Part 38 (2/2)

SEC 4 Theattorneys, jailers, customs officers, and all officials, are entrusted with the execution of this law

I admit, sir, that in this forreeable, and less perilous than under the arrangements which you had at first determined upon I admit that for you it would offer a very pleasant prospect You could h in your sleeve, for you would then have saddled all the expenses upon me

But I affirm that you would have introduced into society a vicious principle, a principle of immorality, of disorder, of hatred, and of incessant revolutions; that you would have prepared the way for all the various schemes of socialism and communism

You, doubtless, find my hypothesis a very bold one Well, then, let us reverse the case I consent for the sake of the demonstration

Suppose that I areat advantage toAnd I know that there are hatchets and saws in your establishly, without any cere that I can lay itiht of self-defense, you at first resist force with force; afterwards, invoking the power of the law, the istrate, and the constables, you throw gests itself to me that I have been very aard in this business When a person wishes to enjoy the property of other people, he will, unless he is a fool, act _in accordance_ with the law, and not _in violation_ of it Consequently, just as you have made yourself a protectionist, I will ht to profit_, I claiht to labor_, or to the instruments of labor

For the rest, I read my Louis Blanc in prison, and I know by heart this doctrine: ”In order to disenthrall themselves, the common people have need of tools to ith; it is the function of the governain: ”If one admits that, in order to be really free, a man requires the ability to exercise and to develop his faculties, the result is that society owes each of its members instruction, without which the human mind is incapable of development, and the instruments of labor, without which human activities have no field for their exercise But by what ive to each one of its members the necessary instruction and the necessary instruments of labor, except by the intervention of the State?” So that if it becomes necessary to revolutionize the country, I also will force islation I also will pervert the law, and make it perform in my behalf and at your expense the very act for which it just now punished me

My decree is modeled after yours:

SECTION 1 There shall be taxes levied upon every citizen, and especially upon iron founders

SEC 2 The proceeds of this tax shall be applied to the creation of armed corps, to which the title of the _fraternal constabulary_ shall be given

SEC 3 It shall be the duty of the _fraternal constabulary_ to make their way into the warehouses of hatchets, saws, etc, to take possession of these tools, and to distribute theenious device, you see, ed to bear the risks, the costs, the odium, or the scruples of robbery The State will rob for ame

It remains to be seen ould be the condition of French society on the realization of my second hypothesis, or what, at least, is the condition of it after the almost complete realization of the first hypothesis I do not desire to discuss here the econoenerally believed that in advocating free trade we are exclusively influenced by the desire to allow capital and labor to take the direction eous to them This is an error This consideration is merely secondary That which wounds, afflicts, and is revolting to us in the protective systeht, of justice, of property; it is the fact that the systeainst property, when it ought to protect them; it is that it undermines and perverts the very conditions of society And to the question in this aspect I invite your most serious consideration

What is law, or at least what ought it to be? What is its rational and moral hts, all liberties, and all property? Is it not to cause justice to rule a all? Is it not to prevent and to repress oppression and robbery wherever they are found?

And are you not shocked at the immense, radical, and deplorable innovation introduced into the world by co the law itself to commit the very cri the law in principle and in fact against liberty and property?

You deplore the condition of roan over the disorder which prevails in institutions and ideas But is it not your syste, both institutions and ideas?

What! the law is no longer the refuge of the oppressed, but the arer a shi+eld, but a sword! The law no longer holds in her august hands a scale, but false weights and ulated!

Your systeislative halls these words: ”Whoever acquires any influence here can obtain his share of the legalized pillage”

And what has been the result? All classes of society have becoates of the palace: ”Give me a share of the spoils”

After the revolution of February, when universal suffrage was proclaimed, I had for a e for any one, justice for all” And that would have been the real solution of the social probleenerations too profoundly corrupted the age, public senti inroads upon the National assembly, each class, in accordance with your system, has endeavored to make the law an instruratuitous credit, the right to euaranty of incoratuitous instruction, loans to industry, etc, etc; in short, every one has endeavored to live and thrive at the expense of others And upon what have these pretensions been based? Upon the authority of your precedents What sophisated for two centuries With you they have talked about _equalizing the conditions of labor_ With you they have declaiainst ruinous competition With you they have ridiculed the _let alone_ principle, that is to say, _liberty_ With you they have said that the law should not confine itself to being just, but should coainst the strong, secure profits to individuals at the expense of the co to the expression of Mr Charles Dupin, socialism has come to establish the theory of robbery It has done what you have done, and that which you desire the professors of political economy to do for you

Your cleverness is in vain, _Messieurs Protectionists_, it is useless to lower your tone, to boast of your latent generosity, or to deceive your opponents by sentiic

You cannot prevent Mr Billault froranted favors to one, you rant the the legislators: ”You have enriched the manufacturers, you must enrich the common people”