[193] It is typical that on his election to Parliament in 1819, when he
already enjoyed the highest reputation on account of his economic
writings, Ricardo wrote to a friend: 'You will have seen that I have
taken my seat in the House of Commons. I fear I shall be of little use
there. I have twice attempted to speak but I proceeded in the most
embarrassed manner, and I have no hope of conquering the alarm with
which I am assailed the moment I hear the sound of my own voice'
(_Letters of D. Ricardo to J. R. MacCulloch_, N.Y., 1895, pp. 23-4).
Such diffidence was quite unknown to the gasbag MacCulloch.
[194] _Nouveaux Principes_ ..., book iv, chap. vii.
[195] Ibid., book vii, chap. vii.
[196] D. Ricardo, _On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation_
(3rd edition, London, 1821), p. 474.
[197] Ibid., p. 478.
[198] This essay, _Sur la Balance des Consommations avec les
Productions_, is reprinted in the second edition of _Nouveaux
Principes_, vol. ii, pp. 408 ff. Sismondi tells us about this
discussion: 'M. Ricardo, whose recent death has been a profound
bereavement not only to his friends and family but to all those whom he
enlightened by his brilliance, all those whom he inspired by his lofty
sentiments, stayed for some days in Geneva in the last year of his life.
We discussed in two or three sessions this fundamental question on which
we disagreed. To this enquiry he brought the urbanity, the good faith,
the love of truth which distinguished him, and a clarity which his
disciples themselves had not heard, accustomed as they were to the
efforts of abstract thought he demanded in the lecture room.'
[199] Ricardo, op. cit., p. 339.
[200] Sismondi, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 361.
[201] _Nouveaux Principes_ ..., book iv, chap, iv: 'Comment la Richesse
commerciale suit l'Accroissement du Revenu' (vol. i, p. 115).
[202] Sismondi, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 412.
[203] Ibid., p. 416.
[204] Ibid., p. 424.
[205] Ibid., p. 417.
[206] Sismondi, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 425-6.
[207] Ibid., p. 429.
[208] Ibid., pp. 434-5.
[209] Thus, if Tugan Baranovski, championing Say-Ricardo's views, tells
us about the controversy between Sismondi and Ricardo (_Studies on the
Theory and History of Commercial Crises in England_, p. 176), that
Sismondi was compelled 'to acknowledge as correct the doctrine he had
attacked and to concede his opponent all that is necessary'; that
Sismondi himself 'had abandoned his own theory which still finds so many
adherents', and that 'the victory in this controversy lies with
Ricardo', this shows a lack of discrimination--to put it mildly--such as
is practically unheard-of in a work of serious scientific pretensions.
_CHAPTER XIII_