338 



FLORIDA. 



the entire vote of one precinct in the county (315 m 

 number) was not counted, the only remaining ques- 

 tion arising upon this demurrer which it is essential 

 to consider is, Was this a/ate rtfwrn, within the mean- 

 ing of the statute? I fit was, then the State Board 

 properly laid it aside and did not count it. If it was 

 not a false return (there heing no question as to reg- 

 ularity or fraud), then they should have counted it. 



The Justice then examines the decision of 

 the Court in the case of the State exrel Drew, 

 and says : 



In view of all this, it certainly can not be doubted 

 that this Court determined, in the case of the State 

 ex rel. Drew, that the false or true character of a re- 

 turn was to be determined with reference to " tM 

 vote actually cast." I do not mean by this that any 

 part of the answer of the respondents, or the alter- 

 native writ issued, set up in terms a failure of the 

 Board to count any return because it was false as to 

 the actual vote cast. No part of the answer which 

 was responsive to relator's case and to that respon- 

 dents were confined set up any such fact. What I 

 mean is that the pleadings, the points presented m 

 argument, indeea everything in the case, required 

 at our hands a decision fixing the meaning of the 

 words "true vote" ; and as it can not be denied that 

 the word "false" is used in connection with the 

 words " true vote," and is to be interpreted in ref- 

 erence thereto, then, it necessarily follows, if the 

 words " true vote" mean " the vote actually cast," 

 that the false or true character of a return must be 

 determined with reference to the vote actually cast. 



Therefore, thinking that the Court, in com- 

 manding the State Board to count the returns 

 from Madison County, directed them to state 

 a falsehood within the meaning of the statute, 

 he can not assent to such action. 



An application was also made to the Supreme 

 Court soon after the election for a mandamus 

 to the canvassers of Alachua County who had 

 omitted to count the returns of certain pre- 

 cincts on the ground of irregularities. In this 

 case their opinions were overruled, and the 

 mandamus was granted. 



In the case of Brevard County, charges of 

 fraud were made against the Clerk, J. M. Lee, 

 the Sheriff, A. J. Wright, and the Justice of the 

 Peace, W. B. Johns, who constituted the Can- 

 vassing Board of that county. An indictment 

 was found against them by the grand jury of 

 the United States Court on December 20th, and 

 they, being unable to furnish $3,000 bail each, 

 were committed to await trial. It was thought 

 that, unless they committed gross perjury in 

 the affidavit laid before the State Board; no- 

 thing would result from the indictment on a fair 

 trial as they are supposed to swear that the 

 return sent forward by them was made from a 

 canvass of the precinct returns, and therefore 

 they could not be convicted of making " a false 

 certificate." 



The result of the election for members of the 

 Legislature (to meet Jan. 7, 1879) was as follows : 



FRANCE. 



FRANCE, a republic of Europe. Presi- 

 dent at the close of 1878, Marshal Marie Edme 

 Patrice Maurice de MacMahon, Duke of Ma- 

 genta, elected May 24, 1873. Chief of the 

 Cabinet, Colonel Robert; Secretary of the 

 President, Viscount d'Harcourt. The French 

 Cabinet was at the close of 1878 composed 

 as follows : Keeper of the Seal, Minister of 

 Justice, and President of the Council, Jules 

 Dufaure, Senator; Minister of the Interior, 

 E. de Marcere, Deputy ; Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, W. H. Waddington, Senator ; Minister 

 of the Navy and the Colonies, Vice-Admiral 

 Pothuan, Senator; Minister of Finances, L. 

 Say, Senator ; Minister of War, General Borel ; 

 Minister of Public Instruction, Worship, and 

 Fine Arts, Bardour, Deputy; Minister of Pub- 

 lic Works, E. de Freycinet, Senator; Minister 

 of Agriculture and of Commerce, Teisserenc 

 de Bort, Senator. 



The President of this Republic is elected, by 

 a majority of votes, by the Senate and Cham- 

 ber of Deputies, united in Congress or National 

 Assembly. 



On January 30, 1879, President MacMahon 

 resigned. On the same day the Senate and 

 the Chamber of Deputies met in Congress, and 

 by a vote of 536, out of 670 ballots cast, elect- 

 M. Grevy President of the Republic. (See 



Total. 



Tfl 



108 



The legislative body consists of a Senate and 

 a Chamber of Deputies. The Senate consists 

 of 75 life-members, elected by the late National 

 Assembly (see "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1875 

 for a complete list and the biographies of the 

 life-senators), and 225 elected for three, six, and 

 nine years respectively, by a direct vote of the 

 people. The President of the Senate in 1878 was 

 the Duke d'Audiffret-Pasquier. The Chamber 

 of Deputies consists of 532 members. The 

 President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1878 

 was Francois Paul Jules Grevy. 



The area of France, according to the latest 

 official calculations, was 204,092 square miles. 

 The population, according to the census of 

 1872, was 36,102,921. 



The table on page 339 exhib'its the area of 

 each department, its population according to 

 the census of 1876, and the movement of 

 population during the year 1875. 



The census of 1876 gives also the following 

 figures: There were 362 arrondissements, 2,863 

 cantons, and 36,050 communes. The cantons 

 have decreased two, owing to the regulation of 

 the frontier with Germany. The total popu- 

 lation has increased 802,867, or 2*17 per cent., 

 since 1872. According to sex, the population 

 was divided as follows : males married 7,587,- 

 259, widowers 980,619, single 9,805,761 ; fe- 

 males married 7,567,080, widows 2,020,683, 

 single 8,944,386. The increase has been great- 

 est in the departments of Seine, Nord, Loire, 

 Meurthe-et-Moselle, Gironde, Finistere, and 

 Marne; a decrease showed itself in 20 depart- 

 ments, principally in the Lower Alps, Calvadoe, 

 Eure, Ger, Lot, Manche, Orne, and Vaucluse. 



