FRANC A VILLA

several places in Southern Italy. The most important is in the province of Lecce, 14 miles w.s.W. of Brindisi. Pop.17,759 (town); 20,510 (commune), FRANCE (anciently GALLIA), a maritime country in the west of Hurope, forming one of its most extensive, most populous, and most influential states. It is situated betwen lat. 42° 20’ and 51° 5’ n.; and long. 4° 42’ w. and 7° 39’ E., and is bounded north by the Straits of Dover and the English Channel; west by the Atlantic (Bay of Biscay); south by Spain and the Mediterranean Sea; east and northeast by Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. Its greatest length from north to south is 600 milcs, and its greatest breadth 560 miles. The coastline on the whole is considerably diversified by bays, estuaries, and indentations of various kinds, and presents numerous good harbours and roadsteads. It is studded by a number of islands, especially in the north-west and west, the largest being Oléron, Ré, and Belle Isle. The total area (inciuding pipes Lorraine) is 212,659 sq. miles. The capital is Paris (Pop. 2,891,020); other towns and their populations (1931) are: Marseilles (800,881), Lyons (579,763) Bordeaux (262,990), Nice (219,549), Lille (201,568), Toulouse (194,564), St. Titienne (191,088), Nantes (187,343), Str as bourg (181,465), Le Havre (165,076), Toulon (133,263),and Rouen (122,957). Mountains. The interior is traversed from south-west to north-east by succce ive chains of mountains, commencing with the Pyrennees and including the Cevennes, the Cote d’Or, the Vosges, and others, forming the watershed, on one side of which the rivers flow west and north into the Atlantic and the English Channel, on the other side east and south into the Mediterranean. At its north-eastern extremity this system is met by the Alps and the Jura. j A. considerable portion of tho Western Alps belongs to SouthEastern France. Mt. Blane itself (15,781 feet) is mostly within the French boundary-line. Some lofty Pyrene an peaks are also within. 543 FRANCE French territory, the highest being Vignemale (10,792 feet). Near the centre of France, and separate from the great watershed of the country, are several groups of volcanic mountains known by the general name of the Mountains of Auvergne, the chief peaks of which are the Plomb du Cantal (5,983 feet), the Puy de Sancy (6,188 feet), and the Puy de Déme. Rivers. The spurs thrown off by the great watershed divide France into seven principal river basins, six of which are on the north-western slope and one on the south-eastern. These are: (1) The basin of the Garonne and its affluents (the Ariége, Tarn, Lot, and Dordogne on the right, and the Gers on the left); with the two the north Atty France—the River Loire (2) The basin of the Loire and its tributaries (Niévre and Maine on the right, the Allier, Loiret, Cher, Indre, Vienne, and Sévre Nantaise on the left). (3) The basin of the Seine and its tributaries (the Aube, Marne, and Oise on the right, the Yonne and Hure on the left). To the north is the secondary basin of the Somme. (4) The basin of the Meuse with its affluent the Sambre. (5) The basin of the Hscaut or Scheldt with its affluent the Scarpe. Only the southern portion of these two basins is included within the political boundaries of France. (6) The basin which pours a number of tributaries, the principal of which is the Moselle, into the Rhine. Only a comparatively small portion of this basin also is included within the nolitical boundaries of France. (7) The basin of the Rh6éne, occupying the whole of the territory which lies to the south-east of the great watershed, the tributaries being the Ain, the Sadéne, Ardéche, and Gard on the right, and the Isére, Dréme, and Durance on the left. The secondary basins are those of the Var and the Aude. The four great rivers of France are the Loire, Seine, Rhone, and Garonne. France has in all more than 200 navigable streams, with a total navigation of 6,160 miles. Lakes are few, and individually very limited in extent. Geology. Among geological formations granite holds a chief place as forming the nucleus of the mountains generally, and being the prevailing rock in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Cevennes, and in the north-west peninsular portion of the country (Britt any). The other crystalline rocks, consisting chiefly of trachytes and basalts, have received a magnificent development in Auvergne, where whole mountains are composed of them, and where the effects of remote voleanic agency are still visible in extinct craters and lava streams. = In the Jura limestone occurs in such enormous ma es as to have given its name to a peculiar formation, (the Jura ic). The granite is overlaid by gnei , micaceous and argillaceous slates, succeeded, particularly in the Pyrences, by mountain limestone. The secondary formation, commencing with this limestone, is largely. deve= loped in many parts, and furnishes a eon sider able number of coal and mineral-fields. The tertiary formation coyers a vast extent of surface, particoy in the south-west and around aris. Climate. Lying almost wholly within the more moderate portion of the temperate zone, between the is a thermal lines of 50° and 60°, France has a climate not inferior to that of any country in Europe. In the south, and particularly the south-east, which is the warmest, the olive is succe fully cultivated. Farther north to a limit determined by a line drawn diagonally in an east-north-east direction from the department of Gironde to that of the Vosges, the cultivation of maize or Indian corn extends. More northward still, a line drawn from the mouth of the Loire to Meziéres in the Ardennes department marks the extreme limit of the profitable culture of the vine. Beyond this line is the fourth and coldest region. All these regions, not with star.ding their diversities of temperature, are generally healthy, and have an atmosphere remarkable for salubrity, serenity, and brightne . Agriculture, . About nine-tenths 544 -RANCE f the soil of France is productive, nd about one-half of the whole is mder the plough. The cereals formng the great bulk of the cultivated rops are wheat, oats, rye, and barley. ‘he crops next in importance to these re meslin or mixed corn, potatoes, emp, rape, maize, buckwheat, flax, nd beet. Beet is cultivated extenively in some departments, especially n that of Nord, for the manufactur fsugar. The cultivation of tobacco is SAP PLES PLUMES WSUGAA & ar 7) BRANDY WINE VINE extensive demand for horses for the army, considerable pains are taken in the Government studs to improve the breeds. _France has a very large number of vineyards. The cultivation of the vine is one of the most important branches of French agriculture, the total quantity of land in vineyards being, since 1913, about 3 per cent of the whole surface. In 1931 there were 3,827,388 acres under vines, of which 34,407 are WHEAT gl ne Fd auoy ef s nz wo oe WANCHES & 3} 2 sh PORCELAIN’ i q FS WAS Vewers i us f Pra) iaon Je Seoves SHEEP od fer OLIVES i a MEACTH f ¢ Sitte nesonisl As gs es) OP FORT ARSENAL Products of France 1onopolized by the Government, and; confined to certain departments, 29 f which were authorized in 1913 to ultivate the plant. ‘ In France the gra is on a much 10re limited scale than the arable usbandry, and the breeding of cattle;indifferently practised. The rearing f sheep is more succe ful, much of he wool being scarcely inferior to erino-wool. Excellent horses are red in the north, and as there is an in Alsace-Lorraine, and the total wine industry yields a net yearly total of over 2,000 million frances. In everything relating to this branch of culture the French are unsurpa ed, the various first-cla wines which they produce under the names of Champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux, ., being universally known. It is estimated that in good years France produces about one-third of the whole wine production of the world. Since 545 BRANCE 5 about 1870 the vineyards have frequently suffered from the devastations of the Phylloxera. fp Among the most important fruit trees cultivated in France are the apple, from the fruit of which much cider is made, especially in Normandy; the chestnut, which in some of the sentral districts of France is a staple ‘ood among the poorer cla es; the mulberry tree, cultivated in the southeast both for its fruit and its leaves, the latter furnishing the food of the silk-worms so largely reared there; the atte also in the south-east; the pear, plum, peach, orange, citron, fig, . The forests occupy about 18 per cent of the whole territory. Minerals. Coal-fields are numerous, but only two are really of importance—that of Valenciennes in the north-east, forming the western extremity of the great Belgian coa!-field, and that of St. Etienne in the southeast, to which the manufactures of that town, Lyons, and the surrounding districts, are much indebted. Before the European War France ranked fifth among the principal coal-producing nations, the four first being the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Austria. The war, of course, seriously interfered with the coal-supply, and the second half of 1914 only yielded under 10,000,000 tons. The annual output, which was about 40,000,000 metric tons in 1913, and only 26,322,000 metric tons in 1918, 53,885,000 in 1930, and estimated at 50,023,000 in 1931, falls so far short of the consumption that a large import takes place from England and Belgium, and wood continues to be the common fuel throughout France, at least for domestic purposes. The coal-fields contain seams ofiron, which are extensively worked, and furnish ore to a great number of blast furnaces; but of the total amount of ore smelted in the country a considerable proportion is imported. Other metals, such as lead, zinc, manganese, copper, ., are obtained to some extent. Common salt is obtained from mines of rock-salt, from salt-springs, and in still greater quantity from lagoons and salt-marshes on the coast. anufactures. The most important of the textile manufactures is that of silk goods. This industry has been centred at Lyons and the surrounding districts since the Italian wars, and especially since the discovery of the Jacquard loom. In 1914 there were 386 silk manufactures in the seven departments of the Lyonnais region. It employs about two millions of persons, and furnishes about 27 per cent in value of the whole of the manufactured products of France. The exports of silks rose from 310,059,000 francs in 1914, to 3,233,000,000 francs in 1927, and in 1932 were 897,800,000 francs. The principal purchaser is Great Britain, the value of French silk manufactured goods exported to the United Kingdom in 1918 amounting to 294 million francs, and in 1931 to £3,509,308. During the European War the French silk industry provided the military authorities with cartridge and aeroplane silk to the value of 5 million francs in 1915, 28 millions in 1916, and 50 millions in 1917. After silk goods, though at a considerable distance, follow cotton stuffs and woollens, made largely at Rheims, Amiens, and Beauvais; carpets at Abbeville; tapestry at Paris and Beauvais; linens, including fine muslin, gauze, and lace, at St. Quentin, .; eutlery, porcelain, stone-ware, and common pottery, beet-root sugar, leather, paper, hats, hosiery, steel, iron, bra , and zinc ware, plate and flint gla , ., besides many crnamental and artistic articles; jewellery, clocks, surgical instruments, types, engravings, ., which have their common seat in the capital. The invasion of Nord and the eastern departments of France in 1914 brusquely deprived the country of its most important provinces from the industrial point of view, and its most active from the commercial. The two most vital industries of modern life, the metallurgical and textile industries, were reduced to le than half. Neverthele , though hampered by lack of labour, raw material, and transport facilities, French industry not only kept alive during the war, but has made rapid progre since its conclusion. The fisheries of France are important. Amongst the principal is that of sardines on the coast of the Bay of Biscay; that of herring, mackerel, turbot, salmon, ., in the English Channel and the North Sea; that of tunnies and anchovies on the coasts of the Mediterranean. Ovyster-breeding is largely engaged in, the most extensive oyster-beds being those of the basin of Arcachon in the department of the Gironde. Cod-fishing is carried on actively near the Newfoundland banks by French fishermen and also near Iceland. Commerce. The principal towns from which the internal commerce emanates are Paris, Lyons, Rouen, Lille, St. Etienne, Toulouse, Nimes, Nancy, Perpignan, . Before the outbreak of the European War French commerce, which had been rather behindhand at the close of the nines teenth century, had made rapid pros gre and was only inferior to that of 546 FRANCE the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. Generally speaking, France imported more than she exported. In 1913 the total foreign commerce of France amounted to 15,301 million francs. In 1932 she imported goods to the value of 42,199,302,000 frances, and exported goods to the value of 30,421,327,000 francs. The foreign commerce is chiefly with Britain, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. Britain is far ahead of the others, its imports from France being woollens, cottons, butter, wine and brandy, sugar; the latter chiefly wool and woollens, cottons and cotton yarn coal, machinery, and metals. The shipping of France is much below what might be expected from the development of its foreign commerce. During the year 1932 the number of French and foreign ve els entering her ports was 8,045 and 19,430 respectively; and the tonnage amounted to 13,245,531 tons and 39,396,106 tons respectively. The chief seaports are Marseilles, Le Harve, Bordeaux, Rouen, Nantes (including St. Nazaire), Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, and Dieppe. Canals, Railways, . The canals are numerous. The Canal du Midi, or, as it is sometimes called, the Canal of Langue doc, starting from a point in the Garonne a little below Toulouse, is continued in an east-south-east direction into the lagoon of Thau, and thereby gives a continuous navigable communication between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, in the line of the important towns of Bordeaux, Agen, Toulouse, Car cas sonne, and Narbonne. In like manner three separate canals cut acro the basin of the Rhéne; the Canal du Centre, or of Char olla is, connecting the Saéne and the Loire; the Rhéne and Rhine Canal, so called from uniting these two rivers, partly by the intervention of the Doubs; and the Canal of Bourgogne, connecting the Sadne, Yonne, and Seine. In all, France po e es about 3.291 miles of canals in addition to about 4,222 miles of navigable rivers, but a programme has been adopted for the improvement and extension of the canal system. The railways in France partly belong to the State, and partly have been granted to private companies for a limited period, at the end of which they become State property. There were altogether 25,964 miles of railway in eperation in 1931; 1,043 miles were electrified. The total length of telegraph lines in 1930 was 223,121 miles. Education and Religion. [In France the superintendence of education in all its branches is expre ly committed to a high functionary, who takes the name of Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts and is a isted by an educational council. For a good part of the eighteenth century France had only one university, the University of France, embracing a series of ‘faculties’ (facultés), which were a sort of university colleges, each specially devoted to literature, law, medicine, theology, . After 1896 a number of local untversities were formed from these institutions, and university education is now in a flourishing state. Paris has again a university of her own, besides the Collége de France, Wicole Poly technique, Hcole Normale Supérieure, cole des Langues Orient a les, . There are sixteen other universities in the folowing towns: Aix-Marseille, Besancon, Bordeaux, Caen, ClermontFerrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Lille, Lyons, Montpellier, Nancy, Poitiers, Rennes, Toulouse, Algiers, and Str as bourg. Secondary instruction, either cla ical or commercial and industrial, is given by the State in the lyceums, by the communes in the communal colleges, or in certain other seminaries. There are about 104 lyceums, generally situated in the capitals of the departments, and about 211 colleges. Primary instruction is given in the communal schools, being comepulsory and free. Religion, in like manner, was long under the cognizance of the Stato, falling within the province of the Minister of Justice and Religion. The State declared Roman Catholicism to be the religion of the majority, but did not establish it; on the contrary, it placed all forms of religion with more than 100,000 adherents on an equal footing, and dealt impartially with all by paying salaries to their ministers. In 1905 this arrangement came to an end, however, by the separation of Church and State. In the Roman Catholic Church are 17 archbishops and 68 bishops, not including those of Alsace-Lorraine. Army and Navy. Military servico is obligatory upon every French man who is over twenty yeurs of age, and not pronounced unfit for military service. They have to serve first in the regular army (armée active), then in the reserve of the regular army for eleven years, next in the territorial army for six years, and finally in the reserve of the territorial army for six years. Before 1913 the term spent with the active army was two years, but in view of Germany’s military preparations it was raised to three. In 1920 the term to be spent with the active army was reduced to eighteen 547 FRANCE months. France now has an army of 420,000 men, on a peace footing, which can be raised to a war footing of 1,300,000 men. In 1918 the French army had risen to 5,000,000 men and 128,000 officers. During the Huropean War France had altogether mobilized 7,935,000 white troops, besides 475,000 native troops. The French navy is manned partly by conscription and partly by voluntary enrolment. The effective war navy of France is of considerable strength. There is a reserve of 114,000 men, of whom about 25,500 are serving with the ficet. Finance. Before the outbreak of the European War France was a large ered it or of many foreign countries, and held some 40,000 million francs worth of foreign securities. During the war she was compelled to import merchandise of all sorts, with practically no export trade to balance matters. The result was that French stocks of foreign shares fell enormously, and France became the debtor to other lands, especially the United States and Great Britain. Before the European War her national debt amounted to £1,367,000,000; in 1920 it was £9,538,000,000. Her revenue estimate for 1932 was 41,100,883,494 francs, and for 1933 43,880,000,000 francs. Her revenue in 1913 was about £189,555,297, the expenditure somewhat le . Revenue is raised by indirect and direct taxes, income tax, State monopolies, . Constitution. France has been a republic since the overthrow of the Second Hmpire by a Paris mob on the 4th of Sept., 1870. The details of the ‘Constitution were fixed by a law pa ed by a National A embly which met in 1871. The constitutional law, confirming the republican Government, was pa ed in 1875, and modified in 1879, 1884, 1885, and 1889. This law places the legislative authority in the hands of an A embly composed of two chambers, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies is elected by universal suffrage, each arrondi ement forming an electoral district. Proportional representation was adopted in 1919. The total number of Deputies is now 610. The Deputies are elected for four years. The Senate consists of 314 members (22 for Alsace-Lorraine), of whom 75 were originally elected for life; but in 1884 it was enacted that vacancies among the life senatorships should be filled up as they arose by the election of ordinary nine-year Senators. Both ‘Senators and Deputies are paid 15,000 francs per annum, and travel free on -all railways by means of a small annual (payment. The head of the State is a President, elected for seven years by a majority of votes of the members of the twa chambers sitting as one. The President is a isted by a body of ministers appointed by him. He has the appointment to all civil and military posts. Weights, Measures, and Money. The unit of the French monetary system is the franc (the value of which ~ at par is about 94d.), which is divided decimally. The system of weights and measures is also decimal, the units with their English equivalents being as follows: the métre =39-37 inches or 3:28 feet; the kilométre, or 1,000 métres 1093°6 yards or -621 of a mile; the are, the square of 10 métres = 1076-441 sq. feet; the hectare, or 100 ares = 2-47 acres; the square kilométre = -386 of a 3q. mile; the stére or cubic métre = 35-317 eubic feet; the litre = 1-76 pints; the hectolitre, or 100 litres 22-0097 gallons; the gramme = 15-4323 grains; the kilo After a brief usurpation by Hudes, Count of Paris, Charles ITI, the brother of Louis III, was recognized as king, But his kingship was little more than nominal, France being divided into a number of great fiefs, the po e ors of which, though acknowledging the feudal supremacy of Charles, were practically independent. In these circumstances Charles, unable to offer any adequate resistance to the Norman pirates who were devastating the coast and making incursions into French territory, surrendered to them, in 912, the province which took from them the name of Normandy, 549 FRANCE Towards the end of his reign Hugh of Paris, as he is generally called, Duke of France, was really the most powerful person in the kingdom, and throughout the reigns of Louis IV, Lothaire, and Louis V, he and his son Hugh Capet held the real power. On the death of Louis V without children in 987 Hugh Capet mounted the throne himself, and thus became the founder of the Capetian dynasty. The great fiefs of Paris and Orleans were thus added to the Crown, and Paris became the centre of the new monarchy. The first task of the Capetian line was to reconquer the royal prerogatives from the great va als, but for two centuries they had little succe . Hugh Capet died in 996, and his first three succe ors, Robert (died 1031), Henry I (died 1060), and Philip I (died 1106), effected nothing whatever towards the establishment of the royal authority. Louis VI was more succe ful, being greatly helped by the fact that the nobility had been much weakened by the Crusades. The growth of the towns also, which ultimately became the allies of the kings, was a powerful check on the nobles. Louis VI died in 1137, and was succeeded by his son Louis VII, who reigned till 1180. During his reign the stability of the French throne was endangered by the influence acquired in France by Henry II of England, who po e ed, either by inheritance or by his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine, the whole of the west of France except Britt any. Louis was succeeded by his son Philip August us (Philip II), who did much to strengthen the throne, depriving John, King of England, of Normandy, Maine, and Anjou. His son Louis VIII, who succeeded in 1223, carried on the work by the conquest of Poitou, and a religious war being proclaimed against the Counts of Toulouse, who protected the Abigenses, that House was extinguished, and their domains pa ed to the royal family. Louis VIII died in 1226, and under the wise rule of Louis IX (St. Louis) the influence of the Crown went on increasing, as it did also under Philip (IIT) the Bold (died 1285), Philip (IV) the Fair (died 1314), Louis X (died 1316), John I (died 1316, after a reign of five days), Philip V (died 1322), and Charles IV (died 1328), by the acquisition of fresh domains and other means until the outbreak of the wars with England. The first branch of the Capetian line of kings became extinct on the death of Charles IV, the last of the sons of Philip the Fair, the Salic law excluding the female succe ion. The crown thus fell to Philip of Valois, a cousin, who became king as Philip VI. His claim was disputed by Edward III of England, and the dispute led to a series of wars which were not terminated for more than 120 years. During this period France was reduced to a state of great misery. While Edward, victorious over Philip VI, and after his death over John (II) the Good, who was taken prisoner at Poitiers in 1356, compelled the surrender to England of some of the finest provinces of France by the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, the country was plundered by banditti, and the Jacquerie, a ma of furious peasants (about 1358), satiated their spirit of vengeance with the blood of the nobility. Charles (V) the Wise, who succeeded John the Good in 1364, and his constable, Du Guesclin, were able to restore order only for a short time, although during this reign the English were driven out of most of their po e ions in France. Then came the long and unhappy reign of the imbecile Charles VI (1380 —1422), during which Henry V of England, reviving the claim of Edward Til to the French crown, invaded France, won the field of Agin court, and obtained a treaty (Treaty of Troyes) which secured the right of succe ion to the French crown for himself and his descendants. Charles VI died in 1422, a few weeks after Henry V, whose son, Henry VI, a minor, was acknowledged as king by the greater part of France. But between 1429 and 1431 the easant girl Joan of Arc animated the rench in the cause of the dauphin, who was crowned as Charles VII at Rheims in 1429, and in 1451 the English had lost all their po e ions in France, except Calais. The shrewdne and perfidy of Louis XI (1461— 83) completed the subjugation of the great barons, and laid the foundation of absolute monarchy. Maine, Anjou, and Provence were left to him by the will of the last count, and a large part of the po e ions of the Duke of Burgundy, including Picardy, Artois, the duchy of Burgundy proper, and Franche Comté, all came into his hands not long after the death of Charles the Bold, in 1477. His son and succe or, Charles VIII (1483-— 98), also united Britt any to the Crown by his marriage with Anne, the heire . of the fief, and effected a conquest of Naples, which lasted but a short time. Charles was the last king of the direct line of Valois, which was succeeded by the collateral branch of Valois-Orleans (1498), in the person of Louis XII, who was descended from Louis of Valois, Duke of Orleans, brother of Charles VI. In order to keep Britt any attached to the Crown he married the widow of his predeces 550 FRANCE sor. On his death the crown reverted to another branch of the House of Valois, that of Angouléme, Francis I (1515-47) being the grandson of John, Count of Angouléme, uncle of Louis XII. Francis I still continuing the attempts at conquest in Italy, was brought into conflict with Charles V of Germany, who also claimed Milan as an imperial fief. The result was five wars between France and Germany, in the first of which Francis had to retreat acro the Alps; in the second he was taken prisoner at Pavia; in the third he seized Savoy and Piedmont, which the Peace of Crespy (1544), made at the conclusion of the fourth war, allowed him to keep. francis I died in 1547, and his son, Henry If (1547-59), pursuing the same policy, renewed the war for the fifth time with the House of Habsburg. In the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559), with which it ended, Henry had to surrender Savoy and Piedmont, but remained in po e ion of the German bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun. The year before, Calais, the jast English po e ion in France, had been captured by Francis, Duke of Guise. Francis II, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, succeeded his father Henry, but reigned little more than a year (1559-60). The foundation of the national debt, the weight of which broke down the throne 250 years later, was laid in this period. Intrigue and corruption gave to women a dangerous influence at court and in public affairs. Under the a din in i strati on of Charles IX (conducted during his minority by the queen-mother, Catherine de’ Medici) France was inundated with the blood of French men, shed in the religious wars from 1562. (See BARTHOLOMEW, MASSACRE OF ST.) These continued throughout the reign of Charles IX and his succe or, Henry III (1574-89), and were only terminated when Henry IV, originally King of Navarre, and since the death of Henry III King of France, went over to the Catholic Church (1593), having hitherto been the leader of the Huguenots. Henry IV was the first French sovereign of the House of Bourbon, which inherited its right to the throne from a son of Louis 1X. He united to the Crown of France the kingdom of Navarre, which he had inherited from his mother, Jeanne d’Albert. In his government of France Henry showed all the qualities of a great prince and a great statesman, establishing religious toleration (Edict of Nantes, 1598), and labouring diligently for the welfare of the State. He was cut off prematurely by the dagger of the fanatic Ravaillac (1610). During the minority of Henry’s son, Louis XIII, the French policy was at first wavering, until the Prime Minister, Card in a] Richelieu, gave it a steady direction. He restored the French influence in Italy and the Netherlands, humbled Austria and Spain, and created that domestic government which rendered the Government completely absolute. Louis XIII died in 1643, the year after his great minister, and was succeeded by Louis XIV, ‘le Grand Monarque.’ The policy of Richelieu was earried on by Mazarin during the regency of Anne of Austria, while Louis was still a minor, and also for some years after Louis was declared of Louis XITV—France age. During his ministry France obtained by the Peace of Westphalia (1648) the German province of Alsace, and by the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659) parts of Flanders, Hainault, Luxembourg, . After the death of Mazarin, in 1661, Louis XIV took the government into his own hands, and ruled with an absolute sway. The period which immediately followed was the most brilliant in French history. His ministers, especially Colbert, and his generals, Turenne, Condé, Luxembourg, and the military engineer Vauban,were alike the greatest of their time; the writers of the period were also among the greatest in French literature. An unsucce ful attempt was made on the Spanish Netherlands; a war was undertaken against Holland, Spain, and Germany, which ended in France receiving Franche Comté and other places from Spain, and Freiburg from Germany. I» 14681 Str as bourg was 551 FRANCE seized from the empire in a time of peace. The last war of Louis was the War of the Spanish Succe ion (1701-14), which resulted unfortunately for France. During this reign great injury was done to French industry by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Louis XIV died in 1715, leaving the finances in Gisonaes and a national debt amounting to no le than 4,500,000,000 livres. Louis XV, the great-grandson of Louis XIV, succeeded at the age of five years. Dur ing his minority the regent, the Duke of Orleans, squandered the revenues in the most reckle manner, and matters went from bad to worse. In 1723 Louis was declared of age, but he sank under the ernicious influences of mistre es like ompadour and DuBarryintoextravagance and licence, entering into useJe and costly wars (War of Austrian Succe ion, 1740-8; Seven Years’ War, 1756-63), and contracting enormous debts. During this reign two important acquisitions were made by France, namely, Lorraine and Corsica. With the reign of Louis X VI began the period of expiation for the misdeeds of the French monarchy and aristocracy, which had culminated in the preceding reign. The king himself was amiable, but the whole administration was rotten, and the court, the nobility, and the clergy formed only one privileged cla united to oppre the people. The good intentions of Louis were neutralized by a total lack of energy and firmne . The first difficulty of his Government, and the rock on which it split, was the hopele condition of the public finances, with which %Turgot, Necker, Calonne, Brienne, and again Necker tried in vain succe ively to grapple. Finding all ordinary measures unavailing, Necker demanded the convocation of the States General, which had not met since 1614. They met on 5th May, 1789, but as the nobles and clergy refused to give the Third Estate its due weight in the conduct of busine , the Deputies of this body a umed the title of the National Constituent A embly, and resolved not to separate till they had given a Constitution to France. The elergy and nobles then yielded, and the fusion of the three orders was effected on 27th June. Foreign troops, however, were brought to Paris to overawe the A embly. The people now demanded arms, which the municipality of Paris supplied; and on 14th July the Bastille was captured and destroyed. Lafayette was made commander of the newly established National Guard. On the 4th Aug.,a decisive step was taken by the abolition of all feudal rights and privileges. On 5th Oct.,Versailles was attacked by the mob, and the royal family, virtually prisoners, were taken to Paris by Lafayette. The king tried to obtain the aid of some of the foreign powers against his subjects, and made his escape from Paris (20th June, 1791); but he was recognized, arrested at Varennes, and brought back to Paris. On 30th Sept., 1791, the A embly brought its work to a finish by producing a new Constitution, which was sworn to by the king on 14th Sept., and he was then reinstated in his functions. This Constitution deprived the king of arbitrary powers, provided liberty of worship and freedom of the pre , of commerce, of industry3 abolished the laws of primogeniture and entail as well as titles; all France was redivided into eighty-three departments, nearly equal in extent. The Constituent A embly was, according to the Constitution, immediately followed by the Legislative A embly, which met on ist Oct., 1791, and in which there were two parties of political importance, the Girondists, moderate republicans, so named because their leaders, came from the department of the Gironde, who led it, and the Montagnards, extreme radicals, known collectively as the Mountain, because their seats were the highest on the left side of the hall, who subsequently became all powerful in the Convention. The constitutionalists and monarchists were already powerle . The declaration of Pilnitz by the Emperor of Germany and the King of Pru ia, threatening an armed intervention on behalf of the king, compelled the A embly to take a decisive course, and on 20th April, 1792, war was declared against Austria and Pru ia. Reverses to the French troops caused a popular rising, and the Tuileries, after a sanguinary combat, were taken and sacked. The king took refuge with his family in the A embly, which was invaded and compelled to submit to the dictation of the victors by a enting to the suspension of the king and the convocation ofa National Convention in place of the A embly. The first act of the Convention was to proclaim a republic. On 3rd Dec., the king was cited to appear before it. On 20th Jan., 1793, he was sentenced to death within twenty four hours, and on the 21st the sentence was executed. This violent inauguration of the republic shocked public opinion throughout Europe, and armed the neutral states against France. England, Holland, and Spain joined the coalition. The extremists in France only grew more violent, a Committee 552 FRANCE of Public Safety, with sovereign authority, was appointed 6th April, and the Reign of Terror began. The struggle between the Girondists and the Montagnards or Jacobins terminated in favour of the latter. A new Constitution was adopted by the Convention on 23rd June, called the Constitution of the Year I, the Republican Calendar being adopted on 5th Oct., 1793, the year I beginning on the 22nd of Sept., 1792. Christianity was formally abolished. Risings against the Government were put down with frightful bloodshed. Both in Paris and the provinces executions and ma acres of persons alleged to be disaffected to the party in power followed each other daily. The queen was executed on 16th Oct., 1793, the Girondists on 31st Oct., and others followed, Robes pierre being foremost in the bloody work. At length the Reign of Terror came to an end by the execution of Robes pierre and his a ociates on 27th and 28th July, 1794. Danton and Hébert, his old allies, he had already brought to the scaffold. Marat, another man of blood, had perished by a a ination. The campaigns of 1793 and 1794 resulted favourably to the French arms, which were carried beyond the French frontier, Belgium and Holland being occupied, Spain being invaded, and the Allies being driven acro the Rhine. These succe es induced Pru ia and Spain to sign the Treaties of Basel (1795), recognizing the French Republic. In 1795 the Convention gave the republic a new Constitution, a chamber of Five Hundred to propose the laws, a chamber of Ancients to approve them, and an executive of five members, one elected annually, called the Directory. The Convention was di olved on 26th Oct. Napoleon Bonaparte now began to be the most prominent figure in French affairs; and after his brilliant succe es against the Austrians both north and south of the Alps, and his empty conquest of Egypt, it was not difficult for him to overthrow the government of the Directory. This was accomplished in the revolution of 18th and 19th Brumaire (9tb—10th Nov., 1799), the Directory being succeeded by the Consulate, Bonaparte himself being appointed First Consul for ten years. The other two Consuls, Cambacérés and Lebrun, were to have consultative voices only. iby A The new Constitution (Constitution of the year VIII, originally devised by Siéyés) was proclaimed on 15th Dec. Under the appearance of a republic it really established a military monarchy. The history of France for the next sixteen years is virtually the history of Napoleon (q.v.). In 1802 the Constitution was amended, Napoleon being made Consul for life, with the right of appointing his succe or. In 1804 he was proclaimed Emperor, this being confirmed by-a popular vote of 3,572,329 against 2.569. The emperor was consecrated at Paris by Pius Vil, and in 1805 he was also crowned King of Italy. For years the continental powers, whether singly or in coalitions, were unable to stand against him, though at sea France was powerle after the great victory by Nelson over the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar (1805). The Austrians and Ru ians were decisively defeated at the great battle of Austerlitz (1805); the King of Naples was dethroned, and Napoleon’s brother Joseph put in his place; another brother, Louis, was made King of Holland; while for a third, Jerome, the Kingdom of Westphalia was erected (1807). Pru ia was conquered, and compelled to accede to humiliating terms. Napoleon was at the height of his power in 1810 and 1811, his empire then extending from Denmark to Naples, with capitals at Paris, Rome, and Amsterdam. By this time, however, the Peninsular War (q.v.) had broken out, which was one immediate cause of his downfall, the disastrous Ru ian campaign of 1812 being another. The latter cost the French the lo of at least 300.000 men. A new coalition was now formed against Napoleon, and in 1813 he was ~ disastrously defeated by the Allies at the great battle of Leipzig. By this time the Peninsular War was drawing to a close, and Southern France was actually invaded by Wellington. The Allies entered Paris on 3ist March, 1814. Napoleon abdicated, and received the Island of Elbaasa sovereign principality. Louis XVIIZ was proclaimed King of France, and concluded the Peace of Paris (30th May, 1814). A congre of the Great Powers had a embled at Vienna to adjust European affairs, when it was announced that Napoleon had left Hlba, returned to Paris 20th March, 1815, and been reinstated without resistance in his former authority. The allied sovereigns proclaimed him an outlaw, and renewed their alliance against him. Napoleon, anticipating the attack, cro ed the Sambre with 130,000 men, defeated Bliicher in the battle of Ligny,and marched against the British, who had taken position at Waterloo. Here on the 18th was fought the decisive battle which resulted in his final overthrow. On the 7th July the Allies entered Paris for the second time. Napoleon surrendered to the British, and was sent to St. Helena as a prisoner. 553 FRANCE Louis XVIII at first governed with the support of a moderate Liberal party, but the reactionary spirit of the aristocrats and returned émigrés soon got the upper hand; the country, however, was prosperous. Louis having died 16th Sept., 1824, his brother, Charles X, succeeded. On 26th July, 1830, the Polignac ministry, strongly reactionary in its tendencies, published ordinances suppre ing the liberty of the Pre and creating a new system of elections. The result was an insurrection during the three days 27th—29th July, by which Charles X was overthrown and Louis Philippe of Orleans proclaimed king 9th Aug., 1830. During the last days of Charles X’s reign a French expedition had captured the city of Algiers and laid the foundation of the French colony there. During the eighteen years of Louis Philippe’s reign the chief events were the taking of the Citadel of Antwerp, the temporary occupation of Ancona, both in 1832, and in 1835 the completion of the conquest of Algeria. But afterwards, under the ministry of Guizot, a policy of resistance to all constitutional changes was adopted, and a strong opposition having been formed, on 24th Feb., 1848, another revolution drove Louis Philippe into exile. A republic was proclaimed, and on the 10th Dec., 1848, Louis Napoleon, nephew of the great Napoleon, was elected President for four years. The President, having gained the favour of the army, di olved the Legislative A embly on 2nd Dec., 1851, put down all resistance in blood, and by this coup détat established himself as President for the further term of ten years. A plebiscite of 7,839,216 votes confirmed the appointment. On 2nd Dec., 1852, the President was declared emperor under the title of Napoleon III (a son of the great Napoleon being counted as Napoleon II); and a plebiscite of 7,824,129 votes was again got to confirm the appointment. The Crime an War (1854-6) and the war against Austria on behalf of Italy (1859) distinguished the early part of his reign. The latter greatly aided in the foundation of a United Italy, and gave France the territories of Savoie and Nice (1860). In 1870 the uneasine of Napoleon and the French at the steady aggrandizement of Pru ia broke out into flame at the offer of the Spanish crown to a prince of the House of Hohenzollern. France, not satisfied with the renunciation of the German _ prince, demanded a guarantee from the King of Pru ia that the candidature should never be resumed. This being refused, France declared war. (See FRANCO GERMAN WAR.) One French army was driven back by the Germans and cooped up in Metz, another was pushed northwards to Sedan, and so hemmed in that it had to surrender with the emperor at its head. On the news of this disaster reaching Paris the Republic was proclaimed. After an almost uninterrupted series of victories the Germans became masters of the French capital (28th Jan., 1871), and the war ended in France giving up to Germany Alsace and a part of Lorraine, and paying a war indemnity of five milliards of francs (£200,000,000). Meanwhile civil war had broken out in Paris, which was suppre ed with great difficulty. (See COMMUNE OF Paris.) The A embly elected in 1871 for the ratification of peace with Germany found it expedient to continue their functions, Thiers being the head of the administration. In 1873 the Thiers administration was overthrown and replaced by one under Marshal MacMahon. In 1875 a republican Constitution was drawn up. In 1879 MacMahon resigned his presidentship before its legal expiry, being succeeded by Jules Grévy, who was followed by Carnot (a a inated), Casimir-Perier, Faure, Loubet, Falliéres, Poincaré, Descha nel, and Miller and. In 1881 France occupied Tunis as a protectorate; in 1883-4 she extended her influence over Tonquin and Annam; in 1895 she reduced Madagascar to submi ion. Since the establishment of the republic the reactionary and royalist parties have never disarmed, but all their endeavours to overthrow the republic have failed. One of the principal crises which threatened France in modern times was that of Boulangism. General Boulanger had become so popular that for a moment it was thought he would form a new Government. The parliamentary republic, however, triumphed. This happened in 1889, and ten years later the Dreyfus Affair once more divided France into two camps. Dreyfus, however, was at last proved to be innocent, and the reactionary party was weakened. Many reforms, social and religious, were the result of the activity of the Republican Government, one of the chief being the separation of Church and State in 1905. Abroad France steadily pursued her policy of colonial expansion. In 1891 France concluded an alliance with Ru ia, which was strengthened between 1899 and 1906 when Delca é was Minister for Foreign Affairs. Cordial relations were also established with Italy, thus weakening the Triple Alliance. In 1904 an Anglo-French agreement was concluded, and France obtained territorial conce ions in West Africa, and the right to main. 554