Part 119

FRANCE

=Location and Extent.=--France occupies the narrowest part of the great western peninsula of the European continent between the Mediterranean on the one side, and the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel on the other. As both coasts have many harbors, the situation between two seas is a very advantageous one. In extent it is fully three and a half times larger than England, measuring about six hundred miles each way across it.

Most of its frontiers are natural. On the south the high barrier of the Pyrenees rises between it and Spain; on the east the Alps and Jura separate it from Italy and Switzerland and part of the Vosges mountains forms the boundary towards Germany. On the northeast alone the political limit towards Germany and Belgium is artificially drawn, and has to be guarded by a line of fortresses.

Since 1768, France had held the Mediterranean island of _Corsica_, a rugged pyramid of forest-covered mountains.

=Divisions of the Country.=--Previous to the French Revolution, France was divided into _provinces_, which bore the names of the separate territories out of which the state had been gradually built up. These are accordingly of much greater historical interest than the present division into eighty-seven _departments_, which are almost universally named after the river basins in which they lie. The provincial names are also those which are still most in use in ordinary life in France.

The following are the provinces, with the dates of their incorporation as parts of France, and the departments they include:

ILE DE FRANCE, the original kernel of the state round Paris (_Departments_--Seine, Seine et Oise, Seine et Marne, Oise, Aisne).

CHAMPAGNE (part of France since 1285) to the east of the former (Ardennes, Marne, Haute-Marne, Aube).

LORRAINE (since 1766), east of Champagne (Meuse, Meurthe et Moselle, Vosges, and territory of Belfort).

FLANDERS (since 1677), on the border of Belgium (Nord).

ARTOIS (since 1640), on the Channel (Pas de Calais).

PICARDY (original), adjoining Ile de France on N. (Somme).

NORMANDY (since 1203), along the Channel (Seine-inferieure, Eure, Calvados, La Manche, Orne).

BRITTANY (since 1532), the western peninsula (Finistere, Morbihan, Cotes-du-Nord, Ille et Vilaine, Loire-inferieure).

POITOU (since 1375), southeast of Brittany (Vendee, Deux-Sevres, Vienne).

ANJOU (since 1202) north of Poitou, across the Loire (Maine et Loire).

MAINE (since 1202), between Anjou and Normandy (Mayenne, Sarthe).

ANGOUMOIS, AUNIS and SAINTONGE (since 1242), south of Poitou, along the Bay of Biscay (Charente and Charente-inferieure).

TOURAINE (since 1256), across the Loire, east of Anjou (Indre et Loire).

ORLEANS (original), south of Ile de France (Loire et Cher, Eure et Loire, Loiret).

NIVERNAIS (since 1707), southeast of Orleans (Nievre).

BOURBONNAIS (since 1559), south of Nivernais (Allier).

MARCHE (since 1531), southwest of Bourbonnais (Creuse).

BERRI (since 1100), between Marche and Orleans (Cher, Indre).

LIMOUSIN (since 1369), southwest of Marche (Haute-Vienne and Correze).

AUVERGNE (since 1531), west of Limousin (Cantal, Puy-de-Dome).

LYONNAIS (since 1307), northeast of Auvergne (Loire, Rhone).

BURGUNDY (since 1476), south of Champagne (Ain, Saone et Loire, Cote d’or, Yonne).

FRANCHE COMTE (since 1674), nearest Switzerland (Haute-Saone, Jura, Doubs).

DAUPHINE (since 1349), between the Alps and the Rhone Channel (Isere, Drome, Hautes, Alpes).

SAVOIE (since 1860), south of Lake of Geneva (Savoie, Haute-Savoie).

LANGUEDOC (since 1271), along the Mediterranean, west of the Rhone (Ardeche, Haute-Loire, Lozere, Gard, Herault, Tarn, Haute-Garonne, Aude).

GUYENNE (since 1453), in the basin of the Garonne, southwest (Aveyron, Lot, Dordogne, Tarn et Garonne, Lot et Garonne, Gironde).

GASCOGNE (since 1453), in the southwest, old _Aquitaine_ (Landes, Gers, Hautes-Pyrenees).

BEARN and NAVARRE (since 1607) (Basses Pyrenees).

FOIX (since 1607) next Spain, in the south (Ariege).

ROUSSILLON (since 1642), in the southeast (Pyrenees-Orientales).

AVIGNON, VENNAISSIN, and ORANGE (since 1791), near the Rhone delta (Vaucluse).

PROVENCE, Roman Provincia (since 1245), in the southeast along the Mediterranean (Bouches-Du-Rhone, Basses-Alpes, Var, Alpes-Maritimes).

CORSICA (since 1768), in the Mediterranean (Corse).

=Surface and Mountains.=--Within France the long curve of the _Cevennes Mountains_ in the southeast, prolonged northward by the _Cote d’or_, the _Plateau of Langres_, and the _Vosges_, determines the slope of the country. Between them and the _Alps_ lies the deep valley of the Rhone, with a southward fall to the Mediterranean. But these high lands, ramifying outward with gentler descent to north and west, give direction to the drainage of the longer slope to the Atlantic coast, the Bay of Biscay, the Channel, and the North Sea.

_Mont Blanc_, the highest point in Europe, rises within France, near the point of union of its boundary with that of Italy and Switzerland; the _Pic de Nethou_, the highest point of the Pyrenean barrier, stands just outside the boundary on the Spanish side; centrally in the country, the highest point is _Mont Dore_, in the volcanic group of the mountains of Auvergne, embraced by the curve of the Cevennes. The lowlands of France are not level plains like those of Belgium and Holland, but for the most part undulating districts; they lie along the Atlantic border (excepting where the heights of Normandy and Brittany run out into the ocean) and in the Mediterranean valley of the Rhone.

=Chief Rivers.=--The main direction of the drainage of France is from southeast to northwest over the long slope of land. The _Garonne_, receiving the numerous _gaves_, as the streams from the Pyrenees are called, and its tributary the _Dordogne_, from the mountains of Auvergne, forming the estuary of the _Gironde_ in the south; the _Loire_, curving through the center of the country from the Cevennes to the Atlantic,--the longest river of France; the _Seine_, from the Cote d’or, flowing northwest to the English Channel; and the _Meuse_, from the Vosges, passing out to join the Rhine in the Netherlands. All are navigable, forming with their tributaries the natural waterways of France, which possesses a river navigation of about five thousand five hundred miles. The great southern river, the _Rhone_, from the mountains of Switzerland, receiving its chief tributary, the _Saone_, from the southern Vosges, is comparatively valueless to navigation from the rapidity of its current.

=Climate and Soil.=--Occupying a middle position between northern and southern Europe, France enjoys one of the finest climates of the continent. Toward the northeast it becomes more continental, toward the northwest more maritime and like that of southern England; in the warm south the hot winds from the African deserts may occasionally be felt, and in contrast to these, in the Rhone valley, the chilly northeast wind known as the _Mistral_ at times descends from the Alpine Heights with great violence; but the greater part of the country is within the area of the westerly winds.

=Products of Soil.=--Very few parts of the country are unadapted for cultivation; only some parts of the Pyrenees, the Landes, and of the Vosges, can be thus characterized.

The destruction of natural timber in France within the past two centuries has been enormous. About a sixth part of the surface is wooded, the most extensive remaining forests being those of _Orleans_ and _Fontainebleau_, between the northern curve of the Loire and Paris; of the hills of Var in the extreme southeast; and of the Jura and the Vosges. Much of the department of Vaucluse, in the lower valley of the Rhone, is covered with _Truffle oaks_, from about the roots of which enormous quantities of this fungus are obtained. The western promontory of Brittany is now barest of all, but here, as in the mountains of Auvergne, the Cevennes, the Pyrenees, and the Alps, replanting has begun.

The vine is grown in all parts of France excepting the northwestern departments; more than one thousand four hundred varieties of grapes are recognized; the finest growths being those of _Champagne_ and _Burgundy_ in the east, and of the basin of the Gironde (_Bordeaux_) in the southwest. Wheat, flax and beet-root for sugar, are the staple products of the north; olives of the extreme southeast. Apples and pears are widely grown in Normandy for cider and perry; oranges, citrons, and pomegranates come from the Mediterranean departments.

In pastoral wealth, in cattle and sheep rearing, France is far behind England and Germany in proportion to its extent.

=Industries and Trade.=--Agricultural and pastoral pursuits occupy the larger share of the people of France. The trade of the Champagne wine district centers at _Reims_ and _Chalons-sur-Marne_, east of Paris; that of the Burgundy wines at _Dijon_, in the Saone valley, on the east; that of the Gironde wines, or claret, at _Bordeaux_, on the southwest. The subsidiary products of vinegar and brandy are made most largely, the one at _Orleans_, on the Loire, the other at _Cognac_, a small town on the Charente, north of Bordeaux.

=The French People.=--To the aboriginal _Iberian_ and _Celtic_ peoples of France came the _Romans_ chiefly in the south and east; the descendants of this intermixture being the small dark and lively Frenchman of the south; in the north, in some degree, the Germanic element became interwoven; hence the Frenchman of the northern parts of the land partakes more of the character of his neighbors, is taller, blonde, blue-eyed, and less volatile than the southerner. Hence also the old division of the Romanized French language into the _Langue d’oc_ (or Provençal) of the south; and the _Langue d’oil_ (or Roman Walloon) of the north, from which the many dialects now spoken have descended.

The _Celtic_ element remains almost pure in Brittany, and the _Iberian_ in the _Basques_ of the western Pyrenees. _Italians_ appear in the southeast and in Corsica, _Flemings_ on the Belgian frontier, and _Germans_ toward Lorraine and Alsace, though, in this direction, the boundary drawn long the Vosges and round Lorraine since the war of 1871 follows as nearly as possible the meeting points of the German and French inhabitants of the northeast.

=Religion and Education.=--France is a Roman Catholic country. Protestants form but a small proportion, and the most numerous in the southwest between the Loire and the Pyrenees. Public education is entirely under the supervision of the Government, and no longer in the hands of the clergy. The percentage of illiterates is least in the districts which lie nearest to Germany, and greatest in the Atlantic coast-lands of the west and southwest.

There are state universities at Aix, Algiers, Angers, Bordeaux, Caen, Clermont, Dijon, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Marseilles, Montauban, Montpelier, Nancy, Nantes, Paris, Poitiers, Rennes, and Toulouse.

=Cities and Towns.=--More than 8,000,000 people live in the seventy-one chief cities. Fifteen cities have populations of more than 100,000:

Paris 2,888,110 Marseilles 550,619 Lyon 523,796 Bordeaux 261,678 Lille 217,807 Nantes 170,535 Toulouse 149,576 St. Etienne 148,656 Nice 142,940 Le Havre 136,159 Rouen 124,987 Roubaix 122,723 Nancy 119,949 Rheims 115,178 Toulon 104,582

There are besides twenty others of over 50,000 inhabitants.

=Paris= (Fr. pron. _Par-ee´_), capital of France, and the largest city in Europe after London, is situated on the river Seine, about one hundred and ten miles from its mouth. It lies in the midst of the fertile plain of the Île-de-France, at a point to which converge the chief tributaries of the river, the Yonne, the Marne, and the Oise; and is the center of a great network of rivers, canals, roads, and railways.

France has long been the most highly centralized country in Europe, and Paris as its heart contains a great population of government functionaries. It is a metropolis of pleasure, and attracts the wealthy from all parts of the world; hence it is a city of capitalists and a great financial center.

THE SEINE AND ITS BRIDGES.--The Seine divides the city into two parts, and forms the islands of La Cite and St. Louis, both covered with buildings. This river is navigable by small steamers. The quays or embankments, which extend along its banks on both sides, are built of solid masonry, protect the city from inundation and form excellent promenades. The Seine, within the city, is fully five hundred and thirty feet in width, and is crossed by numerous bridges, the more important being Pont Neuf, Pont de la Concorde, Pont Alexandre III., Pont d’Iena, and the Pont de l’Alma.

ENVIRONS AND FORTIFICATIONS.--Paris is surrounded by a line of fortifications twenty-five miles long; outside of this is a chain of fortresses, while beyond that again are the detached forts. These form the two main lines of defense. The inner line consists of sixteen forts, the outer line of eighteen forts besides redoubts; the area thus inclosed measuring four hundred and thirty square miles, with an encircling line of seventy-seven miles.

Montmartre, within the fortifications is four hundred feet high; the city is encircled at a distance of from two to five miles by an outer range of heights, including Villejuif, Meudon, St. Cloud, and Mont-Valerien (six hundred and fifty feet), some of which are crowned by the detached forts which now form the main defenses of the city. At the fifty-six gates in the walls of Paris are paid the octroi dues.

STREETS AND BOULEVARDS.--The houses of Paris are almost all built of white calcareous stone, and their general height is from five to six stories, arranged in separate tenements. Many of the modern street buildings have mansard roofs, and are highly enriched in the renaissance manner. In the older parts of the city the streets are narrow and irregular, but in the newer districts the avenues are straight, wide, and well-paved.

The central point of the city is Place Royal, along which passes the great thoroughfare of the city from southeast to northwest. Beginning at the Place de la Nation, at the southeast margin of the city, this grand avenue, from Place de la Nation to Place de la Bastille, is called _Rue du Faubourg St. Antoine_; from Place Bastille to near Hotel de Ville it is called _Rue St. Antoine_; from Hotel de Ville, past the Louvre, to Place de la Concorde, _Rue de Rivoli_; from Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe, _Avenue des Champs Elysees_; and beyond the Arch, _Ave. de la Grande Armée_.

THE CENTER OF PARISIAN LIFE.--That which is specifically called _The Boulevard_ extends in an irregular arc on the north side of the Seine, from the Place de la Bastille in the east to the Place de la Madeleine in the west and it includes the Boulevards du Temple, St. Martin, St. Denis, des Italiens, Capuchins, and Madeleine, and its length is nearly three miles. Here may be noted also the triumphal arches of the Porte St. Denis and the Porte St. Martin, the former of which is seventy-two feet in height.

On the south side of the Seine the boulevards are neither so numerous nor so extensive, the best-known being the Boulevard St. Germain, which extends from the Pont Sully to the Pont de la Concorde.

After the boulevards among the best streets are the great new streets formed in the time of Napoleon III. are the Rue de Rivoli, two miles in length, the Rue de la Paix, the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, the Rue Royale and twelve fine avenues radiating from the Place de l’Etoile.

SQUARES AND PARKS.--The most notable public squares or _places_ are the Place de la Concorde, one of the largest and most elegant squares in Europe, adorned by an Egyptian obelisk, fountains, and statues; Place de l’Etoile, in which is situated the Arc de Triomphe, a splendid structure one hundred and fifty-two feet in height; the Place Vendôme with column to Napoleon I.; Place des Victoires, with equestrian statue of Louis XIV.; Place de la Bastille, with the Column of July; Place de la République, with colossal statue of the Republic.

Within the city also are situated the gardens of the Tuileries, which are adorned with numerous statues and fountains; the gardens of the Luxembourg, in which are fine conservatories of rare plants; the Jardin des Plantes, in which are the botanical and zoological gardens, hothouses and museums, which have made this scientific institution famous; the Buttes-Chaumont Gardens, in which an extensive old quarry has been turned to good account in enhancing the beauty of the situation; the Parc Monceaux; and the Champs Elysees, the latter being a favorite promenade of all classes.

But the most extensive parks are outside the city. Of these the Bois de Boulogne, on the west, covers an area of two thousand one hundred and fifty acres, gives an extensive view toward St. Cloud and Mont Valérien, comprises the racecourses of Longchamps and Auteuil, and in it are lakes, cascades, ornamental cafes, and the Jardin d’Acclimatation.

The Bois de Vincennes, on the east, even larger, is similarly adorned with artificial lakes and streams, and its high plateau offers a fine view over the surrounding country.

The most celebrated and extensive cemetery in Paris is Père la Chaise (one hundred and six and one-half acres), finely situated and containing the tombs of many celebrities. The Catacombs are ancient quarries which extend under a portion of the southern part of the city, and in them are deposited the bones removed from old cemeteries now built over.

CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES.--Of the churches of Paris the most celebrated is the Cathedral of Notre Dame, situated on one of the islands of the Seine, called the Île de la Cité. It is a vast cruciform structure, with a lofty west front flanked by two square towers, the walls sustained by many flying-buttresses, and the eastern end octagonal.

The church of La Madeleine, a modern structure in the style of a great Roman temple, with a peristyle of lofty Corinthian columns, stands on an elevated basement fronting the north end of the Rue Royale. It is considered by many to be the most beautiful edifice in Paris.

The Pantheon, or church of St. Geneviève, patron saint of Paris (1764) was begun as a church, but converted by the Constituent Assembly into a temple dedicated to the great men of the nation. Napoleon III. restored it to the church and rededicated it to St. Geneviève, but once more, on the occasion of the funeral of Victor Hugo (1885), it was reconverted into a valhalla. There are the tombs also of Voltaire, Rousseau, Marat and Victor Hugo.

St. Eustache (1532-1637) is an interesting example of French Renaissance architecture; and others worthy of note are: St. Germain l’Auxerrois; St. Gervais; St. Roch; St. Sulpice; Notre Dame de Lorette; and St. Vincent de Paul. On the very summit of Montmartre is the Church of the Sacred Heart, a vast new structure in the Byzantine style which cost over five million dollars. The chief French Protestant churches are the Oratoire and Rédemption. There are several English, Scotch, and American churches, a Russian Greek church, and several synagogues.

PALACES AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS.--Notable among the public buildings of Paris are its palaces.

The Louvre, a great series of buildings within which are two large courts, is now devoted to a museum which comprises splendid collections of sculpture, paintings, engravings, bronzes, pottery, Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities. _The Venus de Milo_, the _Fettered Slaves_ of Michael Angelo, the _Mona Lisa_ of Leonardo da Vinci, and a noble group of the works of Raphael, Titian, and Veronese are the chief treasures. In one gallery there are twenty-one large pictures by Rubens. The _Salon Carré_ contains the most striking works of art.

The palace of the Tuileries was set on fire in 1871 by the Communists. The ruins have been removed, but a few of the architectural details have been preserved.

The Palace of the Luxembourg, south of the Seine, since 1879 the meeting-place of the French senate, was built by Marie de Médicis in the Florentine style. Close to it a gallery has been constructed for the reception of the works of living artists acquired by the state.

The Palais de l’Élysée, situated in the Rue St. Honoré, with a large garden, is now the residence of the president of the republic. The Chambre des Députés--known under the Empire as the Palais du Corps Législatif--is the building in which the deputies meet.

The Hôtel de Ville, or municipal building, is situated in the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville, formerly Place de Grève, on the right bank of the river. It was destroyed by the communists in 1871, but has now been re-erected on the same site with even greater magnificence. It is a very rich example of Renaissance architecture.

The Hôtel des Invalides, built in 1670, is now used as a retreat for disabled soldiers, and is capable of accommodating five thousand. The church attached has a lofty and finely-proportioned dome. It contains the burial-place of the first Napoleon.

The Palais de Justice is an irregular mass of buildings occupying the greater part of the western extremity of the Île de la Cité. Opposite the Palais de Justice is the Tribunal de Commerce, a quadrangular building inclosing a large court roofed with glass. The mint (Hôtel des Monnaies) fronts the Quai Conti, on the south side of the Seine, and contains an immense collection of coins and medals.

THEATERS AND PLACES OF AMUSEMENT.--Paris has numerous theaters. The leading houses are the Opéra, the Théâtre Français--chiefly devoted to classical French drama--the Opéra Comique and the Odéon, which receive a subvention from government. The new opera house, completed in 1875, cost, exclusive of the site, five million, six hundred thousand dollars.

Montmartre is the center of the bohemian life of Paris, and contains many _cafés_ and places of amusement. It has upwards of forty theaters.

LATIN QUARTER AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.--The chief institutions connected with the University of France, and with education generally, are still situated in the Quatier Latin.