purchased on account of the two funds was $1,994,801.43, for which $1,392,672.54 in specie were paid. Of this sum $957,770.65 were credited to the surplus revenue, and the balance to the loan.

A permanent fund for the extinction of the public debt was first established by the act of the 8th of May, 1792. This fund had a twofold endowment: first, it was endowed with the annual interest on the public debt, that is, on the portion previously purchased, redeemed, or paid into the treasury for any debt or demand of the United States, and also on any portion that might thereafter be purchased, redeemed, or so paid; and secondly, it was endowed with the surplus remaining of the sums appropriated to pay the interest on the public debt. The annual proceeds of this fund, which increased as the outstanding stock decreased, were appropriated and inviolably pledged to the purchase, in as equal proportion as possible, of the several species of stocks constituting the public debt, at their market price respectively, if it did not exceed the par or true value; and this purchasing was to continue until the annual income of the fund should be equal to two per cent. of the whole amount of the outstanding funded stock bearing a present interest of six per cent. The fund was thenceforth to be applied to the redemption of that portion of the debt (according to the reserved right of the government), until the whole of it was redeemed. This redemption being accomplished, purchases were to be resumed out of the fund of the remaining unredeemed debt.

The fund was, however, inadequate to any very serious or immediate reduction of the debt. The annual interest account, its only certain resource, was of slow growth, and amounted at that time to less than forty thousand dollars; whereas a sum equal to two per cent. on the whole amount of the six per cent. stock subject to be created was upwards of six hundred thousand dollars.

The plan of redemption devised by the act of the 8th of May, 1792, was now enlarged and perfected by the act of the

3d of March, 1795, in which the name of sinking fund was first adopted. The resources of the sinking fund were now enlarged to such an extent out of the permanent revenues, out of the proceeds of former provisions, and from the bank dividends in excess of the annual interest on the unpaid installments of the subscription loan as to enable the government, on the strength of this increase, to commence on the 1st of January, 1796, the annual reimbursement of the six per cent. stock; to pay as they became due the annual installments themselves of the subscription loan of the National Bank; and upon the final settlement of this last-mentioned debt to begin on the 1st of January, 1802, the regular reimbursement of the deferred stock.

The absolute appropriation of more liberal funds was deemed imprudent and unsafe in the existing state of the revenue; but some auxiliary resources of a contingent character were made available to the sinking fund. These consisted of the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands, of all moneys received into the treasury on account of debts which originated under the old government, and of all surpluses arising from excess of revenue or from unexpended appropriations. These accessions it was hoped would amply secure a more speedy redemption of the debt than had been expressly stipulated for. No further provision in the sinking fund was made applicable to the purchase or redemption of any other component part of the public debt until the six per cent, and the deferred stock had been discharged. Upon such discharge, all the moneys of the fund were to be used in the purchase or redemption of the remaining unpaid debt, whether funded or unfunded, foreign or domestic. If, however, prior to the discharge of the six per cent. and the deferred stocks, the resources of the sinking fund were found adequate to paying the sums applied annually to the reimbursement of these two stocks, and yielding a surplus besides, then this surplus might meanwhile be employed in reducing the other parts of the debt. Nor

could the moneys of the sinking fund be diverted to any other purpose than the paying of the public debt until the whole of it was paid, except when its only remaining outstanding portion was the three per cent. stock; in which event Congress reserved the right of using the moneys of the fund thereto pledged for any purpose it might see fit.

The president of the senate, the chiefjustice, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of state, and the attorney-general, for the time being, were appointed the commissioners of the sinking fund. All reimbursements of the capital of the debt were placed under their superintendence, and all moneys accruing to the fund were so vested in them as to acquire the nature and quality of a proprietary trust, incapable of being diverted, except by a violation of the principles and sanctions of private property, to any other object than the reduction of the public debt.

In order that this system of redemption might not be dependent on extraneous provisions, but have within itself full means of complete execution, the commissioners were empowered and required to anticipate the revenue already appropriated, and make loans whenever the prompt payment of the annual interest rendered such a course necessary. These sums were not to exceed in any one year one million of dollars, and were to be payable within a year from the date of each loan. Furthermore, if in their judgment there was reason to apprehend that all the probable receipts into the treasury for any year would fall short of the amount needed for the annual current expenditures of the government, as well as for the payments they had in charge, they were in such contingencies also authorized, and even enjoined, to borrow, either by direct loan or by the sale of certificates of stock, any sums requisite for paying installments falling due of the debt existing on the 3d of March, 1795. For the payment of the interest on these projected loans there were pledged and appropriated, first, the interest on the sums reimbursed from their proceeds; and secondly, such

amount of the permanent revenue as might be necessary to make up any deficiency. The interest on the six per cent. and the deferred stocks was, however, not included in this provision, as that interest was already set apart to form accumulations for paying the successive installments of the principal of these stocks; for these installments increased each year in the ratio of the interest liberated by each payment.

The great object of the law of the 3d of March, 1795, seems to have been to make efficient provision for the gradual reimbursement of the six per cent. and deferred stocks, and so pave the way for a future though distant payment of the remainder of the debt. As the successive reimbursement of these two stocks became thenceforth an irrevocable stipulation with the creditors, they were virtually converted from an annuity of six per cent. per annum for an indefinite period into an annuity of eight per cent. for a period of somewhat less than twenty-four years from the first payment under the new system. The first payment was made in one undivided sum, but after that no distinction was observed in the payments between the interest account and that of the principal. DiviIdends at the rate of one and one half per cent. on the original capital were declared on the last day of March, June, and September, and of three and one half per cent. on the last day of December. This arrangement was adopted because of its easy execution, and was most favorable to the equal and regular circulation of the revenue.

The foreign debt already rested in contracts which provided for its gradual reimbursement at stipulated periods. The Dutch debt made up the largest part of it. This debt amounted to $12,200,000, and for its extinguishment during the next fifteen years required annual payments ranging from $80,000 to $2,220,000, and averaging for each of these years $813,333.33, not including premiums, gratifications, commissions, and expenses of remittance; for all of these debts no provision was practically made except by borrowing money. However,

as an expedient for postponing these payments as long as the state of the finances required it, a proposal was submitted to the foreign creditors to convert their debts into a domestic stock, reimbursable at the pleasure of the government. An increase of interest of one half per cent. per annum in addition to the rate already secured by the original contracts was offered them in indemnification for incidental charges; such as the expense and hazard of employing agents in the United States, the chances of exchange, payments of insurance and commissions, and in general for equalizing the facilities attending the payment of interest at home. The French government, we have seen, subscribed the remaining portion of its debt to this domestic loan.

The act of the 3d of March, 1795, is an event of importance in the financial history of the country. It was the consummation of what remained unfinished in our system of public credit, in that it publicly recognized and ingrafted on that system three essential principles, the regular operation of which can alone prevent a progressive accumulation of debt: first of all it established distinct

ive revenues for the payment of the interest of the public debt as well as for the reimbursement of the principal within a determinate period; secondly, it directed imperatively their application to the debt alone; and thirdly, it pledged the faith of the government that the appointed revenues should continue to be levied and collected and appropriated to these objects until the whole debt should be redeemed.

Under the operation of this sinking fund the payment of the public debt was designed and anticipated to take place by the year 1826, or within a period of about thirty years. It did not respond to this aim and anticipation. Indeed, the practical working of a scheme so complex and intricate would have been in the long run problematical, even had events suffered it to take its regular and intended course. Be that as it may, the failure of some of its provisions, in concurrence with fresh troubles both at home and abroad, besides aggravating some latent defects, overstrained the weak points of a system which, under more favorable circumstances, might have been atoned for, if not wholly overcome, by the elastic resources of the country. John Watts Kearney.

IT is one of the minor results of the war between Russia and Turkey that the world is learning a great deal more than it ever knew before about the real character of the contesting nations; and it is to the awakening curiosity of outsiders concerning the Russians that the appearance of Oblomoff 1 is due. We foreigners have learned to know Russian literature, and have formed our opinion about the people, in great measure from Tourguéneff's novels; but many must

1 Oblomoff. Scènes de la Vie Russe. Traduction de PIOTRE ARTAMOFF. Revue, corrigée, et augmen

have noticed what Mr. Bryce says in his Transcaucasia and Ararat, that Russians give that author by no means the highest place among contemporary writers; they acknowledge his great power, but they speak of him as one of many, and sing the praises of his rivals. Whether or not this is, as Mr. Bryce suggests, a bit of revenge for his satire of his countrymen it is hard to say; but there can be no doubt that a writer may be inferior to Tourguéneff, and yet well

tée d'une Notice sur l'Auteur, par CHARLES DEULIN Paris Didier & Cie. 1877.

worth reading. Especially is this true of the writers who form a class with Tourguéneff, so to speak; who have been exposed to the same influences, and, like him, have written with the intention of picturing Russian faults. Pisemski has written under the inspiration of dissatisfaction with the blight that rigid despotism had thrown upon the country, as it manifested itself in the listlessness of the weak and the corruption of the strong, as well as in the extreme violence of the reaction which has shown itself in nihilism. Gontcharoff, the author of Oblomoff, is a novelist of considerable fame in his own country. This story is one of his principal works, in all he has written but three, and it is said that the original is exceedingly well done. This quality is of course hardly to be distinguished in the translation, which, however, has a smoothness of its own, having been done with great care under the supervision of a large number of Russians who wished to commend one of their favorite authors to the outside world. This translation was made some eighteen years ago, but it could obtain no publisher until these days, when anything about Russia is sure of readers. As it is, great concessions have been made to the pampered public, inasmuch as only half the book has been given, from a fear that the whole would prove wearisome. This is a most unwise thing to do, and is exceedingly unfair to the author. It can hardly fail, too, to displease the reader, who, if he likes the book, must now ask for more, but who, if he had the book complete, could stop where he chose. To judge by a mere fragment the work of so careful a writer as Gontcharoff is said to be is impossible; but it is to be hoped that the success of this book will be such that more of this author's writing will be given to Western readers.

The purpose of this sketch (for in its present form it can hardly be called more) is to draw a picture of the aimless Russian who is frequently met with in the novels of that country, and who would seem to have been drawn from the life by those writers who saw with clear

eyes the brutalizing effect that the reign of Nicholas produced upon a whole generation. Oblomoff is a man, but little over thirty, possessed of a competence, who has given up in disgust a position in the civil service, and at the time this story opens is beginning to seclude himself from the world, partly from hypochondria and partly from extreme indolence. The first part of the novel, all that has as yet been put into French, simply describes one day of his sluggish life. He wakes up in the morning to be met by the memory of a letter he received the night before from his steward, telling him that his next year's income from his estate will be two thousand rubles less than it has been before. At the same time he is requested by his landlord to leave his lodgings in St. Petersburg, some changes in the construction of the house being intended. These two alarming incidents almost crush him. He lies in bed, and tries to think how they are to be met; friends come in to see him, and he consults them in his misery; and finally he begins to recognize dimly the utter weakness of his character. An episode given in this volume is his dream, in which there pass before him all the memories of his childhood, and the reader perceives the ill-advised methods of his education. In the original the book goes on to describe his struggles to free himself from the incubus of helpless sloth that is slowly suffocating him, and the aid that is offered him by an energetic friend, a German, who has for ally a young girl who undertakes with enthusiasm the task set her of inspiring this amiable but weak man with ambition and energy. They fail completely, however, for the defect in Oblomoff lies too deep to be cured. It is especially to be regretted that such a mere scrap of the novel is given, because the heroine, Olga, of whom we have very little mention, is much praised by all the Russian critics, and the reader cannot help feeling defrauded of his just dues. It arouses curiosity to find anything cut out of a newspaper; how much worse it is when half of a book is excised!

From the little that is given, however,

it is easy to see that Gontcharoff is an able writer who deserves to be better known abroad. It is, moreover, curious to observe the likeness that he bears to Pisemski and Tourguéneff, this story of his corresponding to Dimitri Roudine, and in some measure to Pisemski's Tausend Seelen; while the later developments of nihilism inspired Tourguéneff with material for his Fathers and Sons, Pisemski with a novel yet untranslated, and Gontcharoff with a novel, also existing only in Russian, called The Precipice, which would seem from all accounts to be a noteworthy book. That the fault which Gontcharoff attacked in Oblomoff was wide-spread there can be no doubt.

The very fact that it is attacked seriously makes this plain. A writer who lived in any other country would treat such a subject as something farcical; the incompetent man would be laughed at as an amusing exception, and not chosen as a fair representative of a fault common to society. The keenness with which the leading Russian writers follow up the predominant faults of their countrymen is a proof of considerable intellectual activity of a kind that observation teaches us is the surest to bring forth good fruit. The flavor of the soil never injures good literature; and with reference to all these Russian writers we feel that they have learned how to combine imagination and observation. Still, the flavor of the soil is the most important quality in this brief bit of a Russian story.

It is to a much larger public that Daudet's new novel, Le Nabab,1 appeals. Whatever Daudet's merits, it cannot be denied that he suits a large circle of readers. His Froment Jeune has reached its fortieth edition, and although it is hard to avoid feeling that the book has been exceedingly over-praised, and that its glaring faults have been singularly overlooked, it shows, besides careful reading of the principal English and French novelists, a certain knowledge of passion and emotion, and, to some extent, the ability to tell a story. Jack, that followed, was less good. Le Nabab, al

1 Le Nabab. Moeurs Parisiennes. Par ALPHONSE DAUDET. Paris: Charpentier. 1878.

though it has great faults, is yet, to our thinking, the cleverest of the three; his earlier books may be left out of the reckoning. The story that it tells is one that is more or less familiar to Parisian society, which, like the rest of the world, rejoices to find itself reflected in novels. The nabob who is the hero of the book is a Frenchman from the south of France, who has risen from great poverty to the possession of enormous wealth by mysterious practices in Tunis. Of course his main desire, now that he has made a fortune, is to spend it in Paris; and at the opening of the story we find him supporting a crowd of detestable parasites, who all live with one hand in his pockets, and who are perpetually urging him to further their wild projects. So much of the later French literature, from Balzac down, is devoted to the description of adventurers that Daudet enters on a tolerably crowded field in drawing a man like the nabob and his flatterers; but he deserves praise for much that he has done here. The nabob himself it is hard not to like, and it is this affection the reader feels for the poor man that makes the book interesting. He certainly is not a faultless hero; there are very dark rumors concerning the way in which he made his money, to say nothing about the way he spends it; but it is hard not to sympathize with his ambition to become a deputy, and his desire to be successful in his conflict with the rival banker, Hemerlingue. This Hemerlingue had married a slave whom the nabob's wife had refused to receive in Tunis, whence a deadly feud had arisen between the two families, and the hostile banker is gradually compassing the nabob's ruin. In telling the story Balzac would have made much of this quarrel, and would have given us a full account of the ups and downs of the Tunisian funds, with all the particulars of the methods each of the contestants resorted to in struggling with his opponent. Moreover, it cannot be denied, he would have drawn with much greater intensity the passionate feelings of the two rivals, and with such sympathetic ardor that the reader