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_.
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