David, the most distinguished political economist since Adam Smith, was the third of a numerous family, and was born in the city of London on the 19th of April 1772. His father, a native of Holland, and of the Jewish persuasion, settled in this country early in life. He is said to have been a man of good talents and the strictest integrity; and having become a member of the Stock Exchange, he acquired a respectable fortune, and possessed considerable influence in his circle. David was destined for the same line of business as his father; and received, partly in England and partly at a school in Holland, where he resided two years, such an education as is usually given to young men intended for the mercantile profession. Classical learning formed no part of his early instruction. He began to be confidentially employed by his father in the business of the Stock Exchange when he was only fourteen years of age. Neither then, however, nor at any subsequent period, was he wholly engrossed by the combinations and details of his profession. From his earliest years he evinced a taste for abstract and general reasoning, and manifested that determination to probe every subject of interest to the bottom, and to form his opinion upon it according to the conviction of his mind, which was a distinguishing feature of his character.

Mr Ricardo, senior, had been accustomed to subscribe without investigation to the opinions of his ancestors on all questions connected with religion and politics, and he was desirous that his children should do the same. But this system of passive obedience and blind submission to the dictates of authority was quite repugnant to the principles of young Ricardo, who, though he did not fail to testify the sincerest affection and respect for his father, found reason to differ from him on many important points, and even to secede from the Hebrew faith.

Not long after this event, and shortly after he attained the age of majority, Ricardo formed a matrimonial union productive of much domestic happiness. But his marriage being disapproved of by his father, it occasioned, with the change in his religion, a breach between them. Being thus thrown wholly on his own resources, he commenced business for himself. At this important epoch of his history the oldest and most respectable members of the Stock Exchange gave a striking proof of the high esteem entertained by them for his talents and the integrity of his character, by voluntarily coming forward to support him in his undertakings. His success exceeded the most sanguine expectations of his friends, and in a few years he realized an ample fortune.

"The talent for obtaining wealth," says a near relation of Ricardo's, from whose interesting account of his life we have borrowed these particulars, "is not held in much estimation; but perhaps in nothing did Ricardo more evince his extraordinary powers than he did in his business. His complete knowledge of all its intricacies; his surprising quickness at figures and calculation; his capability of getting through, without any apparent exertion, the immense transactions in which he was concerned; his coolness and judgment, combined certainly with (for him) a fortunate tissue of public events, enabled him to leave all his contemporaries at the Stock Exchange far behind, and to raise himself infinitely higher, not only in fortune, but in general character and estimation, than any man had ever done before in that house. Such was the impression which these qualities had made on his competitors that several of the most discerning among them, long before he had emerged into public notoriety, prognosticated, in their admiration, that he would live to fill some of the highest stations in the state."

According as his solicitude about his success in life declined, Ricardo began to devote a greater portion of his time to scientific and literary pursuits. When about twenty-five years of age he began to study some branches of mathematical science, and made considerable progress in chemistry and mineralogy. He fitted up a laboratory, formed a collection of minerals, and was one of the original members of the Geological Society. It is known, however, that he never entered warmly into the investigation of these sciences. They were not adapted to the peculiar cast of his mind; and he abandoned them entirely as soon as his attention was directed to the more congenial study of political economy.

He is stated to have made his first acquaintance with the Ricardo. Wealth of Nations in 1799, while on a visit to Bath. He was highly gratified by its perusal; and it is most probable that the inquiries about which it is conversant continued henceforth to occupy a considerable share of his attention, though it was not till a later period that his spare time became almost exclusively occupied with their study.

Ricardo commenced his career as an author in 1809. The rise in the market-price of bullion, and the fall of the exchange which had taken place that year, excited a good deal of attention. Ricardo applied himself to the consideration of the subject; and the studies in which he had been latterly engaged, combined with the experience derived from his monied transactions, enabled him not only to perceive the true cause of the phenomena in question, but to trace and exhibit its practical bearing and effect. When he began this investigation, he had no intention of laying the result of his researches before the public. But having shown his manuscript to Mr Perry, the proprietor and editor of the Morning Chronicle, he was prevailed upon by him, though not without considerable difficulty, to consent to its publication, in the shape of letters, in that journal. The first of these appeared on the 6th of September 1809. They made a considerable impression, and elicited various answers. This success, and the increasing interest of the subject, induced him to submit his opinions upon it to the judgment of the public, in a more enlarged and systematic form, in the celebrated tract entitled The High Price of Bullion a Proof of the Depreciation of Bank-Notes, which led the way in the far-famed bullion controversy. It issued from the press several months previously to the appointment of the Bullion Committee, and is believed to have had no inconsiderable effect in forwarding that important measure. In this tract Ricardo showed that redundancy and deficiency of currency are only relative terms; and that so long as the currency of a particular country consists exclusively of gold and silver coins, or of paper convertible into them, it is impossible that its value should either rise above or fall below the value of the currencies of other countries by a greater sum than will suffice to defray the expense of importing foreign coin or bullion if the currency be deficient, or of exporting a portion of the existing supply if it be redundant. But when a country issues inconvertible paper-notes, as was then the case in England, they cannot be exported to other countries in the event of their becoming relatively redundant at home; and whenever, therefore, the exchange with foreign states is depressed below, or the price of bullion rises above its mint price, more than the expense of sending coin or bullion abroad, it is a conclusive proof that too much paper has been issued, and that its value is depreciated from excess. The principles which pervade the report of the Bullion Committee are substantially the same with those established by Ricardo in this pamphlet. But the more comprehensive and popular manner in which they are illustrated in the report, and their being recommended by a committee composed of some of the ablest members of the House of Commons, gave them a weight and authority which they could not otherwise have obtained. And though the prejudices and ignorance of some, and the interested, and therefore determined opposition of others, prevented for a while the adoption of the measures proposed by Ricardo and the committee for restoring the currency to a sound and healthy state, they have since been carried into full effect; and afford one of the most memorable and encouraging examples in the history of the country of the triumph of principle over selfishness, sophistry, and error.

The fourth edition of this tract is the most valuable. An appendix added to it has some acute observations on certain disputed questions in the theory of exchange; and it also contains the first germ of the original idea of making bank-notes exchangeable for bars of gold bullion.

Among those who entered the lists in opposition to the principles laid down and the practical measures suggested in this tract, and in the report of the Bullion Committee, a prominent place is due to Mr Bosanquet. This gentleman had great experience as a merchant; and as he professed that the statements in his Practical Observations on the Bullion Report, which are completely at variance with those in the latter, were the result of a careful examination of the theoretical opinions of the committee by the test of fact and experiment, they were well calculated to make, and did make, a very considerable impression. The triumph of Bosanquet and his friends was, however, of very short duration. Ricardo did not hesitate to attack this formidable adversary in his stronghold. His second tract, entitled Reply to Mr Bosanquet's Practical Observations on the Report of the Bullion Committee was published in 1811, and is perhaps the best controversial essay that has ever appeared on any disputed question of political economy. In this pamphlet Ricardo met Bosanquet on his own ground, and overthrew him with his own weapons. He examined the proofs which the latter had brought forward of the pretended discrepancy between the facts stated in his own tract, which he said were consistent with experience, and the theory laid down in the Bullion Report; and showed that Bosanquet had either mistaken the cases by which he proposed to test the theory, or that the discrepancy was apparent only, and was entirely a consequence of his inability to apply the principle, and not of any deficiency in the principle itself. The victory of Ricardo was perfect and complete; and the elaborate errors and mis-statements of Bosanquet served only, in the language of Dr Copeland, "to illustrate the abilities of the writer who stepped forward to vindicate the truth."

This tract affords a striking example of the ascendancy which those who possess a knowledge both of principle and practice have over those familiar only with the latter. And though the interest of the question which gave rise to it be now subsided, it will always be read with delight by such as are not insensible of the high gratification which all ingenious minds must feel in observing the ease with which a superior intellect clears away the irrelevant matter with which a question has been designedly embarrassed, reduces false facts to their just value, and traces and exhibits the constant operation of the same general principle through all the mazey intricacies of practical detail.

The merit of these pamphlets was duly appreciated, and Ricardo's society was in consequence courted by men of the first eminence and consideration, who were not less delighted with his modesty, and the mildness and amenity of his manners, than with the reach and vigour of his understanding. It was at this period that he formed that intimacy with Mr Malthus and Mr Mill, the author of the History of British India, which ended only with his life. To Mill he was particularly attached; and he always felt pleasure in acknowledging how much he owed to his friendship.

Ricardo's next appearance as an author was in 1815, during the discussions on the bill afterwards passed into a law, for raising the limit at which the importation of foreign corn should be permitted to 80s. Malthus and a "Fellow of University College, Oxford" (Mr, afterwards Sir Edward, West), had in two able pamphlets, published almost at the same moment, developed the real nature,

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3 First Letter to the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, by one of his Constituents, p. 61. Ricardo, origin, and causes of rent. But neither of them perceived the real value and importance of the principles which he had established. This was reserved for Mr Ricardo, who, in his Essay on the Influence of a Low Price of Corn on the Profits of Stock, showed the effect of that increase in the price of raw produce, which always takes place in the progress of society, on wages and profits; and founded a cogent argument in favour of the freedom of the corn-trade on the very principles from which Malthus had vainly endeavoured to show the propriety of subjecting it to fresh restrictions.

In 1816 Ricardo published his Proposals for an Economical and Secure Currency, with Observations on the Profits of the Bank of England. In this pamphlet he examined the circumstances which determine the value of money, both when all individuals have the power to supply it, and when that power is restricted and placed under a monopoly; and he showed that in the former case its value depends, like that of all freely-supplied articles, on its cost, while in the latter its value is quite unaffected by that circumstance, and depends entirely on the extent to which it may be issued compared with the demand. This is a principle of great importance; for it shows that intrinsic worth is not necessary to a currency, and that, provided the supply of paper-notes declared to be legal tender be sufficiently limited, their value may be maintained on a par with that of gold, or raised to any higher level. If, therefore, it were practicable to devise a plan for preserving the value of paper on a level with gold, without making it convertible into coin at the pleasure of the holder, the whole expense attending the use of a metallic currency would be saved. To effect this object, Ricardo proposed that bank-notes, instead of being made exchangeable for gold coins, should be made exchangeable for bars of gold bullion of the standard weight and purity. This device was obviously calculated to check the over-issue of paper quite as effectually as it is checked by making it convertible into coin; while, as the bars could not be used as currency, it prevented any gold from getting into circulation, and saved the expense of coining, and of the wear and tear of the coins. Ricardo's proposal was recommended by the committees of the House of Lords and Commons appointed in 1819 to consider the expediency of the Bank of England resuming cash payments, and was adopted in the bill for their resumption introduced by Sir Robert Peel. Inasmuch, however, as it required that the place of sovereigns should be filled with L1 notes, the forgery of the latter began to be extensively carried on; and it was judged better to incur the expense of recurring to and keeping up a mixed currency, than to continue a plan which, though productive of a large saving, held out an all but irresistible temptation to crime.

In 1817 Ricardo published his great work on the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. This was a step which he did not take without much hesitation. He was not, and did not affect to be, insensible of the value of literary and philosophical reputation, but his modesty always led him to undervalue his own powers; and having already attained to a very high degree of celebrity as a writer on currency, he was unwilling to risk what he already possessed by attempting to gain more. Ultimately, however, he was prevailed upon by the entreaties of his friends to allow his work to be sent to press. Its appearance forms a new era in the history of political science. With the exception of the Wealth of Nations, it is the most important, as it certainly is the most original and profound work that has appeared on political economy. But the brevity with which he has stated some of his peculiar doctrines, the fewness of his illustrations, and the mathematical cast of his reasonings, are apt to repel ordinary readers, and give an appearance of obscurity to the work. But those who study it with the attention which it so well deserves will find that it is eminently logical. And the powers of mind displayed in its investigations, the dexterity with which the most abstract and difficult questions are unravelled, the sagacity evinced in tracing the operation of general principles, in disentangling them from such as are of a secondary or accidental nature, and in perceiving and estimating their remotest consequences, have rarely been surpassed, and will for ever secure the name of Ricardo a conspicuous place in the list of profound thinkers, and of the discoverers of useful truths.

The reader will find in the article Political Economy a pretty full account of the leading principles advanced by Ricardo, and of his most material conclusions. It is to be regretted that he relied too much on theoretical reasonings, without making sufficient allowance for the circumstances natural to and inherent in society, which either counteract or materially modify some of the principles on which he laid the greatest stress. But despite the errors into which he thus necessarily fell, his work is of the highest value. It is the first in which we find an analysis and generally just explanation of the circumstances which determine the distribution of wealth among the various ranks and orders of society, and which govern their apparently conflicting but really harmonious relations. Since the appearance of Ricardo's work the whole face of the science has been changed, not merely by his numerous discoveries, and the new lights which he struck out in every department, but by the closer and more analytical method of reasoning which he introduced. In this respect there is yet, no doubt, much room for improvement; but any one who compares the economical writings of the last thirty years with those current before Ricardo's work made its appearance will be satisfied that there is now much less of loose generalization, and more regard to science and principle. The practical considerations which Ricardo too much neglected have had their influence ascertained by subsequent inquirers; and his doctrines having been properly modified, and made applicable to the exigencies of society, have acquired a high practical as well as theoretical value.

Previously to the publication of his Principles, Ricardo had retired from business, possessed of a large fortune, acquired with the universal respect and esteem of his competitors. He afterwards spent the greater part of the summers at Gatcomb Park, an estate which he had purchased in Gloucestershire. But he did not retire from the bustle of active life to the mere enjoyment of his acres—Non fuit consilium socordia atque desidia bonum otium conferre. He had other objects in view; and while his leisure hours, when in the country, were chiefly devoted to the prosecution of the interesting science of which he was now confessedly at the head, he determined to extend the sphere of his usefulness by entering the House of Commons. In 1819 he took his seat as member for Portarlington. His difference had, however, nearly deprived the country of the important services which he rendered in this situation. In a letter to one of his friends, dated the 7th of April 1819, he says:—"You will have seen that I have taken my seat in the House of Commons. I fear that I shall be of little use there. I have twice attempted to speak; but I proceeded in the most embarrassed manner, and I have no hope of conquering the alarm with which I

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1 There was little that was new in either of these pamphlets; the origin, nature, and causes of rent having been quite as well, or better, explained in a pamphlet by Dr Anderson, the editor of the Bee, published in 1777 (Inquiry into the Nature of the Corn-Laws), and in his Agricultural Observations, published in 1801. But the investigations and discoveries of Anderson did not attract any attention, and were, indeed, totally forgotten; so that it was necessary the theory of rent should be re-stated (it is said to have been re-discovered), to make it be understood and appreciated by the public. Ricardo, am assailed the moment I hear the sound of my own voice." And in a letter to the same gentleman, dated the 22d of June 1819, he says: "I thank you for your endeavours to inspire me with confidence on the occasion of my addressing the House. Their indulgent reception of me has in some degree made the task of speaking more easy to me; but there are yet so many formidable obstacles to my success, and some, I fear, of a nature nearly insurmountable, that I apprehend it will be wisdom and sound discretion in me to content myself with giving silent votes." Fortunately he did not adopt this resolution. The difficulties with which he had at first to struggle, and his diffidence in himself, gradually subsided; while the mildness of his manners, his mastery over the subjects on which he spoke, and his undoubted integrity, speedily secured him a very extensive influence both in the House and the country, and gave great weight and authority to his opinions.

Ricardo was not one of those who make speeches to suit the ephemeral circumstances and politics of the day. He spoke only from principle, and with a fixed resolution not to diverge in any degree from the path which it pointed out; he neither concealed nor modified opinions for the purpose of conciliating the favour, or of disarming the prejudices or hostility, of any man or set of men; nor did he ever make a speech or give a vote which he did not believe to be founded on just principles, and calculated to promote the lasting interests of the public. Trained to habits of profound thinking, independent in his fortune and inflexible in his principles, Ricardo had nothing in common with mere party politicians. The public good was the grand object of his parliamentary exertions; and he laboured to promote it not by engaging in party combinations, but by supporting the rights and liberties of all classes, and by unfolding the true sources of national wealth and general prosperity.

The change which has taken place in the public opinion respecting the financial and commercial policy of the country, since the period when Ricardo obtained a seat in the House of Commons, is as complete as it is gratifying. The most enlarged views are now supported by the leading members of both Houses. The protective system has no longer a single parliamentary supporter of eminence. All are now ready to admit that it is founded on vicious principles; that it has retarded the progress of those nations by whom it has been adopted; and that it is sound policy to admit the freest competition in every branch of industry, and to deal fairly and liberally with all the world. The writings and speeches of Ricardo contributed in no ordinary degree to accomplish this salutary and desirable change. As he was known to be a master of economical science, his opinion, from the moment he entered the House of Commons, was referred to on all important occasions; and he acquired a constant accession of influence and consideration, according as experience served to render the House and the country better acquainted with his talents and his singleness of purpose.

In 1820 he contributed an article on the Funding System for the Encyclopaedia Britannica. He was a decided friend to the plan for raising the supplies for a war within the year, by an equivalent increase of taxation; and he was also of opinion that it would be both expedient and practicable to pay off the public debt by an assessment on capital. In this article he has endeavoured, if not with perfect success, at least with considerable ingenuity, to defend both projects from the objections commonly urged against them.

In 1822, during the parliamentary discussions on the subject of the corn laws, Ricardo published his pamphlet on Protection to Agriculture. This is the best of all his pamphlets, and is indeed a chef-d'œuvre. The questions respecting remunerating price, the influence of a low and high value of corn on wages and profits, the effects of taxation on agriculture and manufactures, and many other topics of equal difficulty and interest, are all discussed in the short compass of eighty or ninety pages, with a precision and clearness that leaves little or nothing to be desired. Had he never written anything else, this pamphlet would have placed Ricardo in the first rank of political economists.

Though not robust, Ricardo's constitution was apparently good, and his health such as to promise a long life of usefulness. He had indeed been subject for several years to an affection in one of his ears; but as it had not given him any serious inconvenience, he paid it but little attention. When he retired to his seat in Gloucestershire, subsequently to the close of the session of 1823, he was in excellent health and spirits; and besides completing a tract containing a plan for the establishment of a National Bank, he had engaged, with his usual ardour, in profound and elaborate inquiries in relation to the theory of value. But he was not destined to bring these inquiries to a close! In the beginning of September he was suddenly seized with a violent pain in the diseased ear; the symptoms were not, however, considered unfavourable; and the breaking of an imposthume that had formed within the ear contributed greatly to his relief. But the amendment was only transitory; within two days inflammation re-commenced; and after a period of indescribable agony, pressure on the brain ensued, which produced a stupor that continued until death terminated his sufferings on the 11th of September, in his fifty-second year.

In private life Ricardo was most amiable. He was a kind and indulgent father and husband, and an affectionate and zealous friend. No man could be more thoroughly free from every species of artifice and pretension, more sincere, plain, and unassuming. He was particularly fond of assembling intelligent men around him, and of conversing in the most unrestrained manner on all topics of interest, but more especially on those connected with his favourite science. He was always ready to give way to others, and never discovered the least impatience to speak; but when he did speak, the extent and accuracy of his knowledge, the solidity of his judgment, his perfect candour, and his peculiar talent for resolving a question into its elements, and for setting the most difficult and complicated subject in the clearest point of view, arrested the attention of every one, and delighted all who heard him. He never entered into an argument, whether in public or private, for the sake of displaying ingenuity, baffling an opponent, or gaining a victory. The discovery of truth was his exclusive object. He was ever open to conviction; and if he were satisfied that he had either advanced or supported an erroneous opinion, he was the first to acknowledge his error, and to caution others against it.

Few men have possessed in a higher degree than Ricardo the talent of speaking and conversing with clearness and facility on the abstrusest topics. In this respect his speeches were greatly superior to his publications. The latter cannot be readily understood and followed without considerable attention; but nothing could exceed the ease and felicity with which he illustrated and explained the most difficult questions of political economy, both in private conversation and in his speeches. Without being forcible, his style of speaking was easy, fluent, and agreeable. It was impossible to take him off his guard. To those who were not familiar with his speculations, some of his positions were apt to appear paradoxical; but the paradox was only in appearance. He seldom advanced an opinion on which he had not deeply reflected, and without examining it in every point of view. And the readiness with which he met and

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1 Mr Ricardo made the first of his prominent appearances on the 24th of May 1819, in the debate on the resolutions proposed by Mr (Sir Robert) Peel respecting the resumption of cash payments. He did not rise until he was loudly called upon from all sides of the House. overthrew the most specious objections that the ablest men in the House could state to his doctrines, is the best proof of their correctness, and of the superiority of his understanding. That there were greater orators, and men of more varied and general acquirements, in Parliament than Ricardo, we readily allow; but we are bold to say, that in point of deep, clear, and comprehensive intellect, he had no superiors, and very few, if any equals, either in Parliament or the country.

Ricardo was not less generous than intelligent; he was never slow to come forward to the relief of the poor and the distressed; and while he contributed to almost every charitable institution in the metropolis, he supported at his own expense an almshouse for the poor, and two schools for the instruction of the young in the vicinity of his seat in the country.

Besides the publications previously enumerated, Ricardo left one or two manuscripts. Among others, a Plan for the Establishment of a National Bank was found in a finished state, and has since been published. He also left Notes on Malthus's Principles of Political Economy, containing a vindication of his own doctrines from the objections of Malthus, and showing the mistakes into which he conceived the latter had fallen.

Though not properly belonging to the Whig party, Ricardo voted almost uniformly with them. He was impressed with the conviction that many advantages would result from giving the people a greater influence over the choice of their representatives in the House of Commons than they then possessed; and he was so far a friend to the system of the radical reformers as to give his cordial support to the plan of voting by ballot, which he considered as the best if not the only means for securing the mass of the electors against improper solicitations, and for enabling them to vote in favour of the candidates whom they really approved. He did not, however, agree with the radical reformers in their plan of universal suffrage; he thought the elective franchise should be given to all who possessed a certain amount of property; but he was of opinion that, while it would be a very hazardous experiment, no practical good would result from giving the franchise indiscriminately to all.

When the circumstances under which Ricardo spent the greater part of his life are brought under view, and when it is also recollected that he died at the early age of fifty-one, it may be truly said that very few men have achieved so much. His industry was as remarkable as his sagacity and his candour.

"The history of Ricardo," to use the words of his friend Mill, "holds out a bright and inspiring example. Ricardo had everything to do for himself, and he did everything. Let not the generous youth, whose aspirations are higher than his circumstances despair of attaining either the highest intellectual excellence, or the highest influence on the welfare of his species, when he recollects in what circumstances Ricardo opened and in what he closed his memorable life. He had his fortune to make, his mind to form; he had even his education to commence and conduct. In a field of the most intense competition he realized a large fortune, with the universal esteem and affection of those who could best judge of the honour and purity of his acts. Amid this scene of active exertion and practical detail, he cultivated and he acquired habits of intense and patient and comprehensive thinking, such as have been rarely equalled and never excelled."

The works of Ricardo have been collected and published, with a notice of his life, in an 8vo volume, by the author of this article.

(J.E.M.)