own interests touch us little; we only think of yours. Thanks to this
wise measure, agriculture prospers; we proprietors shall become rich,
which will, at the same time, put it in our power to support a great
deal of labour, and to pay you good wages; without it, we shall be
reduced to misery--and what will become of you? The island will be
inundated with provisions and importations from abroad; your vessels
will be always afloat--what a national calamity! Abundance, it is true,
will reign all round you, but will you share in it? Do not imagine that
your wages will keep up and be raised, because the foreigner will only
augment the number of those who overwhelm you with their competition.
Who can say that they will not take it into their heads to give you
their produce for nothing? In this case, having neither labour nor
wages, you will perish of want in the midst of abundance. Believe
us; accept our regulations with gratitude. Increase and multiply.
The produce which will remain in the island, over and above what is
necessary for our own consumption, will be given to you in exchange for
your labour, which by this means you will be always secure of. Above
all, do not believe that the question now in debate is between you and
us, or one in which your liberty and your property are at stake.
Never listen to those who tell you so. Consider it as certain that the
question is between you and the foreigner--this barbarous foreigner--and
who evidently wishes to speculate upon you; making you perfidious
proffers of intercourse, which you are free either to accept or to
refuse.'
It is not improbable that such a discourse, suitably seasoned with
sophisms upon cash, the balance of trade, national labour, agriculture
encouraged by the state, the prospect of a war, &c., &c., would obtain
the greatest success, and that the oppressive decree would' obtain the
sanction of the oppressed themselves, if they were consulted. This has
been, and will be so again.*
* The ease with which the body of the people--the consumers--
are deceived by statements and arguments such as are given
in the text is remarkable. The principal reason, perhaps,
is, that men are disposed at first to regard themselves as
producers rather than as consumers. They imagine that the
advantages of Protection, if applied to their own case,
would be incontestable; and, being unable consistently to
deny that their neighbours are equally entitled to the same
favour, a general clamour for Protection against foreign
competition arises. While they fail to perceive the
absurdity of universal Protection and its fallacy, or that
it would be more for their interests to be able to dispose
of a larger quantity of their productions, though perhaps at
a reduced cost, than a smaller quantity in a market
narrowed, as it must be, by the Protection which it
receives.
However, the true position of the case is now, we hope, firmly
established in England, and this is chiefly due to the recent able,
full, and free discussions which have resulted in our existing
Free-trade system. And we confidently anticipate the day when the people
of the Continent, and of America, will, through the same processes of
reasoning and reflection, and influenced by our example, arrive at the
same result as ourselves.
But the prejudices of proprietors and labourers do not change the
nature of things. The result will be, a population miserable, destitute,
ignorant, ill-conditioned, thinned by want, illness, and vice. The
result will then be, the melancholy shipwreck, in the public mind, of
all correct notions of right, of property, of liberty, and of the true
functions of the state.
And what I should like much to be able to show here is, that the
mischief will soon ascend to the proprietors themselves, who will have
led the way to their own ruin by the ruin of the general consumer, for
in that island they will see the population, more and more debased,
resort to the inferior species of food. Here it will feed on chesnuts,
there upon maize, or again upon millet, buckwheat, oats, potatoes. It
will no longer know the taste of corn or of meat. The proprietors
will be surprised to see agriculture decline. They will in vain exert
themselves and ring in the ears of all,--'Let us raise produce; with
produce, there will be cattle; with cattle, manure; with manure, corn.'
They will in vain create new taxes, in order to distribute premiums
to the producers of grass and lucern; they will always encounter this
obstacle--a miserable population, without the power of paying for food,
and, consequently, of giving the first impulse to this succession of
causes and effects. They will end by learning, to their cost, that it
is better to have competition in a rich community, than to possess a
monopoly in a poor one.
This is why I say, not only is Protection Communism, but it is Communism
of the worst kind. It commences by placing the faculties and the labour
of the poor, their only property, at the mercy of the rich; it inflicts
a pure loss on the mass, and ends by involving the rich themselves in
the common ruin. It invests the state with the extraordinary right of
taking from those who have little, to give to those who have much; and
when, under the sanction of this principle, the dispossessed call for
the intervention of the state to make an adjustment in the opposite
direction, I really do not see what answer can be given. In all cases,
the first reply and the best would be, to abandon the wrongful act.
But I hasten to come to an end with these calculations. After all, what
is the position of the question? What do we say, and what do you say?
There is one point, and it is the chief, upon which we are agreed:
it is, that the intervention of the legislature in order to
equalize fortunes, by taking from some for the benefit of others,
is _Communism_--it is the destruction of all labour, saving, and
prosperity; of all justice; of all social order.
You perceive that this fatal doctrine taints, under every variety
of form, both journals and books: in a word, that it influences the
speculations and the doctrines of men, and here you attack it with
vigour.
For myself, I believe that it had previously affected, with your assent
and with your assistance, legislation and practical statesmanship, and
it is there that I endeavour to counteract it.
Afterwards, I made you remark the inconsistency into which you would
fall, if, while resisting Communism when speculated on, you spare, or
much more encourage, Communism when acted on.
If you reply to me, 'I act thus because Communism, as existing through
tariffs, although opposed to liberty, property, justice, promotes,
nevertheless, the public good, and this consideration makes me overlook
all others'--if this is your answer, do you not feel that you ruin
beforehand all the success of your book, that you defeat its object,
that you deprive it of its force, and give your sanction, at least upon
the philosophical and moral part of the question, to Communism of every
shade?
And then, sir, can so clear a mind as yours admit the hypothesis of a
fundamental antagonism between what is useful and what is just? Shall
I speak frankly? Rather than hazard an assertion so improbable, so
impious, I would rather say, 'Here is a particular question in which,
at the first glance, it seems to me that utility and justice conflict. I
rejoice that all those who have passed their lives in investigating the
subject think otherwise. Doubtless I have not sufficiently studied
it.' I have not sufficiently studied it! Is it, then, so painful a
confession, that, not to make it, you would willingly run into the
inconsistency even of denying the wisdom of those providential laws
which govern the development of human societies? For what more formal
denial of the Divine wisdom can there be, than to pronounce that justice
and utility are essentially incompatible! It has always appeared to me,
that the most painful dilemma in which an intelligent and conscientious
mind can be placed, is when it conceives such a distinction to exist. In
short, which side to espouse--what part to take in such an alternative?
To declare for utility--it is that to which men incline who call
themselves practical. But unless they cannot connect two ideas, they
will unquestionably be alarmed at the consequences of robbery and
iniquity reduced to a system. Shall we embrace resolutely, come what
may, the cause of justice, saying--Let us do what is our duty, in spite
of everything. It is to this that honest men incline; but who would
take the responsibility of plunging his country and mankind into misery,
desolation and destruction? I defy any one, if he is convinced of this
antagonism, to come to a decision.
I deceive myself--they will come to a decision; and the human heart is
so formed, that it will place interest before conscience. Facts prove
this; since, wherever they have believed the system of Protection to
be favourable to the well-being of the people, they have adopted it, in
spite of all considerations of justice; but then the consequences
have followed. Faith in property has vanished. They have said, like M.
Billault, since property has been violated by Protection, why should it
not be by the right of labour? Some, following M. Billault, will take
a further step; and others, one still more extreme, until Communism is
established.
Good and sound minds like yours are terrified by the rapidity of the
descent They feel compelled to draw back--they do, in fact, draw back,
as you have done in your book, as regards the protective system, which
is the first start, and the sole practical start, of society upon the
fatal declivity; but in the face of this strong denial of the right of
property, if, instead of this maxim of your book, 'Rights either
exist, or they do not; if they do, they involve some absolute
consequences'--you substitute this, 'Here is a particular case where the
national good calls for the sacrifice of right;' immediately, all that
you believe you have put with force and reason in this work, is nothing
but weakness and inconsistency.
This is why, Sir, if you wish to complete your work, it will be
necessary that you should declare yourself upon the protective system;
and for that purpose it is indispensable to commence by solving the
economical problem; it will be necessary to be clear upon the pretended
utility of this system. For, to suppose even that I extract from you
its sentence of condemnation, on the ground of justice, that will not
suffice to put an end to it. I repeat it--men are so formed, that when
they believe themselves placed between _substantial good_ and _abstract
Justice_, the cause of justice runs a great risk. Do you wish for a
palpable proof of this? It is that which has befallen myself.
When I arrived in Paris, I found myself in the presence of schools
called Democratical and Socialist, where, as you know, they make great
use of the words, _principle, devotion, sacrifice, fraternity, right,
union_. Wealth is there treated _de haut en bas_, as a thing, if not
contemptible at least secondary, so far, that because we consider it
to be of much importance, they treat us as cold economists, egotists,
selfish, shopkeepers, men without compassion, ungrateful to God for
anything save vile pelf. Good! you say to me; these are noble hearts,
with whom I have no need to discuss the economical question, which
is very subtle, and requires more attention than the Parisian
newspaper-writers and their readers can in general bestow on a study of
this description. But with them the question of wealth will not be an
obstacle; either they will take it on trust, on the faith of Divine
wisdom, as in harmony with justice, or they will sacrifice it willingly
without a thought, for they have a passion for self-abandonment. If,
then, they once acknowledge that Free-trade is, in the abstract, right,
they will resolutely enrol themselves under its banner. Consequently, I
address my appeal to them. Can you guess their reply? Here it is:--
'Your Free-trade is a beautiful theory. It is founded on right and
justice; it realizes liberty; it consecrates property; it would be
followed by the union of nations--the reign of peace and of good-will
amongst men. You have reason and principle on your side; but we will
resist you to the utmost, and with all our strength, because foreign
competition would be fatal to our national industry.'
I take the liberty of addressing this reply to them:--
'I deny that foreign competition would be fatal to national industry.
If it was so, you would be placed in every instance between
your interest--which, according to you, is on the side of the
restriction--and justice, which, by your confession, is on the side of
freedom of intercourse! Now when I, the worshipper of the golden calf,
warn you that the time has arrived to make your own choice, whence comes
it that you, the men of self-denial, cling to self-interest, and trample
principle under foot? Do not, then, inveigh so much against a motive,
which governs you as it governs other men? Such is the experience which
warns me that it is incumbent on us, in the first place, to solve this
alarming problem: Is there harmony or antagonism between justice and
utility? and, in consequence, to investigate the economical side of
the protective system; for since they whose watchword is Fraternity,
themselves yield before an apprehended adversity, it is clear that this
proceeds from no doubt in the truth of the cause of universal justice,
but that it is an acknowledgment of the existence and of the necessity
of self-interest, as an all-powerful spring of action, however unworthy,
abject, contemptible, and despised it may be deemed.
It is this which has given rise to a work, in two small volumes, which
I take the liberty of sending you with the present one, well convinced,
Sir, that if, like other political economists, you judge severely of the
system of Protection on the ground of morality, and if we only differ as
far as concerns its utility, you will not refuse to inquire, with some
care, if these two great elements of substantial progress agree or
disagree.
This harmony exists--or, at least, it is as clear to me as the light
of the sun that it does. May it reveal itself to you! It is, then, by
applying your talents, which have so remarkable an influence on others,
to counteract Communism in its most dangerous shape, that you will give
it a mortal blow.
See what passes in England. It would seem that if Communism could
have found a land favourable to it, it ought to have been the soil
of Britain. There, the feudal institutions, placing everywhere in
juxtaposition extreme misery and extreme opulence, should have
prepared the minds of men for the reception of false doctrines. But
notwithstanding this, what do we see? Whilst the Continent is agitated,
not even the surface of English society is disturbed. Chartism has
been able to take no root there. Do you know why? Because the league
or association which, for ten years discussed the system of Protection,
only triumphed by placing the right of property on its true principles,
and by pointing out and defining the proper functions of the state.*
* This is a well-earned tribute, both to the people of
England, and to the results of the exertions of the League
and of Sir R. Peel. There can be no doubt that the calmness
of this country, during the late agitations of Europe, was
very much due to the contentment which followed on the
abolition of the corn-laws, and on the reduction and
simplification of the tariff. To this must be added the
conviction (though the process is sometimes sufficiently
slow), that their wishes, when clearly indicated, find
expression and attention in the legislature, and that things
are working on to a great though gradual improvement. The
inhabitants of this kingdom had the practical good sense to
perceive the progress made, and the security they had that
the future would not be barren, and they refused to imperil
these substantial advantages in favour of mere theories and
of experiments, the effects of which no human wit could
foresee.
Assuredly, if to unmask Protectionism is to aim a blow at Communism in
consequence of their close connexion, one might also destroy both, by
adopting a course the converse of the above. Protection would not
stand for any length of time before a good definition of the right of
property. Also, if anything has surprised and rejoiced me, it is to see
the Association for the Defence of Monopolies devote their resources to
the propagation of your book. It is an encouraging sight, and consoles
me for the inutility of my past efforts. This resolution of the Mimerel
Committee will doubtless oblige you to add to the editions of your
work. In this case, permit me to observe to you that, such as it is,
it presents a grave deficiency. In the name of science, in the name of
truth, in the name of the public good, I adjure you to supply it; and I
warn you that the time has come when you must answer these two questions:
First, Is there an incompatibility in principle between the system of
Protection and the right of property?
Secondly, Is it the function of the government to guarantee to each the
free exercise of his faculties, and the free disposal of the fruits of
his labour--that is to say, property--or to take from one to give to
the other, so as to weigh in the balance profits, contingencies, and
other circumstances?
Ah! Sir, if you arrive at the same conclusions as myself--if, thanks to
your talents, to your fame, to your influence, you can imbue the public
mind with these conclusions, who can calculate the extent of the service
which you will render to French society? We would see the state confine
itself within its proper limits, which is, to secure to each the
exercise of his faculties, and the free disposition of his possessions.
We would see it free itself at once, both from its present vast but
unlawful functions, and from the frightful responsibility which attaches
to them. It would confine itself to restraining the abuses of liberty,
which is to realize liberty itself! It would secure justice to all,
and would no longer promise prosperity to any one. Men would learn to
distinguish between what is reasonable, and what is puerile to ask
from the government. They would no longer overwhelm it with claims and
complaints; no longer lay their misfortunes at its door, or make it
responsible for their chimerical hopes; and, in this keen pursuit of a
prosperity, of which it is not the dispenser, they would no longer be
seen, at each disappointment, to accuse the legislature and the law,
to change their rulers and the forms of government, heaping institution
upon institution, and ruin upon ruin. They would witness the extinction
of that universal fever for mutual robbery, by the costly and perilous
intervention of the state. The government, limited in its aim and
responsibility, simple in its action, economical, not imposing on the
governed the expense of their own chains, and sustained by sound public
opinion, would have a solidity which, in our country, has never been its
portion; and we would at last have solved this great problem--_To close
for ever the gulf of revolution_.
THE END.
End of Project Gutenberg's Protection and Communism, by Frédéric Bastiat