fy) BATPTAT AND COBDEN.

knowg that your career may not excite the emulation of
"oe man of genius in this country {**
Bastiat was always conscious of the difference between
Cobden’s gifts and his own, and nobody knew better than
himself how much more fit he was for a life of speculation
than for the career of an agitator. But there was no one
15 in France to begin the work of propagandism and the
O'ganization of opinion. Cobden told him that the moveent
 which had been made from those below to those above
xn Englang, ought in France to proceed in the opposite
ours, There they would do best fo begin at the top.
In France in 1846 they had scarcely any railways, and
thoy had no penny postage. They were not accustomed
to Subscriptions, and still less were they accustomed to great
Public meetings, Worse than all this, the popular interest
Was at that epoch turned away from the received doctrines
of Political economy in the direction of Communism and
Pourierism, These systems spoke a language infinitely
OTe attractive to the imagination of the common people.
Bastiat, firod by Cobden’s example, set bravely to work to
eke converts among men of mark. Besides being a
Serious thinker, he had the gifts, always so valuable in
France, of irony, of apt and humorous illustration, of
Pungent dialectic. The style and finish of the Economic
Sophisms, in which he refuted the fallacies of Monopoly, are
ven declared to be worthy of the author of the Provincial
Letters, But the movement did not prosper. At Bordeaux,
deed, where the producers of wine were eager for fresh
Markets, go free trade association was formed, and ib
throye, Elsewhere the cause made little way. Political
Uiferon con ran go high as to prevent hearty co-operation
a purely economical platform. The newspapers were
Written by lads of twenty, with the ignorance and the
2 Dac. 1548 Gwe. 1 117.

18405.
Zr. 41.