he 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