The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-02-28 00:00:00

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1803.

FROM THE FR ENCII PAPERS.

FINANCE.
State of the sauat;on of the Finances of England and of
the Bank of London on the 24th of June 1802, at the
era of the General Peace, and of the Union of Great
Britain and Ireland, by M. de Guer, Author of the
Essay upon Commercial Credit.

All the works which treat of the Finances of
Great Britain, and of the present state of the Bank
of London, give only false or impeded ideas of
them. The details which I propose to submit upon
these interesting subjeds, will have the merit of e::-
adness. If England has placed herself in the ba-
lance of Europe, much above the rank which the
extent of her territory and her population would as-
sign her, she owes this advantage solely to the art
of borrowing enormous sums without giving the
slightest shock to public credit—without fatiguing
the patience of the people—without diminishing
even the popularity of Ministers ; and of multiply-
ing, at pleasure, its means of circulation, without
compromising commercial credit. This art, which
has given her the advantages which she has so of-
ten abused—this art, which she alone possesses to-
day, will belong to-morrow to all the Governments
which choose to study and to imitate it. Ignorance
alone can deny the existence, or the solidity of this
great means of strength and power ; and idleness
alone can suppose it a mysterious art which the
English know and do not communicate. All their
financial operations are public—all the principles, all
the calculations upon which they are founded—all
the rates of taxes—all the means of receiving them,
are perfealy known. All these principles, laws,
and calculations, are simple. It requires no great
strength of mind or judgment to conceive and ap-
ply them. Fads, experience, and reason, are the
basis which the English give to their plans of loans
and taxes. They have the wisdom to rejca those
vain abstraetions, which our a:canoe:his of all seas
substitute for science ; and to he instructed in an art
which they practice under our eyes, it is sufficient to
observe them with some attention. The way to
reduce England to the rank which she ought to
occupy, is to raise one-self to a level with her, in
the only kind of strength in which she has any su-
periority ; and the day (I repeat it) when the other
Governments will choose to take from her that ad-
vantage which she usurps over them, they will divide
it with her. The objed of this treatise, is to call the
attention to this important science, of which I shall
develope the theoretical principles and the rules of ap-
plication. To present to France the means of pro-
curing for herself the powerful army which her ene-
mies have employed against her, is my sole desire
and in whatever situation I am placed, I shall
be contented with my lot, if I shall have paid the debt
I owe my countiy, by contributing to her happi-
ness. The author then proceeds to recite the heads
of the public debt, Ste. upon the 24th of stine 1802;
and having thence estimated the expence of a com-
mon year at 38,400,000/. he asks, " When we read
these details, what opinion can we form of Mr. Peri' ?
He has preserved England from the revolution with
which she was threaten Ile has suppressed the
rebellion in Ireland ; he has procured for the En-
glish Government, in the course of ten years, at a
moderate interest, eight milliards of extraordinary re-
sources, without fatiguing the patience of the peo-
ple, without weakening public credit, without.carry-
ing the interest to an excessive rate. But he has ex-
pended these eight milliards, without procuring for
his country •any real advantage; without having
known, notwithstanding his great means, how to in-
fluence the cabinet of Berlin, or even to preserve his
power in the Councils of the Allies of England.
While spreading his forces and his money over all
parts of the world; he has not been able to acquire,
in any point, the superiority which ensures success :
should we place then in the rank of great States-
men, one who possesses the art of collecting power-
ful means, but who does not know how to use
them P. The writer next adverts to our peace-esta-
blishment ; which, supposing an augmentation of
two millions and a half above what it was in 1792,
he estimates will exceed our annual revenue by a
sum of 2,844,6081. This difference between the in-
come and expenditure, the author admits, will be ea-
sily supplied in England, while a much less sum can-
not be raised in France, though possessing greater
mean:, without producing discontent. The admirers
of the English, he says, explain this enigma upon
the supposition of the superior wealth of Eng-
land ; but lie combats this argument, and contends,
that it is entirely owing to the superior mode of
taxation adopted in this country. Having then
pointed out the advantages of the English over the
French mode, he concludes this part of his argument ,

• _

thus—,4 The Anglmanes have long boasted, and
wished to give us the political Constitution of Great
Britain, which they did not knew. I have devoted
some time to the study of these laws, and I am
convinced that the regulations for the encourage-
ment of commerce, the Bank establishments, and
the science of credit and taxation—that the finances,
in a word, are the only thing in which the English
present us with examples useful to imitate. • The ar-
ticle then proceeds to examine the state of the Bank
of London since 1797, the causes of the crisis in that
year, the motives for the restriaion, &c. Upon the
subjea of the difference of the Exchange in favour
of Hamburgh against London, it says, 44 The loans
which England had made for the Estri:nua in 1793
and 1797, and the fund which she was obliged in
consequence to send to the Continent in Bills of Ex-
change or specie, have been the only cause of this
loss in the Exchange, which compromised the exist-
ence of the Bank of London. The Direaors had
frequently announced to the Minister the danger of
the se loans, though they only amounted to 6,200,000/.
aid the event justified their prediF;ion. This fall,
which the funds sent to foreign Powers produced
upon the 'Change of England, and the danger thence
resulting to the Bank of London, prove that the En-
glish are very far from having a balance of com-
fierce so favourable as their partisans pretend ; and
that their Government, notwithstanding its great
fiscal resources, can never be able to pay considera-
ble subsidies to its Allies, without compromising the
existence of all the establishments that support the
credit of the State and of commerce. This obser-
vation appears to me of the greatest importance for
France. It is sufficient to make foreign nations sen-
sible of the little assistance which they can expea
from an alliance with England. It apprizes all the
French who, in times of trouble, might reckon upon
the support of that Government, that they ought
to fear its bad faith, so often experienced, and its
still more dangerous impotence, because it is with-
out remedy. The article then descants upon the
utility of the Bank of London, and concludes with
the following observation. When we consider these
great services rendered to the nation and to the
state, the influence of the Bank upon commercial
credit, public credit, and the low rate of interest,
and the facility with which France may give herself
an establishment of the same utility, I flatter my-
self with confidence, that she will speedily em-
ploy this great means of establkhing credit, and
putting an end to the odious usury that destroys
Commerce."

LEC&;LATIVE BODY.

PARIS, FEB. 21.
The Minister of the Interior, preceded by two
Messengers of State, four hussars of Government,
and an escort of the Consular Guard, proceeded pre-
cisely at one o'clock to the scat of the Legislative
Body. A notification was then made to the Mem-
bers of the Legislative Body, that the hall of their
sittings was ready to receive them ; and when they
had taken their places, he addressed them in a
speech, in which he expatiated upon the present im-
proved state of France. I-Ie confined himself
to its internal affairs, and dwelt particularly upon
the wisdom of its new laws and institutions. After
this speech, the Minister withdrew, and the Legisla-
lative Body proceeded to form itself, and appoint
' proper officers.
The Provisional President (Citizen DELATIIE)
then opened the Session with a short speech suited
to the occasion, when three orators of Government
were introduced, one of whom addressed the Legis-
lative Body in a speech, complimenting them upon
the success of their past labours, and urging them
to new exertions kr the improvement of the prospe-
rity of France. The President answered this speech
with an assurance of the zeal and adivity of the Le-
gislative Body to concur in carrying the wishes of
Government into effect ; and a Deputation was then
chosen to present an Address of Thanks to the
Fir..r CONSUL ; after which the sitting arose.

FEB. 22.
Citizen MURAIRE read the Exposition of the Situa-
tion of the Republic.
The Legislative Body ordered it to be printed, as
also the answer of the President. Adjourned.

INTERIOR.
Paris, 9 rentase, 22 Feb.
DECREE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE 21ST FEL

The Government of the Republic Decree, that the expo-
sition of the situation of the Republic shall be carried to the

~Legislative Body, by three orators of the Government, and
inserted in the Bulletin of the Laws.

The First Consul (Signed) BONAPARiI.
By the First Consul,
The Secretary of State (Slued) H. B. MARS r.