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DAVID HART'S WEBPAGE

 

The Digital Library of Liberty & Power

RECENT ADDITIONS IN L'AN V (2024)

[ About me | About this website | the Guillaumin Collection of Classic Texts ]

[Updated: 18 October, 2024]

Some quick links to recent/ongoing projects:

ADDITIONS IN 2024 / L'AN V

OCTOBER 2024

Papers I am working on:

  1. [to come]

Additions to the Library:

  • new: The English humanist and protestant minister John Ponet (ca. 1514-1556) was a critic of the doctrine of the divine right of kings and an advocate of the right of resistance to tyrannical political power. He wrote this pamphlet anonymously for obvious reasons: A shorte treatise of politike power and of the true obedience which subjectes owe to kynges and other civile governours (1556) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML. See also a version with modernised spelling in enhanced HTML.
  • new: The Scottish Presbyterian minister Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661) wrote an influential tract in 1644 opposing the unlimited powers of the monarch based upon biblical, historical, and natural law arguments. Although he was no liberal (opposing freedom of conscience (for which he was attacked by John Milton), and the divine right of rule (by Presbyterians)), his arguments were adopted by later liberals and you might say turned against him.The book was reprinted 200 hundred years later and informed a new generation of liberal republicans.
    • Lex, rex The law and the prince : a dispute for the just prerogative of king and people (1644) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come]
    • Lex, Rex, or, The Law and the Prince; a dispute for the just prerogative of king and people (1843) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come]
  • new: Before the French Monarchomachs (mainly Protestants) were provoked into justifying resistance to state persecution during the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598) and more generally the idea of the divine right of kings, English Protestants protested the persecution instituted by the Catholic monarchs Queen Mary I and King Philip (1553-1558) by going into exile in more tolerant parts of Europe (the Netherlands and Switzerland) and by writing tracts. This included John Ponet (c.1514-1556), John Knox (c.1514-1572), and Christopher Goodman (1520-1603). See
    • John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power, and of the true obedience which subjects owe to kings and other civil governors (1556) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come]
    • John Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet against the monstruous Regiment of Women (1558) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come]
    • Christopher Goodman, How Superior Powers Ought To Be Obeyed By Their Subjects: And Wherein They May Lawfully By God's Word Be Disobeyed And Resisted (1558) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come]
  • new: The Monarchomachs (those who resist monarchs) were 16th century political theorists who argued that citizens had the right to resist a tyrannical king/prince usually via the mediation of the "lesser magistrates". The individual right to resist a tyrant would not be advocated until later during the 1640s in England, the 1760s and 1770s in Nortth America, and in Europe during the French Revolution. Leading monarchomach theorists include François Hotman (1524–1590), Franco-Gallia (The Ancient Free State of France) (1576); Théodore de Bèze (1519–1605), De jure magistratuum (The Right of Magistrates) (1574); "Brutus" (Hubert Languet (1518–1581) or Mornay), Vindiciae contra Tyrannos (A Defence of Liberty against Tyrants) (1579); and George Buchanan (1506–1582), De Jure Regni apud Scotos (The Rights of the Crown of Scotland) (1579). I put Hotman's Franco-Gallia online last month; this month it is George Buchanan (1506-1582) in three different versions:
    • the Latin original: De jure regni apud Scotos (1579) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML
    • an English translation from 1680: De jure regni apud Scotos, or, A dialogue, concerning the due priviledge of government in the kingdom of Scotland (1680) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML
    • another English translation from 1799: George Buchanan's Dialogue concerning the Rights of the Crown of Scotland (1799) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML
  • new:after a three year trip to northern Germany Hodgskin wrote a two volume study of the "social and political institutions, the agriculture, manufactures, commerce, education, arts and manners in that country": Travels in the North of Germany (1820) in facs PDF [vol1 and vol2] and enhanced HTML [vol1 and vol2 and 2vols-in-1]; and eBook HTML [vol1 and vol2 and 2vols-in-1], PDF [vol1 and vol2 and 2vols-in-1], and ePub [vol1 and vol2 and 2vols-in-1]
  • new: Thomas Hodgskin, Labour Defended against the Claims of Capital (1831) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • new: Thomas Hodgskin, Popular Political Economy. Four Lectures (1827) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • updated: the English radical Thomas Hodgskin (1787-1869) wrote a scathing critique of "pressing" (conscription) into the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. What started out as a critique of coercion on Lockean principles in one aspect of life (officers in the navy) later turned into a more general critique of government coercion by politicians and bureaucrats: An Essay on Naval Discipline (1813) - in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML, and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • new: The French Renaissance humanist and individualist thinker Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) wrote a collection of influential "Essays" which first appeared in 1580. We have the 5th edition of 1588 with Montaigne's extensive revisions and additions written in his own hand in the margins (the "Bordeaux edition"). It was translated by John Florio whose 1613 edition we have online.

Other Books this Month

New eBooks in the Guillaumin Collection - [ToC]

 

SEPTEMBER 2024

Olympe de Gouges
(1748-1793) and her Declaration of Rights

Papers I am working on:

  1. revised a paper: "The Conflicted Western Tradition: Some Provocative Pairings of Texts about Liberty and Power. Or, “Logos libertas est.” " which was first presented at the Association of Core Texts and Courses 25th Annual Conference 2019: “Logos: Here And There, Now And Then”, Santa Fe, New Mexico. HTML
  2. a paper on "Grappling with Economic Complexity: The Idea of "Ceteris Paribus" or "Toutes Choses d'ailleurs Égales" in the Thought of J.S. Mill and Frédéric Bastiat" to be present at the History of Economic Thought Society of Australia Conference 26-27 September, 2024, at Alphacrucis University College, Parramatta, Sydney NSW. There are three versions:
    1. my online version in HTML
    2. the conference paper in barebones HTML
    3. a PDF version of the conference paper
    4. a two flyers on the economics titles in the Guillaumin Collection (46) - short and long

Additions to the Library:

  • updated: the 6th revised and much expanded edition of Malthus' An Essay on the Principle of Population (1826) in facs PDF [vol1 abnd vol2] and enhanced HTML [vol1 and vol2, and a "two-volumes-in-one" edition in HTML; eBook HTML [vol1 and vol2 and 2-vols-in-1], PDF [vol1 and vol2 and 2-vols-in-1], and ePub [vol1 and vol2 and 2-vols-in-1]
  • updated: the 1st edition of Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • a collection of 5 essays written in 1829-30: John Stuart Mill, Essays On Some Unsettled Questions Of Political Economy (1844) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) wrote a 2 volume work on the methodolgy of the social sciences (moral theory and political economy), the natural laws of economics, and the fallacies which were commonly made. The first edition appeared in 1843 and became a "best seller". We have the revised 7th edition of 1868: A System of Logic Ratiocinative and Inductive. Being a connected View of the Principles of Evidence and the Methods of Scientific Investigation (1868) in facs. PDF [vol1 and vol2] and enhanced HTML [vol1 and vol2 and 2vols-in-1]; eBook HTML [vol1 and vol2 and 2vols-in-1], PDF [vol1 and vol2 and 2vols-in-1], and ePub [vol1 and vol2 and 2vols-in-1]
  • Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) objected to the fact that women had been left out of the French "Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen" (1789), so she wrote her own declaration. She included it in a pamphlet she wrote to the Queen, along with a revised marriage contract which would give spouses equal rights under the law: Les droits de la femme. A la Reine (Paris, 1791) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • I have added her Declaration to my anthology of Petitions, Charters, Decrees, and Declarations of Rights and Liberties (1215-1848)
  • the French jurist François Hotman (1524–1590) was part of the group of political theorists known as the "monarchomachs" (those who opposed monarchs) who argued against absolute rule by kings, especially concerning the persecution of dissenting religious groups, and theought the "lesser" (lower) magistrates had to keep the powers of the monarch in check.
    • see the Latin original of 1576 in facsimile PDF: Francogallia (Geneva, 1576)
    • a "Whig" edition of 1721 translated into English: Franco-Gallia: Or, an Account of the Ancient Free State of France, and most other Parts of Europe, before the Loss of their Liberties (1574, 1721) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, ePub
  • a popular introduction to marginal theory by the English polymath Philip H. Wicksteed (1844–1927): The Common Sense of Political Economy, including a Study of the Human Basis of Economic Law (1910) in facs PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub

Other Books this Month

New eBooks in the Guillaumin Collection - [ToC]

AUGUST 2024

Things I am working on:

  1. a paper on "Grappling with Economic Complexity: The Idea of "Ceteris Paribus" or "Toutes Choses d'ailleurs Égales" in the Thought of J.S. Mill and Frédéric Bastiat"
  2. An Anthology of the Writings of the Leveller John Lilburne.
  3. a reorganisation of my lecture series on the history of the classical liberal tradition, and some related guides and readings:
    1. a collection of 40 plus blog posts
    2. a thematic collection of articles From The Encyclopedia Of Libertarianism (2008)
    3. a collection of 27 key documents in the history of the evolution of our individual, political, and economic rights

The Gullaumin Collection of the Great Books about Liberty

New feature: the table of titles is now sortable by subject area (6)

The History of Economic Thought Collection

Over the past two years I have been building the Guillaumin Collection which now consists of 180 titles by 87 authors. They are what I call “near replicas” of the original classic texts which can be used for scholarly purposes, either by being read online or downloaded for personal use.

The texts are in their original language (English, French, German, and Latin), and are based upon either the first edition (such as Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (1776)) or the last edition published in the author's lifetime (such as Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments (the 1st ed. appeared in 1759; the final revised edition appeared in 1790)). In addition, there is a facsimile PDF of the original text for those who wish to see an “actual replica” of the text.

The HTML version of the text has been "enhanced" to be more useful to scholars, with the original pages numbers clearly marked in the text, a unique paragraph ID number which allows the “citation tool” to grab the ID number and create a URL link to and a “citation” for that paragraph.

The HTML text has been formatted according to the style recommended by Edward Tufte to be more comfortably read online, with a width of 600 px, more spacing between the lines and the paragraphs, and the background colour off-white.

The collection is made up of texts in the following subject areas: political thought (83); economics (44); sociology (27); literature (10); law (8); and philosophy (7). The following 43 titles deal with economic theory and policy (37 titles in the original language plus 6 translations):

  1. Richard Cantillon, Essai sur la nature du commerce en général (1755).
  2. Turgot, Réflexions sur la formation et la distribution des richesses (1766).
  3. Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1st ed. 1776; Cannan ed. 1904).
  4. Condillac Le Commerce et le Gouvernement (1776).
  5. Jean-Baptiste Say, Traité d’Économie Politique (1st ed. 1803; 6th ed. 1841).
  6. James Mill, Commerce Defended (1808).
  7. Benjamin Constant, Commentaire sur l’ouvrage de Filangieri (1822).
  8. Antoine Destutt de Tracy, Traité d'économie Politique (1823).
  9. Charles Dunoyer, Nouveau traité d’économie sociale (1830).
  10. J.S. Mill, Essays On Some Unsettled Questions Of Political Economy 1844)
  11. Frédéric Bastiat, Cobden et la ligue (1845).
  12. Frédéric Bastiat, Sophismes économiques (1846).
  13. Frédéric Bastiat, Sophismes économiques (1848).
  14. Adolphe Thiers, De la Propriété (1848). And an English trans.
  15. Gustave de Molinari, Les Soirées de la rue Saint-Lazare (1849).
  16. Frédéric Bastiat, L’État. Maudit Argent (1849.)
  17. Frédéric Bastiat, Ce qu’on voit et ce qu’on ne voit pas (1850).
  18. Frédéric Bastiat, Harmonies économiques (1851).
  19. Gustave de Molinari, Cours d’économie politique (1863).
  20. Frédéric Bastiat, Œuvres Complètes (1862-64).
  1. William Edward Hearn, Plutology (1863).
  2. Richard Cobden, Speeches on Questions of Public Policy (3rd ed. 1908).
  3. John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy (7th ed. 1871).
  4. Carl Menger, Grundsätze der Volkswirthschaftslehre (1871).
  5. Carl Menger, Untersuchungen über die Methode der Socialwissenschaften (1883).
  6. Henry George, Protection or Free Trade (1886).
  7. Gustave de Molinari, Les Lois naturelles de l'économie politique (1887).
  8. Eugen Richter, Sozialdemokratische Zukunftsbilde (1st ed. 1893).
  9. Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Zum Abschluss des Marxschen Systems (1896).
  10. Gustave de Molinari, Esquisse de l'organisation politique et économique de la société future (1899).
  11. Ludwig Von Mises, Die Entwicklung des Gutsherrlich-Bäuerlichen Verhältnisses in Galizien (1772-1848) (1902).
  12. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, Collectivism (1908).
  13. Philip H. Wicksteed, The Common Sense of Political Economy (1910)
  14. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, L’État moderne et ses fonctions (4th ed. 1911)
  15. Ludwig Mises, Nation, Staat und Wirtschaft (1919).
  16. Friedrich von Wieser, Das Gesetz der Macht (1926).
  17. Ludwig von Mises, Liberalismus (1927).
  18. Ludwig Mises, Die Gemeinwirtschaft (2nd ed. 1932).
  19. Ludwig von Mises, Nationalökonomie: Theorie des Handlens und Wirtschaftens (1940).

Additions to the Library:

  • updated: an optimistic view of the possibilities for human progress if people were free do so, written by by Condorcet (1743-1794) while in prison awaiting execution: Outlines of an historical view of the progress of the human mind (1796) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub. See also the French original in enhanced HTML.
  • new: a stand-alone version of a great defense of so-called "victimless crimes" by the American individualist anarchist and abolitionist Lysander Spooner (1808-1887): "Vices are Not Crimes: A Vindication of Moral Liberty" (1875) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, ePub
  • updated: an early reply to Edmund Burke's attack on the French Revolution and all it stood for by the radical liberal Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797): A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • updated: John Stuart Mill, "The Spirit of the Age", The Examiner (9 Jan. - 29 May, 1831) in facs. PDF (via HTML page) and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, ePub
  • a collection of medieval documents which includes the city of Magdeburg Charter and other important political documents: Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar H. McNeal, eds., A Source Book for Mediæval History. Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML
  • "On Limiting the Power of the State: A Collection of Petitions, Charters, Decrees, and Declarations of Rights and Liberties (1215-1848)": This is a collection of 27 key documents in the history of the evolution of our individual, political, and economic rights. It is modelled on, although much larger than, the French Civil Code and the Cato Institute's The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (The Pocket Constitution), the idea of which was to enable every citizen to carry in their pocket (now a smart phone) a summary of the rights which they enjoyed under the law. When challenged by an overly officious government employee, the citizen could pull out the pocket book of rights and recite the constitutional chapter and verse to defend their rights. This collection takes a longer term view than the above mentioned pocket guides, stretching back to the English Magna Carta (1215), and a more international perspective, in which our modern understanding of rights encompasses the historical experience of England, the American colonies and early republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France during and immediately after its revolution, and goes up to the 1848 revolutions in Paris and the German states. It also has the original language version of the documents and an English translation where available. The collection of documents includes:
  1. Magna Carta (1215)
  2. The City Charter of Magdeburg (1261)
  3. The Swiss Federal Charta (1291)
  4. The Dutch Declaration of Independence (1581)
  5. The Petition of Right (1628)
  6. The Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641)
  7. An Agreement of the Free People of England (1649)
  8. The Habeas Corpus Act (1679)
  9. The English Bill of Rights (1689)
  10. The Declaration of Independence (1776)
  11. The Virginia Bill of Rights (1776)
  12. A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of Massachusetts (1780)
  13. An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery (1780) - Pennsylvania
  14. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789)
  1. The Decrees of August 1789 (abolishing feudalism)
  2. The U.S. Bill of Rights (1791)
  3. The Declaration of Rights in the proposed Girondin constitution (1793)
  4. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Batavian Republic, 1795)
  5. Declaration of Sovereignty of the German People Between the Meuse, Rhine, and Mosel (1797)
  6. The Prussian Reform Edict (1807)
  7. The Constitution of Belgium (1831)
  8. Declaration of the anti-slavery convention assembled in Philadelphia (1833)
  9. Declaration of Principles of the Free Trade Association (1846)
  10. Motion in the German Pre-Parliament (1848)
  11. The Seneca Falls Declaration (1848)
  12. La Confédération suisse. Constitution fédérale de 1848 (1848)
  13. The Constitution of the Second Republic (1848)
  • an important work by the English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846): The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament (1808) in 2 vols. - facs. PDF [vol1 and vol2]; enhanced HTML [vol1 and vol2 and 2vols-in-1]; eBook HTML [vol1 and vol2 and 2-vols-in-1], PDF [vol1 and vol2 and 2-vols-in-1], ePub [vol1 and vol2 and 2-vols-in-1]
    • some of the illustrations in the book were an important part of the anti-slavery campaign, such as the plan of the slave ship the Brookes, a collection of manacles used to restrain slaves, and a very interesting "map" of the abolitionist movment in the form of a system of rivers which shows the different intellectual "tributaries" of thought which contribued to it. You need the very large versu=ion to read the names [3488x2505 px]

Other Books this Month

New eBooks in the Guillaumin Collection - [ToC]

JULY 2024

Papers I am working on:

I have been revising, updating, and reformatting some of my papers and essays. So far these ones have received the treatment:

On Frédéric Bastiat:

  1. “Bastiat's Rhetoric of Liberty: The Use of Language and Literature in his Economic Writings” (2011, 2015, 2024)
  2. “On Ricochets, Hidden Channels, and Negative Multipliers: Bastiat on calculating the Economic Costs of ‘The Unseen’ ” (2013, 2024)
  3. “Negative Railways, Turtle Soup, talking Pencils, and House owning Dogs: ‘The French Connection’ and the Popularization of Economics from Say to Jasay" (2014, 2024)
  4. “Some Thoughts on an ‘Austrian Theory of Film’: Ideas and Human Action in a Film about Frédéric Bastiat” (2019, 2024)
  5. “Bastiat's Theory of Harmony and Disharmony: An Intellectual History” (2019, 2023)
  6. “Frédéric Bastiat's Economic Harmonies: A Reassessment after 170 Years” (2019, 2024)
  7. "Vocabulary Clusters in the Thought of Frédéric Bastiat" (2022, 2024)
  8. “Bastiat on the Seen and The Unseen: An Intellectual History” (2022, 2024)
  9. "Frédéric Bastiat on Plunder, Class, and the State" (2024)

On Gustave de Molinari:

  1. “Gustave de Molinari and the Seven Musketeers of French Political Economy in the 1840s" (2015, 2023)
  2. “The Struggle Against Protectionism, Socialism, And The Bureaucratic State: The Economic Thought Of Gustave De Molinari, 1845-1855” (2016, 2024)
  3. “Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912): A Survey of the Life and Work of an “Économiste Dure” (a Hard-Core Economist)” (2018, 2024)
  4. “Was Molinari a true Anarcho-Capitalist?: An Intellectual History of the Private and Competitive Production of Security” (2019, 2024)

On French Liberalism in general:

  1. "Frédéric Passy and ‘The School of Liberty’ (April, 1890)" (2017, 2024)
  2. "The Paris School of Liberal Political Economy, 1803-1853" (2022, 2023)
  3. “J.B. Say and the Transformation of Restoration French Liberalism” (2021, 2024)

On other topics:

  1. "Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Scribblers: An Austrian Analysis of the Structure of Production and Distribution of Ideas" (2015, 2024)
  2. “On The Spread of Liberal Ideas - Some First Thoughts" (2015, 2024).
  3. “Plunderers, Parasites, and Plutocrats: Some Reflections on the Rise and Fall and Rise and Fall of Classical Liberal Class Analysis” (2018, 2023)
  4. “The Prospects for Liberty: Some Thoughts on Goals, Threats, and Strategies” (August, 2022, 2024)

Additions to the Library:

  • The leading Leveller theorists and activists were Richard Overton (c. 1599–1664), William Walwyn (1600-1680), and John Lilburne (1615-1657). We plan to have an anthology for each of these key individuals, beginning with An Anthology of the Works of Richard Overton (1641-1649). This contains 22 of his pamphlets and shows the range of his interests, from an important political thinker in "An Arrow against all Tyrants" to a satirist playwright in his two works on "Bull Baiting". Each of the pamphlets has been undated to the new format with page numbers and the citation tool. Also in eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub.
  • Leveller ideology had penetrated the New Model Army which can be seen in the debate among the Officers held in Putney, London in October and November 1647, the so-called "Putney Debates: in enhanced HTML; and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub. Colonel Rainborow expressed this clearly when he said: "I thinke that the poorest hee that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest hee".
  • Circulating among the officers at Putney were proposals for what were called "Agreements of the People" which put into writing the demands of the Leveller officiers and leading intellectuals for the reform of the government which they wanted to put forward for discussion and get implemented after putting pressure of the government. The demands included protection for religious freedom, the eliminatiion of the most onerous taxes, the payments of arrears in the soldiers pay, and much broader voting rights in elections to Parliament. I have put together 8 of these "agreements which emerged between November 1647 (the time of the Putney debates) and May 1649 when the so-called "Third Agreement of the People" written by the leveller theorists John Lilburne, William Walwyn, Thomas Prince, and Richard Overton was published. See An Anthology of Leveller "Agreements" (1647-1649). Edited by David M. Hart (Pittwater Free Press, 2024) - in enhanced HTML; and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub.

Other Books this Month

The Putney Debates (1647)

Agreements of the People
(1647-1649)

New eBooks in the Guillaumin Collection - [ToC]

 

 

JUNE 2024

Papers I am working on:

  1. [to come]

Additions to the Library:

Other Books this Month

Authors this Month

Gaetano Mosca (1858–1941)

François-Marie Arouet
(“Voltaire”) (1694-1778)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)

Étienne Bonnot de Condillac
(1714-1780)

New eBooks in the Guillaumin Collection - [ToC]

 

MAY 2024

Papers I am working on:

  1. [to come]

Additions to the Library:

Other Books this Month

New eBooks in the Guillaumin Collection - [ToC]

APRIL 2024

Papers I am working on:

  1. "The Idea of "Ceteris paribus" or "Toutes choses d'ailleurs égales" (all other things being equal) in the Thought of J.S. Mill and Frédéric Bastiat"

Additions to the Library:

  • In the four years between 1720 and 1723 the English liberal journalists and historians John Trenchard (1662-1723) and Thomas Gordon (1691-1750) wrote nearly an article a week exposing the attacks on liberty by what they called the "Church power" and the "Civil power". They did this firstly under the name of "The Independent Whig" and then "Cato". The two men are commonly regarded as being leading exponents of the 18th century "Commonwealthman" tradition which defended Lockean notions of self-propriety (self-ownership), naural rights, and the consent of the governed to early 18th century Britain. There were a total of 198 such articles in the two sets of essays. I have put online the collected essays of both "The Indendent Whig" (1720) and "Cato's Letters" (1721-23). See the sortable table of contents of these articles.
  • some new texts and upgrades of works (20 items) by the authors of Cato's Letters (1721-23), John Trenchard (1662-1723) and Thomas Gordon (1691-1750):
    • upgraded - John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, Cato's Letters (1721-23): we have used the 4 volume 6th ed. of 1755: "enhanced HTML of vol1, vol2, vol3, vol4, "4vols-in-1" and there is a new sortable table of the collected Letters.
    • new - John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, The Independent Whig 4 vols. (1720-1747). There were at least 8 editions of a group of essays written over a period of 27 years which made up the writings of "The Independent Whig". It began as several occasional pieces before becoming a weekly paper in 1720. These 54 essays were published as a collection twice in 1721 and 1722; another volume of 19 undated pieces was published as part of the 6th edition in 1735; a 4th volume containing 32 essays was published as part of the 8th edition (?) in 1747; an American edition which published all 4 volumes in 1 appeared in 1816. We have also followed the American practice and combined all 4 volumes into one.
      • occasional pieces by Gordon:
        • The Character of an Independent Whig (1719) [facs. PDF]; reprinted in A Collection of Tracts (1751), vol. 1, pp. 311-34 [HTML]
        • The Creed of an Independent Whig (1720) [facs. PDF]; reprinted in A Collection of Tracts (1751), vol. 2, pp. 370-85 [HTML]
        • Considerations offered upon the approaching Peace (1720) [facs. PDF]; reprinted in A Collection of Tracts (1751), vol. 1, pp. 268-83 [HTML]
        • Priestianity (1720) [facs. PDF];reprinted in A Collection of Tracts (1751), vol. 2, pp. 386-416 [HTML]
        • Three Political Letters concerning Liberty and the Constitution (1721) [facs. PDF];
        • A Supplemental Letter concerning Liberty and the Constitution (1721) [facs. PDF]
      • a weekly paper (1720) [facs. PDF]
      • 1st edition of the first 54 essays in 1 vol. (1721) [facs. PDF]
      • 2nd edition of the first 54 essays in 1 vol. (1722) [facs. PDF]
      • a reprint of the original 54 articles in 2 vols (we have used the 7th ed. of 1743) in facs. PDF [vol1 and vol2] and enhanced HTML [vol1 and vol2]; and eBook HTML [vol1 and vol2], PDF [vol1 and vol2], and ePub [vol1 and vol2]
      • a 3rd volume of 19 undated pieces appeared in the 6th edition of 1735 (we have used the 7th ed. of 1741) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; in eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
      • a 4th volume of 32 essays in the 8th edition (?) (1747) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; in eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
      • an American edition which published all 4 volumes in 1 (1816) in facs. PDF
      • my version of all "4 vols. in 1" in enhanced HTML; in eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
    • new - Thomas Gordon, A Discourse of Standing Armies (1722) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
    • upgraded - Thomas Gordon, The Works of Tacitus, 4 vols. (1737) with his "Political Discourses upon Tacitus" in facs. PDF [vol1 and vol3] and enhanced HTML; eBook PDF, HTML, and ePub
    • upgraded - Thomas Gordon, The Works of Sallust (1744) with his "Political Discourses upon Sallust" in facs. PDF [entire vol. or just the Discourses] and enhanced HTML [entire vol. or just the Discourses]; eBook HTML [whole book or just the Discourses], PDF [whole book or just the Discourses], and ePub [whole book or just the Discourses]
    • upgraded - my edition of the combined Political Discourses: Thomas Gordon, Tyranny, Empire, War, and Corruption: The Political Discourses on Tacitus and Sallust (1728-1744) (2021) in enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
    • upgraded - Thomas Gordon, An Essay on Government (1747) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
    • new - John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, A Collection of Tracts, 2 vols. (1751) [40 tracts] in facs. PDF [vol1 and vol2] and enhanced HTML [vol1 and vol2 and 2vols-in-1] and a sortable table of contents of the two volumes; eBook HTML [vol1 and vol2 and 2-vols-in-1], PDF [vol1 and vol2 and 2-vols-in-1], and ePub [vol1 and vol2 and 2-vols-in-1]
  • Ludwig von Mises' "PhD" from 1902, which is a work of economic history, namely the emancipation of the serfs in Galizia (1772-1848): Die Entwicklung des Gutsherrlich-Bäuerlichen Verhältnisses in Galizien (1772-1848) (1902) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • an updated version of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), A Philosophical View of Reform (1820), which was not published in his lifetime due to its radical content: in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • the US Senator from South Carolina, John C. Calhoun (1782–1850), wrote a perceptive analysis of the conflict within political systems betwen the "net tax-payers" and the "net tax-consumers": A Disquisition on Government and A Discourse on the Constitution and Government of the United States (1851) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • the first professor of political economy at the University of Melbourne (founded 1853) was William Edward Hearn (1826-1888) who was influenced by the ideas of Frédédic Bastiat. I have updated the following work: Plutology or the Theory of the Efforts to Satisfy Human Wants (1864) - facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, ePub
    • I wonder if we will ever get a "William Hearn Chair of Political Economy" at the University of Melbourne?
  • another work by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873): Considerations on Representative Government (1861):
  • an important work by the Austrian sociologist Georg Simmel (1858–1918) on "Philosophie des Geldes" (The Philosophy of Money) (1900, 1907):

Other Books this Month

New eBooks in the Guillaumin Collection - [ToC]

MARCH 2024

 

Additions to the Library:

  • an updated version of a work by another founder of the Austrian school, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (1851-1914). Here is his devastating critique of Marx: "Zum Abschluss des Marxschen Systems" (On the End/Conclusion of the Marxist System (of thought)) (1896) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • One of the "founding fathers" of the Austrian school was Carl Menger (1841-1921). We have revised editions of two of his works:
    1. Grundsätze der Volkswirthschaftslehre (Principles of Economics) (1871) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
    2. Untersuchungen über die Methode der Socialwissenschaften und der politischen Oekonomie insbesondere (An Investigation into the Method of the Social Sciences, with particular reference to Economics) (1883) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
  • Ludwig Mises (he dropped the "von" for this book) wrote an assessment of the state of the world immediately following the disasters of the World War and the Bolshevik revolution: Nation, Staat und Wirtschaft. Beiträge zur Politik und Geschichte der Zeit (Nation, State, and Economy: Articles on the Politics and History of the Present Time) (1919); in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
    • Mises' book should be contrasted with the work of his contemporary J.M. Keynes (1883-1946), The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919).
  • I have upgraded the main "Author Page" with a new layout and a sortable table of their works, of the following individuals:
  • Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) had a radical and liberal phase (1792-93) during which he defended the right of revolution against oppressive regimes (such as the French revoltuion) in quite Lockean terms. Later he defended protectionism and national development policies which became very influential in the German speaking world. I have added two essays on the former and revised one of the latter:
    • a defence of freedom of speech: Zurückforderung der Denkfreiheit von den Fürsten Europens, die sie bisher unterdrückten (Reclaiming the Freedom of Thought from the Princes of Europe who have until now repressed it) (1793): in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF, and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
    • a defence of the right to rebel against an oppressive state: Beitrag zur Berichtigung der Urteile des Publikums über die französische Revolution. Zur Beurteilung ihrer Rechtmässigkeit (A Contribution to Correcting the Public's Criticisms of the French Revolution: An Assessment of their Legitimacy) (1793): in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF, and eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub
    • a defence of notd only of protectionism but also an early attempt to outline what a fully "planned" economy might look like: Der geschlossene Handelsstaat (The Closed Trading State) (1800): revised version in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF
  • John Locke (1632–1704) published three essays on "Toleration" (of different religious beliefs) between 1689 and 1692, and wrote some other pieces which were discovered after his death and which appeared in his posthumously published collected works. I have edited the three published pieces but the state of the original HTML version of the texts leaves a lot to be desired (Oxford Text Archive and the University of Michigan library). For example, the "Third Letter" (1692) has 988 "gaps" or letters and words which the coders could not or would not decipher. Most of these "gaps" are obvious from the context but they were unwilling to make an educated guess of what they might be. The facsimile PDFs are also of poor quality. With some frustration I am putting these texts online "as is" for the lack of an alternative. Someone of Locke's stature deserves better. The texts are:
  • It should also be noted that the great 18th century libertarian bookseller and publisher Thomas Hollis (1720–1774) published his own edition of Locke's Two Treatises of Government (1764) and the collected Letters on Toleration (1764) for distribution in the North American colonies. Both volumes included the lovely engraving Hollis had made. I have the former in various formats and the latter only in facs. PDF.
    • 1. Two Treatises of Government (1764) now updated in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF (B&W and colour);
    • 2. Letters concerning Toleration (1765) only in facs. PDF; it includes the Latin original of the First Letter "Epistola de Tolerantia" as well as a "Fourth Letter".
  • The 1824 12th edition of The Works of Locke is available in good HTML, volume 5 of which contains the collected "Letters on Toleration". It is here in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF.

Other Books this Month

New eBooks in the Guillaumin Collection - [ToC]

FEBRUARY 2024

Additions to the Library:

  • Jeremy Bentham, The Book of Fallacies (1824) in enhanced HTML and facs, PDF: eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub. The first edition was published in French and only later appeared in English. This book is not well known but it is an important demolition job on how politicians and bureaucrats deceive the people in order to stay in power, legitimize their rule, and protect their vested interests. He has a deep understanding of how politics works, with his discussions of the constant struggle between “The Ins” vs. “The Outs” to win political office, the “sinister interests” of the ruling elites and their allies, and how easily the public is fooled into accepting what is going on. Bastiat (and Molinari) quoted Bentham and probably knew this work as it was first published in French. Bastiat might have been inspired by it to write his magnificent series of “Sophismes” which are quite similar to Bentham’s Fallacies.
  • Volume 1 of The Clarke Papers. Selections from the Papers of William Clarke, Secretary to the Council of the Army, 1647-1649 (1891), which contains the minutes of the Putney Debates which were held between 28 October - 11 November 1647 in a church in Putney, London: enhanced HTML and facs. PDF.
  • Ludwig von Mises, Nationalökonomie: Theorie des Handlens und Wirtschaftens (1940). Before there was the theory of "human action" (1949) there was the theory of "Handlen und Wirtschaften" (trading and economizing) (1940). The Mises Institute is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the publication of the former with a "Human Action Conference" 16-18 May. I am doing my bit by publishing online the latter. Note that the Mises Institute also publishers the 1949 edition of HA in various formats. My edition of Nationalökonomie in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub.

Note on the Putney Debates

  • The "Putney Debates" (28 October - 11 November 1647) were held in a church in Putney, London which involved officers of the New Model Army, "agitators" (representatives of other army units), and some civilians to discuss
    • what demands the Army would make to Parliament regarding the payment of arrears of pay, indemnity for actions taken by individual soldiers during the war (such as taking horses from civilans (punishable by death in normal courts), and
    • changes in the form of government and electoral representation which they wanted to see enacted. The debate was heavily inlfluenced by Leveller ideas which were advocated by Edward Sexby, Colonel Rainborow, John Wildman, Col. Lilburne, and Coil. Overton.
  • The culmination of the events of 1647 were two important documents:
  • The radical Levellers John Wildman and John Lilburne believed they had been betrayed by Cromwell and other more conservative senior officiers whom they denounced as "serpents" and jugglers" in
  • The key events and documents of this momentous year are the following:
    • Feb. and March: Parliament decides to drastically cut the size of the Army in England and to send thousands to fight in Ireland
    • 15-16 May: Members of the Army meet in Saffron Waldon to discuss their grievances (minutes of meetings in the Clarke Papers)
    • 18 May: Parliament decides to immediately disband the New Model Army
    • 2 June: in response, the officer ("Cornet") George Joyce takes King Charles away from the custody of Parliament and takes him to Gen. Fairfax's HQ south of Cambridge, to use as a bargaining chip in negotiations
    • 4-5 June: the Army meets at Kentford Heath where the regiments agree to the petition "A Solemne Engagement of the Army " (5 June, 1647) which was followed soon afterwards by another petition to Parliament "A Declaration of the Army" (14 June 1647)
    • 16-17 July: the General Council of the Army meets at Reading to discuss a list of demands called "The Heads of the Proposals offered by the Army" which is published on 28 July
    • August: a mob attempts to take control of Parliament and the House of Lords on 26 July prompting the Army to occupy London (4-7 August); 24 Aug. the King is moved to Hampton Court; and the Army moves its HQ to Putney.
    • 9 Sept.: the first meeting of the General Council of the Army meets in Putney Church.
    • Oct.: the General Council discusses a document possibly written by John Wildman, "The Case of the Armie Truly stated" (15 October 1647); and then "The First Agreement of the People" (published 3 Nov. 1647) the full title of which was "An Agreement of the People for a firme and present Peace, upon grounds of common-right and freedome".
    • 28 Oct. - 11 Nov.: The Putney Debates take place (in the Clarke Papers)
    • 3 Nov.: "The First Agreement of the People" is published; the full title of which was "An Agreement of the People for a firme and present Peace, upon grounds of common-right and freedome"
    • 11 Nov.: the King escapes from Hampton Court
    • 17 Nov.: the Army leaves Putney
    • 23 Nov.: "The Petition of November" (23 Nov. 1647) is presented to the Parliament
    • 30 Dec.: John Wildman's (with William Walwyn) harsh criticism of the compromises many in the Army made (such as Cromwell and Ireton) following the Putney Debates in "Putney Projects. Or the Old Serpent in a new Forme" (30 December 1647). This disappointment for the radical Levellers had been foreseen by Lilburne in late September in The Juglers discovered.
  • see the full list of Leveller Tracts and Pamphlets - 144 are online

Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

New eBooks in the Gullaumin Collection - [ToC]

JANUARY 2024

Additions to the Library:
   

James Harrington (1611–1677)

Benjamin Constant (1767-1830)

New eBooks in the Gullaumin Collection - [ToC]