FLAUADT, COUNT. 



1 l.AHAUT DE LA. BILLARDERIE. Au- 

 ot'dTK CiiAictES JosEpn, Count do, a French 

 general, diplomatist, Senator, and Grand (Hun- 



( -v -llor of tin- Legion of Honor, born in Paris, 

 April 20, 1785 ; died there April 24, 1870. Tho 

 i ii general of the first Revolution, ho en- 

 1 at the age of fifteen years in a volunteer 

 . :t\ ulry corps to accompany the First Consul 

 Italy. He rose rapidly in military rank. 

 IK- was successively aide-de-camp to Murat, to 

 luTthior, and to Napoleon; he fought with 

 distinction in Portugal, Germany, and Russia, 

 and was promoted to he both brigadier and 

 major general in 1813, with the added title of 

 count, being at this time only twenty-eight 

 years old. During the "hundred days," he 

 was made a peer of France, and opposed with 

 great warmth the proposition of Lucien Bona- 

 parte in favor of Napoleon II. The Prince de 

 Talleyrand was adroit enough to secure the 

 omission of his name from the list of exiles at 

 the second return of the Bourbons, but he pre- 

 ferred to absent himself from the country. In 

 1830 he returned, again took his place in the 

 army, and was raised to the dignity of a peer 

 of France. He was made an oflicer of the 

 household of the Duke of Orleans, and specially 

 attached to his person, until his untimely death. 

 Subsequently he was assigned to diplomatic 

 duties, and from 1842 to 1848 was ambassador 

 to Vienna. After the coup d'etat, he was made 

 a Senator, December 31, 1852. As major-gen- 

 eral, he was in 1849 placed on the reserved 

 list. Oonnt de la Biltarderie was promoted to 

 be a Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor in 

 1838, and in January, 1864, as a representative 

 of the first and second empires, was made grand- 

 chancellor of the order. 



FLORIDA. The population of this State, 

 according to the census of 1870, is 189,995. 

 In 1860 it was 140,424; showing an increase 

 within the last ten years of little less than 

 50,000, or nearly 40 per cent. This increase 

 does not equally belong to all the sections of the 

 State, some having gained more, some less, 

 during that period ; while several among them, 

 instead of gaining, have sustained consider- 

 able loss in the number of their inhabitants, 

 respectively. 



The "State encourages immigration by offering 

 such advantages to people abroad as to induce 

 them permanently to settle upon her soil. 

 The framers of the new constitution inserted 

 a provision in it, creating the office of " Com- 

 missioner of Immigration " He is the head 

 of a "Bureau of Immigration," designed to 

 " make known the merits of the State in re- 

 gard to climate and the productions of her 

 soil." 



On the meeting of the General Assembly on 

 January 4, 1870, the commissioner submitted 

 his annual report. He makes the following 

 statement : " The eastern portion of East Flori- 

 da is inferior to the western part of the same 

 section, and the whole of East Florida, as a 

 whole, is inferior to Middle and Western Flori- 



FLORIDA. 



297 



l.i. And, were equal facilities of access given, 

 there can bo no doubt that the superiority f 

 the central and western sections of the State 

 for the ra'iHing of all tho staple crops, and for 

 all ordinary fanning, would have attracted a 

 much larger share of immigration." It is well 

 known that tho middle and western portions 

 of Florida have some of tho finest lands for 

 agricultural purposes, and, withal, a climate 

 unsurpassed for delightfulncss and salubrity. 



Tho following are tho returns of tho census 

 of 1870 by counties: 



The aggregate amount of the bonded and 

 floating debt of the State, on January 1, 1870, 

 was scarcely one million dollars, which sum 

 includes all claims acquired against her before 

 and since the late war, for principal and inter- 

 est up to that date. Concerning the outstand- 

 ing liabilities of Florida, and her various re- 

 sources to meet them, besides some other 

 matters, more or less directly relating to her 

 finances, it seems proper to subjoin the fol- 

 lowing statement which Governor Reed, in 

 the spring of 1870, caused to be published: 



NEW YORK, March 28, 1870. 



On January 1, 1870, the State of Florida had an 

 outstanding bonded and floating debt of but $708,- 

 711.12. This includes tho bonded debt prior to the 

 war, the interest on tho debt during and since tho 

 war, the expenses of two Constitutional Conven- 

 tions held since the surrender, and all unpaid claims 

 against the government. Of this amount the Indian 

 Trust Fund at Washington holds $205,860, and the re- 

 mainder is held principally within the State. In addi- 

 tion to this, there is duo from the general fund, to the 



