The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-08 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Popular Fallacies regazloey General Interests, being a
Translation of the " sases Econosniques." By M.
FREDERIC BMITIAT. I itA Soles, by G. R. PORTER.
Murray.
With the exception of Archbishop Wbateley's
Easy Lessons on Money Matters, and Mrs. Mar-
cet's Conrersations on Political Economy, scarcely
anything has, in this country been done for the popu-
larisation of politico-economical literature. Theworks
of all our leading writers on the subject are clear
enough as scientific expositions; but the mass will
never read treatises which merely contain principles
enunciated in a systematic form, and which the reader
must himself apply to existing usages. He must
have the principle evolved from the practice, or
theory will be to him a dead letter. Hence the abso-
lute necessity of lucid works like the present. Adam
Smith's Wealth of Nations is by no means an
abstruse book ; but it advocates free-trade, and, accord-
ing to Mr. M`Culloch, it requires "a habit of reason•
ing on such topics to perceive the fallacies" of protec-
tion; besides, from the advances made in the science,
Smith's work must now be viewed much in the same
light as Watt's discoveries connected with the steam-
A•ngine. Watt did not apply his discovery to
steam navigation, to letter-press printing, or to spin-
ning ; and, in like manner, many of the arguments
used by Protectionists will not be found refuted in
Smith's pages, although his doctrines would accomplish
the refutation if earned out to their legitimate extent.
Ricardo improves on Smith, and corrects some of his
errors • but his writings are far too technical for a
general reader. M'Culloch is dear and terse, but
then he is systematic, and to be understood his pub-
lications must be read through. M. Ilastiat, on the
contrary, is discursive, and he selects only one sub-
ject—that of free trade—which he discusses with a
plainness, simplicity, and variety in illustrative
example, which cannot fail to convince the obstinate
as well as the ignorant man.
Alluding to the difficulty of his task he says ;
" Protection concentrates on a given point the good which
it effects, and distributes through the mss the evil a hich it
indicts. The good is visible to the external eye; the evil
can be perceived only by the eye of the mind. The case is
precisely the contrary with regard to free trade. It is thus
with almost all questions in political economy. For example,
say here is a machine which has put thirty workmen out of
employment; or on the other hand here is • prodigal, who
by luxurious waste encourages trade; or again, the conquest
of Algiers has doubled the trade of Marseilles ; or lastly, the
budget insures the existence of 100,000 families. You will
be understood by everybody; your propositions are clear,
simple, and true in themselves. Deduce from them these
principles: machinery is an evil; luxury, conquest, heavy
taxes, are advantages : and your theory will meet with
success, inasmuch as you are able to support it by undeniable
facts. But we on our part cannot allow ourselves to look to
a cause and to its merely proximate effect. We know that
this effect becomes a curse in its turn. To judge of a men.
sure, we must follow it out through all its resulting links,
till we arrive at the ultimate effect." _ _ _

As a specimen of M. Bastiat's method of tracing
the "links," we select the disputed point of the
Balance of Trade. M. Lestihoudois, a French senator,
states it "as a fact of great importance," that the
imports of France are continually exceeding the
exports.• In 1842, they did so to the extent of two
hundred millions of francs—ergo, says M. Lestibou-
dois, "rrery year we gire two hundred millions to
foreigners."
M. Itastiat puts this down by the following plain
talc, bonlijule derived from the books of a mercantile
friend. M. T— dispatched a ship from liavrc trr
the United States, laden with French merchandise to
the value of 200,000 francs. On its arrival it was
found that charges and duty increased the amount
to 280,000 francs. It was sold at a profit of,
say 40 per cent., and produced a total of
320,000 francs, which the consignee converted
into cotton. In its turn it would have to pay
charges and duty, amounting, say, to a total of 312,000
francs. According to M. Lcstiboudois' statistics the
transaction would stand thus :
Export of French goods 200,000 francs.
Import of American do. 3.52,000 „

Gift of France to America 152,000 „
M. T—'s ledger, however, shows two entries to
the endit of profit and loss, of 40,000 and 70,000
francs, being his net gains by the two shipments.
In a succession of similar examples, reiterated in
every shape and variety, M. Itastiat explodes the
fallacies of protection; and we should be doing injus-
tice to Mr. Porter did we omit stating that his notes
ably perform the same good office. One of them is
striking. It is well known that in this country there
is an excusable reluctance to relax our tariff in favour
of countries which are tardy in relaxing their imposts
on British commerce. M. Bastiat has an allegory show-
ing that whatever is right in itself should be done ir-
respective of consequences; but we may first quote Mr.
Porter's figures. In the year previously to 1831 the
entire value of our shipments to France was half a
million. Since then we have relaxed in favour of
France, although France has rather been more strin-
gent with us ; and yet the result is that our ship-
ments now exceed three millions.
Mr. Porter further illustrates the absurdity of
stipulating for formal equivalents by the following
example :
' Will any one tell me,' said a noble lord, during a re-
, cent great debate, ' will any one tell me, that when he buys
and wears a pair of French boots, he does not encourage
French labour at the expense of his own countrymen, whom
he deprives of employment One would really think that
the fallacy involved an this question is too transparent to
deceive any one. Let us trace the operation. M. Lehocq,
of Boulogne, sends to London a pair of boots, in the making
of which have been employed French tanners, carriers, ant
boot-makers. The boots are sold in London, and paid for in
coined money. This coin does not find its way to Bou-
logne, but M. Lehocq draws a bill upon his London agent,
and for this bill he obtains five-franc pieces from a banker of
Boulogne, who sells the bill to a coppersmith having to pay
a London merchant for metal sent to him from this country.
The bill, it its maturity, is discharged from the money paid
by the buyer of the boots, M. Lehocq having paid the
leather merchant and his workmen with the money he re-
ceived from the Boulogne banker. It is net, of course, pre-
tended that this is the precise course pursued; but a course
equivalent to it is followed in ninety-nine cases out of a
hu-dred. Let us, however, suppose what, according to the
noble lord's position, is the very worst that can happen ;
viz., that M. Lehocq receives the identical coin given in
payment for his boots. This no further alters the operation
than by complicating it in some slight degree. Whence has
the coin been obtained ? England has no mines of gold,
and must purchase the precious metals which it needs, with
its :iron, its coals, its cotton, linen and woollen manufac-
tures ; and having need of more gold by reason of the pay-
ment made to M. Lehocq, will send a pier* of linen to Brazil,
in order to purchase it. Will any one tell me that in buy-
ing and wearing M. Lehocq's boots I have not given employ-
ment to the copper-miner and smelter in the first case, or to
the linen-weaver in the alternative case?' "
And now for M. Bastiat's apologue on
RECIPROCITY.
" There were, it does not signify how situated, two towns,
Stulta and Puera. At a great expense they construeted a
road ining. the two towns. When it was made, Stulta
amid, 'Puma is inundating me with her produce ; I must con-
eider about it. In consequence, she created and paid a body
of preventives, so called because their business was to put
obstacles in the way of the arrival of goods from Puera.
Soon afterwousis, Puera bad her body of preventives as well.
" After the lapse of several sentunes, intelligence having
made great progress, Puns became sufficiently enlightened
to see that these reciprocal obstacles were only reciprocal
annoyances. She sent • thatist to Stulta, whose speech,
stripe of its official phraseology was as follows :
" ' We coastracted • Iced, and now we pat hindrances on
this lathe road. This is shard ; we bad better have left
=as they wen ; we should not then have heel to pay for
a wed, and then he the impediments which we have
plastid there. I have cow to propose to you, in the nano
of PRET% not that we should at awe !MOTS the °Wades
which we have mutually opposed to each other: to do so,
would be acting on principle, and we despise principle as

much as you do, but to lessen seine few of these obstacles,
taking care to balance equ illy our respective sacrifices, in so
doing.'
" Thus spoke the diplomatist. Shiite asked time for re-
flection. She consulted her manufacturers and agriculturists
by turn. At last, at the end of several years, she declared
that the negotiations were broken off.
" Alter this news, the inhabitants of Puera held a council.
An old man (who had been always suspected of having been
secretly bought by Stulta) rose and said :
" ' The obstacles created by Stulta injure our males ; it is a
misfortune • those which we have created ourselves injure
our purehaies ' • this is another misfortune. We cart do no-
thing in the first case, but the second depends upon our-
selves. Let us relieve ourselves from the one, although wo
cannot be quit of both. Let us abolish our preventive ser-
vice, without requiring Stulta to do the same. At some
future day she will doubtless know her own interests
better.'

"Another councillor, a practical man, free from principles,
and who had thriven on the experieuce of hi, ancestors, ex-
claimed, ' Do not let us listen to this dreamer, this theorist,
this innovator, this utopist, this economist, this Stultamist,
We should be ruined if the hindrances ou the road between
Stulta and Purrs were not equalised and balanced. There
would be more difficulty in going than in coming, in export-
ing than in importing. We shoutd be, relatively to State,
in the same condition of inferiority which Havre, Nantes,
Bordeaux, Lisbon, London, Hamburg, and New Orleans
hold with respect to the towns placed at the sources of the
Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, the Tagus, the Thames, the
Elbe, and the Mississippi, for it is more difficult to ascend
rivers than to descend them. (A voice : ' The towns at the
mouth of rivers have been more flourishing than those
situated at their sources.') It is impossible. (The same voice:
' But it is so.') Well then, they have prospered in opposi-
tion to all rules.' So conclusive a reason made the assembly
waver. The orator settled their convictions by speaking of
national independence, national honour, national dignity,
and national industry, of the inundation of foreign produce,
of taxes, and of ruinous competition; in short, he carried
the vote for the continuance of the obstacles; and, if you are
curious, I can still take you to certain countries where you
may see with your own eyes the road maker and the officer
of the preventive service working together on the best of
terms, by order of the same legislative assembly, and at the
expense of the same tax•payers, the one to clear the road, the
other to put impediments upon it."
We may take other instances of a like kind, to
show how the subject is enlivened: