The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-15 00:00:00

FRENCH FINANCE.

The Moniteur promulgates the Conversion Bill,
which has been adopted by the Chambers, and in
connection with it publishes the following report
to the Emperor from the Minister of Finance :
" Sire,—The Legislative Body and• the Senate have
adopted the bill which proposes the conversion of the 41
and 4 per Cent. Stock and the Trentenary Bonds into 3 per
Cent,.

" Conformably to Art. 3 of that bill, I am about to pro-
pose to your Majesty to fix the addition which will be de-
manded from the holders of the 4!.. and 4 per Cents. for that
exchange.

" Thus, as your Majesty has said, the object of your Go-
vernment is 'in equitably reconciling the interests of the
Treasury and that of its creditors, to prepare the unifica-
tion of the public debt.' The great bodies of the State have
united in that idea of your Majesty by an almost unani-
mous vote, and have handed ever to your Majesty the care
of regulating the conditions of the transaction proposed by
the bill.

"This is not the first time that it has been necessary to
determine the relative value of the 41 and 3 per Cent.
Stock, the former of which is compressed in its movement
by the possibility of reimbursement at par, whilst the latter
has a power of ascension much more considerable. At the
time of the loans of 1854 and 1855 the 41 and 3 per Cents.
were simultaneously offered, on different conditions laid
down by the Government and ratified by a public subscrip-
tion.

" In 1854 (the loan of 250,000,000 of the 11th March)
the difference between the 4} and the 3 per Cents. was
4f 25c.

"In 1855 (the loan of 500,000,000 of the 31st Deo., 18'44)
it was 7f 0 1-10 c.

"In 1855 (loan of 750,000,000 of the 11th July) it was
6f 75c.

"The average of 6f, which results from those differences,
may be considered, every particular circumstance being
abstracted, as the expression of the recognised surplus
value of the 3 per Cents. over the 4i per Cents., since
it has been ratified by three memorable public subscriptions.
44 It would therefore appear just to take the sum of 6f for
4f 50c of rente as the rate of the addition to be furnished by
such holders of 41 per Cent. stock as would wish to have
in 3 per Cent. stock an income equal to that which they now
possess. This, moreover, is the slue which has served as
the basis o! the reasonings of the hon. reperter on the bill
in the Legislative Body, and there is reason to think that it
has not been chosen arbitrarily by the enlightened men who
composed the committee, and by the skilful financier who
acted as their interpreter. It is also that sum of Of which I
should probably have proposed to your Majesty if I had only
to occupy myself with the bases of a negotiation of Rent&
similar to those of the loans of 1854 and 1855.
" But in the operation now in question your Government
has not specially in view to increase the resources of the
State. The unification of the public debt is the principal
object which it endeavours to attain. That object, so worthy
of your Majesty's solicitude, happily reconciles itself with
the interest of the fundholders with which your Majesty
has shown yourself preoccupied, since one of the means of
attaining it is to give them better conditions than those
which they have in former cases accepted with so much
eagerness.

" I consequently propose to your Majesty to fix at fjf 40c
the addition to be paid to the Treasury for exchanging 4f 50a
41 rente against 4f 500 of 3 per cent. rente, and at if 20c for
4f of rente the addition of the 4 per Cents.

" The addition will be payable in six instalments, charge-
able only on the interest of the new rude, so that the
holders of 4f per Cent. stock will receive the whole of the
half-year's interest due on the 22.(1 March, and the periods
of payment of the addition will only commence on the Ist
July next. At the expiration of those periods, that is to say
on the Ist of October, 1863, the fundholder will have com-
pleted his conversion. He will then have in his possession
a title of 3 per Cent, stock, bringing him an interest equal
to that which he had in 41 per Cents., and representing a
much higher capital.
" I shall not return to the advantages of that combina-
tion, which have been eloquently developed in the discus-
sion on the bill; but those advantages are such that many
public establishments, holders of 4f per Cent. stock, have
already applied to the Government for the means of .secur-
ing them. According to your Majesty's orders a'll-11 has
been prepared to facilitate loans to them on the deposit of
rentes, and those loans will be repaid by annuities at long
periods.

,‘ What will be done by the large credit societies for
public establishments, the receivers-general will be autho-
rised to do for private individuals. In a word, nothing will
be neglected to enable the holders of stock to personally
profit by the advantages offered them by the Government,
and to prevent them being obliged, by the difficulty of pay-
ing the addition, to renounce the profit which belongs to
them. At the same time that the Administration will thus
facilitate by advances, at various periods, the payment for
the addition for the less wealthy fundholders, it will give a
bonus of interest to those who may immediately free them-
selves, or discount a part of the sum which they owe to the
Treasury.

" If your Majesty deigns to approve of those measures, I
beg you to affix your approbation to this report.—l am, sire,
&e., " Actm.Ln Form).
" Approved, NAPOLEON."