An Utterly Incomplete Look at Research from 1826 - Brett Mullins – Researcher - Data Scientist
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July 1, 2026 |
20 minutes to read
An Utterly Incomplete Look at Research from 1826
This series looks at research from years past. I survey a handful of books and articles in a particular year from math, economics, philosophy, international relations, and other interesting topics.
1823 ∙<br>1824 ∙<br>1825 ∙<br>1826 ∷<br>1873 ∙<br>1874 ∙<br>1875 ∷<br>1923 ∙<br>1924 ∙<br>1925
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1823 ∙<br>1824 ∙<br>1825 ∙<br>1826 ∷<br>1873 ∙<br>1874 ∙<br>1875
1923 ∙<br>1924 ∙<br>1925 ∷<br>Foreign Affairs
The selections below from 1826 capture the advance of liberal ideas in Britain, as reformers systematically challenged entrenched aristocratic monopolies over trade and education. In economics, a growing consensus pushed back against the protectionist Corn Laws in favor of free trade, demanding policies that served broader social interests rather than just wealthy landowners. This same egalitarian impulse spilled into the public sphere, with Whig reformers supporting educating the working classes through accessible literature and Mechanics’ Institutes. At the same time, the newly founded London University sought to overcome the exclusionary traditions of Oxford and Cambridge.
On the Adriatic by Richard Parkes Bonington (1826)
I most enjoyed William Hazlitt’s essay discussing which historical figures one would most like to have met and chatted with. Hazlitt is an excellent writer whose style is far beyond most of his contemporaries. In 1826, Hazlitt released a collection of essays called The Plain Speaker. I opted not to cover it since I read his Spirit of the Age last year but recommend from it the essay Reading Old Books (which I spend a good bit of time doing). One book I didn’t get to is Charles Babbage’s book on life insurance, which was written after his brief tenure as an actuary. If I’ve missed anything interesting from 1826 that you enjoy, shoot an email my way at brettcmullins(at)gmail.com.
The Pont des Arts, Paris by Richard Parkes Bonington (1826)<br>-->
Economics
On the Corn Laws by J. C. L. de Sismondi
A Letter to a Political Economist by Samuel Bailey
Diffusion of Knowledge
Philosophy
Elements of Logic by Richard Whately
Of Persons One Would Wish to Have Seen by William Hazlitt
Formation of Opinions by James Mill
Mathematics
Lardner’s Differential and Integral Calculus
On a method of expressing by signs the action of machinery by Charles Babbage
Miscellaneous
On the Supernatural in Poetry by Ann Radcliffe
The London University by Thomas Babington Macaulay
Economics
On the Corn Laws
Author: J. C. L. de Sismondi
Publication: The New Monthly Magazine
Link: HathiTrust
The Corn laws were trade restrictions on importing low-cost grain imposed by the UK in 1815 in an effort to protect domestic agriculture. The resulting high price of grain ate a considerable portion of laborers’ budgets and, unsurprisingly, caused much unrest. On the positive side, this stimulated economic thinking on international trade and the dynamics of prices.
The Cornfield by John Constable (1826)
The overwhelming consensus among economists in the 1820s was in favor of free trade. Following Ricardo, the typical account argues that land varies widely with respect to the amount of grain it can produce. As grain is increasingly farmed, the productivity of the worst land currently in use diminishes. By trading with countries with more productive farm land, at least at the margin, the UK could put their capital to better use such as manufacturing.
Sismondi offers a more nuanced picture of the debate. The grain producing eastern European states do not face the same market forces as UK landowners, since much of their labor is forced. As a result, grain could be sold profitably at a significantly lower price than is viable in the UK. Opening the market fully risks hollowing out domestic agriculture and incurring a dependency on foreign markets. This is compounded by the UK having large conglomerate farms rather than small family farms, which are more resilient to price fluctuations. This essay is part of the second edition of Sismondi’s Nouveaux principes d’économie politique.
A Letter to a Political Economist
Author: Samuel Bailey
Link: Google Books
Samuel Bailey’s anonymously-published 1825 book A Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measures, and Causes of Value is an enjoyable read that offers a convincing argument against the labor theories of value from David Ricardo and friends. It was attacked in a juvenile article in the Westminster Review, likely penned by James Mill. This review accuses Bailey of all sorts of misdeeds from boisterousness and economic ignorance to “arguing with shadows” but comes across as hurt feelings on part of the reviewer.
Bailey systematically dismantles the substantive points of the critique with his usual style and clarity. The bulk of the discussion centers on whether or not Ricardo consciously used value in two...