twelfth Condition of the Loan concluded with Goldschmidt, through Migoni, which Year expires in February next. The Government, under the authority of the General Congress, of the 27th August, 1823, deviated from the former methods, and opened its Contract for the sale of its Bonds in Foreign Markets to the most favourable Bidders. The object was to obtain for the Republic the gain which must have been otherwise had by the Contractors, if the Bonds had been sold at a fixed price. ABSTRACT of the GROSS PROCEEDS, EXPENSES, and NET PRODUCE of the GENERAL REVENUES belonging to the FEDERATION, by the Sovereign Decrees, Nos 70 and 81. III. On the Third Point, it will be sufficient to give a General Abstract of the Expenditure, which is founded on the Estimate of the different Ministers, preceded by the detailed Estimates of the two great Departments of the Army and the Marine: Six Principal Commandantships ESTIMATE.-ARMY. Secretarial of State for War and Marine Expenses of ditto Staff Sixteen Commandantships General Commissariat Office...... .... Dollars 23,220 2,400 95,314 3,200 900 7,770 Battalions of Active Militia of Infantry, in the Interior of the Republic ..... 3,442,389 Battalions and detached Companies, on the South and North Coast 1,061,169 In this Estimate the subsistence of the Army is calculated on the ratio of the full Force required by Law: it is calculated that, although neither of the three arms is as yet complete, before the end of 1825, the Army will be raised to its full complement. The Ministers of War and of Finance agree, however, to deduct a fourth part from the above Estimate, and to take it at 12 millions of dollars, (including the Extraordinaries), at which sum, it is stated in the Abstract of Expenditure. ESTIMATE.-MARINE. Department of the South Sea..... Dollars 31,466 60,467 24,454 42,125 114,474 150,796 325,497 31,432 148,523 ... 14,810 12,000 2,256,238 Officers, Crews, Arming, Victualling, and ordinary Repairs of Eight Ships of burden...... Ditto of two Schooners, of twelve guns in battery, and I on the Ditto of seven armed Schooners and five small Craft (balandras) Building of Two Frigates of 44 guns, Three Corvettes of 720,956 96.349 292,128 133,941 1,032,007 Expenses of Administration of the Taxes.... Pay of the Officers...... Estimate of the Ministry of Foreign and Internal Affairs Ditto for the Marine.... Ditto of Finance..... Arrears to be paid in 1825.. 618,968 301.267 ... 105,737 77,920 12,000,000 2,934,533 1,083,143 865,804 Total.. Gross Produce of the Revenue .Dollars 17,986,674 10,690,608 Deficit 7,296,066 IV. And last Point.-Under this head the Minister considers the means of supplying the large deficit exhibited in the preceding Accounts. Nothing, he says, would be more easy than to resort to the obvious expedient of new Taxes to raise the Receipt to the level of the Expenditure. The condition of the Contributors, their impoverishment, after the struggle which they have for so many years maintained, induce him, however, not to resort to any expedient of this description. The Income which is to be derived from the present branches of the Revenue, and by the revival of some of the old ones, without altering the System, or incommoding the honest and peaceful Citizen, will be sufficient. The first object to which he turns his attention, is the Monopoly of Tobacco; formerly one of the most productive sources of Revenue, which, but for its decline, might have relieved the Government from many of its difficulties. He proposes a zealous union of the different States in preventing frauds, which have nearly annihilated a branch of Revenue which, at one period, produced 4,447,000 dollars. He proposes that the Provinces should altogether abstain from interfering in the manufacture and taxing of Tobacco, as the best means of assisting the necessities of the Treasury. He states, that in the five years from 1795 to 1799, the gross receipts of the Treasury were 20,462,317 dollars." How fortunate," he observes, "should we deem ourselves, could we again realize the net amount of those Receipts, which was 15,325,065 dollars. It appears to be easy to do so, if we abandon unknown roads and return to those already trodden, sure of reaching the point to which we direct our steps. At the period to which I have referred, Tobacco produced 3,927,898 dollars net. The coinage of gold and silver 1,258,338; and the Duties on both metals, in ingots, 2,111,474 dollars. The three amounted together to 7,297,710, and it will be seen that we can collect, in the year 1825, 6,649,563 dollars, if the Revenue of Tobacco, the Coinage, and the Duty of Quintos, be carried by the Legislative Power, to the height at which they might be maintained, now that the number of Consumers is increased by the presence of Foreigners, and that the Mines are worked at the expense of the latter. "If the Duty of Quintos be supposed to be derived from conquest, let it change its name, like that of New Spain, converted into the Federal Republic of the Mexican States. If a laudable attempt to encourage mining has taken the item of coinage out of the branches of the Revenue, we reluctantly expose the evil effects of so benevolent an endeavour, and express an apprehension that, in the end, the riches buried in the bowels of the earth will remain there, even after years of protection." The Minister concludes, (after anticipating some objections which might be raised on account of the separate rights of the States of the Federation,) by stating that he had performed the duty which was imposed upon him by the fourth division of his subject, in pointing out the possibility of covering the deficit which the Exposé exhibited, without odious direct Contributions, or the imposition of new indirect ones-"The re-establishment of the ancient monopoly of Tobacco on its former level," says the Minister, "that of the duties on Gold and Silver in ingots, and of those on Coinage, and the suppression of some of the Maritime Customs, which, as they are part of the general Revenue, cannot be opposed to the interests of the States, will suffice to fulfil that object." The Statement of Finances was followed by some general recommendations to economy in all branches of the State. JOSE IGNACIO ESTEVA. CONVENTION between Austria and the Two Sicilies, relative to the Stay of the Austrian Troops in the Neapolitan Territory.-Signed at Milan, 28th May, 1825. LA Transaction conclue le 31e. Août 1824, entre les Cours de Vienne et de Naples, avec l'assentiment de S. M l'Empereur de Russie, Roi de Pologne, et de S. M. Le Roi de Prusse, en vertue de laquelle la force du Corps Auxiliaire de Troupes Autrichiennes, stationné dans le Royaume des Deux-Siciles, avait été réglée au nombre de 33,500 hommes, ayant fixé la durée de cet Arrangement jusqu'à la fin du mois de Mai 1826, S. M. Sicilienne a pris en considération, que, d'une part, il se peut que, d'ici à ce terme, la force numérique de l'Armée Sicilienne et l'état auquel sa réorganisation pourra être portée, rendront encore nécessaires au Royaume la présence et l'appui de troupes à l'expiration de la Transaction du 31 Août 1824; et que, d'autre part, il est également hors de doute, que la tranquillité publique dans le Royaume des Deux-Siciles se trouve déjà tellement affermie, que l'on peut, dès ce moment, s'occuper de la diminution du Corps Auxiliaire ; et S. M. l'Empereur d'Autriche n'ayant de son côte rien de plus à cœur, que d'entrer de commun accord avec Ses Alliés, dans tout arrangement propre à accélérer le terme du rappel entier de Ses Troupes du Royaume des Deux-Siciles; Leurs dites Majestés, dans cet état de choses, ont jugé convenable de nommer des Plénipotentiaires pour discuter, arrêter et signer des Articles Additionnels à la Transaction du 31. Août 1824, savoir: S. M. l'Empereur d'Autriche, le Sieur Charles-Louis Comte de Fiquelmont, Son Chambellan et Conseiller intime actuel, Son Envoyé Extraordinaire et Ministre Plénipotentiaire près S. M. Sicilienne, etc.; Et S. M. le Roi des Deux-Siciles, le Chevalier Don Louis de Medici d'Otajano, Duc de Sarno, Gentilhomme de la chambre, Grandmâitre Sémainier de S. M., Conseiller Ministre-d'Etat, Ministre Secrétaire-d'Etat des Finances, Président par intérim du Conseil des Ministres, chargé par intérim du Portefeuille des Affaires Etrangères, etc.; Lesquels, après avoir fait constatter de leurs Pouvoirs, sont conve nus des Articles suivans: Art. I. L'Armée Auxiliaire Autrichienne continuera à rester à la disposition de S. M. Sicilienne jusqu'à la fin du mois de Mars de l'Année 1827, aux conditions fixées par la Convention conclue à Naples le 18 Octobre 1821, et selon les modifications stipulées par les Articles Additionnels signés à Naples le 24 Avril 1823, et par ceux également signés à Naples le 31 Août 1824, auxquels sont ajoutés les Articles suivans: II. L'état des Finances de S. M. Sicilienne ne permettant pas une plus grande dépense, que celle qui à été préalablement fixée pour l'occupation, telle qu'elle devait avoir lieu aux termes des derniers Articles Additionnels du 31 Août 1824, jusq'au mois de Mai 1826; nulle charge pour les finances de l'Autriche ne devant, d'un autre côté, résulter de la prolongation du terme de l'occupation, le nombre des troupes Autrichiennes sera diminué proportionnellement, dans les deux parties du Royaume en-deçà et au-delà du Phare, de manière à produire des économies telles à pouvoir prolonger l'occupation jusq'au terme fixé par l'Article précédent, sans dépasser les dépenses fixées par les Arti |