weigh against those of as many
millions, equally subjects of his Majesty, and against those, too, of a
nation allied to him by all the ties of treaty, of interest and of
affection. The privileges of the most favored nation, have been
mutually exchanged by treaty. But the productions of other nations,
which do not rival those of France, are suffered to be bought and sold
freely within the kingdom. By prohibiting all his Majesty's subjects
from dealing in tobacco, except with a single company, one third of the
exports of the United States are rendered uncommerciable here. This
production is so peculiarly theirs, that its shackles affect no other
nation. A relief from these shackles, will form a memorable epoch in
the commerce of the two nations. It will establish at once a great
basis of exchange, serving like a point of union to draw to it other
members of our commerce. Nature, too, has conveniently assorted our
wants and our superfluities, to each other. Each nation has exactly to
spare, the articles which the other wants. We have a surplus of rice,
tobacco, furs, peltry, potash, lamp oils, timber, which France wants;
she has a surplus of wines, brandies, esculent oils, fruits and
manufactures of all kinds, which we want. The governments have nothing
to do, but _not to hinder_ their merchants from making the exchange.
The difference of language, laws and customs, will be some obstacle for
a time; but the interest of the merchants will surmount them. A more
serious obstacle is our debt to Great Britain. Yet, since the treaty
between this country and that, I should not despair of seeing that debt
paid, in part, with the productions of France, if our produce can
obtain here, a free course of exchange for them. The distant prospect
is still more promising. A century's experience has shown, that we
double our numbers every twenty or twenty-five years. No circumstance
can be foreseen, at this moment, which will lessen our rate of
multiplication for centuries to come. For every article of the
productions and manufactures of this country, then, which can be
introduced into the habit there, the demand will double every twenty or
twenty-five years. And to introduce the habit, we have only to let the
merchants alone. Whether we may descend, by a single step, from the
present state, to that of perfect freedom of commerce in this article,
whether any, and what, intermediate operation may be necessary to
prepare the way to this, what