FRANCE. 



379 



22d. The same day the Workmen's Peace As- 

 sociation held an international meeting at which 

 resolutions against every policy of war and 

 conquest were passed. A great demonstration 

 of Socialists was planned for the 18th of March, 

 in which Germans were invited to participate. 

 The Minister of the Interior issued decrees of 

 expulsion against twenty-two foreign Social- 

 ists, including sixteen Germans and an Ameri- 

 can lady. In various demonstrations the An- 

 archists persisted in carrying red banners, 

 which they held did not come within the reg- 

 ulation prohibiting the red flag as a seditious 

 emblem. Scuffles with the police were occa- 

 sioned thereby. 



On May 24 the Socialists went, as is their 

 custom, to deposit wreaths of everlasting on 

 the spot where the Communards were massa- 

 cred in Pere Lachaise. The red emblems borne 

 in the procession gave occasion for the inter- 

 ference of a large body of police and republi- 

 can guards. In the ensuing struggle several 

 Anarchists and policemen were injured. The 

 next day the Anarchists invited fresh interfer- 

 ence at the funeral of M. Oournet, though the 

 Government had announced that red banners, 

 in contradistinction from flags, would be al- 

 lowed, a decision that was unfavorably con- 

 trasted in the press with the more rigorous 

 , measures of the Ferry Cabinet. At the fu- 

 neral of Victor Hugo the revolutionary bodies 

 were invited to meet at one place by the au- 

 thorities, and when the red emblems were dis- 

 played in the procession they were immediate- 

 , ly seized by the police, who were present in 

 large force in plain clothes. In May occurred 

 a strike among the tailors of Paris. Later in 

 the year a long-threatened strike of the Lyons 

 silk -weavers took place. A motion of M. 

 Clovis Hugues to amnesty Rose Michel, Prince 

 Krapotkine, and t^e other condemned Anar- 

 chists, was rejected in the Chamber on May 16 

 by 278 votes to 122. Louise Michel was offered 

 a pardon shortly before, but refused to accept 

 it unless the other Anarchists were included. 



On Sept. 20 an election riot took place in 

 the Bourse, where a meeting of Revolutionists 

 had been called, and the Possiblists and Anar- 

 chists engaged in a struggle for the possession 

 of the platform. 



The Monetary Conference. A conference of the 

 Latin Monetary Union was called for Jan. 15, 

 but was postponed at the instance of France 

 1 until April 15, and then again until July 20. 

 France and Italy agreed to renew the conven- 

 tion, subject to the condition that when the 

 Union expired each country should take back 

 its own coin. Belgium was unwilling to ac- 

 ; cept^this obligation. In the conference the 

 Belgian delegate, still objecting to this stipu- 

 ation, proposed a renewal of the Union for 

 i one year. The other powers would not agree, 

 | and Belgium, consequently, withdrew from the 

 S conference. At the end of 1885 she ceases to 



J belong to the Latin Union, and intends to adopt 

 the single gold standard. The French, Italian, 



and Swiss delegates differed in regard to legal 

 tender in Italy and the mode of redeeming 

 Swiss silver coins in case of liquidation. Un- 

 able to draw up a new convention, they ad- 

 journed on Aug. 5. Belgium seemed disposed 

 to accept the liquidation clause if a continu- 

 ance of the Union until 1895 was guaranteed. 

 In the hope of reaching an understanding the 

 other governments proposed to prolong the 

 Union provisionally till Jan. 1, 1887; but the 

 negotiations failed, and a new convention was 

 signed, Nov. 6, by the delegates of France, 

 Italy, Switzerland, and Greece, without Bel- 

 gium. 



Religion. The population was divided as to 

 creed, in 1881, into 29,201,703 Roman Catho- 

 lics, 692,800 Protestants, 53,436 Jews, 33,042 

 of various creeds, and 7,684,906 who professed 

 no religious faith. In the budget of 1884, the 

 sum of 50,795,223 francs is granted for the 

 support of worship, 48,665,923 francs for the 

 Roman Catholic clergy, churches, and semina- 

 ries, and the remainder to the Protestants and 

 Jews, and the Mussulmans of Algeria. 



Education. Public education is under the di- 

 rection of the central authorities. There were 

 in 1884, 14,085 students in the universities, 

 8,307 of them in Paris ; of the total number, 

 5,849 studied law, 1,581 philosophy, and 5,386 

 medicine. In 1872 more than one third of 

 the adult population were unable to read and 

 write ; but under the system of compulsory 

 education, which has only come into universal 

 application within two or three years, all chil- 

 dren receive elementary instruction. In 1883 

 there were 204,417 pupils in the lay and 439,- 

 967 in the clerical infant schools, 3,349,773 in 

 the lay and 1,009,483 in the clerical public, 

 and 218,088 in the lay and 763,867 in the 

 clerical private primary schools; the total 

 number of primary schools was 80,687, and 

 the total number of pupils 5,985,595, besides 

 30,032 pupils in 567 superior primary schools. 

 In the 85 Iyc6es there were 48,313 pupils; in 

 the 267 communal colleges, 41,344; in 371 

 free lay middle-class schools, 25,917 ; and in 

 331 clerical schools of the same class, 46,456. 

 The number of teachers in the secular primary 

 schools was 77,742, in the clerical 47,220. In 

 1884 there were 85,388 primary schools, with 

 6,111,236 pupils. There were 90 normal 

 schools for males and 73 for females in 1884. 

 In most of the communes free elementary edu- 

 cation is provided for adults ; the number of 

 adult pupils in 1882 was 596,322. There are, 

 besides, a great number of technical, indus- 

 trial, and scientific schools. 



The General Elections. It was expected, at the 

 time when the scrutin de liste was enacted, 

 that the effect on the impending elections 

 would be to increase the accessions to the 

 Monarchists that were looked for in the next 

 Chamber. In order to take the fullest advan- 

 tage of the new electoral law, the different 

 Royalist and Bonapartist factions formed a 

 coalition called the Conservative Union. In 



