France Author:Unknown Author Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: several branches of the administration. Before proceeding to it, I must, in a few lines, show the administrative division of the country. The territory of Fra... more »nce is divided into departments; the departments are divided into arrondissements; the arron- dissements into cantons ; and the cantons are composed of several communes (parishes). There are 86 departments, 361 arrondissements, 2,846 cantons, and 38,096 communes. The administration is divided into nine ministries, as follows:—1. The Interior; 2. Justice and Public Worship; 3. Public Instruction; 4. Public Works; 5. Trade and Agriculture; 6. Finances ; 7. Foreign Affairs ; 8. War ; 9. Marine and Colonies. CHAPTER II. MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR.—HOME OFFICE.) The Ministry of the Interior is the stronghold, the citadelle of the administrative despotism in France, and, on that account, is entitled to the first place in our strictures on the French administration. The central administration, as the French call it, that is to say, the ministerial bureaux, are classed under the following heads: general secretariat, departmental and communal administration, general police, fine arts, and telegraphs. The departmental and communal organisation is the first branch to be examined, because, when fully exposed, it will facilitate the perfect understanding of all the others. There are in every department a prefect and a council of prefecture, appointed by the King; arid in each arrondisse- ment, a sub-prefect, also appointed by the King, and acting under the direction of the prefect, who is the head of theadministration. There are a general council in every department, and a council of arrondissement in every arrondisse- ment, both chosen by the cantonal electors. Finally, there is in every commune, (parish, or union o...« less