durable if the
hand of the State is not manifest in it. It is the State that makes
the Sevres porcelain, and the Gobelin tapestry. It is the State that
periodically gives expositions of the works of our artists, and of
the products of our manufacturers; it is the State which recompenses
those who raise its cattle and breed its fish. All this costs a great
deal. It is a tax to which every one is obliged to contribute.
Everybody, do you understand? And what direct benefit do the people
derive from it? Of what direct benefit to the people are your
porcelains and tapestries, and your expositions? This general
principle of resisting what you call a state of enthusiasm we can
understand, although you yesterday voted a bounty for linens; we can
understand it on the condition of consulting the present crisis, and
especially on the condition of your proving your impartiality. If it
is true that, by the means I have indicated, the State thus far seems
to have more directly benefited the well-to-do classes than those who
are poorer, it is necessary that this appearance should be removed.
Shall it be done by closing the manufactories of tapestry and
stopping the exhibitions? Assuredly not; _but by giving the poor a
direct share in this distribution of benefits_."

In this long catalogue of favors granted to some at the expense of all,
one will remark the extreme prudence with which Mr. Mimerel has left the
tariff favors out of sight, although they are the most explicit
manifestations of legal spoliation. All the orators who supported or
opposed him have taken upon themselves the same reserve. It is very
shrewd! Possibly they hope, _by giving the poor a direct participation
in this distribution of benefits_, to save this great iniquity by which
they profit, but of which they do not whisper.

They deceive themselves. Do they suppose that after having realized a
partial spoliation by the establishment of customs duties, other
classes, by the establishment of other institutions, will not attempt to
realize universal spoliation?

I know very well you always have a sophism ready. You say: "The favors
which the law grants us are not given to the _manufacturer_, but to
_manufactures_. The profits which it enables us to receive at the
expense of the consumers are merely a trust placed in our hands. They
enrich us, it is true, but our wealth places us in a position to expend
more,