of the harvest, is uncertain, and they could not previously send ships to take the tobacco." So that the tobacco is allowed to obey the natural course of trade, and is equally received, however transported.

But the object of the American Government is to change into a free trade the present trade of tobacco, which, in its existing condition, greatly reduces their exportation of that article, and reduces also the amount of the freight for the employment of their mercantile marine, which an increased exportation would give. When, therefore, the application for a change in this system is met by a reference to the advantages it offers to the United States, more particularly by the employment it gives to their vessels, I seek in vain to discover the compensation which is supposed to exist. If the barriers that check the trade were removed, then the supply sent from the United States would be regulated by the natural demand, and would flow in the natural channels. The quantity would be greatly increased, and it would seek the means of transportation where it would find them the cheapest. The French Government could not secure to its own mercantile marine the exclusive possession of this freight, without imposing discriminating tonnage-duties, which, during the existence of the convention of 1822, would be incompatible with that instrument. And, after its expiration, were either party to attempt to protect their own navigation by discriminating duties, the effort would undoubtedly be met by countervailing regulations, and thus would be unfortunately introduced the state of things which existed before that convention, and which was terminated by it. The increased quantity, therefore, of American tobacco, that a free trade would introduce into France, would obey the same laws of transportation which govern the present intercourse. And as experience proves that these are favorable to the introduction of American products, in American vessels, the effect of the open trade would be to insure to the flag of the United States almost all the advantages of the freight of that article. It will be apparent, therefore, that the present system, instead of offering any just equivalent to the United States by the freight of the article, which is the object of its operation, in fact takes from their mercantile marine a large amount of freight, which the natural course of things, unembarrassed by artificial regulations, would insure to it.

I have considered the other suggestions, already quoted, respecting the French purchases of tobacco in the American market, and the favorable effect which you suppose these are calculated to produce there, and also the conclusion which is deduced, that "this is certainly not a state of things of which the American planter can complain," and I regret that I cannot see in them any consolation for my countrymen engaged in the production of this article.

I partake of the opinion advanced by Mr. Jefferson in 1786, that even if any palliatives are introduced into the system, they ought to be received with great indifference, since a radical cure of the evil can alone restore the two countries to what the Count de Vergennes called "a footing of reciprocal advantages." Though, indeed, M. le Maréchal, it is not a little singular that the mode of purchase, by which previous contracts are made for the delivery of the tobacco in the French ports, which is now pointed out as one of the practical advantages to the planter, resulting from the exclusive administration of the régie, was in 1786 considered by the French Government as injurious, under the exclusive administra

tion of the farmers-general, and a change to a sale in France by American merchants, which, however, still left the farmers-general the sole purchaser, was announced to the American minister by the comptrollergeneral of the finances as among the proofs of the great desire of the King "to establish the most intimate commercial connexion between the two nations, and of the favorable attention he will always pay to any proposals made in the name of the United States."

And the minister of the United States at Paris, Mr. Rives, having learned that the change to which you allude was then meditated, addressed a letter, dated July 20, 1830, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, remonstrating against it as injurious to the American interest.

"The principle advantage," says the commission, appointed by the Government to examine the general subject of the tobacco-trade, in its report, page 182, " of adjudication," being the plan now adopted, "and perhaps the only one, would be a considerable diminution of the price."

And the régie in their answer to the 21st question addressed to them, observe, that a new system of adjudication has been adopted; it is more simple, and appears to offer more guarantees in favor of the price and quality of the tobacco;" and in page 286, they estimate this difference at 20 per cent.

How the planter is to be benefited by a change, which increases the standard and diminishes the price of his production, I am unable to ascertain.

A few remarks upon the practical operation of this system of exclusive purchase, whether in France or in the United States, will, I think, convince your excellency, that it merits little favor with the American Government or people. I collect the facts from the documents you have furnished me, and it may be, that they are not all equally applicable to the system of "adjudication" and to that of "concours ;" and I have not the means of ascertaining their relative bearing upon one or the other, without occasioning more trouble than I wish to do to some of the functionaries of the Government, and more than the slight differences, if any exist, would justify. The régie collect specimens in the United States from time to time, of the various kinds of tobacco, which are required, and these form the samples, by which the supplies are accepted or rejected. For many years these supplies have been furnished by Mr. Lewis Rogers, an American merchant of great intelligence and respectability, residing in France, and his remarks upon the operation of the trade, to be found at the 438th page of the report, depict, in a striking manner, the objections to which it is liable.

Among other statements, Mr. Rogers says, that since 1824, he has imported into France nine-tenths of the foreign tobacco consumed in it.

That when he commenced this commerce there were at least twenty other houses, engaged in it, at Havre, Bordeaux, Marseilles, and Paris, which were interested with him.

That in consequence of its little profit, they have all retired from it, leaving him alone to continue it, which he has done, in consequence of the extensive arrangements he had made, and of some circumstances which he states, peculiarly favorable to him.

That his profits do not exceed two and a half or three per cent. That his importations of 1834 cost 153.80 francs the 100 kilogrammes, and that a part of them were sold at concours at a mean price of 164 to 165 francs

the 100 kilogrammes. That a portion of what remained was sold for reexportation at from 100 to 115 francs, and that the residue was kept for a new attempt, this year (1835), au concours, or to be re-exported at a ruinous price.

And the difficulties which pressed upon the trade, during that period, will not be diminished by the change, which substitutes the system of adjudication, or previous contract, for that of concours or purchases from the different competitors, presenting themselves in France, to sell to the régie, and at prices which may be acceptable to it, in conformity with samples produced by it.

The embarrassment and loss occasioned to the trade, by this process of comparing the tenders with the samples, may be appreciated by the following description contained in the report of the same commission:

"It would seem, that the labor of the examiners, aided by the specimens, would be easy. But these specimens do not suffice to exhibit the great variety of shades and qualities which the tobacco may present; tobacco proper for certain fabrications, as the scaferlaty and the covers of segars, is not represented there. It was necessary to class them by the analogy of their value, and not by resemblance. The different indications might serve for the recognition of the cargoes presented, and if the specimen of fered is not absolutely perfect with that of the régie, there was necessarily an arbitrary appreciation to know if it should remain in the superior class, or be removed to the inferior. This appreciation, made with more or less. good will, upon an entire delivery of tobacco produced an enormous difference in the value, resulting from the procès verbaux of the persons engaged in supply."

It is obvious that the purchase of any commodity, exhibiting such shades of difference, which affect so seriously its value, and presenting such difficulty in the appreciation, and more especially, when its acceptance or rejection depends upon so significant a circumstance as the good will of the examiners, must give rise to great embarrassment in its delivery, where this takes place upon contracts previously formed. And more especially where the purchaser is the judge, and where, to add to the other chances of loss, the article, if rejected, must be re-exported at a "ruinous sacrifice."

And the régie, in their answer to the 24th question referred to them, after describing the difficulty of an entire correspondence between the specimen and the cargoes, add, that "the least removal from them might compromit the fate of the speculation, and that it will be conceived that the smallest uncertainty in this respect must stop the speculator. Hence this commerce is in few hands." Or, as the régie might have expressed it in other terms, these restrictions have ruined this branch of the American exporting trade to France.

I have just learned, by a letter from the American consul at Havre, that this plan, so fertile in embarrassment, is producing its natural effect, and that few persons venture to present themselves as competitors at these adjudications. The consequence is, that lately many of the purchases have been made by the agents of the régie, directly in the American market. And although this mode of proceeding leaves much to be complained of, as is rendered evident by the consideration that the operation of the same principle would restrict the sales of French products, adapted to the American market, to the American purchasers who might come to France

to seek them, and would interdict to the French merchant or manufacturer the right of seeking issues for his commodities in a foreign market, all which is in opposition to the plainest dictates of free trade; still, this plan obviates some of the objections to which the other is liable. But, if I am correctly informed, this modification is merely temporary, resulting either from an actual deficiency in the amount offered, by adjudication to be supplied, or from the prices demanded being higher than the régie had previously determined should be given. When these temporary difficulties shall have ceased, the system of adjudication established by the ministerial anet, and from which a departure is permitted only in exceptional cases, arising generally out of high prices, and out of a want of tenders, will resume its operation, so that, in fact, when from particular circumstances this mode of purchase might be favorable to the American product, it is laid aside, to be again put in force, when it may be expected to produce the reduction of 20 per cent., which occasioned its adoption.

I need not remark that all this machinery for the introduction of tobacco into France is so contrary to the usual principles of trade, and so onerous in its operation, that I am sure you will not be surprised at the solicitude of the American Government to effect a radical change in the system.

You refer me, M. le Maréchal, to the recent rise in the price of American tobacco, as a proof that its cultivation is not yet sufficiently extensive to satisfy the demand in Europe; as a corollary from which it would follow that the restrictions upon the French market are comparatively unimportant, as the supply, even under their operation, is inadequate to meet the demand.

A brief examination of this point will serve to correct the misapprehension which seems to exist. In the years 1790, 1791, and 1792, the average annual amount of the exportations of tobacco from the United States was 111,030 hogheads, and this was grown almost exclusively in the States of Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, and North Carolina, and in small quantities in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. And yet, notwithstanding the vast quantity of fertile land, adapted by soil and climate to the production of this plant, which, since 1792, has been added to the domain of national industry, and notwithstanding the advance of the whole country in population, and in all the elements of wealth and productive power, has been unexampled in the history of nations, still the quantity of exported tobacco has diminished, instead of augmenting. It is estimated that in the years 1835 and 1836, the annual exportation amounted to 94,353 hogsheads, though, indeed, the actual difference in the exportations is not so great as these numbers would intimate, because there has been a gradual increase in the weight of the respective hogsheads. Without claiming for my countrymen more than a reasonable share of enterprise and of provident industry, is it to be supposed, that under the circumstances stated, the culture of this plant would have declined, if not absolutely, at least with relation to its exportation, if the foreign demand had been sufficient to give a reasonable remuneration to the planter? The power of supply being increased, the diminished exportation indicates either a diminished demand, or that the prices do not afford a just return for the cost of the article. The restrictions, from time to time adopted in Europe, were followed by their natural effect in embar rassing the trade, while, at the same time, in some countries they stimulated a forced culture, by which an inferior article was produced. Tobacco

is an exhausting crop, and the American planter, in the fertile regions of the west and southwest, found it more profitable to devote his industry to cotton and other products, than to engage in the cultivation of a commodity whose price was declining. The temporary rise in the price, to which allusion has been made, is owing to the same causes which occasion fluctuations in the value of all other agricultural productions. The demand being limited, the supply in accommodating itself to this circumstance, is liable to exceed or to fall short of it, as a good or a bad season, or as the greater or less profit of other articles of agriculture, adapted to the same regions, may affect the hopes or the arrangements of the planter. To these causes is to be attributed the augmentation of price, and not to a deficient cultivation, incapable of supplying the demand. But with this temporary exception, the price has gradually diminished in the United States. From 1800 to 1809 it averaged six dollars and three-eighths the hundred kilogrammes, while for the same number of years to 1835, inclusive, it did not exceed five dollars and one-eighth the hundred, equal to about fifty-nine francs and thirty centimes the kilogrammes. The reports from the United States respecting the crops of this year are highly favorable, and there is reason to apprehend that the prices will considerably decline, and perhaps even to the average they have maintained for many years.

I trust these considerations will be sufficient to show that American agriculture is fully competent to supply any demand for tobacco which the European markets may present, and that the closing of any of the actual avenues of trade to this product is an injury to the United States.

I have not overlooked the suggestion, that if the present system were renounced, and duties of entry and manufacture substituted for it, still the culture of tobacco would be maintained in France, as French tobacco is indispensable to give the manufactured article an agreeable flavor, and to ensure the sale at a reasonable rate.

Whether the indigenous tobacco of France could compete with that of the United States, if its culture were not protected by some peculiar system, I am not competent to judge, because the solution of the question demands a much more intimate knowledge of the circumstances affecting it than I possess. I must confess, however, that the impressions I have received from the partial examinations it has been in my power to give to the documents contained in the report, would lead me to a contrary opinion.

This opinion results from the general aspect of the statements respecting the condition of this branch of agriculture, in the eight departments of the kingdom, out of eighty-six where its existence is permitted, and particularly from the decisive fact, that out of thirty-two answers to the question," whether the proprietors or farmers voluntarily relinquish the culture of tobacco," given by the districts interested in this product, twenty-nine are affirmative, showing that even under a system where foreign tobacco is so nearly excluded, and where the domestic article is protected from general competition by a cultivation which is limited to certain privileged districts, and where the quantity of land devoted to it is also limited, so as to ensure as exact a correspondence between the supply and demand as possible, persons engaged in this business still find it more profitable to abandon it, and direct their attention to other productions. And I have been struck with another fact which bears on this subject, and which is to be found