412 



GREECE. 



GUATEMALA. 



ter had received orders from Constantinople 

 to take the offensive if the attacks were re- 

 sumed, and was prepared to advance 30,000 or 

 40,000 men, and cut off a large part of the 

 Greek army from the base of supplies. The 

 Greeks lost about 200 men, and the Turks a 

 smaller number. The Turkish Government 

 did not press for an investigation of the origin 

 of the collision, not desiring to complicate the 

 negotiations for disarmament. The Turkish 

 and Greek commanders met, and arranged for 

 a simultaneous withdrawal of their troops from 

 debatable ground. The Greek Prime Minister 

 had already issued orders for the disbandment 

 of 50,000 men, and ordered the fleet to un- 

 load its ammunition and lie up at the arsenal. 



When the news of fighting at the front 

 reached Athens, the largest of the many dem- 

 onstrations in favor of war took place before 

 the King's palace, but the crowd was dispersed 

 by the police, which, as well as the army, had 

 been placed in the hands of friends of peace 

 by the transitional ministry. Delyannis ex- 

 pected a revolution, which he did his best to 

 bring about by resigning when it was impos- 

 sible to select a constitutional successor. His 

 resignation was the result of an interview with 

 the King, who urged him to declare either for 

 war or disarmament, offering, if the decision 

 should be for war, to take command of the 

 troops in person. The factitious nature of 

 the war fever was shown in the sudden melt- 

 ing away of the war party in the Assembly 

 and in the country as soon as the control of 

 the police, the telegraphs, and the press passed 

 into other hands. 



M. Trikoupis, while proceeding to demobi- 

 lize the army, would hold no communication 

 with the powers concerning that step, still 

 holding to his constitutional objections to ac- 

 cepting foreign dictation. The Turks and 

 Greeks both carried out their engagements to 

 withdraw the forces, in a jealous and suspi- 

 cious manner. The Porte sent orders to Eyub 

 Pasha to release the Greek prisoners, but they 

 were not carried out. On May 31 the Porte 

 complained to the powers of the dilatory man- 

 ner in which the Greek disarmament was exe- 

 cuted. It transpired that the refusal to liber- 

 ate the Greek prisoners was owing to the 

 continued occupation by the Greeks of Zygos, 

 a post belonging to Turkey. The prisoners 

 were taken to Salonica, and there set free 

 about the middle of June. 



On May 31, M. Trikoupis addressed a circu- 

 lar note to the powers, in which he explained 

 the measures taken for demobilization. On 

 June 7 the representatives of Great Britain, 

 Austria, Germany, Italy, and Russia signed a 

 note announcing the raising of the blockade, 

 which took effect the same day. 



Electoral Reform. Trikoupis in June carried 

 through a bill reducing the number of deputies 

 from 246 to 150, by increasing the size of the 

 constituencies to 15,000 instead of 10,000 in- 

 habitants. The law also established scrutin de 



liste, providing that, instead of each eparchy, 

 or electoral district, electing its representative 

 separately, all the deputies of a nomos, or 

 province, shall be chosen on one ticket. ]n 

 order to lessen the influence of the army in 

 politics he caused to be enacted a law depriv- 

 ing military officers, while serving in the Cham- 

 ber, of the right of seniority in promotion. 

 After authorizing a gold loan of 19,000,000 

 francs to cover the floating debt left by the 

 last ministry, and passing other important 

 measures, the Assembly, in the latter part of 

 June, adjourned till November. 



One of the first executive acts of M. Tri- 

 koupis, after arranging the question of dis- 

 armament and the disputes with Turkey, was 

 to re-establish the legations at the capitals of 

 the great powers, which M. Delyannis, on the 

 ground of economy, had abolished a year or 

 two before. 



Dissolution of the Chamber. On November 16 

 a deputy demanded that the correspondence 

 in relation to the collision on the frontier 

 should be laid before the Chamber. Trikoupis 

 refused, and asked for a vote of confidence, 

 whereupon the Opposition left the hall. On 

 the 18th the Government dissolved the Cham- 

 ber, a proceeding that the Delyannis party de- 

 nounced as unconstitutional. New elections 

 were appointed for Jan. 16, 1887. 



GUATEMALA, a republic of Central America, 

 covers an area of 121,140 square kilometres, 

 and had, in January, 1885, a population of 

 1,284,604. The number of deaths in 1885 was 

 25,747, while there were born 63,689 children, 

 18,327 of whom were white and 45,360 Indian. 

 On Jan. 1, 1886, the population had increased 

 to 1,322,544. 



Government. The President of the Republic 

 is Gen. Manuel Libandro Barillas. The Cabinet 

 was composed of the following ministers : For- 

 eign Affairs, Dr. Don Fernando Cruz; Public 

 Instruction, Don Antonio Batres ; Interior and 

 Justice, Don Salvador Falla ; Public Works, 

 Don Juan J. Rodriguez ; Finance, Don Manuel 

 Cardenas, the President taking charge of the 

 Ministry of War. The charge ^affaires in 

 the United States is the Consul-General at 

 New York, Sefior Don Enrique Torriello. The 

 United States Minister to the Central Ameri- 

 can republics collectively (resident in the city 

 of Guatemala) is the Hon. Henry C. Hall. 



Military. The strength of the regular army 

 is 2,180 men, and that of the militia is 33,229. 

 Under management of the War Department a 

 veterinary school is to be opened at Guatemala. 



Finances. In June, 1886, the home debt 

 amounted to $6,000,000, and the foreign debt, 

 bearing 6 per cent, interest and 1 per cent, an- 

 nual payment from the sinking-fund, to 800,- 

 000. In order to pay arrears of salaries and 

 current expenses, the Government issued treas- 

 ury notes in June, 1886, to the amount of $500,- 

 000, contracted in August a loan of $200,000 

 with Branlio Morales at 85, and made another 

 issue of $200,000 treasury aotes in September. 



