ABSTRACT
Sir, In an earlier letter (1), I think I established that our civil and fiscal laws were all conceived in the interests of property against industry and that the present constitution of legislative powers is an obstacle to a prompt improvement in this state of affairs. I now wish to explain to you which reforms it seems to me necessary to include in our legislation in order to reconcile the interests of industry with those of property. The best reforms must be carried out gradually and with all due respect to established rights. The innovators of 1830 differ from the revolutionaries of 1793 in that they intend to act by persuasion and not by force; they want improvements to avoid catastrophes and not catastrophes to arrive at improvements. Their intentions are pure; may they be understood by the partisans of resistance! They are disdainfully rejected and called utopia makers, thus avoiding the trouble of examining what they are asking for. However, the great reforms which followed the 1789 revolution were also utopias before being converted into laws. The utopias of 1830 will become reality once they have been judged without passion and with the selflessness of true patriotism. In the present state of mind, over-radical reforms would find only invincible opponents: we can reasonably only suggest preparatory improvements. Those we are about to set forth are of this nature. Every time we notice that simple arrangements have been accepted in certain cases, we shall ask for these arrangements to be extended to other similar cases; in this way no one will be able to claim that they are impossible to apply. We shall first indicate the improvements which appear to us likely to be included in legislation without looking at their financial consequences; we shall then expound the reforms which should be made to our financial system to maintain the balance between the state’s revenues and its expenses.
