23 NOVEMBER 1861, Page 2

„Cram—Public attention is still occupied with the financial situa- tion,

and the Emperor's measure appears to have been received with satisfaction, but without enthusiasm. The journals point out that to liberalize the budget is not to pay the deficit, and discuss possible reductions and taxes. It is reported that the army will be reduced by 80,000 men, the cadres being retained, that the artillery will be reduced, that taxes will be placed on income, on pianos, on lucifer matches, on billiard-tables, and on trade stamps. All these statements are merely reports, and most of them probably inaccurate ; the tax on incomes, for example, being most difficult, and the others, except stamps, probably unproductive. Something must be done, however, as the Treasury has only 56 millions of francs in its coffers, and the time for the payment of dividends approaches. The Government appears very anxious to avoid a loan, and contradictory reports are circulated daily. Nothing, however, is certain, or will be until the meeting of the Senate, which is fixed for the 2nd of December. Pending that event Ministers are quarrelling among themselves, M. Fould demanding that all projects shall be submitted to him, thus making him virtually Premier, and that he shall have the control of the _Woman,. This latter request has been refused, but M. Walewski promises to submit proof-sheets of the ifoxileur to the entire Cabinet. It is hinted that the object of this controversy is to secure M. Fould against the power of affecting the funds, which the control of the Manilear confers.

The correspondent of the Times sketches the mode in which the French Chambers vote the taxes : " The budget, prepared by the Council of State, is presented to the Legislative Body. The Legis- lative Body have a commission, and no amendment whatever can be directly proposed by any member of the Chamber. Should an amendment be laid on the table, itaanst be transmitted to the Com- mission. If the Commission reject it, nothing more is heard of the matter. If the Commission accept it, it must then go before the Council of. State, who have the right to throw it out. Thus, no amendment can be adopted without the approval of the Council of State. The budget is afterwards submitted to the Legislative Chamber by Ministerial -departments, so that the Chamber, which cannot present an amendment, cannot exercise the right of rejection but on the entire budget of each Minister. Should they object, for instance, to the expenses of any single office in the department of the Minister of Finance, they cannot reject the item without rejecting the whole of the estimates of that department, including those for the payment of the interest on the national debt. With this alternative no deputy will venture to exercise his right. When the budget has passed through these various trials it is put to the vote as a whole, and, of course, passed, and it is after this last operation that the supplementary and extraordinary credits are decreed."