60] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



diers alone, near 1,400,000 francs. 

 With respect to public works, it 

 was said that great enterprizes 

 had been undertaken, some from 

 motives of utility, many from os- 

 tentation, or for purposes uncon- 

 nected with the advantage of the 

 country. Thus, while magnifi- 

 cent roads were opened on the 

 frontiers, those of the interior were 

 neglected. The canals were in a 

 better state, but their works were 

 far from completion, and would 

 .require much additional expense. 

 The improvements at Paris had 

 been particularly attended to, as a 

 means of parading magnificence 

 and obtaining popularity. Some 

 of them were really useful, and 

 those for mere embellishment 

 should not be abandoned, though 

 their expense had been estimated 

 at 53,500,000 francs, of which 

 more than 24,000,000 had al- 

 ready been laid out upon them. 



Under the head of War Mi- 

 nistry, the statements deserve pe- 

 culiar notice, as calculated to im- 

 press upon every thinking mind 

 a conviction, that among all the 

 financial evils pressing upon go- 

 vernments, those arising from war 

 are beyond comparison the great- 

 est. " Hence (says the report) 

 originated the disorder which ex- 

 tended to all the other branches ; 

 and the disasters of the three lust 

 campaigns have plunged this de- 

 partment, already so complicated, 

 into a complete ':haos." On the 

 1st of May last, the land forces 

 of France amounted to more than 

 520,000 men of all descriptions, 

 besides which there were about 

 122,600 enjoying half pay. The 

 prisoners returning from different 

 countries, and the staff of the 

 army, added near 161,900 to the 

 number. The whole of the war 



expenses for 1814, in their dif- 

 ferent branches, are estimated at 

 740 millions of francs, and the 

 arrears due, at 261 millions. The 

 head of Ministry of Marine ex- 

 poses the folly and mischief of the 

 plans of the late government in 

 the naval department, particularly 

 the projected invasion of England, 

 and the sciieme of making the 

 Scheld a grand naval depot. It 

 observes, that latterly seamen had 

 been regarded as only eventual 

 recruits for the laud armjs that all 

 the arsenals are completely dila- 

 pidated, and the immense naval 

 stores collected by Lewis XVI. 

 are squandered away, and that the 

 debt of the navy exceeds 61 mil- 

 lions. The article of Finances, 

 after stating the manner in which 

 the late government contrived to 

 conceal its deficits, and the vast 

 anticipations made by it, and mis- 

 application of funds from their 

 appropriate uses, gives the aggre- 

 gate sum of 4,645,469,000 francs, 

 as the increase of the public debts 

 in the course of 13 years. To all 

 this load of mischief, the report 

 adds the moral evils that have ac- 

 crued to France, during this pe- 

 riod of corruption and misgovern- 

 ment, the annihilation of public 

 spirit, the suppression of noble 

 and generous sentiments, and the 

 conversion of religion and systems 

 of education into mere tools of 

 power. It concludes, however, 

 with fostering hopes of the reco- 

 very of the nation from this state 

 of difficulty and depravation, pro- 

 vided it will zealously concur in 

 the efforts of the king and the 

 two chambers, and not by a rest- 

 less turbulence destroy the bless- 

 ings of which peace affords it the 

 prospect. 



Such were the general contents 



I 



