"The balance will be in his favour. The 20 francs which I enable you to gain upon cloth, will be augmented by the amount I enable you to save upon corn, meat, fuel, etc. This will amount to a large sum; and a similar saving will be realized by each of your 35 millions of fellow-countrymen. In this way, you will find the means of consuming all the cloth produced at Verviers and Elbeuf. The nation will be better clothed; that is all."
"I shall think over it; for all this, I confess, confuses my head somewhat."
"After all, as regards clothing, the main consideration is to be clothed. Your limbs are your own, and not the property of the manufacturer. To protect them from the cold is your business and not his! If the law takes his part against you, the law is unjust; and we have been reasoning hitherto on the hypothesis that what is unjust is injurious."
"Perhaps I make too free with you; but I beg you to complete the explanation of your financial plan."
"I shall have a new law of Customs."
"In two volumes folio?"
"No, in two articles."
"For once, then, we may dispense with repeating the famous axiom, 'No one is supposed to be ignorant of the law'—Nul n'est cerne ignorer la loi; which is a fiction. Let us see, then, your proposed tariff."
"Here it is:
"'Art. 1st.—All imported merchandise shall pay a duty of 5 per cent. ad valorem.'"