130 History of the English Lauded Interest. 



Ricardo's theory of value, tliongli misunderstood by Malthus 

 and fiercely attacked by Jevons, has held its ground, and, 

 according to McCulloch, has raised his services to a level with 

 those of Locke and Smith. "His great object," says this 

 same author, " was general principles ; he often overlooked the 

 circumstances by which they are occasionally countervailed." 



Like many of the political economists of this period, he was 

 a business man, and the inliuence of the Stock Exchange 

 permeates his writings. Money matters were discussed almost 

 as though the old days of the mercantile system had returned. 

 But this school of business men, themselves influenced by the 

 circumstances of their livelihood, did not take into account in 

 their economical theories the same influences at work in their 

 fellows. The popularity of both Smith's and E-icardo's teach- 

 ing became therefore considerably lessened as soon as the 

 writings of J. S. Mill appeared in print, because he, and still 

 more so the later economists, gave much greater prominence 

 than did their philosophical predecessors to the idiosyncrasies 

 of individual human character. It was by utilising the 

 human as op|)Osed to the mechanical element in Political 

 Economy that the Socialists, though generally men of little 

 scholarship and research, obtained an important hold on the 

 public ear.^ 



It is strange how all the earlier philosophers, even the 

 historian Hume, have failed to utilise the teaching of the past 

 in their economical ethics. The comparative study of history, 

 and the theory of evolution, have since proved themselves 

 important factors in all philosophical questions of this descrip- 

 tion, and have been fully taken into consideration by such 

 later authorities as Mill, McCulloch, Jevons, and Spencer. 



It would be out of place to discuss here the altruistic teach- 

 ing of the Positivist school, though indirectly the influence of 

 Conte, of Carlyle, and of Ruskin, has had its effect on the 

 economical philosophy of modern authorities, and through the 

 latter on the relationship of the Landed Interest with the 

 community. 



' Principles of Economics., ch. iv. Marshall. 



