TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 647 



carried out ; it may well be thought because it was essentially premature. The 

 ' Wealth of Nations ' is in fact a part of that larger design ; and though in this 

 work he has for his main subject the economic phenomena of society, he has in- 

 corporated into it so much that relates to the other social aspects that he has on 

 this very ground been censured by some of the later economists. Mill, however, 

 who of all his English successors was the most large-minded and the best equipped 

 in respect of general culture, has recognised it as the great characteristic excel- 

 lence of Smith that " in his applications of political economy, he perpetually 

 appeals to other and often far larger considerations than pure political economy 

 aftords." In consequence of this admirable breadth of view, the study of the work 

 of Adam Smith is, I believe, more fitted than that of the writings of any other 

 economist, to cultivate in theorists a philosophic, and in practical men a statesman- 

 like, habit of mind. 



In striking contrast with this spirit of the master is the affectation, habitual in 

 his followers, of ignoring all considerations except the strictly economic, though 

 in doing so they often pass over agencies which have important effects on material 

 well-being. Thus, when Senior is led to make some observations of the utmost 

 importance and interest, on the very doubtful advantage to a labouring family of 

 the employment of the mother and the children in non-domestic work, he thinks 

 it necessary to apologise for having introduced such remarks, as not, perhaps, 

 strictly within the province of political economy. And when he finds himself 

 similarly induced to observe on the evils of severe and incessant labour, and the 

 benefits of a certain degree of leisure — subjects so momentous to working men, 

 and closely connected with their material as well as moral condition — he pauses 

 and corrects himself, admitting that he should not only be justified in omitting, 

 but perhaps was bound to omit, all considerations which have no influence on 

 wealth. This is the very pedantry of purism ; and the purism is not merely ex- 

 aggerated, it is really altogether out of place. Mill, though, as I believe, he did 

 not occupy firm ground in relation to the constitution of social science, is free from 

 any such narrowness as this : — " For practical purposes," he says, " political 

 ecunomy is inseparably intertwined with many other branches of social philosophy. 

 Except on matters of mere detail, there are perhaps no practical questions, even 

 among those which approach nearest to the character of purely economical ques- 

 tions, which admit of being decided on economical premises alone." This is true ; 

 but it is only part of the truth. For purposes of theory as well as of practice, the 

 several branches of social inquiry are inseparably intertwined ; and this larger 

 proposition Mill in another place has stated with all the desirable fulness of enun- 

 ciation, declaring that" we can never understand in theory or command in practice 

 the condition of a society in any one respect, without taking into consideration its 

 condition in all other respects." 



Yet, notwithstanding this ample admission, he appears to exhibit some uncer- 

 tainty of view with respect to the relation of economic studies to general sociology; 

 at least after repeated careful examination of all that he has written on the subject, 

 I confess myself unable to understand exactly the position he occupies. Sometimes 

 he speaks of political economy as being a department "carved" (to use his own 

 expression) "out of the general body of the science of society;" and again he 

 speaks of it as belonging to a subordinate order of specidation to that with which 

 the science of society is conversant — proposing to itself a quite different sort of 

 question, and supplying only a sort of knowledge sufficient for the more common 

 exigencies of daily political practice. The latter view is apparently reflected in 

 the title of his economical treatise, which is called ' Principles of Political Economy, 

 with some of their Applications to Social Philosophy,' a phrase which seems to 

 imply that political economy is not a part of social philosophy at all, but is pre- 

 paratory and ancillary to it. And it is interesting to observe that it was from this 

 point of view of the study, as preliminary only and intended to prepare the way 

 and provide materials for a true science of society, that Comte, in his correspond- 

 ence with Mill, encouraged the latter in his project of a special treatise on political 

 economy. 



The ground which the economists commonly take up in justifying their one- 



