In

NICHOLLS, SIR GEORGE (1782-1865), public servant, entered the maritime employ of the East India Company, at the age of fifteen. After retiring from that service (1815), he settled in 1819 at Southwell, Notts. His attention had been first drawn to the subject of the poor law by reading the Report of the House of Commons committee of 1817. 1821 he became overseer of the poor for the parish of Southwell, and forthwith set on foot most valuable reforms in administration. The importance of this work is not to be gauged by the extent of the area over which it operated, but by the fact that the Southwell workhouse, together with that of Bingham, was the model on which the whole workhouse system of the new POOR LAW was based. Nicholls was for the most part absent from Southwell after 1823, and left it altogether in 1827, but his work survived, and he relates, with pardonable pride, how, on the occasion of a subsequent visit, he was cordially greeted by a group of labourers, who told him that he had been their best friend, because he had made them help themselves. It was therefore peculiarly fitting that, on the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act, Nicholls should have been-in August 1834selected as one of the three new commissioners.

He was, at the time, the manager of the Birmingham branch of the British Bank of England, and, so great was their sense of his value, that he was offered an additional £500 per annum if he would remain in the bank's service. Although the broad lines of poor-law policy were settled by the act of 1834, the change to be effected was so great that it was necessary to leave much, with regard to the time and mode of enforcing that policy, to the discretion of the commissioners. The formation of unions, the provision of workhouses, and the issuing of orders for the guidance and government of boards of guardians, were matters requiring the exercise of the utmost tact as well as ability. In 1836 Nicholls visited Ireland, with the view of reporting on the expediency of introducing an Irish poor law. The act, as finally passed in 1838, followed mainly the lines of his report. From 1838 to 1842 Nicholls remained in Ireland, to supervise the introduction of the new law. Important as had been the work of the poorlaw commissioners, it was generally recognised that their strength would be increased by coming more closely into touch with parliament. The powers of the board were therefore, in 1847-10 & 11 Vict. c. 109-transferred to commissioners forming part of the government of the day, the services of Nicholls being retained as secretary to the new board. 1851 he retired, and was made a K.C.B. The loss to the country of his services was given ample expression to in the House of Lords, where Lord Fortescue, who had seen much of him in Ireland, eulogised his great abilities, "persevering industry" and "great self-devotion to the public service," and Lord Brougham, who had conducted the Poor Law Amendment Act through the House of Lords, expressly affirmed that he "was the great and principal agent in devising the new law, and in carrying it afterwards into execution." The first years of his leisure Nicholls devoted to writing the history of the law, in the administration of which he had borne a leading part. When he died he was an old man, and had become, as so often happens, to some extent forgotten. At the present time, however, we are better able to value his services. If, between the advent of democracy in England and its final triumph in our villages, there has been a breathing space of sixty years, wherein the steady and continuous, though incomplete, depauperisation of the labouring classes has gone on, under the operations of a law often ahead of the public opinion of the day, it is to Nicholls more perhaps than to any one man that the result is due.

In

Nicholls' writings include: Eight Letters on the Management of our Poor and the General Administration of the Poor Laws, by an overseer, 1822 (reprinted from the Nottingham Journal).

-The Farmer, London, 1844, and On the condition of the Agricultural Labourer, London, 1847, 12mo. - Reports dated respectively 15th November 1836, 3rd November 1837, and 5th May 1838, in connection with the proposed Irish poor law, the substance of which is given in Nicholls' History of the Irish Poor Law.—A History of the English Poor Law, 2 vols., London, 1854, 8vo.-A History of the Irish Poor Law, London, 1856, 8vo.-A History of the Scotch Poor Law, London, 1856, 8vo.

[Times, 25th March 1865. Gentleman's Magazine, 1865, 3rd series, vol. 19, autobiographical information in histories of English and Irish poor laws as above.-Dictionary of National Biography, vol. xl., which refers to a MS. memoir coming down to 1864. On Southwell Workhouse, Appendix A of Poor-Law Commission Report, 1834; Mr. J. W. Cowell's Report, pp. 613a-618a.]

H. E. E.

NICOLAI (18th-19th century) undertook historical research on laws respecting food supply and finance in the papal states. In one of his most important reports, Nicolai discusses the organisation of the land tax, arranged by Pius VII., for all parts of the kingdom, bringing together the threads of economic and financial tradition in the papal states. Nicolai studies the different methods of taxation, reform in which was felt necessary by the government, and gives the preference to the land tax in agricultural districts, together with some indirect taxes on consumption to equalise the incidence as far as possible. He agrees substantially with the classical doctrine prevalent at the time, which regarded the land tax, established on the system of the CATASTO (q.v.), as the pivot of fiscal organisation.

Nicolai's other treatises contain remarks on the supply of food.

Memorie, leggi ed osservazioni sulle campagne e sull' annona di Roma, Rome, 1803.

[See Ricca Salerno, Storia delle dottrine finanziarie in Italia, Rome, 1880.-Cusumano, La teoria del commercio dei grani in Italia, Bologna, 1877.]

U. R.

NIFO, AGOSTINO (1473-1538), was born in Sessa (southern Italy) of a noble family. From 1492 to 1498 he taught philosophy at the university of Padua, then at Salerno and Naples. Many honours were bestowed on him by Leo X., and he was highly esteemed as a philosopher.

In his moral and political pamphlets he discusses economic subjects, and is a faithful follower of ARISTOTLE. Like other writers of his day, Nifo forms a moral rather than an economic conception of wealth. Riches, in his view, are not to be desired for themselves, but only as means to higher ends; thus wealth, taken as the foundation of prosperity in a state, can only be considered the means or instrument of its prosperity.

In the distinction of the different kinds of riches, and in the difference between riches and

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NIHILISM (RUSSIAN) is a term connoting various forms of social dissatisfaction, political and economic, mainly among the bettereducated classes of Russia. As the name implies, its aim is the annihilation of existing social institutions, and in this respect it forms part of the negative movement of the present day, against all forms of traditional authority, and, so far, it coincides with ANARCHISM. În Russia, however, it is not capital and the bourgeoisie that are the object of attack, but government as such. Nihilism arises out of local causes-political, economic, and racial,— and is the outcome of two opposite tendencies of the Slave mind-absolute idealism and cynical realism,—which in combination produce impatient destructiveness and revolutionary passion. The former is represented by Herzen, early promoters of nihilism belonged to the the latter by BAKOUNIN. Philosophically, the Hegelian school (see HEGEL), in which they saw, like K. MARX and his followers, the basis for their own theories of social revolution. Nihilism also owes some of its ideas to the

pessimistic scepticism imported with modern French literature, which easily assimilates with the indigenous tendency towards melancholy mysticism. These two act as dissolvents. The passionate cultivation of Physical Science by the fast-growing "literary proletariat" has much encouraged this tendency. The disciples of the materialists, Büchner and Moleschott, are ardent advocates of a complete demolition of the present social system. Politically, nihilism is a reaction against repression by despotic government and an oppressive and corrupt system of BUREAUCRACY, it is liberalism and constitutionalism in some of its aspects, but reforms initiated by "imperial nihilists," such as the liberation of the serfs, have encouraged the movement. To some extent, too, it is encouraged by pan-Slavism as a popular agitation in favour of a "federal united republic of all Slavonic tribes." Even the ancient institution of the MIR, as a relic of agrarian communism, serves as such as a type of democratic selfgovernment, and suggests the extension of its method as the "rural commune" to the whole edifice of society. And, lastly, some of the boldest agents of nihilism are to be found among the Jewish youth, whose zeal has been enlisted in the cause as means of avenging the wrongs

done to their race by the official class. Having stated the causes of the movement, we may now proceed to follow its course. Nihilism proper begins in 1858, following immediately upon the military collapse of the empire, though the secret machinations of radicalism go back to 1846-49. The nihilistic creed, suggested in principle by PROUDHON, was not formulated till 1867, though a sanguinary manifestation of "the central revolutionary committee" appeared in 1862. The growth of socialism in Germany and France from 1863 to 1871 promoted Russian nihilism so much that in the years 1873-76 it displayed great activity, especially in publishing and disseminating periodicals, pamphlets, and appeals in various forms. Then, too, began the rage on the part of the aristocratic youth to "go among the people," living and working among them in disguise, thus to become "simplified with a view to indoctrinate the operative population with nihilistic ideas. The result was that in 1873, some 156 of them came into collision with the police, whilst 3800 were more or less complicated in the "monster-process (trial) of 193" in 1874-75. Having suffered a slight relapse in 1876-77, in consequence of the Russia-Turkish war, nihilism revived in 1878, when Vera Sassoulitzsch attempted to assassinate General Trepoff, and thence began the duel between the nihilists and the authorities which led to the death of the Czar, Alexander II. (1855-1881), who was "condemned" by the "executive committee" in August 1879. In that year it is computed there were at least 20,000 suspects, the journal Will of the People being the organ of the secret conspiracy. Under the reign of the late Czar, Alexander III. (18811894), which has been termed the 'social empire," and since, nihilism has not appeared much on the surface, but the political trial of five nihilists in 1890, as well as the methods adopted to protect the life of the czar against secret attack, show that the terror was by no

means over.

The actual demands of nihilism, as far as they are put into distinct form, are, on the part of the moderate section, amnesty of political offenders, the abolition of the secret police, inviolability of the home, freedom of the press, of speech and meeting, religious equality, the autonomy of towns, communes, and provinces, and the control of public functionaries by county councils, the appointment of imperial commissions of inquiry into the economic condition of the people, and that of a ministry for the encouragement of industry, agriculture, and co-operative associations, with a view to develop the resources of the country. The demands of the new advanced section are, the abolition of monarchy, state-religions, and landed proprietorship; and a free soil for the sustenance of the whole population; and the discontinuance of a standing

army and governmental administration; meanwhile the sentence of death is pronounced on all public functionaries hostile to these designs. A proclamation of the executive committee drawn up shortly after the attack on the emperor, Alexander III., sums up the demands of the terrorists as follows:-A representative democratic form of government; permanent parliaments, with full powers to regulate matters of state; extension of local government in the provinces ; autonomy of rural communes; the land to be put into the possession of the people; means to be found for placing the factories into the hands of the ARTEL, or artisan gild; transformation of the army into a militia; liberty of the press and industrial combination.

From this it will be seen that, in its economic bearings, nihilism resembles in many respects the more violent forms of SOCIALISM; though one of its most distinguished representatives, Prince Krapotkin, deprecates the collectivist programme, since he objects to authoritative COMMUNISM, but demands a "free communism" which should secure "economic freedom." Thus the essence of nihilism is "absolute liberty," as Herzen said in 1849, "freedom from all received opinions and traditional hindrances and difficulties, the historical block which prevents the advance of intelligence and stops the way of western progress." The block is the impediment of historical continuity, but the application of this destructive principle of extreme nihilism, which is identical with the extremest form of INDIVIDUALISM, would render the historical development of society impossible, it would put an end to society itself.

[K. Oldenberg, Der russische Nihilismus, etc., 1888, which gives a succinct and reliable account of the movement and biographical sketches of its principal promoters and agents.-J. Bourdeau, Le Socialisme allemand et le Nihilisme russe, 1892.-Johannes Scherr, Die Nihilisten, 1885.Funck-Brentano, Les Sophistes allemands et les Nihilistes russes.-Thun, A., Geschichte d. revolutionären Bewegung in Russland, 1883.-Kupczanko, Der russische Nihilismus, 1884.-J. B. Arnaudo, Il Nihilismo con lettere di Turgeneff e Herzen, 1879.-Le Nihilisme et les Nihilistes (translated from the Italian).-F. Engels, Soziales aus Russland, Leipzig, 1875.-A. Herzen, Du Développement des Idées révolutionnaires en Russie, 1853; also Le Peuple Russe et le socialisme, 1851. -Ivan Golowin, Meine Beziehungen zu Herzen und Bakunin, 1880.-N. Karlowitsch, Die Entwicke lung des Nihilismus, 3rd ed., 1880.-Stepniak, The Russian storm cloud, and Underground Russia, also an article by the same in Subjects of the Day, No. 2; also see I. Tourgenieff's novels, Fathers and Sons, Smoke, Virgin Soil.-N. G. Tchernychevsky (who is called the Russian Lassalle), Was thun? (Que faire ?)-Tourgenieff giving an observer's view of the movement and its causes, and Tchernychevsky being a principal actor himself. In periodic literature, see articles by Krapotkin, in the Nineteenth Century,

23

as "royals" or 'ryals," those of 1527 as "George nobles"; in the latter year there seems to have been also an issue of nobles worth

M. K.

NITZSCH, KARL WILHELM (1818-1880), became in 1848 extraordinary professor of history at Kiel, in 1858 ordinary professor there, in 1862 professor at Königsberg, and in 1872 at Berlin. He was the author of several works on Roman and mediæval history, chiefly in their constitutional and economic aspects; and by these, as well as by his personal influence as a teacher, he gave a powerful stimulus to the study of economic history in Germany.

His most noteworthy works are those which give the results of his own minute investigations into German town life in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. These are Ministerialität und Bürgerthum im 11. u. 12. Jahrh. (1859), published as the first volume of Vorarbeiten zur Geschichte der Staufischen Periode which was never completed; and then after a long interval the two articles Ueber die niederdeutschen Genossenschaften des xii. u. xiii. Jahrh., and Die niederdeutsche Kaufgilde, printed in the Monatsb. d. Berl. Akad. d. W. for 1879 and 1880 respectively. A number of other papers of lesser importance are collected in Deutsche Studien (1873). In the Geschichte des deutschen Volkes, bis zum Augsburger Religionsfrieden, put together by his pupil G. Matthäe after Nitzsch's death, from his lecture notes and other papers (1882-83; 2nd ed. 1891-92), will be found a sketch, drawn in bold and masterly outline, of the whole development of German society and institutions. He was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of the professional historians to make the economic element the dominating one in the story of national life. Some account and a criticism of his German history and of his views on mediæval social development are given in the Econ. Journal, iii. 686-690.

W. J. A.

11s. 3d. These coins gave way finally to sovereigns and half sovereigns.

Note. The Tower pound, which was abolished by Henry VIII., was oz. lighter thar the lb. troy.

[Ruding, Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain, 1840.-Kenyon, Gold Coins. Where there is a difference in the dates the table follows Ruding.]

E. G. P.

NOBLE OF RAYMOND LULLY. There was a tradition as late as Camden's time that the first English nobles, coined in 1344, were produced by alchemy in the Tower of London by Raymond Lully, the famous mediæval "philosopher"; the inscription borne by the coins,-Jesus autem transiens per medium eorum ibat-in reality a charm, was supposed to be mystical. But Lully died many years before this coinage, probably in 1315, and hence could not have assisted in it. In his lifetime he was supposed to have practised the art of transmuting baser metals into gold.

[Camden's Remains, art. "Money."-Tyrwhitt's Chaucer, vol. iv. p. 183.—Ruding's Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain, 1840, p. 220.]

E. G. P.

NOMINAL VALUE. See FACE VALUE. NORMAL VALUE. See VALUE. NORMAN, G. WARDE (1793-1882), a clearheaded writer on social, political, and economic questions of his day. In 1833 (reprinted in 1838) he published Remarks on some Prevalent Errors with respect to Currency and Banking: and suggestions to the Legislature as to the Renewal of the Bank Charter. The subject was treated under four distinct heads, as follows:

1. The principles on which a paper circulation should be regulated.

2. Examination of suggested remedies for the evils of the present system.

3. Remarks on the late and previous periods of commercial suffering connected with derangement of the currency in this and other countries.

4. The writer's view of the best course to be pursued in the actual state of affairs.

In 1841, Letter to Sir C. Wood, Bart., on Money and the means of economizing the use of it. This was published after the sitting of the Committee of the House of Commons, of which Sir C. Wood was Chairman, to enquire into the working of the Bank Charter Act, and at which Norman was examined at length.

In 1849 An Examination of some Prevailing Opinions as to the Pressure of Taxation in this and other Countries (4th ed. 1864), in which he established the following propositions :

1. That the financial burdens of England did not seriously press on her resources, and that,