318 



FEANCE. 



consumption in France and those exports which 

 are produced in France : 



The movement of shipping, in the year 1865, 

 was as follows : 



The merchant navy, Dec. 31,1865, comprised: 



Some interesting information on the state of 

 education in France is contained in the reports 

 of the committee appointed to inquire into the 

 condition of French agriculture with special 

 reference to the military reorganization bill 

 which was proposed by the government in 

 1867. It appears from these reports that in 



1848 the proportion of men liable to military 

 service who could neither read nor write was 

 38.12 per cent; in 1863, 28.61; and in 1866, 

 24.32 per cent. The proportion of uneducated 

 women is of course much greater ; in 1866 it 

 was 42.02 per cent. The amount of education 

 varies very much in the different departments. 

 In that of the Vosges 1.76 per cent, of the able- 

 bodied male population only are unable to read 

 or write, while in the Haute-Vienne the pro- 

 portion is 45.49 per cent. The number of vil- 

 lage, schools is increasing, but 694 out of the 

 37,548 communes are still without schools. In 

 1865 there were 440,000 children between the 

 ages of seven and thirteen who had never been 

 to school, and of those who had, 49.8 per cent, 

 only went to school all the year round. The 

 Government has devoted particular attention 

 to the evening schools for adults, of which 

 there were but 5,623 in January, while their 

 number has now increased to 28,546. These 

 schools were attended last year by 552,939 

 men, and 42,567 women. Of these 62,212 

 learned to read, 102,132 to read and write, 194,- 

 102 became tolerably proficient in arithmetic, 

 56,059 in geometry, 38,282 in book-keeping and 

 commercial accounts, 22,340 in drawing, 13,- 

 960 in singing, and 8,386 in natural philosophy. 



On the 19th of January the Emperor pub- 

 lished a decree concerning certain changes in 

 the administration; in particular, suppressing 

 the discussion by the Legislative Body of the 

 address in reply to the speech from the throne ; 

 granting the right of interpellation to the mem- 

 bers both of the Senate and of the Legislative 

 Body; transferring the jurisdiction over the 

 press to the tribunal de police correctionelle, 

 and providing that each minister may be 

 charged by the Emperor with representing the 

 government in the Chambers. The following 

 is the text of the decree, with the Emperor's 

 letter to the Minister of State, setting forth the 

 reasons which prompted its publication : 



PALACE OF THE TUILERIES, January 19, 1867. 



MONSIEUE LE MINISTEE : For some years past the 

 question has been asked whether our institutions have 

 attained their limit of improvement, or whether new 

 improvements are to be realized. Hence a lamenta- 

 ble uncertainty which it is important to remove. 



Up to the present you have had to strive coura- 

 geously in order to repel inopportune demands, and to 

 leave with me the initiative of useful reforms when 

 the time should arrive. And now I believe that it is 

 possible to give to the institutions of the empire all 

 the development of -which they are capable, and to 

 the public liberties a new extension, without com- 

 promising the power which the nation has intrusted 

 to me. 



The plan which I have traced out to myself consists 

 in correcting the imperfections which time has re- 

 vealed and in admitting that progress which is com- 

 patible with our habits, for to govern is to profit by 

 the experience which has been acquired and to foresee 

 the wants of the future. 



The object of the decree of the 24th of November, 

 1860, was to associate the Senate and the Corps Legis- 

 latif more directly with the policy of the government, 

 but the debate on the address has not led to the 

 results which were to be expected from it it has 

 sometimes needlessly excited public opinion, given . 

 rise to sterile discussions and? occasioned a loss of 



