THE CUSTOMS REFORM. 



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commerce. French agriculture, which considered itself 

 protected, was not, and could not, be so : its own prices 

 gave it only too much protection from foreign competi- 

 tion. It is not, then, upon custom-house regulations, 

 but upon the increase of foreign consumption, through 

 the improvement of communication and reciprocity, 

 and in some respects upon exportation, that it should 

 rely for a better market for its products. Every other 

 plan is chimerical, and, what is more, hurtful to its inte- 

 rests. The same freedom of trade which tends to lower 

 prices of food in England, because they are too high, 

 would have rather the contrary effect in France, because 

 they are habitually too low with us, at least in a great 

 many quarters. 



