FRANCE. 



347 



A review of the changes which have taken 

 place in the Senate during the three years from 

 its constitution in 1875 to the election for sen- 

 atorial delegates in December, 1878, is of in- 

 terest in connection with the revolution in the 

 political character of the body which was ac- 

 complished by the last elections. The Senate 

 was partially constituted in December, 1875, 

 by the appointment of 75 life-Senators elected 

 by the National Assembly ; and in the begin- 

 ning of 1876, the 225 Senators who had to 

 be chosen by the departments were elected. 

 During the past three years, 16 life-Senators, 

 of whom 5 were Conservatives and 11 Repub- 

 licans, died, and their places were taken the 

 new members being elected by tho Senate it- 

 self by 13 Conservatives and three Republi- 

 cans. Deaths and resignations of Senators 

 elected by the departments caused 21 other 

 vacancies; but only six of these vacancies 

 were filled up, the seats, which had been pre- 

 viously held in equal proportions by Conserva- 

 tives and Republicans, having been transferred 

 to the former with but one exception. The 

 consequence was, that the Conservatives had 

 gained 10 seats, counting 20 upon a division, 

 from the Republicans since the Senate was 

 constituted. The most notable Senators who 

 have died or resigned since January, 1876, are 

 M. Thiers, who, returned as Senator at Belforfc, 

 and deputy in Paris, elected to sit in the lower 

 Chamber; General Changarnier ; M. Ricard, 

 Minister of the Interior; M. Casimir-Pe'rier, 

 M. Ernest Picard, M. Lanfrey, M. Alphonse 

 Esquiros, General d'Aurelle de Paladines, M. 

 Renouard, Bishop Dupanloup, and M. Rou- 

 land, Governor of the Bank of France. 



M. de Freycinet, the Minister of Public Works, 

 has secured the assent of the legislative bodies 

 to a grand and comprehensive scheme for con- 

 ducting public improvements of all kinds by 

 the organized forces of the nation. His plans 

 include the improvement of the harbors, rivers, 

 canals, and railways, the construction of new 

 harbors and new railways where they are need- 

 ed, irrigation and drainage, the supply of wa- 

 ter, sewerage and the utilization of sewage, the 

 conservation of water-power, and the preser- 

 vation of the purity of rivers. They will re- 

 quire about 500,000,000 francs a year, or about 

 the sum which the country as a whole already 

 spends on such works. In pursuance of them 

 a number of embarrassed railways, which con- 

 sisted in August, 1878, of ten lines with an ag- 

 gregate length of about 1,000 miles, have been 

 purchased by the state, and the management 

 of them has been vested in a board created by 

 the minister, which acts in all respects (except 

 that its members are appointed by the Govern- 

 ment and are removable by it) as a board of 

 independent directors. The new deep-sea har- 

 bor works at Boulogne, which also form a part 

 of the system of enterprises, were inaugurated 

 with imposing ceremonies and festivals on Sep- 

 tember 8th and 9th. The new harbor is in- 

 tended to accommodate large ships at any 



state of the tide, is to cost $3,300,000, which 

 sum has been voted by the Chambers, and the 

 execution of the work will occupy fifteen years ; 

 but it is hoped that a part will be sufficiently 

 advanced in five years to insure a steam-pack- 

 et service at all hours between France and 

 England. 



A bill for increasing the pay and pensions 

 of the non-commissioned officers of the army 

 became a law in June. It enacts that every 

 non-commissioned officer who reengages for 

 five years, after completing his first five years, 

 shall receive a bounty of 2,500 francs; if he 

 reenlists for a second period of five years, he 

 shall receive another premium of 500 francs, 

 and shall become entitled, on completing his 

 fifteen years with the colors, to a pension of 

 from 365 to 455 francs a year, according to his 

 rank. Every non-commissioned officer will 

 also receive an income of 30 centimes a day 

 during his first period, and of 50 centimes a 

 day during his second period, of reSngagement. 

 The bill will demand an increase of 3,500,000 

 francs in the military estimates for 1879, of 

 6,250,000 francs in those for 1889, and of 4,- 

 500,000 in those for 1909. 



A committee appointed by the Senate to in- 

 quire into the cause of the depressed condition 

 of trade and manufactures in France, made a 

 report in May. It proposed that the Govern- 

 ment should for the present reserve the question 

 of the treaties of commerce, and raise the du- 

 ties which protected the suffering industries. 



A decree was gazetted in October provid- 

 ing that within a specified frontier zone no 

 railways, bridges, canals, roads, or other works 

 which might facilitate the march of an invader 

 should be undertaken without the approval of 

 the Mixed Civil and Military Commission of 

 Public Works. The decree practically reintro- 

 duces precautions which date back to 1776, 

 but which were relaxed in 1851, and were still 

 further relaxed in 1862. 



Orders were issued in October to the pre- 

 fects from the Ministry of the Interior, com- 

 manding the stoppage of all proceedings in con- 

 tumaciam for offenses committed during the as- 

 cendancy of the Commune in Paris. 



The Minister of War at the beginning of the 

 year requested of the general and superior offi- 

 cers of the army answers to certain questions 

 respecting the equipments of the infantry sol- 

 diers. The principal questions related to the 

 maximum of weight which a man of average 

 stature and strength should be required to car- 

 ry, the manner in which this weight should be 

 distributed, and the articles of which it should 

 be made up. Upon the basis of the replies re- 

 ceived, a circular has been issued, indicating 

 the modifications which it is proposed to make 

 in the premises, on which the general and su- 

 perior officers are requested to express their 

 opinion before a final decision is made. The 

 principal changes which it is proposed to make 

 comprise a reduction of the amount of provi- 

 sions carried by the soldier, each man being 



