[De la richesse commerciale, Sismondi, 1803, Original, 215]
Après avoir parcouru ainsi le quart de la France, n’oserons-nous pas affirmer que la suppression de toutes les douanes, et l’affranchissement absolu du commerce, ne seraient pas moins avantageux aux manufactures qu’aux consommateurs; puisqu’en réunissant tous les Départements décrits, nous voyons que cette liberté si désirable, ne ferait pas fermer plus de quatre ou cinq misérables ateliers, dont la langueur annonce depuis long temps la ruine, et qu’on ne soutient sur leur déclin que par des sacrifices répétés chaque jour.
[Translation]
Now that we have looked around a fourth of France, shall we not dare to affirm that the abolishment of all customs duties and the complete liberalisation of trade would be no less advantageous to manufactures than to consumers? This is because, taking into consideration all the departments described, we see that such desirable freedom would make no more than four or five miserable workshops closed, whose dullness has heralded the ruin for a long time, and which can only be prevented from decline by repeating sacrifices every day.
[Translator's note]
(1) I'm wondering why the order of the subject and the verb is inverted without a question mark? Any suggestion would be much appreciated.
