s true, but such there are) who
begin to understand that obstacles are not the less obstacles because
they are artificially created, and that our well-being is more
advanced by freedom of trade than by protection; precisely as a canal
is more desirable than a sandy, hilly, and difficult road.

But they still say, this liberty ought to be reciprocal. If we take
off our taxes in favor of Canada, while Canada does not do the same
towards us, it is evident that we are duped. Let us, then, make
_treaties of commerce_ upon the basis of a just reciprocity; let us
yield where we are yielded to; let us make the _sacrifice_ of buying
that we may obtain the advantage of selling.

Persons who reason thus, are (I am sorry to say), whether they know it
or not, governed by the protectionist principle. They are only a
little more inconsistent than the pure protectionists, as these are
more inconsistent than the absolute prohibitionists.

I will illustrate this by a fable:

There were, it matters not where, two towns, N*w Y*rk and M*ntr**l,
which, at great expense, had a road built, which connected them with
each other. Some time after this was done, the inhabitants of N*w Y*rk
became uneasy, and said: "M*ntr**l is overwhelming us with its
productions; this must be attended to." They established, therefore, a
corps of _Obstructors_, so called, because their business was to place
obstacles in the way of the convoys which arrived from M*ntr**l. Soon
after, M*ntr**l also established a corps of Obstructors.

After some years, people having become more enlightened, the
inhabitants of M*ntr**l began to discover that these reciprocal
obstacles might possibly be reciprocal injuries. They sent, therefore,
an ambassador to N*w Y*rk, who (passing over the official phraseology)
spoke much to this effect: "We have built a road, and now we put
obstacles in the way of this road. This is absurd. It would have been
far better to have left things in their original position, for then we
would not have been put to the expense of building our road, and
afterwards of creating difficulties. In the name of M*ntr**l I come to
propose to you not to renounce at once our system of mutual obstacles,
for this would be acting according to a principle, and we despise
principles as much as you do; but to somewhat lighten these obstacles,
weighing at the same time carefully our respective _sacrifices_." The
ambassador having thus spoken, the town of N*w Y*rk asked