New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-05-13
FRANCE AND HER PROSPECTS.


The condition of France is indeed pitt
able. Brave and warlike as the people
are, the military glory of their rulers has
been their ruin. Whatever be the issue OF
the present fratricidal strife, the nation
will emerge from it with bankrupt
treasury and demoralized population.
Paris, that once celebrated centre of
fashion, frlvolity and wickedness will have
lost its power of attraction. All is wreck
and desolation, with scarce hope OF
resuscitation. Let us see what is the
state Of her affairs. The loss of popula-
ton to France in the first five months al
ter the declaration of war against Ger
many, from the middle of July to the
middle of December, 1870, was upward
of 100000 The drain upon the popula-
ton caused by former wars, undertaken
during the reign of Napoleon Ill, and the
cost of the same as stated upon an anthem
tic report dated July, 1869, to be: Cri
mean war cost e340, 900, 900; loss of men,
$4,000. Italian war cost EGO, 900, 900;
loss of men, 10000. Chinese and Mexi-
can wars cost e40, co., 600; loss of men,
$1,000
The total loss of men to France up to
the present time in these wars, i1Aluding
those since the war with Germany, must
be at least 100000, so that it can scarcely
be wondered at that the population should
be in stationary condition, and that such
a state should seriously affect the national
prosperity. From 1886 to 1861 the rural
population underwent diminution of
1.1S per cent, while that of the towns in
creased. This increase of the towns, how
ever. was not sufficient to make up the
decrease of the country but upon the
average it has been stated that from 1861
to 1865 the increase in the population Of
the towns was greater than the decrease
of the country. The loss Of population
to France has not, as in some of the other
European countries, been owing to emil
grafton. This is not the character of the
French people, for out of q population Of
nearly 40. 900, 900, between 1861 and 1866,
it is shown by reports that there were
only 668S each year who emigrated from
France, of which one-ffth went to Al
geria. Out of the 100000 families in
France only 100000 or one-ninth of
them are said to be in easy circumstances.
These 100000 belong to the industrial
or working classes. These families
are all small in size, owing to
the lateness of marriage in that
The average age at which
Frenchmen have married since 1853 is
thirty years and three months; women
married steadily at twenty-six, but within
the last three years it has been reduced to
twenty-five years and ten months. The
of births to each marriage is
less than in any other European country,
as between the years 1851-60 the births
in France were 3.07, while in England
from 1862 to 1864 it was g. "a, and in Italy
from 1663-67 it was 4. 95. Their advance
ment in education is astonishingly meagre,
for in 1856 over thirty-nine per cent of
the French people could neither read nor
write; in 1866 there was a slight improve
ment, for then it was thirty-four per cent.
In this respect the Germans had vastly
The advantage, and it was for this
reason that they had the superiority
which enabled them to obtain the mastery
over their French neighbors in the late
war. The inclination of this people for
yayety, frivohty and pleasure seeking is
doubtless one cause for the great declen-
sion in social morals, which are shown by
the proportion of legitimate to illegitimate
to be in very low condition.
The struggle now going on in France
between the commune and the govern
nent is one of the consequences of the
ack of education among the masses or
over orders of that people, and their
after want of faith in any form of au-
,hority except such as their own whim or
ancy may dictate.
The great glory of France has gone
Town and its splendor has vanished with
he suddenness of brilliant meteor
which darts across clear, blue sky with
lazzling light and then fades and disap-
bears. AS great and powerful nation it
las performed its mission according to
he will of Him who putteth up one and
,utteth down another, and, like all other
nations of the earth, must pass through
he ordeal of fire and purifcationy which
will prepare it for those duties and re-
possibilities that will make the people
wiser, better and more virtuous than they
lave been in the past
KU-KI,TIX STORIES