Item 38 - Richard Jones to William Whewell

RJ had not seen or heard of Richard Whately's book ['Introductory Lectures on Political Economy, being Part of a Course Delivered in Easter term', 1831] and thinks WW suspicions might be right - 'I hope not for if so it will come to a fight'. Does WW think a few pages prefixed to his proposed volume on wages a good idea? - 'in the use and abuse of definitions shewing first that we do know something of their use and taking them a goodly variety of instances of abuse and all from Whately's own books - you saw those adopted from Senior [Nassau Senior] in his logic [see RJ to WW, 24 February 1831] and now behold do look at his book and see page 6 man may be defined an animal that makes exchanges. And it is in this point of view alone that man is contemplated by political economy and then at page 10 with reference to this Having settled then what it is that political economy is concerned about'. Whately should look around, about and behind him: 'see nations subsisting principally on what they raise and consume from the soil and sovereigns with huge domains cultivated on their account by slaves or serfs and observe that here and indeed in all agricultural communities the greater part of the wealth produced is never exchanged at all and yet that its production and consumption and a variety of changes which take place relative to these influence the wealth of the state the habits character and social relations and mutual dependence of its various orders...in confirming political economy to treating of exchanges of one thing for another thing you overlooked states of society very widely spread and ordinarily the foundation from which all others are raised'.