Frédéric BASTIAT (1801-1850) economist and politician. Autograph manuscript, [1845]; 3pages in-4. Very rare manuscript, preface to his Sophismes économiques. The manuscript, which shows erasures and corrections, is authenticated at the end by Prosper Paillottet, "one of the delegates of the society of Bastiat's friends for the reprinting of his works". Bastiat states that he wanted to "refute some of the arguments against the emancipation of commerce". Without getting into a fight with the protectionists, he wanted to dismantle their arguments, defending "the doctrine of liberty"... He recalls that some excerpts from his book appeared in the Journal des Économistes, and he replies to some critics who accuse him of wanting to abolish customs: "Customs must not be in the hands of the workers an instrument of reciprocal rapine, but it can be a fiscal machine as good as any other. We are so far, or to put it mildly, I am so far from calling for the abolition of customs, that I see them as the future anchor of salvation for our finances. I believe they are likely to provide the Treasury with immense revenues, and, if I have to say what I think, given the slowness with which sound economic doctrines spread, and the rapidity with which our budget increases, I am counting more, for commercial reform, on the necessities of the Treasury than on the strength of enlightened opinion"...