An Unpublished Letter from Malthus to Jane Marcet, January 22, 1833
E I Coll Jan 22, 1833 My dear Madam I have read John Hopkins's Notions on Political Economy with great interest and satisfaction, and am decidedly of opinion that they are calculated to be very useful. They are in many respects better suited to the labouring classes than Miss Martineau's Tales which are justly so much admired. I am strongly therefore inclined to advise you to publish them in as cheap a form as you can, for general circulation, and to give away. We shall be happy to purchase a dozen of them to distribute to the Cottagers in our neighborhood. I think your doctrines very sound, and what is a more essential point, you have explained them with great plainness and clearness. [If I were obliged to find any fault, I should say that you have presented in rather too brilliant and unshaded colours the advantages which would accrue from the abolition of the Corn Laws, so as to excite expectations which cannot be realized.a In the actual state of the redundancy of labour in this country, it appears to me scarcely possible to conceive that the money wages of labour will not fall nearly in proportion to the price of corn, and the labourers be greatly disappointed.b It will no doubt give a stimulus to foreign trade; but it must for a considerable time aggravate the redundancy of labour in country parishes; and during the process of the change, there will probably be more thrown out of work than in any other case of the restrictions of the freedom of trade, on account of the largeness of the concerns. It will also tend to raise the value of money and increase the pressure of the national debt. Still I am for the removal of the restrictions, though not without fear of the consequences.c I have been (interrupted?) and must finish. Most truly yours T. Robt Malthus
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