Page:A Study of Mexico.djvu/260

250 To this it may be rejoined that the ratification of a commercial treaty between any two countries does not involve, or carry with it, the slightest obligation on the part of the people of such countries to trade. That is a matter in which private self-interest is exclusively determinate, and government, except through the exercise of absolute and despotic power, absolutely powerless. AH that a free government can legitimately effect, in ratifying a commercial treaty of reciprocity with another country, is to remove obstacles which have come to stand in the way of the people of the two contracting countries following their own natural instincts and desires for bettering their material condition. Trade, as respects individuals and nations alike, can not long be continued unless it is mutually advantageous to all that are parties to it; and there is no possible contingency in which the people of Mexico would profit more, in the sense of satisfying their wants and desires, from trading with the United States, than the people of the United States would profit from trading with Mexico, unless the American people have less shrewdness and discernment in respect to trade than the Mexicans, and are not likely to profit by experience. Were an individual merchant, having warehouses filled to overflowing with all manner