The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-14 00:00:00

SPANISH FINANCES.

The Supplement to the Madrid paper, the Patriota of the
27th ult., contains an article, evidently proceeding from au-
thority, upon the " Resources of the Nation." It possesses
some interest, as setting forth the financial prospects of
Spain in a more favourable light than they have of late
admitted of, and is presented in a condensed form to our
readers.

We do not know the exact sum left in the public coffers
by the Ministry which went out of office in August, 1836,
nor that remaining in the treasury on the 18th of this
month. In the middle of September last, however, above
76,000,000 were owing in bills and drafts upon the public
treasury, and the pay department of the army, a species of
floating debt created by M. Mendizabal during his first ad-
, ministration, a system by which the obligations of the pro-
vinces were covered by drawing upon Madrid, where the
punctuality of payment rendered this paper as negotiable
as that of first-rate commercial signatures. The want of
punctuality introduced since the 15th of May of last year,
however, completely destroyed this resource, and the amount
remaining unsatisfied in engagements of this description was
one of the legacies received by the administration of Sep.
tember, 1836, from its predecessors. In addition, it found
itself encumbered by a debt of nearly 40,000,000, proceed-
ing from the contracts entered into with Gaviria and La-
font. The disturbed state of the country generally must
alone be taken into consideration.
The Calatrava administration found four extraordinary
resources to meet these obligations and to provide for the
public service :-1. The contributions of 200,000,000,
which proved very unproductive, chiefly in consequence of
the basis not having been adopted as originally proposed,
of causing it to be borne by the largest contributors com-
prised in the electoral lists of the summer of 1836, and the
classes nearest approximating to those contributors ; 2.
The product of monastic edifices, their goods and chattels,
and the bells of their churches ; 3. The exemption money
arising from the levy of 50,000 men ; and 4. The exemp-
tion money arising from the enrolment of the national mili-
tia. The first of these resources produced 120,000,000.
From the second so little has been received that it may be
considered as still in existence, and available to the purposes
of the new ministry. The third and fourth have produced
about 30,000,000.
These were the means at the disposal of the Minister.
Those which he has left are the following :-1. The
76,000,000 of floating debt have been reduced by from 36
to 40,000,000 ; 2. In lieu of the 38 or 40,000,000 of trea-
sury billets in circulation upon the entrance of M. Mendiza-
bal into the administration, there are now not more than
22 to 23,000,000 in existence ; 3. The tithe has been abo-
lished, reserving its receipts, however, until the end of Feb-
ruary next, one half of the amount of which is destined to
the public service, and may be calculated at 140,000,000.
4. The disposal of one-half of the extraordinary war con-
tribution has been authorised, and will produce at least
157,000,000.
The new Ministry will thus possess resources available to
the purposes of the public service to the conclusion of the
ay
eecaor ,u tnlti e lthearrgeemasiunndterofof2t9h7e,Ono,aor,Ocooo, ntruib,iuthtioount
prtoakg
poinsedintt,oy
M. Mendizabal, and already sanctioned, in its most essen-
tial particulars, by the Cortcs.
M. Mendizabal's plan of proceeding to render these re-
sources immediately available was as follows :
Ile proposed to create 120,000,000 of Treasury bonds
apportioning this sum amongst all the provinces according
to the ability of each, and permitting them to be received
for their full value in the payment of the moiety of the
tithes belonging to the nation, and of the extraordinary war
contribution. The sum of 120,000,000 (at most not more
than half the amount proceeding from the resources above
mentioned) was fixed upon to prevent the possibility of the
resources of the several provinces being over-estimated, and
the consequent depreciation of the bonds.
The negotiation of these bonds appears to have been con-
ditionally treated of, the bonds proceeding from former ne-
gotiations not yet liquidated being receivable in part pay-
ment., by which mode the ordinary contributions would be
relieved from the weight of this paper. The protested bills
were also to have been admitted in part payment ; a debt
of a most sacred nature, and without the extinction of which
the establishment, and continuance of a floating debt in
Spain would be impossible.
There would still remain 60,000,000 to receive in cash
from the capitalists who were to undertake the negotiation,
and in a period of three months, by which time the receipts '
of this province would amount at least to 15,000,000, mak-
ing thus a total of 75,000,000. Supposing that 12,000,000
of this amount would be applied to one quarter's expendi-
ture for purposes of every description payable in Madrid,
11,500,000 to the privy purse, and 7,500,000 for three
months' pay to the troops of the district, these several ob-
jects
would absorb 31,1300,000, leaving 44,000,000 for the
pay and arrears of the army of Navarre, and to cover any
deficiencies which might occur in providing for the necessi-
ties of the army of the centre and of Catalonia.
The amount receivable from the half of the tithe and the
extraordinary war contribution has been calculated above at
297,000,000. Even reducing this sum by 70,000,000,
which is more than 24 per cent., their produce would be
227,000,000. 120,000,000 of this amount, as has been
mentioned, would be represented by the Treasury bonds :
there would consequently remain 107,000,000, together
with 40,000,000 which vet remain to be realised from the
levy of 200,000,000 (the remaining 40,000,000 having been
already assigned). At the end of the year there would
thus remain a resource of 147,000,000. By that period it
would have been possible to introduce good order in the
military and civil administrations, always, however, suppos-
ing that the army acted up to the hopes of the country ; for
without triumphs, and a series of triumphs, obtained by th e
army, neither credit nor money, nor a stable system of fi-
nance is possible.
Two great obligations still remain to be treated of—the
interest of the foreign and internal debt. Of the 80,000,000
of bonds in circulation on account of the first, there is rea-
son to believe that not more than 50,000,000 still remain
to be withdrawn. The interest upon the home debt may
be calculated at 56,000,000 ; there would thus still remain
41,000,000 16- meet the-extraoidinary obligations of De-
cember and January next. And it must be borne in mind
that in this circulation no account has been taken of the
excess over and above 227,000,000 to be expected from the
tithes and war contribution, always supposing that the
measures for the making the latter productive to its full ex-
tent are taken before the expiration of the year.
The obligations of the Treasury being diminished, and
its credit to a certain degree restored by the measures above
alluded to, such as the payment of the protested government
bills, extinction of a portion of the unfunded debt, and of
the unpaid dividend bonds and coupons, the new year might