FRANCE. 



289 



in, but was unsuccessful. Casimir Perrier, 

 of i In- Republican center, had no better succesH. 

 While the Caliinet crisis continued, the parlia- 

 mentary commission, of which M. Brisson \\iis 

 pre-ident. pursued its investigation with deter- 

 mination amid dillicultics. M. Beaurepaire, the 

 pulilic pniseciitnr, refused to impart to the com- 

 mission the evidence and documents on which 

 the case againM the company's oflicers was based. 



The Ilihot Ministry. On Dec. 5 a ministry 



stituted under the presidency of M. 



Kihot. MM. Bourgeois, Develle, and Loubet 

 having successively declined after M. Perrier's 

 failure. The new ministry was composed as fol- 

 lo\\>: Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 M. Kibot; Minister of War, M. de Freycinet; 

 Minister of Finance, M. Rouvier; Minister of 

 the Interior, M. Loubet; Minister of Public In- 

 struction, Charles Sarrien ; Minister of Public 

 Worship and Justice, M. Bourgeois: Minister of 

 Marine, M. Burdeau ; Minister of Commerce, M. 

 Sarrien ; Minister of Agriculture, M. Develle ; 

 Minister of Public Works, M. Viette. 



The new ministry decided to communicate to 

 the investigating commission the documents de- 

 manded, whereupon M. Beaurepaire resigned. 

 Many checks of Baron Reinach's were traced to 

 Deputies and Senators, most of whom said that 

 the sums represented were repayments of busi- 

 ness debts unconnected with the canal enter- 

 prise. It came out that on the eve of the 

 banker's deal li Minister Rouvierand M. Clemen- 

 dan had been with him and had interested 

 themselves as friends to persuade Cornelius 

 Her/, to have the newspaper attacks on Baron 

 Reinach stopped. When this fact had become 

 known to the chamber M. Rouvier was compelled 

 to resign from the ministrv. 



A post-mortem examination proved that Baron 

 de Heinach had died from poison. The post of 

 Minister of Finance was immediately, on Dec. 

 l:!. given to Pierre Emmanuel Tirard, who had 

 held it with credit before, and had twice been 

 Minister-President. A proposal to invest the 

 investigating committee with judicial powers 

 was opposed by the Government and rejected 

 by the Chamber. Charles de Lesseps and the 

 other accused directors of the company were 

 arrested and committed to prison without bail. 

 One of the incidents of the confused and excited 

 situation was a bloodless duel between Georges 

 Clemeneeau, leader of the Radicals, and Paul 

 Deroulede. The revelations made by Cornelius 

 Her/ implicated 104 members of the Chamber, 

 and the papers of Baron de Reinach which had 

 disappeared, but were remembered by those who 

 had seen them, cast suspicion on ex-ministers 

 and others of the highest standing in the polit- 

 ical world. 



Commercial Treaties. Arrangements were 

 made between the French and the United States 

 governments whereby each enjoys favored-nation 

 treatment that is. the benefit of the reciprocity 

 clauses in their respective tariffs. The minimum 

 tariff was extended to the Netherlands, and, with 

 some restrictions, to the Dutch colonies, as a 

 temporary arrangement which either govern- 

 ment could abrogate. Similar provisional re- 

 ciprocity agreements were arranged with Bel- 

 gium, Greece, Sweden and Norway, and Switzer- 

 land, terminable on twelve months' notice. 

 vou xxxii. 19 A 



Austria- Hungary, Bulgaria, Chili, Denmark, 

 Egypt. Germany, Great Britain, llayti, Hondu- 

 ras, Liberia, Mexico, Montenegro, Rus.-ia, S-rvia, 

 and Turkey were entitled to tin- conventional 

 tariff by virtue of treaties not yet denounced 

 and of special laws. To Persia, Santo Domingo, 

 Servia, and the South African Republic were 

 likewise extended the benefits of the minimum 

 tariff. Negotiations with Spain broke down 

 owing to the difficulty of the question of the 

 alcoholization of wines. A treaty was made wilh 

 Switzerland in spite of the objections of the 

 Protectionists, in which the minimum rates on 

 watches, cheese, embroideries, silks, and other 

 Swiss products were lowered. 



Algeria. The colony of Algeria is admin- 

 istered by a Governor-General, who is directly 

 responsible to the President of the republic. 

 All legislation must be passed by the French 

 Chambers. The colonial budget is voted by a 

 council composed of delegates from the provin- 

 cial councils. The receipts are derived mainly 

 from customs, licenses, and excise. The revenue 

 was estimated in the budget of 1892 at 46,380,- 

 898 francs, and the expenditure at 44,162.960 

 francs. The Governor-General is Jules Canibon, 

 appointed in April, 1891. 



The area of Algeria is 184.474 square miles, 

 and the population, as ascertained by the census 

 of 1891, is 4,124,732, of which number 8,636,967 

 are in the civil and 487,765 in the military terri- 

 tory. Of the three departments, Algiers has an 

 area of 65,929 square miles, with a population of 

 1,275,650 in the civil and 192,477 in the military- 

 territory; Oran, with an area of 44,616 square 

 miles, has 817,450 inhabitants in the civil de- 

 partment and 124,616 in the military; and 

 Constantine, 73.929 square miles in extent, has 

 1,548,867 inhabitants in the civil and 170.679 in 

 the military department. Each sends a Senator 

 and 2 Deputies to the French Assembly. The 

 total population in 1891 included '272,869 

 French. 47,667 naturalized Algerian Jews, and 

 3,567,223 natives who are not citizens. The rest 

 were mostly Tunisians, Moors, Spaniards, Italians, 

 Maltese, and Germans. 



The Nineteenth Corps of the French army, 

 which constituted the permanent military force 

 of Algeria, is large enough to be divided in war 

 into two corps. It consists of 53 battalions of 

 infantry, 52 squadrons of cavalry, 16 batteries 

 of artillery, and the auxiliary departments, con- 

 taining altogether 54.000 men, with 15,000 horses. 

 The only troops recruited from the indigenous 

 population are 3 regiments of native tirailleur*, 

 often called Turcos. Other local forces are 8 

 battalions of African light infantry, 2 foreign 

 legions, and 3 regiments of spa his or scouts. 



About 20,000,000 hectares are under cultiva- 

 tion, and the area is gradually extending. The 

 following are the principal crops: Wheat, of 

 which 5,246.058 metric quintals were grown in 

 1890 on 1,113.309 hectares: barley, of which 

 8,268,633 quintals were produced on 1,861.292 

 hectares; alfa, of which 741.421 quintals were 

 obtained from 1.582.612 hectares : wine, the yield 

 of which was 2.579.639 hectolitres, the vine- 

 yards covering 106,851 hectares: minor cereals, 

 of which 661,031 quintals were harvested on 99,- 

 957 hectares; and tobacco, to which 9.841 hec- 

 tares were devoted, yielding 8,846,757 kilo- 



