New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-02-14

Whatever changes are made will be made cautious
w. GRADUALLY, and with sufficient premontory bell
ringing. Their trepidation Is rather laughable TO
an American like myself, who hath had losses
by Sudden cutting down of tariffs in past times. II
a., SINNERS. and weavers, and iron-workers could
have had fifty years of all the protection and then
three or four years to turn round in and prepare
for change!
There is one feature in or rather out Of the pro-
oramme which has been remarked upon here, and
openly, with protest, by men whose thoughts are
not ali tangled up with woollen and cotton yarn.
This programme, which acquires sort OF grandeur
by tie extent and completeness OF its announced
reforms, deals with purely material development.
II saws nothing of the famous liberty-wreath with
which his Majesty formerly expressed so ardent
a desire to crown his political edifce. Something
indeed is promised for the restoration of Cathedras
and for the encouragement of sciences and fine
arts; but nothing is limited at in the way OF giving
a lively impulse TO the development OF primary
education ip France. In this "nation at the head
{" of the civilization of the world" as Frenchmen
are fond of boasting-the ''only nation that nights
ssfor an idea,' as his Majesty swaggerngly re-
marked after Withdrawing from the Italian light
in this nation, onc-third OF the grown up men ana
more than half of the women cannot read ana
write; and the whole annual appropriation by the
State for primary education amounts to only little
over million dollars.
On the agricultural side, the programme ia better.
How much the country stands In need OF reform IN
this respect strikingly appears IN report addressed
by the Ministers of Finance, of Agriculture, and OF
Public Works, to the Emperor, in response to one
of the demands of his recent letter. From the time
of Henry w. down to 1857, the successive Govern
ments have vainly devised laws and measures for
bringing into culture the waste communal lands.
What thew all amounted to may be inferred from
the fact of which the three Ministers assure us,
that the sum of lands owned by the COmmunes To-
day amounts to 4,720, 900 hectares-the hectare,
YOU will recollect equals two and q half acres,
nearly. Of this immense surface-almOst one
eleventh of the supercies of the whole c0untrycOn-
siderably more than nehalf is under no cultivation
whatever and yields q revenue OF less than francs
per bectare The plan which Ministers propose tor
bringing these lands to more productive condlton
is very possibly as good one as could be devised
for Government to execute. A much more effective
plap. that presents itself to an American mlnd
simultaneously with the presentation OF the work 10
be DONE is simply the remuneration OF any govern
ment plan If the French Communes, lett lnde-
pendent masters of their own affairs, had been per,
United to contract habits of intelligent activity ana
enterprise by any of the dozen different French
Governments last past, they would naturally have
done of their own motion, and done better, what
the State now has to force them to do The great
eat obstacle that the Government will meet with, as
the Ministerial reporters evidently anticipate, Is
Just the inertia and incapacity of the Communes
which it's all-cOntrolling administrative centrallza-
ton has fostered. In this matter OF administrative
despotism, there is little to choose between roya,
republican, and imperial regimes
AprOp0s of agriculture, at any rate not 80 NAL
apropOs as would seem at first sight: Many OF your
readers have heard of Meyerbeer's last opera, lie
Pardon de Pioermel; most of them must also have
heard of PlOermel, through that POOR 1oung
Man." whose miseries, on 5000 francs year, as
undergone near PlOermel, were eloquently recorded
by Octave Feuillet, and republished In elegant
translation in the columns Of The TRIBUNE.
Three nights ago / learned, through NJ. Crussard,
that there is real Ploermel, town and canton Of
that NAME in Brittany. There is little that is
operate about the real Poerme absolutely nothing
Operaticay comic about it, and still less, If that be
possible romantic aboutit M. Crussard, who Is the
least romantic of writers, but who writes with the
documents at hand, tells ustbat the young man VINO
thought himself poor in the receipt of 5000 annual
francs had a revenue $500 francs larger than the
average yearly expenses of the inhabitants of
PlOermel. "What we want to reveal, and what
" very few economists suspect, says M. Crussard,
sis the fact that there exists in France at least In
the ancient and large province of Brit
tany, numerous cantons, where mlttson
and more of inhabitants live by labor, without
"beggDg and without complaining, on less than
" revelation" is, its author furnishes apparently
irresistible proof of its truthfulness. 1t would Do
100 long to quote from his interesting article, the
sad analysis of this cheap living of which the meat
element (gzzards livers gatherings, and all scru
pulOusly weighed in) amounts annually to less than
twenty-five pounds. This is the average, but as
there are some folks, in Ploermel, who eat meat
once or twice. the great majority OF Its people fall
far below the average-indeed quite out OF taste OF
it, "Most of the country people raise hogs and
" hens, but less for their own consumption than to
"sel in town and obtain the means OF meeting their
"Other wants. Hardly any one but the tOwnspe0ple
"and well-tO-dO families eats butchers meat.
Buckwheat, potatoes milk and curds complete the
bill of the fare of the majority ofthe country people
Their houses are poor as their tables. III the
"house1 ordinarily consists of single room, which
"often has no other opening than the door and
" chimney. The floor is generally the earth. And
such ia the condition of more than million of
French in Brittany Truly the Emperor was right
in saving that the French agricultural population
was much worse off than that of England. How
thankful should We be that, excepting our fur
million black agricultural population in the South,
and some poor white trash among the Sandhills,
and the lower twenty thousand of our prosperous
Northern cities there is nothing Like it in our great
and glorious country.
The annual report of the Minister of Finance
was published. II represents the national finances
in highly prosperous condition. The floating debt
has been considerably diminished. The balance be-
tween revenue and expenditure continues to be in
favor of the treasury, it has been since lo35, In
elusive and it never has been for an equal length
of time befoue, under king republic, or emperor
with or without help of war loans. The last war
loan of 500 OOO coo was payable in eighteen monthly
installments. On the first Of the current month,
that is in little more than xix MONTHS subscribers
had so much anticipated their payments, that but
l55, Geo. coo remain to be paid in the coming eleven
months. The purchases OF rentes made by the agent