The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-03-21 00:00:00

FRENCH FINANCE.

The Cosmopolite system of the great capitalists (as it has been
called), and the general intercourse of commerce, render the
money market and financial trantactions of foreign countries a
Matter of the greatest importance in considering those of any par.
tieular nation ; and in this point of tiew we consider the observa-
tions which were incidentally made on some financial transactions
in France, in the course the 'discussion which arose in the
Chamber of Deputies. on the St. Domingo indemnity, a sub.
jeet of very considerable interest in this country at the present
period. The principal points of thaportance alluded to on that
occasion were :-,The commercial crisis in this !country as affecting
France; the animadversions made ujion the great capitshsta ;
the quern of 'Exchequer bills (bons rtlyanx), and other depsrt.
meets of French finance; and, lastly, the proceedings of the syn.
dleat of the receivers 'general, who form a commentsl body, em-
ploying government funds, for which they pay 34 per cont. in
loans to individuals, of speculating in the stocks, as they think
proper. We shall ay befort our readers a summary of the re-
marks on each of these heads, after giving a short detail of the
nature of the affair which was the more immediate point in debate.
The amount of the indemnity whist; the Government of Hayti
agreed to pay to the Wormer colonists of tilt island was 6.800,01101.
sterling; and it wan to be paid in annual sues of 1,200,00 W., which
were to be received by the French Government, and appropriated
to the discharge of its own claims and thole of the colonists. The
first payment was to take place on the 3lst December, 1836. To
effect this payment, commirisionerllwere empowered by the. Govern.
meet of tlayti to negotiate a loan in France for 1,200,0001. to be re.
mild in 25 years, and to bear an interest of six per cept. but they
found it impossible to raise the required amount on theite terms,
being obliged to sell the securities at 80 per cent., which produced
only about 1080.000/. This sum the contractors engaged to pay in
February, 1828, but the payment never actually took place. The
masse a'amorgsstmeat, which should have received the money, Is
bound bylaw to trey an interest of 3 per cent. on all sums deposited
there. As the direytors of the caisee had been bLaned on a former
occasion for purchasing stock in order to turn money lying in their
hands to account, and as the treasury did not want the money for
imminent expenses, they would have been obliged to pay interest
on this NMI while lying idle in their coffers, if they coned not have
fooodsome method of placing the sum at interest. For this pm-
;ease an engagement was entered into, by which the persons who
had dientracted to pay the money for the Government of Hari
agreed toreceive ir Rohs wee loan to them For one year, At 34 per
afft, on condition that they should bind themselves to produce
the requisite funds in ten days after it should fie found necessary to
give them notice to that effect. The result of the transaction was,
therefore, to make the contractors for the Hayti loan. who were the
syndicator the receivers-general, Rothschild and other capitalists.
asefitorit to the Government of Hayti for 960,008/. at 7. per cent.,
sad debtors to that of France for a like sum at 3i per cent.
was naturally asked by the (*position on this occasion, what
right is Finance Minister, or a director of the caissrefaaturtissenteq
could have to confer such favours, producing a clear annual revenue
of 38,0001. a. ear to the parties, and that at a crisis like the pre.
sent. and to these very persons who were at the moment exporting
bullion from France in waggon loads, to favour the speculators on
the banks of the Thames ? It war in reply to this asseveration th at
I'illele made those allusions to the crisis in England which we have
classed as the first point of importance in this discussion. fle or.
served tbat the gold was exported in consequence of sales of French
stock ate low rate ; that.the same gold now sent abroad had come
into Frame in 1834 in consequence of purchasing of French si. e': at
a very high rate ; that the object orate exports was to meet the de-
mands for specie occasioned by the commercial crisis in England ;
that this crisis was trot felt in France, and the gold was there unne-
cessary, their credit being still in a prosperous condition. He
asserted also that the French three per cents. .were six or eight per
cent. higher in proportion than those of England—meaning, pro-
bably. that they were six or eight per cent. higher than they would
have been if they had suffered an equal diminution with the Eng-
lish. They were then 854, while the English were at 78 The
eqpiniou of the French Minister appears then clearly to he, that the
causes operating on England are not such as will extend to France.
At least he does not imagine that they have as yet extended to that
country.
. . . _

The exporting of French gold was not the only article of accusa-
tion against the capitalists. The 3linister was reminded of the
transaction last year, by which Rothschild was enabled to sell
32,0001. at 102, 103, and 104 per cent. to the Caisse d'Amortiste-
nsent. All these transactions, as well as the present loan, it was
added, had taken place privately, and without the least public
intimation of any intention to effect the sales and loans in que.tion.
IThence came that strange fatality, it was asked, which placed
fortune, in prosperous as in adverse circumstances, equally at the
dispositien of this lucky foreigner ? Was this a time, when the
public credit bad suffered so much from the unfortunate scheme.
of the Minister, to lend French treasures to these cosmopulists who
had been perhaps the cause of all these calamities ?
The folly of the French Ministers was said to be still more en.
hanced by' the fact, that at the very motnent of this loan they were
themselves borrowing at four per cent. front the Bank a sum of
1,800,000/. by bons.myaux (Exchequer bills) to pay the half-
year's interest on their national debt. The objections and explana-
tions on this subject furnish some views of importance on the ma-
uagement of the French finances. The object of Government, It
was answered, in making this issue of bons roysux to the Bank,
was to avoid keeping sums without interest in their coffer& as
would necessarily be the case if they had to collect these 1.600.0001.
ersiemeergieest time. Pt*. avrettiplerrent wade with the Bank
saved three months' Interest. At the present moment, however, Go-
vernment owes nothing to the Bank.
Exchequer bills to the amount of about 800,000/. are in the market,
but they are only such as have been issued to the Caisse d'Amor.
theement in return for sums of money advanced to the Tre sury
fruits ca.rrent expenses ; and it has been thought proper to keep a
small number of them continually in the market, that the !labile
may not be alarmed at any unusual issue, which a sudden emer.
gency, like the war in Spain, might render expedient. The
964,0001. in question could not be received from the Canoe d'Antor.
tissement by the Treasury : because that arrangement would have
confounded the interests of the two departments, which ought to
be kept entirely distinct. To this it was answered, that these in.
tweets had already been confounded in many instances, as in the
case of the advance of bons roysux, already alluded to, and in the
payment of about 500,0001. of bona roysux before they became
due, to facilitate the purchase of Rothschild's rentes last year. It
was only necessary to keep an account current between the two de.
parunents, as in the case of loans from the hani, the in:erests of
which were never supposed to be confounds.' with those of the
Treasury. The lowness of the rate of interest at which the loan
was granted to the capitalists, was said by Minister. to be owing
to the condition whlcn exposed them to be called upon to reimburse
the money on ten day'snotice. If the money had been actually paid,
they added, so much currency would have been removed from cis.
saltation to be deposited in the Caine d'Amortissement ; but it
would rot have been very difficult for the contractors to liquidate
the Hayden debt, as that stock," which was negociated at 80, rose
nest day to 114. M. Villele took occasion also to observe, that the
best proof of the good managementof the French financiers was con.
tained in the fact, that 125.000,000 francs of debt only paid an in.
tereat of 4,000,000 francs. These arguments were treated by the
Opposition as mere subterfuges. The principal speaker against
Ministers being Casimir Perrier, a Bank Director. The capital.
ists would not have been able, he said, to transfer much of their
Hayden stock at 84. The true object of the French Ministers
was to support the unlucky 3 per cents„,which were in a very sickly
bor.dition, and a plan had now been adopted of causing the
rentes to be merely deposited, indtead of purchasing them, as had
been tbetnerly done, in • manner which had exacted great opposi.l
Lion in the Chamber.

The creation of the Syndicat in July last had for its object to
remove the objections to the employment of Government funds in
such purchases, on account of the risks thus incurred. It enables
Government, without any risk, to derive a certain interest from
sums of money which would otherwise bave remained on its hands
unemployed. The Syndicat performs certain duties to the State,
and has the disposal of certain sums, at a low rate of inte:est, for
the private purposes of its individual members. Its operations are
perhaps the most important part of French finances, as they regard
foreign countries. They exhibit an instance of interference in mo-
ney transactions by persons who may have the command of re-
sources to which no private capitalist ever cart pretend, and from
the part which it has taken in the loan to Hayti, we may conjec-
ture the possible extent to which it may interpose in such tram..
actions. Why may it not give loans to Spain, to answer new de-
mands of the French Government, in the same way as it hat dons
in the ease of the loan to II ayti ?
_ _ _

We were furnished about twelve months ago, by a
correspondent, with an account of an experiment tried by
a tratlesnian's son in Alloa of immuring a toad in a stnall
fltrWer-pot, sunk deep in a garden, to ascertain the fact of
that animal living without food. At that time he had
been a prisoner for two years, and was again shut up in
his dreary abode. A few days ago the light of day was
allowed to illumine his darksome cell, when the contented
inmate hopped out with as much careless indifference as if
lie only had retreated there for an evening's repose. The
prisoner was remanded for further trial.—Stirling Journal.
Ouraistesset Woon.—ln this age of invention, one of
tie most singular is that of condensed wood, for whish a
fentleMan has recently obtained a patent. His ides is to
pass.the planks, which are to be cut with parallel surfaces,
through several pairs of rollers, and the distance between
each pair progressively timinishiug, so that the sap or other
moisture will be forced out of the pores of the wood at the
ends and sides of the plank, which will be gradually com-
pressed, and rendered more solid without disturbing the
~grain, thus producing an improvement in the quality of
the word, where durability and hardness are objects Iv be
obtained.

111•rertsrtrion, MARCH 17.—The topic of conversa-
tion which engrosses the general attention here is, the
elopement of a young lady, the daughter of the High Me-
riff of the county. She is heiress to a large fortune, to the
extent, it is said, of more than 30,000/. per annum ; and
it appears she was at a boarding school near Liverpool.
Her (now) husband wrote a letter to the governess, re-
questing her to send the young lady home in consequence
of the illness of her mother, and by this stratagem she was
absent a day or two before suspicion arose. It is said that
they are new in Paris. The bridegroom was a widower,
and nearly 40 years of age. The bride is about fifteen.