Sire,
When we observe these free-trade advocates boldly-disseminating their doctrines2, and maintaining that the right of buying and selling is implied in the right of property (as has been urged by M. Billault in the true style of a special pleader), we may be permitted to feel serious alarm as to the fate of our national labour; for what would Frenchmen make of their heads and their hands were they left to their own resources?
The administration which you have honoured with your confidence has turned its attention to this grave state of things, and has sought in its wisdom to discover a species of protection which may be substituted for that which appears to be getting out of repute. They propose a law to prohibit your faithful SUBJECTS FROM USING THEIR RIGHT HANDS.
Sire, we beseech4 you not to do us the injustice5 of supposing that we have adopted lightly and without due deliberation a measure which at first sight may appear somewhat whimsical. A profound study of the system of protection has taught us this syllogism6, upon which the whole doctrine1 reposes7:
The more men work, the richer they become;
The more difficulties there are to be overcome, the more work;
Ergo, the more difficulties there are to be overcome, the richer they become.
In fact, what is protection, if it is not an ingenious application of this reasoning—reasoning so close and conclusive8 as to balk9 the subtlety10 of M. Billault himself?
Let us personify the country, and regard it as a collective being with thirty millions of mouths, and, as a natural consequence, with sixty millions of hands. Here is a man who makes a French clock, which he can exchange in Belgium for ten hundredweights of iron. But we tell him to make the iron himself. He replies, "I cannot, it would occupy too much of my time; I should produce only five hundredweights of iron during the time I am occupied in making a clock." Utopian dreamer, we reply, that is the very reason why we forbid you to make the clock, and order you to make the iron. Don't you see we are providing employment for you?
Sire, it cannot have escaped your sagacity that this is exactly the same thing in effect as if we were to say to the country, "Work with your left hand, and not with the right."
To create obstacles in order to furnish labour with an opportunity of developing itself, was the principle of the old system of restriction11, and it is the principle likewise of the new system which is now being inaugurated. Sire, to regulate industry in this way is not to innovate12, but to persevere13.
As regards the efficiency of the measure, it is incontestable. It is difficult, much more difficult than one would suppose, to do with the left hand what we have been accustomed to do with the right. You will be convinced of this, Sire, if you will condescend14 to make trial of our system in a process which must be familiar to you; as, for example, in shuffling15 a pack of cards. For this reason, we flatter ourselves that we are opening to labour an unlimited16 career.
When workmen in all departments of industry are thus confined to the use of the left hand, we may figure to ourselves, Sire, the immense number of people that will be wanted to supply the present consumption, assuming it to continue invariable, as we always do when we compare two different systems of production with one another. So prodigious17 a demand for manual labour cannot fail to induce a great rise of wages, and pauperism18 will disappear as if by enchantment19.
Sire, your paternal20 heart will rejoice to think that this new law of ours will extend its benefits to that interesting part of the community whose destinies engage all your solicitude21. What is the present destiny of women in France? The bolder and more hardy22 sex drives them insensibly out of every department of industry.
Formerly23, they had the resource of the lottery24 offices. These offices have been shut up by a pitiless philanthropy, and on what pretext25? "To save the money of the poor." Alas26! the poor man never obtained for a piece of money enjoyments27 as sweet and innocent as those afforded by the mysterious urn3 of fortune. Deprived of all the enjoyments of life, when he, fortnight after fortnight, put a day's wages on the quaterne, how many delicious hours did he afford his family! Hope was always present at his fireside. The garret was peopled with illusions. The wife hoped to rival her neighbours in her style of living; the son saw himself the drum-major of a regiment28; and the daughter fancied herself led to the altar by her betrothed29.
"C'est quelque chose encor que de faire un beau rêve!"
The lottery was the poetry of the poor, and we have lost it.
The lottery gone, what means have we of providing for our protegees? Tobacco-shops and the post-office.
Tobacco, all right; its use progresses, thanks to the distinguees habits, which august examples have skilfully30 introduced among our fashionable youth.
The post-office!... We shall say nothing of it, as we mean to make it the subject of a special report.
Except, then, the sale of tobacco, what employment remains32 for your female subjects? Embroidery33, network, and sewing,—melancholy34 resources, which the barbarous science of mechanics goes on limiting more and more.
But the moment your new law comes into operation, the moment right hands are amputated or tied up, the face of everything will be changed. Twenty times, thirty times, a greater number of embroiderers, polishers, laundresses, seamstresses, milliners, shirtmakers, will not be sufficient to supply the wants of the kingdom, always assuming, as before, the consumption to be the same.
This assumption may very likely be disputed by some cold theorists, for dress and everything else will then be dearer. The same thing may be said of the iron which we extract from our own mines, compared with the iron we could obtain in exchange for our wines. This argument, therefore, does not tell more against gaucherie than against protection, for this very dearness is the effect and the sign of an excess of work and exertion35, which is precisely36 the basis upon which, in both cases, we contend that the prosperity of the working classes is founded.
Yes, we shall be favoured soon with a touching37 picture of the prosperity of the millinery business. What movement! What activity! What life! Every dress will occupy a hundred fingers, instead of ten. No young woman will be idle, and we have no need, Sire, to indicate to your perspicacity38 the moral consequences of this great revolution. Not only will there be more young women employed, but each of them will earn more, for they will be unable to supply the demand; and if competition shall again show itself, it will not be among the seamstresses who make the dresses, but among the fine ladies who wear them.
You must see then, Sire, that our proposal is not only in strict conformity39 with the economic traditions of the government, but is in itself essentially40 moral and popular.
To appreciate its effects, let us suppose the law passed and in operation,—let us transport ourselves in imagination into the future,—and assume the new system to have been in operation for twenty years. Idleness is banished41 from the country; ease and concord42, contentment and morality, have, with employment, been introduced into every family—no more poverty, no more vice43. The left hand being very visible in all work, employment will be abundant, and the remuneration adequate. Everything is arranged on this footing, and the workshops in consequence are full. If, in such circumstances, Sire, Utopian dreamers were all at once to agitate44 for the right hand being again set free, would they not throw the whole country into alarm? Would such a pretended reform not overturn the whole existing state of things? Then our system must be good, since it could not be put an end to without universal suffering.
And yet we confess we have the melancholy presentiment45 (so great is human perversity) that some day there will be formed an association for right-hand freedom.
We think that already we hear the free Dexterities, assembled in the Salle Montesquieu, holding this language:—
"Good people, you think yourselves richer because the use of one of your hands has been denied you; you take account only of the additional employment which that brings you. But consider also the high prices which result from it, and the forced diminution46 of consumption. That measure has not made capital more abundant, and capital is the fund from which wages are paid. The streams which flow from that great reservoir are directed towards other channels; but their volume is not enlarged; and the ultimate effect, as far as the nation at large is concerned, is the loss of all that wealth which millions of right hands could produce, compared with what is now produced by an equal number of left hands. At the risk of some inevitable47 derangements, then, let us form an association, and enforce our right to work with both hands."
Fortunately, Sire, an association has been formed in defence of left-hand labour, and the Sinistristes will have no difficulty in demolishing48 all these generalities, suppositions, abstractions, reveries, and utopias. They have only to exhume49 the Moniteur Industriel for 1846, and they will find ready-made arguments against freedom Of trade, which refute so admirably all that has been urged in favour of right-hand liberty that it is only necessary to substitute the one word for the other.
"The Parisian free-trade league has no doubt of securing the concurrence50 of the workmen. But the workmen are no longer men who can be led by the nose. They have their eyes open, and they know political economy better than our professors. Free trade, they say, will deprive us of employment, and labour is our wealth. With employment, with abundant employment, the price of commodities never places them beyond our reach. Without employment, were bread at a halfpenny a pound, the workman would die of hunger. Now your doctrines, instead of increasing the present amount of employment, would diminish it, that is to say, would reduce us to poverty.
"When there are too many commodities in the market, their price falls, no doubt. But as wages always fall when commodities are cheap, the result is that, instead of being in a situation to purchase more, we are no longer able to buy anything. It is when commodities are cheap that the workman is worst off."
It will not be amiss for the Sinistristes to intermingle some menaces with their theories. Here is a model for them:—"What! you desire to substitute right-hand for left-hand labour, and thus force down, or perhaps annihilate51 wages, the sole resource of the great bulk of the nation!
"And, at a time when a deficient52 harvest is imposing53 painful privations on the workman, you wish to disquiet54 him as to his future, and render him more accessible to bad advice, and more ready to abandon that wise line of conduct which has hitherto distinguished55 him."
After such conclusive reasoning as this, we entertain a confident hope, Sire, that if the battle is once begun, the left hand will come off victorious56.
Perhaps an association may be formed for the purpose of inquiring whether the right hand and the left are not both wrong, and whether a third hand cannot be found to conciliate everybody.
After having depicted57 the Dexteristes as seduced58 by the apparent liberality of a principle, the soundness of which experience has not yet verified and the Sinistristes as maintaining the position they have gained, they go on to say:—
"We deny that there is any third position which it is possible to take up in the midst of the battle! Is it not evident that the workmen have to defend themselves at one and the same time against those who desire to change nothing in the present situation, because they find their account in it, and against those who dream of an economic revolution of which they have calculated neither the direction nor the extent?"
We cannot, however, conceal59 from your Majesty60 that our project has a vulnerable side; for it may be said that twenty years hence left hands will be as skilful31 as right hands are at present, and that then you could no longer trust to gaucherie for an increase of national employment.
To that we reply, that according to the most learned physicians the left side of the body has a natural feebleness, which is quite reassuring61 as regards the labour of the future.
Should your Majesty consent to pass the measure now proposed, a great principle will be established: All wealth proceeds from the intensity62 of labour. It will be easy for us to extend and vary the applications of this principle. We may decree, for example, that it shall no longer be permissible63 to work but with the foot; for this is no more impossible (as we have seen) than to extract iron from the mud of the Seine. You see then, Sire, that the means of increasing national labour can never fail. And after all has been tried, we have still the practically ex-haustless resource of amputation64.
To conclude, Sire, if this report were not intended for publicity65, we should take the liberty of soliciting66 your attention to the great influence which measures of this kind are calculated to confer on men in power. But that is a matter which we must reserve for a private audience.
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1
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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urn
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| n.（有座脚的）瓮；坟墓；骨灰瓮 | |
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beseech
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| v.祈求，恳求 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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syllogism
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| n.演绎法，三段论法 | |
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reposes
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的第三人称单数 ) | |
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conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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balk
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| n.大方木料；v.妨碍；不愿前进或从事某事 | |
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subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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restriction
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| n.限制，约束 | |
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innovate
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| v.革新，变革，创始 | |
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persevere
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| v.坚持，坚忍，不屈不挠 | |
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condescend
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| v.俯就，屈尊；堕落，丢丑 | |
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shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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pauperism
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| n.有被救济的资格，贫困 | |
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enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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lottery
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| n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事 | |
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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enjoyments
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| 愉快( enjoyment的名词复数 )； 令人愉快的事物； 享有； 享受 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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embroidery
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| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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perspicacity
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| n. 敏锐, 聪明, 洞察力 | |
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conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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concord
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| n.和谐；协调 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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agitate
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| vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动 | |
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presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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demolishing
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| v.摧毁( demolish的现在分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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exhume
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| v.掘出，挖掘 | |
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concurrence
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| n.同意；并发 | |
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annihilate
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| v.使无效；毁灭；取消 | |
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deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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disquiet
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| n.担心，焦虑 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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56
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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57
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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seduced
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| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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permissible
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| adj.可允许的，许可的 | |
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amputation
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| n.截肢 | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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soliciting
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| v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求 | |
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