He had received, the evening before, some numbers of the _Moniteur Industriel_, a Chinese paper.

Knowing his lesson by heart, he asked permission to answer, and, having obtained it, after striking his forehead nine times against the floor, he said: "My Lord, you try, by facilitating transportation, to reduce the price of articles of consumption, in order to bring them within the reach of the people; and to do this you begin by making them lose all the labor which was created by the destruction of the canal.

Sire, in political economy, absolute cheapness"-- The Emperor.

"I believe that you are reciting something." Kouang.

"That is true, and it would be more convenient for me to read." Having unfolded the _Esprit Public_, he read: "In political economy the absolute cheapness of articles of consumption is but a secondary question.