62] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814.. 



less a final resource, than a means 

 of favouring our own industry." 

 The necessity under which he 

 found himself of apologizing for 

 the continuance of the consolidat- 

 ed duties is also worthy of notice, 

 ** The King (said he), in his re- 

 tirement, long lamented the vexa- 

 tions to which the people were 

 subjected by the collections of the 

 droits reunies ; and his first care 

 was, to announce their abolition by 

 the mouth of the prince of his fa- 

 mily who preceded him. But the 

 state in which his Majesty found 

 the treasury; the immense exist- 

 ing arrears ; and the number of 

 brave men to be paid ; rendered it 

 au imperative duty with him to 

 preserve for the state resources 

 proportioned to its wants." The 

 minister then went into the consi- 

 deration of the debts of the state, 

 the accumulation of which now 

 aniounted to more than thirteen 

 hundred millions of francs; but 

 the arrears actually demandable, 

 and for the payment of which it 

 was absolutely necessary to provide, 

 amounted only to 759 millions. 

 For the liquidation of this sum it 

 was proposed that bonds of the 

 royal treasury should be issued, 

 payable at the end of three years, 

 and bearing a yearly interest of 8 

 per cent., the holders of which 

 should have the power of convert- 

 ing them into inscriptions in the 

 great book of the 5 per cent, con- 

 sols, with a bonus. To meet these 

 obligations, a quantity of forest 

 Jands was to be sold, and the pro- 

 duce to be employed as a sinking 

 fund in buying them up. The 

 minister in mentioning this re- 

 source, said, " The good effects of 

 a well-combined plan of a sinking 

 fund, prosecuted with persever- 



ance, may be seen on a compariscit* 

 of the vigour of the credit of Eng- 

 land, and the weakness of our own. 

 The credit of England has re- 

 mained invaluable amidst all 

 shocks, in spite of the increase of 

 her debt. That of France hiis lan- 

 guished, notwithstanding the di- 

 minution of lier's. It is the fide- 

 lity with which they fulfil their 

 engagements that has produced 

 among our neighbours a phenome- 

 non so different from that which 

 we exhibit. This principle gave 

 birth in England to the idea of 

 placing by the side of a heavy debt 

 a counterpoise which lightens it, 

 and continually tends to restore 

 the equilibrium. We regret that 

 we are not yet able to introduce 

 into the administration of our 

 finances a similar germ of pros- 

 perity, and to propose to you to set 

 apart a portion of our ordinary reve- 

 nues for the redemption of the con- 

 stitued debt." Such, in its main 

 points, was theFrench budget; con- 

 cerning which the reflection that 

 will probably first arise in the mind 

 of the English reader, is the small- 

 nessofthesum of debt incurred, 

 after all its wars and disasters, by 

 that powerful kingdom, compai-ed 

 with that of Great Britain ; and the 

 prospect that with peace and good 

 management, France may be set 

 entirely free, while this country is 

 still labouring under a burden the 

 discharge of which, under the most 

 favourable circumstances, cannot 

 be effected within a period of time 

 that the mind startles to contem- 

 plate — and is war still a favourite 

 of the nation ? 



The budget was presented to 

 the Chamber of Peers on Sept. 8, 

 by the Prince of Benevento, in a 

 speech stating the principal arti- 



