53 



Napoleon was enlisted at this time, and nothing can better ex- 

 hibit the indomitable energy which he showed in every act than 

 his first decree relative to the sugar and indigo industries. I give 

 a copy of it entire : 



Palace of the Tuilleries, March 25, 1811. 

 Napoleon, Emperor of the French, etc. : 



Upon a report of a commission appointed to examine the means proposed 

 to naturalize, upon the continent of our empire, sugar, indigo, cotton and 

 divers other productions of the two Indies: 



Upon presentation made to us of a considerable quantity of beet-root 

 sugar, refined, crystallized and possessing all the qualities and properties of 

 cane sugar: 



Upo I the presentation made to us at the council of commerce of a great 

 quantity of indigo, extracted from the plant woad, which our departments 

 of the south produce in abundance, and which indigo has all the properties 

 of the indigo of the two Indies: 



Having reason to expect that by means of these two precious discoveries 

 our empire will shortly be relieved from an exportatioa of 100,000,000 francs 

 ($20,000,000) hitherto necessary for supplying the consumption of sugar and 

 indigo: 



We have decreed and do decree as follows : 



Article 1. Plantations of beet root proper for the manufacture of sugar 

 shall be formed in our empire to the extent of 33,000 hectares (7f),040 acres). 



Articles. Our minister of the interior shall distribute 33,003 hectares 

 among the departments of our empire, taking into consideration thosi 

 departments where the culture of tobacco may be established, and those 

 which from the nature of the soil may be more favorable to the culture of 

 the beet root. 



Article 3. Our prefects shall take measures that the numbsr of hectares 

 allotted to their respective departments shall be in full cultivation this year, 

 or next year at the latest. 



Article 4. A certain number of hectares shall be laid out in our empire in 

 plantations of woad, proper to the manufacture of indigo, in the proportion 

 necessary for our manufacture. 



Article 5. Our minister of the interior shall distribute the siid number 

 among the departments of our empire, taking into particular co jsideration 

 the departments beyond the Alps and those of the south, where this branch 

 of industry formerly made great progress. 



Article 6. Our prefects shall take measures that the number of hectares 

 allotted to their departments shall be in full cultivation next year at the 

 latest. 



Article 7. The commission shall, before the 4th of ]May, fix upon the most 

 convenient places for the establishment of six experimental schools for giv- 

 ing instruction in the manufacture of beet-root sugar, conformably to the 

 processes of chemists. 



