originally came, could, in the nature of things, be only partially enforced. Supremacy cannot be obtained merely by the will of a legislator, nor can a stroke of the pen conjure navies into existence.[1]
The mercantile marine of France, which had almost entirely disappeared during the wars of the Republic and Empire, progressed so slowly for some time after the Restoration, that the assistance of foreign vessels became absolutely necessary for the supply of the French market. Strange, however, to say, for the supposed encouragement of the national shipping, and, as the next best protection that could be given to it, the carrying marine of all other nations was heavily weighted, by means of duties levied on almost all the commodities imported in foreign bottoms. In the first tariff, published after the return of the Bourbons, on the 17th of December, 1814, with the object of providing for pressing requirements until a more matured system could be established, differential duties were imposed on certain goods, more or less heavy, according as they were imported under a foreign or under the French flag. The system was developed and perfected by the Finance Law of the 28th of April, 1816, which established a new order of things, brought about by the heavy expenses of the centjours, and of the fine
- ↑ To the "celebrated decrees" which followed these laws, that of Berlin of the 21st of November, 1806, and that of Milan 17th of December, 1807, and to our "Orders in Council," which were all mere acts of war, I have already referred at considerable length (see ante, vol. ii., Chaps. VIII., IX., and XI.). In regard to these Acts, nations would do well to refer to the saying of Napoleon himself, in 1816, at the commencement of his exile, "We must fall back for the future on the open navigation of the seas, and on the entire liberty of universal trade."—Memorial of St. Helena, 12th June, 1816.
