408 



GREECE. 



" Winton Domesday " and the "Liber Niger" 

 of Peterborough ; the " Registrum Honoris de 

 Richemunde," and other cartularies, etc. 



Mr. Maunde Thompson delivered an address, 

 which served as a running commentary upon 

 these curious relics, their purpose, and influ- 

 ence. A vote of thanks to the authorities of 

 the British Museum was proposed by Lord 

 Aberdare and seconded by Hon. Edward J. 

 Phelps, United States minister, who made a 

 few remarks on the occasion, saying that his 

 people across the Atlantic took an equal pride 

 and interest in the Book of Domesday and its 

 associations with their English brethren. In 

 the evening of this, the second day of the 

 celebration, there was a meeting in the great 

 hall of Lincoln's Inn. Here, papers were read 

 by Stuart Moore, on the purport, drift, and 

 real meaning of "Domesday-Book," and by J. 

 Horace Round, on external references and tes- 

 timonies to its contents. Mr. Moore expressed 

 his belief that the ' Domesday-Book " was in- 

 tended by William the Conqueror, not as a 

 survey of the acreage of his now kingdom, but 

 as an estimate of its resources, and claimed for 

 it the character of a most wise, just, and states- 

 manlike measure. The hope was expressed that 

 one result of the present gathering would be 

 the production of an exhaustive bibliography 

 of all works published on the subject. After 

 some discussion, the meeting was brought to 

 a close, and the celebration ended. 



GREECE, a kingdom of Southeastern Europe. 

 The Constitution of 1864 lodges the legislative 

 authority in a single Chamber of 245 members, 

 including 35 from the provinces annexed in 

 1881, elected for four years by direct suffrage. 

 The King is George I, born Dec. 24, 1845, son 

 of the King of Denirark, who was chosen by 

 the National Assembly in virtue of the pro- 

 tocol signed at London on June 5, 1863, by 

 France, Great Britain, and Russia. The min- 

 istry, constituted on May 21, 1886, is com- 

 posed as follows: President of the Council, 

 Minister of Finance, and Minister of War, C. 

 Trikoupis ; Minister of Justice, D. S. Voulpio- 

 lis; Minister of the Interior, C. Lombardos; 

 Minister of Worship and Public Instruction, P. 

 Manetas ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, S. Dra- 

 goumis ; Minister of Marine, G. Theotokis. 



Area and Population. The area of the king- 

 dom is 25,111 square miles. The population, ac- 

 cording to a census taken in 1879 for the older 

 provinces, and one made in the annexed por- 

 tions of Thessaly in 1881, is 1,979,561, com- 

 prising 1,040,526 males and 939,035 females. 

 The city of Athens in 1884 contained 84,903 

 inhabitants. The number of births in 1882 

 was 43,157; of deaths, 32,194; of marriages, 

 11,186; surplus of births over deaths, 10,963. 

 Only about one quarter of the Greek nation 

 reside in Greece. In the Ottoman Empire there 

 are 3,500,000 Greeks in European Turkey ; 

 2,000,000 in Asia Minor ; and 400,000 in Crete, 

 Cyprus, and other islands. 



Agriculture. About one half of the people of 



Greece are directly engaged in agriculture and 

 sheep-raising. The land is chiefly in the hands 

 of a few proprietors. There are about 250,000 

 acres under tobacco and cotton ; 1,000,000 un- 

 der grain-crops ; 1,000,000 fallow ; 250,000 in 

 vineyards; 125,000 devoted to currants, or 

 Zante raisins; 325,000 to olives; 38,000 in 

 orchards and gardens; 1,000,000 in meadows; 

 5,000,000 pasture; 1,500,000 forest; and 3,- 

 000,000 waste making in all, 13,490,000 acres. 

 The old provinces produce on an average 34,- 

 000,000 bushels of wheat and 21,700,000 bush- 

 els of Indian corn. The fertile new province 

 produces 21,700,000 bushels of wheat, 11,528,- 

 000 bushels of oats, and 5,750,000 bushels of 

 barley. The currant-crop of 1886 was about 

 125,000 tons. 



Navigation. A large part of the commerce 

 of the Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean 

 is carried under the Greek flag. The merchant 

 Eavy in 1886 consisted of 3,141 sailing-vessels 

 of 225,224 tons, and 72 steamers of 36.272 tons. 

 The number of vessels entered at Greek ports 

 in 1883 was 6,872, tonnage, 2,061,682; the 

 number cleared, 4,874, tonnage, 1,991,865. 



Railroads. There were, in 1886, 523 kilo- 

 metres of completed railroad, and 97 kilomet 

 under construction. 



Posts and Telegraphs. The number of lettei 

 forwarded in 1884 was 5,449,894; of post 

 cards, 151,164; of registered letters, 281,128; 

 of newspapers, 3,892,166. The receipts of 

 the post-offices were 954,477 drachmas; the 

 expenses,802,120 drachmas. The length of the 

 state telegraph lines was 5,104 kilometres; of 

 wires, 6,293; of cables. 1,382. The number 

 of dispatches was 457,602, exclusive of 170,091 

 international messages. 



Finances. The budget for 1886 makes the 

 total revenue 82,674,068 drachmas, or francs, 

 of which 16,108,500 drachmas are derived 

 from indirect imposts, consisting of the tithes, 

 or land-tax, a house-tax, a cattle-tax, a license- 

 tax, etc. The yield of the indirect taxes is 

 calculated at 46,277,500 drachmas, of whic" 

 21,700,000 drachmas come from customs, 9, 

 200,000 drachmas from stamps, 7,200,( 

 drachmas from duties on spirits and tobacco, 

 and 8,177,500 drachmas from duties on petrc 

 leura, matches, etc. The total ordinary 

 penditure for 1886 is calculated at 88,047,9t 

 drachmas, of which 33,062,298 drachmas are 

 required for the public debt, and 22,997,875 

 drachmas for the army and navy. There is 

 a foreign debt of 39,567,320 drachmas, various 

 internal loans amounting to 308,875,206 drach- 

 mas, and unfunded debts amounting to 79,713,- 

 676 drachmas, making the total interest-bear- 

 ing debt on Jan. 1, 1886, 428,156,202 drachmas. 

 The amount of paper money still outstanding 

 was 27,787,302 drachmas. 



The Army. The armed force comprises 32,- 

 415 land-troops of all ranks, with 3,536 horses 

 and 72 guns. 



The Navy. The fleet in 1886 consisted of 2 

 ironclads, 1 wooden frigate, 2 gunboats of the 



