306 



FRANCE. 



organs uttered comments on the foreign ex- 

 traction of both the Minister and the Under- 

 secretary of Foreign Affairs, the former being 

 the son of a Genoese, and the latter (M. Spul- 

 ler) of a Baden immigrant. The motives as- 

 signed (in the decrees) for the creation of the 

 two new portfolios of Agriculture and Fine 

 Arts, formerly coupled respectively with Com- 

 merce and Public Instruction, were as follows : 

 That agriculture is the chief element of national 

 wealth ; that the Minister of Commerce is suffi- 

 ciently occupied with international exchanges, 

 customs, and commercial treaties; that Ger- 

 many, America, Austria, and Italy have made 

 agriculture a distinct department ; that foreign 

 competition, bad harvests, and the phylloxera 

 have placed French agriculture in a critical 

 condition ; and, as regards art, that nations, 

 but lately imitators of France, have (as proved 

 by the last exhibition) become her rivals in 

 the influence of art-training on producing 

 forces, and in the importance of strengthening 

 technical education. The Minister of Agricult- 

 ure was to have charge of surveys and subsi- 

 dies for irrigation, drainage, dredging canals, 

 water-supply, and agricultural improvements; 

 the Minister of Arts, of public buildings, cathe- 

 drals, art and technical schools, and drawing 

 classes. 



France, with an area of 628,572 square kilo- 

 metres (204,081 square miles), is divided into 

 87 departments, and had, according to the cen- 

 sus of 1876, a population of 36,905,788. 



The movement of population from 1869 to 

 1878 was as follows: 



The number of still-births, 39,778 in 1863, 

 had in 1879 reached 43,875. 



The relation of marriages to the total popu- 

 lation from 1871 to 1877 was as follows : 



The number of marriages registered in 1879 

 was 282,776. 



By the terms of the law of July 29, 1881, the 

 budget estimates for 1882 were as follows : 



. REVENUE. Francs. 



Direct taxes 399,994,100 



Stamps and registration duties 712,227.500 



Product of the forests 86,558,600 



Customs and salt 881,858,000 



Indirect contributions 1,088,748,000 



Posts and telegraphs 140 699*700 



Surplus of the budgets of 1377, 1878, and 1879... 60,616,000 



Three per cent tax on personal property 40,485,000 



Universities 8,485,906 



Keceipts from prisoners 1 labor 7.887,155 



Revenue of Algeria. 26,990,100 



Tax on civil pensions 20,664,000 



Miscellaneous receipts 49,376,162 



Total (ordinary) revenue 2,856,585,228 



EXPENDITURES. Francs. 



Public debt and dotations 1,235,339,577 



Ministry of Justice 85,572,992 



of Foreign Affairs 18,758,800 



of the Interior and of Worship 189,698,106 



of finance 19,561,992 



of Posts and Telegraphs 1,995.860 



of War 571,898,898 



of Marine and the Colonies 197,043,497 



of Public Instruction and Fine Arts. . . . 114,858,941 



of Agriculture and Commerce 88,181,904 



ofPubHc Works 181,988,781 



Total (ordinary) expenditures 2,854,282,905 



Expenditures extraordinary 461,186,000 



Grand total 8,315,868,905 



The total public debt amounted, on January 

 1, 1879, to a nominal capital of 19,862,035,983 

 francs, the interest on which, or rente, was 

 748,404,952 francs. The nominal capital of 

 each of the four classes of rente, the interest 

 or amount of rente, and the number of inscrip- 

 tions or individual holders thereof at the date 

 just referred to, were as follows : 



The following table shows, from official re- 

 turns, the number of holders and the amount 

 of rente, at decennial periods, from 1798 to 

 1870, and in each of the later years therein 

 expressed : 



The interest and other expenses connected 

 with the national debt were given as follows in 

 the budget for 1882 : 



