This sovereign found France vigorous and offering brilliant promises of development; he left her weighted with taxes and debt. A distinguished Frenchman said toward the close of this reign that a tenth of the people were reduced to beggary, and of the remainder over one half were in no condition to give alms, they were so near to beggary themselves.
276. Decline of the French colonial empire in the eighteenth century.—The colonial possessions which France surrendered to England at the close of the wars (the Hudson’s Bay Territory, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland) seem comparatively unimportant, but their loss was significant. The two countries had chosen different paths. England continued to build up a colonial empire; France continued to spend her resources in continental wars, at the cost of her commerce and her colonies. The Seven Years’ War, ending in 1763, marks practically the end of the conflict. France surrendered all her possessions on the North American continent, and some of those in the West Indies and Africa; and abandoned forever the hope, at one time most promising, of building up an empire in India. So little were the colonies appreciated in France that some good Frenchmen rejoiced at their loss, and only wished that more of “those wretched possessions” might have been transferred, to ruin the enemy!
277. Growth, notwithstanding, in the commerce of France.—The reader must not infer from preceding paragraphs that French commerce was stationary or declining in the eighteenth century. Colonial expansion was often a long-time investment, from which a country could hope to recover the full return only after the lapse of generations, sometimes after the colony had established its freedom. The full effect of the French policy is apparent only in the nineteenth century, and elements which we have not yet considered must be taken into account to explain why France has been passed by other countries in the race for industrial supremacy. In the eighteenth century, in spite of a misguided foreign policy, in spite of burdensome taxes, and in spite of a vicious organization of internal trade and manufactures which will be described later, France profited by her size and resources to build up a great foreign trade. Some features of this trade will be apparent from the following table, to which the same remarks apply that have already been made on the subject of statistics. The figures show in millions of livres (and a rough equivalent) the trade of France with the various continents in 1716, when the country was just recovering from war and commerce was unduly depressed, and 1787, when a short period of unusually active trade preceded the French Revolution.
Commerce of France by Continents
| 1716 | 1787 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | liv. 176.6 | $ 35. | liv. 804.3 | $ 161 |
| America | 25.8 | 5. | 269.9 | 54 |
| Asia | 9.2 | 2. | 52.1 | 10 |
| Africa | 1.1 | 0.2 | 6.5 | 1 |
| Total | 214.9 | 43. | 1153.5 | 230 |
278. Analysis of French commerce in the eighteenth century.—Without attempting to draw too much from figures which are known to be inaccurate, we can base on this table some few important conclusions. The commerce of France grew at a rate not far from that of England’s in the eighteenth century. The commerce of France, however, continued in much greater degree to be European; the chief trade of the country was with its neighbors, Italy and Germany, and, after them, with England and the Baltic. To these countries France sent manufactures amounting to less than one third of the total exports (122 million), the remainder being made up of articles of food and drink and various other raw materials. The failure of France to manufacture goods which would hold their own in the world market must be regarded as her vital weakness. We see it especially well illustrated in the trade with the United States. During the later years of the Revolution (1781-1783) France sent to the United States exports amounting to over eleven million livres a year. A few years afterward (1787-1789), when the restoration of peace should have stimulated the trade, it had dropped to less than two millions. The French had sent poor wares, and could not hold the trade when the English were free to compete again.
279. Value of the French sugar colonies.—It was the fortune of the French to keep of their colonies in America just those which were capable of the most rapid economic development. They were West India islands in which sugar was produced by slave labor. Comparatively few Frenchmen had settled in the islands, and in the long run they were to prove of little advantage to the home country, but in the eighteenth century they were veritable gold mines. The leading position in sugar production, which had first been taken by the Portuguese in Brazil, passed early from them to the English, and was taken before 1750 by the French, who soon controlled the European market. A part, also, of the imports from Africa comprised sugar from islands in the Indian ocean, while the African slave trade was exploited for the benefit of American planters.
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
1. Striking characteristics and chief weaknesses of the political system of France. [Seebohm, Prot. rev., 40-46, 210-212; Cheyney, Eur. background, 115-121; Taine, Ancient régime.]