H́nh ảnh trang
PDF
ePub

zation of new battalions of the militia; and pecuniary supplies.

Art. 17.-The Recruiting of the Army.

It has been already shown that the standing army amounts only to about 52,000 men, including the household troops which mutinied in July last. It may be reckoned, that the deficiencies which have occurred, since the accounts were made up will amount to 2,500 men. On this supposition, 10,000 men will be wanted to complete the 62,403 granted for the army by the decree of the Cortes of the 8th of June last. But, from what has before been stated, this force would be insufficient. His majesty's government is therefore persuaded that the army ought to be placed on a footing between a peace and a war establishment. Under this view the Cortes are formally called upon to grant a levy of 29,973 men over and above those granted by the decree of June last, and a remount of 7,983 cavalry.

and, as it were, insensibly into the bosom of their families. But the present difficulties have not permitted the philanthropic views of the legislature to be carried into effect. Succours are earnestly demanded, and the government is under the painful necessity of soliciting from the Cortes an alteration in articles 6 and 9 of the said organic decree. Were not this to be done, it might happen that the present battalions of the militia would be greatly reduced, before the second of the six appointed drawings could take place. In a particular proposition, accompanied by the opinion of the council of state, the minister will, by his majesty's orders, solicit from the Cortes the necessary measures for this object.

Art. 19.—Of the Supply required for the Service of the War Department.

It would be idle to seek to prove that an increase of military force requires an additional supply of pecuniary means. But it is necessary to remind the Cortes that

Art. 18.-The Recruiting of the the supply must not be merely

active Militia.

When the Cortes, on the 18th of November last, passed the organic decree for the national militia, it was not to be expected that the country would so soon want the active services of that corps. The idea on which its formation was founded, was that of being as little burdensome as possible to the people, and it was intended so to consolidate this valuable institution that the soldiers who compose it should serve the country on necessary occasions, and in time of peace return gradually,

what that increase would require, but must be sufficient to meet the pressing wants of the war department. Explanations have already been given on the deficiency of clothing, equipments, and mountings for the army; on the exhausted state of the auxiliary magazines; and on the lamentable decay of our fortresses. been shown that the army is supported only by its own valour, decision, patriotism, and firm adhesion to the constitutional system, and that it is destitute of those aids and supplies, which are indispensable to its proper maintenance.

It has

The removal of those wants is therefore most urgent. It is important that the troops should not be made to sustain privations, which may at last weaken their enthusiasm. It is above all things necessary to enable them to make war in such a manner, that, by shortening the duration of its evils, its effects may be less injuriously felt. You must therefore be convinced, that it will be proper to supply the department under my charge with means sufficient to accomplish such important objects, and his majesty's government, firmly resolved to put down all the efforts of the evil-disposed, will demand from the Cortes, through the minister of finance, those supplies which may be considered necessary to render effectual the triumph of the national armies, and the noble cause which they defend.

gencies of the present times afford, especially when many of the measures necessarily connected with the transition from one system to another were not yet carried into effect. Is it extraordinary, then, that it should now be found indispensable to alter or suspend some of the articles of these laws, or to supply their deficiencies by new provisions?

His majesty's government, desirous that the national troops should obtain the regulations best calculated to secure the successful issue of its services, has made suitable arrangements with the inspectors for their proposing what may seem proper towards the attainment of this object. The inspectors being particularly charged with the organization of the forces, are the persons most capable of judging of the good or bad effects of the mode of organization which has been decreed. They are well

Art. 20. Various Military Regu- able to inform the government of

lations.

Finally, that nothing may be left undone in the important task of securing the tranquillity of the state, and the advancement of our sacred institutions, there will be proposed to the congress, such changes in the military organization, as may be considered requisite under the present circum

stances.

The organical law for the standing army, and the decree for the national active militia, were framed under the supposition that public tranquillity was not likely to be at any time disturbed; and that the country was far from being about to experience the insurrection of any part of its inhabitants. To carry into effect the provisions of these laws, more time was requisite than the extraordinary exi

the advantages or the defects of all measures connected with the troops under their care. Their observations will be transmitted to the government, which will submit those observations, with its opinion thereon, to the Cortes, in order that the congress may sanction those measures which it is not competent for the executive power to adopt,

Possessed of these data, the wisdom and patriotism of the Cortes will doubtless discover the means of securing the liberty of our country, to which great object will always be devoted his majesty's government, the valiant Spanish army, and both the militias, which have already acquired so much glory in the defence of our sacred rights. MIGUEL LOPEZ BANOS. Madrid, Oct. 1.

REPORT ON SPANISH FINANCE, read to the EXTRAORDINARY CORTES, in their Sitting of the 8th inst. by the FINANCE MINISTER.

Urged by the duty imposed on me by the function which I exercise, I am about to communicate with the Cortes on one of the most important points on which it has to deliberate, and which has been one of the chief inducements to its extraordinary convocation.

The finances, which are the soul of states, and without which every branch of the administration would be paralysed and destroyed, are about to be presented to the consideration of the august congress under their true point of view. The Cortes will be made acquainted with their present state, will discover the extent of the resources which the government possesses, together with that of the debts which it has to discharge, and, without the inconvenience of correcting the vices and defects which may be remarked, will employ itself in facilitating those plans which may be necessary, in order successfully to meet the public necessities, and to relieve the nation from the factious bands which infest its frontier provinces. I will briefly explain to the Cortes the state which the public finances presented at the close of the session of its first ordinary legislature, or the end of the second economical year; the dispositions of the government with respect to the same branch in the third year; and, finally, the precise increase of taxes for discharging the expenses of the public service up to the end of June, 1823; as well as the means by which, in my opinion, this increase, in addition to the estimates voted by the Cortes, may be met. I must claim the indulg

ence of the Cortes in giving me a patient hearing, and supplying by its wisdom the deficiencies of my mode of explanation, and beg that it will direct its attention solely to the frankness and precision with which I will attempt to exhibit to them the former and the present state of the public finances.

It would be useless for me to present even a sketch of their history during the first economical year, a work which has already been performed by the ministry in the memoir read before the Cortes on the 5th of March. It is sufficient to say, that in the taxes voted for the first year, there was experienced a deficiency of 181,442,774 reals 25 maravedis, and that at the end of the same year there remained due to the estimates of the ministry 107,451,582 reals 1 maravedi.

With this deficit and this arrear, we entered on the second economical year. It was met, it is true, by 116,257,292 reals 4 maravedis of balances, viz. 31,440,773 reals 13 maravedis of the years anterior to the 1st of July, 1820; and 84,816,518 reals 25 maravedis of that corresponding to the first economical year; but the collection of the second year being compared with the estimate made by the finance committee of the contributions and rents of the state, as stated in the diario of the Cortes, there appeared the enormous deficit of 322,060,935 reals 31 maravedis. The data on which this result is founded are to be found in the circumstantial account of the treasurer general and accountant which was presented to the Cortes. So re

markable a difference is doubtless
not extraordinary, considering the
high value at which the produce of
the revenues of the Estanco, of the
stamps, registers, and other branches
were estimated, and the circum-
stance of having admitted into the
account an item which has proved
to be imaginary. I must never-
theless state to the Cortes, that
this diminution from the estimated
value (which in some branches has
proved shamefully great) is in a
great measure owing to the want
of sufficient zeal in the officers,
and even in some instances to their
sinister intentions; for our enemies
make war upon us in a thousand dif-
ferent ways, and they have not for-
gotten, that to deprive us as far as
possible of resources is a most
powerful means of attack. The
government jealously exerts and
will continue to exert every vigi-
lance on this subject, and will act
rigidly and inflexibly towards the
guilty; but it cannot go beyond
its powers, which are circum-
scribed within a narrow circle.
- With regard to the repartition
for the second economical year, the
accounts of the distribution drawn
up by the treasurer-general and
the accountant, and the abstracts
made in my office, and others sub-
joined, show that there have been
made good in the said second year
134,414,441 reals 10 maravedis,
for effects previous to the year
1821, and 600,136,957 reals 7
maravedis, for effects belonging to
the second economical year; that
there arises a surplus on the esti-
mates of the first year, considered
generally, though in particular and
at the commencement of the third
economical year there remain due
to the voted estimates of the se-
cond year 191,255,313 reals 1 ma-
ravedi. It does not appear neces-

sary on the present occasion to advert to the inequality which has occurred during the two years, and in consequence of which less of some branches and more of others have been collected. The minister, in the memorial already cited, has said enough upon the cause of this difference, which solely deserves to be noticed under a regular order of things, when the estimates necessary for all the details of the service omit nothing, keep a due proportion to the resources, and allow to no branch a preference over another. Besides, the foresight of the Cortes has prepared a remedy for this evil, by means of the system of account and reckoning wisely established by its decree of the 7th of May this year. The government hastened to carry this decree into execution by means of the instruction which it published on the 9th of June, and has constantly followed up the same object amidst the various obstacles of time and circumstances which have been opposed to its complete adjustment.

The

The same circumstances have been little favourable, or rather, we might say, altogether contrary, to the public finances in what we have to state respecting the third economical year. occurrences of the first days of that year rendered torpid the public service, more particularly in the capital, whence proceed all the measures of the government; and thus the result of the collection in the provinces was, as might be expected, greatly influenced.

When I took charge of the finance department on the 7th of August, the decrees of the Cortes on the contributions granted during its last legislature, were in circulation, but they had not failed to suffer some delay, both in the

secretariat of the congress, and that of my departments, by the hindrance experienced in the dispatch of business in general during the melancholy days of last July. The intendants of the provinces newly created in the division of the territory decreed by the Cortes were already appointed, as well as the chiefs who were to be established in them as in the old provinces, in conformity to the administrative system ultimately fixed; but these functionaries could not convey themselves to their appointments, nor establish their offices, nor provide their fortresses, without a precipitation causing great ultimate damage to the service. Every thing is now sufficiently forward, and I hope that in a little time every thing will be settled in the provinces.

But the collection has suffered, as might have been feared, from what I have stated. In the month of June it amounted to the sum of 30,172,120 reals 1 maravedi, on the liquid productions; it fell in July to 18,066,197 reals 10 maravedis; it increased in August to 29,782,009 reals 7 maravedis, according to the accounts hitherto received from the greater part of the provinces (for from all, and particularly from the islands, nothing could hitherto be collected); and I have good reason to hope that it will increase progressively in the succeeding months, as the government will act with greater energy, now that the territory is properly divided; as strict orders have been communicated to the intendants to enforce the collections with exactness, by means of the authority vested in them by the Cortes; and as the government has remarked, and will continue to remark with severity, the

neglect and want of zeal of its agents. Thus the collection will be ameliorated, and in all parts of the economical administration of the state will be felt the beneficial influence of a just rigour, applied with an equal impartiality to the chief of a province and to the lowest of his subalterns, whenever their conduct may deserve it.

Nor do the last month's receipts of the loan contracted on the 22d of November, 1821, offer an adequate resource to the ministry, considering how sparing was the produce of the revenue and taxes which came into the public treasury. On the 7th of August there was received from that channel, according to the statements of the treasurer-general, the amount of 117,613,037 reals 22 marɛvedis, of which sum 9,000,000 are appropriated to the payment of the rents of the same loan on the half year ending last May, 600,000 reals to the liquidation of the expenses of the furnishing of the certificates of rentes, and 3,000,000 to their redemption or extinction. Consequently, since the 7th of August only four millions and a half of the real proceeds of the said loan could have been disposed of.

The present state of this loan will be understood from the details furnished by the director of the Great Book of the public debt. The Cortes will see from them, that the sum of the rentes at 5 per cent which have been placed in the hands of Ardouin, Hubbard, and Co. as equivalents, amounts to 36,713,432 reals 4 maravedis. First, 92,734,321 reals capital at the price of the negotiation of the effects of the old loans placed in the hands of the government agents; secondly, 134,400,000 reals

« TrướcTiếp tục »