The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-01-19
EXPENSES OF LIVING AnR0AD

To give our readers some idea of the expense
of life abroad we will refer to the statements
mad. by our representatives tn Foreign Courts
MIR. Lawrancc, our Minister to Great Bia.ain,
says the rent of furnished house in London, in
a convenient and proper Iocation,is not less than
from f70O f9OO year. Horses and carriages
cost from f225 to $50 year, and to meet pro-
perly these and other expenses growing out OF
the position, would require, in his judgment, an
annual salary of twenty thousand dollars ! His
own expenses have exceeded that sum. 80
much for life in London.
Mr.. Rives, our Minister to France. furnishes
items from which it appears that the expense OF
living in Paris in becoming style, exceeds the
salary paid to the position
The first and most important is that of house
rent house of respectable size and appear
ance, neatly but unostentiously furnished, can
not be rented here in convenient quarter OF
the city, tor less than from three to four theus-
and dollars year The hire of plain carriage
and pair of horses by the year, is from twelve to
fourteen hundred dollars year. The expense
OF fuel is also very heavy charge here wood
alone, for the most part, is burnt here, and the
price of that is from fourteen to sixteen dollars
the cord. Considering the heightened position
of the year, Qrom eight to nine months,) during
which fires are kept up here, the expense of
this item, in a household consisting of half a
dozen persons, with the usual number of SER
wants, averages, according to my experience,
about twelve hundred dollars year
The expense of daily subsistence of fam
lily in Paris may be judged Of by the price of the
| common articles which enter into its consump-
ton-bu,cher's meat, for example, being fifteen
cents per pound, and double that price for the
| delicate portions; ham thirty to forty cents the
pound, and a pair of fowls nine francs, or a
| al md E.yoc IF fho n
| the United States, and other things in like OF
even greater proportion. According to THU
| scale of rigorous and unavoidable expense, the
mere ordinary subsistence Of a household con
stituted as above mentioned, could not be shor
of the annual sum of three thousand dollars
| The four items above mentioned, IF house
rent, carriage hire, fuel, and ordinary subsis
tence, form alone an aggregate exceeding thu
annual salary allowed to minister of Unitet
States But to these must be added as expenses
equally obligatory and inevitable, the annua
hire and clothing of servants, which cannot b,
estimated at less than from twelve to ftteel
hunded dollars; the expense of lights, whlcl
during the long nights Of one half of the yea
in this latitude, is very large item, washin!
and common groceries forming together, for
family constituted as have above supposed
another aggregate Of strictly necessary expense
not short Of three thousand dollars annually.
Mr.. Brown our Minister to Russia, exhibit
"a led expensive bill of fare, rendered so by tn
fact that a portion of the time his family wer
not with him. Daring the first year his expen
SIS Amounted to some $4,000. These expense
were made up Of house rents, furniture or fur
niture rent, carriages or carnage hire, servants
hire, living, with its incidents, and extra cloth
ing adapted to the climate, all Of which item
coun, more than either IN London or Paris
He regards his style of living medium one
which it would be difficult to reduce with res
peclabiliry or increase without bankruptcy
With his family, he thinks his expenses woul
absorb his whole salary. He therefor if thos
opinion that proper regard for the usefulnes
and dignity of the mission would dictate an in
crease of the salary.
Mr. Folsom, onr Minister to Hague, gives tn
following table of the expense of life at Thu
mission, which may not be uninteresting in de
tail: