THE FRENCH PRESIDENT'S DOTATION. [From the Times, June 27, 1850.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 553, 20 November 1850, Page 3

THE FRENCH PRESIDENT'S DOTATION. [From the Times, June 27, 1850.]

While our attention has been rivetted on the important discussion of our own foreign policy which engrosses the attention of Parliament, and will extend its effects to every part of the world, the course of events abroad has not been entirely devoid of interest. The irregular and inconvenient opeiation of the French Republican Constitution has again threatened to produce a collision between the executive and legislative departments of the Government. That union between them which had happily been established by the pressure of the Socialist elections of March and April, aiid which had carried the reform of the electoral law, vtfls already shaken and almost dissolved. The President was compelled by the inadequacy of his pecuniary resources to call upon the country for a large vote of money, and, with that inconsistency of the French people which expects the head of the Slate to display inexhaustible munificence without drawing on the public purse, this necessary demand was unscrupulously used by the Opposition to injure the popular consideration oi Louis Napoleon. The discussion was carried

for some weeks with great acrimony and Sre a t injustice. Whatever opinion may be entertained of the political claims of the President to the permanent government of France, no party can at this time deny that he has powerfully contributed to extricate the county from the calamities of the revolution — that he rose to his exalted position by the almost unanimous choice of the people, and that, if he has incurred embarrassing expenses, it has been entirely from the liberality of his character, and his desire, with very inadequate means, to maintain the dignity of the position in which he had been placed. M. Thiers justly observed in the committee on this bill, that the monarchical habits of the French people were constantly displayed, in defiance of the republican institutions cast upon the country. The bead of the Government, be he King, Emperor, Prince, or President, is regarded as the universal patron, host, and protector. When the First Consul returned in 1799 from his Egyptian campaign and assumed the supreme power in the State, Paris was impoverished by ten years of revolution, the wealthy classes were dispersed, and the young General of the Republic could retain the simplicity of the military establishment which seemed most congenial to the splendour of his achievements. He accordingly entered the dismantled Tuileries on an allowance of £20,000 a year, though it is by no means certain that he had no other resources at his disposal, or that the debts of the Consulate were not subsequently paid by the Empire. The position of Louis Napoleon is wholly different. He succeeds by a rapid transition to an entire family of Princes who had been spending with extraordinary munifi--cence for the last 17 years an income of nearly £800,000 a year. He finds the capital of France, in which he is to fill the most conspicuous position, inhabits of unbounded luxury and expense. The Elysee, which was modestly -chosen for his residence as the least of the French palaces, has no pretensions to the austerity of a camp, and the indulgences of peace have long relaxed in all classes of society the stricter economy of civil strife and foreign war. The position of Louis Napoleon no more resembles that of a President of the United States than Versailles or the Tuileries resemble the White House at Washington ; and, as these exigencies of his position can hardly be contested in France, there was something puerile and ill-natured in the attempt to throw upon an individual an immoderate amount of debt, literally imposed upon him by the tastes and usages of the nation. The National Assembly has happily acted upon these convictions, and, though a prodigious amount of ingenuity has been expended in accommodating this unpalatable dish to the popular palate, the result is that the dotation has been voted by a majority of 46 votes in a full House, and that the President will receive £10,000 a month " as costs of representation," in addition to his personal salary of £24,000 a yean This decision reflects credit on the conciliatory disposition shown by -several eminent persons, not identified with the peculiar interests of the President. The Tote has had the cordial support cf M. Thiers, M. Berryer, and General Changarnier. Even the leaders of the Mountain said, with truth, ■"Let us give without higgling, or refuse without humiliation." The Assembly has given, and given literally, quite as much to its own credit and advantage as to that of the President himself. At the same time it must be acknowledged that an extreme and even passionate aversion to this measure was manifested by a considerable section of the majority, and that General Changarnier's short but emphatic appeal, which seems to have electrified the Assembly towards the close of the debate, alone decided the waverers and carried the vote. In connexion with this subject, we shall take this opportunity to advert to an authentic and very curious account which has recently been made public by the managers of the late Civil List of France, in order to give a correct notion of the current expenses incurred by Louis Philippe and his family in each year from 1830 to 1848. The statements are taken on an average of the 18 years. The income of the Crown, exclusive of the allowances and private property of the Duchess of Orleans and some of the Princes, amounted to 18,400,000 francs, or about £740,000 a year. Of this enormous revenue *mly £600 a year was assigned by the King for his personal service, and £400 a-year for bis personal expenses ; £4Qj)O a year for the "Queen's establishment, and £30,000 a year for the Princes and Princesses, exclusive of journies. The establishments of the palace were on a magnificent seale — : £17,000 a -year for the household of the Tuileries; £50,000 a year for the table ; £38,000 a year for the stables, with about 310 horses, and*£ll,ooo more for the stud and field sports ; £17,000 a year for washing, £21,000 for lighting, &c. The Eoyal manufactures of Sevres, Gobelins, and 'BeauVais, whose productions were destined

for presents, cost £50,000 a year. These expenses alone, amounting to about £500,000 a year, were not susceptible of material reduction. Tbe entertainments, presents, and journies of the Royal Family cost about £50,000 more. The charities of the King £42,000 a year, and of the Queen £18,000 without reckoning those of the Princes. In patronage of the arts, subscriptions to literary works, purchase of works of art, and architectural embellishments of the domains of tbe Crown, the King annually expended upwards of three millions and a-half of francs, or about £140,000 a year, during bis whole reign :—: — the whole of the property thus collected and constructed, which bad cost not much less than three millions sterling, has of course passed into tbe possession of the State, and become tbe property of the nation. The result of these munificent expenses was, that tbe Civil List was exceeded by about £30,000 a year, and that the Royal property was left charged with a debt of £600,000. We take these details,- which we have given in round numbers, from tbe statement published by the persons responsible for them, and they have not, we believe, been disputed in France. To succeed to any considerable part of the honours and duties, accompanied by this immoderate outlay, when the magnificence of the Court had literally been extended to the patronage and amusement of the nation, v/as no light burden on any man ; and, if these are become the habits and expectations of the French public, it was ludicrously unjust to connect any portion of such demands with the allowance of £24,000 a year to Louis Napoleon. The bead of the Monarchy, or of the Republic, is of course no source of wealth, nor has tbe nation any claim to the distribution of his private property, but he naturally becomes the channel through which public bounty and public splendour may be expected to flow. In a pecuniary point of view, no ruler of France will be a gainer by his bargain, and, whatever be the allowance made to his station, the demands of the soliciting classes will far exceed them ; but it obviously concerns the 'dignity and the true interests of the nation that tbe head of the State should be placed above the reach of personal embarrassment, and should be enabled to meet the reasonable expectations of his countrymen.