did not add any greater value to the raw material of the commodities they manufactured or carried from place to place, than was just equivalent to the value of the capital or stock consumed by them during the time they were necessarily engaged in these operations. These principles once established, Quesnay proceeded to divide society into three classes; the first, or productive class, by whose agency all wealth is produced, consists of the farmers and labourers engaged in agriculture, who subsist on a portion of the produce of the land reserved to themselves as the wages of their labour, and as a reasonable profit on their capital; the second, or proprietary class, consists of those who live on the rent of the land, or on the net surplus produce raised by the cultivators after their necessary expenses have been deducted; and the third, or unproductive class, consists of manufacturers, merchants, menial servants, &c., whose labour, though exceedingly useful, adds nothing to the national wealth, and who subsist entirely on the wages paid them by the other two classes. It is obvious, supposing this classification made on just principles, that all taxes must fall on the landlords. The third, or unproductive class, have nothing but what they receive from the other two classes; and if any deduction were made from the fair and reasonable profits and wages of the husbandmen, it would have the effect to paralyse their exertions, and consequently to spread poverty and misery throughout the land, by drying up the only source of wealth. It necessarily follows, therefore, on M. Quesnay's theory, that the entire expenses of government, and the various public burdens, must, howsoever imposed, be ultimately defrayed out of the produit net, or rent of the landlords; and consistently with this principle, he proposed that all the existing taxes should be repealed, and that a single tax (Impot unique), laid directly on the net produce, or rent, of the land, should be imposed in their stead.

But, however much impressed with the importance of agriculture over every other species of industry, Quesnay did not solicit for it any exclusive favour or protection. He successfully contended that the interests of the agriculturists, and of all the other classes, would be best promoted by establishing a system of perfect freedom. Qu'on maintienne,' says he in one of his general maxims, ‘l'entière liberté du commerce; car la police du commerce interieur et exterieur la plus sure, la plus exacte, la plus profitable à la nation et à l'etat, consiste dans LA PLEINE LIBERTE DE LA CONCURRENCE.' (Physiocratie, Prem. Part. p. 119.) Quesnay showed that it could never be for the interest of the proprietors and cultivators of the soil to fetter or discourage the industry of merchants, artificers, and manufacturers; for the greater the liberty they enjoy, the greater will be their competition, and their services will, in consequence, be rendered so much the cheaper. Neither, on the other hand, can it ever be for the interest of the unproductive class to harass and oppress the agriculturists, either by preventing

the free exportation of their products, or by any restrictive regulations whatsoever. When the cultivators enjoy the greatest degree of freedom, their industry, and, consequently, their net surplus produce—the only fund from which any accession of national wealth can be derived -will be carried to the greatest possible extent. According to this 'liberal and generous system,' (Wealth of Nations, 1 Murray's Reprints, p. 53), the establishment of perfect liberty, perfect security, and perfect justice, is the only, as it is the infallible, means of securing the highest degree of prosperity to all classes of the society.

'On a vu,' says the ablest expositor of this system, M. Mercier de la Riviere, 'qu'il est de l'essence de l'ordre que l'interet particulier d'un seul ne puisse jamais etre separée de l'interet commnun de tous; nous en trouvons une preuve bien convaincante dans les effets que produit naturellement et necessairement la plénitude de la liberté qui doit regner dans le commerce, pour ne point blesser la propriété. L'interet personnel encouragée par cette grande liberté, presse vivement et perpetuellement chaque homme en particulier, de perfectionner, de multiplier les choses dont il est vendeur; de grossir ainsi la masse des jouissances qu'il peut procurer aux autres hommes, afin de grossir, par ce moyen, la masse des jouissances que les autres hommes peuvent lui procurer en echange. Le monde alors va de lui meme; le desir de jouir, et la liberté de jouir, ne cessant de provoquer la multiplication des productions et l'accroissement de l'industrie, ils impriment à toute la société un mouvement qui devient une tendance perpetuelle vers son meilleur etat possible.**

We shall have other opportunities of examining the principles of this very ingenious theory. It is sufficient at present to remark, that, in assuming agriculture to be the only source of wealth, because the matter of which all commodities are composed must be originally derived from the earth, M. Quesnay and his followers mistook altogether the nature of production, and really supposed wealth to consist of matter; whereas, in its natural state, matter is very rarely possessed of immediate and direct utility, and is always destitute of value. It is only by means of the labour which must be laid out in appropriating matter, and in fitting and preparing it for our use, that it acquires exchangeable value, and becomes wealth. Human industry does not produce wealth by making any additions to the matter of our globe; this being a quantity susceptible neither of augmentation nor diminution. Its real and only effect is to produce wealth by giving utility to matter already in existence; and it has been repeatedly demonstrated, that the labour employed in manufactures and commerce is just as productive of utility, and consequently of wealth, as the labour employed in agriculture. Neither is the cultivation of the soil, as M. Ques

* L'Ordre Naturel et Essentiel des Sociétés Politiques, v. ii. p. 444.

nay supposed, the only species of industry which yields a surplus produce after the expenses of production are deducted. When agriculture is most productive, that is, when none but the best of the good soils are cultivated, no rent, or produit net, is obtained from the land; and it is only after recourse has been had to poorer soils, and when, consequently, the productive powers of the labour and capital employed in cultivation begin to diminish, that rent begins to appear: so that, instead of being a consequence of the superior productiveness of agricultural industry, rent is really a consequence of its becoming less productive than others.

The Economical Table, a formula constructed by M. Quesnay, and intended to exhibit the various phenomena attendant on the production of wealth, and its distribution among the productive, proprietary, and unproductive classes, was published at Versailles, with accompanying illustrations, in 1758; and the novelty and ingenuity of the theory which it expounded, its systematic and scientific shape, and the liberal system of commercial intercourse which it recommended, speedily obtained for it a very high degree of reputation.* It is to be regretted *That M. Quesnay is entitled to the merit of originality cannot be disputed. It is certain, however, that he had been anticipated in several of his peculiar doctrines by some English writers of the previous century. The fundamental principles of the economical system are distinctly and clearly stated in a tract entitled Reasons for a limited Exportation of Wool, 1677. That it is of the greatest concern and interest of the nation,' says the author of the tract, 'to preserve the nobility, gentry, and those to whom the land of the country belongs, at least, much greater than a few artificers employed in working the superfluity of our wool, or the merchants who gain by the exportation of our manufactures, is manifest-1. Because they are the masters and proprietaries of the foundation of all the wealth in this nation, all profit arising out of the ground which is theirs. 2. Because they bear all taxes and public burdens; which, in truth, are only borne by those who buy, and sell not; all sellers, raising the price of their commodities, or abating of their goodness, according to their taxes.'-P. 5. In 1696, Mr. Asgill published a treatise entitled Several Assertions Proved, in order to Create another Species of Money than Gold, in support of Dr. Chamberlayne's proposition for a Land Bank. The following extract from this treatise breathes, as Stewart has justly observed, in his Life of Smith, the very spirit of Quesnay's philosophy :

'What we call commodities is nothing but land severed from the soil-Man deals in nothing but earth. The merchants are the factors of the world, to exchange one part of the earth for another. The king himself is fed by the labour of the ox: and the clothing of the army and victualling of the navy must all be paid for to the owner of the soil as the ultimate receiver. All things in the world are originally the produce of the ground, and there must all things be raised.'-(This passage has been quoted in Lord Lauderdale's Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, 2d ed. p. 109.)

These passages are interesting, as exhibiting the first germs cf the theory of the economists. But there is no reason whatever to suppose that Quesnay was aware of the existence of either of the tracts referred to. The subjects treated in them were of too local a description to excite the attention of foreigners; and Quesnay was too candid to conceal his obligations, had he really owed them any. It is probable he may have seen Locke's treatise on Raising the Value of Money, where the idea is thrown out that all taxes fall ultimately on the land. But there is an immeasurable difference between the suggestion of Locke and the well-digested system of Quesnay.

I subjoin from the work of Dupont, Sur l'Origine et Progrès d'une Nouvelle Science, a short statement of the various institutions the Economists held to be necessary for the good government of a country.

Pro

"Voici le résumé de toutes les institutions sociales fondées sur l'ordre naturel, sur la constitution physique des hommes et des autres êtres dont ils sont environnés.' priété personnelle, établie par la nature, par la nécessité physique dont il est à chaque individu de disposer de toutes les facultés de sa personne, pour se procurer les choses propres à satisfaire ses besoins, sous peine de souffrance et de mort.' 'Liberté de travail, inseparable de la propriété personnelle dont elle forme une partie constitutive.' Propriété mobiliaire, qui n'est que la propriété personnelle même, considérée dans son usage, dans son objet,

that the friends and disciples of Quesnay, among whom we have to reckon Mirabeau, Mercier de la Riviere, Dupont de Nemours, Saint Peravy, Turgot, and other distinguished individuals, in France, Italy, and Germany, should, in their zeal for his peculiar doctrines, which they enthusiastically exerted themselves to defend and propagate, have exhibited more of the character of partizans, than of (what there is the best reason to think they really were) sincere and honest inquirers after truth. Hence it is that they have always been regarded as a sect, known by the name of Economists, or Physiocrats;—and that their works are characterised by an unusual degree of sameness.*

dans son extension nécessaire sur les choses acquises par le travail de sa personne.' 'Liberté d'échange, de commerce, d'emploi de ses richesses, inséparable de la propriété personnelle et de la propriété mobiliaire.' 'Culture qui est un usage de la propriété personnelle, de la propriété mobiliaire et de la liberté qui en est inséparable: usage profitable, nécessaire, indispensable pour que la population puisse s'accroître, par une suite de la multiplication des productions nécessaires à la subsistance des hommes.' Propriété fonciere, suite nécessaire de la culture, et qui n'est que la conservation de la propriété personnelle et de la propriété mobiliaire, employées aux travaux et aux dépenses preparatoires indispensables pour mettre la terre en état d'être cultivée.' 'Liberté de l'emploi de sa terre, de l'espece de sa culture, de toutes les conventions relatives à l'exploitation, à la concession, à la rétrocession, à l'échange, à la vente de sa terre, inséparable de la propriété fonciere.' Partage naturel des récoltes, en reprises des cultivateurs, ou richesses dont l'emploi doit indispensablement être de perpétuer la culture sous peine de diminution des récoltes et de la population et produit net, ou richesses disponibles dont la grandeur décide de la prospérité de la société, dont l'emploi est abandonné à la volonté et à l'intérêt des propriétaires fonciers, et qui constitue pour eux le prix naturel et légitime des dépenses qu'ils on faites, et des travaux auxquels ils se sont livrés pour mettre la terre en état d'être cultivé. Sureté, sans laquelle la propriété et la liberté ne seraient que de droit et non de fait, sans laquelle le produit net serait bientôt anéanti, sans laquelle la culture même ne pourrait subsister.' 'Autorité tutèlaire et souveraine, pour procurer la sureté essentiellement nécessaire à la propriété et à la liberté; et qui s'acquitte de cet important ministere, en promulguant et faisant exécuter les loix de l'ordre naturel, par lesquelles la propriété et la liberté sont établies.' 'Magistrats, pour décider dans les cas particuliers quelle doit être l'application des loix de l'ordre naturel, réduites en loix positives par l'autorité souveraine; et qui ont le devoir impérieux de comparer les Ordonnances des Souverains avec les loix de la Justice par essence, avant de s'engager à prendre ces Ordonnances positives, pour régle de leurs jugemens.' Instruction publique et favorisée, pour que les citoyens, l'autorité et les Magistrats, ne puissent jamais perdre de vue les loix invariables de l'ordre naturel, et se laisser égarer par les prestiges de l'opinion, ou par l'attrait des intérêts particuliers exclusifs qui, dès qu'ils sont exclusifs sont toujours malentendus.' 'Revenu public, pour constituer la force et le pouvoir nécessaire à l'autorité Souveraine; pour faire les frais de son ministere protecteur, des fonctions importantes des Magistrats, et de l'instruction indispensable des loix de l'ordre naturel.' Impôt direct, ou partage du produit net du territoire, entre les propriétaires fonciers et l'autorité Souveraine; pour former le revenu public d'une maniere qui ne restraigne ni la propriété ni la liberté, et qui par conséquent ne soit pas destructive.' 'Proportion essentielle et nécessaire de l'impôt direct, avec le produit net, telle qu'elle donne à la société le plus grand revenu public qui soit possible, et par conséquent le plus grand degré possible de sureté, sans que le sort des propriétaires fonciers cesse d'être le meilleur sort dont on puisse jouir dans la société.' 'Monarchie héréditaire, pour que tous les intérêts presens et futurs du dépositaire de l'autorité Souveraine, soient intimement liés avec ceux de la société par le partage proportionnel du produit net.'

* The principal works published by the French Economists:

Tableau Economique, et Maximes Generales du Gouvernement Economique, par Francois Quesnay, 4to, Versailles, 1758. Theorie de l'Impot, par M. de Mirabeau, 4to, 1760. La Philosophie Rurale, par M. de Mirabeau, 4to, and 3 v. 12mo, 1763. L'Ordre Naturel et Essentiel des Sociétés Politiques, par Mercier de la Riviere, 4to, and 2 v. 12mo, 1767. Sur L'Origine et Progrès d'une Science Nouvelle, par Dupont de Nemours, 1767. La Physiocratie, ou Constitution Naturelle du Gouvernement le plus avantageux au Genre Humain; Recueil des Principaux Ouvrages Economiques de M. Quesnay, rédigé et publié par Dupont de Nemours, 2 Parties, 1767. Lett. d'un Citoyen à un Magistrat, sur les Vingtiemes et les autres Impots, par l'Abbé Baudeau, 12m0, 1768. Mem. sur les Effets de l'Impôt indirect; qui a remporté le Prix proposé par la Société Royale d' Agriculture de Limoges, par Saint Peravy, 12mo, 1768. Reflexions sur la Formation, et la Distribution des Richesses, par

But, in despite of all these defects, there can be no question that the labours of the French Economists powerfully contributed to accelerate the progress of economical science. In reasoning on subjects connected with national wealth, it was now found to be necessary to subject its sources, and the laws which regulate its production and distribution, to a more accurate and searching analysis. In the course of this examination, it was speedily ascertained that both the mercantile and economical theories were erroneous and defective; and that, to establish the science of Political Economy on a firm foundation, it was necessary to take a much more extensive survey, and to seek for its principles, not in a few partial and distorted facts, or in metaphysical abstractions, but in the connection and relation subsisting among the various phenomena manifested in the progress of civilization. The Count di Verri, whose Meditations on Political Economy were published in 1771, demonstrated the fallacy of the opinions of the French Economists respecting the superior productiveness of the labour employed in agriculture; and showed that all the operations of industry really consist of modifications of matter already in existence.* But Verri did not trace the consequences of this important principle; and, possessing no clear and definite notions of what constituted wealth, did not attempt to discover the means by which labour might be facilitated. He made some valuable additions to particular branches of the science, and had sufficient acuteness to detect errors in the system of others; but the task of constructing a better system in their stead required talents of a far higher order.

At length, in 1776, our illustrious countryman Adam Smith published the 'Wealth of Nations,'-a work which has done for Political Economy what the Essay of Locke did for the philosophy of mind. In this work the science was, for the first time, treated in its fullest extent; and the fundamental principles, on which the production of wealth depend, placed beyond the reach of cavil and dispute. In opposition to the French Economists, Dr. Smith has shown that labour is the only source of wealth, and that the wish to augment our fortunes and to rise in the world--a wish that comes with us from the womb, and never leaves us till we go into the grave-is the cause of wealth being saved and accumulated: he has shown that labour is productive of wealth when employed in manufactures and commerce, as well Turgot. 8vo. 1771. This is the best of all the works founded on the principles of the Economists; and is, in some respects, the best work on Political Economy published previously to the Wealth of Nations. The Journal d'Agriculture, &c. and the Ephemerides du Citoyen, contain a variety of valuable articles contributed by Quesnay and other leading Economists. The Ephemerides was begun in 1767, and was dropped in 1775; it was first conducted by the Abbé Baudeau, and then by Dupont.

Aceostare et separare sono gli unici elementi che l'ingegno umano ritrova analizando l'idea della reproduzione; e tanto e riproduzione di valore e di richezza se la terra, l'aria, e l'aqua ne' campi si trasmutino in grano, come se colla mano dell' uomo il-gluttine di un insetto si trasmuti in velluto, o vero alcuni pezzetti di metallo si organizzino a formare una ripeti zione.-Meditazioni sulla Economia Politica, § 3.