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I have talked with several persons whose opinions I thought authoritative upon the subject, and all agree, first, that there are no printed rates of sales or prices current for the "articles de Paris," nor of any other except such as are reported in the Havre journals, and of sales in the stock exchange; and second, that it would take weeks of labor to prepare such a list of prices, and when made it would be utterly unreliable and valueless.

* * * To the second request contained in circular No. 14, that I would transmit to the State Department, and to the Comptroller of the Treasury, as often as once a month, the printed rates of exchange, I have to reply, that there are no printed rates of exchange with the United States, nor indeed any fixed rates, printed or unprinted. In reply to an inquiry addressed to the two leading American banking-houses here, upon this subject, I have received the enclosed letters marked, respectively, A and B, which will satisfy you of the impossibility of my making any such report as circular No. 14 evidently contemplates.

AUGUST 25, 1863.

I am in receipt of circular No. 30 of the State Department for 1862, requesting information of the means adopted in the country of my official residence for the protection of its revenues, the collection of duties in the passage of goods across the national frontiers, and in their transhipment in its ports for export to a foreign land; also the forms that are used, the rules and regulations in force, the fees charged, and other expenses incurred in its foreign revenue service.

At the earliest convenient opportunity after the receipt of this circular, I addressed to his excellency Mr. Fould, the minister of finance, a request that he would refer me to a person in the service to whom I could apply for the required information; and in a few days I was advised by a letter from the di-rector general that Mr. Delmas, administrator of the second division of the Direction General des Douanes, was instructed to give me the information I sought.

I immediately waited upon Mr. Delmas, who, after some conversation with me upon the subject of my inquiries, in the course of which he promised me the cordial co-operation of his department, referred me to Mr. Masseron, the head of one of the bureaus.

Mr. Masseron manifested a prompt alacrity in furthering the objects of my visit, and kindly informed me that I would save myself much trouble by procuring a book prepared expressly for government use by M. A. Delandre, head of one of the bureaus-"Traite Pratique des Douanes"-which contains a full digest of all the revenue laws and regulations of France, and in which I would be likely to find nearly, if not quite, all the information I required.

ence,

I sent for Mr. Delandre's book, and found it fully to answer Mr. Masseron's description. It gives all the laws, decrees, and regulations of the revenue department of France now in force, digested and arranged conveniently for refer and in so compact a form as almost to defy further condensation. I saw at once that, so far as the general organization of the revenue force was concerned, the definition of the duties and responsibilities of the respective officers, I could add nothing to the clearness or sufficiency of Mr. Delandre's statement. If I knew precisely the points upon which information is most needed, I might, perhaps, have gleaned it from Mr. Delandre's pages and other sources, and submitted it to you in a more compact shape. But in the absence of specific inquiries, I found that no digest or condensation would be a satisfactory substitute for this thorough and comprehensive work.

The French revenue system, like all their administrative organization, is the fruit of nearly a century's profitable experience; it is singularly logical and systematic; it has been devised and usually operated under the direction of

men of great administrative abilities, and with such singular skill that each part of it, like the features of the human countenance, seems to have such an adaptation one to the other that they must be seen all together to be properly appreciated.

I have, therefore, concluded to send you the work of Mr. Delandre, in which will be found nearly everything that can be learned from the revenue experiences of France since the days of Colbert. I also send you a complete set of forms used in the customs service, for which I am likewise indebted to the courtesy of Mr Masseron.

They are very necessary to the working of the French system, and may be studied with great advantage by those whose duty it is to provide the checks by which the accountability and responsibility of subordinates are insured. To comprehend them, however, it is first necessary to comprehend thoroughly the personal organization of the French Douanerie, for which there is no shorter method than the study of the first 300 sections of Delandre.

I also send you a little work entitled "Guide theorique et pratique du contribuable en matiere des contributions indirectes renfermant en ce qui concerne specialement les contribuables, le resume des lois, des instructions et de la jurisprudence, par J. S. Isward, controleur des contributions, directes." This is official, and contains all the practical information that can be required in regard the collection of indirect taxes not given in Delandre.

The French government collects about 2,000,000,000 francs, at an expense of about 350,000,000 of francs annually. Of the sum thus collected about 400,000,000 francs are realized from direct taxes, and the rest from indirect taxes, but the Douaneric organization is auxiliary to the collection of the whole

sum.

I don't think so large an amount of revenue is collected by any government in the world with so small a loss from fraud as in France, and I attribute the fact, in a large degree, to the method by which the agents of the customs are selected, and the terms upon which they hold their places, about which I shall add a few words in addition to what a reader would be likely to gather from a perusal of these works.

The whole revenue service of this empire is under the direction of what is termed a director general, who alone, of all the officers of the customs, is in direct communication with the minister of finance.

The labor of this general director is shared by a central bureau, under the immediate orders of the director general and six divisions, each having an administrator at its head. These administrators, with the director general, who presides, form an administrative council, and regulate what is termed the central administration.

Then there is a director in each department of the empire who superintends the department service. The director general, the administrators at the head of each division, and the directors at the head of each department, are the only officers connected with the customs department who receive their appointment directly from the head of the state. They, however, and all their subordinates, are appointed for life, or until their age entitles them to a pension and retreat. They never commence their career in any of the superior grades, but have to be promoted to them, as the reward of continued faithful service through lower grades. All the officers below the minister of finance have to commence their career of service as clerk in a bureau at a salary of from 800 to 1,000 francssay $160 to $300 a year, according to the class they are found qualified to enter, upon examination, or in the still lower grade of préposé, or overseer, on a salary of from $150 to $160. To this there are no exceptions.

The present director general, M. Barbier, has passed through all the grades, commencing as simple préposé des brigades in the direction at Strasbourg, on a salary in those days of only 650 francs, about $130 a year. From préposé de

brigade of the second class, he was advanced to the first class. He then became brigadier of the different classes successively; then lieutenant of the third, second, and first classes in succession; then captain of the third, second, and first classes respectively; then sub-inspector, then inspector, and so on up through every grade, remaining in each at least one year, until he finally, at sixty years of age, reached his present exalted position of director general, councillor of state, and commander of the legion of honor.

No political influence or favor, no revolution in the government, interferes with this law of promotion. Even in the revolution of 1848 no modifications whatever were made in the personnel of the Douanes. Mr. Grétérin, who had risen from the position of a simple clerk in a bureau by which he was appointed in 1830, was director general in 1848, and remained such until he retired in 1857, when he was succeeded by Mr. Barbier.

The political vicissitudes of the government have no more appreciable influence upon the selection of the revenue agents than upon their promotion. No candidate is received under eighteen nor over twenty-five years of age in the bureau service, nor in the out-door service, except in certain inferior employs, and upon terms which do not affect the general policy. On presenting himself, the postulant must produce proofs of his age; that he is a Frenchman'; that his moral character is unexceptionable; that he is exempt from any physical deformity; and that he has the necessary means of supporting himself during the period that may elapse after he is accepted before a vacancy occurs, till when he receives no pay. This period is termed his "supernumeriat," which is at least of one year's duration. On producing these vouchers he is sent to a special committee, designated each year by the director general, for examination as to his education and other aptitudes for the service. The programme by which he is tested is as follows:

1. He writes a page from dictation on unruled paper, without any external aid in correcting the orthography.

2. He copies the same page.

3. He is required to give a grammatical analysis of part of the text thus copied.

4. He is examined on the four first rules of arithmetic, the theory of proportions, and the solution of various problems of elementary arithmetic.

5. He is examined on the metrical system.

6. He is required to prepare inventories and tables after a given model. 7. To answer various questions in physical geography and politics.

8. To write a letter or note on a given subject. After this is finished, the postulant is further examined upon any matters to which he may have given special attention, especially on the living and dead languages, law, chemistry, natural history, drawing, &c.

The results of the examination of each postulant are reduced to writing, and all the trial papers produced during the session-which commences at 8 in the morning and closes at 4 in the afternoon-are annexed to the report, which concludes with a written statement of the reasons for or against inscribing the name of the postulant on the list of candidates. This list, when completed, is sent to the director general to assist him in preparing his list of candidates most deserving of promotion, which is submitted annually to the minister, accompanied with all the documents necessary to enlighten him as to their respective qualifications.

The number of supernumeraries never exceeds a twentieth of the whole number employed in the bureaus, and a preference is always given, other things being equal, to the sons of persons of good standing already in the service.

The supernumeriat never lasts less than a year; during which period the successful candidate is detailed for service either in the bureau of the central administration, in the bureaus of directions, or in the principal receiving bu

reaus, to await a vacancy, when his services will begin to receive compensation. The mode of examination which I have described is designed exclusively for candidates entering the bureau or sedentary, whether in Paris or the departments. For admission to the brigadier active service there is no supernumeriat, and the terms of admission are less rigorous, inasmuch as the service exacts a lower grade of accomplishments. The organization of brigades is based upon a general system of surveillance to prevent fraud and contraband; it consists of a single line of post or brigades, as they are termed, along the sea-coast, and a double line on the frontier. To each brigade is assigned a determined tract to guard, called his penthiere, or beat. The brigades are composed of captains, lieutenants, brigadiers, sub-brigadiers, overseers, packers, weighers, storekeepers, boatmen, &c.

To be admitted to the brigades it is necessary to be a Frenchman, twenty years of age at least, and not more than twenty-five, except those who have been soldiers, who may be twenty-nine, if they apply the year of their leaving the army. The sons of persons in the service are sometimes received as young as eighteen, in capacity of sailors and overseers on half voyages; but their service before twenty does not count towards their retirement, and the number of such can never exceed two per cent. of the effective force of the brigade.

The postulants must produce certificates of good conduct, either from the mayor of the place where they usually reside, or from the regiment in which they have served, and a preference is given to persons who have served in the army or navy. They are visited by a physician in the presence of a captain of the revenue service, who gives a certificate as to their physical condition, their instruction and their intelligence, and such guarantees of their morality as are to be found in their social relations and past habits and position. They must know how to read and write, although, in the case of simple marines, the standard of clerical accomplishments is not very high; they must also be unmarried. Persons entering the brigades or active service cannot compete for places in the bureau or sedentary service, which leads to the highest grades of the service, until they have reached the grade of sub-inspector; but any accomplishments they bring into the brigade service will count in their promotion to this point, as well as to their subsequent promotion, so that no person begins in so low a position that he cannot aspire to the highest, and he is encouraged constantly by the example and success of those who have preceded him, as in the case of present director general, who, as I have already stated, entered the brigade service as simple préposé or overseer.

The compensation both in the active and sedentary service is small for the first few years, never amounting to $200 a year; but the young officer knows that a respectable support is secured him for life if he is faithful and diligent, and whether he preserves or loses his health and that his widow will be provided for if he dies a married man; he knows also that his promotion will depend upon his efficiency.

The hierarchical system of promotion in the French service is insisted upon with inflexible rigor. No one advances to a superior grade without having erved at least two years in an inferior grade, nor to a superior class of the same grade without at least one year's service in the inferior class.

At the beginning of every six months the sedentary inspectors or sub-inpectors, and the principal receivers, address to the division inspector an "Etat," lat of the officers under their orders who seem to possess the necessary qualifications to pass into a more elevated class, or to be promoted to a superior grade. For a model of these "Etats," see the blank hereunto annexed, marked A which is designated in the official series of blanks as serie E, No. 82. I had it filled out with the "Etat" of a single employé-verificateur, in order to render it more intelligible. In this list they state in a precise, though summary vay, whether, in their opinion, the employé deserves promotion on account of

the length or distinction of service. The division inspector, on the receipt of these lists, prepares a similar table for his arrondissement, which he addresses to his director, accompanied with the "Etats" of the principal receivers and subinspectors, and his own observations and recommendations in regard to the officers under his order. Finally the director transmits these "Etats" to the administration, with what is termed an "Etta General," containing his views of the merits and demerits of the candidates recommended for promotion, and a special "Etat" to embrace the clerks in his bureau entitled to promotion. These "Etats" relate exclusively to the bureau service. A similar system of reports is required through the proper hierarchy for the brigade service.

At the end of each year the director general makes a list of the vacancies which are expected to occur during the following year, and another of all those who have been found to possess the qualifications for promotion. This list is sent to the minister, and when a vacancy occurs in any of those places, very few in number, the nomination to which is made by the Emperor or the minister of finance, the director general selects three candidates from the list referred to for promotion, and the minister selects one of the three for the vacancy. If in an extraordinary case there should seem to be occasion to make an exception in favor of some person not on the promotion list, whose services merited immediate recompense, the exception must be made the subject of a special decree, and the reasons for it assigned in writing by the minister. No nomination, however, is ever made by the director general, or by any one below him, of any person not on the "Etats" No. 82; thus every man's promotion mainly depends upon the impression his official conduct leaves upon those superior officers with whom he is in immediate contact, and who have the best means of appreciating him.

As an additional precaution, and for the better enlightenment of the director general, on the 1st of January, of each year, the inspectors, sub-inspectors, and principal receivers prepare what are termed signelements morcaux in regard to all persons under their immediate orders, who had received their commission from the director general, or from the minister. These reports are expected to state with exactness and impartiality whether the employé has received a liberal education; if he has initiative discernment, firmness, deliberation; the grade of classic and administrative instruction; as to his administrative conduct; if he is zealous-assiduous; if his private life is creditable to the administration; as to the position of his family; if he is married or single; if he has children; and what, if any, other charges; the extent of his personal resources; if he merits promotion; if he will accept it in any department of the service-in Algeria and the colonies, for example, and to what grade he is equal; and, finally, for what sort of employ he possesses special aptitudes. It is expected that those should be especially named in this list toward whom the opinions of their superiors may have undergone a favorable change, in order that the previous records may not stand in the way of their future promotion, more especially if made from bad motives or without discrimination.

Further to assist the authorities in reaching accurate conclusions in regard to their agents, a system of annotations or conduct record has been adopted, since 1802, which has been productive, it is said, of the happiest effects. A register is kept by every officer in command in the active or out-door service, who receives his appointment from the directors, of whom there are 31. In these registers an annotation is made of any grave negligence in the service; any want of subordination to superior officers, or lack of respect to the public; any infraction of rules against passing the frontier, entering cabarets unnecessarily; drunkenness or any scandalous conduct, outside of those more serious offences which involve dismissal from the service, degradation, or surrender to the officers of justice. These annotations are transmitted hierarchially to the captain. The captain, after verifying the facts, sends it, with his remarks, to the inspector, who

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