sem nei 20000) franes år te etesses nrutental a the Fres dents plane of residence, it a sum of 23 ** frances had been paid in the Home Department for cases of vantreece mended by the Frescient. These sums made an allowance which practically amounted to 1,539000 francs a year.

The Dotation Bill brought forward by the Government proposed that a supplementary credit of 2,400,000 francs should be opened to the Minister of Finance in his budget, in order to raise 250,000 francs a month, as the frais de représentation of the President of the Republic from the 1st of January, 1850. This Bill was referred to a Committee of the Assembly, and was rejected by them by a majority of 9 to 5. There was considerable difficulty in finding a Member of the Committee who willing to draw up their report, 1st M. Flandin, a member mority, consented to unthe task.

port prepared by him was to the Assembly on the June. It was a long docuthom which we select one or ges. The Committee said,

ium us be the thought of The mealses of a heart so sof the President Bernice, or of turning is Heral hand from allerusdruce: we are not igCHIC MW many sufferings arise 11 mumeos vỂ Crisis and transition; ve great all the sacrifices imset in the elected of December

in the great name which he And the glorious reminisces with the country beheld les coed in him. We do not deny that the salary of the resdent eight to assume larger priporos for the nephew of Napoleon; but we conceive that

that was fully provided for

by adding to the salary granted by the Constitution a

of equal amount for frais de representation; and next, by freemy him from all the expenses ineiiental to his place of residence, and which are put down in the budget at upwards of 200,000ƒ.

"That conviction was confirmed by the straightforward declaration of the Minister of the Interior before the Committee, that his department, both under his own ministry and that of his predecessor, had paid to the extent of 150,000 francs for cases of want recommended by the President of the Republic.

"Undersuch circumstances, would it be fitting to raise the real salary to a sum six times greater than the amount fixed by the Constitution?

"The Committee, after the most mature deliberation, has come to the opinion that an amount of sums accorded, amounting to 3,600,000 franes, would constitute a veritable civil list; particularly if it be borne in mind that the demand of the Government is founded not on reasons of circumstance, but on

motives which by their permanence apply to the future as well as to the present.

"The majority of the Committee has not been able to admit the Bill in its form and in its tenor.

"However, it has been struck by some considerations in the exposé des motifs. In the latter part of that document an allusion is made to the sacrifices incurred by the President in his private fortune for the benefit of the state. The country cannot wish that such should be the case, as the honour of being invested with the place of first magistrate ought not to be the direct or indirect cause of ruin to any one.

"It is certainly just and constitutional, whatever is resolved on, that the private patrimony of the President ought to remain intact. . "The question of principle was clearly laid down in the preamble of the law and maintained by the Government. Can the dignity of the President require the addition of 2,000,000 to his constitutional salary of 600,000 francs, to the supplementary allocation of 600,000 francs, and the 200,000 francs he derives from the Ministry of Public Works, and the 150,000 francs placed at his disposal for charitable purposes by the Minister of the Interior?

"What would be the result, if in his own interest and that of the country the Assembly did not put a period to the liberalities of the President? It is said that the functions of the President of the United States and in France are very different. The salaries are as different; and people seem to forget that there is a still greater disparity between a Presidency and Royalty, and that we are now deliberating on the salary of a Presi

dent, and not on the civil list of a King. Notwithstanding the decrease in the value of money for the last 60 years, and the general progress of luxury, none of the successors of the illustrious Washington demanded an augmentation in the amount of the presidential salary. Public opinion in the United States, prepared by learned publicists, only claims one thing from Congress, that is, a pension for the President on his retirement from office.

"Under existing circumstances is it not also an imperious duty for the Assembly to be parsimonious in every respect of the money of the taxpayers? Who could consider as an act of hostility a desire to economise, which originates in the love of the people? The majority of the Committee emanates from the majority of the Assembly itself; it is animated with the same spirit, and has nothing to state of a nature to modify its opinion respecting a question, the terms of which have not been changed, and which has not been elucidated by any new document. It is not hostile to the Government, in whose wisdom it confides.

66

The Committee has the honour to propose to the Assembly the following project of law :

"Art. 1. An extraordinary credit of 1,600,000 francs is opened in the Ministry of Finance, for the expenditures incurred in 1849 and 1850, for the installation of the President of the Republic."

On the same day, 21st of June, General Lahitte, Minister of Foreign Affairs, next ascended the tribune, and said: "I have the honour of announcing to the Assembly that the Cabinet of Her Britannic Majesty consents, for the adjustment of the affairs of Greece,

racter of which remained unchanged.

M. Kerdrel contended that the amendment which should first be discussed was that accepted by the Ministry. This course was agreed to after a short reply from M. Baroche.

General Changarnier next rose and said, that no Government had done more than the present to calm divisions and restore confidence, and yet none was more bitterly assailed by parties. If he had an advice to give, it would be to vote the integrity of the credit simply, nobly, and in a manner becoming a great Assembly. He could not conceive any advantage from an idle discussion and chi