The chief executive acts of DI. Thiers this week have
been to order General Douay to Lyons with two entire corps (Fannie, and orders to disarm the valley of the Rhone from Lyons to Mar- seilles, and to produce through M. Pouyer-Quertier the new Budget. It is a terrible affair. No income-tax is proposed, nor any tax upon luxury; but the Finance Minister states that the _Debt of France will be increased by £350,000,000 in all, and that he shall require from eighteen to twenty millions sterling a sear of new taxes. He proposes to obtain part of this immense sum by an additional tax on stamps, that is, on deeds of transfer, yielding £2,400,000; increased taxes on alcohol (£3,600,000), increased duties on sugar and coffee (£2,000,000), increased duties on all raw materials (£6,000,000), and increased duties on some miscellaneous articles (£2,000,000). It is extremely doubtful if his calculations are accurate, and it is to ha noted that he puts so direct tax either on the peasants or the rich, on salt or income, or, which is most remarkable of all, on tobacco. The Bill, it is believed, will pass, and the bankers of Europe have already pro- mised a loan of £100,000,000 sterling.
