John Gray

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John Gray, LL.D., 1724-1811.

British lawyer and late Physiocrat, critic of Adam Smith. Not to be confused with the other John Gray (the Ricardian Socialist).

John Gray, LL.D. wrote an anonymous tract in 1797 severely criticizing Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and vigorously defending the older position of the French Physiocrats. Published well after Smith's death, Gray attacks his treatment of productivity and agriculture in particular. Gray confidently re-asserts that "the principal and most essential cause of the prosperity of a state is the ingenuity and labour of its inhabitants exercised upon the fertility of the soil" (1797 p.4). He goes on to criticize Smith for crediting manufacturing as a contributor to national wealth and for confusing the distinction between productive and unproductive labor. In Gray's estimation, Adam Smith's “verboseness and ambiguity clearly show how a man of ability, when overlooking fundamental principles, may speculate upon the surface of things, without ever getting to the kernel." (1797: p.15)

Gray adds a couple of twists to the old Physiocratic doctrine. In a codicil reminiscent of Mercantilism, Gray asserts that manufacturing labor is unproductive domestically, but can add to national wealth if the manufactured goods are exported (p.36). Gray goes on to criticize the Physiocrats themselves for regarding the landlords as a useful class, that they are in fact "a most unessential and burdensome class in society" (p.51), that the their rents can and should be effectively taken by the State to pay for military expenditures. Gray advocates a single tax on land (p.57ff). Gray goes on to denounce Arthur Young for objecting to land taxes, embracing some of Smith's ideas, and for advocating high prices as a positive benefit..

Practically nothing is known of John Gray. His work (but not name) was noticed by Marx and by Seligman. The only clue to the author's name is from a 1797 review in the Gentleman's Magazine (p.858), which is followed up in a 1811 obituary (p.601). It connects Gray with the lottery office in Somerset.

The only other work definitely connected with this author is his 1798 Proposal, written at the height of the famine crisis, to establish state-established granaries (the author is anonymous, but identifies himself as the author Essential Principles). The author notes that he had visited Ireland in 1763-64 in the capacity of private secretary to the Duke of Northumberland.

Some reviews of Essential Principles identify him as "Dr. Gray" or "John Gray L.L.D", which suggests he is a lawyer. He is very probably the same author as the 1802 Income Tax Scrutinized (which comes with Gray's name attached), which demands an adjustment of Pitt's Income Tax on much the same grounds and argument as the 1797 argument for the land tax.

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Major Works of John Gray, LL.D.

[Anon.] The Essential Principles of the Wealth of Nations: Illustrated, in opposition to some false notions of Dr. Adam Smith and others. 1797 [av] [McM pdf]
[Anon] A Proposal for Supplying London with Bread, at an uniform price, from one year to another, according to an annual assize, by a plan that may be applied to every corporation in the kingdom, and would give encouragement to agriculture, and would prevent an extravagant rise of prices in case of future scanty harvests, 1798 [bk]
Practical observations on the proposed Treaty of Union of the Legislatures of Great Britain and Ireland, shewing in some particulars, how that treaty may be rendered acceptable to the people of Ireland and beneificial to the British empire in general, 1800 [bk]
The Income Tax Scrutinized, and some amendments proposed to render it more agreeable to the British Constitution, 1802.

HET

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Resources on John Gray, LL.D.

"Art VIII - Review of Essential Principles", 1797, Monthly Review (v.24), p.28
"Review of Essential Principles", by B.B. 1797, Analytical Review (v.26), p.299
"Review of Mr. Grey's Essential Principles", 1797, Gentleman's Magazine (Oct), p.858
"Note on Essential Principles", 1798, Annual Register for 1797, p.225
"Letter on Essential Principles", by [Sinboron], 1800, Monthly Magazine (May 1), p.332
"Notice of Essential Principles" by Thomas Mortimer, 1801, Lectures on the Elements of Commerce, Politics, and Finances, p.35
"Gray on the Income Tax", 1802, Monthly Review, p.315
"Gray on the Income Tax", 1802, Gentleman's Review, p.329
"Obituaries" 1811, Gentleman's Magazine, v.81 (Oct), p.601 (death dated May 9, 1811)
"John Gray's Essential Principles of the Wealth of Nations" by Richard van den Berg, 2010, in Allington & Thompson, editors, English, Irish and Subversives among the Dismal Scientists [prev]

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