The number of people in the hospitals, prisons, colleges, and ecclesiastical seminaries has not been determined. The same remark is applicable to the number of criminals, smugglers, gipsies and persons without any means of subsistence. Their number has been vaguely estimated by M. Minano at The ecclesiastics amount to The army Inhabitants of Spain Thus the total population is equal to 127,345 149,696 64,000 13,560,000 13,901,041 BOOK CXXXIX. Cattle, &c. in the kingdom of Leon and Castile, according to the documents published by M. Minano in 1826. Tax on the population of Grenada Lanzas (contributions exacted from the grandees as an L.939,170 625,000 410,917 137,900 90,000 8,750 119,170 Cruzada (ancient tax levied for the crusades) 197,087 Escusado (subsidy granted by the pope from the revenue of 215,000 Novemo (ninth part of the tithes granted by the pope) 242,917 Casa Aposento (ancient tax claimed by the king's purveyors) 7,292 Penas de Camera (fines incurred after three appeals to the supreme council) Mesadas (ecclesiastical dues and annats) Posts, gunpowder, saltpetre and other products Total Amount of the national debt BOOK 12,500 CXXXIX. 15,422 1,320,000 L.4,376,776 L.150,000,000 If the invalids, pensioners, and men on the sick list be included, the whole number may amount to 120,000, The militia consists of 40,000, BOOK CXL. BOOK CXL Ancient inbabitants. EUROPE. Europe continued.-France. Historical notice. THE influence of France may be compared to that which ancient Greece possessed over the civilized world; the French language has become the language of courts and ambassadors; the literature of the same people has been admired by the enlightened of every nation; since the revolution, French philosophers have contributed, perhaps more than those of any other country, to extend the limits of science, and French armies crowned with laurels, have dictated their laws to Europe. Those, who consider philosophically certain questions by which geography may be changed into a new science, must examine the causes on which the characters that distinguish a people from neighbouring nations, depend. It cannot be attributed to climate, for the extreme degrees of cold or heat, that modify the physical or moral powers of the inhabitants, are not felt in France; neither can the causes be discovered in the inequalities of the soil, for there are no extensive plains or mountainous chains, which by determining men to become husbandmen or shepherds, accelerate or retard the progress of civilization. The question, therefore, depends on other causes, and its solution is not without interest in the description of a country, whose inhabitants have enlightened Europe, planted the seeds of freedom in America, and overturned empires in their political commotions. The population of France belongs to three different races; viz. the Celtic, which forms nearly three-fourths of the inhabitants, the Germanic or the people in the ancient provinces of Flanders, Alsace, and in part of Lorraine, and lastly, the Pelasgian, diffused through the country near the Mediterranean.* The changes occasioned by civilization may modify, but cannot wholly destroy the character of the inhabitants. It is easy to discover the French of the present day in the description of the Celts, given by Cesar, Strabo and other writers. Although they mixed with the Franks, their conquerors, the traits by which they were distinguished, have not been effaced. The Celta-Galli or Gauls were gay, frivolous, quick of apprehension, easily excited, prompt in forming their resolutions, brave in battle, attached to their country, and zealous of their freedom. Their frankness and impetuosity are so great, adds the Greek geographer, that each man thinks it incumbent on him to resent an injury offered to his neighbour.t They speak often of their glorious deeds, says Cesar, but probably from their natural inconstancy, they are presumptuous after success, and dejected after defeat. The ancients describe them as ostentatious and fond of ornaments, affable to strangers, and practising hospitality; according to their laws, the man who murdered a stranger, was punished with death, while he who murdered a native, was only sent into exile. At a very remote period, they elected their own magistrates, limited the authority of their princes, and never granted subsidies until they had deliberated in their popular assemblies. Their politeness distinguished them from all the people, whom the Greeks and Romans comprehended under the name of barbarians. Such are the accounts left by the ancients of the Celts, and they are in some respects still applicable to the French. Thus, too, the difference which has been observed between the same people and other inhabitants of Europe, may be perhaps explained. The Celts are indebted to their physical constitution for the qualities which render them to a certain degree susceptible of perfectibili *This division seems to have been derived not so much from ethnographical principles as from the physical character of the inhabitants. + Strabo, Book IV. ch. 4. De Bello Gallico, Liber XIV. cap. 4. Ammianus Marcellinus, Book LXV. chap. 13. BOOK CXL. |