328 



FRANCE. 



ing less frequent, and money was abundant. 

 Entering upon the question of the nature of 

 the labors of the commission, the minister 

 said the first matter before them would be the 

 examination of the consular reports, and the 

 means of making them more widely known. 

 He criticised the educational system in the 

 colleges, as rendering young men unfit for a 

 mercantile career, contrary to the practice in 

 England and Germany. It was necessary, there- 

 fore, to examine the means of improving the 

 system of commercial education. These two 

 subjects would be intrusted to two sub-com- 

 mittees, while a third sub-committee would 

 examine the transport question. The minister 

 said the reproaches made against the French 

 transport system were exaggerated or ill-found- 

 ed. The foreign systems, and particularly the 

 American and English, were far from perfect. 

 The minister then adverted to the question of 

 a credit for commercial operations abroad, and 

 laid on the table a series of questions embrac- 

 ing the greater part of the matters to be ex- 

 amined. He also presented various compara- 

 tive tabular statements respecting the trade of 

 France, England, and foreign countries, and 

 added that the commission would institute an 

 inquiry, in which many leading merchants 

 would be asked to state their views verbally. 

 At the conclusion of the minister's speech, the 

 commission proceeded to divide its labors on 

 the plan suggested by him. 



The foreign relations of the country during 

 the year, and the free-trade policy pursued by 

 the present Government, were reviewed by the 

 Duke Decazes, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 at a banquet given him at Bordeaux, in Octo- 

 ber. M. Lalande, Vice-President of the Cham- 

 ber of Commerce, in proposing his health, 

 complimented him on his consistent advocacy 

 of free trade, and his opposition to duties on 

 raw materials, expressing a hope that he would 

 take every opportunity of obtaining from other 

 countries, especially from the United States, 

 advantages analogous to those derived by the 

 Gironde from the English treaty of 1860. The 

 Duke Decazes, in reply, after alluding to his 

 connection with the province by birth, re- 

 marked that fourteen years ago he advocated 

 economic measures, which at that time ap- 

 peared to be contrary to his personal interests. 

 It was then alleged that French colliery and 

 metallurgical industries had every thing to fear 

 from a broader and more liberal economic pol- 

 icy. He never shared that opinion, and he was 

 glad he had not, for he now saw more clearly 

 than ever that the widest development of free 

 trade was the most productive means of na- 

 tional wealth. He remained faithful to that 

 conviction when, he endeavored to resist ten- 

 dencies which he believed to be fatal, and it 

 had since induced him to exert his best efforts 

 to facilitate commercial and consular relations 

 with ^Russia, and to renew postal relations 

 with the United States. The latter afforded 

 ground for a hope at no distant date of more 



liberal commercial relations, which, he ven- 

 tured to add, would be more advantageous for 

 both countries. With the same convictions he 

 had negotiated new treaties with Turkey, which 

 would take the place of those about to expire. 

 After stating that he was promoting French 

 interests in La Plata and in West Africa, 

 Japan, and Cochin-China, the duke continued : 

 " There, as, indeed, everywhere, you ask of us 

 liberal legislation, an effective protection, and 

 peace. As for peace, Marshal MacMahon, that 

 illustrious and loyal soldier, who has taken 

 charge of France for seven years, has confided 

 to me the special charge of it. As long as I 

 retain his confidence and that of the Assem- 

 bly, I shall not be wanting to the duties which 

 that mission imposes on me. Peace, in order 

 to be fruitful and to be firmly established, can 

 only rest on bases compatible both with our 

 dignity and our interests. It is impossible to 

 separate the two, and that is why we have 

 placed it under a double safeguard the affirma- 

 tion of the rights of France and of our scrupu- 

 lous respect for all our international obligations. 

 In that consists the whole secret of our foreign 

 policy, too frequently misunderstood and so 

 unjustly attacked, and it rests solely and abso- 

 lutely on the rigorous and scrupulous execu- 

 tion of the treaties which bind us toward for- 

 eign powers. I shall not try at the present 

 day and you cannot blame this prudence to 

 provoke or aim at a modification of conven- 

 tions which the past has bequeathed to us. I 

 demand the strict observance of them, and I 

 offer on my side the loyal execution of them. 

 Is not this course dictated by our dignity and 

 our interests ? We should strangely misunder- 

 stand these serious duties if we allowed our- 

 selves to be seduced into the abandonment of 

 this footing. It is indeed the safeguard of 

 France as well as the guarantee of the peace 

 of Europe." 



Much scandal and a little alarm were caused 

 in France by the words which M. Piccon, one 

 of the deputies from the Alpes-Maritunes, was 

 reported to have spoken at a banquet at Nice. 

 He was confident, he said, that Nice, the vic- 

 tim of Italian independence, would soon be 

 won back by her true country. To that end he 

 would sacrifice all the interests of himself and 

 his family. These words raised such a storm 

 that M. Piccon felt -it needful to deny the ac- 

 curacy of the report. His dignity, he added, 

 did not permit him to be more explicit, and 

 soon after he resigned as member of the Na- 

 tional Assembly. It subsequently appeared 

 that the report on the alleged secession ten- 

 dencies of Nice and Savoy were gross exag- 

 gerations, and that many prominent -men who 

 were charged with favoring the secession 

 movement, were really only in favor of a de- 

 centralizing policy which would allow Nice, 

 like any other part of France, to adhere to its 

 ancient provincial peculiarity. 



The influence of the Catholic Church on 

 society and on the legislation of the country 



