GREECE. 



170 females. The number of marriages was 

 180,263, being 6,895 more tban the previous 

 year ; and there were 465,520 deaths, being 

 19,538 more than in 1863. Of the deaths, 

 253,882 were males, and 241,638 females. The 

 oldest persons who died within the year were 

 a man at Chelsea one hundred and nine years 

 old, and a woman in the district of West Derby, 

 (Liverpool), one hundred and twelve years. 



In Scotland, in 1864, there were 112,445 

 births, of which 57,485 were males, and 54,960 

 females; and of the total number 11,069 were 

 illegitimate. The number of marriages was 

 22,675; and of deaths 74,303, an increase of 

 2,882 over 1863. Of the deaths, 36,957 were 

 males, and 87,346 females. In the rural dis- 

 tricts the death rate was 1.84 per cent., the birth 

 *ate 3.24, and the marriage rate 0.55. In the 

 town or city districts, the death rate was 2.85 

 per cent., the birth rate 3.86 per cent., and the 

 marriage rate 0.87 per cent. The illegitimate 

 births were 9.6 per cent, of the total births in 

 the town districts, and 10.1 per ent. in the 

 rural districts. 



In Ireland, 136,643 births were registered in 



1864, 94,075 deaths, and 27,376 marriages. 

 The excess of births over deaths in Great Brit- 

 ain in 1864 was 282,385, and the total emigra- 

 tion from the country to America and the Col- 

 onies was 208,900. 



GREECE, a kingdom in Europe. King: 

 George I., second son of the King of Denmark, 

 born December 24, 1845, elected "King of the 

 Hellenes " by the National Assembly of Athens, 

 March 18 (30), 1863. The area of the king- 

 dom, since the annexation of the Ionian Isles, 

 is about 19,340 miles; the population about 

 1,326,000 inhabitants. The capital is Athens, 

 with 41,298 inhabitants. By a royal decree of 

 December 8, 1864, the Ionian Isles were divided 

 into four nomarchies, in order to assimilate their 

 administration to that of Greece Proper, which 

 is divided into ten nomarchies. In the budget of 



1865, the receipts were estimated at 28,500,000 

 drachmas, and the expenditures at 27,000,000 

 drachmas; but the end of the financial year 

 showed, instead of the expected surplus, a con- 

 siderable deficit. The public debt (according to 

 Kolb, Handbuch der vergleichenden Statistik, 

 4th ed., 1865) amounted to nearly 202,000,000 

 drachmas. The army, according to a vote sub- 

 mitted by the Government to the National As- 

 sembly in November, 1864, is to consist of 

 12,000 men. The fleet consists of thirty-two 

 vessels, armed with one hundred and eighty-two 

 cannons, besides two small steamers, which had 

 hitherto carried the Ionian flag. The move- 

 ment of shipping of Greece Proper, was in 1862 

 as follows : 



The merchant navy consisted, in 1862, of 

 43,335 vessels, having a collective capacity of 

 275,318 tons. 



The Constitutional Assembly of Greece waa 

 dissolved on November 24, 1864 the king hav- 

 ing on the same day taken the oath to observe 

 the new constitution. Shortly before (Novem- 

 ber 16, 1864), the National Assembly had com- 

 plied with the demand of the king to repeal 

 that article of the new constitution which re- 

 quired Roman Catholic priests to be Hellenic 

 subjects. On the other hand, however, they 

 refused, notwithstanding the objections of the 

 king, to modify the article of the consti- 

 tution providing for the mode of its future 

 revision. 



King George did not succeed in 1865 in form- 

 ing a ministry able and strong enough to secure 

 the confidence of the whole country and keep 

 down revolutionary agitation. On March 14th 

 Admiral Kanaris resigned the presidency of the 

 ministry, and the king charged the Minister of 

 the Interior, Comondouros, with forming a new 

 cabinet. 



In May the election of a new National As- 

 sembly took place, and resulted favorably to 

 the Government. In opening the National As- 

 sembly, on June 9th, the king announced that 

 his Government was engaged in concluding ar- 

 rangements for the payment of the loan of 

 1832, guaranteed by the protecting Powers. 

 This would enable them to meet at a subsequent 

 period anterior obligations, and to raise the 

 credit of the country. Several important bills 

 were also announced. 



In the latter part of October the Opposition 

 having obtained a majority of seventy-five 

 against sixty-nine votes on a question of confi- 

 dence, the ministry resigned. M. Bulgaris hav- 

 ing been summoned by the king to form a new 

 ministry, declared that he would only accept 

 the task on condition that Count Sponneck, the 

 Danish adviser of the king, should quit Greece. 

 The king refused this condition, stating that 

 Count Sponneck did not occupy any official 

 position. M. Bulgaris thereupon declined, and 

 M. Deligiorgi accepted the task. But a few 

 weeks later (November 15th) the Deligiorgi 

 ministry resigned, and the ministerial crisis con- 

 tinued until the close of the year, several new 

 cabinets being in succession formed and dis- 

 solved. On December 1st the Chamber de- 

 cided by one hundred and twenty to twenty-six 

 votes upon the revision of the articles of the 

 constitution relating to the Council of the State. 

 The Chamber abolished that Council by a great 

 majority. Count Sponneck, yielding to the 

 prevailing popular opposition to him, left Greece 

 on December 1st. 



The condition of the kingdom in the last 

 months of the year seemed to be so unsatisfac- 

 tory to the three protecting powers, France, 

 England, and Russia, that they were seriously 

 negotiating about the expediency of a joint in- 

 tervention, involving, if necessary, the suspen- 

 sion of the Greek constitution. 



