Portuguese producer himself, excepting the expense of the
transportation? It therefore follows that freedom of commerce
equalizes the conditions of production direct or indirect, as much as
it is possible to equalize them; for it leaves but the one inevitable
difference, that of transportation.

I will add that free trade equalizes also the facilities for attaining
enjoyments, comforts, and general consumption; the last, an object
which is, it would seem, quite forgotten, and which is nevertheless
all-important; since, in fine, consumption is the main object of all
our industrial efforts. Thanks to freedom of trade, we would enjoy
here the results of the Portuguese sun, as well as Portugal itself;
and the inhabitants of New York would have in their reach, as well as
those of London, and with the same facilities, the advantages which
nature has in a mineralogical point of view conferred upon Cornwall.

5. _Countries least favored by nature (countries not yet cleared of
forests, for example) are those which profit most by mutual exchange._
The protectionists may suppose me in a paradoxical humor, for I go
further still. I say, and I sincerely believe, that if any two
countries are placed in unequal circumstances as to advantages of
production, _the one of the two which is the less favored by nature,
will gain more by freedom of commerce_. To prove this, I will be
obliged to turn somewhat aside from the form of reasoning which
belongs to this work. I will do so, however; first, because the
question in discussion turns upon this point; and again, because it
will give me the opportunity of exhibiting a law of political economy
of the highest importance, and which, well understood, seems to me to
be destined to lead back to this science all those sects which, in our
days, are seeking in the land of chimeras that social harmony which