The following table, compiled from the last official returns, gives the number of births, deaths, and marriages, with the surplus (+) or deficiency (-) of births over deaths, in each of the sixteen years from 1864 to 1879:

Not included under either the births or deaths of the above table are the mort-nés,' or dead-born. The number of mort-nés' was 39,778 in 1863, and, gradually increasing, reached 43,875 in the year 1879. The births of 1878 consisted of 869,536 legitimate, and of 67,781 illegitimate, or 'natural,' children, the latter forming 7.25 per cent. of the total. In the capital, represented by the department of the Seine, the proportion of illegitimate children was 25.23 in the year 1878. The proportion of male to female children born was 106 to 100 previous to 1840, but since the latter date the male preponderance has been gradually declining, and in 1878 had fallen to 105-2 to 100 for the whole of France; to 102-1 to 100 for all Paris births, and to 100-1 to 100 for illegitimate children born in the district of the capital.

The population of France, like that of most other European countries, is agglomerating ever more in towns. In 1846 the rural population constituted 75.58 per cent. of the total, and the urban 24-42 per cent.; in 1856, the rural had fallen to 72-69, and the urban risen to 27-31 per cent.; in 1866, the rural was 69-54, and the urban 30-46 per cent.; and finally, at the census of 1876, it was found that the rural population constituted but 65.10, and the urban 34.90 per cent. of the entire population. But though the rural population is declining, more than one-half of the

total population still depends on agriculture as a means of living. The census returns of 1872 showed that there were 18,513,325 individuals—comprising 5,970,171 heads of families, and the rest dependents-engaged in agriculture.

According to the latest official returns, the distribution of the soil of France, a surface of 529,054 square kilomètres, or 52,904,974 hectares, was as follows:

:

Land is very equally divided among the whole of the population. According to the latest official returns the cultivated land of France was divided into 5,550,000 distinct properties. Of this total the properties averaging 600 acres numbered 50,000, and those averaging 60 acres 500,000, while there were five millions of properties under six acres.

There were at the enumeration of December 31, 1876, twenty-four towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants, namely :—

At the census of December 18, 1881, Paris had a population of 2,225,900.

The total number of dwellings in France at the census of 1876 was 7,704,913, of which 7,409,614 were inhabited, 254,391 uninhabited, and 40,908 in course of construction. There were, on the average, 14:47 houses per square kilomètre, and each house contained 1.24 family, and 4.68 persons. Except in the departments of the Seine and the Rhône, the vast majority of dwellings contained but one family, indicative of a nation of small proprietors.

There is scarcely any emigration from France, the only exodus that has taken place in recent years consisting in a movement of the Basques, in the department of the Hautes-Pyrénées, to quit the

country, in order to escape military service. In 1873 there emigrated 10,000 Basques to South America, chiefly to the Argentine Confederation and Uruguay, and in 1874 the number rose to 12,000. The stationary character of the mass of the population is shown also by there being little migration within the country. At the census of 1872 it was found that of the total of 36,102,921 individuals constituting the population of France, 30,676,943 were born within the registration districts. Thus out of every 100 individuals but 15 had quitted their native commune, and 85 lived where they were born. Almost the whole of the existing migration is that from the rural districts into the towns of France.

Trade and Industry.

The foreign trade of France is officially divided into 'commerce général,' which comprises the entirety of imports and exports, including goods in transit, and commerce spécial,' which embraces the imports consumed within, and the exports produced within the country. The general commerce of the year 1880 was valued in imports at 4,360,000,000 francs, or 173,400,000l., and in exports at 4,890,000,000 francs, or 195,600,000l.

The following table gives the value, in francs and pounds sterling, of the total imports and the total exports of the special commerce of France-exclusive of coin and bullion-in each of the fifteen years, from 1866 to 1880:

The following statement shows the value of each of the four groups of imports and of the three groups of exports, according to the classification adopted by the French Douane, or Custom House, in each of the years 1879 and 1880:

G

The imports of coin and bullion-not included here-were of the value of 295,759,000 francs, or 11,136,360., and the exports of the value of 475,073,000 francs, or 19,002,9207., in the year 1880.

The foreign commerce of France is chiefly with Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, and Italy-Great Britain ranking far above any other country, the exports to it, in particular, being more than double in value to those to Belgium, the next export market in order of importance.

The subjoined tabular statement shows the declared value of the total exports sent from France to Great Britain and Ireland, and of the total imports of British and Irish produce and manufactures into France, in each of the ten years, from 1871 to 1880:

Years

Exports from France to United
Kingdom

Imports of British Home Pro-
duce into France

The chief articles exported from France to the United Kingdom are silk-, woollen-, and leather manufactures, sugar, wine, butter, eggs, and spirits, as brandy. The following table gives the de

clared value, in pounds sterling, of the eight staple articles exported from France to the United Kingdom in each of the two years 1879 and 1880:

These eight articles constitute about two-thirds of the total exports from France to the United Kingdom. The remaining third comprises a great variety of objects, mostly food substances.

The principal articles of imports of British home produce into France are woollen and cotton manufactures, and coals. The following table exhibits the declared value of these three articles of British produce inported from the United Kingdom into France during each of the two years 1879 and 1880:

The rest of the imports of British produce into France are of a miscellaneous character, not exceeding half a million sterling per annum in value. Chief among these minor articles of British imports stand wrought iron and copper.

It will be seen from the preceding tables that the value of the exports from France to the United Kingdom is not far from thrice the amount of the imports of British produce.

At the head of French exports to the United Kingdom stands that of silk manufactures, the most important of industries of the country. Its activity, however, fluctuated much in recent years, owing to the ravages caused by an epidemic on the breaking of cocoons, the product of the silkworm. Previous to the outbreak of the epidemic, in 1851, the annual value of raw silk produced was