Gentlemen,—You are on the right road. You reject abstract theories, and have little consideration for cheapness and plenty Your chief care is the interest of the producer. You desire to emancipate3 him from external competition, and reserve the national market for national industry.
We are about to offer you an admirable opportunity of applying your—what shall we call it? your theory? No; nothing is more deceptive4 than theory; your doctrine5? your system? your principle? but you dislike doctrines6, you abhor7 systems, and as for principles, you deny that there are any in social economy: we shall say, then, your practice, your practice without theory and without principle.
We are suffering from the intolerable competition of a foreign rival, placed, it would seem, in a condition so far superior to ours for the production of light, that he absolutely inundates8 our national market with it at a price fabulously9 reduced. The moment he shows himself, our trade leaves us—all consumers apply to him; and a branch of native industry, having countless10 ramifications11, is all at once rendered completely stagnant12. This rival, who is no other than the Sun, wages war to the knife against us, and we suspect that he has been raised up by perfidious13 Albion (good policy as times go); inasmuch as he displays towards that haughty14 island a circumspection15 with which he dispenses16 in our case.
What we pray for is, that it may please you to pass a law ordering the shutting up of all windows, sky-lights, dormer-windows, outside and inside shutters17, curtains, blinds, bull's-eyes; in a word, of all openings, holes, chinks, clefts18, and fissures19, by or through which the light of the sun has been in use to enter houses, to the prejudice of the meritorious20 manufactures with which we flatter ourselves we have accommodated our country,—a country which, in gratitude21, ought not to abandon us now to a strife22 so unequal.
We trust, Gentlemen, that you will not regard this our request as a satire23, or refuse it without at least previously24 hearing the reasons which we have to urge in its support.
And, first, if you shut up as much as possible all access to natural light, and create a demand for artificial light, which of our French manufactures will not be encouraged by it?
If more tallow is consumed, then there must be more oxen and sheep; and, consequently, we shall behold25 the multiplication26 of artificial meadows, meat, wool, hides, and, above all, manure27, which is the basis and foundation of all agricultural wealth.
If more oil is consumed, then we shall have an extended cultivation28 of the poppy, of the olive, and of rape29. These rich and exhausting plants will come at the right time to enable us to avail ourselves of the increased fertility which the rearing of additional cattle will impart to our lands.
Our heaths will be covered with resinous30 trees. Numerous swarms31 of bees will, on the mountains, gather perfumed treasures, now wasting their fragrance32 on the desert air, like the flowers from which they emanate33. No branch of agriculture but will then exhibit a cheering development.
The same remark applies to navigation. Thousands of vessels34 will proceed to the whale fishery; and, in a short time, we shall possess a navy capable of maintaining the honour of France, and gratifying the patriotic35 aspirations36 of your petitioners37, the undersigned candlemakers and others.
But what shall we say of the manufacture of articles de Paris? Henceforth you will behold gildings, bronzes, crystals, in candlesticks, in lamps, in lustres, in candelabra, shining forth38, in spacious39 warerooms, compared with which those of the present day can be regarded but as mere40 shops.
No poor resinier from his heights on the seacoast, no coalminer from the depth of his sable41 gallery, but will rejoice in higher wages and increased prosperity.
Only have the goodness to reflect, Gentlemen, and you will be convinced that there is, perhaps, no Frenchman, from the wealthy coalmaster to the humblest vender43 of lucifer matches, whose lot will not be ameliorated by the success of this our petition.
We foresee your objections, Gentlemen, but we know that you can oppose to us none but such as you have picked up from the effete44 works of the partisans45 of free trade. We defy you to utter a single word against us which will not instantly rebound46 against yourselves and your entire policy.
You will tell us that, if we gain by the protection which we seek, the country will lose by it, because the consumer must bear the loss.
We answer:
You have ceased to have any right to invoke47 the interest of the consumer; for, whenever his interest is found opposed to that of the producer, you sacrifice the former. You have done so for the purpose of encouraging labour and increasing employment. For the same reason you should do so again.
You have yourselves obviated48 this objection. When you are told that the consumer is interested in the free importation of iron, coal, corn, textile fabrics49—yes, you reply, but the producer is interested in their exclusion50. Well, be it so;—if consumers are interested in the free admission of natural light, the producers of artificial light are equally interested in its prohibition51.
But, again, you may say that the producer and consumer are identical. If the manufacturer gain by protection, he will make the agriculturist also a gainer; and if agriculture prosper42, it will open a vent52 to manufactures. Very well; if you confer upon us the monopoly of furnishing light during the day,—first of all, we shall purchase quantities of tallow, coals, oils, resinous substances, wax, alcohol—besides silver, iron, bronze, crystal—to carry on our manufactures; and then we, and those who furnish us with such commodities, having become rich will consume a great deal, and impart prosperity to all the other branches of our national industry.
If you urge that the light of the sun is a gratuitous53 gift of nature, and that to reject such gifts is to reject wealth itself under pretence54 of encouraging the means of acquiring it, we would caution you against giving a death-blow to your own policy. Remember that hitherto you have always repelled55 foreign products, because they approximate more nearly than home products to the character of gratuitous gifts. To comply with the exactions of other monopolists, you have only half a motive56; and to repulse57 us simply because we stand on a stronger vantage-ground than others would be to adopt the equation, + x + = -; in other words, it would be to heap absurdity58 upon absurdity.
Nature and human labour co-operate in various proportions (depending on countries and climates) in the production of commodities. The part which nature executes is always gratuitous; it is the part executed by human labour which constitutes value, and is paid for.
If a Lisbon orange sells for half the price of a Paris orange, it is because natural, and consequently gratuitous, heat does for the one, what artificial, and therefore expensive, heat must do for the other.
When an orange comes to us from Portugal, we may conclude that it is furnished in part gratuitously59, in part for an onerous60 consideration; in other words, it comes to us at half-price as compared with those of Paris.
Now, it is precisely61 the gratuitous half (pardon the word) which we contend should be excluded. You say, How can natural labour sustain competition with foreign labour, when the former has all the work to do, and the latter only does one-half, the sun supplying the remainder? But if this half being gratuitous, determines you to exclude competition, how should the whole, being gratuitous, induce you to admit competition? If you were consistent, you would, while excluding as hurtful to native industry what is half gratuitous, exclude a fortiori and with double zeal62, that which is altogether gratuitous.
Once more, when products such as coal, iron, corn, or textile fabrics, are sent us from abroad, and we can acquire them with less labour than if we made them ourselves, the difference is a free gift conferred upon us. The gift is more or less considerable in proportion as the difference is more or less great. It amounts to a quarter, a half, or three-quarters of the value of the product, when the foreigner only asks us for three-fourths, a half, or a quarter of the price we should otherwise pay. It is as perfect and complete as it can be, when the donor63 (like the sun in furnishing us with light) asks us for nothing. The question, and we ask it formally, is this, Do you desire for our country the benefit of gratuitous consumption, or the pretended advantages of onerous production? Make your choice, but be logical; for as long as you exclude as you do, coal, iron, com, foreign fabrics, in proportion as their price approximates to zero, what inconsistency would it be to admit the light of the sun, the price of which is already at zero during the entire day!
点击收听单词发音
1 lighting | |
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 emancipate | |
v.解放,解除 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 deceptive | |
adj.骗人的,造成假象的,靠不住的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 doctrines | |
n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 );教义;学说;(政府政策的)正式声明 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 abhor | |
v.憎恶;痛恨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 inundates | |
v.淹没( inundate的第三人称单数 );(洪水般地)涌来;充满;给予或交予(太多事物)使难以应付 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 fabulously | |
难以置信地,惊人地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 ramifications | |
n.结果,后果( ramification的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 stagnant | |
adj.不流动的,停滞的,不景气的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 perfidious | |
adj.不忠的,背信弃义的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 haughty | |
adj.傲慢的,高傲的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 circumspection | |
n.细心,慎重 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 dispenses | |
v.分配,分与;分配( dispense的第三人称单数 );施与;配(药) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 shutters | |
百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 ); (照相机的)快门 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 clefts | |
n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 );裂口;cleave的过去式和过去分词;进退维谷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 fissures | |
n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 );裂伤;分歧;分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 meritorious | |
adj.值得赞赏的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 satire | |
n.讽刺,讽刺文学,讽刺作品 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 multiplication | |
n.增加,增多,倍增;增殖,繁殖;乘法 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 manure | |
n.粪,肥,肥粒;vt.施肥 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 cultivation | |
n.耕作,培养,栽培(法),养成 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 rape | |
n.抢夺,掠夺,强奸;vt.掠夺,抢夺,强奸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 resinous | |
adj.树脂的,树脂质的,树脂制的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 swarms | |
蜂群,一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 fragrance | |
n.芬芳,香味,香气 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 emanate | |
v.发自,来自,出自 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 vessels | |
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 patriotic | |
adj.爱国的,有爱国心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 aspirations | |
强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 ); 志向; 发送气音; 发 h 音 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 petitioners | |
n.请求人,请愿人( petitioner的名词复数 );离婚案原告 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 spacious | |
adj.广阔的,宽敞的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 sable | |
n.黑貂;adj.黑色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 prosper | |
v.成功,兴隆,昌盛;使成功,使昌隆,繁荣 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 vender | |
n.小贩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 effete | |
adj.无生产力的,虚弱的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 partisans | |
游击队员( partisan的名词复数 ); 党人; 党羽; 帮伙 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 rebound | |
v.弹回;n.弹回,跳回 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 invoke | |
v.求助于(神、法律);恳求,乞求 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 obviated | |
v.避免,消除(贫困、不方便等)( obviate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 fabrics | |
织物( fabric的名词复数 ); 布; 构造; (建筑物的)结构(如墙、地面、屋顶):质地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 exclusion | |
n.拒绝,排除,排斥,远足,远途旅行 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 prohibition | |
n.禁止;禁令,禁律 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 vent | |
n.通风口,排放口;开衩;vt.表达,发泄 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 gratuitous | |
adj.无偿的,免费的;无缘无故的,不必要的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 pretence | |
n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 repelled | |
v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 );使厌恶;排斥;推开 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 motive | |
n.动机,目的;adv.发动的,运动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 repulse | |
n.击退,拒绝;vt.逐退,击退,拒绝 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 absurdity | |
n.荒谬,愚蠢;谬论 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 gratuitously | |
平白 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 onerous | |
adj.繁重的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 donor | |
n.捐献者;赠送人;(组织、器官等的)供体 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |