On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
March 17 , 1860 . j The Leader and Saturday Analyst , 249
Untitled Article
liaentary government is more efficacious in freeing trade froin restraints than a government placed " by its consular correspondence in the centre of the great movements of commerce and of Jife , " and solely occupied , " destitute of all private interest , by tlie development of the wealth of a country and the well-being of its people . Theoretically , such a Government is supposed 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 the general interests as a pai-liamentary government . Messrs . -Uakoche and ItoUHER are quite at liberty to praise their master at the expense of Louis Philippe and the elder Bourbons ; but they must not be allowed- —because he is enabled in 18 G 0 to deal with commercial questions more . liberally than they could —> to exalt . despotism at . the expense of the parliamentary system , Frorn 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 Colbekt's celebrated tariff , and were enacted by the -fifth' of TJrumaire ( 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 , and by some persons that treaty connected with the devolution 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 name of Pitt and the horrors of the Revolution were deeply impressed on them . The feeling _ thus permanently excited resembled very elosely the corresponding animosity we felt to Buonaparte and his ' empire-. Time and free discussion : have nearly ' -swept ' . this out of our national mind ; biil the sentiment of- the . French has withstood ' all the efforts of successive Governments to remove it , all the arguments of their theorists , and all . the-proof * which our pre-eminent success has supplied of the advantages of , free : trade . Even now it is " more powerful than the popular . Rmpe . iiok : He can only modify by promising to respect for a time the prohibitions which former Governments coiikl not put an end to . I [ is ministers flatter him too much and too soon , and make it plain that , contrary to his instructions ,-not to trouble themselves with any kind of political considerations , they have , in common with their countrymen , thought more of these thnn vt merely of ameliorating the commercial relations of the two countries . " They cannot shake off the national sentiment . ' Like individual ? , ; 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 , bronze ornaments , toys , artificial flowers , dress ornaments , etc ., by the abolition of our . import duties on such articles . We believe that they arc quite correct , and that the JSmprhou could not by any other moon's , so well as by this commercial treaty , increase employment for the . vast mnnufaoturing population of his capital . More than half the great multitude derives-subsistence fromsuch manufactures , and for the future peace of Paris he ( toes well ¦ to open our markets to the produce of its industry . They expect , also , tjhnt great advantages will accrue to the manufacturers of kyons , St . Etionnc , and the department of the Iserc from the free introduction here of silks and gloves , in which they will not be deceived . They remind us , however , -that the Manchester people have proved that their industry has ever taken anew bound when duties said to be protective were reduced . Thus our silk manufacture , some branches of which dread the competition of Lyons and St . IStioune , has increased from importing 8 , 900 , 000 lbs . of raw silk in . 1818 , to importing 9 , 900 , 000 lbs . in 1859 , or nearly threefold , in tho samo iutcrva . 1 the value of the silk manufactures exported has increased from JB 590 , 000 to £ 2 , 800 , 000 in 18 i > 9 . Our silks , therefore , wow compete successfully with Frenoh silks in third markets ; and therefore we , do not anticipate from the probable increase ofsilks imported from France , the smallest injury to our own manufactures . Tho increase of opulence every where cronies u demand for a groat increase in silk clothing ; and tho . cheaper .. Imt perhaps loaa tasteful manufactures ' of England will find an equally enlarged sale with the more costly and tasteful manufactures of Franco . So the two ministers rightly expect that tho agricultural interest of France , especially the wine-growers , will reap groat advantages from tho introduction . of wine hero at a low duty .
They remark that the English have had lio opportunity . of ascertaining whether French ' . wines ai-e agreeable , to their taste ¦ or not . Accordingly ^ at present , while the annual consumption of'wine per head is * in Austria , fifty-seven .-litre , in Portugal one hundred , and in France one hundred , in England it is only one litre . They expect , therefore , that the great reduction iii our wine duties now and next year will operate veiry . favourably for the wine-growing interest of France . The ministers and all France see that immense benefit has . been derived , by the agriculturists of Normandy and 13 rittany from -tin ; abolition-of our corn-laws . It enabled tlicin 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 Ivormaudy 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 , publi-sluHl on-Wednesday , shows that , in 1855 , 6 r and 7 , we sent thither considerable , qtianti :. ios of wheat and spirits , and some flour , though habitually these nriicles are imported from France . Under varying . circumstances , therefore , similar commodities ' may . be both imported from and exported to the same country ; and such int , erchang < -. s will hi : much promoted by free trade , to the mutual benefit of-both nations . . The ministers . say that the value , of the . exports to ' . England-in 1 S 58 , wn 3-i 2 n , 000 ^ 0 bof . (^ f . to £ 1 ) .. 200 , 000 , 0001 " : were paid for natural products —corn , ilour , wine ,. etc . ; .. and 520 , 000 , 0001 " . for manufacturer Thus : something luoiv than half our imports from France are of watchci , - and clocks , silks , gloves , onnunents , etc . Their corn nnd Hour are not ln-nelited by the ¦ change i ' u our duties , which will be for the advantage generally of the manufacturers of objects of luxury . ' hi reverse of this , the abolition of . prohibition ' * , in France and reductions of the French tariff will b ? . chiefly for the " advantage . of our coal-getters , iron , cutlery , cotton , and . earthenware luanufa-etim-rs ; or generally of . persons who supply objoetd of almost universal utility as <\ . mtnidisfinguishedfroiH those ., who minister to the di'inan . ds of , luxury . Messrs . . Barocmi ; and' Noriii : ii do not advert to this distinction , but : it . seom . s to us to show that ultimately the chic !' advantages of' . the Treaty , though they will u ' liqui ^ tionably be mutual , will fall to tho lot of our people . To them will be opened the vast market which :- ) 0 , 000 , 000 of French oil ^ r ( o . . tliL ! most , general nnd . common of our productions ; while to the . French will be opened the comparatively small market which the . opulent supply for articles of luxury . At present -the French receive from ' us Manufactures ' of . the value only , in 1 $ !>¦ $ , ¦ of . 18 ,. ") 00 , 000 f ., while we receive from them manufactured-article- ; ol ' the value of l >;? 0 , 0 () 0 , 000 f . The Treaty accordingly , though no ! immediately , will open comparatively larger markets for our industry than for theirs . ' At the same time , such articles as we could supply France with arc dearer there than in otlK-r countries , and the ministers ' are sensible of tho noecssily ^ of cxeiling 1 tho manufacturing industry of the French , un ; l inakiiig thiMii . udopt now inst . ruineuts and new methods of production . '' .. '¦¦¦ ¦ ¦ There is out ; otiier important inaltcr connected with the Treaty to which the ministers only faintly allude , but on which , being for iis of primary importance ' , we must say a few word a . Thv nxiitaal opening of markets , extending the demand for products , must have a favourable influence on the wages of labour . . Sine . . the discovery of gold on the shores of the i ' ucilie , if not bofoiv , there has beon a sensible tendency throughout the civilised world to a . rise- in the rate of waged , in tflnglan . d it is very marked . The Treaty , and every stop in . the march of free trade , will increase tho tu ' ii'leney . YVhut , then , will bu the effects oij . the prodiuaioiis of . different conutries of this rise of \ yngo . sr Iii the-coi » pQtition '\ vhieh will increase throughout tho . would in conjunction with this rise , Uiochj who , like ourselves , employ lruiclunery to tho g-rcutest os . t «» l , will roaip the grontost advantages ; that in ' , \ v « shall conmuand the most extonsivn markets , and we shall supply commodities comparatively dioiiptir Mum others . The labour ' in which littio or no inacliiiiory is employed will boiit ii disadvantage , and hands will tjuil . it for' better paid labour . The marked tendency in hitter timua to leuvc ) Llw uuUurn of the fields for tho practice ) of llio art * of cities will bu incroused . By no population engaged in any art is lens machinery employed than by wine-growers . They are every wlwru extremel y poor . We must expect , in consequence , notwithstanding ilio incmascwl demand antioinated for wlno , that the number of poraous engaging in the production will not inoreuso . In judging of our future supplies ,, theroforo , we must take into consideration tho condition and prosjKJcts of labourers throughout ! Kuropo , ua wdl as natural capabilities of soil ( md climule . II jvo juJko only by tho latter , wo may form exaggerated and my ' ustifiabk * hopes .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1860, page 249, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2338/page/5/
-