FRANCE. 



375 



interest, up to the beginning of 1883. The 

 railroads are nearly all in the hands of six great 

 companies. They are divided into the old and 

 the new networks. The old network has a 

 total length of 10,877 kilometres, of which 

 4,913 kilometres are owned by the Paris-Medi- 

 terranean, 2,017 by the Paris-Orleans, 1,363 by 

 the Northern, 900 by the Western, 820 by the 

 Southern, 744 by the Eastern, and 120 kilo- 

 metres in Paris by minor companies. The 

 total length of the new network is 10,993 

 kilometres, of which 1,797 belong to the Paris- 

 Mediterranean, 2,343 to the Paris-Orleans, 764 

 to the Northern, 2,247 to the Western, 1,588 

 to the Southern, and 2,255 to the Eastern 

 companies. There were, besides, on Jan. 1, 

 1884, 4,396 kilometres belonging to the state, 

 about one half of which lines were worked by 

 the companies, and 915 kilometres belonging 

 to other companies. The lines of the new 

 network, which are built with a view to public 

 utility and are not expected to yield immediate 

 profits, receive a state guarantee of 4 per cent., 

 with 0'65 per cent, additional for a sinking 

 fund. In July, 1885, France had 31,000 kilo- 

 metres of railroads, the gross earnings of which 

 amounted to 1,150,000,000 francs per annum ; 

 the number of persons employed was 223,000. 

 The revenue derived from the railroads by the 

 state is 83,000,000 francs. An underground 

 railroad for Paris has been authorized by the 

 legislature. A line is to cross the city from 

 north to south, and another is to cross it from 

 east to west, running up one bank of the river 

 and down the other. 



Telegraphs. The state telegraph system has 

 been worked at a loss ever since its establish- 

 ment in 1851. The total length of lines in 

 1883 was 75,081 kilometres, or 46,932 miles, 

 the length of wire 232,451 kilometres. The 

 number of messages in 1882 was 26,174,567, 

 of which 4,167,782 were international. 



The Senatorial Elections. The triennial election 

 of one third of the Senate, held under the new 

 law proportioning representation to population 

 in a much greater degree than the old law, took 

 place January 25. Including casual vacancies, 

 there were 87 seats to be filled. The result 

 was favorable to republicanism. Corsica, al- 

 ready represented in the Chamber by Republi- 

 can deputies, exchanged its Bonapartist sena- 

 tors for Republicans. The Oharente Infe"rieure, 

 another Bonapartist stronghold, elected Repub- 

 licans. The Due de Broglie, the great leader 

 of the Monarchists, was defeated in the Eure 

 by M. d'Osmoy, a Republican deputy. M. de 

 Fourton likewise lost his seat. In Paris M. 

 Spuller, the Ministerial candidate, was defeat- 

 ed by a Radical candidate, M. Martin. The 

 Republicans lost 3 seats in the Protectionist 

 departments of the Nord and Pas de Calais to 

 Reactionaries, but gained 25 in other parts of 

 France. Of the vacant seats, 42 had been held 

 by Reactionaries and 45 by Republicans. Of 

 the successful candidates, only 20 were Reac- 

 tionaries and 67 were Republicans. Of 30 



deputies^ elected to the upper house, 28 were 

 Ministerialists, but some of these were com- 

 mitted to Radical measures opposed by the 

 Government. The result gave the Ministerial 

 Left a clear majority, and deprived the Left 

 Center of the casting vote, just as that group 

 succeeded in 1882 to the Simonite Republi- 

 cans who frequently voted with the Reaction- 

 ary parties against the Republicans. 



Change of Government. At the beginning of 

 1885 the Ferry Cabinet, constituted Feb. 21, 

 1883, was still in power. Gen. Campenon, 

 Minister of War, resigned January 4, because 

 the Cabinet had extended the operations against 

 China beyond the Tonquin delta, and weak- 

 ened the army for the defense of France by the 

 sending out of re-enforcements. Gen. Lewal 

 accepted the portfolio and assumed charge of 

 military operations in China, which had pre- 

 viously been under the control of the Ministry 

 of the Navy. The Tonquin enterprise and the 

 war with China were never popular with the 

 Radicals. When large re-enforcements were 

 sent out in the winter and spring, and still 

 no signal success was obtained, the feeling of 

 dissatisfaction and distrust spread. The Cabi- 

 net was suspected of withholding information. 

 When the news of the Langson disaster came, 

 M. Ferry was accused of keeping back the dis- 

 patches. M. C16menceau and his party were 

 joined by the Reactionary groups in an attack 

 on the ministry. The feeling against M. Ferry 

 out-of-doors was so strong that the various Re- 

 publican groups that composed his party could 

 not longer afford to recognize him as their 

 leader. His enemies threatened to impeach 

 the ministry for a breach of the Constitution, 

 in making war without the sanction of Parlia- 

 ment. When M. Ferry asked, on March 30, for 

 an extraordinary credit to continue the war, 

 M. Cle*menceau declared that he had not min- 

 isters before him, but " accused persons," and 

 said that succor must be sent to the soldiers 

 fighting against heavy odds, but "there must 

 be ministers who would speak the truth." M. 

 Ribot, of the Left Center, submitted a resolu- 

 tion affirming the resolution of the Chamber to 

 uphold the national honor, expressing confi- 

 dence in the army, censuring the blunders com- 

 mitted, and regretting that it had not hitherto 

 known the truth. M. Ferry's request of pri- 

 ority for the vote of credit was refused by 308 

 votes to 161, whereupon he announced that 

 the Cabinet would hand in their resignations 

 to the President. 



President Gre"vy turned first to M. Brisson, 

 but the President of the Chamber declined. 

 An attempt to form a combination was made 

 by M. de Freycinet, but the ex-Premier was 

 distrusted by the Radicals, and failed to secure 

 the promised support from the Opportunists. 

 M. Deves and M. Constans, of the Opportunists, 

 were successively applied to, but a member of 

 the Republican Union could no longer command 

 a majority. M. Brisson was then requested to 

 undertake the task. As Speaker of the Cham- 



