The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 27, 1865

not the same, as the cattle plague. There are some
who call for the stoppage of the pig trade, and the
Pickering magistrates have taken the initiative, and
have issued a supplementary order, prohibiting the
sale of swine as well as horned cattle. At a meet-
ing of magistrates acting for the Doncaster district
of the West Riding, held on Saturday afternoon,
Mr. Stones, veterinary surgeon of Wath, near
Rotherham, was appointed cattle inspector. The
plague is extending over the whole district to the
west and east of the town ; and so necessary has it
become to take energetic steps that the magistrates
in this part of Yorkshire, acting in conjunction
with the Justices of North Nottinghamshire and
North Lincolnshire, have adopted the powers con-
ferred by the 18th clause of the last Order in Coun-
cil. Mr. Coulman, of Thorne, Mrs. Dearden, of
Balby, Mr. Thompson, of Braithwell, and many
others, have lost many head of cattle, and the loss
in the Doncaster district falls at present little short
of 300.

Report of the French Minister of Finance.

4.-

M. Fould, in his report to the Emperor, recites
the results of the year 1864, the estimate for the
year 1865, and adds an outline of the corrective
Budget of 1866. The Minister observes that in his
report of the 9th of January last he declared that
the recent legislation with regard to sugar pre-
vented him from speaking with certainty as to the
prospects of 1864. The result has been that out of
the drawback of 50,000,000 francs referred
to in his report 16 millions have been received, but
the remainder is irrecoverable. The total deficit of
1864, as at present shown, is nearly 50 millions.
That amount, however, may be reduced by the de-
finitive arrangement of the account. With respect
to the estimate for 1865, after the corrective Budget,
the anticipated surplus was 7,312,000 f., but that
surplus had been liable to deduction. A supple-
mentary credit or nearly 4 millions had been asked
for the unforeseen requirements of the Minister of
Marine, and again a loss had accrued from the
realisation of ' Mexican Stock. By virtue of the
Treaty of Miramor the Mexican Government had
remitted to the French Treasury rentes representing
a capital of 54 millions, of which 40,100,000 f. was
applicable to the Budget of 1864 and 13,900,000 f. to
the Budget of 1865. Since the closing of the last
Session of the Chambers these rentes had been nego-
tiated, and, allowing for arrears received, the Trea-
sury had sustained a loss of 2,542,000 f., which loss
ought properly to have been divided between the
Budgets of 1864 and 1865 ; but, as the position
of the Budget was such that it could not bear any
loss, the whole was placed against the Budget of
1865, which would, therefore, be credited with
11,388,000 f., instead of 13,000,000 f. Notwithstand-
ing the miscalculation and the supplemental credit
which, will be demanded by the Minister of Marine,
it is hoped that the Budget of 1865 will result in a
balance. The produce of the sugar duties will ex-
ceed the estimate in the Budget, and there is no
reason to doubt that all the other imports will be as
productive as had been expected.

With respect to the year 1866 the Minister says
it is not possible for him at the present moment to
present to the Council of State a corrective
Budget ; but from the materials which he has now
he is led to believe that the income will exceed the
charges, and will permit of a sum of some import-
ance being allotted to the Ministry of Public Works,
in order to hasten the completion of works that have
been commenced. It is well to notice that the correc-
tive Budgets have successively diminished. That
in 1862 was 231,357,534 f.; in 1863, 221,478,553 f.;
in 1864, 135,070,321 f. ; and in 1865, 82,843,112 f.
In 1866 the corrective Budget will be still further
reduced, even including the allocation for public
works. The demands which have been received from
the Ministries of War and Marine, whose wants
furnished the most important elements of supple-
mentary expediture, are less by 11,000,000 f. than
the credits which were recognised in 1865 to be
necessary for those two Departments. Coming to
the Estimates for 1867, the Minister remarks that
various charges given to the Budget for that year
a particular character. The principal consist in
the changes which have been made with respect to
the sinking fund. In 1866 clic sinking rktha
amounted to 184,000,000 f., and it would have in-
creased in 1866 to 192,000,000 f. had not the Corps
.c..-8,-ord,vn, iii one exercise or ns liglib, uuring we last
Session, and upon the invitation of the Government,
annulled 65,000,000 f. of rentes. The result, how-
ever, has been to reduce the Sinking Fund to
127,000,000 f. Although for several years the
wants of the public service have not permitted that
alfY part of that fund should be applied to the re-
duction of the debt, yet the sum which should have
been so applied continued, nevertheless, according
to the law, to figure in the Budget of expense. On
the other hand it was also carried to the account of
receipts, and in 1866 the amount was divided be-
tween the ordinary and extraordinary Budgets ;
32,000,000 f. were allowed to the ordinary Budget to
insure an equilibrium, and 98,000,000 f. were added
to the resource of the extraordinary Budget to be
applicable to• public works. Thus the Budget was
apparently increased, and the Sinking Fund,
the action of which was purely nominal, in-
stead of strengthening the public credit, only in-
duced a false notion of the financial condition. It
had long been recognised how advantageous it would
be to get rid of this complication, but there had
always been two conditions necessary to success—
first, that it should no longer be necessary to draw
upon the Sinking Fund to meet the ordinary ex-
penses, and secondly, that certain resources should
be made applicable to the reorganisation of the fund
upon new bases. Those two conditions would
be found in 1867, owing to the reduction
of expenditure in the several Ministerial depart-
ments. Acting upon the instructions of the Emperor,
a new scheme for the Sinking Fund had been pre-

pared. According to that plan the fund would be
chargeable with certain expenses, which would

gradually diminish, and finally disappear entirely.
On the other hand, it would be fed by revenues

which must continually increase. The balance of
income and expenditure showed a surplus of about
18,000,000 f. which might be subtracted from the
Budget without affecting the equilibrium. To that
revenue, which must annually increase, must be
added other guarantees and resources which in the
first year would allow of a redemption of the public
debt to the extent of 30 millions. The reconstitution
of the Sinking Fund, so favourable to the finances
of the future, is still more opportune and useful
when it is at the same time a protest against those
easy and dangerous doctrines the tendency of which
is to burden the future for the benefit of the present.
In fulfilling an engagement with its creditors the
Government will profit by the state of peace which
now prevails to reduce its debt and to restore its
credit. It would have been impossible to make the
allocation of revenue in favour of the Sinking Fund
had it not been for the reduction of expenditure
which had been made in different branches of the
public service. Those reductions made a total of
30 millions, but, after corrections from various
causes, the real figure would be 26,500,000. In
that saving the Ministry of War had contributed
14,000,000 and the Ministry of Marine 7,000,000.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public
Works had diminished the ordinary expenses by
1,800,000f.,by0,0
37 thoeo Af.iHouseholdl nistry of the Household and Fine
Arts
nearly 6 and the Ministry of Finance by
,000,000 f. The recent modifications of the
commercial system had allowed of some reforms in
the Customs' department which had led to a reduc-
tion of 1,400,000. The result of a searchinc, investi-
gation made this year led to the conviction still
further reductions might be made in the Customs'
Department. But against those reductions must be
placed certain augmentations of credit, which the
wants of particular departments, owing to
the ex-
tension of their business, entirely justified. In short,
the project of the Budget of 1867 results in these
three important points :
Suppression both in receipt and expenditure of the
Sinking Fund, the creation of a new Sinking Fund,
and, finally, the savings realised in different Minis-
terial departments.
Without those economies it would have been
necessary in 1867 as in 1866 to apply a portion of the
Sinking Fund to the discharge of the ordinary ex-
penses of the Budget. That necessity had compelled

the adjournment of the reconstitution of the Sinking
Fund. It is now, however, urgent to reorganise
that fund upon new bases, which substituting reali-
ties for appearances will allow from 1867 certain
sums to be applied to the reduction of the
public debt. Such is the aim of the law which is
now preparing, and which, if it should receive the
sanction of the Corps Legislatif, will allow of
the surplus of 92,700,000 f. expected to arise
90,000,000 f. to be carried to the ordinary Budget
in order to replace the amount of the Sinking Fund
which figured in the Budget of 1865, and which
formed the principal dotation for public workswhich
have been begun. With respect to the Budget Ex-
traordinary of 1867 the Minister states that 90
millions, part of the surplus of the ordinary Budget,
forms the most important element. In addition to
that sum there will be 25 millions, the annual indem-
nity for Mexico, 16,666,666 f., the second payment
by the Algerian Society, and some other amounts,
which will increase the total to 133,996,666 f. The
expenditure will only reach the sum of 133,556,201 f.,
or more than 16 millions below the amount, of the
Extraordinary Budget of 1866.
Speaking of the floating debt M. Fould states
that on the let of January, 1865, the amount
was 808 millions, and that now it is but 772
millions, which, however, was greater by 69
millions than it was upon the Estimates of
1864, the reason of the difference being that
the floating debt has to support not only the
provided charges, but also to supply any extraordi-
nary funds, for which no special provision had been
made, which may be required for the support of
troops in France, or the colonies, or elsewhere. The
satisfactory state of internal affairs and the pros-
perity of commerce have kept the rate of interest
during the past year at a very moderate rate. The
inquiry into the causes which of late have raised the
price of money is being pursued with energy. Nume-
rous and impartial depositions have been taken, and
from the examination of the different opinions thus
set forth there will be obtained most valuable in-
formation. In conclusion, the Minister congratu-
lates the Emperor upon the continually increasing
development of commercial activity. The Customs'
returns of imports and exports for the first ten
months of the present year show a considerable
augmentation upon the receipts against the corre-
sponding period of last year, and the railway re-
turns showed a progressive and rapid increase of
traffic. The report concludes by declaring that,
thanks to the wise and pacific policy of the Empe-
ror, the country can reckon upon the increase of its
prosperity and the development of its resources.

The Indian Cotton Trade.

_~

(From the Bombay Gazette of Nov. 15.)

If Government and the cotton producers of India
have let slip the golden opportunity, which the
American war opened up for them, of establishing a
permanently extended trade in the great staple, it is
not yet too late to retrieve in some measure the
error, although it is impossible to recall the chances
which are already gliding through our hands. Never
had a nation a fairer opportunity of establishing
once and for ever a lasting and lucrative trade in
cotton than that which the American war offered,
and never has a nation more griffon -Ay neglected
it. It is true we have responded to the wants of
the world by growing cotton in abundance, and it
is true that Government has toyed and dallied in
the most dainty and delicate way with its improve-
ment. But it is also true that our cotton was only
saleable because no other cotton could be had.
Where was the foresight of Government that it did '
not see that an opening was presentedto it of deve-
loping permanently by the improvement of the cot-
ton staple an immense source of wealth and indus-
try throughout India ? It was known that our staple
was bad, and in a normal state of the market could
not hold its ground against that of America, and
instead of any vigorous efforts being made to
improve it or to compel improvement, which would
have been the exercise merely of a humane despo-
tism, we have a Cotton Frauds Act as the summon
bonum of legislative wisdom, and a cotton commis-
sioner experimenting, and still experimenting, and
distributing a few pounds of New Orleans seed
nnnii lily in flu, MnfnAsil. We think that entknn
improvement is decidedly and emphatically a govern-
ment question, calling at once for what should have
years viLrorniis Onvernrnont,
action. Without depreciating, and indeed duly
recognising Dr. Forbes's services, we say that they
are not on a scale adequate to the emergencies of
the moment, and that the organisation and means
by which better seed is to be introduced in the
cotton-growing districts is so deplorably ineffective,
as at one and the same tune to indicate the most
supine indifference on the part of the Government
and to demonstrate that at the end of the century

the work will be still to do. If improvement is to
proceed in the spirit of comfortable indolence that
prevails at present, we shall assuredly see our whole
cotton trade dwindle away, and that perhaps at
a startling rapid rate. On the other hand, if
we are to retain that trade in even an
average degree (and some of it we must
lose), it is indispensable that the most
earnest and prompt measures should be taken to put
the produce of the Indian cotton fields on an equa-
lity with the produce of the best cotton growing
countries, since even already the agencies are at
work which will endanger or rather destroy our
trade. That America will be entering the field again
before a couple of years are over is scarcely to be
doubted, and it becomes a much graver question for
the consideration of Government, how to retain for
India as much of the cotton trade as possible, than
to examine with microscopic spectacles every tele-
graphic message that professes to be sent on public
business, lest some unwitting official may have de-
frauded the revenues of the country of a few pies.
If cotton growing in India were a profitable Euro-
pean enterprise, then Government might safely leave
the enterprise and the improvement in European
hands. It is absurd, however, to imagine that the
miserable, ignorant ryots in the Mofussil, who can-
not tell the cause of their sudden enrichment, who
do not know where or what America is, who have
the faintest possible conception why the demand
for cotton has become so enormous, and prices so
high, and who anticipate no end to the present flow
of fortune, can ever see the imperative necessity
of introducing a new staple. The statistical and
minute-writing machinery of Government is perfect,
and it preserves the peace satisfactorily also all over
India. Surely, however, the Governor-General and
the Governors of the presidencies are something
more than sublimated commissioners of police ; and
not the least among their functions is to lay eager
hold of such an opportunity as that which the Ame-
rican war presented of conferring a permanent bene-
fit upon the cotton-growing districts of India. Go-
vernment knows the English estimate of Indian
cotton ; it foresees also the appearance in the home
markets, at no remote date, of the more serviceable
growths of America, and it can also easily divine
what the consequences to the Indian cotton at pre-
seat grown must inevitably be. Already the trade
in some of our most valuable exports is dwarfed,
some of them even are almost dropping from our
articles of produce altogether, and when our
cotton trade collapses, the export trade of the Pre-
sidency will be in an unhappy position. There
is yet time before America can take her old place
to institute such measures as would ultimately
preserve or speedily regain for India a large propor-
tion of her present cotton trade. With Government
aid it can be done ; without it it will not be at-
tempted.

BREAKFAST BEVERAGE. —Homceop athic practitioners, and
the medical profession generally, recommend cocoa as being
the most healthful of alt beverages. When the doctrine of
homoeopathy was first introducel into this country, there
were to be obtained no preparations of cocoa either attrac-
tive to the taste or accepta) le to the stomach ; the nut was
either supplied in the crude state, or so unskilfully manu-
factured as to obtain little notice. J. Epps, of London,
heernceopathic chemist, was induced in the year 1839 to turn
his attention to this subjeA, and at length sue ceded, with
the assistance of elaborate machinery, in being the first to
produce an article pure in its composition, aid so refined by
the perf et trituration it receives in the process it passes
through, as to be most acceptable to the delicate stomach.
For general use Epps' cocoa is distini.uished as an invigo-
rating, grateful breakfast beverage, with a delicious aroma.
Dr. Hassell in his work, "Food and its Adulterations,"
says—" Cocoa contains a great variety of important nutritive
principles; every ingredient necessary to the growth and
sustenance of the body." Again, "As a nutritive, cocoa
stands very much higher than either coffee or tea." Direc-
tions : —Two teaspoonfuls of the powder in a breakfast cup,
filled up with boiling water or milk. Secured in tin-lined
1-Ib., and lib. labelled packets, and sold at ls. ad. per
lb. by grocers, confectioners, and chemists,

Report of the Capital Punishment

Commission.

-

The following is the report of the Capital Punish-
ment Commission as finally, and it is believed unani-
mously, agreed to. Several of the commissioners
have, however, signed a supplementary paragraph
stating their belief that capital punishments might
now be safely abolished :