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    THE -Ii EADE R. [No. 446, October 9,1858...

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    0RIGIN1X COBRESPOIDEKCE. ' ¦ . . +-. ¦ ....

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    The -Ii Eade R. [No. 446, October 9,1858...

    THE -Ii EADE R . [ No . 446 , October 9 , 1858 .

    1058

    0rigin1x Cobrespoidekce. ' ¦ . . +-. ¦ ....

    0 RIGIN 1 X COBRESPOIDEKCE . ' ¦ . . +-. ¦ . . FRANCE . ( From our own Correspondent . ') Pakis , Thursday , 6 J p . m . The opinion expressed in my last letter that , in spite of the pretended official inspirations of the Constitutionnel and its positive affirmations to the contrary , there was every probability of the decree authorising the free importation of corn , which expired on the 30 th of last month , being extended , has been fully justified and proved to be correct . Last Saturday ' s Moniteur contained a copy of a decree , signed on this day week at St . Cloud , which stated : " Art . 1 . The delay fixed by the decree of the 22 nd September , 1857 , relative to different

    measures applicable to alimentary substances , is prolonged , in so far as regards importation , until the 30 th September , 1859 . " The delicate and subtle beauties of the sliding-scale are not to charm the Protectionists for the next twelve months , nor yet to tax the food of the population . M . J . Burat , of the Constitutionnel , to whose disagreeable duties in reference to that well-informed and soi-disant authoritative journal , reference has previously been made , after positively asserting that , by this time , the prices of corn would be sliding tip and down a Governmental scale , affirmed his belief that if at any future period the law , which , he fancied , would now regulate the ¦ movement of grain , should be modified , it

    would be by means of a new act , and he hoped that the last would not touch the principle of the slidingscale , but only its mode of application . Whatever may be this gentleman ' s hopes , they are evidently as untrustworthy as his positive assertions . It is out of all probability that , after the sliding-scale has been suspended successively for two years , and free trade established in corn during that period , the Government would set it up in force again . Were the Govern- ^ merit ten times stronger than it is , it would hesitate before resorting to so desperate a measure . Consequently , so far . from sharing the belief and hopes of M . J . Burat ,

    I believe the Emperor will never re-establish the slidingscale ; and if hereafter another ruler should do it , it will be the fault of the people themselves . I trust your readers sympathise with M . J . Burat ' s unfortunate position . True , he may have merited it , but that does not render it the less painful and ridiculous . To make a great nourish about being in the confidence of the Government , and then for it to be shown that such was not the case , must be very mortifying indeed , especially after the self-abasement that has been performed to be permitted to gather up the crumbs of news—often old and stale—that fall from ministerial tables . Few can

    understand how contradictions of this nature can occur , "but the explanation lies in the fact that the Emperor governs , and that his Ministers are really the ministers to his will , and not his counsellors or advisers . Indeed , they are not competent to such an office . Most of them were briefless barristers , destitute of political and economical knowledge , and owe their positions to pliancy and the absence of fixed opinions upon every subject except that wliich they share in common with the Vicar of Bray . They are doubtless very docile , very obedient , capital copying clerks , and more or less ornamental to the Court , but they are not statesmen . One thing more

    • they are—which might be expected in gentlemen of such narrow experienco and limited knowledge in political economy—they are rank Protectionists . It is therefore just probable they may have inspired M . J . Burat , and communicated to him these forecasting ^ in which the wish was father to the thought But the Emperor having a will of his own , and on this occasion choosing to exert it , determined to give the people another year ' s fjrtte trade in bread . According to rumours , he met with considerable opposition among the Council held to discuss the question . That is exceedingly improbable , and one would be curious to learn the name of the Minister who opposed .

    It is to be regretted that the public cannot be in- > formed of the history of these proceedlngc , as they would place the character and motives of the Emperor in a much more favourable light before the world than they now occupy . The great penalty which is imposed upon arbitrary power is the constant liability to misrepresentation . His Majesty is now engaged in a . great struggle in which no dynastic or personal interests are concerned . Ho is literally and truly fighting the battle of the people against the tyranny of monopoly , nnd thero can bo no servility in wishing him a safe

    deliverance . His position may be greatly strengthened by the conduct of the English people . I do not moan by any demonstration of sympathy and approval , for to take such steps would be to arouse' the ridiculous susceptibility of the nation , and represent the Emperor us the instrument of British commercial aggression . The Protectionists would not fail to , take advantage of an error of this kind on your part , But Englishmen may greatly help the free trade cause in France by proving that thoy advocate , and are prepared to practise to tho full , commercial liberty in nil things ; and a reduction in tho wino duties would bo the best proof of their

    sincerity , as it would also be of their disinterestedness . This measure would enlist a large agricultural population in the army of free trade ; it would give employment and well-being to whole provinces , and would not reflect any very great injury upon the English revenue . As might be expected , the appearance of the decree last Saturday caused waitings and gnashing of teeth among the Protectionists . On the preceding Thursday , the very day ths decree was signed , their organ shouted victory and sang the beauties of the sliding-scale as " being the best mode of protecting agricultural interest , and , at the same time , maintaining the price of corn to the

    within limits that would not be onerous working classes . " This journal having found out that peop le did not live cheaply where articles of consumption were cheap , likewise discovered that the relapse to the slidingscale , which has not yet taken place , was a precursor to another relapse ; namely , the non-extension of the decree which , expiring the 17 th instant , authorises the free entry of iron for ship-building purposes , aud the Francisation of foreign-built vessels on payment of ten per cent . duty . It is to be hoped that the perspicuous organ of the monopolists will be as successful in this instance as in the former one—that is to say , its prognostications in both cases may be proved to be entirely false .

    Your readers have all heard of " His Excellency M . Troplongj President of the Senate , Member of the Privy Council , and First President of the Court of Cassation . " This gentleman has the reputation of being the Talleyrand of the Second Empire , and , what is more positive , enjoys a very unfortunate cognomen , which precludes him from accepting either a countship , baronv , or dukedom , except at the risk of incurring the universal ridicule of France . Baron Tro'plong , or Due de Troplong , would raise a laugh even in . the-shadow of the throne , and the aristocratic particle would be voted de trap in every circle of society ; while , if he changed his name for the titleof an estate the smallest wit that haunts the Boulevard

    would ring the changes on Troplong being Tropcourt . Should he . have the misfortune to take a title from his department , and sign Troplong d'P 2 ure , people would laugh all the more at Troplong d (' E ) ure , however hardened he might be ; and matters would not be mended if in official announcements it should be set forth M . le President du Se ' nat Troplong d ( 'E ) ure . This fortunate politician , with an unfortunate name , . has been following the example of M . Dupin , and giving the agriculturists of iiia department ( Eure ) the benefit o his opinion of things in general , and on his own merits

    in particular . The reader would not care to follow M . Troplong in his fulsome adulation of power and his servility to the . priesthood ; nevertheless , i t may be instructive to note that the President of the Senate gravely stated to his neighbours at Cormeilles , that " the population ( of that district ) had marched to the ballot of the 10 th of December ( when the empire was voted ) with an ensemble and resolution that nothing could shake , and there were then seen many electors mark with the sign of the cross the vote given to the Prince who was to save France . " If the

    sign of the cross was made upon the votingtickets , I fancy it arose from the belief that signatures are requisite . Now , Jacques Bonhomme , hot having the gift of writing , signed his nnme with across , just as Giles makes his mark across the channel when too nervous to make letters . If this be not the explanation of the presence of what mathematicians call the most perfect geometrical figure upon tho voting-tickets , then we shall be compelled to adopt M . Troplong ' s inference that the signs of the cross elected the Emperor and saved France . But tho portion of his speech which is likely to interest your readers is that which contained the defence of the system at present existing , which leads to the almost infinitesimal

    movably in the castes of peasant and citizen . The country has also lost arms for which the plough w as tiresome , and we cannot blame them for bavin" left work for which they were unfitted , for work to which they were better suited . Lastly , the country has got rid of a burden of useless or dangerous elements , which at their risk and peril have gone to hide in cities their misery , their idleness , and their vices . Frankly , are these desertions to grieve over ? On the other hand , the country has kept among its children all those who arc captivated by the powerful attractions of the soil , who are attached

    to it by the bonds of small holdings , and who devote to the furrow ( in most cases not much more ) their time , their sweat , their economy ; all those landowners for which the possession of land is a passion ; , all those robust labourers that are retained by the natal cradle and the habits of a simple life . These are the solid and faithful supporters of the country . "With this army , powerful by its courage and always immense by its numbers , whatever may be said , whatever may be feared , our agriculture may defy , sinister-predictions , and rely upon a brilliant future .

    " Do you know the motive of this predilection , ofthia ardour of country people for the land ? It is the division of property as made by the Code Napoleon ; it is the possibility open to the most humble to acquire bits of laud with the fruits of labour ami economy . Take away , if possible , the Code Napoleon , create obstacles to a peasant filing himself by purchase in the land with which he has made a compact ( literally plaining himself in the soil ) , and the country will lose it .- prestige in his eyes . It is then that , disgusted with his -fate , he will seek in cities that fortune wliich he asked of the land of his affection , and which that stepmother without bowels refused . It is then that . the prophets of evil will triumph , and that the situation of the country will be lamentable .

    " People ,, however , slander sometimes this division of propertyr and-aired to 1 ear that , drawn onwards by a perpetual movement of fractiuning , it does not fatally end in a priiin of sand and an atom . But they do not pay attention that beside the action which divides there is the reaction which reconstitutes , and that an inheritance shared by succession is remade by labour , economy , and marriages . To be . convinced of this truth we have only to consult the registers . , fi Let us bless , then , instead of blaming , our civil law which has made for us a rural class , and rooted it , in the soil to the sweet bonds of property . I avow that to-day there are fewer hvrge domains than formerly , but there is

    are also a much larger number of landowners , and . it the small proprietors that are found unshakable iu the days of revolution to oppose anarchy . 1 avow , also , there is a little smaller country population than formerly , but , on the other hand , there are more ease and wellbeing . Would it by hazard be preferred to have , as at one time in Ireland , an excess of population with an excess of misery V In short , I do not deny that work has often to wait for the carpenter , mason , tiler , « ic . Is it because these artisans have left the country ? No ; they are more numerous than twenty years ago , but work has increased livefold by the desire of every one to augment his enjoyments . ' ' order

    1 give this extract as literally as possible i" that the reader might form a correct estimate oftlic mental powers and uecurate information of one who passes for tho master-mind of the present , Government . There is not a statement , except the one relative to the docrease of population , which cannot bu refuted , and there is not a proposition which i .-s not iu contradiction with what either precedes or follows . M . Troplong says thut rural populations have diminished , but not tho number of peasant proprietors nor of rural artisans . We have , consequently , a diminished total rusiilling " ° ^ incren . se iu the two component parts . A manifest ausunlitv . Ho also stated that the sub-division of

    prodivision of property , and to the desertion of tho country for the tpwn . . M . Troplong said , after a silly boast about England being tributary for tho superfluity of Normandy ' s eggs and fruits , thut , " iu tho midst of this increasing prosperity thero is a phenomenon worthy of attention . Since nearly half a century our rural commutiea have lost some portion of their population . Every census proves deficiencies and emigrations , which , although blight nt lirst , have ended , after a lapse pf time , in a total which is not without importance . This fact , which has occurred in other departments , bus givon rise to painful suppositions nnd to strange comparisons . People , appear to four for the feeding of . Franco , tho recruiting of her armies , and tho upholding of her greatness . Some , however , predicted for us tho fate of tho

    perty " had not increased , and , n few lines jn'Oviously , thut tho number of sinnll landowners «« a increased . Can a man , then , bo a landowner and owning no land ? A friend saw sold the oilier day u luncioa inheritance for 1 H franca nnd a bottle of wino . bu W ' from rural district * retaining the ma-it stnhvnrt fljitt laborious of their sons , tho very revorso is 111 « - ' fi ^ t . ino conscription carries oirtho best men to city b . irnicks , wliero thov contract ft dlstn & tc for hard work , nnd un equally strong passion for tho dolcu fur niente mid tlie excitement of the cabaret . Those who survive tho live or seven yeare military servitude rarely return to field labour , luoy boeoino waiters , bedmnkors in hotels , and form tlioi aonothing or dangerous population of French cities , nry nml tno Uuuw

    Lower Empire , exhausted by tho desertion of tho country before It crumbled away under tho invasion of tho barbarians . We do not see , however , what the Lower Empire can have to do with our civilisation , unless it bo that there were sophists at Byzantium , and that tho race possibly may not bo entirely extinct . In fact , all this cannot be , at least iu the district in which wo uro , a subject of fear . I only desire to spunk of what I know , and I have not tho proton « ion to contradict opinions bused'on fhots not verified , by me . 'lint if I may judge by what wo have bolero un , wo can silence vuln alarms . Without doubt tho . country has soon country " mou leave who loved it little , aud who have dono well , so far as tho eon-ices they could render Ai'oro concerned , to follow their vocation . Wo uro not ' a country of civil liberty without equal' to rost

    iraaro always the pest behind tho barricade , briny uj > a family respectably . French aariculiuro » languishing for lack of labour , and unless boiiio «» c » " ° be dovisod to supply nrnis to till the soil it n >»" gradually parish . Those am not tho pcrsomil o |'"» " of your correspondent , but of tho few large lnu « luu pru prietors that exist in Frnnec . They liavu boon «>| r ™™ V at numerous meetings in tho prosouco ol huUviH ' dalutfutoU by the Gavormmint , nnd liavo patsed wiu »» coiitrmUutloii—without even being called in q" <>» ' «"' Nrty , more , I hoard it proposed in a public mou « i g , tho presence of a C ' onnolllur il'Elnt , sent Ihuiy *>> » Mlnlittor of Commerce to report what nneuoil , to noun ^ tho Stnto to refuse country labourors pornilwJW > l " » into cities for tho purpose of sottllng thero hmIww iwy

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 9, 1858, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09101858/page/10/