wretched economic and fiscal system in force. He proposes a complete reform of commercial and financial legislation, based on the free exportation of agricultural produce and the simplification of taxes. For the latter purpose the taxes are to be levied from the landowners and paid in kind. They are to be farmed by the Communes, who are to levy them among themselves according to their capabilities. Gorani, Custodi, and Pecchio try to prove that he was a forerunner of the physiocrats. But, as Ferrara has shown, this merit cannot be claimed for him. He certainly holds, however, a very honourable position among contemporary economists, and he well deserves the feeling akin to worship with which he is regarded in Tuscany, where his book led the way to the reforms of the Grand Duke Leopold.

The Saggio sul Commercio (1750) of the Roman banker Gerolamo Belloni, was a good deal read in its time, but it is inspired by crude mercantilist ideas. The noted and versatile writer, Scipione Maffei, of Verona, published in 1744 a book, Sull' Impiego del Denaro, which made some stir. It is not very original, its materials being to a great extent drawn from a work by a Dutch writer, Broedersen. Later, Concina, Ballerini, and other theologians, attacked Maffei, bringing up the old theories against interest. The controversy went on until Pope Benedict XIV. interposed with the Bull, Vix pervenit.

Carlo Antonio Broggia was a Neapolitan merchant; or rather, if Settembrini is to be trusted, a Venetian, who had settled at Naples. He published at Naples, in 1743, a treatise on money, taxes, and political action in sanitary matters. It is badly written and not free from

errors, and in its treatment of the money question contains nothing remarkable. But it may be considered as the first methodical work on taxation published in Italy, a fact which, to our mind, has not been sufficiently taken into account by the historians of Economics. He was opposed to fiscal exclusiveness, to loans, to free ports, and to the direct taxation of industry. His financial system is based on two sources of income. First, the taxation of the returns to capital, both fixed and circulating (upon fixed incomes at the rate of a tenth part). Secondly, duties on internal (excise) and external consumption. Only in cases of extraordinary need would he allow voluntary contributions, and only within strict limits a capitation tax.

CHAPTER IV.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE PHYSIOCRATIC SCHOOL.

TOWARDS the middle of the last century the really modern era of economic science began, brought in largely by the progress of philosophy and of the social sciences. The favour with which the various sovereigns of Europe began to look upon it, contributed also to its advance. They started administrative reforms, and granted facilities for wider instruction in the civil sciences. Those who were learned in these matters became their advisers and fellow-workers in plans of reform. Most of the countries of Europe felt the influence of this growth of economic knowledge.

The chairs of Chamber Sciences were multiplied in Germany and Austria, where two men summed up the economic learning of the time. One was Justi, who, in 1752, taught at the Theresianum of Vienna and shortly afterwards passed on to Leipzig. The other was Sonnenfels, who, in 1763, occupied a chair at the University of Vienna. They both published economic treatises, in which the theories of a modified mercantilism are expounded with much learning, and whichespecially that of Sonnenfels-contain schemes of reform greatly in advance of the times.

A little later, chairs of political economy were founded in Italy. Genovesi taught at Naples with great success, 1754-1769; the celebrated Beccaria at Milan, 1768-1770; Paradisi, better known in literature, at Modena, 1772-1780; and Sergio at Palermo, 17791806.

L. Cossa, Sulle prime Cattedre di Economia politica in Italia. In the Rendiconti del R. Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere. Series IJ., Vol. VI. (1873), No. VIII.

But the stronger and more direct movement towards progress of which the physiocratic political economy was the sign, did not originate in these chairs, from which the lecturers gave forth the doctrines of the balance of trade. This may be seen from the works of Justi (1755), and from Genovesi's Lezioni d'Economia civile (1765). We may add to these, since they are written in the same spirit, though not by professors, the Éléments de Commerce (1754), and other works by Forbonnais, the conscientious historian of French finance, with Sir James Stewart's long treatise, Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy. London, 1767, 2 vols. 4to. In all these books the remarkable progress of certain special doctrines is noteworthy. But the special doctrines are not brought into connection with any clearly determined general principles, so that we merely have a collection of monographs, and not really systematic works.

The foundations of a genuine system of political economy, or rather of social science considered more especially from the economic side, were laid by an illustrious school of French writers living in the reigns of Louis XV. and Louis XVI. Quesnay, a physician

(1694-1774), was the founder of the school. Turgot, the philosopher, the publicist, the economist, the statesman (died 1781), was its greatest representative. A complete and impartial history of the physiocrats has been given by a French writer.

Notice abrégée des différents Écrits modernes qui ont concourru en France à former la Science de l'Économie politique. In the Ephemerides du Citoyen, etc.

1769. (A rich collection of materials.)

Paris,

A selection of the best works of the physiocrats was made by Eug. Daire for the Collection des principaux Économistes (Paris, 1846, royal 8vo.), and by Francesco Ferrara for the Biblioteca dell' Economista (1st series, Vol. I. Turin, 1850, royal 8vo). Daire's criticisms, though good in other respects, are exaggerated in their praise. Ferrara errs on the other side, but his observations have many merits notwithstanding.

G. Kellner, Zur Geschichte des Physiocratismus. Quesnay, Gournay, Turgot. Göttingen, 1847, 8vo. (The extracts given in this book are good, but the conclusions are thoughtless and superficial.)

Jos. Garnier, art. Physiocrates, in Vol. II. of the Dictionnaire de l'Economie politique, by Coquelin and Guillaumin. Paris, 1852-53. Two vols. royal Svo. (This article contains much valuable information on various writers and their works.)

Et. Laspeyres, Quesnay, Turgot und die Physiocraten. In the Deutsches Staatswörterbuch by Bluntschli and Brater, Vol. VIII. (1864), p. 445-455. (Giving a brief, clear, and accurate exposition of the physiocratic doctrines.)

L. de Lavergne, Les Économistes français du 18° Siècle. Paris, 1870. One vol. 8vo. (This work