[150] James Mill: “Elements of Political Economy.” [London, 1821, p. 95-101 passim. Transl.]
[151] A few months before the outbreak of the commercial crisis of 1857, a committee of the House of Commons was in session to inquire into the effect of the bank-laws of 1844 and 1845. Lord Overstone, the theoretical father of these laws, delivered himself of this boast in his testimony before the committee: “By strict and prompt adherence to the principles of the act of 1844, everything has passed off with regularity and ease; the monetary system is safe and unshaken, the prosperity of the country is undisputed, the public confidence in the wisdom of the act of 1844 is daily gaining strength; and if the committee wish for further practical illustration of the soundness of the principles on which it rests, or of the beneficial results which it has assured, the true and sufficient answer to the committee is, look around you; look at the present state of trade of the country, look at the contentment of the people; look at the wealth and prosperity which pervades every class of the community; and then, having done so, the committee may be fairly called upon to decide whether they will interfere with the continuance of an act under which these results have been developed.” Thus did Overstone blow his own horn on the fourteenth of July, 1857; on the twelfth of November of the same year the Ministry had to suspend on its own responsibility the wonderful law of 1844.
[152] Tooke was entirely ignorant of Steuart’s work, as may be seen from his “History of Prices for 1839-1847,” London, 1848. where he reviews the history of the theories of money.
[153] Tooke’s most important work besides the “History of Prices” which his co-worker Newmarch published in six volumes, is “An Inquiry into the Currency Principle, the Connection of the Currency with Prices” etc., 2nd edition, London, 1844. Wilson’s book we have already quoted. Finally there is to be mentioned John Fullarton’s “On the Regulation of Currencies,” 2d edition, London, 1845.
[154] “We ought to ... distinguish ... between gold ... as merchandise, i. e. as capital, and gold ... as currency” (Tooke, “An Inquiry into the Currency Principle, etc.” p. 10). “Gold and silver may be counted upon to realize on their arrival nearly the exact sum required to be provided ... gold and silver possess an infinite advantage over all other description of merchandize ... from the circumstance of being universally in use as money.... It is not in tea, coffee, sugar or indigo that debts, whether foreign or domestic, are usually contracted to be paid, but in coin; and the remittance, therefore, either in the identical coin designated, or in bullion which can be promptly turned into that coin through the mint or market of the country to which it is sent, must always afford to the remitter, the most certain, immediate, and accurate means of affecting this object, without risk of disappointment from the failure of demand or fluctuation of price.” (Fullerton, l. c. p. 132-133.) “Any other article (except gold or silver) might in quantity or kind be beyond the usual demand of the country to which it is sent.” (Tooke: “An Inquiry, etc.”)
[155] The transformation of money into capital we shall consider in the third chapter which treats of capital and forms the end of the first book.
[156] This introduction was first published in the Neue Zeit (see Translator’s Preface, p. 5) of March 7, 14 and 21, 1903, by Karl Kautsky, with the following explanation:
“This article has been found among the posthumous papers of Karl Marx. It is a fragmentary sketch of a treatise that was to have served as an introduction to his main work, which he had been writing for many years and whose outline was clearly formed in his mind. The manuscript is dated August 23, 1857.... As the idea is very often indicated only in fragmentary sentences, I have taken the liberty of introducing here and there changes in style, insertions of words, etc.... A mere reprint of the original would have made it unintelligible.... Not all the words in the manuscript are legible....
“Wherever there could be no doubt as to the necessity of corrections, I did so without indicating them in the text; in other cases I put all insertions in brackets. Wherever I am not certain as to whether I have deciphered a word correctly, I have put an interrogation point after it; other changes are specially noted. In all other respects this is an exact reprint of the original, whose fragmentary and incomplete passages serve to remind us only too painfully of the many treasures of thought which went down to the grave with Marx, treasures which would have sufficed for generations if Marx had not so anxiously avoided giving to the world any of his ideas until he had tested them repeatedly from every conceivable point of view and had given them a wording that would be incontrovertible. In spite of its fragmentary character it opens before us a wealth of new points of view.”
[157] The original reads “person.”