No one will argue that such relationships are not a contributory factor to maintaining peace.

Frédéric Bastiat
Pamphlets
Section 2 of 7

Today’s quote can be found in this section of Justice and Fraternity in which Frédéric Bastiat describes the liberal system that he would like to see in place. It reminds us that one of the major objective of liberalism is to maintain peace. The latter is indeed a spontaneous consequence of the doux commerce (gentle trade) dear to Montesquieu and brought by the invisible hand of Adam Smith. 

Unfortunately, this objective is too often ignored by the opponents of liberalism and too often relegated at the back of the arguments of liberals themselves. According to me, it is of utmost importance and it is the reason why my preferred quote from Frédéric Bastiat remains: “If goods and services do not cross borders, soldiers will”, even if he omitted to write it.

Other quotes from Justice and Fraternity:
Section 1 of 7 – Section 3 of 7 – Section 4 of 7 – Section 5 of 7 – Section 6 of 7 – Section 7 of 7