criminal assizes in the chief towns of departments within the jurisdiction of the court. The only prisoners tried before the assizes are those accused of crimes (felonies) as distinct from délits (misdemeanours). Persons accused of délits are tried in the Courts of Correctional Police before three judges without jury. There is a Court of Correctional Police in every chief town of an arrondissement. Below the Correctional Courts are the Tribunals of Simple Police (one in each town), which exercise a summary jurisdiction in minor offences. There is besides a juge de paix in every canton, and one in every city quartier. The Court of Cassation, the Supreme Court of Appeal, sits in Paris. Church and Education. The population of France, at the census of December 1881, consisted of 29,201,703 Roman Catholics, being 78.50 per cent. of the total population; of 692,800 Protestants, or 1.8 per cent. of the population, as compared with 584,757 in 1872; of 53,436 Jews, and 7,684,906 persons who declined to make any declaration of religious belief.” This was the first census at which 'non-professants' were registered as such. On former occasions it had been customary to class all who had refused to state what their religion was, or who denied having any religion, as Roman Catholics. The number of persons set down as belonging to various creeds' was 33,042. All religions are equal by law, and any sect which numbers 100,000 adherents is entitled to a grant; but at present only the Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Mussulmans (Algeria, &c.) have State allowances. In the Budget for 1888 these grants were as follows: Francs 251,000 43,503,723 1,551,600 180,900 40,000 216,340 45,743,563 There are 17 archbishops and 67 bishops; and of the Roman Catholic Church on January 1, 1884, the secular clergy numbered in all 54,513, besides 10,464 pupils in the ecclesiastical seminaries. The value of the total gifts and legacies made to the Church during the present century up to 1882 is 23,976,733 francs. The Protestants of the Augsburg Confession, or Lutherans, are, in their religious affairs, governed by a General Consistory, while the members of the Reformed Church, or Calvinists, are under a council of administration, the seat of which is at Paris. In 1884 there were 700 Protestant pastors, with 27 assistant preachers, and 57 Jewish rabbis and assistants. A return presented to the Chamber of Deputies in the session of 1881 by the Ministry of Public Worship shows that at the end of 1880 there were in all 200,000 persons under vows in France, exclusive of 45,000 ecclesiastics in receipt of pay from the State. There are two kinds of religious bodies in France-the congregations, which are controlled by a central authority, and alone have the right of forming branches, and the communities, which are independent of each other, although subject to the same rules. There are in France five legally authorised congregations of men, which have founded 115 establishments at home and in the colonies, and 109 abroad. The number of members of these five congregations is 2,418. The number of communities of men is four, with 84 members. There are 384 establishments which are unauthorised, the members of which number 7,444 men. The difference between them is that those which are not authorised labour under legal disabilities and are liable to dissolution. There are, in addition, 23 religious associations of men devoted to the education of the young. The number of schools under their direction is 3,096. The number of the members of these associations is 20,341. Public education in France is entirely under the supervision of the Government. The highest schools, or universities, go by the name of 'facultés de l'état.' There are 16 'facultés des lettres,' at Paris, Aix, Besançon, Bordeaux, Caen, Clermont, Dijon, Douai, Grenoble, Lyon, Montpellier, Nancy, Poitiers, Rennes, Toulouse, and Alger. At all of these, except Aix, are also 'facultés des sciences,' besides one at Marseilles. There are also 14 'facultés de droit,' and 6 facultés de médecine.' In the session of 1883-84, the total number of graduates at these universities was 12,195, of whom 2,977 studied law, 3,851 philosophy or 'lettres,' and 1,805 medicine. The number of students at the faculté de l'état' at Paris alone was 8,307, or more than one-half of the total number. Some of the 'facultés de l'état' have but few students, such as Clermont, which had 65, and Besançon 107 students in the session of 1883-84. To the support of these facultés the sum of 11,709,214 francs was set down in the budget of 1886-87. There were besides 14 'facultés libres,' with 837 students, in 1883-84. The theological facultés de l'état' were suppressed in 1885. The census of 1872 showed an extraordinary difference in the degree of education between the 87 departments of France, the percentage of ignorance ranging between 6 in the department of Doubs, and 618 in Haute-Vienne. Among the 299,994 young men examined on the conscription list of 1884, 11.7 per cent. could neither read nor write. Since the year 1872 the progress has been very great, owing to the energetic efforts of the Government, aided by the Legislature, primary education being now compulsory; in 1886 there were only 58 communes which had no primary school. According to official returns, the public funds, communal, departmental, and State, devoted to primary instruction in France amounted in 1857 to 16,523,969 francs, in 1878 to 59,216,449 francs, and in 1885 to 145,000,000 francs. At the census of 1881 the total number of children between the ages of 6 and 13 years was found to be 4,586,349, and between 4 and 16, 7,804,300. The following table shows the numbers of the various classes of schools and the number of pupils for the school year 1885-86 for the primary schools, and November 1884 for the lycées and colleges : Of the elementary schools 70,313 are public and the rest private. All the secondary schools given above are public. There was, it will be seen, one elementary school for every 472 inhabitants, and one pupil in every 6 of the population. Of the total pupils in 1885 at primary schools 4,988,758 were inscribed as educated gratuitously at the public, and the remainder as educated at the 'libres,' or private schools. The total number of teachers in lay primary schools was 88,668, in clerical schools 46,548, in 1886. In the budget of 1886-87 the sum of 81,460,000 francs was set down for primary education, and 1,703,000 francs for secondary education; 2,832,000 for the Communal Colleges, and 8,502,000 for the Lycées. There were, in 1886, 87 normal schools for males, and 75 for females. In 6,667 communes education is provided for adult males, and in 1,135 for adult females, the total number of pupils in 1885-86 being 167,798 males, and 30,036 females. There are besides numerous technical, industrial, and other special schools. Revenue and Expenditure. The budget of 1888, as presented in February 1887, calculated the ordinary revenue at 3,253,583,183 francs, and the ordinary expenditure at 3,253,104,738 francs; the special resources at 473,605,131 francs, and special budgets at 83,796,200 francs; thus making the total revenue for 1888 3,810,984,514 francs, and the total expenditure 3,810,506,069 francs. The main branches of revenue and expenditure were estimated as in the following table :— Sources of Revenue Land tax Personal property Francs Branches of Expenditure Francs 1,337,275,671 13,257,360 332,602,737 20,555,340 Justice 37,369,901 taxes Direct taxes, Algeria Total, direct taxes Indirect taxes: 28,551,020 Interior, France 71,533,259 Registry Excise, railway pas sengers, and other indirect taxes On revenue from per . 642,306,500 Worship. 45,743,563 Commerce 22,270,028 State sonal property &c. 582,718,164 Total ordinary expen 3,253,104,738 posts and telegraphs, Domains and forests Various revenues 46,119,779 diture 266.745,446 Total ordinary receipts 3,253,583,183 Appendices pour ordre' Special resources to general budget 473,605,131 83,796,200 Home Office, the Trea- Grand total for 1888 3,810,984.514 Grand total for 1888 {£152,439,381 473,605,131 83,796,200 3,810,506,069 {£152,420,243 In June 1887 the budget for 1888 was 'rectified' by a reduction of 182,205,000 francs, leaving the corrected total of 3,071,378,183 francs for ordinary receipts. The appendices (pour ordre) to the general budget comprise items of special services: 32,870,000 francs to account of State railways; 13,064,700 francs for naval invalids; 9,307,500 francs for the national printing office; 16,867,100 francs for the legion of honour; 9,221,600 francs for the savings bank. About one-third of the direct taxation is borne by land, one-seventh by buildings, one-sixth is levied on personal property, and the remainder on doors, windows, and licences. The following is a statement of revenue and expenditure for the ten years from 1878 to 1887: Years Revenue Expenditure Francs 1878 1879 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 Francs £ 3,347,810,957 133,912,438 3,322,621,929 132,964,877 3,364,577,723 134,583,108 3,582,416,373 143,296,655 3,686,650,040 147,474,001 £ 3,427,422,827 137,096,913 3,490,342,388 139,613,695 3,530,823,284 141,232,931 3,689,409,797 147,576,391 3,644,102,565 145,764,102 3,652,938,723 146,117,548 3,715,366,615 148,614,664 3,446,677,619 137,867,104 3,562,894,861 3,321,312,372 132,852,494 3,207,570,306 128,302,812 3,134,336,415 125,373,457 142,515,794 3,534,765,142 141,390,605 3,239,084,710 129,563,388 3,133,731,289 125,349,252 The figures for 1878-84 are those of the sums actually received and expended, and include ordinary and extraordinary income and expenditure; those for the years 1884 and 1885 are provisional, and those for 1887 give the revised ordinary and extraordinary budget estimates. The enormously increased expenditure of recent years was covered chiefly by the imposition of new indirect taxes. Foremost in the list of these are greatly raised customs duties, stamps, and taxes on sugar, wines, salt, and transport by railway. Since 1869 the budget has nearly doubled. To the budget of 1888 is annexed a statement, showing the deficits of the ordinary budgets from the period anterior to 1814 down to January 1, 1887, as follows: Period |