will plunge societies into the exclusive pursuit of enjoyment. Asceticism, on the other hand, for which the body is only a source of sin, and life only a probation, will wish to suppress the satisfaction of the most essential wants, and will urge the individual to annihilate himself in the deserts of the Thebaid, on the pillar of the Stylite, or, in India, in the aspiration after the Nirvana.

Avoiding both these excesses, true philosophy teaches us that man ought to seek the full development of all his faculties: those of the mind first, because the intellectual life is the most essential, but those of the body as well, because it is the instrument of the soul. This object is indicated in the well known maxim of antiquity: Mens sana in corpore sano (Juvenal, Sat. xv., 1. 356). Hence it follows that while seeking the useful, which is its peculiar object, political economy should never forget that material wealth is a means and not an end-the condition of moral and intellectual progress, not the end of life. On the one hand one must not listen to asceticism which sacrifices the body, nor, on the other, to Sybaritism, which sacrifices everything to the body.

The economist should learn from the philosopher what are the motives of human action, so as to regulate the order of society in such manner that men should be constantly induced to employ their time and their strength to the greatest use. The science of the motives which determine the will

ought accordingly to serve as basis for the science of the laws which govern the production of wealth.

§ 2. Connection between Political Economy and Ethics.

The connection between ethics and political economy is close.

"Ethics," says an eminent French philosopher, François Huet, "is the science of moral perfection and worth, just as economy is the science of material comfort and value." Ethics, in fact, determines what are our duties in relation to God, to our neighbours, and to ourselves; and these ideas of our duties ought to govern all the actions of economic life.

Ethics enjoins moderation in our needs, energy and conscientiousness in our work, fidelity to our engagements, thrift and prudence in the use of our income, and regard for justice in our relations with one another. There is not one of these laws that is not an essential rule in economy. Energy in labour insures abundant production; respect for justice, a fair distribution; respect for engagements, abundant credit; the spirit of thrift leads to the creation of capital, and the moderation of desires to a good use of time and property.

In the ethical code you find the true root of economic laws. The good, the end of ethics, and the useful, the end of political economy, without being confounded, are inseparable; for the pursuit of the good is always favourable to the production of

the useful. Hutcheson, the father of Scotch philosophy, inserted in his course of moral philosophy (1729-1747) some lessons on Economics. Adam Smith's book, The Wealth of Nations, regarded as the gospel of political economy, was only a fragment of a larger work treating of the Moral Sentiments. In his treatise on ideology Destutt de Tracy discusses political economy as an application of the theory of will.

Political economy, in its turn, is, as Droz has said, the best aid to ethics, for it shows the advantages which result from the practice of virtue, and the evils which are the inevitable consequence of vice.

In fine, ethics is the science of "The Good," political economy the science of goods. The latter is thus the application of the former-that is to say, it is morality in action. Ancient writers, such as Xenophon and Aristotle, understood by political economy certain rules which the state or the individual ought to follow in the pursuit of comfort and the employment of wealth. The most erudite of Roscher, has declared

contemporary economists, M. that the rules laid down by the ancients for the employment of wealth are the essence of the whole matter. In these maxims the relation connecting political economy and ethics is conclusively established.

§ 3. Connection between Political Economy and Law.

At any given moment there is some organisation for societies, which, if respected, would be most favourable to the advancement of the human race. This dispensation is the law-civil, constitutional, economic, international; obedience to this is a duty, and at the same time the highest advantage.

Right, or law, is accordingly the direct, or right, road to good, that is, to the perfection of man and society. In Sanskrit rita, in German recht, in English right, in French droit, signify alike the straight or direct road, and right, justice, law. To walk in the right road, or in the path of right, is therefore to do everything which is truly advantageous. Justice and utility lay down the same laws. As a French philosopher, Bordas-Demoulin, has said: "The useful is the practical aspect of the just; the just the moral aspect of the useful." These qualities cannot be antagonistic; and if they appear to be so, to choose that which is just is to ensure doing that which is useful. On the other hand, what is unjust or immoral can never be really useful. Nihil utile quod non sit honestum, was an ancient proverb. "The plan of Themistocles," said Aristides, "is much to our advantage, but it is supremely unjust," and so saying he secured its rejection. Seek justice first, and the rest will be added unto you.

Political economy and law underlie one another.

The man who is ignorant of law will be unable to fathom political economy; and the man who is ignorant of political economy will be unable to trace the sources of law. All the acts of economic life are exercised under the empire of civil institutions; and all civil institutions have economic interests for their final cause. If civil codes have established rights of property, of inheritance, or cf testamentary disposition, the equal right of succession or the right of primogeniture, mortgage and terms of prescription, it is because the legislator has believed that these laws were the most favourable to the preservation and increase of wealth. For laws ought to be such that it is to a man's interest to be always upright, industrious, and thrifty. Lastly, commercial law, governing the legal relations arising out of trade, is dictated entirely by economic considerations.

$ 4. Connection between Political Economy and Politics.

Politics seeks to determine the form of government which, at a given time and for a given country, will secure in the highest degree the liberty and well-being of individuals. Political economy, in a more general manner, seeks to determine the laws which are most conducive to an abundant production of wealth, its fair distribution, and wholesome consumption.

These two sciences, therefore, as their names