SPAIN. 



705 



The functions of deputy are incompatible with 

 any post requiring the holder to reside away 

 from Madrid, and the acceptation of the former 

 implies the resignation of the latter. The 

 elections for the Cortes will take place by 

 provinces. Those returning from six to nine 

 deputies will form two circumscriptions ; and 

 those of ten and upward, three. The Balearic 

 and Canary Islands are to be the object of a 

 division in which their particular situation will 

 be taken into account. There is to be a deputy 

 for every 45,000 inhabitants, and for a fraction 

 above exceeding 22,500. The ballot will last 

 three days, and a special decree will fix the 

 mode of voting in the islands. The electoral 

 lists will be made out from November 15th to 

 November 25th. The number of deputies is to 

 be 350. A special decree indicating the manner 

 in which the elections are to be conducted in 

 the Spanish possessions will shortly be pub- 

 lished. 



The Minister of Public Instruction issued a 

 decree ordering that henceforward primary 

 education shall be absolutely free, restoring the 

 normal schools, and reappointing the professors 

 removed by the late Government. The minister 

 also announced that he was preparing meas- 

 ures for establishing free secondary and supe- 

 rior education. The Minister of Justice and 

 Public Works, Antonio Eomero Ortiz, decreed 

 the immediate extinction of all the monasteries, 

 convents, religious houses, and congregations of 

 both sexes that have been established in Spain 

 and the adjacent islands since July, 1837, when 

 they were last abolished. The decree provides 

 that all the buildings, real property rents, 

 rights and shares in these buildings are to be- 

 come national property. The monks and nuns 

 ex-cloistered in consequence of this decree are 

 not considered to have any right to the pension 

 that was granted to monks and nuns who were 

 expelled in 1837. The nuns whose convents 

 are suppressed in consequence of the decree 

 may either go into such convents as still exist 

 according to law ; or they can claim to be paid 

 back the dotation which they gave when they 

 entered. This dotation or fee is 11,000 reals, 

 or about $555 in gold. All these convents, 

 monasteries, etc., that were declared legally 

 established by the law of July 29, 1837, are 

 now to be reduced to half their number in 

 every province, and the civil governors of the 

 provinces will consult with the bishops and 

 point out within the term of one month which 

 of these establishments shall be preserved, and 

 they are to take care that they preserve those 

 that have architectural and artistical merit, 

 and they are to send the nuns of suppressed 

 convents to those that are left. The admission 

 of novices in all the convents and nunneries of 

 Spain is prohibited, and the novices that are 

 now preparing to become monks or nuns are 

 prohibited from taking the vows, even though 

 they should have entered these monasteries as 

 organists, singers, or with any other pretext. 

 The nuns who, by virtue of the present decree, 

 VOL. vin. i5 A 



can remain in these convents may leave when- 

 ever they please by an order given at their 

 request by the civil governor, the bishop of 

 the diocese being duly informed thereof. The 

 nuns who took their vows before July 29, 

 1837, have a right to their pension of five reals 

 a day, but those who have taken orders later 

 have only right to their entrance-fee. The 

 associations called Sisters of Charity, St. Vin- 

 cent de Paul, St. Isabella, the Christian Doc- 

 trine, and such others as were dedicated only 

 to teaching and to beneficence, are to remain, 

 but hereafter, instead of having independent 

 jurisdiction in their -own affairs, they must 

 come under that of the bishop. Another 

 decree was issued by the same minister with 

 special regard to the Jesuits, suppressing the 

 Society throughout Spain and the Spanish 

 islands, ordering that its colleges and insti- 

 tutions be closed within three days, and de- 

 claring its movable and immovable property 

 sequestrated to the state. 



Sefior Figuerola, the Minister of Finance, 

 published a financial statement, in which he 

 estimates the deficit at 2,500,000,000 reals, 

 attributing it to the necessity for extraordi- 

 nary expenditure in consequence of the pre- 

 vailing distress and the want of work for 

 the lower classes, though, he says, the Govern- 

 ment did not acknowledge the right of the 

 citizens to be provided with work by the state. 

 This statement, which enters into a full expla- 

 nation of the real state of the finances in Spain, 

 was accompanied by a decree opening public 

 subscriptions to a loan of 200,000,000 crowns, 

 issued in 1,250,000 Treasury bonds, bearing six 

 per cent, interest. The issuing price was 80, 

 and the interest payable on June 30th, and "De- 

 cember 31st, reckoning from January 1, 1869. 

 The redemption of the loan would be by draw- 

 ings, commencing in 1869 and terminating 

 in 1888. 



Sefior Sagasta, the Minister of Justice, issued 

 a decree promulgating the absolute liberty of 

 the press, abolishing the office of a special 

 judge for press trials, and placing all press of- 

 fences within the jurisdiction of the ordinary 

 penal code. The decree also suppresses the 

 censorship on literary and dramatic produc- 

 tions. The number of political journals in 

 Madrid, in consequence of the liberty of the 

 press, increased very rapidly. The most im- 

 portant of these at the close of the war were 

 the Pemamiento Espaftol, the Esperanza, Sig- 

 lo, the Estandarte (reactionary), Diario Es- 

 panol and Politico, (Liberal IJnion), ATovedades 

 and Iberia (Progressist), Discusion (Eepubli- 

 can). 



The Protestants of Spam were authorized to 

 hold meetings, and to erect churches in Madrid,. 

 Seville, Barcelona, and other places. 



The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lorenzana,, 

 sent a circular to the foreign representatives 

 of Spain abroad, in which the minister explains 

 the causes, character, and political bearing of 

 the revolution. Spain had, under the rule of 



