SPAIN. 



749 



levy on the assessed value of all the stock in 

 those counties, and as the total value of all the 

 stock would not pay the cost of the fences, the 

 law will either be inoperative or it will amount 

 to a confiscation of the property of those who 

 are supposed to need relief from the stock law. 

 The act making appropriations to meet the ex- 

 penses of the government and pay the interest 

 on the public debt provided for an appropria- 

 tion of $765,614.22. After a session of twenty- 

 one working days the Legislature adjourned on 

 December 23d. 



SPAIN, a monarchy of Southern Europe. 

 The Constitution of June 30, 1876, vests the 

 legislative powers in the King and the Cortes. 

 The Cortes consist of two Houses, the Senate 

 and the Congress, each possessing the same 

 powers. The Senate is composed of three 

 classes of Senators : Senators by right, to wit, 

 princes of the blood, grandees of Spain, and 

 the chief functionaries of the state, army, and 

 Church; Senators nominated by the crown 

 for life, who, with the Senators in their own 

 right, must not exceed 180 in number; and 

 Senators elected by public corporations and 

 citizens paying the highest rate of taxes, who 

 must not exceed the same maximum number. 

 The Congress, or Chamber of Deputies, is com- 

 posed of members elected for five years by 

 electoral colleges, in the ratio of one Deputy 

 to every 50,000 inhabitants. The clergy are 

 ineligible. Deputies accepting an office, pen- 

 sion, or decoration, must resign a regulation 

 which does not apply to Ministers. The Cor- 

 tes meet annually. The King as well as each 

 Chamber possesses the right of initiative, but 

 financial measures must be first submitted to 

 the Lower House. Ministers are impeachable 

 by the Chamber of Deputies, and triable by 

 the Senate. Each province has its local As- 

 sembly. The Roman Catholic is the religion 

 of the state, but all other faiths are tolerated. 

 By the royal decree of August 8, 1878, the Isl- 

 and of Cuba can send deputies to the Cortes 

 in the proportion of one to every 40,000 free 

 inhabitants. 



Alfonso XII, the King of Spain, is the son of 

 Queen Isabella and the Infante Francisco. He 

 was born in 1857, and proclaimed king De- 

 cember 31, 1874. The heir-apparent is the 

 Infanta Maria de las Mercedes, born September 

 11, 1880, the offspring of the King's second 

 marriage, in 1879, with Maria Christina, Arch- 

 duchess of Austria. 



The Ministry is composed of the following 

 members: President of the Council, Pedro 

 Manuel Sagasta, appointed February 8, 1881 ; 

 Minister of Foreign- Affairs, A. Aguilar, Mar- 

 quis de la Vega de Armijo ; Minister of Jus- 

 tice, Alfonso Martinez; Minister of Marine, Ad- 

 miral F. de Pa via y Pa via ; Minister of Finance, 

 Tomaro F. Comacho ; Minister of War, G-en- 

 eral A. Martinez de Campos ; Minister of the 

 Interior, Victor Gonzalez ; Minister of Com- 

 merce and Agriculture, S. L. Albareda; Min- 

 ister of the Colonies, F. de Leon y Castillo. 



AREA AND POPULATION. The area of the 

 kingdom, including the Balearic and Canary 

 Islands and a small district in Africa opposite 

 Gibraltar, is about 195,000 square miles. The 

 total population of the forty-nine provinces, ac- 

 cording to the census of December 31, 1877, 

 was 16,625,860, comprising 8,134,659 males and 

 8,491,201 females. There were only 26,834 

 resident foreigners. The increase of popula- 

 tion has not been over 75 per cent in the last 

 hundred years. In the seventeen years pre- 

 ceding 1877 it was at the rate of J per cent 

 per annum. The density of population is 90 

 per square mile, about half that of France. 

 Nearly 46 per cent of the surface is unculti- 

 vated. 



The following cities contained in 1877 over 

 50,000 inhabitants: Madrid, 397,690; Barce- 

 lona, 249,106; Valencia, 143,856; Seville, 

 133,938; Malaga, 115,882; Murcia, 91,805; 

 Saragossa, 84,575; Granada, 76,108; Cartha- 

 gena, 75,908; Cadiz, 65,028; Jerez, 64,533; 

 Palma, 58,224; Lorca, 52,206 ; Valladolid, 52,- 

 206 ; Cordova, 49,855. 



COMMERCE. The total amount of the foreign 

 commerce of Spain, for the last three years re- 

 ported, was as follows, in pesetas, or francs : 



The commercial intercourse with the prin- 

 cipal foreign countries is shown in the follow- 

 ing table, giving the exports and imports in 

 millions of pesetas, or francs, and tenths of 

 millions, for the last two years reported : 



The total imports of 1881 amounted to about 

 576,000,000 pesetas. The imports of wines 

 and liquors in 1881 were valued at 45,000,000 

 pesetas; of tropical produce, 45,700,000; ani- 

 mal food products, 29,500,000; total articles 

 of consumption, 130,300,000; the exports of 

 wines and liquors at 268,500,000, of fruits, etc. 

 (oranges, raisins, nuts), 49,400,000; cereals, 

 24,800,000 ; total articles of consumption, 359,- 

 700,000. The imports of textile materials 

 amounted to 93,800,000 pesetas : wood (cork), 

 34,200,000, coal 22,900,000, hides and leather 

 17,200,000, raw metals 16,300,000, total raw 

 materials 187,000,000 ; the exports of raw met- 

 als (lead and copper) to 84,900,000, minerals 

 (pyrites) 76,000,000, total raw materials 180,- 

 000,000. The imports of manufactures amount- 

 ed to 143,000,000 pesetas, in which total tex- 



