登陆注册
15689100000016

第16章

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814 FROM THE HOSIERY POINT OF VIEWChampagne has all the appearance of a poor region, and it is a poor region.Its general aspect is sad; the land is flat.Passing through the villages, and even the towns, you will see nothing but miserable buildings of wood or half-baked clay; the best are built of brick.

Stone is scarcely used at all except on public buildings.At Arcis the chateau, the law courts, and the church are the only stone buildings.

Nevertheless, Champagne, or, if you prefer to say so, the departments of the Aube, Marne, and Haut-Marne, richly endowed with vineyards, the fame of which is world-wide, are otherwise full of flourishing industries.

Without speaking of the manufactures of Reims, nearly all the hosiery of France--a very considerable trade--is manufactured about Troyes.

The surrounding country, over a circuit of thirty miles, is covered with workmen, whose looms can be seen through the open doors as we pass through the villages.These workmen are employed by agents, who themselves are in the service of speculators called manufacturers.The agents negotiate with the large Parisian houses, often with the retail hosiers, all of whom put out the sign, "Manufacturers of Hosiery."None of them have ever made a pair of stockings, nor a cap, nor a sock; all their hosiery comes chiefly from Champagne, though there are a few skilled workmen in Paris who can rival the Champenois.

This intermediate agency between the producer and the consumer is an evil not confined to hosiery.It exists in almost all trades, and increases the cost of merchandise by the amount of the profit exacted by the middlemen.To break down these costly partitions, that injure the sale of products, would be a magnificent enterprise, which, in its results, would attain to the height of statesmanship.In fact, industry of all kinds would gain by establishing within our borders the cheapness so essential to enable us to carry on victoriously the industrial warfare with foreign countries,--a struggle as deadly as that of arms.

But the destruction of an abuse of this kind would not return to modern philanthropists the glory and the advantages of a crusade against the empty nutshells of the penitentiary and negrophobia;consequently, the interloping profits of these bankers of merchandise will continue to weigh heavily both on producers and consumers.In France--keen-witted land!--it is thought that to simplify is to destroy.The Revolution of 1789 is still a terror.

We see, by the industrial energy displayed in a land where Nature is a godmother, what progress agriculture might make if capital would go into partnership with the soil, which is not so thankless in Champagne as it is in Scotland, where capital has done wonders.The day when agriculture will have conquered the unfertile portion of those departments, and industry has seconded capital on the Champagne chalk, the prosperity of that region will triple itself.Into that land, now without luxury, where homes are barren, English comfort will penetrate, money will obtain that rapid circulation which is the half of wealth, and is already beginning in several of the inert portions of our country.Writers, administrators, the Church from its pulpit, the Press in its columns, all to whom chance has given power to influence the masses, should say and resay this truth,--to hoard is a social crime.The deliberate hoarding of a province arrests industrial life, and injures the health of a nation.

Thus the little town of Arcis, without much means of transition, doomed apparently to the most complete immobility, is, relatively, a rich town abounding in capital slowly amassed by its trade in hosiery.

Monsieur Phileas Beauvisage was the Alexander, or, if you will, the Attila of this business.And here follow the means by which this honorable merchant had acquired his supremacy over cotton.

The last remaining child of farmers named Beauvisage, tenants of the splendid farm of Bellache, a dependency of the Gondreville estate, his parents made, in 1811, a great sacrifice in order to buy a substitute and save their only child from conscription.After that, in 1813, the mother Beauvisage, having become a widow, saved her son once more from enrolment in the Gardes, thanks to the influence of the Comte de Gondreville.Phileas, who was then twenty-one years of age, had been devoted for the last three years to the peaceable trade of hosiery.

Coming to the end of the lease of Bellache, old Madame Beauvisage declined to renew it.She saw she had enough to do in her old age in taking care of her property.That nothing might give her uneasiness of mind, she proceeded, by the help of Monsieur Grevin, the notary of Arcis, to liquidate her husband's estate, although her son made no request whatever for a settlement.The result proved that she owed him the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand francs.The good woman did not sell her landed property, most of which came from the unfortunate Michu, the former bailiff of the Simeuse family; she paid the sum to Phileas in ready money,--advising him to buy out the business of his employer, Monsieur Pigoult, the son of the old justice of the peace, whose affairs were in so bad a way that his death, as we have said, was thought to be voluntary.

Phileas Beauvisage, a virtuous youth, having a deep respect for his mother, concluded the purchase from his patron, and as he had the bump of what phrenologists term "acquisitiveness," his youthful ardor spent itself upon this business, which he thought magnificent and desired to increase by speculation.

同类推荐
  • THE GREY ROOM

    THE GREY ROOM

    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。
  • 申子

    申子

    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。
  • 两粤梦游记

    两粤梦游记

    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。
  • 武术汇宗

    武术汇宗

    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。
  • 丁鹤年集

    丁鹤年集

    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
  • 星武斗神

    星武斗神

    “什么?被恒星砸中还没死?”“什么?又突破了,他这修炼是坐着火箭冲的吗?”“什么?地球人又杀过来了?快逃啊!”“银河系基本上都清理干净了,该去河外星系转转了。”王辰走进了一艘星际战舰,他的目标,是星辰大海!
  • 逆反默示录

    逆反默示录

    想要的只是复仇,你并非是个冰冷的机器。当最重要的人离开,你也会伤心。真正舍弃的并不是恨,而是你对这个世界的沉默。既然恨不能解决一切,就让它化作满天星辰成为指引前方的路,不再放弃。当看破一切之后,就再次淡忘吧!
  • 互联网内幕曝光史

    互联网内幕曝光史

    你想知道,你玩游戏抽奖时,为何总会抽不到你想要的道具吗?你想知道,一个手机app是怎么做出来的吗?你想知道,互联网行业的人生活工作状态,是怎么样的吗?你想知道,互联网行业的人每天都过着怎样逗比的生活吗?你想知道,互联网创业是多么艰辛的一件事情吗?你想知道,怎么在互联网世界一夜暴富吗?这里还有职场疑惑、时间管理、家庭与工作、生活与工作的平衡之道、亲情友情爱情,最美丽的事情。来看《互联网大神养成记》吧,看一个化工专业出生的人,如何闯入互联网行业,
  • 女总裁的贴身兵神

    女总裁的贴身兵神

    作为一个准备退役的兵神,他降临花都,面对强悍的变态对手,他秒杀一切,在藏龙卧虎的兵界内,他一枝独秀。一个暗藏玄机的归隐任务,让他再次踏上杀戮之路,从此,各路强者都成为了他一步步踏上巅峰之路的垫脚石。
  • 醉花记

    醉花记

    灵谷花妖痴等千年前所恋凡人,满怀希望放出的花魂却早已忘却她寻找良人的使命,一心投入另一段旖旎……莫家宛兰,身子羸弱,常常对着花木自言自语,被视作怪胎。运气在众人看来更是极差,无奈代嫁竟不是克死亲夫,就是令王朝覆灭,更是被匪人劫杀……重重磨难打不破的,是她求生和等待的心,当她成了崇元国第一大宗青岚宗弟子。武艺高强,风姿绰约。小小花魂在人间搭起她的台唱起她的戏……
  • 魔法技术是第一生产力

    魔法技术是第一生产力

    看着手里这本《小学魔法·一年级》陆仁此时的心里仿佛有千万只草泥马狂奔而过,一丝泪水从他眼角滑过,不知名的感伤涌上心头,好似当年夕阳下奔跑的背影,洋溢着青春的感伤。什么鬼哟!
  • 快穿女配之旅

    快穿女配之旅

    对于半路杀出来的系统,伊霜表示很无奈,自己明明在现代活得好好的,却偏偏要去小说里攻略男主或男配。。伊霜:“天呐,谁能告诉我这个呆萌的系统是怎么回事!!”系统:“谁能告诉我这个可以为了吃不顾一切的宿主是哪里来的!”
  • 灾临

    灾临

    2015年,对于地球来说,是不平静的一年。一场名为ZKP-1的丧尸病毒突兀的在地球上爆发,近乎九成的人感染,许多国家一夜消失,而幸存者只能在政府临时建立的安全区苟延残喘。而各国情报组织纷纷出动,得出的蛛丝马迹却将罪魁祸首指向了那个十年前在南极强势建立的组织——艾萨克。虽然各国无暇顾及,但是空气中,已经多了一丝硝烟之气。而他们,究竟有什么阴谋?究竟谁是正,谁是邪?ps:欢迎大家加入这个有爱的家373229716
  • 传奇之血雨江湖

    传奇之血雨江湖

    江湖武林,这是一个血与泪共存,正邪难分,正不正,邪不邪,一招半式的绝学,亦或者一件神兵利器,随时都能在江湖掀起腥风血雨,震动武林,侠骨柔情,一入江湖,身不由己
  • 冰寒碎雪

    冰寒碎雪

    天界被神王统治,海界被冥王统治,神王不甘寂寞发动战争。直到有一天,天界全军出动攻击海界,海界惨败,眼看全界被灭,冥王发动上古魔器同归于尽。。。。。。天界破碎,化为无数陨石落入大海变成大陆,两界所有的生灵无一幸免。万年之后,大陆魔兽横行。。。。。