who strived to lower or to raise the legitimate value of securities, they should be protected against such speculators.'

The Bill was carried in the Legislative Body by a majority of 226 to 19.

M. Fould had, in the month of January, presented to the Emperor his Report on the Finances of France, in which he stated that the ordinary expenses of the Budget of 1863 showed in the aggregate an increase of 70,000,000f. over the estimated expenses of 1862, but this surplus of expenses was only apparent, as the supplementary credits, voted or decreed, had been added to the provisions of the Budget. These were, in 1860, 131,294,000f., and in 1861, 152,502,000f. M. Fould then continued :

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The exposé of the Budget will contain special details on these questions, but I believe it my duty to at once state that there will be in the Ministries of Marine and War an increased expenditure of 4,000,000f., calculated on an effective force of 400,000 men and 85,700 horses. But these figures, compared with the effective force of last year, show an important reduction, as the average effective force of 1861 was 467,000 men, which, by the 1st of January, 1862, was reduced to 446,000. By the 1st of January, 1863, it will be reduced to 400,000. In the Budget of the Ministry of Marine the credits amount in the aggregate to 168,000,000f. for the ordinary and extraordinary service, which forms an important diminution in the expenditure in preceding financial years. In fact, notwithstanding the increase of

70,000,000f. in the supplies for 1862, the Budget of 1863 will show a real and considerable reduction."

He then proceeded to give an account of the Ways and Means of the Budget, and stated that it would exonerate from all personal taxes and taxes on personal property every individual who had nothing but his work by which to obtain a livelihood.

Every workman who works alone would be exonerated from the tax of a patent for the exercise of his trade.

The Budget would also reduce to one per cent. the duties on valuables transmitted by post.

In order to insure the regularity of those branches of the public service in which the estimated expenditure might be exceeded, the Minister proposed to introduce certain taxes as a means of increasing the revenue.

These taxes were:

A new tax on horses and carriages of luxury, which is estimated to produce 5,500,000f.

The augmentation of the fixed dues and fees at the public register offices, which would produce 10,000,000f.

A modification was also proposed in the method of collecting the proportional registry fees, which would produce a revenue of 10,000,000ƒ.

A slight increase of the stamp duties [was estimated to yield 9,500,000f.

An increase in the stamp duties on the bills of stock and licensed brokers, which would produce 1,200,000f.

A fixed tax on bills of account and on receipts was estimated to produce 12,500,000ƒ.

The total of these new re

sources was estimated at 50,000,000f., which will allow of the settlement of the ordinary Budget of 1863, and leave a surplus of revenue amounting to 20,000,000ƒf.

M. Fould then discussed the general financial situation. He estimated the deficit at the end of 1861 at 1,008,000,000ƒ., and said :

"It will be wise to take advantage of the peace we now enjoy to bring about a reduction of our deficit. I believe myself to be able to assure your Majesty that it will not be necessary for that purpose to have recourse to a loan, which would add a fresh burden to the public debt..

"The extraordinary resources of the State consist of 57,500,000f., reckoning the balance in bonds of the Obligations Centenaires, and 10,000,000f., the amount of the third annuity of the Chinese indemnity.

"As these two sums will not allow of the construction of railways and the carrying out of other works of public utility, I do not doubt that the Corps Législatif will not refuse to vote the means for the execution of works of incontestable utility by the temporary establishment of a sur-tax on an article of extensive consumption namely, by an augmentation by 10c. per kilogramme of the duties on salt, which would produce 33,000,000f. The trades which make use of salt as a principal manufacturing staple would be freed from any complementary dues, in order to place them in a position to with stand foreign competition."

In conclusion, M. Fould stated that the Extraordinary Budget of 1863 would be balanced by the

surplus revenue of the ordinary Budget, and by other resources which would be sufficient for the national expenditure. There would still remain the deficit, which, however, would not only cease to increase, but would soon diminish.

In the debate in the Legislative Body on the 19th of June an incident occurred which is worth recording. The President, M. de Morny, had been absent on the previous day and his place had been filled by one of the Vice-Presidents. On taking the chair on the 19th he said :—

"Gentlemen, before proposing the adoption of the Minutes, I have to mention the impression made on me by the perusal of this morning's Moniteur, in which I read the following communication from M. Picard (one of the Deputies of the Liberal minority): I have read this morning in the Moniteur an observation which it seems was addressed to me, by the President of the Legislative Body, who requested me "to speak more seriously." This observation, had it caught my ear (for it was probably drowned in the noise of the Chamber), I should not have accepted. I should not have accepted it either in form or in substance. I do not accept it at this moment. I regret to have to say so in the absence of the President, M. de Morny; but, as the rules of the House do not permit of my choosing any other moment than the present, I am obliged, when the Minutes are proposed for adoption, to make this observation, to which I limit myself." This, gentlemen, is what passed in the preceding sitting. M. Picard had been interrupted by

those words which I read in the Moniteur-'It is all pure comedy, all farce; be more serious.' M. Picard said, 'I do not hear the interruption, consequently I can not reply to it.' As I heard the interruption I repeated it to him in these terms: They tell you that it is all farce; speak more seriously.' In this instance I was but the interpreter of the interruptions which he said he had not heard. But now, and except ing the reflection which the interrupters added, as M. Picard only attributes to me the last words' Speak seriously'- I have the honour to tell him that I adopt them as my own; and here is what I take the liberty of observing to him-but first I will read to the Chamber the phrase which provoked the interruption : -We are governed at so high a price because we are too much governed. The functionaries of the State have too much to do, I admit, and they are not paid in proportion to all they have to do. They are charged with our happiness, which they do not give us; but, at any rate, they have taken the charge of it on themselves.' I have now to inform M. Picard that the Government has not charged itself with the happiness of anybody. If M. Picard and his friends find that the Government has not given them happiness, there are many persons who are indebted to it for security and for prosperity; and I say that when M. Picard expresses himself in the words which I quote he does not speak seriously. The President has the perfect right to make this observation. When he makes an observation accepted by the entire Chamber, if the speaker does not

accept it, he is wanting in deference to the entire Chamber.

M. Picard.-M. le President, will you allow me to reply to you?

The President. I authorize you to speak.

M. Picard.-I believe, sir, you have not a right to judge my words. I maintain my opinion, and I can justify it. I believe that you have not a right to judge my words in saying that they are not serious. You are my superior, but only so far as concerns the application of the rules; the more so as you preside in a Chamber which has not named you for its President.

The President.-M. Picard's observation is quite unconstitutional.

M. Picard.-I could not in this instance the respect which I owe to myself could not permit me to-accept the words of the President. I did speak seriously. I thought I saw in this instance a well-known practice of causing the words of an opponent to be regarded as not serious, whereas, on the contrary, they were very serious. I treated the topic of plurality; I treated it with moderation, and very seriously. My speech is on record, and that speech is a sufficient answer to the words and observations of the President.

The President. One word more. I know my duties, and I will fulfil them. I know my rights, and I will maintain them. (Applause.) The approbation of the Chamber dispenses me from saying any more.

An important document appeared this year, in which the views of the French Emperor on the vexed question of the rela

tions of the Holy See to the Kingdom of Italy, and on the policy which the Pope ought to pursue, were detailed at considerable length. It was in the form of a letter addressed by him, on the 20th of May, to M. Thouvenel, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In it he said:

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Since I have been at the head of the Government of France my policy has always been the same towards Italy; to second national aspirations, to induce the Pope to become their support rather than their adversary; in a word, to consolidate an alliance between religion and liberty. Since the year 1849, when the expedition to Rome was decided upon, all my letters, all my speeches, all the despatches of my Ministers, have invariably manifested that tendency, and, according to circumstances, I have maintained it with a deep conviction, either at the head of a limited power, as President of the Republic, or at the head of a victorious army on the banks of the Mincio. My efforts, I must own it, have hitherto been thwarted by obstacles of every description, in the presence of two parties diametrically opposed, absolute in their hatreds as in their convictions, deaf to the counsels inspired by the sole desire of their benefit. Is this a reason not to persevere, and to abandon a cause grand in the opinion of all men, and which must be beneficial to the welfare of mankind?"

After urging the necessity of the Roman question being settled, and acknowledging its difficulty, the Emperor continued::

"The object is to come to a combination by which the Pope would adopt what is great in the

idea of a people that aspires to become a nation; and, on the other hand, that that people should recognize what is salutary in a Power the influence of which extends over the whole universe. On a prima facie view, considering the prejudices and hatreds, equally violent on either side, a favourable result seems to be despaired of. But if, after examining into the question, reason and common sense are appealed to, it is gratifying to believe that truth, that divine light, will finally penetrate into every mind, and show the supreme and vital interest which induces, which obliges the partisans of the two opposed causes to come to an understanding and to a reconciliation. First of all, what is the interest of Italy? It is to put away from her every danger that threatens her, to diminish the enmity she has caused, to upset everything which opposes her legitimate ambition of reconstituting herself. To overcome so many obstacles they must be taken coolly. Italy, as a new State, has against her all those who hold to the traditions of the past; as a State which has called revolution to her assistance, she inspires distrust in all men of order. They doubt her power to put down anarchial tendencies, and hesitate to believe that a society can firmly find a basis upon the very elements which have upset So many others. Finally, at her very gates she has a formidable enemy, whose armies and ill-will, easily understood, will for a long time be an inminent danger."

The reconciliation of Italy with the Pope would, argued the Emperor, obviate many difficulties

and rally round her millions of present adversaries :—

"On the other hand, the Holy See has an equal interest, if not a stronger one, in this reconciliation; for, if the Holy See has zealous supporters among all fervent Catholics, it has against itself all the Liberals of Europe. In politics it is looked upon as the representative of the prejudices of the ancien régime, and in the eyes of Italy, as the enemy of her independence, the most devoted partisan of reaction. This is why the Pope is surrounded by the most violent adherents of fallen dynasties, and this company is not of a nature to procure for him the sympathy of the people who upset those dynasties. Nevertheless, this state of things does less harm to the Sovereign than it does to the Head of Religion. In Catholic countries, where new ideas have a great hold, men who are most sincerely attached to their faith feel troubled in their conscience and doubts enter their minds, not knowing how to reconcile their political convictions with religious principles which seem to condemn modern civilization. If this state of things, so pregnant with danger, should be prolonged, there would be a risk of political dissensions leading to lamentable dissensions in faith itself. It is, therefore, in the interest of the Holy See as well as in that of religion that the Pope and Italy should be reconciled; for it would be a reconciliation with modern ideas, it would keep 200,000,000 Catholics within the pale of the Church, and give a new lustre to religion by showing faith supporting the progress of mankind.. The Pope, brought

to a reasonable view of the state of affairs, would understand the necessity of accepting everything which can bind him to Italy; and Italy, ceding to the counsels of a wise policy, would not refuse to adopt the guarantees necessary for the independence of the Sovereign Pontiff, and for the free exercise of his power. This double object might be attained by a combination which, maintaining the Pope master in his own domain, would remove the barriers which now separate his States from the rest of Italy. To be master in his own domain, independence must be insured to him, and his rule freely accepted by his subjects. It must be hoped that it would be so-on the one hand, when the Italian Government would take the engagement towards France to recognize the States of the Church and the limitation line agreed upon; on the other hand, when the Government of the Holy See, returning to ancient traditions, would sanction the privileges of the municipalities and of the provinces in such guise that they would, so to say, govern themselves; for then the power of the Pope, soaring in a sphere elevated above the secondary interests of society, would be free from that responsibility which is always heavy, and which only a strong Government can stand."

A copy of this letter was given by M. Thouvenel to the Marquis Lavalette, who was about to return to Rome as French Ambassador, and he was directed to communicate it to the Papal Government. In his instructions to the Ambassador, M. Thouvenel said:

"The attempts of the Empe