The Lisbon correspondent of the Times sends an account of
Portuguese finance, given him by the new Finance Minister, which just at this moment is of some political importance. According to this statement, the little King- dom is in a bad way, but not hopelessly insolvent. The net revenue, after expenses of collection are paid, is £8,346,978, and the expenditure £9,958,254, leaving a deficit of £1,611,276, or, say, 20 per cent. The total debt is £138,672,744, or more -than sixteen years' revenue, and the charge for interest will be in future £4,773,276, or more than half the whole expenditure. The Government hopes to reduce the outlay on the Colonies to £250,000, and sell certain properties, thus balancing the Budget for the year, and afterwards to get rid of all liabilities for concessions, &c., and thus restore a per- manent equilibrium. This statement, it will be readily seen, is optimist, and intended to facilitate temporary loans which the new Minister of Finance, Senhor Carvalho, is arranging; but there appears to be a desire to keep faith, if possible, with the creditor. The agitation against England has died away, partly under the influence of Lord Salisbury's concession of the lowlands between the Zambesi and the Shire, and partly because the Republicans, who raised the agitation for party purposes, are convinced that the fall of the Monarchy would be a signal for Spanish occupation. The Braganzas survive a good many threats, but their seat can hardly be a pleasant one.
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