If to this we add Algeria, the total Colonial possessions of France cover an area of 429,260 square miles, with a total population of 9,250,000. In 1882-3, France undertook a series of operations to compel the Hova Government of Madagascar to acknowledge her right to a protectorate over a considerable district in the N.W. of the island, and, to a certain extent, over the whole country; up to the present date (January, 1884) no definite arrangement has been arrived at. By a similar series of operations, France asserted her claims, under terms of a treaty of 1874 (1882-3), to the protection of Tongking, and, indeed, the whole of the Annamite dominion. During the operations (July, 1883) the sovereign of Annam died, and on Aug. 25, 1883, a treaty was concluded with the successor acknowledged by the French, whereby the French claims to a protectorate were recognised, and the Annamite province of Binh-Thuan was added to Cochin China. As China claims the suzerainty over Annam, and has not yet acknowledged the French treaty, the final terms of the French protectorate cannot be considered to be yet settled definitely (Jan. 1884). The total extent of territory thus claimed as a protectorate by France is estimated at 170,000 square miles, and its population at from 7,000,000 to 30,000,000, probably about 14,000,000, which, if added to the above totals, give the total area of the French dependencies at 600,000 square miles area, with a population of about 24,000,000. Tongking is extremely fertile, with extensive coalfields and numerous gold, silver, iron, and copper mines. The province of Binh-Thuan, which has been added to Cochin-China, is of uncertain area, its littoral population alone being estimated at 100,000. France also claims as protectorate a considerable area in the neighbourhood of the Congo, West Africa, and in 1882-3 extended the area of her protectorate in Senegambia as far as Segou on the Niger. For railways and forts in Senegal, a sum of 11,332,797 francs is put down in the Budget of 1884, the object being to extend French domination to the Niger. On the N.E. African coast, opposite Aden, and just outside the Red Sea, France has a station, Obock, which she has been recently attempting to extend and develop. The only colonies possessing commercial importance, besides Algeria and Tunis, are Cochin China, the islands of Réunion, on the coast of Africa, and Martinique and Guadeloupe in the West Indies. The total exports from French colonies (excluding Tunis) to France amount to about nine millions sterling annually, Algeria counting for about 3 millions sterling, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and St. Pierre and Miquelon, each for less than a million, Réunion and Guiana each about 750,000l. The million sterling of imports from St. Pierre and Miquelon represent mainly the value of the Newfoundland fisheries to France. The exports of French produce to the colonies also amount to about nine millions sterling, Algeria receiving about 6 millions, none of the others over half a million. The total exports from French colonial possessions (including Algeria and Tunis) to Great Britain amounted in 1882 to 849,981., and exports from Great Britain to these possessions 924,9177. Seven-eighths of the exports were from Algeria and Tunis, and half the imports to these countries. British exports to the French West Indies amounted to 205,2257. in 1882. For an account of the government, revenue, population, and commerce of Algeria and Tunis, see Part II., Africa, of the Statesman's Year-book. Diplomatic Representatives. 1. OF FRANCE IN GREAT BRITAIN. Ambassador.-M. William Henry Waddington. Accredited ambassador to Great Britain, July 30, 1883. Secretaries.-Count d'Aunay; Vicomte de Petiteville; M. Mercier. 2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN FRANCE. Ambassador.-Rt. Hon. Viscount Lyons, G.C.B., born in 1817; Envoy to the United States, 1858-64; and Ambassador to Turkey, 1865-67. Appointed Ambassador to France, July 6, 1867. Secretaries. Sir John Walsham, Bart.; George Sheffield; Hon. W. A. C. Barrington; N. R. O'Connor. Military Attaché.-Colonel The Hon. George Villiers. Money, Weights, and Measures. The money, weights, and measures of France, and the British equivalents, are The Franc, of 100 centimes The Gramme Kilogramme Tonneau MONEY. Approximate value 94d., or 25 Francs to £1 sterling. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Quintal Métrique gallons. bushels. Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning France. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS Annuaire de la Marine et des Colonies. 1883. 8. Paris, 1883. Bulletin de Statistique of the Ministère des Finances, 1883. Bulletin officiel du Ministère de l'Intérieur. Paris, 1883. Compte général de l'administration de la justice civile et commerciale en France pendant l'année 1881. 4. Paris, 1883. Compte général de l'Administration de la Justice criminelle en France, par le Garde des Sceaux, Ministre de la Justice. 4. Paris, 1883. Dénombrement de la population de la France et d'Algérie, 1876. 8. Paris, 1878. Documents statistiques réunis par l'administration des douanes sur le commerce de la France. 4. Paris, 1883. Enquête sur la marine marchande. 4. Paris, 1878. Les Colonies Françaises en 1883. Paris, 1884. Ministère des Finances: Comptes généraux de l'Administration des Finances. Paris, 1883. Ministère de l'Agriculture: Bulletin. Rapport fait au nom de la commission de la réorganisation de l'armée, par M. le Général Chareton. 4. Versailles, 1875. Rapport sur le dernier recensement Française, 1881. Paris, 1883. Situation économique et commerciale de la France. Exposé comparatif pour les quinze années de la période 1865-1879. Paris, 1881. Statistique de la France. Mouvement de la population pendant les années 1875-79. 4. Paris, 1881. Tableau du Commerce général de la France, avec ses Colonies et les Puissances étrangères, pendant l'Année 1882. 4. Paris, 1883. Tableau général des mouvements du cabotage pendant l'année 1882. Direction générale des douanes et des contributions indirectes. 4. Paris, 1883. Tableaux de Population, de Culture de Commerce et de Navigation sur les Colonies Françaises. Paris, 1882. Report by Mr. L. S. Sackville West on the Tenure of Land in France, dated Paris, Nov. 19, 1869; in Reports from H.M.'s Representatives respecting the Tenure of Land in the several Countries of Europe.' Part I. Fol. London, 1870. Report by Mr. Crowe on Wine Trade and Production in France, Nov. 1882, in Reports from H.M.'s Diplomatic and Consular Officers. Folio. 1882. Report by Mr. Crowe on the Trade of France in 1882, in Part III., and on French Finance, in Part IV., of Reports of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy.' London, 1883. Report by Consul Bernal on the Trade, &c., of Havre in 1882, and by Colonel Macgregor on St. Malo, in Part II.; by Consul Rainals on Brest, Consul Vereker on Cherbourg, and Consul Tremlett on Saigon and Cochin China, in Part III.; by Consul Bonham on Calais, and Vice-Consul Taylor on Dunkirk, in Part VI.; by Consul Ward on Bordeaux, Vice-Consul Sadler on Rochelle, Consul Segrave on Nantes, and Vice-Consul Sutton on St. Nazaire, in Part VII.; by Consu! Layard on Noumea, in Part VIII.; by Acting H Consul Harold White on Réunion, and Consul Miller on Tahiti, in Part IX. of Reports of H.M.'s Consuls.' 1883. Trade of France with the United Kingdom; in 'Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions for the year 1882.' Imp. 4. London, 1883. 2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Annuaire de l'économie sociale. 8. Paris, 1882. Annuaire des établissements français dans l'Inde. 12. Pondichéry, 1882. Audiffret (Marquis d'), Etat de la fortune nationale et du crédit public de 1789 à 1873. 8. Paris, 1875. Block (Maurice), Annuaire de l'Économie politique et de la Statistique. 1883. 16. Paris, 1883. Carnet de l'Officier de Marine. 5° année, 1883. Paris, 1883. Colle (E.), La France et ses colonies au 19me siècle. 8. Paris, 1878. Cucheval-Clarigny (M), Instruction Publique en France. 8. Paris, 1883. Delarbre (J.), La marine militaire de la France. 8. Paris, 1881. Ingouf (J.), L'avenir de la marine et du commerce extérieur de la France. 8. Paris, 1877. 12. Paris, 1872. Kleine (E.), Les richesses de la France. Laugel (Auguste), La France politique et sociale. 8. Paris, 1878. Lavergne (Léonce de), Economie rurale de la France. 4me éd. 18. Paris, 1878. Leon (M.), De l'Accroissement de la Population en France et de la Doctrine de Malthus. 8. Paris. 1866. Moussy (N.), Tableau des finances de la France. 8. Paris, 1879. Statistique générale des diverses Nouvelle Géographie Universelle.' Statistique de la Production de la Soie en France et a l'Etranger. Recolte de 1882. Lyons, 1883. Vuitry (Adolphe), Etude sur le régime financier de la France 8. Paris, 1879. GERMANY. (DEUTSCHES REICH.) Reigning Emperor and King. Wilhelm I., German Emperor, and King of Prussia, born March 22, 1797, proclaimed Emperor of Germany at Versailles, January 18, 1871 (see 'Prussia,' p. 116). Heir Apparent. Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, born October 18, 1831, eldest son of the Emperor-King; field-marshal in the army of Prussia (see 'Prussia,' p. 116). The Imperial throne of Germany has always been filled by election, though with a tendency towards the hereditary principle of succession. Originally, the Emperor was chosen by the vote of all the Princes and Peers of the Reich, but the mode came to be changed in the fourteenth century, when a limited number of Princes, fixed at seven for a time, and afterwards enlarged to nine, assumed the privilege of disposing of the crown, and, their right being acknowledged, were called Electors. With the overthrow of the old Germanic Empire by the Emperor Napoleon, in 1806, the Electoral dignity virtually ceased, although the title of Elector was retained sixty years longer by the sovereigns of Hesse-Cassel, the last of them dethroned in 1866 by Prussia. The election of the present Emperor was by vote of the Reichstag of the North German Confederation, on the initiative of all the reigning Princes of Germany. Since the creation of the Imperial dignity by Charlemagne, crowned 'Kaiser' at Rome, on Christmas-day in the year 800, there have been the following Emperors of Germany : |