Letters of David Ricardo to Thomas Robert Malthus, 1810-1823 Part 15

Very truly yours, DAVID RICARDO.

LXI.

GATCOMB PARK, _4 Sept., 1817_.

MY DEAR SIR,

I thank you very much for your kind letter of the 17th August. I am pleased to hear that your journey to Ireland turned out so well. The account you give of the improvements before the check which they received during the last two years, as well as of the situation of the people, agrees exactly with what I should expect to find. Humbold[t] in his account of New Spain[166] points out the very same evils as you do in Ireland, proceeding too from the same cause. The land there yields a great abundance of Bananas, Manioc, Potatoes, and Wheat, with very little labour, and the people, having no taste for luxuries and having abundance of food, have the privilege of being idle. No other advantage would I think result from the disposable labour being employed in manufactures than in preventing its being turned to profligate and mischievous pursuits, dangerous to the public peace. Happiness is the object to be desired, and we cannot be quite sure that, provided he is equally well fed, a man may not be happier in the enjoyment of the luxury of idleness than in the enjoyment of the luxuries of a neat cottage and good clothes. And after all we do not know if these would fall to his share. His labour might only increase the enjoyments of his employer.

Mr. Smith has heard from Mr. Whishaw; he was at Paris when he wrote, on the eve of recommencing his journey. I hope he may enjoy his tour. It is a pity that he is without an agreeable companion; he is of so sociable a disposition that he would have had pleasure in communicating his feelings and comparing them with these of another intelligent person.

Mr. Smith has also heard from Mr. Warburton, who has set out on the very same tour that I have been taking, with the addition of Holland, through which country he means to pa.s.s. He has a very intelligent companion in Dr. Woolaston[167].

At the very moment that we were beginning to despair of the weather it has changed and is now beautiful. Our hopes will I trust not be disappointed, and we shall be enabled safely to house the abundant crops with which our lands in every country (_sic_) are loaded. I doubt whether we have, even during the late distresses, ceased to advance as a nation in wealth; but at present I think no one can doubt that we are again making forward strides in prosperity. A bad harvest does not perhaps very much check the progress of wealth; but it materially interferes with the general happiness.

You flatter me very much by your second perusal of my book; and I am happy to find that there are but a very few important points on which we materially differ. I certainly allow that my theory of value does not hold good in different countries when profits are different. If you look to page 156 and the following pages you will see my ideas on that subject[168].

It is only yesterday that I received the book from Dover which M. Say entrusted me with for you; I send that and this letter together by Mrs.

Ricardo, who is going to London for a few days; she has undertaken to send my parcel to the Hertford coach.

... If you go to Bath and do not come over to us I shall not know how to forgive you.

I have heard lately from Mill; he is still hard at work in correcting the press (_sic_) and finis.h.i.+ng his book[169]. He tells me that Sir Samuel and Lady Romilly are expected at Ford Abbey. I fully expect that I shall see him here before he returns to London. I do not know when I shall be obliged to go to town, but whenever it may happen I will let you know, as I would not willingly forego any chance of meeting you. Mr.

Smith's house is the centre of attraction for all his able London friends, and he is kind enough always to allow me to partic.i.p.ate in the pleasure which their company affords him. We have already had Mr.

Warburton and Mr. Belsham, and in a few days he expects to see Mr.

Mallet. Mr. Smith continues to reign pre-eminent in the good-will of all his neighbours, and indeed I do not know any one who is ent.i.tled to dispute the palm with him....

Ever yours truly, DAVID RICARDO.

This is a sad blundering letter, bad even from me, but you must excuse it, and will I am sure when I tell you that I am just recovering from the languor and weakness caused by the powerful medicines which I have been obliged to take.... The night before last I was very ill; yesterday I was better, and to-day I have no complaint left but weakness.

LXII.

GATCOMB PARK, _10 Oct., 1817_.

MY DEAR SIR,

I said I would write to you when I was going to London and therefore I now do it, but without much hope of seeing you there.... It is not my intention, if I can get my business done, to stay in town beyond Tuesday morning, unless I had any chance of meeting you there, which would induce me to defer my return home one day longer.... Dr. Roget[170] has been on a visit for a few days at Mr. Smith's; he stayed one evening with us at Gatcomb. We all very much admire his una.s.suming manners, and are well disposed to admit his claims on our esteem and affection. Sir Samuel Romilly and Lady Romilly have been on a visit at Mr. Phelps' a near neighbour of mine. They went from here to Bowood[171] and from thence they were going to Ford Abbey, Mr. Bentham's residence. I have since heard of their arrival there, and they are now probably returned to London.

... Our harvest in this part of the country is almost entirely got in.

The crops are I believe generally good, and we are very grateful for the fortunate change in the weather which enabled us to reap and house them in a state of perfection. We shall now, I hope, for some years sail before the wind. You and I have always agreed in our opinions of the power and wealth of the country; we were not in a state of despair at the discouraging circ.u.mstances with which we were lately surrounded. We looked forward to the revival which has taken place....

Ever truly yours, DAVID RICARDO.

If you should write me a line, it will reach me sooner by being directed to the Stock Exchange.

LXIII.

GATCOMB PARK, _21 Oct., 1817_.

MY DEAR SIR,

I hope we shall be more fortunate in meeting, when I again visit London.

You think that the low price of labour which has lately prevailed contradicts my theory of profits depending on wages, because the rate of interest is at the same time very low. If interest and profits invariably moved in the same degree and in the same direction, my theory might be plausibly opposed; but I consider this as by no means the case.

Although interest is undoubtedly ultimately regulated by profits, rising when they are high and falling when they are low, yet there are considerable intervals during which a low rate of interest is compatible with a high rate of profit; and this generally occurs when capital is moving from the employments of war to those of peace. If goods do not vary in price and the cost of manufacturing them falls, it is self-evident that profits must rise; and, if goods do fall in price generally, then it is not the value of goods or of labour which falls, but the value of the medium in which they are paid which rises, and then my theory does not require any rise of profits; they may even fall.

You ask me if I can show you the fallacy of the following statement: 'Capital is wholly employed in the purchase of materials and machinery and the maintenance of labour. If, from any cause whatever, materials, machinery and the maintenance of the labourer and his wages fall considerably in money value, is it _possible_ that the same amount of monied capital can be employed in the country?' I answer that it is _possible_ but by no means probable. Suppose the mines were to produce a diminished quant.i.ty of the precious metals, at the same time that materials and machinery were greatly increased in quant.i.ty, might not the increased aggregate quant.i.ty of materials and machinery be of a greater money value than before, although each particular portion should be at a less? Might we not by importation appropriate to ourselves a larger proportion of the ma.s.s of money distributed amongst all the countries of the world? I cannot doubt the _possibility_ of the case.

In your argument about the stimulus of increased value and the effects of demand and supply on future wealth, you do not really differ from my views on this subject so much as you suppose, for I make profits and wealth to depend on the real cheapness of labour, and so do you, for you say that the evils of a dearth will often be more than counteracted as regards wealth, by the great stimulus which it may give to industry. I say the same, for I contend that the evils of a dearth fall exclusively on the labouring cla.s.ses, that they perform frequently more labour not only without receiving the same allowance of food and necessaries, but often without receiving the same value for wages or the same recompense in money, whilst everything is dearer. When this happens, profits, which always depend on the value of labour, must necessarily rise.

I thought I had written to you about the additional matter in your excellent work[172], although I had not given it all the examination I intended. I read it as I was travelling and noticed the pages wherever I saw the shadow of a difference between us, that I might look at the pa.s.sages again when I got home and give them my best consideration[A][173]. On my pa.s.sing through London when I returned from France, I looked for your book, as I expected you had sent me a copy, which I think you kindly told me you would do; but Mrs. Ricardo had jumbled that and many other books in a wardrobe, and it could not be got at till I went to town. I have it now here and have been reading all the new matter again, and am surprised at the little that I can discover, with the utmost ingenuity, to differ from.

[A] [_Foot-note, eventually ousting the text._] In every part you are exceedingly clear, and time only is wanted to carry conviction to every mind. The chief difference between us is whether food or population precedes. I could almost agree with the statement of the question in p.

47 of third vol., which I think is in strict conformity with Sir J.

Steuart's opinion. In speaking of the fall of wages you only once mention _corn_ wages, but must always mean corn wages and not money wages. In the note to p. 438 of the third vol. you agree to my doctrine, but I think in pp. 446, 456 and 457 you forget the admission you had before made, 497 [_sic_]. You agree with Smith that the monopoly of the Colony trade raises profits. 502 is in my opinion wrong and inconsistent with 438. I differ a little from your views in 506. You do not always appear to me to admit that the tendency of the Poor Laws is to increase the quant.i.ty of food to be divided, but a.s.sume in some places that the same quant.i.ty is to be divided among a larger number. I can neither agree with Adam Smith nor with you in 326, 328: a maximum tends to discourage future production; an undue increase of wages, or poor laws, tend to promote it. 360, a fall in the price of commodities and a rise in the value of money are spoken of as the same thing. 361, a diminution of production is another way of expressing an abatement of demand. 371, a combination among the workmen would increase the amount of money to be divided amongst the labouring cla.s.s. These you will observe are slight objections, and I make them that I may preserve my consistency. They would not be understood by the ma.s.s of readers, but to you who are acquainted with my _peculiar_ views, if you please, they need no explanation....

Ever yours, DAVID RICARDO.

LXIV.

GATCOMB PARK, _16 Dec., 1817_.

MY DEAR SIR,

I believe I am within the time stated in your letter for your visit to Surr[e]y, and consequently that this will reach you there. I am sorry that you were not sufficiently loyal to give her majesty some mark of your attention at Bath[174], during your present vacation, as in that case I might have hoped to have seen you here. As it is we may probably be in London nearly at the same time. We have not yet absolutely fixed on the day for our journey, but it will not be deferred beyond the middle of next month. I hope I may see you before your return home.

I am glad to find that we may soon expect another volume[175] from your pen, although, if you attack me, I am prepared for nine tenths of our readers deciding in favour of your view of the question. I want an able pen on my side to put my opinions in a clear light, and to divest them of that appearance of paradox which they now wear. I wish I could a.s.sist you to a good t.i.tle but no one is more able to give a work the best air and arrangement than yourself. Have you seen the Review of M. Say and myself in the British? In some of the remarks you would I believe agree; yet it is some consolation to me that, after designating every part of my performance absurd and nonsensical, they attack you on the subject of Rent, and say that both you and I have endeavoured to make the nature of rent, which was before so clear, obscure. Rent is nothing more than the hire paid for land. I feel delighted that they have given me so desirable a companion. In the Scotsman, a Scotch newspaper, I have been ably defended--the writer[176] has evidently understood what I meant to say, which the reviewer has not done.

I have been reading Mill's book[177] for this last week, and have got through about half of the first volume. I am not qualified to give an opinion of its merits, but I am very much pleased with it. It is very interesting, and is, I think, calculated to excite a great deal of attention, for it not only descants on the religion, manners, laws, arts, and literature, of the Hindus, but compares them with the religion, manners, etc. of other nations which the world has generally considered as much inferior to the Hindus; and, if these in the Hindus are to be deemed marks of a high state of civilization, Africa, Mexico, Peru, Persia, and China, might also lay claim to the same character. He also gives his own sentiments as to what const.i.tutes good laws, a good religion, a high state of civilization, and shews at what a very low degree Hindostan deserves to be estimated for these acquirements[178].

The Political Economy is, I think, excellent, and the part that I have read may be considered as the author's view of the progress of the human mind. I hope it will bring him fame and reputation,--his perseverance as well as his other qualities well deserve it....

Like the Patriarchs of old I am surrounded by all my descendants, sons, daughters and grandchildren--they have a.s.sembled from all quarters to visit us, and if I were not afraid that they would soon become too numerous for the limits of our house I should insist on its being an annual custom.

You have probably seen in the papers that I am gazetted as one of the three from whom the choice of Sheriff is to be made, and as Col.

Berkeley, the first named, will in all probability be excused on account of his intended application to the House of Lords for the Peerage which must otherwise be given to his brother, who is nearly of age, I shall no doubt be selected. This honour I could well have dispensed with....