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Title: Principles Of Political Economy

Author: William Roscher

Release Date: January 4, 2009 [Ebook 27698]

Language: English

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOKPRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY***

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Principles Of Political EconomyBy

William Roscher,Professor of Political Economy at the University of Leipzig,

Corresponding Member of the Institute of France,Privy Counsellor To His Majesty,

The King Of Saxony.

From the Thirteenth (1877) German Edition.With Additional Chapters Furnished By The

Author,For This First English And American Edition,

On Paper Money, International Trade,And The Protective System;

And A Preliminary Essay

On The Historical Method In Political Economy(From the French)

ByL. Wolowski

The Whole Translated By

John J. Lalor, A. M.Vol. I.

New York:Henry Holt & Co.

1878

Contents

Translator's Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3Author's Preface. (1st Edition.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5From The Author's Prefaces. (2d to 11th Edition.) . . . . .7Preliminary Essay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Chapter I. Fundamental Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . .60Section I. Goods—Wants. . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Section II. Goods.—Economic Goods. . . . . . .64Section III. Goods.—The Three Classes Of Goods.66Section IV. Of Value.—Value In Use. . . . . . . 68Section V. Value.—Value In Exchange. . . . . . 71Section VI. Value.—Alleged Contradiction Be-

tween Value In Use And Value In Ex-change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Section VII. Resources Or Means (Vermögen). .76Section VIII. Valuation Of Resources. . . . . . .77Section IX. Wealth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80Section X. Wealth.—Signs Of National Wealth. . 81Section XI. Of Economy (Husbandry). . . . . . .86Section XII. Economy.—Grades Of Economy. . .90Section XIII. Political Economy.—The Eco-

nomic Organism. . . . . . . . . . . . . .94Section XIV. Origin Of A Nation's Economy. . .98Section XV. Diseases Of The Social Organism. .100

Chapter II. Position Of Political Economy In The CircleOf Related Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102Section XVI. Political Or National Economy. . .102

iv Principles Of Political Economy

Section XVII. Sciences Relating To NationalLife.—The Science Of Public Econ-omy.—The Science Of Finance. . . . . .106

Section XVIII. Sciences Relating To NationalLife.—Statistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

Section XIX. Private Economy—CameralisticScience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

Section XX. Private Economy. (Continued.) . . .113Section XXI. What Political Economy Treats Of.115

Chapter III. The Methods Of Political Economy. . . . .120Section XXII. Former Methods. . . . . . . . . .120Section XXIII. The Idealistic Method. . . . . . .124Section XXIV. The Idealistic Method. (Continued.)125Section XXV. The Idealistic Method. (Continued.)128Section XXVI. The Historical Method—The

Anatomy And Physiology Of PublicEconomy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Section XXVII. Advantages Of The HistoricalOr Physiological Method. . . . . . . . .130

Section XXVIII. Advantages Of The HistoricalMethod. (Continued.) . . . . . . . . . . .132

Section XXIX. The Practical Character Of TheHistorical Method In Political Economy.133

Book I. The Production Of Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . .136Chapter I. Factors Of Production. . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Section XXX. Meaning Of Production. . . . . . .136Section XXXI. The Factors Of Produc-

tion.—External Nature. . . . . . . . . . .137Section XXXII. External Nature.—The

Sea.—Climate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139Section XXXIII. External Nature.—Gifts Of Na-

ture With Value In Exchange. . . . . . .144Section XXXIV. External Nature. (Continued.) .146

v

Section XXXV. External Nature.—Elements OfAgricultural Productiveness. . . . . . . .148

Section XXXVI. External Nature.—Further Di-visions Of Nature's Gifts. . . . . . . . . .151

Section XXXVII. External Nature.—The Geo-graphical Character Of A Country. . . . .153

Section XXXVIII. Of Labor.—Divisions Of Labor.156Section XXXIX. Labor.—Taste For

Labor.—Piece-Wages. . . . . . . . . . .158Section XL. Labor.—Labor-Power Of Individuals.164Section XLI. Labor.—Effect Of The Esteem In

Which It Is Held. . . . . . . . . . . . . .168Section XLII. Of Capital.—The Classes Of

Goods Of Which A Nation's Capital IsMade Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170

Section XLIII. Capital.—Productive Capital. . . .177Section XLIV. Capital.—Fixed Capital, And Cir-

culating Capital. . . . . . . . . . . . . .180Section XLV. Capital.—How It Originates. . . .182

Chapter II. Co-Operation Of The Factors. . . . . . . .187Section XLVI. The Productive Coöperation Of

The Three Factors. . . . . . . . . . . . .187Section XLVII. Productive Co-Operation Of The

Three Factors. The Three Great PeriodsOf A Nation's Economy. . . . . . . . . .188

Section XLVIII. Critical History Of The Idea OfProductiveness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190

Section XLIX. Critical History Of The Idea OfProductiveness.—The Doctrine Of ThePhysiocrates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Section L. The Same Subject Continued. . . . . .198Section LI. The Same Subject Continued. . . . .201Section LII. Idea Of Productiveness. . . . . . . .202Section LIII. The Same Subject Continued. . . .204

vi Principles Of Political Economy

Section LIV. Importance Of A Due Proportion InThe Different Branches Of Productiveness.205

Section LV. The Degree Of Productiveness. . . .210Chapter III. The Organization Of Labor. . . . . . . . .212

Section LVI. Development Of The Division OfLabor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212

Section LVII. Development Of The Division OfLabor.—Its Extent At Different Periods. .213

Section LVIII. Advantages Of The Division OfLabor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

Section LIX. Conditions Of The Division Of Labor.218Section LX. Influence Of The Extent Of The

Market On The Division Of Labor. . . .219Section LXI. The Division Of Labor—Means Of

Increasing It. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221Section LXII. The Reverse, Or Dark Side Of The

Division Of Labor. . . . . . . . . . . . .225Section LXIII. Dark Side Of The Division Of

Labor.—Its Gain And Loss. . . . . . . .227Section LXIV. The Co-Operation Of Labor. . . .230Section LXV. The Principle Of Stability, Or Of

The Continuity Of Work. . . . . . . . . .231Section LXVI. Advantage Of Large Enterprises. .233

Chapter IV. Freedom And Slavery. . . . . . . . . . . .239Section LXVII. The Origin Of Slavery. . . . . .239Section LXVIII. The Same Subject Continued. .241Section LXIX. Origin Of Slavery.—Want Of

Freedom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .242Section LXX. Emancipation. . . . . . . . . . . .244Section LXXI. Disadvantages Of Slavery. . . . .247Section LXXII. Effect Of An Advance In Civi-

lization On Slavery. . . . . . . . . . . .250Section LXXIII. The Same Subject Continued. .252Section LXXIV. The Same Subject Continued. .258

vii

Section LXXV. The Same Subject Continued. . .259Section LXXVI. (Appendix To Chapter IV.) The

Domestic Servant System. . . . . . . . .262Chapter V. Community Of Goods And Private Prop-

erty. Capital—Property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269Section LXXVII. Capital.—Importance Of Pri-

vate Property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269Section LXXVIII. Socialism And Communism. .270Section LXXIX. Socialism And Communism.

(Continued.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .274Section LXXX. Socialism And Communism.

(Continued.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .279Section LXXXI. Community Of Goods. . . . . .283Section LXXXII. The Organization Of Labor. . .289Section LXXXIII. The Organization Of Labor.

(Continued.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .292Section LXXXIV. The Organization Of Labor.

(Continued.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295Section LXXXV. The Right Of Inheritance. . . .298Section LXXXVI. Economic Utility Of The

Right Of Inheritance. . . . . . . . . . . .299Section LXXXVII. Landed Property. . . . . . . .302Section LXXXVIII. Landed Property. (Continued.)304

Chapter VI. Credit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309Section LXXXIX. Credit In General. . . . . . . .309Section XC. Credit—Effects Of Credit. . . . . .312Section XCI. Debtor Laws. . . . . . . . . . . . .317Section XCII. History Of Credit Laws. . . . . . .319Section XCIII. Means Of Promoting Credit. . . .322Section XCIV. Letters Of Respite (Specialmora-

torien). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .328Book II. The Circulation Of Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . .332

Chapter I. Circulation In General. . . . . . . . . . . . .332

viii Principles Of Political Economy

Section XCV. Meaning Of The Circulation OfGoods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .332

Section XCVI. Rapidity Of Circulation. . . . . .335Section XCVII. Freedom Of Competition. . . . .337Section XCVIII. How Goods Are Paid For.—The

Rent For Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . .340Section XCIX. Freedom Of Competition And

International Trade. . . . . . . . . . . . .343Chapter II. Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .348

Section C. Prices In General. . . . . . . . . . . .348Section CI. Effect Of The Struggle Of Opposing

Interests On Price. . . . . . . . . . . . .349Section CII. Demand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .355Section CIII. Demand.—Indispensable Goods. . .357Section CIV. Influence Of Purchaser's Solvabil-

ity On Prices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .360Section CV. Supply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .361Section CVI. The Cost Of Production. . . . . . .362Section CVII. Equilibrium Of Prices. . . . . . . .366Section CVIII. Effect Of A Rise Of Price Much

Above Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .367Section CIX. Effect Of A Decline Of Price Below

Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .370Chapter CX. Different Cost Of Production Of

The Same Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . .372Section CXI. Different Cost Of Production Of

The Same Goods. (Continued.) . . . . . .374Section CXII. Exceptions. . . . . . . . . . . . .376Section CXIII. Exceptions. (Continued.) . . . . .379Section CXIV. Prices Fixed By Government. . .381Section CXV. Influence Of Growing Civilization

On Prices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .384Chapter III. Money In General. . . . . . . . . . . . . .390

ix

Section CXVI. Instrument Of Exchange. Mea-sure Of Value. Barter. . . . . . . . . . .390

Section CXVII. Effect Of The Introduction OfMoney. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .399

Section CXVIII. The Different Kinds Of Money.403Section CXIX. The Metals As Money. . . . . . .408Section CXX. Money—The Precious Metals. . .412Section CXXI. Value In Use And Value In Ex-

change Of Money. . . . . . . . . . . . .420Section CXXII. Value In Exchange Of Money. .422Section CXXIII. The Quantity Of Money A Na-

tion Needs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .424Section CXXIV. The Quantity Of Money A

Nation Needs. (Continued.) . . . . . . .431Section CXXV. Uniformity Of The Value In

Exchange Of The Precious Metals. . . . .432Section CXXVI. Uniformity Of The Value In Ex-

change Of The Precious Metals. (Con-tinued.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .437

Chapter IV. History Of Prices. . . . . . . . . . . . . .442Section CXXVII. Measure Of Prices,—Constant

Measure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .442Section CXXVIII. Value In Exchange Estimated

In Labor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .443Section CXXIX. The Precious Metals The Best

Measure Of Prices. . . . . . . . . . . . .446Section CXXX. History Of The Prices Of The

Chief Wants Of Life. . . . . . . . . . . .451Section CXXXI. History Of The Prices Of The

Chief Wants Of Life. (Continued.) . . . .453Section CXXXII. History Of The Prices Of The

Chief Wants Of Life. (Continued.) . . . .459Section CXXXIII. History Of The Prices Of The

Chief Wants Of Life. (Continued.) . . . .468

x Principles Of Political Economy

Section CXXXIV. History Of The Prices Of TheChief Wants Of Life. (Continued.) . . . .470

Section CXXXV. History Of The Values Of ThePrecious Metals.—In Antiquity And InThe Middle Ages. . . . . . . . . . . . . .475

Section CXXXVI. Effect On The Discovery OfAmerican Mines Etc. On The Value OfThe Precious Metals. . . . . . . . . . . .477

Section CXXXVII. Revolution In Prices At TheBeginning Of Modern History. . . . . . .481

Section CXXXVIII.Revolution In Prices.—Influence Of TheNon-Monetary Use Of Gold And Silver. .487

Section CXXXIX. HistoryOf Prices.—Californian And AustralianDiscoveries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .491

Section CXL. Revolution In Prices.—Its Influ-ence On The National Resources. . . . .500

Section CXLI. Effect Of An Enhancement OfThe Price Of The Precious Metals. . . . .506

Section CXLII. The Price Of Gold As ComparedWith That Of Silver. . . . . . . . . . . .507

Section CXLIII. The Price Of Gold As ComparedWith That Of Silver. (Continued.) . . . .510

Appendix I. Paper Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .512Section I. Paper Money And Money-Paper. . . .512Section II. Advantages And Disadvantages Of

Paper Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .516Section III. Kinds Of Redemption. . . . . . . . .520Section IV. Compulsory Circulation. . . . . . . .525Section V. Resumption Of Specie Payments. . . .535Section VI. Paper Money—A Curse Or A Blessing?539

Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .545

Dedication.

TO

WILLIAM H. GAYLORD, E SQ.,

COUNSELLOR AT LAW,

OF CLEVELAND, OHIO,

TO WHOSE BROTHERLY CARE IT IS LARGELY DUETHAT I LIVED TOTRANSLATE THEM,

THESE VOLUMES

ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.

[v]

Translator's Preface.

Our literature is rich enough in works on the principles ofPolitical Economy. So far as the translator is informed, however,it possesses none in which the science is treated in accordancewith the historical method. We may therefore venture to expressthe hope that this translation will fill a place hitherto unoccupiedin the literatures of England and America, and fill it all the moreefficiently and acceptably, as Professor ROSCHERis the founderand still the leader of the historical school of Political Economy.Were this the only recommendation of our undertaking, it wouldnot be a useless one. But a glance at Professor ROSCHER'S bookwill convince even the most hasty reader that its pages fascinateby their interest and are rich in treasures of erudition whichshould not remain inaccessible to the English student from beinglocked up in a foreign tongue.

The present translation has received, throughout, the revisionof the author, and should any imperfections remain in therendering of his thought into English, the blame is certainlynot his, for his revision has been most minute.

The three appendices have been supplied by ProfessorROSCHER expressly for this edition. As they are intended toform a part of the work on the Political Economy of Industry andCommerce, on which he is now engaged, he authorizes their[vi]publication in English, only by the publishers of this edition ofhis principles; and only for the purpose of being added to thepresent translation. He desires especially that their appearance intheir present shape should not in any way interfere with any ofhis rights in his forthcoming volume, and that they should not betranslated into any language nor translated back into German.

4 Principles Of Political Economy

The essay of Mr. WOLOWSKI, on the historical method inPolitical Economy constitutes no part of Professor ROSCHER'Sbook, and neither he nor its author, but only the translator, isresponsible for its appearance here. In it the reader will finda short sketch of the life of Professor ROSCHER, brought downto the date at which the essay was written. The translator haslittle to add to that sketch, all the information he possesses inaddition to what it contains being embraced in the followinglines from a letter received by him from the author in answerto a request that he would supply the biographical data not tobe found in WOLOWSKI'S essay:“You might perhaps say ... thatI have repeatedly declined calls to the Universities of Munich,Vienna and Berlin, but that I have never regretted remaining inLeipzig.”

The acknowledgments of the translator are due, in the firstplace, to the eminent author himself, for the revision of theplate-proof of the entire work, and then to Professor WILLIAMF. ALLEN, of the University of Wisconsin, for his interest in theprogress of the enterprise, and for many valuable suggestions;also to Professor W. G. SUMNER, of Yale College, for someexcellent hints as to the best translation of certain words in theAppendix on Paper Money.

[vii]

Author's Preface. (1st Edition.)

My System der Volkswirthschaftshall,Deo volente, be completedin four parts. The second shall contain the national economyof agriculture and the related branches of natural production;the third, the national economy of industry and commerce;the fourth, of the economy of the state and of the commune(Gemeindehaushalt). While the entire work shall constitute onesystematic whole, each part shall have its own appropriate title,constitute an independent treatise, and be sold separately.

Of the peculiar method which I have followed in this work, andwhich will produce still better fruits in the succeeding volumes,I have given a sufficient explanation in §§ 26 ff., and all Idesire now is to say a few words on the relation the notes bearto the text. The careful reader will soon be convinced that ofthe many citations in this work, not one has been made froma vain desire of the display of erudition. Part of them servesas the necessary proof of surprising facts adduced, but whichare little known. Another part of them is intended to incite thereader to the study of certain questions nearly related to thosetreated in the text, but which are still different from them. Theobject of the greater number is to supply information concerningthe history of economic principles. As far as the sources atmy command permitted, I have endeavored to point out thefirst germs, the chief stages of development, the contrasts, and,finally, what has been thus far attained in economic science.This sometimes required some little victory over self, inasmuchas I was conscious of having independently discovered certain[viii]facts, when I afterwards found that some old and long-forgottenwriter had made similar observations. Thus, this work may serveboth as a handbook and as a history of the literature of Political


Economy. Students of the science know how little has thus farbeen done by writers in this direction. And hence I shall bevery grateful to those who labor in the same field, if they will,either by writing to me personally, or through the medium ofthe press, inform me when I have erred in ascribing a truth, or ascientifically important error, to its earliest author.

I have already said in the title that this work is intended notfor the learned only, but for all educated men, for men of aserious turn of mind, who desire truth and science for their ownsake. Like that ancient historian, whom I honor above all othersas my teacher, I desire that my work should be useful to those,ὅσοι βουλήσοντοι τῶν τε γενομένων τὸ σαφὲς σκοπεῖν καὶτῶν μελλόντων ποτὲ αὖθις κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπειον τοιούτων καὶπαραπλησίων ἔσεσθαι. (ThucydidesI, 22.)

UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG,

End of May, 1854.

[ix]

From The Author's Prefaces. (2d to11th Edition.)

The preface to the second edition is dated October, 1856; that tothe third, April, 1858; that to the fourth, April, 1861; that to thefifth, November, 1863; that to the sixth, November, 1865; that tothe seventh, November, 1868; that to the eighth, August, 1869;that to the ninth, March, 1871; that to the tenth, May, 1873; thatto the eleventh (unaltered), December, 1873. Each successiveedition, nearly, has been announced as an improved and enlargedone; and the tenth edition contains one hundred and fifty-sixpages more than the first, although in places, a large number ofabbreviations had been made from previous editions. There aremany things in some of the previous editions which criticisminduced me, long since, to change. I have considered it my duty tothe public, who gave my work so warm and friendly a reception,to take into consideration, in each successive edition, not onlymy own new investigations, but those also of all others withwhich I became acquainted, and, whenever possible, to correctstatistical illustrations from the latest sources. I have especially,in each following edition, enriched a number of paragraphs withhere and there historical, ethnographic and statistical features.Plutarch is certainly right, spite of the fact that pedants mayabuse him for it, when he says, that trifling acts, a word and evena jest, are often more important, as characterizing the life of apeople or an age, than great battles which cost the lives of tensof thousands of men.

I have changed the titles“Ricardo's Law of Rent,” and“TheMalthusian Law of the Increase of Population,” which I formerly [x]used, for others. But I would not be misunderstood here. I hold


it to be a duty of reverence in the learned—as it has long beenpracticed in the case of the natural sciences—in the sciencesof the human mind to call the natural laws, methods etc., inacquainting us with which, some one particular investigator haswon very distinguished merit, by the name of that investigator.In the case of the law of rent, the application of this rule would asunquestionably entitle Ricardo to this honor as it would Malthusin that of the increase of population, spite of the fact that Ricardomay not have succeeded in finding the best possible form of theabstraction, and although Malthus even, in a one-sided reactionagainst a former still greater one-sidedness, was not always ableto steer clear of positive and negative errors. Recent sciencehas endeavored, and successfully, to examine the facts whichcontradict the Ricardoan and Malthusian formulations of the lawsin question, and to extend the formulas accordingly. I have myselfcontributed hereto to the extent of my ability. But, in the interval,it is not hard to comprehend that, while this process of elucidationis going on, most scholars, those especially possessed more ofa dogmatic than of a historical turn of mind, should estimatethese two leaders more in accordance with their few defectsthan with the great merits of their discoveries. If, therefore, Inow drop the title“Malthusian law,” it is to guard hasty readersfrom the illusion that §§ 242 seq. teach what the great crowdunderstand by Malthusianism; when they might, perhaps, omitthat portion entirely. For my own part, I have no doubt that,when the process of elucidation above referred to shall have beenthoroughly finished, the future will accord both to Ricardo andMalthus their full meed of honor as political economists anddiscoverers of the first rank.1

1 The author's preface to the twelfth edition is confined to pointingout the improvements etc., made in the eleventh. There is no newpreface to the thirteenth edition of the original, which appeared in1877.—TRANSLATOR{FNS.

From The Author's Prefaces. (2d to 11th Edition.) 9

[001]

Preliminary Essay.

Preliminary Essay On The Application Of The HistoricalMethod To The Study Of Political Economy,

By M. Wolowski,

Member Of The Institute Of France.

“Nunquam bene percipiemus usu necessarium nisi et nover-imus jus illud usu non necessarium. Nexum est et colligatumalterum alteri. Nulli sunt servi nobis, cur quæstiones de servisvexamus? Digna imperito vox.”—Cuj., vii, in titul. Dig. DeJustitia et Jure.2

“Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.”—Terence.3

“ Ista præpotens, ac gloriosa philosophia.”—Cicero, De Or.,I, 43.4

I.

It is no foolish desire to make a vain display of citations, thatinduces us, at the beginning of this essay, intended to point outthe results of the application of a new method to the study of

2 “We shall never thoroughly understand the reason of customary law unlesswe also have a knowledge of that which is not customary. The one is connectedand bound to the other. We have no slaves; why vex ourselves with questionsabout slaves?—Words worthy of a novice.”

3 “ I am a man; I think nothing foreign to me that pertains to man.”4 “That excellent and glorious philosophy.”

Preliminary Essay. 11

Political Economy, to invoke the authority of a poet and moralist,of a jurisconsult and of a philosopher. The writer finds in thewords just quoted the loftiest expression of the thought which[002]dictates these lines, viz.: that the impartial researches of history,a profound feeling of man's moral and material wants, and thelight of philosophy, should govern in the teaching of a science,the object of which is to show us how those things which areintended to satisfy our wants are produced and distributed amongthe several classes or individuals of a nation; how they areexchanged one against another, and how they are consumed.

The nineteenth century affords us something more than theadmirable spectacle of the rapid and fertile development ofmechanical power and natural forces. This is but one of theaspects, we might even say but one of the results, of thegeneral progress of the human mind. The renovation of moraland intellectual studies has served as a starting point for theapplication to facts of the conquests of thought. Science haspreceded art.

In the foremost rank of the studies just referred to isphilosophy,which initiates us into the knowledge of human nature, the basisof right, and which translates its legitimate aspirations into alanguage which we can understand;history, that prophetessofthe truth, as one of the ancients called it, which places before usthe faithful picture of times past, not by simply putting togethera skeleton of facts, but by following the living progress of eventsand the organic development of institutions. Such, at least, hasbeen the work of those noble minds who have consecrated theirenergies to the resuscitation of ages past, in their true shape,and such is the service for which we are indebted to them forthe successful accomplishment of the reformation of historicalstudies, which they attempted with such rare devotion and suchmarvelous sagacity.

This renovation of history has exerted the most fertile influencein the region of philosophy, in that of law, and we believe that


it will prove no less useful in that of Political Economy. It hasserved to put us on our guard against being easily misled byapriori notions.[003]

By exhibiting to us the results of the life and of the experienceof centuries, by teaching us by what steps the human mind hasrisen to its present eminence, and what the education given it inthe past has been, it has enabled us to ascend from phenomenato the principles which preside over them; from facts to the law;and it has substituted for arbitrary assumptions and purely idealsystems, the slow but progressive work of the genius of nations.Not that it turns a deaf ear to the exalted lessons of philosophy,nor that it denies theeternal relations resulting from the natureof things. Far from it. On the contrary, it supplies a solid basisto intellectual investigations, and, so to speak, an answer for allthe moral sciences, to this saying of Rœderer:“Politics is a fieldwhich has been traversed thus far only in a balloon; it is time toput foot on solid ground.”

Neither does history, as thus understood, confine itself to meredescription; it also assumes the office of judge. While it pullsdown much that passion and inaccuracy have reared, and thusrestores respect for the past, it does not turn that past into afetish. It looks it boldly in the face and questions it, insteadof prostrating itself before it and worshipping it with downcasteyes. Thus, by plainly showing us the many bonds which tie usto it, it escapes at once both the rashness of impatience and thewearisomeness of routine.

The impartiality it inculcates is not indifference; and there isno danger that the justice it metes out to past ages shall degenerateinto a vain scepticism or a convenient optimism.

The study of history, thus understood, has another advantage;it accustoms us to those patient and disinterested investigations, tothose lengthy labors, the positive result of which at first escapesus for a time, only to burst on our eyes, with so much morebrilliancy, when rigorous research has succeeded in discovering


it. It frees us from the deadly constraint of immediate utility.

There is nothing more fatal to science than the feverishimpatience for results which obtains only too much in our owndays, and which induces people to run after him who is in the[004]

greatest hurry, and which leads to hasty conclusions.

“Research undertaken from a disinterested love of science,”says the learned Hugo, one of the masters of the historical schoolof law in Germany,5 “ that research which at first promises noother advantage but truth and the culture of the mind, is preciselythat which brings us the richest rewards. Would we not be behind,in all the sciences, if we had clung only to those principles, theutility of which in practice was already known? Do we not,to-day, from many a discovery, reap advantages of which itsauthor never dreamed?”

Doubtless this tendency, unless restrained by other demands,is not exempt from danger. We may be carried away by theattraction peculiar to these noble studies, withdraw into antiquityand fall into a species of historical mysticism which ends inthe affirmation, that whatever has been is true, absolutely, andwhich, instead of confining itself to the explanation of transitoryphenomena, invests them with all the dignity of principles. Weshall endeavor to avoid the peril pointed out by Mallebranche.“Learned men study rather to acquire a chimerical greatness inthe imagination of other men, than to acquire greater breadthand strength of mind themselves. They make their heads akind of store-room, into which they gather, without order ordiscrimination, everything which has a look of erudition,—Imean to say everything which may seem rare or extraordinaryand excite the wonder of other people. They glory in gettingtogether, in this archæological museum, antiques with nothingthat is rich or solid about them, and the price of which dependson nothing but fancy, chance or passion.”

5 Introduction to the Civilistisches Magazin.


A display of erudition may obscure the truth, and bury it underits weight, instead of bringing it out into relief. By concentratingthe mind on the material vestiges of the past, it may withdraw itfrom the intellectual movement of the present, and give us a raceof scholars, of great merit, doubtless, but who move about like[005]strangers among their contemporaries.

Without a sense for the practical, and without ideas of anelevated nature, a person may, indeed, be a man of erudition—hecannot be a historian. As the proverb says, the forest cannotbe seen, for the trees. That this noble study may bear its bestand most useful fruit; that is, that it should preserve us againstambitiousformulasand destructive chimeras, we must pursueanother way.“The world,” says Montaigne,“ is incapable of curing itself. It

is so impatient of what burthens it, that it thinks only of how itshall rid itself of it, without inquiring at what price. A thousandexamples show us that it cures itself ordinarily at its own cost.The getting rid of the present evil is not cure, unless there bea general amendment of condition. Good does not immediatelysucceed evil. One evil, and a worse, may follow another, likeCæsar's assassins, who brought the republic to such a pass,that they had reason to repent the meddling with it.” Such, toofrequently, is the lot of those who, abandoning themselves totheir imagination, and without consulting the past, mix togetherpromises of liberty and the despotism of Utopias which theywould impose on nations under pretext of enfranchising them.Despising the work of the ages, they think they can build upon asoil shaken by destruction and crumbled, until it may be likenedto moving sand.

Contempt for the past is associated with a passion for reform.Men think of destroying that which should only be transformed.They condemn everything that has been, unconditionally, andlaunch out towards a new future. The suffering which has beengone through irritates and troubles the mind. The work of pulling


down is so easy, it is supposed that the work of building up isequally so. Hence systems rise, as if the world were to beginanew. The pride of liberty and of human action becomes theprinciple of science; and, like all new principles, it pretends toexclusive and absolute dominion. Rationalism governs; abstractphilosophy ignores the traditions and the requirements of the[006]life of nations; and finds now in it, as in geometry, nothing butprinciples and deductions. The memory of recent oppressioncauses us to act as Tarquin did, and to level down the higherclasses instead of elevating the inferior. Liberty and equality thengovern by their negative side, instead of exercising the positiveand beneficent influence they should have, to develop all forcesto their utmost, to ennoble the mind, to give more elasticity tothe soul and greater vigor to thought, to give birth to those variedforms and to that moral energy, which should bring us nearer tofinal equality in the bosom of God.6

We forget that no one is bornfree, and that every one ought toendeavor to become so,

Feindlich ist des Mannes StrebenMit zermalmender GewaltGeht der Wilde durch des LebenOhne Rast und Aufenthalt,

—Schiller.

and make himself worthy of liberty, by the exercise of manlyvirtue! Because the form has been changed, we believe that wehave changed human nature.

It is easy to understand, why, where these ideas prevail, thestudy of the past should be neglected and despised. Efforts aremade to avoid it. Why, it is asked, revive memories of oppressionand misery? The old world is wrecked. It is annihilated. Peace

6 Dunoyer, De la Liberté du Travail.


to its ashes! Or else, after it has been destroyed, it is sought foragain; and, under pretext of eradicating the evils existing in it, anattack is made on the eternal basis on which human society rests,on the laws not made by man, and which it is not given to manto change. The world becomes one vast laboratory, in which therashest experiments are multiplied in number, in which mankindis but clay in the hands of the potter which every pretended“ thinker” may mould at will, by giving him the false appearancesof independence and of an emancipated being.[007]

And, indeed, if the will of man be all-powerful, if states areto be distinguished from one another only by their boundaries, ifeverything may be changed like the scenery in a play by a flourishof the magic wand of a system, if man may arbitrarily make theright, if nations can be put through evolutions like a regiment oftroops; what a field would the world present for attempts at therealization of the wildest dreams, and what a temptation would beoffered to take possession, by main force, of the government ofhuman affairs, to destroy the rights of property and the rights ofcapital, to gratify ardent longings without trouble, and provide themuch coveted means of enjoyment. The Titans have tried to scalethe heavens, and have fallen into the most degrading materialism.Purely speculative dogmatism sinks into materialism.

All is changed, both men and things. Yet we hear the sameold style of declamation. There are those who wish to plough upthe soil which the harrow of the revolution went over yesterday;and they believe they are marching in the way of progress. Theydo not see that they have mistaken their age, and that the boldattempts of the past have now come to possess a directly oppositemeaning. Without stopping to inquire to what side the newworld inclines, they repeat the same words, and swearin verbamagistri, and go the road of destruction, believing themselves tobe creating the world anew!

Nothing is more natural than that these excesses shouldproduce other excesses, in a contrary direction. Moved by hatred


or fear of revolutionary absolutism, nations seek an asylum ingovernmental absolutism, or they retrograde towards the middleages, and consider the mutual bond of protection and dependenceof that period as the ideal and the realization of true liberty.History is no longer the organic development of social life, andman, like a soldier that thoughtlessly and capriciously has gonebeyond his place of supplies, is obliged to retrace his steps. Thereaction is clearly defined. The past is opposed to the present,not as a lesson to be turned to advantage, but as a model which[008]must be hastily accepted; and men become revolutionary in abackward direction.

However, history, rigorously studied, knows neither thesecomplaisances nor these weaknesses. It does not descend to theapotheosis of a past which cannot return again. The real historicalspirit consists in rightly discerning what belongs to each epoch.Its object is, by no means, to call back the dead to life, but toexplain why and how they lived. In harmony with a healthyphilosophy, it assigns a limit to the vagaries of arbitrary will,beyond which the latter cannot go. It unceasingly calls us back,from the heights of abstraction, to positive facts and things.

In the creation of systems, only one thing was wont to beforgotten, men, who were treated, in them, like so many ciphers;for intellectual despotism has this in common with all despoticauthority. History teaches us that we can reach nothing greator lasting, but by addressing ourselves to the soul. If the souldecays, there can be no longer great thoughts or great actions.Society lives by the spirit which inhabits it. It may, for an instant,submit to the empire of force, but, in the long run, it hearkensonly to the voice of justice. It was thus that the greatest revolutionwhich history records, that of Christianity, was accomplished. Itaddressed itself only to the soul; but by changing the hearts ofmen, it transformed society entirely.

The violent struggle between an imperious dogmatism and anunintelligent and mistaken attempt at a retrogressive movement


is resolved into a higher view, which permits the union ofconservatism and progress. Violent attempts and rash endeavorsmade, threatened to bring contempt on the noblest teachings ofphilosophy, and to make them repulsive to man; and, on the otherhand, a blind respect for the institutions consecrated by historythreatened to stifle all examination and all freedom of judgment.

But a healthier doctrine has permitted us to understand, thatwe are continuing the work of preceding generations; that we[009]

are developing the germs which they successively sowed; thatwe are perfecting that which they had only sketched, and thatwe are letting drop that which has no support in the socialcondition of man. Every thing is connected; each thing is linkedto every other; nothing is repeated. The hopes of sudden andtotal renovation, based on absolute formulas, vanish before thetouch of this solid study. This shows us how firm and unshakenare those reforms which have begun by taking hold of the mindsof men, the precise spirit of which had penetrated into the soulsof whole nations before they had manifested themselves in facts.

Law and Economy constitute a part of the life of nations in thesame way that language and customs do. The power of historyin no way contradicts the supremacy of reason.

II.

These two tendencies, the rationalistic and the historical, areeverywhere found face to face. They carry on an eternal warfare,which is renewed in every age, under new names and newforms. Accomplished facts and renovating thought divide theworld between them. They at one time moderate its speed, andat others, spur it on its way. But these two forces, instead ofcompromising the destinies of humanity by their opposing action,maintain and balance them, as the contrary impulses given by the


hand of the Great Architect has peopled the universe with worldswhich gravitate in space.

Victor Cousin, a very competent authority on the subject, hassaid that the history of philosophy is the torch of philosophyitself. The remarkable works which have enriched it in thisdirection are well known. History, on its side, is enlightened byphilosophy. Thus, it teaches us not to despise facts, but at thesame time not to be slaves to precedent. It does equal justice tothe incredulous and to the fanatic, to too supple practitioners andto intractable theorizers. [010]

We may doubtless say with Henri Klimrath, who, inconnection with a few others, had undertaken the work ofthe restoration of historical study in its application to French law,that there is an absolute, true, beautiful, good and just, theratiorecta summi Jovis,7 the supreme reason founded in the nature ofthings.8 The eternal truths taught by philosophy constitute thehigher law, a law which dates not from the day on which it wasreduced to writing, but from the day of its birth; and it was bornwith the divine intelligence itself.“Qui non tum denique incipitlex esse, cum scripta est, sed tum cum orta est. Orta autem simulest cum mente divina.”9 And Troplong rightly adds:“There arerules anterior to all positive laws. I cannot grant that the actionof conscience and the idea of right are the work of the legislator.It is not law that made the family, property, liberty, equality, theidea of good and evil. It may, indeed, give organization to allthese things, but in doing so, it is only working on the foundationwhich nature has laid, and it is perfect in proportion as it comesnearer to the eternal, immutable laws which the Creator hasengraved on our hearts. What changes is not the eternal law, the

7 Cicero, De Leg., I.8 Discours Préliminaire du Code Civil.9 Cicero, De Leg., II, 4. “Legem neque hominum ingeniis excogitatam,

nec scitum aliquod esse populorum, sed æternum quiddam quod universummundum regeret, imperandi, prohibendique sapientia.” Ibid.


revelation of which comes to man incessantly and by a necessaryaction, but the form in which humanity clothes it, the institutionswhich man builds on its immutable foundation.”10

We therefore believe in the law of nature, and regret thatour opinion is not shared by Mr. Roscher, at least that hedoes not explicitly enough express his faith in it, nor apply itbroadly enough in the beautiful work which we are happy torender accessible to the French public.11 We believe in it in its[011]philosophical sense, and not simply in the juridical sense attachedto it by Ulpian. “Let us not,” observes Portalis,“confound thephysical order of nature, common to all animated beings, withthe natural law which is peculiar to man. We callnatural law, theprinciples which govern man considered as a moral being, that is,as an intelligent and free being, intended to live in the society ofother beings, intelligent and free like himself.”12 Ulpian's famoustripartite division, of natural law, the law of nations, and the civil

10 Revue de Législ. et de Jurispr. (1841, XIII, p. 39.)Montesquieusays:“Therelations of justice and equity are anterior to all positive laws.”11 Mr. Wolowski translated the second edition of Roscher's Principles into

French, and prefixed the present essay thereto as a preface. Since Wolowski'stranslation appeared, the original work has gone through eleven editions,been largely increased in size, and enriched with new notes, the result ofnearly twenty additional years of research and thought. The thirteenth Germanedition, from which the present translation is made, is larger than the first byone hundred and seventy pages.—Translator's note.12 And he adds:“Animals which yield only to an impulse or blind instinct,

come together only fortuitously or periodically and in a manner destitute of allmorality. But in the case of men, reason is mixed up more or less with every actof their lives. Sentiment is found side by side with desire, and right succeedsinstinct. I discover a real contract in the union of the two sexes.”

It would be impossible to present a more complete or eloquent refutation ofthe definition of the Roman jurisconsults which debases marriage to the levelof the promiscuous coming together of animals, and which limits the naturallaw to the law common to man and beast.“Jus naturale est quod natura omniaanimalia docuit; nam jus istud non humani generis proprium, sed omniumanimalium quæ in terra, quæ in mare nascuntur, avium quoque communeest. Hinc descendit maris atque feminæ conjunctio, quam nos matrimonium


law, is proof, from the meaning he attaches to them, either of amisunderstanding or of the imperfect idea which the Stoics hadconceived of the essence of natural law. In vain Cujas exhaustedall the resources of his noble intellect to explain it.13 [012]

It is necessary to draw a distinction between physical law andthe law (droit) of intelligent beings. Doubtless the existence ofmen as well as that of animals is limited by time. They both liveand die; but the soul escapes the necessities of material nature.

The moment there is question ofright, intelligence governs,reason comes into play, and the science of right and wrong isappealed to as a guide. Hence thenatural law of the humanspecies is not the physical law which all creatures obey.

It was necessary for us to insist upon these principles. Itwas necessary for us to show that there is a law independent ofpositive and local law, a law which is not the expression of anarbitrary will, but an emanation from the nature of things.14

Hence come the features in common which we meet witheverywhere, and the variable forms which develop law inharmony with the special conditions of each civil society.

We must descend into the very depths of human nature to

appellamus, hinc liberorum procreatio, hinc educatio; videmus etenim cæteraquoque animalia, feras etiam, istius juris peritia censeri.” D. L. I. De Just. etJure.13 Comment. in tit. Dig., De Just. et Jure, VII, 11th Naples edition. The

ingenious argument of the great jurisconsult falls to the ground under thebeautiful words of Cicero:“Ut justitia, ita jus sine ratione non consistit; soliratione utentes jure ac lege vivunt.” De Natura Deorum, II, 62.“Virtus rationeconstat, brutæ ratione non utuntur, cujus sunt expertia, ergo jure non vivunt,et ut rationis, sic jures sunt expertia.” Besides, Cujas himself recognizes howfaulty and incomplete was the definition he was defending:“At ne jus quidemnaturale, de quo agimus, est commune omnium animalium quatenus rationale,est, sed quatenus sensible est, sensui congruit. Tullius participare hominemcum brutis eo quod sentit, sed ratione ab eo differre. Et alio loco: jus naturaleesse commune omnium Quiritium, veluti ut se velint tueri: sed hoc distarehominem a bellua, quod bellua sensu moveatur, homo etiam ratione.”14 Rossi.


discover these eternal and permanent laws; and if the mereeffort of the mind should not reach them directly, they mightbe discovered in the phenomena of the life of nations. Historyaffords us the counter-proof and confirmation of the philosophicaldoctrine.

The development of society does not afford a mathematicalexpression of these higher truths. It gives them a form whichis unceasingly modified in the written law. The person whodiscovers in them nothing but an absolute rule, looks upon thechanges as evidences of caprice and error. He alone understandsthe revolutions of things who knows their cause and the necessitywhich produces them.[013]

Solon was right when he gave the Athenians not the mostperfect laws, but the best which they could bear.

It is not in the attempts contemporary with the infancy ofsociety, or nearly so, that we are to look for the completerealization of the precepts of the natural law; for principles obeythe rule laid down by Aristotle.“The nature of each thing isprecisely that which constitutes its end; and when each being hasattained its entire development, we say that that is its own propernature.”15

The ideas of natural law are purified in proportion associety grows enlightened and free; but the truth appears onlysuccessively in the phases it passes through. It allows us to graspone aspect of itself after another, but does not surrender itselfentirely, at any one moment, to the investigations of the historianor the jurisconsult.

History and philosophy interpenetrate and complement oneanother.

III.15 Politics, I, ch. I, II.


The two schools, that of philosophy and that of history have met inour day, in the field of law. Who is there that does not rememberthe great and noble contest carried on, about the beginning of thiscentury, between two descendants of Frenchmen who had soughta refuge in Germany, and who united in their own persons,and in so marvelous a manner, the different aptitudes of thecountry they owed their origin to, and of the land that gave thembirth,—between Thibaut and Savigny?

It would be difficult to find a scientific question of a highercharacter, debated by champions more worthy to throw lightupon it.

TheCode Napoléonhad appeared. It had, to use Rossi's happyexpression, transferred into law the social revolution produced[014]by the destruction of privilege. It was the practical formulaexpressive of the conquests which had been made.

The philosophy of the eighteenth century had previouslyinspired the Prussian Code. And yet, it was on the questionof codification that this memorable controversy was carried on.The two principal combatants, while manfully battling, the oneagainst the other, continued to hold each other in high esteem,and the profound study of law was developed in the midst of themelée.

We cannot delay long on this subject, nor analyze thearguments advanced by Thibaut16 and Savigny.17 What interestsus at present is not so much the question debated, as theintellectual movement to which it gave birth. Savigny sustainedthe ancient law, Thibaut attacked it. Numerous and distinguishedjurisconsults ranged themselves on the one side and the other. Anew school grew up which, with the most brilliant success, madelaw throw light on history and history on law.

16 Ueber die Nothwendigkeit eines Allgemeinen burgerlichen Rechts furDeutschland.17 Vom Beruf unserer Zeit für Gesetzgebung etc.


The application of the historical method to the study of lawwas productive of the most happy results.

Without acknowledging it to themselves, the chiefs of thecontending parties were each obeying a political impulse.Savigny was by his birth and his tastes carried into the camp ofconservatism; Thibaut, led by his convictions, into the liberalranks. Nevertheless, the natural elevation of their geniuspreserved them from all exaggeration. The glorious defenderof tradition preserved a liberal spirit, and the ardent advocate ofreform desired no upheaval.

In what more nearly concerns the question with which weare now occupied, Savigny—while he maintained that law wassomething contingent, human, national; and while he broughtout into relief the practical and exalted character of its successivedevelopments which introduced reform and guarded against[015]revolution—developments which, not confiding in the letter ofthe written law, unceasingly feed the living and created law,that law called in the energetic language of a great jurisconsult,a law écrit es coeurs des citoyens—is far from denying theimportance of a high and healthy philosophy which directs manin the uninterrupted labor to which he is called, in the sphere ofjurisprudence.

Men can no more renounce law than language, the formsof which last they have gradually modified in order to bettertranslate their thoughts into words. The legislator's task isthe successive elaboration of obligatory provisions. He willsometimes oppose and sometimes second the natural progress oflaw; but, in doing so, it will ever be necessary for him to ascendto the nature of things, and grasp their relations, if he would notgo astray in practice, or lose himself among the successive andpartial changes to which the illustrious Berlin professor wouldconfine the legitimate ambition of legislative power. To gobeyond this, in an age like ours, seemed to him to be a work ofdestruction. However, far from denying the influence of thought,


and therefore of philosophy, acting within its sphere, Savignyinvokes its fertile aid.

Thibaut, on the other hand, with more confidence in thepowers of the spirit of modern times, did not believe a goodcodification to be impossible. His starting point had been a cryfor national independence. He well knew how much venerationwas due those institutions which were the slow and progressivework of national genius, and what was the power they possessed.He wished, therefore, to reform, not to abolish them. He wellunderstood that the greatness of theCode Napoléonitself, andthe respect which it inspired were due to the fact that its rootsran deep into the soil of the past, even while the modern ideait contained shone like a bright light in the world of things.Hence, without contesting the value of history, he refused toacknowledge its right to exclusive reign.18 [016]

The life and activity prevailing in the study of law, and thebrilliant successes that study has recently achieved, are due,

say, without hesitation: Spare the works of Cicero.’ He joyfully exclaimed:‘ Ihave at last found a man who judges rightly of Cicero. I share your admirationfor him, and that is the reason I have given my boy the name of Marcus.’ Theice was now broken, and he frankly told me that he could not understand howI could be an inveterate enemy of Roman law and of the history of law. I gavehim to understand that I had simply been slandered, and I added, that, in orderto live entirely with the classics, I had always refused to give legal advice, oract as a counsellor, although I might have made a fortune in that way. I toldhim that I owed my gayety and vigor, in great part, to my love for the classicsof all ages, even those outside the domain of jurisprudence; but that I held,above all things, to the good qualities of the German nation, and that I didnot hesitate to say with Facciolatus:‘Expedit omnes gentes Romanis legibusoperam dare, suis vivere.’

“When he heard those words of mine, he exclaimed with his usual energyand vivacity: ‘Habes me consentientem, labes me consentientem.’ From thatmoment all coldness between us was at an end, and we approached, without anyembarrassment, a host of questions in one conversation in which I endeavored,as I had before, to learn from him.

“Thus I receive with sincere gratitude, all the works, both useful andprofound, which have appeared in our day on the history of law. It would befolly in me to deny the impetus which the study of positive law has received.


in great part, to the illustrious representatives of the historicalschool. We may add, here, that the French historical school,which has so worthily inherited the spirit of Montesquieu, hasnot achieved less in this direction than the older German school. Ithas reconciled the opposing but not mutually hostile, tendencies[017]of Savigny and Thibaut. It has conscientiously scrutinized factsto show their concatenation, and to allow their meaning andbearing to be clearly grasped. A French jurisconsult, who is atthe same time our highest authority in the natural law, openedthe way by his excellent essays on the necessity of reforming thehistorical studies applicable to law; on the influence of the legists

for that man's name was Niebuhr.... When he [Niebuhr] returned from Italyto devote himself entirely to science, in his retreat at Bonn, he passed throughHeidelberg, where he remained five or six days. During a great part of thattime we came frequently together. He was at first a little cold; but Cicero madeus friends. After a happy word let drop concerning that writer, he asked mewhat I thought of him. I answered laconically:‘ If they were burning all theLatin authors, and I were permitted to grant a pardon to one of them, I shouldNew sources have been discovered. Their newness and importance haveexcited the zeal of many scholars who have studied them profoundly; a factwhich made a review of the older sources, still by far the most important,necessary. These two circumstances soon rendered it imperative to proceed tothe making of scrupulous dogmatic researches. Thus there now is a new lifeamong jurisconsults, and a great activity, which, it is my hope, may continuelong.”18 In one of his latest productions (Ueber die sogennante historische und

nicht historische Rechtsschule, Archives du Droit Civil, Heidelberg, XXI1838) the veteran of the philosophical school, resuming a debate begun aquarter of a century before, energetically defends himself against the erroneousinterpretations which it was sought to give to his thoughts.“Does it follow,”he inquires,“ that because a man is desirous of reform, he must surrender thestudy of the past? And if there be new laws to construe, how could his evil


on French civilization19 etc.; and by his prefaces, equal in valueto whole works, on hypothecation, sales, loans, partnership,charter-parties etc. He may truly be said to have renewed theancient and prolific alliance of history and law.

Instead of pursuing a pure abstraction, this historical schoolhas confined itself to the knowledge of the life of man andthe evolution of society. It has applied to law, with whatsuccess is well known, the principle which has regeneratedthe social sciences, philosophy, letters, history, PoliticalEconomy,—sciences which are, so to speak, different provincesof one intellectual empire, which interpenetrate one anotherwithout being confounded one with another, between which nojealous barrier should be raised, and between which reciprocity ofexchange should be encouraged by the suppression of factitiousduties, which have existed only too long.

[018]

IV.

We need not dwell any longer on the character of the historicalmethod as applied to law, nor on the services it has alreadyrendered. On this point, there can be no two opinions. And, ifany one wonders that we should speak of it at all, in a work onPolitical Economy, we can only say to him, that we have done so

genius deter him from the necessary knowledge of ancient laws? Is there asingle jurisconsult, who, in the hope of a better future, despises the meaningand spirit of that which still exists? I do not know even one.... And when Iam accused of passing by the institutions of the past with coldness and hatredin my heart, because I was one of the first to express the hope of a betterfuture, a charge is laid at my door which is perfectly incomprehensible ...I am reproached with despising the history of law. It is a slander on me.Although I have only laughed at these reports, one man's mistake grieved me;19 Revue de Législ. et de Jurisprudence, 1834-35.


to call his attention to an instructive precedent, and for the furtherreason that the same method is peculiarly well adapted to thestudy of Political Economy. Its advantages are the same here, itstendencies the same, and the same motives exist to induce us touse it here. In describing the successive phases of the question inthe case of law, we have performed an important part of the taskwe had imposed upon ourselves, of vindicating the employmentof the historical method, in the sphere of Political Economy.

The study of history is the best and most powerful antidoteagainst social romances and ideal fancies. François Beaudouinwas right when he said:“Cæca sine historia jurisprudentia;” andwe are very sure that, without history as an element in it, PoliticalEconomy runs a great risk of walking blindfold.

The human mind has need of being able to know where it isat any moment, surrounded, as it is, by so many roads, runningin so many different directions. It ought to account to itselffor its progress, its deviations from the right path, and for itsmistakes.20 History alone can throw any light on questions whichare not simply intellectual curiosities, but which, rather, are mostdeeply concerned with the vital interests of society. It confirmsthe noble teachings of philosophy, by showing how our life ismade up of one unchanging tissue of relations, and how man,even if he may vary their colors, and change their design, cannotrenew their texture.

It teaches us to admire nothing, and to despise nothing,beyond measure. It enlightens us concerning questions of a[019]very complicated nature. Witnessing the evolutions of humanity,following the development of social facts and theories, we betterdiscern principles, and grow wary in relation to the alchemistsof thought, who imagine that society may be made to undergo atransformation between the rising and the setting of the sun.

As there is a natural law, so, too, there are certain principles

20 Rossi.


of Political Economy which emanate from philosophy, andmay be reduced to one supreme principle; that of liberty andresponsibility. The domain of Political Economy is thelabor ofgenerations. But we reject with all our strength, the materialisticdoctrine which, inexplicably confusing matters, endeavors toassimilate ideas so distinct as intelligence and things; and whichwould descend so low as to employ the dynamometer to measurethe creative force of man and its results, and which sees onlyfigures where there is a living soul.

Man is an intelligent being, served by organs,21 by personalorgans, with which the Creator has endowed him, by giving hima body provided with marvellous aptitudes, byexternalorganswhich he finds in nature subjected to his power. Man was createdin the image of God, say the Scriptures, and these words containa deep meaning. He alone, of all terrestrial beings, possesses aspark of divine intelligence. He alone has been called to pursuethe magnificent work of creation, by giving a new face to a worldto which he cannot add so much as an atom.

Labor is nothing but the action of spirit on itself and onmatter.22 Hence its dignity and grandeur. Hence, also, thedifficulties in the way of economic studies; since, to considerthem only as concerned with questions of material production, isto forget that the products of industry are made for man, not manfor industrial products; to ignore the close relationship between[020]their fruitful investigations and the whole circle of the moralsciences; to debase them and to mutilate them.

From the moment that science concerns itself with man only,and the action of the mind; from the moment that its endbecomes not simply material enjoyment, but moral elevation,the questions it discusses become indeed more complex, butthe answer, when found, is more prolific in results. Wealth,

21 M. de Bonald.22 M. Cousinhas brought this out in an admirable manner in his lectures on

Adam Smith. Cours de Philosophie Moderne.


then, is treated only as one of the forces of civilization. Otherinterests than purely material ones occupy the first place. Thismatter-of-fact philosophy which, according to Bacon's precept,seeks to improve the conditions of life, bears in mind, that themost fruitful source of material development lies in intellectualdevelopment. It humbly recognizes that it is not the first-born ofthe family, and draws new strength from this avowal. From themoment that it is the mind whichproducesand which governsthe world, intellectual and moral perfection become the causeand effect of material progress.“But seek ye first the kingdomof God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be addedunto you.”

The increase of production, then, appears an instrument ofelevation in the moral order.23 It is energy of soul, intelligenceand manly virtue which constitute the chief source of the wealthof nations; which create it, develop it, and preserve it. Wealthincreases, declines, and disappears with the increase, decline anddisappearance of these noble attributes of the soul.

Labor is the child of thought. Nothing happens in the externalworld which was not first conceived in the mind. The hand isthe servant of the intellect; and its work is successful, beautifulor useful in proportion to the activity and development of theintellect, and in proportion as the just, the beautiful and the goodexert their power over it.

Production is, therefore, not a material, but a spiritual, work.How, then, can acts and their morality be separated? How notunderstand that the market of labor has its own distinct laws,[021]and that education, even from a material stand-point, becomesthe highest interest and the most important duty of society, sinceon it depends the efficiency of labor?

From the time that, after a long series of years, the doctrine ofChristianity had permeated the law of the civilized world; from

23 Channing.


the time that the teaching of Paul, that all men are children ofone Father, took form and body, and that the principle of theequality of all men before their Maker, was supplemented by thedoctrine and by the practice of that equality before the laws, thethinking masses have endeavored to discover the wherefore oftheir actions, and the why of their sufferings. They have calledthe past to account, and inquired why they have obtained solimited a share.

The people, therefore, think; and it is, therefore, a matter ofimportance that they should think aright. It is of importance,that they should be guarded against fallacious Utopian promises.Henceforth, there is no security for the stability of the worldbut in the contentment of minds. There is no rest for mankind,unless men will understand the conditions of their destiny; unless,instead of running,

“Toujours insatiable et jamais assouvis,”

after the intoxicating cup of material enjoyment—for wantsnot governed by the intellect and the heart are infinite in number,and the gratification of one gives birth to another—they submitto the law of sacrifice, and give play to the noblest faculty withwhich the Creator has endowed us, moral empire over self.

We shall meet on this road, hard of ascent, not only peaceof soul, but goods, more real and more numerous, than thosewith which the allurements of error would dazzle our eyes. Thegreatest obstacles to be overcome are not material ones, butmoral difficulties. As Franklin says, in substance, he that tellsyou you can succeed, in any way but by labor and economy, is aquack.

But labor is more productive in proportion as it is moreintelligent, as hand and mind keep pace with each other, as good[022]moral habits generate order and voluntary discipline.


Economy is sacrifice, binding the present to the future,widening the horizon of thought, inspiring foresight, lengtheningthe lever of human activity, by providing it with new instruments.

Life ceases to be a worry about how the body shall be sustained,and the material world becomes the shadow of the spiritual. Theformer is made to serve the latter, and man's free effort lifts himinto a higher region of thought, and into a larger field of action.The more mind there is put into a piece of work, says Channing,the more it is worth.

We, men of to-day, are lookers-on at a marvelous spectacle.Steam furrows the earth. Industry has taken an immense start.Mechanical force bends the most rebellious materials. Chemistry,physics and the natural sciences are discovering a new world.But whence all this? What is the principle of this new life? Weanswer: intellectual and moral progress. Mind has grown; thesoul has been expanded. God has permitted man to be free, andfurnished him with the means to be so.

Thus man, as Mignet has said, becomes that mighty creatureto whom God has given the earth for the vast theater of his action,the universe as the inexhaustible object of his knowledge, theforces of nature for the growing service of his wants, by allowinghim, by ever increasing information, to obtain an ever increasingamount of well-being.

Man is free.—1789 put in action the sublime precept of thegospel. He holds his destiny in his own hands. But the rightswhich he enjoys impose new duties on him. Ifequalitybe thesentiment which predominates in our day, we should take carenot to confound it with the leveling of Communism. Nor is itexternally to us, but within ourselves, that it should be developed,by intellectual and moral culture.

History preserves the student from being led astray by a tooservile adherence to any system. It exposes the folly of the[023]“social contract,” and of the idyllic dreams of the advantages ofsavage life. It shows that nature, instead of being prodigal of


her treasures, distributes them with a niggardly hand, and that itis necessary to conquer her by labor, intelligence and patiencebefore we can control her.

It shows us human liberty growing stronger every day, thanksto moral and intellectual progress, supported by the two powerfulprops of property, the complement of man, the material reflectionof his spiritual power; and capital, the fruit of abstinence, thesymbol of moral power and the result of enlightened activity.

History walks with a firm step, because it feels secure in aknowledge of the laws of human nature, and in its experienceof the successive manifestations of social life. Instead of thevagueness of ideal conceptions, it allows us to grasp and toappreciate what is real in life. It does not confine itself tothe study of man. It makes us acquainted withmen, whosewants extend and are ennobled in proportion to the perfection oftheir faculties. The feelings and the intellect are simultaneouslydeveloped in man. The savage is the most egotistical of men.

Hence, we believe that Political Economy cannot dispensewith the services of morals and philosophy, of history and law;for these are branches of one common trunk, through all of whichthe self-same sap circulates.

V.

The isolation of the theory of Political Economy is peculiar to ourown day. In more remote times, we find this study confoundedwith the other moral sciences, of which it was an integral part.When the genius of Adam Smith gave it a distinct character, hedid not desire to separate it from those branches of knowledgewithout which it could only remain a bleached plant from theabsence of the sunlight of ethics. [024]


We must renounce the singular idea,24 that thousands ofyears could pass away without leaving any trace of whatenlightened men had thought and elaborated in the matter ofPolitical Economy, among so many nations, and that peopleshould never have thought of cultivating this rich intellectualdomain, while in every other direction, it is easy for us to ascendby a road already cleared up to the most remote antiquity.

It has already been acknowledged, that theclassic domain,fertilized by intellectual culture on a large scale and on a smallone, was exceedingly rich in valuable indications, although theydo not present themselves under the distinct form, which lateraffected the different branches of public life.

As to the pretendedprimitive simplicityof the middle ages,which it is claimed, prevailed during that period, a speciesof economic vegetation, those who maintain it forget the longseries of communistic theories which, at near intervals, foundexpression in many a bloody struggle, and whose repressionrequired the combined efforts of Church and State.

Doubtless, it is not in their modern forms that the elementsof politico-economical science are to be found, in the past.But when we succeed in reuniting the scattered and brokenparts; when we have made our way into the customs, decrees,ordinances, capitularies, laws and regulations of those times;when, so to speak, we come, unaware, upon the life of nations, inthe most ingenuous and confidential documents which reflect itmost faithfully because most simply, we may well be astonishedat the results obtained. Where we expected, perhaps, to find onlyerudition, we reap a rich harvest of lessons which are all the morevaluable for being disinterested.

Legislative and administrative acts frequently develop realeconomic doctrines. It is easy to discover in them the

24 Knies. Die politischeŒkonomie vom Standpunkte der geschichtlichenMethode, Braunschweig, 1853.


onward course of a theory which plunges directly into practicalapplications.

What results might we not expect from these efforts, if the[025]genius of investigation and of divination, which has so elevatedhistorical studies in our day, should have an observing andpenetrating eye in this direction! How limited was the field onwhich Guérard erected the scientific monument which he hasleft us in hisPolyptique d'Irminon; and how precious are thelessons he leaves us, since we have here to do, not with thehistory of professed doctrines or unlooked-for events, but withthe historical development of economic society which shows usthe living march of principles.

VI.

Political Economy is not, as we have just said, a new science. Ithas been a distinct science only a short time. Until the eighteenthcentury, it was confounded with philosophy, morals, politics,law and history. But it does not follow, that, because it has grownso in importance, as to deserve a place of its own, its intimaterelationship with the noble studies which had until then absorbedit should cease. There is another consequence also to be deducedfrom this. From the moment that Political Economy ceases tobe considered a new science, it finds a long series of ancestorsbehind it, since it is compelled to investigate a past to which somany bonds unite it. This duty may increase its difficulties, but,at the same time, it singularly adds to the attractions of a studywhich, instead of presenting us only with the arid deductions ofdogmatism, comes to us with all the freshness and all the colorof life.

We may allow those who make Political Economy simply apiece of arithmetic to ignore these retrospective studies and theirimportance; for mathematics has little to do with history. But it is


otherwise with the life of nations. These would discover whencethey come, in order to learn whither they are tending.

They are not obeying a vain interest of curiosity, as J. B. Saysupposed, when, in sketching a short history of the progress[026]of Political Economy, he said:“However, every kind of historyhas a right to gratify curiosity.” It is a thing to be regretted,that this eminent thinker could thus ignore one of the essentialelements of the science to which he rendered such great andunquestioned services. A sense for the historical was wantingin him. “The history of a science,” he writes,25 “ is not like thenarration of things that have happened. What would it profitus to make a collection of absurd opinions, of decried doctrineswhich deserved to be decried? It would be at once useless andfastidious to thus exhume them in case we perfectly knew thepublic economy of social bodies. It can be of little concern to usto learn what our predecessors have dreamed about this subject,and to describe the long series of mistakes in practice whichhave retarded man's progress in the research after truth. Erroris a thing to be forgotten, not learned.” As if that which wasonce to be found in time is not to-day to be found in space; asif there ever was an institution that did not have itsraison d'etreand had not constituted a resting place in the search after ahigher truth or of a more intelligent and salutary application ofan old one! There are a great many actual systems and a greatmany present facts which can be understood only by the helpof history; and how frequently would not an acquaintance withhistory serve to keep us from taking for marvelous inventions theantiquated machinery of other ages, whose only advantage andonly merit are that they have remained unknown. How much ofthe pretended daring of innovators has been old trumpery whichthe wisdom of the times had cast off as rubbish. Besides, asBacon has said:“Verumtamen sæpe necessarium est, quod non

25 Cours Complet d' Economie politique, II, 540, éd. Guillaumin.


est optimum.”

[027]

VII.

It is not the result of mere chance that the greatest economistshave been both historians and philosophers. We need onlymention Adam Smith, Turgot, Malthus, Sismondi, Droz, Rossiand Léon Faucher. It is too frequently forgotten that the fatherof modern Political Economy, Adam Smith, looked upon thescience as only one part of the course of moral philosophy whichhe taught at Glasgow, and which embraced four divisions:

1. Universal theology.—The existence and attributes of God;principles or faculties of the human mind, the basis of religion.

2. Ethics.—Theory of the moral sentiments.3. Moral principles relating to justice.—In this, as we learn

from one of Adam Smith's pupils in a sketch preserved by DavidStewart, he followed a plan which seems to have been suggestedto him by Montesquieu. He endeavored to trace the successiveadvances of jurisprudence from the most barbarous times to themost polished. He carefully showed how the arts which ministerto subsistence, and to the accumulation of property, act on lawsand governments, and are productive of advances and changes inthem analogous to those they experience themselves.

In the first part of his course, as we learn from the sameauthority, he examined the various political regulations notfounded on the principle of justice but in expediency, the objectof which is to increase the wealth, the power and the prosperityof the state. From this point of view, he considered the politicalinstitutions relating to commerce, finance, the ecclesiastical andmilitary establishments. His lectures on the different subjectsconstitute the substance of the work he afterwards published


on the wealth of nations. A pupil of Hutcheson, Adam Smithalways applied the experimental method,“which, instead oflosing itself in magnificent and hazardous speculations, attaches[028]itself to certain and universal facts discovered to us by our ownconsciousness, by language, literature, history and society.”26

Before taking the professorship of philosophy, Adam Smith hadtaught belleslettres and rhetoric in Edinburgh, in 1748. He hadwritten a work on the origin and formation of languages; and itwas because he had profoundly studied the moral sciences thatit was given to him to inaugurate a new science and to becomea great economist. Mr. Cousin has laid great stress on AdamSmith's taste and talent for history.“Whatever the subject hetreats, he turns his eyes backward over the road traversed beforehimself, and he illuminates every object on his path by the aidof the torch which reflection has placed in his hand. Thus, inPolitical Economy, his principles not only prepare the future butrenew the past, and discover the reason, heretofore unknown,of ancient facts which history had gathered together withoutunderstanding them. It is not saying enough to remark that AdamSmith possessed a great variety of historical information; wemust add that he possessed the real historical spirit.” Thanks tothis eminent faculty of his, the Glasgow philosopher acquiredgreat influence over minds. In 1810, when the French empirehad reached the zenith of its greatness, Marwitz wrote:“There isa monarch as powerful as Napoleon: Adam Smith.” We need notrecall Turgot's historical researches.

Malthus' chief title to distinction, his work on Population, isas much a historical work as a politico-economical one; and itis not sufficiently known that he was professor of history andPolitical Economy in the college of the East India Company atAylesbury.

We need say no more on this subject. The works of the

26 Cousin.


other writers whom we have mentioned are too well known topermit any one to think that they excluded history and moralscience from the study of Political Economy. Hence the school[029]which has risen up in Germany,27 and which is endeavoringto do for Political Economy what Savigny, Eichhorn, Schrader,Mommsen, Rudorff, and so many other illustrious scholars havedone for jurisprudence, cannot be rightly accused of rashness. Ithas done nothing but unfurl the noble banner borne by the mostvenerated masters of the science.

VIII.

At the head of this school stands William Roscher, professor ofPolitical Economy at the University of Leipzig, whose excellentwork, The Principles of Political Economy, in which he followsthe historical method, we have just translated. William Roscheris (1857) scarcely forty years of age. He was born at Hanover,October 21, 1817. His laborious and simple life is that of aworthy representative of the science.“You ask me,” he wrote usrecently,“ to give you some information concerning the incidentsof my life. I have, thank God, but very little to tell you. Liveswhose history it is interesting to relate are seldom happy lives.”

27 We here append an extract fromHeinrich Contzen'sGeschichte, Literatur,und Bedeutung der Nationalökonomie, Cassel und Leipzig, 1876, p. 7:“Roscher ... is rightfully considered the real founder and the principalrepresentative of the historical school. This school is continually gaining inextent, and has found, both in Germany and in France, the most distinguisheddisciples—men who honor Roscher as their teacher and master, the leaderwhose beacon light they follow. Roscher combines the richest positive learningwith rare clearness and plastic beauty in the presentation of his thought. Theseare conceded to him on every hand; and it does not detract from him, or alter thefact that he possesses them, that, here and there, an ill-humored or maliciouslysnappish critic calls them in question.” It should be borne in mind here thatWolowski wrote in 1857; Contzen, like Wolowski, a politico-economicalwriter of mark, in 1876.—Translator's note.


He confined himself to giving us a few dates which are, soto say, the landmarks of a career full of usefulness. Roscher,from 1835 to 1839, studied jurisprudence and philology at theuniversities of Göttingen and Berlin. The learned teachers whoexercised the greatest influence on his intellectual development[030]were the historians Gervinus and Ranke, the philologist K. O.Müller and the Germanist Albrecht. It is easy to see that hewent to a good school, and that he profited by it. He was madedoctor in 1838; admitted in 1840 asPrivat-docentat Göttingen;appointed in 1843 professor extraordinary at the same university,and called in 1844 to fill the chair of titular professor at Erlangen.Since 1848 he has acted in the same capacity in the Universityof Leipzig, where he was for six years member of the PoorBoard, where he teaches also in the agricultural college. Hisfame has grown rapidly. Many of the German universities haveemulated one another for the honor of possessing him, but hehas not been willing to leave Leipzig. His first remarkable workwas his doctor's thesis:De historicæ doctrinæ apud sophistasmajores vestigiis, written in 1838. In 1842, he published hisexcellent work, which has since become classical:“The Life,Labors and age of Thucydides.”28 From that time, importantworks, all bearing the stamp of varied and profound scientificacquirements, and of an erudition remarkable for sagacity andelegance, have followed one another without interruption. In1843, he treated the question of luxury29 with a master hand, andlaid the foundation of his great work—only the first part of whichhas thus far appeared—at the same time tracing on a large scalethe programme of a course of Political Economy according to thehistorical method.30 In 1844, he published his historical study on

28 Leben, Werk und Zeitalter des Thukydides.29 Rau'sArchiv., Heidelberg. This remarkable essay has since appeared in

Roscher's Ansichten der Volkswirthschalt vom geschichtlichen Standpunkte,1861.—Translator's note.30 Grundriss zu Vorlesungen über die Staatswirthschaft nach geschichtlichen


Socialism and Communism,31 and in 1845 and 1846, his ideason the politics and the statistics of systems of agriculture. Heis, besides, author of an excellent work on the corn-trade;32 of [031]a remarkable book on the colonial system;33 of a sketch on thethree forms of the state;34 of a memoir on the relations betweenPolitical Economy and classical antiquity;35 of a work of thegreatest interest, on the history of economic doctrines in Englandin the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—a work full of themost curious researches;36 of a book on the economic principleof forest economy,37 and lastly, of the great work, the first partof which we have translated, under the title of The Principlesof Political Economy, and which is to be completed by thesuccessive publication of three other volumes, on the PoliticalEconomy of Agriculture, and the related branches of primitiveproduction, the Political Economy of Industry and Commerce,and one on the Political Economy of the State and the Commune.This work, when completed, will be a real cyclopedia of thescience.38

Methode.31 Berliner Zeitschrift für allgem Geschichte.32 Ueber Kornhandel und Theuerungspolitik, 3d ed., 1852.33 Untersuchungen über das Kolonialwesen.34 Umrisse zur Naturlehre der drei Staatsformen (Berliner Zeitschrift, 1847-

1848).35 Ueber das Verhältniss der Nationalökonomie zum klassischen Alterthume

(K. Sachs Akademie der Wissenschaft, 1849). Also to be found in Roscher'sAnsichten etc.—Translator.36 Zur Geschichte der englischen Volkswirthschaftslehre im 16 und 17 Jahrh.37 Ein nationalökonom. Princep der Forstwirthschaft.38 Roscher'scomplete work he calls“A System of Political Economy.” It

embraces the four parts above referred to; but each of these parts constitutes anindependent work.

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