SPANISH LOANS. 181 



" Moreover, the Finance Committee calculated that according to 

 the London rate of exchange, at 36 pence per dollar, and the Paris 

 exchange, at 15 livres 6 sous per pistole, together with the com- 

 missions, advertisements, and other expenses, the redemption and 

 the payment of interest would cost Spain twelve per cent per 

 annum." 



And finally, the Finance Committee, in No. 13 of its observations, 

 thus expresses itself : " It might be supposed that while such enor- 

 mous sacrifices were yielded by this treaty, Spain was to derive the 

 greatest advantages from it ; that she was to be enabled to dig 

 canals, lay out roads, &c. &c. &c. ; and that abundance was to be 

 introduced into the public chest. Far from it. At the end of eigh- 

 teen months from the signing of the treaty, and without reckoning 

 the disbursements occasioned by the former loans, the 140,000,000 

 r. v. specified in Article 1., are in reality reduced to the wretched sum 9 . 

 in specie, of 47, 785, 251 r. v. 9 in. ; for which inconsiderable amount 

 Spain binds herself to the payment of 2,082,235,609 r. v. This 

 total is produced by reckoning the payment of interest and redemp- 

 tion until the extinction of the stock issued to obtain the 47,785,251 

 r. v. 9 m." 



The threat of annulling this iniquitous contract produced its effect; 

 negociations were entered into, ^and some trifling modifications 

 extorted from the fears of the contractors. After the passage of 

 various state papers, and the concoction of Protocols almost as 

 numerous and more prolific of result than those of Lord Palmerston, 

 the very Lord of Protocols himself, the Cortes obtained an abatement 

 in the terms of the treaty of the 22nd of November equivalent to 

 nearly 100 millions of reales of real value, or about ONE MILLION 

 ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS sterling. Messieurs the Parisian 

 bankers were not ruined by this prodigal display of unexampled 

 liberality ; as will shortly be seen, a very decent sort of bread and 

 cheese living still remained to them after this splendid sacrifice ; 



Reales. 



" Ardoin, Hubard, and Co., received from the govern- 

 ment in new stock . . 754,849,100 

 In return for which they remitted in old stocks and 

 coupons of interest in arrear as follows : 

 108,003 bonds of the first loan ; forming, 



at 2,000 r. v. each .... 216,006,000 

 77,360 premium-tickets of the first loan, 



at 300 r. v. each .... 23,208,000 

 25,418 bonds of the second loan, at 



3,000 r. v. each .... 76,254,000 

 15,436 bonds of the Dutch loans, at 8,000 



r, v. each . 123,848,000 



295,846 dividends of the Dutch loans 

 60,697 being at 4| r. v. each, and 

 235,149 at 3 r. v. making together 136,893,434 



575,849,434 



178,999,666 



