Abstract
This analysis of the economic content of parliamentary debate commences at a point marked by the assembly of a new House of Commons after a general election. During the year, David Ricardo joined the House to consolidate and extend the impact on policy making which he had exerted already through his publications. A third feature of our starting point is the onset of economic depression in a seemingly new and virulent form, a development which destroyed the promise of continuing prosperity which the revival of the British economy from the second half of 1817 had appeared to offer.
Political Economy, when the simple principles of it are once understood, is only useful, as it directs Governments to right measures in taxation. We very soon arrive at the knowledge that Agriculture, Commerce, and Manufactures flourish best when left without interference on the part of Government, but the necessity which the state has for money to defray the expenses of its functions, imposes on it the obligation to raise taxes, and thus interference becomes absolutely necessary.
David Ricardo
to Hutches Trower, 12 November 1819.
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Notes
The reasons for the non-viability of the Whigs are detailed in Austin Mitchell, The Whigs in Opposition, 1815–1830 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967).
On Sharp (1759–1835), see Lloyd Sanders, The Holland House Circle (New York and London: Bloom, 1969).
These statistics are derived from Gerrit P. Judd IV, Members of Parliament, 1734–1832 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1955).
W. Bagehot, Collected Works, 3 (London: The Economist, 1968) 268.
Consult W. R. Brock, Lord Liverpool and Liberal Toryism, 1820 to 1827 (London: Cass, 1967)
and J. E. Cookson, Lord Liverpool’s Administration; The Crucial Years, 1815–22 (Scottish Academic Press, 1975).
See, e.g., Thomas Sowell, Say’s Law (Princeton University Press, 1972)
and Morton Paglin, Malthus and Lauderdale: the Anti-Ricardian Tradition (New York: Kelley, 1961).
On some of his earliest writings see H. F. Thomson, ‘Lauderdale’s Early Pamphlets on Public Finance (1796–1799)’, History of Political Economy 2, 2 (Fall 1970) 344–80.
E. Halévy, The Liberal Awakening, 1815–1830 (London: Benn, 1961) 46.
For a comprehensive treatment of the debate on the poor laws, both inside and outside parliament at this time, see J. R. Poynter, Society and Pauperism: English Ideas on Poor Relief, 1795–1834 (Melbourne University Press, 1969).
Concerning the abolition of the income tax and the serious long term consequences of that step for fiscal policy, see Sydney Buxton, Finance and Politics; an Historical Study, 1783–1885 I (London: Murray, 1888) 12–5.
For biographical information on Mansfield, consult C. J. Billson, Leicester Memoirs (Leicester, 1924)
and R. W. Greaves, The Corporation of Leicester, 1689–1836 (Oxford, 1939).
For a thorough study of this aspect of Ricardian thought consult Carl S. Shoup, Ricardo on Taxation (N.Y.: Columbia University Press, 1960).
See Spencer Walpole, The Life of Lord John Russell, 2 vols (N.Y.: Greenwood Press, 1968).
For detail, consult Wilbur D. Jones, Prosperity Robinson: the life of Viscount Goderich, 1782–1859 (London: Macmillan, 1967).
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© 1976 Barry Gordon
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Gordon, B. (1976). 1819: Wage Labour, Taxation, and the Poor. In: Political Economy in Parliament 1819–1823. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02119-2_2
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