Delessert had established a factory at Passy in 1801 and by dogged perseverance, despite many failures, obtained excellent results by a new method of clarification and the use of charcoal. Napoleon visited his plant in 1812 and ordered the construction of ten new factories at once. On January 1, 1813, all further imports of sugar from the East and West Indies were prohibited. In 1812 and 1813 the output of sugar in France was 2200 tons and the factories of Germany and Austria gave promise of soon supplying the wants of their respective countries. During the following two years there were unusually heavy rains and the beet fields of France were occupied by hostile troops. The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo and the consequent abolition of the blockade caused a decline in the price of sugar to a point where the new beet industry was unable to compete and only one factory succeeded in avoiding the general disaster. From 1816 to 1821 the average yearly output of beet sugar was 1000 tons. The domestic product had a great advantage over the foreign article, as all sugars coming into France from abroad were subject to a heavy duty, while no tax was levied on home-grown sugar. In 1821, a duty of 49.5 francs was imposed upon every 100 kilograms (220.4622 lbs.) of raw sugar coming from French colonies and 70 francs on white sugar. The tax on sugar from foreign countries was 90 francs per 100 kilograms, and this was increased to 125 francs in 1829. Shortly afterward the surtax[20] on foreign sugar was increased and an extra duty was exacted on sugar brought into France in foreign bottoms. Even with this protection the domestic producers were not satisfied. French colonial sugar, when exported, received the benefit of customs drawback of 120 francs per 100 kilograms, and the same privilege was accorded home-grown sugar upon which no duty whatever had been paid. This was tantamount to an export premium of 120 francs per 100 kilograms, and it may well be imagined that under this paternal arrangement old factories came back to life and new ones sprang into being. Under this régime by 1836 nearly one-third of the sugar refined in France was beet. The payment of this premium was so great a drain on the government treasury that in 1840 the authorities seriously considered the buying up of all the beet-root sugar factories then in operation for forty million francs and the equalizing of the tax on foreign and domestic sugar. The scheme was not carried out, but in 1843 beet-root sugar and cane sugar were placed on the same basis. This hurt the domestic industry severely, and if it had not been for the setback to the cane production by the abolition of slavery, the beet interests might have met with ruin. Nevertheless, in spite of many adverse turns of fortune, the general trend was forward. [Illustration: NAPOLEON I]