352 



FRANCE. 



rages and inurder," the Irish members gave 

 him the lie direct, and refused to controvert 

 his insinuations or debate the subject. As an 

 independent member he assailed the Egyptian 

 and colonial, as well as the Irish, policy of the 

 Government. He advocated a policy of annex- 

 ation in Egypt, and aggressive action against 

 the Dutch in South Africa, and became the 

 champion of the scheme of imperial federation, 

 for which he wrote and spoke frequently. 

 After the fall of Khartoum he joined Mr. 

 Goschen in voting against the Government on 

 a motion of censure. He took a prominent 

 part in the debates on the county franchise 

 bill, always speaking and voting in its favor. 

 The caucus system of Mr. Chamberlain in- 

 curred his active antagonism. He refused to 

 have anything to do with the Liberal Associa- 

 tion that was organized in Bradford, but in 

 the next election that body opposed his candi- 

 dacy, and he was returned by the central divis- 

 ion of the three into which the burough was 

 divided. He already lay ill at his house in 

 London, and was never able to take his seat 

 in Parliament. In his memorial remarks in 

 the House of Commons Mr. Gladstone spoke 

 of him as u a man that never deviated from 

 the straight path he had marked out for him- 

 self; a man of unflinching courage, although a 

 lover of peace ; a man profoundly attached to 

 the greatness and welfare of his country, and 

 acutely sensible of whatever appertained to its 

 honor.'' 



FRANCE, a republic in Western Europe, es- 

 tablished on Sept. 4, 1870. The Constitution, 

 adopted on Feb. 25, 1875, and revised in July, 

 1884, and by the adoption of the scrutin de 

 liste on June 16, 1885, vests the legislative 

 power in the National Assembly, and the ex- 

 ecutive in the President of the Republic, who 

 is elected by the joint ballot of the two cham- 

 bers for the term of seven years. The Senate 

 consists of 300 members, elected for the period 

 of nine years by delegates of the communes. 

 Originally one quarter of the senators were 

 elected for life, and all the communes were 

 equally represented, irrespective of their size ; 

 but by the amendment of 1884 the life-seats, 

 as they become vacant, are distributed among 

 the larger communes, Paris choosing 30 sen- 

 ators and other large cities from 10 to 20. 

 The Chamber of Deputies has 584 members, 

 including 6 from Algeria and 10 from the colo- 

 nies, elected for four years by universal suf- 

 frage. Each department elects its representa- 

 tives, under the scrutin de liste, on a collect- 

 ive ticket, embracing from 3 names in the 

 smallest departments to 38 in that of the Seine. 

 There were 10,367,202 electors in France and 

 Algeria in 1885, of whom 7,769,629 voted in 

 the general election. Senators receive 15,000, 

 and deputies 9,000 francs per annum. Both 

 chambers have the power of initiating laws, 

 except financial laws, which must first be pre- 

 sented to the Chamber. 



The Government. The President of the Re- 



public is Francois P. Jules GreVy, born Aug. 

 15, 1813, who was first elected on Jan. 30, 

 1879, and re elected on Dec. 28, 1885. The 

 Right proposed in the Congress to postpone 

 the election until the vacant seats in the Cham- 

 ber of Deputies were tilled, but the President 

 was supported by the Republicans in ruling that 

 the Congress was only empowered to elect a 

 President, and could not consider a motion of 

 any kind. A stormy scene ensued, which last- 

 ed for two hours. This attempt of the Mon- 

 archists to disturb and discredit the proceed- 

 ings hurt their own prospects, and checked the 

 reaction against the republic that set in after 

 the failure of Ferry's colonial policy in Ton- 

 quin and the discovery of the deficit. In the 

 supplementary elections the Republicans were 

 generally successful. The extraordinary ses- 

 sion of the Assembly was closed on the day 

 following the presidential election. On enter- 

 ing upon his new term of office President Gre- 

 vy, according to custom, pardoned all convict- 

 ed political offenders. Among others, Prince 

 Krapotkine and Louise Michel regained their 

 liberty. 



The Brisson Cabinet, which was constituted 

 after the fall of Ferry in April, 1885, only in 

 order to bridge over the period of the general 

 elections and the election of a new President, 

 sustained a substantial defeat on the 24th of 

 December, 1885, when the credit demanded for 

 Tonquin and Madagascar obtained only a ma- 

 jority of four votes in the Chamber. Accord- 

 ingly, after the re-election of M. Grevy and 

 the close of the session of 1885, M. Brisson and 

 his colleagues handed in their resignations. 



A new Ministry was constituted on Jan. 7, 

 1886, composed of the following members : 

 President of the Council and Ministers of For- 

 eign Affairs, Charles Louis de Saulces de Frey- 

 cinet, who held the same portfolio in the Bris- 

 son Cabinet ; Minister of the Interior, Jean 

 Louis Ferdinand Sarrien, previously Minister 

 of Posts and Telegraphs ; Minister of Justice, 

 Charles Etienne Demdle, who held the post of 

 Minister of Public Works in the last Cabinet ; 

 Minister of Finance, Marie Francois Sadi-Car- 

 not; Ministerof Public Instruction, Rene Goblet, 

 who had held the same office under Brisson; 

 Minister of Commerce and Industry, Edouard 

 Etienne Antoine Simon Lockroy, the Radical 

 journalist and representative of the Seine De- 

 partment ; Minister of Agriculture. Jean Paul 

 Develle; Minister of War, Gen. Boulanger; 

 Minister of Marine and the Colonies, Admiral 

 Aube; Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, Eti- 

 enne Armand Felix Granet ; Minister of Pub- 

 lic Works, Charles Baihaut. 



Area and Population. The area of France is 

 204,177 square miles. The population on Dec. 

 18, 1881, was 37,672,048, the proportion to the 

 square mile being 184, as compared with 213 

 in Germany, and 300 in Great Britain and Ire- 

 land. The number of marriages in 1884 was 

 289,555 ; the number of births, 937,758. not 

 including 45,286 still-born ; the number of 



