GOVERNMENT AND LAW. 



107 



Minister of Justice. 



Minister of Finance. 



Minister of the Interior 



Minister of War. 



Minister of Marine. 



Minister of Agriculture and Commerce ami of 

 Public Works. 



The Ministry of the Colonies was abolished 

 February 10, 1899. 



Local Government. The various provinces and 

 communes of Spain are governed by the provincial and 

 municipal laws. Every commune has its own elected 

 Ayuntamiento, consisting of from five to thirty-nine 

 Regidores, or Concejales, ami presided over by the Al- 

 calde, at whose side stand, in the larger towns, several 

 Tenientes Alcaldes. The entire municipal government, 

 with power of taxation, is vested in the Ayuntamientos. 

 Half the members are elected every two years, and they 

 appoint the Alcalde, the executive functionary, from 

 their own body. In the larger towns he may be ap- 

 pointed by the King. Members cannot be re-elected un- 

 til after two years. Each province of Spain has its own 

 Parliament, the Diputacion Provincial, the members of 

 which are elected by the constituencies. The JMputa- 

 ciones Provinciates meet in annual session, and are per- 

 manently represented by the Commission Provincial, a 

 committee elected every year. The Constitution of 1876 

 secures to the Diputaciones Provinciates and the Ayun- 

 tamientos the government and administration of the 

 respective provinces and communes. Neither the na- 

 tional executive nor the Cortes have the right to inter- 

 fere in the established municipal and provincial admin- 

 istration, except in the case of the action of theDipu- 

 taeiones Provinciales and Ayuntamientos going beyond 

 the locally limited sphere to the injury of general and 

 permanent interests. In the Basque provinces self- 

 government has been almost abolished since the last 

 civil war, and they are ruled as the rest of Spain. Not- 

 withstanding the provisions of the Constitution, pres- 

 sure is too frequently brought to bear upon the local 

 elections by the Central Government. 



Religion. The national Church of Spain is the Ro- 

 man Catholic, and the whole population of the Kingdom 

 adhere to that faith, except (in 1887) 6,654 Protestants, 

 402 Jews, 9,645 Rationalists, 510 of other religions, and 

 13,175 of religion not stated. There were in 1884 in 

 Spain 32,435 priests in the 62 dioceses into which the 

 country is divided; 1,684 monks resident in 161 monas- 

 tic nouses, and 14,592 nuns in 1,027 convents. The num- 

 ber of cathedrals was 65, of religious colleges 30, of 

 churches 18,561, and of convents, religious houses, sanc- 

 tuaries, and other buildings of a religious character 11,- 

 202. According to Article 12 of the Constitution of 1876, 

 a restricted liberty of worship is allowed to Protestants, 

 but it has to be entirely in private, all public announce- 

 ments of the same being strictly forbidden. The Con- 

 stitution likewise enacts that " the nation binds itself to 

 maintain the worship and ministers of the Roman Cath- 

 olic religion." Resolutions of former legislative bodies 

 not repealed in the Constitution of 1876, settled that the 

 clergy of the Established Church are to be maintained 

 by the State. On the other hand, by two decrees of the 

 Cortes, passed July 23, 1835, and March 9, 1836, all con- 

 ventual establishments were suppressed, and their 

 property confiscated for the benefit of the nation. These 

 decrees gave rise to a long dispute with the head of the 

 Roman Catholic Church, which ended in the sovereign 

 pontiff conceding the principle of the measure. By a 

 concordat with Rome concluded in August, 1859, the 

 Spanish government was authorized to sell the whole 

 ecclesiastical property, except churches and parsonages, 

 in return for an equal amount of untransferable public 

 debt certificates bearing interest at the rate or 3 per 

 cent. 



Instruction. The latest census returns show that a 

 large proportion of the inhabitants are illiterate. In 

 I860 20.0 per cent, of the population could read and 

 write ; 4.6 per cent, could read only; and 75.3 per cent, 

 could neither read nor write. In 1889, out of a popula- 

 tion of 17, 552,346 accounted for, 5,004,460(3,317,855 males, 

 and 1,686,615 females), or 28.5 per cent, could read and 

 write; 608,005 (221,613 males, and 380,392 females), or 3.4 

 percent, could readonly; and 11,945,871 (5,067,098 males, 

 and 6,878,773 females), or 08. 1 per cent, could neither 

 read nor write. 



By a law of 1857 an elaborate system of primary edu- 

 cation was ordained : education was to be compulsory, 

 there was to be a primary school for every 500 inhabi- 

 tants, and instruction was to be on a rig'idly uniform 

 plan. Compulsion has never been enforced, a'nd, partly 

 from political causes and partly from the wretched 

 pay of most of the elementary teachers (101. to20/. por 

 annum), education is very Inefficient. In 1881, how- 

 ever, several improvements were introduced. Under 

 tbe Minister of Public Works there is a Director-General 

 of Public Instruction, with a council ; there are ten ed- 

 ucational districts, with the universities as centers, 49 

 inspectoral districts, and numerous local educational 

 authorities. The public and primary schools are sup- 

 ported mainly by the municipalities, the total sum spent 

 in each of the last three years on primary education, in- 

 cluding a small contribution by Government, being 

 about 1,000,000?. Most of the children are educated free. 



TURKEY. 



The present sovereign of Turkey is the thirty- 

 fourth, in male descent, of the house of Oth- 

 man, the founder of the empire, and the 

 twenty-eighth Sultan since the conquest of 

 Constantinople. By the law of succession 

 obeyed in the reigning family, the crown is 

 inherited according to seniority by the male 

 descendants of Othinan, sprung from the Im- 

 perial Harem. The Harem is considered a 

 permanent State institution. All children 

 born in the Harem, whether offspring of free 

 women or of slaves, are legitimate and of equal 

 lineage. The Sultan is succeeded by his eldest 

 son, but only in case there are no uncles or 

 cousins of greater age. 



The fundamental laws of the empire are 

 based on the precepts of the Koran. The will of 

 the Sultan is absolute, in so far as it is not in 

 opposition to the accepted truths of the Ma- 

 hometan religion as laid down in the sacred 

 book of the Prophet. Next to the Koran, the 

 laws of the ' ' Multeka, ' ' a code formed of tlie 

 supposed sayings and opinions of Mahomet, 

 and the sentences and decisions of his imme- 

 diate successors, are binding upon the Sov- 

 ereign as well as his subjects. Another code 

 of laws, the " Cahon nameh," formed by Sultan 

 Solyman the Magnificent, from a collection of 

 " hatti-sheriffs, " or decrees, issued by him and 

 his predecessors, is held in general obedi- 

 ence, but merely as an emanation of human 

 authority. 



The legislative and executive authority is 

 exercised, under the supreme direction of the 

 Sultan, by tv?o high dignitaries, the " Sadr- 

 azam, ' ' or Grand Vizier, the head of the tempo- 

 ral Government, and the " Sheik-ul-Tslam," 

 the head of the Church. Both are appointed 

 by the Sovereign, the latter with the nominal 

 concurrence of the " Ulema," a body compris- 

 ing the clergy and chief functionaries of the law, 

 over which the " SheYk-ul-Islam " presides, 

 although he himself does not exercise priestly 

 functions. Connected with the " Ulema" are 

 the "Mufti," the interpreters of the Koran. 

 The Ulema comprise all the great judges, 



