The Express.
London, England, 1852-01-30 00:00:00

FRENCH FINANCE.

Tho Moniteur Publishes an important financial
statement by M. kould, the ex-Minuster of Finances,
dated the 20th inst., and says that at the moment
when he sent in his resignation he was terminating
it. The report is as follows:
bfonselgoeur,—Your opinion is that publicity is the
surest guarantee of a good financial system, and at the
commcocement of a new year, when it is possible to state
with precision the amount of the public revenue during
the preceding year, you directed me to send you in a
general statement of the situation of our finances. To res-
Pond to your views, I think it necessary to speak of the
charges which the past has bequeathed to the present, of
the modifications made in various taxes, of the expenses
which the late events have necessitated, of those which
weigh on the future, and of the resources of the Treasury.
The &comperes of the budgets antecedent to 1851 can now be
shown with exactitude. They amounted, in Jan. 1, 1848, to
292 millions. The year lEIB, owing to the extraordinary re-
sources which were devised, amounting to upward of 560 mil-
lions, aggravated that situation by only 3 millions, to which
1849 added a fresh &Poured of 214 millions. The deficit
of 18.50 will scarcely exceed 36 millions, as is apparent from
the definitive account, now fixed. It is true that this
favourable result is caused by the fact of 50 millions of ex-
traordinary resources having been given to the budget,
namely, 111 millions arising from the negotiation of bonds
of Rouen Railway Company, and 381 of rents, which
formed part of the funds of the savings hank at the mo-
ment of their Without these resources, the
&Pourer! of 1850 would have been 86 millions ; but the ex-
pense of the extraordinary works, railways, and others,
having amounted to 92 millions, the result is that the year
1850 presents over the ordinary budget a surplus of
6 million., in place of leaving a deficit. In fine, all
these &scourer!, together amount to 445 millions,
namely, those before 1848, 292 millions ; of 1818, 3
millions; of 1849, 214 millions, and of 18.50, 36 mil-
lions, in all 54.5 millions. These are facts now termi-
nated and definitive, as the future cannot make
any change in the figures which have just been
stated. As to 1851, the amount of the receipts may now be
fixed with precision • but as the year only closes on August
31, the amount of th'e expenses can only be stated approx-
imately. The revenues, in that year, have naturally felt
the effect of the agitation and incertitude of political af-
fairs. The 'budget valued theta at 1,371,000,000 fr., but
they will remain 11 millions below that sum, and will not
exceed 1,360.000,0003 fr. or two millions below the amount
realised in 1860. The diminution in the valuations of the
budget are six millions in the produce of the forests, and 19
in the indirect taxes. On the other hand, there is an aug-
mentation lof 21 minims in the direct taxes, resulting from
the duty on new buildings, and from an increase in the pro-
duce of the patente duty, and II millions of augmentation in
sundry receipts. It is thus that the difference between the
figure calculated on and that arrived at is reduced to about
11. millions. The reduction in the produce of the forests
constitutes less a low than a delay, being caused by the fact
of the wood which was cut down not having been sold.
The revival of business I nsurcs the realisation of this re-
source on advantageous conditions during the next yea.. It
is, above all, during the last three months that the diminu-
tion has been striking. lu fact, the first nine months ex-
ceeded by 12 millions those of the corresponding period of
the year 18.50 • but that augmentation was completely ab-
sorbed by the loss of the last quarter. When the different
branches of the revenue are separately examined, it will be
seen that the indirect tales, properly so called, present over
the present year an augmentation of 9,100,00 Mr., and that
the diminution amount.. to six millions in the Customs, and
to upwards of four millions in the stamp and registration
dues, which, taking into account 16 millions produced by
the new du'ies on mutations and stamps, hays declined
nearly twenty millions. Thus political events have exer-
cised their action on the duties which fall on matters of
business, but have nut presented the augmentation of those
which are is positive proof of the wellbeing and ac-
tivity of the most numerous classes. The diminution
which certain branches of the tea, nue has sustained will
be, we hope, only temporary ; it will, we have no doubt,
soon give way to an augmentation, so much the more consi-
derable that the consolidation of order and the re-establish-
ment of confidence will give, and indeed already impart, a
great activity to business. The expenses of 1851 can as yet
be estimated only approximstively. The credits opened,
and to be opened, on that year will amount to 1,409 millions
for ordinary expenses, and to 77 millions for extraordinary
' works, and will be lessened by at lout 40 millions ari g
from sums brought forward, and from snnutations of credit,
which will reduce the amount to 1,416 millions for the two
services together. The d.eour, rt of 1851 will be comae-
aqinueonut,?; Mori
tmhcilldiom,fisenriil,wilittraisiiseastwo
ing of the year 1851, that the events of the. 2 have placed
to the charge of the state only an extraordinary expense of
the
ell
600,000 fr. mamely, 300,0001 e of supplementary credits on the
mtoilsltiaore, swpatiu-
secret funds of general police, and 181.),Oilifir. tor repairs
of demises caused to private properties and persons. All
the other credits opened by decrees Aix° that period, out of
the pale of the estimates of the budget, have for their object
expenses of public service and utility independent of events.
The greater part formed the subject of bills, or were in-
cluded in the calculations of the government communicated
to the committee on the budget of the Assembly. To pre-
sent things in a complete manner, we must take into ac-
count the elements which attenuate and explain that situa-
tion. The &outwit arise, in a vety great part, from the
expense of public w,.rks, and principally from the expense
caused by the construction of railways. These expenses
will not entirely remain to the charge of the state; they
will be reduced by the amount of the sums due by the
companies, either for loans, or fur the reimbursement
of works execute •1 by the state ; they only really constitute
advances of which the the recovery is ;wooed. If we admit
in deduction of the dathscerls the sum due by the railway

companies to the state (1) and which amount to '
197,000,00 M., the amount is reduced to 4:13,000,01.10fr. 1
must mention here, without, however, taking it into
account, the credit of France on Spain, which now amounts
by the accumulation of nacres% to more than 100,0tA11011fr.
In thus estab.ishing the financial situation I place myself
rather in the point of view of the budget, nail of the defi-
nitive liepindation of the expenses of the state, than in that
of the lreasury ; the latter has peculiar resources, which,
with order and peace, assure the services without difficulty,
and enable the coming due of these different sums to bo
waited for. Such is the exact state of the financial results
of the last four years. To appreciate the causes of the suc-
cessive iiroureria which weigh on the future, and the
efforts of the government to re-establish an equilibrium in
the budget, it is secretary to set forth the different laws of
finance passed during the same period. The revolution of
February, by troubling order and alarming property, not
only shook credit and dried up the sources of the public and
private fortune, but caused the suppression of a pert of the
taxes. Postal reform and the reduction of the duties on
salt, alone imposed on the state a diminution of revenue of
fifty-seven millions franc.. It was on these shaken bases
that your government had the difficult task of reconstruct-
ing all our financial edifice ; and in the accomplishment of
that duty wither courage nor perseverance has been wast-
ing. The increase of the postage of letters from 20c.
23e. ; the extension of the duties on the sale of inecifp.
tiess de recite, and the augmentation of the duties w Hick
weigh on the transmission of personal property, on desth
or by gift ; • reform of the tax on licenses, the object
of which was to relieve the lower claws, mid to mower
the liberal prufessions t.. licenses ; the creation of sunny
duties on bills of exchange, whams is com?ainee, nod
policies of amorimee—have procured new resources to
the State, and base caused a more equitable division of
the pablie cluitezes between real and personal property
to be directed. Thanks to these messums, and to the
amoral Mena, of the indirect tax.s, it has been poe
sable to wool to real property • diminution of 21%000,1100
francs, which was renden," indispensable by the
embereassftwat is which the tax of 1.1 centime. in
1818, and the depreciation of its productions had plated it.
With the same object, and to give to the owom of real
property more easy means of having recourse to credit, you
have thought it useful to make anew sacrifice of ff,ooo,ooofr.
by reductng one•tudf of the registration duties on receipts
and bends. More recently, important economic problems
hale horn solved by the law on suears, and by the institu-
tion of • customs r. yew, favourable to the productions of
Alders.. This litter measure, by giving a strong impulsion
to commercial transactions in the French possessions in
Africa, has given rise to new wants, and has permitted a
bank to be founded them with WOK.. This bank, which
had long been desired, will is its turn have • salutary efilet
on commerce sad agriculture. All that retICITIIII (Walt
merited, after the einumereial and financial crisis of 1818,
peculiar solicitude. The Batik of France. from the mo-
ment at which it was possible to return to the normal
conditions of al: good circulation, resumed its payments
in specie. The discount banks, directed with pru-
dence under the active surveillance of the adssinis-
tittles, have rendered and still render useful services;
they have been maintiouril wherever the resources of
private industry were wanting; they have even received
new developments ia assist different branches of industry,
and espicially Tallowy.. The institution of a I' a ISM ale
rrtr,i,res, by procuring fur the laborious classes an assured
mean, of securing thew old ace against want, oevo‘ to the
Treasury in the future the passibility of successively con•
vetting part oh its perpetual debt into life-rents. A law on
savings' hank. has consolidated those ;ireful establishments

by giving to the state guarantees of which experience had
demonstrated the necessity. The investigation into the tax
on wines rigid spirits justified and strengthened that system
of taxes, %Mist it has indicated certain improvents of which
it is sisseeptitilc; and the administration is pursuing the
realisation of them with solicitude. These reforms are not
the only uses with which the administration of finance has
occupied itself; it has introduced important reforms in the
gemral accounts, and thinks of proposing others. The dif.
freest financial documents published annually by the
ministry of finances have successively, either in their num-
ber or their extent, taken such • development, that
the situation of the fortune of the state, and of the public
charges, far from being easier to appreciate, have become
more obscure. The form of laws of finances may be sim-
plified. The budget, especially, surcharged with a great
number of articles of receipts and expenses, some being
twice entered, other. relative to the service of departments
and commune., has only too often served to spread false
alarms, and to authorise esaggerated statements as to thei
I
extent of sacrifices demanded !nn the tax-payers. Thel
committees on finance of the old Amemblies often pointed
out the eons, quences of this state of things. Ameliorations
may be efreeteil therein, and I propose to study them with
all the care which they merit. No opportunity of nobs-
economy in the espeuscv of the 'service or in the col-
lection has been neglected. The suppression of 1,5411) col-
lectors was decided on in principle, and is in course of
execution ; this measure has allowed reductioas to he made
in the commiesion alloy's,' to the agents, and teener' 114
the future the realisation of a saving of 1,500,000 fr.
The scrupulous care with which all propositions for
pension. Lave been examined has allowed of a dimi-
nution being made in the grant in the misses de r,,trodes.
Thanks to the stnnirthenine of public credit, it has been
possible to lighten the charges of the treasury by the retitle-
ton of the interest on a part of the floating debt. With •
view to 'meliorate the service, the direction of the indirect
taxes, and that of the custom*, have been united, and that
arrangement will in the future be the source of a very im-
portant saving. The public administrations hate frequently
been reproached fur their spirit of routine and their inert-
ne... In presence of the facts which I have just ststed,
such • reproach cannot age ie be mode to your government.
During the last (our years, which public agitation have
made so unfavourable to real ameliorations, there is mot, so
to speak, a single tax that has nut been the object of some
reform ; not a branch of the tiosneial service that ha e aot
been theobjeet of attempts at mosliticstion or improvement.
It is in presence of thesefigas acconiptif that 1852 opens, and
the charges and resources of which I have now to make
known to you by anticipation, since they can only be re-
gulated in their ensemble by the legislative body. The
budget of this year, according to the calculations made by
the committee of the last Assembly, and including the new
credits which, since the 2nd ifecenaber, have been opened
by special decrees, present. for the ordinary service an ex-
cess of expenses over the receipts of about 20 millions. But
the re-establishment of confidence, and the impulse given
to business assure a considerable increase to the public re-
venue, either by the more advantageous sale of the cuttings
of wood, or by the improvement of the proceeds of the in-
direct taxes, particularly of the registration and stamp
duties. There is therefore resin to hope that not only will
this increase bring up the receipts to the amount calculated
in the budget, but that they will exceed it, and lighten by
at least one-half the calculated deficiency. If new sup-
plementary credits are le.ceseary, and that necessity
is now admitted, they will be made up by the re-
duction. resulting every year from credits annulled
and carried over at the end of the year. The ex-
pense of public work. as now fixed will be 57 minims;
but en important nuouree will result for the treasury from
the authorisation given by the law of August 7, 1851, for
the sale of the forest of the state. These sales reduced, coo-
formality to the deliberations of the councils-general, will
still amount to 2-I million.; it had appeared desirable to
postpone them when aU branches of industry were suffering.
They may new be effected on very advantageous terms;
they will reduce the charge imposed on the state by ex-
traordinary works to 'l2 million.. The deficit of 1852, for
the ter...entices united, will not, therefore, ea it appears,
emend 45 million., which, added to the previous deficits,
inch as I have pointed them out, will bring up the amount
to 675 millions. This sum will he lessened by the reim-
bur...neus from the railway conspaniese which, as I have
stated shove, amount to 200 millions; taking this into
account, the total drecosred of the treasury at
the end of 1/152 will be reduced to 475 Mil-
lions. Doubtless, the reimbursements not being im-
mediate, a more considerable sum must remain
at the charge of the floating debt (2). There is not in this
say cause et uneasiness, tor these resources have an elas-
ticity which allow of their being, without inconvenience,
raised to a level with the wants of the treasury. This debt
is now much below the sum to which it ordinarily amounted
in the years preceding the fall of the last government. It
is, besides, well to know that to the amount of 465 millions,
it is composed of sums, the deposit of which in the treasury
is obliastory, and in some me sours permanent. Thus, at
the end of the year which has just opened, France will have
passed through four years of gnat difficulty, and she will
donne these tour years have des oted more than 300 millions
to extraordinary public work., without charging the Grand
Lure of the consolidated debt, and in maintaining the float-
ing debt within Gass aUed fur by prudence; this state of
thing. has anthiag in it bat what is tranquilinag, and justi-
fies the (viaduct which has been pursued. The government
will shortly have to occupy itself with the preparation of the
budget for the year Ite".3. I feel confident that by main-
taining our system of taxation, which it is necessary to
ameliorate without shaking is foundation, by realising all
the saving compatible with the good of the service, and
with a just remuneration of public functions, we shall
obtain for our loaners. a normal equilibrium, which is the
Weisel of vier constant wishes. Trio much-desired result
miff be dos to the re-establishment of order, of employ-
MOM. sal of credit, and the rssdus non of the general rate
of interest; and, lastly, to the natural increase of the
novena..., widish is enured by the maintenance of pease
asd the mho sad firm policy lif your government. By this
important service you will have aequired fresh claims to the
gratitude of the country. I have, the honour to he, mon-
esigneer, with respectful devotedams, you: humble and
obedient servant,