REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE.
Though England is at present so much more heavily taxed than France, the case, in former ages, was very different. The want of a representative body in that country led to the pernicious practice of farming the taxes, and of permitting the contractors (traitans) to make many undue extortions from the people. Sully first endeavoured to moderate these exactions. After him the most assiduous financier was Colbert, who carried, in 1682, the revenue of France to L.5,000,000 Sterling, at a time when the English revenue did not exceed a third of that sum. The long and expensive wars of Louis XIV. produced a great accumulation of debt (nearly L.100,000,000 Sterling), which, after his death, was lessened by an appeal to a singular privilege, of which advantage has often been taken in France, viz that a new sovereign is not bound to pay the debts of his predecessor in full. During the eighteenth century the revenue of France increased progressively, but more slowly than that of England ; the vicious sys tem of farming the taxes still continued. Necker, appointed to office in 1776, sought to teach the French court the value of publicity in financial state ments, and gave the rare example of a war conduct ed for several years without new taxes, the supplies being, found by loans, the interest of which was pro vided for by successive retrenchments in the public expenditure. His successor, M. de Calonne, pur sued a very different course, and was found altogether incapable of the measures necessary to remedy an annual deficiency of L.2,000,000 which now took place. The revenue of France was then about L.22,000,000 Sterling The sum required • for payment of the interest of the public debt was nearly L.10,000,000, leaving only L.12,000,000 for the army, navy, civil list, and other public ex. Such was the state of the French finances at a date soon followed by invasion on the frontier, and, in the interior, by all the confusion of the reign of terror. In the era of confiscation and judicial mur der, the national debt could hardly be. respected. It was not, however, openly cancelled, but the interest was issued in assignats of no value except for pur chases of national property. At last, in 1798, on an approximation to regularity in the management of public business, there was passed a law, declaring that one third of the old national debt should be sacred, and the interest on it payable in bons, or paper receivable in discharge of taxes. This third was call ed La tiers provisoire, but its price in the market continued very low until Bonaparte succeeded to power, and placed Gaudin, afterwards Duke of Gaeta, at the head of the treasury, when means were found to redeem the stocks from their de pression, and to resume the payment of the divi dends in cash. Could Bonaparte have obtained
large sums on loan, his career of aggression and conquest would have been still more rapid ; but, on the restoration of the Bourbons, in 1814, the public debt, funded and unfunded, did not exceed t L.123,000,000 ; its interest L.7,000,000. France had thus a fair prospect of financial prosperity, when the return of Bonaparte, and a second invasion by the allied troops, overthrew public credit, and pro duced a national loss, which, if to the very heavy contribution we add the general derangement of trade, greatly exceeded L.100,000,000 Sterling. Hence a long list of financial embarrassments ; an oppressive addition to the taxes ; delay of payment to the public creditor, and .loans made at an interest of 8 and even 9 per cent.
Before the Revolution nearly half the revenue of France was raised, as in England, by taxes on con sumption, viz. on salt, wine, brandy, tobacco, stamps, leather, and foreign goods, imported. All these were abrogated, in 1791, by the National Assembly, and replaced, by a property-tax (foncier), partly by the ruinous expedient of issuing assignats. This was done to establish the Revolution in the hearts of the people, who continued exempt from their old burdens above ten years, and so necessary was it to observe caution in recurring to these imposts, that it was not till 1803 and 1804, when the power of Bona parte was fully consolidated, that taxes on consump tion were renewed. The amount of the revenue was greatly impaired by this long exemption, and by the general confusion of the Revolution. In 1799, the ex penditure/ exceeded the receipt by L.8,000,000 Ster ling. The continental peace, a partial reduction of ex penditure and improvements in the collection of the taxes, brought, in 1803, the receipts to L.19,500,000, while the expenditure was L20,000,000. In sub sequent years, both received a progressive augmenta tion, and, in 1813, the revenue derived from France, ex elusive ofconquered territory, was about L.27,000,000. Such also was its amount on the occurrence of the disasters of 1815, when the sums raised loan proving insufficient, it became indispensable to impose additional taxes. These carried the revenue, in 1818, to nearly L.35,000,000, but as they are already (1820) relinquished in part, and a promise given by government to relinquish more, we proceed to state the revenue of France in that form, which, after the expected modification, is likely to be per manent.