98 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



Minister of Marine. 

 Minister of War. 

 Minister of Finance. 

 Minister of Justice. 



The Ministers of Finance and Justice are 

 not members of the Cabinet. 



Religion. The great majority of the inhabitants of 

 the Kingdom are adherents of the Greek Orthodox 

 Church. Before the census of 1889 there were 1,902,800 

 belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church ; 14,677 other 

 Christians, mainly Roman Catholics; 5,792 Jews; and 

 24,165 Mohammedans. By the terms of the Constitution 

 of 1864, the Greek Orthodox Church is declared the reli- 

 gion of the State, but complete toleration and liberty of 

 worship is guaranteed to all other sects. Nominally, 

 the Greek clergy owe allegiance to the Patriarch of 

 Constantinople, though he now exercises no governing 

 authority ; he is elected by the votes of the bishops and 

 optimates subject to the Sultan; his jurisdiction ex- 

 tends over Thrace and other countries, including Bosnia, 

 as well as the greater part of Asia Minor. The real 

 ecclesiastical authority, formerly exercised by him in 

 Greece, was annulled "by the resolutions of a'National 

 Synod, held at Nauplia in 1833, which vested the govern- 

 ment of the Orthodox Church, within the limits of the 

 Kingdom, in a psrmanent council, called the Holy 

 Synod, consisting of the Metropolitan of Athens and 

 four archbishops and bishops, who must during "their 

 year of office reside at the seat of the executive. The 

 Orthodox Church has nine archbishops and eight 

 bishops in Northern Greece; six archbishops and six 

 bishops in the Peloponnesus; one archbishop and 

 live bishops in the islands of the Greek Archipelago; 

 and five archbishops and ten bishops in the Ionian 

 Islands. There are id monasteries and nunneries, with 

 y,620 monks and 485 nuns. 



Instruction. All children between the ages of five 

 and twelve years must attend school, but the law is 

 not well enforced in country districts. Of the army re- 

 cruits 30 per cent, are illiterate, and 15 per cent, can'read 

 only. 



There are (1892) 2,745 primary schools, 295 secondary 

 schools, and a university. The total number of teachers 

 is 3,680, and of pupils, 139,385, of whom 22, 100 are females. 

 There are 2 agricultural schoolsin Greece with, together, 

 51 pupils. In 1895 an industrial and commercial school, 

 with 40 teachers, was opened at Piraeus to give instruc- 

 tion in the industries relating to wine, spirits, beer, 

 soap, perfumes, dairy-keeping, cattleand silkworm rear- 

 ing, and in the duties of commercial clerks. In 1895 the 

 University of Athens had 2,987 students, of whom 967 

 studied medicine, 1,327 law, 516 philosophy, 51 theology, 

 124 chemistrv. Of the total number 604 were Iniin 

 abroad, chiefly from Turkey. 



ITALY. 



The present Constitution of Italy is an ex- 

 pansion of the "Statute fondamentale del 

 Regno," granted on March 4, 1848, by King 

 Charles Albert to his Sardinian subjects. Ac- 

 cording to this charter, the executive power of 

 the State belongs exclusively to the Sovereign, 

 and is exercised by him through responsible 

 ministers ; while the legislative authority rests 

 conjointly in the King and Parliament, the 

 latter consisting of two Chambers an upper 

 one, the Senate, and a lower one, called the 

 "Camerade'Deputati." The Senate is composed 

 of the princes of the royal house who are of 

 age, and of an unlimited number of members, 

 above forty years old, who are nominated by 

 the King for life ; a condition of the nomina- 

 tion being that the person should either fill a 

 high office, or have acquired fame in science, 

 literature, or any other pursuit tending to the 



benefit of the nation, or, finally, should pay 

 taxes to the annual amount of 3,000 lire, or 

 120/. In 1897, there were 372 senators. By 

 the electoral law of March 28, 1895, electors 

 for deputies to the Lower House are all citi- 

 zens over twenty-one years of age who can read 

 and write and who possess one or other of the 

 following qualifications : they must have 

 reached a certain standard in elementary edu- 

 cation ; or must pay not less than 19.80 lire in 

 direct (including provincial) taxation ; or, if 

 peasant farmers, must pay annually at least 

 500 lire of rent, or be managers, witli a share 

 in the profits, of farms on which direct (in- 

 cluding provincial) taxes of not less than 80 

 lire are paid ; or, being occupants of lodgings, 

 shops, etc., in towns, pay an annual rent rang- 

 ing from 150 lire in communes of 2,500 inhab- 

 itants to 400 lire in communes of 150,000 

 inhabitants. Non-commissioned officers and 

 men in the army have no vote while under 

 arms. Members of academies, professors, per- 

 sons who have served their country underarms 

 for two years, and numerous other classes are 

 qualified to vote by their position. The num- 

 ber of deputies is 508, or 1 to every 57,000 

 of the population (census 1881). In 18!n; the 

 number of enrolled electors was 2,120.!io!i, 

 exclusive of the electors temporarily disfran- 

 chised on account of military service (3!,0"2!> 

 in 1895). At the general election in March, 

 1897, the number of those who voted \vuy 

 1,241,486, or 58.5 per cent, of thos;- who had 

 the right to vote. For electoral purposes the 

 whole of the Kingdom is divided into 508 

 electoral colleges or districts, and these again 

 into several sections. No deputy can b& 

 returned to Parliament unless he has obtained 

 a number of votes greater than one sixth of 

 the total number of inscribed electors, and than 

 half the votes given. A deputy must l.e thirty 

 years old, and have the requisites demanded 

 by the electoral law. Incapable of being 

 elected are all salaried Government officials, as 

 well as all persons ordained for the priesthood 

 and filling clerical charges, or receiving pay 

 from the State. Officers in the army and navy, 

 ministers, under-secretaries of State, and vari- 

 ous other classes of functionaries high in office, 

 may be elected, but their number must never 

 be more than forty, not including the minis- 

 ters and the under-secretaries of State. Neither 

 senators nor deputies receive any salary or 

 other indemnity, but are allowed to travel free 

 throughout Italy by rail or steamer. 



The duration of Parliament is five years ; 

 but the King has the power to dissolve the 

 Lower House at any time, being bound only t< 

 order new elections, and convoke a new meet- 

 ing wit hin four months. It is incumbent upo 



