SPAIN. 



773 



The public debt on June 30, 1877, amounted 

 to 9,622,442,980 pesetas. 



According to a new plan of the Minister of 

 War, the Spanish army is to consist in time of 

 peace of 100,000 men, of whom 69,492 will be- 

 long to the infantry, 16,130 to the cavalry, 10,- 

 232 to the artillery, and 4,146 to the Corps of 

 Engineers, The fleet in 1877 was composed as 

 follows : 



The commerce in 1875 was as follows (value 

 in pesetas) : 



The commercial navy consisted on January 

 1, 1877, of 2,685 sailing vessels of 381,070 tons, 

 and 230 steamers of 176,250 tons; together, 

 2,915 vessels of 557,320 tons. The aggregate 

 length of the railroads in operation on January 



1, 1878, was 6,199 kilometres'. The aggregate 

 length of the telegraph lines in 1876 WHS 13,618 

 kilometres; of the wires, 32,998 kilometres; 

 number of dispatches, 1,560,897, of which 1,- 

 053,306 were inland, 293,803 foreign, 22,936 

 transit, and 190,852 official. 



The Cortes assembled on January llth. Po- 

 sada llerrera was elected President of the 

 Chamber of Deputies, and Barzanellana of the 

 {Senate. On the llth Seftor Canovas del Cas- 

 tillo read a royal message announcing the ap- 

 proaching marriage of the King with Princess 

 Maria de las Mercedes, Infanta of Spain, second 

 daughter of the Due de Montpensier. On the 

 14th the discussion on the marriage was opened. 

 General Pavia opposed the marriage, which he 

 regarded as disadvantageous for Spain. Sefior 

 Moyana made a long speech against the mar- 

 riage, and also attacked the Due de Montpen- 

 sier, accusing him of ingratitude to Queen Isa- 

 bella. Sefior Canovas del Castillo replied, de- 

 claring the language of Sefior Moyana to be 

 disrespectful, and stating that he considered 

 the projected union as very advantageous for 

 the nation, as it brought together two branches 

 of the same family. On the following evening 

 the marriage bill was agreed to by 309 votes 

 to 4. On the 17th it was unanimously ap- 

 proved by the Senate. The session was closed 

 on the 29th. 



The regular session of the Cortes was opened 

 on February 15th by the King, accompanied 

 by the Queen and his sisters. The King pre- 

 sented the Queen to the assembled senators 

 and deputies, and then read the speech from 

 the throne. He said he had seen the Spanish 

 nation and the foreign powers greet his choice 

 with satisfaction a choice he had been led to 

 make by the personal qualities of the Queen. 

 He declared that both he and his consort 

 would devote all the strength and energy they 

 possessed to the promotion of the felicity of 

 Spain, with which they identified all their as- 

 pirations after happiness and their views for 

 the future. He expressed his gratitude to all 

 the sovereigns and rulers of the states who 

 on the occasion of his marriage had given evi- 

 dence of their friendly sentiments toward him 

 and the nation. He lamented the death of 

 Pope Pius IX., and said he hoped that Provi- 

 dence would enlighten the Conclave, so that 

 they might elect a Pontiff who would insure 

 concord between church and state. He ex- 

 pressed hopes for the maintenance of cordial 

 relations with foreign powers, and added that 

 the treaties of commerce with Austria, Bel- 

 gium, France, Greece, Denmark, and the Unit- 

 ed States would be presented for approval, 

 together with several financial bills, includ- 

 ing one in virtue of which the Government 

 would propose to sell the forests belonging to 

 the state which were not inalienable. Re- 

 ferring to Cuba, he said that, thanks to th<J 

 exertions of the troops and sailors and the 

 sacrifices made by the nation, the island, he 

 trusted, would speedily be pacified. The Sec- 



