A.D. 1776 
—1850. 
who con- 
centrated 
their at- 
tention on 
national 
wealth. 
and were 
uncom- 
promising 
advocates 
of laissez 
faira. 
738 
LAISSEZ FAIRE 
Adam Smith's practical sense had saved him from the 
exaggeration into which they fell; he dealt with concrete 
instances and the actual life of a nation. His disciples 
followed him in separating out the economic side of human 
life, but they treated it as if it were an independent entity, 
and not as conditioned by the political circumstances of the 
community, and by the personal welfare of the citizens. It is 
convenient for purposes of investigation to separate the 
economic from other aspects of society; but the student who 
allows himself to forget that he is dealing with an abstraction, 
and that the economic factors and functions he studies have 
no separate existence of their own, is not likely to deal wisely 
and judiciously with practical issues. The principles of 
Natural Liberty, which formed the basis of Adam Smith's 
criticism of actual measures, were accepted by his disciples as 
an ideal which they strove to realise. Even if Ricardo and 
the Manchester School were right in thinking that a thorough- 
going acceptance of laissez faire was essential, in their age, 
for the most rapid accumulation of material goods, it did not 
necessarily follow that this policy was the wisest for the 
personal welfare of individuals generally, or the continued 
maintenance of sound national life, 
The National Wealth, of which Economic Science treats, 
is after all an abstraction ; the component parts, of which it 
actually consists, are by no means the same in different 
countries, or in the same country at different times. Hence, 
free play for the economic forces, which form and maintain 
the actual national wealth at any given time and place, must 
necessarily work out somewhat differently at distinct stages 
of social development. At the beginning of the nineteenth 
century England had reached a phase of her history when 
capital had become the predominant factor in her material 
prosperity. Her political power rested on the expansion of 
her commerce, rather than on the resources of her soil ; and 
the moneyed men had completely asserted a right to be 
treated with greater consideration than the landed interest. 
In manufacturing also, the triumph of capitalism had been 
complete, as machinery rather than human labour had become 
the more important element in the production of goods.