312 THE MILITARY AND FINANCIAL 



The National Debt, which is the largest in the world, has been 

 chiefly created to meet the cost of the great French Wars from 1800 

 to 1814, during the military dictatorship of the First Napoleon, and 

 also from 1852 to 1870, during the reign of the Third and the last 

 Napoleon. 



In 1793, under the Revolution, the public debt stood at 

 ^^32,000,000; in 1815, under the First Empire, at ;^7o,645,ooo ; 

 in 1830, under the Bourbons, at ;^i4i,770,ooo; in 1848, under 

 the Orleans, at ;^i82,ooo,ooo ; in 1852, under the Republic, at 

 ;^245, 250,000; in 1870, under the Second Empire, at _;^5so,ooo,ooo; 

 and in 1890, in consequence of the Franco-German War, and 

 Colonial Wars since 187 1, it amounts to the stupendous total, 

 according to M. Leroy Beaulieu, of ;^i, 265, 748,804. 



The Franco-German War, 1870-71, added the enormous sum to 

 the National Debt of ;^37i,S7S)28o, which includes the enormous 

 war indemnity exacted by Germany. In addition to this, the 

 heavy deficits, caused by the great military expenditure, have 

 swollen it considerably. From 1S14 to 1830, during the Bourbon 

 Monarchy, the deficits amounted tO;^8io,92o; from 1830 to 1848, 

 under Louis Philippe, to ;^39,9i4,520 ; and from 1848 to 1851, 

 under the Second Republic, to ;^i4,374,96o; and from 1851 to 

 1870, under the Second Empire, to ;^85,54i,58o; and from 1870 

 to 1874, the first four years of the Republic, to _;^i2, 198,962, 

 amounting in all, in deficits alone, to ;^iS2, 840,902. Since 1874 

 and down to the year 1890, the budget showed handsome surpluses ; 

 but, unfortunately, owing to the militant and aggressive foreign 

 policy, especially of the Governments of MM. Gambetta, Frdycinet, 

 and Jules Ferry, there have been for the subsequent years consider- 

 able deficits, and'for 1890 it would appear by the Budget that the 

 deficits amount to ;£3,5oo,ooo. 



THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 



THE ARMY AND NAVY. 



The Prussian obligation (^according to the laws of the Constitu- 

 tion) to serve in the army is extended, without substitution, to the 

 whole empire. Every German, capable of bearing arms, has to 

 serve in the standing army for seven years, from the end of the 20th 



