The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-30 00:00:00

" REPORT TO THE EMPEROR.

" Sire,—The Council of State is actually termi-
nating the examination of the ordinary budget of
1864. The extraordinary' Estimates of the same
budget will be shortly submitted to it, so that the
Legislative Body may be enabled early in the Ses-
sion to study the financial questions. My depart-
ment completes summing up the elements of the
projects de loi (Bills) which are to furnish the sup-
plementary credits not provided for the year which
just expires. I therefore think that the moment has
arrived for completing the observations which I had
the honour to submit to the Emperor three months
ago. I will endeavour to give a brief summary of
the ensemble of our financial condition. I shall fol-
low the same order in which the financial facts will
be brought forward, and shall examine succes-
sively

" The probable results of the budget of 1862 ;
" The previsions for the budget of 1863 ;
"The bases of the ordinary and extraordinary
budgets for 1864.

"I.

" The report that I had the honour of submitting
to your Majesty on the 6th of last October expressed
the hope teat in the budget of 1862 the receipts
would balance the expenditure, in spite of the heavy
charges which resulted from the credits opened be-
fore the adoption of the Senatus-Consultum of the
21st of December, 1861, and in spite of the expenses
of the Mexican expedition. It was not possible at
that time to estimate with sufficient precision the
total to which those expenses for the entire year
1862 would amount. lam now able to give a state-
ment of that total.
" The credit carried to the amended budget of
1862 for the Mexican expedition and the supple-
mentary credits accorded by a special law, passed
before the separation of the Corps Legisktif,amount
together to 59,000,000 f. The Minister of War
thinks that he will have to ask the Legislative Body
for a fresh sum of 6,000,000 f. for his department.
The Minister of Marine estimates at 16,000,000 f.

tee supplement he requires. This increase in the
expenses of 24,000,000 f. will raise to 83,000,0001.
the total expenses of the Mexican expedition dur-
ing the year 1862 ; to this will be added a credit
of 11,000,000 f. that my department will have to
ask for to provide for the premiums paid upon the
exportation of sugar; these two sums (together
35,000,0001.) appear to represent the total defi-
ciency of the receipts for the budget of 1862. The
previsional statement that I shall have the honour
of submitting to your Majesty as soon as the final
results of the year are known will justify this cal-

culation.
" The Minister of War has been able to provide
by temporary arrangements for the most urgent un-
foreseen expenses which fall upon his department.
As regards the Naval Department, the extraordi=
nary expenses of which, incurred at 2,000 leagues
from France, are psid by draughts on the Treasury,
the vote of the Legislative Body will be given at
the proper moment to grant the supplementary
credit asked from it. This measure will be sub-
mitted to the Legislative Body early in the session,
conformably to the rules and spirit of the Senatus
Consultum of Dec. 21.
"In fact if the expenses in Mexico have exceeded
by nearly 24,000,u00f. the special resources which
have been granted, it is scarcely necessary to ob-
serve, on the other hand, that your government
found itself in presence of one of those eventuali-
ties foreseen by the legislator. The reporter of tie
Council of State, in his exposition of the motives of
the Senatus Consultum, and the President of the
Senate, in his report, both agreed in placing in the
number of such eventualities circumstances impos-
sible to be foreseen, such as a sudden scourge, or
events abroad, ' which would exact the immediate

development of our naval and military forces.' As

regards these unforeseen circumstances which do
not correspond with any previsions of the budget,'
the President of the Senate declared, without hesi-
tation, Under such circumstances government is
only possible on the condition of providing for
such wants by exceptional measures.'
" The reporter of the Council of State even anti-

cipated the case where various circumstances,
among which distance is reckoned, would not allow
the exact amount of outlay incurred to be ascer-
tained except after a long interval. 'This is what
has happened as regards the outlays which fall
upon the navy with regard to Mexico. It must
not ba overlooked,' said the reporter of the Council
of State, that there are certain expenses the
amount of which cannot be ascertained till they
have to be settled, and the payment of which is
made, not in the last months of the year in which
they are incurred, but in the last months of the
budget to which they belong. I❑ this case and in
this species of outlays the Legislative Body will
take them into consideration as soon as it meets.'

The Session of the Legislative Body will open
in a few days, and it will not refuse its sanction to
the estimates that will be at once brought before it.
An assembly animated by such patriotic sentiments
will not challenge the right of the Government to
havo acted, under circumstances which no one could
have foreseen, and which admitted of no delay.
The honour of our flag, engaged in a distant land,
the safety of the brave soldiers who, at 2,000 leagues
of our arms, made it
to act without one
the duty
Fu
trya nocfe,
tuhpeh oGldovtehren gmleonryt
moment's delay. The resources at hand and the
proximate opening of the Session rendered needless
an extraordinary convocation of the Legislative
Body.

" The present year will thus have to put to the
most rigorous and most decisive proof the new finan-
cial regulations established by the Senatus Consul-
tum of the 21st of December, 1861. It is now de-
monstrated that the abandonment of the preroga-
tive of opening credits by decree has not deprived
the Goveinment of independent means of action,
and that those stronger guarantees with which
your Majesty has thought fit to surround the pub-
lic finances, even at the cost of one of your Majesty's
prerogatives, has not in any way prejudiced the
progress of public affairs. Everything combined to
render the experience as complete as possible. This
first year that might have been regarded as a period
of transition, had to support, as I have above said,
heavy charges created beforo the opening of the
Senates Consultum. To this burden has been added
a distant expedition, undertaken with the co opera-
tion of two powerful allies, and which we have been
obliged to pursue alone.

" While this expedition was suddenly assuming
proportions which could not have been foreseen a
few months before, the civil war which distracts
America continued to a deplorable rebound in the
suffering of several branches of our industry, which
it was necessary to assist. In spite of this combi-
nation of unfavourable circumstances the transfers
which have become necessary amount, fur all the
Ministerial departments, to only 14,000,0u0f.
Nearly all of these transfers have been effected
by means of the savings realised, so that there
will be no necessity to appeal to the Legislative
Body.

" Doubtless your Majesty will not deem these de-
tails and these figures unnecessary, showing, as
they do, that the generous sacrifice your Majesty
has made of a prerogative exercised by preceding
Governments has in uo way compromised the pro-
gress of affairs. It is equally necessary to point
out the difference between the present position of
things and that of last year at the same period. The
supplementary and extraordinary credits which
were added to the budget of 1861 amounted to
345,000,000 E, of which 261,000,000 f. had been
opened by decrees. During the year 1862, on the
contrary, with the exception of the fonds de con-
cours, and the reports in respect of which the option
given by the Senatus-Consultum has been made

use of, no credit has been opened by decree ; the
credits added by Legislative sanction to the budget
have been 196,000,000 f., and a supplimentary
credit of 35,000,000 f., which will be applied for
in the Legislative Body, will be sufficient to set to
the unexpected expenses of 1862. As to the trans-