Star. — London, England, 1824-09-22 00:00:00

I • M. LAF/ITE ON THE. REOUCTION OF THE RENTES. M.Lafitte, the Paris banker; has just published a pamphlet on the late project of the French M:nkter of Finance for the reduction of the Government Annuities in France. As M. Lafitte was one of the contractors for enabling that Minister to carry into execution his great financial plan, and belongs, moreover, to the Li-- I beral party, by whom it was opposed, he was bound to spew that his political opinions coincided with hjspeeu niary interests—that, for nose, his party-friends were in the wrong, and the Cabinet in the right—and that, in %tenet otkly offering to pocket some millions of francs of the public money in the shape of commission, he was oferring a favour on France as well as on himself. Ilk new ally, M. de Villele, by his manoeuvres at the late election, had depri ved him of his seat in the Cham ber of Deputies, where he could have defended the new scaheme. Ile therefore conceived himself obliged to ad dress the Public from the press, and the present pam phlet is the fruit of that supposed necessity. As in the very few remarks which our space will allow us to make on this pamphlet, we shall dissent from some of M. Lafitte's doctrines, we must begin by stating that, in our opinion, the author is a very clever person, who has written a very clever dissertation, but that his mind k more conversant with details than prin ciples, and that his powers of reasoning are much more active than vigorous or well-directed. It may be ques tioned, however, whether many of the London or Paris bankers could have produced, on any similar occasion, such a mass of know ledge on a financial question— could have tnethodixed that knowledge so well, and conveyed it to the Public in such correct and appro priate language. If we look back to our late discus. sions in England, on the much more important and in teresting question of the currency, we shall scarcely find an example of a practical man publishing so compre heroive, so sensible, and so well-written a treatise. The wito:e sulject, so far as the policy or justice of the Ministerial project was concerned, may be resolved into the following questions: 1. Had the Government a right to reduce the interest en giving the annuitant an option of reduction of annuity or repayment of principfl? • • 2. Was the exercise of this right too rigorous en the &ate annuitants? a. Was the interest of money really below five per cent? 4. Was the appropriation or reduction of the Sinking Fund pre ferable to a reduction of interest? 5. Was not the mode of carrying through the measure the only one possible? In answering these questions, M. Lafitte maintains that the right of reduction or repayment existed; that its exercise in the specific case was just; that the inte rest of money had fallen below five per cent.—that it would have been impolitic to have interfered with the sinking-fund in lieu of reducing the interest ; and that the Minister proposed to execute this politic reduction in the only way prudent or possible. On at least three of these points the opponents of the Ministerial project are at issue with our author.. They deny that the in terest of money had fallen generally so low in France as to admit the Government borrowing at 4 per cent. they therefore objected to the attempt of compelling the creditors who lent tl:eir money at five per cent. to accept of four, by bringing against them a conspiracy of the great bankers of Europe; and they give good reason for believing, that though a 'eduction of interest to a certain extent was wise, expedient, and practicable, a plan of attaining that end by which additional stock was created, was neither the only possible nor the most prudent mode of proceeding. French writers on finance, and particularly M.Lafitte, evince gstrong partiality for the principles established, and the practice pursued, in England,respecting the management and reduction ofour public debt. But where did they ever find that a Finance Minister of England proposed to reduce a five per cent. stock to a four, when the former had only arrived at par for a month or two before, and had not passed it mere than live or six per cent.? Least of all, where did they ever find that an English Minister proposed to re duce a five per cent. stock in the above circumstances-- not to a four, but to a three—by adding a fourth to the nominal debt, which in a short time the nation might have to redeem at pat ? If M. de Villele and his col leagues bad possessed patience enough to wait for an other year, and had in the interval conducted the affairs intrusted to their management in such a manner as to in spire confidence in the continuance of peace—to encou rage national industry—and to increase public credit, *bete can be little doubt that the five per cents. would have attained the tate of 115 or 120 per cent. Then would have been the time to have proposed a reduction of in te estor a repayment of capital; and that reduction could have been effected from five to four per cent. without, on the one hand, the bribe of an augmented capital, or on the other the overwhelming force of a European com bination of bankers and speculators. The rise of five or six per cent. above par, and that only a month or two be- 1 fore the proposed operation,was not such an indication of public credit in France, as warranted a reduction of in• terest fl om five to four. It is not at all improbable, that if both Chambers had supported the Ministerial scheme, and if the annuitants had had only theoption of accepting of a reduced interest, or of being repaid their principal, that they must have adopted the former alternative. —lt appeared from the accounts laid before the Legit. Mute, and the speeches of Opposition members, that the great body of French fundholders is composed of persons of very moderate means of living, who, having retired from business, being unacquainted with trade, or residing in the provinces, could find no other safe, convenient, and profitable investment for their money than in Government Securities. Such persons would rather accept of a disproportionate interest (within cer tain limits), than a repayment of their small capitals, of which they could make no immediate use. A com bination of great bankers, who could bring funds from all the Government Secutities of Europe, to buy up the portion of retries belonging to this tiny race of fund holders, would be sufficient to make them agree to any! terms. Nothing more is requited to shew the incon sistency of M. Lafitte's reasoning in support of the jus- 1 ti:e of this measure, than the approximation of the two toliowing assertions: " Laciest in Paris, and in all the great towns of France, is between *and four per cent," It was necessary for this peat operation, to harm a combination of Ft ench and European Bankers." If in terest is at this rate, and Government enjoys the credit of a private person, surely it was not necessary to bring a host of European speculators to compel the French annuitants to accept of such equitable terms, under' pain of being paid their money, and seeing their names erased from the Great Bunk. The benefits which M. Laritte anticipated from the oparati.nr seems to be as chimerical as the scheme itself (to say the least of it) was premature. " To render general," says lee, " the muyement of industry, and the abundanee of capital which are observable on some points of France, a reduction of the retries was a power ful means. It world have caused a fall in the interest of money in our provinces—it would have caused capi tal to be transported thither ; . and, by the aid of capital, would have farmed new means of communication, es 6 tablished works of industry, excited labour, and rendered available all the population and all the surface of France." Now it is almost needless to say, in answer to this reasoning, that it is the reduction of interest arising from the abundance of capital in a country, and other causes, which enables Government to borrow at a low rate, and not the borrowing of Government at a low rate which reduces interest. The effect is here mistaken for the cause the very ground on which M. Lafitte tests the justice of the proposed measure was, that the interest of money generally in France was below 4 per cent. and that consequently the Government 5 per cents , . had risen above par. Had they risen to 125 instead of 105, then the income accruing from an investment in them would be exactly 4 per cent. and such a natural rise in the funds would have driven capital to the pro vinces as effectually as a reduction of interest. Bank Stock, for instance, in England is nominally now 8 per cent. but it is almost superfluous to mention, that any person purchasing that kind of stock would have to pay for it just so much as would place the interest de rivable from his money so invested en a level with that derivable from the same amount vested in other funds. l —By M. Lafitte's mode of reasoning, the change of our 4 per Cents. to 3}, in the present year, has been the cause, and not the consequence, of the reduced rate of interest at which money on good security may now be borrowed. The same kind of auss er may be given to the following statement, which completes the eulogiutn of the new measure:—" In considering the State of our finances, the proposed scheme had other advantages. It perfected our system of credit, by adding to it the sys tern- of reductions: it diminished the exorbitant price which we give ; for the use of foreign capital scarcely paid at home three and a half per Cent. but paid with us five: it limited credit without attacking it; settled it on the best basis—that of confidence instead of high price; and obliged capitals to require more conduct on the part of Government by receiving less interest. In considering it, finally, in a political point of view, it assured the peace of Europe by engaging France not to make war for several years. It offered, then, ge• neral and relative utility : it was a real advance in French civilization—a step made in the career in which England has gone before the world, and in which nations must follow her to find prosperity, light, arid liberty." With the omission of the latter sentence, which seems little else but words, the advantages mentioned in the above passage are as shadowy as the expectation that the new measure would have driven capital into the provinces. M. Lafitte here places him , elf in a dilemma from which it is difficult to escape. Either the French funds were so much above par as to warrant a reduction of the interest without injustice, and then that interest was already so effectually reduced to persons who wished to buy into them as to induce them to look out for other means of investment, or they had so lately arrived at par, and had risen so little above it, that it was unjast to attempt an immediate reduction of the interest. M. Lafitte, though a perfect Frenchmen, and a per fect Parisian, does justice and more than justice to our English system of finance when he ascribes to it the activity and extent of our external commerce-- -the greatness of our internal traffic— the creatisu of so many lines of water communication—the- Wealth of our manufacturers, and all the wonders of one national prosperity. Though he has a considerable knowledge of our commercial and financial position, we are afraid that in the warmth of his feelings towards English li berty, or the excess of his admiration for English loans, contracts, and compound interest, he is sometimes apt to be credulous respecting us and our wealth. For in stance, he informs his countrymen that the Bank of Eng land, besides the coin which it has thrown into circula tion, has twenty millions of gold in its coffers. If this is the case, the Bank Directors ought to be cashiered, for condemning to unproductive repose so much of the property of their constituents, and becoming the idle sentinels, instead of being the active managers, of their immense treasures.—Moreing paper. 1 , However, on Tuesday morning, the King said, "WO not die before Thursday." . ; Thi disorder was hotrible. *ll the pains Went Its the n belly and stomach. For above two months he had not been able to hold up his bead ;.it fell upon his break. The upper part of his g loins were nearly paralysed, the vertebral muscles were wholly relaxed. Up to the mo ment when these new evils attacked him, his stomach had very well digested a greatnumber of aliments, but that organ ceased its functions as soon as the upper part of the body doubled upon itself. M. Portal, his Ma. jesty's first physician, said. -according to his usual -form of speich, " If the King could resolve to eat lying doyen, and to live lying •clown, he would still reign a long time." " How could you have me reign in bed ?" Among his servants there was one named Usquinet, or Lusquenet, to whom he was much attached, and from whom he has received considerable advantage. No other person was so dexterous in assisting him , to change his position in his bed. The King said to the Count d'Artois, " I almost regret that ...kw are so active; I would recommend Lusquenet to you." The King had not wished to see the Children of France, whatever the Journals may say : it was against his will that they were brought to him. After they were gone, he said, " Why did you bring those children to me ? If they we, e fifteen years of age, the sight of their old uncle dying, would remain impressed upon their memory ; but at their age, my sight will make only disagreeable impressions without any advantage tel them, for they will forget this jast interview : it was not worth while to make the children cry." Monsieur came frequently to the King's bed-side.— The day before his death, the King said to him, " Judg ment will soon be passed on my reign ; but whatever may be the opinion that shall prevail, I assure you, brother, that everything I have done has been the re suit of long deliberation. I may have been mistaken, but I have not been the sport—the slave of events— everything has been conducted and argued by me." Profound affliction prevailed in the Tuileries. The servants, who had so often felt the effects of their mas ter's impatience. sobbed aloud; the Chief Officers of the Palace and the Priests did not quit the bed of the dying Monarch. In the night of thk 15th, Count d'Artois re mained in an adjoining roods, acrd they went several times to announce whim the death of'his brother, before it had taken place. At length, at three minutes past four in the morning of the 16th„ M. Portal visited the patient, and declared that all was over. a' Go and tell his Majesty," said the High Chamberlain; Prince Talleyrand. At this information, the new King stashed into the chamber where his predecessor had just breathed his last. The witness who has related to us all these facts • said to us, 4 , I have seen many Court tears—they would not deceive me; but those which Charles shed were sincere. He almost laid himself down on the bed of the deceased, exclaiming, , And I tbo am so old l' After this bunt of sorrow, the Prince, composing him se lf a li tt l e , sa id to the Chamberlain, , What is to be done?' , Sire,' replied Talleyrand, lam here to attend to these things., you have need of repose; retire.' 6 And you too want rest, retire." Retire, I conjure you, Sire.' The King took the hand of his brother, kissed it, and withdrew." The follo wing additional partittdars are from the Etoile of Monday : _ " Pears, Surma= IA " The body of his Majesty Louis XVIII. h a s bten Plated In t SAO= of the Throne; where the Public was admitted from ten in the morning till six in the evening. " It would be diMeasit to deseribe the devodon with which the immense crowds, admitted on this day, visited the mortal remains of his Ma . • A religious Wows prevailed from the entrance of the grand staircase to the wicket of the Pont Royal, by Vihieh they left the Palace. " It is very Worthy of remark, that the numerous English Joiti nes, to whatever patty. they belong, agree on this point--that the death of Louis X VIIL will not produce any kind of change in the domestic administration or the foreign policy of trance. This con viction is founded oo the high esteem which all Europe fedi for the upright, humane, and just character of King Charles X." THE EVENING STAR. LONDON: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1824. THE FUNDS. STOCK EXCHANGE, TWELVE O'CLOCK. Consols opened this morning at 94 to * for the Account, with little doing. it is reported that an Express has arrived, bringing the French Recites 100 f. 90c. to SSc. To-morrow will be a grand Holiday among the Jews, which will prevent most of them from attending the Stock Exchange, in con sequence of which little business will be done. THE LATE •KIAG OF FRANCE. The following letter appears in three of the Morning Papers: but by whom written, or whence derived, is not.mentioned, except that one of the Journalists says it was received through the Post-office. All state, either on their own authority or that of the writer, for it is difficult to know which, that the correctness of the par ticulars spay be depended on. Palm, sitrr. 13. The greatest calm continues to prevail in our capital. A kind of gravity which is not common is observed on every countenance. Very few men have put on mourn- ing the women are more numerous who pay this out ward mark of respect to the memory of the late King. There is reason to distrust most oldie accounts pub ' lisped by the journals of the last moments of Louis XVIII. many of them are false, others are disfigured. The following details are strictly true : they were given to us by an attentive and dispassionate witness, who observed for history. We shall repeat as little as possi ble of what has been said by a number of channels, tofficial and unofficial, and endeavour to say only what is generally unknown. It is true that the King, during his long agony, and the days which preceded it, shewed extraordinary firm-' ness, resignation, and gieatness of soul. This is the more remarkable, as for several years past, being a vic tim to the most cruel sufferings, his temper has been soured, and he had frequent fits of impatience; and it might have been imagined that this disposition would have become more evident us the pains increased. Except during the crisis and fainting fits, his head was perfectly clear; he spoke with mildness to those who were about him. A contradiction sometimes itti. tated him. He complained very much of the etiquette wbich•the Gentlemen in waiting did not forget to ob serve, even in those moments which were the most painful to him. As far as he was able, he put off the moment when the priests were to be introduced into his apartment. At last he perceived that they were going to appear in spite of him. He immediately re signed himself, and listened to the• Mass with much at•! tention; but when it was ended, he said that M. de Croi, who had performed, had not shewn sufficient unction. He suffered quietly the last sacrament to be administered to him. When they came to the prayers of the dying, he said, " You are in too great a hurry, I know myself better than the physicians do." He was in the right, for they were obliged to recommence the same prayers three times. The physicians thought that the last agony would be much more prompt, and every new crisis made them say that the fatal hour was come. . • MIIMINiMMI FORRIGN FUND& In the Foreign Market this' morning the most business doing is in Me:iota and Chlombiaif Seturities. Current Pricesz—New Spanish 15/, Old 191 to 20, Russian 941 1, Mexican 4581, Colombia Scrip 8 71 dis. Colombian 771 78, Chilian 781, French Scrip 111 1, Austrian 954 98, Alliance Shares 101 11, New Prussian 971 1, Portuguese 8911, %ea . °, Ayres 2 1 dia. Brazilian I dis. pa; Greek 151 1 dia. /MICE OF STOCKS AT ONE O'CLOCK. Bank Stock shut-3 per Cent. Reduced shift per Cent. Cons. 95 94% 3k per Cent. shut 4 per Ct. Assented shut-4 per Cent. Old shut 4 per Cent. New 106% 1 ,4 1 / 4 —lndia Bonds 85 84 £l,OOO Escheq. Bills (2d.) 44 5 8 6; (1 1 4d4'44 1 2 £5OO Do. (2d.) 43 s—£loo and £2OO Do. (1 Wed.) 16 4 Consols for Acct. 95 1 / 4 _ 1 / 4 9854.. We have received the Dale of yesterday, by Express, but it contains no political intelligence of importance. The body of Louis XVIII. will, it is said, be removed on Thursday. The French Rentes, on Monday, were at 99f. 85c. It appears, by a letter in an Evening Paper, that the present policy of the British Cabinet does not please Sir HARCOURT LEES; this, whatever the Reverend Gentle man may himself think of it, is a compliment ; for we should feel a just alarm at any Government that gave satisfaction to such a compound of bigotry and in sanity as Sir HARCOURT LEES. S!r HARCOURT is at present in this country, labour ing, we understand, to convert Coml.?, in which be boasts of having nearly succeeded. Why the latter Gentleman remains under such an imputation we know not, but we are convinced he will not suffer the charge to remain long undenied. What! Cosserr exclaim to Sir HARCOURT LIES, " Almost thou persuadest me to be a bigot.' Fob f the thing is impossible. The Reverend Baronet tells us, that be guides and conimands the loxal hotest.inti of Iceland. If so, be has much to answer for; but notwith,..: 0:4 the strange freaks of the Orange Association—:n Associa tion which the first Law Officer of Ireland declares to bit illegal, we cannot think that it is wholly led by the nose at the will of so intemperate and injudicious a po litician as Sir HARCOURT LEIR. It is not a little remarkable, that wlile•every`mnan of sense, unbiassed by prejudice, hails with please the tranquil state of Ireland during the present Administra tion, Sir HARCOURT. lassitshould blame Mr. Secretary CANNING for tearing it to pieces. A French _wri ter observes, that there is .not a lunatic between Paris and Rome that would not shut up his neighbour in a ;bad house. Just so with Sir HARCOURT Less, Who is Zither unable to discern, or unwilling to acknowledge, tae k n _ proved condition of his country, and accuses Mr. Sc. cretary CANNING, that it 4. has been nearly torn to pieces by his ignorance.? Sir HARCOURT, whose vanity is proverbial, boasts of having prevented the Orange Association horn dressing Mr. Camillo; on his arrival in Dublin ; if this is really the case, he did the Right Hon. Secretary a great service, for we know of no greater mortificatio n to which Mr. CANNING could be subjected, than that (f receiving the encomiums of a society which is declared to be illegal ; it would "be like Captain Rock and his party addressing Sir HARCOURT LEES in terms or Com mendation. " Guiding and commanding the iay Protestants of Ireland, as I completely do," says the Reverend Baronet, " I had only to express - my wish that no mark of national respect should be paid tp a Minister whose political principles appe.ir to me to be in a direct ratio with those superficial acquirements as a statesman which I since predicted to have been eminently calculated—first, to endanger, and titbit!. quently to degrade the character with the ♦ital interests of the empire." Now it just so happens, that the political principles and arguments of the Minister'allitcled to, have falsified the prediction of Sir ILtacouar ; and, that not only Ireland is more tranquil during the Administration of which Mr. CANNING is so distinguished a Member, but that Great Britain is happy and flourishing under it to a degree almost unexampled. To hear Sir HARCOURT Lass rave about principles is absurd enough, but for him to talk of superficial acquit ements, is perfectly ludicrous. The Reverend Baronet concludes with an a.tonnding threat: he gives Mr CA,sismao notice, that ih-he does not make friends with the Orangemen before the 'second day of the next Session of Parliament, be will not only have him hissed from one end of Ireland to the other on his next visit, but thepresent Cabinet &solved by an appeal to the religicius and constitutional. princi— pies of the people of England!" What a formidable personage this Ogre of f Orangeism, Sir Haltom/Im. Lees must be, that he can not only turn the tide dr public opinion against a Minister of the Crown, but that be can dissolve the Cabinet. •We pia same the next step would be to dethrone the Montt* and change the succession grown, in case his •other measures failed, to procure the ascendancy of"the Orange Association. No wonder the Right Honour. able Secritaiy of State for Foreign Affairs makes a hasty return to London, when he finds so formidable an enemy as Sir HARCOURT LEES preparing for an attack at Stoke, in Norfolk ! and beating up for recruits at a public dinner of Michaelmas goose at Lynn Regis, to which he carefully informs us he is invited: • The French Pipers of Saturday, and the Einik of Monday have reached us ; the death of Lours XVIII. is still the principal theme. Some interesting pardculars 'of this event will be found in a preceding column. The Moniteur of Sunday, SepteMber 19 (the Official part), contains a Royal Ordonnance to the following effect: . " CIfAILLIDI, by the Grace of GOD, &e. " We have ordained, and ordain as follows " Art. 1. Baron Ramond shall be inscribed oe the list of the Council of &ate, h the quality of Honorary Counsellor of State. " 2. The following Gentlemen shall be inscribed on the list o f the Council of State, u Honorary Masters of Requests, vii.—The Sieurs Count de Alontigny, BarouChandrue de Crazune,.Tourdak AMiot, Collets& 44 3. Our Keeper of the Seals, Minister Secretary of State of Justice, is charged with the execution of the present Ordunance. : " Given at the Palace of St. Cloud, the 18th of September, thO year of our Dun 1824, the first of our reign. NBy the King, - " CRICRLF- 4 1: " The Keeper of_the Seals, Minister Secretary of State o(Justice " Comte de PEYRONVILT.I • HOW;OPFICIAL PART. PiilVNTi CORRRiPONDENCI. NUREMBURG, SEPT. 12. " The members of the High Neblesse of Hanover have been officially informed that the advanced season will not perniit King George Pr. to visit his German dominions this year, bat that his Britannic Majesty in tended to make this journey at the beginning of the summer in 1825." • FROM THE ETOILE OF SEPTEMBER 20. The Minister of Finance, seeing the arrete of the 12th instant, which orders the Exchange to be closed till fur-. ther notice, decrees as follows : 6 1 Art. I. The Exchange of Paris shall be opened froth Monday, the 20th instant. ' 6 2. It shall be again dared on the day of the removal of. the re. mains of the late King, sad on that of their inhumation." ST. CLOUD ; SEPTEMBER j!. The King hu beard Mass at the Chateau of St. Cloud. At three o'clock the. King came to the Tuileries to sptinkle with holy water the body of the King, his bro ther, which lies in a Salle d Honneur. me Peers and Deputies who are at Paris went to the Tuileries at four o'clock, to perform that duty. Yesterday at noon the King presided in a Council df Ministers, which sat from noon till hall past two o'clock. Monseigneur the. Dauphin attended it by the King's order PARISTSEPTEMBED. IL Yesterday evening there was a Council - of Ministers at the Claim de Yillele's. h. is hoped that the Kin& will quit St. Cloud ,Saturday next. • • - • . •, * Val l ithiErb - VAMP Cdt ( with tl Vie . 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