FRANCE. 



315 



Secretaries, Desjardins, Vicomte do Meaux, 

 Baron de Barante, Marquis de Costa Beaure- 

 gard, Fr. Kive, De Remusat ; Questors, Baze, 

 General Martin des Pallieres,and Princeteau. At 

 the head of the National Order of the Legion of 

 Honor is Gen. Vinoy, as Grand Chancellor. 



The receipts and expenditures in the budgets 

 for 1872 and 1873, were as follows : 



The expenditures in the budget for 1873 

 (laid before the National Assembly on May 

 14, 1872) contained the following items : 



The capital of the public debt was, in 1872, 

 estimated at 22,622,500,000 francs. The capi- 

 tal of the consolidated debt amounted to 15,- 

 801,000,000 francs, being composed as follows : 



Rentes at 5 per cent 2,779,528,000 



Rentes at 4 per cent 832,677,244 



Rentes at 4 per cent 11,152,400 



Rentes at 3 per cent 12,177,765,767 



The area of France, according to the latest 

 calculations, is estimated at 204,091 square 

 miles. The population, which, according to 

 the census of 1866, amounted to 38,067,064, 

 was reduced, by the cession of Alsace and part 

 of Lorraine to Germany, to 36,594,845. A new 

 census was, in 1872, ordered to be taken, and 

 was completed on January 6, 1873. Accord- 

 ing to the preliminary statement published by 

 the Government, the population of the country 

 amounted to 36,102,921.* 



* See AMERICAN ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1871 for the 



The movement of the population, from 1866 

 to 1869, was as follows: 



The war of 1870-'71 greatly retarded the 

 collection of statistical information by the 

 Government, and we have complete returns on 

 the movement of population during the year 

 1870 from eighteen departments, which com- 

 pare with the returns for 1869 as follows: 



area and population of every department, and for the 

 distribution of the members of the National Assembly 

 among the departments. 

 * For 87 departments only. 



