=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.] 2. Effect of the Hundred Years’ War (_a_) on the people, (_b_) on the power of the king. [Adams, Growth, chap. 9.] 3. Effect upon France of the religious wars, and the emigration of the Huguenots. [Adams, 180 ff., 227 ff.] 4. Write a report on the career of Jacques Cœur. [Encyc. Brit.] 5. Write a report on one of the French explorers. [Manuals of U. S. history and references; Thwaites, France in Amer., chap. 1: Parkman, Pioneers of France.] 6. Write a brief report on the history of the commerce of Marseilles. [Encyc.]