PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
IT has been often remarked that Political Economy is more frequently talked about than any other science, and that its principles are more frequently appealed to in the discussions of ordinary life. No science, however, is perhaps more imperfectly understood. Profound mathematicians, or accomplished geologists and botanists, are far more numerous than real masters of the principles of Political Economy. Such a fact is somewhat surprising, when it is remembered that Political Economy must be appealed to, in order properly to discuss almost any political, financial, or social question. Sometimes it has no doubt happened, that people have not become generally familiarised with a science, because its principles have not been clearly explained. But Political Economy has never wanted able expounders. Adam Smith wrote the first systematic treatise on the subject, and his work will long continue to be read as a masterpiece of clear exposition. Mr. John Stuart Mill's treatise on 'The Principles of Political Economy' is perhaps the most remarkable work of that great author, and the book will be remembered as amongst the most enduring literary productions of the nineteenth century. It is, therefore, necessary for me to explain the object I have had in view in writing the present work.
