FRANCE. 



305 



At the end of the year 1873 there were 

 47,055 kilometres of lines of telegraphs in oper- 

 ation, comprising 125,808 kilometres of wires. 

 The number of telegraph - offices was about 



3,800. The aggregate revenue, in 1873, 13,750,- 

 048 francs ; the expenditure, 12,990,000 francs. 

 The area and population of Algeria, accord- 

 ing to the census of 1872, were as follows: 



The commerce of Algeria 

 was as follows : 



in 1872 and 1873 



On January 5, 1875, the National Assembly 

 resumed its sessions. President MacMahon, 

 on January 6th, sent in a message, in which he 

 urged upon the Assembly the necessity of tak- 

 ing up immediately the discussion of the con- 

 stitutional bills. Contrary to the wish of the 

 President, the Assembly resolved to discuss the 

 transmission of powers before the definite or- 

 ganization of the Septennate and the creation 

 of a Senate. The ministry regarded this de- 

 cision as a defeat, and offered its resignation. 

 The President, on January 7th, declared that the 

 offered resignation could not be accepted until 

 he succeeded in forming a new cabinet sup- 

 ported by the majority of the Assembly. He 

 requested, therefore, on January 10th, the min- 

 isters to retain provisionally their positions. 

 On January 21st, the Assembly began the dis- 

 cussion of the bill introduced by M. Ventavon 

 relating to the transmission of powers. It was 

 defended by the ministry, but opposed by both 

 the Eight and the Left. Lacombe spoke in fa- 

 vor of restoring a monarchical form of gov- 

 ernment, Carayon-Latour in favor of restoring 

 monarchy under the sceptre of Count de Cham- 

 bord. Jules Favre eloquently defended the 

 Provisional Government of September 4, 1870, 

 and hurled, violent charges against royalists and 

 imperialists. On January 22d the second read- 

 ing of the bill was ordered by 538 against 145 

 votes. The bill provides that the public pow- 

 er be vested in a National Assembly, a Sen- 

 ate, and the Marshal President, and the execu- 

 tive power be transferred to the successor of 

 Marshal MacMahon by a Congress consisting of 

 the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The 

 opposition to the bill consisted of the extreme 

 Eight and the extreme Left. On January 25th, 

 the Senate law was ordered to a second read- 



VOL. xv. 20 A 



