and Mexico; was on the general staff in 1870 and during the Commune; became brigadier-general in 1874, and General of Division in 1880. Appointed January 5, 1885. 9. Minister of Marine and the Colonies.-Vice-Admiral Peyron, born 1822; took part in the wars against Russia, Austria, China, Anam and Mexico; Maritime Prefect of Toulon, and head of the naval staff under two former Ministries. Appointed August 11, 1883. 10. Minister of Posts and Telegraphs.-Louis Cochery, born 1830; Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, 1873-79. Appointed first Minister of Posts and Telegraphs, February 5, 1879. 11. Minister of Public Works.-David Raynal, born 1840; elected Deputy for Bordeaux, 1876; Under-Secretary in the Public Works Department, 1880; Minister of Public Works in the Gambetta Cabinet of 1881. Reappointed February 21, 1883. The following is a list of the Sovereigns and Governments of France, from the accession of the House of Bourbon : : The average duration of the eighteen Governments of France since the accession of the House of Bourbon was 16 years. For judicial purposes France is divided into 26 districts, or Courts of Appeal. Each of these courts has a Bench of nine to twelve Conseillers, or puisne judges, and a President, and three Conseillers are commissioned at least twice a year to go and hold 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. As a matter of fact, only the Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Jews have state allowances. In the budget for 1884, these grants were as follow: There are eighty-seven prelates of the Roman Catholic Churchnamely, seventeen archbishops and sixty-seven bishops. In 1880 it was found that the secular clergy of the Catholic Church numbered in all 55,065, besides 10,217 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 1880 there were 706 Protestant pastors, and 66 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 inde F pendent 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. 6 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 15 'facultés des lettres,' at Paris, Aix, Besançon, Bordeaux, Caen, Clermont, Dijon, Douai, Grenoble, Lyon, Montpellier, Nancy, Poitiers, Rennes, and Toulouse. At all of these, except Aix, are also 'facultés des sciences,' besides one at Marseilles; there are also 7 ' facultés de théologie' (5 Catholic and 2 Protestant), 14 'facultés de droit,' and 6 facultés de médecine.' In the session of 1883-84, the total number of students at these universities was 14,085, of whom 5,849 studied law; 1,581 philosophy or 'lettres'; and 5,386 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 464,4741. is set down in the budget of 1884-5. There are besides 14 'facultés libres,' with 837 students in 1883-4. It is proposed to suppress the theological 'facultés de l'état' in 1885. Together with the general census of May 1872, there was an official inquiry into the educational state of the nation, which, being very carefully made, gave, it is reported, accurate results. From this it was seen that nine-tenths of the children under six; more than a fifth, but less than a fourth of the youths of both sexes under twenty; and more than a third of the grown-up population of men and women, were unable to read or write. Setting aside the four millions of children under six years of age, it may be said that thirty per cent. of the population of France were entirely devoid of education. 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 61.8 in Haute-Vienne. Among the 312,924 young men on the conscription list of 1883, 12.68 per cent. could neither 1 read nor write, 2.25 per cent. could only read, and 20-81 could but read and 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. It was stated by the Minister of Public Instruction in the Chamber of Deputies, in the session of 1881, that all children, without exception, would be subject to education before the end of 1883. At the census of 1881 the total number of children between the ages of 4 and 16 years was found to be 7,894,300. The following table shows the numbers of the various classes of schools and the number of pupils in 1883 : There was thus one elementary school for every 472 inhabitants, and one pupil in every 6 of the population. Of the total pupils at primary schools in 1882 2,091,434 were educated gratuitously at the public, and 306,602 at the private schools. The total number of teachers in lay primary schools was 77,742, in clerical schools 47,220. In 1884 there were 85,388 elementary schools, with 6,111,236 pupils. In the budget of 1884-5 the sum of 3,549,4481. is set down for primary education, and 601,1347. for secondary education. Therewere in 1884, 90 normal schools for males, and 73 for females. In 21,084 communes education is provided for adult males, and in 5,649 for adult females, the total number of pupils in 1882 being 596,322. There are besides numerous technical, industrial, and other special schools. |