1 823.] Novelties of Foreign Literature. 



thclslfdonas.withamimberofvalu- nations, need not be traced 

 able and important coJonics. 



Kinn-dom of France.—The surface of 

 its territory has been computed at 

 !0,264 geoj^rapliical square miles, (an 

 official return of 1818 fixes the super- 

 ficies of the Ivingdom, without in- 

 cluding Corsica, at 51,910,062 metri- 

 cal acres, with 12,791,000 proprietors.) 

 The population, in 1819, was rated at 

 29,327,388 individuals ; thus allowing 

 2,a37 inhabitants to every square mile. 

 (The enumeration made in the spring 

 of 1820, for the military conscription, 

 produced a total of 29,052,690 inha- 

 bitants.) 



Prior to the revolution, France, in its 

 geographical delineation, was divided 

 Those divisions, with 



337 

 How 

 different from its present state the 

 resources and means of opulence, pub- 

 lic and private, which the island exhi- 

 bited thirty years ago! 2. Martini- 

 que. 3. Guadaloupe, with its depen- 

 dencies. 4. French Guiana, with 

 Cayenne. 5. The isles of St. Pierre 

 and Miquelon, in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence. 



II. Colonies in the East Indies, and on 

 the coasts of Africa 



into provinces, 

 their ancient names, were abrogated 

 by a decree of the Constituent Assem- 

 bly, and a partition into departments 

 adopted, which is more geographical, 

 as ascertaining, with precision, the 

 districts of boundaries taken from the 

 nature of the country, collated with 

 the adjacent rivers, streams, moun- 

 tains, &c. By the alterations which 

 the country underwent, agreeably to 

 the last treaties, France is now di- 

 vided into eighty-six departments. 



During the wars of the revolution, 

 England, profiting by the embarrass- 

 ments and internal troubles of France, 

 which it also contrived to excite, 

 seized and secured the French colo- 

 nies. 'J'his was in the spirit of tliat 

 rivality and opposition which has ever 

 reigned between the monarchies, but 

 it was the transitory eclat of a military 

 occupation ; and, by the late treaties, 

 they have been in part restored. An 

 official document of 1819, here an- 

 nexed, will more i)articularly illustrate 

 the parts into which the French ultra- 

 marine possessions are subdivided. 



I. Colonies in the West Indies. 



1. St. Domingo, the second island of 

 the American Archipelago, in which, 

 for the present at lea.st, the negroes 

 maintain a kind of balance of power 

 among otlicr independent states. After 

 a general subversion, a series of un- 

 |iarulU'l(!d cireunistances, in which all 

 the passions of depraved minds were 

 combined, a new xystem is founded 

 which professes to coiisrilidatc tiie 

 principle.i of liberty. 'J'lic name of the 

 island has been changed into that of 

 Jlayli, wliicli It had pn;vious to its 

 diijcovery. The fatal ellects of intes- 

 tine w;ir, that dreadful .scourge of 



Mo.sriiLY Ma(5. Nil. 381. 



1, Pondichcrri, on the coast of 

 Coromandel. 2. Karikal. 3. Mahe. 

 4. Yauaon. 5. Masulipatan. 6. 

 Chandcrnagore. 7. Factories in Ben- 

 gal, at Patua, Cassimbazar, Balasore, 

 Jongdia, and Dacca. 8. Isles of Bour- 

 bon and Madagascar. 9. Senegal and 

 its dependencies; also the isle of St, 

 Louis and the isle of Gorec. 



The colonial possessions in the East 

 Indies are rated at 



Miles Inhabitants 



29 50,000 



In Africa 140 92,0t)O 



In North America ..•• 6,13-2 2,100 



In the West Indies ..•• 583 658,000 



In Soulh America •••• 610 33;50O 



835,600 



1,368,182 



The completion of this arrangement 

 determines the superficies of the whole 

 French monarchy at 11,632 miles, and 

 its population at 30,162,988 inha- 

 bitants. 



The following enumeration, applica- 

 ble to France, properly so called, will 

 ascertain, with tolerable exactness, the 

 different constituents into which its sur- 

 face has been distributed; 117,480,561 

 acres for the total superficies, of which 

 26,919 are of loam, 23,351,000 of 

 heaths and wastes, 12,930,000 of 

 chalk, 3,850,000 of gravel, 17,410,000 

 of rock and stone, 23,100,000 moun- 

 tainous ; and 7,900,000 of sandy land.s. 

 One part of France has been long con- 

 sidered as ill adapted to the culture of 

 grain or corn; but all the rest show a 

 degree of excellence in general, and a 

 peculiar applicability to that culture. 



The lands in a state of actual culti- 

 vation do not exceed 62,360,000 acres, 

 of which vineyards occupy 4,764,960. 

 The vine abounds in lands that are ex- 

 tremely poor, such as would resist the 

 best forms of culture in any other mode, 

 and would necessardy IxMuarked with 

 the evils of sterility. An advantage, 

 which every friend to his country naist 

 leel, in rellecting on IIk- express design 

 of nature in this benefit, thereby reme- 

 A. x djiuf 



