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THE  SOCIALISM  OF  TO-DAY.

The  successors  of  Adam  Smith,  such  as  Ricardo,  McCulloch,
J.  B.  Say,  and  the  whole  “  English  School,”  followed  the  deductive ­
  method.  This  school  starts  from  certain  views  regarding
man  and  nature,  which  it  announces  as  axioms,  and  from  which
it  draws  all  its  conclusions.  Rossi  put  this  method  in  a  clear
light  when  he  said  that  “  Political  Economy,  in  so  far  as  it  lays
down  general  propositions,  is  a  science  of  reason  rather  than  a
science  of  observation.  It  has  for  its  aim  reasoned  knowledge
of  the  relations  which  flow  from  the  nature  of  things.  ...  It
seeks  for  its  laws,  while  relying  on  the  general  and  constant
facts  of  human  nature.”  *
In  this  system,  man  is  treated  as  a  being  who  pursues  at  all
times  and  places  his  individual  interest.  Actuated  by  this
motive,  which  is  good  in  itself,  since  it  is  the  principle  of  his
preservation,  each  man  seeks  what  is  useful  for  himself,  and
what  this  is  nobody  can  discern  better  than  he.  If,  then,'he  is
free  to  do  as  he  chooses,  he  will  succeed  in  procuring  for  himself ­
  all  the  happiness  which  it  is  given  him  to  attain.  Hitherto
the  State  has  always  placed  restrictions  on  the  full  expansion  of
economic  forces  ;  but  remove  these  restrictions,  and,  all  men
advancing  freely  to  the  pursuit  of  well-being,  the  true  order  will
be  established  in  the  world.  Universal  competition,  free  from
restraint,  brings  each  individual  to  the  place  which  suits  him
best,  and  enables  him  to  obtain  the  appropriate  reward  for  his
labour.  As  Montesquieu  says,  “  it  is  competition  that  fixes  the
proper  price  of  merchandise.”  It  is  the  infallible  regulator  of
the  industrial  world.  It  is  a  sort  of  providential  law  which
makes  order  and  justice  reign  in  the  complicated  relations  of
human  societies.  Let  the  State  refrain  from  all  interference  in
human  affairs,  let  entire  freedom  be  given  to  property,  capital,
labour,  trade,  and  callings,  and  the  production  of  wealth  will
reach  the  highest  pitch,  and  thus  the  general  welfare  will  become
as  great  as  possible.  The  legislator  should  not  trouble  himself
about  the  distribution  of  wealth  ;  it  will  take  place  conformably
to  natural  laws  and  to  free  conventions.  A  single  phrase,
uttered  by  Gournay  in  the  last  century,  sums  up  the  whole
doctrine  :  Laissez  faire,  laissez  passer.
*  Cours  d’économie  politique.  Lesson  IL,  year  1836.