain with a minimum of effect. The fear of hell +rarely produces any effect till a man is dying, and then inflicts +great suffering, though it has been totally inefficient as a +preventive at the time of temptation. The influence of supernatural +penalties is therefore in 'an inverse ratio to the demand for +it.'[619] In reality, the efficacy of the sanctions is due to their +dependence upon public opinion. Our real motive for acting rightly is +our desire for the praise of our fellows and our interest in their +good conduct. We conceal this motive even from ourselves, because we +wish to have the credit of serving the Deity exclusively. This is +confirmed by the familiar instances of a conflict between public +opinion and religious sanctions. Duelling, fornication, and perjury +are forbidden by the divine law, but the prohibition is ineffectual +whenever the real sentiment of mankind is opposed to it. The divine +law is set aside as soon as it conflicts with the popular opinion. In +exceptional cases, indeed, the credit attached to unreasonable +practices leads to fanaticism, asceticism, and even insanity; but +superhuman terrors fail at once when they try to curb the action of +genuine substantial motives. Hence we must admit that they are useless +in the case even of 'secret crimes.' Religion, in short, prescribes +mischievous practices, becomes impotent except for the production of +misery, and is really, though not avowedly, dependent on the popular +sanction.[620] + +We can now classify the evils actually produced. Religion injures +individuals by prescribing useless and painful practices: fasting, +celibacy, voluntary self-torture, and so forth. It suggests vague +terrors which often drive the victim to insanity, and it causes +remorse for harmless enjoyments.[621] Religion injures society by +creating antipathies against unbelievers, and in a less degree against +heretics and nonconformists. It perverts public opinion by making +innocent actions blameable; by distorting the whole science of +morality and sanctioning the heterogeneous dictates of a certain blind +and unaccountable impulse called the 'moral instinct or +conscience.'[622] Morality becomes a 'mere catalogue of reigning +sentiments,' because it has cast away the standard of utility. A +special aversion to improvement is generated, because whatever +changes our conceptions of the 'sequences of phenomena' is supposed to +break the divine 'laws of nature.' 'Unnatural' becomes a +'self-justifying' epithet forbidding any proposed change of conduct, +which will counteract the 'designs of God.' Religion necessarily +injures intellectual progress. It disjoins belief from its only safe +ground, experience. The very basis, the belief in an inscrutable and +arbitrary power, sanctions supernatural or 'extra-experimental' +beliefs of all kinds. You reject in the case of miracles all the tests +applicable to ordinary instruction, and appeal to trial by ordeal +instead of listening to witnesses. Instead of taking the trouble to +plough and sow, you expect to get a harvest by praying to an +inscrutable Being. You marry without means, because you hold that God +never sends a child without sending food for it to eat. Meanwhile you +suborn 'unwarranted belief' by making belief a matter of reward and +penalty. It is made a duty to dwell upon the arguments upon one side +without attending to those upon the other, and 'the weaker the +evidence the greater the merit in believing.'[623] The temper is +depraved not only by the antipathies generated, but by the 'fitful and +intermittent character' of the inducements to conduct.[624] + +The final result of all this is still more serious. It is that +religion, besides each separate mischief, 'subsidises a standing army +for the perpetuation of all the rest.'[625] The priest gains power as +a 'wonder-worker,' who knows how to propitiate the invisible Being, +and has a direct interest in 'depraving the intellect,' cherishing +superstition, surrounding himself with mysteries, representing the +will of the Deity as arbitrary and capricious, and forming an +organised 'array of human force and fraud.'[626] The priesthood sets +up an infallible head, imposes upon the weak and dying, stimulates +antipathy, forms the mass of 'extra-experimental' beliefs into the +likeness of a science, and allies itself with the state. Heresy +becomes a crime. The ruler helps the priests to raise a tax for their +own comfort, while they repay him by suppressing all seditious +opinions. Thus is formed an unholy alliance between the authorities of +'natural religion' and the 'sinister interests of the earth.' The +alliance is so complete that it is even more efficient than if it had +been openly proclaimed. 'Prostration and plunder of the community is +indeed the common end of both' (priests and rulers). The only chance +of dissension is about the 'partition of the spoil.'[627] + +The book is as characteristic of the Utilitarians in style as in +spirit. It is terse, vigorous reasoning, with no mere rhetorical +flourishes. The consequences of the leading principle are deduced +without flinching and without reserve. Had the authors given their +names, they would no doubt have excited antipathies injurious to the +propaganda of Utilitarianism. They held, for that reason presumably, +that they were not bound to point out the ultimate goal of their +speculations. No intelligent reader of their other writings could fail +to see what that goal must be; but an 'open secret' is still for many +purposes a real secret. Whatever might be the suspicions of their +antagonists, they could only be accused of a tendency. The book +amounts to an admission that the suspicions were well founded. +Utilitarianism, the Utilitarians clearly recognised, logically implied +the rejection of all theology. Religion--on their understanding of the +word--must, like everything else, be tested by its utility, and it was +shown to be either useless or absolutely pernicious. The aim of the +Utilitarians was, in brief, to be thoroughly scientific. The man of +science must be opposed to the belief in an inscrutable agent of +boundless power, interfering at every point with the laws of nature, +and a product of the fancy instead of the reason. Such a conception, +so far as accepted, makes all theory of human conduct impossible, +suggests rules conflicting with the supreme rule of utility, and gives +authority to every kind of delusion, imposture, and 'sinister +interest.' + +It would, I think, be difficult to mention a more vigorous discussion +of the problem stated. As anonymous, it could be ignored instead of +answered; and probably such orthodox persons as read it assumed it to +be a kind of _reductio ad absurdum_ of the Utilitarian creed. It might +follow, they could admit, logically from the Utilitarian analysis of +human nature, but it could only prove that the analysis was +fundamentally wrong. Yet its real significance is precisely its +thorough applicability to the contemporary state of opinion. +Beauchamp's definition coincides with Paley's. The coincidence was +inevitable. Utilitarians both in ethical and philosophical questions +start from the same assumptions as Paley, and the Paley doctrine gave +the pith of the dominant theology. I have observed that the Scottish +philosophers had abandoned the _a priori_ argument, and laid the whole +stress of their theological doctrine upon Paley's argument from final +causes. The change of base was an inevitable consequence of their +whole system. They appealed to experience, to 'Baconian' methods, and +to 'inductive psychology.' The theory of 'intuitions,' effective where +it fell in with admitted beliefs, was idle against an atheist, who +denied that he had the intuition. The 'final causes' argument, +however, rested upon common ground, and supplied a possible line of +defence. The existence of the Deity could perhaps be proved +empirically, like the existence of the 'watchmaker.' Accordingly, this +was the argument upon which reliance was really placed by the average +theologian of the time. Metaphysical or ontological reasoning had been +discarded for plain common-sense. The famous _Bridgewater Treatises_ +are the characteristic product of the period. It had occurred to the +earl of Bridgewater, who died in 1829, that L8000 from his estate +might be judiciously spent in proving the existence of a benevolent +creator. The council of the Royal Society employed eight eminent men +of science to carry out this design.[628] They wrote some interesting +manuals of popular science, interspersed with proper theological +applications. The arguments were sincere enough, though they now seem +to overlook with singular blindness the answer which would be +suggested by the 'evolutionist.' The logical result is, in any case, a +purely empirical theology. The religion which emerges is not a +philosophy or theory of the world in general, but corresponds to a +belief in certain matters of fact (or fiction). The existence of the +Deity is to be proved, like the existence of Caesar, by special +evidence. + +The main results are obvious. The logical base of the whole creed is +'natural theology,' and 'natural theology' is simply a branch of +science, amenable to the ordinary scientific tests. It is intended to +prove the existence of an agent essential to the working of the +machinery, as from the movements of a planet we infer the existence of +a disturbing planet. The argument from design, in this acceptation, is +briefly mentioned by 'Philip Beauchamp.' It is, he argues, 'completely +extra-experimental'; for experience only reveals design in living +beings: it supposes a pre-existing chaos which can never be shown to +have existed, and the 'omnipotent will' introduced to explain the +facts is really no explanation at all, but a collection of meaningless +words.[629] The argument is briefly dismissed as concerning the truth, +not the utility, of religion, but one point is sufficiently indicated. +The argument from 'design' is always plausible, because it applies +reasoning undeniably valid when it is applied within its proper +sphere. The inference from a watch to a watchmaker is clearly +conclusive. We know sufficiently what is meant by the watchmaker and +by 'making.' We therefore reason to a _vera causa_--an agent already +known. When the inference is to the action of an inconceivable Being +performing an inconceivable operation upon inconceivable materials, it +really becomes illusory, or amounts to the simple assertion that the +phenomenon is inexplicable. Therefore, again, it is essentially +opposed to science though claiming to be scientific. The action of +the creator is supposed to begin where the possibility of knowledge +ends. It is just the inexplicable element which suggests the creative +agency. Conversely, the satisfactory explanation of any phenomenon +takes it out of the theological sphere. As soon as the process becomes +'natural' it ceases to demand the supernatural artificer. 'Making,' +therefore, is contradistinguished from 'growing.' If we see how the +eye has come into existence, we have no longer any reason to assume +that it was put together mechanically. In other words, 'teleology' of +this variety is dispelled by theories of evolution. The hypothesis of +interference becomes needless when we see how things came to be by +working out perfectly natural processes. As science, therefore, +expands, theology recedes. This was to become more evident at a later +period. For the present, the teleological argument in the Paley form, +triumphantly set forth in Bridgewater Treatises and the like, rested +the defence of theology on the proofs of the discontinuity of the +universe and the consequent necessity for admitting supernatural +interference. Science was therefore invoked to place absolute limits +on its own progress. + +But other vital difficulties were already felt. The argument from +contrivance naturally implies limitation. The maker of a machine is +strictly limited by the properties of the matter upon which he works. +The inference might be verbally saved by saying that the maker was +'potentially' omnipotent; but the argument, so far as it goes, is more +easily satisfied by the hypothesis of a Being of great but still +limited powers. The Deity so proved, if the proof be valid, is not +himself the ground of the universe, the source from which nature +itself emanates, as well as the special laws of nature, but a part of +the whole system; interfering, guiding, and controlling, but still +only one of the powers which contribute to the formation of the whole. +Hence arise questions which theologians rather evaded than attempted +to answer. If with the help of Paley we can prove the existence of an +invisible Being--potentially omnipotent, though always operating as +though limited--there would still remain the question as to his +attributes. He is skilful, we may grant, but is he benevolent or is he +moral? The benevolence could of course be asserted by optimists, if +facts were amenable to rhetoric. But a theory which is essentially +scientific or empirical, and consistently argues from the effect to +the cause, must start from an impartial view of the facts, and must +make no presupposition as to the nature of the cause. The cause is +known only through the effects, and our judgment of them cannot be +modified by simply discovering that they are caused. If, then, +contrivance is as manifest in disease as in health, in all the +sufferings which afflict mankind as well as in the pleasures which +solace him, we must either admit that the creator is not benevolent, +or frankly admit that he is not omnipotent and fall into Manichaeism. +Nature, we are frequently told, is indifferent if not cruel; and +though Paley and his followers choose to shut their eyes to ugly +facts, it could be only by sacrificing their logic. They were bound to +prove from observation that the world was so designed as to secure the +'greatest happiness' before they could logically infer a purely +benevolent designer. It was of the very essence of their position that +observed facts should be the ultimate basis of the whole theory; and +to alter the primary data by virtue of deductions drawn from them +could obviously not be logically justifiable. + +Such reflections, though sufficiently obvious, might be too far from +practical application to have much immediate effect. But the question +of the moral bearing of theology was of more interest; and, here, the +coincidence of the Utilitarianism with the accepted theology of the +day is especially important. The Deity regarded as the artificer +appears to be far from purely benevolent. In respect to morality, is +he not simply indifferent? Does he not make men fragile and place them +amidst pitfalls? Does he not constantly slay the virtuous and save the +wicked? How, indeed, from the purely empirical or scientific base, do +you deduce any moral attributes whatever? 'Natural theology,' as it +was called, might reveal a contriver, but could it reveal a judge or a +moral guide? Here the difficulty of a purely matter-of-fact theology +made itself felt on many sides. The remarkable influence of Butler +upon many minds was partly due to a perception of this omission. +Butler avowedly appeals to the conscience, and therefore at least +recognises God as directly revealed in a moral character. That seemed +to supply a gap in the ordinary theology. But in the purely empirical +view Butler's argument was untenable. It appealed to one of the +'intuitions' which were incompatible with its fundamental assumptions. +The compunctions of conscience were facts to be explained by +'association,' not to be regarded as intimations of wrath. Butler's +view might be inverted. The 'conscience' does, in truth, suggest the +divine wrath; but that only means that it suggests the quack remedies +upon which 'wonder-working' priests establish their power. Instead of +proving the truth of the religion, it explains the origin of +superstition. To James Mill, as we have seen, Butler's argument would +logically prove not a righteous governor but a cruel creator. +Theologians, again, of the Paley school, were bound in consistency to +the empirical or Utilitarian view of morality. Paley accepted the +consequences unreservedly; and if such philosophers as Brown and +Mackintosh persisted in regarding the coincidence between morality and +happiness as indicative of a pre-established harmony, not of an +identification of morality with the pursuit of general happiness, they +still admitted that 'utility' was the 'criterion' of morality. The +moral law, that is, coincides in its substance with the law, 'maximise +happiness,' and happiness means, as 'Philip Beauchamp' calls it, +'temporal' happiness--the happiness of actual men living in this world +and knowing nothing of any external world. How, then, is the moral law +related to theology? To know what is moral, we must appeal to +experience and 'utility.' We must discover what makes for happiness, +just as in medicine we must discover what makes for health or +pleasure, by the ordinary methods of observation. What place is left +for any supernatural intervention? The ostensible answer was that +though the moral code could be deduced from its utility, the motives +by which it was to be enforced required some supernatural agency. The +natural man might see what was right, but need not therefore do what +was right. Here 'Philip Beauchamp' comes to a direct issue with the +theologians. He denies that the supernatural motive will be on the +side of morality. When J. S. Mill remarked that there had been few +discussions of the 'utility' as distinguished from the truth of +religion, he scarcely recognises one conspicuous fact. The great +argument of divines had always been the absolute necessity of religion +to morality; and if morality be understood to mean utility, this is +simply an argument from utility. The point, indeed, was often taken +for granted; but it certainly represents one of the strongest +persuasives, if not one of the strongest reasons. The divines, in +fact, asserted that religion was of the highest utility as supplying +the motive for moral conduct. What motives, then, can be derived from +such knowledge of the Deity as is attainable from the 'Natural +theology' argument? How can we prove from it that he who puts the +world together is more favourable to the virtues than to the vices +which are its results; or, if more favourable, that he shows any other +favour than can be inferred from experience? He has, it is agreed, put +men, as Bentham had said, under the command of two sovereign masters, +Pleasure and Pain; and has enabled them to calculate consequences, and +therefore to seek future pleasure and avoid future pain. That only +proves that we can increase our happiness by prudence; but it suggests +no additional reasons either for seeking happiness or for altering our +estimate of happiness. As 'Philip Beauchamp' argues, we cannot from +the purely empirical ground get any motive for taking into account +anything beyond our 'temporal' or secular interests. This, again, was +in fact admitted by Paley. His mode of escape from the dilemma is +familiar. The existence of a supreme artificer is inferred from the +interventions in the general order of nature. The existence of a moral +ruler, or the fact that the ruler approves morality, is inferred from +his interference by the particular manifestations of power which we +call miraculous. We know that actions will have other consequences +than those which can be inferred from our own experience, because some +two thousand years ago a Being appeared who could raise the dead and +heal the sick. If sufficient evidence of the fact be forthcoming, we +are entitled to say upon his authority that the wicked will be damned +and the virtuous go to heaven. Obedience to the law enforced by these +sanctions is obviously prudent, and constitutes the true _differentia_ +of moral conduct. Virtue, according to the famous definition, is doing +good 'for the sake of everlasting happiness.' The downright bluntness +with which Paley announced these conclusions startled contemporaries, +and yet it must be admitted that they were a natural outcome of his +position. + +In short, the theological position of the Paley school and the +Utilitarian position of 'Philip Beauchamp' start from the common +ground of experience. Religion means the knowledge of certain facts, +which are to be inferred from appropriate evidence. It does not modify +the whole system of thought, but simply adds certain corollaries; and +the whole question is whether the corollaries are or are not proved by +legitimate reasoning. Can we discover heaven and hell as we discovered +America? Can observation of nature reveal to us a supernatural world?' +The first difficulty is that the argument for natural theology has to +rest upon interference, not upon order, and therefore comes into +conflict with the first principles of scientific procedure. The Deity +is revealed not by the rational but by the arbitrary; and the more the +world is explained, the less the proof that he exists, because the +narrower the sphere of his action. Then, as such a Deity, even if +proved, is not proved to be benevolent or moral, we have to rely for +the moral element upon the evidence of 'miracles,' that is, again, of +certain interruptions of order. The scientific tendency more or less +embodied in Protestantism, so far as it appealed to reason or to +'private judgment,' had, moreover, made it necessary to relegate +miracles to a remote period, while denying them at the present. To +prove at once that there are no miracles now, and that there were a +few miracles two thousand years ago, was really hopeless. In fact, the +argument had come to be stated in an artificial form which had no real +relation to the facts. If the apostles had been a jury convinced by a +careful legal examination of the evidence; if they had pronounced +their verdict, in spite of the knowledge that they would be put to +death for finding it, there would have been some force in Paley's +argument. But then they had not. To assume such an origin for any +religion implied a total misconception of the facts. Paley assumed +that the apostles resembled twelve respectable deans of Carlisle +solemnly declaring, in spite of the most appalling threats, that John +Wesley had been proved to have risen from the dead. Paley might +plausibly urge that such an event would require a miracle. But, +meanwhile, his argument appeared to rest the whole case for morality +and religion upon this narrow and perilous base. We can only know that +it is our interest to be moral if we know of heaven and hell; and we +only know of heaven and hell if we accept the evidence of miracles, +and infer that the worker of miracles had supernatural sources of +information. The moral difficulty which emerges is obvious. The Paley +conception of the Deity is, in fact, coincident with Bentham's +conception of the sovereign. He is simply an invisible sovereign, +operating by tremendous sanctions. The sanctions are 'external,' that +is to say, pains and pleasures, annexed to conduct by the volition of +the sovereign, not intrinsic consequences of the conduct itself. Such +a conception, thoroughly carried through, makes the relation between +religion and morality essentially arbitrary. Moreover, if with 'Philip +Beauchamp' we regard the miracle argument as obviously insufficient, +and consider what are the attributes really attributed to the +sovereign, we must admit that they suggest such a system as he +describes rather than the revelation of an all-wise and benevolent +ruler. It is true, as 'Philip Beauchamp' argues, that the system has +all the faults of the worst human legislation; that the punishment is +made atrociously--indeed infinitely--severe to compensate for its +uncertainty and remoteness; and that (as he would clearly add), to +prevent it from shocking and stunning the intellect, it is regarded as +remissible in consideration of vicarious suffering. If, then, the +religion is really what its dogmas declare, it is easier to assume +that it represents the cunning of a priesthood operating upon the +blind fears and wild imaginations of an inaccessible world; and the +ostensible proofs of a divine origin resting upon miraculous proofs +are not worth consideration. It professes to be a sanction to all +morality, but is forced to construct a mythology which outrages all +moral considerations. Taken as a serious statement of fact, the +anthropomorphism of the vulgar belief was open to the objections which +Socrates brought against the Pagan mythology. The supreme ruler was +virtually represented as arbitrary, cruel, and despotic. + +If we ask the question, whether in point of fact the religion attacked +by 'Philip Beauchamp' fairly represented the religion of the day, we +should have, of course, to admit that it was in one sense a gross +caricature. If, that is, we asked what were the real roots of the +religious zeal of Wilberforce and the Evangelicals, or of the +philanthropists with whom even James Mill managed to associate on +friendly terms, it would be the height of injustice to assume that +they tried to do good simply from fear of hell and hope of heaven, or +that their belief in Christianity was due to a study of Paley's +_Evidences_. Their real motives were far nobler: genuine hatred of +injustice and sympathy for suffering, joined to the conviction that +the sects to which they belonged were working on the side of justice +and happiness; while the creeds which they accepted were somehow +congenial to their best feelings, and enabled them to give utterance +to their deepest emotions. But when they had to give a ground for that +belief they could make no adequate defence. They were better than +their ostensible creed, because the connection of their creed with +their morality was really arbitrary and traditional. We must always +distinguish between the causes of strong convictions and the reasons +officially assigned for them. The religious creed, as distinguished +from the religious sentiment, was really traditional, and rested upon +the simple fact that it was congenial to the general frame of mind. +Its philosophy meanwhile had become hopelessly incoherent. It wished +to be sensible, and admitted in principle the right of 'private +judgment' or rationalism so far as consistent with Protestantism. The +effect had been that in substance it had become Utilitarian and +empirical; while it had yet insisted upon holding on to the +essentially irrational element. + +The religious tradition was becoming untenable in this sense at the +same time as the political tradition. If radicalism in both were to be +effectually resisted, some better foundation must be found for +conservatism. I should be tempted to say that a critical period was +approaching, did I not admit that every period can always be described +as critical. In fact, however, thoughtful people, perceiving on the +one hand that the foundations of their creed were shaking, and yet +holding it to be essential to their happiness, began to take a new +position. The 'Oxford movement,' started soon afterwards, implied a +conviction that the old Protestant position was as untenable as the +radical asserted. Its adherents attempted to find a living and visible +body whose supernatural authority might maintain the old dogmatic +system. Liberal thinkers endeavoured to spiritualise the creed and +prove its essential truths by philosophy, independently of the +particular historical evidence. The popular tendency was to admit in +substance that the dogmas most assailed were in fact immoral: but to +put them into the background, or, if necessary, to explain them away. +The stress was to be laid not upon miracles, but upon the moral +elevation of Christianity or the beauty of character of its founder. +The 'unsectarian' religion, represented in the most characteristic +writings of the next generation, in Tennyson and Browning, Thackeray +and Dickens, reflects this view. Such men detested the coarse and +brutalising dogmas which might be expounded as the true 'scheme of +salvation' by ignorant preachers seeking to rouse sluggish natures to +excitement; but they held to religious conceptions which, as they +thought, really underlay these disturbing images, and which, indeed, +could hardly be expressed in any more definite form than that of a +hope or a general attitude of the whole character. The problem seemed +to be whether we shall support a dogmatic system by recognising a +living spiritual authority, or frankly accept reason as the sole +authority, and, while explaining away the repulsive dogmas, try to +retain the real essence of religious belief. + + +II. CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT + +If I were writing a general history of opinion, it would be necessary +to discuss the views of Mill's English contemporaries; to note their +attitude in regard to the Utilitarian position, and point out how they +prepared the way for the later developments of thought. The +Utilitarians were opposed to a vague sentiment rather than to any +definite system. They were a small and a very unpopular sect. They +excited antipathy on all sides. As advocating republicanism, they were +hardly more disliked by the Tories, who directly opposed them, than by +the Whigs, who might be suspected of complicity. As enthusiastic +political economists, they were equally detested by sentimental +Radicals, Socialists, and by all who desired a strong government, +whether for the suppression of social evils or the maintenance of +social abuses. And now, as suspected of atheism, they were hated by +theologians. But though the Utilitarians were on all sides condemned +and denounced, they were met by no definite and coherent scheme of +philosophy. The philosophy of Stewart and Brown had at least a strong +drift in their direction. Though 'political economy' was denounced in +general terms, all who spoke with authority accepted Adam Smith. Their +political opponents generally did not so much oppose their theories as +object to theory in general. The Utilitarian system might be both +imperfect and dogmatic; but it had scarcely to contend with any clear +and assignable rival. The dislike of Englishmen to any systematic +philosophy, whether founded upon the national character or chiefly due +to special conditions, was still conspicuous outside of the small +Utilitarian camp. + +To discover, therefore, the true position of contemporary opinion, we +should have to look elsewhere. Instead of seeking for the philosophers +who did not exist, we should have to examine the men of letters who +expressed the general tendencies. In Germany, philosophical theories +may be held to represent the true drift of the national mind, and a +historian of German thought would inquire into the various systems +elaborated by professors of philosophy. He would at least be in no +want of materials for definite logical statements. In England, there +was no such intellectual movement. There we should have to consider +poetry and literature; to read Wordsworth and Coleridge, Scott and +Byron and Shelley, if we would know what men were really thinking and +feeling. The difficulty is, of course, that none of these men, unless +Coleridge be an exception, had any conscious or systematic philosophy. +We can only ask, therefore, what they would have said if they had +been requested to justify their views by abstract reasoning; and that +is a rather conjectural and indefinite enterprise. It lies, +fortunately, outside of my field; and it will be enough if I try to +suggest one or two sufficiently vague hints. In the first place, the +contrast between the Utilitarians and their opponents may almost be +identified with the contrast between the prosaic and the poetical +aspects of the world in general. Bentham frankly objected to poetry in +general. It proved nothing. The true Utilitarian was the man who held +on to fact, and to nothing but the barest, most naked and unadorned +fact. Poetry in general came within the sweep of his denunciations of +'sentimentalism' and 'vague generalities.' It was the 'production of a +rude age'; the silly jingling which might be suitable to savages, but +was needless for the grown-up man, and was destined to disappear along +with the whole rubbish of mythology and superstition in whose service +it had been enlisted. There is indeed a natural sympathy between any +serious view of life and a distrust of the aesthetic tendencies. +Theologians of many different types have condemned men for dallying +with the merely pleasurable, when they ought to be preoccupied with +the great ethical problems or the safety of their souls. James Mill +had enough of the old Puritan in him to sympathise with Carlyle's +aspiration, 'May the devil fly away with the fine arts!' To such men +it was difficult to distinguish between fiction and lying; and if some +concession might be made to human weakness, poets and novelists might +supply the relaxations and serve to fill up the intervals of life, but +must be sternly excluded if they tried to intrude into serious +studies. Somehow love of the beautiful only interfered with the +scientific investigation of hard facts. + +Poets, indeed, may take the side of reform, or may perhaps be +naturally expected to take that side. The idealist and the dreamer +should be attracted most powerfully by the visions of a better world +and the restoration of the golden age. Shelley was among the most +enthusiastic prophets of the coming era. His words, he hoped, were to +be 'the trumpet of a prophecy' to 'unawakened earth.' Shelley had sat +at the feet of Godwin, and represented that vague metaphysical +dreaming to which the Utilitarians were radically hostile. To the +literary critic, Shelley's power is the more remarkable because from a +flimsy philosophy he span an imaginative tissue of such magical and +marvellous beauty. But Shelley dwelt in an ethereal region, where +ordinary beings found breathing difficult. There facts seemed to +dissolve into thin air instead of supplying a solid and substantial +base. His idealism meant unreality. His 'trumpet' did not in fact +stimulate the mass of mankind, and his fame at this period was +confined to a few young gentlemen of literary refinement. The man who +had really stirred the world was Byron; and if the decline of Byron's +fame has resulted partly from real defects, it is partly due also to +the fact that his poetry was so admirably adapted to his +contemporaries. Byron at least could see facts as clearly as any +Utilitarian, though fact coloured by intense passion. He, like the +Utilitarians, hated solemn platitudes and hypocritical conventions. I +have noticed the point at which he came into contact with Bentham's +disciples. His pathetic death shortly afterwards excited a singularly +strong movement of sympathy. 'The news of his death,' said Carlyle at +the time, 'came upon my heart like a mass of lead; and yet the thought +of it sends a painful twinge through all my being, as if I had lost a +brother.' At a later time he defines Byron as 'a dandy of sorrows and +acquainted with grief.'[630] That hits off one aspect of Byronism. +Byron was the Mirabeau of English literature, in so far as he was at +once a thorough aristocrat and a strong revolutionist. He had the +qualification of a true satirist. His fate was at discord with his +character. He was proud of his order, and yet despised its actual +leaders. He was ready alternately to boast of his vices and to be +conscious that they were degrading. He shocked the respectable world +by mocking 'Satanically,' as they held, at moral conventions, and yet +rather denounced the hypocrisy and the heartlessness of precisians +than insulted the real affections. He covered sympathy with human +suffering under a mask of misanthropy, and attacked war and oppression +in the character of a reckless outlaw. Full of the affectation of a +'dandy,' he was yet rousing all Europe by a cry of pure +sentimentalism. It would be absurd to attribute any definite doctrine +to Byron. His scepticism in religious matters was merely part of a +general revolt against respectability. What he illustrates is the +vague but profound revolutionary sentiment which indicated a belief +that the world seemed to be out of joint, and a vehement protest +against the selfish and stolid conservatism which fancied that the old +order could be preserved in all its fossil institutions and +corresponding dogmas. + +What was the philosophy congenial to Conservatism? There is, of +course, the simple answer, None. Toryism was a 'reaction' due to the +great struggle of the war and the excesses of the revolution. A +'reaction' is a very convenient phrase. We are like our fathers; then +the resemblance is only natural. We differ; then the phrase 'reaction' +makes the alteration explain itself. No doubt, however, there was in +some sense a reaction. Many people changed their minds as the +revolutionary movement failed to fulfil their hopes. I need not argue +now that such men were not necessarily corrupt renegades. I can only +try to indicate the process by which they were led towards certain +philosophical doctrines. Scott, Wordsworth, and Coleridge represent it +enough for my purpose. When Mill was reproaching Englishmen for their +want of interest in history, he pointed out that Thierry, 'the +earliest of the three great French historians' (Guizot and Michelet +are the two others), ascribed his interest in his subject to +_Ivanhoe_.[631] Englishmen read _Ivanhoe_ simply for amusement. +Frenchmen could see that it threw a light upon history, or at least +suggested a great historical problem. Scott, it is often said, was the +first person to teach us that our ancestors were once as much alive as +ourselves. Scott, indeed, the one English writer whose fame upon the +Continent could be compared to Byron's, had clearly no interest in, or +capacity for, abstract speculations. An imaginative power, just +falling short of the higher poetical gift, and a masculine +common-sense were his most conspicuous faculties. The two qualities +were occasionally at issue; his judgment struggled with his +prejudices, and he sympathised too keenly with the active leaders and +concrete causes to care much for any abstract theory. Yet his +influence upon thought, though indirect, was remarkable. The vividness +of his historical painting--inaccurate, no doubt, and delightfully +reckless of dates and facts--stimulated the growing interest in +historical inquiries even in England. His influence in one direction +is recognised by Newman, who was perhaps thinking chiefly of his +mediaevalism.[632] But the historical novels are only one side of +Scott. Patriotic to the core, he lived at a time when patriotic +feeling was stimulated to the utmost, and when Scotland in particular +was still a province, and yet in many ways the most vigorous and +progressive part of a great empire. He represents patriotism +stimulated by contact with cosmopolitan movements. Loving every local +peculiarity, painting every class from the noble to the peasant, +loving the old traditions, and yet sharing the great impulses of the +day, Scott was able to interest the world at large. While the most +faithful portrayer of the special national type, he has too much sense +not to be well aware that picturesque cattle-stealers and Jacobite +chiefs were things of the past; but he loves with his whole heart the +institutions rooted in the past and rich in historical associations. +He transferred to poetry and fiction the political doctrine of Burke. +To him, the revolutionary movement was simply a solvent, corroding all +the old ties because it sapped the old traditions, and tended to +substitute a mob for a nation. The continuity of national life seemed +to him the essential condition; and a nation was not a mere aggregate +of separate individuals, but an ancient organism, developing on an +orderly system--where every man had his rightful place, and the +beggar, as he observes in the _Antiquary_, was as ready as the noble +to rise against foreign invasion. To him, the kings or priests who, to +the revolutionist, represented simple despotism, represented part of a +rough but manly order, in which many virtues were conspicuous and the +governing classes were discharging great functions. Though he did not +use the phrase, the revolutionary or radical view was hateful to him +on account of its 'individualism.' It meant the summary destruction of +all that he cherished most warmly in order to carry out theories +altogether revolting to his common-sense. The very roots of a sound +social order depend upon the traditions and accepted beliefs which +bind together clans or families, and assign to every man a +satisfactory function in life. The vivid realisation of history goes +naturally with a love--excessive or reasonable--of the old order; and +Scott, though writing carelessly to amuse idle readers, was +stimulating the historical conceptions, which, for whatever reason, +were most uncongenial to the Utilitarian as to all the revolutionists. + +The more conscious philosophical application is illustrated by +Wordsworth and Coleridge. Both of them had shared the truly +revolutionary enthusiasm, and both came in time to be classed with the +Tories. Both, as will be seen, had a marked influence upon J. S. Mill. +Wordsworth has written in the _Prelude_ one of the most remarkable of +intellectual autobiographies. He was to be, though he never quite +succeeded in being, a great philosophical poet. He never succeeded, +because, in truth, he was not a great philosopher. But no one has +more clearly indicated the history of his mental evolution. His +sympathy with the revolution was perfectly genuine, but involved a +vast misconception. A sturdy, independent youth, thoroughly imbued +with the instincts of his northern dalesmen, he had early leaned to a +republican sentiment. His dislike of the effete conventionalism of the +literary creed blended with his aversion to the political rule of the +time. He caught the contagion of revolutionary enthusiasm in France, +and was converted by the sight of the 'hunger-bitten' peasant +girl--the victim of aristocratic oppression. 'It is against that,' +said his friend, 'that we are fighting,' and so far Wordsworth was a +convert. The revolution, therefore, meant to him the restoration of an +idyllic state, in which the homely virtues of the independent peasant +should no longer be crushed and deprived of reward by the instruments +of selfish despotism. The outbreak of war put his principles at issue +with his patriotism. He suffered keenly when called upon to triumph +over the calamities of his countrymen. But gradually he came to think +that his sympathies were misplaced. The revolution had not altered +human nature. The atrocities disturbed him, but for a time he could +regard them as a mere accident. As the war went on, he began to +perceive that the new power could be as tyrannical and selfish as the +old. Instead of reconstructing a simple social ideal, it was forming a +military despotism. When the French armies put down the simple Swiss +peasantry, to whom he had been drawn by his home-bred sympathies, he +finally gave up the revolutionary cause. He had gone through a mental +agony, and his distracted sympathies ultimately determined a change +which corresponded to the adoption of a new philosophy. Wordsworth, +indeed, had little taste for abstract logic. He had imbibed Godwin's +doctrine, but when acceptance of Godwin's conclusions involved a +conflict with his strongest affections--the sacrifice not only of his +patriotism but of the sympathies which bound him to his fellows--he +revolted. Godwin represents the extreme of 'individualism,' the +absolute dissolution of all social and political bonds. Wordsworth +escaped, not by discovering a logical defect in the argument, but by +yielding to the protest of his emotions. The system, he thought, was +fatal to all the affections which had made life dear to him; to the +vague 'intimations' which, whatever else they might be, had yet power +to give harmony to our existence. + +By degrees he adopted a new diagnosis of the great political evils. On +one side, he sympathised with Scott's sense of the fatal effects upon +the whole social organism. Among his noblest poems are the 'Brothers' +and 'Michael,' to which he specially called the attention of Fox. They +were intended, he explained, to show the surpassing value of the +domestic affections conspicuous among the shepherds and 'statesmen' of +the northern dales. He had now come to hold that the principles of +Godwin and his like were destructive to the most important elements of +human welfare. The revolutionists were not simply breaking the fetters +of the simple peasant, but destroying the most sacred ties to which +the peasant owed whatever dignity or happiness he possessed. +Revolution, in short, meant anarchy. It meant, therefore, the +destruction of all that gives real value to life. It was, as he held, +one product of the worship of the 'idol proudly named the "wealth of +nations,"'[633] selfishness and greed replacing the old motives to +'plain living and high thinking.' Wordsworth, in short, saw the ugly +side of the industrial revolution, the injury done to domestic life by +the factory system, or the substitution of a proletariate for a +peasantry, and the replacement of the lowest social order by a vast +inorganic mob. The contemporary process, which was leading to +pauperism and to the evils of the factory system, profoundly affected +Wordsworth, as well as the impulsive Southey; and their frequent +denunciations gave colour to the imputations that they were opposed to +all progress. Certainly they were even morbidly alive to the evil +aspects of the political economy of Malthus and Ricardo, which to them +seemed to prescribe insensibility and indifference to most serious and +rapidly accumulating evils. + +Meanwhile, Wordsworth was also impressed by the underlying +philosophical difficulties. The effect of the revolutionary principles +was to destroy the religious sentiment, not simply by disproving this +or that historical statement, but by making the whole world prosaic +and matter-of-fact. His occasional outbursts against the man of +science--the 'fingering slave' who would 'peep and botanise upon his +mother's grave'--are one version of his feeling. The whole scientific +method tended to materialism and atomism; to a breaking up of the +world into disconnected atoms, and losing the life in dissecting the +machinery. His protest is embodied in the pantheism of the noble lines +on Tintern Abbey, and his method of answering might be divined from +the ode on the 'Intimations of Immortality.' Somehow or other the +world represents a spiritual and rational unity, not a mere chaos of +disconnected atoms and fragments. We 'see into the heart of things' +when we trust to our emotions and hold by the instincts, clearly +manifested in childhood, but clouded and overwhelmed in our later +struggles with the world. The essential thing is the cultivation of +our 'moral being,' the careful preservation and assimilation of the +stern sense of duty, which alone makes life bearable and gives a +meaning to the universe. + +Wordsworth, it is plain, was at the very opposite pole from the +Utilitarians. He came to consider that their whole method meant the +dissolution of all that was most vitally sacred, and to hold that the +revolution had attracted his sympathies on false pretences. Yet it is +obvious that, however great the stimulus which he exerted, and however +lofty his highest flights of poetry, he had no distinct theory to +offer. His doctrine undoubtedly was congenial to certain philosophical +views, but was not itself an articulate philosophy. He appeals to +instincts and emotions, not to any definite theory. In a remarkable +letter, Coleridge told Wordsworth why he was disappointed with the +_Excursion_.[634] He had hoped that it would be the 'first and only +true philosophical poem in existence.' Wordsworth was to have started +by exposing the 'sandy sophisms of Locke,' and after exploding Pope's +_Essay on Man_, and showing the vanity of (Erasmus) Darwin's belief in +an 'ourang-outang state,' and explaining the fall of man and the +'scheme of redemption,' to have concluded by 'a grand didactic swell +on the identity of a true philosophy with true religion.' He would +show how life and intelligence were to be substituted for the +'philosophy of mechanism.' Facts would be elevated into theory, theory +into laws, and laws into living and intelligent powers--true idealism +necessarily perfecting itself in realism, and realism refining itself +into idealism.' + +The programme was a large one. If it represents what Coleridge +seriously expected from Wordsworth, it also suggests that he was +unconsciously wandering into an exposition of one of the gigantic but +constantly shifting schemes of a comprehensive philosophy, which he +was always proposing to execute. To try to speak of Coleridge +adequately would be hopeless and out of place. I must briefly mention +him, because he was undoubtedly the most conspicuous representative of +the tendencies opposed to Utilitarianism. The young men who found +Bentham exasperating imbibed draughts of mingled poetry and philosophy +from Coleridge's monologues at Hampstead. Carlyle has told us, in a +famous chapter of his _Life of Sterling_, what they went out to see: +at once a reed shaken by the wind and a great expounder of +transcendental truth. The fact that Coleridge exerted a very great +influence is undeniable. To define precisely what that influence was +is impossible. His writings are a heap of fragments. He contemplated +innumerable schemes for great works, and never got within measurable +distance of writing any. He poured himself out indefinitely upon the +margins of other men's books; and the piety of disciples has collected +a mass of these scattered and incoherent jottings, which announce +conclusions without giving the premises, or suggest difficulties +without attempting to solve them. He seems to have been almost as +industrious as Bentham in writing; but whereas Bentham's fragments +could be put together as wholes, Coleridge's are essentially +distracted hints of views never really elaborated. He was always +thinking, but seems always to be making a fresh start at any point +that strikes him for the moment. Besides all this, there is the +painful question of plagiarism. His most coherent exposition (in the +_Biographia Literaria_) is simply appropriated from Schelling, though +he ascribes the identity to a 'genial coincidence' of thought. I need +make no attempt to make out what Coleridge really thought for himself, +and then to try to put his thoughts together,--and indeed hold the +attempt to be impossible. The most remarkable thing is the apparent +disproportion between Coleridge's definite services to philosophy and +the effect which he certainly produced upon some of his ablest +contemporaries. That seems to prove that he was really aiming at some +important aspect of truth, incapable as he may have been of +definitively reaching it. I can only try to give a hint or two as to +its general nature. Coleridge, in the first place, was essentially a +poet, and, moreover, his poetry was of the type most completely +divorced from philosophy. Nobody could say more emphatically that +poetry should not be rhymed logic; and his most impressive poems are +simply waking dreams. They are spontaneous incarnations of sensuous +imagery, which has no need of morals or definite logical schemes. +Although he expected Wordsworth to transmute philosophy into poetry, +he admitted that the achievement would be unprecedented. Even in +Lucretius, he said, what was poetry was not philosophy, and what was +philosophy was not poetry. Yet Coleridge's philosophy was essentially +the philosophy of a poet. He had, indeed, great dialectical +ingenuity--a faculty which may certainly be allied with the highest +imagination, though it may involve certain temptations. A poet who has +also a mastery of dialectics becomes a mystic in philosophy. Coleridge +had, it seems, been attracted by Plotinus in his schooldays. At a +later period he had been attracted by Hartley, Berkeley, and +Priestley. To a brilliant youth, anxious to be in the van of +intellectual progress, they represented the most advanced theories. +But there could never be a full sympathy between Coleridge and the +forefathers of English empiricism; and he went to Germany partly to +study the new philosophy which was beginning to shine--though very +feebly and intermittingly--in England. When he had returned he began +to read Kant and Schelling, or rather to mix excursions into their +books with the miscellaneous inquiries to which his versatile +intellect attracted him. + +Now, it is abundantly clear that Coleridge never studied any +philosophy systematically. He never acquired a precise acquaintance +with the technical language of various schemes, or cared for their +precise logical relations to each other. The 'genial coincidence' with +Schelling, though an unlucky phrase, represents a real fact. He dipped +into Plotinus or Behmen or Kant or Schelling, or any one who +interested him, and did not know whether they were simply embodying +ideas already in his own mind, or suggesting new ideas; or, what was +probably more accurate, expressing opinions which, in a general way, +were congenial to his own way of contemplating the world. His power of +stimulating other minds proves sufficiently that he frequently hit +upon impressive and suggestive thoughts. He struck out illuminating +sparks, but he never diffused any distinct or steady daylight. His +favourite position, for example, of the distinction between the Reason +and the Understanding is always coming up and being enforced with the +strongest asseverations of its importance. That he had adopted it more +or less from Kant is obvious, though I imagine it to be also obvious +that he did not clearly understand his authority.[635] To what, +precisely, it amounts is also unintelligible to me. Somehow or other, +it implies that the mind can rise into transcendental regions, and, +leaving grovelling Utilitarians and the like to the conduct of the +understanding in matters of practical expediency, can perceive that +the universe is in some way evolved from the pure reason, and the mind +capable of ideas which correspond to stages of the evolution. How this +leads to the conclusions that the Christian doctrines of the Logos and +the Trinity are embodiments of pure philosophy is a problem upon which +I need not touch. When we have called Coleridge a mystic, with flashes +of keen insight into the weakness of the opposite theory, I do not see +how we are to get much further, or attribute to him any articulate and +definite scheme. + +Hopelessly unsystematic as Coleridge may have been, his significance +in regard to the Utilitarians is noteworthy. It is indicated in a +famous article which J. S. Mill contributed to the _Westminster +Review_ in March 1840.[636] Mill's concessions to Coleridge rather +scandalised the faithful; and it is enough to observe here that it +marks the apogee of Mill's Benthamism. Influences, of which I shall +have to speak, had led him to regard his old creed as imperfect, and +to assent to great part of Coleridge's doctrine. Mill does not discuss +the metaphysical or theological views of the opposite school, though +he briefly intimates his dissent. But it is interesting to observe how +Coleridge impressed a disciple of Bentham. The 'Germano-Coleridgian +doctrine,' says Mill, was a reaction against the philosophy of the +eighteenth century: 'ontological,' 'conservative,' 'religious,' +'concrete and historical,' and finally 'poetical,' because the other +was 'experimental,' 'innovative,' 'infidel,' 'abstract and +metaphysical,' and 'matter-of-fact and prosaic.' Yet the two +approximate, and each helps to restore the balance and comes a little +nearer to a final equilibrium. The error of the French philosophers +had been their negative and purely critical tendency. They had thought +that it was enough to sweep away superstition, priestcraft, and +despotism, and that no constructive process was necessary. They had +not perceived the necessity of social discipline, of loyalty to +rulers, or of patriotic feeling among the subjects. They had, +therefore, entirely failed to recognise the historical value of old +creeds and institutions, and had tried to remodel society 'without the +binding forces which hold society together.'[637] Hence, too, the +_philosophes_ came to despise history; and D'Alembert is said to have +wished that all record of past events could be blotted out. Their +theory, in its popular version at least, came to be that states and +churches had been got up 'for the sole purpose of picking people's +pockets.'[638] This had become incredible to any intelligent reasoner, +and any Tory could prove that there was something good in the past. +The peculiarity of the 'Germano-Coleridgian' school was that they saw +beyond the immediate controversy. They were the first to inquire with +any power into 'the inductive laws of the existence and growth of +human society'; the first to recognise the importance of the great +constructive principles; and the first to produce not a piece of party +advocacy, but 'a philosophy of society in the only form in which it is +yet possible, that of a philosophy of history.' Hence arose that +'series of great writers and thinkers, from Herder to Michelet,' who +have given to past history an intelligible place in the gradual +evolution of humanity.[639] This very forcible passage is interesting +in regard to Mill, and shows a very clear perception of some defects +in his own philosophy. It also raises an important question. + +Accepting Mill's view, it is remarkable that the great error of his +own school, which professed to be based upon experience, was the +rejection of history; and the great merit of the _a priori_ and +'intuitionist' school was precisely their insistence upon history. To +this I shall have to return hereafter. Meanwhile, Mill proceeds to +show how Coleridge, by arguing from the 'idea' of church and state, +had at least recognised the necessity of showing that political and +social institutions must have a sufficient reason, and be justified by +something more than mere obstinate prejudice. Men like Pitt and Sir +Robert Peel, if they accepted Coleridge's support, would have to alter +their whole position. Coleridge's defence of his ideal church was at +once the severest satire upon the existing body and a proof, as +against Bentham and Adam Smith, of the advantages of an endowed class +for the cultivation and diffusion of learning. Coleridge, moreover, +though he objected to the Reform Bill, showed himself a better +reformer than Lord John Russell. He admitted what the Whigs refused to +see, the necessity of diminishing the weight of the landowner +interest. Landowners were not to be ultimate sources of power, but to +represent one factor in a reasoned system. In short, by admitting that +all social arrangements in some sense were embodiments of reason, he +admitted that they must also be made to conform to reason. + +Coleridge and Bentham, then, are not really enemies but allies, and +they wield powers which are 'opposite poles of one great force of +progression.'[640] The question, however, remains, how the philosophy +of each leader is really connected with his practical conclusions. +Mill's view would apparently be that Coleridge somehow managed to +correct the errors or fill the gaps of the Utilitarian system--a very +necessary task, as Mill admits--while Coleridge would have held that +those errors were the inevitable fruit of the whole empirical system +of thought. The Reason must be restored to its rightful supremacy over +the Understanding, which had been working its wicked will since the +days of Locke and eighteenth century. The problem is a wide one. I +must be content to remark the inevitable antithesis. Whether enemies +or allies, the Utilitarians and their antagonists were separated by a +gulf which could not be bridged for the time. The men of +common-sense, who had no philosophy at all, were shocked by the +immediate practical applications of Utilitarianism, its hostility to +the old order which they loved, its apparent helplessness in social +questions, its relegation of all progress to the conflict of selfish +interests, its indifference to all the virtues associated with +patriotism and local ties. By more reflective minds, it was condemned +as robbing the world of its poetry, stifling the religious emotions, +and even quenching sentiment in general. The few who wished for a +philosophy found the root of its errors in the assumptions which +reduced the world to a chaos of atoms, outwardly connected and +combined into mere dead mechanism. The world, for the poet and the +philosopher alike, must be not a congeries of separate things, but in +some sense a product of reason. Thought, not fact, must be the +ultimate reality. Unfortunately or otherwise, the poetical sentiment +could never get itself translated into philosophical theory. +Coleridge's random and discursive hints remained mere hints--a +suggestion at best for future thought. Mill's criticism shows how far +they could be assimilated by a singularly candid Utilitarian. To him, +we see, they represented mainly the truth that his own party, +following the general tendency of the eighteenth century, had been led +to neglect the vital importance of the constructive elements of +society; that they had sacrificed order to progress, and therefore +confounded progress with destruction, and failed to perceive the real +importance in past times even of the institutions which had become +obsolete. Social atomism or individualism, therefore, implied a total +misconception of what Mill calls the 'evolution of humanity.' This +marks a critical point. The 'Germano-Coleridgians' had a theory of +evolution. By evolution, indeed, was meant a dialectical evolution; +the evolution of 'ideas' or reason, in which each stage of history +represents a moment of some vast and transcendental process of +thought. Evolution, so understood, seemed rightly or wrongly to be +mere mysticism or intellectual juggling. It took leave of fact, or +managed by some illegitimate process to give to a crude generalisation +from experience the appearance of a purely logical deduction. In this +shape, therefore, it was really opposed to science, although the time +was to come in which evolution would present itself in a scientific +form.[641] Meanwhile, the concessions made by J. S. Mill were not +approved by his fellows, and would have been regarded as little short +of treason by the older Utilitarians. The two schools, if Coleridge's +followers could be called a school, regarded each other's doctrines as +simply contradictory. In appealing to experience and experience alone, +the Utilitarians, as their opponents held, had reduced the world to a +dead mechanism, destroyed every element of cohesion, made society a +struggle of selfish interests, and struck at the very roots of all +order, patriotism, poetry, and religion. They retorted that their +critics were blind adherents of antiquated prejudice, and sought to +cover superstition and despotism either by unprovable dogmatic +assertions, or by taking refuge in a cloudy mystical jargon, which +really meant nothing. + +They did not love each other. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[610] See _Dictionary of National Biography_, under 'George Grote.' +Bentham's MS. is in the British Museum, and shows, I think, that +Grote's share in the work was a good deal more than mere editing. I +quote from a reprint by Truelove (1875). It was also privately +reprinted by Grote himself in 1866. + +[611] Cf. Hobbes's definition: 'Fear of power invisible feigned by the +mind, or imagined from tales publicly allowed, [is] Religion: not +allowed, Superstition. And when the power imagined is truly such as we +imagine, True Religion.'--_Works_ (Molesworth), iii. 45. + +[612] 'Philip Beauchamp,' ch. ii. pp. 11-15. + +[613] _Ibid._ p. 17. + +[614] 'Philip Beauchamp,' p. 21. + +[615] _Ibid._ pp. 22 and 104. + +[616] 'Philip Beauchamp,' ch. iii. + +[617] 'Philip Beauchamp,' ch. iv. + +[618] _Ibid._ p. 45, ch. v. + +[619] _Ibid._ p. 52, ch. vi. + +[620] 'Philip Beauchamp,' ch. viii. + +[621] _Ibid._ part ii. ch. i. + +[622] _Ibid._ p. 80, part ii. ch. ii. + +[623] 'Philip Beauchamp,' pp. 97, 99. + +[624] _Ibid._ p. 101. + +[625] _Ibid._ p. 103. + +[626] 'Philip Beauchamp,' p. 163. + +[627] _Ibid._ p. 122. + +[628] The writers were Chalmers, Kidd, Whewell, Sir Charles Bell, +Roget, Buckland, Kirby, and Prout. The essays appeared from 1833 to +1835. The versatile Brougham shortly afterwards edited Paley's +_Natural Theology_. + +[629] 'Philip Beauchamp,' p. 88. + +[630] Froude's _Carlyle_, i. 215; ii. 93. + +[631] Mill's _Dissertations_, i. 235; ii. 130. + +[632] George Borrow's vehement dislike of Scott as the inventor of +Puseyism and modern Jesuitism of all kinds is characteristic. + +[633] _Prelude_, bk. xiii. + +[634] Coleridge's _Letters_ (1890), pp. 643-49. + +[635] Mr. Hutchison Stirling insists upon this in the _Fortnightly +Review_ for July 1867. He proves, I think, that Coleridge's knowledge +of the various schemes of German philosophy and of the precise +relation of Kant, Fichte, and Schelling was altogether desultory and +confused. How far this is important depends upon whether we attach +much or little importance to precise combinations of words used by +these philosophers. + +[636] _Dissertations_, i. 392-474. + +[637] _Ibid._ i. 424. + +[638] _Dissertations_, i. 437. + +[639] _Ibid._ i. 425-27. + +[640] _Dissertations_, i. 437. + +[641] Coleridge's _Hints towards the Formation of a more Comprehensive +Theory of Life_, edited by S. B. Watson, in 1848, is a curious attempt +to apply his evolution doctrine to natural science. Lewes, in his +_Letters on Comte's Philosophy of the Sciences_, says that it is a +'shameless plagiarism' from Schelling's _Erster Entwurf_, etc. It +seems, as far as I can judge, that Coleridge's doctrines about +magnetism, reproduction, irritability, sensibility, etc., are, in +fact, adapted from Schelling. The book was intended, as Mr. E. H. +Coleridge tells me, for a chapter in a work on Scrophula, projected by +Gillman. As Coleridge died long before the publication, he cannot be +directly responsible for not acknowledging obligations to Schelling. +Unfortunately he cannot claim the benefit of a good character in such +matters. Anyhow, Coleridge's occasional excursions into science can +only represent a vague acceptance of the transcendental method +represented, as I understand, by Oken. + + * * * * * + +Printed by T. and A. 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