far below the amount expected, and the estimated deficit will be equal to 180,000,000f.

"Another unexpected circumstance has made our situation worse. The tax on liquors, the produce of which exceeds 100,000,000f., required to be moderated and simplified by a new form, which should harmonize it with the spirit of our institutions. An amendment added to the budget of 1849 has abolished it from the 1st of January, 1850, and has prohibited its reimposition.

"It has, nevertheless, been necessary to restore the equilibrium between receipts and expenses, and this end can only be attained by reducing the expenses and opening new sources of re

curity, and our influence has increased.

"The works of the port of Algiers, and those which are designed to improve our methods of communication, are carried on with the activity which the appropriations of the budget admit of.

"The state of the produce of this year shows that private colonization is progressing.

"The establishment and development of the agricultural colonies are continued with zeal and perseverance.

"Our fleet, which protects our colonies and makes our flag respected in every sea, is composed

"Of the active sailing fleet, comprising 10 ships of the line, 8 frigates, 18 corvettes, 24 brigs, 12 transports, and 24 light vessels.

"Of the active steam fleet, comprising 14 frigates, 13 corvettes, and 34 despatch boats.

"Besides the active fleet there are advanced ships and ships in ordinary. This reserve is ready to act on the shortest notice. It is composed of 10 ships of the line, 15 sailing frigates, 10 steam frigates, 6 steam corvettes, and 6 mail steamers.

"To man these vessels there are required 950 officers of all ranks, not including cadets, and an effective of seamen not less than 28,500 men.

tural instruction. Some more of these schools will be established.

"The institutions of Sauslaie and Grand-Jouard have assumed the rank of district schools. They are now establishments of the State, according to the law of the 3rd of October.

"The Administration has caused itself to be put in possession of the farms in the little park of Versailles, which is intended for a national agricultural institution.

"One hundred and twenty-two agricultural societies, and more than 300 minor institutions, have taken part in the distribution of the funds which were voted for the encouragement of agriculture.

"The foreign trade of France amounted in 1847 to a total of 2 milliards and 614 millions. 1343 1343 millions of these were imports, and 1271 millions were exports. "Sorely tried by political events, the year 1848, as might have been foreseen, witnessed a considerable decrease in French commerce. An exact computation of that decrease has not yet been made, for the administration of the Custom House cannot as yet determine the exact amount, though there can be no doubt but that the supposed sum will be considerably reduced. The consumption of raw materials has fallen greatly. The iron trade has sunk from 95,941 tons to 45,553 tons; coals from 2,173,000 to 1,796,000 tons; wool from 138,000 to 80,962 cwt.; silk from 15,000 to 7688, &c.

The variation of our foreign trade in 1848 can be accurately judged by the Custom-house re

turns.

"In 1847, the monthly average number was 11,000,000f.

"The average number in January and February, 1848, was 8,700,000ƒ.

March and the next three months showed a steady decrease down to 5,000,000f. The average number of July, August, and September, rose to a little above 8,000,000f., and, finally, the last three months of the year presented an average of 9,000,000f.-that is to say, double that of the most agitated months.

"It is clear that in the course of the last three months, and in proportion as the country approached the regular and definitive constitution of power, the improvement in trade and public confidence went on steadily increasing.

"The question of penal reform and the question of prison labour are bound up with the interests of industry. Each of these systems has been subjected to a special examination; strenuous efforts have been made to re-establish disci

pline, and the Administration is especially occupied with the idea. of, perhaps, making agriculture play a part in the organization of convict labour.

"The number of county
prisons is

"Of central depôts
"Of houses of correction
for juvenile offenders.
"Agricultural colonies found-
ed by the Government.
"Agricultural colonies under
private direction

400

21

12

5

7

moves, and to calm it when she becomes quiet. Europe lays its repose or its agitation at our door. This responsibility imposes important duties upon us; it dominates over our situation.

"After the days of February the recoil of our revolution was felt from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and my predecessors in office refused to throw France into a war of which they could not see the end. They were right.

"The state of civilization in Europe allows us to deliver one's country to the hazards of a general collision only when a man has necessity and justice unmistakably on his side. A secondary influence, a more or less specious political reason, are not enough; a nation like ours, if it does engage in a gigantic struggle, ought to be able to justify in the eyes of the world either the magnitude of its successes or that of its misfortunes.

"When I came to power, great questions were pending throughout Europe. On the banks of the Rhine, beyond the Alps, from Denmark to Sicily, we had our interests to protect, our influence to exert. But did this interest and this influence for being energetically upheld, merit the chances of a European conflagration? The question thus put was easily answered.

which became still more cruel; and though England was more interested in the question than even France, the two admirals united to obtain from the King Ferdinand an amnesty for the Sicilians and a Constitution which guaranteed their legislative and administrative independence. They refused. The admirals quitted Sicily, being forced to abandon their mediation, and soon afterwards the war began. The very people which had refused to accept favourable conditions was forced to an unconditional surrender.

"A serious war broke out in the north of Italy, and when the Piedmontese army advanced to the Mincio it was thought, though but for one moment only, that Lombardy would reconquer its independence. Discord proved fatal to that hope, and the King of Piedmont was obliged to retreat within his own States.

"At the time of my election, the mediation of England and France had been accepted by the belligerent parties. The only thing to be effected was to get the least disadvantageous conditions for Piedmont. Our part was traced out, and even prescribed. To refuse compliance was the inflaming a European war. Though Austria did not send any agent to Brussels, the place which was designated for the conference, the French Government counselled Piedmont to resist the movement which was hurrying her into war, and not to recommence a too unequal conflict.

"This counsel was not followed, as you know; and after a new defeat, the King of Sardinia concluded directly with Austria a fresh armistice.

66

Although France was not responsible for this conduct, she

could not permit Piedmont to be crushed, and from the tribune itself the Government declared that it would maintain the integrity and territory of a country which covers one portion of our frontiers. On the one side it used its best endeavours to moderate the requirements of Austria, when she demanded an indemnity for the war which appeared to her exorbitant. On the other hand, it engaged Piedmont to make just sacrifices in order to obtain an honourable peace. We have every reason to believe that we shall be successful in this work of conciliation.

"While these events were passing in the north of Italy, new commotions arose in the centre of the Peninsula to complicate the question.

"In Tuscany the Grand Duke has quitted his states. In Rome a revolution had been accomplished which had profoundly agitated the Catholic and liberal world; in effect, for two years one had been in the habit of seeing on the Holy Throne a Pontiff who took the initiative in useful reforms, and whose name, repeated in hymns of gratitude from one end of Italy to the other, was a symbol of liberty and a pledge of every hope. It was then we heard on a sudden with astonishment that this Sovereign, so lately the idol of his people, had been compelled to fly furtively from the capital.

"So it was the acts of aggression which enforced Pius IX. to quit Rome appeared, in the eyes of Europe, to be rather a conspiracy than the movement of a people, which could not have passed in one moment from the most lively enthusiasm to the most afflicting ingratitude.

"The Catholic Powers de

de

spatched Ambassadors to Gaeta to occupy themselves about the grave interests of the Papacy. France, too, had a right to be represented there. She listened to everything without committing herself to any course of action; but after the defeat of Novara affairs assumed a more decided aspect. Austria, in concert with Naples, answering the appeal of the Holy Father, notified to the French Government that it must decide upon its course, for these Powers were determined to march upon Rome with the intention of restoring purely and simply the authority of the Pope.

When we were thus in a position in which explanation was necessary, we had but one of three courses to adopt :

"Either to oppose ourselves by arms to every species of intervention, in which case we came to a rupture with all Catholic Europe in the sole interest of the Roman Republic, which we had not recognised;

"Or, to allow the three Powers in coalition to re-establish, according to their inclination and without limitation, the authority of the Pope;

"Or, lastly, to exercise a direct and independent action by our own spontaneous movement.

"The Government of the Republic adopted this last course.

It seemed to us an easy thing to make the Romans understand that, pressed as they were on every side, their only chance of safety lay in us; that, if our presence brought about as one of its results the return of Pius IX., the Sovereign, faithful to his own character, would bring back with him reconciliation and liberty; that, once at Rome, we guaranteed the integrity of the