Star.
London, England, 1810-01-29 00:00:00

FRENCH PAPERS.

PARIS, JANUARY 17.
His Catholic Majesty has made a new promotion
in the Royal Order of Spain. having nominated 25
Commanders with a pension of 30,000 reals each.
The Moniteur contains two long articles Qn the sub-
ject of the finances. The first is a Report by the Mi-
nister of Finance to the Emperor, in which, after a
summary of the receipts and disbursements for the
years 1806-7-8, occur the following passages :
" A sufficient time has not yet been afforded, to
enable me to submit to your Majesty a precise state-
ment of the receipts and disbursements of 1809. It
is, however, probable, that the war expenditure for
the last year cannot be under 640 millions, of which
1.-urn only 350 millions are chargeable upon the pub-

tic treasury.
44 The amount of this expenditure will excite no
surprise, when it i 3 considered that, besides an im-
mense staff, your Majesty has, during 1809, main-
tained an establishment of 900,000 infantry, 100,000
horses for the cavalry service, and 50,000 for the

waggon and artillery train.
" If the year 1809 must thus have been, of neces-
s;ty, expensive, there is every reason to conclude that
the year 1810 will admit of great retrenchments. In
fact, your Majesty levied two hundred thousand men
in 1809, and it does not appear to be your intention to
make any levies in 1810.
" Sixty thousand horses were bought and equipped
in 1809. It does not seem to be in your contempla-
tion to purchase any in 1810.
" Your Majesty also expects to be able to make a
reduction of 200,000 men in your military establish-
ment, and to limit it to 700,000 men ; one half of this
force being intended to carry on the operations in
Spain, and the other to be employed in the defence of
the coasts, and in maritime expedititins.
" Upwards of 800,000 -new muskets are deposited
in our arsenals, exclusive of the foreign muskets which
the fortune of war has thrown into our hands ; and
your Majesty has upwards of 40,000 pieces of cannon,
with all their necessary equipments."
The second article is a long and laboured speech of
the Chairman of the Committee of Finance of the Le-
gislative Body, in support of the new projet of revenue
regulations. The following are the only passages in
any respect interesting to an English reader :
" A political measure, which drove back to our
enemy's ports every thing that their commerce and
industry tried to export to the Ce.ntinent, occasioned
considerable diminution in the revenue accruing
from the customs during the year 1808. The expen-
diture for that year was also augmented by the army
being stationed within the French territory, and by
the preparations made for a new war.
" The proceeds of the customs were estimated, in
the budget 14 1809, at 12,000,000, that is to say, at
less than two-thirds of the sum to which they were
reduced in 1808. This reduction cannot occasion
aniy embarrassing deficit in our revenue system ;
whilst it implies en annual diminution of more than four
hundred and sixty millions of francs in the exporta-
tions of England: so that the measure that diminishes
the proceeds of our customs, must prove fatal only to
that power which has rendered its adoption necessary.
• " Our contributions remain stationary, whilst Eng-
land, already sinking under the enormous weight of
her !public debt, is every year adding to it. by fresh loans.
The debt is at present 20,769,000,000 f. and the
annual interest 736,000,000, which must be defrayed
by permanent taxes/
" In France, the first item of the Budget is
111,000,0i/0, as the interest ref the public debt of Ile
richest einpire in the universe.
" During these three years (1807-8-9) if we com-
pare the budgets of the respective countries, the ex-
penditure ot -England will be found to hive surpassed
that of France by the sum of 1,304.021,000 1. It
should be observed, that under the head of expences,
the budget of England includes only those incurred
for the army and navy, with the subsidies granted to
foreign powers.
" To institute a just comparison between the bud-
gets of the two powers, we should subtract from that
of France all that is not comprised in that of Eng-
land. But one may, without much calculation, per-
ceive the inequality of the struggle between the two
countries ; and it is easy to foresee the issue. In the
one, the science of finance consists only in throwing
into the shade an immense debt, and finding ways and
means to augment the load of taxes borne by
15,000,000 of inhabitants. Her Government boasts
of having perfected the ruinous system of loans.—
Her Treasury conceals the amount of the revenues
and their application ; but her Bank cannot any
lonnger conceal its embarTassnient, not having for a
length of time paid in specie any of its notes but those
of its lowest denomination. In short. such is the
situation of her finances, that she is compelled, in or-
der to perpetuate her taxes, to reject peace, and re-
g:irds as a calamity the greatest blessing that PROvi-
Zz.NCL can bestow upon mankind."