i68 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



of including these expenses in the ordinary budget. 

 In 1873 it was decided that the maximum of the 

 expenses to be included under this special heading 

 should be 30,920,000, but this was soon exceeded, 

 and the account was divided into two parts. The first 

 was paid off in 1875, at 36,587,000, while the second, 

 comprising the years 1876-79, absorbed more than 

 56,000,000. It was only in 1879 that this special 

 estimate could be incorporated in the budget, where 

 it forms an item by itself called, "Depenses sur 

 ressources extraordinaires." This estimate has neces- 

 sitated an enormous number of documents, reports, 

 and discussions, which make it very difficult to under- 

 stand. 



One need have a special gift for financial business 

 to make head or tail of it, and M. Yillefort's book on 

 the subject may be consulted with advantage, par- 

 ticularly in regard to the accounts of the territory 

 ceded to Germany. At first sight it may appear as if 

 the cession of territory, after a war of conquest, is a 

 matter of public concern only, but we must not forget 

 how many private interests are affected by it and have 

 to be indemnified. 



The Franco-German Commission at Strasburg took 

 eight years to effect this settlement, and from their 

 accounts it appears that France paid to Germany for 

 the debts peculiar to Alsace-Lorraine 1,680,000, and 

 received from Germany only 600,000. 



The annexation entailed other arrangements, such as 



