(1801-1850)
Political economy has been called the "dismal science"; and probably the
majority think of it as either merely a matter of words and phrases, or
as something too abstruse for the common mind to comprehend. It was the
distinction of Bastiat that he was able to write economic tracts in such
a language that he that ran might read, and to clothe the apparently dry
bones with such integuments as manifested vitality. Under his pen,
questions of finance, of tax, of exchange, became questions which
concern the lives of individual men and women, with sentiments, hopes,
and aspirations.
[Illustration: FRÉDÉRIC BASTIAT]
He was born at Bayonne in France, June 19th, 1801. At nine years of age
he was left an orphan, but he was cared for by his grandfather and aunt.
He received his schooling at the college of St. Sever and at Sorèze,
where he was noted as a diligent student. When about twenty years of age
he was taken into the commercial house of his uncle at Bayonne. His
leisure was employed in cultivating art and literature, and he became
accomplished in languages and in instrumental and vocal music. He was
early interested in political and social economy through the writings of
Adam Smith, J.B. Say, Comte, and others; and having inherited
considerable landed property at Mugron on the death of his grandfather
in 1827, he undertook the personal charge of it, at the same time
continuing his economic studies. His experiment in farming did not prove
successful; but he rapidly developed clear ideas upon economical
problems, being much assisted in their consideration by frequent
conferences with his neighbor, M. Felix Coudroy. These two worked much
together, and cherished a close sympathy in thought and heart.
The bourgeois revolution of 1830 was welcomed enthusiastically by
Bastiat. It was a revolution of prosperous and well-instructed men,
willing to make sacrifices to attain an orderly and systematic method of
government. To him the form of the administration did not greatly
matter: the right to vote taxes was the right which governed the
governors. "There is always a tendency on the part of governments to
extend their powers," he said; "the administration therefore must be
under constant surveillance." His motto was "Foi systematiqtie à la
libre activité de I'individu; defiance systematique vis-à-vis de l'État
conçu abstraitement,--c'est-à-dire, defiance parfaitement pure de toute
hostilité de parti." [Systematic faith in the free activity of the
individual; systematic distrust of the State conceived abstractly,--that
is, a distrust entirely free from prejudice.]
His work with his pen seems to have been begun about 1830, and from the
first was concerned with matters of economy and government. A year later
he was chosen to local office, and every opportunity which offered was
seized upon to bring before the common people the true milk of the
economic word, as he conceived it. The germ of his theory of values
appeared in a pamphlet of 1834, and the line of his development was a
steady one; his leading principles being the importance of restricting
the functions of government to the maintenance of order, and of removing
all shackles from the freedom of production and exchange. Through
subscription to an English periodical he became familiar with Cobden and
the Anti-Corn-Law League, and his subsequent intimacy with Cobden
contributed much to broaden his horizon. In 1844-5 appeared his
brilliant 'Sophismes économiques', which in their kind have never been
equaled; and his reputation rapidly expanded. He enthusiastically
espoused the cause of Free Trade, and issued a work entitled 'Cobden et
la Ligue, ou l'Agitation anglaise pour la liberté des échanges' (Cobden
and the League, or the English Agitation for Liberty of Exchange), which
attracted great attention, and won for its author the title of
corresponding member of the Institute. A movement for organization in
favor of tariff reform was begun, of which he naturally became a leader;
and feeling that Paris was the centre from which influence should flow,
to Paris he removed. M. de Molinari gives an account of his debut:--"We
still seem to see him making his first round among the journals which
had shown themselves favorable to cause of the freedom of commerce. He
had not yet had time to call upon a Parisian tailor or hatter, and in
truth it had not occurred to him to do so. With his long hair and his
small hat, his large surtout and his family umbrella, he would naturally
be taken for a reputable countryman looking at the sights of the
metropolis. But his countryman's-face was at the same time roguish and
spirituelle, his large black eyes were bright and luminous, and his
forehead, of medium breadth but squarely formed, bore the imprint of
thought. At a glance one could see that he was a peasant of the country
of Montaigne, and in listening to him one realized that here was a
disciple of Franklin."
He plunged at once into work, and his activity was prodigious. He
contributed to numerous journals, maintained an active correspondence
with Cobden, kept up communications with organizations throughout the
country, and was always ready to meet his opponents in debate.
The Republic of 1848 was accepted in good faith; but he was strongly
impressed by the extravagant schemes which accompanied the Republican
movement, as well as by the thirst for peace which animated multitudes.
The Provisional government had made solemn promises: it must pile on
taxes to enable it to keep its promises. "Poor people! How they have
deceived themselves! It would have been so easy and so just to have
eased matters by reducing the taxes; instead, this is to be done by
profusion of expenditure, and people do not see that all this machinery
amounts to taking away ten in order to return eight, _without counting
the fact that liberty will succumb under the operation_." He tried to
stem the tide of extravagance; he published a journal, the République
Française, for the express purpose of promulgating his views; he entered
the Constituent and then the Legislative Assembly, as a member for the
department of Landes, and spoke eloquently from the tribune. He was a
constitutional "Mugwump": he cared for neither parties nor men, but for
ideas. He was equally opposed to the domination of arbitrary power and
to the tyranny of Socialism. He voted with the right against the left on
extravagant Utopian schemes, and with the left against the right when he
felt that the legitimate complaints of the poor and suffering
were unheeded.
In the midst of his activity he was overcome by a trouble in the throat,
which induced his physicians to send him to Italy. The effort for relief
was a vain one, however, and he died in Rome December 24th, 1850. His
complete works, mostly composed of occasional essays, were printed in
1855. Besides those mentioned, the most important are 'Propriété et Loi'
(Property and Law), 'Justice et Fraternité,' 'Protectionisme et
Communisme,' and 'Harmonies économiques.' The 'Harmonies économiques'
and 'Sophismes économiques' have been translated and published
in English.