STATISTICS OF FRANCE.

Under the above head we propose to furnish our readers with a series of articles, which have been compiled from the most authentic sources. The subjects they will comprise will be

Territorial power and political division; physical nature of the soil; climate, mountains, rivers, canals, roads, railroads, and bridges; population, and its variety of races; divisions of social rank; religious sects; the Church and its relation to the State; the several branches of physical culture,-viz., agriculture, horticulture, breeding of cattle, cultivation of silk, and rearing of bees; management of forests, hunting, shooting, fisheries and mining. The several branches, of technical culture, viz., historical survey and present state of particular manufactures; commerce, comprising the home and foreign trade, marine force, and sea-ports. Intellectual culture-Institutions for education, and influence of the arts and sciences in relation to society; the book-trade, newspapers, and learned societies. The constitution and fundamental laws of France; administration of home and foreign affairs, and of justice dance; army; navy; and political relations of France

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to other States.

A vast mass of valuable information will thus be digested, in an available form, for statesmen, political economists, men of business, and, in short, every reader who seeks to store his mind with truly useful knowledge. We commence our series with

TERRITORIAL POWER OF FRANCE.

When France, in the second half of the fifteenth century, under the reign of Louis XI., first exhibited itself as a State more compact within itself when, after a contest of nearly three centuries, the monarchical principle had obtained a complete triumph over the aristocratical, and when the powerful and once almost independent vassals of the crown, with the exception of the Dukes of Burgundy and Brittany, had lost their rights of sovereignty, the territorial extent of this State did not comprise quite 96,000 square miles; which, from an estimate made at the period, was inhabited by about 10,000,000 souls. But it was soon obvious that all the energies of the nation were directed to one point and one object, so that, with the advancement of regal power, the administration of finance, and the general welfare of France, were placed on a more orderly and advantageous footing. It cannot be disputed that Louis XI., notwithstanding all his gross faults, contributed much towards this during his twenty-two years' rule (1461 to 1483), inasmuch as whilst he was strengthening his domestic government, he kept his attention constantly fixed on his nearest neighbours, and by the skilful management of his foreign relations, succeeded so far as to make the most dangerous rival of France, though its vassal, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, the victim of his own ambition and French policy. The Duchy of Burgundy was united in 1477 to the crown of France, and victoriously defended against Germany, whose head ruler, the house of Hapsburg, contended for its hereditary pretensions thereto.

Charles VIII., his successor, who bore no resemblance to his father,

* The authorities which have been consulted in the drawing up of these articles will be stated at their conclusion. We prefer this to distracting the attention of the reader by frequent references to notes,

either in political circumspection or in intellectual and bodily energy, was, nevertheless, upheld by the sagacity of his advisers in the career which was already entered upon; and by a forced marriage, in 1491, with Anna, the heiress of Brittany, the last fief of the French crown, the rich and powerful Duchy of Brittany was restored to France, as absolute property. Charles dying without issue, was succeeded by Louis XII. (1498-1515), whose rule embraced an extent of 115,200 square miles, with a population of about 12,000,000 souls. By him the Duchy of Milan, with a territory of 6400 square miles, and well peopled, was added to his possessions; but, from the uncertain tenure of this rich country, which was soon irrecoverably lost to France, we are not entitled to consider it as an accession of territorial power.

After the time of Francis I., the political preponderance of the French nation and of the house of Hapsburg over the rest of the Christian powers of Europe was generally recognised, and it was only at the end of the sixteenth century that the personal consequence of Elizabeth enabled England to range itself with powers of the first rank. Under Henry II. (1547-59), the son and successor of Francis I., the political power of France, as well as its territory, increased considerably. The eastern boundaries, towards Germany, were considerably strengthened and extended by the acquisition of the Bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, as well as by the incorporation of the territory between the Moselle and the Maes, which was likewise girded by the mountains of Voges and Ardennes. The extent of the empire was now about 120,000 square miles, although its population, from incessant war and the ravages attending it, did not, at this period, far surpass the earlier estimate. Under the three sons of this king, who reigned in succession, Francis II. (1559-60), Charles IX. (1560-74), and Henry III. (1574-89), those unfortunate civil and religious wars ensued, which would have compelled France to give up a large share of its political influence, and the conquests it had obtained in the last century from Spain and Germany, had not these two powers been at the same time equally embarrassed; the former by the war of liberty in the Netherlands, and the latter by the Turks, as well as by the want of energy in the house of Austria, which, under its ruler, Rudolph II., sank into utter supineness.

Meanwhile a new and powerful political existence was given to the French State by the government of Henry IV. (1589-1610), a cousin of the last ruler of the house of Valois, who raised his own house of Bourbon to the French throne, and was the cause of the same family possessing four European thrones. By his conversion from the Reformed to the Roman Catholic faith, he quelled almost entirely the intestine dissensions of his kingdom, and by the union of his own little country of Navarre and that of Bearn, on the north of the Pyrenees, 1152 square miles, with the French crown (although the formal act of union did not take place until the reign of his son Louis XIII.), he removed a dangerous incentive to party strife, and to the interference of Spain in the intestine broils of France. The political sagacity of this shrewd prince, supported by his able ministers, rendered him an arbiter in the wars of Spain, with the new free State-the United Netherlands, and made the Duchy of Savoy politically dependant on the French crown, after the latter had acquired its western possessions, comprising 1232 square miles. Under him, also, France made its first acquisitions out of Europe, by the French fleet taking possession, in the years 1598-1608, of large tracts of North America, Acadia, and the two Canadas, a territory of more

than 208,000 square miles, but with a very scanty population, and the art of deriving advantage from these colonies was at first but little understood. In Europe the extent of French territory had now increased to 126,416 square miles.

Under the following government of Louis XIII. (1610-43) the restless genius of Richelieu, by taxing the energies of the French nation to the utmost, repeatedly obtained for it an ascendancy over the house of Hapsburg. For the attainment of this object he sacrificed more money than men, but thereby increased the national revenue, which he deemed essential towards strengthening the administration of government. For the purpose of enlarging the European dominions, the Duchy of Bar, and the territories of Perpignan and Casale, in the three several directions of the French boundaries, were gained in 1633, comprising about 1120 square miles, and, nine years later, the government of Sedan was yielded up by the Duchy of Bouillon, with a surface of 288 square miles. The first possessions in the West Indies laid claim to by. France in 1627 and 1633, were St. Kitt's, Martinique, and Guadaloupe, comprising 784 square miles, and on the continent of South America, a colony was founded in Cayenne, by Bretigny, in 1635, which was gradually increased by conquest to 6880 square miles, and extended as far as Guiana. In 1642 the French government likewise obtained possession of the island of Bourbon (1792 square miles), near the south-west coast of Africa, so that Louis XIII. left in Europe a territory of 127,856 square miles, and in the colonies (at that time certainly of little importance), more than 217,600 square miles, as a foundation for the splendid government of his son.

We will not reckon the conquests which were made in the victorious campaigns of his successor, Louis XIV. (1643-1715), in the first half of his reign, but which, in the second half, he was unable to maintain against the combined forces of half Europe. He, nevertheless, extended the French dominions by some advantageously situated and lasting possessions. In the treaty of Westphalia, he gained Alsace from the German empire, with the jurisdiction of the ten imperial towns situated therein, the Sundgau and Brisach, with its dependencies together, 4848 square miles; from Spain, in the treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), the counties of Artois, Charolles, Rousillon, and some fortified places in Flanders; altogether 3744 square miles. In 1662, he acquired, by purchase, Dunkirk and Mardyck, with a territory of sixteen square miles; and at the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1688, he again extended the boundary of his dominions very advantageously, by the incorporation of some fortified places and their dependencies in the Austrian Netherlands (576 square miles). An equally advantageous addition was made to the north-eastern boundary of the French empire, at the treaty of Nimeguen, in 1678 and 79, whereby he likewise obtained Franche Comté, a total gain of 7846 square miles. At the peace with the German empire and Spain, by means of the Chambers of Reunion and the attempt on Strasburg, in 1680 and 81, which, in the truce of Regensburg was fully ceded to him, he enlarged his territories, and increased considerably the influence of France in German affairs; but at the end of the two following wars (1690-97 and 1702-14), in the treaties of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Rastadt, he was able to defend successfully only the extent of territory already described, and, by his ascendancy in diplomatic negotiations, to nullify the close combination of his enemies against the interests of France. It might even be said,

that he did not come out of the contest wholly without gain, inasmuch as he added the principality of Orange (296 square miles), which the house of Nassau, and the kingdom of Prussia, that had an hereditary claim to it, ceded to him at the peace of Utrecht. We must also add the county of Angoumais (1648 square miles), which had been united to the French crown by Francis I., and afterwards given up to collateral branches of it. At the peace of Rastadt, in 1714, the fortress of Landau, with its territory, was likewise acquired, but against this we must place the trifling loss of some of the valleys of the Alps to Savoy.

The possessions beyond Europe were, also during this reign, much increased in extent, although those only in the West Indies were of -considerable value to the crown. Colonies were founded at Marie Galante in 1645, at Barthelemy in 1648, at Grenada in 1650, and St. Martin in 1678. A total surface of only 320 square miles was gained in this way. But the maintenance of the whole of the western half of Hispaniola or St. Domingo as a colony (8384 square miles), in 1665, was of greater importance. The political plan of Louis the Fourteenth's government, called Colbert's mercantile system into existence, and by the co-operation of this minister, in 1664, the French East and West India trading company was created; which, by the establishment of the factory at Chandernagor, and the acquisition of Pondicherry (192 square miles), laid the foundation of the French possessions in the East Indies. At a more early period (1664), some settlements were made on the west coast of Africa near the Senegal river, and the neighbouring island of Goree, conquered in 1687 from the Dutch, making together a gain of 416 square miles; on the east coast, a French expedition had erected Fort Dauphin, in the island of Madagascar, in 1665, and in the Isle of France, now called the Mauritius, the first settlement was made in 1712. In North America the French declared themselves, in 1648-67, the proprietors of the immense tracts near the lake Michigan, and the north-western lands bordering thereon, a very thinly peopled territory of 203,200 square miles; and afterwards of the country of the Indians at the mouth of the Mississippi as well as of Louisiana, which make together 880,000 square miles, but, in consequence of their almost utter want of population and great extent, these possessions may be reckoned an inconsiderable gain. Their only political importance, which was equivocal, consisted in their presenting a point of contact with the foreign possessions of other European powers. The most valuable acquisition in America was obtained by the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, which was the Island of Cape Breton, afterwards called Isle Royale, distinguished for its profitable trade in furs and productive fisheries. It nearly made up for the loss of Acadia, which was twenty times as large, but not then of such financial value, and which was obtained by the English as a protection for their North American colonies.

It was by such means that Louis XV. (1715-74), the great grandson of his immediate predecessor, became possessed of so large and important an empire, whose territory in the heart of Europe amounted to 151,648 square miles, and in other parts of the globe to about 1,264,000.

Notwithstanding the almost uninterrupted wars which had been waged during upwards of 200 years, France was inferior to none of the neighbouring powers in available resources, and had at that time a population in Europe of nearly 23,000,000 souls. But under this government these resources, rich as they were, were frequently squandered

with uncontrolled extravagance; the government was destitute of firmness, and it was only during the first half of it, that Cardinal Fleury, as prime minister, and the military heroes of the latter part of the age of Louis XIV., with Marshal Saxe, maintained the natural and due political influence of France. At this period, therefore, Louis XV. only obtained the important inheritance of the Duchy of Loraine (5248 square miles), and the Vienna Preliminaries in 1735, regarding the wars just concluded in Italy and on the Rhine for the succession of Poland, awarded to France the reversion of this noble country, but the enjoyment of it previously, during his life time, to the Polish King Stanislaus Lesczinski, the father-in-law of Louis XV. In the latter years of the reign of this weak monarch, who was entirely governed by women, France descended from the lofty attitude of a controlling and directing power in great political occasions, and adopted a yielding policy, which scarcely preserved a semblance of independence. It therefore, after the seven years war, ceased to take the lead in those great movements which decided the destinies of Europe, and afforded the most glaring evidence of its weakness on the occasion of the first partition of Poland. Under these circumstances no farther extension of territory could take place, except by pacific means, and by purchase or exchange, as was indicated in the taking possession of the island of Corsica (2848 square miles), and part of the frontiers of the Duchy of Savoy (208 square miles).

Among the foreign possessions remaining to the French crown, were the colonies in the East Indies, small in extent, but of considerable value. In 1722, it obtained the important trading place, Mahe, (8 square miles) on the Malabar coast, and in 1739, from the Rajah of Tanjore, Caricalla, with a territory of 312 square miles). In 1769, the government abolished the privileges of the East India trading company, and took possession of its property in land and colonial produce, amounting, in value, to about 5,367,450l.,* engaging, in return for this, to become responsible for their debt of 3,461,250%. In the seven years war by land and sea, France lost the major part of its immense territories in North America. By the first treaty of Versailles, in 1763, she ceded to England both the Canadas, the territory of Lake Michigan, and the country to the north-west of it, likewise the island of Cape Breton and the fisheries on the coast of Newfoundland; in the West Indies, Grenada, with the Granadines, reserving the island of St. Lucie, taken in 1756; and lastly, she lost in Africa the colonies on the Senegal and the island Goree.

In consequence of this treaty, after the lapse of six years (1769), she also gave up to Spain Louisiana and New Orleans, which had never been of great value to France. Thus, at the death of Louis XV., the foreign possessions of France were dwindled to a twenty-fifth part (29,856 square miles), of their former magnitude, but her territory in Europe had increased to 159,952 square miles, with a population of 25,000,000 souls, according to an official account.

Under the unfortunate Louis XVI., who was deprived of his crown 21st Sept., 1792, and guillotined on 21st January, 1793, the French territory experienced no change from the year 1774; but the success of the united French and American forces in the North American war of

The East India Company, which was re-established in 1782, under Louis XVI., with a capital of 1,500,0007., could not recover its once active and independent state, in consequence of the interruption of the commerce between France and Asia, and the loss of several of its colonies therein, during the revolution.