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TRANCE . ( From our oton Correspondent ^) Paris , Thursday , G £ p . m . At the risk of being deemed to always harp upon one string , I have again to trespass on the attention of your readers with a few remarks Upon the condition of the contest between Free Trade and Protection , the last that I shall have an occasion to offer before the preliminary skirmish is lost or won , which-will materially influence the crowning fight , for on Sunday next expire the two decrees of 1855 and 1857 , which , to a slight extent , have safeguarded the interests of French consumers of iron against the extortion of monopolists . If these
decrees are not renewed , the people of this empire will fall under a system of inaction , which cripples their energies , and keeps up an insuperable barrier to their material progress . The construction of railwaysalthough British rails cannot be now imported with profit -will be dependent upon the caprice of a few dozen ironmasters . The advancement of agriculture will be unmeasuredly retarded that these gentlemen may make rapid fortunes in a few years . The whole of machine-made goods will be taxed before leaving France , and unfairly overweighted in their competition with foreign goods in markets abroad . 2 \ ot a machine nor an article made of iron can be exported . The
shipbuilding trade will be crushed by a tax on raw materials . Importations will be double in price , and every article of home consumption produced by machinery will be largely augmented in cost to the working classes . Such is the picture which must rise up before the vision of the Emperor when lie takes counsel with himself as to the course he should pursue next Sunday . If France has been able to recover from the effects of the crisis , if her population have enjoyed a degree of comfort and well-being superior to what might have been expected , if her sons are" peacefully earning their bread instead of fighting in the streets and crimsoning the soil with their kindred blood , this improvement is due to the partial
measures of free trade which the Emperor has had the foresight and the courage to inaugurate . But for his active interference in the economical regime of France , the horrors of June , 1848 , might have been re-enacted ere this . Untaxed corn is a surer foundation and better defence for his throne than the servility of the priesthood or the unscrUpulousness of his armed host , who , together , constitute the pretorian guard of the empire . Without believing his Majesty to be a profound political economist or a thorough free trader , I do not conceive that , with his known courage and implicit confidence in his v ' toile , he is willing to run so great a risk as I have attempted to portray , to please a few wealthy
manufacturers . It would be presumption to venture to prognosticate what policy he may pursue in three days , but I cannot credit that he will throw himself into the arms of the prohibitionists . lie can scarcely bo prepared to weld the future pf his dynasty to such a rotten cause , and to alienate the intelligence and integrity of all France . What confirms me in this belief is the persistancc of the Emperor in the course of free trade with respect to the importation of corn . Since my last letter the free exportation of grain has also been established , and to-day's Monitcur contains an imperial decree—the complement of the two preceding ones—dated at St . Cloud , 13 th Oct ., yesterday , which is
same policy , like the sheep of Panurge . The Consultative Chamber of Arts and Manufactures of the Oise , sitting at Beauvais , and composed of textile manufacturers , chieflv utter the following lachrymose complaints in a report addressed to the prefect of that department : — " Cruelly tried during the period we have signalised , M . le Prefet , by the reaction . of crises in the United States and in England ; by the extreme elevation of the rate of interest during several months ; by the stagnation of business which followed ; by the suspension of railway works ; by the crushing competition .-of foreigners , who , under the pretext of the wants of naval construction , encumber France with their goods under the favour of a considerable reduction in the tariff ;
discouraged , disquieted by the approach of that day when custom-house prohibiting duties will cease , to be replaced by entry dues which will diminish the efficiency of protection ; smitten thus on all sides and at the same time , trade has been unable to find either confidence , enterprise , or the resources which are necessary to it to work , extend , develop , and improve its processes and means of action . " After the textile manufacturers come the ironmasters , who in their skirmishes always charge under the cover of some other interest . The Consultative Chamber of Arts and Manufactures of the Xievre join in the howl with the hopes of scaring the State from wisdom . These gentlemen say : — " In our department the metallurgical trade has been the worst
treated , and unfortunately the entire department is wedded to its good and bad fortunes . When metallurgy languishes , forest property and coal and mineral workings suffer an immediate depreciation . The workmen in establishments which directly or indirectly employ thousands of hands in prosperous times , fall into misery , and , obliged to impose restrictions on themselves , limit , forcedly , their consumption- ' of all kinds of goods which make the . wealth of commerce nri < l of small local trades . " It surely needs no prohibitionists from the Xievre to teach Frenchmen that when the population of a department ' is absurdly rendered dependent upon an artificial and forced manufacture , the foundations of prosperitywill not be seated upon -natural c . uises . It is precisely
because such is tlie case , because protection renders trade uncertain ,, precarious , and' baneful , because it makes the . food-of the people dependent upon laws which a . breath made and a breath may unmake , because it creates antagonist interests among all classes of societv , and because it . renders- employment liable-to fluctuations which no wisdom can foresee or control ^ that its abolition is sought to make room for Tree trade . The protectionists are stupid enough to seek to frighten the Government and the patrons of commercial liberty bv evoking the memory of 17 t < G . Their organ
exmarriages in philibegs and bonnets . The tartan worn in France is , in the eyes of M . de Fbntanes , the sign of English domination and the badge of national degradation . If this state of things continues , he ] clearly foresees the coming of that day when the wearers of historical names in France—the . fits dte croise ~ s , as he delights to call them—will be able to read S-bakspeare , Milton , Bacon , Locke , Carlyle , Shelley , and will cease to feel an insane , hatred against the land which gave their mothers birth . " Dies irae ! " wails forth Ride Fontanes , ' whenever noble Frenchmen shall hot be
filled with bilious hatred of Englishmen , or when they shall be unwilling to enact a new St . Bartholomew . Your readers can well imagine how happy must be the position of English wives and mothers in a society where such a jackpudding of Ultramontane intolerance is allowed to froth forth his bile , and it must be a matter of surprise that any English Roman Catholic should be found among the subscribers to the U nivers , which contains such stupidly foul libels upon their nation , and more especially their female kindred . of
To return to Pau . In 1856 , Monsieur C , Pau—French journals never give the names in these matters , but only the initials , and it is perhaps desirable to follow the same example here—went to England , and on to Ledburv . Plis wife being ill , Alice Ellen B . was engaged as nurse and companion . The information obtained by Madame C . showed that the girl was honest , civil , and of good moral conduct ; that her family , though poor , were respectable ; and by her subsequent behaviour at Pau , she gained the esteem and affection of the C . family . In the course of last June twelvemonth occurred the processions of the Fete Dieu . That of the parish Saint-Jacques was to pass through the street where lodged Madame de F ., the grandmother of M .
Cht ' ri de Something , which , being an unknown quality , I term X . On this occasion , Madame C , accompanied by the English girl , asked to be allowed to witness the procession from Madame de F . ' s window . And there Alice Ellen , for her misfortune , met this thing dressed in man ' s . attire , and answering to the Christian name of Chen . It had received a classical education , was Sous-Chef in the Prefecture of the Lower Pyrenees , and had studied for the law , obtaining the degree of Licentiate . Cheri appears to have been smitten by the appearance of the young English girl , whose humble and menial position could not have been concealed for a moment , and called on Madame C . the following day , pretexting a desire to renew the familyrelations which formerly existpd between the C . ' s and X . ' s . Che ' ri further
expressed a desire to learn English , which Alice Ellen was qualified to teach . Madame C . seems to have imprudently accepted the proposition , and allowed Chilii to visit her house during two months , every evening of which was passed , from seven to half-past eight , with the girl alone , as Monsieur was absent and his wife was occupied with the care of a sick sister . The advocate allowed his belief to clearly transpire that advantage was taken by Cheri to seduce the poor humble defenceless girl , " Qua se passa-t-il alors entre Tun et l ' autre ? Dieu seul et eux le savent . " The re 3 ult of these persevering and assiduous visits was that scandal was soon floating in the moral atmosphere of Pau . Madame C . intimated to Cheri that his visits must be
claims : —" For a long time past , never have the corporations , mouth-pieces of trade , certainly expressed such apprehensions nor traced so sad a situation . The experience of the late period has produced results which recal to mind the state of public sentiments in 17 SG . " It may be quite true that such is the case , indeed I believe " it is ; but it is not that public indignation is directed against the Government or free trade—quite the contrary . The persons obnoxious to the people are the prohibitionists , who now stand in place of the firmiers yencraux of the old regime , and who tax the necessities of the nation to revel in riotous living .
discontinued , as they compromised the girl . " Je l ' aime et je veux lVpouser , " was the reply , which induced Madame C . to give way . But on the return of the lady's husband , Che ' ri was sent to the right about and the girl sent homo . Cheri , nevertheless , pestered the girl with letters professing * the most sincere affection , and the . simpleton believed them . After an interminable scries of love'letters , Che'ri gradually developed his plan , and in a letter wrote : — "I have , spoken to my father , my dearest Ellen , of the project I had to go to seek you in England . He is good , mid doea not object to my intentions to call you my wife ; but ho wishes to know before giving hia consent to anything , what is the position of vour fortuna and of your family . ... I am not
What befel the Jlrmicis gj / ic ' raur in the years following ' 8 G ought to be a warning to the protectionists of today . In a preceding letter I promised to notice a recent trial at Paris , which afforded curious illustrations of the French marriage law , and of the condition of French society in the middle of the nineteenth century . I deferred fulfilling my promise last week in order to be able to give n full and detailed account , which , I trust , will operate as a salutary warning to all families in England . But before entering into those painful
particular—painful on account of tho circumstance that individuals with tho pretence to manhood should use tho language they did towards n defenceless English girl in a foreign country , and under age , however groat might havo been her misconduct—I am desirous of calling attention to a now phase of Anglophobia in France . Tho Ultramontane ^ and Legitimists are doing their best to get up a crusado against marriages with English women , under tho leadership of those noble specimens of manhood , Euguno Veuillot anil Xavier do Foutancs , albeit tho first entered into the bonds of wedlock the
rich ; I possess only a country estate , which brings me in nbput 100 / . a year , and my place in tho Prefecture . It is enough to live on , but not too much . A 3 to my family , you will llnrl all about that in the little book enclosed . " If that does not frighten you , and that you always love tho poor Frenchman , write . " So far from Che ' ri possessing any clear property , it came out at the trial that the estate would not return so much as represented , even if it had not boon mortgaged up to the full value . Hero , then , was fraud upon the part of Chori . Alice Ellen nppcnra to havo replied to this letter , speaking vaguely of throe times G 0 , O 0 Of . ; wheroupon Cliuri tukud lire , cherry-red heat , and writes back immediately ,
other day , and received tho nuptial benediction from tuo Poro Ventura , who has increased his character for eccontricity by desecrating a pulpit with a eulogium on M . Veuillot , and exalting tho servico which tliid Arctiuo of religious journalism has rendered to tho Church . M . Xavier do Fun tan us—1 am not quito clear as to his title to llto aristocratic particle—concocted an article some short timo back which is irreverently called by tho Bonn of Voltaire , a turtini ; ami iu which ho protested , in language ns foul as could bo allowed to pass by the censor , against tho wholonnlo importation of English women for marriage with the ll n , oblo sons of France . " Ho stated that thia immigration was Die result of a deep and wido-sprcud conspiracy for iineathollclsmg and denationalising the noblest families in Franco ; and tho first object of this conspiracy , organised by Protestant nncl porniUouu Albion , was attained whon English mothora auocoudod in clothing tho offspring of these mixed
" What share of this is yours ? Is it landed or money property ? . . . Write directly . I wait with impatience . " Tho impatience grew unbearable , and next tho old grandmother was brought upon tho aceiio to write to n girl she had known as tho servant of hor friend : — ' Mademoiselle , I nm charged to write to you respecting a marriage between you and ChoYI . Ciiorl ' s father will give his consent if what hid son atato * is correct . Hut M . Olio ' ri ia obliged by hia place mul lib position na noblomon , to hold 11 certain rank . Ho will be aub-proluot in » fovr years if ho succeeds , and liU fat hor desires him to marry a woman with a suflloiont dower to live upon , and I ^ requeued to n » k you what is tho amount of your porlo ' fortune , anil how is it established and represented ,
to the following effect—" Since tho decree of the 30 th Sept ., 18 S 8 , on tho report of his Imperial Highness the Prince , charged with the Ministry of Algeria and the Colonies , and of our Minister Secretary of Stato for tho department of Agriculture , of Commerce , and of Public Works , wo have decreed and do decree as follows : —' Art . 1 . Tho faculty accorded by tho decree of 2 nd Oct ., 1857 , to foreign ships to effect up to the tfuth Sept ., 1858 , tho transport of grains and flour , of rice , potatoes , and dried vegetables , between Algeria and Franco , is extended untij tho 00 th September , 1850 . " This certainly doos look like a fixed determination to persevere in a liberal commercial policy , and gradually to bestow upon the nation tho blessings " of free trade . Tho nists
prohibitio profess to entertain quite a contrary opinion . I say profess , for they cannot bo so purblind as not to see what ia in store for thorn . Kvon granting that to-day they may bo successful , to-morrow they will bo vanquished , for free trado is inevitable , and they would do well to take oaro that its advent bo not accompanied by social disturbances . In their organ , published to-day , M . Charles de Lessons , under tho signature of that Auvergnatwith whom tho Times made merry at tho beginning of the surnmor , writes (— "All induces us to believe , in fact , that tho resolutions of the Government are deoidod on , and that they -will realise those hopes with which many of its representatives have rejoiced our workshops . " At tho aamo timo , while protending to entertain this oonllUonoo , tho journal alluded to neglects no means of intimidation , and tho banded prohibitionists follow tho
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ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE . ¦ . . - ?
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No . 447 . OohWb 16 , 1858 . ] , THE PADB 1 . . . HQ 1
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 16, 1858, page 1101, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2264/page/21/
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