The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-18 00:00:00

FRENCH MONOPOLY.

If we discuss the financial theories of France, it
is as we should those of a state exhumed from the
Middle Ages or discovered in the heart of a eon-
tinent. No doubt, there are few Frenchmen of
more than common intelligence who do not wish
to follow our example, at least in the great prin-
ciples of removing burdens from industry and
opening the ports to food and raw material. But
these are not the people who govern France, and
their convictions are worthless. France is governed
by people whose interest is so wrapped up in a
business or an employment, in such a bit of land,
such a manufactory, or such a service, that they
have no spare thoughts, not a moment of time or a
corner of their hearts for any other people. As a
drowning man catches at any floating substance
without entering upon the question of hydrostatics,
and is ready to rejoice over a bit of straw, the
great majority of the French nation are engrossed
in the question what price they will get for
the stock now on their premises, or what wages
for the next quarter of a year. These are
the men who return the Emperor, and
who maintain him in his position. He must
address his policy to them, and fortunate indeed
is he when he can disguise some hard truth in the
frippery of a captivating delusion. There is no
press to teach the truth truly, and eventhe eloquent
and courageous writer who has put his head into
the lion's mouth by a defence of our institutions
would probably hesitate to assure the French
peasant or artisan that he can safely follow our
example in free trade. So here is the point at which
the system fails. You and your horse together con-
stitute a Centaur, and you can do wonders ; but if
the foolish brute is under the firm conviction that
the child's hoop which has just run between his
legs is a ferocious beast, you have no longer any
hold upon his intelligence. France will not open
her eyes to commercial common sense in our time.
The greatest Powers have their limits, and fret
against the tether as much as the lowest slave
of man or of cireumstaices. The Emperor of the
French might, perhaps, command an expedition
against any nation of the earth ; ihe can rebuild
Paris and complete Cherbourg, but he cannot let
in English iron free.
This is an iron age. There is nothing so neces-
sary to the strength of a nation or to its material
development as this convenient metal, which can
be turned to so many purposes and worked into
such various consistencies and forms. It is not,
however, found in equal quantities everywhere,
and even when found it requires abundance of
charcoal, or its substitute, coal, to bring it into
use. It scarcely exists in a virgin state, but is
widely diffused in forms that hardly pay for the
smelting. In our own southern counties there are
vast districts containing iron ore which was worth
smelting so long as the forests existed and the cost
of carriage from the middle and north of England
clogged competition from that quarter ; but it
would be madness to attempt anything with our
southern' ironstone now, and the most rabid Protec-
tionist of 'Kent or Surrey would not venture to ask
Government to protect his iron against Derbyshire
or Wales. In France the iron ore is neither so
abundant nor so rich as in this country, nor is there
anything like the same supply of coal. Nature has
given that country many great advantages, and a
situation only second, if second, to our own ; but
she has placed her far below ourselves in the sup-
ply of these useful, though vulgar, materials. The
French, however, are an industrious, ingenious, and
enterprising race. Give them the material, and
they are as likely to bring it to perfection as we
are, and will so become formidable competitors.
In this case common sense suggests that everything
should be done to cheapen the supply of the raw
material ; and we can even imagine a very ambi-
tious Government offering a bounty for the im-
portation of good iron, to supply the natural
deficiency, and place the French manufacturer
on a level with the English. What has been
done, and what will probably continue not to be
done to the end of the chapter, is the very con-
trary of this. Everything has been done to
strangle France, first by stopping, then by narrow-
ing and clogging, the inward current of this most
precious of all metals. By existing decrees, on
every ton of pig-iron or bar-iron imported into
France there are levied duties of 50 and 70 per
cent., or more than half its value; and even iron
rails, so necessary to the development of France,
are only admitted at near 40 per cent. of their
value. Ten years ago, in 1847, the make of
pig-iron in France was a little under 600,000
tons. Under protection it has diminished. In
1848 it fell to about 470,000 tons ; in 1849 and
1850 to little more than 400,000. In 1852 it had
recovered to above 500,000 tons. The make in the
best of these years was less than one-sixth of our
own, and it follows from a simple calculation that
besides exporting immense quantities we annually
use at home 1601 b. per head of the whole popula-
tion against only 361 b. used in France. The use
of iron has long been agreed upon as the best test
of material advancement, inasmuch as it enters into
all work, agricultural and manufacturing ; build-
ings, and railways, and shipping, whether for com-
merce or for war. It appears, then, that we use
four times as much as France per head of the popu-
lation, and therefore make four times the progress
in material things.
The quality, however, is not the
iron only, and
scarcely the chief, consideration. The qualityof
French is bad, and its inferiority tells on rails,
on shipping, and on every implement used in trade
or in domestic life. As our correspondent ob-
serves, French razors do not shave and French
knives do not penetrate meat. The rails on the
Northern Line have just been tested, and it is found
that after three years' wear of those supplied from
the Tredegar Works, in Wales, little more than 11-
per cent.—only 18 in I,ooo—were faulty, while no
given of the French rails laid down.
report is
Great quantities of Bowling iron have been intro-
duced within the last few years into the French
dockyards and and at Brest, Toulon, L'Orient it is
stated in official reports that the Bowling iron not
only passes all the ordinary tests, but is infinitely
superior in every respect to the French rogtecaltieroino
there used, If, then, it be a necessity of