The following table shows the state of the French mercantile navy Of the total, 11,112 vessels are under 30 tons. By a law passed June 11, 1842, the work of constructing railways was left mainly to private companies, superintended, and, if necessary, assisted in their operations, by the State; which, moreover, also constructs, and partly works, railways on its own account. The whole of the railways are classed under two divisions, called 'ancien réseau,' or Old net-work, and ' nouveau réseau,' or New net-work; the former, representing the main arteries of traffic, and the latter the by-roads, laid down with a view to public utility rather than to profit. On this account, the lines coming under the designation of New net-work received the grant of a State guarantee of 4 francs per cent. interest, with 65 centimes additional for a sinking fund, on the expended capital. The French railways grew from 9,086 kilomètres in 1860 to 27,191 kilomètres in 1884. Up to the beginning of 1883 the State had advanced to the railway companies 809,931,473 francs in capital and interest. The French railways at present are largely in the hands of six great companies, as follows: 27,191 State Lines Other companies 'Grand total 1,091,869,005 1,095,994,030 17,000 miles £13,674,760 | £43,839,761 About half of the State lines are worked by various companies. At the 1st of January 1883 there were 75,091 kilomètres, or 46,932 English miles, of lines of telegraphs, comprising 232,451 kilomètres, or 145,282 English miles, of wire, with, on January 1, 1884, 7,523 telegraph offices. The number of telegraphic despatches sent during the year 1882 was 26,174,567, of which 4,167,782 were international messages. There were annual deficits since the establishment of State telegraphs in March 1851. The number of letters forwarded by the French post-office in the year 1883 was 605,761,089; registered letters, 14,918,724; post-cards, 34,564,536; journals, parcels, and printed matter, 728,534,985. The receipts for 1881 were 123,472,000 francs, or 4,938,8801., and expenses, 81,898,988 francs, or 3,275,958l. ; number of offices, on January 1, 1884, 6,486. Colonies. The Colonial Possessions of France, dispersed over Asia, Africa, America, and Polynesia, embrace, inclusive of the so-called 'Pays protégés,' or Countries under Protection, a total area of 263,490 square miles. Not comprised in the list is Algeria, which has a government and laws distinct from the other Colonial Possessions, being looked upon, partly from its proximity to France, and partly from serving as camp and practice-field of a large portion of the standing army, as a more immediate annex of the mother-country. Algeria, as well as all the other colonies, are represented in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, and considered to form, politically, a part of France. The estimated area and population (1881) of the various Colonies and Countries under Pro tection, together with the date of their first settlement, or acquisition, is shown in the subjoined table, compiled from the latest official returns. 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 9,300,000. 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, 1885) 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 Tonquin, and, indeed, the whole of the Annamite dominion. During the operations (July, 1883) the sovereign af Annam died, and on Aug. 25, 1883, a treaty was concluded with the successor acknowledged by the French, amended and modified on June 6, 1884, by which Tonquin is completely, and Annam partially placed under French protection. 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. Tonquin is in parts extremely fertile, and is stated to possess extensive coalfields and numerous gold, silver, iron, and copper mines. France also claims as protectorate a considerable area in West Africa, extending along the Ogové and its tributaries to the Central Congo; and in 1882-3 extended the area of her protectorate in Senegambia as far as Segou on the Niger. France has also, 1884, reoccupied portions of the Gold Coast, at Grand Bassam, 30 miles, acquired in 1842, Assinie, first occupied in 1838, and Cootenoo (Porto Novo), 5 miles, acquired in 1868. For railways and forts in Senegal, a sum of 11,332,797 francs is put down in the Budget of 1884, and for general services 7,352,603 francs in 1885, the object being to extend French domination over the Upper 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 (excluding Algeria and Tunis) to Great Britain amounted in 1883 to 166,3147., and exports from Great Britain to these possessions 453,5721. British exports to the French West Indies amounted to 263,5957. in 1883. 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.-Comte d'Aubigny; Vicomte de Petiteville; Comte de Florian. 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. Henry George Edwardes; Sir George Francis Bonham; Francis Henry Carew; Hon. Michael Henry Herbert. Military Attaché.-Colonel The Hon. George Villiers. Naval Attaché.-Capt. Kane, R.N. Commercial Attaché for Europe.-Joseph A. Crowe. Money, Weights, and Measures. The money, weights, and measures of France, and the British equivalents, are |