What has been published offers enough material for dissent without having to attack in advance what has not been published yet.

Frédéric Bastiat
Complete Works, Volume 7, page 440 (in French)
June 23rd, 1850

This letter refers to several publications that have taken place or will in the near future. Not least of them is the pamphlet that Frédéric Bastiat is finalising and will be published in July (i.e., six months before his death – we have been lucky) What is Seen and What is Not Seen, probably the most famous of all his works.

Today’s quote refers to Ambroise Clément who has published a review of the Economic Harmonies in the Journal des Economistes. There are obviously some disagreements between the two economists but what Frédéric Bastiat is highlighting here is the fact that Ambroise Clément criticised his positions on demography although the corresponding chapter has not been published yet. He is rightly offended by this but, unfortunately, this is what can be observed on a daily basis with ad hominem attacks, notably in politics. People are not very focused on what someone may have written or said – what counts is what he is supposed to think.