1880.] ^*J [Robinson. 



" daring to modify it. Wliat might have been its results, had the experi- 

 " ment been made in a period of peace, like that between 1815 and 1848?" 



It was certainly due to this treaty which had been so eflfective during 

 the previous ten years, in connection witla her admirable system of tail- 

 roads in developing her resources and increasing her wealth, that France 

 was enabled to recover so rapidly from the results of the Prussian War, 

 and to exhibit before the end of the next ten years, a picture of prosperity 

 surpassed by that of no other country in Europe. 



The above extract from the Economiste Franqais reminds me of a mis- 

 apprehension in this country of the views of Mr. Chevalier on the subject 

 of free trade, which I will avail myself of this opportunity to correct. 

 The visit of Mr. Chevalier to'tho United States in 1833, had the effect of 

 modifying very materially his views on many subjects. Previous to this visit, 

 I think it not unlikely that the great, and in many cases, absurd, hindrances 

 in France in the way of exchanges, both at home and with other countries, 

 may have caused him to have entertained extreme free trade views ; but 

 Mr. Clievalier was a man of profound reflection, aiming at truth on that 

 and every other subject to which his thoughts were directed, and eminently 

 practical in his conclusions. After his return to France in 1835, the sub- 

 ject which first occupied his attention more than any other, was that of im- 

 proved communications by canals and railroads, and it has been most for- 

 tunate for his country, that the programme of these given in his great work 

 published in 1838, on "T7ie Material Interests of France," was so closely 

 followed. He abhorred the idea of allowing free competition to the extent 

 admitted in England as well as in America in canals and railroads, believ- 

 ing the plan of giving an act of incorporation for either, to any association 

 asking it, as not only permitting an unnecessary waste of the capital of the 

 country, to an immense extent, and destructive of confidence in such in- 

 vestments, but as impairing the power of really valuable Avorks to provide 

 such accommodations for the public at foir rates, as they could otherwise 

 afford, and as it would be to their interest to give, as well as the policy of the 

 government to require. He believed, in short, in the right of eminent do- 

 main being used only in the case of improvements of decided value, and 

 when used, in the rights of the public, being in all cases carefully guarded, 

 and the accommodations of the improvement afforded at the lowest 

 charges consistent with a fair remuneration to its owners ; objects which 

 could not be united under a system of free competition. As a consequence 

 of the adoption of these views by liis countrymen, there is no country in 

 the world Avhere so small a proportion of the capital invested within the 

 last forty years in canals and railroads, has been wasted, or where traveling 

 is safer, or in which travel and trade are accommodated, at more reasonable 

 rates than in France. 



It was impossible for one entertaining such views in regard to improved 

 communications to be a reckless free-trader ; and Mr. Chevalier, I have 

 reason to believe, was on the subject of international commerce as conser- 

 vative in his views, as he was in regard to railroads and canals. He believed 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XIX. 107, E. PRINTED JUNE 21, 18S0. 



