Reelected to the General Council of the Landes, 24 November.
1840
Travels to Spain and Portugal to explore setting up an insurance business.
1841
Has plans to create an “Association for the Defense of Viticultural Interests” and a journal to be called Le Midi (these do not come to fruition).
1842
Unsuccessfully stands for election to the legislature in the arrondissement of Saint-Sever, 9 July.
1843
Writes “Mémoire on the Viticulture Question,” 22 January.
Plans to create a school for sharecroppers.
Publishes three articles on “Free Trade. State of the Question in England” in La Sentinelle des Pyrénées, May / June.
1844
Publishes his first major essay in the JDE: “On the Influence of French and English Tariffs on the Future of the Two Peoples,” October.
Begins corresponding with Richard Cobden, 24 November. Tells him he would like to start his own free-trade association in France.
1845
A dinner held in his honor by the Political Economy Society to welcome him to Paris, May.
Travels to London, where he is met with enthusiasm by members of the Anti–Corn Law League, July.
Publishes his first books: Cobden and the League (July 1845) and Economic Sophisms (First Series), November.
[print edition page xlv]
Supports de Larnac, the center-left candidate to the local legislature, August–September.
Joins the Society for Political Economy and begins attending their monthly meetings when in Paris.
Offered editorship of JDE but turns it down.
1846
Elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, 24 January.
Cofounder of the Free Trade Association in Bordeaux, 23 February.
10 May, National Association for Free Trade is formed in Paris, and Bastiat is made the secretary of the Advisory Board. Other Associations are established in Marseilles, Lyon, and Le Havre.
Dinner in Paris to celebrate political victory of Cobden and the Anti–Corn Law League, 18 August.
Speaks at free-trade meetings in Bordeaux (23 February) and Paris (29 September).
Appearance of first issue of the weekly journal Le Libre-échange, 29 November.
Resigns his position as justice of the peace in Mugron, 30 November.
Debates with Lamartine and the editors of L’Atelier and Le Moniteur industriel.
Publishes many articles on free trade in a number of journals.
1847
Chamber considers bill to liberalize tariffs and sends it to a committee dominated by protectionists, March to July.
Begins lecturing on political economy at the School of Law in Paris, 3 July.
Debates throughout the year with protectionists.
1848
Publication of Economic Sophisms (Second Series), 5 January.
Gives up the editorship of Le Libre-échange for reasons of health, 13 February.
Witnesses rioting in the streets of Paris and the killing of protesters by the army, 23–25 February.
Publication of La République française, 26 February.
Elected deputy in the Constituent Assembly representing the département of the Landes, 23 April. Appointed vice president of the Finance Committee.
[print edition page xlvi]
Nominated to the Chamber’s commission of inquiry into labor, May.
Speech in the Chamber on free trade and against subsidies to the textile industry, 9 June.
Publication of Jacques Bonhomme, 11 June.
“June Days” uprising sparked by the closure of the National Workshops, 23–26 June.
Votes against trying socialist Louis Blanc for his role in the “June Days” uprising, 26 August.
Gives a speech in the Chamber in favor of postal reform, 24 August.
Visits Cobden in England to talk about disarmament, September.
Reelected to General Council of the Landes, September.
Votes for new constitution and supports General Cavaignac for president, 4 November.
1849
Invited to banquet in Manchester to celebrate the final repeal of the Corn Laws but declines because of poor health and parliamentary duties, 9 January.
Gives a speech in the Chamber on free trade and ending restriction on the importation of salt, 11 January.
Gives a speech in the Chamber in support of legislation to prevent civil servants sitting as deputies in the Chamber, 10 March.
Supports motion opposing expedition of French troops to Rome.
Elected deputy in the Legislative Assembly representing the Landes on the “Social Democratic” list, 13 May.
Attends Peace Congress in Paris presided over by Victor Hugo and gives a speech on “Disarmament and Taxes,” 22–24 August.
Debate with Proudhon on credit and interest in La Voix du peuple, 22 October.
Attends a Friends of Peace meeting in Bradford, England, 30 October.
proposed canal next to the Ardour River.
