The Sun.
London, England, 1810-07-11 00:00:00

,SI4TE OF FRANCE.

The following letter is upon so iniportant a sub-
ject, gni written 'hy a person who has resided so
France, that we do not think any apolo.zy
neees,ary for laying it befOre our readers •

Sin—ln an ankle signed "WILLIAM Cosiwr-r,,','
in his Weekly Register of the 2d instant, the writer
conclude., " That because there' is. so much corn
in France as to admit of a considerable exporta-
tion, the situation of that country mustbc,flourisiz-
ii/E ; and remarks, that if "it were not , for 'Buona-
tarte we sliouhi not
.have bread to eat, and, that
we rhust pay him a tax of six-pence lzrr quarters
loaf."

It is not long. since I left France, where I had
resided upwards of eight years. This has enabled
the to collect materials sufficient to 67e an history
of that flo-urishing country. That work is now
the Press. In the Mean tirrt I wish to answer
some of the above observations. .

That the agricultural state of France is.fiourish-
ing cannot be denied ; this proceeds, however, fiom
the effetiti of the Revolution,. and from- the acquisi,
lion of new territories, which always abounded in
corn. We waste lands, pleasure, grounds and gar-
tens, which were before useless, -have been con-
verted into corn-fitilds. Modern France must, for
These reasons, produce more corn than „it did -pre-
Yiqasly to the IleVolution. Even before that period
grnil
.was so plentiful in France, that'the late Duke
of Orleans,. was accused of [monopolizing it and send=
ing it over to ti,i. country.
That a great deal of corn is now on hand in
Vrance, is thus to be accounted for. First, there
is nor now any debouche of that article either to
Spa:it or Portugal, to which countries great quart-
titles had formerly been sent. Secondly, the 'ar-
t.:lies and the different Employes, estimated at
about. a million of souls, aie out of the country,
by which the consumption of corn Must be con-
siderably less; calculating t'qt every man eats only_
felb. of bread per diem, this makes 500,000 French
-quartern loaves, equal •to-7000 sacks of flour per
diem : as 72 such loaves are baked out of one hack,
Which weighs 2001 b. In this .crilculiktion. I do not
include the cavalry; also out of the -country, whose-
consumption must be great. Thirdly, the French
West- India I ;lands,. which were, till within theSe
few }ears, supplied with grain from the mother
4-ountry, atlord no' longer a market For its surplus
produce.
These are_the causes why corn. is, at present so
plentiful in France. It is ridiculous to_asstrt, that
the'..boltntry must, for that reason, be in, a. flourish-
ing situation. If. finds no cleboacke, there
might as well be as many. brambles. Ati,agritul-
fural country Must be ruined-if the cultivation, be be-
yond *Consumption either doinesticor foreign.—
We all. know. what. *the Non-intercourse \ has 'pro-
duced in America: • •

The reason why Bitonaparte is so kind to us as to
feed us with' his grain, I can easily give,-Shortly
before I quitted France, which was in June last, the
grain had rotted in the barns, and the farmers were
Unable to pay their land-tax. Grain itself is not
seized for the payMent, but military ruffians are
otodered to make a seizure (A* aye's), movable found
upon the premises. This slistre'ss is not confined to
cultivators 'of grain. Those 'of the vine are in a
worse situation. I know that these have suffered
their grapes to rot upon the tree, instead of con-
verting them into wine, because they had no sale
for it ; but they were, nevertheless, obliged to, pay-
their b per cent. to the Excise. in addition to the 5
per cent. land-tax, because Government would not
be the losers. The Receivers of Taxes for a De—
partment, pay a certain sum in advance to the Go-
vernment, as the amount of the taxes which were
levied last year, this year they must do the same; if
the farmer cannot pay, The Receivers must lose it,
as they generally make advances to Government,
some one,. two or' three years, therefore the Re-
ceivers take good care'not to be the losers.
As to " our paying Ruonaparte a tax of 6d. per
loaf, by way of duty," Lean only say, that he has
paid us • very high duties for our colonial produce,
which are exorbitantly, high in France, since his
inane Decrees of Berliiz and Milan. Before I left
France, lump sugar was five iivres, per lb. 4s. 3d.
sterling, and cotfee 8 to 9 lines per lb.
Mr.Cobbett observes, " that when the people of
this country grumble, they are told that every thing
is worse in France ;" this is only a . retort, because
the "grunibteo. "pretend that every thing is better
in France than in England, and they even publish
their opinions in contradittion to the written stated
mews of well-inforMed Persons Who have been in
that happy country. .
That writer. like'sVise says, «tinrplenty is a proof
lof a good Government, and tvhat Government must
that be called where there:is a scarcity These
obser‘ations are really so ridiculous, , that they
scarcely deserve an answer. Plenty end scarcity, as
applied to different countries, are relative terms.,
Grain 13 plentiful in Attica and in Turkey, and are
-111 OovernmentS of. that.conoiry good for that rea-.
/on only ? And if those countries, or any other, be
plentiful in corn, they LaVe a scarcity in other things,
they must exchange their corn for other necessaries
and, commodities—all this depends upon circum-
stances. -Suppose this country- could not yield a
bushel of co, rt, would that be a proof of the badness
of its Government ? . • ' _

England is not solely An agricultural country. It
is too rich to be so. It is a ruanufaEturing
.andoom-
tileiciAl country. Men are better paid in our manu-
tadortes; and otv board our merchant ships, than by
working 'at 'the plough. The monied men in this
country have a 'variety of means of laying out their
money, either in trade, in manufaauring, in canals,
to the public funds, in shipping, Ste. tic. which are.
more profitable than purchasing of lands.—
Whereas in France, monied men can find no ern-
pl.,ytnent for their money but by laying' it out-in
tire. pnlchase of lands. If 'our Government were
1 ice liti:)tiaparte's, it might command, all gentle-
stterpleasoretrounds to be converted into corn
stud all waste lands to be cultivated. It might
();,ter all manutactuters to 'ire.ak.up 'heirlooms and
I.lc,tr t.ngt.ries, arid order the merchants to
speculations, a;d.becorpe farmers ; but
iSi:ifrallklieavvit,' no sinntitude between the
o Go% tT•rnweitts, .inust be contented with our
• 'tali ul btarvatioil recouinitad' till those who

think that France is better goVerned and more happy
than 'tins country; to make the.experinte,bnr, which
T.was silly enough to do. Where is.the win who
has been in 'France during the iron Regime of Napo-
leon BuOnaparte, will say, that France is More happy
than England ? I am. Sir, pots,

LE W GOLDSWTH.