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