The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-09 00:00:00

AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA.

(sr rut

PARIS, TUESDAY Einnizsa.
The commercial negotiations between the Vienna
and Berlin cabinets are terminated.

M. de Bruck awaits. in Berlin, the authorisation
from the Austrian government to sign the treaty
of commerce concluded for twelve years.
The dispositions of the treaty are favourable, on
the whole, to free trade.

FRANCE.

PARIS, TVISDAT EVIBNING.

The Carnival is at it height, and the Boulevards
have been completely encumbered all day with
masqueraders, spectators, and the principal proces-
sion of the Bmuf Gras.
The Emperor and Empress appeared this afternoon
on the balcony of the Tuileries, and were cordially
cheered by the populace.
The official journal, in republishing in a conspicu-
ous manner the article from the Pays relative to the
arrests of suspected correspondents, declares the in-
tention of government to tolerate no longer the sys-
tem of misrepresentation and abuse which dishonour
a part of the foreign press.
M. de ltovigo and M. de Mirabaud have been set
at liberty to-day.
Numerous arrests have been made in Ardeche and
other parts of the country of persons charged with
singing seditious songs. Several coffee-houses in the
departments where tho Republicans and Socialists
have assembled have been closed by order of the
authorities.

The Moniteur contains a report on the financial
situation of the empire drawn up by the finance
minister, M. Bineau, by order of the Emperor. As
might have been anticipated, it represents the situa-
tion as satisfactory in every respect. Figures are
exceedingly malleable, when marshalled by a single
hand with a view to support a plausible statement,
and not to stand the shock of immediate patia-
mentary scrutiny. The report sets out by stating
that the accumulated deficits of former years left to
the charge of the Treasury up to 1832 amounted to
631,832,631 fr., and a leading feature in the state-
ment is the admission made subsequently, that this
aggregate deficit, the constant subject of anxiety to
French financiers, will at the end of the financial
year 1832 be 738,368,336 fr., that is to say, aug-
mented by upwards of 107 millions. The explanation
given of this increase I will notice presently. The
budget of 1852, as settled by the dictatorial decree of
March 17th, showed an estimated deficit in round
numbers of 54 millions, which by supplementary
credits has been carried up to 103 millions. From
this amount M. Bineau deducts 37 millions for credits
annulled, and nearly 38 millions for excess of receipts
above the estimates, of which 28 millions and a half
are from indirect, and 9 and a half from direct taxes.
He thus reduces the "probable" deficit of 18.12 to 28
millions. But he arrives at this result by the fami-
liar and convenient method of mixing up fact and
hypothesis, so as to make it impossible to check the
conclusion. The budget for the financial year
1832 is not yet closed. The supplementary credits
of 49 millions have been already opened, and there
may yet be more. These credits are spoken of in
the present tense, and are facts. Thu credits an-
nulled are spoken of iu the future tense, and belong
to the domain of hypothesis. The report says
the credits that "will be" annulled "may be esti-
mated" at 37 millions. The average of credits an-
nulled during the last ten years has been 44 millions,
but it is admitted that this year they will be lees
considerable, "because the necessities of each parti-
cular service have been more accurately calculated."
The large increase in the revenue for 18.52 is dwelt
upon at great length, and, in fact, the only plausible
ground for the assertion so confidently made that the'
finances are in a prosperous state, rests upon the'
hazardous assumption that the revenue will not only
maintain the improvement of last year, but go on in-
creasing. The indirect taxes, that is to say, the
stamp and registry duties, customs, tax on drinks,
post-office revenue, proceeds of tobacco monopoly,
and some few others, produced, in 1848, 827
millions; 1847, 823; 1848, 681; 1849, 707 ;
1830, 743 ; 18.51, 744 ; 1832, 810. 1846 was
the moat prosperous year of Louis Philippe'.
reign. In 1847 the revenue diminished a little, but
in 1848 it fell at once 144 millions. It is curious
that this falling off was just about the amount pro-
duced by the famous tax of 43 centimes, and M.
Billet's grounds upon the fact the remark that the
legislature should carefully proportion taxation to
the tax-paying capability of the people, because,
however, ingeniously a new tax may be laid on,:if it
bears more than a fair proportion to the national re-
sources the proceeds will be illusory. What the
Finance Minister obtains in one way he will lose in
another. M. Bineau, however, in his anxiety to
proclaim the benefits accruing to France from the
coup d'etat speedily loses sight of this doctrine. Not
content with the fact that the indirect revenue for
18.52 falls short by only 17 millions of that of 1846 he
proceeds to argue,: that righ•ly oonsidered, 1852 was
the best year of the two. Ho says that in
the interval taxes to the amount of G 9 millions have
been reduced or taken off, while the augmentations
have been only 50. The balance of 19 millions he
carries to the credit of his own financial year, and by
this process of reasoning makes out that upon a fair
comparison the revenue of 18.56 was two millions less
than 1832. In thus stating his case, he obviously
assumes the very principle he had just discarded,
for, as new taxes check consumption, and, therefore,
often fail to increase the revenue, so the diminution
of taxes increases consumption, and therefore does not
necessarily diminish the revenue. The one proposi-
tion is a correlative of the other. Upon the above
fallacious argument M. Bineau triumphantly ex-
claims, " Your Majesty will observe what a
happy thing it is to see the public income
thus arrive in the first year of your reign to
the point to which it was brought by fifteen
years of peace and prosperity in 1846. The increase
for 1852, as compared with 1831, is 86 millions, and
people who do not look upon the matter through
ministerial spectacles are perverse enough to think
and to say that if, with this enormous and exceptional
augmentation in the receipts, there be yet a large
deficit, the financial situation having regard to pro-
bablo contingencies, is the reverse of satisfactory.
With regard to the budget for 1833, voted by the
Corps Legislatif on the Bth July, 1852, the estimated
deficit was 34 millions. Subsequenly this deficit
has been increased by supplemental credits to 52:
millions. The minister thinks he may, without " an
excess of confidence," venture to anticipate that this
budget will nevertheless be balanced without a
deficit. Part of his argument in support of this
view has really no bearing whatever upon the sub-
ject. Referring to the Senates.* Consultum enacting
that the budget shall be voted by ministries, and
giving the emperor power, without consulting the
legislature, to transfer crc :its voted for one ministry
to another, he observes that the emperor was of
opinion that this system, while giving more freedom
.r action to the government, would afford as many
guarantees for economy as when the representatives
of the people were called upon to regulate the mi-
nutest detail of the administrative service. Then,
betraying a finance minister's misgiving, he says:
" This object, sire, will be attained, but upon the
condition that, except in very extraordinary and ex-
ceptional cases, supplementary credits shall altoge-
ther disappear." 'rho power of transferring funds
from one ministry to another will render the annul-
lation of credits in almost all caeca unnecessary,
and, per contra, there should be no supplementary
credits. If this rule be attended to he says, with
great solemnity, the budget of 1853 may yet close
in equilibrio, for the 52 millions acd a half of deficit
now appc.ring will in peat measure be covered by
increased receipts. The first branch of the argu-
ment amounts to this truism, "If you don't exceed
your income you will not get into debt.' M. Bineau

Mrts timidly, as if he were announcing a doubt-
scovery
of his own, that supplemental credits
are bad things, but he is far from expressing an ex-
pectation that they will not be granted. His lan-
guage is rather that of • man who foresees that his
advice will not be followed, and tenders a vain re-

monstrance beforehand to cover his own responsi-
bility. It is yet very early in the financial year
1833, and supplemental credits have already aug-
mented the deficit more than 50 per cent. It re-
9uires an "excess of confidence " in M. Binean's
influence to stay the extravagant tendenaes
of the government to believe that no more
of these supplemental credits will be asked for.
The other ground for hoping to extinguish the
the deficit is founded upon the expected increase in
the revenue. Now the budget of 1833 estimates the
produce of the customs and indirect taxes at 803
millions and a half, or within 6 millions and a half
of the actual produce of 1852. Nothing, then, but
a very large progressive increase upon the re-1
ceipts of an extraordinary year—a year which
we are already told was more prosperous than the
best of Louis l'hilippe's reign—can realise the expec-
tations of the minister. The receipts of last month
have, he says, exceeded by 8 millions those of Jan.
18.52, but he candidly admits that this is no criterion,
because the amelioration of last year did not begin
till February. Leaving out of view the extreme
probability of further supplemental credits,
the existing deficit of 1833 can only be
balanced upon the assumption that throughout
the current year the revenue will without a check
exceed by between 4 and 3 millions monthly that
of last year, and this is what M. Bineau without
"excess of confidence" predicts will be the case.
The Journal de Rouen says:
Yesterday, at Paris, there was a report that two gentle.
men connected with a lithographic correspondence, which
is, however, addressed in the departments only to the jour-
nals which are the most devoted to the principle of autho-
rity, had been ted. Vergniaud was mentioned as
being one of these two gentlemen.
By decree of the Emperor, the Marchioness de
Latour-51auhourg has been appointed Dame du
Palais, and the Countess Pont-A% agner reader to the
Empress. M. Dames Maud has been appointed
Secretaire anz-Commandetnents.

Rear-Admiral Lapierro has, by decree of the Em-
peror, been appointed a member of the Council of
Works of the navy, in place of Rear• Admiral Dc-
loffre, who has been admitted into the second section
of the general staff.

PARIS, MONDAY EVENINO.
The Emperor reviewed the troops in garrison at
Versailles yesterday. His Majesty and the Empress
arrived at the Palace on horseback, attended by a
brilliant suite, at one o'clock, and were received by
the Prefect of the Seine-et-Oise and the Mayor of
Versailles. An immense crowd had assembled, and
there were loud cries of " Vive l'Empereur." " Vive
l'lmperatriee !" The Emperor wore the uniform of a
general of division, and the Empress had a black
riding habit and a round hat. Their Majesties did
notenter the Palace, but immediately pruemled to
the Esplanade to review the cavalry and infantry.
The cry of" Vive I'Empereur! Vivo l'lmperatrice !
by the troops was enthusiastic. The Empress
bowed graciously to the troops and to the people
who joined in the acclamations.
The Consultative Chamber of Arts and Manufac-
tures of Roubaix ha; just made public an interesting
letter, written by Mr. Senator Mimerel, to the pre-
sident of that body, in December last. If M. Mi-
merel has sufficient warrant for his assertions--and

ho speaks very positively—the chances of the esta-
blishment of a liberal commercial tariff in France
would seem to be remote indeed.

Paris, Dee. 17, 18.5.2-
Illy dear President,—lf it should be true, as you .urmise,
that Art. 6 of the constitution of January, 18.52, leaves to
the Emperor alone the right of making treaties of com•
=tree, that, as I have already told you, is not a reason shy
trade should be alarmed. Without looking too far forward
into the future, we must have confidence in the present,
we must have confidence in the Emperor, and this confi-
dence, believe me, will never be betrayed. Thus it is an-
nounced that the customs bill, long since submitted to the
Council of State, and which menaced more than one of
our manufactures is, or will be, withdrawn. The Emperor
Is understood to have said his detire was that
the customs tariff should not be altered for a considerable

time, say ten years, because he wished to see masters and
workmen addict themselves to enterprise and labour in lull
security. Therefore, while there may be a less stringent
guarantee in point of law, we shall, in fact, have • more
efficacious protection. Why then should we yet alarm our-
selves 2 Believe me, my dear sir, if the hand which directs
us is firm, the guiding mind well understands French in-
terests, and I do not kiiiry that there ever was a fiber
prospect open to manafacturing industry. You have a
proof of what I advanca in the indefinite ejournmint of
the treaty of August k 2, relative to our stuffs for panta-
loons. Recollect that when you came to me in a body to
the council-g I, I said to them, as Ido now, have con-
fidence in the Emperor; this confidence will hereafter be
the code of our commercial legislation, and it will
have this advantage, that it will deliver us front
those continual commissions of inquiry in which
my life his been consumed, inquiries which, though
they never yet did us any harm, kept us in a state of con-
stant .oziely. May my countrymen then sleep in peace,
and you, my dear President, propagate my good news with
the same good will with which I bend them to you.—
Your very affectionate A. Mittman.

It must be borne in mind, however, that since M.
Mimerel's letter, the Superior Council of Agriculture,
Commerce, and Manufactures, has been created, and
Ithe organs of the government take great pains to
I convey the impression that the council is eminently
one of inquiry. The Emperor, they say, is committed
to no party upon this question, and is ready to listen
to every suggestion.
The much-vexed question of the expediency of
maintaining the " tours " fur the secret reception of
new-born infants, is again agitated. The prefects
of the Herault and Dordogne have jest suppressed
these establishments in their departments. In the
Herault the council general voted the suppression, and
the prefectacted upon their vote. In the Dordogne but
one receiving house of the kind existed. The prefect
decided to close it, upon the ground that, if it re-
mained open, bastard children would be brought
there from neighbouring departments where the
" towers " had been either suppressed or were very
severely watched. Unless the legislature interferes
it is manifestly probable that this argument, becom-
ing daily more
.cogent, will gradually, lead to the
abolition of the institution throughout France. The
fact appears to have bean lost sight of that the pre-
fects are exceeding their legal powers when they
shut up the towers. An imperial decree of Jan. 19,
1811, never repealed, says in plain terms, "In every
hospital destined for the reception of foundlings
there shall be a tower in which they may be depo-
sited." Before 1830 there were 230 towers of this
kind is Franco. In the time of Louis Philippe an
opinion prevailed that the facility afforded for throw-
ing the maintenance and education of children upon
the state was an encouragement to vice. The ques-
tion was frequently debated iu the chambers, but the
law was never altered. In a memorable debate in,
1839 M. Dupin and M. Lamartine took opposite
sides. M. Lamartine warmly defended the institu-
tion of the towers. He said:

Libertinism the most impetuous, the most ungovernable
of passions, does not calculate as you suppose. It does nut
reflect, and say, " If the state did not give maintenance and
education to the fruit of u'y errors, I would abstain from
vice." Is it just to society to decline to adept abandoned
children ? No. Benevolence is a public as well as a pri-
vate virtue. Society has its obligations. Property is not a
right of enjoyment unburdened with duties. The first of
these duties is to succour the helplvii, the wretched—to re-
pair the faults committed within its own bosom. if you
soziety, you rulers, you the rich, set the example of egotism
to the people, what can you expect from them / There are
not two moralities. If you, an indiv dual, in leaving your
house on a morning were to find a naked infant lyiug at
your doo-, what would you do ? Would you say, "My
charity would be a provocative to vice. I will
let this child die, unless I am told who are its
parents, and uuless it be proved to me that
they are unable to support it." And if its mother have made
a mark by which to know it again at a distant day, " I will
r.loose that mark so that she may never recognise her child."
Evidently you would not say this. You would at once raise
up, warm, and feed the child; you would preserve the
means by which the mother might find it again. Why do
you counsel society to do that which you would blush to do
yourself.

This speech of M. Lamartine was enthusiastically
applauded in the chamber. Nevertheless, the Minis-
ter of the Interior, without warrant of law, autho-
rised the prefects to exercise their discretion upon
the subject, and during Louis Philippe's reign 185
towers were suppressed. In 1t 1>; M. Dufaure wrote
a circular to various functionaries in every irkpart-
ment, requesting them to state their opinion upon
the question of the towers. The answers were con-
sidered by a parliamentary committee in 1819, and
iu 1a;0 u bill was brought forward proposing their
entire suppresr,itio. The council of state thought
the pleasure too inhuman, and imrodumil an
amendment empowering the councils-general to
erect or suppress towers at their discretion.
The bill was, however, adjourned, and never became

law. A bill, very much to the same effect, is at this 1
moment before the Council of State, and it is one •
among many instances of the systematic disrespect
now shown to the legislative body that the Prefects
of the Herault and Dordogne should have sup- I
pressed the towers, while the question, left precisely .
1 es it was at the time of M. Laniartine's speech, is yet
, pending.
I We read in the Feuille d'Ostende —" M. Kirk-
patrick, the grandfather of Millie. Eugenie de'
Montijo, now Empress of the French, lived at Ostend
in the house now occupied by M. Jaques Serruys.
M. Kirkpatrick had one of the largest commercial
houses in Ostend at the time when the commerce of 1
that town was at its highest pitch of prosperity."
The following are the names of the members com•
sing the Consulting Railway Commission :—The
Minitter of Public Works, president ; M. Rouher,
1 vice-president; MM. Greterin, Thayer, Heartier,
Lemaitre, Legentil, Stourm, Sansou-Davilliers,
'Sontag°, de Boureuille, Chatelus, Le Chatelier,
Pierard, Picbert, Bustle, Asril, Combes, and Mary.
M. Marechal is secretary. Thu commission meets
once a week.