never exceeded a mean of three millions of kilogrammes per year, and which were, moreover, almost exclusively confined to those of Virginia, have been raised to six millions of kilogrammes in 1836, and to six millions four hundred thousand kilogrammes in 1837; including tobacco from Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky. You will also observe, general, and it is an important consideration, that not only are the tobaccoes of the United States admitted into our ports without being subjected to any duty, but that they are brought there exclusively under the flag of the Union, which thus receives all the advantages in the way of navigation. As for ourselves, we appear in the markets of the Union with the purchasers from all other countries; we pay the same prices which they pay; and our competition contributes the more toward keeping up the price in the markets as our wants, which may always be calculated beforehand, increase every year in a sensible proportion. Under such circumstances, the American planters cannot, certainly, have cause for complaint; and, moreover, the recent increase in the price of American tobacco proves that the cultivation of it is not, as yet, sufficiently extended to satisfy the demands of Europe, especially of France, where the duty has not had the effect of stopping the progressive and continual increase of the consumption. When the trade in tobacco in France was free, as also its cultivation, the price to the consumer was the same as it now is; the only difference being that the monopoly was in the hands of five hundred manufacturers, whereas it is now turned to the profit of the state. If, moreover, the present system were abolished, and import duties were established on leaf-tobacco, and patent [or license] duties upon the manufacture, the cultivation of this plant would still be continued in France; the produce of that cultivation being indispensable for the manufacture of common tobacco, which must be sold at low prices, and as it, moreover, enters very largely into the manufacture of the higher qualities, of which it hastens the preparation, while it at the same time imparts a more agreeable flavor, which causes the snuff of our manufactories to be in demand throughout all Europe. Under these various considerations you will, I hope, gereral, admit, that the system now in force in France, with regard to the consumption of tobacco, does not merit the reproaches uttered agains it by the United States; but, should you still entertain any doubts on this point, they will, I think, be dissipated, by close examination of the facts and observations contained in the two publications which I have the honor to annex for your perusal. The first of these publications is the result of the labors of a committee of inquiry, which was charged in 1835, by a resolution of the Chamber of Deputies, to collect all the facts and documents respecting the purchase, the manufacture, and the sale of tobacco, connected with, or bearing on, the interests of the Treasury, of agriculture, and of commerce. The second is the report of the Administration on the manufacture and sale of tobacco for the year 1837. Accept, sir, the assurances of the high consideration with which I have the honor to be, general, your most humble and obedient servant, MARECHAL DUC DE DALMATIE. Gen. Cass, Envoy Extraordinary, &c., of the United States. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STates, MONSIEUR LE MARECHAL: When I had the honor to address to you my letter, of the 20th of July last, on the subject of the state of the tobacco-trade between France and the United States, I did not enter into the considerations involved in that question, and which appeared to me to render a change in its principles no less just and expedient on the part of France than desirable to the United States. My object in that communication, as it had been in the personal interview which preceded and led to it, was merely to open the way for the full examination of a subject interesting to my country, and which, for more than fifty years, and in all the phases which the system of tobacco-administration in France has assumed, has been pressed upon the French Government by that of the United States. The suggestion made in that interview, that I should be referred to some confidential person with whom I could have a personal communication, was very acceptable to me, because I was well aware that your time was too much occupied to allow you leisure to enter into the personal examination of the details of this matter; and because, in the view I should be compelled to take of it, many facts would be necessary, which, I presumed, I could collect only from official documents of the Government, or from the practical knowledge of the persons employed in the administration of this branch of the public service. And I felt assured that this information could be better procured through some one familiar with the subject, and interested in its examination, than by troubling you with official notes, from time to time, as the progress of the investigation might suggest points for consideration. It appeared to me. also, a more proper object for free personal discussion than for a formal correspondence; especially, being well aware that the restrictions upon this trade were considered in France as financial regulations, adopted with a view to their effect upon the revenue, and not as arguments for the prohibition of a limited introduction of a foreign article, in order to promote the progress of domestic industry. And although their injurious operation upon the trade of the United States would not be changed by the character of the motives which led to them, still I was equally aware that this consideration ought to prevent the American Government from resorting to such representations as, under other circumstances, commer'cial nations fee. entitled to make. In my letter, therefore, of July 20, I confined myself to general observations, merely introductory to the request which, in conformity with your previous suggestion, I had to make, that a person might be designated through whom my representations might reach you; and I intended, in the course of my communications with him, to present all the considerations which give to the Unred States just grounds to hope that their efforts will not be fruitless. And, under these circumstances, I awaited, without impatience, the desired nomination; but I now find that, instead of a reference, which would open to me the opportunity of presenting to the Government of his Majesty the views of that of the United States upon this subject, I have received a communication announcing to me that this system, which bears so heavily upon the American trade, cannot be changed, and giving the reasons which have led to this decision. Had the views which I have been instructed take been submitted, and this decision then rendered, I should have received it without remark, considering my task fulfilled, and I should have referred it to my Government for its action. But, under present circumstances, I am satisfied you will appreciate the necessity which exists, that I should lay before you the general considerations, drawn from the state of the commercial intercourse between the two countries, which have led the United States to expect from France the abandonment of this system. And I still indulge the hope that this view may produce another examination of the question, the result of which may be propitious to the continuation and augmentation of the interchange of the products of industry between two nations having so many motives to cultivate the most intimate relations. I shall not, in this letter, fatigue you with any remarks upon the importance of the most extensive commercial intercourse between nations, and with the policy of gradually removing all unnecessary restrictions which may impede it, and which owe their origin to opinions upon political economy that time and experience have done much to correct. And it would be equally superfluous to advert to considerations which frequently render it expedient to resort to a reduction of taxation with a view to the augmentation of the revenue. The price of the article being lowered, the increased consumption and the diminished temptation to smuggling, generally return to the state a greater amount than the sum relinquished, and much to the advantage of public comfort and public morals. These are views which, as they relate to the bearing of this question upon the internal welfare of France, must have long since occupied the attention of the Government of his Majesty, in the course of its administration, and which it would not, therefore, become me to urge. But the effect which the existing system of tobacco monopoly produces upon the trade between the United States and France, and the want of reciprocity, at the expense of the former, which is one of its principal elements, are legitimate topics of discussion, which I propose to bring under your observation. I remark, by your letter, that the restrictions imposed upon the trade of tobacco in France, have not been adopted for the purpose of promoting its culture there; but that, although they produce this effect, their object is merely a fiscal one. But, even were it otherwise, I should not claim for the United States the right to ask of the French Government its reasons for the encouragement of any particular article of agricultural product, whether suited or not to the soil and climate of France. A recollection of what is due to others, as well as to itself, would prevent the American Government from the assertion of such a right. But the interchange of the products of industry between nations is a subject which each has the right to regulate for itself, from a system of perfect exclusion to the most unlimited introduction. In the exercise of this power, every Government will look to certain general considerations, among others, to the relative value of the intercourse, and to the greater or less reciprocity which enters into it. In the existing state of things, were no other motive wanting, the instinct of self-preservation would dictate this course. The natural effort of trade is to abandon avenues of communication where the conditions are unequal, and to seek others where they are more advantageous. And this principle is applicable, in a greater or less degree, to nations as well as to individuals. As early as 1785, Mr. Jefferson, then Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States in France, brought this subject of the tobacco-trade between the two countries before the French Government, and in a letter to the Count de Vergennes, called that minister's attention "to the monopoly of the purchase of tobacco in France, as discouraging both to the French and American merchant;" and further urged that "it is contrary to the spirit of trade and to the dispositions of merchants, to carry a commodity to any market where but one person is allowed to buy it, and where, of course, that person fixes its price, which the seller must receive, or export his commodity, at the loss of his voyage thither." Unfortunately, the march of the system of tobacco-administration in France, since the period when Mr. Jefferson presented his remarks to M, de Vergennes, has been a retrogade instead of a forward one; and, to the peculiar misfortune of the United States, it is almost the only one of the institutions of France impressed with that character. It was a monopoly in 1785. In 1839 it is yet a monopoly; and, besides, owing to a system of forced culture, rendered indispensable by a very limited importation, barely sufficient to impart the necessary good qualities of the American plant to the inferior product of the French soil, and protected and superintended in a mode unknown under other circumstances, the consumption of American tobacco has so signally decreased in France, that it is now less than half of what it was more than fifty years ago. In a memoir presented to M. de Vergennes, in 1785, the value of the consumption was estimated at 10,000,000 of livres, while it appears by the latest tabular statement of the exportations and importations of the United States in my possession (that for 1836), that the supply furnished for that year had reached only the value of $907,000, being little more than 4,500,000 francs. I beg leave to recall to your observation some of the facts connected with this application of Mr. Jefferson, because they have an important bearing upon the representations 1 am instructed to make upon the same subject, at so long an interval of time, and under circumstances resulting from the relations between the two countries, which give peculiar force to the present appeal. At that time, the administration of the trade in tobacco, like the other branches of the French revenue, was in the hands of the farmers-general, and when he first brought the subject before the Government, preparations were making for a renewal of the farm. His representations delayed the final action six months; but the other branches of the revenue being included in the same arrangement, reasons of state prevented any further delay, and the contract was closed, but with the usual clause, which gave the Government a control over it upon certain conditions. Mr. Jefferson placed his application upon the general advantages which would result to both countries from the introduction of the most liberal principles into their commercial intercourse, and from the great extension of which this was capable, to their mutual benefit. His representations seemed, at one time, to have produced a favorable effect upon M. de Vergennes; and a commission was appointed to consider the matter, and to report what steps the Government would take for the improvement of this trade. M. de Vergennes took such an interest in the subject that he attended the discussions in the commission. A general desire was expressed to relieve the trade as much as possible from the effects of the monopoly. The most direct method of attaining this object would have T been by the adoption of Mr. Jefferson's proposition, and by opening the trade at once. But the minister had candidly stated that an interruption of the revenue, if not a diminution, would be the consequence of this measure, and that their finances were not in a condition to bear even an interruption. A radical cure for the evil not being possible, palliatives were sought. A contract had been entered into the preceding year (January, 1785, during the existence of the arrangement with the farmersgeneral, which, when the committee were organized, was about to expire) between M. le Normand, receiver-general of finances, and Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, for the delivery in France of 60,000 hogsheads of tobacco, namely, 20,000 in each of the years 1785, 1786, and 1787. Under these circumstances, the committee having ascertained that Mr. Morris had made arrangements for the execution of the contract, determined that it ought not to be annulled; but in their report, dated March 24, 1786, they recommend that, after the expiration of that contract, no similar bargains should be made; that the farmers-general should always have a necessary supply for the exercise of their privilege, and that this supply should be secured by remittances made under the Philadelphia contract as well as by what should be procured by means of commerce; that the farmers-general should purchase, during the continuance of the above contract, American tobacco, to be furnished by trade, and brought into France by French or American vessels, to the amount of 12,000 or 15,000 hogsheads every year, at the rates stipulated in the contract with Mr. Morris. The report contains some minor regulations, adopted to give effect to the above recommendations, but not sufficiently important to require particular notice. In a letter, dated October 22, 1786, from M. de Calonne, comptrollergeneral of the finances, the substance of this report was communicated to Mr. Jefferson, and he was informed that the recommendation had been approved, and that the farmer-general had been required to purchase the maximum quantity mentioned, to wit, 15,000 hogsheads annually. M. de Calonne adds that a project had been communicated by a member of the committee in conformity with the views submitted by Mr. Jefferson in the memoir already alluded to, which he transmitted to M. de Vergennes, and which advocated a relinquishment of the monopoly of tobacco, with an entire free trade in that article. But, continues M. de Calonne, considerations connected with the revenue derived from tobacco, which amounts to 28,000,000 of livres, render this change hazardous. Permit me to remark, M. le Maréchal, that in a conversation between Mr. Jefferson and M. de Vergennes, the latter placed the then existing arrangement for the purchase, manufacture, and sale of tobacco in France upon the ground of the amount which it yielded to the treasury, being the same reason which you have done me the honor to communicate, as operating at this time to retain the plan of culture and administration now in force. M. de Vergennes declared that the Government was unwilling to change an ancient institution, that of the farmers-general, for fear of the effect upon the revenue, and that it would be "a dangerous experiment." But time has swept away that system, and left, I believe, a free competition to private industry in all parts of France, except in this very article of tobacco. And, certainly, the fears expressed by M. de Vergennes, of the effect of a change in the management of the revenue, |