* * * * *
"_Laissez faire, laissez passer._"--I think your correspondent "A MAN
IN A GARRET" (No. 19. p. 308.) is not warranted in stating that M. de
Gournay was the author of the above axiom of political economy. Last
session Lord J. Russell related an anecdote in the House of Commons
which referred the phrase to an earlier date. In the _Times_ of the
2nd of April, 1849, his Lordship is reported to have said, on the
preceding day, in a debate on the Rate-in-Aid Bill, that Colbert, with
the intention of fostering the manufactures of France, established
regulations which limited the webs woven in looms to a particular
size. He also prohibited the introduction of foreign manufactures
into France. The French vine-growers, finding that under this system
they could no longer exchange their wine for foreign goods, began to
grumble. "It was then," said his Lordship, "that Colbert, having asked
a merchant what he should do, he (the merchant), with great justice
and great sagacity, said, 'Laissez faire et laissez passer'--do
not interfere as to the size and mode of your manufactures, do not
interfere with the entrance of foreign imports, but let them compete
with your own manufactures."
Colbert died twenty-nine years before M. de Gournay was born. Lord
J. Russell omitted to state whether Colbert followed the merchant's
advice.