For my own part, I see the world, Paris especially, peopled with Deciuses.
Open the thousand volumes, the thousand newspapers of all sorts and sizes, which the Parisian press vomits2 forth3 every day on the country—are they not all the work of minor4 saints?
How vividly5 they depict6 the vices7 of the times! How touching8 the tenderness they display for the masses! How liberally they invite the rich to share with the poor, if not the poor to share with the rich! How many plans of social reforms, social ameliorations, and social organizations! What shallow writer fails to devote himself to the wellbeing of the working classes? We have only to contribute a few shillings to procure9 them leisure to deliver themselves up to their humane10 lucubrations.
And then they declare against the egotism and individualism of our age!
There is nothing which they do not pretend to enlist11 in the service of the working classes—there is positively12 no exception, not even the Customhouse. You fancy, perhaps, that the Customhouse is merely an instrument of taxation13, like the octroi or the toll-bar? Nothing of the kind. It is essentially14 an institution for promoting the march of civilization, fraternity, and equality. What would you be at? It is the fashion to introduce, or affect to introduce, sentiment and sentimentalism everywhere, even into the toll-gatherer's booth.
The Customhouse, we must allow, has a very singular machinery15 for realizing philanthropical aspirations16.
It includes an army of directors, sub-directors, inspectors17, sub-inspectors, comptrollers, examiners, heads of departments, clerks, supernumeraries, aspirant-supernumeraries, not to speak of the officers of the active service; and the object of all this complicated machinery is to exercise over the industry of the people a negative action, which is summed up in the word obstruct18.
Observe, I do not say that the object is to tax, but to obstruct. To prevent, not acts which are repugnant to good morals or public order, but transactions which are in themselves not only harmless, but fitted to maintain peace and union among nations.
And yet the human race is so flexible and elastic19 that it always surmounts20 these obstructions21. And then we hear of the labour market being glutted22.
If you hinder a people from obtaining its subsistence from abroad, it will produce it at home. The labour is greater and more painful, but subsistence must be had. If you hinder a man from traversing the valley, he must cross the hills. The road is longer and more difficult, but he must get to his journey's end.
This is lamentable23, but we come now to what is ludicrous. When the law has thus created obstacles, and when, in order to overcome them, society has diverted a corresponding amount of labour from other employments, you are no longer permitted to demand a reform. If you point to the obstacle, you are told of the amount of labour to which it has given employment. And if you rejoin that this labour is not created, but displaced, you are answered, in the words of the Esprit Public, "The impoverishment24 alone is certain and immediate25; as to our enrichment, it is more than problematical."
This reminds me of a Chinese story, which I shall relate to you.
There were in China two large towns, called Tchin and Tchan.
A magnificent canal united them. The Emperor thought fit to order enormous blocks of stone to be thrown into it, for the purpose of rendering26 it useless.
"Son of Heaven! this is a mistake."
To which the Emperor replied:
"Kouang! you talk nonsense."
I give you only the substance of their conversation.
And Kouang opened his eyes, and looked.
And he saw at some distance from the canal a multitude of men at work. Some were excavating30, others were filling up hollows, levelling, and paving; and the mandarin, who was very knowing, said to himself, They are making a highway.
When other three months had elapsed, the Emperor again sent for Kouang, and said to him:
"Look!"
And Kouang looked.
And he saw the road completed, and from one end of it to the other he saw here and there inns for travellers erected31. Crowds of pedestrians32, carts, palanquins, came and went, and innumerable Chinese, overcome with fatigue33, carried backwards34 and forwards heavy burdens from Tchin to Tchan, and from Tchan to Tchin; and Kouang said to himself, It is the destruction of the canal which gives employment to these poor people. But the idea never struck him that their labour was simply diverted from other employments.
Three months more passed, and the Emperor said to Kouang: "Look!"
And Kouang looked.
And he saw that the hostelries were full of travellers, and that to supply their wants there were grouped around them butchers' and bakers35' stalls, shops for the sale of edible36 birds' nests, etc. He also saw that, the artisans having need of clothing, there had settled among them tailors, shoemakers, and those who sold parasols and fans; and as they could not sleep in the open air, even in the Celestial Empire, there were also masons, carpenters, and slaters. Then there were officers of police, judges, fakirs; in a word, a town with its faubourgs had risen round each hostelry.
And the Emperor asked Kouang what he thought of all this. And Kouang said that he never could have imagined that the destruction of a canal could have provided employment for so many people; for the thought never struck him that this was not employment created, but labour diverted from other employments, and that men would have eaten and drank in passing along the canal as well as in passing along the highroad.
However, to the astonishment37 of the Chinese, the Son of Heaven at length died and was buried.
His successor sent for Kouang, and ordered him to have the canal cleared out and restored.
And Kouang said to the new Emperor:
"Son of Heaven! you commit a blunder."
And the Emperor replied:
"Kouang, you talk nonsense."
But Kouang persisted, and said: "Sire, what is your object?"
"My object is to facilitate the transit38 of goods and passengers between Tchin and Tchan, to render carriage less expensive, in order that the people may have tea and clothing cheaper."
But Kouang was ready with his answer. He had received the night before several numbers of the Moniteur Industriel, a Chinese newspaper. Knowing his lesson well, he asked and obtained permission to reply, and after having prostrated39 himself nine times, he said:
"Sire, your object is, by increased facility of transit, to reduce the price of articles of consumption, and bring them within reach of the people; and to effect that, you begin by taking away from them all the employment to which the destruction of the canal had given rise. Sire, in political economy, nominal40 cheapness-" The Emperor: "I believe you are repeating by rote41." Kouang: "True, Sire; and it will be better to read what I have to say." So, producing the Esprit Public, he read as follows: "In political economy, the nominal cheapness of articles of consumption is only a secondary question. The problem is to establish an equilibrium42 between the price of labour and that of the means of subsistence. The abundance of labour constitutes the wealth of nations; and the best economic system is that which supplies the people with the greatest amount of employment. The question is not whether it is better to pay four or eight cash for a cup of tea, or five or ten tales for a shirt. These are puerilities unworthy of a thinking mind. Nobody disputes your proposition. The question is whether it is better to pay dearer for a commodity you want to buy, and have, through the abundance of employment and the higher price of labour, the means of acquiring it; or whether, it is better to limit the sources of employment, and with them the mass of the national production—to transport, by improved means of transit, the objects of consumption, cheaper, it is true, but taking away at the same time from classes of our population the means of purchasing these objects even at their reduced price."
Seeing the Emperor still unconvinced, Kouang added, "Sire, deign43 to give me your attention. I have still another quotation44 from the Moniteur Industriel to bring under your notice."
But the Emperor said:
"I don't require your Chinese journals to enable me to find out that to create obstacles is to divert and misapply labour. But that is not my mission. Go and clear out the canal; and we shall reform the Customhouse afterwards."
And Kouang went away tearing his beard, and appealing to his God, "O Fo! take pity on thy people; for we have now got an Emperor of the English school, and I see clearly that in a short time we shall be in want of everything, for we shall no longer require to do anything."
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1
cupidity
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| n.贪心，贪财 | |
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2
vomits
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| 呕吐物( vomit的名词复数 ) | |
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3
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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4
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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5
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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6
depict
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| vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述 | |
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7
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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8
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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9
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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10
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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11
enlist
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| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
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12
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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13
taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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14
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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15
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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16
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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17
inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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18
obstruct
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| v.阻隔，阻塞(道路、通道等)；n.阻碍物，障碍物 | |
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19
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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20
surmounts
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| 战胜( surmount的第三人称单数 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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21
obstructions
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| n.障碍物( obstruction的名词复数 )；阻碍物；阻碍；阻挠 | |
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22
glutted
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| v.吃得过多( glut的过去式和过去分词 )；（对胃口、欲望等）纵情满足；使厌腻；塞满 | |
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23
lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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24
impoverishment
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| n.贫穷，穷困；贫化 | |
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25
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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26
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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27
Mandarin
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| n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的 | |
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28
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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29
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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30
excavating
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| v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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31
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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32
pedestrians
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| n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
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33
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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34
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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35
bakers
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| n.面包师( baker的名词复数 )；面包店；面包店店主；十三 | |
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36
edible
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| n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的 | |
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37
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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38
transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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39
prostrated
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的过去式和过去分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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40
nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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41
rote
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| n.死记硬背，生搬硬套 | |
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42
equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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43
deign
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| v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事) | |
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44
quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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