登陆注册
14819000000063

第63章

31 Now, having first saluted free-trade and its doctors with all respect, let us see whether even here, too, our Liberal friends do not pursue their operations in a mechanical way, without reference to any firm intelligible law of things, to human life as a whole, and human happiness; and whether it is not more for our good, at this particular moment at any rate, if, instead of worshipping free-trade with them Hebraistically, as a kind of fetish, and helping them to pursue it as an end in and for itself, we turn the free stream of our thought upon their treatment of it, and see how this is related to the intelligible law of human life, and to national well-being and happiness. In short, suppose we Hellenise a little with free-trade, as we Hellenised with the Real Estate Intestacy Bill, and with the disestablishment of the Irish Church by the power of the Nonconformists' antipathy to religious establishments, and see whether what our reprovers beautifully call ministering to the diseased spirit of our time is best done by the Hellenising method of proceeding, or by the other.

32 But first let us understand how the policy of free-trade really shapes itself for our Liberal friends, and how they practically employ it as an instrument of national happiness and salvation. For as we said that it seemed clearly right to prevent the Church-property of Ireland from being all taken for the benefit of the Church of a small minority, so it seems clearly right that the poor man should eat untaxed bread, and, generally, that restrictions and regulations which, for the supposed benefit of some particular person or class of persons, make the price of things artificially high here, or artificially low there, and interfere with the natural flow of trade and commerce, should be done away with. But in the policy of our Liberal friends free-trade means more than this, and is specially valued as a stimulant to the production of wealth, as they call it, and to the increase of the trade, business, and population of the country.

We have already seen how these things,--trade, business, and population,--are mechanically pursued by us as ends precious in themselves, and are worshipped as what we call fetishes; and Mr. Bright, I have already said, when he wishes to give the working-class a true sense of what makes glory and greatness, tells it to look at the cities it has built, the railroads it has made, the manufactures it has produced. So to this idea of glory and greatness the free-trade which our Liberal friends extol so solemnly and devoutly, has served,--to the increase of trade, business, and population; and for this it is prized. Therefore, the untaxing of the poor man's bread has, with this view of national happiness, been used not so much to make the existing poor man's bread cheaper or more abundant, but rather to create more poor men to eat it; so that we cannot precisely say that we have fewer poor men than we had before free-trade, but we can say with truth that we have many more centres of industry, as they are called, and much more business, population, and manufactures. And if we are sometimes a little troubled by our multitude of poor men, yet we know the increase of manufactures and population to be such a salutary thing in itself, and our free-trade policy begets such an admirable movement, creating fresh centres of industry and fresh poor men here, while we were thinking about our poor men there, that we are quite dazzled and borne away, and more and more industrial movement is called for, and our social progress seems to become one triumphant and enjoyable course of what is sometimes called, vulgarly, outrunning the constable.

33 If, however, taking some other criterion of man's well-being than the cities he has built and the manufactures he has produced, we persist in thinking that our social progress would be happier if there were not so many of us so very poor, and in busying ourselves with notions of in some way or other adjusting the poor man and business one to the other, and not multiplying the one and the other mechanically and blindly, then our Liberal friends, the appointed doctors of free-trade, take us up very sharply. 'Art is long,' says the Times, 'and life is short;for the most part we settle things first and understand them afterwards.

Let us have as few theories as possible; what is wanted is not the light of speculation. If nothing worked well of which the theory was not perfectly understood, we should be in sad confusion. The relations of labour and capital, we are told, are not understood, yet trade and commerce, on the whole, work satisfactorily.' I quote from the Times of only the other day. 3 But thoughts like these, as I have often pointed out, are thoroughly British thoughts, and we have been familiar with them for years.

同类推荐
  • 阿毗达磨俱舍论

    阿毗达磨俱舍论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 从政录

    从政录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • POLITICS

    POLITICS

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 玉箓资度晚朝仪

    玉箓资度晚朝仪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 龙花寺主家小尼

    龙花寺主家小尼

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 十界秘史

    十界秘史

    看似平凡的龙七身上似乎背着巨大的秘密,对此知晓之人都忌讳莫深;龙七想要一探究竟,却陷入更加无尽的谜题。十界纷乱异变,原本覆手荡乾坤的龙城六任城主,皆诡异般的消失;被封印千年的恶魔称其是他的至亲;自己最敬重最依靠的师傅所传授的绝学实则是给他套上一层又一层的枷锁……成道,成魔,皆在一念之间……
  • 再世为林冲

    再世为林冲

    重生于北宋末年,再世为林冲,身陷监牢,一样的杀上梁山,一样的举兵造反,开创一个太平盛世!
  • 林波

    林波

    帝国和王国两个国家的战争因为不同的政治主张和人类本身的野心已经持续了很长很长的时间,却谁也奈何不了对方。而随着科学的发展,战火也一直不停地升级。在这样的一个世界里,在林波这个紧贴着王国国境的帝国边陲小城里,却找不到任何战争的影子。它在帝国和王国的边境上,在现实与幻想的夹缝中,悄悄地存活着。-----------------------------------------------------每一位读者对我都是一份荣幸,不管各位看了多少,谢谢你们打开了我的小说。
  • 爱不过一瞬

    爱不过一瞬

    她是一个贪图方便的方便姑娘,也是一个内心不管怎样波澜壮阔,外表也不会表现得很明显的闷骚女,更是一个喜欢幻想却活得很现实的悲观主义者。他外表阳光,微微一笑就如和煦的春风,暖人心的举动时常让人觉得可靠,但他却始终认为自己亏欠朋友良多,是一个只会一退再退的胆小鬼。他们的爱,平静、无声,跟一般年少时的爱恋一样纯净美好,却又有颇深的遗憾。这是一个慢情的故事,里面没有所谓的轰轰烈烈,却有平静如温水似的感情,有柔韧如蚕丝般的眷恋。(本文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。)
  • 天之征

    天之征

    乱世之风,早已刮起!天下群雄云集天路!只因那承载着人鱼帝国万千载的古老神祖,神龙之六子赑屃的一个梦!而它的这个梦,却让得天下动乱,不知有多少天骄豪强为之嘶吼癫狂,一个个满怀梦想的热血男儿,向着那神秘而未知的天路,蜂拥而去!不知道多少年后,一个青年从一个叫做青山镇的地方,也开始了他的天路征程!
  • 自强女人最好命

    自强女人最好命

    "七年前,我23岁,丈夫出轨,婆婆刁蛮,我和女儿被赶出门,成了弃妇。七年后,我30岁,事业有成,婚姻美满,我在城市有房有车,人称女神。我相貌平平,出身农村,学历不高。当我离婚后,嫂子为了得到彩礼,想尽办法劝我嫁给一个老光棍的那一刻,我毅然离开家乡,走向灯红酒绿,冰冷残酷的城市。流过多少泪,受过多少伤,遭过多少白眼,遇到过多少困难,我踏着荆棘仍在前行。因为,从离婚那一刻,我就知道,我不能哭,我再也不是活在童话故事里的姑娘了,我是一个孩子的母亲。一个23岁的女孩可以软弱,但是,一个23岁的母亲必须坚强!"--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 诸神密语

    诸神密语

    私人侦探顾子安一时兴起,接下了一个酬金丰厚的神秘委托,开始寻找一个据说有天眼的少年。当他踏上寻人之旅之后,发现事情并非如他料想得那样简单;而这个传说中的通灵少年,以及所谓的“神通力”也完全不是他所设想的那样……
  • 镜花三世缘

    镜花三世缘

    她是方壶仙岛顽皮可爱的少主也是混沌初始唯一的一只紫天鹅因姑姑犯了天条被关镜湖想尽一切办法夺得赤金宝剑解救姑姑赤金剑需要白龙的唇上血凤凰的心口血白龙是天宫的一号大人物凤凰是魔族的怪物她如何得到宝剑如何将二位戏耍于股掌之间?
  • 支配掠食者

    支配掠食者

    2915年1月16日,深圳市爆发了一种虫形变异的生物,人们称它们为支配者,然而殊不知道它们化身人类早已在人类之中潜藏了10年之久......
  • 西楚美人

    西楚美人

    她本倾城倾国,却不曾以真面示人;她本西楚公主,却流落异乡十几年。为的是有朝一日,手刃仇人,以报国仇家恨。他乃中原一大国之太子,却为了一个一面之缘的女子,苦苦寻找了数年。待寻她那日,得知她已嫁于人妇,他的相公竟是他的皇弟!夺爱之恨,令他心智迷失兄弟反目。他是太子之弟,不喜纷争,不喜朝堂权利。遇到她,便一心想与她流连花前月下。一朝天子一朝臣,太子登上帝位,将她迎娶回来,欲杀他而后快。站在大殿之上,她那一身大红嫁衣灼伤了他的双眼,亦伤透了她的心。如今这为爱痴迷的帝王竟不知,她那美丽的背后竟是一场偌大的阴谋正在向他靠近!当一切尘埃落地如了她愿,她却不知该何去何从......