FRANCE 190 FRANCE those mobilized. The total wounded num- bered 3,000,000. Of these 740,000 were incapacitated by the loss of an arm, leg, eye, or otherwise. Finance. — The public debt on July 31, 1914, amounted to 27,264,937,331 francs. The consolidated public debt contracted in France from July 31, 1914, to June 30, 1920, amounted to 92,434,336,500 francs. The funded debt contracted from July 31, 1914, to June 30, 1920, amounted to 19,838,736,000 francs. The floating debt on June 30, 1920, amounted to 71,- 487,930,000 francs. There were advanced from banks sums amounting to 26,020,- 000,000 francs, making a total debt on July 30, 1920, of 247,045,937,831. The Bank of France had on hand gold amounting to 5,558,603,903 francs and of silver, 247,483,930 francs, or a total of 5,806,087,833. The total expenditure in 1919 was 48,793,884,587 francs. Of this 36,675,781,168 francs was for military and special expenditures. The budget for 1920 provided for expenditures amount- ing to 17,861,140,000 francs. The for- eign debt included $2,785,300,000 ad- vanced by the United States Government. Army and Navy. — See Army and Navy. Colonies. — The colonies of France in Asia include French India, French Indo- China, Cochin-China, Annam, Cambodia, Tonking, and the territory of Kwang Chau Wan on the coast of China. In Africa are included Algeria, practically a government of Morocco; French Congo; Madagascar; Mayotte and the Comoro Islands; Reunion; French Somaliland; French West Africa and the Sahara, and Tunis. In America, they include Guadeloupe and dependencies, French Guiana; Martinique, and St. Pierre and Miquelon. In Austi-alasia the colonies are New Caledonia and dependencies, and the French establishments in Oceania. Government. — The government of France is that of a republic, the present republic dating from 1870. The execu- tive and judiciary powers are vested in a President, chosen by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, on joint ballot, and serving for seven years. The legis- lative body consists of a Senate, one- third of whose number is elected by the Senate itself, and the remainder by spe- cial bodies in each department, and in the colonies, and a Chamber of Depu- ties, the members of which are elected by popular suifrage, one from each arron- dissement, and one additional for each 100,000 population or fraction of the same in the arrondissement, in excess of 100,000. The Cabinet of the President is composed of Ministers of Foreign Af- fairs, of Interior, Justice, War, Marine, Finance, Colonies, Works, Commerce, Agriculture, Labor, Liberated Territories, Hygiene, of Assistance and Social Pre- vision and of Pensions, Awards and War Grants. For administrative purposes France is divided into communes (local units), of which there are 37,946; can- tons comprised of communes, 2,899; ar- rondissements, 362; departments, 90, and provinces, 37. The communes are gov- erned locally by a mayor and municipal council (in the case of Paris, by a Presi- dent and Vice-President), The cantons, usually comprising 12 communes, have no administrative officers; the arrondis- sement, usually consisting of 8 cantons, is governed by a sub-prefect. The de- partments, usually comprising 4 arron- dissements, are each governed by a pre- fect, appointed by the President of the Republic. He superintends public order, commands the police, etc. Each depart- ment has a local legislative council, elect- ed from the cantons. History. — France was originally known to the Romans by the name of Trans- alpine Gaul; but after its conquest by Caesar it was divided into the four provinces of Provincia Romanorum (Provence), Gallica Aquitanica, Celtica, and Belgica. In the 5th century it was subdivided into 17 provinces, inclusive of all the territory on the E. bank of the Rhine. At this time the Gennanic nations began to overrun Gaul; the Visi- goths established themselves from the Loire to the Pyrenees, where they estab- lished a kingdom that lasted till about 540. Burgundians settled in the E., from the Lake of Geneva to the Rhine, and afterward stretched along the Rhone to the Mediterranean. The independent sovereignty they erected lasted till about 532. The Franks, whose dominion swal- lowed up those of both the foregoing tribes, had long been settled in the N.; and Pharamond, their chief in 420, is considered the foundei' of the French monarchy, as he was of the first or Merovingian race of Frankish kings. In 486 Clovis defeated Syagrius, the Roman general, at Soissons^, and in 507. by his victoi*y over the Visigoths, he rendered himself master of all the counti-y be- tween the Loire and the Garonne. ^ On the death of Clovis. in 511, his dominions were divided into four kingdoms — those of Paris, Metz, Soissons, and Orleans. These, however, were reunited in 558. In 732 Charles Martel defeated the Saracens in the S. of France, and ex- pelled them from the kingdom. Under Pepin and Charlemagne the country was relatively peaceful and prosperous; but after the latter's death things returned to their original state of confusion. Under his immediate successor France was again divided into four parts, and
