528 
Rural Economy of France since 1789. 
tinned to command, as it is well known that corn fetched a famine 
price during^ the <jToatest portion of the revolutionary period. 
A comparison between the agricultural and commercial status 
of Franco in 1789 and in 1815, clearly shows that that period has 
not only been a dead blank — a fearful halt in the march of pro- 
jjress, but comparatively a positive retrogression in every branch of 
the national wealth. According to Lavoisier,* and the trustworthy 
data given by Arthur Young, the total agricultural produce of 
France at the time the Revolution broke out, amounted to about 
104,000,000/. sterling, equal to 4/. per head of the population. 
Chaptal, in his work entitled ' De I'lndustrie Franqaise,' pub- 
lished in 1818, after deducting the seed, the food of animals, and 
the other drawbacks usually allowed for in such estimates, states 
the total agricultural produce of France at about 120,000,01)0/. 
sterling, which would only give an increase of 16,000,000/. for a 
quarter of a century, and this increase, there is every reason to 
believe, was due solely to the Consulate. Neither the Republic nor 
the Empire added a jot to the agricultural prosperity of France. 
It is a remarkable fact, that the movement of the population 
followed the same ratio. The population of France, in 1789, 
was 26,500,000. In 1815 it was scarcely 29,500,000 — an increase 
of only 3,000,000. This increase in the population, as well as 
that in the produce of the land noticed al)ove, took place during 
the short respite of the Consulate. Thus, in the words of M. de 
Lavergne : — "The revolutionary fury and the ambition of one 
man had successively devoured the greatest part of that which 
the industry and labour of a great people had striven to 
produce." 
With the restoration of the Bourbons a new era of activity and 
peaceful enterprise commenced, showing how elastic, how tena- 
cious of life, is the prosperity of a country when it is based upon 
the resources of the soil. Notwithstanding the heavy burthen 
imposed by the conquerors of forty millions sterling as a war in- 
demnity, and another forty millions sterling as a compensation to 
the exiled nobility, France had no sooner cast off the fatal incubus 
of amI)ition, than the natural resources of her soil, the energy and 
genius of her sons burst iorth, under the protection of peace, 
justice, and security. From that period up to 1847, the j)ublic 
prosperity of France steadily and rapidly increased without 
any intermission, and especially from the year 1830, when a 
greater measure of liberty was meted out to the nation. " From 
that time," observes M. de Lavergne, "a fresh activity mani- 
fested itself by immense ])ublic works, Avhich, executed this 
time upon all points of the territory, or nearly so, have left far 
* 'Richesse Territoriale du Royaume de France/ 
