A. It amounts to about 600,000,000 francs, or nearly 120,000,000 dollars. The national debt, in 1807, was about 2000 millions of francs. The arrears since that period are stated at 1305 millions: making a total of more than 3300 millions. Q. What is the national character? A. The French are remarkable for quickness of apprehension, vivacity and gaiety; and for taste in dress and in equipage. They are inferior to no nation in courage and activity, are polite and complaisant to strangers. The ladies are sensible and handsome, are singularly easy in their behaviour, and distinguished for their wit and sprightliness. Q. What is the language? A. The French is a corruption of the Latin, intermixed with the Gothic: On the coast, between the Seine and the Loire, remains of the Celtic are obvious in the vernacular tongue. Q. What is the state of literature ? A. Since the revolution the French have been distinguished for their progress in mathematics and physical science. Learning, properly so called, can hardly be said to exist in France at the present time. Q. What is the capital? A. Paris, on both sides of the Seine, 150 miles from its mouth, in 48° 52′ N. latitude. It is 11 miles in circuit, has 32,000 houses, of from four to seven stories high, and had, in 1807, 547,756 inhabitants. The streets are generally without sidewalks and filthy, and too often narrow. There are 12 bridges across the Seine, and 26 quays on its banks. It contains 88 churches, 40 chapels, 10 abbeys, 28 priories, and 103 convents. Q. Describe Marseilles? A. It is at the foot of a rocky mountain, on a noble harbour in the Mediterranean; and has a fine arsenal and armory, and 96,413 inhabitants. Q. Describe Bordeaux ? A. It is 70 miles up the Garonne, on the N. W. bank; and has an ample and well fortified port, and has 90,992 inhabitants. Q. Describe Lyons? A. It is at the conflux of the Rhone and Saone, is the seat of very extensive manufactures, and has 88,919 inhabitants. Q. What are the other large towns? A. Rouen, N.E. of Paris, on the Seine, with 84,223 inhabitants; Nantes, on the Loire, with 77,162; Toulouse, on the Garonne, with 50,171; Orleans on the Loire, with 41,937; and Amiens, on the Somme, with 41,299. Q. What are the other important seaports? A. Toulon, on the Mediterranean; Brest, Boulogne, and Rochefort, on the Atlantic. Q. What are the manufactures? A. They have been greatly depressed by the late government, but are beginning again to flourish. The most important are silks, woollens, cottons, linens, laces, articles of iron, glass and porcelain. The French manufactures are excellent., Q. What is the state of the French commerce? A. The French commerce is just beginning to revive. In 1784, the exports and imports amounted, each, to about 20 millions sterling.. The chief exports were woollens, cottons,. claret, and other wines, brandy, cattle, wheat and leather. OF THE FRENCH ISLANDS. Q. What are the French islands? A. Corsica, and a few small isles on the French coast. A. It is in the Mediterranean, N. of Sardinia, between 41 11'and 42° 54' N. and between 80 and 10 E. It is 106 miles long, and from 40 to 50 broad; containing about 4000 square miles. The climate is mild and moderately healthy; the country mountainous and fertile; the produce flax, wheat, rye, barley and millet. Q. What is the population? They are Catholics. Bas tia, the capital, in the N. E. has 11,366 inhabitants. Q. What islands are near the coast of France ? A. The Hyeres Isles, in the Mediterranean, near Toulon; Oleron, Re, Yeu, Noirmoutier, Belleisle, Ushant and St. Marcou, in the Atlantic.. OF SWITZERLAND.. Q. What is the situation and extent of Switzerland? A. It lies between 45° 40′ and 489 N. latitude, and be.. tween 6° and 10° 45' E. longitude. It is 200 miles long from E. to W. and 160 broad; containing about 18,000 square miles. A Q. How is it bounded? A. On the N. by Alsace and the kingdom of Bavaria; on the E. by Austria; on the S. E. and S. by the Austrian possessions in Italy, and by the kingdom of Sardinia; and on the W. by France. Q. How is Switzerland divided? A. Into the following 22 cantons. Of these, the two first, Argow and Berne, constituted the old canton of Berne, Counting those two as one, the first thirteen are the old thirteen cantons; and the last eight are new cantons: Argow 134,444 | Uri 17,500 Berne 232,508 Glarus 24,000 Basil 42,193 Neufchatel 47,000 Soleure 43,610 *Pays de Vaud 145,215 Schaffhausen 27,590 Geneva 215,844 Zurich 200,000+ The Vallais 120,000 Appenzel 60,000 Tessino 161,000 Friburg 89,610 The Grisons 100,000 Lucern Q. What is the face of the country? A. Switzerland consists almost wholly of high mountains and deep vallies. eternal snows. Many of the mountains are covered with Q. What is the climate? A. The cold of winter is very severe. In summer, the harvests are often injured by frosts. The climate is generally healthy. The inhabitants are extensively subject to a disease called the goiters. Q. What is the soil? A. It is usually fertile in the vallies, and extensively so on the sides of the smaller hills. Sufficient grain is raised to supply the inhabitants. Q. What are the rivers ? A. The Rhine, the Rhone, and the Inn, rise in Switzerland. The Aar, runs northward 150 miles, and joins the Rhine at Waldshut. The Adda, in the S. E. runs through the Valteline. Q. What are the lakes? A. The Lake of Constance, in the N. E. is 45 miles long and 15 broad. The Rhine passes through it. The Lake of Geneva, in the S. W. is 40 miles by 9. The Rhone runs through it. The lakes of Neufchatel, Zuric, Thun, and Lucerne, are all tributaries to the Rhine. Lakes Maggiore and Como, are on the S. frontier. Q. What are the mountains? A. In the S. and S. E. different ranges of the Alps. In the W. the range of Mount Jura. Mount Blanc, now on the confines of Savoy, is 15,662 feet above the ocean, and surpasses * Called also Waadt. This was the population of the territory of Geneva in 1808. A considerable tract was ceded to it from Savoy, in 1815. The population of this beautiful territory is undoubtedly underrated. § Called also the Italian Bailliages. in height all the mountains of the Eastern continent, Q. What are the vegetable productions? A. All the plants of a cold climate are found on the mountains, and those of more temperate regions occur in the plains and vallies. The oak, elm, beech, ash, lime, and hornbeam are the most common forest trees. Q. What are the animals? A. The horses and cattle of Switzerland are large and vigorous. The ibex, chamois, marmot, rabbit and hare, are among the wild animals. Q. What are the minerals? A. Iron, sulphur, crystal, rock salt, granite, porphyry, asbestos, jasper and agate. Q. What are the natural curiosities? A. The Glaciers of the Alps. They are immense masses of ice near the summits of those mountains, presenting almost every variety of surface. Q. What is the religion of the Swiss ? A. Calvinism is the prevailing religion. From one third to two fifths of the inhabitants are, however, Catholics. The Swiss are distinguished for their information, their good morals and their attachment to religion. Q. What is the government? A. Each canton constitutes a distinct republic governed by its own laws. For the common security, the cantons are also united in a confederated republic, governed by the gen eral diet. To this body each canton sends two members, but has only one vote. Q. What is the population? A. The population of the several districts, according to the latest enumerations and estimates, may be seen in the preceding table; according to which that of the whole country amounts to 2,073,889. At the present time it is not probably less than 24 millions. Q. What is the military strength? A. It amounted, in 1809, to 15,023; beside a considerable number of soldiers in foreign service. In 1815, the cantons raised an army of 30,000 men. The Swiss are excellent soldiers. Q. What is the revenue? A. It amounted, at the same period to about 550,000 dollars. The national debt is very small. The cantons of Zurich and Berne, have a large sum in the English funds. Q. What are the manners and customs? A. Next to the Scotch, the Swiss are the most moral and virtuous nation in Europe. They are industrious, frugal, unostentatious in their dress, dwellings, and mode of living," and unusually frank and simple in their manners. of society is remarkably happy. Q. What is the language? The state A. The Swiss is a distinct language, and a dialect of the Gothic. Q. What is the state of literature? A. Switzerland has heretofore produced many men of distinguished learning and science. The inhabitants, as a body, are unusually well informed. Q. What is the state of education among the Swiss? A. The inhabitants, like those of New England, are universally taught reading, writing and arithmetic. There are colleges at Basil, Berne, Zurich, Lucerne and Schaffhausen. Q. What are the large towns ? A. Basil is the largest town within the old limits of Switzerland. It stands on the Rhine, a small distance S. of the German frontier, and has 15,060 inhabitants. Berne the capital, is on the Aar, between lakes Thun and Neufchatel, and has a population of 13,339, Q. What are the other towns? A. Zurich, on the mouth of lake Zurich, has 10,153 inhabitants; and Lausanne, on the lake of Geneva, has 9,965. Q. Where is Geneva? A. It is on the Rhone, at the mouth of Geneva lake; and will ever be remembered as the residence of Calvin, the greatest of the reformers. Its population, in 1802, was 23,309. It is the largest and most flourishing city in the whole country. Q. What are the manufactures? A. The Swiss manufacture linens, cottons, woollens, muslin, silk handkerchiefs, and ríbbands. They can hardly be said to carry on commerce except among themselves. A part of the produce of the country is carried overland to Genoa in Italy. OF THE SPANISH EMPIRE. Q. What territories belong to the Spanish empire in Europe ? A. Spain, and the islands Majorca, Minorca and Ivica. A. Ceuta, Melilla, and a few other towns, on the N. coast of Morocco; the Canary Islands; the isle of Fernando Po; and Prince's Island. A. Several clusters of islands in the Pacific Ocean, viz. the |