M. Rouher made a great Free-trade speech this day week
in the French Chamber of Deputies, during the discussion on the General Tariffs Bill. He defended the commercial treaty of 1860 with England, and showed how enormous were the advan- tages it had conferred on France, and he apologised for carrying it over the heads of the Corps Legislatif by the use of the treaty power. The Government, he said, of 1860 had desired to sub- mit the treaty to the Legislature, but found that the popular prejudice against it was too great. They resolved, therefore, to benefit France, in the first instance, against her own will. He asked what was the state of the agricultural interest in 1860. It was then under the rggime of the sliding-scale, which was like a clock which never marked the hour right, the hand arriving at the appointed figure too late to prevent importa- tion, or too early to prevent exportation. In 1880 the agricul- tural wealth of France had grown enormously. He showed the growth of France in manufacturing wealth also, by the value of the importation of raw materials. The Protectionist pro- posals would, he said, be the ruin of the commerce of France. When M. Rouher sat down, even M. Gambetta, in his capacity As President, paid him a compliment on the interest of his great speech.
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