POLITICAL ECONOMY, For Plain People. APPLIED TO THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF BRITAIN. BY G. POULETT SCROPE, F.R.S., F.G.S, &c. SECOND EDITION. "The rules of Political Economy areas, simple and harmonious as the laws which re- "The conservation and secure enjoyment of our NATURAL RIGHTS is the great and ultimate purpose of civil society; and all forms whatsoever of government are only good as they are subservient to that purpose, to which they are entirely subordinate."-BURKE. Tract on the Popery Laws. TO THE CONSTITUENCY OF THE BOROUGH OF STROUD. THE first edition of this little work was dedicated to you, through whose generous confidence I occupied, as one of your representatives, a seat in the first Reformed Parliament. That confidence, continued to me through the five and thirty years between the enactment of the first and second Reform Bills, afforded me the opportunity of assisting, in however humble a manner, to carry into practical legislation, conformably with the views expressed in that early volume, the improvements in our economical policy to which the present prosperous and promising material condition of this country is chiefly due. To you, then, my old and valued friends, I take once more the liberty to offer the homage of this revised edition, in token of the respect and gratitude of Your faithful Servant, G. POULETT SCROPE, COBHAM, May, 1873. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. At the time of the passing of the first Reform Bill it became evident that the power of directing the Legislation of Britain was about to pass-perhaps by more than one instalment, but ultimately altogether-from the hands of the few into those of the many. Looking then for some data by which to estimate the probable results of so great a change upon the social destinies of the country, I endeavoured to ascertain what were the notions likely to prevail among the masses, when they became the depositories of supreme power, with regard to the principal institutions of modern society, so far as they affect, or might seem to them to affect, their interests. What lessons in this respect were they likely to imbibe from the current doctrines of Political Economy? Were these lessons fitted to reconcile them to the hardships of a condition of almost ceaseless toil for, in many cases, but a meagre subsistence; and this in a country overflowing with wealth enjoyed in idleness by some at the expense (as it might at first sight appear to them) of the labour of others? On examination of the works of the most noted Economists of that day, Messrs. Ricardo, Jas. Mill, Maculloch, Malthus, Chalmers, and Whateley, I could not discover in them any answer likely to satisfy the mind of a half-educated man of plain commonsense and honesty who should seek there some justifi. cation for the immense disparity of fortunes and circum |