“GUSTAVE DE MOLINARI AND THE SEVEN MUSKETEERS OF FRENCH POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE 1840S (2023)”

By David M. Hart

[Created: 25 June, 2015] [Revised: 13 December, 2023 ]

 

Abstract

In Paris in the 1840s there emerged a very special and unique collection of individuals who came together to promote classical liberal and free market thought and to fight socialism and interventionism. I call them "the Seven Musketeers" of French political economy. The term "Musketeer" comes from Gérard Minart's new biography of Gustave de Molinari (2012) in which he described Frédéric Bastiat, Molinari, and 2 other colleagues (Guillaumin, Coquelin) as "The Four Musketeers". This is quite appropriate as Dumas' popular novel came out in 1844 and Bastiat, like D’Artagnan, came from the south-west province of Gascony. These economists formed a close band of liberal intellectuals and activists in Paris who were fighting protectionism and socialism not the Protestant enemies of the King of France. My research has revealed that 7 individuals actually fit this description. They are made up of two generations who were key figures in the classical liberal and political economy movement. The 1st were born around 1800 and were in their mid to late 40s in 1848; the 2nd were born around 1820 and were in their late 20s in 1848.

The first generation comprised the publisher Gilbert-Urbain Guillaumin (1801-1864) whose firm published books, pamphlets, and the Journal des Économistes (1841-1940), he was the intellectual entrepreneur who brought people together, organised the funding of the movement, and helped set up important organisations like the Political Economy Society; Charles Coquelin (1802-1852) who was an economist who specialised in free banking, was an eloquent public speaker, and editor of the monumental Dictionnaire de l'Économie politique (1852); and the relative late-comer Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) who was a free trade activist and journalist, a brilliant popularizer of economic thought, an economic theorist ahead of his time, head of the French Free Trade Association, and editor of its journal Le Libre-Échange (1846-48).

The second generation was made up of Joseph Garnier (1813-1881) who was an economics teacher, editor, and peace advocate; Hippolyte Castille (1820-1886) who was a journalist, popular historian, wrote for le Courrier français, and held regular soirées at his home on the rue Saint-Lazare (1843?-48); Alcide Fonteyraud (1822-1849) who was a specialist on Ricardo, a translator, and a gifted public speaker; and Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912) who was a journalist, an economic theorist, and a sociologist. Molinari's work on the private provision of all public goods (including police and defence) also appeared at this time.

These seven people came together for brief period in late the 1840s and early 1850s and changed French classical liberalism in a profound manner.They lobbied the government for tariff reform, organised a nation-wide free trade movement, took to the streets in the middle of the 1848 Revolution to hand out free market material to the rioting workers, stood successfully for election, organised an anti-socialist campaign with a stream of pamphlets and popular books, and organised an international Peace Conference. The organisation which they either founded or were active in included the following: the Guillaumin publishing firm 1835-1910; the Société d'économie politique (SEP) (founded 1842); the Journal des Économistes (JDE) (founded 1841-42); teaching economics in schools such as the Athénée and Collège de France; Castille's Soirées 1843??-1848: the French Free Trade Association (FTA) (active 1846-48); activities during the February Revolution such as street journalism, the political club "Club for the Freedom of Working", and an organised political faction in Constituent Assembly; J. Garnier's Friends of Peace conference; and the Académie français (reconstituted 1832) .

By 1852 they had largely dispersed through a combination of early deaths, political reaction, and exile. In addition to making an indelible mark on the classical liberal movement they also show the importance of outsiders who migrate to a city and enrich its intellectual life with new and radical ways of thinking.

Table of Contents

Gustave de Molinari and the Seven Musketeers of French Political Economy in the 1840s

• “The Seven (4 + 3) Musketeers” in Paris
• The First Cohort (who were born around 1800)
  • The bookseller and publisher Gilbert-Urbain Guillaumin (1801-1864)
  • The free trade advocate and economist Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850)
  • The industrialist, economist, and editor Charles Coquelin (1802-1852)
• The Second Cohort (who were born around 1820)
  • The economist and journalist Joseph Garnier (1813-1881)
  • The radical journalist and author of popular works on French history Hippolyte Castille (1820-1886)
  • The economist and free trade activist Alcide Fonteyraud (1822-1849)
• The Networks for Liberty
• Differences of Opinion among the Musketeers
• Endnotes

David M. Hart, “Gustave de Molinari and the Seven Musketeers of French Political Economy in the 1840s”

Opening Quote: What are Economists? [1]

l’économie politique … cette science-mère du vrai libéralisme	Political economy is the mother science of real liberalism.
les économistes … sont les teneurs de livres de la politique	The economists are the bookkeepers of politics.
Malheureusement, on n’écoute guère les économistes.	Unfortunately, hardly anyone listens to the economists.

“The Seven (4 + 3) Musketeers” in Paris↩

Introduction

When the 21 year old Gustave de Molinari arrived in Paris in 1840 from Liège he must have been only one of many scores of ambitious young men from the provinces, whether liberal or socialist in inclination, who came to Paris in order to prove their mettle and to see if they could make a living in the big city. The French historian Gérard Minart has correctly noted that Molinari was part of a group of outsiders who came to Paris from the provinces and made significant, even revolutionary, contributions to French classical liberalism. He identified four of them and called them “The Four Musketeers” of the French liberal movement. [2] They included the bookseller and publisher Gilbert-Urbain Guillaumin (1801-1864) from the Auvergne, [3] the free trade advocate and economist Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) from Gascony, [4] the industrialist, economist, and editor Charles Coquelin (1802-1852) from Dunkerque, [5] and the much younger aspiring journalist and economist Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912) from Liège. He called them “The Four Musketeers” because they formed a close band of liberal intellectuals and activists in Paris and because Bastiat, like D’Artagnan in the Dumas novel (published in 1844), came from the south-west province of Gascony, and because they battled against their foes - protectionism and socialism - although their weapon of choice was a pen and not a sword or a musket. [6] Minart focused his analysis of the “Four Musketeeers” around what he called “le réseau Guillaumin” (the Guillaumin network) whose publishing firm was an important gathering place for meetings, discussions, the dissemination of books, pamphlets, and journals, as well as hosting important social activities among the classical liberals.

Minart’s insight is only partially correct, however. When one examines more closely the network of friends and organisations in which Molinari moved in the mid and late 1840s one can identify a second, younger cohort of young men who also meet Minart’s definition of a “musketeer” of the classical liberal movement, as well as several other networks of friendship and political and intellectual activity in addition to the Guillaumin publishing network, although this was the most important one. [7]

This younger cohort of newcomers to Paris were born around 1820, were close friends of Molinari, and also made significant contributions to the French classical liberal movement. This second cohort of Musketeers [8] was made up of the economist and journalist Joseph Garnier (1813-1881) from Provence, [9] Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), the journalist and author of popular works on French history Hippolyte Castille (1820-1886) from Pas-de-Calais, [10] and the economist and free trade activist Alcide Fonteyraud (1822-1849) from Mauritius. [11] As outsiders who had recently moved to Paris they would have had many things in common, such as their regional accents, their ambition to succeed in a new city, the lack of family support networks, their new and different ways of thinking about political and economic problems, and their optimism about the possibilities of bringing about liberal change in France.

They joined up with the older, first cohort made up of Bastiat, Guillaumin, and Coquelin who had been born around 1800. Thus in total we have “3 + 4” or “Seven Musketeers” whose lives and work must be taken into account in order to understand the milieu in which Molinari was working. Bastiat played an important role in linking the two generations or cohorts. Bastiat was the same age as Coquelin and Guillaumin but he came to Paris quite late (1845) and seemed to share the enthusiasm and activism of his younger colleagues with whom he worked literally on the streets of Paris promoting the free trade movement and handing out revolutionary newspapers during 1848.

A brief discussion of the members of the “Seven Musketeers” and their relationship with Molinari follows below.

The First Cohort (who were born around 1800)↩

The bookseller and publisher Gilbert-Urbain Guillaumin (1801-1864)

Perhaps the most important member of the group was Urbain Guillaumin whose publishing firm provided the central hub for what Minart correctly calls “le réseau Guillaumin” (the Guillaumin network) [12] or what Henri Baudrillart called in 1865 “le centre et le lien de notre école” (the centre and link/bond of our school of thought). [13] Guillaumin was the force behind many of the key organizations which gave structure to the liberal political economy movement in the 19th century. He had been a radical republican during the 1820s moving in Carbonari circles before becoming interested in book selling and publishing. One of his earliest publishing successes was a three volume collection of the popular radical poet and song writer Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780-1857), Les Chansons de Béranger (The Songs of Béranger) which appeared in 1829. [14] With funding from Horace Say, the son of the economist Jean-Baptiste Say, Guillaumin founded the firm which bore his name in 1835 and which by the mid-1840s had become the focal point of the classical liberal group in Paris at its premises at 14 rue de Richelieu. The firm was to publish most of the books written by the liberal political economists, including Molinari’s second book in 1847 which was on the history of tariffs and which made Molinari’s reputation as an expert on the subject. [15] Guillaumin was also to publish most of the many books Molinari wrote on economics for the rest of the century - some 50 in total.

Guillaumin’s first major project in economics was the editing and publishing of a Dictionnaire du Commerce et des marchandises (1837-39). [16] Horace Say used his contacts in business to get experts to write on commercial topics and the young economist Joseph Garnier who was teaching at the École supérieure de Commerce wrote the articles on economic theory. In late 1841 Guillaumin was one of the founders of the Journal des économistes which his firm published and which became the premier mouth-piece for free market ideas for the rest of the century. He was the founding editor but he quickly handed over the reins to Adolphe Blanqui and then Joseph Garnier who had two stints as editor, from 1845-55 and then from 1866-1881. Upon Garnier’s death Molinari assumed the position of editor which he held for 28 years from 1881-1909. Molinari had come to the attention of the political economists when Garnier reviewed very favorably Molinari’s first book Études économiques (1846) (which was a collection of Molinari’s economic journalism in journals such as the Courrier français) in the JDE in May 1846. [17] The 33 year old Garnier described the 27 year old Molinari as “un jeune économiste de la plus belle espérance” (a young economist of the greatest promise) which was a bit like the pot calling the kettle black. The JDE published Molinari’s first article “On Agriculture in England” in January 1847 [18] and Molinari became a regular contributor publishing 4 articles and book reviews in 1847, 4 articles and book reviews in 1848, 6 articles and book reviews in 1849, and 9 articles and book reviews in 1850-51. Even after he left Paris at the end of 1851 he continued writing for the JDE for the rest of his life. After the death of Joseph Garnier in 1881 (editor from 1866 to 1881) Molinari was appointed its editor where he remained until his health failed him in 1909 after having served for nearly 28 years in this key position within the political economy movement.

The size of the Guillaumin catalog kept expanding throughout the 19th century. In 1850 it was 50 pages long and by 1886 it was 121 pages. While the 1848 Revolution was underway it issued a special catalog of 40 anti-socialist writings featuring the work of Bastiat, Molinari, Garnier, as well as Michel Chevalier, Léon Faucher, Antoine-Elisée Cherbuliez, Ambroise Clément, and others, many of which were collections of speeches in the Chamber or journal and magazine articles which were rushed into print for the occasion. Guillaumin also published a broad range of material in addition to its main focus on political economy, publishing translations of John Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy [19] and On Liberty, [20] Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, and Hugo Grotius’ The Laws of War and Peace and many others. [21] However, it was renowned for its academic journal, large collections of historical material, encyclopedias, annual collections of data and government documents, and dictionaries which would have challenged many other publishing firms. It kept Bastiat’s 7 volume Oeuvres complètes in print throughout the century even when interest in liberal political economy began to fade towards the end. Thus the firm provided a very important vehicle for the dissemination of economic material from a free market perspective for nearly 75 years until it was finally taken over by the Félix Alcan firm in 1910.

Guillaumin was also instrumental in the formation of the Société des Économistes (the Economists Society) on 15 November 1842 which met monthly for dinner and discussions. It changed its name in 1847 to the Société d’économie politique (the Political Economy Society) in order to appeal to a broader audience beyond the coterie of professional economists by including businessmen, politicians, and bureaucrats in their discussions. Molinari became a full member of the Society in 1847 after having established his credentials as an economist with his article on English agriculture, his 2 volume history of tariffs, and his editorial work on the last two volumes of the massive 15 volume Collection des principaux économistes. Soon after joining he was sent as the Society’s representative at the first congress of political economists held in Brussels in 16-18 September 1847; and then in August 1849 he and Charles Coquelin represented the Society at the Congrès des amis de la paix universelle (Congress of the Friends of Universal Peace) which was held in Paris between 22-24 August at which Bastiat gave one of the main speeches and Molinari wrote a report which was published in the JDE in September, and the Proceedings of which were duly published by Guillaumin in 1850. [22] Molinari was a regular attendee at the Society’s monthly meetings where they held vigorous debates about the revolutionary ideas presented in the work of Coquelin on free banking, Bastiat’s revisionist views on Ricardo’s theory of rent and Malthus on population, and of course Molinari’s own provocative work on the private provision of security services. The other members of the Society found his article on “The Production of Security” (February 1849) [23] and his Soirée number 11 on the same topic particularly challenging. This “Soirée” was part of his book defending private property and opposing socialism Les Soirées de la rue Saint-Lazare: entretiens sur les lois économiques et défense de la propriété (1849) published by Guillaumin. [24]

One of the most ambitious publishing projects which Guillaumin undertook during the 1840s was the 15 volume collection of key works in the history of economic thought, the Collection des principaux économistes (Collection of the Principal Economists) (1840-48) edited by Eugène Daire. [25] The purpose was to provide new editions of classic works by the Physiocrats such as Turgot and Quesnay, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Jean-Baptiste Say and others, which had long introductions and critical notes by the new generation of economists who were appearing in the 1840s such as Joseph Garnier, Alcide Fonteyraud, and Molinari. Joseph Garnier who was to become one of the leading Malthusians in France edited vol. VII Malthus’ Essai sur le principe de population (1845). [26] Alcide Fonteyraud edited vol. XIII Œuvres complètes de David Ricardo (1847) with newly translated material by Ricardo on money and finance. [27] Gustave de Molinari edited the final two volumes, vols. XIV and XV, on 18th century authors such as David Hume, Condillac, Benjamin Franklin, and Jeremy Bentham, Mélanges d'économie politique (1847-48). [28] By providing the younger economists like Fonteyraud and Molinari with a chance to work on serious and important scholarly work like the Collections des Principaux Économistes Guillaumin helped them establish their credentials and, especially in the case of Fonteyraud, helped him become one of the leading authorities in France on the work of Ricardo at the tender age of 25.

After the upheavals of 1848-49 Guillaumin decided to use his considerable editorial and organizational skills to publish what he thought would be an unanswerable riposte to the challenge posed by socialism, namely the massive compendium of mid-19th century French political economy, the Dictionnaire de l’Économie Politique (Dictionary of Political Economy) (1852-53). [29] It should be noted that in keeping with the Economists’ practice of referring to themselves as “The Economists” the DEP was called the “Dictionary of the Political Economy” as if to reinforce the idea that there was only one correct form of political economy which was liberal and free market and not socialist or protectionist. [30] With funding organized by Guillaumin and with Coquelin (who was blessed with a near photographic memory) as the main editor the aim was to assemble a summary of the state of knowledge of liberal political economy with articles written by leading economists on thematic topics, biographies of key historical figures, bibliographies of the most important books, and economic and political statistics. The result was a two volume, nearly 2,000 page, double-columned encyclopedia of political economy which appeared in 1852-53. Planning for this massive project was underway as Molinari was writing Les Soirées in early-1849 and we can see a certain overlap between some of the articles he wrote for the DEP and some of the material in Les Soirées. Molinari was a major contributor, writing 24 principle articles and 5 biographical articles. In the acknowledgements he was mentioned as one of the five key collaborators on the project. Among the articles he wrote which have a bearing on Les Soirées are the following: Beaux-arts (Fine Arts), Céréales (Grain), Liberté du commerce, liberté des échanges (Free Trade), Paix, Guerre (Peace and War), Propriété littéraire (Literary Property), Tarifs de douane (Tariffs), Théâtres (Theatres), Travail (Labour), Union douanière (Customs Union), Usure (Usury). The other members of the Seven Musketeers were also significant contributors to the project. Coquelin, who died suddenly before he could start work on volume 2, wrote 70 principle articles, Garnier wrote 28, and Bastiat 3 (which were published posthumously), one of which was the key article on “The State” taken almost word for word from his essay of the same title.

Guillaumin’s greatest skill was his ability to act as a kind of intellectual entrepreneur who could bring together skilled editors and writers to produce material on time for what were often very large projects, to arrange funding by his backers like businessmen Horace Say and Casimir Cheuvreux, and to see the books through the complex stage of typesetting and printing. According to Joseph Garnier, Guillaumin was part diplomat, part entrepreneur, part salesman, part editor, and part printing craftsman. He was also entrepreneurial in setting up separate legal entities to oversee large projects such as the Journal des Économistes in order to keep any losses which might eventuate from bringing down the entire publishing edifice. Guillaumin also seemed to have the knack for spotting a potential market for his products, such as his first publishing success the Dictionnaire de Commerce et des marchandise (1837) which, even if they did not make him rich at least kept his firm afloat for several decades. [31] In his obituary of Guillaumin in January 1865 Joseph Garnier described the extraordinary set of skills which Guillaumin had which made his publishing and editing projects so successful and so crucial to the liberal movement in France: [32]

“Le métier d’éditeur, de producteur de livres, est un des plus délicats qui se puisse entreprendre : il faut savoir apprécier les qualités intrinsèques des manuscrits et des ouvrages proposés, les frais de fabrication et de publicité, les chances de vente, c’est-à-dire la nature et l’étendue du débouché. Il faut savoir demander et obtenir certaines modifications des auteurs, tant à cause de l’étendue des œuvres que de leur disposition; il faut savoir choisir les meilleures combinaisons typographiques, etc. S’il s’agit d’ouvrages à commander aux autres, de dictionnaires, de collections, il faut savoir s’adjoindre un directeur spécial, le guider, l’aider, le surveiller dans son travail, ou bien savoir diriger soi-même les collaborateurs, demander à chacun ce qu’il sait faire, provoquer le travail des uns, repousser celui des autres : besogne délicate et difficile quand on a affaire à des hommes dont l’âge, la position, le caractère, ou les prétentions, plus ou moins fondées, exigent des précautions, et des ménagements. Il faut enfin, une fois que l’œuvre est produite, savoir la vendre, c’est-à-dire faire concourir les intermédiaires à son écoulement et provoquer l’attention du public. Pour cela, il faut mettre à la loterie des annonces, choisir les meilleurs modes et les meilleures places pour la publicité, faire les dépenses nécessaires et n’en pas faire au-delà de ce que comporte l’ouvrage.”

The job of editor, the producer of books, is one of the most delicate which could be undertaken: one must know how to appreciate the intrinsic qualities of the manuscripts and the works which are proposed, the costs of manufacturing and publicising them, the chances of making a sale, that is to say one has to know the nature and the extent of the (book) market. On needs to know how to ask for and get certain changes from the authors, whether in the length or the perspective of the work; one needs to know how to choose the best combination of type fonts, and so on. If it is a matter of works which will be edited by others, such as dictionaries or collections, one has to know to collaborate with a particular editor, how to guide him, assist him, and supervise his work; or even to know how to manage the collaborators oneself, to ask each one to do what he knows best, to encourage the work of some, and to reject the work of others: it is a delicate and difficile task when one has to deal with men whose age, position, character, or ambitions, which may or may not be justified, demand some caution and careful management. Finally, once a book has been produced, one needs to know how to sell it, that is to say how to encourage middlemen to distribute it and how to stimulate the attention of the public. To do that, one has to enter into the lottery game which is advertising, to select the best method and the best places to advertise, and to spend only what is necessary and not go beyond what the book requires.

Before leaving this section on Guillaumin mention should be made of one of Guillaumin’s close friends who would have an indirect influence on the Seven Musketeers, namely the poet Pierre-Jean de Béranger. Because Guillaumin had published a successful edition of his songs and poems when starting out on his publishing career Béranger became a visitor to the Guillaumin firm whenever he was in Paris. He was known to the Seven Musketeers as he was sympathetic to free trade, [33] wrote a poem about the heroism of smugglers "Les Contrebandiers” (1829), [34] and even joined Bastiat’s Free Trade Association. Bastiat quoted his work frequently in the Economic Sophisms as Béranger’s songs were well-known to the audience Bastiat was trying to reach. Molinari also quotes an anti-monarchical poem by him at the end of Les Soirées, “La sainte Alliance des peuples” (The Holy Alliance of the People) (1818) and his poem “Les quatre âges historiques” (The Four Ages of History) in his article on “Paix-Guerre” (War and Peace) in the DEP. [35] The connection with poets like Béranger is interesting because it reveals a couple of features of French political economy at this time. Firstly, it shows how deeply liberal ideas had penetrated some parts of the literary world and, secondly, it shows that some of the economists (at least Bastiat, Coquelin, Fonteyraud, and Molinari) were willing to draw upon literature in order to make their economic arguments in favour of free markets more appealing to their readers.

The free trade advocate and economist Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850)

Next to Urbain Guillaumin the most important member of the Seven Musketeers for Molinari was Frédéric Bastiat who, as the oldest member of the group, seemed to take the younger Molinari under his wing. Bastiat was 18 years older than Molinari and a relative late comer to the Paris network (arriving in Paris in 1845 from his native Gascony when he was 44 years old) but when he set up his Free Trade Association in Paris in July 1846 Molinari was quickly drawn to him, perhaps sharing Bastiat’s radicalism and his willingness to call a spade a spade (or as the French say “a cat, a cat”). Molinari in early 1846 was writing for the liberal-minded journal Le Courrier français and met Bastiat in the journal’s office when Bastiat came to visit.

Molinari relates how he first met Bastiat in the journal’s offices in early 1846 when he dropped by to thank them for a glowing review they had published of his book on Cobden and the League (1845), [36] which had probably been written by Molinari as he specialized in economic topics for the journal. [37] Molinari provides a very amusing description of Bastiat who had just arrived from the provinces and had not adjusted his attire to suit the more sophisticated tastes of the capital. The office boy apparently announced the arrival of Bastiat as “un monsieur qui avait l'air de venir de la province” (a gentleman who looks like he has just come from the Provinces). In spite of his long black hair, brimless top hat, olive green jacket, and large umbrella Bastiat made enough of an impression to be asked to write some articles for the journal, and three of his economic sophisms, “The Chinese Tale,” “The Two Axes,” and “To Artisans and Workers” were later published by them, most likely edited by Molinari as well. [38]

Shortly after meeting Bastiat Molinari joined the Free Trade Society and was appointed one of its several secretaries whose job was to assist Bastiat in editing the Society’s journal Le Libre-Échange and organising public meetings to promote free trade. Bastiat was the Secretary General of the Association and other secretaries who assisted Bastiat included Adolphe Blaise, Charles Coquelin, Alcide Fonteyraud, and Joseph Garnier. Coquelin played a particularly important role as he was a gifted orator who became one of the key speakers at la Salle Montesquieu where the Association’s public meetings were held. As an important member of Bastiat’s organisation Molinari was invited to attend the banquet held in Paris on 18 August 1846 to honour Richard Cobden whose Anti-Corn law League had been successful in repealing the protectionist Corn Laws earlier that year and which was the model for the French Free Trade Association. Bastiat was one of the luminaries who was asked a toast in honour of Cobden and the Free Trade movement - “Aux anciens et aux nouveaux défenseurs du libre-échange, à la Chambre des pairs et à la Chambre des députés !” (To the former and new defenders of Free Trade in the Chamber of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies!)- which was duly published in the Courrier français the following day. [39]

The next occasion when Molinari worked closely with Bastiat was during the Revolution of 1848. They both agreed that the outbreak of the revolution meant that they had to shift gears. Up until then they had been preoccupied with the battle against protectionism, “notre agitation économique” (our economic agitation). After February they had to focus on what Molinari called “une agitation politico-socialiste autrement bruyante sinon féconde” (noisy but still fruitful politico-socialist agitation). [40] The very next day after King Louis Philippe had been overthrown and the new Republic declared on 25 February, Molinari, Bastiat and Hippolyte Castille founded a revolutionary magazine which they called La République française and which they handed out on the street corners and pasted on walls in Paris between 26 February and 28 March. [41] Molinari and Bastiat were fervent republicans and advocates of the free market, ideas which they provocatively and colourfully expressed in the pages of their short-lived magazine. [42]

Not deterred by the failure of their first effort at revolutionary journalism, Molinari and Bastiat (with the assistance of Charles Coquelin, Alcide Fonteyraud, and Joseph Garnier) started a second magazine called Jacques Bonhomme which appeared between 11 June and 13 July. It too was forced to close after a brief appearance as a result of the military suppression of the riots of the June Days of 23-26 during which hundreds of protesters were shot. In his correspondence Bastiat gives an understated but still very moving account of his experiences on the street barricades in both February and June. [43] However, their friend and colleague Hippolyte Castille did not join them in this second venture as he had joined the left republicans as the revolution became more radical in mid-1848.

After these two attempts to sway the people of Paris away from socialist ideas it appears that Bastiat and Molinari drifted apart - Bastiat working hard within the Chamber of Deputies (to which he had been elected in April) as vice-president of the Finance Committee, writing a series of 12 anti-socialist pamphlets between June 1848 and July 1850, [44] and also frantically trying to finish his treatise of political economy, Economic Harmonies (1850), before his death from throat cancer on Christmas eve 1850; while Molinari worked on articles and editorials for the JDE, editing 2 volumes on the history of economic thought for Guillaumin, and his forthcoming book Les Soirées. However, the remaining revolutionary veterans, Bastiat, Coquelin, Garnier, Fonteyraud, and Molinari, met in a reunion of sorts in the middle of 1849 in a hunting lodge, lent to him by the Cheuvreux family, in the Buttard woods west of Pariswhere Bastiat was in seclusion trying to finish his Harmonies économiques as his health rapidly failed. Molinari tells a touching story of the revolutionary comrades eating lunch, reminiscing and arguing with each in a friendly way before Bastiat suddenly stood up, grasped them by the hands, and rode off into the sunset on a pony: [45]

L’année suivante, par une belle journée d’été, Bastiat, qui s’était réfugié dans les bois de La Celle Saint-Cloud, au moulin du Buttard, pour écrire ses Harmonies, avait invité à déjeuner les collaborateurs de la petite feuille. Quoique déjà souffrant, il était plein de gaieté et d’entrain. On discutait sur toute sorte de sujets — sur la confession notamment que Fonteyraud attaquait avec la vivacité de son tempérament créole, — l’heure s’avançait et Bastiat commençait à laisser voir quelques signes d’inquiétude, lorsqu’un joli poney tout sellé sortit de l’écurie. La physionomie de notre hôte s’éclaircit aussitôt. Il nous serra les mains, en s’excusant vaguement de nous quitter, se mit en selle, piqua des deux et disparut.

The following year, on a beautiful summers day, Bastiat, who had sought refuge in the La Celle Saint-Cloud woods near the Buttard mill in order to work on his Economic Harmonies, invited to lunch the collaborators who had worked on our little magazine. Although already suffering (from his disease), he was full of gaiety and the joy of life. We discussed all kinds of matters - most notably the matter of confession which Fonteyraud attacked with all the passion of his Creole temperament. As it got late Bastiat began to show signs of worry when a lovely pony came out of the stable all saddled up. The face of our host lit up. He shook our hands, excused himself vaguely that he had to leave, mounted the horse, spurred it on, and disappeared.

Although Bastiat and Molinari were close friends and colleagues, they did not see eye to eye on many issues. Bastiat strongly objected to Molinari’s essay in the February 1849 issue of the JDE and Chapter 11 of the Soirées on the private production of security. Bastiat was a firm believer in the need for a very limited government and would have none of Molinari’s privatisation of pubic goods like police or defence services. He thought that whatever government did exist needed to have “supreme authority” in order to protect the property and individual liberty of its citizens and expressed these views at a meeting of the SEP at which Molinari’s book was discussed. [46] On the other hand, Bastiat was very radical in his rejection of strict Malthusian orthodoxy which was very close to the hearts of both Garnier and Molinari at that time (although Molinari was to moderate his views a bit later, perhaps as a result of Bastiat’s arguments). In an article on Malthus and population theory which was published in the JDE in 1846 Bastiat was much more optimistic than the mainstream economists about the productive potential of the free market to provide food for increasing populations. [47] He continued this line of argument in an unfinished chapter in the Economic Harmonies (1850, 1851), a view which Molinari continued to resist even in his obituary of his friend. He did the same for Bastiat’s criticisms of Ricardo’s theory of rent as well as for Bastiat’s incipient subjective theory of value which he expressed in the formula “les services s'échangent contre des services” (services are exchanged for services). Molinari thought that this was merely playing with words and still preferred the classical idea grounded in an objective notion of value that “les produits s'échangent contre des produits” (products are exchanged for products). [48]

In spite of their closeness Molinari never fully recognized Bastiat’s originality as a theoretical economist seeing him instead as more of a popularizer of economic ideas than an original thinker. He was very critical of the innovations in economic theory which Bastiat was attempting to introduce in his unfinished treatise Harmonies Économiques. He admired Bastiat’s attempt to found political economy on an understanding of the natural laws which govern its operation but totally rejected his criticism of Ricardo’s theory of rent and Malthus’ law of population growth. Instead of following in the footsteps of “the masters” which was Molinari’s preferred path Bastiat was moving in an original theoretical direction which unsettled Molinari. [49]

A quelque temps de là, Bastiat, toujours infatigable, publiait un volume d’Harmonies économiques. Dans ce livre, son œuvre de prédilection, il voulut donner un exposé synthétique des lois naturelles qui président à l’organisation et au développement de la société. S’inspirant de la grande idée des économistes du dix-huitième siècle, il s’attacha d’abord à démontrer que ces lois forment un ensemble harmonieux, et qu’elles concourent, par une action commune, au développement du bien-être et du progrès de l’humanité ; il s’attacha ensuite à prouver qu’elles sont empreintes du caractère de la justice aussi bien que de l’utilité. La conception certes était grandiose : elle comprenait non-seulement l’économie politique, mais encore le droit naturel, deux sciences qui se touchent sans toutefois se confondre. Malheureusement Bastiat ne suivit pas toujours, dans l’exécution d’une si belle œuvre, la voie que lui avaient tracée les maîtres de la science.

A short time after that, the always tireless Bastiat published a volume called Economic Harmonies. In this his favourite work, he wanted to provide a general account of the natural laws which governed the organisation and development of society. Inspired by the grand ideas of the economists of the 18th century, he endeavoured first of all to show how these laws created a harmonious whole and that they led by means of a joint action to the development of the well-being and progress of humanity; he then endeavoured to prove that these laws were marked with the character of both justice as well as utility. His conception was certainly grandiose; it encompassed not only political economy but also natural rights, two sciences which are (not) brought together without however getting confused. Unfortunately, in the execution of such a fine work, Bastiat doesn’t always follow the path which the masters of economic science have mapped out.

Among the real originators of economic theory, “les esprits créateurs” (the creative spirits), Molinari listed Quesnay, Turgot, Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, and J.-B. Say (in other words, the men whose work Guillaumin had just republished as part of the Collection des Principaux Économistes). He placed Bastiat alongside “les vulgarisateurs savants et habiles” (the knowledgeable and clever popularizers) like Dupont de Nemours, Baudeau, Morellet, Droz, and Rossi. What made Bastiat stand out in his mind was an originality of a different kind, having more to do with his irreverent attitudes and clever writing style, which demonstrated an “artistic” skill of “the most outstanding and original” kind which placed him alongside Rabelais and La Fontaine in his ability to disseminate and popularize economic truths in clever and witty ways. [50]

“Si Bastiat avait été, comme tant d’autres, lancé nativement dans le monde de la science et des lettres, s’il avait mis de bonne heure son esprit en coupe réglée, peut-être ses œuvres n’auraient pas été aussi fortement empreintes du cachet de l’originalité. S’il n’avait pas vécu vingt ans ignoré dans un obscur village, peut-être n’aurait-il pas acquis au même degré cette bonhomie narquoise et ce goût du terroir gaulois, dont la saveur semblait perdue depuis Rabelais et La Fontaine. Son intelligence est demeurée longtemps repliée sur elle-même, inactive en apparence ; mais quel riche bouquet n’a-t-elle pas gagné en vieillissant!”

If Bastiat, like so many others, had been thrown (nativement = at an early age) into the world of sciences and letters, if he had early on had his mind trained in standard procedures (ways of thinking), perhaps his work would not have borne the strong impression of the cachet of his originality. If he hadn’t lived for 20 years ignored in an obscure village, perhaps he would not have acquired this sardonic bonhomie and this taste for Gallic earthiness whose flavour seems to have been lost since Rabelais and La Fontaine. His intelligence remained for a long time tucked away, inactive to all appearances; but what a rich bouquet it has acquired in aging!

It is ironic that two of the most radical innovators in French political economy at the time could not see eye to eye on what each had most original to contribute: Bastiat rejected Molinari’s ideas about the private provision of public goods, while Molinari rejected Bastiat’s optimistic ideas concerning the possibilities of a free economy overcoming the Malthusian population trap, and his new ideas about value theory. In spite of these antagonisms, they had proven time again again their willingness to get their hands dirty together in street agitation, whether it was for free trade or the fight against socialism. What drew them together was a shared passion for justice, and that political economy should never defend the status quo just because it was the status quo. Critics of political economy, like many of the socialists, condemned it because it was heartless (“sans entrailles”) and one of the things which most attracted Molinari to Bastiat was his conviction that political economy had to undergo “une grande et féconde réforme” (a large and thorough-going reform) so that true justice could be served to all property owners in society, especially the poor and working classes. As he stated in his obituary: [51]

Bastiat prit ce reproche (that political economy was heartless) à cœur, et il employa tout ce qu’il avait de verve dans l’esprit et de chaleur dans l’âme à en démontrer l’injustice. Pour attester que l’économie politique ne défendait pas le statu quo, il demanda, en son nom, une grande et féconde réforme; pour la justifier du reproche de manquer d’entrailles, il s’éleva, en son nom toujours, contre les impôts onéreux et les entraves oppressives qui pèsent sur le travail et sur la subsistance des masses. Il ne se contenta pas de détruire l’erreur, il sut faire aimer la vérité!

Bastiat took this criticism (that political economy was heartless) to heart and he used all the verve and warmth of spirit he had at his command to expose injustice. In order to show that political economy did not defend the status quo he asked on its behalf for a large and thorough-going reform; in order to disprove the accusation that it was heartless, he stood up always in its name against the burdensome taxes and oppressive restrictions which weighed down on the labour and the subsistance of the masses. He was not just content to destroy error, he wanted to make people love the truth!

This was something Molinari took up in several of his own writings such as Les Soirées but also in later works such as La Morale économique (1888). [52]

After a painful battle with his throat condition (Molinari described it as “une maladie du larynx” and Bastiat complained about a “polyp” in his throat, but I suspect it was throat cancer) Bastiat died in Rome on Christmas Eve 1850 leaving his treatise on economics unfinished. As his close friend and colleague Molinari was asked to write the obituary for the JDE which appeared in February 1851. [53] In a touching though still critical evaluation of Bastiat’s contribution to French political economy Molinari acknowledged that one of the best popularisers of economic ideas had come out of nowhere in the French provinces, with his sardonic humour and rustic tastes, the kind of which French literature had not seen since Rabelais or La Fontaine. His genius for exposing economic contradictions and sophisms in the arguments of the defenders of protectionism and interventionism was unmatched and France had lost one of the best people to lead the confused French people to a proper understanding of economic ideas. Death, Molinari lamented, had taken away “our Benjamin Franklin.”

The industrialist, economist, and editor Charles Coquelin (1802-1852)

The final Musketeer from the older generation with whom Molinari worked closely during this period was Charles Coquelin (1802-1852). [54] Coquelin had studied law in Paris, had gone back to his home town Dunkerque to practice, but was restless for the big city and returned in 1832 to work as a journalist. He had already discovered free trade ideas and turned to economic journalism writing on the Physiocrats for Le Droit, and on the linen industry, railways, commercial societies, money and banking, commercial crises, and free trade for the Revue des Deux Mondes. In these articles on banking he toyed with the idea of the competitive issue of currencies by banks competing for business in the market, thus making him the first serious advocate of free banking. These ideas were further developed in his major book on the subject, Du Crédit et des Banques which appeared in 1848. [55] In 1845 he became one of the editors of the Revue de Paris.

Molinari also met Coquelin via the Free Trade Association. Coquelin was one of the Secretaries of the Association, the author of many articles which were published in its journal Libre-Échange, and one of their key public speakers. He took over the role of editor of the journal from Bastiat in late 1847 or early 1848 as the latter’s health declined and when he returned to his home region in order to campaign for election to the Constituent Assembly (which was successful in the April 23 election). Like Molinari Coquelin became a regular contributor to the JDE during 1847 and wrote 30 articles and book reviews before his sudden death in 1852 - including a quite critical review of Molinari’s book Les Soirées. [56]

According to Molinari, Coquelin was one of the most eloquent and best debaters among the economists who had honed his skills before large and sometimes rowdy audiences in Montesquieu Hall where the Free Trade Association held its Paris meetings. Like Bastiat who sprinkled his Economic Sophisms with references to the plays of Molière, the fables of La Fontaine, William Dafoe’s Robinson Crusoe, and the political songs of Béranger, he was able to stand before a boisterous and hostile audience and weave references to Racine and Molière with passages from the masters of political economy like Adam Smith, J.-B. Say, and Ricardo. Molinari described his memory as “une bibliothèque où les poètes et les orateurs avaient leur place à côté des économistes” (a library where poets and orators had their place beside the economists). As he recollects in his obituary of Coquelin: [57]

Son intelligence était prompte et facile, sa mémoire véritablement prodigieuse. Vers la fin de sa vie, il possédait non-seulement à un degré remarquable toutes les notions relatives à la science à laquelle il s’était spécialement voué, mais encore il avait retenu les plus beaux morceaux des maîtres de notre littérature. Il savait Racine et Molière à peu près par cœur, comme il connaissait d’une manière approfondie Adam Smith, J.-R. Say et Ricardo. Sa mémoire était une bibliothèque où les poètes et les orateurs avaient leur place à côté des économistes, et où il trouvait, avec de nombreux et solides matériaux pour ses travaux scientifiques, des modèles dont l’influence s’aperçoit dans l’élégante et facile correction de sa diction et de son style.

His mind was quick and sharp; his memory was truly prodigious. Towards the end of his life he not only possessed to a remarkable degree all the ideas relevant to the science (of economics) to which he was especially devoted, but in addition he remembered the best pieces of the masters of French literature. He knew Racine and Molière off by heart, just as he deeply knew the work of Adam Smith, J.B. Say, and Ricardo. His memory was a library where the poets and orators had their place alongside the Economists, and whose numerous and substantial works he drew upon as models of elegance and correctness in his speech and style for his scientific works.

When the revolution broke out in February 1848 scores of political clubs sprang up in the absence of any effective censorship or police supervision. By some estimates there were nearly two hundred such clubs in Paris before they were suppressed following the riots of the June Days. Not to be outdone by the socialists, Coquelin started a political club in March 1848 to publicly debate the socialists on the question of the “right to work” (le droit au travail) which was a major issue in the first months of the Revolution with the formation of the government funded employment program called the National Workshops. His club was called appropriately enough the Club de la Liberté du Travail (the Club for the Freedom of Working, or “Club Lib” for short) as the economists believed in the “right to engage in work” (le droit du travail) not “the right to a job” (le droit au travail). [58] Molinari attended meetings of the Club not only to give support to his friend but also because he had a long-standing interest in the rights of workers which went back to some of the earliest journalism he did upon coming to Paris, writing on the right of workers to form unions (associations) and the need for labour exchanges to assist them in finding work. [59] The Club survived for a few weeks until it was forced to shut down when socialist opponents used violence to disrupt the Club’s meetings. Molinari relates that their Club was “envahi et dissous par un troupeau de communistes” (invaded and dissolved by a herd of communists - Molinari also used the phrase “bande” or gang) . Since he was a journalist, Molinari also took the opportunity to visit many of the other political clubs which had sprung up during the Revolution when the censorship laws collapsed. He wanted to hear first hand what was being said on the streets and this no doubt provided him with many of the arguments used by the Socialist in the Soirées. Molinari was to continue this practice in the second revolution in Paris he witnessed first hand, namely the Paris Commune which controlled Paris between March and May 1871. Once again, he toured the streets visiting “les Clubs rouges” (the red or socialist clubs) writing detailed reports of their activities for the Journal des Débats which he later published as books. [60]

As a result of the Club’s closure, the most active members, Coquelin, Bastiat, Fonteyraud, Garnier, and himself, decided to launch the popular journal Jacques Bonhomme in June 1848 in the hope that they could overturn some of the most commonly held anti-market prejudices. It only lasted a few weeks before it too had to close as the rioting over the closing of the National Workshops turned violent and bloody. Molinari wryly noted that “les doctrines libérales n'étaient décidément pas en faveur à cette époque, bien que le mot liberté se trouvât dans toutes les bouches et sur tous les murs” (liberal doctrines were definitely not in favor at this time, although the word liberty was on everybody’s lips and written on all the walls). [61]

Since Coquelin had failed to get elected to the Constituent Assembly in the elections of April and had been forced out of the debating halls and off the streets of Paris he decided to return to writing and spent the rest of 1848 completing his book on free banking which was published by Guillaumin later in the year.

Coquelin played another important part in Molinari’s life when he was appointed by Guillaumin to be editor of the massive Dictionnaire de l’économie politique project to which Molinari made important contributions. Guillaumin asked Coquelin to be the editor because of his knowledge of banking, his photographic memory, and his organizational skills. In a remarkably short period of time (Molinari says barely two years [62]) Coquelin was able to edit and prepare for press a 2,000 page, double-columned compendium of practically everything about the state of knowledge of French political economy in the mid-nineteenth century. He also wrote 70 of the 185 major articles in volume 1 including the key articles on “The National Workshops,” “Banks”, “Capital,” “Commercial Crises,” “Commerce,” “Competition”, “Credit”, “Industrial Harmony,” “The State” (largely based upon Bastiat’s essay), and the all important article on “Political Economy.”

Since the first of the two volumes appeared in 1852 (the second the following year) preparation for the writing of the articles must have begun sometime in mid to late 1849 (it was announced as “in preparation” the Guillaumin catalog of May 1849), thus shortly before the appearance of Molinari’s Les Soirées. It too, was a reaction to the events of the 1848 Revolution and was designed to counter the widely-held misconceptions about the free market which had come to the fore with the rise of socialism and the policies adopted by the National Assembly in 1848-49. Molinari made a significant contribution to the project, writing 29 major articles on important topics such as “Free Trade”, “The Free Trade Association”, “Tariffs,” “Slavery,” “Serfdom”, “War and Peace,” as well as 5 biographical articles on key figures such as “Charles Comte”, “Sir Robert Peel”, and “Necker.” [63] One can see in these DEP articles echoes of topics which were also covered in the Soirées.

When Coquelin died suddenly from a heart attack on 12 August 1852 he was half way through editing the DEP and Molinari was deeply shaken. He was the 6th economist to die within the past 6 years thus decimating the small community of Economists in Paris at a time when they felt most under threat from their intellectual adversaries. Molinari noted that Théodore Fix , Eugène Daire , Pellegrino Rossi , Alcide Fonteyraud , Frédéric Bastiat , and now Charles Coquelin (1852) had all gone. He says he could cope with all this bad news for the liberal movement if he thought their shoes would be filled by younger economists stepping forward to continue the fight of this “petite armée des propagateurs de la science” (this little army of disseminators of economic science), but in the current climate of political oppression in Paris and the efforts of the government to close down some of the chairs in economics or to amalgamate political economy with the teaching of statistics or government administration, Molinari thought there was little chance of this happening. He feared that political economy would be relegated to being taught as a side-discipline alongside the teaching of Tibetan or ancient Sanskrit: [64]

La science économique vient de perdre encore une de ses meilleures plumes et l’une de ses voix les plus éloquentes. Le savant directeur du Dictionnaire de l’Economie politique, l’orateur applaudi de la salle Montesquieu, qui avait tenu en tant d’occasions et d’une main si ferme le drapeau de la liberté économique, Charles Coquelin est mort le 12 août dernier, à l’âge de quarante-neuf ans. C’est ainsi que nos rangs s’éclaircissent peu à peu; c’est ainsi que nous avons successivement perdu, en quelques années, Eug. Daire, Th. Fix, Rossi, Fonteyraud, Bastiat, Coquelin, morts dans la vigueur de l’âge et du talent. Encore si de nouvelles recrues avaient rempli aussitôt les vides que tant de morts hâtives ont causés dans la petite armée des propagateurs de la science, nos regrets auraient été adoucis par des espérances. …

Economic science has just lost another of its best authors and one of its most eloquent voices. The wise editor of the Dictionnaire de l’Economie politique, the acclaimed orator of the Montesquieu Hall, who held high the flag of economic liberty with a firm hand on so many occasions, Charles Coquelin died on 12 August last at the age of 49. In this way, our ranks are gradually thinning; in this way we have successively lost in just a few years, Eugène Daire, Théodore Fix, Rossi, Fonteyraud, Bastiat, and Coquelin, all dead in the prime of their lives and the peak of their talents. However, if some new recruits had stepped forward to fill the gaps that so many sudden deaths have produced in the little army of disseminators of economic science, our regrets would have been eased by these hopes. …

Malheureusement l’économie politique n’est pas en faveur aujourd’hui. On lui fait rudement expier la persistance incommode avec laquelle elle répète à tous, gouvernants et gouvernés, ouvriers et maîtres, riches et pauvres, des vérités qui paraissent être si peu agréables à entendre. On la laisse en dehors du programme de l’enseignement officiel, ou si on l’y fait figurer, c’est à côté du thibétain et du sanscrit.

Unfortunately, political economy is not in favour at the moment. It is being made to pay harshly for the inconvenient persistance with which it repeats to everybody, to those who govern and those who are governed, to workers and bosses, to rich and poor, the economic truths which appear to be so unpleasant to hear. It has been left out of the official education program, or to put it in other words, it is now on the same level as (the teaching of) Thibetan or Sanscrit.

Molinari wrote this passage in Brussels after he had gone into voluntary exile following the coup d’état of Louis Napoléon in December 1851 where he was probably feeling these recent losses particularly acutely.

The Second Cohort (who were born around 1820)↩

The economist and journalist Joseph Garnier (1813-1881)

Garnier was the oldest of the second cohort of the Musketeers. [65] He left his native Provence to come to Paris in 1830 to study economics under Adolphe Blanqui who was the director of the École supérieur de commerce (from 1830). Adolphe Blanqui (1789-1854) was an important figure in the political economy movement in Paris as he ran a private school which was the only place young men could study economics outside of the universities and colleges (Fonteyraud was a pupil there and was possibly tutored by Garnier). Blanqui had been appointed professor of political economy at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers in 1833 after the death of Jean-Baptiste Say, was the editor of the Journal des Économistes in its early days from 1842 to 1843, and was an editor of the journal the Courrier français where both Castille and Molinari worked in the early 1840s.

Blanqui’s pupil Joseph Garnier pursued a similar career in academia and publishing, being appointed professor and then director of the private École supérieure de commerce de Paris, before being appointed the first professor of political economy at the École des ponts et chaussées (an engineering school for aspiring engineers and bureaucrats involved in public works like bridges and highways) in 1846. Guillaumin was interested in publishing a French version of McCulloch’s A Dictionary of Commerce and Commercial Navigation (1832) which had been successful commercially in Britain, and asked Blanqui to recommend someone to assist him. He suggested Garnier, his “apprentice”, [66] whose success with the project lead to a life-long association with Guillaumin’s firm.

Garnier came to play a central role in the burgeoning free-market school in the 1840s in Paris and had a considerable impact on Molinari’s career. Garnier was one of the founders along with Guillaumin of the Journal des économistes in 1841 of which he became chief editor in 1845 until 1855. He was also one of the 5 founding members of the Political Economy Society in November 1842 and was its permanent secretary for the following 39 years. It was Garnier who brought Molinari to the attention of the economists with his very favourable review of Molinari’s book Études économiques (1846) in the JDE [67]; he was the editor of the JDE when it published in January 1847 Molinari’s first article on English agriculture, [68] and he was secretary of the Political Economy Society when Molinari was voted to become a full member in 1847.

However, Garnier did not always approve of what Molinari published in the JDE. Garnier was editor, and had accepted Molinari’s daring article on “The Production of Security” in February 1849 [69] in which Molinari proposed the idea that police and defence services could and should be provided by private firms (insurance companies) who competed for business on the open market. The same idea is presented in Soirée No. 11. So shocking was Molinari’s idea that Garnier took the most unusual step of adding a disclaimer in the opening footnote of the article in order to warn readers what was to come: [70]

Bien que cet article puisse paraître empreint d’utopie dans ses conclusions, nous croyons, néanmoins, devoir le publier pour attirer l’attention des économistes et des publicistes sur une question qui n’a encore été traitée que d’une manière accidentelle et qui doit, néanmoins, à l’époque où nous sommes, être abordée avec plus de précision. Tant de gens exagèrent la nature et les attributions du gouvernement, qu’il est devenu utile de formuler strictement la circonscription hors de laquelle l’intervention de l’autorité cesse d’être tutélaire et profitable pour devenir anarchique et tyrannique. (Note du rédacteur en chef.)

Although this article may bear the imprint of being utopian in its conclusions, we nevertheless believe that we ought to publish it in order to draw the attention of economists and journalists to a question which has hitherto been treated only in passing and which should, nevertheless, in our present time, be approached with greater precision. So many people exaggerate the nature and functions of government that it has become useful to formulate strictly the boundaries outside of which the intervention of authority ceases to be protective and profitable and becomes anarchical and tyrannical. .

He was to join in the general criticism of this idea by his colleagues at a meeting of the Political Economy Society later that year when Molinari’s ideas were discussed at their October 1849 meeting. [71] The doyen of the political economists, Charles Dunoyer, in particular was concerned that Molinari had been “swept away by illusions of logic” in this matter.

On other topics however there was considerable agreement between the two economists. For example, Garnier was one of the leading Malthusians of his day, regarding Malthus’s idea of run-away population growth outpacing the ability of food production to keep up with it as a “natural law” of economics. He published an edition of Malthus’s Essai sur le principe de population (1845, 2nd ed. 1852) for the Guillaumin publishing firm and his own book on Du principe de population (1857). [72] Molinari shared Garnier’s views on Malthus and defended him vigorously in Soirée No. 10. After Garnier’s death Molinari paid homage to Garnier’s Malthusianism by editing an updated and heavily annotated version of Garnier’s Du principe de population (1885) and by publishing his own epitome of Malthus’s classic work in 1889. [73] Both Garnier and Molinari rejected Bastiat’s more optimistic view that the economists underestimated the productive capacity of the free market to supply the food needed by a growing population, and the ability of free people to voluntarily restrict the size of their families to an economically manageable size.

Garnier was by no means an original thinker but he was a gifted and hard working teacher and editor who influenced several generations of economics students. He wrote a widely used textbook, Éléments de l'économie politique (Elements of Political Economy) (1846) which Molinari regarded as the best introduction to the discipline of economics, and an anthology of introductory texts, Premières notions d'économie politique ou sociale (First Thoughts on Political or Social Economy) 2nd ed. 1864) which included two of Molinari’s favorite authors Bastiat and Benjamin Franklin, both of which went through many editions. [74] He is an excellent example of the committed activist teacher who is at home both in the classroom as well as in the public lecture hall.

Garnier not only gave Molinari an entrée into the circle of economists around the Political Economy Society and the JDE but he also shared Molinari’s enthusiasm for activism. In their minds there was no wall between academic theory and political practice. They probably first met at Castille’s discussion group which met in his home on the rue Saint-Lazare between 1844 and 1848, and then again in Bastiat’s Association pour la liberté des échanges of which both Garnier and Molinari were secretaries. During the 1848 Revolution Garnier was one of the 5 founders of the journal Jacques Bonhomme edited by Bastiat and Molinari which appeared in June 1848 at the height of the violent June Days. When the National Constituent Assembly debated the issue of the right to work which was to have been part of the new constitution which was being debated in July-August 1848, Garnier edited the proceedings which was published by Guillaumin thus ensuring that the economists’ perspective was as given equal billing with that of the socialists. [75] Molinari also had a chance to work with Garnier on organizing the Congress of the Friends of Peace which met in the Sainte-Cécile Hall in Paris in August 1849 at which Bastiat spoke, on which Molinari wrote a full account for the JDE, [76] and of which Garnier was the organizing secretary and editor of the Conference proceedings. [77] Garnier was also one of the most active contributors to the DEP project, writing some 28 principle articles as well as 58 biographies.

Given the close relationship which developed between Garnier and Molinari over the decades in the commissioning and editing of articles for the Journal (Garnier was editor twice, from 1845-55 and again from 1866-81), and in being comrades in arms in the agitation for free trade and peace, and against socialism in the 1848 Revolution, it was very fitting that when Garnier died of a heart attack in 1881 that it would be Molinari who would write his obituary and then succeed him as editor, a post he filled for a further 28 years (1881-1909). [78]

The radical journalist and author of popular works on French history Hippolyte Castille (1820-1886)

Of the Seven Musketeers Hippolyte Castille was the only one to leave the group for ideological reasons, probably after being radicalised to the left by the violence of the June Days rioting in mid-1848. Hippolyte Castille was born in 1820 in the sea-side town of Montreuil-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, and came to Paris in 1839. Molinari first met Castille while working for the Courrier français in 1844 when he wrote a number of articles on the condition of the working class which was an interest they shared. The previous year Molinari had written an article in La Nation on “Des Moyens d’améliorer le sort des classes laborieuses” (Means of improving the condition of the working classes) which stirred enough interest to be published in February 1844 as a separate pamphlet. [79] This was followed in October and November with a series of articles on workers in the Courrier français. Molinari was attracted to “the condition of the working classes” because he thought that the Civil Code played favourites on the issue of legal associations of individuals. The law, based upon the Le Chapelier Law of June 1791 and Articles 414 and 415 of the French Penal Code, turned a blind eye to business owners associating in order to improve their economic situation but cracked down severely on workers who did the same thing. Molinari, on the other hand, saw unions as just another example of a voluntary association between free individuals to achieve common goals. This view was also shared by Bastiat who gave a speech in the Chamber of Deputies on 17 November, 1849 defending unions on these very grounds and that they should be protected under the law. [80] This is an issue which is discussed at some length in Soirée 6.

Molinari covered a test case in the courts for the Courrier français and followed it quite closely. He tells us some 52 years later that he had assisted the Parisian Carpenters Union in their trial in 1845. He does not say how he assisted them but he states that “in spite of the eloquent plea made on their behalf by M. Berryer the leaders of the union were condemned to 5 years in prison” for asking for a wage increase. He sadly notes that the crack down by the government on the workers and their unions provoked a reaction against the government and the principle of individual liberty: [81]

Nous avons eu l’occasion d’assister en 1845 au procès des charpentiers parisiens qui s’étaient coalisés pour obtenir une augmentation de salaire. Malgré l’éloquente plaidoirie de leur défenseur, M. Berryer, les meneurs de la coalition furent condamnés à cinq ans de prison. En fait donc, sinon en droit, l’employeur, protégé par les obstacles naturels et artificiels qui limitaient le marché de l’ouvrier, de l’autre, par les lois prohibitives des grèves, continuait à fixer d’autorité le taux du salaire, comme il le faisait auparavant. De là une réaction contre le nouveau régime que l’on accusa même d’avoir aggravé la situation de la classe ouvrière, en lui enlevant les garanties qu’elle trouvait sous l’ancien. Les socialistes attribuèrent à la liberté les maux qui provenaient précisément des obstacles que rencontrait l’exercice de la liberté et ils s’évertuèrent à inventer des systèmes de réorganisation sociale qui n’étaient autre chose, à les examiner de près, que des rétrogressions au vieux régime de la servitude.

We had the opportunity to assist in 1845 in a court case against some Parisian carpenters who formed a union to obtain an increase in their wages. In spite of the eloquent plea made on their behalf by M. Berryer the leaders of the union were condemned to 5 years in prison. This being achieved, the employer, even though not entitled to by law, was protected by the natural and artificial barriers which limited the market of the workers, and furthermore, by the laws prohibiting strikes, and continued to determine on their own authority the level of workers’ wages, just as he had done previously. Because of this there was a reaction against the new regime which was even accused of worsening the condition of the working class by removing the guarantees which they had under the old regime. The socialists blamed liberty for the evils which arose precisely from the obstacles which their exercise of liberty encountered and they bent over backwards to invent new theories of social reorganization which, upon closer examination, were nothing more than a retrogression to the ancient regime of servitude.

This comment by Molinari is doubling interesting as it paraphrases the passage by Quesnay which Molinari used on the title page of Les Soirées in 1849: “Il faut bien se garder d’attribuer aux lois physiques les maux qui sont la juste et inévitable punition de la violation de l’order même de ces lois, instituées pour opérer le bien.” (It is necessary to refrain from attributing to the physical laws which have been instituted in order to produce good, the evils which are the just and inevitable punishment for the violation of this very order of laws.)

It was also at this time that he developed his idea of labour exchanges (les bourses du travail) for which he was continuing to argue 50 years later. Molinari pointed out that business owners and investors exchanged information and prices on the stock market (‘bourse”) which was subsequently reported in the business press or transmitted across the country via the telegraph, but no similar exchange existed for workers who also had a need to know what jobs were available, where they were located, and at what prices. His scheme for a “labour exchange” was to apply the same principles of a stock exchange to labour markets where prospective workers and their employers could consult the boards to see the latest prices and offers and thus provide a better way to clear the market. He called this “la publicité du travail” (dissemination of information about labour).

He used the platform of the Courrier français to put out an “Appeal to the Workers” inviting them to help him set up such a labour exchange and a large part of this Appeal appears in a long footnote in Soirée 6. For some reason he left out the opening two paragraphs of his Appeal which is quite revealing of his thinking at this time and which we reproduce below: [82]

AUX OUVRIERS	Address to the Workers
Parmi les reproches que l’on a adressés à l’école économique dont nous avons l’honneur de soutenir et de propager les doctrines, le plus grave, c’est le reproche d’insensibilité à l’égard des classes laborieuses. On a prétendu même que l’application des doctrines de cette école serait funeste à la masse des travailleurs; on a prétendu qu’il y a dans la liberté nous ne savons quel germe fatal d’inégalité et de privilège; on a prétendu que si le règne de la liberté illimitée arrivait un jour, ce jour serait marqué par l’asservissement de la classe qui vit du travail de son intelligence et de ses bras, à celle qui vit du produit de ses terres ou de ses capitaux accumulés; on a prétendu, pour tout dire, que ce noble règne de la liberté ne pourrait manquer d’engendrer une odieuse oppression ou une épouvantable anarchie.	Among the criticisms which are made of the school of the Economists, to which we have the honour of belonging and whose doctrines we promote, the gravest is the criticism of being uncaring towards the working classes. It is even claimed that the application of the doctrines of this school would harm the mass of the workers; it is claimed that there is in liberty who knows what kind of fatal seed of inequality and privilege; it is claimed that if the reign of unlimited liberty should ever come one day it will be marked by the enslavement of the class who lives by the labour of its mind and its hands, by the class who lives from the product of its land holdings or its accumulated capital; to be honest, it is claimed that this noble reign of liberty would inevitably create an unbearable oppression and terrifying anarchy.
Déjà plus d’une fois nous nous sommes attaché à combattre ces tristes sophismes des adversaires de l’école libérale; plus d’une fois nous avons prouvé à nos antagonistes que les souffrances des classes laborieuses proviennent non point, comme ils le pensent, de la liberté du travail, de la libre concurrence, mais des entraves de toute nature apportées à cette liberté féconde; nous leur avons prouvé que la liberté n’engendre ni l’inégalité ni l’anarchie, mais qu’elle amène à sa suite, comme des conséquences inévitables, l’égalité et l’ordre.	More than once already we have endeavoured to combat these sad sophisms of the opponents of the liberal school; more than once we have proven to our opponents that the sufferings of the working classes do not at all come from the liberty of working, as they seem to think, but from the shackles of all kinds which are applied to this fertile/productive liberty. We have proven to them that liberty brings about neither inequality nor anarchy, but brings in its wake equality and order as inevitable consequences.

In his arguments to the workers he wanted them to see that there were many parallels between them and their employers. One of course was the need for quick and accurate information about prices which would be satisfied by their respectives Bourses. Another was the “goods/commodities” (denrée) which they were interested in buying and selling in their respective markets. He argued that workers were also “capitalists” in the sense that they owned and put to use their “capitaux personnels” (the capital which they had or owned in themselves as individuals) - in other words they were “self-owners” which was a concept dear to Molinari’s theory of the right to property. [83] They were also “merchants” (marchand) but instead of trading in wheat or iron they traded in labour. They were in Molinari’s words “un marchand de travail” (a labour merchant or trader) who operated in various “labour markets” (marchés de travail). [84]

Sa force physique et son intelligence sont ses capitaux; c’est en exploitant ces capitaux personnels, c’est en les faisant travailler et en échangeant leur travail contre des produits dus au travail d’autres ouvriers comme lui, qu’il parvient à subsister.	His physical strength and intelligence are his capital. It is by using this personal capital, in putting them/it to work, and in exchanging their work for the products which come from of other workers like him, that he is able to survive/live.
Le travail est un produit de la force physique et de l’intelligence, c’est la denrée de l’ouvrier. L’ouvrier est un marchand de travail, et, comme tel, nous le répétons, il est intéressé à connaître les débouchés qui existent pour sa denrée et à savoir quelle est la situation des différents marchés de travail.	Work is a product of physical force and intelligence. It is the good/commodity of the worker. The worker is a merchant of labour and, as such, we repeat/say again, he is interested in being conversant with the markets which exist for his good and in knowing about the situation in the various markets for labour.

Given his interest in labour issues it is not surprising then that he was asked to write the entry on “Travail” (Labour) for the DEP, while his friend Garnier would write the article on “Liberté du travail” (Freedom of working). [85]

After he left Paris at the end of 1851 to take up residence in Brussels, Molinari continued to work on his idea for a Labour Exchange, writing about it frequently, setting up a magazine edited by his brother Eugène to promote the idea, and even organizing a petition to lobby the Belgian government to change the labour laws. In 1857 in a Petition to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives with a thousand signatures in support, he criticised the “deplorable inequality” which these regulations created between workers and their employers and reminded the legislators that: [86]

Mais si nous acceptons comme un bienfait le régime de la liberté du travail, c’est à la condition que cette liberté soit réelle; c’est à la condition que les mêmes droits qui sont accordés aux entrepreneurs d’industrie vis à vis des ouvriers soient aussi reconnus aux ouvriers vis à vis des entrepreneurs.

But if you accept the idea that the regime of the liberty of labour is beneficial, it is on the condition that this liberty is a real one; that it is on the condition that the same rights which are granted to industrial entrepreneurs vis-à-vis the workers are also granted to the workers vis-à-vis the entrepreneurs. (p. 201).

While Molinari was involved in labour matters, in 1844 Castille organized a “soirée” at his home for friends to discuss some of these economic issues in greater depth. Because he lived in a large home which once was the residence of Cardinal Fesch, it was very suitable place to hold these discussions. Molinari was a regular attendee as were the friends he invited from the Free Trade Association such as Bastiat, Garnier, Fonteyraud, and Coquelin. Since Castille was not an economist and less of a classical liberal (he was primarily a radical republican) he no doubt invited to his private soirées a variety of people he met through the Courrier français who had a very broad range of political and economic views. Castille respected Molinari’s knowledge of economics, calling him “un écrivain de mérite” (a writer of merit) [87], and thus got him to review economics books in the journal (such as as Bastiat’s book on Cobden and the League (1845)). Molinari on the other hand was less impressed with Castille’s knowledge of economics describing him in the following way: “sans être un économiste, M. Hippolyte Castille avait le goût de l’économie politique” (without being an economist M. Hippolyte Castille has a taste for political economy). [88]

These meetings and discussions eventually became regular “soirées” where food, wine, and ideas, flowed in equal quantities. This might seem like a fairly trivial event if it were not the fact that Castille’s residence was on the rue Saint-Lazare (no. 75) and that Molinari chose to call his book “Les Soirées de la rue Saint-Lazare” and that some of the arguments he heard there must have been models for those which appeared in the book. One could imagine some of Castille’s socialist friends providing the inspiration for “The Socialist” character in Molinari’s Soirées.

The rue Saint-Lazare had another reason to attract Molinari’s attention. Saint Lazarus Street is a street in Paris which marks the boundary between the 8th and 9th Arrondissements. It got its name in the late 18th century from the large leprosy hospital run by the religious order of Saint Lazarus which was located at one end of the street. During the Revolution religious orders were disbanded and their property seized. In 1793 the hospital was made into a prison. The Saint-Lazare railroad station was built in 1837 on land once owned by the order and it was the first major railroad station in Paris. It was enlarged and expanded between 1842 and 1853 and soon became the most important railway station in Paris. Another enlargement took place in 1865 and was the subject of a series of famous paintings by Claude Monet, "La Gare Saint-Lazare” in 1877. It is not surprising that the economists were fascinated by the development of the railways as a means of dramatically reducing the cost of transportation of both goods and people; the enormous costs involved in building the locomotives, tracks, and rails; the high tariffs imposed on cheap imported steel which subsided the French manufacture of rails; the involvement of the state in the regulation and financing of the railways; and the periodic booms and busts which seemed to accompany speculation in railway shares. They discussed the economic problems of the railways constantly [89] and so it would seem fitting that the place where they met on a regular basis to discuss economic and political matters was located adjacent to one of the great hubs of railway activity in Paris. They could literally see the economic transformation which was taking place in Paris as they walked to their “soirée.” The Soirées on Saint Lazarus street continued until early 1848 when the Revolution forced them to reconsider their priorities which for all of the Musketeers involved more political action and less discussion amongst themselves.

Another issue in which Castille and Molinari were interested was that of intellectual property rights. In September 1847 Castille founded a short lived journal, Le Travail intellectual, to promote his idea that intellectual creations were just as much property as physical objects and that their creators should have an absolute property right in the things they created. [90] Molinari is mentioned as a “collaborator” and wrote a number of articles. The other economists were listed as “supporters” including Frédéric Bastiat, Charles Dunoyer, Horace Say, Michel Chevalier, and Joseph Garnier, although their contributions seemed to be limited to writing the occasional letter of support. The magazine did not last beyond the outbreak of revolution in February 1848 and closed. However it does suggest that intellectual property was an important issue for Molinari at this time and it is something that he discusses at some length in Soirée No. 2.

The day after the revolution broke out Castille joined Molinari and Bastiat in immediately starting a new journal to be called La République which would defend the new republic from the perspective of liberal republicanism. [91] Molinari has some amusing stories [92] about how the three of them went about trying to get permission from bureaucrats in the Hôtel de ville to start the journal only to find the offices had been seized by revolutionaries and was no longer able to issue permits of any kind; and the problem of securing the name they wanted to call it, finding on their walk to the nearest print shop that another group was already handing out on the streets a magazine called “Le République”. The trio had to settle for their second choice for a name which was “La République française.” In the statement of principles which appeared on the first page of the first issue (26 February, 1848) the trio asserted their belief in the principles of a republican government but also in order to appeal to a working class audience they called for universal suffrage, an end to restrictions on labour unions, an end to conscription into the army, and Molinari’s pet scheme for labour exchanges to help workers find the jobs they needed. [93] [94]

Quelques mots d’abord sur le titre de notre journal.	Let’s begin with a few words about the title of our journal.
Le gouvernement provisoire veut la république, sauf ratification par le peuple. Nous avons entendu aujourd’hui le peuple de Paris proclamer unanimement le gouvernement républicain du haut de ses glorieuses barricades, et nous avons la ferme conviction que la France entière ratifiera le vœu des vainqueurs de février. Mais, quoi qu’il advienne, alors même que ce vœu serait méconnu, nous conserverons le titre que nous ont jeté toutes les voix du peuple. Quelle que soit la forme de gouvernement à laquelle s’arrête la nation, la presse doit désormais demeurer libre; aucune entrave ne saurait plus être apportée à la manifestation de la pensée. Cette liberté sacrée de la pensée humaine, naguère si impudemment violée, le peuple l’a reconquise, et il saura la garder. Donc, quoiqu’il advienne, fermement convaincus que la forme républicaine est la seule qui convienne à un peuple libre, la seule qui comporte le plein et entier développement de toutes les libertés, nous adoptons et nous maintiendrons notre titre de:	The provisional government wants a republic without ratification by the people. Today we have heard the people of Paris unanimously proclaim a republican government from the top of its glorious barricades, and we are of the firm conviction that the whole of France will ratify the wishes of the conquerors of February. But whatever might happen, even if this wish were to be misunderstood, we will keep the title which the voice of all the people have thrown to us. Whatever the form of government which the nation decides upon, the press ought henceforth remain free, no longer will any impediment be imposed upon the expression of thought. This sacred liberty of human thought, previously so impudently violated, will be recognised by the people, and they will know how to keep it. Thus, whatever might happen, being firmly convinced that the republican form of government is the only one which is suitable for a free people, the only one which allows the full and complete development of all kinds of liberty, we adopt and will keep our title:
LA RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE.	THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.
Le temps et les événements nous pressent; nous ne pouvons consacrer que quelques lignes à notre programme.La France vient de se débarrasser d’un régime qui lui était odieux; mais il ne suffit pas de changer les hommes, il faut changer aussi les choses.Or, quelle était la base même de ce régime?	Time and events are pressing, we can only devote a few lines to stating our program.France has just got rid of a regime which it found odious, but it is not sufficient just to change men, it is necessary to also change things.Now, what was the foundation of this regime?
La restriction, le privilège! Non-seulement la monarchie que les efforts héroïques du peuple de Paris viennent de renverser s’appuyait sur un monopole électoral, mais encore elle rattachait à elle par les liens invisibles du privilège une foule de branches de l’activité humaine. De là, la corruption qui souillait ce régime. Nous ne voulons plus de corruption, nous ne voulons plus de privilèges.	Restriction and privilege! Not only was the monarchy, which the heroic efforts of the people of Paris have just overturned, based upon an electoral monopoly, but it also depended upon numerous branches of human activity from which it profited with invisible ties of privilege. From this came corruption which has soiled/dirtied the regime. We want no more corrption; we want no more privileges.
Nous voulons que le travail soit désormais pleinement libre; plus de lois sur les coalitions, plus de règlements qui empêchent les capitalistes et les travailleurs de porter ceux-là leurs fonds, ceux-ci leur travail, dans les industries qui leur conviennent. La liberté du travail proclamée par Turgot et par l’Assemblée constituante doit être désormais la loi de la France démocratique.	We wish that henceforth labour should be completely free, no more laws against unions, no more regulations which prevent capitalists and workers from bringing either their money or their labour to whatever industry they find agreeable. The liberty of labour (“la liberté du travail”) proclaimed by Turgot and by the Constituent Assembly ought henceforth be the law of a democratic France.
Suffrage universel.Plus de cultes salariés. Que chacun salarie le culte dont il se sert.Liberté absolue de l’enseignement.	Universal suffrage.No more state funded religions. Each person should pay for the religion which he uses.The absolute freedom of education.
Liberté du commerce, autant que le comportent les besoins du fisc. Suppression des droits sur les denrées alimentaires, comme sous la Convention. La vie à bon marché pour le peuple!	Freedom of commerce, to the degree that the needs of the treasury allow. The elimination of “duties on basic food” as we enjoyed under the Convention. Low prices (la vie à bon marché) for the people!
Plus de conscription; recrutement volontaire.	No more conscription; voluntary recruitment for the army.
Des institutions qui permettent aux ouvriers de connaître les lieux on le travail abonde, et qui leur apprennent jour par jour le taux des salaires sur toute l’étendue du territoire.	Institutions which allow the workers to find out where jobs are available and how to discover the going rate of wages throughout the entire country.
Respect inviolable de la propriété. Toute propriété a sa source dans le travail: atteindre la propriété, c’est atteindre le travail.	Inviolable respect for property. All property has it origin in labour: to attack property is to attack labour.
Enfin, pour couronner l’œuvre de notre glorieuse régénération, nous demandons la clémence au dedans et la paix au dehors. Oublions le passé, élançons-nous vers l’avenir le cœur pur de toute haine, fraternisons avec tous les peuples de la terre, et bientôt sonnera l’heure où la liberté, l’égalité et la fraternité seront la loi du monde!	Finally, in order to crown the work of our glorious regeneration, we demand leniency within the country and peace outside. Let us forget the past, let us launch into the future with a heart without any hatred, let us fraternize with all the people of the world, and soon the day will come when liberty, equality, and fraternity will be the law of the world!

The journal lasted for 30 issues before closing at the end of March. A major reason for this was Bastiat’s absence as he had decided to stand for election to the Constituent Assembly in the 26 April elections which he succeeded in doing, representing his home region of Les Landes. He went on to be elected Vice-President of the Assembly’s Finance Committee where he served until his withdrawal because of ill health in early 1850.

In the obituary of Castille published in the JDE in October 1886 (unsigned but written most likely by Molinari given the anecdotes which were mentioned) Molinari talks about the tensions which arose with Castille when they were publishing the République française which led to them going their own separate ways. Bastiat became distracted as the elections for the Constituent Assembly loomed and he wanted to stand for election. Molinari and Castille had differences of opinion about the events which were unfolding before their eyes, which Molinari described as “L’un tournait au rouge (Castille), et l’autre au bleu (Molinari)” (One of us (Castille) was turning towards the reds (socialists) and the other (Molinari) was turning towards the blues (army???)). [95] In spite of these differences of opinion Castille retained warm feelings towards Bastiat and Garnier (less so towards Molinari) whom he mentioned several times in a series of letters he wrote about the elections of 1869. [96] Castille did coin a name for Molinari which stuck in the popular mind, the “Cobden de la Belgique” (the Belgian Cobden) in recognition of his efforts to build a free trade movement in Belgium during the 1850s.

When Molinari, Bastiat, Coquelin, Fonteyraud, and Garnier started another revolutionary journal in June they pitched it at the ordinary working man and named it appropriately, Jacques Bonhomme. [97] This time Castille’s name was not listed as one of the contributors. It seems that with the radicalisation of the Revolution Castille had moved away from his liberal colleagues and had joined the left republicans (also known as the “red republicans”). He began working for the Jacobin republican Charles Delescluze who published a magazine La révolution démocratique et sociale (The Democratic and Social Revolution) and was the secretary of a political club “Solidarité républicaine” (Republican Solidarity). Castille moved from his house on the rue Saint-Lazare and left the group of radical liberals he had spent so much time with over the past 4 years entirely. [98] He was the first casualty suffered by the Seven Musketeers.

After the Revolution Castille wrote popular histories of the Revolution and the Second Republic from a leftist perspective, including Le dernier banquet de la bourgeoisie par Job, le socialiste (1849), Les massacres de juin 1848 (1869), Histoire de la seconde république en France, 4 vols. (1854-56), and Les hommes et les moeurs en France sous le règne de Louis-Philippe (2nd ed. 1853). The latter work contains some amusing descriptions of Bastiat as being “demi-monsieur, demi-paysan” (half gentleman and half peasant) (a reference to Bastiat’s provincial origins) and the audiences who attended the Free Trade Association meetings as “plus studieux qu’enthousiaste” (more studious than passionate) which hints at why the French free traders found it difficult to arouse the same feelings for change in their audiences as their counterparts had done so successfully in England. [99]

The economist and free trade activist Alcide Fonteyraud (1822-1849)

The youngest of the Seven Musketeers was Fonteyraud who was born in Mauritius, an island off the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. [100] He lost his mother at an early age and was partly raised by a retired English soldier who taught him to speak English fluently. Fonteyraud’s father was a businessman who wanted him to study economics at the only school in Paris where the subject was taught, at the private L’École supérieure de commerce which was run by the economist Adolph Blanqui (1798-1854) the brother of the famous socialist Auguste. He was a precocious student and at a very young age became a tutor at the school (1838) and then professor of political economy (1847). He was a member of the Société d’économie politique, one of the founders of the Association pour la liberté des échanges, and a participant in Castille’s soirées in his home on the rue Saint-Lazare. Because of his knowledge of English he was sent to England in 1845 at the urging of Bastiat to meet Cobden and study at first hand the progress of the Anti-Corn-Law League which resulted in several articles in the JDE and other Guillaumin publications such as the Annuaire de l’économie politique during 1846. [101]

During 1847 Fonteyraud taught economics and edited a key volume in one of Guillaumin’s most important publishing projects in the 1840s, the 15 volume Collection des Principaux économistes the aim of which was to reprint in new critical editions the great works of economics in French and English from the 18th and early 19th centuries. Because of his knowledge of English Fonteyraud was charged with the volume on Ricardo for which he wrote a lengthy biography and translated into French for the first time Ricardo’s writings on finance. His colleagues in the Political Economy Society were very impressed with the young 25 year old’s grasp of Ricardian theory. [102] While Fonteyraud was working on Ricardo another young economist who had only recently been admitted to the Political Economy Society, Gustave de Molinari, was working on a two volume collection in the same series which covered works by David Hume, Condillac, Condorcet, Benjamin Franklin, Necker, Bentham, and others. These considerable volumes appeared in 1847 and 1848. [103] Later in 1847 (September) both Fonteyraud and Molinari were sent as official representatives of the Society to the first ever Congress of Economists which as held in Brussels. Fonteyraud was also a regular contributor to the JDE in the brief time he had as a professional economist publishing 10 articles between January 1846 and October 1848. He began with a steady stream of articles on British agriculture, the corn laws, and the free trade movement.

During the 1848 revolution Fonteyraud campaigned against socialist ideas with his activity in “Le Club de la liberté du travail” where he showed himself to be one their most accomplished debaters, and, along with Bastiat, Coquelin, Garnier, and Molinari, by writing and handing out in the streets of Paris in June copies of the broadside pamphlet Jacques Bonhomme. Like Molinari he believed that it was a misunderstanding of the truths of political economy which led so many of the rioters and protestors to support the policies of the Provisional Government and then the Constituent Assembly. Thus, he wrote a series of articles addressed to socialists like Louis Blanc criticising their misunderstanding of economics called “La vérité sur l’économie politique” (The Truth about Political Economy) which appeared in the JDE in August and October 1848. [104] This was followed by another attempt, this time aimed at the ordinary reader on the basic principles of political economy which he co-wrote with Louis Wolowski (1810-1876) which was distributed as part of a broader educational program called “100 Treatises - Instruction for the People.” [105]

Fonteyraud saw clearly that the socialists had won an important intellectual victory by appealing directly to ordinary workers which was reflected in the support they got in the political clubs and their ability to get protesters into the streets when pressure had to be applied to the government. The socialists had also won over a sizable bloc of the intellectual class, whom Fonteyraud called “orateurs en gants blancs” (orators in white gloves), who spoke at the clubs and spread the socialist message to the workers. [106]

“(L)e socialisme a fait sa profession de foi.	Socialism has issued its electoral manifesto.
Il a parlé à haute, sinon à intelligible voix, parlé en prose, en vers, en musique, en livres, en feuilletons, en français même, parlé par le Moniteur,—banal écho qui vibre aux soleils levants de la politique, comme l’antique statue au soleil d’Egypte, — parlé par ces mille tribunes et tréteaux de carrefours ou de halles, du haut desquels sont descendues les prédications fratricides des niveleurs et des sophistes de bas étage. Il a eu ses banquets de deux mille couverts, comme il sied à gens vivant à une époque de félicité radieuse et ayant en perspective ces grandes fêtes gastronomiques et bachiques qui doivent composer le menu quotidien des phalanstériens de tous genres. Il a démontré, le verre en main et à trois francs par tête, que l’harmonie n’existerait dans la société que du jour où le travailleur verrait dans le capitaliste son tyran, son vampire, son ennemi, du jour où le bras briserait la tète.	It has spoken loudly if not intelligibly; it has spoken in prose, in verse, in music, in books, in the journals, even in the French spoken by Le Moniteur - a banale echo which vibrates with the rising suns of policy, like the ancient statue under the Egyptian sun - it has been spoken from its thousands of platforms and stages at the crossroads and in the pubic halls, and down from which have descended the fratricidal preachings of the levellers and sophists of the third rate. It has had its (political) banquets attended by two thousand converts, where it flatters the living with a vision of a radiantly happy future and hopes of the grand gastronomic and bacchanalian festivals which will be the daily fare of the Phalanxes of all kinds. With a glass in one’s hand and at a cost of 3 francs per head, it has shown that harmony will only exist in society on the day when the worker regards the capitalist as his tyrant, his vampire, and his enemy; on the day when arms will break heads.
Ses orateurs en gants blancs sont venus bien des fois parler de la rétrogradation de notre siècle, de ses misères, de son lâche égoïsme, et prouver par des phrases émaillées d’une rhétorique douteuse, que la pensée n’est pas libre et que les peuples, les hommes et surtout les femmes ne s’émanciperont complètement et ne réaliseront l’Évangile qu’à table. Ils ont fait jaillir cent réformes et cent révélations du fond des bouteilles; ils ont détruit radicalement le paupérisme, la concurrence anarchique, l’exploitation de l’homme par l’homme dans les chaudes inspirations du dessert; et, plus magnifiques cent fois que Cléopâtre, ils ont dissous dans le vin mêlé de fiel qui remplit leur coupe, non des perles, mais des principes, des institutions qui sont la garantie de notre avenir et la gloire de l’humanité.	On many occasions these orators in white gloves have spoken of the decline taking place in our century, of its growing misery, of its cowardly egoism; and they have attempted to show with phrases sprinkled with doubtful rhetoric that thought is not free and that people, both men and especially women, will not completely emancipate themselves nor realise the promises of the Gospel unless they sit down to the dinner table. They have spurted out one hundred reforms and one hundred revelations from the bottom of a bottle; they have eradicated poverty, anarchic competition, and the exploitation of man by man by breathing in the warm aromas of their desserts; and one hundred times more magnificent than Cleopatra, they have dissolved in their goblet of wine mixed with poison, not pearls, but the principles and institutions which are the guarantee of our future and the glory of humanity.

Molinari was doing much the same thing as his friend. The week before the rioting of the June Days (23-26 June 1848) he published an appeal to the socialists in the JDE (under the pseudonym “le Rêveur” (the Dreamer)) arguing that liberals and socialists shared a great deal in common strategically, in wanting peace and prosperity for their supporters, but differed tactically on the best way to achieve these goals (perhaps he also had in mind the departure in June 1848 of his friend Castille from the liberal ranks to join the “red republicans”). Molinari believed that the socialists could not in fact achieve their admirable goals because they completely misunderstood economic principles and underestimated the power of the natural laws which governed the operation of the economy. [107] In the same month that Fonteyraud’s article on “La vérité de l’économie politique” appeared Molinari published a lengthy article criticising both the socialist-anarchist Proudhon and the conservative politician Thiers for their mistaken views on the nature of property - the former for not seeing the labour and effort required by entrepreneurs in bringing goods to market, thereby justifying the profits they made with their labour; and the latter for not being consistent in his defence of property because he did not see that the status quo rested upon the unjust acquisition of property by the landowning and industrial elites who used subsidies and tariff protection to acquire and maintain their wealth at the expense of ordinary consumers. Molinari returned to this topic with a critical review of Thiers’ book on property in January 1849. [108]

In many ways the writing of Les Soirées was a continuation of this battle for the rights of property against criticism from both the socialists and the conservatives which Fonteyraud and Molinari had taken up in mid-1848. Sadly, Fonteyraud did not live to see the publication of Les Soirées which probably appeared in the late summer or early autumn of 1849, as he died at a tragically young age (27) during the cholera epidemic which swept through Paris in July. He passed away very quickly on 12 August. His collected works were published posthumously as Mélanges d’économie politique (1853) edited by Joseph Garnier.

Gérard Minart correctly observed about Fonteyraud that with his literary and oratory skills he and Bastiat made up one branch of the the French liberal “family” - the Voltairian branch - with their short and edgy works filled with irony, satire, and ridicule, thus forming the “voltigeurs” (light infantry) in the battle for economic liberty; while the other branch - the Diderot branch - was made up of the “heavy artillery” of Coquelin, Molinari, and Garnier, with their long, heavily researched and densely argued tomes: [109]

Si Alcide Fonteyraud et Frédéric Bastiat incarnaient dans l’école libérale de l’époque la verve et l’esprit s’exprimant de préférence dans des textes nerveux et courts, Charles Coquelin - de même d’ailleurs que Molinari et Garnier - représentaient plutôt la puissance se manifestant dans des œuvres denses, longues et solidement charpentées . On observe là, jusqu’au sein même de cette discipline sévère qu’est l’économie politique, la présence, en matière de style, des deux grandes familles françaises: celle de Voltaire, ironique, légère, virevoltante , prompte à saisir le ridicule de l’adversaire pour s’en faire une arme (c’est tout l’art des Sophismes de Bastiat) et celle de Diderot, philosophique, encyclopédique et plus austère. D’un côté, l’infanterie en mouvement des voltigeurs , de l’autre, l’appui feu de l’artillerie lourde. S’il y a unité de pensée sur les thèmes fondamentaux de l’économie politique libérale, il y a grande variété de style pour exprimer cette pensée.

If Alcide Fonteyraud and Frédéric Bastiat embodied in the liberal school of their day a preference to express themselves with verve and spirit in texts which were short and lively, Charles Coquelin - the same also goes for Molinari and Garnier - represented instead the power which was manifested in works which were dense, long, and solidly built. Here one can see, even in the heart of the harsh discipline which is political economy, the presence of the two great French schools in matters of style: that of Voltaire, which is ironic, light, spinning about, quick to seize the weapon of ridicule to do battle against an adversary (this is especially the method of Bastiat’s Economic Sophisms); and that of Diderot, which is philosophical, encyclopedic, and more austere. One the one hand, we have the troops of movement which are the light infantry; on the other hand, we have the covering fire of the heavy artillery. If there is unity of thinking about the fundamental principles of liberal political economy, there is a great variety of styles used to express this thinking.

The Networks for Liberty↩

After coming to Paris Molinari became active in a half dozen or so groups and organizations in the 12 years between 1840 and 1851 whose membership and activities overlapped to a considerable extent. These groups advocated a radical liberal world view which embraced free trade, the free market, limited republican government, and peace. Molinari and the other members of the “Seven Musketeers” were active in these organisations which provided a rich platform for the discussion of classical liberal ideas, their dissemination to a broader public, and more practical efforts to see them put into practice. Not all of the Musketeers were active in all of the organisations. A common thread which ties them together is the presence of Molinari. This network of organisations and social relationships helps us understand the context in which Molinari wrote Les Soirées in 1849 and the intellectual currents which were swirling around him. In rough chronological order, the network of friends and organizations with whom Molinari was active in the period between 1844 and 1852 are, Hippolyte Castille’s network of friends who participated in his soirées at his home on the rue Saint-Lazare (1844-1848); Frédéric Bastiat’s free trade network within the French Free Trade Association (1846-1848); the Guillaumin publishing network which included the Journal des économistes, the Société d’Économie politique, and the Dictionnaire de l’économie politique (1835-1852); the group of friends who started two small revolutionary magazines which were handed out on the streets of Paris in February and June 1848; Coquelin’s and Fonteyraud’s network of debaters and public speakers in the Club de la liberté du travail (Club Lib) in March 1848; and Garnier’s Friends of Peace peace network (1848-50) who were active in organizing a Peace Conference in Paris in 1849. Molinari’s friendship with individuals from all of the groups meant that he participated in a dense network of social and political activities within the liberal movement in the later 1840s and early 1850s.

Differences of Opinion among the Musketeers↩

The Seven Musketeers did not hold the same views on every topic as one might expect from such independent and original thinkers. Bastiat and Molinari seem to provide the axes around which opinion was commonly split. Molinari divided the group into those who supported his radical ideas on the private provision of police and defense services and those who did not (he stood alone on this issue as the debates in the Political Economy Society indicate). Bastiat divided the group into those who followed the classical views on Malthusian population growth and Ricardo’s theory of rent (the majority of the political economists) and those who did not (Bastiat with the support of Roger Fontenay on both [110]).

There was one event which did bring the Seven closer together both ideologically and politically, and that was the February 1848 Revolution which overthrew the July Monarchy and replaced it with the Second Republic. In the transition between the monarchy and the republic, socialist groups were able to implement a number of reforms, such as the government/taxpayer funded unemployment relief program known as the National Workshops which existed between February and June 1848 and was based on one of the socialists’ core ideas, that of “the right to work” (le droit au travail), i.e. “the right to a job.” This galvanized the economists into action who responded by starting a political club to publicly debate the socialists on the issue of “the right to work” and by publishing newspapers which they handed out on the streets of Paris in order to educate the people about the merits of free trade, free markets, and limited government. All Seven of the Musketeers participated vigorously in these activities in 1848 but differences over the crackdown on protests by the army in mid-1848 and subsequently led to Castille leaving the movement and joining more radical republican groups.

One of the most interesting aspects of these men’s activity during this 10 year period is its broad scope. They were all involved in intellectual debate and research in groups such as the Political Economy Society, the JDE, or Castille’s soirées. They were all active in lobby groups designed to advance the cause of liberty by putting pressure on the government from the outside, such as the Free Trade Association or the Friends of Peace. They were also activists who were prepared to get out into the streets of Paris during during the Revolution in order to reach out to the ordinary people who were rioting in the streets in February and June, or in the case of Bastiat to get elected to the Chamber of Deputies and attempt reform from within the government. Finally, they were also involved in popularizing free market ideas through the textbooks of Garnier, the witty and clever journalism and economic tales by Bastiat, the popular encyclopedia articles by Fonteyraud, and of course the “conversations” written by Molinari. This shows that they believed that their ideas depended upon four quite different strategies in order to develop and to spread: intellectual research and publication, single issue lobbying efforts, political activism on the streets and in the Chamber, and the popularization of economic ideas.

Unfortunately, this closely knit group could not continue forever. They were broken up and forced to disperse for a number of reasons. Firstly, there were three deaths which shocked the group with their suddenness, especially Molinari. Fonteyraud died in the cholera epidemic which swept Paris in July/August 1849 (aged 27); Bastiat died from his terminal throat condition in December 1850 (aged 49); and Coquelin died from a sudden heart attack in August 1852 (aged 50). Second, there was the inevitable straying form the liberal path. Castille drifted away into the Jacobin republican camp sometime in mid-1848. Thirdly, with the political reaction and censorship which followed in the wake of the coming to power of Louis Napoleon, first as President and then as Emperor Napoleon III, Molinari chose to leave Paris and take up residence in his native Belgium which had avoided revolution in 1848 and still retained a relatively free press where radicals like Molinari could continue their work unmolested by the government.

Thus by 1852 the Seven Musketeers had been reduced to a lonely two who were left in Paris, Guillaumin and Garnier. Molinari was to return to Paris in 1868, but that is another chapter in this story. Guillaumin would live to a relatively ripe age of 63 (he died in 1864) and his publishing firm firm would continue to support the liberal political economists under the direction of his daughters Félicité and Pauline who managed the firm until it was taken over by Alcan in 1910. Garnier remained at the centre of the political economy movement as editor of the JDE from 1866 until his death in 1881 at the age of 68. He was replaced by a newly invigorated Molinari who edited the JDE for another 28 years before he retired due to ill health in November 1909 at the age of 90. During this period Molinari published another two dozen books, making this period one of the most productive in his long life.

Endnotes↩

[1] Molinari, Les Révolutions et le despotisme envisagés au point de vue des intérêts matériel (October 1852), pp. 79, 116, 151.

[2] Gérard Minart, Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), p. 381. His “Four Musketeers” were made up of Frédéric Bastiat, Gilbert-Urbain Guillaumin, Charles Coquelin, and Gustave de Molinari.

[3] Joseph Garnier, “Guillaumin. Ses funérailes, - sa vie et son oeuvre.” JDE. Sér. 2. T.45 (Jan-Mars 1865). No. 133. Jan. 1865, pp. 108-21; Lucette Levan-Lemesle, “Guillaumin, Éditeur d’Économie politique 1801-1864,” Revue d’économie politique, 96e année, No. 2, 1985p ,p. 134-149.

[4] Minart, Gérard. Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850). Le croisé de libre-échange (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2004); Roche, George Charles, III. Frédéric Bastiat: A Man Alone. New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1971; Russell, Dean. Frédéric Bastiat: Ideas and Influence. Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.: Foundation for Economic Education, 1969; and the introductions and appendices in the Collected Works of Bastiat (Liberty Fund, 2011).

[5] Nataf, Philippe. “La vie et l’oeuvre de Charles Coquelin (1802-1852),” in Histoire du libéralisme en Europe, eds. Philippe Nemo and Jean Petitot (Pais: Presses Universitaires de France, 2006), pp.511-30; Gustave de Molinari, “Charles Coquelin”, JDE, T. 33, nos. 137-38, Set.-Oct 1852, pp. 167-76.

[6] Guillaumin came from Moulins in the Auvergne region and arrived in Paris in 1819, Coquelin came from the town of Dunkerque which was a coastal city in the département du Nord in the région of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and settled in Paris in 1832, Bastiat came from the small town of Mugron in the département des Landes in Gascogny and arrived in Paris in 1845.

[7] Molinari was involved with 6 interconnecting networks or groups of classical liberals and economists between 1845 and 1852: Hippolyte Castille’s soirées (1844-1848), Bastiat’s free trade network (1846-1848), Coquelin’s and Fonteyraud’s Political Club (March 1848), a group of revolutionary street journalists in February-March and June 1848, Garnier’s Friends of Peace network (1848-50), and the Guillaumin publishing network.

[8] Joseph Garnier came from the south eastern town of Beuil, Alpes-Maritimes near Nice and came to Paris in 1830; Hippolyte Castille was born in the sea-side town of Montreuil-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, and came to Paris in 1839; and Alcide Fonteyraud who had the most exotic origin having been born in Mauritius, was brought up with English as a second language taught to him by an old English soldier after his mother died, and who came to Paris 1830.

[9] See Gustave de Molinari’s obituary of Garnier in JDE, Sér.4. T. 16. No. 46 Oct. 1881, pp. 5-13.

[10] Eugène de Mirecourt, Hippolyte Castille. Les Contemporains. Deuxième Série. (Paris: Gustave Havard, 1856). , “Necrologie: Hippolyte Castille,” JDE, T. 36. No. 10. October 1886, pp. 116-18.

[11] Joseph Garnier, “Notice sur Alcide Fonteyraud” in Alcide Fonteyraud, Mélanges d’économie politique. Mis en ordre et augmentés d’une Notice sur l’auteur, ed, Joseph Garnier (Paris: Guillaumin, 1853), pp. iii-xvi.

[12] Minart, p. 56. Joseph Garnier, “Guillaumin. Ses funérailes, - sa vie et son oeuvre.” JDE. Sér. 2. T.45 (Jan-Mars 1865). No. 133. Jan. 1865, pp. 108-21; Lucette Levan-Lemesle, “Guillaumin, Éditeur d’Économie politique 1801-1864,” Revue d’économie politique, 96e année, No. 2, 1985p ,p. 134-149.

[13] Henri Baudrillart in Joseph Garnier, “Guillaumin. Ses funérailes, - sa vie et son oeuvre.” JDE. Sér. 2. T.45 (Jan-Mars 1865). No. 133. Jan. 1865, pp. 108-21. Quote comes from p. 111.

[14] Chansons de P. J. de Béranger, précédées d'une notice sur l'auteur et d'un essai sur ses poésies par M. P. F. Tissot (Paris: Perrotin, Guillaumin, Bigot, 1829). 3 vols. Béranger was to play a special role in radical liberal circles with H. Castille writing a short book about him, Bastiat successfully getting him to join the Free Trade Association, both Molinari and Bastiat quoting his verse quite frequently in their economic writings, and he was elected alongside Bastiat to the Constituent Assembly in April 1848. See my essay on Béranger.

[15] Gustave de Molinari, Histoire du tarif (1847).

[16] Dictionnaire du Commerce et des marchandises, contenant tout ce qui concerne le commerce de terre et de mer. Publié sous la direction de M. G.U.G. T. 1 (A.-F.). T. 2 (G-Z). (Paris: Guillaumin: Galerie de la Bourse, no. 5, Passage des Panoramas, 1837-39).

[17] Gustave de Molinari, Études économiques. L'Organisation de la liberté industrielle et l'abolition de l'esclavage (Paris: Capelle, 1846.) Reviewed by Joseph Garnier, “Études économiques, par M. Gustave de Molinari,” JDE, Sér 1, T. 14. N° 54. Mai 1846. pp. 192-95.

[18] Molinari, "De l’agriculture en Angleterre," JDE, T. 16. N° 62, Janvier 1847, pp. 114-26.

[19] John Stuart Mill, Principes d'économie politique, avec quelques-unes de leurs applications à l'économie sociale, par M. John Stuart Mill, traduits par MM. H. Dussard et Courcelle-Seneuil, et précédés d'une introduction par M. Courcelle-Seneuil. 2e édition (Paris : Guillaumin, 1861). 2 vol. 1st edition 1854.

[20] John Stuart Mill, La Liberté. Traduit et augmenté d’une Introduction par M. Dupont White (Paris: Guillaumin, 1864).

[21] See the Bulletin de la Librairie. Guillaumin et Cie. No. 2. Mai 1866. 32 pp.

[22] JDE, T. 24, N° 102. — 15 septembre 1849. Le Congrès de la paix, à Paris. — Résolutions du Congrés. — Discours de MM. Victor Hugo, Cobden, Henry Vincent, etc. — Compte-rendu par M. M (Molinari). pp. 152-73. Joseph Garnier, Congrès des amis de la paix universelle réuni à Paris en 1849, précédé d'une Note historique sur le mouvement en faveur de la paix, par M. Joseph Garnier. (Paris: Guillaumin, 1850).

[23] Gustave de Molinari, "De la production de la sécurité,” JDE, T. 22, no. 95, 15 February 1849, pp. 277-90. See the French version of this important article online ; and an English translation online . See also Molinari’s book Les Soirées de la rue Saint-Lazare; entretiens sur les lois économiques et défense de la propriété (Paris: Guillaumin, 1849) which is also online.

[24] Les Soirées was discussed by the Political Economy Society at its “Séance du 10 octobre 1849”, presided over by Horace Say and attended by Coquelin, Bastiat, Dunoyer, Wolowski, et al. (but not Molinari). A report was published in JDE, T. 24, No. 103, 15 october 1849, “Chronique,” pp. 315-16. This was followed in November by a critical review by Coquelin in the JDE. See my essay on “The SEP Discussion of the ‘Production of Security’.”

[25] Collection des principaux économistes, Avec Commentaires, Notes, et Notices; par MM. Blanqui et Rossi (de l'Institut), Eugène Daire, H. Dussard, J. Garnier, M. Monjean, H. Say. (Paris: Guillaumin, 1840-48), 15 vols.

[26] T. VII. Essai sur le principe de population, par Malthus, traduit de l'anglais par MM. Pierre et Guillaume Prévost (de Genève). Précédé d'une introduction par P. Rossi, et d'une notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de l'auteur, par Charles Comte, avec les notes des traducteurs, et de nouvelles notes par M. Joseph Garnier (Paris, Guillaumin, 1845).

[27] T. XIII. Oeuvres complètes de David Ricardo, traduites en français, par MM. Constancio et Alcide Fonteyraud, augmentées de notes de Jean-Baptiste Say, de nouvelles notes et de commentaires par Malthus, Sismondi, MM. Rossi, Blanqui, etc., et précédées d'une notice sur la vie et les travaux de l'auteur par M. Alcide Fonteyraud (Paris: Guillaumin, 1847).

[28] T. XIV. Mélanges d'économie politique I. D. Hume, Essais sur le commerce, le luxe, l'argent, l'intérêt de l'argent, les impots, le crédit public, etc. Forbonnais, Principes économiques. Condillac, Le commerce et le gouvernement. Condorcet, Mélanges d'économie politique. Lavoisier et Lagrange, De la richesse territoriale du royaume de France. Essai d'arithmétique politique. B. Franklin, La science du bonhomme Richard, et autres opuscules. Précédés de notices historiques sur chaque auteur, et accompagnés de commentaires et de notes explicatives par MM. Eugène Daire et G. de Molinari (Paris: Guillaumin, 1847). T. XV. Mélanges d'économie politique II. Necker, Sur la législation et de commerce des grains. Galiani, Dialogues sur le commerce des blés. Montyon, Quelle influence ont les diverses espèces d'impots sur la moralitè, l'activité et l'industrie des peuples. J. Bentham, Lettres sur la Défense de l'usure. Précédés de notice historique sur chaque auteur, et accompagnés de commentaires et de notes explicatives par M. Gust. de Molinari (Paris: Guillaumin, 1848).

[29] Dictionnaire de l’Économie Politique, contenant l’exposition des principes de la science, l’opinion des écrivains qui ont le plus contribué à sa fondation et à ses progrès, la Bibliographie générale de l’économie politique par noms d’auteurs et par ordre de matières, avec des notices biographiques et une appréciation raisonnée des principaux ouvrages, publié sous la direction de MM. Charles Coquelin et Guillaumin (Paris: Librairie de Guillaumin et Cie, 1852-1853), 2 vols.

[30] The DEP was first announced in the May 1849 Catalog of the Guillaumin firm as a new title “in preparation” with the title Dictionnaire d’économie politique. It was announced along with a title called Bibliographie générale de l’économie politique which was slated to appear in installments beginning in January 1850. The latter never appeared as a separate volume but was merged into the DEP project which would eventually take its name from the Bibliographie and appear in 1852 as the Dictionnaire de l’économie politique.

[31] Dictionnaire du Commerce et des marchandises, contenant tout ce qui concerne le commerce de terre et de mer. Publié sous la direction de M. G.U.G. T. 1 (A.-F.). T. 2 (G-Z). (Paris: Guillaumin et Cie: Galerie de la Bourse, no. 5, Passage des Panoramas, 1837-39).

[32] Joseph Garnier, “Guillaumin. Ses funérailes, sa vie et son oeuvre.” JDE. Sér. 2. T.45, No. 133, Jan. 1865, pp. 108-21.

[33] In the third issue of the JDE in February 1842 there appeared an article on “Béranger the Economist”: C.L., "Béranger Économiste" JDE, T. 1. No. 3 February 1842, pp. 330-34.

[34] Béranger, “Les Contrebandiers. Chanson adressée à M. Joseph Bernard, Député du Var, auteur du Bon sens d’un homme de rien (1829).” , in Oeuvres complètes de P.-J. de Béranger. Nouvelle édition revue par l’auteur. Illustrée de cinquante-deux belles gravures sur acier entièrement in édites, d’après les dessins de MM. Charlet, A. de Lemud, Johannot, Daubigny, Pauquet, Jacques, J. Lange, Pinguilly, de Rudder, Raffet (Paris: Perrotin, 1847). 2 volumes, vol. 2, pp. 250-54.

[35] Molinari, “Paix-Guerre” in DEP, vol. 2, p. 313. All the articles Molinari wrote for the DEP can be found in this anthology “Gustave de Molinari’s Collected Articles from the Dictionnaire De L'économie Politique (1852-53)” online. The direct link to “Paix-Guerre” is online. Seven of these articles have been translated into English which can be found here: Gustave de Molinari, "A Selection of his Articles from the DEP (1852-53)" online.

[36] Bastiat, Cobden et la ligue, ou l’Agitation anglaise pour la liberté du commerce (Paris: Guillaumin, 1845).

[37] Molinari, review of “Frédéric Bastiat: Lettre d’un habitant des Landes”, JDE S.4. T. 3, no. 7 July 1878, pp. 60-70.

[38] In Paillottet’s edition of Bastiat’s Oeuvres complètes he mentions only one of Bastiat’s economic sophisms being published in the Courrier français, namely ES2 VI. “Aux artisans et aux ouvriers” (To Artisans and Workers) (Le Courrier français, 18 September 1846). Molinari mentions two more: ES2 III. “Les deux haches” (The Two Axes) and ES2 VII. “Conte chinois” (A Chinese Tale). See Molinari CR Bastiat letters, p. 6

[39] Bastiat, “Toast porté au banquet offert à Cobden par les libre-échangistes de Paris,” (Courrier français du 19 août 1846.) .

[40] CR, p. 61.

[41] See Molinari’s reminiscences in his review of Bastiat’s letters in JDE.

[42] A full list of Bastiat’s contributions to La République française and Jacques Bonhomme can be found in Bastiat CW, vol. 3, pp. XXX.

[43] Bastiat wrote two letters to Madame Marsan describing his experiences on the barricades in Paris during the fighting: CW 1, 93. Letter to Mme Marsan, 27 February 1848, p. 142; CW 1, 104. Letter to Mme Marsan, 29 June 1848, pp. 156-7.

[44] Between May 1848 and July 1850 Bastiat wrote a series of 12 anti-socialist pamphlets, or what the Guillaumin publishing firm marketed as his “Petits pamphlets,” which included several for which Bastiat has become justly famous such as “The State” (Sept. 1848), “Damn Money!” (April 1849), “Plunder and the Law” (May 1850), “The Law” (June 1850), and “What is Seen and What is Not Seen” (July 1850). See my essay on “Bastiat’s Anti-Socialist Pamphlets” for details. The French language version of these essays and pamphlets can be found online at “Table of Contents of the Second Edition of the Oeuvres Complètes de Frédéric Bastiat (1862-64)”, 7 Volumes. Online.

[45] Molinari, review of “Frédéric Bastiat: Lettre d’un habitant des Landes”, JDE S.4. T. 3. no. 7 July 1878, pp. 60-70. Quote pp. 62-63.

[46] See my essay on “The SEP Discussion of the ‘Production of Security’.”

[47] Frédéric Bastiat, "De la population," JDE, T. 15. N° 59. Octobre 1846, pp. 217-34.

[48] Molinari, “Nécrologie. — Frédéric Bastiat, notice sur sa vie et ses écrits,” JDE, T. 28, N° 118, 15 février 1851, pp. 180-96.

[49] Obituary of Bastiat, Molinari, "Nécrologie. — Frédéric Bastiat, notice sur sa vie et ses écrits," JDE, T. 28, N° 118, 15 février 1851, pp. 180-96. Quote p. 192.

[50] Molinari, “Nécrologie. Frédéric Bastiat, notice sur sa vie et ses écrits,” JDE, T. 28, N° 118. 15 février 1851, pp. 180-96.

[51] Obituary of Bastiat, Molinari, "Nécrologie. — Frédéric Bastiat, notice sur sa vie et ses écrits," JDE, T. 28, N° 118, 15 février 1851, pp. 180-96. Quote p. 196.

[52] Gustave de Molinari, La Morale économique (Paris: Guillaumin, 1888).

[53] “Frédéric Bastiat”, JDE T. 28. No. 118. 15 fev. 1851, pp. 180-96.

[54] Philippe Nataf, “La vie et l’oeuvre de Charles Coquelin (1802-1852)”, Histoire du libéralisme en Europe, ed. Philippe Nemo and Jean Petitot (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2006), pp. 511-30.

[55] Du Crédit et des Banques (Paris: Guillaumin, 1848). A second edition with a biographical essay on him by Molinari appeared in 1859: Du Crédit et des Banques. 2e Édition, revue, annotée, augmentée d'une Introduction par J.-G. Courcelle-Seneuil. Et une Notice Biographique par M. G. de Molinari (Paris: Guillaumin, 1859).

[56] Charles Coquelin, “Les Soirées de la rue Saint-Lazare, Entretiens sur les lois économiques et défense de la propriété, par M. G. de Molinari,” JDE, T. 24, N° 104, 15 novembre 1849, pp. 364-72.

[57] Molinari, “ Charles Coquelin,” JDE, N(os) 137 et 138. Septembre et Octobre 1852, pp. 167-76.

[58] See my essay on “La liberté au travail and la liberté du travail,”

[59] See the long footnote on Molinari’s interest in the striking carpenters union in 1845-46 in S6, pp. XXX and his address to the workers “Aux Ouvriers” which was published in the Courrier français on 20 July 1846 and reprinted in Questions d'économie politique, vol. I (1861), pp. 183-94.

[60] Gustave de Molinari, Les Clubs rouges pendant le siège de Paris (Paris: Garnier Frères, 1871). Gustave de Molinari, Le Mouvement socialiste et les réunions publiques avant la révolution du 4 septembre 1870 (Paris: Garnier Freres, 1872).

[61] JDE, N(os) 137 et 138. Septembre et Octobre 1852. Charles Coquelin, par M. G. de Molinari, pp. 167-76. Quote from p. 172.

[62] JDE, T. 37. N° 152. 15 Décembre 1853. Molinari, “Dictionnaire de l’économie politique,” p. 426.

[63] See the anthology of his articles mentioned above.

[64] Obit Coquelin, p. 167.

[65] See Gustave de Molinari’s obituary of Garnier in JDE, Sér.4. T. 16. No. 46 Oct. 1881, pp. 5-13.

[66] Obit by Molinari 1in JDE, Sér.4. T. 16. No. 46 Oct. 1881, pp. 5-13.

[67] Gustave de Molinari, Études économiques. L'Organisation de la liberté industrielle et l'abolition de l'esclavage (Paris: Capelle, 1846). Garnier review of Molinari, JDE, T. 14. N° 54. Mai 1846. Études économiques, par M. Gustave de Molinari, pp. 192-95.

[68] T. 16, N° 62, Janvier 1847, “De l’agriculture en Angleterre.” Molinari wrote a total of 4 articles and book reviews for the JDE in 1847.

[69] Molinari, "De la production de la sécurité,” JDE, T. 22, no. 95, 15 February 1849, pp. 277-90.

[70] Joseph Garnier, introductory footnote to Molinari’s essay "De la production de la sécurité,” JDE, T. 22, no. 95, 15 February 1849, p. 277.

[71] SEP, “Séance du 10 octobre 1849”, JDE, T. 24, No. 103, 15 october 1849, “Chronique,” pp. 315-16. See also, “The SEP Discussion of the ‘Production of Security’.”

[72] Collection des Principaux Économistes. T. VII. Essai sur le principe de population, par Malthus, traduit de l'anglais par MM. Pierre et Guillaume Prévost (de Genève). Précédé d'une introduction par P. Rossi, et d'une notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de l'auteur, par Charles Comte, avec les notes des traducteurs, et de nouvelles notes par M. Joseph Garnier (Paris, Guillaumin et ce, 1845). 2nd edition 1852. Joseph Garnier, Du principe de population (Paris: Guillaumin, 1857).

[73] Joseph Garnier, Du principe de population. 2. éd. précédée d'une introduction et d'une notice par M. G. de Molinari, augmenté de nouvelles notes contenant les faits statistiques récents et les débats relatifs à la question de la population. Avec un portrait de l'Auteur (Paris: Guillaumin, 1885); Thomas R. Malthus, Essai sur le principe de population Introduction par G. de Molinari (Paris: Guillaumin, 1889; Paris: Alcan, 1907).

[74] Joseph Garnier, Éléments de l'économie politique, exposé des notions fondamentales de cette science (Paris: Guillaumin, 1846); Premières notions d'économie politique ou sociale, contenant la Science du Bonhomme Richard par Benjamin Franklin, L’Économie politique en une leçon par Frédéric Bastiat, Abrégé des Éléments de l’économie politique, et Vocabulaire de la langue français (Paris: Guillaumin, 1864). 2nd ed.

[75] Joseph Garnier (ed.), Le droit au travail à l'Assemblée nationale. Recueil complet de tous les discours prononcés dans cette mémorable discussion par MM. Fresneau, Hubert Delisle, Cazalès, Gaulthier de Rumiily, Pelletier, A. de Tocqueville, Ledru-Rolin, Duvergier de Hauranne, Crémieux, M. Barthe, Gaslonde, de Luppé, Arnaud (de l'Ariège), Thiers, Considerant, Bouhier de l'Ecluse, Martin-Bernard, Billault, Dufaure, Goudchaux, et Lagrange (texts revue par les orateurs), suivis de l'opinion de MM. Marrast, Proudhon, Louis Blanc, Ed. Laboulaye et Cormenin; avec des observations inédites par MM. Léon Faucher, Wolowski, Fréd. Bastiat, de Parieu, et une introduction et des notes par M. Joseph Garnier (Paris : Guillaumin, 1848).

[76] JDE, T. 24, N° 102. — 15 septembre 1849. Le Congrès de la paix, à Paris. — Résolutions du Congrés. — Discours de MM. Victor Hugo, Cobden, Henry Vincent, etc. — Compte-rendu par M. M (Molinari). pp. 152-73.

[77] Joseph Garnier, Congrès des amis de la paix universelle Réuni à Paris en 1849. Compte-rendu, séances des 22, 23, 24 Aout; - Résolutions adoptées; discours de Mm. Victor Hugo, Visschers, Rév. John Burnett; Rév. Asa Mahan, de l'Ohio; Henri Vincent, de Londres; Ath. Coquerel; Suringar, d'Amsterdam; Francisque Bouvet, Émile de Girardin; Ewart, membre du Parlement; Frédéric Bastiat; Richard Cobden, Elihu Burritt, Deguerry; Amasa Walker, de Massachussets; Ch. Hindley, membre du Parlement, etc., etc.; Compte-rendu d'une visite au Président de la République, de trois meetings en Angleterre; statisique des membres du congrès, etc.; Précédé d'une Note historique sur le mouvement en faveur de la paix, par M. Joseph Garnier. (Paris: Guillaumin, 1850).

[78] Molinari, Obituary of Joseph Garnier, JDE, Sér.4. T. 16. No. 46 Oct. 1881, pp. 5-13.

[79] “Des Moyens d’améliorer le sort des classes laborieuses” (Means of improving the condition of the working classes) in the journal La Nation, 23rd July, 1843. Then later as the pamphlet Des Moyens d’améliorer le sort des classes laborieuses (février 1844, éditions Amyot).

[80] See, Bastiat, “Coalitions industrielles” (The Repression of Industrial Unions) in Oeuvres complètes, vol. 5, p. 494. Also in Bastiat, Collected Works, vol. 2, pp. 348-61.

[81] Questions économiques à l'ordre du jour (1906), pp. 63-4.

[82] Appel aux ouvriers” 20 juilllet, 1846, Le Courrier français, reprinted in Les bourses du travail (1893), p. 126-37. Quote, p. 126.

[83] See my essay on Victor Cousin’s theory of property and “le moi” (the Me) which Molinari later found very appealing.

[84] “Aux Ouvriers” p. 129.

[85] Molinari, “Travail” (Labor) DEP, vol. 2, pp. 761-64. Joseph Garnier, “Liberté du travail” (Freedom of working), DEP, vol. 2, pp. 63-66.

[86] Molinari, “Les Coalitions des ouvriers” originally published in the Bourse du travail, 14 March, 1857 and reprinted in Questions d'économie politique, vol. I (1861), pp. 199-205.

[87] Hippolyte Castille , Les hommes et les moeurs en France sous le règne de Louis-Philippe (Paris: Paul Henneton, 1853, 2nd edition). Calls Molinari “un écrivain de mérite” (a writer of merit), p. 176; and Bastiat as a “demi-monsieur, demi-paysan” (half a gentleman and half peasnat), p. 178.

[88] Molinari’s obit. of Castille in JDE, T. 36. No. 10. October 1886, pp. 116-18. Quote on pp. 116-7.

[89] Stimulated by the legislation of 1842 on railways in which the number of lines and how they would be developed in a partnership between the state and private industry was set out. See Michel Chevalier, “Chemin de fer” DEP, vol. 1, pp. 337-62.

[90] Le Travail intellectuel. Journal des intérêts scientifiques, littéraires et artistiques (Paris: 1847-48).

[91] According to Eugène Hatin La République française was a daily journal. The articles were signed by the editors who were Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850), Hippolyte Castille (1820-1886), and Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912). It appeared from 26 February to 28 March in 30 issues. There were 2 editions of the 1st issue (one page only) and 2 editions of the second issue (of two pages). Eugène Hatin, Bibliographie historique et critique de la presse périodique française (1866), pp. 491-92.

[92] See David M. Hart, “Bastiat’s Political Writings: Anecdotes and Reflections”, section on “The law Abiding Revoltuionary” for Molinari’s amusing account of how the three men set up the magazine, Bastiat, Collected Works, vol. 2, pp. 401-3. It originally appeared in Molinari’s book review of a collection of Bastiat’s letters to the Chevreux family which was published in 1877. See Molinari, review of “Frédéric Bastiat: Lettre d’un habitant des Landes”, JDE S.4. T. 3. no. 7 July 1878, pp. 60-70. Review of Lettres d’un habitant des Landes, Frédéric Bastiat. Edited by Mme Cheuvreux. Paris: A. Quantin, 1877.

[93] This statement of principles is provided by Eugène Hatin in a long quote from La République française probably from the 1st issue which is dated 26 February 1848. It was probably written collaboratively by Bastiat, Molinari, and Castille. See Eugène Hatin, Bibliographie historique et critique de la presse périodique française, pp. 491-92. Translation by David M. Hart.

[94] Eugène Hatin, Bibliographie historique et critique de la presse périodique française, ou Catalogue systématique et raisonné de tous les écrits périodiques de quelque valeur publiées ou ayant circulé en France depuis l'origine du journal jusqu'à nos jours, avec extraits, notes historiques, critiques et morales, indication des prix que les principaux journaux ont atteints dans les ventes publiques, etc. Précédé d'un essai historique et statistique sur la naissance et les progrès de la presse périodique dans les deux mondes (Paris: Didot frères, fils, 1866). Hatin quotes this at some length from La République française (possibly from 1st issue 26 February 1848), pp. 491-2.

[95] Molinari, “Necrologie: Hippolyte Castille,” JDE, T. 36. No. 10. October 1886, pp. 116-18. Quote from p. 117.

[96] Castille, Lettres de Paris, écrites par Alceste (Hippolyte Castille) dans "l'Universel" (Paris : A. Le Chevalier, 1869).

[97] Eugène Hatin, Bibliographie historique et critique de la presse périodique française (1866), p. 468. According to Eugène Hatin Jacques Bonhomme was a weekly journal with 4 issues which appeared between 11 June to 13 July, with a break between 24 June and 9 July because of the rioting during the June Days uprising. The editor was named as J. Lobet and was founded by Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850, Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), Charles Coquelin (1802-1852), Alcide Fonteyraud (1822-1849), and Joseph Garnier (1813-1881). The first issue was a single page only on "papier rose" (pink paper), designed to be posted on the wall.

[98] Eugène de Mirecourt, Hippolyte Castille (Paris: Gustave Havard, 1858), p. 46.

[99] Le dernier banquet de la bourgeoisie par Job, le socialiste , (à la librairie rue Saint-André-des-Arts, 39, 1849); Hippolyte Castille , Les massacres de juin 1848 (Chez les principaux libraires, 1869); Hippolyte Castille, Histoire de la seconde république en France, (Paris: Lecou, 1854-56). 4 vols.; Hippolyte Castille, Les hommes et les moeurs en France sous le règne de Louis-Philippe (Paris: Paul Henneton, 1853, 2nd edition). Quotes about Bastiat on p. 178, 180.

[100] His teacher Blanqui wrote Fonteyraud’s obituary for the JDE “with tears in eyes” at the loss of one of the most talented and precocious young economists in the Guilluamin network. “Nécrologie. Alcide Fonteyraud,” JDE, T. 24. No. 102, 15 Sept. 1849, pp. 182-84. A fuller account is given by Joseph Garnier, “Notice sur Alcide Fonteyraud,” in Mélanges d'économie politique de Fonteyraud, mis en ordre et augmentés d’une notice sur l’auteur par Joseph Garnier, (Paris: Guillaumin, 1853). pp. iii-xvi.

[101] Fonteyraud’s articles and book reviews on Britain and the Anti-Corn Law League which appeared in the JDE are: Études sur l’Angleterre, par M. LÉON FAUCHER in N° 50, Janvier 1846; “Discussion des lois sur les céréales au parlement,” in N° 52, Mars 1846; “Discussion sur la réforme économique au Parlement anglais, deuxième lecture (suite),” in N° 53, Avril 1846; “Du nouveau projet de loi relatif aux chemins de fer en Angleterre,” in N° 54, Mai 1846; “Discussion au Parlement anglais sur le bill des céréales, troisième lecture (suite),” in N° 54, Mai 1846; “Abolition des lois sur les céréales. Dissolution de la Ligue,” in N° 56, Juillet 1846. See also Annuaire de l'économie politique et de la statistique, par les rédacteurs du Journal des économistes (Paris: Guillaumin, 1844-1899), the volume for 1846.

[102] T. XIII. Oeuvres complètes de David Ricardo, traduites en français, par MM. Constancio et Alcide Fonteyraud, augmentées de notes de Jean-Baptiste Say, de nouvelles notes et de commentaires par Malthus, Sismondi, MM. Rossi, Blanqui, etc., et précédées d'une notice sur la vie et les travaux de l'auteur par M. Alcide Fonteyraud (Paris: Guillaumin, 1847). Fonteyraud’s intro to Ricardo, pp. v-xlviii (43 pp.)

[103] T. XIV. Mélanges d'économie politique I. D. Hume, Essais sur le commerce, le luxe, l'argent, l'intérêt de l'argent, les impots, le crédit public, etc. Forbonnais, Principes économiques. Condillac, Le commerce et le gouvernement. Condorcet, Mélanges d'économie politique. Lavoisier et Lagrange, De la richesse territoriale du royaume de France. Essai d'arithmétique politique. B. Franklin, La science du bonhomme Richard, et autres opuscules. Précédés de notices historiques sur chaque auteur, et accompagnés de commentaires et de notes explicatives par MM. Eugène Daire et G. de Molinari (Paris: Guillaumin, 1847). T. XV. Mélanges d'économie politique II. Necker, Sur la législation et de commerce des grains. Galiani, Dialogues sur le commerce des blés. Montyon, Quelle influence ont les diverses espèces d'impots sur la moralitè, l'activité et l'industrie des peuples. J. Bentham, Lettres sur la Défense de l'usure. Précédés de notice historique sur chaque auteur, et accompagnés de commentaires et de notes explicatives par M. Gust. de Molinari (Paris: Guillaumin, 1848).

[104] JDE. T. 21. N° 85. 1 août 1848. “La vérité sur l’économie politique,” pp. 1-15; N° 89. 1 octobre 1848. “La vérité sur l’économie politique (suite et fin),” pp. 225-48. This is also reprinted in Mélanges d'économie politique de Fonteyraud (1853), pp. 111-61.

[105] Instruction pour le People: Cents traités sur les connaissance les plus indispensables; ouvrage entièrement neuf, avec des gravures intercalées dans le text. Tome second. Traités 51 à 100. (Paris: Paulin et Lechevalier, 1850). Louis Wolowski and Alcide Fonteyraud, No. 92, “Principes d’économie politique,” 2913-3976.

[106] Review by Fonteyraud of Garnier’s collection of documents about “La Liberté au travail”: JDE, N° 95. — 15 février 1849. , Le droit au travail à l’Assemblée nationale, collection de tous les discours et de divers autres écrits, avec une introduction par M. JOS. GARNIER, p. 333

[107] JDE, T. 20. N° 82. 15 juin 1848. L’utopie de la liberté (lettre aux socialistes, par un Rêveur , pp. 328-32. See my essay on “The Dreamer.”

[108] JDE, T. 21. N° 86. 15 août 1848. M. Proudhon et M. Thiers, par M. Molinari, pp. 57-73; T.22. N° 94. 15 janvier 1849. De la propriété, par M. THIERS (Compte-rendu par M. G. de Molinari), pp. 162-77.

[109] Minart p. 113.

[110] One of the editor’s of the first full edition of Bastiat’s Economic Harmonies (2nd ed. of 1851), Roger Fontenay, inserted a long footnote supporting and elaborating upon Bastiat’s views on Malthus (pp. 454-64). In later editions a shorter version of this note appeared. Fontenay then wrote two articles on “De la théorie de la rente foncière selon Ricardo” in the JDE (N° 126, 15 octobre 1851 and N° 127, 15 novembre 1851) and then a book supporting Bastiat’s position on rent, Roger Fontenay, Du Revenu foncière (Paris: Guillaumin, 1854).