GREECE. 



339 



GREECE, a kingdom of Southeastern Eu- 

 ropo. Reigning King, George I., King of the 

 Hellenes, born December 24, 1845, second son 

 of the reigning King of Denmark, elected King 

 of the Hellenes by the National Assembly at 

 Athens, March 18 (30), 1863; accepted the 

 crown June 4, 1863, declared of age by a de- 

 cree of the National Assembly, June 27, 1863 ; 

 married October 27, 1867, to Olga, daughter 

 of Grand-duke Constantino, of Russia, born 

 August 22, 1851. Issue of the union are three 

 sons and one daughter: Constantinos. Duke 

 of Sparta, born August 2, 1868 ; George, born 

 June 25, 1869 ; Alexandra, born August 30, 

 1870; and Nicholas, born February 2, 1872. 



The area of the kingdom amounts to 19,353 ; 

 the population, according to the census of 

 1870, to 1,457,894. The country is divided 

 for administrative purposes into 13 nomarch- 

 ies,* which are subdivided into 59 eparchies, 

 and 351 communes; the heads of the latter, 

 called demarchs, are chosen for a term of four 

 years ; the heads of the eparchies and no- 

 marchies, called eparchs and nomarchs, are 

 appointed by the King. Nearly the entire pop- 

 ulation (1,441, 810) is connected with the Greek 

 Oriental Church, which is governed by a per- 

 manent Holy Synod at Athens, consisting of 5 

 members, who are appointed by the King from 

 among the bishops and other high clerical dig- 

 nitaries. The Church has one metropolitan at 

 Athens, 15 other archbishops, and 16 bishops. 

 With other Christian denominations, only 12,- 

 685 souls are connected ; most of them belong 

 to the Roman Catholic Church, which has 

 archbishops at Naxos and Corfu, and 4 bishops. 

 All creeds are tolerated, and there is entire 

 freedom of religious worship. 



Every child is expected to attend school from 

 the fifth to the twelfth year of its age. Never- 

 theless, the attendance at the public schools is 

 small. In 1869 the 1,141 public and private 

 elementary schools numbered only 60,634 pu- 

 pils. For secondary instruction, there were, 

 in 1870, 15 gymnasia and 144 Hellenic schools 

 (corresponding to the German Realschulen), 

 with 7,780 pupils, and 23 private institutions, 

 with 1,589 pupils. The University at Athens, 

 which has the four faculties of theology, law, 

 medicine, and philosophy, was, in 1869, at- 



tended by 1,205 students. Of special schools, 

 there are 1 polytechnical school at Athens, 

 4 theological schools of the Greek Oriental 

 Church, 6 nautical schools, 1 agricultural 

 school, and 1 military academy at the Pi- 

 rseus. 



In the budget for 1873, the revenue was esti- 

 mated at 35,927,000 drachmas; the expendi- 

 tures at 35,443,000 drachmas ; the surplus at 

 484,000 drachmas. The actual budgets of 

 the kingdom differ, however, widely from the 

 budget estimates. Since the establishment of 

 Greece as an independent kingdom, there have 

 been few financial terms without a deficit. The 

 funded debt of Greece amounted in July, 1872, 

 to 337,000,000 drachmas. The floating debt, 

 according to semi-official returns, amounted to 

 40,000,000 drachmas on January 1, 1870. Ac- 

 cording to overstatements from Greek sources, 

 it was above 166,000,000 drachmas. A royal 

 ordinance, dated January 17, 1869, authorized 

 the Minister of Finance to issue 15,000,000 

 drachmas of notes, with compulsory circu- 

 lation. 



The army of the kingdom is formed by con- 

 scription, with the general privilege to procure 

 substitutes, which is done to a very large ex- 

 tent. The strength of the army on the pence 

 footing was, in 1873, 12,397 men. The contin- 

 gent for the year 1873 was 1,500 men. 



The navy, in 1871, consisted of 2 iron-clad 

 frigates, 8 screw steamers, and 11 sailing-ves- 

 sels. It was manned by conscription from the 

 inhabitants of the sea-coast; the number of 

 officers and men was, in 1873, 1,078. 



The general commerce in 1871 was as fol- 

 lows, in drachmas : 



The movement of shipping in 1870 and 1871 

 is shown by the following table : 



The merchant nnvy on December 31, 1871, 

 consisted of 8,185 vessels, of 419,350 tons; 

 among them there were 7 steamers, of about 

 8,000 tons, and over 4,000 coasting-vessels. 



The first Greek railroad, which connected 

 Athens with the port of Pirsens and Phalerits, 

 was opened in 1869, and is 12 kilometres long 

 (1 kilom. = 0.62 in.). In 1872 the railroad 



* The AKNTTAL CTCLOP.SDIA for 1872 pives the popu- 

 lation of every nomarchy and every eparchy for 1S60 and 

 1870. 



from the Pirseus to Lamia, which is to he in 

 length 220 kilometres, was begun, and a char- 

 ter was granted for another road, which is to 

 connect Athens with Kalamate, a distance of 

 275 kilometres. The aggregate length of the 

 electric telegraph-lines is 1,600 kilometres, 

 that of the wires, 1,800 kilometres. 



In January the Greek Government declared 

 its readiness to submit the Laurion question * 



For a full acconnt of the Laurion question, eee AN- 

 NUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1872. 



