548 



MEXICO. 



suffering other disability by reason of their re- 

 ligious opinions were declared restored to full 

 liberty of conscience and person and free to re- 

 turn to their homes at pleasure ; and the flog- 

 ging of women, which had been done by jailers 

 and other persons in authority under Mr. Baker's 

 administration, was forbidden. 



Wesleyans in the Fiji Islands. The Austral- 

 asian Church has jurisdiction of the Wesleyan 

 missions in the South Sea Islands, one of the 

 most important of which is that in the Fiji Isl- 

 ands. A review of the history of this mission 

 during the past thirty years shows that the 

 number of places of worship has increased in 

 that period from 428 to 1,322 ; of Sunday-schools, 

 from 262 to 1,583 : of church members, from 11,- 

 590 to 35,331 ; of adherents, from 59,469 to 105,- 

 000 ; of European missionaries, from 7 to 10 ; of 

 native ministers, from 9 to 65 ; and of local 

 preachers, from 114 to 1,889. 



MEXICO, a federative republic in North 

 America. The legislative body is the Congress, 

 consisting of the Senate, of 56 members, 2 from 

 each State, and the House of Representatives, of 

 whom there are 227, or one for every 40,000 in- 

 habitants. Senators are elected for four years 

 and Representatives for two years by the direct 

 suffrage of all respectable male citizens. Mem- 

 bers of each house are paid a salary of $3,000. 

 Congress is in session from April 1 to May 30 

 and from Sept. 16 to Dec. 15, and during the 

 rest of the year a permanent committee of both 

 houses transacts business. The President is 

 elected indirectly, as in the United States, for 

 four years, and, according ta an amendment to 

 the Constitution made in 1887, he can be re- 

 elected for a second term only. Gen. Porfirio 

 Diaz entered on his first term of the presidency 

 on Dec. 1, 1884, and in 1888 was re-elected for 

 the term ending Dec. 1, 1892. His Cabinet is 

 composed of the following members : Secretary 

 of State for Foreign Affairs, Ignacio Mariscal ; 

 Secretary of the Interior, Manuel Romero Ru- 

 bio; Secretary of the Department of Justice, 

 Joaquin Baranda; Secretary of Public Works, 

 C. Pacheco ; Secretary of War, Gen. Pedro Hine- 

 josa ; Secretary of Finance, Manuel Dublan ; 

 Treasurer, F. Espinosa. The States have their 

 own constitutions and laws. The civil and 

 criminal codes enacted for the Federal District 

 have been adopted in all except Vera Cruz and 

 Tlaxcala. 



Finance. The revenue is estimated in the 

 budget for the year 1890-'91 at $41,770,000 in 

 Mexican currency, and the expenditure at $38,- 

 452,804. Customs duties are calculated to amount 

 to $26,200,000 ; internal-revenue duties, $1,500,- 

 000 ; direct taxes, $1,400,000 ; post-office and 

 telegraphs, $1,200,000; mints, $270,000; lottery, 

 $300,000 ; stamps, $9,400,000 ; miscellaneous re- 

 sources, $1,500,000. The estimated expenditure 

 under the various heads is as follows : Legisla- 

 ture, $1,054,037; Executive, $49,849; Supreme 

 Court, $468,884 ; foreign affairs, $471,304 ; De- 

 partment of the Interior, $3.678,680; justice 

 and public instruction, $1,424,972 ; public works, 

 $7,310,327; Department of Finance, $11,365,- 

 207 ; army and navy, $12,629,544. The budgets 

 of the individual States amount to the sum of 

 about $10,000,000. 



In accordance with an arrangement made with 



the foreign creditors of the Government at Lon- 

 don on June 23, 1886, the bonds of 1851, the 

 accrued interest up to 1863, represented by the 

 bonds of 1864, and other deferred liabilities, 

 were scaled down from 22,341,322 to 13,991,- 

 775 for the English debt, other classes of bonds' 

 making the total 14,727,400. The whole out- 

 standing foreign debt was redeemed in July, 

 1899, at the rate of 40 per cent., by means of new 

 6-per-cent. bonds issued at 78. * Since 1886 all 

 coupons have been paid promptly. The inter- 

 nal debt was also converted, and 3 per cent, in- 

 terest is paid on the new bonds. The total in- 

 debtedness of the Government in August, 1890, 

 amounted to 22,721,335. The following were 

 the various debts at that date: 10,500,000 of 

 gold bonds of 1888 issued for the purpose of tak- 

 ing up the old foreign loans ; the reduced inter- 

 nal debt, paying 3 per cent, interest in silver, 

 amounting at the current rate of exchange to 

 2,900,710; warrants issued for arrears of sal- 

 aries to the amount of $166,125 ; arrears of sub- 

 ventions due to the 4 principal railroads, $7.084,- 

 000 ; 5-per-cent. gold bonds of the Tehuantepec 

 Railroad, 1,300,000 ; 6-per-cent. silver bonds of 

 the Gulf Railroad, 448,000 ; 6-per-cent. silver 

 bonds issued for harbor improvements, at Tonola 

 and Vera Cruz, 322,500. 



Area and Population. There are 27 States, 

 a Federal District, and 2 Territories. Their area 

 and population in 1889 are given in the following 

 table : 



Mexico, the capital city, had a population in 

 1889 of 329,535 ; Guadalajara, capital of the 

 State of Jalisco, had about 95,000 inhabitants ; 

 Puebla city, 78,530; San Luis Potosi, 62,573; 

 Zacatecas, about 60,000: Guanajuato, 52,112; 

 Monterey, capital of Nuevo-Leon, 41,700; Quere- 

 taro, 36,000; Aguas Calientes, 32,355; Merida, 

 32,000; Morelia, 30,000; Oajaca, 27,856; Coli- 

 ma, 25,124. 

 Education is free and compulsory in all the 



