There is no limit to M. Thiers' folly in finance.
He ha actually induced the Assembly, by 406 to 165, to re.adopt the ridiculous navigation, lawx, aati Impose taxes to protect the French merchant navy. Ships not being French and coming from Europe are to pay 75c. per 100 kilos., from countries this side of Cape Horn if. 50c., and from beyond those points 2f. This is a differential duty against English shipping of about 15s. a ton all round, and will raise the price of French materials most per- ceptibly. The instant the decision was known, the " interests " asked exemptions, and two have already been granted, one in favour of guano, and another of produce grown in French colonies. Imagine the proprietor of the Times taxing his paper- makers 20. a ream for delivering his paper, and you will have a perfect idea of the policy of this impost, which, however, is de- fended in America as well as France. It seems as if the human intellect would be baffled in the effort to teach the statesmen to cipher.
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