The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-13 00:00:00

THE TREJTY OF COMMERCE.

In the Journal des Debats of yesterday M.
Michel Chevalier discusses at considerable length
the Treaty of Commerce between France and 4tig-
land. We subjoin a full translation :
" The treaty of commerce between France and England
is a striking commentary on the letter of the Emperor to the
Minister of State. It attests that the programme contained
in the Imperial letter is not destined to end in measures of
minor importance, but that, on the contrary, it will be prac-
tically carried out ou a large scale.
" As soon as it transpired that negotiations were on foot
and the general features were made known, this Treaty of
Commerce caused a deep sensation, not only in the two
countries which are directly concerned in it, but also in all
those European States which felt from an unmistakeable
instinct that it touched them likewise most nearly. This is
because the idea which dictated the new treaty is different
from that which inspired former ones ; it is one of a su••
perier order ; it vibrates, in the spirit of nations, to a chord
Which, always a good one, is now most sensitive.
" The new Treaty of Commerce is, in fact, intimately con-
nected with the great movement which, dating from the
French Revolution, develops its most fruitful inspirations,
and dregs all Europe onwards towards a future still wrapt
n mystery, but which hold out a promise in every respect
to bo better than the past. Nations draw closer together
for their mutual benefit ; they gradually shako off the nar-
row-minded views, the prejudices, the hatreds which divide
them, not to become amalgamated together so as to offer
only a monotonous and sterile uniformity, but, in the gene-
ral interests, to exchange their sentiments and their ideas
and the productions of their industrial labour, which, after
all, are much more than is usually owned, the manifesta-
tions of the human mind.
" This eminently beneficent, nay, let us say, eminently
Christian tendency, does not only transform the relations
between State and State, between Government and Govern-
ment, between people and people. Its action is also felt in
the breast of every nation, and everywhere it modifies in a
happy manner the relations between all classes of society,
whatever they may be,—between religious confessions
themselves, which it makes reciprocal toleration. It brings
individuals and classes nearer to each other without lower-
ing anyone, but rather by exalting the humble and by
raising that portion of the population which was formerly
disinherited to a participation in the moral and intellectual
dignity, as well as to the enjoyment of the comforts of life.
"Civilisation does not advance with the regularity of a
machine, and its advances are not like the phases which the
theoretician can calculate beforehand, or like the revolu-
tions of the planets, which may be followed in their course.
Mankind has passions which, in connexion with the general
movement decreed by Providence, are too often disturbing
causes. It thus happens that from time to time the stream
of civilisation is obstructed and impeded, and appears even
at times turned from its course. Every nation, every class,
every coterie, even every individual has his prejudices, his
egotism, his preferences and his antipathies equally blind,
the conflict of which Dives rise to accidents, to disorders, to
retrograde movements. But it is the merit and the glory
of our Europeancivilisation that with it always, even after
the most violent debates and the most sanguinary collisions,
the civilising impulsion regains the upperhand. When
modern Europe is at peace, the genius of progress rules
there supreme. There is another fact which is most worthy
of observation to the hofhour of contemporaneous societies ;
it is, that all classes,even the least educated, have a greater or
lesser notion of what progress consists of, and that they are
inclined to aecelerato its accomplishment by their efforts, or
to strengthen it by their adhesion.
" Thus tho acts which are destined manifestly to favour
the concentration and the joint interests of the various fac-
tions of the European world excite general and real enthu-
siasm when they attain proportions beyond the common.
This is the secret of the success attained by the programme
in the Imperial letter, and of the happy sensation caused,
even beyond France and England, but more naturally so in
those two States, by the announcement of a treaty of com-
merce conceived on a broad basis between England and
France.
"This Treaty may justly bo styled a victory gainfd by
the genius of progress, of that progress one of the essential
characteristics of which we have just mentioned. When the
great nationalities of Europe had freed themselves of the
theocratical organization which the Sovereign Pontiffs had
attempted to erect upon the ruins of the Roman Empire,
and which had temporarily rendered great services, each
nation had shrunk back upon its own territory, the better to
constitute its personality; thus two movements co-existed
Of which one emanated from the sentiments of a common
interest (eolidarite) between the various peoples of Europe,
while the other carried the individuality of each of the
States to its uttermost limits. It was thus that, dating
from the middle of the 17th century, at the same time
that the different civilised nations exerted their common
efforts in the domain of literature and science, so as to form
in that respect a sort of European Republic, they endea-
voured to form for themselves an isolated existence in the
sphere of commerce and industry. The prohibitive system,
which the ancients never knew, of which barbarous tribes
at the present day are still ignorant, and which is directly
opposed to the spirit of- civilization, thus burst upon
the civilised world, and usurped a sway in the councils and
laws of nations most proud of their enlightenment.
" The noble movement of 1789 inaugurated a reaction
against that exclusive system, and the idea of a commercial
rapprochement between the different States, aroused in
France by Turgot and his friends, in England by the cele-
brated author of " The Wealth of Nations," appeared on
the eve of becoming the law of the whole world, when the
scourge of war was unchained upon earth with a fury until
then unknown, and resuscitating the hateful prejudices of
nations against' each. other, restored to life the system of
commercial prohibitions.
" From the effects of the lamentable calamities of 1792
and 1793, France and England had customs' tariffs which
we need not fear to call monstrous. With us, especially, the
liberal tariff voted by the Constituent Assembly in 1790 was
replaced by the Draconian laws of the Convention which,
for instance, adjudged 20 years of hard labour in irons
against any person wearing a waistcoat of English manu-
facture, knowing it to be such ; again, by the law of the 10th
Brumaire year V.; which in a few lines decreed absolute
prohibition of 19-20ths, at least of manufactured goods. But
when peace was restored, public opinion returned to the
charge on both sides of the Channel against those deplorable
exaggerations. Unhappily, be it said, equal success was
not achieved upon both sides of the Channel.
" In England the general interests successively defeated
the pretensions of private interests which profited by, or
better to express it, thought to profit by everything which
the restrictive system contained of prejudice to the commu-
nity. After a3O years' struggle, during which period the
moral ascendancy was nearly always on the side of the•
partisans of progress, the English nation adopted as State
maxims regulations which common-sense had long before
pointed out and which it will suffice to enumerate
to obtain the admission that they ought universally to pre-
vail :—ln agriculture, manufactures, shipping or commer-
cial branches of industry, as also in every career open to
human activity, the real normal situation is that where the
great law of personal responsibility receives its application,
and where, consequently every man expects profit only
from his intelligence and from his exertions. It could only
be by an abuse that manufacturers or proprietors could
pretend to increase their profits or their revenues by com-
pelling their fellow citizens, by the enaction of a customs'
duty, to pay for their produce more than its real value in
the general market of the world. The first interest to be
consulted is that of the consumer, which means everybody,
and it is a necessity of public order that the producer
should be incessantly stimulated by competition at home as
well as abroad to give his produce good and cheap. Any
branch of industry which cannot, does not know how, or
will not conform to these conditions, is, from this very
cause itself an onus on society, and for it to be maintained
by sacrifices imposed upon the community by means of a
Customs' duty or otherwise, it would be necessary for it to
be recommended by very exceptional considerations of
public interest, Branches of industry for which considera-
tions of private interest only can be advanced—and the
inamense majority are such—haVe no right to ask anything
beyond the temporary relief (menagements) counselled by a
prudent policy.
"It was thus that a new commercial system was inaugu-
rated in Great Britain, characterised by the principle which
some call free universal competition in the national market,
and which others call by a name more familiar to French
ears and more adapted to arouse the sympathy of enlight-
ened men, that of free trade (liberte commerciale).
• " This system, by the develepment which it gives to pro-
duction, by the- cbeapness it permanently maintains, spreads
its blessings over every class of society, but those benefits
are most evident in the working, labouring, and manu-
facturing classes. It would be easy to prove this logically,
but there is a-method of demonstration more convincing
than the most correct or best-put arguments—it is that
provided by experience. Now, experience has pronounced
a solemn verdict on the.other side of the Channel. Under
the system of free trade, even imperfectly applied, from the
highest step of the social ladder to the most humble, every
class has beheld an increase, the first of their brilliant
opulence, the latter of their humble welfare ; the working
dames:especially- have derived unhoped for advantages ;
but what has gained more than all is the harmony of
society. England at the present day is of all States that
One which forms the most compact mass. Rich and poor
are there sincerely united, because the poor man is a wit-
ness of the honesty with which the rich man, as soon as
the principle of the new system was adopted by the Parlia-
ment, accepted it and associated himself to it heart and
soul. It is no exaggeration to say that of all countries of
Europe England is the least exposed to an internal revolu-
tion, and that she is indebted for this to the reform which
has received the name of the illustrious statesman who was
its official promoter—Sir Robert Peel—after having been
prepared by other men, happily still full of life, talent, and
courage, at the moment we write.
In France things went differently. On the restoration
Of peace in 1814, the Government would have been glad to
modify the rigours of a Customs' system which had only
been adopted in a time of war in a revolutionary period.
That idea which constantly animated the Government of the
restoration and that of 1830, nevertheless, failed in making
its wily, not only because it met with obstinate resist-
ance in the Legislative Chambers, but still more because it
did not find in public opinion that energetic support which
was displayed on the other side of the Channel: A certain
number of private interests, of which assuredly the majo-
rity were under a delusion, had persuaded themselves that
the prohibitive system Was favourable to them. They coa-
lesced strongly together to perpetuate it. They even suc-
ceeded in drawing into their coalition the majority of large
Proprietors by exacting from the weakness or want of fore-
,..dght of the Government of the restoration of 1819 to 1826,
laws of a nature to keep up the high price of the most in-
dispensable articles of food, as bread, moat, and others, and
the most essential' raw materials,
as wool,combustibles,
iinnd iroity'under the pretext, scarcely credible; that it was
the interest of the poor classes and for time encourage-
ment of labour. Multiplying themselves by indefatigable
exertions, they Fse dto form an invincible body while
ptiuobnlite_einetuedretshts:
cinetists at large, without any organise-
Without.effect. tirrunnient, Made a few isolated appeals,
of the Prohibitionist paretyPreopgpressed' so did the ascendancy
brilliant success of-free tradJ, ineaCi.;th progress with it. The
upon men,whe had taken a 'reat Britain had no effect
even
adeterminedv resolution,
Three months ago,
Cusielzts' td:riff, however Much the public t
ery moderatei r • eforro in the
it;
..,i,p,E;i:•ed more impractical& than everniefroenlydtellar, usualnded
rei-ie resorted to ; so strong were the positions taken
ins
Nernment s
up by the TheohiLitioniet party.
.o.rt is unLie,.. these circumstances that the
groot 6.f the west have met, both desirous
of the two their respective
t of
peace of Europelibrdilraatsir
of fuereasinir tlw
bonds of the interests of theg
Leith resolved to cunt:ll'4, 711
their alliance closer by . principle of free-trade suc
people. England; where 111
application, was disposed to
ceeded so well in its restrict ,manner, not only as
put it into practice in a comple, ''‘(o,2-28 without distinctionrc".
gordiTrance. but towards all na
cut thought that it was
Ontlid side of France, the Governm
monopolies, obstacles,
its' duty to free the country from the
created by the
and causes, of poverty of every descrillt!.°ll
prohibitive system, and which paralyse spirit, of. eaters
prise and the intellectual resources of a nallozis°
ingenious and assiduous at work. After tully-xstt?.dyiug-
ttie question it came to the conclusion that it wa time to
p into practice that rule of political wisdom— that 91 tho

different means equally legal of obtaining a determined re:.
sult, "it was most advisable to adopt the one most in keep-
ing with public tranquillity and with public order,thatwhich
incontestably offers to passions the fewest opportunities of
bursting forth and troubling the State. Hence, inevitably
followed that, to pat an end to the prohibitive system, the
measure of a treaty of commerce which was' clearly
cated by the Constitution of 1852, was far preferable to the
:introduction and discussion of a project of law which might
open. the door to all sorts of lamentable incidents, and at
least le‘ad to indefinite delay. It was thus that the treaty of
commerce' between the two high contracting parties was
ushered into existence. This treaty bears-the stamp of the
difference of ti'42 respective situations of the twe States.
of her tariff with a firmness o. f resolu-
England, already far advanced on the path of free trade,
completes the reforzli
,ion which has sometl'ing grand about it, and will cause
universal sensation.' Sf4e is faithful to the end to the con-
sumer, who is her mariner' e compass. According to the terms
of the treaty, all protective dl‘ ties must be abolished in Blip
land two years hence from this" date ; in reality they will
cease long before that as regards the' majority of them: The
English tariff will after then comp :lig° only those
have
- fiscal
dues established nearly always upon istroduce which
no equivalent in home production, as sugi.n tobacco, coffee,
and wine. As regards home produce, as spirf.4 paper, or,
again, jewellery, and which the English legis:ator thinks
it its duty to tax to assure the revenues of the Statsf
or sub-
ject to a stamp duty, they will be subjected„ whenthey Wino
from abroad, to a Customs' duty, regulated according to the
amount of the Excise duties themselves, With a slight ens-
mentation, when the case requires it, to represent the addi-
tional charges which result for the prOducer from the Excise
regulations. It is thus that French brandies will pay 225
francs per hectolitre, while spirits of home manufacture
will continue to pay 220 f. The difference is scarcely per-
ceptible. t esent the duty on French brandie is 412 f.
per hectolitrA pr
e. It would make a long list to publish those
French articles of produce which, under ,the new treaty,
will find a market in England to the great ,satisfaction of
the consumer, but net without opposing some categories of
English manufacturers. All articles in silk and the in-
numerable articles of Parisian industry, as dress, bronzes,
ready-made clothes, seem likely to have a large sale on the
other side •of the Channel. Wines not adulterated by
brandy, such as those of Bordeaux (claret) and even of
Burgundy, a portion of those of the Mediterranean coast,
will in future only pay a duty of 28 francs per hectolitre,
instead of 158 francs. Thus a bottle of ordinary claret will
cost little more in London than it does at Paris. It is no-
thing less than a revolution which is about to take place
in the imports of France to England. A simple reading of
the treaty of commerce will do away with all the objections
which an attempt has been made to create in England, and.
which were reproduced in France in an English point of
view. It was said that, by the terms in which it was
drawn up the- treaty shackled the liberty of England to-
wards other nations than France, and relatively to the alte-
ration or establishment of duties at home. It was also as-
eerted that it infringed:upon the very principle itself of free
trade, None of those fears have any foundation. The treaty
ddes not interfere in the slightest degree with the in-
ternal and external independence of England. Everything
which ought to have been provided for in that respect has
been provided for. As regards the exactions of the pnnci ule
of free trade, a glance at the text of the treaty will s ce
to show that they are scrupulously observed on the part of
England, and it could not be otherwise when one of the two
English negotiators was that illustrious orator, Mr. Richard
Cobden, for whom Free-trade is not an opinion but a faith.
"The French Government having as a starting point a
tariff far more restrictive even than that of which Huekisson
commenced the reform in 1824, and having, moredver, to
deal gently with Onetviger) prejudices which seemed deeply
rooted, and which presented themselves with such small
conciliating attractions, was necessarily obliged to stop con-
siderably short of the limits to which the English Govern-
ment have gone. But it is already a great progress to sweep
away from our tariff the avalanches of prohibition which
had been amassed there by furious hatreds under the Con-
vention and the Directory, and to replace them by duties at
,
which the maximum, fixed at 30 per cent. for a first period,
will be'reduced to 25 on the Ist of October, 1864. 'lt re-
sults, moreover, from the terms of the treaty that as the
duties of 30 per cent. are maxima, they will not by any
means be applicable to all merchandise indiscriminately (a
beetueoup pres). . • '
"The two decimes, which in our tariff are added to all
duties inscribed, will be comprised in the maxima of 30 and
25 per cent. The country must accustom itself to the idea
that it cannot export much Without importing much in re-
turn. - We must also make up our mind to take into conside-
ration
the public consumer, whoa by a strange aberration, has
hitherto been ignored as an inert body, liable to be moulded
into-any shape. _ Moreover, the customs must resume their
natural destination, to provide revenues to the State,
which is onlypossible, at least when manufactured articles
are in question, under a system of moderate duties. The
principal raw materials, and especially cotton and wool, do
not figure in the treaty, because the Imperial letter has re-
served that subject for the Legislative Body. There is
reason to believe that in this respect no objection will be
made to render the enfranchisement complete. As regards
coal the treaty announces a first • reduction for the Ist of
July next. 'Without pretending to divine the secrets of
the future, it appears to us impossible that this article
should not be completely enfranchised ; the interests of the
manufacturing industry require it, and persona well in-
formed on the subject are convinced that our mines will
easily stand the trial. .
•
" Inshort, owing to the treaty, a first application is
made to French industry of the principle of personal re-
sponsibility, which is the fundamental law of modern so-
ciety. It is done, as was necessary,:with care and caution,
but it is nevertheless a decisive step. If this first step is
successful, as there is no doubt it will be, it will be gra-
dually followed by others. And how can. French industry,
so intelligent and so skilful, and so often seen full of the
knowledge of its strength, fear a system which has shed so
many blessings not only in England, but inSwitzerfand, in
the Zollverein—we might say everywhere—for everywhere'
outside France the system of a liberal tariff has. been. tried
in different degrees since 1816, and everywhere it has suc-
ceeded.
" Once accepted by the English Parliament, it,is certain
that the treaty of commerce will be the signal fora a general
reform of the tariffs in Europe and throughout the world.
It is a signal serviee -which the two great nations of the
West will have rendered together, and the effects of which
will ever be on the increase; but what at once assures to
the treaty the support of enlightened men is that it forcibly
bicomes at once a pledge, of peace and amicable relations:
between the two powerful - States whose rivalry has too
often agitated and devastated Europe, costing themselves
so much generous blood and treasure.. This treaty is also
a ,gu-arantee for the peace'of the world unless there may be
some sudden and unexplicableexplosion of hateful prejudices
which once dominated (nu policy, but the return of which,
despite some unpleasant rumours, we cannot credit. The
whole 'of Europe desires peace, because she knows that
peace is the condition of all progress, and Europe has given
the most satisfactory and the most natural interpretation to
the Treaty. Coming events cannot fail to respond to these
happy auguries- of the European public' againit sombre
prognostications. How can it, in fact be imagined that
statesmen or political assemblies can be found anywhere
now disposed with levity to oVerthrow the well-founded
hopes of a- peace for which the whole world has sighed so
ono ?"

In consequence of the great and important changes which
the Commercial Treaty with France and the Chancellor of
the Exchequer's Budget will have on the commerce of this
country, we repeat them in l'lte Sun of this evening.
The following is the Treaty of Commerce between
Her Majesty and the Emperor of the French,
signed at Paris, January 23, 1860, and the ratifi-
cations of which were exchanged at Paris,
February 4, 1860 :

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland and his Majesty the Emperor of the
French being equally animated with the desire to draw
closer the ties of friendship which unite their two people,
and wishing to improve and extend the relations of com-
merce between their respective dominions, have resolved to
conclude a treaty for that purpose, and have named as
their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say :
Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Most Hon. Henry Richard
Charles Earl Cowley, Viscount Dangan, Baron Cowley, a
Peer of the United Kingdon, a Member of Her Britannic
Majesty's Privy Council, Knight Grand. Cross of the
Most Hon. Order of the Bath, Her Majesty's Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of the
French, and Richard Cobden, Esq., a member of the
British Parliament.
his Majesty the Emperor of the French, M. Baroche,
Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Legion of
Honour, &c.,.a Member of his Privy Council, President of
his Council of State, provisionally charged with the De-
partment of Foreign Affairs, and M. Rouher, Grand Officer
of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour, etc.,
Senator, his Minister and Secretary of State for the De-
partment of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works.
Who, after having communicated to each other their re-
spective full powers, found in good and due form, have
agreed upon and concluded the following articles:— '