AREA AND POPULATION.
75
From the foregoing statement are excluded the marines, as well as the colonial troops, amounting, according to the budget for 18G9, to 28,623 men, including 17,085 infantry soldiers, divided into 4 regiments; 4,132 artillery soldiers, in 1 regiment; and 1,001 artillery workmen, in 6 companies. The marine and colonial troops are commanded by 13 generals, of whom 6 are in active service, and 7 on the reserved list.
The progress of the French navy in the course of nearly a century is represented in the following figures : — In 1780 the fleet of war consisted of 60 first-class ships, 24 second-class, and 182 smaller vessels, or altogether 266 ships, with 13,300 guns, and 78,000 sailors. In 1790, the number had decreased to 246 ships, with 51,000 sailors, and less than 10,000 guns; while at the battle of Trafalgar, 1805, in which the greater part of the Imperial naval force was engaged, there were only 18 French men-of-war, with 1,352 guns. In 1844, the navy amounted to 226 sailing vessels, and 47 steamers, Avith 8,639 guns, and 24,513 sailors; and this strength was not increased till the year 1855, when the Government ordered the entire re- organisation of the navy, including a substitution of ironclads and steamers for wooden and sailing vessels, the result of which was the construction of the actual fleet of war.
Area and Population.
France has an area of 543,051 square kilometres, or 207,480 Engl, square miles, and is divided into 89 departments — 86 previous to the annexation of Savoy and Nice — with 373 arrondissements, 2,941 cantons, and 37,548 communes. A census of the population is taken every five years, and the last, of May 15, 1866, showed the total to amount to 38,067,094, being an increase of 680,933 over the preceding enumeration of 1861. Not included in the returns of 1866 were the troops of the army and navy stationed out of France on the 15th of May, estimated to number 125,000. The following table gives the result of the census of 1866, according to the official returns : —
Departments
Number of arrondisse- ments
Number of cantons
Number of communes
Population
Ain ..... Aisne .... Allier ....
Alpes (Basses-) . Alpes (Hautes-) Alpes-Maritimes
5 5 4 5 3 3
35 37 28 30 24 25
450 837 317 251 189 146
371,643 565,025 376,164 143,000
122,117 198,818
