clearly opposed to that of all other classes, however inadequate the doctrine might become when made absolute by a hasty generalisation. I need not dwell upon the free-trade argument which made the popular reputation of the economists. It is enough to note briefly that the error as to the sphere of applicability of the doctrine did not prevent many of the practical conclusions from being of the highest value. FOOTNOTES: [294] A life of Ricardo by M'Culloch is prefixed to his _Works_. I cite the edition of 1880. Ricardo's letters to Malthus were published by Mr. Bonar in 1887; his letters to M'Culloch, edited by Mr. Hollander for the American Economic Association, in 1895; and his letters to H. Trower, edited by Mr. Bonar and Mr. Hollander, have just appeared (1900). [295] He remarks upon this difficulty in the case of Smith's treatment of rent, and gives a definition to which he scarcely adheres.--_Works_, p. 34 ('Principles,' ch. ii., 1888). [296] _Works_, p. 378. Ricardo, it should be said, complained when Malthus interpreted him to mean that this opposition of interests was permanent and absolute. [297] Malthus admits the general principle of free trade, but supports some degree of protection to corn, mainly upon political grounds. He holds, however, with Adam Smith, that 'no equal quantity of productive labour employed in manufactures could ever occasion so great a reproduction as in agriculture' (_Grounds of an Opinion, etc._, p. 35)--a relic of the 'physiocrat' doctrine. [298] _Works_, p. 385. [299] _Ibid._ p. 386. [300] See also _Letters to Malthus_, p. 175. [301] 'Your modern political economists say that it is a principle in their science that all things find their level; which I deny, and say, on the contrary, that it is the true principle that all things are finding their level, like water in a storm.'--Coleridge's _Table-Talk_, 17th May 1833. [302] _Letters to Malthus_, p. 96; and see the frequently quoted passage where he complains that Malthus has taken his book as more 'practical' than he had intended it to be, and speaks of his method of imagining 'strong cases.'--_Ibid._ p. 167. [303] _Works_, p. 40 _n._ (ch. ii.). [304] _Works_, p. 53 (ch. v.), and p. 124 (ch. xvi.), where he quotes from the _Wealth of Nations_ (M'Culloch), p. 390 (bk. v. ch. ii. art. 3). [305] _Works_, p. 131. [306] _Wealth of Nations_ (M'Culloch), p. 31 (bk. i. ch. viii.). [307] _Works_, p. 41 (ch. ii.). [308] _Wealth of Nations_ (M'Culloch), p. 36. [309] _Works_, p. 51 (ch. v.). [310] _Letters to Malthus_, p. 98. [311] _Works_, p. 239 (ch. xxxi., added in third edition, 1821). [312] _Ibid._ p. 50 (ch. v.). [313] _Ibid._ p. 52. [314] _Ibid._ p. 15 (ch. i. sec. ii.).