Poetry · Chapter
The Free Trader’s Lament explained
A trader recalls his idyllic life on an island where he freely traded for exotic goods until a pious man introduced 'Protection' by destroying the trading boat and replacing the natural wares with crude imitations, trapping the trader in a
What happens
A trader recalls his idyllic life on an island where he freely traded for exotic goods until a pious man introduced 'Protection' by destroying the trading boat and replacing the natural wares with crude imitations, trapping the trader in a life of bland, costly dependence.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Self-Deception
The trader is deceived by the pious man's rhetoric and accepts inferior goods, deluding himself that his lot is 'truly nice.'
Nature and Artifice
Natural shells and corals are replaced by artificial mud imitations, symbolizing the corruption of natural trade by artificial protectionist measures.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The narrator is the free trader who laments the loss of his paradise after Protection is imposed.
Key passages
“Oft from a trading-boat I purchased spice / And shells and corals, brought for my inspection / From the fair tropics—paid a Christian price / And was content in my fool’s paradise, / Where never had been heard the word 'Protection.'”
The narrator used to buy exotic goods directly from traders at a fair price, living happily in ignorance of protectionist tariffs.
Establishes the prelapsarian state of free trade.
“He threw a stink-pot into its mid-section. / The traders paddled for their lives away, / Nor came again into that haunted bay, / The blessed home thereafter of Protection.”
The pious man drove away the traders with a stink bomb, ensuring only his own goods would be available.
The violent imposition of Protection destroys the original trade network.
“He baked them in the sun. His air devout / Enchanted me. I made a genuflection: / 'God help you, gentle sir,' I said. 'No doubt,' / He answered gravely, 'I’ll get on without / Assistance now that we have got Protection.'”
The narrator is charmed by the man's pious demeanor and bows to him, but the man smugly declares he no longer needs help thanks to Protection.
The trader's deference is met with self-satisfied arrogance.
“Thenceforth I bought his wares—at what a price / For shells and corals of such imperfection! / 'Ah, now,' said he, 'your lot is truly nice.' / But still in all that isle there was no spice / To season to my taste that dish, Protection.”
The narrator is forced to buy the man's inferior imitation goods at a high price, and though the man claims his situation is wonderful, the narrator finds Protection bland and unsatisfying.
The final irony: Protection offers no real flavor or value.