Free-trade resolutions of the Council-General of the Herault.

Abstract

Last session the French government presented to the Legislative Body a bill for abolishing the prohibitions against importation which abound in the tariff, and replacing them by duties which, though high, are not absolutely prohibitory. This bill was so unfavourably received, that it was deemed advisable to let it stand over for the next session; and, in the mean time, it has been brought under the notice of the Councils-General of the eighty-six departments of France, to give them an opportunity of pronouncing for or against it. As the protectionist interest is strong in France, especially among the classes who usually compose the majority of the Councils-General, it is not to be expected that many of them will come forward in favour of free trade.