CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
Difficulty of the first elements of political economy.ALL who have studied an exact science must have experienced the formidable difficulties which elementary chapters invariably present. The young mathematician may well be staggered at the discussions usually annexed to the enunciations of the laws of motion; the axioms in his Euclid, which he is told to believe are self-evident propositions, offer philosophic questions of such complexity, that they continue to form an arena upon which the subtlest intellects contend.
A definition of political economy, and an inquiry into the method of investigation that ought to be pursued in this science, involve considerations which are sure to perplex the beginner; but the young mathematician need not be driven away from his Euclid because philosophy has not decided whether axioms are intuitive truths, or truths learnt from experience; in a similar way, the student in political economy ought not to have his faith shaken in the truths of this science, because he has learnt beforehand that political economists still dispute upon questions of philosophic method.
We ask such a student to accompany us with an unbiassed mind; we will promise to lay before him truths of great interest and great importance; we will endeavour to render them intelligible, and when such a body of truths has been accumulated in the student's mind, he will be in a position to understand the exact nature and scope of the science to which they belong.
Prejudices against political economy.Although it is not advisable in this place to attempt a precise definition of political economy, yet it is necessary to give a general idea of the class of phenomena which