THE COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH FRANCE.
Tim circular letter from the new French COmmercial'Reform As- sociation to the several Chambers. of Commerce in France calls upon those commercial bodies to join is claiming a more prompt execution of the new treaty-than the French G-overnmeitt had stipulated. The suggestion shows, not only that there are men inTrance quite capable of comprehending the new commercial policy which has been inaugurate,' in that country,.ibut that they- are conscious of their own. extended and extending influence amongst their countrymen. We compare these manifestations with the complaints uttered by some on the French side, that the treaty will be destructive to commerce, and with special objec- tions taken by Chambers of Commerce on our own side, that cer- tain provisions of the treaty which substitute practicable duties for prohibitions or prohibitory imposts, will be virtually as-restrictive as ever. A very influential paper in this metropolis has, in round' terms, censured the British negotiator for having failed to secure concessions equivalent to those which we have made or possessing any substantial value for the country ; and with a sarcastic charity, the blunder is ascribed to Mr. Cobden's want of acquaint- ance with general business ! It would be quite a work of supere- rogation to defend Richard Cobden in this matter ; but since some of our readers may feel perplexed, amid' the cross assertions kept ug in.print by journals and chambers of commerce," we will pu';, together a few very simple facts, which may, perhaps, render the- story intelligible. It must be remembered that the great bulk of the French people are, and have been always, exchisionists to the back bone. France, like England some fifteen or sixteen years ago, is divided into two parties of Free-traders and Protectionists, but the latter party possessed.. an enormous majority, and still pos- sesses by far the larger numerical force. We have no doubt that, if the treaty were put to the vote, there would' be an overwhelming negative. Why then is it, not only possible, but probable, that, the French nation as well as Government, may acquiesce in an affirmation of the treaty,—nay, that it may agree to accelerate the working of the treaty ? The reasons are exceedingly clear. We have already in part explained them to our readers, and re- cent events have but added to our facts, and confirmed our tale. In the first place, the public in France has been familiarized with the idea of a relaxation in the protective and prohibitory system of the country. With a remarkable combination of tact and sagacity, this idea was first distinctly presented to the French people at a time when the Imperial Government showed great zeal in promoting many forms of practical improvement, and in mitigating the suffering caused by various natural calami- ties. The Government has now for a long series of years secured tranquillity to France ; and it is within our own personal know- ledge that by that simple fact it has secured the active confidence of those commercial and trading classes which were regarded as the peculiar appanage of the House of Orleans. Contempora- neously the development of the joint-stock enterprise has un- doubtedly given a stimulus to investment in Franco. We have on various occasions pointed out the unhealthy tendency of certain peculiar enterprises, but at the same time, collectively, they have had a beneficial result,—they have induced the French people to take their savings out of the stocking, to put them into trade, and to work them for the profit of the community as well as of the owner.
The result has been that within the last few years, and parti- cularly the very last, there has been a degree of commercial ac- tivity, previously unknown in France, permeating through every grade of society. If there have been disastrous signs in the wine trade, this new activity. of the commercial intellect has suggested energetic measures for improving the lands, for opening up a new commerce with foreign markets, and for stimulating a French in- digenous produce which might otherwise have been allowed to sink in despondency. The development of the railway system has contributed to accelerate the movement. From various causes, cash has been more abundant in France than it has ever been within the review of history. We have seen that in all these changes, the Imperial Government has appeared at once as the protector, the assistant, and the directing stimulator of national intelligence and energy. The consequence is, that the economical mind of France, as well as the political, has acquired the strong est confidence in the wisdom of the Imperial. Government, and in the superior advantages to be derived, for each. class, by trusting in the policy of that Government. So to speak, the manufacturers of.Lille, like the wine-growers of Bordeau.xor the merchants of Dunkirk and Marseilles, are just at ,present in the mood to bet upon the profits arising from the Napoleonic policy, rather than the profits which sometimes accrue from the old-fashioned policy of Dunkirk. or Marseilles, Cateau or Paris. It is now tolerably obvious that the Emperor Napoleon has been acting throughout with the intelligence of an economical philosopher like Michel Chevalier, and with the sagacity of a practical statesman. He has been,, as it were, the Peel of France seizing and forming the oc- casion for which political economy had been watching. When Mr. Cohden went over as the repreeentativeofFret; trade England, he had a very broad and yet complicated f before him.; he had to sit down with his /bend and allow free-
trader, Chevalier; to 'survey, net only the actual tariff of France with special reference to the revalue; but; the • state of feeling,
past, present, and future.;; the degree to which the free-trade
tendencies of the country idouldsbe lecepted and developed, with- out so far anticipating their growth: as to shock,:,opiniom and to
produce reaction. .These broad considerations had to be carried forward while examining a very complicated tariff; and it needs no conjuror to understruld. that Mr. Cobden and . his coadjutors must have been guided in their operations':very much by the special information of persons concerned in particular branches of trade. Now what have we, observed, with regard to the trading interests in our own country. :To have .found them, without exception, coming forward .to press upon-the French Government sacrifices for the benefit of some particular branch of commerce. Each particular manufacturing town has spoken in a manner as if our Government ought rather to cast away. the whole benefit derivable to England, to France• , and to :mankind, from the treaty, than =LIS the .occasion !or. matching some particular 'benefit for the cloth of Bradford, the cotton of Manchester, the, cutlery of Sheffield, or the paper of London. Contempt and con- tumely were east upon the French ,proposal only to reduce the -duty on certain articles,; and Lord Palmerston was almost invited to embroil -the two countries in a feud, which could not hive been .terminated for generations, because our papermakers were unsa- tisfied on the subject of rags ! What has happened in this eoun- tey, the metropolis of Free-trade, moat undoubtedly must have happened in France ' and in point of fact, we know that it has. The wine-merchants of Bourdeaux have not thought the British reductions of: duty sufficient, the manufacturers of Cateau or Lille have been jealous of Bradford and Macclesfield; and each section of French commerce has been so blinded, by having its own interests kept close hefore its eyes, that it has refused to recognize any advantage from a policy for Europe at large. Meanwhile, however, the same causes which have originated so great a confidence in the Imperial Government have continued Working in an accelerated ratio, and have even operated con- siderably to enlarge the, sagacity,—the natural sagacity of the French manufacturing , class. We know of towns in the interior where the confidenee is so great,_that although doubts respecting the detailed working of the new system aro suspending trade, the Most hopeful feeling prevails with regard to, the state of things in France after the treaty shall. be once at work, and people shall know what they are at. A recent incident-is only an example of occurrences which have happened in other quarters. The manufac- turers of Rheims have latelybeen selling cotton-thread to the manu- facturers of Lancashire ; our manufacturers have driven a roaring trade, they have had enormouksupplies of cotton from America, and yet in the face of cheap cotton their business was so brisk that it was worth their while to send to France for thread. The material of that thread which had been brought from America and worked up in France to furnish the manufacturers in Lan- cashire, and still the Englishman was able to undersell the pro- tected trader of France, even after two voyages in protected ship- ping. Facts like these have spoken eloquently to the French trading classes, born. with a _bright intelligence, and lately reawakened to the advantages of the new system of trade. Indeed the native Teltairism of the whole French race has been incited to contemplate, from a peculiarly practical, and in some cases amusing point of view, the absurd and fallacious idolatries of the old mercantile superstition of, the country. Now this op- portunity it was the business of 31r. Cobden and his brother com- missioners to use, but not to, shock the new influence, or to destroy it by reaction ; and they have done their duty admirably.
That they have made the most striking progress in maturing opinion,' even since the treaty was initiated, is proved by the de-
mand ispressed to cut short the:rogress allowed for various reductions in the French tariff. This has been rather a sore point with the English manufacturing interest, who complain strongly that the reductions should be immediate on our side, and yet deferred for more than a year or nearly two years on !the other Bide. The inequality was condemned as a monstrous form of " reciprocity; " but it , must be adinitted that great candour his been shown here in favour of .making great allowances for the difficulties of the trench Government. And now, the de- mand is even pressed with more distinctness on the other aide of the Channel. We might have expected some suggestion of the kind from ihe class represented in the new French Commer- cial Reform Association ; lant,,,from.what we have stated above, it will be readily understood that certain practical reasons, also pre- vail with the commercial . classes, particularly in the provinces. The argument runs thus : a1 If we had had our own choice, we should rather avoid the experiment of freartmle altogether ; but we are willing to accept. it from the Emperor's Government, If we must have it, however, we desire to shorten, as much as pos- dale, that interval between the old syitem and, the new, which we find to be more effectual in paralyzing trade than, the -widest open- ing of restriction." France at ,present je pilfering more than England, though, England has thrown- away, her 'protective system. When M. Dollfus.and his brother reformers, therefore, make this demand, they are not without a support from the very classes which they might have expected to oppose them ; and these foots attest the extraordinary and unexpected progress made by opinion even within the last few. months.
The materials for an extended trade exist on both sides ; to refer to one branch alone—most of our readers know the large pre- parations which have been made in France as well as in England to improve the opportunities afforded by the opening of theiwine- trade. Railway contractors and enterpristutunirveyors
culture in France are making .ti#010 prepartittettOt turn *Ports of coal and iron to advantage. -It Is certain that With such exten- sions of trade, French. demanda,w,ill riaeitoefdi,twe might proxi- mately calculate the expansion which ,thimsammerce of the two. countries must undergo as soon,as•they beginbetter to understand their mutualwards. , Both of Om lip, at present more wealthy :than they have ever been ; in other werds,,they have the goldeulseed of a more extended trade thanthe world 4a:5:yet witnessed between the Western Powers. But; a very extended commerce, in either one country with the other, impliesa. developmentef material iur terests through -which each peeple.will possess a substantial stake in the peace and prosperity of the other.. It is a condition of things which we have pointed outin reference to America, as ren- dering it almost impossible for the Governments of the twaeoun- tries to plunge their states into ;war, Should the American and British Governments be rash enough to:commit that crime, they, would undergo a severe retributieo from the indignant. people, m* only of Florida and Lancashire, of. New,York and London, but of the whole community on both sides. Anctwe are on the threshold of an alliance between the French. and English people more stable
than any which can be concluded irpeoparchment.• ,. •
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