The Sun.
London, England, 1822-05-04 00:00:00

SPANISH LOANS.

EXTRACT FROM THE OFFICIAL. REPORT READ TO THE
CORTES, IN THE PUBLIC•SITTING OF THE STH MARCH,
1822, BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND FINANCE.
LOAN OF 1820.

In the Report read to the Cortes at the commencement of the
Session in 1821, an account has already been given of the Loan,
contracted by the Government with the houses of Laffitte and
Co., and Ardouin, Hubbard and Co., of 'Paris ; and the flat-
tering results which those negociations held out were made
known. It is only requisite, therefore, for me to add here, that
the receipts of the public Treasury, in consequence thereof, as
well in the first financial year as in the first six months of the
second, were called for to discharge the obligations of the State,
according. to the items of rates and distribution which I present-
ed to the Cortes'. •

NATIONAL LOAN (1821). '
By the degree of the 27th of June, 1821, the Cortes autho-
rized the Government, on a petition from the latter, for the pur-
pose of fulfilling the obligations of the present financial year,
to raise a loan, which should not exceed 200,000,000 of reals

(about 2,000,0001. sterling) on the best possible terms, giving
an account of it to the Cortes.
The Government wished, and in effect opened a negociation
for raising this loan from Spanish citizens, with the laudable
views—

1. That the benefit to arise from it might go to our capitalists,;
2. That this class of employ or destination might be opened
to private wealth, to supply the place of others--our commerce,
for example, which, unfortunately for the nation, is obstructed.
3. That of benefiting by this favourable opportunity, to
in-
terest more and more in the consolidation of public liberty those
who are enjoying, and ought to enjoy, its beneficial influence.
The result corresponded at the beginning with the wishes
and hopes of the Government. At a meeting of the mercan-
tile companies of Madrid. and of the greater number of its
leading mercantile individuals, it was unanimously declared
that the loan should, be national, 'and a' Committee was al).
pointed to lay down a plan upon which it was to be carried into
effect. This was examined by the Council of State, and after
sundry proceedings in respect thereof, a convention was signed
on the 4th of August, 1821, which the Minister duly trans"
mitted to the permanent deputation of the Cortes.
By article Ist of said plan, it was agreed that the capital of
the loan should be 341,880,000 reals ; 170,940,000 is in meta-
tallic, and 170,940,000 in capitaltof the national debt. at 4 Per
cent. and upwards, inclusive of interest.
In article Ist of the contract it is stipulated that the whole
shall be repayable in metallic money. In the 2d the Committee
named by the subscribers obliged themselves to take, and did in
effect take, the said loan. In the .sth, the loan in the state in
which it was at the date of the contract, with permission to in-
crease it to the full amount, was confirmed to the Committee
on their securing to the Government the payment of two tent
of the whole of the loan, or 68,376,090 reals •vellon. Alias '
lastly, in article 10, the contractors reserved the right of mak4
known to the Government, within a stipulated time, if the)
would go any further or not, the Government remaining obliged
f
to complete the contract during the will of the contractors. ,
The payment of two-tenths of the loan was punctually nif*"e'
and the offer made by the Directors to the Government on
11th of August, to enlarge their contract by another tenth,lolll
the same fortunate result : but it is necessary to say, althougll
with sorrow, this negotiation, begun under such favourable a,""
pices, so anxiously desired' and obtained by the Government'
promoted and continued by the lenders, and by the zealous
and active Directors, in whom they reposed their confidence,
with so good an effect—this negociation, I repeat, could not be
fulfilled by collecting sufficient subscriptions for the cemEe-
tion of the loan. Whilst this was realizing, advices iunfor-
tunately arrived of the important events of which one of 'he
most valuable parts of ultramarine Spain had been the theatre
and almost at the same time the yellow fever began to interrrlP,
the mercantile relations of one of our principal commercial
places, and to pursue its industrious inhabitants with cleatl,
and desolation. The same calamity befell- other considerable
towns of the monarchy.
Three-tenths and three hundred shares more, as stated by the
Directors of the loan, or what is the same thing, 34,488 shares!
whose value amounts to 103,464,000 reals, half in cash an
half in paper, with interest, have been the whole result of this
negotiation.
LOAN OF 1821, WITH THE HOUSE OF ARDOVIS'
e .....

HUBBARD, AND CO.
When the Government solicited the Cortes for atithei,:r
to raise the Loan, which they were pleased to grant in the -ve-
cree of the 27th of June, with a clause that it was not to ex-
ceed 200,000,000 of reals -(about 2,000,0001. sterling), they
had in view the magnitude and difficulty of such an operation'
and were aware of the necessity ofcreating, through the foe!
of public opinion, the confidence of speculators. They r°,D;
saw, that the realization of the said Loan would probably ran
necessary the establishment of a Great Book, similar to
exists in other European nations; the creation of a Sinking Fun
de
the application of some branches of the public income to then;
establishments, and the reduction or conversion of the whol!l,°e"
a part of the foreign debt to a new loan, in which it might
refunded, in order to be comprised in the said Great Boolc---
These motives were the cause of the communication made,ll
the Government to the tortes on the 27th of June,
that the authorization of the same date might be extended t
the four points abovementioned, relative to which, without the,
circumstance, the propositions could not be admitted that udg',
be founded on any one of these operations, however advan,':,
geous they might be ; besides prejudicing opinion by the
that would be formed that the Government only possessed 3
mited and inefficient authority.
With this exposition in view, conceived in the same teirfs,
in which I make mention of it, and in which the prornp!,":"of
sion which the subject would require is urged, the reschlrfa-ted
the Cortes was given on the 28th of June, and comet un,::
to the office of my department on, the 29th. It was in the
lowing terms :
" The Cortes, taking into consideration your Excellency
representation in your official report of the 27th inst., and Pirjs
titularly that realization of the loan of two hundred : „
will make it necessary to establish a Great Book, to create
t;
Sinking Fund, to apply some branches of the public income to
these establishments, and to reduce all or part of the Fo:ere";
Debt to a new Loan, in which it may be refunded, in order
be comprised in the Great Book ; they have thought fit to re-
solve thkt the Secretary of Finance be authorized by
in the Ile;
lution of the same ortes to do what may be necessary '1;00,
that the loan agreed on maybe realized in the manner 100 st
venient and advantageous for the nation." ~sity of
The Government found themselves under the ‘nect,, terms
using this authority of the Congress, because, under, t`1,1," ority,
and circumstances explained in the 'Petition or said atiZ re-
and in the exordium of its concession, there were, as 'Pelmet
presented, propositions for the completion of the loan, tv
was not to exceed 200,000,000 of reals, and because there
to
an extreme and indispensable necessity to fill it up, in ,°rd,e,,ruht
produce the necessary funds for the,public service, which —Was-
not be obtained under any, other. means, and which there

a most urgent necessity fin. supplying.
It has been already seen that the national loan had proatic-er3_
no more than three-tenths of its amount and 300 shares ;
or, what is the same thing; that it did not reach the comple,„ti°o
of a third part of its value. The time appointed for the Dlre7 ty
of the Loan to say if they would cantract for a larger quart (1
than stipulated for in the contract of the 4th of Augus,!"„tal'of
for the offering of the third tenth, expiring on the '4' iacl
October, the Directors went the Ministry the same day, 3,ed,
stated the vicissitudes which the operation had experie'),ol
and the state in which it then,was : that it was found to be oil
of difficulty to attain the point prescribed, inasmuch Its7,elsr
the one hand, they had no funds, on which account, sePar3re:
considered, it ought to be said they could not contract for nt°t,r,
on the other hand, they could not venture to express that qi:94
urination, on account of the hopes that were held out to ,hef
by the negociations of one of their members out of Spain. rti be
suggested, therefore, that the most prudent method Ivo" bich
to extend the time to the end of the next November, in 'foil-
the Directors would give notice whether or net th woulu the
tinue to supply instalments in succession, ccnfor.nably °,

contract. be
r,
From these causes, by a royal order of the 26th of 000. so
the term was prorogued until the 15th of Nov. inclusive, lay
that (are the exact words) until the 15th these Directors
case
declare whether they will or rot continue, and in the latter to
the Government shall be at liberty, on the fellowing da pity
take measures for contracting with others, remaining in 3C"
the
by. virtue of the contracts it enters into, to issue the share
stipulated stipulated time being expired, and which it shall be undersl
is not to be further extended."
This day arrived without the Directors being enable(' the
finitively and positively to express their will to contir'lle,ares"
loan, and it arrived exactly in the midst of the greatest of anxiety of Government; when it was/surrounded oz,self
fairs of an urgency difficult of expression, and it found 1., ja
without pecuniary resources of any description to a.. csist
op
this situation, even in the smallest degree, and when the
mours of the functionaries of the branch of finance for (1,-;11
classes of persons on the State, for the payment
wherewith to supply the public wants, and the claim' ar-
rears, placed it in the most critical situation, and the preseana
tion of the State imperiously obliged it to adopt prompt
efficacious measures. the
If these measures had not been 41 bl
; if the result of 0 •
transactions of the National Treasury, in receipts and Parilueotre
in the first six months of the second financial year, which I lane
presented to the' Cortes, did not palpably make it knowrl'f
if the above-mentioned deficit in the pre-supposed values °
contributions and income voted fbr the same year did not.°:ers
firm it still more and more, it would be easy for the Om'.
0 it
to prove it by the correspondence which took place in that'll- lie
-
of distress and anxiety, with the other Ministers, with thloa
iieral Treasury, and with the Governors of the Provinces' sitY
by these means would he also seen, the indispensable nee,es„rity
in which the Government found itself of using the atitiw,_ of
conceded to it by the Cortes, by their resolution of the 29°'
June copied above. cei et
°••
It did so by means of the contract 'entered into on the co.,
November last, with the house of Ardouin, Hubbard, and _,
of Paris, and of the convention concluded with the same 11
for its realization on: the 31st Dec. following, of which crtbe
were duly transmitted to the Permanent Deputation which'
Cortes, by which it appears that the condition upon
OOP°
the said house has bound itself to the advance of 140,0 rut
of reals effective (about 1,400001.), deducting four per
commission, were—to pay 30,000,000 the Ist of Janua
12,000,090 on the same day in the months of February, I"4'is
the °-
or
April, and May • 14,000,000 on the same day in the f
June, July, and August; and 14,400,000 reals on
September. roceed"
Including these 140;000,000, with the cash capital p
colea
.of theirro,
ing from the national loan, the Government has not
by th,7
the sum of 200,000,000 rm.'s, to which the loan decFeect

,ciation
udabe

italists,;
opened
amerce,
;ructed•

to oi-
-1 those
tence.
wishes

nercan-
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leclaral
was all-
ied int°
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signed
trans"

pita of
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by the
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shan't
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deCl-
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yber,
o so
play
case

Ls 01
t of

Cortes
,of the 27th of June was limited. And here I ought to
state, before I conclude this article, that the contractors have
realized the respective payments at the dates of the Ist of Ja-
nuary and tbelst of February; with that punctuality which is
necessary for the discharge of the obligations of the public
Treasury, sometimes anticipating considerable sums before the
arrival of the above dates. That the Government on its part
has completed and is prepared to complete the stipulations of
the contract and convention referred to; and that amongst the
resources on which it calculates to 'meet the exigencies of the
Present financial year, is the loan concluded with the house of
Ardouin, Hubbard, and Co.
The Mini?ter then proceeded to enumerate the different items
expenditure for the year, and declared the amount demanded
to defray the interest on foreign loans to he 69,763,230 reals de
vellon--nearly 700,0001. sterling.-
This amount (observed the Minister) comprises the income
of the Dutch loan, of that of 1820, of the annual charge pro-
duced by the national loan of 1821, and of that for 140 millions
effective, which the house of .Ardouiti, Hubbard, and Co. is to
advance, and is advancing, under the contract of the 22d of
November. There is also included the annual anticipated in-
come from the same house, agreeably. to the same contract, for
the conversion of all the loans or perpetual rentes. There is
also another charge included, calculated on the supposition that
the said contractors shall convert into rentes all the capital and
4acornes of the old loans, agreeably to the said contract. In this
case the amount of the rentes will be 7,5,950,142 reals, and
24+000,00024,,000 more will be necessary for the Sinking Fund, snaking
altogether 99,950,142 reals.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.