Indemnity To The French E...
The Times, 1824-10-30T00:00:00

(From the Btoile.) PARIS, OCToBEnt 27. According-to the preparatory labours presented by the agents of the Royal doruain, relative to the sale of the property of the emigrants who were condemned and banished, in nirtue of the revolutionary laws of confiscation, there were 475,000 sales, whose value in assignats, reduced to the present currency, presents a total of l.09l,000,OOf. From this sum wenwst necessarily deduct Ist, the anmount paid by the Government to the creditors of the old proprie- tors;* 2d that of the tax on land and oveables (fonciere et mobi- icrc). 13Ve may thss briefly estimate at about 600,000,000 of francs the net amount due to the victims of those confiscations, or 30,000,000 of Yentes, at 5 per cent. This valuation is considerably beneath the frightful calcqlations which it has pleased some persons to detail, and according to which they endeavoured to show the impossibility of liquidating this debt, which may be justlv called national. Thirty millions upon a budget of nine hundred do not present a difficult question, and the least finaucial head will experience but little embarrassment in providing the means of discharging it. The sinking-fand first presents iself. Eldowei iB a great proportion with especial revenues, it vwould not be impossible to reducc its revenues and we do not thinl; the result of this operation could sensibly diminisih our credit. It is to be presumed, besides, that in the opinion of speculators, the accomplishment of a transastion, the object of which is to aug- nrent the elements of our security and prosperity, wouhl more than replace and compensate what would be taken from the sinking. fund.e Bven if itshould not be pernitted to take cntirely from this fund the amount of the Indemnity, it might, at least, be called upon to furnish its contingent in this act of justice, which could be com- pleted by economy in various offices; and lastly, by a loan, which is quite as necessary, in our eyes, as those contracted for to pay the debts of the revolution and of the empire. Besides, the difficulty is leos in our times in the means of' finding the 30 millions, than in cer. tain details of execution, much more complicated than an operation which is merely a gambling affair for eur financial companies--we allude to the establishment of the rights of the heirs and executors of the condemned and banisled emigrants. By wlhat laws are they to be recognized and judged ? Siall we refer to the civil code, or to the repertories of our ancient customs ? It seems to us that the Jate of the law of indemnity should fix that of jarisprudence. For the establishment of these rights, and for those of the creditors, ought the indemnity to be con- sidered as freehold (imvwobiliere) ? Hew shall we explain wills in which nothing has been said of eventual inheritance ? Thus, for example, a simple and general executor, who is not a relation of the emigrant under whose last act he inherits, shall he receive compen- sation to the prejudice of the natural heirs ? We will presume that all these difficulties will be resolved by the law which will be presented to the Chambers; but in foretelling that the tribunals must necessarilyinterfere in a variety of eases, we express our hopes that nothing maza delay the compensation to the direct original proprietors, who exist in great numbers, and who ought to be made a separate class. Those permons have waited a long time, and are for the greater part sp old, that there would be a cruclty in submitting theirfIate to the forms of law. INDEBfNITY ,O. TIB FRENCH EMIGRANTS.