cluded from making use of in any manner whatever. Here is a real loss of two millions. Combination the fourth!

"In fine, on the fifty per cent. of the loan at the disposal of the republic, the interest of the first year, six per cent. is retained in advance. The borrower thus paying interest upon interest. Combination the fifth!

"So that in reality by reducing all the above combinations' to their simple and true meaning, the Texan government will receive only 440 francs net for every obligation of 1000 francs; in other words, less than a moiety! Is not this the act of a child that deserves banishment?

"Let us now place before the reader a veritable picture of the annual charge which Texas thus imposes upon herself by this loan:

Francs.

1. Redemption, at par, of 1,000 bonds every year 1,000,000 2. Interest at 6 per cent. on one moiety of the loan

(18,500,000 francs)

3. Interest at 6 per cent. on one-fourth of the loan not contributed by subscribers

555,000

185,000

4. Loss of 2 per cent. interest on one-fourth of the loan, remaining in trust in Lafitte's bank

5. Commissions to M. Lafitte, which can be at present only named as Memorandum

2,850,000

"The Texan Exchequer will then have to pay every year the sum of 2,850,000 francs for a capital of 16,280,000 francs, which it will have received at the rate of 440 francs for each of the 37,000 bonds issued. In a word, if Texas fulfil her engagements, she will have redeemed at the end of six years a loan which will oppress her in a decreasing ratio, we admit, for thirty-seven years!

"The prospectus announces that the produce of the customs, and five millions of acres of land are to be specially set apart as the guarantee for the loan. But, in the words of M. Lafitte, as expressed in the first edition of the prospectus, from some

inexplicable motive carefully omitted in the second, 'What is the product of the customs of a country born yesterday?' What importance can attach to the commercial relations of Texas, after the tedious warfare it has sustained, and will doubtless yet have to sustain against Mexico?

"The five millions of acres given as a guarantee for thirty-seven millions of francs, represent a value of 7 francs 40 cents per acre, (18 francs 28 cents per hectare). But is this estimate of 7 francs 40 cents. the precise value of the land? In a word, if it were desired to sell the five millions of acres, would it be easy to realise 37,000,000 francs? Certainly not. In order to give an undue importance to this part of the guarantee, M. Lafitte estimates the acre at 7 francs 40 cents; this being the computation which exactly covers the amount of the loan. But, by the side of M. Lafitte's allegations, we have those of a company formed for the sale of lands in Texas, which affirm that 7 francs 40 cents per acre is much too high a rate, considering the sales that have been already effected by that government. There is something still worse, namely, that the lands sold by government may be sold with their public liabilities, which are worth only 25 per cent., and which government will be obliged to take at par. It necessarily results from this circumstance that the lands sold by government at the rate of 24 francs per acre, will be better disposed of than those sold subject to the loan guarantee at the rate of 7 francs 40 cents. Since the purchaser at 24 francs will be free from the public liabilities, the effect of which is a loss of 75 per cent.

66

Finally, as to the solidity of the security. Suppose the value of the ceded land should cover the whole of the loan, there would exist a still stronger reason for inquiring into the nature of the property. Texas is a country 'born yesterday,' a country in a state of rebellion, which was conquered by the success of its arms, a sort of independence which has been acknowledged by a few nations scarcely two years. Is there not good ground for anticipating that Mexico will renew the contest? Nay, but recently it was announced that Mexican troops were actually on their march

against Texas to recommence hostilities. In such a case what Iwould then become of the beautiful and fertile lands'-the public domain which, according to M. Lafitte, is to him alone a source of immense wealth? What, we ask, will be the fate of that country to which most of the public journals invited attention. some months since with a zeal which reminded one of those halcyon days when a well-known financier disposed of a part of the press for the purpose of puffing off the Spanish loans? "The prospectus is indited in the most seductive terms, and does not disdain to employ a falsehood for the purpose of having it believed that the risk of the lender is reduced to 50 per cent., and that the redemption of the capital and interest is, during the first five years, completely protected against all casualties.

"How could Lafitte's bank have descended to such means to allure the confidence of the credulous! How indignant must every one feel on reading sentences fraught with such formal assurances, the utter falsehood of which is apparent upon the slightest examination. We have written the word and we repeat it. IT IS FALSE THAT THE RISK OF THE LENDERS IS REDUCED TO FIFTY PER CENT. It is also false that the redemption of the capital and interest may, during five years, be completely protected from all casualties if the Texan government should not fulfil its engagements.

"We say to those of whom the money is solicited, that the risk is upon the whole sum subscribed, and that the payment of the interest and capital is not secured for five years.

"H. D."

It appears also from the following article, published in the Times of August 31, 1841, that the Texans themselves think that a loan would not extricate them from their present embarrassments, but on the contrary, that it would involve them beyond all redemption :

"At New Orleans the money market was quiet. The speculators in Texan currency (paper) would not pay the prices that had formerly ruled, premising that the loan would never be completed; and that if it was, no part would be made available to pay off the outstanding liabilities of the republic.

"On the subject of the Texan loan a private letter has been received from Galveston, which, originating as it does from the Texans themselves, shows that while their neighbours are doubtful whether they will get the loan, they themselves are not anxious for the completion of the obligation, and are far from satisfied at the accommodation afforded them by their friends in Paris. The conditions of the loan being, that Texas is to receive 750 francs, or about 150 dollars for shares of 1000 francs, or 200 dollars, paying 6 per cent. on 35,000,000 francs, mortgaging her custom revenues for ten years, selling 3,000,000 acres of her best lands, and leaving the deposit of 25 per cent. for two years at Lafitte's for the further guarantee of the shareholders, the calculation is made as follows:-The amount of 35,000,000 francs is set down in dollars at 6,510,000, (the nominal amount being 7,000,000 dollars,) from which, deducting the discount of 25 per cent., the sum of 4,882,500 dollars is left. This is the value at 75 per cent.; but again deducting the sum which is to lie for two years at Lafitte's, it is reduced to 3,255,000 dollars, (for which they have to pay two years,) the remaining 1,627,500 dollars is to be paid at the end of the two years. Thus they say they borrow 3,255,000 dollars, for which they have to pay two years' interest, amounting to 840,000 dollars, or above 13 per cent. per annum, leaving in their hands 2,415,000 dollars. The arrival of the remaining part of the loan will give them 4,042,000 dollars, for which they will pay a yearly interest of 420,000 dollars. After this detailed calculation a hope is expressed that the loan, which is regarded as an infliction instead of a blessing, may never reach Texas."

In order to obtain money, even on the ruinous terms set forth by La Presse, the proposed treaty

UNRATIFIED

between England and Texas, which was to silence the Mexican cry of justice, was brought forward, and every effort was made to induce the world to believe that the treaty had been duly ratified by the two contracting parties, my Lord Palmerston and the adroit slave-holder, General Hamilton; but the treaty between England and Texas, of which the following is a correct copy, has not been ratified, nor can her Majesty's government entertain any proposition to that effect in the face of passing events, and with such a beacon as that contained in Lord Durham's report on Canada.

"TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS AND GREAT BRITAIN.

"THE Republic of Texas and her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, being equally desirous of affording every facility and encouragement to their respective citizens and subjects engaged in commercial intercourse with each other, have nominated as their plenipotentiary to conclude a treaty for this purpose, that is to say:

"The Republic of Texas, General James Hamilton, &c.

&c.

"And her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honourable Henry John Viscount Palmerston, Baron Temple, a peer of Ireland, a member of her Britannic Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, a Member of Parliament, Knight Grand Cross of the most honourable Order of the Bath, and her Britannic Majesty's principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs:

"Who, after having communicated to each other their respect