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THE : COMMERCIAL TREATY.
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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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AMONGST the . many topics ; to which the opening of Parliar ment has suddenly imparted a great interest , the . commercial treaty with France stands out very prominently . Next to Italy and the Congress , it was placed foremost in the Hoyal Speech . It has already occupied , Attention in both Houses . It concerns the welfare of the two greatest nations of Europe . Many of the subjects eagerly announced and breathlessly discussed at the opening of every session soon pass into oblivion . The rush of business is then always far too great to last . As it subsides it
deposits much rubbish with one or two legislative nuggets , like the Reform Act of 1 S 32 , or the ' Com-law . Itepeal Act of 1846 , at which the nation rejoices . Whether or not the sanction to be given to the commercial treaty with France be one of these , or whether , like the former treaty , concluded in 1787 , this treaty is to be interrupted by war before much benefit can Avell come from it , lies hid in the womb - of time . We can only write of present hopes and present facts : the treaty is well intended ; the results are beyond the control of the two negotiating
Governments . . We agree with every speaker of either party , that commercial treaties are , in the abstract , wrong . The particular treaty is only defended , apparently , because it will enable the French Emperor , who finds the task difficult , despotic though he be , to carry through the free-trade measures he has announced . The French are not convinced by our great prosperity since 1842 that free trade is universally beneficial . They are aware that under the restrictive system , amidst war , and blockades , and prohibitory orders in Council , England also made considerable progress . Her success then confirmed the old creed , that progress was
the result of restrictions intended to promote it . Except some wine-growers and the inhabitants of commercial towns , the bulk of the French are still favourable to protection and- ¦ prohibition ; as our landowners and shipowners , and even the bulk of our people were till a compai-atively recent period . Our wine duties , originally intended to check the trade of France , and still preserved for revenue reasons , after the original object is scouted by every , intelligent- man , serve to keep alive there old prejudices against free trade , especially against free trade with England , and strengthen the obstacles which stand in the Emperor ' s way . The two Governments being now allied , and the two nations disposed to be on friendly terms , to
increase this disposition and cement their friendship the political obstacles to the extension of their mutual trade should be removed . The Emperor proposes to do his part , but he is bound to monopolists till 1861 ; and they being very powerful , may even then be able to resist his avowed and good intentions . By at once modifying our wine duties as a condition of a treaty we shall strengthen his hands against his monopolist subjects . Between now and next year the ' French will experience , as we shall experience , benefit ' from the reduction of our wine duties ; and he will then be able , we hope , aided by treaty obligations , to carry into effect his free-trade measures . The commercial treaty , therefore , not defensible on tt'adp grounds , stands firm on
the higher grounds of general policy and ; humanity . Neither Mr . Cojjden in promoting it , nor any other free-trader , nor any speaker in Parliament , can now believe that Governments can in any degree promote tho extension of trade , except by removing restrictions on it . Trade is mutual service , founded on the special advantages or peculiarities bestowed by nature on individuals and places , causing exchanges which are beneficial to all . It is as natural a growth as population , as grapes in one climate and strawberries in another . It is carried on by individuals for their own benefit , not by nations iii their corporate capacities . It is one part of the individual industry by which all are fed ; and Governments have no more to do with it
than with ploughing or weaving . They never , in fact , interfere with any part of this ^ natural ' mid necessity business without deranging it . Commercial treaties may remove some restrictions , but they necessarily impose some . Every regulation is a restriction . They arc , nt no ' time , per se , defensible , but regarded as instruments for attaining the high political objects adverted to , they may bo justifiable . Wo imprison and hang our follow-ereatui'os , expecting thereby to prevent crime j so we agree to a commercial treaty , expecting thereby to nllny prejudices and promote the friendly union of two nations long accustomed to regard each other as rivals or oneinioa . It will only increase trado us it sets trodo free
. &OJ . UO loose ' statements aro ' imulu about wine being a luxury , and therefore n proper object of tuxnl ion . It is l ' nntlo a luxury to the multitude by high duties . " Tlu \ y stand , * ' suicl tho Clmnccllor of tlie Ejceiu'quor , " Hko n wall of brnaa footworn n poor man mij a glass of wino . " Pictures , atntitos , books , iieiv 8 p «|>««> nrtt uU luxuries in tho samo acusu ns wine . Mini 1 ms exited without it and without them , nncl can exist without it iiiul without llipin .
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the present over bygone ages . Men are ashamed now-a-days to dedicate their talents to the glorification of a power whose mightiest efforts have ever been put forth to darken human intellect and intelligence , and retain men and women , princes and subjects in perpetual childhood and vassalage . The separation of the temporal from the spiritual power of the Pope has been repeatedly mooted at different times and by various writers . The plan advocated in the pamphlet which has so long engrossed public attention , may be characterized as a family project , since it is nearly identical with one conceived by the first Napoleon , and recently brought into public view . The Napoleonic decrees relating to the Papacy , prepared by the minister Almni in 1808 , professed to keep in view the maintenance of the temporal power of the Pope , while it secured the rights of the Roman population . It is these two divergent principles which the present Emperor seeks to unite . While we cannot conceive any j ust reason why the City of Rome should be burdened with a Government too onerous to be borne by the more extended territory of the Papal States , we can but rejoice in any reduction of the Pope ' s dominion , as preparatory to getting rid of his temporal power altogether . On this ground the blindness and obstinacy of the Pontifical Government in refusing to acquiesce in the transfer of the Legations is advantageous for the rest of his oppressed States . It is morally certain to result eventually in the loss of the Marches and Umbria , which would , in the contrary case , have been assured - to the Pope for the present . It appears that , so far as the Emperor of France was concerned , " the .-simultaneous ' appearance-in London of the report of Aldixi ; and at Paris of the pamphlet Le Pajie et le Congres , was completely fortuitous . Yet both view the subject in the same light , arrive at identical conclusions , and prove that nothing but the separation of the temporal from the spiritual power can remedy , the sufferings of the people , and restore the lost splendour and influence , of ; the Catholic religion . According , to the provisions suggested previously to 1815 , the temporal government was to be destroyed , not only in the Legations , but throughout the whole territory which had belonged to the Pontiffs . ' Rome was to be declared free , together with its dependencies . It was to be governed by a Senator and a Municipal Council composed of forty citizens . To the Senator was to belong the executive power , while the legislative was vested in the Council . The provinces remaining to the Pope were to be annexed to the kingdom of Italy . The Pope was to enjoy an income of two millions , derived from civil taxes , and to reta ' in possession of the Church and palaces of the Vatican and Holy Office . Thus he would resume his primitive sacerdotal- ministry ; Rome would be restored to a government congenial with its history and traditions ; and while it enjoyed its own senatorial liberty , it was to partake of the splendours of an imperial city . The author of this plan , Antonio Axdini , was a Bolognese by birth , and nearly related to the celebrated Galvani . From 1797 he took an active part in the political events of the Continent . Having previously been an advocate at Rome , he had obtained a thorough insight into the political constitution of the clerical government . He subsequently became professor of law in the University of Bologna , Here his ideas expanded by the contemplation of the wide field opened to Italian publicists ' by the French Revolution , and he applied Kimself to the development of the grand principles which were to replace feudalism , absolutism , and theocracy . Excited by the events which Napoleonic energy was hurrying forward , he passed from theory to practice . First , he became Minister and Plenipotentiary of the Bolognese Republic at Paris ; then President of the Republican Congress at Modena ; subsequently President of the Council of Elders of the Cisalpine Republic ; State Counsellor after tho battle of Marengo , member and president of the Legislative Councils . After this Napoleon kept him near his person , as minister for the affairs of Italy , nominated him count , and created him Grand Dignitary and Treasurer of the Order of tho Iron Crown . During this period lie represented tho practical sense of the Italians , as accompanying tho genius of the Revolution . Not until the Allies entered Paris did he give up his post , and then the esteem in which he was held by the Powers of Europe was so great that the Austrian Emporor , Francis , invited him to Vienna , to remain during the Congress . Hove , though divested of his official character , ho was often consulted by the , principal diplomatists , and had frequent conforoncos with thorn . His project with regard to tho Papacy mot with the full approbation of NapoleoS I ., though tho turn of political events prevented him from carrying it out . It was . kopt secret until 1850 , wlion it was brought forward , but only to bo rejected . Tho present position of tho Legations , however , renders it worthy of re-oxmninntion , and proves that this arrangement , pr some modification of it , is essential to tho tranquil settlement of Italian offmrfl . "
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Jan . 28 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 83 ¦ ¦ ; ; . ¦ - - - _^ . L _
The : Commercial Treaty.
THE COMMERCIAL TREATY .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1860, page 83, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2331/page/7/
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