ABSTRACT
IT was primarily as a critique of Mercantilism that classical Political Economy, and more particularly its theory of foreign trade, fired the minds of its contemporaries and won its place in history. To denounce Mercantilism as a system and to refute the fallacious reasoning of its apologists was a passion which dominated the writings alike of Adam Smith, of James Mill and of Ricardo. In view of the resemblance between Mercantilism and modern Imperialism, it is the more surprising that economists of our day should have had so little to say concerning the latter, and should even have treated it as a subject outside their scope.
