§ 27 

The Product-Placat prevented foreigners from visiting even the smaller Staple Towns with any advantage, as they could not sell whole cargoes of their own products there and they were not allowed to assort their goods with other goods. There were few among these towns that had whole Cargoes of their own Exports, so that these had to be sold in the bigger Staple Towns. Nor were the Dutch and the English allowed to supply them with salt, neither was it worth while to sail in ballast to Portugal for it, but that, too, had to be bought from the bigger towns.

It is truly remarkable how trade was drawn to a few places from other parts of the Country. True, the name of Staple Towns remained, but the advantage had in reality disappeared from most of them.

It would, nevertheless, have been well enough with our trade, if at any rate the foreigner had been allowed to trade freely in the largest towns, and by means of competition had checked the domestic covetousness. But he finds no profit in that after having been expelled from the salt trade, which then fell into the hands of a few citizens, in whose discretion it was to supply the Country with this commodity or not and at whatever price they chose.

Thus the number of purchasers of our Exports was reduced. The products remained in the hands of the manufacturer or were sold to the Exporters at a loss. The loss forced many owners to leave their works, which fell into the hands of the Exporters or made the former tributaries to the latter.

To correct this evil the Ironmasters' Association was founded, which was to make advances to poor Owners of works, when iron lost its value; but everybody knows whether these advances have fallen into the hands of the poor or the wealthy.

The coins disappeared from circulation on the issuing of irredeemable bank-notes. Imports could not then be paid for in cash or any coin be exported for their payment, but everything had to be paid by Bills from Exports, which had to be obtained from a few people for the business of the whole Country and the Crown, who could therefore deal absolutely autocratically with the Bills. Freedom of trade was thus suppressed, and I do not know if it is right to accuse certain persons only of this. The state of things was such that liberty had to be lost.

"If Caesar and Pompey," says Montesquieu, "had thought as Cato did, others might have thought, on the contrary, as Caesar and Pompey did." And in another place he says: "When one gives away a title, one knows precisely what one gives, but if one adds power to it as well, one never knows how far that power might be extended."