Yes, it is all very true, if you take no account of the fifty millions until the moment when the State begins to spend them; if you only see where they go, and not whence they come; if you look only at the good they are to do when they come out of the tax-gatherer’s bag, and not at the harm which has been done, and the good which has been prevented, by putting them into it.  Yes, at this limited point of view, all is profit.  The house which is built in Barbary is that which is seen; the harbour made in Barbary is that which is seen; the work caused in Barbary is what is seen; a few less hands in France is what is seen; a great stir with goods at Marseilles is still that which is seen.

But, besides all this, there is something which is not seen.  The fifty millions expended by the State cannot be spent, as they otherwise would have been, by the tax-payers.  It is necessary to deduct, from all the good attributed to the public expenditure which has been effected, all the harm caused by the prevention of private expense, unless we say that James B. would have done nothing with the crown that he had gained, and of which the tax had deprived him; an absurd assertion, for if he took the trouble to earn it, it was because he expected the satisfaction of using it.  He would have repaired the palings in his garden, which he cannot now do, and this is that which is not seen.  He would have manured his field, which now he cannot do, and this is what is not seen.  He would have added another story to his cottage, which he cannot do now, and this is what is not seen.  He might have increased the number of his tools, which he cannot do now, and this is what is not seen.  He would have been better fed, better clothed, have given a better education to his children, and increased his daughter’s marriage portion; this is what is not seen.  He would have become a member of the Mutual Assistance Society, but now he cannot; this is what is not seen.  On one hand, are the enjoyments of which he has been deprived, and the means of action which have been destroyed in his hands; on the other, are the labour of the drainer, the carpenter, the smith, the tailor, the village schoolmaster, which he would have encouraged, and which are now prevented—­all this is what is not seen.

Much is hoped from the future prosperity of Algeria; be it so.  But the drain to which France is being subjected ought not to be kept entirely out of sight.  The commerce of Marseilles is pointed out to me; but if this is to be brought about by means of taxation, I shall always show that an equal commerce is destroyed thereby in other parts of the country.  It is said, “There is an emigrant transported into Barbary; this is a relief to the population which remains in the country,” I answer, “How can that be, if, in transporting this emigrant to Algiers, you also transport two or three times the capital which would have served to maintain him in France?"[4]