French supervision than under native rule. The revenue and expenditure are reported in a statement of the president to have been for the year ending with June, 1882, 12,562,750 and 9,760,000 francs respectively. Of the expenditure the interest and administration of the debt are given as 7,530,100 francs. The cost of the general administration of the country is stated at about 1,750,000 francs more than before the occupation. The cost of maintaining the French army of occupation is given in an extraordinary budget as 1,500,000 francs. The expense is borne partly by Tunis and partly by the French Government.

The Bey has a regular army of 2,000 or 3,000 men and an irregular army of some 10,000, comprising 3,000 Karouglis, the descendants of the Turkish Janizaries, 5,000 zouaves, 1,500 mounted spahis, and 500 gendarmes. The army is deplorably equipped. The French have organized twelve mixed companies, half of French and half of native soldiers.

The French army of occupation numbers 11,000 infantry, 1,600 cavalry, and 800 artillery with 12 batteries.

The foreign commerce is carried on mainly with Italy, France, and Great Britain. The imports average about $5,500,000, the exports $6,500,000. The chief articles of export are

alfa, or Esparto-grass, for making paper, which is shipped largely to Great Britain, and oliveoil; after which come olives, sponges, legumes, wool, cattle, salted fish, dates, fezes, wax, etc. There were about 166 miles of railroad and 600 miles of telegraphs July 1, 1882.

The administration of the country is practically under the direction of the French resident, or chargé d'affaires. The French Government appointed numerous commissioners to examine into the various details of the administration and devise plans of improvement. The country is divided into twenty-two sections, each of which is under the command of a French military officer. In August, 1882, French judges were appointed to supersede the consular courts, but before they could enter upon their functions the consent of the great powers to the abrogation of the capitulations was necessary. Great Britain objected, but after the Egyptian occupation consented, in

1883.

19,950 8,653

Guadeloupe and dependencies..

St.-Pierre and Miquelon..

New Caledonia and dependencies.....
Tahiti and dependencies....

The subventions from the French Government amounted to 1,253,000 francs, leaving 37,799,000 francs as the total revenue raised in the colonies. If the total colonial budget of 30,696,000 francs and credits entered in the naval budget are added, the total colonial expenditures amounted to 98,495,000 francs. The total area of the colonies and protectorates, exclusive of Algeria and Tunis, is 547,912 square kilometres; their population, 4,222,654.

The tonnage entered at French ports in 1882 was 12,448,385, 4,024,296 French and 8,424,089 foreign, as against 11,882,471 tons, 3,919,562 French and 7,962,909 foreign, in 1881; tonnage cleared, 7,852,615, 3,577,567 of French and 4,275,048 of foreign registry, as against 7,539,022 tons, 3,354,915 French and 4,184,107 foreign, in 1881.

In the first class the imports of cereals amounted in 1882 to 596 millions, against 5744 millions in 1881, the exports to 100%, against 131 millions; fermented drinks were imported to the value of 399, against 406 millions, and exported to the value of 3251, against 329 millions; the net imports of tobacco were 25, against 27 millions in value; of seeds, fruits, etc., 155, against 175 millions; of animals and animal food products, 86, against 126 millions. In the class of raw materials, the imports of fuel amounted to 183, against 173 million francs; of raw metals, to 136, against 133 millions; of skins, hair, and leathers, to 2248, against 215 millions, and the exports to 218, against 202 millions; of textile materials, to 986, against 1,032 millions, and exports to 878, against 377 millions; of timber, etc., to 285, against 241 millions. The increase in the value of manufactured articles imported was principally in machinery and metals and in yarns. The exports of pottery and glass were 401, against 39 millions in value; of machinery and metal manufactures, 151, against 146 millions; of leather manufactures, nearly 180, against 179 millions; of yarns, about 48 millions in both years; of textile fabrics, clothing, etc., nearly 904, against 817 millions; of paper and paper manufactures, about 25 millions in both years; of wood and straw products, about 43, against 53 millions; of jewelry and works of art, 241, against 300 millions; of books, etc., 24, against 28 millions.

The exports for the first eight months of 1883 showed a falling off of 82 millions as compared with the same period in 1882, while the imports showed an increase of 112 million francs. There was an increased importation of articles of food and a continued increase in the imports of raw stuffs, plant, and halfmanufactured goods. There was a decrease in the exports of manufactured products amounting to 80 million francs, which was largely due to the disturbances in Tonquin and Madagascar, causing importing merchants in England and other countries to withhold orders, in expectation of a decline of the market.

The question whether France has entered upon a period of commercial decline has recently been a subject of controversy among French economists. In the ten years from 1873 to 1882, the imports increased in total value from 3,554 to 4,972 million francs, while the exports decreased from 3,787 to 3,596 millions. The imports of corn and wine increased from 257 to 876 millions; manufactured products from 384 to 673 millions, or 75 per cent., the articles in which the increase was greatest being machines and boilers, tools, woolen and cotton fabrics, and glass. The export of French manufactures shows some increase since 1878, but is still 171 millions behind the amount in 1873. The decrease is mainly in turned goods, toys, brushes, and silk fabrics. In the first three, Germany and

Austria compete with the Parisian industry, which suffers an annual loss of 70 millions in the value of the exports. The value of silkmanufactures export was 176 millions less than in 1873. In woolens, on the other hand, there was an increase. Those who belong to the free-trade school take the more hopeful view of the situation, and believe that the removal of tariff restrictions would open foreign markets again to the products of French industry. The increase in imports they consider an evidence of accumulated wealth invested abroad, and compare France in this respect with Great Britain and Belgium.

The destruction of the vineyards by the phylloxera was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the prosperity of France. There are indications, however, that the worst period is past, and that this new enemy of the vine will be brought under control like the oidium, which was still more destructive than the phylloxera, reducing the vintage, when it first attacked the vines in 1853'56, to 15,000,000 and even 10,000,000 hectolitres. French viticulture survived this severer stroke, and gradually recovered, until in 1875 the wine-harvest attained the unprecedented figure of 83,000,000 hectolitres.

The industrial expansion of Germany, Austria, Italy, the United States, and other countries, encouraged by protective tariffs, is the element with which the manufacturing industries of France have to reckon. The energetic band of free-trade advocates in France argue that the adoption of restrictive and retaliatory measures by their country has greatly contributed to the difficulties of French industry; that the effect of refusing to receive the products of other countries in payment for French exports is to close those markets against French products, and that a return to the principles of the Cobden treaty would be the best means to enable the highly finished and therefore profitable products of French skill to maintain their position in the world's market. The industrial development of Central Europe falls in a large measure within the most recent commercial period. The effect of this new competition is most keenly felt by French manufacturing interests. In the development of the factory system, and the organization of production on a great scale, Germany has made greater strides than France. As long as labor is cheaper in Central and Southern Europe it is only the qualities of taste, art, and finish which enable French manufactures to hold the foreign markets, qualities which are least in demand in times of agricultural disasters and industrial stagnation, like those through which Europe has recently passed. The effect of the industrial development in Germany is seen in the returns of French foreign commerce, according to which an excess of French exports to Germany of 42,000,000 in 1876 changed to an excess of nearly 75,000,000 on the other side in 1878; between which year and 1881 the French exports to Germany increased from 343,750,

000 to 383,000,000 francs, and German imports into France at an equal pace from 418,333,000 to 454.375,000. The exports of silk manufactures and dress materials to Great Britain fell from 250,000,000 in 1865 to 114,000,000 in 1881; those to Germany from 23,000,000 to 21,000,000, while imports of German silks increased from 1,000,000 to 12,000,000. The exports of articles of dress and leather manufactures to the United States declined 30 per cent. in the same period.

The production of wine in France, which increased from 29,000,000 hectolitres in 1880 to 34,000,000 in 1881, fell off in 1882 to 30,886,352 hectolitres, 16,054,830 hectolitres below the average crop of the previous ten years. The vines suffered from the extension of the phylloxera and from the long prevalence of bad weather. The vineyards destroyed by the phylloxera have been to a considerable extent replanted with American vine-stocks, which are vigorous enough to resist the parasite.

The phylloxera appeared in 1882 for the first time in Seine-et-Marne, Cantal, Indre-et-Loire, Vendée, and Haute-Vienne, making altogether fifty departments visited by the plague. The area attacked comprised nearly half the vinelands of these departments. The vine-growers at first opposed the official investigation and concealed the symptoms of the malady. Subsequently they adopted the plan of prevention invented by Pasteur, but no system of comprehensive treatment, either official or cooperative, could be agreed upon. Some twelve thousand wine-raisers formed combinations for common action.

Posts and Communications.-The number of post-offices in 1881 was 6,158, against 5,913 in 1880; number of letters carried in 1881, 569,910,358; postal-cards, 32,224,239; letters with declared valuable inclosures, 11,327,262; journals, 345,364,572; circulars, etc., 378,075,770; total deliveries, 1,336,902,201; receipts in 1880, 112,683,458 francs; in 1881, 123,472,000 francs; expenses in 1880, 79,431,712 francs; in 1881, 81,898,988 francs.

The state telegraph stations in 1881 numbered 5,481. The length of lines at the end of that year was 73,878 kilometres, comprising 69,638 kilometres of overhead lines with 216,873 kilometres of wire, 685 kilometres of subterranean lines with 12,521 kilometres of wire, 3,452 kilometres of submarine lines with 3,663 kilometres of wire, and 103 kilometres of pneumatic tubes; total length of wires, 233,057 kilometres. The number of internal telegrams in 1881 was 17,514,147; of international, 1,952,017; receipts in 1880, 25,612,399 francs; expenses, 31,141,178 francs; receipts in 1881, 29,095,048 francs; expenses, 32,222,642 francs.

There were in operation on Jan. 1, 1883, 26,287 kilometres of railroad lines of general interest, comprising 2,084 kilometres of state lines, 22,282 of lines of companies, and 1,921 of non-subventioned lines, besides 2,305 kilometres of lines of local interest, and 212

kilometres of industrial lines; total length of lines, 28,804 kilometres.

By the law of June 11, 1842, the work of building railroads was left to companies, superintended, and when necessary assisted, by the state. Two classes of lines were distinguished from each other-the one, called the old net-work, consisting of the principal avenues of traffic; and the other, the new network, of secondary routes of doubtful profitableness, constructed for public utility. To the latter 4 per cent. interest and 0.65 per cent. for a sinking fund were guaranteed. The French railroads are almost entirely in the hands of six great companies-the Paris-Mediterranean, owning 4,483 kilometres of the old and 1,543 of the new net-work; the Paris-Orleans, owning 2,017 of the old and 2,342 of the new; the Northern, possessing 1,311 kilometres in the first system and 668 of guaranteed; the Western, with 900 and 2,216 kilometres respectively; the Southern, with 796 and 1,518; the Eastern, with 754 and 2,007. Of the 10,315 kilometres in the old net-work the remaining 54, and the remaining 3,245 out of the 13,539 kilometres which constitute the new net-work, belong to other companies.

Railroad Conventions. - The most important transaction of the session, which closed August 2d, was the conclusion of the long-deferred conventions with the railroad companies. The arrangements involve the virtual abandonment of the Freycinet project for nationalization of the whole system of French railroads and its completion by the state. The reasons given for departing from this cherished and already partly executed scheme were, that the state of the public finances in the present conditions of the money market would not permit of the necessary financial operations and the simultaneous conversion of the public debt on favorable terms. The transfer of the railroads to the Government would require no capital outlay; but the execution of the Freycinet scheme of connecting and strategic roads at the sole cost of the Government would necessitate the raising of new loans. The conventions require the six great companies to construct about 9,000 kilometres of new railroads within ten years, about 1,000,000,000 francs of the cost to be borne by the companies, and the remaining 750,000,000 or 800,000,000 francs by the Government. The French railroad companies are influential because their enormous capital is in few hands, in those of the magnates of finance, a circumstance which subjects them to jealous popular animosity, and any Government and Chamber which has dealings with them to suspicion. Notwithstanding the stringent control preserved by the Government, they have succeeded in exacting disproportionate rates for the poorest service in Europe. The conventions, while perpetuating the monopoly, secure an abatement of the grievances. The question of differential tariffs was much discussed, and the proposal of uniform rates finally

condemned. Reductions in freight-rates for the benefit of exporting manufacturers was secured, and also general reductions in freight and passenger tariffs, conditional on proportional remissions in the Government taxes on fast-traffic rates. The share of the Government in the profits was also considerably increased by altering the amount of the maximum dividend and the percentage beyond it which accrues to the state. The railroads are guaranteed against concessions for rival parallel lines; and on the other hand the right of the ultimate acquisition of the railroads was preserved for the state.

The Army. The reorganization of the French ariny under the law of July 27, 1872, and the supplementary acts of July 24, 1873, March 13, 1875, and March, 1882, is nearly completed. Every Frenchman capable of bearing arms is required to train in the army, and may be called into service between the age of twenty and that of forty years. Exemption, according to the original intention of the law, was not to be allowed except for physical unfitness. Every Frenchman, on reaching the age of twenty, is enrolled in the active army, in which the period of service is five years, passing then for four years into the reserve of the active army. For the next five years he forms part of the territorial army, and for six years more is enrolled in the reserve of the territorial army. Besides those unfitted by physical infirmity, the eldest sons or grandsons of widows and aged fathers are exempt by law; pupils in the polytechnic and forestry schools, teachers in the public schools, professors in various institutions, artists who have gained prizes, and ecclesiastics, are exempt under certain conditions; and all who contribute to the support of families, or are engaged in studies, may be provisionally exempted by municipal councils. One-year volunteers are admitted upon passing an examination and paying 1,500 francs toward their clothing and maintenance. At the end of one year's service with the colors, all who have become proficient, and can read and write, may receive indefinite leave of absence. The active army and its reserve are drawn from and distributed over all parts of France, while the territorial army is divided into bodies corresponding to the localities from which its recruits are drawn, and the country is divided and subdivided into districts to which the greater and lesser bodies are attached.

The infantry are armed with the Gras rifle, an improvement on the Chassepot, with metal cartridges. The cavalry carry carbines. The field-artillery have breech-loading guns in caststeel of eighty and ninety millimetres' caliber.

The organization at present permits of placing in the field 24 army corps in the first line and 8 in the second line.

The troops in active service numbered 502,786 men, with 124,977 horses, in 1883, divided as follows:

288,568

68,722

11,696

2,834

There were organized 468 battalions of active infantry, 435 battalions of territorial infantry, and 3634 battalions of fortress infantry, depot troops, and other infantry bodies, altogether 1,266 battalions, numbering 1,266,500 men; 392 active squadrons, including 77 at the depots, and 79 territorial squadrons of cavalry, together 471 squadrons, containing 70,650 men; and 312 field-batteries, including 8 of marine, 57 of horse-artillery, 76 depot batteries, 57 batteries of fortress artillery, and 38 territorial field-batteries, altogether 540 batteries, with 2,952 guns, numbering 180,000 men. Adding 45,000 engineers, 26,000 in the active and 19,000 in the territorial army, and 5,000 pontonniers, the total strength of the army on a war footing is 1,567,150, and, including the auxiliary services, 1,780,300 men, of which number 1,186,300 belong in the active and 594,000 in the territorial army.

The increase and enlargement of the fortresses, notably the innumerable blockade fortresses erected on the German frontier, necessitate an augmentation of the artillery. A law passed in the session of 1883 raises the peace footing of this arm 8,840 men, and provides for the increase of the batteries of stationary artillery ready for mobilization from 57 to 190. The complete separation of the field and fortress artillery, accomplished in the German army, is not carried out. The two branches of the arm are, however, divided into separate battalions. The cost of the augmentation was partly met by abolishing the active artillery train. The difference is scarcely felt in an army budget for 1883 of 584,000,000 francs, and supplementary estimates of 81,000,000 francs. The willingness of the French people to endure sacrifices for the re-establishment of their military power is shown by the calmly received statement of Minister Billot that the replacement of war material since the war had cost 2,289,000,000 francs, and would require 300,000,000 more.

The Navy. The navy, at the beginning of 1882, had 57 iron-clad steamers, with 481 guns; 264 unarmored screw-steamers, with 1,547 guns; 62 side-wheel steamers, with 154 guns; and 113 sailing-vessels, with 672 guns; altogether 496 vessels, with 2,854 guns. The ironclads of the first class were 26 in number; of the second class, 18; coast-guards, 6; floating batteries, 7. The most powerful of the ironclads are the Dévastation, Foudroyant, and Admiral Duperré, all constructed on the same model, mainly of steel, 312 feet long, the first two with 14-inch armor, and carrying four 38

Finance.-The accounts of 1870 and 1871 were balanced with a surplus of 113,730,053 francs. The accounts of 1872, 1873, and 1874 were closed with deficits amounting to the sum of 191,264,128 francs. The budget of 1875 shows 98,204,823 francs excess of receipts; that of 1876, 98,204,823 francs; that of 1877, 63,811,309 francs; that of 1878, 62,356,879 francs; that of 1879, 96,207,185 francs; that of 1880, 134,450,970 francs; that of 1881, 70,793,882 francs. The budget of 1882 presents a deficit of 47,397,195 francs. The estimates for 1883, after the presentation of an extraordinary budget of 800,000,000 francs, showed an excess of expenditures incurred by the Government over the credits voted, amounting to 100,000,000 francs. It was stated in the debates that the expenditures on war material and fortifications since the war had amounted to 2 milliards, and those on public works to 14 milliards. The total expenditures, according to the closed accounts for 1869, amounted in that, the last normal year under the empire, to 1,740,000,000 francs. The greatly increased and still increasing expenditures under the republic, due mainly to the greatly augmented public debt, but to a considerable extent to increased expenditures on the army, and for various other objects, were partly covered by the increased yield of the direct taxes, yet chiefly by the imposition of new indirect taxes, such as sugar, wine, salt, and railroad imposts.

The practice of presenting nearly balanced budgets, and in the final accounts, published a number of years afterward, disclosing large deficits, did not originate with the ministers of the republic, but has been followed by all the governments of France since the Restoration. The public debt of France before the German War was largely the result of this process.

The state of the public finances has given rise to serious alarm for several years past. The prudent and economical financial management of M. Thiers and the other statesmen