Bounty for encouraging the navigation in the North Sea , at'the rateof 3 , 4, 6 , and to liv. per ton, by the arret of 25th Sept. —
Bounty on the export of refined fugar 4 liv. the quintal, by the arretof 26th May 1786, — — —
Encouragements given to feventeen manufactures, 39,000 ?
To others, — — — 61,0005
Bounty of 4 liv. per iooolb. of call iron, granted to the foundries ofMont Cenis in Bourgogne, — — —
Bounty granted to, the people of Nantuket eftablifhed at Dunkerque for the whale fifhery, at 50 liv. per ton of oil, — —■
To the coal mines of the kingdom, — — —
35 S
4,000
108,000
100,000
18,000
170,000
100,000
*3,862,000
I hope it does not at this time of day want much explanation, or many obfervationson this contemptible catalogue of the commercial merit of the old government ofFrance. The fifheries and fugar iflands, if we are to believe the French writers, arethe mod valuable and the moft important articles of the French commerce.—How canthis be, if they want thefe paltry bounties to afiift them ? St. Domingo is faid in France to be the richeft and molt valuable colony there is in the world ; I believe the fa£l; But ’if we were to confider only a premium on fupplying it with Haves, we fhould be apt toimagine it a poor fickly fettlement, fcarcely able to fupport itfelf. If cultivation is vi-gorous there, it demands flaves without any bounty ; if it is not vigorous, no bountywill make it fo ; but the object, real or pretended, of bounties, is to induce people toinveft capitals in certain employments, which they would not fo invert without fuenbounties. This is to profefs giving bounties to the inveflment of capitals in Americanagriculture, rather than in that of France ; the tendency is clear; but in this age itfurely becomes a queftion, whether the landes of Bretagne and Anjou would not beas deferving of fuch a bounty as the forefts of Hifpaniola ?
To remark on all thefe premiums is unneceflary; it is fufficient to obfe-ve, that all,except that for coal, is abfurd, and that that is ib given as to be ufelefs.
Of the Treaty of Commerce between Great Britain and France .
This celebrated meafure was fo thoroughly debated in England, that I fhall not goagain over ground trodden almoft bare; but, with attention chiefly to brevity, givefome French authorities upon it, which are but little known in England.
There are in moft of the great commercial towns in France , focieties of merchantsand manufacturers, known under the title of Chambre du Commerce ; thefe gentlemenaflociate for the purpofe of giving information to the miniftry on any commercial queftionupon which their opinion is demanded, and for other purpofes that concern the tradinginterefts of their relpective towns. The Chambre du Commerce de Normandie , on oc-cafion of this treaty, printed and difperfed (it was not fold) a pamphlet entitled, Ob-fervations fur leTraite de Commerce entre la France & /’ Angleterre.
In this work they inform their readers, that in order to draw a fair comparifon be-tween the advantages and difadvantages of the two kingdoms in manufactures, they
* Compte General, 1789. p. 186.
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