XX. In consequence of the above dispositions :

Ist. The payment promised, by the Regulation of 16th August, 1816, in favour of the Creditors of the State, and of the Persons employed in the Service of the Government, shall be carried into effect.

2nd. The payment shall be made to the Department of the Roads, for the present at least, of one third of its dotation.

3rd. The Military Officers shall receive all their current pay, from the Funds assigned to the Department of War.

XXI. Besides the arrears due to the Private Creditors of the State, those of the Departments of War and Marine shall be included in that Class, for so much as is owing by those Administrations up to the end of August, 1815:

1st. To their Private Creditors.

2nd. To the Officers for their pay, and to the Regiments for their rations, also up to the end of August, 1815.

3rd. And lastly, for so much as remains to be paid to the said Departments by the Treasury of Sicily, from the 1st September, 1815, to the present day, on account of the assignment of 700,000 ducats, which was fixed by the last Parliament.

In the same Class of arrears shall also be included, the sums remaining to be paid by that Treasury on account of the assignment fixed by the said Parliament for the Diplomatic Body, for the year from September 1815, to August 1816, and subsequently.

XXII. In consequence of the preceding Article, the different Funds assigned for that purpose shall be applied with the greatest exactness and care, to the liquidation of the Debts above mentioned, and the corresponding Returns shall be drawn up, in order to be submitted for our consideration, with the view to our prescribing the system to be observed in the distribution of the destined Funds, and the preference to be granted to the different Classes of Creditors.

XXIII. Provision having been made by the dispositions contained in the present Decree for the satisfaction of the Creditors of the State, it shall no longer be allowed from this day forward to any one, to liquidate the Taxes which he owes to the State by means of the Credits upon it which he may possess.

XXIV. The Plan of Finance formed for the current Indiction being provisional, and to be valid only until the end of August of the present year, the Minister assisting near His Royal Highness the Duke of Calabria, is charged to form and to transmit for our exa. mination, at the latest by the middle of April next, a Project of the Budget, which he shall think it practicable to adopt for the subsequent, the 6th, Indiction, from September, 1817 to August, 1818.

XXV. Our Councillor, Secretary of State, and Minister of Finance, resident near Us, and the Minister assisting near Our Lieute

nant-General in the Dominions beyond the Faro, are charged respectively with the execution of the present Decree.

Naples, 21st January, 1817.

The Secretary of State and Chancery Minister,
MARQUIS DI CIRCELLO.

The Secretary of State and Minister of Finance,

DE' MEDICI.

FERDINAND.

INSTRUCTIONS of the Government of Palermo.

By the Royal Edict of the 21st of the past month of January, The King, having taken into serious consideration the excessive Deficit in the Royal Finances, which has originated not only from the Debts incurred during the period of the Old Administration, which ended in August, 1812, but also from those which have accumulated from the Ist Indiction of 1812-1813, up to the end of the 4th Indiction, terminating in August 1816, in consequence of the Expenditure having been greater than the sum fixed by the Parliaments of 1812 and of 1815; and, on the other hand, by reason of the Funds which had been destined for the Treasury having produced a sum much less than that estimated by the same Parliaments, as has been shewn by the Documents published from time to time, the result of which has been, that the Creditors of the State have remained unsatisfied for 4 years, and some even for a longer period; and that, in like manner, the sums destined for the Public Works, which have been falling into decay, and for those pious and charitable Institutions, and for Public Education, have also, with extreme detriment to that portion of his Royal Dominions, remained unpaid,-His Majesty has determined to apply to them an opportune remedy, by restoring those Royal Finances to that desirable state which shall secure the proper collection of the en tire Revenues, together with the Arrears, Whereupon His Majesty, having examined the active and passive Budget, fixed in the Parliament of 1815 for the year of the 4th Indiction, of which the "Prosieguo" was ordained for the current 5th Indiction, by the Regulation of the 16th August last, he has discovered that, from the Revenues which had been estimated by the Parliament to produce 1,407,886 Ducats, there cannot be expected to be obtained more than 1,082,702 Ducats, in the current Indiction, owing to the total failure of some sources, and to the circumstance of others having produced less than was anticipated by the Parliament; and it being right to balance the Expenses with the Receipts, and to establish in addition a Revenue, to serve solely for the satisfaction of the Arrears due to the Creditors of the State, until they are entirely liquidated, so that besides their respective Annuities, which shall be punctually paid, they may have also a Fund of 150,000 ducats, constantly destined for the extinction of such Arrears; the King has been pleased to command, that the means prescribed in the Royal Edict above cited shall be put in practice, by which the Creditors of the State, after so many years of suffering arising out of past circumstances, to the great grief of his most pious Royal heart, will see themselves in the end re-established in the peaceful receipt of their proper revenues, as they were always in the times preceding the

recent events.

And whereas, among the means ordered by His Majesty in the said Royal Edict, there are some which require for their correct execution suitable Instructions, His Majesty in consequence, therefore, directs as follows:

1st. That the residue of the Fondiaria Tax of the year of the 4th Indiction, which forms the complement of the 71⁄2 per cent. upon the gross Revenue, shall be demanded by all the Segreti and Pro-Segreti up to the 15th March next; observing what is prescribed concerning retentions, in the VIIIth Article of the said Edict.

2nd. That the Additional Tax of 5 per cent. to the Fondiaria, ordered in Article IX, shall be collected, one half at the end of June, and the other half at the end of August in the current year, also under the observance of what is prescribed in the said Article respecting retentions.

3rd. That the Additional Tax upon the consumption of wheat, barley and grain, or upon ground corn, in Towns, shall be collected in each District from the day immediately following the publication of the Royal Edict. And wherever the Duty upon ground corn has been leased, on condition of increasing or diminishing the Estaglio, whenever the Duty shall be augmented or lessened, the corresponding augmentation shall be made to the Estaglio agreed upon: where, however, it may have been let without such agreement, and the Tenants should not be willing to accept the new Tax with the corresponding increase of the Estaglio, or where it is not in any manner leased, the Segreti and Pro-Segreti shall take care that it is collected in the same manner as is practised in the other case where this Duty is payable. In so far, however, as regards the rural consumption, the collection shall be made according to the prices of the exchange, or to the peculiar customs of the Place, and until it may be reduced to a fixed and invariable sum.

For which purpose, His Majesty orders that the District Segreti shall remit, at the end of a month, a Certificate of the manner in which the said Duty is collected, as well in the principal Place as in each Population of the District; that is, whether it is collected according to the prices of the exchange, or according to local observances, which must be accurately described, or according to Agreements, either general or particular, and expressing further in the Certificate,

the property upon which it has been customary to collect the rural consumption, and the respective possessors of such property.

4th. That the Additional Tax of 1 Ducat per head, upon Animals employed in drawing private Carriages, and hired Vehicles, and those used with saddles, prescribed in the XIIth Article, shall be collected in the same manner as was practised, in the year of the 4th Indiction, with respect to the above-mentioned Tax, and as has been practised in the year of the 5th Indiction by means of the Prosieguo;-which Additional Tax is to be collected within the current month, in conjunction with the Tax due by the Prosieguo, if it should not have been already paid.

5th. That at the end of a month, the Tax ordered in the XIIIth Article upon Animals, such as horses, oxen, pigs, sheep, goats, &c., shall be collected according to the rules which were observed during the 3rd Indiction; that is, 3 Tari for every horse and mare, and every mule; asses being excepted.

3 Tari for every animal of the ox species, those under 2 years old excepted.

10 Tari for every 100 head of animals of the sheep and goat species, those that are sucking excepted.

20 Tari for every 100 head of black cattle in a herd, with the same exception.

And in order to avoid the repetition of the frauds committed when the Equal-Tax was ordered, in the year of the 3rd Indiction, it is prescribed that the Declarations shall be made at the end of 8 days to the Segreto or Pro-Segreto of the District, in the territory of which the flock or herd exists, on the day of the publication of the Edict. That 3 days afterwards, the Segreti and Pro-Segreti are to publish the Return, so that every one may be enabled to denounce those who attempt to defraud, who shall, upon conviction, be subject to the penalty of six times the amount of the Tax; 1-third of which shall belong to the Denouncer, and the other 2-thirds to the Treasury.

With the Segreto and Pro-Segreto, in the operations relative to this Tax, shall be associated the Arch-Priest, or, in his default, the Curate or whoever performs his duties for him, and the Principal Officer of Justice.

6th. That the Tax upon the consumption of every kind of meat and fish, as well fresh as salted, ordered in the XIVth Article, shall be demanded every where, from the day immediately succeeding the publication of the Royal Edict.

For the punctual execution of the Regulations, in regard to the Tax on meat, His Majesty prescribes, that the Functionaries who superintend the slaughtering shall not allow it to be exposed for sale before the duty has been paid upon it, either to the Person who farms

the Duty, if it should be farmed, or to the Person appointed for that purpose by the Public Functionary whom it may concern.

With respect to the lambs, kids, and other animals which are already slaughtered, the duty shall be levied upon them when they are brought to the respective Population, for which purpose the Places to be named for the sale of them shall be limited by the Public Functionary to the number proportioned to each District.

With respect to fresh fish, wherever there may already be a Duty, the present new Duty shall be added to the same, in order that it may be collected according to the same regulations; where, however, there may not already be a Duty, it shall be collected in the more certain and expeditious form which the Public Functionary may deem suitable.

Lastly, with regard to salted fish, pickled and dry, the Tax shall be paid in conjunction with the Customs' Duties, if there be any. And, since all the Shopkeepers and Public Dealers are provided with this article, and, moreover, since there is a great quantity of it in the possession of the Speculators and Proprietors, who have paid the Duties of Customs upon it, on which account the payment for such portions cannot be made in the manner already pointed out; it is therefore ordered, that all the Public Dealers and Speculators who have made their purchases, and all the other Proprietors who have already paid the Customs' Duties, or are not obliged to pay them, under what title or for what reason soever, shall declare, in the course of 8 days, the quantity which is in their possession on the day of the publication of the Edict, and shall pay the Duty within 15 days, under a penalty of 6 times the amount thereof, 1-third of which shall belong to the Informer, and the other 2-thirds to the Treasury.

7th. His Majesty orders, lastly, that in conformity with what is prescribed in the XVIIth Article, there shall be carried to a Separate Account, the produce of the Duty upon meat of every species, and upon fresh and salted fish, and, in like manner, the produce of the Tax and Additional Tax upon animals employed in drawing private Carriages or hired Vehicles throughout the Kingdom, and upon those used with saddles in Palermo, Messira, and Catania; and that a principal sum of 23,030 ducats, shall be carried to the same Account, out of the Tax upon animals of other species; and that the produce of the said Duties, together with the above-mentioned sum of 23,030 ducats, shall be remitted by the Segreti, for the purpose, as already pointed out, of being distributed among the Creditors, after being deposited in the Public Bank, under the following title :-" Royal Treasury General, Separate Account of the Deposit of 150,000 Ducats, for a Sinking Fund to pay off the Arrears of Debts."

Palermo, 1st February, 1817.