614 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



partial operation. Thus, in a few 

 years, all the comniunes of the re- 

 public, which have each, in a par- 

 ticular table, the plan of its terri- 

 tory, the divisions are the propor- 

 tions of the properties that compose 

 it ; and the general councils, and 

 the co"ncils of the arrondisemenfs 

 •will find in the junctions of all those 

 plans, the elcirents of a division 

 just in its principles and consiant in 

 its proportions. i'-e sinking fund 

 fuHiis with constancy and fidelity 

 its dt'stination. Already in posses- 

 sion of a portion of the public debt, 

 it every day accumulates a treasure, 

 which secures to the state a speedy 

 liquidation : a rigid responsibility 

 and inviolable fidelitj have rendered 

 the administrators worthy of the 

 confidence of government, and in- 

 sures to them the interest of the 

 citizens. The melting down of the 

 coin is carried on without bustle or 

 .shook ; it was a scourge while the 

 principles were misunilcrstood ; it 

 is become the most simple operation, 

 since public faith and the rules of 

 good sense have adjusted its con. 

 ditions. At the treasury, the pub- 

 lic credit has maintained itself in 

 the midst of the shocks of war, and 

 the rumours of interested individu- 

 als, 'i'he public treasury supplied 

 the expcnces of the colonies, either 

 by direct remittances, or by opera- 

 lions on the continent of America. 

 The administrators were enabled, if 

 the remittances proved insufficient, 

 to obtain a supply by drafts on the 

 public treasury ; but conformable 

 to prescribed forms, and to a limited 

 extent. A mass of drafts (amount- 

 ing to two millions) had been sud- 

 denly created at St. Domingo, with- 

 out the consent of government, and 

 out of all proportion to present 

 or future wants. Men without 



character have hawked them at 

 the llavannah, at Jamaica, in the 

 United States ; they have been every 

 where exposed in the markets to 

 shameful reduction, delivered up to 

 men who had not deposited either 

 money or merchandize, and who 

 were not to furnish value till the 

 payment should have been made at 

 the public treasury. Hence a scan- 

 dalous riduction in America, hence 

 a jobbing still more scandalous in 

 Europe. Here the government im- 

 poses on itself a rigorous duty, to 

 put a stop to the course of this im- 

 prudent measure, to save the nation 

 the losses Avith which it was me- 

 naced, and above all to redeem its 

 credit by a just severity. An agent 

 of the public treasury was dis- 

 patched to St. Domingo, charged to 

 check the books, and the chest of 

 the pay-master general ; to ascer- 

 tain how many drafts had been cre- 

 ated, on what authority, and in 

 what form ; how many had been 

 ncgociated, and on what conditi- 

 ons : whether they had been nego- 

 tiated for real value, or without 

 eil'ective value ; or whether to dis- 

 charge real debts, or to fulfil feigned 

 contracts. — Eleven millions in drafts 

 which were not yet in circulation- 

 were cancelled; some information 

 has been obtained as to the others. 

 The drafts whose full value had 

 been received, were paid off with 

 interest from the day they became 

 due to the day of payment. Those 

 that Avere issued without eifective 

 value, h.ave been ])rovcd false, in 

 as much as the bills bear the words 

 for money advanced,'though thepro- 

 ces-verbal of payment proves that 

 none had been advanced : these 

 have been submitted to a severe ex- 

 amination. Thus the government 

 will satisfy the justice which it owes 



to 



