Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1845-08-21
An Interesting Subject.

In recent notice, by the Louisville Courier of the
History Of the French Consulate and the Empire un-
der Napoleon, by NJ. Theirs, we find spirited COM
Pilation of facts in relation to the public debt ana
the system of finance existing at that period in
France, together with few brief but sensible COM
ments, which cannot but prove interesting to a ma
jority Of our readers
The unwearied industry and intutive judgment
OF the professcd man of destiny,-in whom accurate
discrimination and good seemed combined with
genus--give clear insight to that careful labor
and accumulation in details, and immense power Of
combination, which produced results almost miracu-
ous, and perfectly astonishing TO the world around
him. Emphatically the hurmonizer of anarchy and
social chaos, he reduced the naiicsl administration
and judicial government of the French people to a
system that after times have not dared TO oyetur nor
materially to change
"What finance in France before Napoleon !
What was the splendid scheme Of Law, the fathoms
less debt of Calonhe, the half dgested statements of
M Neckar but so many speculations and experiments
the uncertain darkness Of debt and accountability
What the spasmodc efforts of the misguided men of
the revolution and of terror but the desperate energy
and combined will, without system or regard for So
cieyt France under Robespierre might be the mon
ster that devoured and conquered. Under the direc
tory the dragon had lost his teeth.
"From this confusion, Napoleon and his assistants
drew the finances of France into method and stabii
atized revenue promptly paid. Great credit is
given, and justly, TO his abors and their enduring
suits. Still he had The boldieSs 10 cut doun the amount
Of the floating debt Of the reroutOn 10 ats market rd
Ue to withhold the property Of the State from sale
at decided sacrifice; 10 temporize so to Sav. ,rih
The ar payers for the Grrearages md Gcc: udtion of
tares and TO defer payment portion Of the debt
for definite periods until the accumulated or collected
rerenue should meet the demand Was this bankrupt
cy! Was it rePudiation' Did the credit of France
ever stand higher than under Napoleon! And yet
the charge of Reputation, bankruptcy and non-tax
paying, is unreservedy and unremittingly made by
Europeans upon of indebted States for tenn
porary inability to meet the liabilities incurred in ex
travagant times and by improvident expenditures
"When the iron will of the First Consul yielded to
the necessities of the taxpaying landhoders (see p
243) can the unwillIngness of popular Legislature
to increase the burthens of depressed constituency
be charged utter dishonesty! Napoleon preferred
TO increase the consolidated and acknowledged debt of
France, to the oppressive payment of the Of
taxes of the three years previous to the Consulate
burthening his dynasty instead of making severe
exactions upon the people. France held large and
valuable domain, and he preferred to await proper
disposition of that to the exhaustion of the people,
These remarks not intended to Justify an unwil-
lingness to act where the measures in the imme-
date power of the people of our nonpaying States,
or absolute reputation denial of an honest debt
''Ihey are intended to justify compromising, the
part of overburthened and oppressed communities.
They intended to show that Ron-payment and COM
pounding not TO the annals of history. The
best and the wisest nations, and the greatest heroes
have done both, and sometimes in a less iustifiabe
manner. England failed to pay in any thing, recog
nistd by the world money, for twenty years, and
assumed to give arbitrary value to paper promises
of an essentially bankrupt corporation The Great
Frederick resored to the desperate expedent of de-
basing the coinage, and Austria in like manner lev
led black mail from her people England in former
times, by her fiat, cut down the interest of portion
of her debt, to the lowest market value. Napoleon
did the with both principal and interest and yet
such expedents in our sister States are reputation
While China must pay for her illiberalty and intole
rance in shutting her ports and closing her factories
against the deathdcaling introduction Of opium the
world has suddenly become puritanc and relentless
against those that had ny monies and usance." The
morals and integrity of France In money matters I'M
der the Consulate have passed the ordeal of forty
years without reproach. Napoleon consolidated, sys-
temazed and provided for the debt Of France at that
epoch but part compounded another portion
was deferred and the public domain saved from
speculation or sacrifices. The debt was liquidated
and ascertained, and sinking fund provided to meet
it, also the emergencies of State-but meantime
the Improvements of the great regenerato for SO he
may be called did not slumber at the charges upon
the Treasury. The Canal of St, Quentin carried
on the roads were repaired and put in order; three
bridges were constructed the Seine; the magni-
cent road of the Simplon undertaken, and even
the funds of France were employed to establish hos
pieces for guests in the mountain thoroughfares he pro-
iected Attentive to every public duty, the Consulate
felt the claims of present and futureno less than the
of the past.''