list2-第14部分
按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
among them giants and dwarfs; well…formed bodies and cripples;
civilised; half…civilised; and barbarous nations; but in all of
them; as in the individual human being; exists the impulse of
self…preservation; the striving for improvement which is implanted
by nature。 It is the task of politics to civilise the barbarous
nationalities; to make the small and weak ones great and strong;
but; above all; to secure to them existence and continuance。 It is
the task of national economy to accomplish the economical
development of the nation; and to prepare it for admission into the
universal society of the future。
A nation in its normal state possesses one common language and
literature; a territory endowed with manifold natural resources;
extensive; and with convenient frontiers and a numerous population。
Agriculture; manufactures; commerce; and navigation must be all
developed in it proportionately。 arts and sciences; educational
establishments; and universal; cultivation must stand in it on an
equal footing with material production。 Its constitution; laws; and
institutions must afford to those who belong to it a high degree of
security and liberty; and must promote religion; morality; and
prosperity; in a word; must have the well…being of its citizens as
their object。 It must possess sufficient power on land and at sea
to defend its independence and to protect its foreign commerce。 It
will possess the power of beneficially affecting the civilisation
of less advanced nations; and by means of its own surplus
population and of their mental and material capital to found
colonies and beget new nations。
A large population; and an extensive territory endowed with
manifold national resources; are essential requirements of the
normal nationality; they are the fundamental conditions of mental
cultivation as well as of material development and political power。
A nation restricted in the number of its population and in
territory; especially if it has a separate language; can only
possess a crippled literature; crippled institutions for promoting
art and science。 A small State can never bring to complete
perfection within its territory the various branches of production。
In it all protection becomes mere private monopoly。 Only through
alliances with more powerful nations; by partly sacrificing the
advantages of nationality; and by excessive energy; can it maintain
with difficulty its independence。
A nation which possesses no coasts; mercantile marine; or naval
power; or has not under its dominion and control the mouths of its
rivers; is in its foreign commerce dependent on other countries; it
can neither establish colonies of its own nor form new nations; all
surplus population; mental and material means; which flows from
such a nation to uncultivated countries; is lost to its own
literature; civilisation and industry; and goes to the benefit of
other nationalities。
A nation not bounded by seas and chains of mountains lies open
to the attacks of foreign nations; and can only by great
sacrifices; and in any case only very imperfectly; establish and
maintain a separate tariff system of its own。
Territorial deficiencies of the nation can be remedied either
by means of hereditary succession; as in the case of England and
Scotland; or by purchase; as in the case of Florida and Louisiana;
or by conquests; as in the case of Great Britain and Ireland。
In modern times a fourth means has been adopted; which leads to
this object in a manner much more in accordance with justice and
with the prosperity of nations than conquest; and which is not so
dependent on accidents as hereditary succession; namely; the union
of the interests of various States by means of free conventions。
By its Zollverein; the German nation first obtained one of the
most important attributes of its nationality。 But this measure
cannot be considered complete so long as it does not extend over
the whole coast; from the mouth of the Rhine to the frontier of
Poland; including Holland and Denmark。 A natural consequence of
this union must be the admission of both these countries into the
German Bund; and consequently into the German nationality; whereby
the latter will at once obtain what it is now in need of; namely;
fisheries and naval power; maritime commerce and colonies。 Besides;
both these nations belong; as respects their descent and whole
character; to the German nationality。 The burden of debt with which
they are oppressed is merely a consequence of their unnatural
endeavours to maintain themselves as independent nationalities; and
it is in the nature of things that this evil should rise to a point
when it will become intolerable to those two nations themselves;
and when incorporation with a larger nationality must seem
desirable and necessary to them。
Belgium can only remedy by means of confederation with a
neighbouring larger nation her needs which are inseparable from her
restricted territory and population。 The United States and Canada;
the more their population increases; and the more the protective
system of the United States is developed; so much the more will
they feel themselves drawn towards one another; and the less will
it be possible for England to prevent a union between them。
As respects their economy; nations have to pass through the
following stages of development: original barbarism; pastoral
condition; agricultural condition; agricultural…manufacturing
condition; and agricultural…manufacturing…commercial condition。
The industrial history of nations; and of none more clearly
than that of England; proves that the transition from the savage
state to the pastoral one; from the pastoral to the agricultural;
and from agriculture to the first beginnings in manufacture and
navigation; is effected most speedily and advantageously by means
of free commerce with further advanced towns and countries; but
that a perfectly developed manufacturing industry; an important
mercantile marine; and foreign trade on a really large scale; can
only be attained by means of the interposition of the power of the
State。
The less any nation's agriculture has been perfected; and the
more its foreign trade is in want of opportunities of exchanging
the excess of native agricultural products and raw materials for
foreign manufactured goods; the deeper that the nation is still
sunk in barbarism and fitted only for an absolute monarchical form
of government and legislation; the more will free trade (i。e。 the
exportation of agricultural products and the importation of
manufactured goods) promote its prosperity and civilisation。
On the other hand; the more that the agriculture of a nation;
its industries; and its social; political; and municipal
conditions; are thoroughly developed; the less advantage will it be
able to derive for the improvement of its social conditions; from
the exchange of native agricultural products and raw materials for
foreign manufactured goods; and the greater disadvantages will it
experience from the successful competition of a foreign
manufacturing power superior to its own。
Solely in nations of the latter kind; namely; those which
possess all the necessary mental and material conditions and means
for establishing a manufacturing power of their own; and of thereby
attaining the highest degree of civilisation; and development of
material prosperity and political power; but which are retarded in
their progress by the competition of a foreign manufacturing power
which is already farther advanced than their own only in such
nations are commercial restrictions justifiable for the purpose of
establishing and protecting their own manufacturing power; and even
in them it is justifiable only until that manufacturing power is
strong enough no longer to have any reason to fear foreign
competition; and thenceforth only so far as may be necessary for
protecting the inland manufacturing power in its very roots。
The system of protection would not merely be contrary to the
principles of cosmopolitical economy; but also to the rightly
understood advantage of the nation itself; were it to exclude
foreign competition at once and altogether; and thus isolate from
other nations the nation which is thus protected。 If the
manufacturing power to be protected be still in the first period of
its development; the protective duties must be very moderate; they
must only rise gradually with the increase of the mental and
material capital; of the technical abilities and spirit of
enterprise of the nation。 Neither is it at all necessary that all
branches of industry should be protected in the same degree。 Only
the most important branches require special protection; for the
working of which much outlay of capital in building and management;
much machinery; and therefore much technical knowledge; skill; and
experience; and many workmen are required; and whose products
belong to the category of the first necessaries of life; and
consequently are of the greatest importance as regards their total
value as well as regards national independence (as; for example;
cotton; woollen and linen manufactories; &c。)。 If these main
branches are suitably protected and developed; all other less
important branches of manufacture will rise up around them under a
le