But the Emperor said: "I do not need your Chinese newspapers to tell me that to create _obstacles_ is to turn labor in that direction. Yet that is not my mission. Come, let us clear out the canal, and then we will reform the tariff." Kouang went away plucking out his beard, and crying: Oh, Fo! Oh, Pe! Oh, Le! and all the monosyllabic and circumflex gods of Cathay, take pity on your people; for, there has come to us an Emperor of the _English school_, and I see very plainly that, in a little while, we shall be in want of everything, since it will not be necessary for us to do anything! VIII. POST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC. "After this, therefore on account of this." The most common and the most false of arguments. Real suffering exists in England. This occurrence follows two others: First. The reduction of the tariff. Second. The loss of two consecutive harvests. To which of these last two circumstances is the first to be attributed? The protectionists do not fail to exclaim: "It is this cursed freedom which does all the mischief. It promised us wonders and marvels; we welcomed it, and now the manufactories stop and the people suffer." Commercial freedom distributes, in the most uniform and equitable manner, the fruits which Providence grants to the labor of man. If these fruits are partially destroyed by any misfortune, it none the less looks after the fair distribution of what remains. Men are not as well provided for, of course, but shall we blame freedom or the bad harvest? Freedom rests on the same principle as insurance. When a loss happens, it divides, among a great many people, and a great number of years, evils which without it would accumulate on one nation and one season. But have they ever thought of saying that fire was no longer a scourge, since there were insurance companies? In 1842, '43 and '44, the reduction of taxes began in England. At the same time the harvests were very abundant, and we can justly believe that these two circumstances had much to do with the wonderful prosperity shown by that country during that period. In 1845 the harvest was bad, and in 1846 it was still worse. Breadstuffs grew dear, the people spent their money for food, and used less of other articles. There was a diminished demand for clothing; the manufactories were not so busy, and wages showed a declining tendency. Happily, in the same year, the restrictive barriers were again lowered, and an enormous quantity of food was enabled to reach the English market. If it had not been for this, it is almost certain that a terrible revolution would now fill Great Britain with blood. Yet they make freedom chargeable with disasters, which it prevents and remedies, at least in part.