I have said enough to show that political economy has an evident practical utility. It is the torch which, by exposing craft and dissipating error, puts an end to this social disorder of spoliation. Some one--I rather think a lady--has rightly described our science as "_la serrure de sûreté du pécule populaire_." COMMENTARY. Were this little book destined to last for three or four thousand years, and, like a new Koran, to be read, re-read, pondered over, and studied sentence by sentence, word by word, letter by letter; if it were destined to a place in all the libraries of the world, and to be explained by avalanches of annotations and paraphrases, I might abandon to their fate the preceding observations, though somewhat obscure from their conciseness; but since they require a gloss, I think it as well to be my own commentator. The true and equitable law of human transactions is the _exchange, freely bargained for, of service for service_. Spoliation consists in banishing by force or artifice this liberty of bargaining, for the purpose of enabling a man or a class to receive a service without rendering an equivalent service. Spoliation by force consists in waiting till a man has produced a commodity, and then depriving him of it by the strong hand. This kind of spoliation is formally forbidden by the decalogue--_Thou shalt not steal_. When this takes place between individuals, it is called theft, and leads to the hulks; when it takes place between nations, it is called _conquest, and leads to glory_. Whence this difference? It is proper to search out its caùse, for it will reveal to us the existence of an irresistible power, public opinion, which, like the atmosphere, surrounds and envelops us so thoroughly that we cease to perceive it. Rousseau never said anything truer than this: _Il faut beaucoup de philosophie pour observer les faits qui sont trop près de nous_---"You need much philosophy to observe accurately things which are under your nose." A thief for the very reason that he does his work secretly, has always public opinion against him. He frightens all who are within his reach. Yet if he has associates, he takes pride in displaying before them his skill and prowess. Here we begin to perceive the force of opinion; for the applause of his accomplices takes away the sense of guilt, and even prompts him to glory in his shame.