FRANCE.
This country enjoys, upon the whole, greater na tural advantages than any other in Europe. Her territory is above one-half larger than Great Bri tain and Ireland, and is superior in soil and climate. She has a greater proportion of arable land than any of her neighbours; the natural means of communication between her provinces are abundant and easy; she is well provided with all the useful metals except tin, and is better supplied with coal than any other country in Europe except Britain. When we add to these advantages the intelligence and activity of her population, and consider that corvees, tithes, feudal services, and most of those abuses which shackled her industry, are now removed ; that she is likely to enjoy the benefits of good laws and a five constitution, and is not encumbered with a great national debt, we cannot doubt that, if peace continue for any considerable length of time, she will yet rise to a much higher degree of wealth and pro sperity than she ever before possessed. Even during the distractions of the Revolution, though her com merce was annihilated, her agriculture and manufac tures have been extended and improved, her popula tion has increased, and their condition has been ame liorated. The greatest bar to her progress will pro bably be the extreme division of property ; and, for some time, the want of capital.
The surface of France contains within its present limits 52,000,000 hectares, or 128,000,000 acres. From partial surveys, for fiscal purposes, made in each t, it is estimated that the waste land, including roads and rivers, amounts to one eighth of this, or 12 parts in the 100 ; the arable land to 44 parts in the 100; the woodland to 14 parts, the peaturaqe land and meadows to 14, the vineyards to 4, wild land 7, quarries, buildings, orch ards, gardens, olive and other plantations, snake np the remaining 5 parts. (Chaptal, de tindattrie Fraficoise, I. 205. Paris, 1819.) In addition to the vegetable productions that grow in England, the climate of France enables her to raise maize, vines, olives, mulberries, and cliesnuts ; and by some of these a produce is extracted from soil which, in England, would yield nothing. The whole produce of grain in France is estimated, by Chaptal, at 143,000,000 hectolitres, equal to 50,000,000 quar ters, or 44,00%000, deducting one-fifth for seed, which is only 5,000,000 above the produce of Britain and Ireland, as estimated by Colquhoun. Of this produce of grain, wheat forms 36 parts in the 100, rye 21 parts, maise 4i, buckwheat 6, barley 9, oats 22, legumes 1. The quantity of potatoes (19,800,741 hectolitres) is equal to two-thirds of the rye. The produce of 4,000,000 of acres planted with vines, in 1808, was 87,600,000 hectolitres of wine. (I. 178, 177.) The annual gross produce of the land, which was estimated, Arthur Young, at L.230,000,000 Sterling, is estimated, by Chaptal, at 4,678,000,000 of francs, or L.187,000,000 Sterling,• of which the principal items are, The mean revenue derived from a better* of land is estimated at 28 francs, or 22s. 6d. equal to about 9s. ld. per acre; and the revenue of the whole de partments, calculated on this basis, is L59,449,000; but, calculated according to the reports of special Commissioners in 1815, it is L65,040,000. The last sum includes houses, and may be considered as corresponding nearly to the rackrent of lands and buildings in France. (I. 208-212.) This is certain
ly too low. The average rent of all kinds of land in France was estimated, by Young, at 15s. 10d. per i acre. I. 476.) The most peculiar feature in French is the vast number of small pro prietors, who cultivate their patches of land by their own labour. Arthur Young supposed that, before the Revolution, one-third of the of the kingdom was held by such persons; an Malta' says the number of proprietors is doubled within the last thirty years. The latter computes the whole number of farms in France at 3,000,000 ; so that, on an average, each cannot exceed 43 acres, including wastes. In the cultivation of good soils, the agri culture of France is nearly equal to that of England, but it is much inferior in the management d poor soils, in the system of cropping, and in the breed of animals. It has been much improved, bowever, du ring the Revolution, by the extensive cultivation of artificial grasses, by augmenting the live stock, by the general exclusion of fallow., and by increasing the cultivation of potatoes.t The manufactures of France, amidst all the trou bles of the Revolution, have been generally advan cing, though some branches have retrograded. The number of workmen employed in Lyons, the prin cipal seat of the silk manufacture, was one-fourth greater in 1812 than in 1789. France produces in herself about eleven millions of pounds of raw silk, and imports nearly as much; and the total value of the manufactured articles produced is estimated at L4,300,000. Of wool, France produces about eighty-three millions of pounds at L.3,253,000, and imports twenty-six milMns of pounds; which, converted into various fabrics, is esti mated to be worth L.8,000,000 Sterling. The value of the manufactures of flax and hemp is estimated at L.11,712,000. The spinning of cotton by ma chinery, which was scarcely introduced before the Revolution, employed one million of spindles in 1812 ; and there were 220 establishments for spinning cot ton in 1818. The cotton imported in 1817 amount. ed to thirteen millions of kilogrammes, or twenty eight millions of pounds, which, when worked into fabrics, is estimated to be worth L7,664,000. This is only about one-fourth of the value of the cotton manufactures in Britain ; but in France this species of industry has had to struggle with ex traordinary The manufactures of iron in France are estimated at L8,292,000 ; those of leather at L.5,732,000. The whole gross duce of manufacturing industry, including turers' profits, is estimated at 1820,000,000 of francs, or L.72,800,000, of which the value of the raw ma terial forms 32 parts in the 100, wages 47, manu facturers profits 10, and expences 11. (Chaptal, 116-120, 145, 203.) With regard to the commerce of France, we have no satisfactory details to present for any recent period. According to Arthur Young, the commerce of France nearly quadrupled, between 1718 and 1786. (I. 520.) In the three years ending in 1789, the imports on an average were 613,543,000, and the exports 448,748,000 francs, or about 24i, and L.17,000,000 Sterling. (Chaptal, J. 134.) In the public journals (Magazines and Newspapers) we find the exports of France for 1818 stated at L.15,400,000.