The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-14 00:00:00

THE FRENCH BUDGET.

(From the Times' City Article.)
The French Budget for 1860, just published in
the Moniteur, cannot be regarded. as a document of
much importance, since it deals with a period the
requirements of which at this moment it would be
idle to scan 'in any country, and more particularly
in France. According to his hopes, M. Magne will
then find the revenue not only sufficient for the
service of the year, but such as to afford the means
of raising the salaries of the smaller public officials
and the magistracy, whose fidelity is thus for the
present inexpensively stimulated, and to yield an
extra £BOO,OOO to be applied to the sinking fund.
The rest of the statement is devoted merely to an
expose of the manner in which the budgets of the
past four years have been kept free from deficits,
and as no allusion was necessary to the heavy an-
nual increase of debt by which that equilibrium has
been maintained, the entire report will doubtless
convey to most of the readers for whom it is intended
an agreeable impression. " I may affirm," says M.
Magne, " with more assurance than ever, that since
1854 the deficit of the budgets, the primary cause
of the floating debt, has not increased one centime."
But capitalists cannot forget that France has added
to her national debt at the rate of more than
£12,000,000 per annum for the last ten years. As
this, hower cannot go on uninterruptedly it may be
hoped to operate as a warning in favour of peace
and the advantage of cultivating commerce. M.
Magne mentions that the budget for 1859 was formed
with an estimated surplus of £320,000, and that
the recent experience of the revenue movements of
the country tends to show that even a more favour-
able calculation might have been made. It would,
therefore, appear obviously in the power of the
emperor to cease from this date the constant resort
to the loan-market.

The following figures give a complete view of
the public debt of the French Empire. The total
charge to the. State for interest on the debt for the
year 1858 is estimated at £20,915,345, as under :
£
Interest to stockholder
Sinking fund (not necessarily employed in the
redemption of stock)
Interest on special loans for public works, &c 392,875
Interest on floating debt 1,700,000
Life annuities in commutation of stock

£20,915,345
On the 14th of last month, according to a decree
published on the 4th inst., the interest due yearly
to stockholders is £12,777,205—name1y,
Interest. Amount of Stock.
41 per Cents., produced by £
reduction of 5 per Cents 6,881,117 153,711,000
Old 4i per Cents.
4 per Cents
3 per Cents. 5,770,215 192,340,500

£12,777,205 £348,313,775
It thus appears that £348,313,775 is the present
nominal amount of the funded debt of France, and
it is supposed that this is held by about 1,100,000
stockholders, whose average share is about £3OO
nominal capital, and £l2 annual interest. The last
return, showing the number of holders of each de-
scription of stock, was on the Ist of January, 1857,
when the total debt was £321,279,698, and the
proportions were then as follows :
No. of Holders. Amount of Stck.
4} per Cents., produced by
reduction of 5 per Cents 778,235 £152,683,260
Old 4i per Cents. l,BlO 786,276
4 per Cents.
3 per Cents.

1,027,784 £321,279,698
The small investments are here shown to be chiefly
in the 41 per Cents., since, although there is rather
less of that stock than of 3 per Cents., it is divided
among more than treble the number of holders.
The explanation is probably to be found in the fact
of 41 per Cents. having been given in 1848 to the
savings banks' creditors in lieu of their deposits. It
will be noticed that nearly half the public debt of
France is in 41 per Cent. stock. and as the market
price of that stock is considerably under its right
proportion to the market price of the 3 per Cents.,
it has been supposed that holders of the former
would willingly exchange into the latter for a little
less than half as much again nominal capital, and if
they did so, of course there would result a saving of
interest to the Government, while the stockholders
would apparently be compensated for the sacrifice
of interest by the relatively higher price of the
security they would voluntarily have accepted.
This is the idea under which rumours of a conver-
sion were spread some weeks since, but it is doubt-
ful if such an operation could be extensively carried
out without affecting the proportionate quotations
of the two stocks to an extent sufficient to defeat
its object, while the guarantee against further re-
duction, given when the 5 per Cents. were con-
yerted to 41 per Cents., which subsists for some
years longer, might become a technical obstacle to
the measure, even if it resulted generally from the
voluntary option of stockholders. The policy, more-
over, would be improvident, since in some state of
future prosperity, after the guarantee shall have
expired, a reduction of the 41 per Cents. to 4 per
Cents. might perhaps be effected, naturally, without
adding to the principal of the existing debt.

EXTRAORDINARY PROCEEDINGS IN
ST. PANCRAS 'WORKHOUSE.

Somelfurther extraordinary proceedings are re-
ported in connection with St. Pancras. It is stated
that the assistant-surgeon of the workhouse, a young
man, seduced some of the female inmates, and with
the view of concealing his conduct, resorted to pro-
ceedings which resulted in the removal of one of
the women to the infirmary. He then took to
flight, and in his concealment was visited by the
Rev. Mr. Pugh, the chaplain. The reverend gen-
tleman, refusing to give up the address, has been
dismissed, and three months' salary given him in
lieu of notice. The circumstances under which the
visit was paid are detailed in the following letter
addressed by Mr. Pugh to the vestry, with a view
to avert his dismissal from office, as recommended
by the board of directors :
" St. Pancras Workhouse, Dec. 8, 1858.
" Gentlemen,--I beg most respectfully- to memo-
rialise you as to the subject of my dismissal from
the chaplaincy of the workhouse, which was yester-
day resolved on by the directors of the poor, and
will be brought forward to-day for the purpose of
being confirmed by you. The facts of the case are
as follow :

"On Saturday last I received a letter from Mr.
Muskett, requesting me as his minister to repair to
him, as he was hindered by circumstances from
coming to me, to console his disturbed mind, and
to give him spiritual aid in his indescribable
sorrow. Being led to the belief that the sins he
adverted to were not of a darker character in the
calendar of crime than misdemeanour, and noticing
from the strain in which he wrote that he was in
the lowest state of despondency, and fearing that
if left unadvised in such a state of mind he might
be led on to commit a crime that would preclude
his repentance and acceptance with God, I hastened,
as instructed by himself in a secret manner, to ob-
tain his address. Here again I was enjoined to
keep his address a profound secret before I obtained
it. I then called upon the penitent, and offered him
the required consolation.
" On Monday evening last I was requested to
attend Mr. Wyatt at the workhouse, which I did,
and was asked by that gentleman to give up Mr.
Muskett's address.

" Considering the obligations I was under as a
minister of the gospel, I felt the impossibility of
complying with the request.
" I then left him, and consulted our judicious and
respected vicar, who is also rural dean,., and the
proper ecclesiastical authority to afford advice on
such an occasion • and after he had learned all the
particulars of the case, both from a secret letter
which I produced, and other particulars from
myself, he has given me permission this day to in-
form you that ho fully concurs in all the steps I
have taken.
" I have also been privileged with the opinions
of two of the most eminent barristers in the profes-
sion (which opinions I read to the directors yester-
day), who also approved of my proceedings. These
being the best authorities, both ecclesiastical and
temporal, which I could under any circumstances
procure, I fully hope and trust you will defer to
their authority such a measure of your considera-
tion as their position in their respective spheres
merit.
" I beg, in conclusion, to assure you that I regret
exceedingly the circumstances in which I find my-
self reluctantly placed, my profession and promise
pledging me to keep the secret of Mr. Muskett's
address inviolable, and the directors on-the other
hand wishing me to betray the secret. I shall,only
just observe, that from you, gentlemen of the vestry,
I obtained my appointment, and I implore you to
protect me in the same.--I remain, gentlemen,
your obedient servant,

" THOMAS PUGH.
" To the Vestry of St. Pancras,
Middlesex."

It is stated that Mr. Pugh has laid the whole
matter before the vicar of St. Pancras, the Rev.
Thomas Dale, as rural dean, who has in his turn
laid the subject before the Rev. Dr. Sinclair, the
Archdeacon of Middlesex, and the Bishop of Lon-
don ; and that they all three concur in the pro-
priety of the course which he has pursued in this
matter.

HABIT.—An American paper tells of an editor
who went soldiering and was chosen captain. One day at
parade, instead of giving the orders—" 6 Front face, three
paces forward," he exclaimed" Cash, two dollars a-year in
advance."