Here the argument takes a new and concluding turn: "Lastly, I offer to the consideration of all those, who have travelled through England and France; whether the Plebians of England (for they constitute the bulk of any Nation) do not spend a sixth part more than the Plebians of France? And if so, it is necessary that they must first get it; and consequently that Ten Millions of the King of England's subjects, are equivalent to Twelve of the King of France; and upon the whole matter, to Thirteen Millions, at which the French Nation was estimated."
It is not necessary to pursue the contentions of the Political Arithmetick further, in order to see that the impediments of the greatness of France, such as paucity of ports, are natural and perpetual, while the impediments of England's greatness, being political, are but contingent and removable. Nor shall I follow him here into the interesting discussion of the amount of money that the nation has and the amount that it needs. Enough has been brought forward to show both the extent to which Petty pushed his calculations of "the value of people," and his high estimate of their relative importance in that "Par or Equation between Lands and Labor" which he regarded as "the most important Consideration in Political Economies."[1]
The Essays in Political Arithmetick, together with the Quantulumcunque, form the third group of Petty's writings. They are almost altogether taken up with attempts to calculate the population of various cities. Like the Political Arithmetick itself, they have a public purpose.
- ↑ Writings, i. 181; Political Anatomy of Ireland, chap. ix. This is, no doubt, the passage which Cantillon found "dans un petit Manuscrit de l'année 1685 [1672]" by Petty. But we may not conclude that Cantillon's eleventh chapter, or indeed any part of his argument, was consciously influenced by Petty's remarks, for he declares that "la recherche qu'il en a fait, en passant, n'est bisarre & éloignée des regles de la nature, que parcequ'il ne's'est pas attaché aux causes & aux principes, mais seulement aux effets." Essai sur le Commerce, p. 54.
