rentes. 7,000,000 12,040,000 of certain negotiations already terminated, and to demand of you the means of concluding those which will take place, we dare flatter ourselves, before you again assemble in this Chamber. "In signing the treaty of the S0th May, 1814, the Contracting Powers reciprocally renounced the whole of the sums due to them; but in making this surrender of 1,000,000 their own rights, the governments were 3,000,000 bound to consecrate those of individuals. Special articles declared their guarantee. France formally engaged to liquidate and pay the sums due by her out of her own territory, to individuals or foreign establishments, in virtue of contracts or formal engagements. Measures necessary for the performance of an obligation which France had imposed on herself were in course of adoption, when the melancholy events of 1815 came to destroy all the hopes of repose and prosperity which we had been permitted previously to conceive. 25,040,003 Vote of eventual credit 24,000,000 This Vote of Credit for 24 millions of annuities, is equal to about one million per annum. These annuities are 5 per cents. The amount of 16,040,000 francs perpetual annuities, represents a capital of 320,800,000 francs; to which the last division of the debt is rcduced by this final arrangement. "I shall not, Gentlemen, retrace to you those sad remembrances, still too present to your memories; but let me be permitted to say, the idea alone of mitigating them has sustained us in the painful task which perhaps at that time it required some courage and some devotion to undertake. Since that time the hope of lessening our calamities composed our whole force, and occupied all our reflections. "After the disastrous epoch to which I have referred, France found herself under the weight of two sorts of charges. One founded on the treaty of the 30th of May, 1814, relating to the debts contracted at different periods towards the subjects of foreign Governments; the other, created by the treaty of the 20th of November, gave us the Governments themselves for creditors. "The former, those which have been the object of the negotiation which has been terminated, have had for their object, as you are aware, not as some people affect to believe, to procure indemnities to the inhabitants of the countries ravaged by the war, and still less to grant any to the Governments of those countries; but to assure the payment of debts contracted by virtue of positive acts of the government and legal obligations. Policy may change the relations of different countries, but individuals ought not to suffer by these changes: obligations consecrated towards them ought to be guaranteed and maintained. The credits of which the Convention of the 20th of November has prescribed the liquidation, are not rights and titles created against France. It had for its object only to give security to those which existed previously to the convention, and independently of every treaty. of confidence and frankness; he addressed himself to Sovereigns worthy of hearing him. "I would it were possible, gentlemen, to inform you of all the difficulties inseparable from such a negotiation, unexampled perhaps in the annals of politics. It was necessary to contend, not against general views, not against political combinatious, but against the prejudices, frequently exaggerated, of a multitude of creditors solemuly invited to make good their claims, and who, from every part of Europe, pre: s "In contemplating matters under this point of view, which is the only just one, as it is the only true one, you will be of opinion that the acknowledgment of our debts towards individuals and private establishments out of our territory, is derived from a principle of civil right, independent of every political convention. So was it, without difficulty, admitted by the treaty of the 30th of May, 1814: the two conventions of the 20th of November, 1815, relative, the one to the subjects of the Conti-ed their own Governments to abandon nental Powers, the other to those of Great Britain, could only determine with more precision the applications of this principle, and regulate the forms of the liquidation, in applying to the payment of debts of this nature a capital of 7,000,000 of rentes. These conventions stipulated, that, in case of any deficiency, the French Government will be bound to provide for it. none of them, and denied, as I may say, the right of disputing their claims. "These obstacles, of a nature hitherto unknown, would have been perhaps insurmountable, were it not for the sentiments of equity which animated the Ministers appointed to examine and maintain the interests of the people, and the impartiality and moderation of the illustrious Mediator, whom the confidence of Europe had invited to preside over this important negotiation. It has been at length terminated. New Conventions with all the States which had been parties to that of the 20th of November, 1815, have definitively regulated the debts of France towards their subjects, and the means of "It was in pursuance of this, that the law of the 23d of December, 1815, created a supplementary provision of 2,000,000 of reates. The importance of this reserve could not be appreciated at that period, inasmuch as the sum total of the credits was not then capable of an approximate valuation; but in principle it was difficult to contest it, and, in fact, its amount was alto-liberation. gether the result of necessity. "A year, reckoning from the date of exchanging the ratifications, had been granted for the presentation of claims. It expired on the 28th of February, 1817. It was not until after the expiration of this term, and when the whole amount of the claims had been ascertained, that the French Government could discover that they formed such a mass, that in applying strictly to their liquidation the rules prescribed by the Convention of the 20th of November, the amount would far exceed the capital assigned for their reimbursement, and that a considerable deficit would still remain to be covered. "His Majesty has commanded us to communicate to you the result, until he can lay before you the acts themselves, when they shall have obtained the necessary sanction to permit the publication of their tenour. "One of these treaties concerns the Continental Powers. The amount which France has to furnish for liquidating her remaining debt towards their subjects, is definitively fixed at 12,040,000fr. of rentes. 66 By a particular arrangement with Spain, 1,000,000 is specially set apart for what is due to that power, by virtue of an additional article of the treaty concluded with her in 1814; but as this article is re"This deficit would have formed an ciprocal, and applicable to the French immense debt. If it had been impossible creditors of Spain, as well as to the Spanto calculate it, and to refuse beforehand to ish creditors of France, it has been stipusatisfy it, it was a duty to represent it as lated that the funds to defray this portion evidently exceeding the provision of the of our debts shonld remain in deposit, until treaty of 1815, and the strength of France. the Spanish Goverument shall have, ac"This duty the King's Ministers has-cording to the bases and principles of the tened to perform, by apprising foreign treaty, satisfied the just claims of the Courts of the unexpected results which had French. been thus revealed. A negotiation was opened for representing to foreign Governments the situation in which France was placed by this stipulation, made in good faith, and in the interest of every people. The King spoke to them in the language "A separate convention, which has been concluded with England, to guarantee the execution of the additional article of the treaty of the 30th of May, 1814, and of the Special Convention of 20th of Novemher, 1815, fixes at 3,000,000 fr. of rentes the definitive completion of the funds, of which the payment has been stipulated in the 4th article of the convention, relative to the liquidation of the debts due to the subjects of his Britannic Majesty. Thus, gentlemen, the arrangements that have been concluded, impose on us the obligation of creating 16,040,000 fr. of rentes. His Majesty has commanded us to present the law for inscribing them upon the grand book. By this, gentlemen, will be finally closed that abyss, of which, in 1815, it was impossible to measure the depth, and which threatened to swallow up the public fortune. "It is doubtless distressing to us to present you with a charge so burdensome as a great consolation. More than once in the course of our efforts have we been penetrated with profound grief, in considering the burden our country would have to bear, even when we should have obtained all that we demanded. But now we have the consolation of thinking that we have neglected nothing to diminish it, and thence has arisen our resolution to bear the responsibility of submitting the treaty for the consent of the king. rigorous conditions, she will not demand in vain from Europe to fulfil, in its turn, those which are favourable to her. "The treaty of the 20th of November contains these words:-The military occupation of France may terminate at the end of three years.' This term approaches, and every French heart thrills with the hope of no longer seeing on the soil of the country any other banners floating than those of France. The Sovereigns are going to assemble to pronounce on this great question which contains the destinies of Europe. These are no longer those conferences of kings which history has so often traced as a melancholy presage of the concert of strength against weakness. This august union will open under other auspices. Justice will preside there. The sentiments already manifested by the ru!ers of nations proclaim beforehand their decision. They will yield to the wish of the King, to that wish, which, after the example of his august family, al! France repeats every day with an unanimous voice. They have already heard it, and know that the conditions of which you are going to vote the accomplishment, are not the only ones which we have fulfilled with a scrupulous exactness. "In fact, the most perfect tranquillity reigns throughout France; our institutions develope themselves: they increase in strength with so much the more rapidity, as, at epochs so active as ours, days possess the importance of years. The charter, open to all parties, receives them not to be invaded by them, but that they may unite and lose themselves in its bosom. If they have appeared to revive for a moment, the "To appreciate the result of our efforts, it is necessary calmly to direct your attention towards the past, and to consider all the consequences of the disastrous system which had accumulated on France charges so exorbitant. The mass of claims presented amounted to 1,600,000,000 francs: of this mass about 180,000,000 have been transferred to the fund of credit, created by the law of the twenty-eighth of April, 1815. About 30,000,000 have been de-wise firmness of the king has instantly disclared inadmissible: and there remained 1,300,000,0001 to be liquidated. "Of whatever reduction this sum might be considered susceptible by a liquidation conformable to the regulations traced in the Convention of the 20th of November, it is impossible to believe that it would have remained at the amount of the capital represented by the rentes of 16,040,000 fr. which we now require you to create. "To secure the exact payment of the sums destined to acquit our debts, it has been determined, that the liquidation should be continued by the Powers themselves towards their own subjects. France will no further interfere in this labour than in giving the means proper for facilitating it. | armed them, and this experience has been for Europe, as for us, an evident demonstration of their impotence. Last year, of all calamities, that the most calculated to agitate a nation was cruelly felt. If, amidst these circumstances, the legitimate monarchy has already acquired so much strength and solidity, and displayed so much power, what can it fear for the fature? and with what alarms can France, free under the beneficent sceptre of her kings, inspire Europe? "But that this favourable disposition of treaties may be carried into effect without obstacles, it is fit, gentlemen, to provide for the discharge of what will be still due apon the 700,000,000 which we must pay, according to the 4th article of the treaty of "The epoch is now arrived in which the 20th of November. The king confides France is to receive the price of her couin your zeal to put him in a state of aprageous resignation. Holding these trea-proaching the term of the entire liberation ties, of which she has fulfilled the most of France. His Majesty has charged us, in consequence, to demand of you an eventual credit of 24,000,000 of rentes. I call this credit eventual, because the employment of it will be subordinate to the event which alone can render it necessary, viz. the evacuation of our territory. In all these cases an account will be rendered to you in your next session. "You will easily understand, gentlemen, that without this credit it would be difficult for us to press and to conclude the negotiation which remains for us to terminate; and it is not, undoubtedly, in such circumstances, and for so high an interest, the Deputies of France will hesitate to instrust to Government means without which it would not know how to proceed. "Such is our situation, gentlemensuch are the common wants of the Throne and of the country. We have laid before you, with the most perfect candour, the result of the negotiations that have been terminated, and the hope of those to come. Undoubtedly, the past has, by its glory as by its disasters, bequeathed to us a heavy inheritance: but a long and happy future is allowed to nations which possess strong institutions, and among whom a wise liberty, sustaining, amidst the most cruel reverses, the energy and fortitude of citizens, cannot fail to revive days of prosperity. It is in order to enter speedily into the possession of that for tune, we must hasten to close irrevocably the past, in resigning ourselves to the sacrifices which it still imposes upon us. It is a noble sight to behold a great nation, after so many vicissitudes, acquiring a new species of glory by its firmness in misfortune, its fidelity in fulfilling its engagements. France has passed through its days of trial; it has supported them with courage. We hope that, soon free to give a spring to its activity, it will direct it entirely towards the arts of peace: and that, after having thrown so much eclat into war, it will present a great example to nations, by the wisdom and strength which it has received from its King." After having contemplated this arrangement, the reader will have the good ness to turn to our article already referred to Vol. XV.p.1207, where he will see an official statement of internal loss and waste fully equal to the present: he will then consider the prodigions sums annihilated by the depreciation of assignats &c. &c.: and all this ruin, with the other miseries of the Revolution, occasioned by a miserable deficit of less than £2,000,000 per annum ! Travels through some Parts of Germany, Poland, Moldavia, and Turkey. By Adam Neale M. D. 4to. £2 2s. with Plates. Longman and Co. London .1818. Although these travels were performed so long ago, as the year 1805, they will still be read with interest, on account of the author's route, which lay, in part, through regions, concerning which we have little recent information. Embarking at Harwich, Dr. Neale first landed on the celebrated island of Heligoland; being detained here for several hours, he employed his involuntary leisure, in exploring its surface, and making such researches as his limited opportunity afforded him. D'Anville states that this island was for merly many miles in extent, bnt about the years 800 and 1300 of the Christian æra, great portions of the downs were swept away by the action, either of high spring tides, or by the concussion of earthquakes; and that as lately as 1649, much of the remaining beach was carried off by an inundation of the sea. The present inhabitants amount to about two thousand souls. The men gain their subsistence by fishing and pilotage, while the women tend the flocks of sheep and cows, and cultivate the soil, which produces little more than barley and oats. The communication between the cliff and the downs is carried on by means of a broad wooden staircase, fixed in the rock, which is red breccia.-There are three wells of fresh water, but scarcely a shrub or tree of any kind on the island; and turf, wood-fuel. and garden vegetables, are brought from Cuxhaven and Hamburg, in exchange for the fish, with which the hardy Heligolanders supply these towns. The ancient inhabitants of the coast of Holstein after having suffered for more than ten centuries repeated inundations, some of which carried off above six or seven hundred persons, entire villages, and whole herds of cattle at a time, determined at length to undertake the inclosure of the entire coast, and by means of dykes to fence off for ever the raging element. For this purpose they dug deep ditches around all the marshes, and heaping up all the excavated earth on the outer brink, they formed broad dykes eight feet in height, and of a corresponding width. These works were carried on at intervals during four centuries. At the commencement of * Comp. LIT, PAN. O. S. Vol. IX. p. 869. and superintend the repairs of the dykes all along this line of coast. The particular improvement which this Dutch engineer introduced into Holstein, was that of covering the dykes with straw ropes, a process which during our walk this day we had an opportunity of witnessing. The workmen having a bundle of straw near them, kneel down on the external slope of the dyke, and having twisted a rope of about two inches in thickness, thrust it into the carth of the embankment to the depth of several inches, by means of a forked chisel. To the remaining end of the rope they twist more straw, and again press it into the earth at intervals of six or eight inches, proceeding in this manner regularly along the dyke from top to bottom, each straw rope being laid close to the preceding as regularly as the bands of a beehive. The grass speedily springing up between these ropes, binds the whole surface together with its roots, and presents a yielding elastic cover to the waves of the sea, against which they produce little effect. The quantity of straw consumed annually in these repairs, is, no doubt, immense, as it is necessary to tenew these ropes whenever they become decayed, but such is the amazing fertility of the inclosed soil, that the farmers are speedily repaid, and the roofs of the barns and farm houses being all thatched with bog-reeds, which are extremely durable, the straw from the fields is entirely set apart for the repairs of the dykes. the eleventh century, the inclosed marshes on the coast of Sleswick alone were so extensive, as to include three provinces. However. in the year 1975, during a high spring tide, a south-west gale impelled the sea over the dyke of the island of Nord Strand, and the dyke itself having yielded to the force of the waves, a great part of the island was washed away. Similar catastrophes occurred in the years 1114 and 1158, and in 1204, which proved fatal to many of the marsh settlers. At length in the year 1216, the sea having isen so high, that its waves passed over North Strand, Eyder Stade, and Ditmarsh, nearly ten thousand inhabitants of these low lands perished. Again, in the year 1330, when part of Heligoland was engalphed, seven parishes in North Strand and Pell worm were destroyed; and in the year 1338, a great portion of Ditmarsh was swept away. Lastly, in the year 1362, the isles of Fora and Sylt, then forming one tract, were absolutely disjoined, and Nord Strand, then a marsh joined to the continent, was formed into an island. Things remained in this state till the year 1525, when the inhabitants having in some measure recovered from their despair, again turned their thoughts to excluding the ocean. For this end stakes were planted in front of all the creeks which admitted the sea, and osiers interwoven between them These served as a sort of advanced work to break the force of the waves. Behind these, some years afterwards they raised dykes of considerable height, employing wheel-barrows, which were at that time (1500) a new invention. About the same period, the interior canals were enlarged and deepened so as to obtain more earth to augment the bases of the dykes. Notwithstanding which, on the 11th of October 1634, the sea having risen to an excessive height, made a breach in the dykes, and overwhelmed Pellworm, Nord Strand, a great part of Titmarsh, and a portion of the new lands of Jutland. Princes now came forward to the relief of their suffering sub-mentioned city, by Schwerin, and Neujects, and Frederick the third Duke of Sleswick having learnt that the art of making embankments had attained greater perfection in Holland than elsewhere, applied to the States General, requesting they would send him an experienced engineer with proper workmen. This being grant ed, all the ruined dykes were repaired in the most substantial manner, and the descendants of the engineer were endowed with grants of land, and being Catholics, were protected in the free exercise of their religion; they now inhabit Nerd Strand, The principal place on this island is Husum; a poor village, containing about five hundred houses built in the Dutch style. The inhabitants, whose dress and appearance greatly resemble those of the Hollanders, are chiefly supported by dredging for oysters and preparing malt, of both which articles they send very considerable quantities to Altona and Hamburg. Quitting Heligoland, our traveller proceeded through the last stadt, to Berlin, and thence to Dresden. Of these well-known places we have interesting accounts, which we pass, in order to conduct our readers to Toeplitz, the Bath of Saxony, and, like that wellknown watering-place, the summer resort of the fashionable valetudinarians of Saxony and Bohemia, who flock thither in multitudes to lounge, bathe, and gamble. Its waters are said to have been in good repute for the cure of gouty, rheumatic, 1 |