FRANCE. 



323 



The French navy in 1881 numbered 356 

 vessels, classified as follows: 59 ironclads, 

 comprising 20 of the first class and 12 of 

 the second class for offensive and defensive 

 warfare, and 27 for coast-defense, including 

 11 floating batteries; 235 steamers, compris- 

 ing 57 cruisers, 17 dispatch-vessels, 22 fleet 

 dispatch-boats, 21 gunboats, 61 transports, 

 26 small gunboats, 31 torpedo-boats, and 

 62 sailing-vessels. There were in construc- 

 tion 8 first - class ironclads, 2 second - class 

 ironclads, 2 ironclad gunboats, 11 torpedo- 

 boats, and 22 other vessels. The navy is 

 manned with 1,585 officers and 41,227 sea- 

 men, 3,940 men in the special services, 18,- 

 870 marine infantry, and 4,661 artillery. 

 The heaviest ironclads are the Devastation 

 and the Foudroyante, each of 9,600 tons and 

 4,200 horse -power, carrying 14-inch armor 

 and four 38-ton and two 25-ton guns. The 

 Amiral Duperre has 12-inch plates and is 

 armed with four 38-ton guns. Six new steel- 

 clads with horizontal plates 11 inches thick 

 carry two 38-ton guns each, mounted in bar- 

 bette. Five others of the ironclads are of 

 modern types and heavily armed, while the 

 rest of the vessels classed as ships of combat 

 are of obsolete construction. 



FINANCE. The sources of revenue at the 

 disposal of the French Government have ex- 

 panded remarkably in the last fifty years. 

 After the Franco-German War, the augmenta- 

 tion of the debt and the increased cost of the 

 army necessitated a large increase in taxation. 

 In the year 1869 the total revenue of the Gov- 

 ernment amounted to 1,798,193,568 francs. 

 In 1873 the total revenue was 2,467,470,630 

 francs; the expenditure 2,374,804,134 francs. 

 In 1881 the budget of revenue was 3,214,534,- 

 789 francs, and of expenditure 3,213,806,317 

 francs. The budget estimates for 1883 place 

 the total receipts at 3,561,977,092 francs, and 

 the total disbursements at 3,573,349,646 francs. 

 The following are given as the sources of reve- 

 nue: Direct imposts, 378,100,500 francs, of 

 which 175,500,000 is the estimated product of 

 the land-tax, 63,765,000 francs of personal taxes, 

 43,772,400 of the tax on doors and windows, 

 and 95,062,100 of patent dues; special taxes of 

 similar character to direct taxes, such as taxes 

 on mortmain property, on carriages, inspec- 

 tion of weights and measures, etc., 24,723,840 

 francs ; registration fees, stamps, and domains, 

 771,661,000 francs, registration producing 

 593,827,000, stamps 159,607,000, and the do- 

 mains, exclusive of forests, 18,227,000 francs; 

 forests, 35,188,900 francs: customs and salt- 

 tax, 404,142,000 francs; indirect taxes, 1,099,- 

 306,000 francs, of which 428,309,000 francs 

 come from the tax on drinks, 101,548,000 

 francs from domestic sugars, 16,139,000 francs 

 from matches, 12,841,000 francs from paper, 

 92,933,000 francs from railroad traffic, being 

 20 per cent of passenger receipts; sale of to- 

 bacco, 360,437,000 francs ; of gunpowder, 15,- 

 236,000; post-office, 128,325,000 francs; tele- 



graphs, 30,629,000 francs; 3 per cent on in- 

 comes from dividends, etc., 47,118,000 francs; 

 revenue from Algeria, 31,380,008; tax on civil 

 pensions, 21,262,000 francs; universities, 3,593,- 

 665 francs; fines, 7,534,181; various receipts, 

 49,866,998 francs. The following are the 

 main branches of expenditure: Public debt, 

 1,317,112,874 francs, 'of which 741,070,255 

 francs are interest on the funded debt, 27,088,- 

 000 on temporary loans, 160,000,618 pensions, 

 and 388,954,001 capital payments; dotations, 

 24,712,456 francs, of which 13,724,000 go to 

 pension the invalids of the navy, and 9,788,456 

 to the members of the Legion of Honor ; legis- 

 lation, 11,735,780 francs; Ministry of Justice, 

 35,944,642 francs ; of Public Worship, 52,929,- 

 306 francs; of Foreign Affairs, 14,348,900 

 francs; of the Interior, 68,813,655 francs, of 

 which 14,661,550 francs are for expenses of 

 administration, 13,763,537 for public safety, 

 20,690,961 for prisons, and 10,436,235 for 

 charities; of Finance, 19,558,470 francs; of 

 Posts and Telegraphs, 2,122,360 ; of War, 584,- 

 106,000 francs; of Marine and the Colonies, 

 237,187,470 francs, of which 204,898,519 francs 

 are for the navy ; of Public Instruction and 

 Art, 151,050,196 francs, of which 134,410,451 

 francs are for education, and 16,639,745 for 

 the fine arts; of Commerce, 21,918,564 francs; 

 of Agriculture, 24,397,350 francs; of Public 

 Works, 139,488,541 francs, of which 89,725,681 

 francs are for the ordinary service, 49,762,860 

 for extraordinary works, 317,621,582 for the 

 cost of the regie, collection of taxes, post- 

 office, etc., and 21,15,500 for drawbacks and 

 restitutions. There are besides 529,146,000 

 francs of estimated revenues and expenditures 

 treated of apart from the general budget as 

 extraordinary. 



The public debt in 1879 stood at 19,862,035,- 

 983 francs, of which 12,101,352,167 francs 

 bore interest at 3 per cent, 6,917,470,240 

 francs at 5 per cent, and the remainder at 4^ 

 and 4 per cent. The number of holders was 

 4,380,933, of whom 2,432,574 held the 5 per 

 cent rentes, and 1,788,114 the 3 per cent. 



The total cost of the war and foreign occu- 

 pation of 1870-'73 amounted to 9,287,882,000 

 francs, of which 5,000,000,000 was the war in- 

 demnity to Germany, 1,873,238,000 the war 

 expenditures, 302,065,000 the interest on sums 

 due to Germany, 631,168,000 disbursements in 

 connection with the loans of 1870-'72, 364,189,- 

 000 loss from non-payment of taxes during 

 the war, 248,625,000 the cost of maintaining 

 the German army of occupation, 169,518,000 

 the cost of provisioning Paris, 61,708,000 re- 

 payments of fines levied by Germans, 50,000,- 

 000 grants to soldiers' families, 38,807,000 cost 

 of foreign occupation of 1871-'73, and 548,564,- 

 000 miscellaneous expenses. 



The indebtedness of the departments and 

 municipalities was largely increased during the 

 war. The budget of the city of Paris for 1880 

 estimates the revenue at 233,102,579 francs, 

 of which 125,398,041 are from octrois, or tolls 



