In the meantime an important step was taken in Colonial Legislation, which paved the way for more important changes. La Martinique, la Guadaloupe, and la Réunion (or Bourbon), the only three of her old sugar plantations which France still possessed, had been long complaining that the benefits they derived from the Pacte Colonial had entirely ceased, since the protection which their sugar used to receive in the French market against foreign sugar, and against that manufactured in France, had been withdrawn; and that nothing remained of that system, except the hardships they had to endure from the exclusion of the foreign trade and flag, and the difficulty they had in getting rid of their produce, which the French shipping was not sufficiently numerous to export.
In consequence of these and other[226] representations, a law, passed on the 3rd July, 1861, enacted (Articles 1 and 2) that all the foreign commodities allowed to be imported into France were to be admitted into Guadaloupe, Martinique, and Bourbon, under the same conditions and duties. Article 3 broke down the barrier which had hitherto shut out foreign shipping from freedom of access to those islands. It allowed the importation of foreign goods under every flag, without distinction, subject, however, to the payment of special duties, which varied according to the ports from which the goods were brought, and those to which they were imported. Thus, goods carried under any foreign flag from Europe or the Mediterranean to the Antilles, had to pay a duty, per ton, of 20 francs; if to the Réunion, of 30 francs: and when from the ports of the Atlantic coast (except the Cape and its territory), to the Antilles, 10 francs; and to Réunion, 20 francs. The duties, however, imposed by this Article, were only applicable to such foreign commodities, admissible under the previous laws, as were not liable to a higher duty. Otherwise, that duty was to continue in force. Article 6 went further, and allowed French goods to be carried to the colonies in question, and their goods to France, in foreign bottoms, subject to a duty of 20 francs per ton of cargo between France and the Antilles, and of 30 francs per ton between France and La Réunion.
The seventh Article granted the like freedom for the exportation of the goods of the colonies, either to foreign countries or to any other colony, provided such colony were beyond the limits of the coasting trade. But the law still excluded the foreign mercantile marine from entering the Colonial coasting trade, and it was only applicable to the three colonies mentioned in the Act. Nor were its provisions applicable to the other French possessions, nor to its coasting trade; nevertheless, it was an important step towards the freedom of maritime commerce.
Commission of Inquiry appointed, and law ultimately passed May 1866.
Many difficulties, however, had still to be overcome, and though the Conseil, after a most minute inquiry, and the publication of three large volumes of evidence, reported that great changes were imperatively required in the laws, their recommendations did not receive the sanction of the French legislative chambers until 1866,[227] and then only after many prolonged discussions.
Among these difficulties may be mentioned the removal of certain local charges on shipping, which had long been maintained in our ports, and against the payment of which the French Government had frequently protested, though neither the vessels of France nor of other countries were called upon to pay more than those of our own, except in some special cases, such as the case of ships owned by freemen, and other locally privileged persons, who were exempt. These charges differed in every port, and sometimes within the limit of the same harbour. Some of them were levied by virtue of Acts of Parliament, but others of a vexatious character, though trifling in amount, were only claimed by a prescriptive right, through long use. Those which were levied by prescription were either in the nature of petty customs, or of duties charged on vessels for anchorage, keelage, or with respect to ballast or to fees levied on goods in the nature of cranage, metage, cartage, wharfage; and, in too many instances, they were extorted for the use of cranes which had no existence, or of wharves which for ages had tumbled into decay. No doubt, in ancient times, it was an unquestioned prerogative of the Crown to create petty customs for local purposes, and, though that power has long since ceased to exist, when once granted to corporations or individuals it became assignable, like other property. It was, therefore, no easy task to abolish them without conceding the exorbitant demands of their owners, as the Board of Trade found out when the Vice-President, Mr. Lowe, brought the subject before Parliament.[228] But France insisted on their abolition, and, since then, the great bulk of them have been removed, by purchase or otherwise.
By Article 1 of the law of the 19th May, 1866, all materials raw or manufactured, including marine engines, intended to form parts of the construction or equipment of iron or wooden vessels, were admitted into France duty free. Article 2 abolished the premium granted by the law of the 6th May, 1841, on all steam-engines manufactured in France intended for international navigation. Article 3 permitted, after the expiration of six months from the promulgation of the law, the admission of foreign-built and fully equipped vessels to registration on payment of two francs per ton admeasurement; while Article 4 abolished all tonnage duties upon foreign ships, except such as had been or might be levied for the improvement of certain commercial harbours.
Its conditions.
But other changes were more tardily made: Article 5 providing that, only after “three years from the promulgation of the present law, the surtaxes on the flag (surtaxes de pavillon), at present applicable to productions imported from the countries where they are produced, otherwise than under the French flag, shall be abolished;” while Article 6 provided for the ulterior establishment, by imperial decree, of such compensating duties as might be rendered desirable, in consequence of any other nation imposing on the French flag higher duties than were to be levied on its own vessels; thus copying the retaliatory clause of the English Navigation Repeal Act of 1849. By Clause 7 these various articles were made applicable to the islands of Martinique, Guadaloupe, and Réunion (or Bourbon); and by Clause 8, the conditions of Articles 1, 3, and 4 were extended to Algeria; while by Article 9 the trade between France and that colony and its Coasting trade (cabotage) was permitted to be carried on by foreign vessels under the authorisation of its governor.
The 10th, or last Article, of the law of 1866, abolished the differential duties (surtaxes de navigation) which had been imposed on goods imported under a foreign flag, and the lower rate of duty on certain commodities, imported from French warehouses, under the flag of that country.[229]