t Loire ..........10s. 4d. Mayenne .............8s. 3d. Orne ....................9s. 7d. Loiret .................8s. 6d. Maine et Loire ........9s. 6d. Indre et Loire .........7s. 2d. Sarthe .................9s. 5d.

Of this great tract parts are level and parts are mountainous. The climate, though in general steady, is very different in its degree of warmth, according to the elevation of the ground. Hence a considerable discrepancy in the relative fitness for pasture, for corn culture, or for vineyards. Unfortunately the water communication is limited, there being few canals, and the rivers being too near their source to be navigable.

Aisne .................12s. 0d. Aube .................7s. 0d. Haute Saone ..........10s. 8d. Yonne .................7s. 0d. Saone et Loire .........10s. 0d. Doubs .................7s. 0d. Jura ....................9s. 1d. Marne .................6s. 10d. Ain .....................8s. 8d. Haute Marne .........5s. 8d.

..............8s. 3d.

The six following departments, similar to the above in latitude, and not materially different in climate, are of very inferior productivity; in some parts, from the mountainous nature of their surface; in others, on account of extensive heaths, moors, marshes, and tracts of sand. The objects of culture continue to be wheat, oats, and rye; vines and maize are raised in the warmest exposures.

Loir et Cher ..........5s. 94. Allier .................6s. 0d. Nievre ..................5s. 84. Cher ..................4s. 34. Yonne ..................5s. 14. Indre ..................4s. 1d.

Lorraine is a mountainous country, containing extensive tracts of sheep pasture. Its chief agricultural products are oats and wheat.

Moselle .................8s. 7d. Meurthe ...............8s. 0d. Meuse ...................7s. 6d. Ardennes .............6s. 8d. Vosges ..................6s. 3d.

Auvergne.

This extensive province, and the departments to the south and south-west, are in general mountainous, cold, considering their latitude, and thinly peopled. The chief product of the high grounds is rye. The best departments are those of the

Loire ..................8s. 4d. Ardèche ...............6s. 6d. Pay-de-Dôme ..........8s. 1d. Haute Loire ..........6s. 23.

¹ It should be observed that since 1851 and 1852 house rent has risen in many instances a third in the better localities, and in less favoured quarters a fourth, a fifth, or a sixth, on the rents paid in 1830. In the manufacturing and commercial towns of France also, such as Lyon, Rouen, Havre, &c., rent, always high, has augmented generally ten and in some cases twelve or fourteen per cent. It should be observed generally that these averages can only be approximate, the rent of land, the farmers' profit, and the rent of houses being uncertain and fluctuating.

The following, situated to the south and west of the Statistics above, are all poor and thinly peopled:

Cantal .................5s. 24. Corrèze ...............4s. 3d. Aveyron .................4s. 10d. Lot ..................3s. 8d. Haute Vienne ..........4s. 4d. Creuse .................3s. 5d.

Here we attain a more genial climate, and a country in Southeastern well adapted to the growth of the vine. But a great division of part of this tract (Dauphiné and Upper Languedoc) is France mountainous; and the export of wine is consequently attended with much more difficulty than along the banks of the Garonne. Wheat, maize, and silk, are the other principal products.

Rhône (Including Bouches du Rhône ...8s. 11d. Lyons ..................13s. 3d. Gard ..................8s. 10d. Vaucluse .................10s. 0d. Isère .................8s. 24. Var .....................9s. 1d. Aude .................7s. 8d. Hérault .................8s. 1d. Drôme .................5s. 11d.

Of the following ten departments, some are indebted for South-west the amount of their return to the extent of their vintage, division, which necessarily varies, and which, for the last five or six years, owing to the vine disease, has been singularly unproductive; others to their productiveness in wheat or maize.

In pasture or in cattle these departments are far from abundant.

Tarn et Garonne .......13s. 6d. Haute Garonne .......10s. 2d. Lot et Garonne .........11s. 7d. Charente .............8s. 11d. Gironde (Including Tarn ..................8s. 4d. Tarn Bordeaux) .......10s. 6d. Gers ..................7s. 8d. Charente Inferior Dordogne .............7s. 0d. eure ...................10s. 24. Lot ..................6s. 24.

It remains that we notice a few departments so particularly circumstanced as not to fall under any of the preceding heads. La Vendée, so peculiar in its surface, and not likely to recover for ages the devastations of civil war, is naturally fertile. Its products are wheat, oats, and, in the warmer situations, maize.

Deux Sevres ..........8s. 0d. Vendée .................6s. 8d.

Three-fourths of this department consist of sandy downs; Lands in the remainder produces maize, wheat, and vines; but the average annual produce is only 2s. 1d. per acre.

Here the degree of fertility becomes less and less as we approach to the elevated line which separates France from Spain. This rugged region contains great tracts of pasture. The corn raised is maize, wheat, oats, or barley, according to the altitude and temperature of the district.

Basses Pyrénées .......5s. 7d. Arrigans .............5s. 04. Pyrénées Orientales ....5s. 7d. Hautes Pyrénées .......4s. 8d.

Lastly comes the still more lofty barrier of France to the south-east, the products of which are a little wheat in the valleys; and in the higher grounds pasture, with corn of the higher species.

Hautes Alpes ..........2s. 1d. Basses Alpes ..........2s. 03.

II. DIVISIONS, CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL.

Nothing can be more simple and uniform than the territorial divisions of France since the first Revolution. Instead of old provinces or counties, disproportioned in size, and having frequently their chief town at one or other of the extremities, the departments of France have almost always the capital in the centre, and, in their extent, approximate in a great degree to equality. Each department is divided into three, four, five, or more arrondissements; each arrondissement into seven, eight, or nine cantons; and each canton into twelve, fifteen, or more communes. The communes in France are nearly similar to parishes, though they are constituted communes by having a civil Statistics instead of a clerical functionary. The numbers of each class are as follows:

Departments since the peace of 1814 (including Corsica) ... 85 Arrondissements .................................................. 363 Cantons ................................................................... 2,847 Communes .............................................................. 36,835

A far different result this from the gigantic empire of Bonaparte, which, after his latest acquisitions in 1810, extended to Rome in the south, and to Hamburg and Lübeck in the north, comprehending above 130 departments, and a population of forty-four millions. But of all these splendid conquests, none, with the exception of the Netherlands, formed a substantial addition to the power of France. The Italian provinces, separated by a vast natural barrier, were inhabited by a people who bore the ascendency of their northern neighbours only until circumstances should enable them to throw off the yoke, and become incorporated into one great and independent state; whilst the Germans, still more distinct in habits and language from the French, were indignant at their humiliation, and eager to rise with the first appearance of foreign aid. Belgium alone had no natural barrier, no political attachment, to oppose to a union with France.

The ecclesiastical division of France is into archbishoprics and bishoprics. These, before the revolution, were numerous, there being eighteen archbishops and a hundred and twelve bishops; but that great political change bore particularly hard on the clergy, of whom, as of the noblesse, the great majority were adherents of the Bourbons, the number of prelates was reduced, first to eighty-five, and eventually (in 1801) to fifty-nine archbishops and forty-one bishops. On the restoration of the Bourbons, measures were taken to augment their number; and in 1817 a new concordat, concluded with the court of Rome, announced the creation of nine additional archbishoprics and thirty-three bishoprics, carrying the totals respectively to eighteen and seventy-four. There are now (1855) fifteen archbishops and sixty-five bishops of the Roman Catholic faith. The eighty dioceses contain 3,301 parishes, 29,201 chapels of ease, and 6,486 vicarages. All religions are freely professed in France, but only the Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Mohammedan are acknowledged and paid by the state. The Reformed and Jewish religions have a considerable number of consistories. The number of Roman Catholic clergy of every hierarchy and grade in France is 40,000; or 50,000, if the pupils studying theology in eighty-six seminaries and 120 secondary schools are included. The Protestant (Lutherans) has 388 ministers, the Reformed of the confession of Augsburg 387, total 775. There are 111 Jewish rabbis and one chief rabbi.

A further distribution of the French territory is into military divisions, or great districts, comprising four or five departments. Of these there are in the whole kingdom twenty-two, each having a general of rank and a body of officers stationed in a central town.

III. HARBOURS, NAVIGABLE RIVERS, CANALS, ROADS, BRIDGES.

In this important point France is considerably inferior to England, her long tract of coast washed by the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay being indifferently provided with seaports, and those on the southern shore of the channel forming a striking contrast to the spacious maritime inlets on the English side. To begin from the north-east, Dunkirk has a small harbour, but improved in the interior of the town, approached on the Dutch plan by a canal leading from the sea. Boulogne has a roadstead—which, however, has been much deepened and improved—indebted for its celebrity under Bonaparte to the facility of giving protection, by land batteries near its entrance, to a numerous assemblage of small craft. The port of Dieppe is exposed, and of course unsuitable for winter; that of St Malo is better; whilst Cherbourg, on which immense sums have been expended, is now a port and arsenal of great utility and importance to the imperial navy. On doubling the projecting part of Brittany, we find, in the south-west of that province, L'Orient. Brittany also possesses Brest, the great maritime port of the Atlantic for the navy. Proceeding further to the south, we find Rochefort, at La Rochelle, a small but secure harbour, and at Bordeaux a river nearly equal in width to the Thames at London. From this there is no seaport until we reach Bayonne, a place of no easy access. On the Mediterranean, France has the ports of Cete and Marseilles, the latter spacious and secure, and the great maritime port, arsenal, and dockyard of Toulon, which, with Cherbourg, Brest, L'Orient, Rochefort, and Toulon, are called in ordinary parlance ports militaires.

Nantes, though a large commercial town, adjoins a shallow part of the Loire, and vessels of burden are obliged to load and unload at Painbrout. The great dockyards and naval stations of the kingdom are at Brest and Toulon, both excellent harbours, and at Rochefort, which is situated on the river Charente, near its mouth. In all these the accommodation for shipping is the gift of nature; but at Cherbourg the case is very different, that port containing works, of which the labour and expense (see the article Breakwater, vol. v. p. 302) have been very great. Its roadstead, extensive but open, has a sea-wall, affording protection from the swell of the sea; and its spacious dock, excavated since the beginning of this century, at an expense of L3,000,000 sterling, is capable of containing fifty sail of the line. Le Havre de Grace, the best mercantile harbour in the north of France, has also been formed at a large expense.

The square form of France, favourable as it is for military Inland navigation, subjects the greater part of the country to the want of those ready and economical means of transport by sea which form the great physical advantage of Great Britain and Ireland. Unluckily, this want is very imperfectly supplied by the inland waters, canals being very little extended, and the navigation of the great rivers subject to many obstructions; occurring in one part from rapidity, in another from shallowness; at one season from drought, at another from overflow. The application of steam to navigation has corrected in part this most inconvenient tardiness; but the accommodation which is afforded by the Loire in the interior, the Rhône in the south, the Seine in the north, and the Garonne, with its Canal du Languedoc in the south-west, is but a small portion of what is furnished by our numerous intersections in England, or of what is wanted for so extensive a territory as that of France.

The Canal of Languedoc, or the Canal du Midi, as it is now generally called, begun in the reign of Louis XIV. and completed in the year 1668, was the first example in Europe of inland navigation on a great scale. It is the most stupendous undertaking of the sort that has been executed in France. Its general breadth is sixty feet, its depth six and a half feet. It has 114 locks and sluices, and in its highest part it is 600 feet above the level of the sea. As a scientific work, it did honour to an age as yet little advanced in engineering; but in a pecuniary point of view it was unproductive, the tolls never having paid the interest of the very large sum (upwards of L1,200,000 sterling) expended upon it. The canal begins at Toulouse on the Garonne, remounts the valley of the Lhers, traverses the chain of the Monts Corbières, which joins the Cevennes to

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1 The cost of the canal was 17,000,000 francs, representing, according to M. Ernest Granger (see Previs Historique et Statistique des voies navigables, p. 404), according to the present value of money, a sum of 30,000,000 francs. Statistics, the Pyrenees, descends the valley of the Aude at Carcassonne, which it leaves at Ginestas to pass by Béziers, where it traverses the river d'Orb. Passing through Hérault above and near Agde, it ends at l'Étang de Thau, at the place called le Port des Onglous. The navigation is however continued to the port of Cete by the canal of Cete, and thus the Atlantic and Mediterranean are united.

The canal of Briare is of earlier date, and of much less extent. The object here was to open a navigation from the Loire on the south to the Seine on the north, by a canal running almost due north, a distance of forty miles. It then receives from the west the canal of Orléans, commenced in 1675, and proceeding also from the Loire; after which the canal is continued to the north, under the name of Canal de l'Oing, till it reaches the Seine. This canal was begun in 1605, in the reign of Henri IV., and was completed in 1642, under Louis XIII. There are, besides this great work, several other important and extensive canals in France. The Canal du Centre unites the Saône and the Loire in the upper part of the course of the latter. It is seventy-two English miles in length, and was completed in 1791, at an expense of L.456,000. Its summit level is about 240 feet above the level of the Loire at Digoin. It has eighty-one locks, five and a half feet of water, forty-eight of breadth at the water's edge, and thirty feet at the bottom. The canal of St Quentin, twenty-eight English miles in length, was completed in 1810, but the navigation was far from perfect. In 1826 the necessary expenses to render the canal perfect were estimated at 4,000,000 francs. A concession of the canal was made to a Sieur Honorez in 1827, for a period of twenty years. On the 11th July 1847, the state entered into full and entire possession of the line which it had conceded. It joins the Scheldt and the Somme. The canal of Besançon is extensive. It joins the Saône, and consequently the Rhône, to the Rhine. From the Saône it stretches a little above St Jean de Losne, by Dôle, Besançon, and Mulhausen, to Strasbourg, a distance of 200 miles, where it joins the Rhine. The canal of Burgundy joins the Rhône to the Seine. This canal was opened along its whole line in December 1832, by way of trial, and in the past year, 1854, it was completely opened. The canal of the Ourcq was dug, not for a commercial purpose, but to convey the water of that little river to Paris, for the consumption of the inhabitants. At a village called La Villette, on the north side of Paris, there was some years ago excavated, at the cost of a million sterling, a basin, approaching in size to our London docks, and adapted, when the necessary canals shall be completed, for the deposit of merchandise brought from Havre and Rouen on the one side, and from Flanders and Champagne on the other. In the south of France there is a short canal proceeding from the Rhône, near Tarascon, in a S.W. direction, to the Mediterranean, called, from its vicinity to a well-known annual fair, Canal de Beaucaire. This canal traverses a great extent of marsh, which it has had the effect of draining. This water-way was opened to supply the imperfect navigation of the lesser Rhône, and of the two canals by which the communication from the Garonne to the Rhône was formerly carried on. These are among the chief canals of France. In the year 1836 there were seventy-four canals, having a total length of 3,699,913 metres, nearly equal to 2280 English miles. But since then large sums have been allocated by the state for canalization. In the fifteen years between the 12th July 1837, and the 28th March 1852, M. Ernest Grangez, chef-de-bureau at the ministry of commerce and public works, tells us that, for this purpose, extraordinary credits have been taken for 241,936,361 francs. Of this sum 227,695,500 francs had been expended on 31st December 1853. In 1854, a credit of 8,000,000 francs had been granted.

The canalization of the Mayenne from Laval to Mayenne, of the Vire from the Pont de Gourfaleur to Vire, of Reims to the Marne, of Bouc to Martigues, from Caen to the sea, from the Charente to Marennes, from La Rochelle to Marennes, and from Saint Thébaud to the lateral canal of the Loire, is in course of execution. But it is probable that this improved mode of communication may be superseded by the still greater improvement of the railroad, which had to a considerable degree, engrossed the public attention in France. There are, however, obstacles to the progress of these improvements, arising partly from the mode of management adopted, and partly also from the high price of the materials required. All great works for the benefit of the community at large, such as canals, railroads, docks, and the like, are carried on at the expense, for the benefit, and under the control of the government. Plans and estimates must be made out and laid before the minister of the interior, who refers them to other public functionaries, namely, the prefect of the department, and afterwards to the bureau des ponts et des chaussées; and when all these persons are satisfied, a public officer is then appointed to superintend the work. This tedious official routine, through which all public undertakings have to pass, tends to discourage individual enterprise, and accounts perhaps for the comparatively few works of this description which have been undertaken in France. The high price of iron, in consequence of the tax on foreign iron, has likewise operated as a great discouragement to the construction of railroads in France; and thus we have an additional illustration of the ruinous effects of this tax in obstructing the domestic improvement of the country.

The great roads in France are managed, not, as with us, Roads, by county commissioners, but by government bureaux or boards, the chief of which are at Paris. These boards are all under the direction of the minister of public works. The extent of road under their direction is about 30,000 miles; and the annual expenditure from L.1,300,000 to L.1,500,000, the whole of which is defrayed without one toll or turnpike. An attempt was made under Bonaparte to levy tolls; but this excited so much clamour in a country where commercial intercourse is carried on almost wholly by land-carriage, that it was found indispensable to seek the necessary funds from another source—a tax on salt. The great roads in France are in general in tolerable condition; but no epithet can convey an idea of the wretched state of the cross roads in almost every department; full of hollows, encumbered with stones, or inundated with water, they receive hardly any repair, but are abandoned, year after year, to the effects of the weather. Notwithstanding the little done by government to favour locomotion, the traffic on roads increased tenfold in the thirty years between 1811 and 1841.

The great roads in France are much wider than in England, exhibiting frequently a long straight avenue lined on each side with chestnut or other large trees. Roads in France are classed under three categories,—imperial roads 14 metres in breadth, departmental roads about 11 metres broad, and the chemins vicinaux. They are often paved like a street for many miles in succession; the art of road-making being as yet too little understood to prevent material injury from the heavy waggons and ill-constructed wheels, without resorting to this unpleasant alternative. Travelling is thus much less agreeable than in England, particularly as the villages want neatness and cheerfulness, whilst most of the towns along the road are disfigured by narrow crooked streets, in which new stone buildings are often mixed with antiquated wooden structures, such as have disappeared from our provincial towns for nearly a century past. The mails are now conveyed as with us by the railroad, but where there is no rail, in a kind of chariot called a malle-poste. The diligences, though somewhat improved in structure, are still clumsy and lumbering.

During the twenty years between 1828 and the 24th February 1848, the railroad conceded to private companies in France only amounted to 2237 miles. The revolution of Statistics. February put a sudden stop to all enterprises of this kind.

There was not a single concession made in 1848, 1849, or 1850. Indeed, some companies, unable to carry on the work confided to them, were either sequestrated or taken possession of by the state. The concession of the line from Paris to Reims was made on the 16th July 1851, of the line round Paris on the 11th December 1851, of the line from Paris to Lyon 5th January 1852, of the line from Lyon to Avignon 3rd January 1852. These and other concessions in 1852 added 2050 miles to the extent of rail. In 1853 the progress continued, and concessions to the extent of 1326 miles were granted. The year 1854 has been consecrated to the execution of the works, and more than 372 miles have been opened between the 1st January and the 31st December 1854.

At the breaking out of the February revolution, the concessions for railways amounted to 2237 miles; in 1854 they amounted to more than 6214 miles. At the end of 1855, 3728 miles additional were opened to the public. The length of lines conceded and executed have thus increased threefold in the space of a few years. About L80,000,000 have been expended on these enterprises.

The credit required in the budget of 1856 for railways is equal to that of 1855—namely, 55,435,900 francs. At present (1855) the branch rail from Strasbourg to Reims, from Bec d'Allier to Clermont, with a branch to Nevers, from St Germain des Fossés to Roanne, from Mons to Laval, from Marseilles to Toulon, from Caen to Cherbourg, from Bordeaux to Bayonne, and from Narbonne to Perpignan, are in course of construction. Some of these lines are to be opened this year, some in 1857, and some in 1858.

Railway Returns.

| Year | Value received | Length | |------|---------------|--------| | 1853 | 32,634,856 fr.| 2478 | | 1854 | 40,145,632 | 2554 |

The French have as yet but few cast-iron bridges, all their great structures of this description being of stone. Of these, the chief are the bridges over the Loire at Orléans, Tours, and Nantes; those on a smaller scale over the Seine at Paris; and those over the Saône and Rhône at Lyon. The Pont du St Esprit above Orange, over the Rhône, is a long structure of sixteen arches. At no great distance from it is the Pont du Gard, one of the most entire, stupendous, and beautiful monuments of Roman architecture, composed of a triple tier of arches, erected for the purpose of conducting an aqueduct over the river Gardon. This magnificent structure is 157 feet in height, 520 feet in length at the bottom, and 872 at the top. Of the lately erected bridges in France, the most remarkable are those over the Seine at Neuilly near Paris, and over the Oise at St Maixent, with two of larger dimensions, viz. one over the Garonne at Bordeaux, the other over the Seine at Rouen. Bridges as well as roads and all other means of intercommunication are under the direction of the minister of public works; a special school for the formation of engineers of bridges and roads is established at Paris. The territory of France is divided into 16 inspectorships of ponts et chaussées.

Telegraphic communications are principally made by means of the electric telegraph, of which the government reserves to itself a monopoly, but private persons are allowed to avail themselves of it.

IV. AGRICULTURE.

The agriculture of France is in a very different state from that of England or Scotland, being marked by a degree of backwardness not a little surprising in a country so far advanced in many departments of art and science. The causes of this, however, are not of difficult explanation. France enjoyed for scarcely more than 38 years, i.e., from 1814 to 1848, the advantage of a representative body; and the condition of the peasantry was long far inferior to that of the same class in England. No ecclesiastical reformation had taken place to remove a valuable part of the national territory out of the hands of indolent life occupants; and the grands seigneurs, the other great body of landholders, devoted their attention to Paris and Versailles, without bestowing a thought on their lands or their tenantry, except to extract from them the means of defraying their expenses in the capital. To this was added a system of taxation, less heavy indeed than that to which we are subjected in England, but extremely crude and impolitic, as evinced in the gabelle, or tax on salt used in private families, and in the corée, or obligation on the peasantry to labour on the high roads. To these were joined the humiliating enactments of the game-laws, and the more substantial injury of tithes; for the clerical body in France levied this pernicious assessment as in England, though possessing in property lands of the computed rent of five millions sterling.

Another great drawback on French agriculture was the insignificant size of the occupancies, whether held as farms or as property. A French agriculturist on a small scale has little idea of selling his paternal acres, and converting the amount into a capital for a farm. He is much more likely to go on as the proprietor of eight or ten acres of land, and the cultivator of as many more. The mode of paying rent was equally singular; money rents were general only in the north or most fertile parts of France; they did not, on the whole, exist in more than a fifth or sixth of the kingdom before the Revolution. A more frequent species of tenure was by a grant made under the reservation of a fine, of a quitrent, or of certain servitudes, of which the least burdensome were sending corn to the mill, or grapes to the press, of the proprietor. But of all indications of poverty and backwardness, the most striking was the system of métairie (rent in kind); a practice by which a tenant, having little capital of his own, receives from the proprietor the live stock and implements necessary for cultivating his petty tenure, and divides with him its produce. This wretched method was and still is common, not indeed in the north or north-east of France, but in many of the poorer districts of the centre and south. There are, it is to be remarked, several distinctions in this system; the landholder, in some parts, providing only half the cattle and seed, and in others the whole. There is of course a corresponding difference in the apportionment of the produce.

La Révolution a été faite pour le cultivateur is a common saying in France. Indeed, that great convulsion improved so much the situation of the agriculturists, by cancelling, at one decisive blow, the tithes, the game-laws, the corée, and other relics of feudal servitude, that, after all the horrors of Jacobinism, and all the tyranny of Bonaparte, a strong attachment to the Revolution survives among this pacific class. Further, the sale of the church lands transferred a valuable mass of property from indolent into active hands. But with this must terminate the eulogy on the Revolution, the further progress made by agriculture having been caused less by any political change, than by the gradual effect of experience, and the diffusion of information. The degree of agricultural improvement in France since the first Revolution has certainly been less than in England and Scotland, and in one very material point that memorable convulsion has tended to retard it; we mean by the law, suggested by a jealousy of the ascendancy of the noblesse, which obliges the owner of property, whether in land or money, to make an almost equal division of it amongst his children. The parent of two children has the free disposal of only one-third of his property, and the parent of three children of only one-fourth, the residue being shared equally among all. The claim of primogeniture is thus in a manner annulled; and a law which is apparently wise and equitable, proves the source of great Statistics injury to agriculture, by multiplying the petty plots of land throughout a country where they were previously far too numerous.

The following table, taken from official documents published by M. Duchâtel, exhibits in hectares the physical and agricultural division of the French territory, which has not materially changed within the last 20 years.

| Cultivable land | 25,559,152 | |-----------------|------------| | Meadows | 4,834,621 | | Vineyards | 2,134,822 | | Woods | 7,422,314 | | Orchards and gardens | 643,659 | | Wet and cultivated places &c. | 64,489 | | Pools and watering places | 209,431 | | Downs, pastures, and heaths | 7,799,672 | | Navigable canals | 1,631 | | Diverse cultures | 951,934 |

Estimate of the Principal Articles cultivated in 1840.

| Fr. | Fr. | |-----|-----| | Wheat | 1,324,189,591 | | Straw of all kinds | 761,767,460 | | Natural meadows | 462,989,000 | | Vines, wine | 441,398,000 | | Oats | 382,413,000 | | Rye | 355,531,000 | | Artificial meadows | 203,755,000 | | Woods and forests | 298,499,000 | | Potatoes | 202,106,000 | | Meat | 173,004,000 | | Barley | 155,140,000 | | Gardens | 137,094,000 | | Fallows, herbs | 92,282,000 | | Pastures | 91,910,000 | | Hemp | 86,287,000 |

Statement of the area of France, distinguishing approximately the various kinds of soil of which the surface is composed.

| Mountainous country | 4,268,750 | | Heathy ditto or lands | 5,676,188 | | Soil of rich moulds | 7,276,368 | | Soil of chalk, or limestone | 9,788,197 | | Soil of gravel | 3,417,933 | | Stony soil | 6,612,348 |

The surprising proportion of land in France under tillage is owing to the smallness of the occupancies, the cheapness of labour, and the general use of bread instead of animal food by the humbler orders. The last is connected with another remarkable circumstance; the very slender proportion of land under pasture, of which the main cause is the dry climate of the southern and central part of the kingdom. In the proportion of poor and unproductive land France and England are nearly on a par, but the French incur a very heavy disadvantage by using wood instead of coal for fuel, and covering with forests many tracts which might be made available for either pasture or tillage.

All France in 1840 gave 13,141 hectolitres per hectare. The total value of cereals in 1813 was 1,780,478,000 fr., or 9387 fr. per hectare, or 59 fr. per head. In 1840 (which was the last account) it was calculated at 2,565,238,000, at 18,900 fr. per hectare, or 77 per head.

In 1840 there were 5,586,787 hectares in wheat. In England 2,130,000 hectares. The wheat product in 1840 was 6 07 for 1.

In England it is 9 for 1. The total value in the United Kingdom Statistics, 978,500,000 fr. at 25 fr.; in France 1,400,000,000 fr. at 20 fr., the hectolitre. The arable land of France in 1840 was 22,240,090 hectares. The value of the cereals, fruits, and artificial meadows in France reaches 2,301,518,807 fr., and their value alone 106 fr. per hectare. The vine in 1840 covered 1,972,340 hectares. The total result of French cultivation in agriculture reaches—

Cultivated ground, to the value of 5,692,116,220 fr. Pasturage, &c. ........................................... 645,794,905 Woods and forests ....................................... 283,258,325

Total, 6,022,169,450 fr.

Primary Crops in 1853.

| Acres cultivated. | Crop, Qrs. per Acre. | Value. | Total Production. | |-------------------|----------------------|--------|------------------| | Potatoes | 2,278,320 | 35-00 | L.3,462 | L.7,995,832 | | Wheat | 13,807,478 | 4-28 | 3-125 | 43,858,333 | | Spelt | 11,696 | 9-69 | 2-709 | 31,948,509 | | Mselin | 2,251,944 | 4-46 | 2-505 | 5,783,333 | | Buckwheat | 1,609,311 | 4-78 | 1-492 | 2,414,833 | | Rye | 6,368,862 | 3-71 | 1-823 | 11,716,666 | | Barley | 2,936,186 | 4-67 | 1-833 | 5,462,500 | | Oats | 7,414,996 | 5-43 | 1-593 | 11,954,166 | | Maize | 1,561,089 | 4-02 | 1-799 | 2,850,000 |

Secondary Improved Crops in 1853.

| Productions. | Acres. | Qrs. per Acre. | Value per Acre. | Total Production. | |--------------|--------|----------------|-----------------|------------------| | Vine land | 4,873,934 | 2-56 | L.3,663 | L.19,900,416 | | Gardens | 891,322 | 6-00 | 6-975 | 6,214,583 | | Pulses | 733,745 | 1-60 | 2-773 | 2,058,333 | | Mangel Wurzel | 142,483 | 36-18 | 7-957 | 1,147,916 | | Hop | 2,043 | 1-44 | 18-881 | 39,583 | | Rape | 468,751 | 1-80 | 4-706 | 2,018,750 | | Hemp | 435,288 | 1-35 | 7-755 | 1,425,000 | | Hemp Seed | 242,768 | 1-05 | 9-768 | 2,256,250 | | Flax Seed | 36,262 | 87-00 | 10-080 | 356,250 | | Madder | 19,658 | 94-84 | 10-913 | 197,915 | | Olives | 312,599 | 24-75 | 2-850 | 870,893 | | Chestnuts | 1,125,326 | 4-68 | 4-70 | 554,166 | | PastureMeadows | 14,277,564 | 18-95 | 1-624 | 25,729,166 |

Nett Return of Land in France, reckoned by the English Acre, and calculated from Official Surveys.

| Tillage (average of poor and fertile soils) | 11 0 | | Vines | 37 0 | | Meadow land | 37 0 | | Natural pasturage, chiefly mountainous | 3 6 | | Woods | 7 6 | | Chestnut plantations | 7 6 | | Orchards | 7 6 | | Kitchen gardens | 15 0 | | Various kinds of culture, viz., nurseries, hop-grounds, olive grounds, &c. | 18 6 | | General average of all France, per English acre | 9 1 |

We proceed to add a few remarks on French agriculture, with reference to articles less known or less generally raised in England. Buckwheat is cultivated extensively in Brittany, Normandy, and the north of France, partly as green food for cattle, partly for the diet of the peasantry; it is generally sown in June and reaped in the end of September. Wheat and meslin are principally cultivated in the north, but the produce of the south, though less abundant,

It is impossible to say what effect the Gudium Tuckeri will have on the nett return of land under vine culture in France. Some conceive that the culture of the vine will remain stationary, others that the finer qualities of vine are perishing, and that the land now occupied by vines will hereafter grow corn. These are after all but the speculative opinions of agriculturists and statistical writers. Statistics is generally preferred. Barley and oats are also more common in the north. Rye is raised pretty equally in all parts of France. Rape-seed is very general in French Flanders and Normandy; it supplies oil for the market and food for cattle, either when green or in cakes. Colza (coarse-seed) is raised for the same purposes. Tobacco would be generally cultivated in France, were it not monopolized for the benefit of the state; hence its cultivation is confined to certain licensed districts, which are chiefly in Alsace and Picardy. The quality of the article produced under the royal monopoly is greatly inferior to that produced by private cultivators abroad, whilst the price being 400 per cent higher, the latter is smuggled into France in great quantities, notwithstanding all attempts to prevent it. Flax is raised very generally, not merely in French Flanders, Alsace, and Normandy, but in the provinces of the west and south, where the family of almost every peasant rears a little stock annually to be spun by his wife and daughters. Hops are almost exclusively grown in those parts of France bordering on Belgium. Hemp also is raised in many parts of France, particularly in the north. Maize is a plant of great importance, whether for the food of man or of cattle; when intended to stand for harvest, it is planted in rows with very little seed, and yields more than twice the quantity of wheat that would be produced on the same space. During its growth the leaves are stripped regularly for the food of cattle; and in some districts it is sown thick and mown merely for that purpose. Maize and millet are chiefly grown in the east and south-east. Such valuable substitutes have as yet prevented turnips from being generally introduced into France. Even potatoes were long very little known, and it is only during the last half century that the dislike to this tuber has disappeared. Potatoes are more cultivated in the east than in any other district. Chestnuts are most common in the central part of France, where they supply no inconsiderable portion of the food of the peasantry. In the south the fruits are chiefly olives, almonds, mulberries, figs, and prunes; oranges are partially cultivated in the southeastern extremity of the kingdom, on the verge of Italy, but with great uncertainty, for a severe winter is fatal to these trees, and in some measure also to the olives.

Irrigation is little understood in the north of France, but in the south the want of frequent rain renders it a primary object of attention; it in fact determines the ratio of productiveness, since the warmth of the sun seldom fails to ripen whatever has received an adequate supply of moisture. According to M. Becquerel, there has been a progressive annual increase in the number of hectolitres produced since 1813. There has been a very decided progress in agricultural improvement in every part of France, but notably in the west and south-west. The increase in productiveness in all manner of grains is estimated at 2,141,217 hectolitres.

The culture of the vine extends more or less over fully the half of France, beginning as far north as Champagne, and spreading over the country to the south and the west. This culture is, however, very limited in Champagne, and even in Burgundy; in Provence and the lower part of Languedoc the climate is warmer, and the culture general, though not managed with such skill as along the banks of the Garonne, where the spirit of improvement is excited by a demand for foreign markets. As vines succeed in light and unproductive soils, their culture gives a value to much ground which would otherwise be useless; and the petty subdivisions of land are here less injurious than in the case of corn. From the great variety of soil and climate, the quality of French wines is very various. The amount produced has been considerably increased since 1790, as well from the division of many large estates, as from the quantity of waste land which has been brought into culture. It is, however, remarked by M. Moreau de Joué (Statistique de l'Agriculture de France, 1848), that the consumption of wine in France has remained stationary since 1791, and that the quantity consumed by each individual is not more than it was half a century ago. Considering the increase of wealth and population, M. Joué calculates that the consumption should have increased 50 per cent. It is computed that nearly 5,000,000 acres of land are planted with vines, and that the value of the annual produce is from £28,000,000 to £30,000,000 sterling, of which about a tenth or twelfth part only is exported.

Quantity of Wine produced in France during the following seven years, in imperial gallons.

| Year | Imp. Gall. | |------|-----------| | 1848 | 1,135,687,344 | | 1849 | 782,214,686 | | 1850 | 983,786,166 | | 1851 | 867,343,038 | | 1852 | 628,703,222 | | 1853 | 498,557,774 | | 1854 | 237,377,118 |

Average annual produce before the oidium appeared, 924,000,000 gallons, worth £22,516,220 sterling.

Number of imperial gallons of Wine distilled during the following seven years into Spirit of Wine and Brandy, the proportions being about two-thirds Spirit of Wine and one-third Brandy.

| Year | Wine, Imp. Gall. | Spirit, Imp. Gall. | |------|-----------------|--------------------| | 1848 | 151,800,000 | 19,800,000 | | 1849 | 206,800,000 | 24,200,000 | | 1850 | 178,200,000 | 23,100,000 | | 1851 | 215,600,000 | 28,600,000 | | 1852 | 211,200,000 | 27,500,000 | | 1853 | 110,000,000 | 13,420,000 | | 1854 | 92,400,000 | 11,990,000 |

The Exports of Wine and Brandy from France for the following four years are as follows:

| Year | Wine, Imp. Gall. | Brandy, Imp. Gall. | |------|-----------------|--------------------| | 1851 | 50,149,078 | | | 1852 | 53,991,196 | | | 1853 | 44,130,438 | | | 1854 | 28,895,912 | |

It is a curious fact that the effect of the oidium or vine disease has for the last few years caused an importation of foreign wine into France for home consumption. The following is an account of the imports of foreign wine and spirits for the years 1852-4:

| Year | Wine, Imp. Gall. | Spirit, Imp. Gall. | |------|-----------------|--------------------| | 1852 | 76,494 | 1852 | | 1853 | 98,494 | 1853 | | 1854 | 2,670,580 | 1854 |

It will be observed, that the import immensely increased during the last year, owing to the large quantities used for the supply of the French army in the Crimea.

Of the spirits in the above table, 802,019 gallons were rum imported from England.

A quantity equal to about a sixth of the wine is made into brandy, for brandy is distilled wherever vines are grown; and of it also the best in quality is in the vicinity of the Garonne. This important and staple branch of French industry has been very seriously injured by the prohibitory system of customhouse laws, which were extended and increased in rigour during the reigns of Louis XVIII. and Charles X., and were not much mitigated during the eighteen years' reign of Louis Philippe. Many of the leading statesmen of France still evince a most mistaken partiality to the prohibitive system. France, by excluding the produce of

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1 It is very difficult to say to what extent the vine disease and the excision of vine branches in consequence thereof has affected the production of wine either in quantity or quality. It has unquestionably had the effect of raising the price of the finer wines from 25 to 35 per cent., and of raising the price of brandy during the last two years nearly 300 per cent. other nations, virtually deprives, or greatly limits, by the same laws, the reception of her own produce into foreign countries. It is clear that they must pay for the wines of France with their own produce, which, if France refuse to receive, they have no other equivalent to give in return; they must procure an equivalent from foreign countries, and the effect of this is to restrict the trade, by raising the price of French wines. Accordingly, it appears that whilst France exported to England from 16,000 to 20,000 tons of wine when the population was only five millions, this supply had fallen off, partly owing to the heavy duties imposed in Great Britain, and partly to the prohibitory duties imposed in France on British produce, to 1800 tons, whilst the population of the country had in the mean time greatly increased; a melancholy illustration of the effects of that illiberal policy which pretends to improve commerce by prohibiting the free intercourse of commercial countries.

Beet sugar. France is the largest producer of beet sugar in the world. The origin of the manufacture must be traced from the year 1807, but forty years elapsed before the manufacturer of this article was enabled to cope successfully with colonial sugars. From France the culture spread through the different countries of Europe, even into the interior of Russia; and it is calculated that there is now produced of this kind of sugar on the continent of Europe not less than three hundred and sixty millions of pounds, nearly one-half of which is manufactured in France. In the vicinity of Lille the average yield of the sugar is sixteen tons per acre, and at Valenciennes nineteen tons; in some localities twenty-five tons are produced. The annual manufacture of sugar is about forty thousand tons, and the non-crystallized matter extracted from lees and dregs furnishes enormous quantities of sweetening matter to breweries, and also to the wine-doctors and wine-falsifiers of Cote and the Gironde. Nor is this the only use to which beet is turned, as a large quantity of spirit is distilled from it.

The minuteness of the Cadastre survey has led to official calculations in France, of products which have not yet engaged the attention of other governments. Madder is cultivated on a small scale, partly in the north, partly in the south of France; its chief use is in dyeing woollens and cottons. Woad is used for yellow and green colours; saffron, cultivated formerly to a great extent, is now confined to one district (the Gatinois) in the south of France; hops are raised only in Picardy and French Flanders.

Subjoined are the values of the following articles produced annually in France:

| Article | Value | |--------------------------|-------------| | Wine | £23,000,000 | | Raw silk | 600,000 | | Hemp | 1,200,000 | | Flax | 800,000 | | Madder | 200,000 | | Wood for fuel, and timber of all kinds | 5,600,000 | | Olive-oil, rape-seed, and colo-seed | 2,800,000 | | Tobacco | 300,000 | | Chestnuts | 300,000 |

£34,800,000

Of the pasturage ground of France, occupying one-eighth of its territory, the chief part is in Normandy, Brittany, and other humid quarters of the north and west. In the south, the natural pasture is confined to particular districts, chiefly mountainous; in the low grounds, the grass, whether natural or sown, is brought forward only by means of irrigation. Clover and sainfoin are cultivated in France, but chiefly in the north and north-east; lucerne is much more general, being raised not merely in the north, but in the central and southern provinces, wherever irrigation is practicable and the soil and climate are favourable. The art of improving cattle by breeding is little understood in France, nor is there much judgment shown in gradually fattening them by a removal to richer pastures. Still the beef and mutton of the north and west are very good, more especially what is called the près salé mutton, i.e. sheep fed on the salt marshes. Their price varies from province to province, but very seldom from year to year; the general rate was 30 per cent. less than in England, but within the last four or five years the price of meat has risen much in France, and closely approximates to the price in England. Butter is made and used throughout the chief part of France, as in England, but cheese comparatively little. In the south, however, even butter is little known, and its place in cooking is supplied by olive oil, which is largely used throughout southern Europe. One of the latest novelties in French pasturage is the introduction, in 1819, of a large flock of Cashmere goats, which were sent to browse in the Eastern Pyrenees, and are said to experience but little inconvenience from the change of climate.

In the number of horses, as well as in their size and beauty, France is greatly inferior to this country. In the performance of labour, however, the inferiority is much less conspicuous; large, old-fashioned carriages, drawn by four or six horses, are seen proceeding along a paved road much more easily than we should anticipate from the weight of the vehicle, the knotted harness, and the diminutive size of the animals. The same observation is applicable to the ploughs, the carts, and the waggons of France, which are awkwardly built, but all dragged on with expedition, the strength of the horses surpassing the promise of their appearance. A French diligence, in the provinces in which such carriages still run, performs only five miles an hour; but this is owing less to inferiority in the horses than to the state of the roads, and to the general want of despatch at post-houses.

Of the aggregate of horses in France more than half belong to the northern provinces—Normandy, Brittany, Picardy, Alsace, and the Isle of France. In the central and southern departments a great proportion of the work is done by oxen, which are more suitable to petty farms and mountainous districts.

Sheep are reared in almost every province of France, the gentle elevations of the north and the mountains of the south being alike favourable to them. The mutton is good; but in the art of improving the fleece, the French have as yet much to learn. Merinos were first brought from Spain in 1787, and formed into a royal flock at Ramboillet. The consumption of meat in the country then was small, and consequently the first desire was to improve the wool. The quality, originally good, has been progressively improved, and distributions of Merinos have been successively made to proprietors of sheep pastures in all parts of the kingdom. The consequence has been, that in many districts the weight of the fleece has been nearly doubled. The sheep farming of France appears just now to be in a transition state; its past history offers many points of instructive deduction, while from its future we may expect very beneficial results. These imported sheep were used for crossing with the native breeds, to which but little attention had been paid either as regarded the carcass or the fleece. As time advanced these crossed breeds increased with varied success; in some districts the wool produce was permanently improved by continuing to introduce pure blood, in others it was found more advantageous to develop the physical organization of the animal. The result has been that, notwithstanding the laudable endeavours of the flockmasters to obtain a breed associating both weight and quality of wool with the production of meat, that end has not been satisfactorily obtained; the flocks still remain in an intermediate condition, neither producing the fine quality of wool of the Saxon, nor the weighty fleece or carcass of the English sheep. To encourage the rearing of sheep, a duty of twenty per cent. was in 1822 laid on foreign wool. Mules are almost as little known in the north of France as in England; but in the central and southern parts they are very generally reared. Poultry, in France, are both larger in size and more abundant than in England, more especially in Normandy and the department of La Sarthe.

| Year | Inhabitants | Fr. | Fr. Per head | |------|-------------|-----|--------------| | 1700 | 19,600,000 | 1,500,000,000 | 77 | | 1760 | 21,000,000 | 1,526,000,000 | 73 | | 1788 | 24,000,000 | 2,631,233,000 | 85 | | 1813 | 30,000,000 | 3,335,971,000 | 118 | | 1840 | 35,540,000 | 6,022,169,000 | 180 |

with the domestic animals, 7,592,905,000 and 224.

Even in the north and north-east of France, the farms are of small extent. To occupy 200 acres, or to pay a rent of L.200 a-year, places one in the foremost rank of farmers. Larger possessions are common in pasture districts, that department of agriculture admitting, in France as in England, of a greater concentration of capital and extension of business than in the case of tillage. But such districts are rare; and in by far the greater part of France the farms under tillage are of fifty, forty, thirty, and often as small as twenty or even ten acres, there being, it is computed, no fewer than three millions of such petty occupancies in the kingdom. In the south of France the system of métairie (paying rent in kind) is still prevalent, and nearly on the same footing as in Lombardy and Tuscany. That such insignificant occupancies are adverse to all enlarged ideas of farming, is sufficiently obvious; and to their many disadvantages there can only be opposed this single benefit, that no spot of tolerable soil is neglected, even the space given by us to hedges being reserved for culture.

The beneficial effect of long leases is as little understood in France as it still unfortunately is in a great part of England. The common method is to let land for periods of three, six, or nine years. The peasantry, though illiterate, are not slow or phlegmatic. They exhibit, as Frenchmen in general do, no small share of intelligence, of sprightliness, and of activity in the individual, with very little concert or combination in the mass. They are content to hand down the family occupancy from father to son, without any idea of altering their mode of life. The dwellings of the farmers, and still more of the cottagers, are like those of our forefathers half a century ago; the outside having frequently a pool of water in its vicinity, whilst the inside is miserably bare of furniture.

In the comparative trials that were made at the French Exhibition of 1855 the superior character of the English agricultural implements over those of France was made very evident—in none, perhaps, more than in the ploughing trials, when the dynamometer showed that while it required only a force equal to 17-01 to turn over a certain quantity of earth in a certain time with the best English plough, it required a force of more than 27- to do the same work with the best French one.

The diet of the French peasantry is exceedingly simple. Bread and cider, with soup, pease, cabbage, or other vegetables, form its chief ingredients in the northern provinces; whilst in the central and southern ones the same aliments are in use, with the substitution of thin wine (vin du pays) for cider, and of chestnuts for the pears and apples of the north. Butcher-meat is reserved for the tables of the middle and upper classes.

The landholders in France give little or no attention to beautifying the country; its aspect is consequently monotonous, without plantations, seats, or cheerful cottages. The peasantry live in villages, frequently ill built and inconveniently situated. The purchase of land, however, is the favourite mode of investing money in France. It sells, in general, for twenty-five years' purchase; whilst the public funds seldom fetch above sixteen or eighteen. There is at Paris a society similar to the Board of Agriculture in England, and forming, like it, a central point for corresponding with the different agricultural societies in the kingdom. It holds its sittings twice a-month, and a public meeting annually for the distribution of prizes. The French have also (since 1819) a corn law, permitting imports and exports only when the home market shall be above or below a specific rate.

The chief difficulty the French government have to contend with in regard to the corn trade, is the popular prejudice that freedom of export raises the home price.

Of the 18,350,093 acres which are covered with wood, Timber, in 1836 there belonged to government 2,547,800 acres, which were divided into 1473 forests. A very small part of this is allowed to grow into large timber. The rest is subject to an annual cutting and sale, for fuel; coal being very little used in France, except for forges, glass-houses, and other large works. In the government-forests gross mismanagement took place during the disorders of the first Revolution. Extensive tracts were sold for an insignificant consideration, whilst in those that remained timber was felled with a lavish hand, and without any regard to the ultimate effect on these valuable properties. In 1801, however, a special board, appointed for the care of the forests, introduced the most beneficial regulations. In the years of financial pressure (1815, 1816, and 1817), it was proposed to effect sales of these great domains; but a fair price being unattainable, government continues to keep them. During the monarchy the revenue derived from the wood annually cut and sold amounted to L.700,000 or L.800,000 sterling.

The administration of the forests is (1855) placed under the direction of the minister of finance. The French territory, comprising Algeria, is divided into 30 arrondissements forestiers, at the head of which is placed a conservateur who corresponds with the administration, and who has under his orders a number of inspectors and sub-inspectors. Under these are the gardes généraux. Every one employed in the forests must be twenty-five years of age, but this provision may be dispensed with if the employé be a pupil of the École Forestière. There are (1855) 32 conservateurs, 200 inspecteurs, 100 sous inspecteurs, and 500 gardes généraux of forests in France.

Fuel being comparatively little wanted in the south of France, the forests are confined to remote and rugged situations. These, like most of the forests of the kingdom, harbour a multitude of wolves, which are frequently destructive to the sheep and lambs. Regular officers, called lieutenants de louveterie, are appointed for wooded districts; and on occasions of heavy loss, recourse is had to a general battue, which seldom results in any sensible reduction of the number of wolves. Bears also are found in the forests; but they are much more rare, being confined to the elevated districts in the Alps and Pyrenees.

V. MINES AND QUARRIES.

France yields in this essential article of produce, not only to Britain, but to Germany, to Russia, to Sweden, and to Hungary. According to the most approved works recently published, the mines of France may be classed into five groups, namely, the mines of the Vosges and the Black Forest; those of the central provinces of France; those of Brittany; those of the Pyrenees; and those of the Alps. It is not many years since the mines of the Vosges yielded above 30,000 cwt. of lead, and a small quantity of silver, besides copper mixed with silver. The produce did not, it is probable, repay the expense, as they have since been abandoned. There are now a very few copper mines in the Vosges. In the central part of France there are numerous mines of lead, but they are not productive. They are chiefly situated in the department of La Lozère; and they yield annually, along with the lead, 1600 marcs of silver. The only metallic mines of any consequence in Brittany now are the three great mines of galère argentifère of Poullaouen and Huelgoët; and there is one mine of what is called in the divisional nomenclature of the minister of commerce and public works, plomb argentifère. In the chain of the Pyrenees there is only one mine of copper, which has long since been abandoned. There are, however, numerous iron mines, which furnish materials for more than 100 forges. The chain of the Alps contains many mines of iron, but is not rich in other metals; it possesses some unproductive mines of lead, and one of silver, which has long been abandoned. There are some appearances of gold in the department of the Isère, but not such as to encourage any trial of their value. If there are few other mines, those of iron are in great abundance, being thirty-eight in number, scattered throughout the country, and of these the produce is every day improving. The whole value of the metallic produce of France was estimated in 1828 to be equal to L3,199,595. The number of mines was estimated in October 1854 at 824, viz., 448 of coal, 177 of iron, 199 of other substances; and the number of workmen they employed in 1851 at 33,634.

The working of mines is impeded in France by the want of good roads and canals by which to convey the ore and the coal for smelting it. The production of iron has been encouraged by heavy duties on foreign iron. In 1814 a duty was imposed of fifteen francs per fifty kilogrammes, or 12s. 6d. per 110 lb. imperial, on all foreign iron imported, which was, in 1822, including the decime or the tenth added to all duties, raised to L1, 2s. 11d. on all coal-worked foreign iron. But this prohibition did not bring prosperity to the trade, though by these duties the price of iron in France was L23, 9s. 2d. per ton, whilst English iron was sold at L9, 6s. 8d. It is estimated that these heavy duties on foreign iron cost the agriculturists of France, in the additional expense of ploughs and other implements of agriculture, a sum varying from L1,500,000 to L2,000,000 a year. Estimating the annual consumption of iron in France to be 160,000 tons, and the difference of price between French and English iron to be L10 per ton, the law of 1814, which imposed a duty on foreign iron, and the law of 1822 which increased that duty, cannot have cost the French people less than L30,000,000 sterling of direct loss; whilst it is scarcely possible to calculate the indirect evil of this monopoly or protecting duty in favour of the iron masters. One reason of the high price of French iron is the want of coal, an evil which is aggravated by the heavy duty on foreign coal, in consequence of which the French are compelled to employ wood in their forges; and it is calculated that one-fourth part of the wood cut down in the forests is consumed in the manufacture of iron. Coal has been discovered in more than half the departments of the kingdom (in forty-five departments), and would doubtless be traced in others; but the want of water communication limits the consumption of this article almost to the place where it is produced. In a report to the present Emperor of the French in 1854, by the minister of commerce and public works, that functionary attributes the high price of native coal in France not to the method of working the mines or to the insufficiency of the machinery, but to the want of better intercommunication both by land and water. It is a fact that more than half the departments that consume the coal of the Loire pay for it a price four, five, and six times higher than it costs at the mouth of the pit. One-fifth part of the coal consumed in France is used in the department Du Nord. At St Etienne, near Lyon, are excellent coal mines; but there being no iron mines in the vicinity, nor of course iron works, there is no consumption of fuel on a large scale. The coal is only used for domestic fuel, and for the manufacture of hardware. M. Costaz, in an estimate contained in his work on the agriculture and commerce of France, makes the coal produced in France to amount to 15,310,687 metrical quintals; the value of which he estimated at between L700,000 and L800,000. The quantity of coal imported from Great Britain amounted in 1831 to 40,000 tons, though subject to a heavy duty of one franc sixty-five cen. per hundred kilogrammes, or 1s. 4½d. per 220 lb. imperial; and there were imported from Belgium, the duty being thirty-three cen. per hundred kilogrammes, 440,000 tons. The importation of coal in 1853 rose to 2,824,555 tons of iron (fonte brute), to 73,689 tons. In December 1853 the importation of iron went on increasing. The heavy duty on coal operates most injuriously on the industry of France. It is a most serious impediment to the working of the iron mines, for the encouragement of which such heavy duties are imposed on foreign iron. But such is always the effect of the prohibitory system. It pulls down with one hand what it builds up with another. The iron masters and the coal owners have each a monopoly of the home market. But is it not clear that these two monopolies run counter to each other, and that the iron trade is encouraged by the one, whilst it is most seriously discouraged by the other, and the whole inhabitants of France are taxed in a much higher price for fuel by the heavy duty laid on the importation of this useful article? Steam-boat navigation is also discouraged, so that no steam-boats regularly ply between any of the Atlantic ports of France. A steam-boat which in England could be navigable at an expense of L2280 for coal, would cost in France L5,700, about eighteen per cent. on the capital employed. It is the owners of forest property who are the most zealous supporters of this duty, an impost which benefits them at the expense of the whole of France, and indirectly depresses the national commerce and industry in its most important branches. For many years only a small portion of Paris was lighted with gas, which is ascribed to the high price of iron pipes; and the supply of water is also impeded by the same cause. The mines, like other large undertakings in France, are under the direction of government, being superintended by a board at Paris (Conseil Général), and having an École Impériale with public teachers, the whole under the control of the minister of the home department. This, however, does not prevent their machinery being in general very clumsy and antiquated.

1 Traité des Mines de 1847 à 1852. Imprimerie Impériale, Octobre 1854. 2 See First Report on the Commercial Relations between France and Great Britain, p. 28. 3 Rapport des Travaux Statistiques des Mines de 1847 jusqu'à 1852. 4 Rapport adressé à l'Empereur par le Ministre ou département de l'Agriculture et du Commerce, 1854. 5 Histoire de l'Administration de France de l'Agriculture, et des Arts utiles, &c. Par Cl. Anthelm Costaz, tome II., p. 14. 6 First Report on the Commercial Relations between France and Great Britain, p. 23. 7 An Imperial decree of the 22nd November 1853 materially reduces the customs duties on the importation of coal and iron. Coal paid with the décime 55 centimes per 100 kilogrammes upon the greater part of the French frontier from the Sables d'Olonne to Dunkirk; upon the remaining portion of the frontier it paid 33 centimes, by the land frontier, except in certain places by the Meuse, and in the department of the Moselle. Henceforth the great zone from the Sables d'Olonne, and from that by land to Helluin, is to have but one duty—amounting to 33 francs for French, and to 88 francs for foreign vessels. The rest of the maritime frontier is assimilated to the principal part of the land frontier. A double duty to that levied on coal was charged on coke. Henceforth coke is only to pay a half beyond what is levied on coal.—As to iron, from the 1st January 1855 there is no distinction between iron smelted by coal or wood. The fonte brute is to pay 4 francs 40 centimes the larger bars, 11 francs the smaller bars, and steel 33 francs. Rails for railroads are to pay 132 francs. The greatest reduction is on steel. Turf fit for fuel, or peat, is found in various parts of France, and will be more used as wood becomes progressively scarcer. This article is produced in the departments of Gard, Isère, the Lower Rhine, the Somme, Pas de Calais, Loire-Inferieure, l'Isere, Seine-et-Oise, Oise, Aisne, Doubs, Marne. The cutting and preparation of turf is computed to occupy the labour of from 50,000 to 55,000 workmen on an average of forty days. The greatest turf-producing department in France is La Somme.

Salt is made in various parts of the kingdom. The works corresponding to the salt mines, or rather to the brine springs, of Cheshire, are called, from their position, Salines de l'Est, and are situated at the small town of Salins in Franche Comté; they are wrought by undertakers on lease, yield about 20,000 tons a year, and afford a considerable revenue to government. The heat of the climate on the south and south-west coast of France is favourable to the evaporation of salt water, and consequently to the formation of bay-salt, the name given to salt made, not by the action of fire, but by the heat of the sun, operating on sea water inclosed in a shallow bay. The duty raised from salt in France is nearly L2,000,000, a sum of great importance to the treasury, but attended with fully as much injury to the productive powers of France as was formerly our salt tax to those of England. Since 1848 the droits on salt have been reduced two-thirds. The first Revolution began by abolishing entirely the odious gabelle; and salt being soon afterwards made in great quantities, and sold very cheap, became the object of a most extensive consumption, being given to cattle as food, mixed with manure on the fields, or scattered as a stimulant to vegetation at the foot of olive trees. But this extended use of salt was of short duration. No sooner was the power of Bonaparte consolidated, than he ventured to impose a tax on salt, less impolitic and oppressive indeed than the gabelle, but which had the effect of limiting the use of this article to such a degree that the value of bay salt consumed, instead of amounting to L1,000,000 sterling, did not in 1836 exceed L100,000. It was thought that a considerable increase in the consumption of salt would take place from the year 1849. There has no doubt been a certain increase, but it has in no degree corresponded with the diminution of the duty.

In 1847 the quantity of salt produced was 350,210,300 kilogrammes; in 1848, 465,435,700; in 1849, 479,438,400; in 1850, 495,183,900; in 1851, 599,175,200; but in 1852 the quantity produced fell to 428,037,600 kilogrammes. The price of the metrical quintal of salt in 1847 was 3 francs 47 cen. In 1851 it fell to 1 franc 66 cen., in 1852 it was 1 franc 83 cen. The amount of salt produced from all the salt mines and saline sources in France in 1852 was 724,002 metrical quintals, valued at 2,865,556 francs. The consumption is confined to domestic purposes, and to a trifling export; yet the few cattle which still receive salt as a part of their food are visibly in better condition than those that are deprived of it.

France is in general much better supplied with quarries than England. The vicinity of Paris abounds in quarries of freestone. The case is similar in the mountainous districts, and even in several, such as Lower Normandy, that are comparatively level. The houses are consequently built of stone in those cities which, like Paris or Caen, are in the vicinity of quarries. In other situations they exhibit a mixture of stone and brick. Slates being comparatively rare, the roofs of the houses are generally of tile; and the annual value of this rude species of productive labour, the manufacture of bricks and tiles, may be computed at nearly L1,000,000 sterling. There are marble quarries in several of the mountainous districts, but not situated so as to admit of export. Fine variegated marbles are quarried at Campan, in the Upper Pyrenees. It appears from official documents published by the government that in the year 1846 there were 22,000 quarries in course of working, which employed 75,396 workmen. The value of the material sent into the market was 41,047,519 francs. In 1849, 86,379 persons were employed in quarrying; and in 1850, 87,486.

VI. MANUFACTURES.

Our historical notices of French manufactures are very imperfect until towards the year 1600, when the wars of religion were brought to a close, and peaceful industry received encouragement from Henri IV. and his minister Sully; a minister, however, who had a horror of luxury of all kinds, and who was much more favourably disposed to agriculture than to manufactures. It was under the "rei vaillant," however, that the patronage of government was extended to the manufacture of silk, glass, jewellery, gold and silver tissues; also of the finer woollens and linens, the coarser kinds having been established many centuries before. But the great extension of the finer manufactures of France took place after 1668, during the reign of Louis XIV. and the ministry of Colbert. It was then that workmen were invited from Genoa, Venice, and Holland, and induced to settle at Sedan and Abbeville, places still celebrated for their woollens. In the south of France also establishments were formed for making the light cloth suited to the Turkey market; so that towards the year 1700 the manufactures of France, as well of woollens as of other articles, had made considerable progress. Cloth serges were improved under Colbert, and point de Gênes and point de Venise introduced. In 1656 stocking weaving, which had been introduced into France from England by two manufacturers of Nimes, was extended and improved. The manual labour of the French workmen was ingenious; the machinery extremely imperfect; the linen, the paper, and in some measure the woollens and hardware, found their way abroad, because in the rest of Europe these manufactures were very backward, and, in particular, because the exports of England were then very limited. The repeal of the Edict of Nantes was a very impolitic measure, but its consequences have been overrated, for England has profited very little by the extension of her silk fabrics; and Brandenburg, the chief resort of the French emigrants, has never become an exporting manufacturing country.

Another and a more important error is the current notion that French manufactures were formerly (from 1650 to 1750) more extensive and flourishing than at present, also that they underwent an almost total extinction during the Revolution. These, like many other impressions in regard to France, rest on mere loose allegations. Official data, far from sanctioning such fluctuations, are decidedly in favour of a progressive though slow increase.

To begin with the oldest and most widely diffused branch, Woollens, we find that the relative numbers of workmen at three distinct intervals, and in very different parts of the country, were as follows, viz.: Statistics. Lisieux also in the north had nearly the same number of workmen (5000) throughout.

The finest qualities of black woollens are made at Sedan in Ardennes, and at Louviers in Normandy. In these the only material is Merino wool. At Elbeuf and Darnetal, and in Normandy, the qualities are very good, the prices being from 6s. to 28s., the English yard. Cossansone and Limoux owed the origin of their extensive manufactures to the abundant supply of wool from the pastures in the Pyrenees. Since the reduction of their exports to the Levant, an alteration in the quality of their cloths has opened to them a market in the interior of France. The mountainous districts in Languedoc contain great numbers of sheep, and are the seat of the manufacture of serges, tricots, and other coarse woollens, most of which are made, not by workmen collected in a factory, but in the hamlets or villages of the departments of the Tarn and Aveyron. Almost every house has its loom; and during the evenings in winter, or in the daytime when the weather is adverse to country labour, the women employ themselves in spinning, and the men in weaving.

A highly finished species of the woollen manufacture, viz., shawls, velles, ladies' cloth, &c., has been introduced in the present age into France. Reims is the seat of this important branch, and employs, in the town and neighbourhood, more than 20,000 workmen. Such articles sent to Paris by the best manufacturers on furs et tissus de laine in 1822 amounted to 7,500,000 francs.

Shawls became fashionable in France as an indispensable article of female apparel after the expedition of Bonaparte to Egypt. The first lady in France who wore one (in 1801) was Madame Gaudin, the beautiful Duchess of Gaeta, a Greek by birth, whose husband was then a high functionary. Many of the officers who were attached to the army brought back presents of shawls, and they were imported in great quantities from Constantinople, Moscow, Vienna, and London. These shawls, however, brought an enormous price when imported into France, which necessarily limited their consumption to the richer classes. The great demand turned the attention of manufacturers to this important article—attempts were made to imitate the Cashmeres, and specimens were exhibited at the Exposition of 1801. Ordinary shawls are now made of Merino and other wools. But this was only a step in the progress of the manufacture; and a finer species of wool having been imported from the countries to the north of the Caspian sea, the ingenious manufacturers with these materials have produced shawls which rivalled in beauty those of the East, and in which it required the most practiced and skilful eye to discern any difference. In 1819 M. Jaubert proceeded on the part of the celebrated shawl manufacturer Termaux to the countries between the Black Sea and the Caspian to buy a numerous flock of Astracan goats for the purpose of using the wool for shawl-making. The speculation was a complete failure; and the French government, which was interested in it, lost 300,000 francs.

Two towns very remote from each other, Lodève in the south and Vire in the north-west of France, manufactured, under Bonaparte, very largely for the army. French woollens are, in general, much thicker than ours. In the fine qualities the raw material forms (Chapal, vol. ii., p. 131) somewhat more than half the cost. In ordinary qualities it is somewhat less; but it is only in the slight qualities that the price of labour goes considerably beyond that of the materials. The computation for the whole country is, that a value of L4,000,000 sterling in wool becomes converted into a manufactured value of L5,000,000, of which a tenth only is exported. The cloth in France which corresponds to our superfine, which is worn at home by the lower ranks, is very fine and durable, but heavy, with the exception of the superfine black. The price of the cloth produced at Sedan varies according to a graduated scale from 15 to 50 francs the yard, and of kerseys from 7 to 24 francs. The duty on foreign wool has been very injurious to the French woollen manufacturers; because, by compelling the French to pay a high price for the raw material, it prevented them manufacturing woollen cloth as cheaply as their English competitors, to whom the foreign market, where the raw material had now fallen to a low price, was open.

Wool and Woollens imported into France.

| Year | Kilos | Value | |------|-------|-------| | 1820 | 4,912,000 | 8,351,000 fr. | | 1830 | 7,214,000 | 12,872,000 fr. | | 1835 | 14,845,000 | 34,219,000 fr. | | 1840 | 13,456,000 | 29,967,000 fr. |

Belgium, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Barbary, Algiers, and England, send wool to France. The exportation of woollen goods in 1839 reached 2,000,000 fr. In 1838 the exportation was 2,578,487 kilos, valued at 66,823,346 fr. The wood produced in France amounts to 20,350,000 kilos of fine wood, 20,000,000 do. common.

Total ... 44,350,000; about half that of England.

The wool imported from England in 1853 was 21,537 quintals, in value 9,481,836 fr., and the cloth 231,419 kilos, valued at 5,795,332 fr. The worsted or thread was 19,630 kilos, valued at 385,844 fr.

The importation of the Thibet fur or hair was in value in 1839 3,576,480 fr., but has since declined to 2,058,920 fr. This material is spun in Paris, employing 500 or 600 persons. The wool of France is of an inferior quality. Its annual value averages about 120,000,000 fr., being 60,000,000 kilos. There are 5,500,000 sheep of a superior breed, Saxons, Merinos, and those imported from England; and 24,000,000 of indigenous race. Since 1829 the French sheep have increased 9 per cent.

The manufacture of merinos and bombazines employs 17,000 hands; 6000 are employed at Amiens in the manufacture of alpaca, and about 35,000 pieces are made there, about a third of which are exported. The bonnetiere in wool employs 15,000 workmen, 800,000 kilo. of coloured wool worth 8,000,000 fr., and returns 17,500,000 fr. in manufactured goods. Cordeliers are made at Reims, Rouen, Beauvais, Lille, Lyon, Orleans, and at Sommieres (Gard). This fabric is valued at 20,000,000 fr., and employs 10,000 hands, besides affording assistance to the extent of 25,000 more.

Carpets are made to the annual value of 3,500,000 fr., the larger part at Aubusson and Pelletin, two towns in the department of the Creuse, employing 1800 hands, and producing goods to the value of 1,500,000 fr. Carpets are also made at Abbeville, at Amiens, Turcoing, and Besancon. The finest and richest velvets carpets, called "de Savonnerie," are made at Beauvais, and at the Gobelins in Paris. These are only made to order, and are not articles of traffic. The exports of woollen goods reach on average the sum of 65,000,000 or 66,000,000 fr., consuming 2,578,487 kilos of wool. They consist of coverlets, carpets, chals, cashimirs, and merinos, varied stuffs, shawls woven or made by hand, bonnetiere, ribbon of worsted, and similar light goods, and stuffs of mingled materials. Machinery has been used for spinning wool in place of the hand only since 1809. Reims is the great centre of French wool-spinning; it being situated in that part of the country where sheep are most numerous. There are at Reims 275 establishments for spinning carded wool, and nearly 600 spindles in 60 establishments, for combed wool. The number of workmen is 50,000. France annually exports woollen yarn to the value of 2,000,000 fr. and upwards. Neapolitan flannels, English flannels or "bolivars," "circassians, lastings," cloths, cashimirs, merinos, mousseline-de-laine, cuir-de-laine, made at Cartres first in 1819, and poplins, are noted manufactures.

The cotton manufacture was introduced into Amiens in Cotton 1773, the raw material being supplied, not from America, but from the Levant, with machines procured from England. In 1784 a privilege was conferred on an inhabitant of Seine and Oise for a manufactory; and soon afterwards the manufacture passed to Rouen, St Quentin, Paris, Lille, and other parts in the north, extending with a rapidity surpassed only by that of England. At present, as for many years past, the great import of cotton is from the United States. In this great department of manufacture the French have only followed in the footsteps of Great Britain, whose machinery, after the lapse of a certain time, the French manufacturers have imitated; and though they have equalled the British manufacture in durability, they have generally been inferior in cheapness. This is, in a great measure, owing to the centre of the manufacture being at Rouen and Paris, places where the support of workmen, including the extra price of fuel, is not less expensive than in Lancashire. The districts most remarkable for the cotton manufacture are Alsace and Normandy. The manufacture of cotton vellet was begun at Amiens so early as 1765; and in 1784 M. Martin of Amiens obtained, under the title of "the first importer from England of machines invented there for spinning cotton," the authority to establish a cotton factory with special privileges. Nimes is celebrated for its fine but not very durable cotton stockings. There are also manufactories of bonnetiere de cotton at Besancon, Vitry, Bar le Duc, &c.

arn is often made in a different place from cotton cloth. Paris and the northern departments are the chief quarters for the supply of the former article, which is sent in quantities to Rouen, St Quentin, and other places. In former years, cotton yarn used to be smuggled in great quantities from England; but this is now limited to the finer qualities. The cotton manufactures of the more substantial kind, called bonnetiere, such as stockings and caps, are carried on in the Ardennes, in Normandy, and in the department of the Gard in Languedoc.

The average annual value of the importation of cotton for the Statistics, five years antecedent to 1833 is calculated by M. Coutaz at about L3,700,000. The cotton manufacture is prosecuted in many parts of France, and presents a great variety of fabrics and an extensive division of labor. In some places the weaving alone is followed; in others places the manufacture of thread, which are sold to those who weave them into cloth. Such is the case in the department Du Nord, which exports a great quantity of thread to the cloth manufacturers. In other places they bleach the linens, which are afterwards dressed and stamped. The workmen employed in the cotton manufacture were estimated 20 years ago at 260,000, and they now amount to 355,000. Still, however, France is decidedly inferior to Great Britain in almost every branch of the cotton manufacture; and the consequence is, that as the importation of English cotton goods is prohibited, they are smuggled into the country in great quantities. Among these, the introduction of cotton twist is most extensive; and as the French mills cannot manufacture the higher numbers, from 170 to 200, which are required in the fabrication of bobbinet, it has been found impossible to suppress the contraband importation of this article. "It makes its way," say the writers of the Report on the Commercial Relations between Great Britain and France, "both by land and sea, despite all instructions to the contrary, and in vast quantities." The English can be sold also at half the price of the French article, which presents an additional inducement to the smuggler. The annual value of the manufactures thus illicitly introduced was estimated in 1833 at L569,000 sterling; but smuggling has been reduced more than a fourth since that time. It is difficult to estimate the amount introduced, but very experienced persons in the trade doubt if it much exceeds L250,000. English bobbinet was also smuggled 20 years ago into France to the estimated annual value of L625,000 sterling; but it is questionable whether the amount of illicit traffic now amounts to L300,000, though English bobbinet sells at from seven to eight per cent. above the price of French goods of the same nominal quality. Quiltings, cambrics, and muslins are also largely introduced by the illicit traders; and the delivery of these goods is insured at a premium of from 18 to 50 per cent., according as the risk is greater or less in the case or heavy or of light goods. In 1832, 1,760,000 fr. were paid in bounties on fil et tissus de coton. The average wages of men employed in the cotton trade is 2 fr. 50 cen. per day; of women 1 fr.; 25 cen.; children 10 cen. and 50 cents. The value of the non-fabricated goods is 105,000,000 fr., that of the fabric 80,000,000 fr. In the last district 70,000 hands are employed in weaving; from 12,000 to 15,000 in printing; and 1,000 in the bleaching grounds. In Normandy and vicinity, including a part of the Somme, Pas de Calais, Aisne, Eure, and Manche, 129,000 hands are employed, namely, 60,000 weavers for the Rouennerie, 20,000 for the calicoes, and 49,000 in other divisions of the labour. Alsace produces principally cotton cloths for printing, and exports a part into Switzerland. The number of pieces of printed cotton and muslins made is calculated at 1,100,000, valued at 40,000,000 fr. They are of three kinds and prices, but are unable to cope in cheapness with the English. Tullis, at first made only in Normandy, are now manufactured wherever cotton fabrics are made; to the extent of 32,725,000 fr., of which 20,000,000 fr. is the cost of the embroidery. The most important of this branch of the manufacture is carried on at and near Calais, where from 600 to 700 looms, and 4800 men, women, and children, are in constant employment. The manufacturers of muslins are most in arrears of all, owing to the fineness of the thread required, which is not yet made in France, but imported for the purpose. Tarare is the seat of the manufacture, and employs 99,000 hands. The muslins are generally embroidered. Blonds and lace are made at Casa, Bayeux, and above all at Chantilly (Oise), where 70,000 persons are employed. Cotton homestitch is made at Troyes to the value of 7,000,000 fr., employing 16,000 looms, and from 10,000 to 12,000 hands. Rouen is also noted for this manufacture. The exportation of cotton goods from France in 1840 reached 5,000,000 kilos, valued at 105,753,743 fr. The importation of cotton thread from England in 1853 was 90,002 kilos, in value 1,559,311 fr. That of raw cotton for 1829 was 40,534,278 kilos, in value 71,204,784 fr.; in 1840, 52,941,581 kilos, in value 94,005,975 fr.

The cotton manufactures of France consume between fifty and sixty million kilo annually imported, valued at 94,005,975 fr.

| Item | Value | |-----------------------------|----------------| | Cotton wool in transit | 57,191,970 | | Cotton thread used at home | 1,218,034 | | Cotton thread in transit | 383,356 | | Cotton cloth consumed in France | 303,256 | | Cotton cloth in transit | 34,413,978 | | | 187,518,589 fr.|

In 1803 the import of cotton wool had reached 10,711,655 kilos, and in 1820 had doubled that amount. The cost of the raw material in France, and its manufacture, are enhanced by the expense of taxes and carriage. The duties, deducting all outlay and wear and tear of machinery, and making allowance for every expense, are considered to be about 30,000,000 kilos. It appears, that prior to the legal permission to import cotton thread free, when above No. 143, not less than 5,000,000 kilos were smuggled, when the duty was from 70 to 80 francs the kilogramme. This traffic has not yet ceased. The spinners number from 80,000 to 90,000, and the mean wages of adults and children are 1 fr. 50 cen. per head, who attend to 3,500,000 spindles. No. 132 of the French thread corresponds to No. 120 of the English, because of the difference between the English pound weight and the French demi-kilogramme. In the year 1806 the utmost degree of fineness attained in cotton thread was No. 110. In the year 1809 it had reached No. 150. In general the French thread remains much below the English, but it continually improves. No. 180, which in France sells at 39 fr. or 40 fr., costs in England only 18 fr. In the Seine Inferieure at Rouen, and vicinity, there are about a million of spindles at work. In the arrondissement of Lisieux 600,000 are worked by 82 steam-engines, of 850 horse-power each. At Quentin works 210,000 spindles, with 200 horse-power of steam, besides hand-spun. The weaving in Alsace employs 18,000 persons of all ages. The dyeing of cotton occupies 87 establishments at Rouen and its vicinity alone. The principal part of the weaving takes place in Normandy, Alsace, Amiens, St Quentin, and Troyes. The looms are above 270,000, and employ 385,000 hands, the mean of whose wages is 75 cen. per day. Many of the looms there are worked by hand. The principal products are calicoes for printing.

In the departments of the Seine Inferieure, Somme, Pas de Calais, Aisne, Eure, and La Manche, the spinners, weavers, dyers, muslin fabricators, machinists, cardmakers, amount to 167,000. The individuals connected with the manufacture in other ways, the whole comprising 150,000 families, carry the total number concerned up to 400,000. Of the workmen immediately designated the number is 107,000, employed thus:

- Spinners: 21,000 - Machinists: 5,000 - Loom weavers: 65,000 - Dyers: 5,000 - Muslin fabricants: 9,000 - Cardmakers and others: 2,000

Total: 107,000

In Alsace, including the Haut and Bas Rhin, the Vosges, the Meurthe, Haute Saone, and Doubs, above 100,000 persons are employed:

- Spinners: 17,000 to 18,000 - Loom weavers: 70,000 - Printers: 12,000 to 15,000 - Bleachers: 1,000

Total: 104,000

The principal places for the manufacture of yarn in Alsace are Mulhausen, Wesseling, St Mary aux Mines, and Guebwiller. In the other parts of France the principal are St Quentin, Rouen, Caen, Amiens, Bar le Duc, Lille, Roubaix, Tarcoing, Lyon, Paris, Darnetal, Bolbec, Troyes, Giors, &c. The yarn made in the Seine Inferieure exceeds the whole made in Alsace. In the departments of the Somme, Pas de Calais, Aisne, Eure, and Manche there are 60,000 weavers of Rouennerie, 20,000 of calico, and 49,000 in the other branches of the manufacture.

In the extent of her linen manufacture, France is greatly superior to England; not that her soil is better adapted to the growth of hemp and flax, but because England depends on importations of linen from Ireland and Germany, and the spinning of flax does not form the occupation of our female peasantry. In France, particularly in the north, every farmer, and almost every cottager, covers a little spot with hemp or flax to employ his wife and daughters in spinning throughout the year; a stock of linen being the usual dowry of these humble occupants of the soil.

The manufacture of this article is not exclusively concentrated in the towns, like that of the other fabrics; many of the weavers reside in villages and hamlets; and the hemp and the flax are spun by the hand. This is a most valuable branch of domestic industry,

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1. Coutaz, L'Agriculture, et les Arts utiles, tome ii., p. 394, 395. 2. See First Report of George Villiers and John Bowring on the Commercial Relations between Great Britain and France. Presented to Parliament 1834. Statistics, which gives employment to females under the roof of their parents; but it is destined, in the progress of capital and industry, to be superseded by machinery and great establishments. In Normandy, Lille, Dieppe, the neighbourhood of Havre, Yvetot, Belbec, and the more inland towns of Vimoutiers and Domfront, are all remarkable for one or more branches of the linen manufacture. The more backward province of Brittany manufactures, at Rennes, St Malo, and Vitre, quantities of coarse linen, canvas, and sacking; but Anjou affords a much superior article; the toiles de Laval have long been in repute, and give employment, in Laval and the contiguous towns, to nearly 25,000 workmen. Lille and its populous district have very extensive manufactures of hemp and flax; for the number of workmen so employed, directly or indirectly, in this part of French Flanders, is not short of 50,000. Since 1790, fine linen has, in France as in England, been in a great measure replaced by fine cotton; and the two together employ at St Quentin (in Picardy) and the adjacent town, more than 30,000 workmen. In another part of the kingdom, the province of Dauphine, there are carried on linen manufactures of various qualities, the prices being from 1 fr. 10 cem. to 5 fr. the yard.

The value of the linen manufacture of France of every kind is no less than 525,000,000 fr. The raw material grown in France is valued at 30,941,840 fr. for the hemp, and 19,000,000 fr. for the flax. The hemp imported, and the thread together, gives 35,699,003 fr. value. About 1,000,000 fr. is the worth of the flax imported. Total, 20,000,000 fr. The manufacture gives—

For the hemp.............. 107,097,009 fr. The flax.................. 75,000,000

182,097,009 fr.

The manufactures of hemp and linen employ 699,000 workmen. The exports of linen, principally to England, were, in 1840, nearly 6,167,731 kilo. The manufacture has doubled since the first Revolution. Lille, Dunkirk, Escombe, Pont Remy, Bellega, Vernon, and Alençon, are noted places for their linen manufacture. Normandy sends to Paris annually 20,000 pieces of linen. The linens of Brittany are mostly consumed at home. The fine linen cloths called toiles de manigouer are principally made in the departments of the Aisne and Nord. St Quentin was once noted for them; now that town, Cambrai, Valenciennes, and Solesmes, produce cloths so fine, called satins and linen, that 70,000 pieces are exported to England. The beautiful batist embroidery employs 13,000 persons at Nancy. Coustil, a cotton cloth crossed with thread of linen, are woven in the department of Mayenne, where 4500 looms are employed upon this article.

French linen differs in quality according to the place of manufacture; but in general it is thicker and stiffer than Irish linen, whilst in whiteness it is inferior to the linen of Flanders and Holland. It is, however, a substantial and durable article.

Cambrics, thread, gauze, and lawn, rank among the leading manufactures of the north-east part of France. They are made at St Quentin, Valenciennes, Douai, and other towns; and also at Douai, Chagnay, and Guise. Lace is still more general, being made in quantities at Valenciennes, Dieppe, Alençon, Caen, Bayeux, and Argentan. Machinery had, up to 1820, been very little applied to this manufacture in France, and the number of women employed in it was very great. There are considerable manufactures of printed linens; and the dyeing of linen thread gives rise to an extensive commerce. At Rouen, and in the surrounding districts, this branch of industry is carried on; and many stuffs of great variety, and for which there is a brisk demand, are produced. In 1822 the duties on foreign thread and linen were raised by the French government till they were nearly prohibitory; and the annual importation from Germany and Belgium, which formerly amounted to a million and a half, almost entirely ceased. The price of home-made linen rose 25 and 30 per cent.; the consumers had recourse to cotton as a substitute; the French dyeing trade fell off, and also the entrepôt trade in foreign linens, both of them suffered greatly in business.

The value of the hemp annually grown in France may be computed at L1,200,000, the quantity imported at L200,000; together L1,400,000; a value which is doubled in the coarse manufactures, and tripled in the fine. Of this quantity of hemp, the half is made into canvas and thread, a third into cordage, and the remainder into cloth for domestic use. Of the flax annually employed, the value is about L200,000; a sum which is tripled when it is made up into thread, linen, and mixed stuffs, and much more than tripled in the finer qualities.

France had in 1835 about 569 furnaces, of which more iron than 300 are said to be blast-furnaces. It is, however, almost impossible to ascertain the exact number of blast-furnaces, the position of which is regulated by that of the iron mines. They are chiefly in the mountainous departments of the Dordogne in the south-west, and of the Haute Marne, the Haute Saône, and the Côte d'Or, in the east of the kingdom. Of forges for malleable iron, called forges à la Catalane, there are eighty-six scattered throughout different departments, but chiefly in the hilly part of Languedoc. There are also a number of wire-works in France, in which, as in the blast-furnaces, there has been since 1790 a progressive but very slow increase, altogether different from the rapid advance of the iron-works of England previously to 1815.

The stationary character of these works has evidently been owing to the deficiency of fuel and of water communication; disadvantages which prevent the hardware manufactures from being concentrated in cities or populous districts, and cause them to be spread over the country in petty towns or villages, with a very limited division of labour, and a consequent inferiority of execution. The result is, that France does not export hardware, and that in nothing is the inferiority of domestic accommodation in that country more conspicuous than in articles which belong to the province of the locksmith and cutter. The consumption of pig-iron annually made in France appears to be about 160,000 tons. The value of the hardware of the kingdom, including cutlery, arms, and other articles of nice workmanship, is computed at L8,000,000 or L9,000,000 sterling. Fine cutlery in former times was largely smuggled into France, but now to a much smaller extent. The annual import of iron and steel is only from L2,000,000 to L3,000,000. The high price of iron is a great obstruction to the progress of the hardware manufactures; and this circumstance places in a strong light the impolicy of the heavy duties on foreign iron, by which, notwithstanding the change in the scale of duty in 1838, all those important branches of industry in which iron is used are stunted in their growth. In copper, the importations greatly exceed the home produce. From Great Britain the quantity imported for the last ten years has increased from 200 to 20,000 hundredweight. Of lead, also, the chief part is imported. The manufacture of steel has only been lately introduced into France. Prior to 1786 there was no manufactory of this useful article; and it was only after accounts had been published by scientific persons of the composition of that article, and after repeated experiments, that in 1809 manufactory of steel were established, which have since been extended to several departments, especially to those of the Loire.

As regards silk, France possesses, both from physical causes and from the long-established manufacture, a decided superiority. Mulberry trees were introduced in the fifteenth century, and were first planted, not in the south, but in the central part of the kingdom, near Tours. That town was the seat of the earliest silk manufactures, and it was not till 1600 that the culture of the mulberry was carried southward.

The mulberry thrives in a variety of soils, and may be planted with success in neglected borders or in waste lands. The labours of the silk-worm last only six weeks, after which the cocoons are in a state to be purchased for winding or carding. These processes reduce the quantity so much that the produce of an average year does not exceed 560,000 lb. soie grege, worth 20s. or 21s. the lb.; and 322,000 lb. organzine silk at 25s. France has not, however, sufficient silk for her own manufactures. She imports silk from the Levant (chiefly Persian silk), from Italy, Sicily, and Spain.

The cost of manufacture nearly doubles the value of the

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1 In 1846, 30,000,000 of metrical quintals were extracted from the iron mines, which were worth 7,800,000 francs, or 250 francs per metrical quintal. In 1836 the total weight of iron extracted amounted only to 20,000,000 of metrical quintals, which was worth 4,386,000 francs, or 217 francs per metrical quintal. In 1846 there was manufactured 5,224,000 metrical quintals of cast-iron, worth 80,500,000 of francs, or 15-90 centimes the metrical quintal. The manufacture of cast-iron and "gros fer" in 1846 amounted to more than 41,000,000 francs, and in 1836 of 20,000,000 only.

2 The manufacture of steel in France in 1846 rose to 129,549 metrical quintals, worth 78 francs 12 centimes the metrical quintal; in 1836 it was 59,454 metrical quintals, worth 70 francs the metrical quintal. Statistics. raw material in the plainer qualities; and in the highly finished, such as fine ribbons, it may be said to triple it.

The manufacture of silk is considered as an important branch of French industry, not only on account of the variety and beauty of the fabrics, but because the raw material is an indigenous produce of the country. It was estimated, twenty years ago that the amount of the silk so consumed formerly was thirty millions of francs; and that the whole annual value of the silk manufacture was equal to L4,598,889. The manufacture of silk is not confined to any particular spot. It is carried on in different parts of the country, in all of which it diffuses prosperity. It has enriched the poor of Nimes, of Avignon, and of Tours; St Chamond and St Etienne owe a great part of their prosperity to the manufacture of ribbons, and the town of Ganges to bonnetiere; Paris derives immense profits from her manufactures of silk stockings, and other fabrics, either of silk or with a mixture of silk, or of wool and cotton. Silk is also the great staple manufacture of Lyon, in which it is carried on in all its branches with astonishing success; and since the Revolution, in addition to fabrics of silk, all sorts of stuffs mixed with silk, and with cotton and wool, have been manufactured; and to these manufactures Lyon is indebted for its riches, having risen not only to be the second town of France, but one of the most opulent and flourishing cities in the world. It was twenty years ago estimated that about 1,000,000 or more individuals, young and old, were supported by the silk manufacture in Lyon and the adjacent district; but the number has increased to 2,500,000 since 1830. The dyeing of silk being an important branch of the manufacture, many experiments were made to bring it to perfection; and, in particular, a dye of perfect black that would retain its colour was a desideratum. This dye was invented by a common dyer at Lyon, who received a pension, besides being made a member of the Legion of Honour. Prior to this the black dye which was used changed in a few days to a brown, and came off the stuff when it was hard pressed by the hand. Another improvement which was made consisted in procuring a silk of a permanent white colour. The eggs of the worm which produced this silk were brought from China, not, however, with the desired success. The worm was afterwards purchased from a merchant of Alais, and distributed in the northern departments of the country; and the produce of white silk is now very considerable, and of great importance in the manufacture of gauzes, crapes, and tulle. Other inventions were devised for saving labour in the various stages of the silk manufacture, by which the production of silks has been so long enabled to outstrip all her neighbours, though of late years the silk manufacture has made immense advances in Great Britain.

There were in 1820 no less than 9,631,624 mulberry trees in France for the nourishment of the silk-worm. These supplied food for cocoons producing in 1819, according to Chaptal, 5,147,609 kilogrammes of cocoons. In 1836 the product had increased to 9,000,000, yielding 278,000 kilo. of silk grêle, and 161,000 kilo. organze. At present (1856) the quantity of silk furnished amounts to 1,600,000 kilo.; which, at 5 fr. per kilo., the average price, gives a sum of $8,000,000 fr. as the value of the amount produced. In 1810 the amount was only 4,073,198 kilo. of cocoons, at 3 fr. 45 cen. per kilo. In 1830 it had risen to 9,007,867, at 3 fr. 82 cen.; while the wound silk (grêges fibres), which in 1810 only reached 340,629 kilo. at 45 fr. 12 cen., in 1835 had increased to 876,016 kilo., at 58 fr. 64 cen. per kilo. But the home growth not being enough to meet the demand, importations took place to the extent of 1,154,956 kilo., valued at 2,931,688 fr., and they still increase. Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, and Greece, supply the larger part; a small quantity is obtained from Austria and Saxony. The exportation of silks, plain and figured, from 1787 to 1793, on an mean of ten years, was 373 millions of francs' value. In 1829 it amounted to millions, and in 1836, 2043 millions of francs, consisting of 2,726,214 kilo. under twenty-two different denominations of goods. The United States, England, Germany, then Belgium, and lastly Spain, are the principal outlets for the silks of France; but South America, Russia, and Switzerland, are also considerable purchasers. France exports silks to a large amount in the way of transit. Lyon, Avignon, Tours, and Nimes, are the principal seats of the manufacture of silk stuffs; and St Etienne, St Chamond, and Paris, for that of ribbons. In the arrondissement of Lyon, and Ville Franche, there are 31,683 looms. The manufacture of ribbons at St Etienne employs 20,000 workmen and 30,000 looms, producing 27,473,000 fr. value annually. The fabrication is divided into the manufactures unis and jupes. Under the first head are those with the prefix gros, as gros de Naples; those called gros de soie, celtes, which last are subdivided; then satins and the like. The ribbons are in like manner distinguished by different appellations, after the nature of the fabric. St Etienne employs in all 279,000 spindles (broches); of which 165,000 work organisms and trusses, and 114,000 work the silk intended for crapes and gauze ribbons. The number of looms has been estimated in all at 65,000 for wearing silks, and 80,000 for ribbons.

The raw silk or silk-wool consumed in France in 1840 was valued at 33,731,633 fr.; while the value of the silks in transit reached 40,134,301 fr. Plain and flowered silk consumed at home, = 5,299,490 fr.; that which passed in transit = 37,204,483 fr.; being a total of 139,339,810 fr. A decree of the 18th August 1852 permits the free exportation of silk.

The silk-wool of French production exported in 1840 was valued at 3,738,103 fr.; the foreign grown silk-wool exported at 47,491,154 fr. The value of the export and import together was thus 380,256,696 fr. The following are the most important districts of the mulberry, with the growths respectively, and the cocoons produced in 1840:

| Hectares | Kilogrammes | |----------|------------| | Gard | 14,941 | 2,696,000 | | Drôme | 6,212 | 2,285,352 | | Ardèche | 6,602 | 1,765,121 | | Vaucluse | 3,985 | 660,600 | | Hérault | 2,592 | 1,248,972 | | Isère | 2,073 | 539,507 | | Bouches du Rhône | 1,546 | 549,780 | | Rhône | 1,295 | 471,560 | | Ain | 836 | 74,716 | | Var | 787 | 491,750 |

39,770 11,053,358

About 500,000 kilo. of cocoons are produced in the other departments. The importation of English woven silk into France in 1853 was 52,703 kilo., in value 5,454,699 fr.

Articles of leather are in France much cheaper than in England.

Jewellery is made in Paris to the value of 50,000,000 francs. Jewellery, Lyon, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Clermont, and Strasbourg, are porcelain, also famous for jewellery. Watch and clock making are carried on to a great extent in France, particularly at Paris. A timepiece is there a much more frequent article of ornamental furniture than in England, and the number of clocks and watches made annually in the kingdom is not less in value than 30,000,000 francs, employing 10,000 hands. The works in bronze are chiefly manufactured in the capital, and reach in their different branches and stages, of which gilding is the chief, a further annual value of 37,000,000 francs.

Paris is remarkable for other fabrics of taste and luxury; in particular, the porcelain of Sevres, near St Cloud, and the beautiful but very expensive tapestry of the Gobelins. The materials of the latter are silk and the finest woollen thread; the subjects woven into the work are taken from paintings executed on purpose. Both the establishments have been long conducted by government at a sacrifice, and both are now on a reduced scale, the articles being far too costly for ordinary fortunes. The articles more frequently purchased are paume et cerise, by which is understood artificial flowers, fringes, gold and silver lace, with a variety of trifling but tasteful articles, all sufficiently adapted to a city where so much more is thought of display than of utility.

The value of all the soap made in France is computed at Soap. 30,000,000 francs. The main ingredient is olive oil; and Marseilles was formerly the seat of this manufacture for almost all France—an advantage owing both to the extent of the olive-grounds in the south-east of the kingdom, and the vicinity of Marseilles to Italy, the Levant, and Spain, whence soda and olive oil were imported in vast quantities. A million of francs were paid for bounties on the export of soap in 1852. The export of soap from France in 1838 was 2,911,631 kilo., valued at 2,941,631 fr. The disorders of the first Revolution, and the establishment of similar manufactures in other parts of France, have caused to Marseilles the loss of a third of its soap works; they are still, however, very extensive. Of the oil used in France, whale oil forms oil, a very small proportion; the great supply is of vegetable oil,

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1 See Costar, Sur l'Agriculture et les Manufactures de France. Statistics. viz., that extracted from the rape and cole seed of the north, and the olive oil of the south.

Liquors. Beer, formerly little drunk in France, has become of extended consumption since 1790; but even at present the quantity used does not exceed L2,000,000 sterling; its place being supplied by cider in the north, and by wine in the south. Within the last few years there is a considerable consumption of English bottled stout and porter, and a lesser though increasing consumption of English ale. The breweries have increased and are increasing in Paris as well as in the northern departments. The consumption which corresponds to that of our home-made spirits, and our rum, is in brandy, of which the value annually made is between L2,000,000 and L3,000,000 sterling. The distillation varies in amount with the season. The brandies of Cognac, Jarnac, and Angoulême, are most in esteem. The best brandy is made in a district called Champagne, comprehending a part of the Saintes, Jonzac, and Cognac territory. In Franche-Comté and Alsace a brandy called Kirsch is made, but little of which is exported. The Hérault, Aude, and Gard, supply the largest quantity of spirit of wine. The best is called that of trois-six. The amount varies from 40,000 to 80,000 pipes of 80 voltes, 5 of which form a quintal. A volte is 761 litres = 1.675 gallon. Beer is brewed in the northern and eastern departments, viz.:—

| Quantity | Value | |----------|-------| | Nord Oriental | 3,115,615 hectolitres. 41,419,492 fr. | | Nord Occidental | 527,378 do. 9,429,261 fr. | | Midi Oriental | 160,942 do. 5,447,719 fr. |

Cider is made everywhere, in largest quantity in the Nord Occidental, and the best in La Mancha and Calvados. Some is distilled for brandy. The quantity is estimated at 11,000,000 hectolitres, at 7 fr. 75 cen. Normandy furnishes half. The whole is worth 34,000,000 fr. There is also a considerable distillation of spirit from potatoes; which, says Chaptal (vol. ii., p. 197), has been generally approved, and has been brought into competition with brandy.

Of hats, the manufactures, formerly concentrated at Lyon and Marseilles, are now diffused throughout several towns; and the value annually made is about twenty-four millions of francs. The hat manufacture of Paris is estimated at an annual production of 1,200,000, of the average value of 5 fr. each, and employing 2000 men and 2500 women. Superior qualities of silk hats are sold to the retail tradesman at from 9 fr. to 11 fr., for which the latter obtain from 15 fr. to 18 fr. The hat manufacture in France employs 17,000 hands, and yields a value of 19,500,000 fr., in 1159 workshops. The second order of hatters, who finish the hats according to the different tastes required, elevate the value of the trade to 24,375,000 fr. The manufacture of gloves—principally made at Grenoble, though called "Paris gloves"—employs 25,000 persons. In 1839 the value of the gloves made in France was 9,436,000 fr.; in 1840, 5,556,000 fr. The tanners prepare 33,286,004 kilo. of leather, valued at 82,864,706 fr., for boots, shoes, saddlery, &c. Perfumery is made extensively in Paris, and in the south, chiefly at Montpellier, where, from the mildness of the climate, aromatic plants are abundant. The value of the manufacture is about 13,000,000 fr. Paper being exempt from the heavy duties of England, is sold in France upon very reasonable terms, whilst in quality it is equal to our own. The value annually used in printing and in writing is computed at 25,000,000 of francs, and the paper employed in the hanging of rooms is estimated at an equal value. Of glass, the manufacture has been much improved and extended during the present age. Whether for mirrors, for windows, or for bottles, this article in France is good and of a moderate price. The number of glass-houses in 1818 was 185, and is now over 220. Small mirrors are manufactured much cheaper in France than in England. Bohemia is the country with which the French manufacturers state they cannot compete. As to earthenware, it is Statistics, only since 1790 that English pottery has been successfully imitated in France. It is now made to the value of 29,000,000 fr.; whilst the coarse earthenware, fabricated in almost every province of the kingdom, is computed at 15,900,621 fr., employing 10,433 hands. French earthenware is very inferior to English.

Salt-petre, till lately a monopolized manufacture, is now unrestricted. Sulphuric acid has, since the beginning of the present century, been greatly lowered in price and increased in quantity.

The manufacture of sugar from beet-root was introduced into France during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, when, the coasts of France being blockaded by the fleets of Britain, the importation of foreign articles, and among others that of sugar, was rendered dangerous and difficult; and its price was so high as entirely to preclude its consumption by the middle classes of society. Various articles were resorted to as substitutes, such as honey, the juice of raisins, &c., but they were not relished by the taste of the people; and in this case experiments were tried by eminent chemists to extract from beet-root the sugar which it contained. These experiments were successful. There were in 1831 more than 200 establishments, from which were produced annually 7,480,000 lbs. of raw sugar; and there were in 1854 303, producing 62,205,600 lbs. The largest sum paid by the administration of the customs has been for refined sugar. It amounted in 1852 to sixteen millions of francs.

The manufactory of machinery has greatly increased. Machinery. Steam-engines have been introduced into France from Great Britain, where they are now employed in every department of industry. It was in the year 1779, at the village of Chaillot, near Paris, that the first steam-engine was established in France; but, owing to prejudices, and attachment to old customs, it was long before these engines came into very general use. Prejudice, however, gradually faded away before the productive powers and manifest utility of this extraordinary application of science to the business of life, and there are now many establishments for the manufacture of these machines. The scarcity of coal is a great obstruction to the extensive use of steam-engines; and the tax on foreign coal is in this view peculiarly impolitic, and injurious to the general interests of the community. The tax, though lately reduced by the imperial government, requires still further reduction.

In 1836, of 1749 steam-engines in France, 1393 were homemade. In 1839 the import surpassed the export. Since that year the reverse has been the case. The metallic castings in France are still very inferior to those of England. Paris is the principal seat of the manufacture of French machinery, then Arras, Creuzot, Rouen, Mulhausen, and Nantes. Locomotive engines are made at Bitschwiller in the department of the Haut-Rhin; machinery for steam-vessels at Indret.

The value of French industry has been estimated in the mean product as follows:—

| Product | Value | |---------|-------| | Iron from the ore to the perfect state, minerals, &c. | 124,000,000 | | Copper, zinc, and lead | 26,500,000 | | Glass, crystal, and looking-glasses | 47,500,000 | | Tiles, bricks, lime, plaster | 60,500,000 | | Porcelain, pottery, &c. | 27,500,000 | | Chemical manufactures, the products | 22,000,000 | | Hemp and Flax (supposed to be no less than 625 millions of francs) | 350,000,000 | | Cotton | 500,000,000 | | Wool | 400,000,000 | | Silk | 230,000,000 | | Leather and skins | 300,000,000 | | Sugar | 45,000,000 | | Paper, coloured and figured | 25,000,000 | | Printed paper, books, &c. | 25,000,000 | | Machinery | 10,000,000 | Labour in Paris is as much dearer relatively to the provincial towns of France, as labour in London is relatively to those of England. It still remains for us to remove from our capital some manufactures which have been most injudiciously established there; but the French have carried this false calculation much further, Paris being the centre not only of ornamental fabrics, such as jewellery, bronze, sculpture, cabinet-making, and the vast variety of elegant trifles comprised under the term "articles de Paris," but of a number of coarser employments, which a very slight change of plan might transfer to a cheaper quarter. Periodical exhibitions of French manufactures are held at Paris every three or four years, at which are present the sovereign, the princes, the nobility, and all eminent men of science. In 1855 was opened in Paris an Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations, similar to that which took place in London in 1851, and in Dublin in 1853. The Parisian exhibition, like the Dublin one, contained a branch dedicated to the fine arts. This exposition continued open from May till the middle of November. It was twice visited by her Majesty Queen Victoria between the 20th and 25th August in her nine days' visit to France. There is also in that capital a Conservatoire des Arts et des Métiers; a collection, on a large scale, of models of all instruments or machines that relate to arts and manufactures. It is more the practice also in France than in Britain to encourage ingenious inventions in the mechanical arts, by premiums, orders of merit, and other honorary marks of distinction. Yet, with all these advantages, industry has not made the same progress as in this country.

To prescribe the mode of manufacture was formerly a favourite course with government in England as well as in France. From the time of Colbert (1660) the French ordonnances prescribed peremptorily the length and breadth of serges, of druggets, in short, of every kind of cloth calculated for export, under the plausible idea that all these precautions were necessary to establish a reputation for quality. It is a curious fact, that these rules were desired by the manufacturers themselves, and were long considered as the safeguard of French industry. A change was introduced in 1779, and permission given to every manufacturer to follow his own method, provided he distinguished the goods thus made from those which were in conformity with the regulations. But this was of very short duration. The power of habit and prejudice prevailed. New ordonnances, issued the succeeding year, revived the former limitations; and the manufactures of France were not put on an unrestricted footing till the Revolution. Much inconvenience had also been sustained from the absurd law which prevented a workman from settling in business in any town excepting that in which he had served an apprenticeship. This law was abrogated in 1767.

The manufacturing industry of France is confined, far more than ours, to the home market, whether we look to the supply of the raw material, or to the export of the finished articles. Her imports are large only in cotton and silk; in wool and iron they are not considerable; whilst in flax, hemp, and leather they may be termed insignificant. In exports the limitation is still more striking, her hardware, her linen, her woollens, her cotton, her leather, and, in a great measure, her silk, being confined to the home market; a restriction owing partly to our manufacturing superiority, but more to the capital of our merchants their ability, to give long credit, and to deal with foreign traders and merchants in a liberal and not in a petty retail spirit. The productive industry of France is consequently much less subject than ours to sudden fluctuation. It follows nearly the same routine year after year. On the occurrence of a war, or other political change, the commerce and manufactures of our neighbours, to borrow a phrase of Talleyrand (Letter to Mr Fox, 1st April 1806) se replient sur eux-mêmes.

VII. COMMERCE, COLONIES, FISHERIES, SHIPPING.

In no country in Europe has trade been laid under such Commerce. galling restrictions as in France; and it is remarkable that this system of restriction has in a great measure been the creation of modern times. The ancient legislation of the kingdom was rather friendly to foreign trade. It encouraged importation in preference to exportation. This latter privilege of export was in 1577 claimed by Henri III. as his royal and seignorial right; and be regulated by his ordonnances the export duty on a variety of articles, whilst the produce of foreign countries was admitted on payment of an ad valorem duty of two per cent. Louis XIV. introduced a sort of navigation act, by which he levied a tax of fifty sous on all foreign ships. In 1667 further restrictions were introduced; and in 1687 the exclusive system was established in its full rigour. The statesmen of France seem to have imagined that a flourishing commerce could be created by legal authority, and that domestic industry could only be encouraged by the exclusion of all foreign competition; and hence all the vices and obsolete maxims of the mercantile system will still be found in the commercial policy of our neighbours. The extension of the restrictive system was promoted by the authority of Colbert, a minister who, though he introduced order into the finances, and improved in many particulars the system of taxation, and was indeed a great master of detail, adopted the most erroneous maxims of commercial legislation. It is justly observed, in the Report of Villiers and Bowring on the commercial relations between Great Britain and France, that the "whole of the bounties by which he induced adventurers to enter into remote speculations, as well as the excessive duties which he imposed on cheaper foreign articles, were almost uncompensated sacrifices; while, on the other hand, of the manufactures which he transplanted into France, and which he protected by the exclusion of rival productions, scarcely one took permanent root;" and even those which he intended to support by special encouragement would all of them have been more prosperous, but for the regulations with which his mistaken zeal retarded the progress of manufacturing industry. His whole system was an attempt to regulate by law what would have been better left to the sagacity of individuals, and to give a forced and artificial direction to the national capital. Thus he encouraged a trade to the West Indies by granting a bounty of 25s. on every ton of goods exported, and of 41s. 8d. on every ton imported. He boasted of setting up 40,000 looms by virtue of legal enactments, without considering that the capital employed in these establishments would have taken a more natural direction, and been more profitably employed, but for his interference. The restraints also which were thus laid on domestic industry were often enforced by the despotic authority of the government. Many of the absurd and pernicious regulations of Colbert were broken down by the first French Revolution; but others remained, and the tariff of 1791 was from beginning to end a system of prohibition, the object of which was to encourage the home manufacturer by freeing him from all foreign competitors. It must be confessed that England set the example of illiberality; and it was no wonder that the French of that day should be jealous of a country which excluded her silks and cambrics, and laid a discriminating duty of 33½. Statistics, per cent, on French wines; and whose parliament, under the reign of William III., declared the trade with France to be a nuisance. The commercial treaty concluded with France in 1786 by Mr Pitt, was the earnest of a better system. Since this period the legislators of this country have been impressed with the injurious tendency of all commercial restrictions. But in France the progress of improvement has been slower, and it has besides been retarded by political events. The long and sanguinary war waged between Great Britain and France subjected the latter to the maritime hostility of her powerful opponent, the consequence of which was, that her trade with foreign countries was interrupted, and the supply of many of her staple articles of produce greatly diminished, and raised enormously in price. It became a great object, in this case, to produce these articles at home. In addition to the existing restraints upon the importation of foreign manufactures, special encouragements were given to the production of articles for which neither the soil nor the climate of France was peculiarly fitted. Thus when the maritime blockade of France was raised by the peace of 1814, her industry, partly from ancient and mistaken maxims, partly from the pressure of war, received a very artificial direction, and was oppressed by ruinous and complicated restrictions. At the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, the tariff of 1791 was the law of the land. It had undergone a few modifications, but these were mostly in the restrictive and prohibitory spirit, and were accommodated to the hostile position which France occupied in regard to surrounding nations. When the barrier to a free intercourse with foreign nations was at length thrown down by the peace of 1814, the exclusive provisions of the tariff of 1791 were brought into full operation; and when the obstacles to the commercial intercourse of France with foreign nations raised up by the war were withdrawn, a no less effectual line of circumvallation was drawn around her commerce by the restrictions and prohibitions of her own erroneous policy. It is remarkable, indeed, that a committee of the Chamber of Deputies, in reporting on the budget in 1832, enters into an exposition and defence of the restrictive system, the principle of which is to encourage domestic industry by the exclusion of the cheaper and better manufactures of foreign nations.

The tariff of 1791 either excluded from France, or laid under heavy duties, almost all the great staple manufactures of other countries. Manufactured iron in every shape, manufactured steel, copper, tin, cutlery, and all articles manufactured from any of the metals; all fabrics of wool, cotton, silk, or tissues of hair, saddlery, spirituous liquors, grain, refined sugar, tobacco, toys, and various other inconsiderable articles, are included in this charta of domestic commerce. The inconsistency, and the fallacies on which this system is founded, are well exposed in the Report of Villiers and Bowring. The passage, though somewhat long, is replete with instruction.

"It requires merely to state some of the objections to importations, in order to show their narrow and anti-commercial spirit. The introduction of manufactured tin, for example, is opposed because it might benefit England, which is rich in tin mines, as if the importation into France could take place without equally benefiting her. The reasons, too, which are grounded on the superiority of other countries; as, for example, 'dangerous rivalry' in the case of manufactured steel; 'cheapness' of foreign article in the case of shipping; 'threatened annihilation of the French manufacture' in that of cutlery; 'extra advantages of the English' in plated ware; 'apprehension of the English' in articles of pottery; 'imprudence of admitting English saddlery,' as so many persons, regardless of price, prefer it; 'advantages of machinery' in works of iron; all are modes of announcing the superiority of the foreign articles, and the power which foreigners possess of supplying them on cheaper terms than they can be produced at home.

"There are other grounds of prohibition by which particular French manufactures are awfully sacrificed to the interest of other branches of French industry. The importation of extracts of dye-woods is disallowed for the purpose of encouraging the importation of the dye-woods themselves; the interest of the dyer, the manufacturer, and consumer, being wholly forgotten. The importation of iron of certain sizes is prohibited, lest small manufacturers should establish factories, and supply the markets at a less cost than the larger establishments. Woollen yarn is not allowed to be imported, because it can be produced in France, though the high price must be a great detriment to the woollen manufacture; and cast iron of a great variety of sorts is prohibited, on the ground that a sufficiency may be obtained at home, though the cost is notoriously more than double that of many articles of foreign cast iron. Molasses are not allowed to be introduced, because the price in France is so low, and the exportation so large, on the ground that importation will lower the prices still more, though the lowness of price would obviously make importation unprofitable; and the fact of considerable exportation is the best evidence that the average prices are low in France. Rock salt was prohibited in 1791, and the prohibition is now justified on the ground that mines have lately been discovered. The prohibition of refined sugar is also based on the ground that its admission would not benefit the treasury; but it is clear, if the interest of the treasury were kept in view, that all prohibitions would be suppressed, provided by a system of duties. While some articles are prohibited because the production is small in France, and requires protection, others are prohibited (dressed skins, for example) because the production is great, and engages a large number of hands."

There is another branch of the French legislation regarding commerce, which is equally exceptionable with the prohibition to import foreign manufactures; namely, the system of drawbacks and bounties on the exportation of domestic produce. Having by special encouragements created a surplus of certain articles at home, and which the high price prevented from being sold to foreigners, the public were called upon to pay the difference between this high price and the price abroad; and thus they were taxed, by the exclusion of the foreign article, in a higher price for what was consumed at home, and also taxed for all that was consumed abroad, in the bounty which was paid on the exportation of the article. This is a double iniquity, which has gone on increasing in France. In 1817, the whole amount of what was conceded on this account amounted to L3,500 per annum, whilst in 1830 it amounted to L600,000, nearly one-fifth of the nett amount of the whole custom-house revenues of France; and as it was going on progressively, it might soon have absorbed the whole custom-house income, without in the least benefiting, but rather injuring, the general interests of commerce. During the first nine months of the year 1832 premiums or bounties were paid to the amount of 24,448,975 francs, or L1,018,682.

The commerce of France, obstructed by these restrictive duties, has not made the same advances as her agriculture and manufactures. The internal produce of every country necessarily increases with its population; and the inhabitants of France having increased, since 1780 to 1855, to fall 35,000,000 (for the census of 1851 makes the population 35,781,628) from 24,800,000, must produce as well as consume more. But in the mean time her commerce has not kept pace with this increase in her population. The value of the imports into France amounted in 1787 to 631,790,700 francs, or about twenty-five millions sterling, and engaged 888,838 tons of shipping; and her whole imports only amounted in 1830 to twenty-five and a half millions sterling, and employed 1,009,454 tons of shipping, which is far from being an increase corresponding to her augmented population. According to the last accounts, the value of imports was in 1853, L65,240,000, of which to the value of L44,120,000 remained for home consumption, and engaged 4,065,000 tons of shipping. The whole trade of France with its own colonies and foreign powers amounted for the year 1853 to an official value of 3,443 millions of francs, which was an increase of 12 per cent. on the year 1852, and an increase of 32 per cent. on the average of the years between 1841 and 1848. The foreign commerce of England was, in the year 1857, about seven millions less than that of France, or about eighteen millions sterling, and employed 1,349,410 tons of shipping. Her population was nine millions. In 1830 her foreign trade had increased to L69,700,748, including L17,127,764 to the colonies, which employed 2,260,515 tons of shipping. Thus, whilst the official value of the commerce of England had nearly quadrupled, and her shipping nearly doubled in forty-three years, not above one-fiftieth part was added to the foreign commerce of France; a fact which strongly illustrates the pernicious influence ### Trade and Navigation of France with Foreign Nations—Actual Values

| Nations | Years | Value Imports | Value Exports | Ships | Tonnage | Crews | |------------------|-------|---------------|---------------|-------|---------|-------| | | | Fr. | Fr. | In. | Out. | Entering | Outward | Inward | Outward | | Russia | 1850 | 27,255,165 | 20,446,540 | 136 | 71 | 19,274 | 9,225 | 1,266 | 758 | | | 1854 | 48,833,979 | 3,862,529 | 43 | 3 | 8,930 | 795 | 458 | 62 | | Sweden | 1850 | 5,840,697 | 1,265,163 | 29 | 5 | 2,985 | 857 | 198 | 42 | | | 1854 | 7,707,154 | 2,578,604 | 29 | 12 | 2,796 | 1,181 | 190 | 81 | | Norway | 1850 | 13,326,659 | 2,134,120 | 15 | 3 | 1,520 | 262 | 102 | 19 | | | 1854 | 19,214,908 | 1,935,281 | 42 | 1 | 4,147 | 101 | 284 | 7 | | Denmark | 1850 | 77,709 | 1,288,077 | 6 | 8 | 412 | 651 | 35 | 50 | | | 1854 | 7,329,923 | 4,055,146 | 4 | 9 | 325 | 997 | 26 | 64 | | England | 1850 | 111,181,981 | 312,119,023 | 2878 | 3211 | 223,213 | 210,040 | 21,990 | 23,880 | | | 1854 | 201,490,531 | 538,641,810 | 3082 | 1546 | 301,590 | 115,525 | 27,938 | 15,306 | | German Association| 1850 | 47,324,482 | 50,983,390 | 16 | 19 | 1,516 | 1,914 | 104 | 128 | | | 1854 | 103,661,586 | 62,556,573 | 6 | 3 | 591 | 235 | 41 | 20 | | Hanse Towns | 1850 | 6,644,624 | 1,646,234 | 96 | 137 | 9,333 | 14,048 | 850 | 1,207 | | | 1854 | 7,022,654 | 18,404,308 | 104 | 76 | 5,119 | 6,451 | 380 | 474 | | Netherlands | 1850 | 29,801,918 | 14,901,636 | 89 | 98 | 10,877 | 12,550 | 1,300 | 1,952 | | | 1854 | 33,984,969 | 29,272,053 | 25 | 32 | 1,364 | 2,882 | 168 | 242 | | Belgium | 1850 | 156,629,134 | 113,690,547 | 73 | 143 | 5,272 | 10,554 | 654 | 589 | | | 1854 | 267,630,168 | 153,690,892 | 55 | 90 | 4,033 | 6,971 | 345 | 515 | | Switzerland | 1850 | 123,777,710 | 93,047,246 | | | | | | | | | 1854 | 221,620,584 | 124,438,776 | | | | | | | | Portugal | 1850 | 2,414,165 | 3,898,688 | 54 | 18 | 6,216 | 1,875 | 410 | 170 | | | 1854 | 4,208,287 | 9,469,053 | 135 | 43 | 17,326 | 7,813 | 1,359 | 675 | | Austria | 1850 | 6,032,209 | 10,357,595 | 17 | 20 | 2,098 | 2,113 | 138 | 141 | | | 1854 | 6,745,678 | 10,296,286 | 6 | 11 | 642 | 1,341 | 43 | 95 | | Spain | 1850 | 43,861,339 | 85,629,133 | 361 | 125 | 20,198 | 8,465 | 2,369 | 768 | | | 1854 | 88,211,169 | 79,595,735 | 832 | 269 | 68,225 | 21,283 | 5,553 | 1,829 | | Sardinia | 1850 | 91,245,671 | 71,731,977 | 606 | 589 | 26,018 | 33,825 | 4,236 | 3,711 | | | 1854 | 117,643,959 | 87,141,008 | 623 | 645 | 63,160 | 63,723 | 6,928 | 6,668 | | Tuscany | 1850 | 12,281,131 | 24,533,550 | 238 | 213 | 13,282 | 12,133 | 2,141 | 2,023 | | | 1854 | 15,981,113 | 23,689,099 | 330 | 226 | 33,207 | 29,634 | 4,091 | 3,226 | | Roman States | 1850 | 3,356,214 | 5,542,172 | 43 | 53 | 4,141 | 1,978 | 321 | 169 | | | 1854 | 4,208,364 | 6,061,612 | 51 | 41 | 4,492 | 2,775 | 345 | 240 | | Two Sicilies | 1850 | 22,581,422 | 17,697,039 | 170 | 68 | 24,541 | 11,256 | 2,020 | 1,221 | | | 1854 | 24,252,548 | 20,691,260 | 128 | 38 | 23,634 | 7,122 | 2,475 | 1,638 | | Greece | 1850 | 1,081,081 | 3,838,596 | 4 | 15 | 902 | 1,784 | 31 | 115 | | | 1854 | 3,255,131 | 4,000,061 | | | | | | | | Turkey | 1850 | 54,266,654 | 31,677,194 | 342 | 200 | 71,393 | 47,845 | 5,836 | 4,072 | | | 1854 | 60,189,958 | 40,408,306 | 310 | 250 | 75,230 | 70,385 | 5,609 | 5,829 | | Egypt | 1850 | 9,586,161 | 10,532,807 | 93 | 54 | 21,399 | 13,400 | 1,526 | 937 | | | 1854 | 17,435,283 | 7,685,450 | 103 | 63 | 21,206 | 13,955 | 1,565 | 1,112 | | Barbary | 1850 | 21,908,551 | 4,937,036 | 209 | 121 | 22,272 | 14,921 | 1,911 | 1,359 | | | 1854 | 8,579,124 | 4,492,767 | 95 | 62 | 14,227 | 9,289 | 1,698 | 1,111 | | Africa, West Coast| 1850 | 4,592,514 | 2,128,676 | 89 | 49 | 14,931 | 9,553 | 891 | 551 | | | 1854 | 9,332,228 | 3,964,868 | 112 | 43 | 23,155 | 9,418 | 1,166 | 486 | | Mauritius | 1850 | 72,247 | 5,057,132 | | | | | | | | | 1854 | 632,932 | 6,662,509 | 3 | 17 | 1,119 | 5,793 | 46 | 261 | | Africa, East Coast| 1850 | 287,008 | 593,612 | | | | | | | | | 1854 | 2,154,357 | 3,819,818 | 6 | 6 | 2,245 | 2,358 | 93 | 101 | | English East Indies, including Java, Sumatra, and New South Wales | 1850 | 33,274,310 | 4,287,420 | 72 | 18 | 23,215 | 5,736 | 391 | 284 | | | 1854 | 52,469,742 | 5,767,690 | 98 | 46 | 34,699 | 17,593 | 319 | 740 | | Dutch East Indies | 1850 | 5,342,007 | 3,338,228 | | | | | | | | | 1854 | 1,064,620 | 1,705,440 | | | | | | | | Philippines | 1850 | 1,706,567 | 120,881 | 3 | 3 | 879 | 792 | 42 | 42 | | | 1854 | 1,168,517 | 339,786 | | | | | | | | China and Cochin-China | 1850 | 1,585,970 | 396,887 | 2 | | | | | | | | 1854 | 2,723,534 | 3,858,397 | 5 | 17 | 2,205 | 5,600 | 85 | 269 |

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1 The trade between France and Switzerland is carried on by land by Colmar, Strasbourg, St Louis, Belfort, Nantus, Seyssel, Morteau, Pontarlier, Les Rousses, Montbéliard, &c. During the four years from 1850 to 1854 inclusive, the value of French commerce has augmented 303,329 francs, and the number of seamen employed has increased 19,046. The exports to Russia, owing to the war, were reduced in 1854 to three outward-bound vessels. The commerce with England has increased with great rapidity, having nearly doubled the amount in 1850. With Sweden and Norway the increase has also been considerable. With Austria, on the other hand, there has been a diminution, and also with the Roman states. With China there is an increasing trade, as well as with the United States of America, but with Rio de la Plata and Ecuador there has been a falling off. Most of the other states with which France carries on a commercial intercourse exhibited an increase which, if small, augmented the general commerce so much as to show that the country was entering upon a more active career of traffic.

| Nations | Years | Value Imports | Value Exports | Ships In | Out | Tonnage Entering | Outward | Crews Inward | Outward | |--------------------------|-------|---------------|---------------|---------|-----|-----------------|--------|-------------|--------| | Mexico | 1850 | 2,618,738 | 21,129,723 | 43 | 53 | 8,988 | 9,989 | 489 | 571 | | | 1854 | 4,015,878 | 24,310,946 | 43 | 41 | 9,780 | 8,645 | 523 | 483 | | United States of America, East | 1850 | 132,130,336 | 278,354,956 | 50 | 39 | 13,179 | 7,210 | 593 | 383 | | | 1854 | 190,771,342 | 332,000,943 | 34 | 23 | 9,562 | 8,161 | 464 | 356 | | United States, West | 1850 | 44,903 | 7,586,238 | | | | | | | | | 1854 | 714,228 | 9,568,935 | 2 | 16 | 699 | 6,557 | 34 | 304 | | Guatemala | 1850 | 308 | 403,154 | | | | | | | | | 1854 | 1,166,733 | 982,871 | 4 | 2 | 1,148 | 635 | 56 | 25 | | New Granada | 1850 | 931,131 | 5,049,735 | 8 | 12 | 1,634 | 2,252 | 96 | 154 | | | 1854 | 1,147,741 | 3,494,501 | 6 | 6 | 1,255 | 1,108 | 75 | 67 | | Venezuela | 1850 | 2,937,681 | 3,497,615 | 16 | 14 | 2,845 | 2,488 | 194 | 161 | | | 1854 | 6,492,216 | 5,792,618 | 26 | 21 | 3,422 | 3,472 | 272 | 222 | | Brazil | 1850 | 17,687,782 | 27,294,483 | 87 | 90 | 18,378 | 19,402 | 1,084 | 1,122 | | | 1854 | 27,970,169 | 44,048,500 | 95 | 87 | 22,544 | 21,757 | 1,261 | 1,147 | | Uruguay | 1850 | 987,831 | 10,220,347 | 8 | 16 | 1,662 | 3,524 | 95 | 203 | | | 1854 | 5,991,241 | 10,665,627 | 16 | 45 | 3,056 | 12,775 | 215 | 638 | | Rio de la Plata | 1850 | 10,753,296 | 12,480,718 | 53 | 63 | 11,380 | 13,358 | 628 | 729 | | | 1854 | 10,900,020 | 23,610,663 | 26 | 46 | 6,238 | 11,364 | 336 | 583 | | Ecuador | 1850 | 309,990 | 316,691 | 1 | 2 | 383 | 599 | 17 | 32 | | | 1854 | 297,428 | 192,972 | | | | 244 | | | | Peru | 1850 | 6,381,244 | 12,603,342 | 20 | 14 | 6,320 | 4,613 | 323 | 215 | | | 1854 | 7,863,258 | 18,759,998 | 34 | 16 | 15,118 | 7,227 | 629 | 295 | | Bolivia | 1850 | | 49,850 | | | | | | | | | 1854 | | 372,251 | | | | | | | | Chili | 1850 | 4,973,120 | 14,023,123 | 5 | 20 | 1,662 | 5,797 | 73 | 306 | | | 1854 | 4,257,504 | 21,421,197 | 8 | 22 | 2,911 | 9,984 | 141 | 435 | | Haiti | 1850 | 8,250,901 | 3,489,770 | 59 | 23 | 11,305 | 4,114 | 640 | 244 | | | 1854 | 10,150,125 | 5,331,759 | 75 | 32 | 14,455 | 5,670 | 907 | 327 | | Spanish American Possessions, Islands, &c. | 1850 | 26,304,272 | 10,390,924 | 123 | 32 | 29,274 | 8,427 | 1,502 | 440 | | | 1854 | 29,210,434 | 17,939,262 | 113 | 40 | 28,641 | 10,812 | 1,428 | 557 | | English Possessions in America, Islands, &c. | 1850 | 199,830 | 622,625 | | | | 622 | | | | | 1854 | 253,687 | 3,059,839 | 9 | 4 | 2,612 | 1,406 | 133 | 63 | | Dutch Possessions in America | 1850 | 153,646 | 160,924 | 1 | | | 303 | | | | | 1854 | 3,125 | 68,653 | | | | | | | | Danish Possessions in America | 1850 | 105,014 | 5,934,491 | 2 | 17 | 158 | 3,602 | 14 | 212 | | | 1854 | 191,754 | 6,400,451 | 4 | 13 | 890 | 2,854 | 48 | 156 | | Isle of Bourbon | 1850 | 18,299,419 | 11,591,628 | 50 | 83 | 15,422 | 24,242 | 767 | 1,251 | | | 1854 | 29,968,188 | 18,319,000 | 81 | 105 | 25,913 | 36,537 | 1,337 | 1,677 | | French Guyans | 1850 | 1,311,491 | 2,029,849 | 13 | 21 | 2,302 | 3,775 | 161 | 251 | | | 1854 | 1,158,198 | 4,671,306 | 10 | 28 | 2,017 | 5,732 | 120 | 317 | | Martinique | 1850 | 11,045,108 | 14,995,110 | 81 | 104 | 18,432 | 24,230 | 994 | 1,289 | | | 1854 | 18,287,465 | 20,144,217 | 115 | 119 | 28,314 | 22,482 | 1,431 | 1,483 | | Guadaloupe | 1850 | 9,322,384 | 11,251,741 | 51 | 83 | 11,246 | 18,694 | 589 | 974 | | | 1854 | 17,114,518 | 16,276,188 | 116 | 110 | 22,139 | 24,352 | 1,226 | 1,373 | | Algiers | 1850 | 6,263,239 | 67,371,988 | 704 | 1072| 74,709 | 115,125| 6,946 | 9,680 | | | 1854 | 49,422,025 | 90,918,877 | 1036 | 946 | 133,155 | 121,155| 12,262 | 11,363 | | Senegal | 1850 | 3,920,745 | 6,321,551 | 48 | 62 | 6,270 | 8,509 | 437 | 569 | | | 1854 | 6,932,825 | 8,744,316 | 75 | 84 | 11,709 | 154,065| 734 | 879 | | French India | 1850 | 3,333,342 | 474,896 | 6 | 8 | 1,637 | 2,067 | 84 | 101 | | | 1854 | 10,369,437 | 445,725 | 19 | 4 | 5,320 | 1,257 | 272 | 59 | | St Pierre and Miquelon, &c. | 1850 | 19,931,116 | 5,424,677 | | | | | | | | | 1854 | 18,902,278 | 6,148,157 | | | | | | | | Mayotte, &c. and Madagascar | 1850 | | 90,036 | | | | | | | | | 1854 | 404,741 | 222,756 | 1 | 4 | 208 | 1,140 | 13 | 66 |

Total for 1850: Outward bound, 7,540 ships; 787,560 tonnage; 76,246 men. Inward do., 7,494 do.; 837,526 do.; 74,277 do.

15,034 1,625,098 150,623

Total for 1854: Outward bound, 5,733 ships; 796,713 tonnage; 73,156 men. Inward do., 9,307 do.; 1,131,702 do.; 96,413 do.

15,033 1,928,415 169,569 Statistics, than she has exhibited since the revolution. The intercourse of France and twelve of the great European states increased considerably between 1852 and 1853.

**Mercantile intercourse of France in 1852 and 1853 with twelve of the most important states:**

| Year | Country | Tons | Tons | |------|---------------|--------|--------| | 1852 | England | 1,478,329 | 1,627,891 | | | United States | 446,086 | 414,243 | | | Russia | 141,733 | 277,949 | | | Sardinia | 241,927 | 237,167 | | | Norway | 160,892 | 180,164 | | | Two Sicilies | 185,050 | 177,955 | | | Spain | 124,617 | 167,234 | | | Turkey | 110,832 | 147,021 | | | Tuscany | 80,160 | 82,129 | | | Sweden | 73,833 | 66,812 | | | Low Countries | 68,296 | 64,110 | | | Egypt | 37,708 | 59,951 |

Total | 3,149,624 | 3,502,625 |

**Exportations from France to England, 1853:**

| Item | Value (L) | |-----------------------------|-----------| | Silk tissue | 3,793,198 | | Wool | 82,692 | | Woollens | 1,765,939 | | Silk (bourre) | 926,355 | | Cotton cloth | 850,057 | | Grain | 601,807 | | Brandy and spirits of wine | 533,498 | | Perfumery | 47,577 | | Skins | 491,337 | | Straw hats | 46,470 | | Clockwork | 329,343 | | Seeds for oil | 43,461 | | Flour | 328,572 | | Dry pulse and their sugar | 41,005 | | Wine | 313,573 | | Hemp and flax | 40,485 | | Seed grain | 278,614 | | White wax | 39,369 | | Skins, prepared | 206,451 | | Tartrate of potash | 37,745 | | Eggs | 265,052 | | Volatile oils | 35,598 | | Mercery and buttons | 234,983 | | Fashions | 34,917 | | Madder | 229,200 | | Coral not set | 32,139 | | Linen cloth | 226,332 | | Horses | 31,995 | | Pottery, glass, crystal | 173,156 | | Straw in bundles | 172,757 | | Building materials | 28,183 | | Household effects | 171,929 | | Ultramarine | 26,864 | | Tools, articles in metal | 164,585 | | Cotton | 25,635 | | Musical instruments | 21,052 | | Paper, books, and engravings| 163,548 | | All kinds of grain | 22,807 | | Extracts of dyewood | 130,075 | | Plumes of feather | 22,289 | | Beasts | 129,856 | | Corkwood | 22,083 | | Meat | 120,442 | | Pure bitumen | 17,538 | | Woollen thread, white | 112,141 | | Furniture | 15,056 | | Table fruit | 107,127 | | Basket work | 13,705 | | Salt butter | 100,251 | | Stearic acid | 12,354 | | Fish, marinated, or in oil | 93,682 | | Other articles | 565,553 | | Potatoes | 91,053 | | Total official value | L18,136,327 |

**Importations into France from England, 1853:**

| Item | Value (L) | |-----------------------------|-----------| | Silk (bourre de soie) | 1,098,148 | | Cotton tissue | 453,343 | | Coal | 418,091 | | Wool, raw | 371,836 | | Grain | 299,768 | | Copper | 280,927 | | Woollen stuffs | 227,268 | | Iron | 219,435 | | Silk tissue | 214,391 | | Linen or hempen cloth | 151,645 | | Machinery | 131,850 | | Cashmere shawls | 121,648 | | Zinc | 117,414 | | Hair for spinning | 91,344 | | Rice | 88,704 | | Raw hides | 74,514 | | Skins | 73,225 | | Cotton wool | 66,338 | | Wheat flour | 61,880 | | Cotton thread | 61,157 | | Flax, cleaned | 52,070 | | Fine pearls | 41,882 | | Tools and works in metal | 38,933 | | Household effects | 28,646 | | Linen and hemp twist | 27,916 | | Works in India rubber | 27,630 | | Paper, plates, books | 25,240 | | Mercury | 25,140 | | Lead | 25,060 | | Horses | 24,522 | | Iron anchors and cables | 23,401 | | Skins not prepared | 23,050 | | Building materials | 22,275 | | Bundles of straw | 21,592 | | Tin | 20,987 | | Sewing needles | 18,736 | | Porcelain earth | 18,383 | | Acids | 15,937 | | Woollen thread | 15,131 | | Indigo | 14,802 | | Wine | 14,228 | | Limassol | 12,138 | | Metallic pens | 11,327 | | Mercury and buttons | 11,349 | | Combed wool | 9,017 | | Marbles | 8,275 | | Engraved coins, plates, &c. | 8,230 | | Lead, mineral | 7,233 | | Beer | 5,502 | | Jewellery | 5,422 | | Pottery, glass, crystal | 5,383 | | Fruit for the table | 4,257 | | Other articles | 190,968 | | Official value | L5,425,100| | Real value | 5,751,409 |

**Imports of France:**

| Year | Breadstuffs | Coal | Cotton | Raw silk | Wool | Iron | |------|-------------|------|--------|----------|------|------| | 1851 | L80,000 | 1,480,000 | 4,160,000 | 3,880,000 | 1,360,000 | 200,000 | | 1852 | L200,000 | 1,520,000 | 5,120,000 | 5,350,000 | 2,600,000 | 240,000 | | 1853 | L3,840,000 | 1,680,000 | 5,320,000 | 5,200,000 | 1,720,000 | 440,000 |

**Exports of France:**

| Year | Breadstuffs | Cotton manufactures | Silk manufactures | Woollen manufactures | Linen manufactures | Gloves and hosiery | Wines | |------|-------------|---------------------|-------------------|----------------------|--------------------|--------------------|-------| | 1851 | L3,800,000 | 6,000,000 | 8,120,000 | 8,280,000 | 1,080,000 | 3,200,000 | 1,480,000 | | 1852 | L2,360,000 | 6,000,000 | 9,000,000 | 9,120,000 | 1,500,000 | 3,400,000 | 1,480,000 | | 1853 | L1,160,000 | 6,560,000 | 11,200,000 | 11,480,000 | 1,430,000 | 3,030,000 | 1,800,000 |

**Imports of Coal and Iron in 1852:**

| From England | From Belgium | |--------------|--------------| | Coals | 664,632 | | Coke | 2,732 | | Iron, pig | 15,002 | | Iron, bar | 1,841 | | Steel | 270 |

Returns of the customs duties levied on the principal merchandise imported into France during the nine months of 1855, ending on the 1st of October, give an amount of L5,927,030. Compared with those of 1854 they show an augmentation of L1,723,976. The receipts during the month of September were L462,688, or L40,383 less than in the corresponding month of last year. The salt-tax produced during the nine months of 1855, L930,891.

The value of exports in 1853 reached L74,640,000, of which L54,520,000 represented French produce, and L20,520,000 was foreign produce re-exported. The imports for home consumption showed an increase of L4,680,000, and the exports of French produce an increase of L5,200,000 above 1852.

The following is a brief sketch of the trade of France with other countries.

The corn, the hemp, the flax, the tallow, which form such important articles of export from the north of Europe to England, are comparatively unnecessary to France. Their timber and pitch are imported there, but the quantities required by a people where shipbuilding is so limited are necessarily of little consequence. It would appear, however, that in the progress of the present war against Russia many articles imported from the north of Europe have become more necessary to France, and by a decree published in the Moniteur on the 29th October 1855 building timber, wood for cabinet-making of a certain thickness, rough castings, bar and sheet iron, hemp, &c., may be imported for three years free from import duty. Pitch, tar, and tallow, when employed in ship building, may be imported at a duty of 10 per cent. If it can be proved they have been used bona fide for the purpose within a year. The further articles of import are iron, copper, lead, salt fish, all likewise on a small scale. The returns from France are no longer in the sugar and coffee, which, before the loss of St Domingo, furnished an annual export to the north of fully two millions sterling. They are limited to wine and brandy, luxuries of which the consumption is confined to a few large towns, such as Petersburg, Hamburg, Lubecck, Stockholm, and Dantzig.

The carriage of goods of all kinds are now carried on by steam canal and land carriage, and for lighter articles and articles de Paris by railroad and river navigation.

From Holland are imported spirituous liquors, spices, butter, cheese. The returns from France consist chiefly of wine, silks, brandy, and dried fruit. When the Netherlands were subject to France, this intercourse was very active. Statistics. From Italy France imports raw silk, corn, rice, olive oil, and fruit, chiefly lemons, oranges, figs, and raisins. The returns, various in kind, but small in quantity, consist of wine, brandy, cattle, woollens, linen, leather, hats, stockings, jewellery, glass, hardware. From the Orient, the imports, though less than formerly, still consist of raw silk, cotton, wool, corn, dried fruits; the exports, manufactured silks, woollens, stockings, and, in a small degree, hardware, paper, ligncure, linens, lace. With Spain the intercourse is more extensive: the exports from France consist of corn, flour, salt fish, wine, brandy, also woollens, cottons, silks, leather, linen, lace, hats; all articles which have passed through some process of manufacture, and bear testimony to the industry of the French. The Spaniards, on the other hand, true to their character, make no returns except in produce and raw materials, viz. wool, silk, fruit, sweet wines, along with some iron and copper. During the years 1854 and 1855 there have been considerable exportations of Spanish wine into France for the use of the French troops serving in the Crimea. With Portugal the trade of France is not considerable, the staple products, wine and brandy, being consumed at both countries.

The intercourse between the French and Americans should be great, but the Americans require long credit, and to give credit exceeds the means of the French. The cotton, tobacco, and rice of the United States are paid partly by wine and brandy, but in a slight degree by manufactures. This branch of trade will increase with the population and wealth of the United States. At present the intercourse with England is more considerable than with almost any other country; but a reduction of the custom-house duties would extend greatly the mutual trade of the two countries. Great Britain would supply France in greater quantities with imports, consisting of cottons, hardware, earthenware, copper, tin, iron, coals, &c.; whilst a corresponding increase would take place in the French exports, of which the staple articles are wine and brandy, the smaller silks, olive oil, fruit, butter, poultry, corn, and butcher meat.

The chief commercial business of Paris is necessarily inland; but it is the centre of exchange transactions for France, foreign as well as inland; as London is for England, and Amsterdam for Holland. Havre de Grace is the channel of the maritime intercourse of the capital, the outlet for its exports, and the medium through which it receives colonial produce, raw materials, and foreign manufacturers. Bordeaux is a seaport of great activity, as well for the exportation of wine as for the importation of sugar, coffee, and cotton. Marseilles, a larger but a less bustling city, continues the important for the trade with Italy and the Levant. Nantes has suffered greatly by the loss of St Domingo, as well as by the abolition of the slave trade, of which it was the centre. It still exports to Martinique and Guadaloupe linen, hardware, printed cottons; and, like Bordeaux, receives in return sugar, coffee, and raw cotton. Rouen, though accessible to vessels of burden, is, like Lyon and Lille, chiefly remarkable for manufactures.

The mercantile marine of France recently presented the following results, which are remarkable while England and America are building vessels of such superior tonnage.

| Mercantile Marine—1853 | |------------------------| | Tonnage | Vessels | Total | |---------|---------|-------| | 700 to 800 | 1 | 717 | | 600 to 700 | 3 | 1,881 | | 500 to 600 | 4 | 2,091 | | 400 to 500 | 35 | 14,599 | | 300 to 400 | 150 | 56,866 | | 200 to 300 | 533 | 130,829 | | **Total** | **15,600** | **662,500** |

Manned, including the men of the fisheries, by 83,000 men and boys.

The steam and sailing vessels of France and the nations trading with her from 1848 to 1853 were as follow.

Navigation for 1848 to 1853 inclusive—

French and Foreign.

| Years | French | Foreign | Total | |-------|--------|---------|-------| | 1848 | 13,194 | 13,220 | 26,514 | | 1849 | 14,364 | 14,768 | 29,132 | | 1850 | 15,034 | 16,892 | 31,926 | | 1851 | 15,389 | 19,247 | 34,636 | | 1852 | 15,295 | 19,803 | 35,098 | | 1853 | 15,835 | 20,425 | 36,260 | | **Mean of first 3 Years** | **14,655** | **16,866** | **31,461** |

Tonnage (Commercial) of Steam and Sailing Vessels, inwards and outwards.

| Years | French | Foreign | Total | |-------|--------|---------|-------| | 1848 | 1,250,000 | 1,285,000 | 2,535,000 | | 1849 | 1,250,000 | 1,272,000 | 2,522,000 | | 1850 | 1,250,000 | 2,110,000 | 3,360,000 | | 1851 | 1,350,000 | 2,980,000 | 4,330,000 | | 1852 | 1,250,000 | 2,940,000 | 4,190,000 | | 1853 | 1,250,000 | 2,743,000 | 4,093,000 | | **Mean of first 3 Years** | **1,639,000** | **2,079,000** | **3,718,000** |

Sailing Vessels only.

| Years | French | Foreign | Total | |-------|--------|---------|-------| | 1848 | 1,250,000 | 1,285,000 | 2,535,000 | | 1849 | 1,250,000 | 1,272,000 | 2,522,000 | | 1850 | 1,250,000 | 2,110,000 | 3,360,000 | | 1851 | 1,350,000 | 2,980,000 | 4,330,000 | | 1852 | 1,250,000 | 2,940,000 | 4,190,000 | | 1853 | 1,250,000 | 2,743,000 | 4,093,000 | | **Mean of first 3 Years** | **1,639,000** | **2,079,000** | **3,718,000** |

The coasting trade of France employs a number of vessels which in the returns vary from 80,000 to 90,000 entries and departures, with a tonnage of 2,250,000 and 254,150 tons; to 2,500,000 tons and 330,000 men.

The circulation of the Bank of France has increased since 1848, first, in consequence of smaller notes being put into circulation (for notes of 100 francs are now current), and, secondly, because of the establishment of branch banks facilitating intercommunication with all the principal cities of the kingdom. The circulation in 1853 and 1854 exceeded 500 millions. But in those years the amount of specie in the bank cellars exceeded the amount of the whole circulation; so that the substitution of paper for gold was not of so much service, or so economical to the country, as it might have been under other circumstances.

The currency of France consists chiefly of gold and silver, in which larger payments are effected, and of copper coins for the smaller sums.

It appears that from 1803 to 1814 there were coined, with the effigy of Napoleon, at the different mints, of which there are thirteen in France, in gold to the value of L122,001,018, and in silver to the value of L35,992,552. From 1814 to 1828, the amount of the coinage was L17,081,635 in gold, of twenty and forty franc pieces; and in silver the amount in pieces of five francs down to five sous was L66,996,569, bearing the effigy of Louis XVIII. and Charles X. On the above data, the amount of circulating specie in the kingdom was estimated, on the 1st of January 1829, at 2,713,731,183 francs, equal in value to L113,672,132 sterling. The gold and silver currency, prior to the revolution of 1789, was estimated at L87,500,000 sterling. We may therefore, however, draw any positive inference from the quantity of gold and silver coined in France, regarding the amount of the specie actually circulating, as within the last twenty-seven years the exportation of coin has been expressly permitted. The coinage of France has accordingly become an article of trade; and bullion and coin have been freely exported or imported, according to the necessities of commerce. For the ten years preceding 1830, the quantity of bullion imported exceeded the quantity exported by L29,089,667.

The amount of the gold and silver coinage in France for 1853, with the value in francs and in sterling money, was:

| Gold | Coinage | Value Sterling | |------|---------|---------------| | 20-franc pieces | 15,641,500 | 312,830,000 fr. | | 10 do. | 1,763,346 | 17,633,463 | | **Total gold** | **17,404,846** | **330,463,463** | | Silver | 5,090,236 | 20,080,778 | | Copper | 30,869,285 | 1,974,939 | | **Total** | **53,363,367** | **352,528,180** |

This bank, which is the city privileged bank in France, received its charter in 1803 for fifteen years, which was France, afterwards extended in 1818 to the year 1845. It was again extended in 1840. The law of the 30th June 1840 limited the existence of the bank to the 31st December 1867, reserving to the government the right to cause its privileges to cease on the 31st December 1855. An agreement was entered into between the government and the bank on the 3rd March 1852, by which the former agreed to waive its right, in consequence of certain advantages conceded by the bank to the executive government. It is under the direction of a governor, named by the head of the state, whether emperor, king, or president, with a salary of 100,000 francs. Statistics. It has, besides, two deputy-governors, paid by the bank but appointed by the government, and a general council of fifteen regents and three censors, subdivided into six committees, and assisted by a council of discounts composed of twelve members chosen from among such of the shareholders as are merchants. This bank issues notes of the amount of 10,000, 5000, 1000, 500, 300, 200, and 100 francs. The 200-franc notes were first circulated in 1846, the 100-franc notes in 1849, and the 10,000 and 5000 franc-notes have been issued since 1843, which are payable in specie on demand by the holder. Its capital, which consists of 67,900 shares at 1000 francs, making a total of 67,900,000 francs, is employed in discounting bills of exchange, in making advances of money in government securities, and in deposits of bullion or foreign coin, diamonds, shares in public companies, at the rate of one per cent. per annum.

Not less than the value of 10,000 francs is received as a deposit, and discount for forty-five days is deducted from the amount of the sum advanced; nor, if the deposit be redeemed the next day, is any part of the discount refunded. The paper of the Bank of France chiefly circulates in Paris and the neighbourhood; at a distance from Paris its notes pass at a discount of one-and-a-half per cent., as they are not received in payment of taxes or custom-house duties in seaports; so that remittances to Paris must be made in cash, for which a charge of five per cent. is made at the post-office; the dividend of the bank on each share was but thirty francs last year, and at the rate of seven per cent. per annum. A reserve fund, which had accumulated, was, in consequence of the reiterated demands of the shareholders, put in a course of distribution; and in the year 1831 two entire dividends were made of fifteen francs and six francs per share, besides two other payments, under the name of a bonus of reserve, the one amounting to seven francs fifty cents, and the other to three francs, per share. The balance of the reserve fund amounted in 1830 to 6,974,298 francs, which would give a further bonus of 146 francs 95 cents on each share; and for the purpose of authorizing the distribution of this sum, a law was passed in December 1831. By this law the bank was bound to hold a third part of its profits in reserve, after paying the regular dividend of six per cent. per annum. The Bank of France has now comptoirs or branch banks in from twenty to twenty-five of the principal cities of France. The issue of these branch banks was limited to 350 millions of francs by a decree of 1848. The shares of the banks, which, antecedent to this decree under the government of Louis Philippe, had risen to 350 francs, became depreciated, and fell to 1250 francs. In January 1852 these actions then were quoted at 3100 francs. In August 1850 the Bank of France was authorized to resume its payments in specie. A decree of the 13th August 1850 suppressed the cours forcé of the notes, and extended the circulation. These two decrees restored confidence, augmented by the weekly publication of the accounts of the establishment.

The society of the Crédit Foncier de France was authorized by the decrees of the 28th March and the 10th December 1852. Its operations extend over the whole of France, with the exception of six departments. The capital consists of 60,000,000 of francs, and the society cannot lend to any one individual more than a million, nor less than 800 francs.

The Société Générale de Crédit Mobilière, established by a decree of 18th November 1852, is a species of bank, the partners in which have not given their names. Its principal operations consist in purchasing or acquiring shares in public companies, provided they be en sociétés anonymes. Secondly, in circulating its own securities for a sum equivalent to the shares or stock purchased. Thirdly, in selling and exchanging all actions and obligations so acquired. Fourthly, in lending on public securities on the deposit of actions and obligations, &c., &c.

The capital of the society is fixed at 60,000,000 francs, and it is represented by 120,000 shares of 500 francs each. The society can circulate its own "obligations" for a sum six times as large as its capital.

Land carriage in France, or roulage, costs only from 2s. to 2s. 6d. per cwt. for a hundred miles; a cheapness which facilitates the transport of merchandise to the various annual fairs which are still held in every great town in the kingdom, exactly as was done by our forefathers a century ago. This periodical routine begins by the foire de Longchamps, which is held annually at Paris in spring, and is followed by a long list of provincial fairs, of which the chief are those of Beaucaire in Languedoc, and Guibray in Normandy. The roulage of France is now only had recourse to for heavy goods, and in lines of country where there are neither rivers, canals, nor railroads. The law of France has many provisions as to roulage and as to routiers, the drivers or waggoners who conduct merchandise, and generally travel at the rate of from eight to ten leagues a-day.

The colonial possessions of France are quite unsuited to Colonies. her greatness in other respects. The insurrection engendered by the first Revolution deprived her of the western half of St Domingo, a rich and beautiful territory, containing formerly more negroes, and exporting more produce, than all the British West Indies together. The French government seems to have relinquished the hope of regaining this country, at least by military means, and to limit its ambition to the remaining colonies, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Cayenne, in the West Indies. The first two are, like most of our West India islands, cultivated to a considerable extent, but capable of much improvement. The petty island of Marie Galante is in a similar state; but Cayenne forms a part of a most extensive tract, of which one corner only is as yet rendered productive, and which may eventually become a great settlement; though on the score of health it is as unpromising as the adjacent colonies of Demerara and Surinam. Before the loss of St Domingo the annual import into France amounted to 70,000 hds. of muscovado or brown sugar, 60,000 hds. clayed, and nearly 20,000 of fine clayed. Of this very large supply there were exported nearly 40,000 hds. of brown, and above 60,000 hds. of clayed, forming, exclusively of any duty, an annual value of between L2,000,000 and L3,000,000 sterling, and affording a most acceptable exchange for a number of imported commodities. The sugar thus imported from St Domingo has long been lost to France, no sugar being now exported from that country.

Among the colonies of France is Algeria, which the Algiers government has retained since its conquest in 1830. Of this dependency Algiers is the capital, the seat of government, of a prefecture, and of a bishop's see since 1838. Algiers also possesses a government printing office, an academy of public instruction, a court of appeal, a tribunal of first instance, a tribunal, and a chamber of commerce. A bank has been recently established. Several newspapers are published at Algiers. The Moniteur of Algiers is the official paper. There is also the Akhbar, the Mobacher, the official journal in Arabic, the Atlas, &c.

The population of Algiers, according to the last returns, amounted to 55,682 Europeans, of whom 23,147 were French, and 24,956 natives, of whom 17,858 were Mussulmen, 1380 negroes, and 5758 Jews. A Protestant church was commenced in Algiers in 1843 and finished in 1845. There are at Algiers four large mosques and about thirty lesser ones, two great and twelve lesser synagogues. There are few manufactories in the capital unless of silks, carpetings, woollen tissues, fire-arms, saddlery, jewellery, leather, &c. From the last published official returns there entered Algiers within the year 2279 ships, measuring 209,642 tons; of these 255 were government vessels, 1134 French commercial bottoms, and 120 native; the remaining vessels were under foreign flags. There sailed outward from Algiers, in the last year of which we have any official records, 2297 ships measuring 208,319 tons. Of these 249 were government ships, 1148 French ships, and 117 native. By a decree of the present Emperor of the French, a bourse was created at Algiers on the 16th April 1852. For a more detailed account, see Algiers. In Africa the French possess Gorée and some factories near the mouth of the Senegal. In the East they have the Isle of Bourbon, and Pondicherry, Chambéry, and some smaller factories on the mainland of India; and their vessels are, like the Americans, admitted to trade with Calcutta, Madras, and other British settlements, on payment of moderate dues. The retention of the Mauritius by England, at the peace of 1814, deprived them of the great receptacles for their privateers in the East; and in the continent of North America, they retain nothing since the cession of Louisiana to the United States in 1803. Since 1841, when the sovereign of the island of Mayotte placed himself under the protection of France, this island, situated at the extremity of the Mozambique Channel, is to all intents and purposes a French settlement. Mayotte is capable of feeding a population of 20,000 souls, and of regularly furnishing provisions to a squadron of ships. France has also possesses an establishment in New Caledonia, for since the 22nd March 1854, Captain Dubouzet has been commandant of the Marcheuses and imperial commandant of the Society Islands and New Caledonia. There is also an unimportant French settlement at Madagascar, and an attempt at a penal colony has been made at Guyana, where, to the disgrace of the French government, political prisoners have been mixed with the refuse of the galleys. In the seas of Europe, Corsica is almost the only insular possession of the French. They have no great maritime fortresses, like Gibraltar or Malta, and no dependencies of the nature of the Ionian Islands.

The commerce of France with her colonies is regulated by the same narrow maxims as the other branches of her foreign trade. The colonies and the mother country are mutually bound to trade exclusively with each other. The staple produce of the French West India colonies, as well as the Isle of Bourbon in the East, is sugar; and it appears that the price of this article in the European markets will not repay the expense of its cultivation in those countries. The colonists, therefore, insist that all other sugars shall be excluded by heavy duties from the markets of France; that they shall have the exclusive privilege of supplying these markets; and on a complaint that the duties imposed on foreign sugars were not high enough to give them the monopoly of the home market, an additional duty was, in 1822, on the suggestion of the director-general of the customs, imposed on all foreign sugars. In return, France possesses the exclusive privilege of supplying the colonies with all the manufactures and other European goods which they require. On this principle of mutual monopoly the trade is now conducted. The effect of this system is to levy a tax on the inhabitants of France, in order to indemnify the colonists for the losses which they incur in carrying on an unprofitable trade. They cannot furnish a supply of sugar to France at the ordinary rate of the European market; and the price must therefore be artificially raised in that country, in order to enable them to carry on the cultivation of their estates; whilst, on the other hand, they are not at liberty to buy the goods which they require in the cheapest market, but must take them at whatever price they can be afforded by the mother country.

Another evil of this colonial monopoly is, that the colonies supply more sugar than France can consume. But it cannot be sold in other countries at the price which is paid to the colonies by the mother country; and hence it becomes necessary to find out the means of forcing a sale of the surplus which cannot be consumed at home. A bounty is accordingly granted on all sugar exported from France; and in 1831, whilst the duty on the importation of sugar produced L1,636,030, there was paid back for bounties L483,951, which was more than one-fourth of the gross receipts. The loss which France has incurred since the peace of 1814 by this erroneous system is estimated in Bowring and Villiers' Report, at L40,000,000 sterling; and in return for these great sacrifices, the colonies afford but a limited demand for the manufactures of the mother country; in 1852, it amounted to 23,482,000 kilogrammes; in 1853, to 26,481,000 kilo.; in 1854, to 33,297,000 kilo.

The republican government of 1848 proceeded to greater lengths in granting bounties than either of the governments of the Restoration or the government of Louis Philippe for the primes or drawbacks of 1818, 1820, 1823, 1826, 1833, 1836, 1841, and 1845 were increased to 50 per cent. from the 15th June 1848. Restored to their former rate, these drawbacks in the three years antecedent to 1854 rose to a sum varying between 25 and 27 millions of francs.

### General Trade of France with its Colonies.

| Colonies | Year | Importations | Exportations | |-------------------|------|--------------|--------------| | Martinique | 1853 | L652,441 | L765,577 | | Guadeloupe | 1853 | 423,655 | 570,434 | | Bourbon | 1853 | 851,647 | 684,946 | | Senegal | 1853 | 287,206 | 392,369 | | Cayenne | 1853 | 56,833 | 184,044 | | India | 1853 | 669,723 | 21,384 | | Algiers | 1853 | 1,132,594 | 3,395,966 | | St Pierre & Miquelon, etc. | 1853 | 617,631 | 278,637 | | Isles Mayotte, and Madagascar | 1853 | 8,627 | 36,584 |

The trade to Bourbon island, Guyana, Martinique, and Guadeloupe, out and home, employed in 1848, 492 ships; in 1849, 541; 1850, 486; 1851, 602; 1852, 677; 1853, 583. The mean of the first five years 560 vessels.

The trade to Algiers, Senegal, India, Madagascar, out and home, in 1848, 1843 vessels; 1849, 1938; 1850, 1902; 1851, 2194; 1852, 2449; 1853, 2177; mean of the first five years 2064.

All along the north coast of France, the fisheries consist, Fisheries, as on our side of the Channel, of cod, mackerel, herrings, and pilchards. On the shore of the Atlantic, and still more on that of the Mediterranean, are caught great quantities of sardines, a fish of passage, which appears periodically in shoals, like the herring. The fishery of sardines is said to give employment to 3000 seamen, and the sales resulting from the produce amount to between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 of francs. The tunny, a fish not known in northern latitudes, is found in the Mediterranean in the early part of summer. It varies in weight from ten to twenty-five pounds, and is in like manner caught in shoals.

These home fisheries, little calculated for forming seamen, have been left to their natural progress, whilst repeated attempts have been made by government to extend the fishery in America; a design favoured by the early possession by France of Newfoundland and Canada, as well as by the long peace that followed the treaty of Utrecht. Towards the middle of last century the French fisheries in America employed annually about 5000 seamen; but the unsuccessful contest with England in 1756 reduced them greatly, and deprived them of their principal station, Cape Breton. The peace of 1783 was concluded under better auspices. The islands of St Pierre and Miquelon were ceded to France by the treaty of Versailles, and the rights of fishing and of drying fish from the Cape St John to Cape Ray. In the Gulf of St Lawrence his rights were subsequently recognised, by the treaties of 1802 and 1814, at three leagues distance from the coasts belonging to Great Britain; but within the gulf, at a distance of fifteen leagues from Isle Royale, and thirty leagues from New Brunswick.

For the encouragement of the French fisheries, enormous pecuniary sacrifices have been made. By the law of the 22nd July 1851, bounties are granted to the fisheries till 1861, at the rate of 120 francs the ton. A ship of 600 tons thus receives 72,000 francs bounty, which would be 2000 to 3000 francs per man. The only time they were ever in a prosperous state was, not when they were protected by the artificial encouragement of the mother country, but when the French colonists, being in possession of a large tract of the American sea-coast, were in consequence compelled to trust to prudence and economy alone for the success of their adventures. During the session 1833 of the Chamber of Deputies, a committee, appointed to inquire into this subject, made their report, in which they state—

"That the French fishermen have now to compete with those who are always on the spot; who carry on their fishing concerns in small boats, and at a trifling cost; who pay no charge of outfit; who lose no time in voyages; who employ the cheaper labour of..." Statistics, children, women, and old persons; who have their drying and salting establishments in the neighbourhood; and who can accommodate all their proceedings to the urgency of circumstances. It is to counterbalance these advantages that France has resorted to the system of bounties, which has been carried to a great length in order to force the establishment of a trade in the face of natural obstacles. The result of the investigations of the committee was the recommendation to government to grant such a premium to those who adventured in the fishery as should place them on a level with their more fortunate rivals. In 1816 a bounty was granted of fifty francs per man for the cod-fishery, fifteen francs per man for the herring fishery, and twenty-four francs per cwt. on the introduction of the fish into the colonies. In 1818 these premiums were raised by royal ordinances to forty francs per cwt., which is more than 100 percent. on the value; and the market price of the fish became so consequently a profit to the adventurer. This premium was reduced in 1822 to thirty francs per cwt. But a new law was passed in 1832, which was valid till 1837, and which allowed a premium of fifty francs for every man engaged in the cod-fishery of St Pierre and Miquelon; thirty francs for each engaged in the fisheries of the Great Bank of Newfoundland, or Iceland; fifteen francs if on the Dogger Bank; and fifty francs in every case if the fish are dried at St Pierre or Miquelon. An additional premium was allowed of twenty-four francs per metrical quintal or 2 cwts. on cod-fish shipped from France to the French colonies, thirty francs if shipped direct from the fisheries, twelve francs per quintal if shipped to other ports from France, and ten francs direct from the fisheries; also twenty francs per quintal as a premium on cod-roe.

The effect of these bounties was and is to place the adventurer in the French fisheries beyond all risk of loss. In many cases they were equal to the whole expense of the outfit, the voyage, and the return; and, though no cargo is brought home, no loss can be incurred. The whole expense and hazard of the trade is thus borne by the public. Two-thirds of the products of the French fisheries are consumed in France; the other third is exported to the French colonies or to foreign countries. It is to this last third that the varying scale of bounties is applicable, and the sums paid in this way is calculated yearly take from France a sum varying from 3,000,000 to 3,500,000 francs.

The bounties paid for the cod-fisheries in 1852 absorbed between 6,000,000 and 7,000,000 of francs, which was more than double the sum paid on the average of the five years between 1820 and 1830.

The vessels equipped for the fisheries of Newfoundland, St Pierre, Miquelon, &c., proceed from the ports of St Malo, St Brieuc, and Granville. The vessels proceeding to Iceland sail from Dunkirk.

The French fish are of very inferior quality to those caught by the Americans, the latter selling at forty-seven francs thirty-five centimes per quintal, whilst the French cod-fish only brought twenty-six francs ninety-five centimes. With all this expense, however, the French fisheries are not adequate to the supply of the colonies, which receive considerable quantities of fish from foreigners, as will be seen from the following table.

### Fishery and Export of Cod, from 1848 to 1853.

| Years | Ships | Men | Expenses of Shipping | Exportation from all ports | Total expenses | |-------|-------|-----|---------------------|---------------------------|---------------| | 1848 | 354 | 11,142 | L13,931 | 311,733 | L12,240 | | 1849 | 324 | 10,606 | 20,000 | 338,733 | 123,204 | | 1850 | 363 | 11,710 | 22,202 | 306,030 | 117,482 | | 1851 | 396 | 12,649 | 24,140 | 408,351 | 154,982 | | 1852 | 419 | 13,648 | 25,994 | 400,154 | 145,174 | | 1853 | 421 | 13,588 | 25,347 | 372,715 | 133,190 |

Statement of the whale-fishery from the French ports—Havre, 5 vessels, of 2045 tons and 127 men; return of product, 22,142 cwt. of oil of the whale; 30 cwt. of the cachalot; 1608 cwt. of whalebone.

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There are two different bounties applicable to the cod-fishery, one calculated on the scale of the number of the crew, the other on the product of the fishery. The second is given on the dried cod-fish sent to the foreign markets, and this bounty on exportation varies according to the places of destination.

Anterior to 1832, so bad was the French cod-fish exported to the West Indies (with a view merely to receive the bounty on exportation), that it could only be used as manure; of three cargoes of French cod-fish exported to Oporto in 1849, two were so bad that they were thrown overboard.

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**French Cod-Fishery Importations and Exportations—fresh, Statistics, dried, oil, &c.; and Importations of Whale-Fishery.**

| Years | Cod-Fishery | Imported | Exported | Whale-Fishery | Imported | |-------|-------------|----------|----------|--------------|----------| | | Cwts. | | | Cwts. | | | 1848 | 412,431 | 322,954 | 107,711 | | | | 1849 | 388,374 | 388,251 | 19,047 | | | | 1850 | 376,132 | 62,070 | 20,157 | | | | 1851 | 403,377 | 85,410 | 17,477 | | | | 1852 | 378,862 | 54,400 | 3,889 | | | | 1853 | 345,541 | 55,307 | 12,081 | | |

The mean of the first five years is above 391,915 quintals.

Vessels of France employed in the fisheries generally—1848, 849; 1849, 685; 1850, 833; 1851, 925; 1852, 959; 1853, 943. The mean of five years is 851 vessels.

The total amount of cod-fish exported in 1853 from all the ports of France amounted to 1,537,971 kilogrammes, or 55,307 quintals.

The whale-fishery was established in France in 1784, Whaley means of encouragements held out by Louis XVI, who ordered that no duty should be collected on the articles exported, and that the produce of the fisheries should pay no import duty.

He guaranteed the adventurers against loss, and ultimately paid, in addition to L12,500, which he advanced without interest, an additional sum of L6695, being the balance of loss on seventeen voyages. Notwithstanding these encouragements, the whole project was abandoned in 1787. In 1816 the offer of bounties attracted adventurers into this branch of trade. The premium offered by the government was fifty francs (L.2) per man, and two-thirds of the crew were allowed to be foreigners. In 1819 forty francs were allowed to foreign vessels having a crew half French, fifty francs when the captain and second of the crew were French; the premium to be doubled if the vessel passed Cape Horn. In 1829 a new ordinance granted ninety francs per ton on vessels wholly equipped by Frenchmen, forty francs when only two-thirds were Frenchmen, and thirty francs if the captain was a foreigner.

The premium was doubled if the vessel passed Cape Horn. A supplementary premium was allowed to vessels fishing to the southeast of the Cape of Good Hope, and the double premium was given to all vessels fishing at a higher northern latitude than sixty degrees; and as the fishing is seldom or never prosecuted at a lower latitude, this premium of 180 francs per ton (L.7, 4s.) was invariably paid. The law of 1832, which regulates the whale-fishery of France, established a bounty of seventy francs per ton from March 1832 to March 1833, if the whole crew were French; the bounty to be diminished four francs yearly till it reached fifty-four francs. If one-third of the crew be foreigners, the bounty to be forty-eight francs per ton, to diminish two francs yearly till it reached forty francs per ton; a supplementary bounty to be given of fifty francs per ton if the crew were French, decreasing three francs per annum per ton; and twenty-francs if one-third be foreigners, decreasing one franc per annum, to be paid to vessels doubling Cape Horn, or reaching sixty-two degrees of south latitude, if returning with less than half a cargo, or after an absence of sixteen months; five hundred tons to be the minimum for a single whaler.

With these extraordinary encouragements, capital was attracted to this new line of industry; and in 1831 three vessels cleared out for the Greenland whale-fishery, and thirteen for the South Sea fishery, which employed 6412 tons of shipping, and were manned by 551 men. Notwithstanding all the bounties given to the whale-fishery, France has very few vessels engaged in it. There were only seventeen ships in the trade in 1849, and seven only re-entered French ports. There were but five vessels left Havre in 1853, of a tonnage of 2045 tons, and with a crew of 127 men. The return of the product was 112,485. It was estimated by the minister of commerce, in his report on this subject to the Chamber of Deputies more than twenty years ago, that the 550 seamen employed in the whale-fishery do not cost the state less than 1,000,000 francs, at the rate of L72,12s. per man, or L6 a month. The wages granted by the budget to seamen employed in ships of war amounted to L1.1 per month; so that the allowance to the seamen employed in the Greenland fishery is always the ordinary allowance of seamen in the public service. It is remarkable that France was granting these extravagant allowances for the encouragement of the whale-fishery exactly at the time that Great Britain was withdrawing the bounties by which she had formerly endeavoured to promote this branch of trade as a nursery for seamen. Yet in 1839 the number of vessels that cleared out for the fishery in England was 123, consisting of 40,165 tons, navigated by 5044 seamen; being thus about eight times the quantity of tonnage employed by France. The government of Louis Philippe, alarmed at the large outlay in bounty, endeavoured to lessen it, and to render it transitory and temporary only. M. d'Argent, the minister of commerce, insisted that these bounties exhausted the resources of the state, and decreasing bounties were after a period adopted, but M. Cunin Grisalde, who was minister of commerce, relapsed into the old error by introducing supplemental bounties. The provisional government of 1848, by one decree augmented the bounties, and by a second extended the term of the law to 31st December 1851. On the 22nd July 1851, the National Assembly voted for the continuance of the bounties to 1861.

France seems destined, by the natural advantages which she possesses, to become a maritime power of the first rank. Her sea-coast exceeds in extent that of any other continental state. On the Atlantic she has 130 leagues of coast, 150 on the Channel, and ninety on the Mediterranean; whilst her position between northern and southern Europe, and her numerous ports and navigable rivers, are eminently favourable to the extension of her navigation. But in this, as in all other branches of the French trade, the prejudicial effects of the restrictive system have been abundantly manifest. France, in forcing a trade with her colonies, containing less than half a million of inhabitants, has sacrificed her trade with other tropical countries and their numerous population, to the great injury of her shipping interest.

A great increase has taken place in the tonnage employed in the coasting trade of France, a fact which affords clear and convincing evidence of the extending resources of the country, which would have equally occasioned an increase in the shipping employed in the foreign as well as the domestic trade, if this important branch of industry had not been stunted in its natural growth by the monopolizing system. The navigation of France no doubt suffered grievously during the last war, under the maritime hostility of Great Britain. But in the course of nearly twenty years it would have recovered from this state of depression, if the natural energies of the country had been allowed free scope in this line of industry.

The Revolution of 1830 did not alter the system prevailing antecedently with respect to the trade in butcher's meat, but modified it. The same may be said of the Revolution of 1848. It did not change the system but modified under certain heads the practice of the trade. The droits d'octroi et de caisse de Poissy were at first suppressed, then re-established, but with a radical change in this respect, that the duty was levied by the weight of the cattle and not at so much per head as before. This alteration had long been ineffectually demanded by the agricultural breeders. Butchers from the interior of France were also to provide stock and meat for the Paris market as well as their brethren of the capital. These regulations and modifications satisfied neither agriculturists nor butchers. In the month of January 1851, the National Assembly directed an inquiry into the production and consumption of butcher's meat. The commission charged with this inquiry seriously engaged in it, but the events of the 2d December 1851 prevented it from finishing its task. From the portion of the report, however, that has been printed, we know that it was the opinion of the committee that there should be liberty of commerce in meat, and that the local authorities should, under no pretext whatsoever, be allowed to interfere with this cardinal principle. The committee considered meat, like spice, silk, or cloth, a mercantile commodity, and were of opinion that the police should only interfere as to frauds in reference to the quantity or quality, or as to the wholesomeness of the victual as an article of food. This was only returning to the principle professed in the laws of the 14th and 17th June 1791, and the 1st Brumaire An. vii. On the question of the octroi they were of opinion that it interfered with the price and consumption of food, and that it should be abolished from the 1st January 1860. Since this report was published the price of butcher's meat has increased, and the supply has diminished at Poissy, the great market which supplies Paris. In consequence of this recourse was had to an expedient which sound political science has proved to be utterly ineffectual. An ordonnance appeared in the Moniteur of the 11th and 12th October 1855, of which the following is the substance:

On and after the 16th of the present month, butcher's meat shall be sold at prices taxed by the authorities.

The price shall be fixed every fortnight for every kind of meat, according to the returns made at the Caisses de Poissy, and to the weight of meat ascertained to have been sent from the public slaughter-houses of Paris during the preceding fortnights.

(Then follow instructions regulating the manner in which the different kinds of meat are to be divided and arranged as to prices.)

In the shops established in the markets, meat shall be sold at 10 c. at least per kilogramme (about a halfpenny per lb.) below the fixed price.

This decree, which violates every sound principle of political economy, appears to have been well received by the poorer classes of the population, who had long complained of the dearness of meat, and of the exorbitant profits of the butchers. But the way to reduce the profits of the butcher is to destroy the monopoly, and to render trade in meat free.

VIII. RELIGIOUS AND CHARITABLE ESTABLISHMENTS.

The condition of the church and clergy forms a most important feature in the history and present situation of France. In former times, the Gallican church, without desiring a separation from the holy see, had often advanced a claim to independence, and maintained long and animated discussions, or rather controversies, familiar to those readers of the French annals who have attended to the history of the Jansenists and Molinists. The result of these, and of the general progress of knowledge in France, was an exemption from a part at least of the interference in ecclesiastical affairs, exercised so despotically by the court of Rome in Spain, in Portugal, in Italy, and now in Austria. As to pecuniary means, though the income of the lower ranks of the clergy was extremely small, the church of France was on the whole richly endowed; antecedently to the first French Revolution the rent of land and houses appropriated to abbeys, priories, bishoprics, archbishoprics, and benefices of every description, being computed at five millions sterling, exclusive of the tithes levied, with more or less strictness, throughout the whole kingdom. As a political body, the French clergy were differently situated from the English, having no voice in legislating, but aiming at, and frequently attaining, the highest offices in the executive government.

In 1789 a number of the clergy, both in the upper and lower ranks, participated in the general wish for a political reform, and evinced that disposition by their readiness in coalescing with the tiers état, at a time when the majority of the noblesse refused to do so, until compelled by the call of the people, and the positive order of the court. In the highly interesting discussions that ensued during the years Statistics. 1789 and 1790, some of the leading orators were Roman Catholic clergymen, nor did they in general take the alarm, until the menacing aspect given to public affairs by the too rapid progress of the Revolution. The National Assembly stripped the church of her lands, and declared them the property of the public, providing, indeed, for the income of the clergy, but making the payment of it dependent on government. All this might have passed and been forgiven in the ardent hopes of national benefit from the Revolution; but the assembly did not stop here. Considering both the court of Rome and the court of France inveterately hostile to the Revolution, they determined to detach the clergy from both, and sought to compel their adherence, by imposing on them an oath of fidelity to the new constitution, on pain of forfeiture of their livings. The sincerity of the clerical body was now put to the test, and a striking proof was given of their being actuated by that conscientious feeling for which the public in Protestant countries are so little disposed to give them credit. In every rank, whether prelates, vicars, or the humble curates, the majority preferred the hazard of losing their livelihood to taking an oath at variance with their conscience. The violent party continued to triumph at Paris, and the non-conforming clergy had no alternative but to fly their country. Hence the crowds of emigrants who, in 1791 and 1792, sought refuge in Italy, Germany, and, above all, in England. Those who remained in France were exposed to all the atrocities of the Jacobins. Hundreds of them were sacrificed in the massacres of September 1792, and hundreds more were brought to the guillotine in the dreadful years 1793 and 1794. With the fall of Robespierre (July 1794) the executions ceased; but a tone of hostility to the church was still kept up, and accounted an indispensable part of the policy of the revolutionary government. The only class allowed to remain in quiet were the curés, whose humble station and scattered position created no political alarm. It was not till the established sway of Bonaparte (in 1801) that circumstances admitted of cooler calculation, and enabled that skilful ruler to seek in a hierarchy a prop to his own power, and an engine of opposition to the liberal party, which still hoped to secure to France advantages from the Revolution. With this view he affected great respect for the Roman Catholic Church, concluded a concordat with the pope, and made a pecuniary provision for a specified number of sees. His next step was to frame and circulate throughout all France a catechism, calculated to impress the rising generation with a profound veneration for a sovereign who had been "anointed by the pope, and received his mission from the Almighty." The power of Bonaparte received in this manner a most substantial support, and would have taken deep root with the lower orders, had he not counteracted it by his subsequent quarrel with the pope, which assumed an angry aspect in 1809, and became more and more aggravated during the remainder of his reign.

On the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, the Catholic clergy hailed the change with enthusiasm; but the public, at least the great majority of the middling classes, soon showed a marked distinction between their cause and that of the king. The conduct of Louis in regard to the clergy was marked by moderation and judgment. He sought to revive similar impressions among his subjects, to enforce the observance of the Lord's day, and to relieve from indigence the country curates. But he placed no clergymen in political situations, nor attempted to give the bishops or archbishops seats in the House of Peers.

A concordat or compact between the pope and the king is a transaction of high importance in a Catholic country, where the public are impressed with the belief, that in all that relates to religion, reference ought to be had to the court of Rome, and that their temporal sovereign possesses authority in such affairs only as far as it is delegated by the holy father. The object of a concordat is to define the respective powers of the pope and the king. In France the aim of the executive government has long been to secure the patronage of the church, and to stipulate that no bulls, briefs, decrees, or other acts of a nature to agitate the public mind, should be promulgated without the royal or imperial sanction, or the sanction of the head of the executive power. Three centuries ago, when the alarm of the Reformation, and some urgent political considerations, made it of importance to the court of Rome to attach to its cause the reigning sovereign of France, there was passed between Leo X. and Francis I., a concordat, declaring that the power of nominating the archbishops and bishops of France resided in the crown, the sanction of the pope being required only for their inauguration (institution canonique). This compact was considered a kind of charter or standard document in the long discussions which afterwards ensued about the independence of the Gallican church, until the whole sunk into insignificance before the storm of the Revolution. During the ferment of that convulsion, the Jacobins, and even the Directory, made no proposition for accommodation with the holy see, and bade, or affected to bid, its defiance. Bonaparte, more politic, concluded a concordat, which, though it reinstated only 50 of the 130 sees existing before the Revolution, stamped him in some measure a restorer of the church. That he did not afterwards augment their number, is to be accounted for solely by a dread of alarming the revolutionists. The Bourbons, on their restoration, appear to have felt all the delicacy of such a measure; and there appears no ground for believing that they intended to restore the lands, the tithes, or temporal influence of the clergy. Negotiations for a concordat were early begun with the court of Rome, but its conclusion was delayed till 1817; and the interest with which it was received in France can be comprehended only by persons resident among a people still agitated by political division, and dreading the influence of the clergy as an engine for the revival of all past abuses. From this, and from differences with the court of Rome that are foreign to our subject, the execution of the new concordat was very tardy.

The prelates of the church of France are as follows:—Cardinals, at present six in number, with an annual income of about L1,1000; 15 archbishops, average income about L600, except the archbishop of Paris and the cardinals being archbishops; 63 bishops, average income about L400.

The next in rank are the vicars-general, to the number of more than a hundred; and the chanoines or canons, who also exceed a hundred; after which come the curés or parish priests, in number nearly 3300, and divided into three classes (first, second, and third), with incomes of only L40, L50, or L60, but with certain emoluments from surplus fees, which vary according to the population of their respective districts. Lastly come the desservants, or acting curates, of whom there is one in almost every country commune or parish in the kingdom, amounting in all to 26,000, but with incomes of only between L20 and L30 a-year; a pittance equal to about L40 in England, but still too small to provide for even the limited wants of a state of celibacy. There are also a number of succursales, or chapels, appended to large parishes; but of these a considerable number (at present about 2000) are vacant from want of funds, bad repairs of the building, and other causes. These various appointments are all paid out of the public treasury. The expense of the Catholic Church is about L1,100,000 sterling a-year; but as there are other heads of disbursement, particularly the salaries to Protestant ministers, the total expenditure annually is about L1,300,000.

The nomination of all clergymen, whether Catholic or Protestant, under the Bourbons, was vested in the crown. As to political feeling, the Roman Catholic clergy are generally hostile to the interests produced by the Revolution; but when the republic was in the ascendant they busily planted trees of liberty. In fact they cling to anything established, or that promises stability.

Female convents have all along existed in France, with the exception of a few years of the worst part of the Revolution, when their inmates were obliged to forsake their establishments, and to seek an abode with their relations. They are now (1855) very numerous in Paris and throughout France. The most famous and fashionable Statistics. convent under the Restoration and under Louis Philippe still exists —the Convent de l'Abbaye au Bois. Monasteries are not now very numerous, and no idea is entertained of re-establishing the abbeys, priories, and other endowed establishments; but since the establishment of the empire the power of the clergy has increased, and Jesuits are again openly conducting educational establishments, and preaching in the pulpits of Paris and the great towns.

What, it may be asked, have been the effects of the first Revolution on the state of religion in France? There can be no question, that within the three years between 1852 and 1855 there has been an evident reaction, and in some sort a revival of the religious sentiment among all classes of Frenchmen; the Romish churches and chapels are better attended by the younger and middle-aged men, and are crowded by women of all ages. The first Revolution undoubtedly has subverted the power of the Church, and, what is much more serious, the belief of Christianity in the minds of the young and the middle-aged of the male part of the population; but with the elders of that sex, and with almost all females, the Roman Catholic creed preserves undiminished sway—a sway which extends much farther than can readily be conceived by Protestants. The extent of this influence is owing to various causes; in part to commendable conduct in the clergy, who in general act the part of careful pastors, and attentive visitors in sickness or distress; but in part also to that blind credulity with which the tenets of the church are received both by the hearers and their spiritual guides, whose education has by no means kept pace with the general progress of knowledge; for it does not embrace the philosophical course of the universities of France, but is conducted in separate seminaries, and upon a much more confined plan.

The Protestants in France amount to above 2,000,000, and are most numerous in the south, particularly at Nîmes and its vicinity. The Bourbon government received with attention the applications of the Protestants, whether for increase of pastors or repair of churches. They form an industrious and valuable portion of the population; but they are animated by a strong esprit de secte; and during the reigns of Louis XVIII. and Charles X. they evinced considerable distrust of the reinstated government. The Lutherans in France have 387 pastors, the reformed religion (of the Augsburg confession) 387, making a total of 775 pastors.

Hospitals. The hospitals of France are numerous, and derive their revenues from three sources, namely:

| Source | Amount | |-------------------------|--------------| | Permanent revenues | 24,453,654-90| | Casual sources | 16,164,117-36| | Sums reimbursed (it is presumed by the state) | 13,498,888-42 |

Total: 54,116,660-68

The value of the property from which the permanent revenues are derived is about 500 millions of francs. The necessary deductions for repairs and management render the clear sum available under this head 11,291,878-55 francs. The sources styled casual or accidental are derived from sums voluntarily granted by the communes to the hospitals within their boundaries out of their revenues. Before the Revolution, or in 1780, there were only 870 hospitals; there are now 1,270. The revenue now 54,000,000 francs, was then only 20,000,000 francs. At the first period only 110,000 indigent sufferers were relieved, now 126,500. The rate of mortality was nearly the same in 1847 as in 1780, notwithstanding the great ameliorations introduced in all such establishments.

The poor in France are reckoned as 1 in 8 of the population. The poor are relieved by what are called the bureaux de bienfaisance, which number in all 9,336, and possess a revenue of 17,381,267 francs, arising from various sources, such as moines de poche, a tax on the wine sold in cafes, large sums from occasional receipts, &c. Of the above sum 683,346 francs are expended in medicines, above 8,000,000 in corn, and above 2,300,000 in cash relief; a fifth part of the total revenue is defrayed in its management. It would appear the poor are but insufficiently succoured. The differences in the numbers of indigent in different parts of the empire are remarkable. In the north the indigent are as 1 to 9, the mendicants as 1 to 62; in the east as 1 to 14, and 1 to 181; in the south as 1 to 18, and 1 to 120; and in the west as 1 to 11, and 1 to 106.

In Paris there is one indigent to 12 inhabitants, and 1 mendicant to 10; in Lyon 1 to 10, and 1 to 532; in Marseilles 1 to 7, and 1 to 1422; in Bordeaux 1 to 7, no mendicants; in Rouen 1 to 31, no mendicants; in Toulouse 1 to 33, and 1 in 310; in Lille 1 in 3 paupers, and 1 in 307 mendicants. The mean relief rendered by the bureaux de bienfaisance is 12 francs 70 centimes per head.

Before the Revolution the poor in France, as in Italy charitable and other Catholic countries, were supported chiefly by the abbeys, priories, or other beneficed establishments. On the absorption of these sources of income by the first revolutionary government, a provision for the poor became a subject of legislative inquiry; and, after long investigation, it was determined to avoid a poor-rate on the English plan, but to provide for the aged and helpless an annual fund to the proposed amount of L2,000,000 sterling. Several years elapsed before this was acted on, and the fund eventually provided consisted of a revival of part of the old octrois, or dues levied on wine, cider, spirits, and other articles of consumption, on their entrance into towns; a tax from which the Revolution had relieved the public, and which was now disguised under the specious name of octroi de bienfaisance. These dues, however, were soon extended and applied to the general expenditure of the government, after retaining a portion, which at present constitutes the only regular fund for the poor. Further sums are collected by subscription in the depth of winter, or on the occurrence of extraordinary distress. From the public treasury, likewise, there are made occasional issues, in a season of hardship, on the application of the mayors or local magistrates. There are at Paris a number of hospitals, of which by far the largest is the Hôtel Dieu. In the provincial cities there are in general two hospitals for the poor—one for the sick, the other for the aged; besides other charitable institutions.

The money advanced for the succour of mendicity in France varies according to circumstances, such as the customs and resources of the localities. In each commune or parish there exists a committee composed of the mayor, the parish priest, rector, or curate, the Protestant minister, if there be one, and two or three of the principal inhabitants. This committee procures exact information upon the wants and resources of each family, and provides the quantity of head-meat and firewood necessary. A species of voluntary subscription is raised the more easily, as it is levied in kind. The farmer gives bread or wood, the butcher meat, the physician his attendance, the apothecary his drugs. A strict discipline is preserved in the division of the alms, and in fixing the preliminaries and conditions of good conduct. In France the proportion of persons who are succoured by eleemosynary aid is 1 in 10 in the great towns and 1 in 15 in the country. In France a panper is maintained all the year at L.1 a-head, whereas in England the cost is L.4.

IX. ESTABLISHMENTS FOR EDUCATION.

The organization or framework of the system of public Education in France is one of the happiest applications which has yet been made of the principle of centralization. It is due to the genius of Napoleon. In 1808 he promulgated his decree for establishing the University of France, the provisions of which, being full of the wisdom and foresight so characteristic of his civil acts, have engratified themselves on the institutions of the country, and, with a few slight modifications suggested by experience or by the course of events, are now in full operation, and producing the happiest effects. By this decree the establishments for education throughout France, whether endowed or not, from the village school, through all the gradations of grammar schools, academies, and colleges, up to the faculties and universities, were comprehended under one great central administration, called l'Université Impériale de Statistics. France. The term University, therefore, in the sense first introduced by Napoleon, and now naturalized and generally adopted in France, does not describe, as in Britain and elsewhere, an institution for liberal education, but a branch of the administration or government of the state. Napoleon applied his system of centralization to the university as well as to the government and army. The university has, nevertheless, so much of the nature of a corporate body, that it possesses large disposable funds of its own consisting partly of real property, partly of pecuniary endowment secured on the public revenue, and partly of the produce of a tax levied on every institution for educating the children of the wealthier classes, which is called rétribution universitaire. All professors, public teachers, and schoolmasters are necessarily members of this vast body, called the University, the control and direction of which rested under the government of the Restoration.

Administrative Body of the University.

1. The grand master, who was at the restoration also minister of public instruction, with a seat in the cabinet. The grand master under the kingly government, appointed all the officers of university administration, and filled up all the vacancies in colleges and schools only, however, upon the recommendation of the inferior local authorities, and after rigorous examinations and comparative trials by them.

2. The second university authority under the kingly government was the royal council of public instruction, composed of ten members, selected from the names most eminent in the various branches of science and literature. They held their sittings in Paris, and were generally distinguished members of the Institute. Their province was to suggest and sanction improvements in the method of teaching; to direct and superintend the compilation of books to put into the hands of youth, and to see that they be adopted in schools and colleges; to judge and remove incompetent teachers, upon the reports of general inspectors; in short, to watch over the concerns and interests of public instruction in all its branches.

3. The University, or, in other words, the whole territory of France as far as regards the purposes of education, was, under Louis Philippe, divided into twenty-six academies, each comprehending three or more departments; for the term academy, like university itself, no longer designates a local institution for the training of youth, but a certain territorial extent of educational jurisdiction. In the central town of each academy resided a rector, whose business it was to superintend all the schools, colleges, and faculties within the departments forming his district, to promote their moral and intellectual improvement, to collect the reports of the inspectors employed to visit and examine all places of education under his jurisdiction, to transmit the result to the central administration at Paris, and to serve as the organ of communication with the minister of public instruction. He was assisted and controlled in the exercise of his functions by an academical council of ten, who were partly official persons connected with the university, with the department, and with the municipality, and partly respectable inhabitants of the town, the seat of the academy.

4. Attached to the academies were ten inspectors-general of the university. France being divided into thirty districts, each visited once a-year by a different inspector, for the purpose of making a survey of the principal establishments, controlling their administration, and reporting to the minister of public instruction.

Besides these Inspectors, or agents of the central administration, each rector has, acting under him, two or more inspecteurs d'académie, to examine more minutely every primary school or college within the limits of his jurisdiction, and report to him on the general condition of the establishments, on the progress of the pupils, and on the conduct and character of the teachers.

With regard to the constituent parts of the great corps enseignement, beginning with the highest, there are,

1. Les facultés. The faculties under the imperial system are five: the sciences mathematical and physical, letters, law, medicine, and theology; and all these faculties, with their complement of professors, a dean at the head of each, and an attendance of students more or less numerous, are established in eight towns, namely, Paris, Caen, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Dijon, Poitiers, Rennes, and Metz.

It is by the faculties alone that degrees can be conferred, and these degrees are of three kinds: Bachelor's (le baccalauréat), which cannot be obtained before sixteen years of age; Licentiate's (le licenciate), which presupposes the former degree and at least one additional year of age and study; and doctor's degree (le doctorat), granted to licentiates when still further advanced in age and acquirements.

2. Subordinate to the faculties, and intended to be a preparation for them, are the colleges; institutions which resemble a good deal the schools of Eton, Harrow, Westminster, &c. The French colleges are either royal or communal; of the former there are at present 39, of the latter 320. Of the 320, by far the greatest number are in a very imperfect and insufficient state. The College Royal in the time of Louis Philippe was under the special management of the government. Its directors and professors were paid out of the funds of the nation. The whole was conducted at the charge of the state, and the course of instruction was higher than in the communal colleges. The professors at the college communal are paid out of the funds of the commune.

3. The third and lowest stage of national instruction is that of the écoles primaires, corresponding to our parochial and village schools. The law of the 28th of June 1833 new-modelled and added greatly both to the number and value of the écoles primaires. It ordains that there shall be a school in every one of the 37,187 communes or parishes into which France is divided.

This law provides also for a somewhat fuller and more comprehensive education of the children of the middle class and wealthy burghers in large towns, by ordaining that in every commune which contains above 6000 souls (the number of these in France is 273) there shall be an école primaire supérieure, corresponding to and borrowed from the Burgher or Mittelschule of Germany, in which a considerable extension is given to the list of subjects taught in the primary schools. It is also provided that departments may unite themselves to neighbouring departments with a view to have écoles primaires. By the law of the legislative assembly, 15th March 1850, there are to be two species of primary schools—the schools founded or sustained by the communes and the departments of the state, which take the name of écoles publiques; and the schools founded by private individuals or associations, which take the name of écoles libres. The inspection of primary teaching is confided in each arrondissement to an inspector named by the Minister (after having taken the opinion of the Academic Council), and to the cantonal delegates, the mayor, the parish priest, the pastor, or the delegate of the Israëlite consistory.

Primary instruction is gratuitously given to children whose parents are not able to pay for it. In order to exercise the profession of instituteur primaire, in public or free schools, the teacher must be a Bachelor of the age of twenty-five, and possess a certificate of superior capacity, but may be dispensed with in cases in which the academic council certifies that the individual has during three years taught, in public or free schools, the subjects which form the basis of primary instruction; likewise where the candidates have the diploma of bachelor, or a certificate stating that the bearer has been admitted into one of the special schools of the government. A clergyman, too, of any of the religious recognised by the state, who has not been revoked or interdicted, may be an instituteur primaire.

Instituteurs communaux are named by the municipal council of each commune. Every commune is bound to maintain one or more primary schools. Every commune of 800 souls is bound, if its resources permit, to have a school for girls. The academic council also can compel communes of a less population, if they have the means, to maintain a girls' school. All communal schools or girls' free schools kept by lay teachers or by religious associations, cloistered or uncloistered, in so far as regards teaching, are submitted to the inspection and surveillance of the authorities instituted by the law of the 15th March 1850.

The educational system of France may be considered as now happily established, extended, permanent, and efficient, by two other parts of the system. One of these is the école normale, established at Paris by Napoleon in 1808, for the purpose of maintaining 300 pupils, and training them not only to considerable acquirements in literature and science, but to the art of communicating their knowledge to others in an attractive and interesting form, and thus to become able regents in the collèges and professors in the faculties. None are admitted into this Institution who are under the age of seventeen complete, and who have not distinguished themselves in the previous stages of their education. The pupils are divided into two sections, that of the sciences and that of letters, and remain three years in the one or the other. The first two years are employed in confirming and extending their acquirements by a rigorous and effectual discipline under the best professors and teachers that Paris can afford. During the last year they are regarded as future teachers, and trained particularly, both by theory and practice, to the art of communicating instruction. The other security is an extension and application of this noble conception of Napoleon, so as to embrace a preliminary course of discipline for the teachers of the primary schools. This idea, though originated and even acted upon long before the revolution of 1830, never was followed out with energy and effect till after that event; and even so late as 1828 there existed only three écoles normales primaires, as these seminaries for schoolmasters are called. The Institute of France is divided into five academies, viz., the French Academy, the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, the Académie des Sciences, the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts, and the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques.

The Académie de Médecine now replaces the Royal Society of Medicine and the Academy of Surgery.

X. ESTABLISHMENTS FOR THE PURPOSES OF WAR.

The French army first assumed a regular form under Henri IV.; but its peace establishment, including both horse and foot, did not then exceed 10,000 men, whilst the whole charge for the war department, including ordnance and half pay, was L500,000. In 1610 Henri carried his army to a war establishment of 40,000 men. In 1640, under the able administration of Richelieu, France took an active part in the war of Germany, carrying her force at one time to 100,000 men, and her expenditure to the then unexampled sum of L4,000,000 sterling in one year. In 1659, Louis XIV., already full of ambitious projects, kept up a peace establishment of 70,000 men; and the war of 1672 having brought Germany, Holland, and Spain into the field against France, the force of the latter country was carried to the number of 160,000 men. From 1679 to 1688 there was peace; but Louis passed the interval in preparing for war; and the introduction of the funding system now enabled France, England, and Holland, to surpass all their former exertions. The contest begun in 1688 required on the part of France a force of between 200,000 and 300,000 men. The peace of Utrecht gave a long repose to exhausted France, and the war of 1741 did not, until conducted in its advanced stage by Marshal Saxe, call forth a military force equal to that of Louis XIV. In the war of 1756 the French army was less numerous, and far less ably commanded. During the continental peace of thirty years (from 1762 to 1792) its establishment was kept, with little fluctuation, at 100,000 men.

The war of the Revolution began with a force on the part of France of only 140,000 men; but this was speedily augmented by the compulsory levies of February 1793, and by the still more comprehensive operation of the requisition in September. It was Carnot, the author of the Éloge de Vauban and l'Essai sur les Machines, who organized the camp of Châlons, and who at the end of 1793 was enabled, by his indomitable energy, industry, and perseverance, working sixteen hours out of the twenty-four, to oppose to the coalesced enemies of France no less than fourteen different armies. Carnot's was the head and hand which alone directed the war office, and which traced the plans of the different campaigns. During his ministry the finest campaigns of Napoleon and Moreau were organized. It was he who conferred with the generals, and who, without the aid of a secretary, corresponded with the fourteen armies. The republican spirit was now at its height; and the unlimited issue of assignats led to the maintenance of a force hitherto unexampled in the annals of any country, ancient or modern. In 1794, the Frenchmen in actual service in the Netherlands, on the Rhine, in Piedmont, the Pyrenees, and La Vendée, appear to have amounted to between 500,000 and 600,000; a force which, though imperfectly disciplined and officered, baffled the greatest confederacy that had at that time been formed in Europe. In 1795 the assignats lost their value, and France was obliged to reduce her army by a third; but its discipline was now greatly improved. During the campaigns of 1795, 1796, and 1797, as well as those in 1799 and 1800, the force maintained by France and Holland was between 300,000 and 400,000. Were the soil of France threatened, or a new declaration of Pimlitz proclaimed, voluntary battalions would assemble Statistics, as in 1797. France had then 690,000 men under arms, which number could be increased in a few months to 871,000. At the peace of Amiens, Bonaparte kept up a peace establishment of 300,000 men; and after the renewal of war it was raised to 400,000; a force with which he triumphed in 1805 over the united arms of Austria and Russia. His annual levy of French conscripts, though apparently only 80,000, amounted (see Declaration of the Minister at War, 18th September 1809) to 100,000; a supply which, joined to the recruits of his allies in Germany and Italy, kept up his numbers, and even increased them, notwithstanding the wasteful campaigns of 1806 and 1807 in Poland, followed by the no less wasteful campaigns of Spain. In 1812 the force of France and her allies reached their maximum, Bonaparte having led against the Russian empire a mass of 360,000 men, whilst there remained in Spain, Germany, and France, a number which carried the aggregate to between 500,000 and 600,000. Need we then wonder that, even after the almost total loss of his troops in Russia, there remained a force competent, with the aid of fresh levies, to withstand the efforts of the allies during two campaigns?

In 1815 Bonaparte, in returning from Elba, found under arms in France about 120,000 men, all of whom, with the exception of a few thousands, rejoined his standard. But so sick were the French of war, that the greatest efforts during the next three months added only 60,000 to this number, and the loss of one battle exposed all the hopelessness of resistance to the allies.

On the second restoration of the Bourbons in 1815, the army had fallen into a very disorganized state, the disciplined soldiers being dispersed, and the ranks slowly filled by new levies. This led to the legislative act of the 10th March 1818, which revived the conscription, but in a mitigated form, and allowing a great latitude in providing substitutes. A recurrence to this method of raising levies was held to be the only effectual method of filling the ranks with men of steady habits; for the army in France, never a receptacle for the refuse of the populace, has in general been composed of young peasantry and labourers of good character. Such was its constitution in the war of the Revolution, and its discipline was exemplary, until Bonaparte adopted the unprincipled practice of making war without magazines, and obliged the soldiers to live at free quarters on the inhabitants. The conscription of the Bourbons was indeed greatly modified, the numbers annually required being limited to 40,000, and the term of service to six years; but the measure is still compulsory, and falls heavily on the middle and lower classes; the alternative for a youth, when drawn, being either to give up his intended profession, or to pay L40 or L50 for a substitute. In 1832, the French army amounted to 411,816 men, including 19,036 officers and 3794 children. The infantry, then including the guards, amounted to 264,141 men, including 9505 officers; the cavalry, consisting of various denominations of chasseurs, dragoons, cuirassiers, and hussars, to 51,235 men, including 2805 officers; and the artillery to 32,594 men, including 1190 officers; besides gendarmerie, engineers, &c.; the latter being a numerous and well educated body of officers.

The army is now composed of the imperial guard, the gendarmerie and regiments of cavalry and engineers, and the troop connected with the administrative service of the army. The imperial French cavalry is composed of 12 regiments of cavalry of reserve, i.e., 10 of cuirassiers, and 2 of carabiniers; of 20 regiments of cavalry of the line, comprising 12 of dragoons, 8 of lancers, and 1 regiment of

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1 Jomini, Traité des Grandes Opérations Militaires. 2 Chauzy, sur l'Armée de France, Mémoires sur Carnot. Statistics; guides; of 21 regiments of light cavalry, comprising 12 of chasseurs, and 9 of hussars. There are besides 3 regiments of spahis, and 4 of chasseurs d'Afrique à cheval.

The organization of the artillery is based on the effective strength of the army in cavalry and infantry. The amount of the corps of engineers is on well-defined principles of military administration, determined by the number of divisions of infantry to which they can be attached, the strong places to defend, and the reserve required for sieges. Troops in France are now said, by the official exponents of the imperial system, to be recruited by voluntary enlistment, and by an appeal to young men of twenty years of age. The effective force of the French army in 1854 before the re-establishment of the guard, and before the new organization of the artillery, amounted in round numbers to 570,000 with 178 field batteries and 1008 guns. By the budget provisoire of 1855 the expenses of the ministère de la guerre were fixed at L.12,635,911.

The word conscription, which signifies the raw material or levies from which the French army is taken, is somewhat new to the French language, dating only from the year vii. of the Republic (1798). A law of the 10th of March 1818 re-establishes the conscription on bases which, though modified, have not been essentially changed. Every young man is liable to the conscription, and once a year may be selected by " tirage " to serve his country by becoming " chair à canon." To say that the conscription is popular in France, would be to disguise the truth; for large sums are given to procure substitutes, and many compagnies d'assurance have been formed to obviate its inconveniences and unpopularity. Every conscript should be sound in wind and limb, but the standard of height required in the French service is much lower than in ours, being only 4 feet 6 inches. Mutilated, lame, gouty, scrofulous, and consumptive men, as well as those who have lost an arm or a finger, who are near-sighted, deaf or dumb, or have lost the initiative test, are refused. In time of peace, though less frequently in war, maladies are simulated in order to escape selection. But such poltroons would incur universal detestation at a time when the soil of France was threatened. In all military schools, and, indeed, from the moment a Frenchman is destined for the service, he is subjected to a military government. Each school has its uniform. The scholars are formed into companies, and are commanded by officers, so that from the earliest years they are subjected to a military hierarchy with but one motive power. Thus the aptitude of the nation for war is strengthened, formed, and created by habit, by education, and by the discipline of the government. (See Conscription.)

There is a perfect organization through intermediate steps, by which a direct relation is established between the meanest soldier and the minister of war. This minister is in correspondence with all commanders and generals of divisions of the army. He receives all military despatches; orders the movements of troops; directs and controls all the general and extraordinary expenses of military expeditions. He has the charge of the recruiting, clothing, provisioning, and paying of the army; has the direction of the asylums for invalids at Paris and Avignon; has the sole control of the gunpowder and saltpetre manufactories; of the barracks, military hospitals, arsenals, depots, and magazines of military stores, government foundries and manufactories of fire-arms. His department pays all officers on active service, on half-pay, or on retired pensions, as well as the allowances to officers' widows and orphans. The war minister is the head of the ordnance, and has the direction of the military schools. He has likewise the organization and inspection of the gendarmerie as well in Paris as in the departments, and he issues general orders as to the regulation and discipline of the army.

The chief marshal, minister of war, has three aides-de-camp, and four officers on his staff. Independently of these, his private Cabinet is presided over by a chef-d'escadron of the staff, and in this Cabinet the opening and registering of despatches takes place, and the departure of military couriers is regulated. In this office are managed what is called Centralisation du travail avec l'Empereur, affaires de franchise et contre-temps, public addresses, communications with the journals, secret affairs, and affairs which are not within the specialty of any department of the offices.

The direction (personnel), which is the first, is under a general of brigade and a colonel of the staff. It contains seven bureaux, each under a chief with a multitude of clerks. The first bureau is devoted to Correspondance générale, "opérations militaires." The second to the staff and military schools; the third to recruiting; the fourth to military justice; the fifth to the gendarmerie; the sixth to the infantry; the seventh to the cavalry.

The second direction or division is the artillery, with sections for the personnel, the matériel, and the comptabilité. The third direction is the engineers, with sections of personnel, matériel, and comptabilité. The fourth direction is administration, in which there are five bureaux, comprising intendance militaire, hospitals, clothing, bedding, camp-furniture, pay-audit, internal administration, &c. The fifth direction is devoted to the affairs of Algiers. The sixth to what is called the dépôt de la guerre, with two sections, comprising geodesy, topography, drawing, engraving, military history, military statistics, archives, maps, and plans. The seventh direction is dedicated to audit and control of accounts, with sections devoted to pensions, aid, military law, &c.

Independently of these, there are eight consulting committees, composed of from six to fourteen superior officers, one a consultative committee for the army, one for the infantry, one for the gendarmerie, one for the artillery, one for fortifications, one for Algiers, &c. There is also a Council of Health in the army, a commission d'Hygiène Hippique, and a mixed commission of public works, all under the eye and in the offices of the minister of war. The minister of war is also represented at the Conseil d'état by a general of brigade, by four counsellors of state, three maîtres des requêtes, two auditors, and a secretary.

The ministry of war, with its general directors, chiefs of division, chiefs and subchiefs of bureaux, subordinate employés, comprising the administrative service; the victualling service, with their directors, accountants, head clerks, writing clerks, porters, servants, messengers, &c., employs about 3000 persons, all working under the immediate direction of one individual. The expense is immense, but there is certainty, celerity, efficiency, and unity of action. No wonder that under a system like this such a genius as Napoleon entered Berlin after a campaign of eighteen days, or that his Austrian campaign scarcely lasted three months. It was the business of the minister of war of that day, and is his business now, to consider the frontiers of the enemy, the advantages and disadvantages of the ground, to obtain information of the resources of the country, and the dispositions and feelings of the army to which the troops of France were and are opposed. With the minister of war there can be no divided power—no opposing interests, no clashing of jurisdictions. He has sole and undivided authority and responsibility in command of the army, and all functionaries connected with the service are not merely subordinate, but obedient to him. There is no board of ordinance, treasury, paymaster-general, secretary-at-war, to interfere with the minister-of-war. The garrison service of France, an open continental country touching the frontiers of Belgium, Prussia, Baden, Switzerland, Savoy, Spain, Holland, imposes on the military service the necessity of being always prepared. Numerous changes of garrison take place with a view to relieve the monotony of the service; and portions of the artillery are always at Paris, Vincennes, La Frère, Toulon, Metz, Strasbourg, Besançon, Lyon, Toulouse, and Rennes.

The system of military education is better in France than in England, and the military profession is viewed as military it was at Athens, at Sparta, and at Rome; and valour and education, military skill are more regarded and more appreciated than great civil qualities among us. Skill and address in the art of war are more admired than civil wisdom, or, we fear we must add, than civil liberty. The French cultivate in their military schools gymnastics and bodily exercises, as well as the theory of strategy and war. Young men are instructed in these sciences by rule and precept, illustrated by practice. They read and ponder on the lectures that have been delivered to them; they discuss questions of strategy among themselves; and in all their barracks and garrisons there are libraries of reference, to which they can have recourse. In France, whenever war occurs, it assumes an intellectual The French, like the Roman soldiers, are inured to fatigue, and hardened by exercise. Drilled to walk at quick pace, carrying heavy burdens, to climb steep acclivities, and to creep along the sides of precipices, they are early taught that success in warfare is a more constant attendant on boldness, intelligence, address, and audacity, than on mere numbers. The form of military art, in truth, becomes among the French a national and patriotic sentiment, and the whole thought and aspiration of the soldier is bound up in the service of his country. No nation is so vain of military prowess as the French, and this is one of the reasons why they more easily become soldiers than other men. The Frenchman is by nature and disposition a campaigner. He is of an eager and adventurous disposition, gay, jocund, and somewhat reckless, and disposed to make the best of everything in this world. No man more easily accommodates himself to circumstances, or makes himself more at home in a strange land. He is an excellent marcher, an expert forager, and above all, a skilful cook. He can bake, and roast, and stew, and make sauces, and dress eggs, and produce omelettes in scores of ways. He can darn his own stockings, patch his own coat, and wash his shirt in a running brook, or cobble his shoes under the shade of a tree. He can hut himself with the ingenuity of a beaver, pitch his tent in a salubrious spot, and sing and dance with real light-heartedness. He can subsist on much less than would satisfy an Englishman. There is scarcely a French regiment which does not have among officers and men voluntary societies established for a daily review of their individual progress in military and strategical knowledge. They discuss and question each other, and enter on particular illustrations most profitable in a professional sense. Tactics, fortification, military geography, and military maxims are in turn handled, so that any man with ordinary intelligence and industry may become a most competent soldier.

The gradations of rank in the French service are sous-lieutenant, lieutenant, capitaine, chef d'escadron, colonel, maréchal-de-camp, lieutenant-général, maréchal de France. The number of the marshals of France is limited to twelve; the number of the other ranks, even that of lieutenant-général, is very large; for the état major, or staff of the army, after a reduction in 1818, consisted of 430 lieutenants-généraux, and 260 maréchaux de camp. There are on full pay twice as many officers as are necessary for the duty; but the number of half-pay officers exceeds all proportion; for this part of Bonaparte's vast machine has remained, whilst most of the private soldiers have sunk tranquilly into the occupations of the lower classes.

Promotion in the French army never takes place by purchase, and not often by special order: seniority at present determines more than half the appointments, a course which renders promotion extremely slow.

Of the military seminaries of France, the one of highest repute is the École Polytechnique; a school for the instruction of young men in mathematics and drawing for the engineer and artillery corps. None but candidates of talent are admitted; and it is well entitled to the name of a nursery (pépinière) of intelligent officers. This school was founded in the year III. of the Convention (1794), and no man laboured more to place it on a secure basis than Carnot. It was above all things destined to produce engineers, and some of the most celebrated military and civil engineers of France have been bred within its walls. The number of pupils is fixed at 300, and the age of admission is from sixteen to twenty, and to twenty-five for military men who have two years of effective service sous drapeau. Some of the most celebrated men have been professors and teachers in this school, as Lagrange, Laplace, Berthollet, Fourcroy, Guyton de Morveau, Pelletier, Chausser, Porry, Poisson, &c.

The charge to government of a foot soldier in France does not, in time of peace, exceed L20 a year; that of the cavalry soldier is nearly double. The pay for either officer or soldier is little more than half the rate in England, and its inadequacy is much complained of. The whole charge of the war department under Bonaparte was about L20,000,000 sterling. In the year 1833 it amounted to L8,564,470. The war budget twenty years later, i.e. in Statistics, 1853, was 324,292,663 fr., or about thirteen millions sterling. The war budget for 1855 is 339,861,842 fr.

The gendarmerie are not a part of the regular army, but a corps charged with the police duty, and scattered in small divisions throughout all France. The gendarmerie is now (1855) composed of twenty-six legions for the eighty-six departments, and for Algeria; 2dly, of the colonial gendarmerie; 3dly, of a regiment of 2 battalions of the regiment of gendarmerie of the Imperial Guard, formerly called gendarmerie mobile, and then gendarmerie d'élite; 4thly, of a squadron of gendarmerie à cheval of the Imperial Guard; 5thly, of the garde de Paris, formerly garde républicain, and before that called garde municipale; 6thly, of a company of veteran gendarmes, amounting in all to about 25,000 men. The gardes nationales corresponded to our yeomanry and volunteers.

The National Guard rendered incontestable services by its courage and moderation during the reign of Louis Philippe, first, during the process of the ministers of Charles X. in 1830; secondly, on the 6th June 1832; and thirdly, on the 13th April 1834. In 1848 (see History of France) the reform banquets had many partisans among the National Guard; and after the revolution of February the provisional government suppressed the compagnies d'élite of grenadiers and voltigeurs, whence the abortive manifestation called bonnets à poil. On the 26th June 1851 the National Assembly promulgated a law which organized the National Guard in all France by communes in the departments, and by municipal arrondissements at Paris. By this law it was provided that the National Guard should be composed of all citizens, and that the right of suspension and dissolution should remain with the president of the republic. Till this period the officers, sous officiers, and corporals of the National Guard were named by universal suffrage. A mode of election was now adopted somewhat resembling the system under Louis Philippe. The chefs de bataillon and the porte drapeau were elected by the officers of their battalion, and by an equal number of delegates named in each company; and the chefs de legion and the lieutenant-colonels were elected by all the officers of the legion, united with the before-named delegates. This law remained in vigour till the decree of the President of the Republic of 11th January 1852. In consequence of this decree the National Guards were dissolved and re-organized upon new bases, in such localities only as their co-operation should be deemed necessary for the defence of public order. In the department of the Seine the general commanding was charged with this re-organization, which took place by battalion. From the period of the promulgation of this law special corps of cavalry, artillery, or engineers, could only be authorized by the minister of the interior. The chief of the state (now the Emperor) names the officers of all grades on the recommendation of the superior officer commanding in the department of the Seine, and on the recommendation of the prefect in the other departments.

The chief fortifications of France, on the side of Belgium, are the towns of Lille, Valenciennes, Condé, and Douai; on the side of the Alps, Embrun, Grenoble, and Antibes; on the side of the Pyrenees, Perpignan, Bellegarde, Mont-Louis, and Bayonne. The fortified sea-ports are Brest, Toulon, Cherbourg, Rochefort, and Boulogne.

The superiority of the English navy over the French navy existed in ages when our pecuniary means were far inferior; and though, during the middle of the reign of Louis XIV. the French, by financial sacrifices, obtained a numerical superiority, one great battle, that of La Hogue, in 1692, was sufficient to restore our ascendancy. The war of 1741, however successful on the part of France by land, was, particularly towards its close, unfortunate to her at sea. In the succeeding interval of peace, great efforts were Statistics made to reinstate the French navy; but the war of 1756, though the French admiral De la Galissonière boasted of a success over Byng, proved doubly disastrous, and at last swept it almost entirely from the ocean. A very different scene opened in the war of 1778, when France, unembarrassed by a continental struggle, was enabled to direct all her disposable resources to her marine, an object of great care and solicitude to Louis XVI. She was then enabled to keep in an effective state about seventy sail of the line, the crews of which, added to those of the frigates and corvettes, formed a total of 60,000 seamen. The injuries sustained by this force, towards the end of the war, were repaired with great diligence during the peace; and to prepare young officers for the sea in preference to the land service, became a favourite object in several of the government schools. In 1791, an official report stated the effective French navy at seventy-four sail of the line, sixty-two frigates, and twenty-nine corvettes; a state of preparation which accounts for the resistance made to our navy by the revolutionary government under all the disadvantages of an unparalleled continental struggle. This proud force, however, disappeared progressively at the capture of Toulon, the victory of the 1st June 1794, and still more in the victory of Aboukir; so that Bonaparte, on his accession to power, found the French marine in a very reduced state. He laboured, however, to reinstate it; the years of continental peace, 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804, were favourable to his efforts; and in 1805 he boasted of having in equipment sixty sail of the line, a force destined to an early diminution at Trafalgar and St Domingo. The Bourbons, on recovering their crown, found little more than half the force which existed previously to the Revolution. It has since been augmented, and in 1831 it amounted to thirty-five ships of the line, forty frigates, twenty-three corvettes, fifty-seven brigs, twenty-nine galliots and cutters of eight and four guns, twelve steam-boats, sixteen armed store-ships, thirty-two armed transports, two yachts; total, two hundred and eighty-four; and in 1854, according to the last authentic account, it consisted of—

| Ships | Guns | |-------|------| | 53 vessels—9 carrying 120, 14 = 100, 19 = 90 | 5,096 | | 11 = 89 or 82 guns—total | 3,955 | | 58 frigates—42 = 50 to 60, and 16 = 40 to 46 | 868 | | 39 corvettes | 1,656 | | 101 brigs, schooners, and cutters | 788 | | 39 corvettes de charge and gabares | |

Total: 11,773

In the present year (1855) 14 ships of iron (9 being vessels of the line) have been launched, and 32 new vessels are on the stocks.

On the 1st January 1855 the officers of the French navy consisted of 2 amirs, 17 vice-amirs, 37 contre-amirs, 108 capitaines, 238 capitaines de fregate, 658 lieutenants, 614 enseignes.

**XI. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE.**

In France the ancient system of taxation and finance was extremely unequal and oppressive. Her various provinces, though they were united under one head, retained many of their own peculiar laws and privileges, which were absurd in themselves, and opposed to the general interests of the empire. Among these was an exemption from certain imposts, to which some were subjected, and consequently over-taxed; and others, again, contributed a certain quota of revenue to government, which they raised by taxes imposed by their own local authorities. The consequence was, that no uniform system of taxation could be established throughout the country. The taxes on many commodities were higher in one province than in another; and custom-houses were accordingly established on their respective frontiers, to prevent the importation of goods until they had paid the duties. In this manner, owing to the inequality of taxation, commodities could not freely pass from one district of the country to another; and the kingdom was thus broken into separate divisions, to the great interruption of trade. The partiality shown to the privileged orders was another serious grievance in the ancient system of French taxation. The taxes by which the public revenue was raised were, first, the taille, a tax on real property, or on income derived from commerce and industry. From this tax the lands of the noblesse and clergy were exempt. "The tax was called taille," says Borel, "because the peasant collectors, not knowing how to write, marked down what they had received on a wooden tally." Secondly, the émptième was a tax of one twentieth on property, from which the clergy alone were exempted. Thirdly, a poll tax was levied on all classes indiscriminately. Many of the taxes were farmed by rich capitalists called farmers-general or fermiers-généraux, who paid annually into the treasury a fixed sum, and collected the taxes from the people. Those farmers-general held the monopoly of the manufacture and sale of tobacco and salt; and also the octroi, which was a duty on all articles entering Paris and other large towns. The power delegated to these contractors was the source of grievous oppression to the people. The duties called aides were imposed on spirituous liquors and other articles of consumption; they also included duties on all articles worked in gold or silver, on wrought iron, playing cards, leather, paper, starch, &c. These duties levied by collectors for the benefit of government were abolished by the National Assembly in 1790. The corvée, which consisted in so many days' labour annually, of men, horses, oxen, carriages, &c., was nominally applicable to the maintenance of roads. The tax was payable either in money or in labour. This system of taxation, so prejudicial to internal commerce, was to a certain extent reformed by Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV., who, though his views in regard to the principles of commerce were narrow and illiberal, yet improved in many particulars the system of taxation, by rendering it more uniform, and thus breaking down the barriers which obstructed the free intercourse between the different provinces. Under his administration the public revenue of France amounted in 1682 to L5,000,000.

The long and expensive wars of Louis XIV. produced a great accumulation of debt (nearly L100,000,000 sterling), which, after his death, was lessened by an appeal to a singular privilege, of which advantage has often been taken in France, viz. that a new sovereign is not bound to pay the debts of his predecessor in full. During the eighteenth century the revenue of France increased progressively, but more slowly than that of England; the vicious system of farming the taxes still continued. Nécker, appointed to office in 1776, endeavoured to teach the French court the value of publicity in financial statements, and exhibited the rare example of a war conducted for several years without new taxes, the supplies being found by loans, the interest of which was provided for by successive

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1 This tax was established in 1750, and was levied upon all property of whatever description. In 1754 it was taken off the amount of income arising from personal industry. Statistics, retrenchments in the public expenditure. His successor, M. de Calonne, pursued a very different course, and was found altogether incapable of the measures necessary to remedy an annual deficiency of L2,000,000. The revenue of France was then about L22,000,000 sterling. The sum required for payment of the interest of the public debt was nearly L10,000,000; leaving only L12,000,000 for the army, navy, civil list, and other public expenses.

Such was the state of the French finances at the era of the Revolution of 1789, which was followed by invasion on the frontier, and in the interior by all the confusion consequent on the reign of terror. In this era of confiscation and judicial murder, the national debt could hardly be respected. It was not, however, openly cancelled, but the interest was issued in assignats of no value except for purchases of national property. At last, in 1798, on an approximation to regularity in the management of public business, there was passed a law declaring that one-third of the old national debt should be sacred, and the interest on it payable in bons, or paper receivable in discharge of taxes. This third was called la tiers provisoire, but its price in the market continued very low until Bonaparte succeeded to power, and placed Guadin, afterwards Duke of Gaeta, at the head of the treasury, when means were found to redeem the public funds from their depression, and to resume the payment of the dividends in cash. The amount of the revenue was greatly impaired by the general confusion of the revolution. In 1799 the expenditure exceeded the receipt by L8,000,000 sterling. A partial reduction of expenditure, and improvements in the collection of the taxes, brought in 1803 the receipts to L19,500,000, whilst the expenditure was L20,000,000. In subsequent years both received a progressive augmentation, and in 1813 the revenue derived from France, exclusive of conquered territory, was about L27,000,000. On the restoration of the Bourbons in 1814, the public debt, funded and unfunded, did not exceed L123,000,000; its interest L7,900,000. France had thus a fair prospect of financial prosperity, when the return of Bonaparte, and a second invasion by the allied troops, overthrew public credit, and produced a national loss and a general derangement of trade. It has been estimated that the return of Napoleon from Elba, which led to the second invasion of France by the allied troops, occasioned a loss to the country of 4,000,000,000 of francs. The direct loss, which included the expenses paid to the allied powers, and those incurred by the maintenance of their armies, placed in cantonments throughout France, may be estimated; but the indirect evils occasioned by the ravages inseparable from the invasion of a hostile army, by the confusion and derangement of all commercial relations, and the impossibility of collecting the revenue in such a time of trouble, cannot be summed up in money. At the same time there are scarcely any national difficulties which may not be overcome by the energies and industry of a free and intelligent people such as the French. With an inconsiderable addition to her debt, France has defrayed all these heavy expenses, the contributions imposed on her by the allied powers, the expenses of the temporary maintenance of their armies, and her own warlike expenses. For this purpose, however, it became necessary in 1815 to impose additional taxes. In 1817 a loan was required of 392,989,000 francs; and in 1818, to defray the extraordinary contribution of 575,807,197 francs, paid in that year to the allies, the minister had recourse to another loan of 220,510,718 francs; whilst by the taxes which had been imposed, the revenue of that year was carried to L35,000,000.

### Mean Revenue of France in the ten years between 1832 Statistics, and 1842.

| Year | Direct Taxes | Indirect Taxes | Post Office | Algerian Revenue | Prod. Universitaires | Prod. Eventuels | Divers Sources | |------|--------------|----------------|-------------|------------------|--------------------|----------------|---------------| | 1832 | 341,280,157 | 198,188,051 | 47,025,500 | 49,468,948 | | | | | 1842 | 401,900,335 | 240,588,321 | 4,349,082 | | 19,127,972 | 2,390,000 | 12,519,749 |

### The Expenditure of 1853 was as follows:

| Item | Amount | |-------------------------------------------|------------| | Interest on Public Debt, &c. | 372,154,577| | Donations—Civil List, &c. | 17,298,580 | | Expenses of various Ministries—Justice, Foreign Affairs, &c. | 787,553,516| | Expense of Collecting and Paying Taxes, &c.| 151,095,335| | Drawbacks, Discounts, Bounties, &c. | 83,942,983 | | Travaux Extraordinaires or Additional Works | 72,738,334 | | Total | 1,485,013,325|

Besides the public revenue of the empire, the communes raise a revenue for their own local expenses. According to the latest published accounts, this revenue arises partly from octrois, which amount throughout France (there being 1436 octrois) to 95,176,602 francs, and partly from other sources, the whole of which amounted to 230,636,309 francs in 1850. The total of the ordinary ways and means of France in the Budget Provisions of 1855 amounted to 1,528,110,288 francs. During the administration of M. Villele, the five per cents. in France were converted into a three per cent. fund, at the rate of 133-33 cents, for every hundred of the five per cent. stock; so that the whole five per cent. stock, bearing an annual interest of 30,574,116 francs, was converted into a three per cent. fund, of which the capital was increased one third. The effect of this transaction was in reality to reduce the interest on the five per cent. stock to four per cent., by which he saved annual interest to the amount of six millions, though by a very useless complexity in his operations. The interest on the public debt of France, thus reduced, may be stated as follows:

It amounted in 1855 to 418,370,442 francs. The sinking fund or caisse d'amortissement, ceased altogether its operations on the 14th July 1848. In the thirty-two years of its operation the caisse d'amortissement liberated the country from liabilities to the amount of 1,683,474,050 francs, and placed at the disposition of the treasury, from 1833 to 1848, 1,016,693,856 francs.

The ancient system of taxation in France was subverted by the National Assembly in 1791, and new taxes were substituted in lieu of those formerly in force. These consisted of direct and indirect taxes. The direct taxes are:

1. Contribution foncière, or land-tax; 2. Contribution personelle et mobilière; 3. A tax on doors and windows; 4. Droits de patente, or a license duty on particular trades and professions, and a duty on mines.

The contribution foncière is raised equally on all lands and houses in proportion to their nett revenues. There are no longer any exemptions in favour of the nobility since the first revolution in 1789. The imperial domains and the property of the state are alone exempted. The contribution personelle et mobilière is divided into two parts. The first is a species of poll-tax, paid at three days' labour, calculated in money value to be from 10 to 30 sous per day, and levied on all males above eighteen years of age. The contribution mobilière is a house-tax levied on all rents from 200 to 2500 francs. For the contribution personelle, the octroi, which is a custom-duty on all goods entering a town, is substituted in Paris and other large cities. The tax on street-doors, gateways, and windows, varies in

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1 Report of Camus to the National Assembly in September 1790. 2 Bignon, Éposé Comparatif de la France. 3 Gandin, Notice Historique des Finances de la France. Statistics, proportion to the size of the town in which the house is situated, and also in proportion to the size and value of the house and the number of windows. It is regulated by a tariff, which are two divisions. The droits d'entrée or licence-duty is levied on every person following a profession, trade, or business; and is divided into two heads—the proportional tax, or the fixed tax, which depends on the extent and population of the town where he exercises his profession. A merchant pays from 40 to 500 francs per annum, according to the population of the place where he resides, and an additional ten per cent. on the rent of his dwelling-house. Bankers in all cases pay 500 francs a-year; and there is in like manner a fixed rate for other inferior trades and professions. The duty on mines is in proportion to the extent of the surface, and also to their net produce.

The law which fixes the amount of the direct taxes also determines the quota which each department is required to pay. This is announced by the minister of finance to the prefect of the department, who communicates it to his sous-prefect and to the mayors. The sum thus assigned by the prefect to each arrondissement is subdivided by the councils of the arrondissement and by the communes; and the amount allotted to each is apportioned among the inhabitants by persons appointed for that purpose, called répartiteurs or assessors. These assessors regulate the amount of taxable property, and they fix the scale. The land-tax is however very unequally assessed, amounting in some departments to six per cent., whilst in the department of the Seine it is seventeen per cent. The equalization of the land-tax has always been accounted a capital object in the financial policy of France; and with this view a minute survey and measurement of all the landed property in France (termed the cadastre) was begun in 1808, and finished in 1847. The cadastre, accurate as it generally is, cannot, however, be considered as the expression of actual facts. The propriétés imposables, or taxable property, consists, according to the cadastre, of 25,581,659 hectares of cultivable land; 5,159,226 hectares of meadows; 2,090,533 hectares of vines; 628,235 hectares of orchards, nurseries, and gardens; 4,175 hectares of mines; and 17,400 hectares of lakes, ponds, &c. The inequality of the land-tax has long been a subject of loud and just complaint; and various plans have been adopted for a more accurate classification of the land. But these have generally proved inefficient and unsatisfactory.

The indirect taxes consist chiefly of fourteen principal kinds—of the droits réunis or excise duties on articles of consumption, of stamp duties, registration duties, duties on carriages, on canals and ferry-boats, on gold and silver plate. A revenue is raised from the monopoly of tobacco and gunpowder; from the post-office; the octroi, or custom duty on all articles entering large towns, one-tenth of which goes to the imperial treasury, the remainder being applied to local expenses. The customs form an important branch of the French revenues.

The droits réunis or excise duties are laid on wine, brandy, &c., which pay one-and-a-half francs per hectolitre of 120 English quarts, on being removed from one place to another. Wine in bottles pays 10 francs per hectolitre on its removal; cider, perry, and mead, pay 80 centimes per hectolitre. Ten per cent. of the above duty is paid on their removal from the wholesale warehouses. Prior to 1830 a duty distinct from the octroi was levied on the entry of all wine or spirituous liquors into communes the population of which amounted to 1000 and upwards. All communes whose population does not amount to 4000 are exempted from this tax; and a new tariff has been established, rising progressively from 4000 to 5000 inhabi-

1 According to the existing law in France, wine, cider, perry, and hydromel are subject to three principal duties or imposts: 1. Droit de circulation; 2. Droit de détail; 3. Droit d'entrée. Any one of the liquors named may be subject to two of these imposts, but never to three at the same time. Alcohol pays a droit particulier de consommation, which is added the droit d'entrée into the localities subject thereto. Beer only pays a droit de fabrication. Wholesale dealers, retailers, distillers, liqueur makers, are subject to a droit de licence. The city of Paris is, however, under special regulations in this respect. Restrictions only interesting to the French retailer of wine, beer, or spirit. Every sale less than a hectolitre in cask, or 25 litres in bottles, is considered a retail sale. The droit d'entrée and the droit de consommation are also the subject of minute regulations and exceptions, into which it is not necessary to enter. Paris wine-merchants pay no licence, nor are there any private bonded cellars as in England.

2 In a majority of the departments, distillers pay 50 francs and brewers 30 francs licence, and marchands en gros de boissons 50 francs. A tarif du droit d'entrée, based on the population of the communes of four different classes, ranging from 50,000 to 4000, as well as a tarif des droits de licence will be found appended to the Enquête Législative sur l'impôt des Boissons, ordered by the law of the 20th Dec. 1849. Statistics. In 1822, though the quantity of sugar consumed was only 1,086,596 cwts., or 281,075 cwts. less than in 1830, the net amount of the duty was L1,234,653. The consumption of sugar in France in 1847 only reached about 2,570,000 cwts. It is by means of heavy custom-duties that the French legislators endeavour to preserve the monopoly of the home market to their own manufacturers, by which policy they compel the French community to buy at a high price the inferior articles of their own manufacture, rather than the better articles of the foreigner at a lower price. The increased numbers and superior vigilance of the custom-house officers have been still counteracted by the new expedients and persevering ingenuity of the smuggler.

The frontier of France is the scene of this persecution against commerce, where all the illegal, daring, and ingenious resources of the contraband traders are called into activity. Amongst other expedients, they trained packs of dogs, according to Messrs Villiers and Bourtry, to carry prohibited goods across the frontier. These dogs being conducted to the frontier, are kept without food for many hours; they are then beaten and laden with goods, and are started on their travels when it begins to grow dark, and reach the abodes of their masters as soon as they can, where they are well treated, and receive a full meal. According to the accounts of the French custom-house, 40,278 of these dogs were destroyed in the year 1830, on which account premiums were paid to the custom-house officers to the amount of 40,278 francs. That the trade, though it may be obstructed, is not prevented, is evident from the circumstance that there are regular rates of insurance on the conveyance of contraband goods into France, varying from ten to seventy per cent. A revision, and if possible a reduction, of these heavy duties would be the true policy of France. Monopoly was never yet the source of commercial greatness in any country.

XII. NATIONAL INCOME AND CAPITAL; POPULATION.

Of the official surveys of the French territory, by far the most minute and accurate is the cadastre, a survey which became indispensable from the time it was determined to exchange the taxes on consumption for taxes on produce. A return of the rent of land, such as was made under the property-tax act in England, would not have been practicable in France, where so many thousands of petty lots are cultivated by their proprietors. At first the cadastre proceeded on the plan of an estimate par masses de culture, or continuous valuation of extensive tracts; but this proving unsatisfactory, it has been conducted since 1807 on a plan of such minute detail, as to give the value of every separate parcelle or patch of land. The progress of this minute survey of the landed property in France has been retarded by many causes; and in 1830 not above two-thirds of the land had been surveyed. It was estimated in the report of one of the committees of the chamber in 1832, that it would still require from that period about eight years, and an expense of above L2,000,000 sterling, to complete it. They had only surveyed thirty-one millions of hectares, or sixty-eight millions of acres. The annual expense of the survey was L1,120,000.

The wages of mechanics are so fluctuating and various, that a satisfactory statement of them can scarcely be produced. It may, however, be assumed that they are generally twenty or thirty per cent. lower than in England. The rate of wages of the agricultural population was thus estimated in 1851:

| Category | Number | Wage | |----------|--------|------| | Men | 6 million | 50 centimes per diem | | Women | 6 million | 75 centimes | | Children | 6 million | 25 centimes |

18 millions of agricultural labourers paid yearly...3,000,000,000

A quarter of a century ago the difference in the expense of living in France and in England was about a third less living in favour of England. As far as regards provisions, this difference was somewhat greater; but it received a counterpoise in the cheapness of our fuel. Paris is now as expensive compared to the rest of France, as London is compared to the rest of England. In 1855 prices were generally on a par with prices in London, and in house-rent and the prices of lodgings and fuel, Paris exceeds London.

In the end of the seventeenth century, the territory of France, when very nearly equal to its present extent, appears, from the report of the intendants or provincial governors, to have contained about 20,000,000 of inhabitants. This number was found, by the census made by order of the National Assembly, to have increased nearly a third in the course of a century; the amount, in 1791, being 26,363,600, a number which, by computation, made in 1817, had further increased to above 29,000,000. In the year 1820 the population was 30,451,187; and, according to the ordonnance of January 1832, it amounted to 32,661,678. By the census of 1851 it appears that the population of France was 35,781,628. The marriages in 1832 and 1833 were annually about 236,996, and the deaths about 785,268, of which 395,250 were males, and 388,018 females. The births were 967,533, of which there were 498,707 boys and 468,826 girls. The number of illegitimate children was then 68,081. In 1852, twenty years after the period here spoken of, the total number of births was 965,080, of which 895,236 were legitimate, and 69,844 illegitimate. The number of children still-born in 1852 amounted to 37,901, the number of deaths to 811,695, and the number of marriages to 281,360.

Population of France, 1851.

| Province | Departments | Population | |----------|-------------|------------| | Oise | | 403,857 | | Ainé | | 538,989 | | Somme | | 570,641 | | Pas de Calais | | 692,994 |

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1 On the 1st August 1847 a uniform duty of 45 francs per 199 kilogrammes was imposed on Sucre brut Français, native as well as colonial. In the space of three years the native product has more than doubled. Native sugar to the value of 30,600,000 fr. was manufactured in 1844, and to the value of 67,000,000 fr. in 1847. We know from reports made to the council of state by M. Bebic, and to the legislative assembly by M. Beugnot, that the production of sugar in the French colonies has fallen lower than it has been for twenty years.

2 The duties upon matières premières and upon corn date from the restoration. The first republic and the first empire favourably considered the raw material so necessary to labour; under the restoration the object in laying on these duties was in the hope, the vain hope, of creating a territorial aristocracy as in England. Impelled by the scarcity of 1853, recent decrees of Louis Napoleon have relaxed the prohibitive system and given a provisional liberty to the trade in coal and meat. An imperial decree of the 25th November 1853 reduces the import duties on coal and iron. Coal paid with the currency at 25 centimes per 100 kilogrammes, from Sables d'Olonne to Dunkirk; on the rest of the French coast it paid 33 centimes. On the land frontier the duty was 15 centimes, excepting by the Meuse, and in the department of the Moselle, where the duty was 11 centimes. Thence from d'Olonne to Dunkirk, and onward by land to Halluin, there is a duty of 35 centimes by French ships, and 33 by foreign bottoms. The rest of the maritime frontier is assimilated to the greater part of the land frontier.

3 It is positively stated in the Statistique de la France, published by the minister of agriculture, commerce, and public works, in 1855, that the cadastre was finished in 1847, and it is positively averred by M. Acalde de Vaulabelle, the historian of the restoration, and minister of public instruction under the republic, that the work is unfinished, that there are not merely arrondissements, but whole departments not cadastre. One thing is certain, that in some departments proprietors pay 8 per cent. of their nett revenue, whereas in others they pay twice and thrice as much. ### Population of Towns with 18,000 Inhabitants and upwards in 1832 and in 1851.

| Town | 1832 | 1851 | |-----------------------|--------|--------| | Paris | 774,338| 1,053,262| | Marseilles | 145,115| 185,082| | Lyon | 133,716| 159,169| | Bordeaux | 99,062 | 123,935| | Rouen | 88,082 | 91,512 | | Nantes | 77,002 | 91,300 | | Lille | 69,073 | 85,463 | | Toulouse | 69,030 | 85,554 | | Strasbourg | 49,712 | 64,642 | | Amiens | 45,001 | 49,139 | | Metz | 44,416 | 43,484 | | Nimes | 41,206 | 49,450 | | Caen | 39,140 | 40,569 | | Reims | 35,971 | 43,643 | | Montpellier | 35,825 | 40,222 | | Angers | 32,743 | 43,088 | | Avignon | 29,889 | 31,812 | | Brest | 29,860 | 36,492 | | Nancy | 29,783 | 40,289 | | Rennes | 29,680 | 33,066 | | Besançon | 29,167 | 35,345 | | Versailles | 28,477 | 29,975 | | Toulon | 28,419 | 45,510 | | Clermont-Ferrand | 28,257 | 30,563 | | Limoges | 27,070 | 37,010 | | Montpellier | 25,460 | 23,314 | | Dunkirk | 24,397 | 28,886 | | Grenoble | 24,888 | 26,852 | | Havre de Grace | 23,816 | 26,410 | | Troyes | 23,740 | 25,636 | | Tours | 23,235 | | | Poitiers | 23,128 | 25,818 | | Aix | 22,575 | 24,255 | | Bologne | 20,856 | 29,488 | | St Omer | 19,344 | 19,226 | | L'Orient | 18,322 | 22,561 |

The ratio of the increase of population in France is greatest in the lower classes; the middling and upper ranks have seldom large families. In that country, as with us, the population evidently increases faster since the adoption of vaccine inoculation.

### XIII. GOVERNMENT.

The charter in virtue of which Louis XVIII. ascended the throne of his ancestors was the basis of the government of France so long as it continued a monarchy.

By that instrument, the king was declared the supreme head of the executive power, in whom was vested the power of declaring war and making peace; the command of the national force, whether by land or sea; and the nomination of all ministers, ambassadors, and other public functionaries, civil and military.

The legislative power was exercised under the monarchy by two chambers, the Chamber of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies, in conjunction with the king, without whose concurrence no measure had the authority of law.

The Chamber of Peers consisted under the monarchy of Chamber of Peers of no definitive number, as the king had the unlimited power of creating peers. The number of peers in 1826 was 214, and in 1827 it was increased to 290 by the creation of seventy-six new peers. But this great and sudden addition to the peerage being considered as an unconstitutional exercise of the prerogative by Charles X., was declared null and void after his abdication; and in 1833 the number of peers, including five princes of the blood and several new creations, only amounted to 262. Louis XVIII. could by his prerogative convolve this chamber when that of the Deputies was not sitting. But this power was withheld in the new charter of 1830, excepting in the case of the chamber sitting as a court of justice; and on such occasions it is strictly confined to its judicial functions. No meeting of the chamber could take place except by an express order of the king; and it is convoked by his majesty at the same time as the Chamber of Deputies, the session of the one commencing and finishing at the same time with that of the other. A peer of France under the monarchy of the elder and junior Bourbons was admitted into the chamber at the age of twenty-five; but was not admitted to the exercise of any prerogative until he had completed his thirtieth year. The chamber under Louis XVIII., Charles X., and Louis Philippe took cognizance of high treason, and of all crimes committed against the security and peace of the state. Those who were members of the senate during Bonaparte's reign... parte's reign were created peers after his abdication, and their pensions of L1,500 a-year were confirmed. By an ordonnance of Louis XVIII., no person could be created a peer unless he possessed a certain entailed property in trust or in the funds, producing, in order to enable him to support the title of a duke, a clear income of 15,000 francs, or L600 per annum; for the title of a marquis, 10,000 francs; and for viscounts and barons, 5000 francs. In order to exercise the privileges of a peer of France, double the amount of clear income is required.

The popular branch of the French legislature consisted under the monarchy, according to the original provisions of the charter, of 258 members, who were elected by a committee of voters (collège électoral), each paying direct taxes to the amount of L40 per annum, and who were delegated to elect a deputy by a lower class of electors, whose qualification was the payment of L12 per annum of direct taxes. One-fifth of the chamber was to be renewed every year; so that every five years the whole would be re-elected anew. In 1817 a law was passed abrogating the intermediate class of electors, and giving to all the voters the right of immediately electing the deputy; and in 1821 the plan of renewing the chamber by one-fifth at a time was also abrogated, and a law was passed for dissolving and re-electing the whole assembly at once. In 1831 a new electoral law was passed, reducing the qualification of the electors to 200 francs (L8, 6s. 8d.), and also the age from thirty to twenty-five years, and reducing the qualification of deputies from forty to thirty years of age, and the pecuniary qualification from 1000 to 500 francs. It was estimated, that by thus lowering the pecuniary qualification of electors, the number would be increased from 100,000 to 190,000. (See History of France.)

The French Chamber of Deputies under the monarchy consisted of 430 members, chosen for 86 departments. The original charter of Louis XVIII. assigned to the monarch the exclusive right of proposing all public measures; and it was necessary in proposing any new law to move an address to his majesty, praying that it might be presented to the chamber for its adoption. The charter of 1830 dispensed with this form, and gave the right of initiating laws to all the branches of the legislature, with the exception of taxation bills, which originated with the representatives of the people. When the session commenced under the monarchy, bureaux, or special committees, nine in number, were formed, and were periodically renewed; and when any new law was presented to the chamber on the part of the king, it was referred in the first instance to these special committees; if the law was approved by two or more of them, it was reported by the chamber, when the principle of the measure was discussed by the chamber, and the clauses voted article by article. The decision of the bureau was reported by the chairman or rapporteur to the whole chamber; which frequently pronounced an opposite decision. The special clauses of a law were voted by assis et levée; those who are for the law, the ayes, rising, and those who are against the law, the noes, keeping their places. The vote on the whole measure was by secret scrutiny, the ayes being indicated by white balls, and the noes by black ones, thrown into an urn placed on the tribune of the chamber. The sittings of the chamber were, under Louis XVIII., Charles X., Louis Philippe, and the Republic, public; but on the demand of any five members, all strangers were excluded. No deputy could be arrested for debt during the sitting of the chamber, nor within six weeks previous to its assembling, or six weeks subsequent to its prorogation in the time of the monarchy; and if arrested at any other period, he must be liberated during the session; nor could any deputy be arrested or prosecuted for a criminal charge, except he were detected in the act, unless by permission of the chamber. It will be remembered (see History) that the Duke de Praslin was not arrested by the police. The senators of Bonaparte received each a salary of 10,000 francs per annum. The deputies to the chamber received no salary under the monarchy. The president, the secretaries, and the officers attached to the chambers, such as questeurs, huissiers, &c., were the only persons paid. The salary of the president was, under the elder Bourbons, 100,000 francs per annum, besides a furnished hotel, horses, equipage, &c. But it was reduced to 4000 francs per month, payable only during the session in the reign of Louis Philippe.

The executive department of the government was administered by the king and his cabinet council, consisting of nine ministers, viz—

1. The minister of finance, whose business it was to receive the taxes from the receivers-general, and all the other revenues of government. He disburses, and still disburses the payments for the other departments of the state, for the interest of the public debt, and all pensions, &c. To this ministry are attached certain other offices, the chiefs of which are called directors; namely, directors-general of taxes, customs, registries and domains, ports, woods and forests, and the mint. The salary of the minister of finance was reduced by the Chamber of Deputies under Charles X. in 1828, from 150,000 to 120,000 francs per annum; and the salaries of the directors vary from 40,000 to 50,000 francs per annum. The revenue was under the monarchy, and is still, conveyed to the treasury through various subordinate offices. There is a percepteur or collector in each commune, who pays his collections to the special receiver for each arrondissement, who transmits the revenue to the general receiver of taxes for the department, by whom it is, lastly, remitted to the office of the finance minister.

2. The minister of the interior. This minister was, under the monarchy, and still is under the empire, one of the most important, if not the most important of the functionaries of the state. He is in direct correspondence with all the civil authorities of the kingdom; no local tax can be imposed, nor any disbursements made, in any of the departments, districts, or communes, without his authority. The general police of the kingdom, with all its various details, is under his superintendence; besides poor-houses, charities, and hospitals, the national guard of France, the censorship of the theatre, the royal institute, the public libraries and government archives, the examination of all passports, and all reports from prefects and sub-prefects of departments. He takes cognizance also of the press. He has directors under him, who relieve him from the trouble of details. His salary is 120,000 francs, and there are at least 204,000 officials under his orders.

3. Minister of justice and keeper of the seals. He is at the head of the law department, though he seldom presides in any court of justice. He corresponds with the law officers of the crown throughout France, and takes cognizance of all cases of criminals after conviction, and of all applications for royal mercy. There are more than 30,000 officials under his orders. His salary is 120,000 francs.

4. Minister of marine, who has the direction of the navy and the colonies of France. The dockyards and maritime prefects are under his authority; 10,000 workmen and mechanics are employed in the building or repairing of ships, under about 400 maires entrées. The colonial affairs of the empire are also under the supervision of this minister. His salary is 20,000 francs.

5. Minister of foreign affairs. His duties are expressed in his designation. All passports to cross the frontiers must be nominally countersigned by him. His salary is 150,000 francs.

6. Minister of war. He superintends of course the whole service of the army. He has also the sole control of the gunpowder and saltpetre manufactories, barracks, military hospitals, &c., and the government founderies and manufactories of small arms. He has also the charge of organizing and inspecting the corps of gendarmerie of Paris, as well as in all the departments. Salary 120,000 francs.

7. Minister of ecclesiastical affairs. His salary is 120,000 francs.

8. Minister of public instruction. His functions are strictly con-

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1 The ministry of ecclesiastical affairs was suppressed in 1829, and the duties were transferred to the minister of public instruction. Under the elder Bourbons the minister of ecclesiastical affairs was in direct correspondence with the court of Rome. He then published all briefs, bulls, &c., nominated all archbishops, bishops, and other clerical functionaries, and had the administration of the expenses of cathedrals, churches, &c. Statistics, fined to secular education. He nominates the different functionaries in the public academies and faculties, authorizes the opening of private boarding-schools for both sexes, and regulates the works to be used in these seminaries; he grants diplomas in law and medicine, superintends the receipts of colleges, fixes the pensions of retired functionaries, grants aids and indemnities to collegiate corporations, and generally takes cognizance of all institutions for public instruction. He has now a superior or imperial council of public instruction. His salary is 160,000 francs.

9. Minister of commerce and manufactures. This is a new office, of which the business partly belonged to the minister of finance and the minister of the interior. In 1829 the minister of commerce was suppressed, and the business was transferred to the home office. In 1830 a ministry of public works was created. The minister of commerce corresponds with the chambers of commerce; nominates exchange-brokers, with the exception of those in Paris who are nominated by the minister of finance; examines all demands made for the establishment of assurance offices, their rules and regulations, and grants letters for the same; establishes or suppresses fairs or markets; decides on the qualifications of candidates for the office of judge in any of the commercial courts; and has an especial jurisdiction over all that may promote the prosperity of commerce and manufactures. His salary is 120,000 francs.

Besides these cabinet ministers, the Bourbons had a privy council, the members of which were seldom summoned, the public business being entirely managed by the cabinet council.

Under the last monarchy each of these ministers presented to the Chamber of Deputies his own budget of expenses, which was examined by a committee specially appointed for the purpose. It was competent for these committees to propose a reduction in the items of these ministerial budgets, which might be adopted by the chamber. After these various budgets had been considered and discussed, the general account of the national expenditure was considered and put to the vote.

Ministers of state were nominal functionaries under the monarchy, and their appointments were generally given to retired cabinet ministers as a reward for past services. The pension was formerly 20,000 francs per annum, but after the revolution of 1830 it was restricted to 12,000 francs a-year.

The council of state was a favourite institution of the Emperor Napoleon, and under the consulate and the empire he loaded it with administrative business. Sometimes he used it to control the acts of his ministers, and generally he submitted to it the most delicate and thorny affairs of his government. The first restoration reconstituted the council of state by royal ordinance of the 29th June 1814. The peculiar organization then given to it was suppressed in the Hundred Days, and again re-established by the second restoration on the 23rd August 1815. After the revolution of 1830 seven projects of law were submitted to the Chambers with a view to improve the council of state. The seventh alone was discussed, and carried in the session of 1845. It had scarcely been more than put into execution before the revolution of February broke out. The provisional government commenced by reducing the number of councillors of state from thirty to twenty-five. It attached great importance, however, to the council of state, a whole chapter being dedicated to that subject in the republican constitution. The imperial decree of the 25th January 1852 has definitively regulated the council of state, rendering its functions among the most important in the empire, imposing on it the preparation of all projects of law, and the sustaining of those projects before the legislative body. The council of state is necessarily called upon to give its opinion upon all decrees concerning the public administration.

The council of state now (1855) consists of a president and vice-president, of from forty to fifty councillors of state in ordinary service, of councillors of state out of particular sections, whose number cannot exceed fifteen; of councillors of state in extraordinary service, whose number cannot exceed twenty; forty maîtres des requêtes divided into two classes of twenty each; a general secretary having the title and rank of a maître des requêtes. The ministers have their rank, seats, and voice in the council of state, and the members are named by the emperor. Neither councillors of state nor masters of requisites can be senators or deputies of the legislature, their functions being incompatible with such salaried functions. The councillors of state on active or ordinary service received under the monarchy a salary of 12,000 francs a-year, a deduction being made if they enjoyed any other situation of emolument under government. To the council of state are attached the maîtres de requêtes, appointed likewise for ordinary and extraordinary service, but some are merely honorary. Their business is to draw up all acts of council, for which they receive a salary of 6000 francs a-year. The office of maître de requêtes was considered as the first step towards the rank of councillor of state.

Audit office, or cour des comptes. It is the business of this court to receive and examine all the accounts of the different ministers, Statistics, and those of the receivers-general and prefects of the departments; and to certify the correctness of the general accounts published every year by the minister of finance. The ordinary business of this court was under the monarchy managed by three chambers, each having a president; and there was then also a chief president, who sat when these chambers were united; but a fourth temporary chamber was instituted by decree of 15th January 1852. There is also a councillor of reference in each chamber (réfrendaire), whose duty is the verification of the accounts; also a procureur-general, whose office corresponds to that of solicitor of some of the public offices in England, and who sees that all the necessary accounts are delivered into this office within the period fixed by law, and who, in case of neglect, proceeds against the offending parties for the pecuniary losses they have incurred. There is likewise a chief registrar, in whom custody resides of all the accounts and vouchers transmitted to his office. The court is composed of a first president, 3 presidents, 18 conseillers, maîtres de comptes, 80 conseillers référendaires, in all 103 magistrates. The whole court meets every three months in public to go over the accounts of the three preceding months.

The revenue of the king, or the civil list, in the time of the monarchy, was fixed at the restoration, by the budget of the king of 1814, at 15,510,000 francs per annum; and a further grant was made to the other branches of the royal family of 4,000,000 a-year. By the budget of 1816 the income of the king was augmented to 30,000,000; but at the accession of Charles X. it was fixed at 25,000,000, whilst the allowances to the other branches of the royal family were increased to 7,000,000 a-year.

The royal household, as it was designated, included the following appointments:

- Lord steward (grand maître) ........................................... 140,000 fr. - One maître du ménage .................................................. 40,000 - Four chamberlains of the household .................................. 40,000 - Nine stewards .................................................................. 72,000 - Four under stewards .......................................................... 20,000 - Four cooks ....................................................................... 12,000 - Chief purveyor of fish ......................................................... 3,000 - Ten assistants .................................................................. 20,000 - Wine ............................................................................... 172,000 - Kitchen consumption ......................................................... 585,000 - Charcoal ............................................................................ 65,000

Other expenses, 528,700 .......................................................... 1,697,700 fr.

In the department of the king's chamberlain the expenses amounted to .......................................................... 988,000

There were, besides, thirteen palaces, each with a separate and expensive establishment; a large sum was annually paid in pensions; and, under the heads of music, the wardrobe, medical establishment, stables, the annual disbursements amounted to between two and three millions of francs. The support of the magnificent manufactory of porcelain at Sèvres, and the manufactory of tapestry at Gobelin in Paris, cost a large annual sum; the expenses connected with the garde meuble, where the crown jewels and royal insignia were kept, and the expense of colonial metals, were considerable; the establishment for the support of the museum of painting and sculpture at Paris amounted to nearly 3,000,000 of francs a-year; an annual sum of 80,000 francs was allowed for the support of the Italian opera, and a sum of 45,000 francs for the encouragement of sacred music. After the revolution of 1830, the civil list of Louis Philippe was settled in 1832; and in fixing his allowances the Chamber had two matters to deal with; the royal domains, which had hitherto been appendages of the crown, and the money-grant of an annual allowance. The real property of the crown consisted of the Louvre; the Tuileries with their dependencies; the Elysée Bourbon; the chateaux, houses, buildings, manufactories, lands, meadows, farms, woods and forests, composing the domains of Versailles; Marly; Saint Cloud; Meudon; St Germain-en-Laye; Rambouillet; Compiegne; Fontainebleau; Strasbourg; Bordeaux; Pau, and others. Of these, the chateau of St Germain-en-Laye, and those of Strasbourg and Bordeaux, with several other items, amounting to L626,000, were taken from the crown, and made applicable to the purposes of the state. The money allowance to the king was fixed at 12,000,000 of francs, or L480,000 per annum; and the annual sum of 1,000,000 francs, or L40,000, was allowed to the prince royal; and the allowances to the daughters were regulated by special laws.

The imperial government of France is based on the Imperial sovereignty of the people and the great principles of 1789. The title of the chief of the state is Emperor of the French. Statistics, by the grace of God and the national will. The crown is hereditary in the male line only, and by right of primogeniture. The members of the imperial family are alone eligible to the throne. The emperor exercises legislative power conjointly with the senate, the legislative body, and the council of state. The emperor is alone invested with the executive power, is completely independent of great state functionaries, and enjoys all the prerogatives pertaining to sovereign power. The members of the legislative body, as well as the councils general and of arrondissements, are said to be named by direct universal suffrage. The emperor is responsible to the French people. He is chief of the state; commands the land and sea forces; declares war; makes treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce; nominates to all employments; and alone initiates the laws. The ministers depend on the chief of the state. They, as well as all persons employed by the state, take an oath of obedience to the constitution and of fidelity to the emperor. The senate, whose number shall not exceed 150, is composed of cardinals, marshals, admirals, citizens, &c., named by the emperor. The dignity is for life.

The constitution was modified by a senatus-consulte of 23rd December 1852, by which it was decreed that the emperor has the right to pardon and to grant amnesties; and, when he thinks fit, to preside over the senate and council of state. It was also decreed that treaties of commerce have the force of law with respect to modifications of tariff therein stipulated. All works of public utility are ordered by the emperor. The ministerial departments under the Emperor Louis Napoleon amount to nine, namely, the minister of state and of the household of the emperor; the ministers of justice; of foreign affairs; of finance; of the interior; of war; of marine and the colonies; of agriculture, commerce, and public works; of religion and public instruction.

The system of provincial government throughout France is simple and effective. The kingdom is at present divided into 86 departments, with their capital towns. These departments are subdivided into 363 arrondissements or districts, 2847 cantons, and 36,835 communes. In each department the prefect is the chief magistrate, and, as well as the sub-prefect, is paid by government in proportion to the population and the extent of his jurisdiction, the salary varying from 40,000 to 10,000 francs a-year, whilst that of the sub-prefect is 4000 francs. The prefect of the department of the Seine has 100,000 francs a-year.

To each prefecture and sub-prefecture are attached councillors (conselliers de préfecture, and conseillers d'arrondissement), who are likewise paid by government; and each has, besides, a general council, composed of the most opulent and respectable persons in the department, appointed by the king, which he convokes when necessary; and before this council he lays all public matters for its approbation. He is at the head of the police and of the national guard within his prefecture. It is his business to superintend all necessary repairs of public buildings, bridges, fortresses, walls of towns, &c.; to direct the cleaning and paving of streets and highways; to inspect ports, quays, common sewers, poor-houses, &c. He superintends public libraries, museums, primary schools, the fixing of prices of bread; and grants passports. It is in correspondence with all the subordinate functionaries in the department, as well as with the minister of the interior, from whom he receives instructions to settle the questions of all local taxes, and to provide for the public expenses of the department. He receives the produce of the octroi, a custom-duty levied on all articles of general consumption as they enter the town; and of all the rents of government entrepôts; of stalls and shambles in public markets; of slaughter-houses; of the proceeds from the sale of manure; as well as fines of police, and other imposts. One-tenth only of the octroi was under the monarchy paid to the government; and out of the remainder, and from other funds, was defrayed all the local expenses of police, lighting and cleaning streets. All the accounts are transmitted to the minister of the interior, who sends them to the cour des comptes. The functions of a sub-prefect are the same as those of a prefect. A juge de paix is at the head of every canton, who has also similar duties, and is, besides, employed in deciding civil suits to a certain amount. The mayors of the communes possess similar powers to those of the prefects of departments; and their receipts and expenses are provided for in a similar manner. In case of their requiring any extra funds for local expenses, they have the authority of the legislature to raise a contribution called centimes communaux from the inhabitants of the commune. To the office of mayor are attached municipal councillors, who have the same functions as the general council of the prefecture. The mayor may celebrate marriages, and at the mairie of the commune a marriage register is kept, as well as one of births and deaths; a notice of which the relatives of the parties are obliged to deposit at the office of the mayor, under a penalty of a fine in case of neglect. There is in every town a commissary of police, who is paid according to its population. Paris is divided into twelve arrondissements, called municipal arrondissements, in each of which is a mayor with two assistants. It is also distinguished from all other cities by having a prefect of police, who has very extensive functions, exercising all the multifarious duties of police within its precincts, having under his immediate orders the whole corps of police officers, the 48 commissaries of police belonging to Paris, and the corps of firemen.

The most comprehensive, though the least ancient order, Legion of Honour is that of the Legion d'Honneur; an order instituted by Napoleon Bonaparte, and maintained on nearly the same plan by the Bourbons. The usual title to admission is the discharge of functions, either civil or military, with distinction; and, in time of war, the performance of an action of eclat. The gradations are, chevaliers, of whom the number is unlimited, and very great; officiers, who amount to no more than 2300; commandeurs, grand officiers, and grand croix. A member must serve several years as a chevalier before becoming an officer, and the same progressively through the other ranks. Admissions take place once, and frequently twice, a-year; a specific number being allotted to each great department of the public service, the military, the judicial, and the administrative.

The other orders under the monarchy were, that of St Louis, which is strictly military; that of St Michel, which dates from 1469, is limited to a hundred members, and is conferred as a recompense for distinction in science, literature, or the arts. Eminent professional men and artists, and the authors of discoveries of public utility, constitute the members of this order. The order du St Esprit, created in 1578, and of the very highest rank, comprised princes of the blood, prelates, and members of the order of St Michel; the whole being limited to the number of a hundred.

XIV. LAW, AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.

In this great department France shows nothing of the backwardness apparent in her situation in many other respects, but is entitled to the particular attention of other nations, and of none more than our own. Law does not rest on tradition, nor is it necessary to study it in a never-ending accumulation of decisions. It is reduced to a compact and definite form, the result of a code formed recently, and with all the benefit of the application of the knowledge of an enlightened age to the principles of jurisprudence. Nothing could be more heterogeneous than the administration of justice in France before the revolution. The first stage of a process took place before judges appointed, not by the king, but by the seigneur or lord of the district. These judges had power to impose a fine, to decree a short imprisonment or other correctional punishment, and to give, in a civil suit, a decision subject to appeal. The seneschals and bailiffs ranked a degree higher, and were entitled to give a verdict in cases of importance, subject, however, to an appeal to one or other of the parliaments, of which there were in all thirteen in France; and which, very different from the parliaments with which we are familiar, were composed of judges and public officers of rank. The whole of this inharmonious mass was reduced into a simple and uni-

Preamble of the Constitution of 1852.

Monitor Universal, 15th January 1852. Statistics, form system by the National Assembly, in 1791. Indeed, on the famous night of the 4th August 1789, seignorial and ecclesiastical judges may be said to have been buried in the ruins of feudal institutions, and on the 24th August 1790 a system entirely new, and founded on the territorial division of the country, was instituted. The seignorial judges were replaced by justices of the peace, and every district of importance (arrondissement) obtained its court, or tribunal de première instance. The higher courts were not added till afterwards, but the judges of every description were elected by the inhabitants of the province, a right which continued with them until the rule of Bonaparte.

But there remained for the National Assembly another and a much more laborious work. Each province had its peculiar code, or coutumier, some founded on the Roman law, others on tradition and local custom, but the whole replete with ambiguity and discrepancy. To digest a complete body of law, that might suffice for the country at large, and supersede the provincial codes, was the labour of many years, and of a number of eminent lawyers. It was not completed until the beginning of the present century, when it was promulgated under Bonaparte, and gave to the jurisprudence and judicial constitution of France nearly the form they at present bear. This body of law consisted of five codes, entitled respectively, 1. Code Civil; 2. Code de Procédure Civile; 3. Code de Commerce; 4. Code d'Instruction Criminelle; 5. Code Pénal. To these have been added the Code Forestier, the Loi relative à la Peche Fluviale, and other laws too numerous to mention here. A Code Administratif (in which, however, some progress has been made since the work of Cormenin), a Code Militaire, and a Code Maritime are still wanting. The five codes were the result of the deliberations of the most eminent juriconsults, in which Napoleon himself took part, and aided the men of science by his genius, his vast experience, and intuitive sagacity.

The Code Civil, the first and by far the most comprehensive of these divisions, defines the rights of persons in their various capacities of citizens, parents, sons, daughters, guardians, minors, married, unmarried. It next treats of property in its respective modes of acquisition and possession, as inheritances, marriage portions, sales, leases, loans, bonds, and mortgages.

The Code de Procédure Civile prescribes the manner of proceeding before the different courts of justice, beginning with the juge de paix; also the mode of carrying into effect sentences, whether for the payment of damages, the distraining of goods, or the imprisoning of the party condemned. It declares likewise the course to be followed in transactions distinct from those of the law courts; as in arbitration, taking possession of an inheritance, or a separation of property between man and wife.

The Code de Commerce begins by defining the duties of certain officers or commercial agents, such as sworn brokers and appraisers; it next treats of partnerships; of sales and purchases; of bills of exchange; of shipping, freight, and insurance; of temporary suspensions of payment, and bankruptcies.

The Code d'Instruction Criminelle explains the duties of all public officers connected with the judicial police, whether mayors, assistants of mayors (adjoints), procureurs du roi, juges d'instruction, &c. After prescribing the rules regarding evidence, it regulates the manner of appointing juries, and the questions which fall within their competency. Its further dispositions relate to the mode and nature of appeals, and to the very unpopular courts authorized to try state offences, termed Cours Spéciales under Bonaparte, and Cours Prévotales under the Bourbons.

The Code Pénal describes the punishment awarded for offences in all the variety of gradation, from the penalties of the police correctionnelle to the severest sentence of the law. All offences are classed under two general heads; state offences, such as counterfeiting coins, resisting police officers, sedition, rebellion; and offences against individuals, as calumny, false evidence, manslaughter, murder.

These codes, the first attempt to reduce the laws of a great nation to the compass of a volume, consist of a number of sections and short paragraphs, each paragraph marked by a number, as a means of reference. The style is as concise as is compatible with clearness. The arrangement is minute and elaborate. The whole, together with Statistics, the Code Forestier and the Code de la Peche Fluviale, the work of the restoration, are sold for a few shillings, in the shape of an octavo or of two duodecimo volumes; and copies of it are in the possession, not only of all judges, pleaders, and attorneys, but of agents, merchants, and persons in business generally, who, without being enabled by it to dispense with the aid of lawyers in a suit, find in it a variety of useful explanations relative to questions of frequent occurrence in their respective occupations.

The juges de paix are very numerous, there being one for each Juges de canton, and consequently nearly three thousand in the kingdom. They never are, as in England, clergymen, and seldom country gentlemen, but persons acquainted with law, and in circumstances which make the salary, small as it is (from L50 to L40), an acceptable return for a portion of their time. They are sometimes provincial attorneys, or avocats retired from business. The juge de paix is authorized to pronounce finally under fifty francs, or L2; and in questions of greater amount up to a hundred francs, to give a decision subject to appeal. He takes cognizance likewise of disputes about tenants' repairs, servants' wages, and the displacing of the landmarks of property. No action can be brought before a court of justice in France until the plaintiff has summoned his adversary before a juge de paix, with an amicable intent (c'est-à-dire, amiable), and received from the juge a procès verbal, showing that the difference could not be adjusted. The number of juges de paix is about 3000, and their salaries amount to about two and a half millions of francs.

Of the Primary Courts there is one for every arrondissement, Primary making above three hundred and sixty for the whole of France' courts. Each is composed of three or four members, of two or three supérieurs, or assistant members, and of a procureur du roi acting on the part of the crown. In populous districts, cours première instance comprehend six, seven, eight, or more members, and are divided into two or three chambers. They are chiefly occupied with questions of civil law, and hold, in the extent of their jurisdiction, a medium between the limits of the juge de paix and the large powers of the cour royale; their decisions being final wherever the income from a property does not exceed forty shillings, or the principal forty pounds, but subject in greater matters to an appeal to the cour royale. The members of these inferior courts are named, like other judges, by the crown, and hold their places for life; the salary of each is only L80 a-year; their number throughout all France is about 1500, and the procureur-président is about 4500, and their salaries, in round numbers, amount to 6,000,000 francs.

A section of the Tribunal de Première Instance is also dedicated to the trial of offences, under the name of Tribunal de Police Correctionnelle; and here the English reader must be careful to distinguish between judicial and government police; the former having no reference to state offences, such as libel or treason, but comprehending a very numerous list of another kind, viz. all offences which do not amount to crimes, or subject the offender to a punishment officiel ou infamant. These offences, when slight, are called contraventions de police, and are brought before a juge de paix, or the mayor of the commune; when of a graver stamp, and requiring a punishment exceeding five days' imprisonment, or a fine of fifteen francs, they are brought before the court now mentioned, whose sentences, in point of imprisonment, may extend to the term of five years. The trespasses brought before a justice of the peace or mayor are such as damaging standing corn, driving incautiously in the highway, endangering a neighbour's property by neglecting repairs. The offences referred to the Tribunal Correctionnel are such as assault and battery, swindling, privately stealing, using false weights or measures, &c.

We now come to the higher courts of justice, which Cours equal in jurisdiction our courts in Westminster Hall and royales, on the circuit, but with the material distinction, that in France the civil courts are always stationary. The Cours Royales, in number twenty-seven, are attached to the chief provincial towns throughout the kingdom. They are all formed on the same model, and possessed of equal power, though differing materially in extent of business and number of members. The number of the latter depends on the population of the tract of country (generally three departments) subject to the jurisdiction of the court. In a populous quarter, like Normandy, a cour royale comprehends twenty, twenty-five, or even thirty judges, and is divided into three or four chambers, of which one performs the duty of an English grand jury, in deciding on the bills of Statistics. indictment (mises en accusation); another is for the trial of offences (police correctionnelle); and a third, with perhaps a fourth, is for civil suits. These courts are often called Cours d'Appel, as all the cases which come before them must have been previously tried by an inferior court. The collective number of judges in these higher courts is not short of twelve hundred; an aggregate hardly credible to an English reader, and which would prove a very serious charge on the public purse, were not their salaries very moderate, viz. from L100 to L300 a-year, according to the population of the town where the court is held. In the financial pressure of 1816 and 1817, a reduction of this numerous body was much called for; but no diminution was made in the number of the courts, whatever gradual decrease may be allowed to take place in the members from decease or retirement. The salaries of these 1200 magistrates do not annually exceed five millions of francs.

Paris does not, like London and Edinburgh, absorb almost all the civil business of the country. It has, it is true, a cour royale on a large scale (five chambers and fifty judges), but confined in its jurisdiction to the metropolis and the seven adjacent departments. There is a procureur du roi for every tribunal de première instance, and a procureur général for every cour d'appel.

Assize courts. The assize courts take cognizance exclusively of criminal cases; that is, of the crimes or serious offences referred to them by the cours royales. They consist, since 1837, in the departments where a court of appeal is situated, of three judges, members of the cours royales, but never belonging to the section that finds the indictments. The grand accompaniment of a French assize court is a jury, which, as in England, consists of twelve members, and decides on the facts of the case, leaving the application of the law to the judges. Complete unanimity was at no time necessary in a French jury. At first a majority of ten to two was required; but this was subsequently altered, in 1835, to a simple majority, with the qualification that, in case of condemnation by only two voices (given to five), the verdict should be re-considered by the judges, and the party acquitted, if, on taking judges and jurors collectively, there was a majority in his favour. The assizes are the only courts that are not stationary. They are generally held in the chief town of a department once in three months. The costs of suit are exactly defined by a printed tarif, and it is a rule in criminal as in civil cases, that the party condemned is liable in all expenses.

Courts spéciales. Tribunals de commerce. The special courts were constituted out of the usual course for the trial of state offences. The cours spéciales were appointed by Bonaparte, the prévôtes during the period of political effervescence (fortunately short-lived) which succeeded the second entry of the king; and the misfortunes brought on the nation by Bonaparte's return from Elba. In both cases the courts were considered as under the influence of government, and were of course obnoxious to the enlightened part of the public. The prévôtes courts established in 1815 were abolished in 1818.

The name of tribunal, or court, is given in France to a committee of five merchants, or leading tradesmen, appointed by the mercantile body in every town of considerable business or population. Their competency extends to all disputes occurring in mercantile business, and falling within the provisions of the code de commerce. Their decisions are founded on that code, and on the customs of merchants. They are final in all cases below L40. The presence of three members is necessary to form a court. The duty is performed gratuitously. There are about 220 special tribunals of commerce in France. The number of commercial affairs decided between 1844 and 1850 amounted to 201,207. The tribunal of commerce of the Seine determines about 50,000 commercial causes a-year. Lyon, in round numbers, 10,000; Rouen, 5000; Marseilles, 5000; Bordeaux, 3500.

Cour de cassation. The court of cassation, the highest in the kingdom, is held at Paris, and is composed of three chambers, each of fifteen members and a president, making, with the premier président, a procureur-général, and six avocats-généraux, a total of fifty-two. The three chambers are called chambre des requêtes, chambre de cassation civile, and chambre de cassation criminelle. Its province is to decide definitively in all appeals from the decrees of the cours royales; investigating not the facts of the case, but the forms of law, and ordering, wherever these have been infringed or deviated from, a new trial before another cour royale. This revision takes place in criminal as well as in civil cases. The royal court chosen for the new trial is generally, for the convenience of the parties, the nearest in situation to the other. The cour de cassation has farther powers, and of the highest kind. It determines all differences as to jurisdiction between one court and another, and exercises a control over every court in the kingdom. It has power to call the judges to account before the minister of justice, and even to suspend them from their functions; acting thus as a high tribunal for the maintenance of the established order of judicature.

The minister bearing the title of keeper of the seals and minister Ministry of Justice may be compared to the chancellor of England, though his patronage is much less extensive, and his functions much more suitable to the station of minister. He rarely acts as a judge, but exercises a general superintendence over the judicial body. He is the medium between the head of the state and the courts of justice, in the same way as the minister of the home department in regard to the civil authorities. The expenses of the judicial body fall under his cognizance. The procureurs-généraux and procureurs de réd throughout the kingdom address their correspondence to him; and it is his province to report to the king on the alleviation of punishment, or pardons; in short, on all disputed points, whether of legislation or administration.

Juries were introduced into France soon after the first revolution in 1789, and confined at first to criminal trials. After the revolution of 1830 all cases of libels were tried in the courts of assize by a jury. During several years there were in France grand juries constituted as in England; but under Bonaparte their functions were transferred to the cours royales, on the plea that none but judges could be made to understand the difference between bringing to trial and bringing to punishment; and that the consequence frequently was a discharge, when a true bill ought to have been found.

One of the chief improvements made by the French State of National Assembly was a general mitigation of the penal crime code, or rather the substitution of punishments likely to be enforced, for others of such severity as in general to put their application out of the question. Stealing privately in a dwelling-house was formerly punishable in France by the rack and death; an extreme which prevented respectable persons from bringing delinquents before a court, and thus tended to the increase of crime.

There still exists in France the singular practice of parties engaged in a law-suit visiting the judges in private; a practice originating in an age when suitors thought a personal interview the only effectual mode of explaining their case, and continued in more enlightened times from that over-complaisance which is the groundwork of several of the defects of the national character. Such interviews are little else than an exchange of compliments; nor have the judges ever been charged with acting under the influence of such ex parte statements.

The salaries of French judges must appear insignificant to an English reader; but there are in that country many men of small patrimony and good education who are disinclined to the exercise of trade or professions, but attach much importance to government employment; moreover, the functions of judges and of public officers in France encompass much less time than in England.

The law style of the French is much more brief than ours; their deeds, such as leases, mortgages, and sales, being generally contained in a very few pages, and free from obscure or antiquated phraseology.

Prior to the year 1825 there existed in France no authentic documents respecting the administration of criminal justice in France; and in order to know the nature and the number of the crimes committed during the preceding years, it would have been necessary to look back into the records of every prefecture throughout the country; and such a work, besides its extreme difficulty, would have been too incomplete to be of any utility.1 Within the last quar-

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1 See Essai sur la Statistique Morale de la France, par. A. M. Guerry, p. 5. Statistics. ter of a century, however, the statistics of crime and of criminal justice in France have been made familiar to the world by a series of official reports, in which the details of the criminal calendars throughout France are brought together and perspicuously arranged. In these reports, the crimes and offences brought under consideration are divided into three great branches: the first relating to such crimes as are tried before the courts of assize, with the assistance of a jury; the second to offences of minor importance, decided by correctional tribunals; and the third to such as are disposed of by the ordinary magistrates of police. Of 6962 persons tried in the courts of assize in the year 1830, 3910 were for crimes against property, and 1158 for crimes against the person. The proportion between the number of persons judicially accused of offences, and the general population of the kingdom was, in 1829, as one in 4521; and in 1830, as one in 4576. Of the 6962 brought to trial in 1830, 5608 were men, and 1354 were women. There were 5440 accusations brought before the courts of assize in 1853, affecting 7317 persons. Of these 2403 were for crimes against the person, and 4914 for crimes against property. If the number of accused persons in 1853 be compared with those of the two preceding years, a gradual diminution appears in the number accused of crimes against the person. In 1851 the number accused was 2773. In 1852 the number was reduced to 2487, and in 1853 to 2403. The number of crimes against property has on the contrary increased from year to year. From 4298 in 1851 the number increased to 4609 in 1852, and to 4914 in 1853.

The accusations, in the mean, from 1831 to 1835, were 7466; for the next 5 years, to 1840, 7885; and from 1840 to 1845, 7209. Of 7195 accused, 2031 were for crimes against the person, and 5164 for crimes against property, and 5898 were men, 1297 women. The proportion of persons criminally accused is generally 1 in 4500; the mean for 19 years being 1 to 4445. On 5000 condemned in each of four years, the following were the sentences:

| Death | 50 | 42 | 50 | 51 | |-------|----|----|----|----| | Perpetual hard labour | 178 | 174 | 196 | 209 | | Limited term | 930 | 918 | 929 | 961 | | Seclusion | 875 | 858 | 905 | 827 | | Banishment | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Imprisonment | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Civil degradation | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | Correctional penalties | 2946 | 2682 | 2777 | 2823 | | Correctional detention | 24 | 27 | 26 | 29 |

Of 100 accused, about 30 are acquitted. Most of the accused are illiterate, the women especially. Before 1840 there were 56 in 100 who could not read; after 1844 the number fell to 52. Between 1846 and 1850 crime augmented considerably, especially crimes of a heinous character.

The public peace is maintained by an armed police, or gendarmerie, partly on foot and partly mounted; and in all emergencies, when this force is found insufficient for the preservation or execution of the laws, the national guards and troops of the line may be called in to assist, being, however, subject to the orders of the police.

In France, the prisons, which constitute an important department of the criminal police, are under the special direction of the minister of the interior. His delegates are the prefects; and the jailors or governors of the prisons are called directors. In every city containing a prison there is an inspector-general, who attends to the proper distribution of the provisions, and sees that they are of good quality; he daily visits the prisons, listens to the complaints of the prisoners, and attends to their comforts. The departmental prisons are for the confinement of debtors, for persons to be brought to trial for crimes, and for those who are condemned to imprisonment for a shorter period than a year. The annual expense of these prisons makes part of the budget of the minister of the interior. The other prisons (maisons centrales) are nineteen, for the confinement of prisoners whose sentence is for a longer term than a year.

It is estimated that during the last thirty years the mere building of prisons in France has cost more than 60,000,000 francs, and that the maintenance of these prisons has cost annually 12,000,000 fr., including the support of 100,000 détenus of all categories of crime. More than 4,000,000 francs has been annually paid for the expenses of prosecutions, and a like sum for the expense of police and surveillance. Labour was carried on in the prisons of France antecedently to the revolution of 1848, though several complaints were made of the rivalry thereby encouraged with legitimate trade. For instance, the Chamber of Commerce of Troyes complained to the minister of the interior of the ruinous rivalry produced by the prison labour of the Maison Centrale de Clairvaux, where 2000 détenus were confined, and chiefly employed in the fabrication of bonnetière. In the Maison Centrale of Melun a great manufactory of ironmongery was established. In the penitentiary of St Germain they made hats and horn buttons; and a printing-office also was established, where, among other things, the Moniteur was cheaply reprinted. In 1848 the provisional government suspended prison labour, but this decree had no other effect than to throw the prison into disorder. By a law of the 9th January 1849, labour in prisons was under certain restrictions renewed. The average price of a day's work is five pence. The labour of 11,865 men in the 21 maisons centrales of France has a value of 1,749,000 fr.; that of 3457 women 400,000 fr., forming a total of 2,100,000 fr., a small sum when compared with the products of free labour. The produce of prison labour is thus divided:—Those condemned to travaux forces receive 3-10ths, the reclusionnaires 4-10ths, the correctionnels 5-10ths.

FRENCH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

The weights and measures of France were reduced, as is well known, to a very simple and uniform scale soon after the first revolution; but there has been much difficulty in accustomed the inhabitants, particularly in country districts, to the adoption of the new system, which unluckily preserved none of the names with which they were familiar. In 1812 a kind of compromise took place, government sanctioning the retention of the old names, such as pounds, ounces, ells, and bushels; but requiring that their contents should be calculated by a reference to the new standard. It is accordingly on this footing that business is now transacted in France. The new weights and measures are in general larger by a fraction than the old, and the use of the latter is prohibited by law.

The fundamental standard adopted in France for the metrical system of weights and measures, is a quadrant of the meridian; that is to say, the distance from the equator to the north pole. This quadrant is divided into ten millions of equal parts, and one of these parts or divisions is called a Mètre, which is adopted as the unit of length; and from it by decimal multiplication and division all the other measures are derived.

The length of this quadrant was ascertained by MM. Delambre and Méchain, by measuring an arc of the meridian between the parallels of Dunkirk and Barcelona, and has been found to contain 5,130,740 French toises, or 32,808,992 English feet. This number divided by ten millions gives 3,280,8992 English feet, or 39,37079 English inches very nearly, for the true length of the French mètre. In order to express the decimal proportions, the following vocabulary of names has been adopted:

For multipliers the prefix Déca means 10 times. - Hecto ... 100 times. - Kilo ... 1,000 times. - Myria ... 10,000 times.

For divisors the prefix Déc expresses \(\frac{1}{10}\)th part. - Centi ... \(\frac{1}{100}\)th part. - Milli ... \(\frac{1}{1,000}\)th part.

It may assist the memory to observe that the prefixes for multiplying are Greek, and those for dividing Latin; thus, décimètre means 10 metres, and décimètre \(\frac{1}{10}\)th of a metre; hectomètre means 100 metres, and centimètre \(\frac{1}{100}\)th of a metre; kilomètre means 1,000 metres, and millimètre \(\frac{1}{1,000}\)th of a metre. The metre (as before stated) is the element or prime unit of long measure, and is equal to 39.37079 English inches.

The Are, which is a square décimètre (or 100 square metres), is the elemental unit of square or superficial measure. It is equal to 119.6033 square yards, or very nearly \(4\frac{1}{2}\) parts of an acre.

The Stere, which is a cubic metre, is the elemental unit of solid measure, and equal to 35.3166 cubic feet English, or nearly 35\(\frac{1}{2}\) cubic feet.

The Litre, which is the cubic décimètre, is the elemental unit of all liquid measures, and of all other measures of capacity. It is equal to 61.02705 cubic inches, or is very nearly \(1\frac{1}{4}\)ths or \(3\frac{3}{8}\)ths of an imperial gallon.

Lastly, the Gramme, which is the weight of a cubic centimetre of distilled water at its temperature of greatest condensation, is the elemental unit of all weights, and is equal to 15.4325 grams troy, or \(\frac{1}{2}\) of an avoirdupois dram nearly.

### Tables of French Weights and Measures, with their values in the English Imperial Standards.

#### LINEAL MEASURE.

| Metric Unit | Inches | Feet | |-------------|--------|------| | Millimètre | -03937079 | | | Centimètre | -3937079 | | | Décimètre | -3937079 | | | Mètre | -3937079 | | | Décamètre | -3280859 | | | Hectomètre | -3280859 | | | Kilomètre | -3280859 | | | Miriamètre | -3280859 | |

#### SUPERFICIAL MEASURE.

| Metric Unit | Sq. Yards | Sq. Feet | Sq. Inches | |-------------|-----------|----------|------------| | Centiare | 1.196033 | 10.7643 | 1550.059 | | Déciare | 11.96033 | | | | Are | 119.6033 | 1,024.7114 | 384 nearly. | | Décaro | 119.6033 | 2,471.14 | | | Hectare | 1190.33 | 2,471.14 | | | Killiare | 11903.9 | 2,471.14 | | | Miriare | 119033 | 2,471.14 | |

#### SOLID MEASURE.

| Metric Unit | Cubic Inches | Cubic Feet | Cubic Yards | |-------------|--------------|------------|-------------| | Centilitre | 610.2705 | 3.53166 | 1.30302 | | Décilitre | 6102.705 | 35.3166 | 13.0302 | | Litre | 61027.05 | 353.166 | 130.302 | | Décalitre | 610270.5 | 3531.66 | 1303.02 | | Hectolitre | 6102705 | 35316.6 | 13030.2 | | Mirilitre | 6102705 | 353166 | 130302 |

#### MEASURE OF CAPACITY.

| Metric Unit | Cubic Inches | Gallons | |-------------|--------------|---------| | Centilitre | -6182705 | | | Décilitre | -6102705 | | | Litre | -6102705 | | | Décalitre | -6102705 | | | Hectolitre | -6102705 | | | Mirilitre | -6102705 | |

#### MEASURE OF WEIGHT.

| Metric Unit | Grams Troy | |-------------|------------| | Centigramme | -154325 | | Décigramme | -154325 | | Gramme | -154325 | | Décagramme | -154325 | | Hectogramme | -154325 | | Kilogramme | -154325 | | Miragramme | -154325 |

The following are some near approximations to the values of the weights and measures of most frequent occurrence.

- **Mètre** about... 1 yard 3 inches. - **Décamètre**... 11 yards. - **Hectomètre**... \(1\frac{1}{2}\) mile. - **Kilomètre**... \(4\) or more nearly \(4\frac{1}{2}\) mile.

One of the old measures frequently used, the toise, is = 2 yards 5 inches.

- **Are** about... \(1\frac{1}{2}\) acre. - **Décaro**... \(1\) acre, or 1 rood. - **Hectare**... \(2\frac{1}{2}\) acres. - **Décistère**... \(3\frac{1}{2}\) cubic feet. - **Stere**... \(1\frac{1}{2}\) cubic yards. - **Decastère**... \(13\frac{1}{2}\) cubic yards. - **Litre** about... \(1\) or \(1\frac{1}{2}\) gallon. - **Décalitre**... \(2\frac{1}{2}\) gallons. - **Hectolitre**... \(22\) gallons, or \(2\frac{1}{2}\) bushels. - **Mirialitre**... \(3\frac{1}{2}\) quarters. - **Gramme**... \(1\) dram avoird. - **Décagramme**... \(1\) oz. avoird. - **Hectogramme**... \(3\frac{1}{2}\) oz. - **Kilogramme**... \(2\frac{1}{2}\) lbs. - **Quintal**, or 100... is \(3\frac{1}{2}\) lbs. less than 2 cwt. - **Kilogrammes**... \(1\)

### FRENCH MONEY.

The French monetary unit of value is the FRANC, which in the gold coinage of 20 and 40 franc pieces is equal in value to 9.525 pence sterling, and in the silver coinage of francs and five-franc pieces is = 9.705 pence; but the common rate of exchange is twenty-five francs for one sovereign, which gives the value of a franc = 9\(\frac{3}{8}\) pence sterling.

- Centime... = -0964 = -384 farthing = \(1\frac{1}{2}\) farthing nearly. - Décime... = -0964 = -384 farthing = \(3\frac{3}{8}\) farthing. - Franc... = -9.64 = -93 pence. - Five-franc piece... = 4 shillings. - Napoléon or 20-franc piece... = 16 shillings.

In reducing French money to English, from any number of francs subtract their fifth part, and the remainder will be their value in shillings. Or multiply the francs by four, point off the two right-hand figures of the product for decimals, and the result will be their value in pounds and decimals of a pound sterling.

(A. V. K.)