for the Government candidate that they will not be unduly pressed for the payment of arrears of taxes. The consequence is that it is difficult to ascertain how far the majority returned to the Legislative Body represents the real wishes of the nation, and a dangerous weapon of attack is placed in the hands of the Opposition.

On New Year's Day the Emperor received the Diplomatic Body, and thus addressed them :—

"I am happy to say that a spirit of conciliation animates all the European powers, and that the moment a difficulty arises they agree among themselves to smooth away and avert complications. I hope the year now commencing will contribute, like the one just expired, towards removing many apprehensions and strengthening the bonds which should unite civilized nations."

To the congratulations of the Deputies his Majesty replied,"Every year the co-operation of the Legislative Body becomes more indispensable to the preservation in France of that real liberty which can only prosper through respect for the laws and a just balance of power. It is always, therefore, with lively satisfaction that I receive the expression of your devoted and patriotic sentiments." To the members of the Court of Cassation the Emperor said,— "The sense of justice must penetrate now more than ever our national customs; it is the most sure guarantee of liberty."

And to the clergy,—

"The congratulations of the clergy move me deeply; their prayers sustain and console me. From what is going on in the world we can see how indispensable it is to assert the great principles of Christianity, which teach us virtue, that we may know how to live, and immortality, that we may know how to die."

Since the year 1789 the Moniteur had been the official organ of every Government that has existed in France. But it was not wholly an official newspaper, and claimed to exercise an independent judgment in that portion of its columns which was not the mouthpiece of the Ministry of the day. This, however, was a freedom which the Second Empire did not approve of. To quote the words of the Moniteur at the beginning of this year,

"The Second Empire claimed to take from the Moniteur its character of a calm chronicler, and make of it a more active political organ; to stamp upon it more distinctly and more completely its own impress; in a word, to extend even to the smallest details, even to its literary articles, the same official character. But the old traditions of the paper resisted; an institution which counts nearly a century of existence does not easily allow itself to be transformed in a day, when it has proved that it knows how to march by itself, with progress. The Minister of State, irritated by this resistance, decided on undoing what the First Consul had done, and on having a journal for himself, in which every thing should be official, and in which not a line should be inserted but what the Government was responsible for."

The consequence was that the alliance between the journal and

the Government, which had existed for eighty years, was at the commencement of the present year brought to an end, and a new newspaper, called the Journal Officiel de l'Empire Française, was established as the organ of the Empire, and it appeared for the first time on January 2, with a Ministerial ordinance authorizing its title. In connexion with the question of the press, we may mention that early in January M. Seguier, the Procureur-Impérial of Toulouse, having incurred the censure of the Government for supposed remissness in his duties in not prosecuting newspapers, sent in his resignation, and addressed the following letter to the editor of the Emancipation of Toulouse, a journal against which proceedings were instituted ::

"Sir, The Keeper of the Seals (Minister of Justice) has accepted my resignation as Procureur-Impérial of Toulouse. I am the victim of my leniency towards the press. My cause is your own, and I ask of you to make known to my fellow-citizens the circumstances that have led me to adopt that resolution; the subjoined letter which I address to the Procureur-Général leaves no doubt on the subject:

:

"M. le Procureur-Général,-I have the honour to thank you for having communicated to me the fresh reproaches addressed to me by the Keeper of the Seals, and I pray you to excuse the trouble I occasion you at this moment.

"It appears from the letter of the Keeper of the Seals, dated the 30th of December, (1) that in my address, pronounced on the 24th against the Emancipation, I desired to commit you to the singular engagement I am said to have taken to accept the indulgence of the Tribunal.

"I never uttered a word of the kind; and this proves to me what, in point of fact, I already knew-that the persons who are charged with watching me during the proceedings in the court, and with repeating my words, have been ill-selected. You inform me (2) that the Keeper of the Seals does not think he can any longer tolerate my addresses as public prosecutor, on the ground of their being too weak as regards the press.

"Now, to address a court under the supervision of a secret police, and to adopt conclusions imposed beforehand by the Keeper of the Seals, are two things which, for my part, I cannot accept ; and therefore I pray you, M. le Procureur-Général, to be so good as to place my resignation as Procureur-Impérial of Toulouse in the hands of the Keeper of the Seals.

"The resignation I offer is not a voluntary act. It is forced upon me by the unjust and offensive reproaches which have been lavished upon me for some time past, for my attitude towards the press; and it is a real disgrace I am subjected to at this moment for my desire to serve the Emperor with the moderation and dignity which the Keeper of the Seals himself recommended to us in his Circular of the 4th of June, 1868.'

"I remain respectfully yours,
SEGUIER, Procureur-Impérial.

Upon this the law students of Toulouse, to the number of 300 or 400, presented an address to M. Seguier to this effect:

Sir,-Calling to mind the noble words pronounced by M. Grévy on the opening of the Conference of the Licentiates of Paris, and imbued with the precepts of law, the study of which inspires independence and liberty, we applaud the courageous act which your conscience has dictated to you, as well as the noble sentiments which have directed your conduct. It is an example which shall not be lost on us, and to which the young men of the schools think it a duty to do honour."

We mentioned in our last volume that in consequence of the insurrection in Crete, and the hostile feeling between the Governments of Turkey and Greece, a Conference of the Great Powers had been proposed, and on the 3rd of January this year, the following announcement appeared in the Journal Officiel :

"After the diplomatic rupture between Turkey and Greece, the Cabinets of Europe showed themselves animated by the desire to prevent serious consequences. Prussia proffered the advice that friendly relations should be resorted to on the part of the Powers which signed the Treaty of Paris assembling at a Conference. The Government of the Emperor recognized the opportuneness of this proposition, and recommended it without delay to all the Courts of Europe, with a view to obtain their assent, agreeing with them that the intended deliberations should be confined to the sole and welldefined purpose of examining to what extent compliance ought to be made with the demands of the Turkish ultimatum. A telegram has been received from M. Bourrée, the French Ambassador in Constantinople, dated the 31st of last month, announcing that the Porte had declared its readiness to join the Conference. It has also been agreed to admit a Greek plenipotentiary as merely taking part in the discussion, without a vote. Complete harmony, therefore, exists between the Powers as regards the assembling of a Conference at Paris."

A Conference was held accordingly, and finished its labours in February. It recommended the Greek Government not to permit the assembly of armed bands on Greek territory to invade friendly states, nor allow ships to be armed in its ports for the purpose of attacking a neighbouring power with which it is at peace. It informed the Greeks that they are bound to respect the rules common to all Governments in their future dealings with the Ottoman Empire; and trusted that the Hellenic Government would, without delay or hesitation, reconcile its acts with the principles of right which had been called to its recollection, and that the causes for the complaints embodied in the ultimatum of the Porte would be entirely removed.

The diplomatic relations between Greece and Turkey were thereupon re-established as before.

The Annual Report of M. Magne, Minister of Finance to the

Emperor, was published on January 12, and the following are some of the most important passages:

"THE LOAN.

"At the commencement of 1868 we had before us three necessities of the first order, for which it was urgently necessary to provide.

"The political events of 1867 had augmented the charge of the floating debt, which required a prompt relief. On the other hand, we could not remain, as far as our land and naval armaments were concerned, below the standard of modern science and in the rear of other countries. Finally, commerce and industry demanded, with a just persistence, an acceleration, rendered indispensable for works of general utility.

"It is reasonable to impose on Budgets only those sacrifices which they can support, otherwise we should expose ourselves to indefinitely prolonged difficulties and constraint. A recourse to credit is, certainly, an extreme measure; but experience proves that there is no advantage generally in adjourning too long the remedies recognized as necessary, and which may be decisive. Hence the thought, shared by the Government and the Chamber, to issue a loan of 429 millions, and to divide its produce, for the reasons which had led to it, in the following manner :

"Increased by a supplement of 21,500,000f. to pay the expenses of negotiation and of a year's interest.

"The law which authorizes this loan was promulgated on the 1st of last August. The subscription opened on the 6th and terminated on the 13th. I have already made known to your Majesty the conditions and results of the operation. I shall now limit myself to repeating here that the price of the negotiation, fixed at 69f. 25c., according to the average of the six months preceding, was ratified by the eager co-operation of more than 830,000 subscriptions, and that it has been since confirmed on the market of the public funds. A fact worthy of remark is that the principal securities, with the difference of the effects produced by preceding loans, were raised and maintained, in spite of the inevitable fluctuations, beyond their former level. This circumstance is due, without any doubt, to the exceptional abundance of capital and the confidence more and more widely spread in the maintenance of peace."

"THE FLOATING DEBT.

"When the receipts of the Budgets are not sufficiently great to cover the expenses, the Treasury, as administrator of the finances of

the State, and with the view of always maintaining the greatest punctuality in its payments, is obliged to supply the deficit by advances, and, in addition, to keep constantly in the cash-boxes of its accountants a circulating fund sufficient for the service of the day.

66

The successive découverts belonging to all the régimes, up to and comprising the commercial year of 1866, had been reduced by divers

consolidations to the sum of 727 millions.

"The year 1867, on account of the extraordinary circumstances of which I have spoken, was obliged to add a sum in compensation of a new deficit of 175 millions, which raised to 902 millions the advances made by the Treasury for the service of the Budgets.

"The Treasury provided for that necessity, as well as for the supply of its own funds, by means of the money coming in from its correspondents, and from the negotiation of its own bonds. It is evidently obliged to borrow the sums which it furnishes to the Budgets, and as those amounts are to be repaid, some at pleasure, and others at short dates, their total, if it became too elevated, might become the cause of embarrassments more or less serious.

"The law of the 1st of August, 1868, consequently prescribed a prudent measure when it decided that the Treasury should be reimbursed out of the produce of the loans for the amount of its advances to the Budget of 1867, and that thus it should be placed in a position to pay off to that extent what it itself owes. In that manner the two debts will not add one to the other by a double employment, which would be unjustifiable, but will replace each other proportionally; and one, the floating debt, will be reduced to what concerns the deficit of 1867 to the full extent to which the consolidated debt will be augmented."

"BUDGET OF 1869.

"Compared with the original Estimates of 1868, those of 1869 have to meet considerable fresh requirements, resulting from the reorganization of the army, the creation of the National Garde Mobile, an increase in the pay of officers, grants for vicinal roads and improvements in several other services.

"The Government and the Chamber considered that it would be an act of wise policy to meet that situation, and to inscribe immediately all the credits admitted to be necessary. That was the only way of establishing the edifice of our Budget on a solid basis, by removing from the commencement all chance of additional demands excepting in cases of eventualities which could not possibly have been foreseen. With that view was comprised in the Primitive Budget of 1869,

"1. The sums which had been included in the same estimates of 1868;

"2. The supplementary credits contained in the Rectificative Budget of that year;