GREECE. 



371 



GREECE,* a kingdom of Southeastern Eu- 

 rope. 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 Assem- 

 bly at Athens, March 18 (30), 1863; accepted 

 the crown June 4, 1863 ; declared of age by a 

 decree of the National Assembly, June 27, 1863 ; 

 married October 27, 1867, to Olga, daughter of 

 Grand-duke Constantine, of Russia, born Au- 

 gust 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 

 square miles; the population, according to the 

 census of 1870, to 1,457,894 persons. 



In the budget for 1875 the revenue was esti- 

 mated as follows (1 drachma = $0.19) : 



Drachmas. 



1. Direct taxes : 



a. Land tax, tithe 10.815,000 



&. Duty on cattle and pastures. 1,645,000 



c. Duty on beehives 40,000 



d. Licenses 1,000,000 



e. Taxes on edifices 700,000 14,200,000 



2. Indirect taxes : 



a. Customs ; 11,600,000 



&. Stamp 4,200,000 



c. Miscellaneous 480,000 16,280,000 



3. Produce of national property 3,209,000 



4. Public service : 



a. Posts 700,000 



b. Telegraphs 420,000 



c. Printing-office 4,000 1,124,000 



5. Sale of national property 2,600,000 



6. Miscellaneous receipts 805,000 



7. Ecclesiastical receipts 316,000 



8. Arrears 1,110,000 



Total revenue 39,644,000 



The expenditures were estimated as follows: 



Drachmas. 



1. Interest on foreign debt 1,258,000 



Interest on internal debt 6,294,870 



2. Pensions 3,179,000 



3. Civil list 1,125,000 



4. Salaries of deputies 400,000 



5. Department of Finance 1,296,720 



6. " Foreign Affairs 969,116 



7. " Justice 2,944,607 



8. " Interior 4,395,201 



9. Worship and Education 2,011,220 



10. " War 7,830,500 



11. " Marine 1,800,348 



12. Costs of general administration 2,776,930 



13. Miscellaneous expenditure 3,510,000 



39,791,512 



The actual budgets of the kingdom differ, 

 however, widely from the budget estimates. 

 Since the establishment of Greece as an inde- 

 pendent kingdom, there have been few finan- 

 cial terms without a deficit. 



The foreign debt, according to Mollet (in 

 " Reports by her Majesty's Secretaries of Em- 

 bassy and Legation, 1875 "), amounted, at the 

 close of 1874, to 335,500,000 drachmas; the 

 home debt, to 94,600,000; total debt, 430,- 

 100,000. 



The army of the kingdom is formed by con- 

 scription, with the general privilege to procure 



* See ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA of 1874 for statistics on the 

 population of large cities, on nationalities, on religious de- 

 nominations, and on education. 



substitutes, which is done to a very large ex- 

 tent. The strength of the army on the peace 

 footing was, according to the budget of 1875, 

 14,063 men with 720 horses. 



The navy, in 1875, consisted of 2 iron-clad 

 frigates, 1 royal yacht, 8 screw-steamers, and 

 10 sailing-vessels. 



The general commerce, in 1873, was as fol- 

 lows, in drachmas : 



The movement of shipping, in 1872 and 1873, 

 is shown by the following table : 



The merchant navy, on December 31, 1878, 

 consisted of 5,001 vessels, of 239,135 tons; 

 among them there were 16 steamers, of about 

 6,048 tons, and about 4,000 coasting-vessels. 



Greece had, in 1875, only one railroad in 

 operation. It connects Athens with the port 

 of Piraeus and Phalerits, was opened in 1869, 

 and is 12 kilometres long (1 kilom. = 0.62 m.). 

 In 1872 the railroad from the Piraeus to Lamia, 

 which is to be in length 220 kilometres, was 

 begun, and a charter was granted for another 

 road, which is to connect Athens with Kala- 

 mate, a distance of 275 kilometres. The ag- 

 gregate length of the electric telegraph-lines 

 is 1,600 kilometres; that of the wires, 1,800 

 kilometres. ^ ' 



The Greek Chamber was throughout Jan- 

 uary without a quorum, because the entire Op- 

 position persisted * in its refusal to attend the 

 meetings. On February 5th, the session -ex- 

 pired. The Chambers were again convoked 

 for March 17th, but the Opposition still adhered 

 to its determination not to attend, and thus 

 the Chamber continued to be left without a 

 quorum. At length the President, Cassinati, 

 of Cerigo, declared that, although the legal 

 quorum of the entire Chamber (96) were not 

 present, the Chamber was justified in proceed- 

 ing to business, as several elections had former- 

 ly been declared invalid, and, if these were de- 

 ducted, the constitutional quorum was present. 

 The Chamber then ratified a treaty concluded 

 with the German Empire relative to the exca- 

 vations to be made by German scholars at 



* See ANNTTAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1874, p. 381. 



