y evident that M. Prohibant's _profit_ is compensated by James
B.'s _loss_, and all that M. Prohibant can do with the crown-piece, for
the encouragement of national labour, James B. might have done himself.
The stone has only been thrown upon one part of the lake, because the
law has prevented it from being thrown upon another.

Therefore, _that which is not seen_ supersedes _that which is seen_, and
at this point there remains, as the residue of the operation, a piece of
injustice, and, sad to say, a piece of injustice perpetrated by the law!

This is not all. I have said that there is always a third person left
in the background. I must now bring him forward, that he may reveal to
us a _second loss_ of five francs. Then we shall have the entire results
of the transaction.

James B. is the possessor of fifteen francs, the fruit of his labour. He
is now free. What does he do with his fifteen francs? He purchases some
article of fashion for ten francs, and with it he pays (or the
intermediate pay for him) for the hundred-weight of Belgian iron. After
this he has five francs left. He does not throw them into the river, but
(and this is _what is not seen_) he gives them to some tradesman in
exchange for some enjoyment; to a bookseller, for instance, for
Bossuet's "Discourse on Universal History."

Thus, as far as national labour is concerned, it is encouraged to the
amount of fifteen francs, viz.:--ten francs for the Paris article, five
francs to the bookselling trade.

As to James B., he obtains for his fifteen francs two gratifications,
viz.:--

1st. A hundred-weight of iron.

2nd. A book.

The decree is put in force. How does it affect the condition of James
B.? How does it affect the national labour?

James B. pays every centime of his five francs to M. Prohibant, and
therefore is deprived of the pleasure of a book, or of some other thing
of equal value. He loses five francs. This must be admitted; it cannot
fail to be admitted, that when the restriction raises the price of
things, the consumer loses the difference.

But, then, it is said, _national labour_ is the gainer.

No, it is not the gainer; for since the Act, it is no more encouraged
than it was before, to the amount of fifteen francs.

The only thing is that, since the Act, the fifteen francs of James B. go
to the metal trade, while before it was put in force, they were divided
between the milliner and the bookseller.

The violence used by M. P