Papers I am working on:

1. "The Power of Art: The Depiction 0f Power and Legitimacy in Official Portraits of Kings, Presidents, and Prime Ministers". A talk given to a meeting organised by the University of the Third Age (U3A) on 7 May, 2025, in Newport, Sydney. In HTML. Presentation slides in PDF.
2. "Vilfredo Pareto on Class Analysis: An Afterword" to an anthology of his writings newly translated into English.
3. A Prologue to a Spanish translation of Gustave de Molinari's Esquisse de l'organisation politique et économique de la Société future (A Sketch of the political and Economic Organisation of the Society of the Future) (1899)

Additions to the Library:

• new: a translation of Gustave de Molinari, Grandeur et décadence de la guerre (The Greatness and Decline of War) (1898) which is a detailed economic account of how and why the state arose, the role war played in this process, how the modern state operates and under whose control, and how "the regime of peace" will gradually replace that of war in the future (the time frame is not specified). He treats the state as an economic entity, like a firm or business enterprise, which attempts to maximise "profits" and minimise "losses" for the "owners of the state", all at the expence of course of the "the subjugated class" who pay the taxes. In enhanced HTML. The draft does not yet have the lengthy appendix which will come later.
• new: a translation of two more essays by Dunoyer from Le Censeur (1814) - "On the Public Spirit in France, and particularly on the spirit of Public Officials", Le Censeur (July/August 1814) - Part 1 and Part 2. Here he examines how long it took for ordinary French people to acquire a sense ("spirit") of patriotism and personal independence in the face of "the spirit of monarchism" and bureaucratism which dominated France for centuries.
• updated: Benjamin Constant, “De la liberté des anciens comparée à celle des modernes. Discours prononcé à l’Athénée royal de Paris” (1819). In enhanced HTML.
• updated: Vilfredo Pareto, Traité de sociologie générale (1917-19): vol1 in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; vol2 in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; 2vols-in-1 in enhanced HTML.

Papers I am working on:

1. [to come]

Additions to the Library:

• new: a translation of Frédéric Bastiat's "Introduction" to his book Cobden and the League, or the English Movement for the Liberty of Commerce (1845). This is an extended discussion of the class structure of the Britisah state and the "oligarchy" which benefited from the protection of agriculture (the "Corn Laws"), as well as the tactics the Anti-Corn Law League used to get these laws repealed in 1846 (a year after Bastiat wrote this book). His impassioned speech about liberty at the end of the book pp. lxvii ff. is especailly noteworthy. In enhanced HTML. See also the original French version in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF.
• new: The Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas (1474-1566) wrote a devastating critique of the treatment of the native populations of America by the Spanish. His "Brief History" (1552) was republished and translated in many editions but often leaving out the important second half in which he gave his legal, moral, and religious reasons for defending the rights and liberties of these people. Here is the 1699 English translation which includes this section as well as many (22) gruesome woodcut illustrations depicting some of these horrors (see below for 8 images from the 1st panel). Interestingly, the publisher lists other books they have available, such as John Trenchard's books criticising the existence of "standing armies", the Earl of Shaftesbury's book on "An Inquiry concerning Virute", and the works of John Milton, which suggests a "Commonwealthman" connection. See Bartolomé de las Casas, An account of the first voyages and discoveries made by the Spaniards in America containing the most exact relation hitherto publish'd, of their unparallel'd cruelties on the Indians (1699) in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come].
  • see the facs. PDF of the original 1522 edition in Spanish.
• new: "The Students Edition" of Bastiat's great pamphlet What is Seen and What is Not Seen in a new translation by me and with notes explaining the political and intellectual context in which it was written, and some of the complexities and richness of Bastiat's economic and social theory. One of these is his notion of "seeing" and "not seeing", or only partially seeing, which are explored in a graphical depiction of what I call a "vocabulary cluster" (see image below). The chapter on "Trade Restrictions" is particularly appropriate at this moment. ["See" the photo on the left of Trump only seeing with one eye.]. In enhanced HTML; also in an iFrame format with the text on the left and the notes on the right. See also my paper on “Bastiat on the Seen and the Unseen: An Intellectual History” (2020) in HTML.
• updated: the large Anthology of essays from Comte's and Dunoyer's journal Le Censeur (1814-1815) and Le Censeur européen (1817-1819) now has the 35 items listed in a sortable table with links to the individual French language versions (in HTML and facs. PDF) and English in HTM format (where available - more to come!). I am also updating the French versions into enhanced HTML format, beginning with the following which deal with their theory of "industrialism" and class analysis:
  • Comte, "De l'organisation sociale considérée dans ses rapports avec les moyens de subsistance des peuples" Le Censeur européen T.2 (March 1817) in enhanced HTML
  • Dunoyer, "Considérations sur l'état présent de l'Europe, sur les dangers de cet état, et sur les moyens d'en sortir" Le Censeur européen T.2 (March 1817) in enhanced HTML
  • Comte, “De la multiplication des pauvres, des gens à places, et des gens à pensions" Le Censeur européen T.7 (28 mar. 1818) in enhanced HTML
  • Dunoyer, "De l'influence qu'exercent sur le gouvernement les salaires attachés à l'exercice des fonctions publiques". Le Censeur européen T.11 (15 Feb. 1819) in enhanced HTML
• new: another translation of an essay by Dunoyer from Le Censeur européen: "Considerations on the present state of Europe, on the dangers of this state, and on the means of escaping them" (March, 1817) in enhanced HTML
• new: The French liberals Charles Comte (1782-1837) and Charles Dunoyer (1786-1862) came across the 3rd edtion of J.B. Say's Traité d'économie politique in 1817 (ist ed. 1803 in enhanced HTML in French) and it added a whole new dimension to their undestanding of liberty. They incorprated his insights into a new theory of "industrialism", by which they meant any peaceful and productive activity which added to the well being of society. The "industrial class" produced the wealth which was taken and wasted by the unproductive and parasitic government class. They developed their new theory in the pages of their journal Le Censeur européen between 1817 and 1819. I have edited an anthology of 33 essays from their Journal which I am in the process of translating into English. Ten years later Dunoyer wrote an essay explaining how they and others understood the idea of "industrialism": "Esquisse historique des doctrines auxquelles on à donné le nom d'Industrialisme" (Historical sketch of the doctrines that have been given the name Industrialism) (1827) which is in French [HTML and facs. PDF] and now an English translation [HTML].
• new: an essay by Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) on the changing structure of the ruling classes of Europe in the late 19th century and his pessimistic predictions for the coming century: Vilfredo Pareto, “Un’ applicazione di teorie sociologiche,” Rivista Italiana di sociologia, (Luglio 1900), p. 401-456. In Italian in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF.
  • see my English translation: "An Application of Sociological Theories" in enhanced HTML.

[See a larger verison of this image (3,000 px)]

Papers I am working on:

1. A revised version of my "An Introduction to the Theory and History of the Classical Liberal Tradition".
2. "Trump the "Tariff Man" and his Critics: An Intellectual History of the ongoing battle between (neo-)Mercantilism and Free Trade"
3. "The Seven Pillars of (Economic) Wisdom of the Paris School of Political Economy: Part 1 - Gustave de Molinari and the Dictionnaire de l'Économie politique"

Additions to the Library:

• new: a translation of Ambroise Clément, "De la spoliation légale" (On Legal Plunder), Journal des économistes (July, 1848). Written a couple of years before Bastiat's long discussion of "legal plunder" in "The Law", Clément discusses 6 kinds of plunder (or "theft" as he also calls them): aristocratic, monarchical, regulatory, industrial, philanthropic, and administrative theft. English in enhancecd HTML; and the French original in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML.
• new: my translation of Molinari's chapter on "Public Consumption" in Cours d'économie politique (1863) on applying economic analysis to the functions of the state and opening all of its functions to free and open competition: in enhanced HTML.
• new: My translation of Molinari's pathbreaking book of 1849 in which he argues that ALL public goods can and should be provided by the free market, including police and defense services: Soirées on rue Saint-Lazare: Discussions about Economic Laws and a Defence of Property. It is bare bones draft with only Molinari's footnotes included. In enhanced HTML. See also the French original in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF.
• new: A Comparative and Bi-Lingual Edition of Frédéric Bastiat's essay on "The State" (1848-49). I analyse the changes and additions Bastiat made to the three versions of his famous essay published between June 1848 and April 1849 in order to counter the growing appeal of the socialist groups in the elections in the first year or so of the Second Republic. It also includes a translation of the manifesto of the Montagnard party which was the main socialist group in the Chamber of Deputies and therefore a focus of Bastiat's criticism in April 1849. In enhanced HTML.
• new: a translation of Frédéric Bastiat, La Loi (1850): The Law: The Students Edition (2025) with copious notes; in enhanced HTML; also in an iFrame format with the text on the left and the notes on the right
• new: a translation of Molinari's important lecture given in Brussels in 1852 on the "material interests" of class. It is here that he coins the wonderful term "les mangeurs de taxes" (tax eaters) who exploit and live off "les payeurs de taxes" (the payers of taxes): "Revolutions and Despotism considered from the Perspective of Material Interests" (1852) in enhanced HTML. See aslso the original French version in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML.
• There are several anthologies I have edited of French classical liberal thinkers which I would like to see translated into English. Most of them are accompanied by a lengthy introduction explaining why they are important and the intellectual context in which they were written. They are:
1. Charles Comte and Charles Dunoyer, An Anthology of Articles from Le Censeur (1814-1815) and Le Censeur européen (1817-1819) (2022). 35 essays in French in enhanced HTML
   1. translated: Charles Comte, "On Social Organisation and its Relationship with the Means of Subsistance of Nations", Le Censeur européen, T.2 (March 1817), pp. 1-66. In enhanced HTML
   2. translated: Charles Comte, "On the Multiplication of the Poor, of Office-Holders, and of Pensioners", Le Censeur européen, T.7 (28 mar. 1818), pp. 1-79. In enhanced HTML.
   3. translated: Charles Dunoyer, "On the Influence exerted on Government by the Salaries paid for carrying out Pubic Functions", Le Censeur européen T.11 (Feb. 1819), pp. 75-118. In enhanced HTML.
2. Frédéric Bastiat, La Spoliation, la Classe, et l’État (Plunder, Class, and State): An Anthology of Texts (1845-1851) (2023)
   1. 12 items plus some letters in French in enhanced HTML
   2. editor's introduction: "Bastiat's Theory of Plunder, Class, and the State" (2021) in HTML
3. Gustave de Molinari, The Bicentennial Anthology of His Writings on the State (1846-1911) (2023)
   1. 24 items in French in enhanced HTML (the texts are preceded by my introduction)
   2. editor's introduction: just my introductions to the above texts in HTML
   3. see also my paper, “Was Molinari a true Anarcho-Capitalist?: An Intellectual History of the Private and Competitive Production of Security” (2019) in HTML
   4. translated so far:
      1. "On the Production of Security", JDE (Feb. 1849) in HTML
      2. "Soirée 11", Les Soirées de l'a rue Saint-Lazare (1849) in HTML
      3. Chap. 10 "Les gouvernements de l'avenir" (The Governments of the Future) from L’évolution politique et la Révolution (1884) enhanced HTML
4. Gustave de Molinari, Thoughts on the Future of Liberty (1901-1911) (2023)
   1. 3 items in French in enhanced HTML
   2. an English translation of these in enhanced HTML
   3. editor's introduction: "Gustave de Molinari and the Future of Liberty: ‘Fin de Siècle, Fin de la Liberté'?" (2000) in HTML
5. Gustave de Molinari, The Collected Articles from the Dictionnaire de l'Économie politique (1852-53) (2015)
   1. 33 items in French in enhanced HTML
   2. 33 items translated into English (draft) in enhanced HTML
   3. editor's introduction: “The Struggle against Protectionism, Socialism, and the Bureaucratic State: The Economic Thought of Gustave de Molinari, 1845-1855” (2016) in HTML
• new: Gustave de Molinari, The Collected Articles from the Dictionnaire de l'Économie politique (1852-53) translated into English, most for the first time (7 were translated and published in the late 19th century in the US). I put online this collection of 30 entries in French originally in 2019 as part of my celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Molinari's birth. It was updated in December 2023 in enhanced HTML. My translation is a first draft and is available in enhanced HTML. It includes three additional pieces written by the publisher Guillaumin, the editor Clément, and Molinari who was one of the senior editors, which explain why the DEP project was undertaken and what they hoped to achieve. The Coppet Institute in Paris has recently republished Molinari's entries as part of their Œuvres complètes de Gustave de Molinari (2019-). They were split across two volumes which were published in 2022 and 2023, and are only available for downoad in PDF. My edition includes them all in one volume and will be available in multiple electronic formats. It will also include an expanded introduction to the collection by yours truly. See the Coppet Institute's edition here

• entries in DEP T1 (1852): OC vol. 9 "En exil dans son propre pays (1852)", no. 062, pp. 49ff. [PDF elsewhere]
• entries in DEP T2 (1853): OC vol. 10 "Deux années de transition (1853-1854)", no. 069, pp. 127 ff. [PDF elsewhere]

Papers I am working on:

1. A revised version of my "An Introduction to the Theory and History of the Classical Liberal Tradition".

Additions to the Library:

• new: As a counterpoint to Molinari's and Bastiat's writings on free trade I have a number of mercantilist defences of tariffs, state subsidies to protected national industries, and planned or "directed" national industrial policy. The latest addition is Alexander Hamilton's, then Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, "Report on Manufactures" (1791): a facs. PDF of the 1791 original; and the 1913 reprint in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML. On this see also:
  • updated: the 1909 English trans. of Friedrich List's classic Das nationale System der politischen Oekonomie (The National System of Political Economy) (1841) in enhanced HTML.
• new: After he left Paris to take up residency in Belgium in order to avoid living under the self-appointed "Prince President" Louis Napoleon (later Napoleon III) Molinari wrote several scathing critiques of his economic policies. The first was a lecture he gave in October 1852 on "Les Révolutions et le despotisme envisagés au point de vue des intérêts matériels" (Revolutions and Despotism seen from the perspective of Material Interests) [in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML] and a series of articles in a Russian journal (in Russian) in 1859 called "Napoléon III publiciste". This was later revised slightly and published as a book (in French) which we have here: Napoleon III publiciste; sa pensée cherchée dans ses écrits; analyse et appréciation de ses oeuvres (Napoleon III, the journalist) (1861) in facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub (to come)
• updated: The Institut Coppet in Paris is in the process of publishing the Oeuvres complètes (Complete Works) of Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912) [brief bio and full bibliography]. They began this enormous task in 2019 (the 200th anniversary of the brith of Molinari) with a volume which covers his first foray into the world of journalism in Paris in 1842 (vol. 1: Avant la conversion (1842-1845)) and have recently published vol. 19: Nationalités et Sécession (1861-1862). In preparing his work for publication they (i.e. the editor Benoît Malbranque) have uncovered a huge number of his hard to find journalism, letters, asnd notes for public talks and lectures. Unfortunately, Coppet does not provide the volumes in HTML but the PDFs are available for download from their website. Nor do they provide a full table of contents. So I have created one myself here. There are 103 "items" according to their cataloguing system.
• new: the follow up set of "conversations" to Gustave de Molinari's Les Soirées de la rue Saint-Lazare (1849) between another group of political and ideological rivals. Then it was between "a conservative", "a socialist", and "an economist". In Conversations familières sur le commerce des grains (1855) it is between "a food rioter," "a trade protectionist," and "an economiste" (i.e. a free trader) on the issue of the grain trade. In facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub (to come).
• new: François Quesnay (1694-1774), "Observations sur le droit naturel des hommes réunis en société" (Observations on the natural rights of human beings when they are part of society), Journal de l'agriculture, du commerce & des finances, tome II, Première Partie, septembre 1765, p. 4-35. In facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come]
• new: Gerrard Winstanley called himself a "Digger" or "True Leveller" because he advocated the right of ordinary people to "dig up" or farm common land, especially in times of economic hardship. His work is a darling of the Left because he experimented with communal living and the abolition of private property. The question is whether he was in fact making unowned land his own by "mixing his labour" with it in a Lockean way. See his The Law of Freedom in a Platform (1652) in enhanced HTML and facs. PDF. This is part of the Leveller Tracts Project. which now has 331 items listed, of which 153 are available online.
• new: Marchmont Nedham (1620-1678), The Excellencie of a Free-State: or, The right constitution of a Common-wealth (1656): facs. PDF and enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, ePub [to come]
  • see also the 1767 Hollis edition of this work in facs. PDF. It was one of the key texts in the Commonwealthman tradition.

Papers I am working on:

1. A talk to a meeting of the University of the Third Age, Newport, Sydney (5 Feb. 2025): "Donald Trump: Friend, Foe, or Schmo?" Lecture overheads [PDF] and Lecture notes and images/graphs [HTML]
2. A revised version of my "An Introduction to the Theory and History of the Classical Liberal Tradition"

Additions to the Library:

• updated: my version of the table of contents of the Encyclopedia of Libertarianism (Cato, 2008) organised thematically and as a sortable table, with links to the articles on their webisite libertarianism.org
• updated: three tracts by the pro-Leveller author John Warr (1642–1686) about whom very little is known. other than he was a passionate and elegant writer who was a great advocate for liberty:
  • Administrations Civil and Spiritual in Two Treatises. The First Entitled The Dispute betwixt Equity and Form. The Other The Dispute betwixt Form and Power (1648) in enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come]
  • The Priviledges of the People, or Principles of Common Right and Freedome (5 February, 1649) in enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come]
  • The Corruption and Deficiency of the Lawes of England (11 June, 1649) in enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come]
• new: I have combined these three tracts into one file called "The Sparks of Freedom in the Minds of Men": Three Tracts by John Warr (1648-1649) in enhanced HTML; eBook HTML, PDF, and ePub [to come]
• see this example of his prose:

  In this designe God co-operates with Man and makes him instrumentall in the work, by clearing his principles, and stirring up his spirit. There are some sparkes of Freedome in the mindes of most, which ordinarily lye deep, and are covered in the Darke, as a spark in the ashes. This spark is the image of Go* in the mind, which is indeed the Man, (for the divine Image makes the Man.) This Man is hid in most persons, onely the Tyrant, the Beast, or the slavish principle appeares, and the whole bulk is hurried about by the motion of that principle, and the Man within us swimmes with the stream.