412 



GREECE. 



iil-usago at Hilton Head. In a good many of 

 these cases redress seems to have been granted, 

 and in some of them compensation; but in 

 several of them the complaint is spoken of as 

 under consideration. 



The number of complaints of seizures of ves- 

 sels or interference with their voyages is very 

 great, and has rapidly increased during the last 

 year. 



Nearly the whole of the above vessels have 

 been condemned by the American prize courts, 

 or are still under trial. The number discharged 

 is insignificantly small. 



GEEECE, a kingdom in Europe. King 

 George I., born Dec. 24, 1845, elected "King of 

 the Hellenes," by the National Assembly of 

 Athens, March 18 (30), 1863 ; landed in Greece 

 Nov. 2, 1863. The three great European pow- 

 ers gave their sanction to the election in the 

 protocol of a conference, held at the British 

 Foreign Office June 5, 1863, of which the fol- 

 lowing are the most important points : 



" The plenipotentiaries of France, Great Bri- 

 tain, and Eussia, announce the adhesion of their 

 courts to the acts in virtue of which Prince 

 William of Denmark, with the consent of his 

 Majesty the King of Denmark, and of his father, 

 Prince Christian, is called to the Hellenic throne, 

 under the title of George I., King of the Hel- 

 lenes. Desiring to facilitate the realization of 

 the wishes of the Greek nation, the Courts of 

 France, Great Britain, and Eussia, have author- 

 ized their representatives to set forth the follow- 

 ing resolutions: 



"Sec. 1. The principal secretary of Her Bri- 

 tannic Majesty declared that if the union of the 

 Ionian islands to the Hellenic kingdom, after 

 having been found to be in accordance with the 

 wishes of the Ionian parliament, should obtain 

 the assent of the Courts of Austria, France, 

 Prussia, and Eussia, Her Britannic Majesty 

 would recommend to the Government of the 

 United States of the Ionian Islands to appro- 

 priate annually a sum of 10,000 for the pur- 

 pose of augmenting the civil list of His Majesty 

 George I., King of the Hellenes. 



" Sec. 2. The plenipotentiaries of France, Great 

 Britain, and Eussia declare that each of the 

 three courts was disposed to give up in favor of 

 Prince William 4,000 a year, out of the sums 

 which the Greek treasury has engaged itself to 

 pay annually to each of them in pursuance of the 

 arrangements proposed at Athens by the repre- 

 sentatives of the three powers, and accepted by 

 the Greek Government with the concurrence 

 of the Chambers in the month of June, 1860. 

 It is expressly understood that these three sums, 

 forming a total of 12,000 annually, shall be 

 destined to constitute a personal dotation of his 

 Majesty the King, in , addition to the civil list 

 given by the law of the State. 



" Sec. 3. In conformity with the principles of 

 the Hellenic constitution, recognized by the 

 treaty signed at London on the 20th of Nov., 

 1852, and proclaimed by the decree of the Na- 

 tional Assembly of the 18th (30) March, 1863, 



the legitimate successors of King George I. must 

 profess the tenets of the orthodox church of the 

 East. 



" Sec. 4. In no case shall the crown of Greece 

 and the crown of Denmark be united on the 

 same head. 



"Sec. 6. The courts of Greece, Great Britain, 

 and Eussia, shall, from this moment, use their 

 influence in order to procure the recognition of 

 Prince William, under the name of George I., 

 by all the sovereigns and states with whom they 

 have relations." 



The population of the kingdom of Greece, 

 without the Ionian Islands, amounted, in 1861, 

 to 1,096,810 inhabitants. Since the annexation 

 of the islands, the area of the kingdom is about 

 94,794 geographical miles, with a population of 

 about 1,326,000 inhabitants. 



The revenue and expenditures in the years 

 1861 and 1862 were as follows : 



The movement of shipping, in 1861, was as 

 follows : 



The movement of commerce, in 1861, was as 

 follows: Imports, 47,914,036 drachmas; ex- 

 ports, 28,107,135 drachmas. 



For more detailed statistics of the population, 

 as well as for the latest statistics concerning the 

 army and navy, see As^sajAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 

 1863. 



A National Assembly, which was chosen to 

 prepare a new constitution for the Greek king- 

 dom, commenced its sittings on the 22d of De- 

 cember, 1863. It did not begin discussing the ar- 

 ticles of the constitution until the 10th of August, 

 1864, and would hardly have finished its labors 

 before the close of the year, unless the king had 

 threatened it with dissolution. Then their pro- 

 gress became more satisfactory, and on the 28th 

 of October its discussion upon the constitution 

 was terminated. On Nov. 28th the king took 

 the oath under the constitution, and the conven- 

 tion was dissolved. One of the notable features 

 of the new constitution is the abolition of the 

 senate and the transfer of the whole legislative 

 power of the realm to a single chamber of depu- 

 ties, which was resolved upon by 211 votes 

 against 62, on Sept. 19, 1864. On Oct. 21 the 

 convention adopted, however, by a majority of 

 136 to 124, a proposal made by the king to cre- 

 ate a Council of State. The national conven- 

 tion, in October, 1864, consisted of 282 mem- 

 bers, including 84 deputies from the Ionian 

 islands, elected by general suffrage in June, 1864. 



The English protectorate over the Ionian 



* 5.78 drachmas are equivalent to $1. 



