Page:Notes on the Anti-Corn Law Struggle.djvu/66

 "'Malthus and Ricardo are stated to have arrived at the conclusion 'that the difference in the qualities of land permits a part of the produce of some land to be applied to other purposes than the maintenance of the cultivators.' Passing over any error in this conclusion, whose ever it may be, which consists in representing the difference of qualities of land as the cause of the existence of rent, instead of being only the cause of the differences in its amount—they are blamed for coming hastily to the conclusion that rent should be at the disposal of the owner of the land. And here the debate must be cut short by coming at once to the question of utility, and asking whether honest rent is to be left in the hands of the owner of the land, or is to be given to a Saint-Simonian committee that wants to have the disposal of it.'"

It is not altogether unimportant to bear in mind that M. Augusts Comte commenced his career in the manufacture of a new religion and pseudo-philosophy as a disciple of this Saint-Simonian scheme of government. Comte has been thought by some to have been more indebted to Saint-Simon for his speculations than he was disposed to admit. It is curious to me to look back on the impression made by Saint-Simon on General Perronet Thompson and by Comte on J. S. Mill. The latter modified very much his opinion of Comte, as is shown by comparing the later editions of his Logic with the first edition. Yet in his final estimate of Comte, Mill says, "We think M. Comte