INTRODUCTION

The following untitled draft was written by Malthus with the intention of publishing it in the Edinburgh Review in May 1811. This is evident from his use of the phrase ‘in our last number’ when referring to his review of the pamphlets of Ricardo and others in the Edinburgh Review of February 1811.

It is likely that the drafting of this article was a response to the letter of 2 April 1811 from Francis Jeffrey, editor of the Edinburgh Review (published in Vol. I, pp.114–15) in which Jeffrey strongly urged Malthus to ‘do another article upon Bullion and paper’. Jeffrey was about to visit the East India College, and proposed to take Malthus' article back to Edinburgh on 12 May, and to publish it in the next number (Vol. XVIII, No. 35, May 1811) of the Review. Malthus replied to Jeffrey on 7 April 1811, stating that he had no leisure ‘to go into the subject now’, and that if, as Jeffrey suggested, he did not start the article until after the debates on the Bullion Report (due to start on 29 April) he might be prevented by ‘College business’ from being able to finish it in time for Jeffrey to take it back to Edinburgh on 12 May (James 1979, p.207).