SGB Chapter 345

## Chapter 345: The Academic Circle is Also a Circle

The name Thomas Robert Malthus was not unfamiliar in 19th-century Britain, and even more so for modern people in the 21st century.

However, interestingly, whether in the 21st or 19th century, whenever this name appeared, it was inevitably accompanied by a great deal of debate and controversy.

However, even those who disliked Malthus could not deny his significant position in the British economics field.

As a clergyman, Malthus possessed a family background commensurate with his social status.

As early as the time of Cromwell, the Malthus family had begun to pursue the profession of clergyman.

As for the Malthus family’s initial contact with economics, it began with the South Sea Company case, which triggered an earthquake in the London Stock Exchange. Thomas Malthus’ grandfather, Sydnam Malthus, was one of the board members of the South Sea Company.

Since his grandfather could outsmart even Isaac Newton in the stock market, the intelligence of the Malthus family’s descendants naturally wouldn’t be far behind.

The wealth accumulated in the stock market also allowed them to invest more heavily in their descendants’ education and expand their social circles.

David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, prominent figures of the Enlightenment in 18th-century England and France, maintained long-lasting friendships with the Malthus family.

Upon his deathbed, Rousseau even entrusted his will to Daniel Malthus, hoping he would help execute his last wishes.

The Malthus family’s long-term interaction with the representatives of the Enlightenment movement also influenced their views on education and faith.

Although, following family tradition, young Malthus was still sent to Christ’s College, Cambridge to pursue his degree, his understanding of God was clearly different from that of ordinary Anglican clergymen.

He remained a Christian, but his thinking increasingly leaned towards the Unitarianism within Christianity. He refused to acknowledge the Trinity and denied that God was composed of three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

In young Malthus’ view, God was simply God, and the Bible was the sole basis of faith. Those who sought to patch up the Bible or offer word interpretations were all harboring evil intentions and seeking personal gain. These impure thoughts were the greatest reason for the decline of the church.

Had this been centuries ago, even during the Reformation, young Malthus would have been subjected to a joint crackdown by Catholicism and Protestantism simply for the aforementioned statements.

Because Catholicism had already confirmed ‘monotheism’ as a heretical doctrine at the Council of Nicaea in the 4th century AD, and the main initiators of the Reformation, Martin Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, also opposed such arguments.

Therefore, there were not a few cases at the time of people being arrested, imprisoned, and executed for supporting ‘monotheism’.

However, fortunately, in the 18th century when young Malthus grew up, England had not yet achieved freedom of religion politically, but at least it had achieved it socially.

Moreover, in the eyes of the parliamentarians, organized Catholics were the true threat. While monotheists and the Scottish Presbyterian Church, among other minor branches of Protestantism, may have spoken harsh words, at least they were willing to swear allegiance to the king. As long as they were sound on this point, other aspects were minor issues.

Plus, the Malthus family was a genuine English family that had adhered to the principle of ‘loyalty to Parliament’ since the time of Cromwell, so Cambridge University turned a blind eye to his unorthodoxy.

After all, during the Renaissance, there were quite a few guys like young Malthus in the campus of Cambridge.

Oxford next door even produced Jeremy Bentham, so it wasn’t a big deal for Cambridge to produce a Malthus.

After all, compared to Malthus, his Cambridge junior, Lord Byron, and Shelley, who was expelled from Oxford for publishing ‘On the Necessity of Atheism’, were the real heavyweights.

At least Malthus still acknowledged God, didn’t he?

Let’s just leave it at that.

But the Cambridge University Board of Trustees had no objection to Malthus, it didn’t mean his classmates had no objection. Even if this objection was not based on faith, but on personal views and private grudges.

In short, although Malthus was generally a gentle, humble, and calm British gentleman, perhaps it was precisely because of his personality and slightly radical views that he did not get along well with a certain straightforward and cheerful Cambridge junior.

Worse still, this junior was none other than the future representative of the British Lake Poets and social critic – Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

And this feud between the two continued from their university days to this day.

When Malthus’ ‘Principles of Population’ was published, Coleridge immediately launched an attack on it in his own territory, ‘Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine’.

“Look at this mighty nation! Its rulers and wise men are listening to William Paley and Thomas Malthus! This is a great sorrow. Is this quarto book teaching us that poverty will bring great suffering and evil? In those places where there are more mouths than bread, and more heads than brains, will poverty reach its peak?”

And Coleridge’s attack on ‘Principles of Population’ was not an isolated case. To be precise, in the British literary circles, those who did not attack Malthus became a minority.

Even Coleridge’s scolding was far from the most piercing. Another representative of the Lake Poets, Robert Southey, even bluntly stated: “Malthus is the favorite target of British critics, just as he is the favorite target of other sewage outlets.”

These poets, who cherished moral principles and pastoral life, even coined the term ‘Malthusianism’ to specifically shame those who worshipped material life and lacked a spiritual world.

Although being given a humiliating nickname by Southey was nothing unusual, after all, the naming master Mr. Southey had once called Byron ‘the head of Satanic poets’ in ‘Vision of Judgment’ and classified Shelley and others together as ‘Satanic’.

But Byron and others at least had a group of hot-blooded youths supporting them, while on Malthus’ side, there was only the scolding from the whole of Britain.

However, it’s not hard to understand why he was so scolded, because from any perspective, the several arguments in ‘Principles of Population’ were difficult for self-important humans to accept.

In Malthus’ view, humans were no different from animals. They would all fall into a trap of mutual slaughter, until neither side had the strength to continue fighting.

Unemployment and poverty were the inevitable consequences of the natural law of population. Humans could not avoid this fate, and all efforts to help the poor and promote social equality were futile.

The best way to solve this problem was to direct human morality towards indifference, even cruelty, to break down the existing moral system, control population growth, and even tacitly allow infanticide, birth control, famine, and war to curb human reproduction.

Finally, Malthus also believed that private property was also the inevitable consequence of the natural law of population. It was born with humanity, could not be eliminated, and should not be eliminated. Moreover, it was the best way and system to maintain a balance between population growth and population quality of life growth.

To support his point, Malthus also cited examples of famine, epidemics in the Far East, and the killings of colonization in the Americas.

As soon as Malthus’ arguments were put forward, the Lake Poets, who advocated promoting social justice through ancient moral principles, naturally could not let him off, and Byron, Shelley, and other rebels naturally criticized this bloody doctrine.

Almost everyone agreed that he was supporting the government’s indifference to the poor and undermining the construction of public welfare.

However, contrary to the one-sided criticism of public opinion, the British government and the East India Company almost simultaneously discovered the value of Malthus.

William Pitt the Younger, the greatest Prime Minister of the 18th century, abandoned the classical economic view of ‘having more children makes the country prosperous’ because of Malthus, and proactively abandoned the new ‘Poor Law’ that he had been pushing for to increase relief.

The East India Company, in turn, created a brand-new subject – political economy – at Haileybury College specifically for Malthus, making him the world’s first professor of political economy.

If we only look at it from an academic perspective, even if Malthus’ theory was not without flaws, he was still a master-level figure.

But if we look at it from a social perspective…

Even among Arthur’s circle, his friends, Dickens, Disraeli, Dumas, and even Eldred Carter, had all made critical remarks about Malthus. They saw him as one of the key culprits responsible for the suffering of the poor.

But interestingly, from the perspective of the University of London, it was another matter. Many people in the University of London system, whether the leading figures Jeremy Bentham and Lord Brougham, or Charles Austen, who was about to become the Chief Prosecutor of London, and Edwin Chadwick, the private secretary of the Lord Chancellor, all accepted Malthus’ views to a certain extent.

These utilitarians believed that in the face of pessimistic facts, human compassion was completely useless. If Malthus’ views were ultimately proven correct, they would not mind continuing to cut the ‘Poor Law’.

Just as Arthur was thinking about this, there was a knock on the door.

John Mill, who had been busy with all sorts of documents from the Liverpool Customs Office for days, pushed open the door with dark circles under his eyes.

“Arthur, do you have something urgent for me? The Customs Office sent another batch of new documents yesterday afternoon. If we delay a little longer, we’ll probably take four or five days to finish them.”

Arthur smiled and said, “John, don’t worry too much about the customs duties. If it really doesn’t work, just let the Customs Office send someone over to help us sort it out. You and the apprentices from the accounting firm have been busy for so long, you should rest.”

Mill, while pouring tea, said, “Arthur, you must have been hit in the head by that pebble, or how could you say such a thing? Let the Customs Office investigate themselves, what could they find?”

Arthur replied, “It doesn’t matter if they can’t find anything. I’ll just resign to London and let them find someone else to work in Liverpool. Moreover, I have a cut in my eye corner. If they don’t ‘consider’ the injured, then they are being too disrespectful.”

Mill took a sip of tea and sighed, “Although your injury is very unfortunate, if it wasn’t for the cut in your eye corner, I guess the Liverpool Customs Office wouldn’t have sent all the remaining documents to me. Just the new amount cleared in the past two days has increased by another 3,600 pounds.”

Arthur nodded slightly when he heard this number, “Not bad. But John, although I’ve always thought your work ability is very strong, it’s still beyond my expectations that you can be so strong. A guy like you, who hasn’t even been to school, it’s simply unimaginable.”

Mill corrected him, putting down his teacup, “Arthur, I haven’t been to school doesn’t mean I haven’t learned.”

Arthur rolled his eyes, “Your statement sounds like the Foreign Office.”

Mill said, “Although I didn’t go to school, it’s because my father thought British school education was rotten. So he always taught me at home. From the age of 3, I started learning Greek with him. At the age of 8, I started learning Latin, algebra, geometry, and calculus. At the age of 9, I received an introduction to history. At the age of 12, I started learning economics, philosophy, and logic. By the age of 16, I was already writing articles for the ‘Westminster Review’. Isn’t this better than most college graduates?”

Arthur nodded in agreement, “It’s indeed high-quality education. And you seem to have missed a few items. At least in my opinion, your French and German are also quite good. But I have one question, your father spends so much time on you every year, doesn’t he need to make money to support the family?”

Mill replied, “Of course he needs to make money, but my father’s work is relatively easy, so he spends all his free time educating his children.”

Arthur picked up his teacup, “What does your father do?”

Mill took a bite of the bagel, “He’s one of the members of the East India Company’s Council.”

“Cough, cough…”

Arthur took out his handkerchief and wiped the tea that had spilled from his mouth, “If I remember correctly, the Council is responsible for examining the company’s finances and supervising the work of the board members, right? They also seem to have the right to sue the directors on behalf of the shareholders?”

Mill nodded, “Arthur, your knowledge base has improved since a year ago.”

Arthur put down his teacup, “Okay, now I finally know why you can work in the East India Company’s finance department, and even be bored to the point of depression in the first few years, feeling dizzy all day long. If I had a father like that, I could even lie down on the manager’s desk and sleep, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything to me.”

Mill blushed and coughed, “Arthur, are you saying that my ability is not enough to work for the East India Company?”

“No, no, no, I didn’t mean that at all. Your ability is definitely enough to work for the Treasury.”

Arthur said, “But I heard Eldred say before that to work in the London headquarters of the East India Company, it’s not just about work ability. Eldred told me that although everyone pretends not to say it, as long as you look at the composition of the new employees in the London headquarters, you’ll find that nine out of ten of them are from Balliol College, Oxford.”

“Hmm…” Mill half-opened his mouth and hesitated for a long time before finally hinting, “I can only say that the East India Company does have some cooperation with Balliol.”

Arthur nodded, “So, your exception is all the more precious.”

Mill endured for a long time, but finally couldn’t help but retort, “Arthur, you’re insulting my reputation. Actually, even ordinary people, as long as they have been trained at the company’s Haileybury College, have a chance to enter the London headquarters. I was trained there for more than half a year.”

Arthur heard him mention Haileybury College on his own initiative and couldn’t help but smile, “That is indeed a good school. The East India Company is behind it, the financial resources are abundant, and there are also many famous professors, such as Mr. Malthus. By the way, you’re so proficient in political economy, you must have taken his class back then, right?”

“Professor Malthus?” Mill’s face became strange when he heard this, “This is a sensitive topic, why did you suddenly bring him up?”

(End of chapter)