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March 17, 1860.J The Leader and Saturday...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Report To The Emperor. T He Reports ...
mentary government is more efficacious in freeing trade from restraints than a government placed "by its consular correspondence in the centre of the great movements of commerce and of life , " and solely occupied ^ ¦ . " destitute of all private interest , by the development of the wealth of a country and the well-being of its people . " Theoretically , such a Gro vernment is stipposed by the ministers to be in a better position to judge with impartiality great economical questions than the public ; but practically no
such Government has solved such questions so favourably for ihe . general interests as a parliamentary government . Messrs . Baroche . Rouheb are quite at liberty to praise their master iit the expense of Louis Philippe and the elder Bourbons ; but they must not be allowed *—because he is enabled in 1860 to deal with commercial questions more liberally than they couldto exalt despotism at the expense of the parliamentary system . From the only country where this has prevailed-the' light has gone forth which has guided all nations to freedom . They inform us that the prohibitions which former Governments so vainly endeavoured to get rid of , were almost unknown in Colbert's celebrated tariff , and were enacted by the fifth of Brumaire ( October , 1799 , ) as a temporary measure which the return of peace was to terminate . It happened , however , that just before the Revolution , Mr . Pitt negotiated a commercial treaty with France , ar id by . some persons that treaty connected with the Revolution in time . was regarded . -as' one of its causes . Soon after Mr . Pitt ' s name as the influential promoter of war against the ^ Revolution became . connected in the minds of the French with all its evils and all its resulting horrors . So when their minds were keenly sensitive , an admiration of prohibitions and a hatred of commercial treaties connected with the iinrne of Pitt and the horrors of the Revolution were deeply impressed on them . The feeling thus permanently excited resembled very closely the corresponding- animosity we felt to B-uonapatite arid his empire . Time and free discussion have nearly swept this out of our national mind ; but the sentiment of the ¦ French has withstood all the efforts of successive- Governments . to-remove it , all the arguments of their theorists , mul all the proofs which our pre-eminent suecess has supplied of ' the advantages . of free tirade . Even now it is more powerful than the popular Empkhou . He can only modify by promising to respect for a time the prohibitions winch former ( rovernments ^ ra ^ n ot put an . end to . His ministers flatter him too much and too soon , and make it plain that , contrary to his instructions , not to trouble-themselves withany kind of political considerations , they have , in common with their countrymen ,, thought more of these than " merely of ameliorating the commercial- ' relations of the two countries . " They cannot shake off the national sentiment . Like individuals , nations are punished for excesses , and in the lingering ; attachment of the French to prohibitions as now explained we perceive some of the evil consequences to both nations of their former hasty intemperance . The French negotiators expect great advantages to the numerous artisans of Paris employed in making jewellery , bronco ornaments , toys , artificial flowers , dress ornaments , etc ., by the abolition qf" our import duties on such articles . Wo believe that they arc quite correct , and that the EmpElton could not by any other means , so well us by this commercial treaty , inei'ense employment for the vast manufacturing population of his capital . More than half the great multitude " derives subsistence from such manufactures , and for the future- 'pence of Paris he does well to open our markets to the produce of its industry . They gxi pect , also , that great ) advantages will accrue to the manufacturers qf Lyons , St , TCtienne , and the department of tho Tsere from the free introduction here of silks and gloves , in which they will not be deceived . Theyj'omind us , however , that tho Manchester people have proved that their industry has ever taken a new bound when duties said to bo protective wore reduced . Thus our silk manufacture , some brunches of which drciul tho competition of Lyons and St . Ktienne , has increased from importing 3 , 1 ) 00 , 000 lbs . of raw silk in 1848 , to importing , 9 , 900 , 000 lbs . in 1859 , or nearly threefold . ,, In the same interval tho value of tho silk manufactures cxportod has iuoretisod from iS 590 , 000 to £ 9 , 800 , 000 in 1859 . Our silks , therefore , now compcto successfully with French silks in third markets j and therefore \ vg do not imticipato from tho probablo increase qf silks imported from Franco , tho smallest injury to our own manu-Iftotures . Tho increase of opulence - every where creates a demand for a great increase ^ in silk clothing ; and tho cheaper but perhaps less tasteful manufactures of England will find an oquully enlarged sale with the more costly and tasteful manufactures of Trance , So tho two ministers rightly expect thut tho agricultural interest of Prance , especially tho wine-growers , will reap grout advantages from tho introduction of wine hero at n low duty
They remark that the English hare had no opportunity of ascertaining whether French wines are agreeable to their taste or . not . Accordingly , at present , while the annual consumption of wine per head is , in Austria , fifty-seven litre , iu / ' Portugal one hundred , and in France one hundred , in England it is only one litre . They expect , therefore , that the great , redaction in our wine duties now and next year will operate very ftivourably forthe wine-growing interest of * -France , The--ministers and all France see that immense benefit has been derived by the agriculturists of Normandy and Brittany from the abolition of our corn-laws . It enabled them to supply us last year with about 3 , 000 , 000 quarters of wheat and flour measured as wheat . This is only ' an example of the mutual benefits which all trading countries , derive from trade . If the peasants of Normandy and Brittany are- enriched by our importations , the inhabitants of London and Manchester are both-fed and enriched by the produce of those peasants . ' A detailed return , however , of our exports to France , published on Wednesday , shows that , in 1 S 55 , 6 , and 7 , we sent thither considerable quantifies of wheat and spirits , and some flour , though habitually these articles are imported- from Franco . Under varying circumstances , ¦ . -therefore , similar commodities ' may bo both imported from and exported to the same country ; and such interchanges will be much promoted by free , trade , to the mutual , beuelit of both nations . The -ministers- say that the- value of tho exports to England in . 1858 , was 4 ^() , 0 . 00 ; 00 () r . ( 23 f . to £ l ) . 2 <> G / 0 OO , O 00 f . were paid for natural products . —corn , Hour , wine , etc . ¦ ; ... and 220 , OOO , OOOf . for manufactures . Thus something more than half our imports from France , are of watches and elocks , silks , gloves , ornaments , etc . Their corn and flour are not benefited 1 . by .. iho-change in our duties , which will be . for ' the ' . ' . advantage generally of the manufacturers of objects of luxury . in reverse of this , the abolition of prohibitions in . France , and reductions of the French tariil' will be chierly for the advantage -of our coal-getters , iron , cutlery , cotton , and ' earthenware manufacturers '; or generally of persons - who- supply object * of almost uuivor .-jal utility as cont-rndi . st-in » utislied I ' roni those- ? who . minister to the demands of luxury . Messrs . Bahocmlh and 1 Iol ; jikk '' do not advert to this distinction , ljut it seems to us to show that ultimately the chief advantage :- } of the Treaty , though they ' will unquestionably be mutual , will fall to the lot of bur people . To them will be opened-the vast market which 30 , 000 , 000 of French oiler to the most " -ene . ral and common of our productions ; while to the French \ vill be opened the comparatively small market / which the . opulent . supply for articles of . luxury . At present the . Fronoh receive froiri us miumfjietiires of tho value only , in 1 S 5 S , of 18 , 500 , 0 O 0 f ., while we receive from them manufactured articles of the value of 2 : 20 , 000 , OOOf . The Treaty accordingly , though not . immediately , -will open comparatively hu'gvr markets for our industry than for theirs . At the same time , nu-ch articles as we oould supply France with are dearer there than , in other countries , and tho ministers are sensible of . the , necessity _ of exciting -tlio maimfaetiinug industry of the Fivueh , jiuji . making thorn adopt now instruments and uo \ v methods of production . . . There is one other important matter connected with tlu : Treaty to which the miuisfcera only faintly allude , bid on which , be-inu ; for-us of primary importance , we must say a lbw wordy . The mutual opening of . markets , extending the demand for . products , must have a favourable influence , on tho wugos of labour . Sincv . the discovery of gold on . tho shores of tho Pacific , if iu > l before , there" has been a sensible Umdeney throughout tho oivili / . ed world to u rise in tho rato of wagos . in Jiugluml it is vi ? ry marked . The Treaty , and every step in the march of iVoe trade ,, will iuemnso tho tendency . VVhat , then , will bo I ho effects on the product ' ions of dill ' cron ' t countrios of this riae of wu < res ? In the ooi nno tit ion which will increase throughout l . heworlU in con - junction with this rise , those who , lil < o ourselves , unipluy niachinory to tho groatust extent , will reap the , grotit-usl , advantages 5 that is , wo shall command thomost-oxXousivu market ,- ! , and wo shall Biipplv ' commodities cumpa . ruli \ oly ohuaipor than others . Tho labour ' in which littlo or no maohiuory is . omployrd will be ut u disadvantage , mid hands will c | uit it for bettor paid , labour . Tho markod tonclmioy in luttor Union to louvo tho cullurn of tho fields for tho practice of tho » rU of cities wUl bo iuoroiistjcl . By no population engaged in any art is leas" machinery employed than by whie-KVowera . Thoy aro every whore oxtromoly poor . Wo niufit . expect , in oonaoquoueo , notwithstanding the iuci » out »( jil demand anticipated for wine , that the number of poraon * engagiiHf in tho production will juot iuoreaso . 1 » j »< l « iri «; ol ' OIU < future swpplioB , thoroforo , wo must take iuLo ooTibidomtion tho condiLiou unU prospootB of labourors throug hout . lOnropo , us well as natural cupnbilities ol' soil imd oliinato . JI' wo judge only by tho latter , wo mny ibnu oxa ^ orated untl uwJusLulablc liopos .
March 17, 1860.J The Leader And Saturday...
March 17 , 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 249
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1860, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17031860/page/5/
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