per cent. of the face value of the old ones or in cash. The conversion was expected by the holders, since the price of the 31 per cents. has receded from nearly 109 almost down to par, and the impending operation depressed the price of the perpetual 3 per cents. The bonus represents an interest of 3 per cent. for the first four years. After 1910 a conversion of French rentes into 24or 21-per-cent. stock at par may be possible, but at present these rates are not sufficiently acclimatized in France. The conversion bill contains a clause allowing treasury bonds to reach a limit of 500,000,000 francs, 100,000,000 francs above the existing legal maximum. The session ended on July 12. Enforcement of the Associations Law. Before the close of the session M. Combes first ordered 135 Roman Catholic schools closed, some of them conducted by 130 newly constituted religious associations which unsoundly contended that the associations law did not require new schools or societies to apply for authorization, others by members of unauthorized communities who claimed exemption as salaried teachers employed by lay school proprietors. Since the associations law of July 1, 1901, went into force 64 male and 685 female communities had applied for authorization. Authorization has been required by law since 1825, but before the new act was passed many establishments were founded that neglected to conform to the law. The Premier's speech defending the forcible closing of schools and declaring that the first act would be followed by others, since Republican France had elected a majority of representatives resolved on securing the victory of lay society over monastic disobedience, was by 309 votes to 218 ordered to be placarded throughout the country. There were 3.000 schools, mostly for girls and conducted by nuns, which still defied the law. Three days before the close of the session a decree was issued ordering all these to close on a week's notice, otherwise they would be closed by the police. If they obeyed they could apply for authorization and be reopened as new establishments. Asylums and hospitals were left undisturbed until accommodation could be found for their inmates. M. Combes was denounced in the Chamber as a proscriber, and Deputies of the Right threatened the President and nearly came to blows with friends of the Government. After the close of the session 450 religious communities applied for authorization. On July 16 notices were served on 76 schools in Paris, and some of the schools in the provinces received their warning. The schools were those of the unauthorized religious communities, taught by the same teachers and occupying the same buildings, the only change having been that the property was now in the name of laymen. This device was regarded by its authors as sufficient to get around the law. The Government, however, was resolved to treat the pretext that these alleged proprietors and employers of the teachers had opened new schools, when they were in all respects the same conventual schools as before, as a quibble not worthy of consideration. The Council of State decided on Jan. 23, 1902, that the law did apply to the conventual schools, old and new. There were two months in which the schools could be either converted into secular schools or legalized as religious schools of authorized orders before the compulsory education law would require the parents to send their children to school; but they could not be legalized without a new act of the Legislature, which would not meet before Oct. 15, and in case these schools were not reopened before the new school year there would not be room for so many children in the public schools; most of the parents, moreover, would endure penalties rather than let their children attend the secular schools. After secular education was enacted in 1882 and monastic teachers were excluded from the common schools, Catholics throughout the country contributed and sent their children to the schools founded by the monastic orders in which religious instruction was continued. There were 160.000 children in these Church schools in Paris; in the provinces they were more numerously attended. Thousands of teachers were trained in the convents. To provide education for the pupils of these schools would add greatly to the public expenses. The bishops declared that they would defend the liberty of Christian families to determine how their children should be educated, and nearly all of them sent protests against the decrees, although they have had constant difficulties with these teaching orders in exercising their hierarchical authority. The circular of M. Combes came as a surprise because it was now too late for the orders to apply for authorization. The law gave them only three months, which expired on Oct. 1, 1901. M. Waldeck-Rousseau decreed an extension till Jan. 15, 1902, and when he said that elementary schools came under the education law of 1886 it was assumed or argued by some of the Clericals that his language exempted the Church schools. It was contended, moreover, that since he threatened to close them after a final summons his successor was bound to allow an opportunity to obtain authorization. The Progressives and Moderate Republicans condemned the policy of suppressing the sisters' schools, and Protestants as well as Clericals and Reactionaries called it an attack on liberty and a manifestation of hatred and intolerance. Even Radicals, like ex-Premier Goblet, deprecated violence in combating clericalism, though others called for the total suppression of the recalcitrant orders or advocated the denunication of the concordat. When the police began to carry out the decree, first in the departments of the Seine and the Rhône, the Clerical politicians and the clergy led demonstrations. In Paris the Nationalists sought conflicts with the police, and some of the agitators were arrested. In provincial towns and villages, where the action of the Government produced real hardship and profoundly exasperated the people, serious conflicts occurred, notwithstanding the endeavors of the authorities to avoid encounters. Many of the officials carried out the expulsions with extreme repugnance; some would not enforce the decree; none treated the sisters with harshness. Departmental and municipal councils in Catholic sections passed resolutions condemning the Government, and the municipal councils of the industrial cities retorted with resolutions of commendation. Clerical leaders appealed to M. Loubet, who forwarded their communications to the ministers. Ladies of society sought the intercession of Mme. Loubet, but propriety forbade her to receive them. Leav ing a message that women's blood would be shed in the streets if the women of the poor were denied the privilege of giving a Christian education to their children, some days later, at the head of a demonstration of mothers of France, they attempted to present a petition to the Prime Minister, but found the avenues leading to the ministry blocked by the police. Some of the notifications in the provinces were withdrawn for the reason that the establishments affected were virtually authorized by having been allowed to buy lands and buildings or to receive legacies. It was decided to leave orphanages and charity schools undisturbed. In 48 of the departments the schools that received notices closed voluntarily; in 5 there were no religious schools; in 34 decrees were enforced. In many cases where there was resistance or a show of resistance, the heads of the order commanded the nuns to leave, and the nuns desired to leave, but were restrained by the lay managers and by Clerical partizans. There were 6,000 monastic educational establishments that had not applied for authorization. About half of these the ministers decided to leave unmolested because they had acted in good faith, believing that no application was necessary. The number of schools thus exonerated was about 1,100. Of the others, over 1,500 closed voluntarily. Decrees were enforced against 26 schools in Paris and 61 in the Rhône department, and on Aug. 1 decrees of closure were issued against 237 establishments in 32 other departments. There were 12,000 applications for authorization, which the Council of State would pass upon as expeditiously as possible. The 324 recusant schools must secure lay teachers if they desired to reopen in October. When the gendarmes went to close them they found the doors locked, and some of them surrounded by defenders-peasants who stood guard with pitchforks or youths who stoned them as they approached. In many villages the inhabitants mounted guard or the mayors summoned them by sounding the tocsin, and in some the gendarmes were compelled to retire. In various towns citizens of the two parties fought in the streets. The political leaders of the demonstrations counseled only legal resistance, not violence. Some of them suggested and inaugurated a general refusal to pay taxes. The boycotting of Republicans was begun in many places, and in some a run on the savings-banks was started. The agitation was more intense and general in Brittany than in any other part of France, and there the decrees were carried out last. There the doors of the schools had to be opened by lock smiths or breaches had to be made in the walls. Women knelt or lay down at the entrances to prevent the passage of the police. Prominent Clericals braved a criminal charge by breaking the official seals placed on the buildings. Priests sometimes headed the resistance. In one instance the nuns armed themselves with scythes to fight the police. Wherever the people were so excited that the schools could not be closed without a serious conflict the execution of the decrees was delayed, while the ecclesiastical authorities counseled submission. The superior of the largest order twice directed the Breton nuns to submit, but the lay owners of the schools and the inhabitants prevented their departure. Royalism as well as Catholic sentiment inspired a revolt which only the military could deal with in this old province, now almost the only part of France that elects royalist Deputies. Court proceedings against the legality of the decrees were instituted in very many places, the course generally recommended by the Church dignitaries and their political friends. One of the bishops advocated the separation of Church and state, since the majority of Frenchmen preferred apparently an atheistic republic. In some of the more troubled districts detachments of soldiers were sent to protect the civil officials in their task. In the department of Morbihan Lieut.-Col. Gaudin de SaintRémy, when ordered to send a squadron to aid in closing a school at Lanouen, refused to obey his general's orders, saying that as a Christian he would not share in an act contrary to his faith and religious feelings. He was immediately relieved of his command and ordered to a fortress. It was only by means of military operations that the decrees could be executed in Brittany. The peasants and fishermen were united in their resistance in the districts where loyalty to the Bourbon kings and feudal attachment to the nobility were still a part of their religion. Barricades, earthworks, and ditches closed the roads. When the soldiers broke through or turned the barriers and reached the school-buildings, where they had to batter down the doors, they were greeted with cheers for the army, but the commissaries were assaulted, and sometimes the priests had to rescue their lives. Intrenchments and obstacles protected the buildings, and these were filled with people who threw filth and burning oil-soaked sticks into the faces of the gendarmes who attempted to enter. When an entrance was at length effected, the nuns marched arm in arm with the aristocratic ladies of the neighborhood to the church, preceded by trumpets and flags and cheered by the populace, who strewed their path with flowers. Some of the local courts upheld the lay owners, or nominal owners, of the edifices where, after the sisters had left, they removed the seals from the doors and resumed possession. In the departments where the public sentiment sustained the Govern ment, though many persons were arrested, priests and nuns among them, and ladies of the old aris tocracy, the sentences inflicted were the lightest, and these were remitted under the law allowing first offenses to go unpunished. The strength of the Clerical and Reactionary movement which made Paris Nationalist and revived royalism and imperialism in the provinces, contrary to the admonitions of the Pope, was not derived from the dwindling and impoverished ancient aristocracy, but from the commercial, manufacturing, and professional classes. The bourgeoisie that accomplished the French Revolution had become enamored of the ancien régime. The spirit was strong in the army and navy and among the official classes, and when officials refrained from insubordinate acts, which invariably led to dismissal, the women of their families flaunted their antiRepublican sentiments in the view of the public. The Government, representative of a new social stratum, of the working classes and the bulk of the peasantry, attributed this to the monopoly of middle-class education by the clergy. Hence the ministers, who found themselves in the awkward position of waging war on women, persisted in enforcing the associations law, in appearance at least, to betoken their determination to introduce secular education and bring up the youth of France as Republicans. The Govern ment was sustained by 65 departmental councils on its policy of closing the schools, and censured by 3, while 15 recommended authorization and restitution of the schools. The belated execution of the decrees in Brittany was finally carried out by Aug. 20, in Finisterre last of all, where Abbé Gayraud, the Deputy, could not dissuade the peasants, who left their harvest fields to champion the nuns, from fighting the police and soldiers. The orders after the struggle was over applied for authorization. Since the act of 1886 lay teachers had been substituted for nuns in 4.500 religious schools and 6,000 were still taught by sisters. For most of the closed schools lay teachers, often volunteers, were found, although there was a scarcity of available teachers possessing the necessary certificates. The laicization of communal schools was obligatory FRANCE. and was carried out wherever they were still When Col. de Saint-Rémy was taught by nuns. tried the military court virtually upheld his conduct by sentencing him to one day's imprisonment. Gen. André, the first Minister of War chosen from the army who had made political speeches tinctured with Radicalism, in accordance with a decision of the Cabinet, placed Col. de Saint-Rémy, whose previous military career was unimpeachable, on the retired list. The Socialists and Radicals called for the abolition of courts-martial, although in this case the offending officer had clearly acted from conscientious motives after a mental struggle and with no political or self-seeking object, and was technically not insubordinate toward his superior officer, but had only failed to act on the requisition of the prefect transmitted irregularly by the general, whose subsequent personal order was legally void. The soldier had merely disobeyed the civil power, a minor military offense, and the civil power asserted its authority over the army by retiring him from active service. The Pope sent a message of condolence with French Catholics in a brief to the Archbishop of Paris, which contained no suggestion of a controversy. the Chambers reassembled in October a Socialist Deputy proposed the abolition of the concordat, the pact made by Napoleon I with the Vatican which makes the hierarchy and secular clergy of the Roman Catholic Church officials of the state, recipients at present of annual stipends and subventions amounting to 40,000,000 francs. The question was indefinitely postponed by being referred, with the approval of the Government, to a committee by 294 votes to 254. When Dependencies.-The colonies and dependencies of France have an aggregate area of over 5,000,000 square miles and over 50,000,000 inhabitants. The Minister of the Colonies directs the administration of the colonies, all of which enjoy a large measure of self-government. Algeria is not treated as a colony, but its departments are assimilated to the departments of France and the Governor-General receives instructions from the ministers of the French Cabinet, except the Minister of the Colonies and the Ministers of Finance, Justice, and Public Instruction and Worship, having advisers of his own for these matters. The Chambers make special laws for Algeria, and political and administrative questions not covered by legislation are decided by the President Tunis is under the and Council of Ministers. control of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Minister of the Colonies is advised by the Superior Colonial Council, composed of the Senators and Deputies of the colonies which have representation in the French Chambers, delegates from the others, and individuals appointed by the Government on account of their official relations or special knowledge of colonial affairs. The Chambers vote large sums every year to supplement the revenues collected in the colonies. The total amount of colonial expenditure for 1902 was set down in the budget as 120,598,455 francs, while 15,212.947 francs were returned to the French treasury, 10,941,794 francs of this sum being a reimbursement of military expenses from IndoChina. Of the estimated expenditure 3,166.750 francs were the expenses of the Ministry of the Colonies, 8,999.000 francs were subventions to cover colonial deficits, 99,541,905 francs were for military expenses, and 8.890.800 francs were for the maintenance of penal settlements. The services of the French army and navy in the colonies are defrayed, not from the colonial budget, but from the budgets of the Ministries of War and Marine. In 1901 free passages were given to 361 The republic of Andorra in the Pyrenees, hav- Algeria is divided into the departments of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine, each of which sends a Senator and two Deputies to the French Chambers. Paul Revoil was appointed Governor-Gen-. eral in 1901. The colonial budget is voted by a Superior Council consisting of delegates of the general councils of the departments. The military territory consists of a part of the Algerian Sahara, which is governed by the military authorities, but they are controlled by the GovernorGeneral. The area and population of the departments, according to the census of March 24, 1901, are given in the following table: Total. 586,870 4,774,042 The total population in 1896 was 4,429,421, including 318,137 French and 446,343 foreigners. Of the native population, about 75 per cent. are Kabyles, or Berbers, 15 per cent. Arabs, and 10 per cent. Moors, Jews, Turks, negroes, etc. The number of marriages registered in 1899 was 42,816; of births, 132,676; of deaths, 90,557. These figures are very imperfect, as the native Mohammedans generally avoid making reports. The estimated revenue for 1902 was 56,470,947 francs, of which 13,066,907 francs came from direct taxation, 8,396,200 francs from registration and stamps, 14,627,180 francs from customs, 5,179,300 francs from monopolies, 3,723,820 francs from domains and forests, 8,273,905 franes from The total estimated expenditure was various sources, and 3,203,635 francs were recettes 54,384,662 francs, of which 7,200,134 francs were d'ordre. for administrative expenses, 8,282,664 francs for finance, 2,728,850 francs for justice, 8,451,913 francs for instruction and worship, 8,450,750 francs for public works, 4,813,774 francs for agriculture and forests, 6,528,025 francs for commerce and the post-office, and 7,928,552 francs for colonization and charities. The appropriations for religious worship in 1900 were 829,700 francs for Catholics, 307,430 francs for Mussulmans, 97,600 francs for Protestants, and 28,970 franes for nues of Algerian communes, of which there are Jews; total, 1,263,700 francs. The combined reve352, were 26,567,267 francs, their expenditures 23,210,977 francs, their debts 69.811,978 francs. The military force in Algeria, the Nineteenth Corps of the French army, numbered 57.292 men, of whom 2,255 were officers, in 1901, with 13,434 horses. The agricultural population in 1897 numbered 3,644,614, of whom 207,310 were Europeans, to whom the greater part of the public lands have been sold or granted. The native tribes hold a large proportion of the soil in common. The agricultural area is about 20,000,000 hectares. The production of hard wheat in 1900, from 2,767,630 acres, was 734,943 tons; of soft wheat, from 525,920 acres, 163,777 tons; of barley, from 3,635,995 acres, 1,189,557 tons; of beans, from 80,180 acres, 16,534 tons; of oats, from 231,800 acres, 97,836 tons; of dari, from 70,335 acres, 20,190 tons. There are about 30,000 wine-growers, 17,000 of whom are Europeans. Wine-growing is the largest industry, but the abnormal yield of France in 1900 and 1901 depressed prices so that exports were unprofitable and fell from 1,000,000 gallons in 1899 to 500,000 gallons in 1900. The vineyards, covering 151,877 hectares, produced 5,563,032 hectoliters of wine in 1901. The crop of tobacco, covering about 7,000 hectares, was 49,207 quintals. There are 6,500,000 olivetrees. Ramie, colza, and other oil-seeds, alfalfa, dates, flax, and vegetables are grown. Alfalfa covers 12,000,000 acres, producing 4 quintals per acre of dried hay. The quantity of cocoons produced in 1899 was 116,500 quintals. There was 90,000 hundredweight of cork cut in 1900 from the state cork forests, which have an area of 281,400 hectares. The total forest area is 3,247,692 hectares, of which about 75 per cent. is utilized, 1,759,495 hectares belonging to the Government, 76,919 hectares to communes, and 468,395 hectares to individuals. There were 23 mines in operation in 1899, producing 173,749 metric tons of iron ore, valued at 1,287,069 francs, besides 377,192 tons not included in concessions, value 3,374,562 francs; 389 tons of silver-lead ore, valued at 52,412 francs; 42,970 tons of zinc ore, valued at 2,512,895 francs; 200 tons of antimony ore, valued at 52,000 francs. The production of rock salt was 17,378 tons, value 336,500 francs. The production of phosphate of lime was 281,816 tons, mainly from Tebessa. Many other beds have been found in various parts of the country. Petroleum, coal, onyx, copper, and mercury are other mineral products of Algeria. Pottery, tanning, weaving, and the manufacture of esparto are native industries. The total value of the general imports in 1900 was 323,818,000 francs, of which 259,355,000 francs came from France and 64,463,000 francs from foreign countries and French colonies; general sports were valued at 242,317,000 francs, of which 173,467,000 franes went to France and 68,850,000 francs to foreign countries and French colonies. The value of the special imports was 313,330,000 francs, of which 53,975,336 francs came from foreign countries and French colonies; the value of special exports was 229,364,000 francs, of which 55.896,653 francs went to foreign countries and French colonies. The special trade was distributed among the chief countries as follows, values being given in franes: for 4,702,042 francs, hides for 4,926,920 francs, cork for 3,786,227 francs, vegetable fibers for 2,360,992 francs, and cereals for 1,780,367 francs. The value of wine imported from Algeria into France was 50,433,000 francs; of cereals, 37,844,000 francs; of sheep, 19,194,000 francs; of wool, 11,486,000 francs. France exported to Algeria textile fabrics of the value of 35,467,000 francs, skins and furs of the value of 17,281,000 francs, clothing of the value of 16,600,000 francs, and machinery of the value of 9,663,000 francs. There were entered at Algerian ports during 1900 from French and foreign ports 3,480 vessels, of 2,544,340 tons, of which 2,095, of 1,579,433 tons, were French; cleared, 3,485, of 2,553,139 tons, of which 2,056, of 1,542,420 tons, were French. There were entered and cleared coastwise 9,635, of 1,782,531 tons, in 1899. The length of railroads in operation in 1901 was 1,818 miles, not including an extension of 325 miles in Tunis. The telegraphs had a length of 6,840 miles, with 16,840 miles of wire; number of messages, 2,145,990. A new railroad is being built into the recently annexed parts of the Sahara along the frontier of Morocco with the consent of the Moorish Sultan. Though the inhabitants of Figig still commit hostile acts against the French on their border, since the boundary has been defined no political question arises from such occasional incidents. The Tuaregs of the desert render the caravan routes unsate, and troops are constantly employed in punishing the freebooting tribes, which send out parties of 200 or 300 well-armed robbers mounted on dromedaries. The regency of Tunis, though nominally under the suzerainty of Turkey and under the rule of a Mohammedan dynasty, has been a French protectorate since 1882, governed practically by a French Minister Resident General under instructions from the French Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Bey of Tunis, whose authority is now confined to religious matters, at the beginning of 1902 was Sidi Ali, born Oct. 5, 1817. The heir apparent was his son Mohammed, born June 24, 1855. The Resident General in the beginning of 1902 was S. Pichon. The army of occupation numbered 19,460 men, of whom 691 were officers. the cost of which is paid by France. The Bey has a guard of 600 native troops. The area of Tunis is about 51.000 square miles, with a population of about 1,906,000. The French population, exclusive of the army, was 23,692, in the beginning of 1901. The foreigners on Jan. 1, 1901, numbered 82,667, of whom 67,420 were Italians, 12,056 Maltese, and 3,191 of other nationalities. In the capital city of Tunis, which has Exports. a population of 170,000. were 12.490 French and about 27,000 other Europeans. The revenue for 173,467,000 1902 was estimated at 54,113,963 franes, of which 12,279.465 242.076 7.881,400 francs came from direct taxation, 4,556,328 9.323,300 francs from customs, 7,768,300 francs 7.819.097 from monopolies, 1,147,200 francs from domains, 3.269.454 6,082.666 1,035,200 franes from various sources, 2.018,157 4,298.229 from arrears of 1901, 14,500,000 franes from a 1,160,575 railroad loan, and 10.440,406 franes from other 2,337,363 1.205.949 exceptional sources. The total expenditure for 1902 was estimated at 54,026,154 francs, of which 1,680,000 francs were for the civil list, 12.365.243 francs for finance and debt, 1,452.805 franes for the post-office and telegraphs, 3.734.565 franes for administration. 1.058.940 francs for agriculture and forests, 1.069,911 francs for public instruction, 4,743.500 francs for public works, 962,626 francs for the army, etc., 2,018,157 franes were arrears, and 24.940,407 franes were exceptional expenditures. The debt was consolidated in 1884 Imports. 259,355,000 10.221.263 11,370,576 4,888,956 4.435.224 1,142.398 2,271,300 1,288.926 2,151,791 There were imported from foreign countries cattle for 10,088,651 franes, coal for 6,169,497 francs, coffee for 5,417,373 franes, lumber for 4,792,396 franes, tobacco for 2.029.329 francs, machinery for 1,753,355 franes, ships and boats for 1,709,500 francs, and hides for 1,622,540 francs, and exported to foreign countries alfalfa for 7.049,536 francs, tobacco for 6,825,031 francs, iron cre FRANCE. into a perpetual 3-per-cent. rente of 6,307,520 francs a year, representing a capital of 157,688,000 francs. The population is mainly engaged in agriculture. In 1900 there were 429,238 hectares under wheat, 430,171 under barley, 15,322 under oats, 15,252 under corn, and 11,522 under beans. There were about 800,000 quintals of wheat, 450,000 quintals of barley, 80,000 quintals of oats, 30,000 quintals of beans, and 25,000 quintals of corn sent to Marseilles in 1901. There are 200,000 hectares of olive-groves in central Tunis, yielding 339,983 hectoliters of oil in 1901. In the south are 1,350,000 date-palm trees, and the annual export of dried dates is valued at 800,000 francs. The area planted to vines in 1900 was 11.374 hectares, 9,708 hectares belonging to Europeans, and the production of wine was 225,000 hectoliters. There were 9,930 quintals of cork bark cut in 1900 and 11,882 quintals in 1901. Oranges, lemons, pistachio-nuts, almonds, and henna are other products of the country, and alfalfa is exported. The mines in 1899 produced lead and zinc ores of the value of 2,141,000 francs, and the product of quarries was valued The phosphate-mines at at 1.700,000 francs. Gafsa yielded 150,000 tons in 1900. The fisheries, which are exploited by Italians almost entirely, in 1900 produced 134,350 kilograms of sardines, 28,450 kilograms of anchovies and 1,435,990 kilograms of other fish, the whole valued at 759,832 francs, and 85,826 kilograms of sponges, valued at 59,809 francs. The total value of imports in 1900, including precious metals, was 61,514,242 francs; exports, 42,560,191 francs. The imports in 1899 were 55,778,241 francs in value, of which the principal ones were grain and pulse for 11,972,482 francs, textile fabrics for 8,222,587 francs, colonial produce for 4,564,628 francs, metal manufactures for 4,454,023 francs, animal products for 2,776,211 francs, pottery and stone for 2,621,067 francs, leather and paper manufactures for 2,197, 374 francs, lumber for 1,913,220 francs, and beverages for 1,883,584 francs. The total value of exports in 1899 was 49,433,460 francs, the leading ones being olive and other vegetable oils for 14,698,887 francs, grain and pulse for 11,307,024 francs, ores and metals for 4.353,693 francs, animals and animal products for 3,624,997 francs, beverages for 1,813,660 francs, sponges, etc., for 1.791,323 francs, fish for 1,686.004 franes, alfalfa for 1.414,305 francs, and fruits and seeds for 1,225,978 franes. The imports of precious metals were 9.223,500 francs; exports, 8,018,000 francs. The values in francs of the trade in 1899 with various countries are given in the following table: France. Great Britain. Algeria Belgium. Russia COUNTRIES. messages in 1899 was 701,690; the number of letters handled in the post-office, 5,656,932 internal Loans for the conand 11,172,752 external. struction of four railroads of the total amount of 40,000,000 francs were authorized on May 1, 1902, and the first one for 5,000,000 francs, bearing 3 per cent. interest, was issued at 95 on July Ali Bey died on June 11, 1902, and Prince He agreed 29. Mohammed was invested as Bey. that his civil list and private estates should be placed under a French manager, without whose consent no payments or debts can be made. The boundaries of Algeria and Tunis are undefined on the south, and beyond them are territories conceded in conventions made with Great Britain to be a French sphere of influence which extend to the French protectorates on the Niger and the Congo (see WEST AFRICA), and will give France the greatest colonial empire in Africa when they shall be under the dominion of the republic. On the other side of Africa France has a new colony with a fine port giving commercial access to the interior of Abyssinia (see EAST AFRICA). Some of the islands off the southeast coast of Africa have been French possessions for centuries. By the conquest of Madagascar the second largest island in the world was definitely added to the colonial dominions of France (see MADAGASCAR). The island of Réunion, 420 miles east of Madagascar, has long been the home of French creole planters, who with negro and coolie labor raise sugar-cane, vanilla, cacao, coffee, and spices. The Governor, P. Samary in 1902, is assisted by a Privy Council having 3 official and 4 nominated members and by an elective General Council. The colony sends a Senator and 2 Deputies to the French Chambers. The area of the island is 965 square miles, and its population in 1897 was 173,192, including 15,219 East Indians, 9,848 Africans, 4,496 natives of Madagascar, The town of St. Dénis has and 836 Chinese. 32,850 inhabitants; St. Pierre, 27,900; St. Paul, 20,000; St. Louis, 13,300. There is a French garrison of about 800 soldiers. The export of sugar in 1900 was 33,669 tons. The total value of imports in 1900 was 22,025,000 francs, and of exports 17,450,000 francs. The value of sugar exported was 10,125,000 francs; of vanilla, 3,275,000 francs. The imports from France and French colonies were 16,450,000 francs in value, and of exports to France and French colonies 15.836,000 francs. There were 138 vessels, of 189,625 tons, entered It became the in 1900. A railroad, 83 miles in length, runs from Pointe-de-Galets to St. Pierre. property of the Government in 1887. The local revenue in 1901 was 5,033,700 francs, balancing the expenditure, but France in 1902 contributed 4,661,851 francs, of which 2,452,000 francs were for the railroad and harbor. The petty islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam in the Pacific and the uninhabited isle of Kerguelen belong to France. Mayotte has an area of 140 square miles. 1,369.662 The population in 1898 was 11,640. Sugar is grown for export and for the distillation of rum. Vanilla is being more extensively cultivated. The raising of coffee, cacao, tea, and rubber is in the experimental stage. The value of imports in 1900 was 561,620 francs, of which 292,967 francs came from France and French colonies. The value of exports was 1,309,932 francs. The value of sugar The local revenue in 1900 was 293,807 exported was 1,008,296 franes; of vanilla, 155,670 francs. franes. The expenditure of France in 1902 was 20,000 francs. The debt consists of an advance of 500,000 francs from the French treasury made to repair the damages of the cyclone of 1898 and repayable in twenty years without interest. The Imports. Exports. 40.965 1,842,809 The number of vessels entered at Tunisian ports during 1900 was 11.751, of 2,520,435 tons, of which 1,955, of 1,320,377 tons, were French. The length of railroads in 1901 was 588 miles, of which 417 miles belonged to the Government. The length of telegraph-lines was 2.390 miles, with 5,330 miles of wire. There were 9 telephone systems, with 130 miles of line and 143 miles of wire, and 448 miles of long-distance lines, with 528 miles of wire. The number of conversations in 1899 was 309,000. The number of telegraph |