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EARLY PROPOSAL FOR

A MUTUAL INTERCHANGE AND EXHIBITION

OF THE

PRODUCTIONS OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

In the year 1830, I laid before the British Public the Plan of a new Voyage round the Globe, to be undertaken for the purpose of uniting to the labours of Hydrography and Navigation, those of Commerce, Philanthropy, and Civilization-all of which were capable of being carried on at the same timethough naval expeditions have hitherto been confined almost exclusively to the first alone. The Commercial portion of this Plan was to put on board the Ships forming the Expedition, specimens of every kind of produce and manufacture that England, Scotland, and Ireland could furnish, for the purpose of exhibiting them at all the principal ports visited in the Voyage, and ascertaining, by actual experiment, which kinds, of what patterns, and what prices, were best adapted to the respective markets, and at the same time ascertaining what special products or manufactures could be imported with the greatest advantage from these different countries in return.

This Plan received the high sanction and approbation of the leading men of the day, and was brought forward at the Royal Institution of London -the Duke of Sussex occupying the chair-when the resolutions in its favour were moved, seconded, and supported by the Duke of Somerset, Lord Durham, Lord John Russell, Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, General Bentham, Colonel Stanhope, the present Earl of Harrington, and others. But the political excitement of the French revolution of 1830, which placed Louis Philippe on the throne, and the passing of the Reform Bill in England, so absorbed all minds, that it was impossible to realize the means of carrying out the Plan to a successful issue by voluntary contributions.

About this period I visited Paris, and, animated by the great desire of my life-that of breaking down the barriers that divide nation from nation, and hastening the reign of human brotherhood through the medium of Free Trade-I sought every means of making my views on that subject known in the French capital; and having delivered a Course of Lectures on India at the Athenée Royal, under the patronage of the King and Royal Family, and enjoying frequent intercourse with General Lafayette, and the leading political and literary men of the French capital, including many of the principal Statesmen, and especially the Minister of France, Mons. Lafitte, I submitted, through him, and, with his consent, to the Council of Ministers, the following Plan for the mutual interchange of a

million sterling's worth of British produce and manufacture, for a similar amount of French, each to be displayed in a grand Bazaar or place of Exhibition in the respective capitals, for the purpose of proving to the world the mutual and reciprocal benefits of Free Trade.

The Document proposing this Exchange and Exhibition was dated Nov. 22, 1830, and the following account of its presentation and issue is recorded in a Pamphlet, published by Mr. Effingham Wilson, London, in 1831, entitled-"Outlines of a New Budget, for Raising Eighty Millions, by means of a justly-graduated Property Tax, with Suggestions on the Representative System, the National Debt, &c. Prepared for the consideration of the Reformed Parliament of England. By J. S. Buckingham." March, 19, 1831. It is as follows:

"I ask, then, the government of France to authorize me to communicate to the principal manufacturing towns of England, their permission to import from thence, free of all tax, duty, or impost whatsoever, the amount of one million sterling of British goods; the proceeds of which, to the same amount, to be re-invested in the purchase of one million sterling's worth of French produce and manufactures, for exportation to, and sale in England: thus relieving the commerce of France, by an actual purchase to the extent named, of its present superabundant merchandise in every branch.

To realize to France the full advantages which

this operation is calculated to create, I propose the security of the following conditions :

First. That the British goods imported shall be in the greatest possible variety, so that no disproportionate quantity of any one sort or kind shall predominate over the other; but that the importations shall include specimens of every description of article manufactured in Great Britain.

Secondly.―That they shall be imported by the way of Havre, Rouen, and the Seine, and not opened either for inspection or sale until their arrival at Paris.

Thirdly-That they shall not be distributed among the purchasers, except from some great central depôt in the capital, fixed on by the government itself.

Fourthly-That no portion whatever of the amount arising from the sale, shall be remitted to England in money; but that the sums produced shall be deposited, as fast as they are realized, in the Bank of France, there to remain, until ultimately employed in the exclusive purchase of French produce and manufactures, in equal variety to those brought from England, including speci mens of everything made or produced in France, to be forwarded by the same route of the Seine, Rouen, and Havre, and there embarked in French ships to England for sale.

Fifthly-That the profits arising from this transaction—that is, the sum that may remain in the Bank of France after the re-investment of the one

million sterling, (the prime cost of the English goods,) in French articles, and the payment of the necessary charges be divided into three equal portions.

Sixthly-The first portion of the profits to be given to the proprietors or importers of the goods thus collected for Exhibition and public sale.

Seventhly-The second portion of the profits to be employed in the erection of a public monument in some part of Paris, after a design from French artists, to be mutually approved by the contracting parties, suitable to the commemoration of this friendly, liberal, and advantageous example of the reciprocal interchange of the surplus wealth of the two countries.

Eighthly-The third portion of the profits to be devoted to the aid of the Expedition round the globe, now preparing under my direction, for the promotion of Discovery, Commerce, and Civilization, in the Eastern seas, in the ultimate benefits of which England and France may be made equal participators.

The local advantages that would result to Paris alone by its being thus made, for a certain time, the great central depôt for the interchange of the productive industry of the two greatest nations of the world, would be immense, because of the enormous number of visitors and purchasers that would be thus attracted to the capital from all parts of Europe. If, for instance, the authority to make this free importation should be accorded in the pre