This system has been declared, by all writers on political economy, of every school,[12] to be weak, absurd, and calculated to impoverish the countries where it prevails.

Banished from books, it has taken refuge in _the practice_ of all nations, greatly to the surprise of those who cannot conceive that in what concerns the wealth of nations, governments should, rather than be guided by the wisdom of authors, prefer the _long experience_ of a system, etc....

It is above all inconceivable to them that the French government ...

should obstinately resist the new lights of political economy, and maintain in its _practice_ the old errors, pointed out by all our writers....

But I am devoting too much time to this mercantile system, which, unsustained by writers, _has only facts_ in its favor!" [Footnote 12: Might we not say: It is a powerful argument against Messrs.