glish there is no doubt their produce, manufactures, and commerce,
both home and foreign, would be considerably greater than it now is.
France has been most peculiarly favoured by nature, her soil produces
everything that can be grown in England, and besides three commodities
which are not genial to our climate, and are of immense value, oil, silk
and wine; hence the products of the soil of France amount annually to
the immense sum of 240,000,000_l._, or 6,000,000,000 francs; having such
a basis, or one may even say such a capital to work upon, to what an
incalculable extent might business be carried on, with the amazing
industry that exists in France, as in the first place their population
exceeds ours by nearly six millions; then their general temperance is
such, there is not so much time nor labour lost as there is in England,
consequently there are more hands available, and those generally for a
longer period of time, as every one who is familiar with many
manufacturing and even agricultural districts in England must be aware
that there are numbers of workmen who never appear on the Monday,
vulgarly called St. Monday, but spend it at the public houses.

I myself have had farming men whom I hired by the day in Kent, who did
not appear until Wednesday morning, but that, however, is some years
since, and the evil is now correcting. The great deficiency in France is
not only want of great capitalists, but men of enterprise, who are not
afraid to enter upon colossal undertakings; and now, looking at the
speculative works of the greatest magnitude which exist in France, it
will be found that Englishmen are concerned in them, either as partners
in a firm, or the principal shareholders in any company or association.
The promptness of the English for adventuring their funds in all sorts
of schemes is the wonderment of all Europe; whenever there is any
discovery which may be rendered available for trade, an Englishman is on
the spot with his capital in his hand and his calculation in his head.
Recently a vein of coal was found near the coast of Brittany, three
Englishmen were there as if they had dropped from the clouds, quite
prepared to enter into all the arrangements requisite for working the
mine and rendering it productive of profit.

But although the French are deficient in those qualities requisite for
commencing and conducting gigantic enterprises, yet they are rapidly
improving in every point that is necessary for th