The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-17 00:00:00

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encountered, obstacles accumulated by selfish in- '
terests, but consolidated by time and general indif-
ference. What reason was there not to dread the
unpopularity that would attend that courageous
reaction against inveterate errors ? How eagerly
would hostile Minorities misreprese t the piojects
of the French Government, accuse it of weakness
and calumniate its honest intentions. I am not
afraid, therefore, to confess that when Mr. Cobden,
supported by the powerful aid of my hon. friend M.
Michel Chevalier—(cheers)—laid before my Sove-
reign the expression of his profound convictions
and his vast experience he appeared to be under-
taking the defence of a desperate cause. The par-
tisans of prohibition, intoxicated by some secondary

successes, had adroitly taken possession of the
avenues of authority, and believed the citadel im-

pregnable. But this was to confess a doubt of the
superior views of the great man to whom the des-

tinies of France are confided and of the cause of
truth. Now the eminent member for Rochdale had

learned is the long conflicts which have distin-

guished him that truth, like prayer, if it sometimes
marches slowly, yet never fails to arrive at the goal.
The Sovereign who, in his period of solitary prepa-
ration for the high mission which he fulfils to-day
had been an attentive witness of your economic re-
volution, and of the development of prosperity and
greatness which had been its fruit, knew all the
fecundity of that great law of exchanges which
Sully, in his conversations with his King, called
a law of Providence. The Emperor had meditated
on those salutary doctrines of competition which for
the good of all, and especially of the least favoured
parties, kindles courage, exalts the faculties, in-
creases to a tenfold degree the effective powers, and
summons at need genius in its aid—he called to
mind those noble words pronounced by one of your
great statesmen, Sir R. Peel, " I hope that my
name will one day be blessed in the poor man's
cottage." And so he disdained that ephemeral
authority with which priviliged classes surround
thrones, that he might await that popularity which
time developes and which posterity consecrates.
(Reiterated cheers.) Uninfluenced by any other
considerations than those of public good, he did not
hesitate to take upon himself the direct personal

responsibility of that reform which had cost the
statesmen of Great Britain ten years of toil and
conflict, and in doing so he justly estimated his
own strength and the affection of his people ; for,
after a moment of astonishment and uneasiness, the
phalanxes of French industry began to range them-
selves with confidence under the new flag he raised.
(Cheers.) As for the puerile charge of weak sub-
servience to a foreign nation, he well knew that all
—and you, gentlemen, before all others—would see

in this treaty only a pledge loyally given to an
alliance necessary for the peace of the world—
(loud cheers)—a fresh guarantee offered to civilisa-
tion. (Renewed cheers.) Such were the obstacles,
such were the motives, which caused the signature
of France to be affixed to the commercial treaty of
1860. That treaty had to encounter stubborn ad-

versaries in the House of Commons, but placed
under the high protection of Mr. Cobden, defended
by the incontestable experience of the honourable
president of this banquet, sustained by the engaging
eloquence and powerful reasoning of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, it was approved by Parliament.
(Cheers.) If I am not mistaken, it now meets
among you with nothing but unanimous adhesion,
since this entertainment is offered to me by the
rspresentatives of all political shades. And now,
if I have not wearied out your kind attention,
allow me to mention some of the results obtained
by the treaty in France. The first, which I
name with sincere delight, and with a pride for my
country which you will pardon, is, in spite of some
bitter recriminations, the resolute and courageous
attitude of French industry on the morrow after
the facts were accomplished. Dazzled for a moment
by those new and unexpected horizons, our indus-
trial population soon regarded them with calmness
and serenity ; casting aside antiquated processes
and material, they have demanded from mechanic
art its most perfect machines, from science its most
novel applications and boldest methods. They have
flung themselves into the conflict with confidence
and vigour, inspired by that profound idea of Roger
Bacon—" The youngest are the oldest, they profit
by the experience of their predecessors." What a
grand and noble spectacle is that of the application
of all the living forces, all the intellectual faculties
of man to those fruitful struggles which issue in
public wealth and prosperity. (Cheers.) And what
more striking proof can there be of the benefits
flowing from the treaty of commerce. Without it
would not those activities, that productive power
which are destined rapidly to increase the well-

being of the nations, would they not have remained
inert and dormant like those precious sources, ne-
glected or unperceived, which flow unproductively
into subterraneous lakes, This transformation of
the economic ideas of French industry has just re-
ceived its ratification. Your august Sovereign,
plunged in sorrow by the premature loss of a Prince
not less eminent for his high capacity than for his
illustrious rank, and inconsolable, notwithstanding
the pious sympathy tendered to her by Great
Britain and Europe, was pleased, almost as a hom-
age to him who was no more, to open the great
arena of the Exhibition to the industry of the world.
Disdaining the policy of abstention recommended
to some by precept and example, our manufacturers
flocked to it with eagerness, and have made their
rivals judges of their efforts and their progress.
Certainly they have admired the successes obtained
by English industry under the incentive of liberty,
but with feelings of noble emulation, not of narrow
jealousy—(cheers)—and with that religious convic-
tion which God everywhere reserves for the activity
and labour of his least favoured children. (Great
cheers_) The second result which I have to state
is, that in spite of the recent date of our commer-
cial reports there has been a reciprocal and profit-
able development of exchanges between the two
countries—a development which has mitigated the
painful perturbations caused by the world's com-
merce by that fratricidal conflict which is raging
beyond the Atlantic. Gentlemen, I have not yet
sufficiently indicated the most striking feature of
the convention of 1860. That act was not merely
a commercial regulation between two countries. It
was the proclamation in the name of two great na-
tions of the principles of free trade—(great cheer-
ing)—of which you have been the leaders, and
which are destined to penetrate all legislations and
to stimulate the activity of all peoples. Already
the public authorities in France, following the ini-
tiative of the chief of the state, have broken through
our old legislation on cereals and raw materials.
France yesterday signed treaties of commerce with
Belgium and the Zollverein. (Cheers.) To-morrow
she will sign that which she is negotiating with
Italy. (Immense cheering.) The banner of econo-
mic reform will thus continue its triumphal march.
Those exchanges which we see growing in extent,
those relations multiplying in number, those inte-
riaesettitt are becoming intermingled and mutually
the',, the wealth that is increasing among na-
tions,its inevitable augmented welfare of the masses which is
1 esteem vehicle
day renders
of political
(cheers) are not all thee: thin
cheers.)
eer swithout.) convulsion,Ab scon.Hequence, the high reciprocal
Iln:gs from relations which every
more frequent, the extinction
ancient animosities
nations ? (Renewed
for a durable peace between_ WI so many firm bases
Are they not sure
and witrhollaliltaelhgoetsd-iosftuprbrogthreesses
assume so terrible a re
, gentlemen, let 'cachou ?
cur faults and 0 (Loud
cheers.)
our wayward
endm an . (Cheerio I -Pon-
sibility Wore God ,
s
1 Ptqause,
nimaspeuellisetsll;3l;entl°unetsit,bvyer
with all the Y eon..
alliance of the B • -
winced, a toast to the close
emotion of a soul pro:oundi
British
and the French nation. (Loud and long continued
cheering.)
Mr. COBDEN said the prcsidrnt had called upon
him to reply to the toast with which M. Rouher
had concluded. He had the honour and
pleasure of
acting with M. liouher fol. a whole twelvemonth in
arranging the details of tae treaty, and he should
not be doing justice to
'colleague, •
7 •
not take this first opportunity in in convictions if he
public, and
the
ins own ,dld
presence ofihis late gue, M. Rouher, of bearing
his testimony to the great services M. Rouher 'had
rendered to 'the , cause of commercial freedom.
Until this moment there had not
been an oppor-
tunity of M, Rouher speaking to Europe and the