

FRANCE. 



appears to be on the increase. Though the 



Atl'air.H could not indorse 



icks which tho bishops ami tlio 



Oatholio organs made upon the <">v,:niuents 



ily aii.l (i.-nii:iny, but oven deemed it 

 necessary t<> act in opposition to their de- 



.-, MU\ though tin- 1'ivMilunt appointed a 

 Protestant as Minister of tlio Interior, the 

 f restoring tin.', intluence of the 

 rimivli upon the masses of the people wore 

 on tlio whole warmly supported by the Gov- 

 ernment and the immense majority of the pro- 

 vincial authorities. The pilgrimages continued 



Mirno dimensions which by far exceeded 



\ peotations of the opponents of the Church, 

 and. in the province of public instruction, the 



;>s appeared to be sure of seeing all their 

 demands substantially complied with. 



Protestantism in France has severely suf- 

 fered by the cession of Alsace-Lorraine to 

 (iermany. According to the census of 1872, 

 the Protestants now constitute only 1.60 per 

 cent, of the total population, whereas, in 1866, 

 they still were 2.23 per cent. One of the two 

 Protestant Churches recognized by the state, 

 the Lutheran, has been nearly destroyed by the 

 loss of Alsace ; the other, the Reformed, split 

 in 1874 into two sections (see REFORMED 

 CHURCH). The reports of the Protestant re- 

 ligious societies of France, made at their anni- 

 versaries in April and May, showed the year 

 to have been generally a dull one with them. 

 The Bible Society of France reported its ex- 

 penses during tho year to have been 47,000 

 iVane/j. It had circulated in the same period 

 more than 20,000 copies of the Scriptures. 



On March loth, the French Vice-Admiral 

 Dupr6 concluded a new treaty with the gov- 

 ernment of Anam, in Farther India, which was 

 ratified by the National Assembly of France 

 on August 8th. The treaty was to put an end 

 to tho persecution of the Catholic Christians 

 which bad again taken place in Anam. It 

 ratified the provision of the first treaty, con- 

 cluded by Anam with France and Spain in 

 1862, by which the French and Spaniards re- 

 ceived the free exercise of their religion, and 

 the natives of Anam the right to embrace 

 Christianity. The new treaty was even more 

 favorable to France and the Christians than 

 that of 1862, and virtually places the entire 

 empire under the protectorate of France. In 

 article 9 the King of Anam engages to repeal 

 and destroy all prohibitions which formerly 

 were issued against the Christian religion, and 

 allows all his subjects to embrace it and exer- 

 cise it. The Christians may assemble in their 

 churches for divine worship, and they cannot 

 be coerced into any actions which are for- 

 bidden by their religion. They shall not be 

 subjected to any particular enumeration, and 

 shall be admitted to all examinations and pub- 

 lic offices. The special lists of Christians which 

 during tho last fifteen years had been pre- 

 pared, shall be destroyed, and, with regard to 

 census and taxes, the Christians shall be treat- 



ed like the other subjects of tho Kin^'. Tho 

 former prohibition to use, orally or in writing*, 

 offensive expressions against tho Christian*, U 

 renewed. Tho bishops and inisMonai i. 



into the empire without hinderun<-< 

 travel in their dioceses and districts, as soon aa 

 they have a pass from tho French Government 

 of Cochin-China which has been indorsed by 

 \nauicso Minister of Rites, or the provin- 

 cial governor. They may everywhere preach 

 tho Catholic doctrines, and shall not be sub- 

 jected to any special superintendence. Tho 

 villagers will no longer be bound to notify tho 

 mandarins of tho arrival of missionaries. The 

 bishops, missionaries, and native priests, have 

 tho right to buy or rent lands and houses, and 

 to establish orphan- houses, schools, hospitals, 

 and other buildings, for religious and ecclesias- 

 tical purposes. The property which has been 

 taken away from the Christians will be restored 

 to thorn. All these provisions apply to the 

 Spanish missionaries as well as to the French. 

 A royal rescript was to announce to all the 

 communes of the empire the liberty granted 

 to the Christians, immediately after the ratifi- 

 cation of the treaty. The party opposed to the 

 Christians and foreigners is, however, very nu- 

 merous in Anam, and soon after the conclusion 

 of the treaty a bloody revolution was instigated 

 by this party, which raged for several months. 

 General ERNEST Louis OCTAVE COURTET DE 

 CISSEY, the president of the Council of Minis- 

 ters in tho latter half of the year 1872, is de- 

 scended from an ancient noble family of Bur- 

 gundy, and was born in Paris, in 1812. From 

 1830 to 1832 he attended the Military School 

 of St.-Cyr, and subsequently the school of the 

 general staff. Having been appointed officer, 

 he went to Algeria, where he served in the war 

 against the Kabyles. lie soon became adjutant 

 of General Tr6zel, and took an active part in 

 the battles of Constantino, Mascara, and on the 

 Isly. In 1852 he returned to France, and in 

 1855 he served as colonel in the Crimean War, 

 when he in consequence of his bravery in the 

 battle of Inkermann was appointed brigadier- 

 general. In 1865 he was appointed as general 

 of division at Rennes. When the war against 

 Germany broke out in 1870, ho received the 

 command of the First Division of the Fourth 

 Corps (Ladmirault). As such he belonged to 

 the Army of Metz, and took a brilliant part in 

 the battles of Borny, Rezonvillo, andSt.-Privat. 

 When Marshal Bazaine, on October 22d, in- 

 formed his generals of his intention to capitu- 

 late, Cissoy declared energetically in favor of 

 a last attempt to force a passage through the 

 German army. On October 25th, after tho 

 useless negotiations of General Chaugarnii-r 

 with Prince Frederick Charles, General Cissey 

 was sent by Bazaine to Frescaty, a < 

 situated under the Fort St.-Privat, in order 

 to have an interview with General Stiehle, the 

 chief of the general staff of the Prussian army. 

 In these new negotiations Cissey endeavored 

 to separate the fate of the army from that of 



