almost unanimous vote of the Assembly. General Cavaignac, M. Gustave de Beaumont, and a few other Members of the tiers-parti, voted against the printing.

In the month of June, the most absorbing topic of public interest in France was the Dotation Bill for the purpose of increasing the salary of the President. The ori ginal sum granted by the Constitution for that purpose was 600,000 francs; in March, 1849, this sum was doubled, by the grant of an extra 600,000 francs for "frais de représentation," and in addition there had been voted 200,000 francs for the expenses incidental to the President's place of residence, and a sum of 150,000 frances had been paid by the Home Department for cases of want recommended by the President. These sums made an allowance which practically amounted to 1,550,000 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 was willing to draw up their report, but at last M. Flandin, a member of the minority, consented to undertake the task.

The report prepared by him was presented to the Assembly on the 21st of June. It was a long document, from which we select one or two passages. The Committee said,

"Far from us be the thought of checking the impulses of a heart so generous as that of the President of the Republic, or of turning away his liberal hand from alleviating misfortune; we are not ignorant how many sufferings arise in moments of crisis and transition; we appreciate all the sacrifices imposed on the elected of December 10, on the great name which he bears, and the glorious reminiscences which the country beheld personified in him. We do not

mean to deny that the salary of the President ought to assume larger proportions for the nephew of Napoleon; but we conceive that all that was fully provided forfirst, by adding to the salary granted by the Constitution a sum of equal amount for frais de représentation; and next, by freeing him from all the expenses incidental to his place of residence, and which are put down in the budget at upwards of 200,000f.

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.

"Under such 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 francs, 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.

"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,

to return to the London Treaty, by substituting for the clauses of the arrangement concluded at Athens on the 27th of April, which have not yet been executed, the corresponding stipulations of the convention agreed to in London on the 19th of April.

"Consequently, the President of the Republic has given orders to declare to the Ambassador of Her Britannic Majesty that the French Government accepts that solution as far as it is concerned.

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Gentlemen, what the French Cabinet has accepted on the 20th of June is in substance what it had proposed to the English Cabinet on the 14th of May, previous to the recall of its ambassador.

"The Government of the Republic hopos that it will be evident from all, that from the first to the last act of that long negotiation, its conduct was only inspired by the sentiment of national dignity, by a spirit of conciliation, and a desire of maintaining general peace."

The debate on the report of the Committee on the Dotation Bill took place on the 24th, when M. Fould, Minister of Finance, said that he deemed it his duty to make known the exact state of the case, and indicate the object of the law. Some had perceived in it a hidden idea and an arrière pensée, against which he protested. To leave no reason to doubt the sincerity of their motives Ministers had accepted an amendment, to which the most eminent men of the Assembly had given their sanction. That amendment provided that an extraordinary credit of 2,160,000 francs should be opened in the Ministry of Finance for the extraordinary expenses of the President of the Republic. It was less by

240,000 francs than the credit required by the Cabinet, but that sum represented an appropriation made in the budget of public works for the expenses of the palace of the Elysée, and the original sum was accordingly preserved. This course would reserve the right of future interference, and protect the dignity of the two powers.

The amendment alluded to by the Minister of Finance was that which had been proposed in the Committee, but rejected by a majority.

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After a few unimportant speeches, chiefly in opposition to the Bill, the general discussion was declared closed, and the President read the resolution proposed by the majority of the Committee, and the following amendment moved by the minority and adopted by the Government, An extraordinary credit of 2,160,000 francs for the expenses of the President of the Republic is opened in the Ministry of Finance for 1850." Another amendment, presented by M. Dampierre, proposed to grant the same sum, but wished it to be allocated for two years, 1849 and 1850.

The discussion then opened on the course to be pursued, and as to what resolution should first come under consideration. M. Favreau moved that the amendment containing the larger amount should be first discussed, and cited several precedents in favour of his opinion.

M. Laroche combated that proposition, and contended that the amendment proposing the smaller amount should be the first discussed

he meant that moved by the majority of the Committee, reducing the sum to 1,600,000 francs for expenses incurred in 1849 and 1850. The amendment adopted by the Cabinet was a mere modification of the original Bill, the cha

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