806 



SPAIN. 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



torrential inundation on Sept. 11, and some 1,200 

 persons, more than one quarter of the popula- 

 tion, were drowned. Although the Conservative 

 majority outnumbered the followers of Senor Sa- 

 gasta in the Cortes three to one, Senor Canovas 

 saw the necessity of strengthening the Cabinet, 

 and invited the support of the Reformists, who 

 had expressed entire approval of the objects and 

 methods unfolded in the ministerial programme. 

 Admiral Beranger, in endeavoring to carry out 

 the extensive scheme of naval reform, gave of- 

 fense to many, and was subjected to attacks in 

 the newspapers which impelled him to resign. 

 The Prime Minister, on Nov. 9, took charge of 

 the Marine Department ad interim pending the 

 appointment of a successor of Admiral Beranger. 

 He found the officers of the navy who possessed 

 the necessary capabilities unwilling to accept 

 the post under the circumstances. Senor Silve- 

 la had differences with the Prime Minister of 

 long standing, and a reconstruction of the Cabi- 

 net was considered expedient by Senor Canovas, 

 who expected to tide over the crisis by a slight 

 modification of the ministerial policy and some 

 exchanges of portfolios. When he found that 

 the Minister of the Interior had sympathizers 

 within the Cabinet, he declared the crisis politi- 

 cal at the meeting of Nov. 21, in which Senor 

 Silvela expressed his determination to retire. 

 After a heated discussion, at the suggestion of 

 the Minister of Justice, Senor Villaverde, the 

 members of the Council voted to tender their 

 resignations to the Queen-Regent in a body. A 

 new Cabinet was formed on Nov. 23, in which Se- 

 nor Romero and his lieutenant, Seilor Elduayen 

 office. The Cabinet as finally constituted was 

 took as follows: President of the Council, Antonio 

 Canovas del Castillo ; Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

 the Duke of Tetuan ; Minister of the Interior, 

 Seiior Elduayen, Marquis del Pazo de la Merced ; 

 Minister of 'War, Gen. Azcarraga ; Minister of 

 Marine, Vice- Admiral Montojo ; Minister of Pi- 

 nance, Concha Castaneda; Minister of the Colo- 

 nies, Senor Romero y Robledo ; Minister of 

 Justice, F. Cos-Gayon; Minister of Public 

 Works, Commerce, and Agriculture, Sefior Li- 

 nares Rivas. Seflor Canovas sent statements to 

 the Spanish ambassadors and ministers, and to 

 the Governors of provinces, intimating that the 

 foreign policy of the new Cabinet would differ 

 in no way from that of its predecessor, and that 

 its domestic policy would be to realize economies 

 and to foster public liberty as far as was com- 

 patible with tranquillity. 



The Colonies. Including the Antilles (see 

 CUBA AND PUERTO Rico), the ultramarine posses- 

 sions of Spain have an aggregate area of 406,903 

 square miles, and a population of 9,404.400, ac- 

 cording to the most recent estimates. The most 

 important of the colonies, besides the West In- 

 dian Islands, is the Philippine Islands, which 

 had in 1887 a population of 6,985,123, including 

 1,000,000 unsubdued natives. Other possessions 

 in the South Sea are the Sulu. Marianne, and 

 Caroline Islands, with a population of 120,000. 

 In Africa the Spanish occupy a tract of 243.000 

 square miles in the region of the Rio de Oro and 

 Adrar. They claim a much larger territory 

 there and on the mainland opposite Corisco and 

 Elobey, where the territory actually occupied is 

 confined to those islands and the Cape of San 



Juan. The French Government disputed their 

 pretensions, agreeing only to grant commercial 

 freedom on the Muni river, where there are 

 Spanish settlements, and also on the Benito 

 river. As regards the Rio de Oro, the French 

 Government in 1886 agreed to make an equal 

 division of the Cape Blanco peninsula by a line 

 which would extend into the interior along the 

 parallel of 21 20'. A joint commission for the 

 settlement of these disputes met in Paris in the 

 beginning of 1891. The question of the Rio de 

 Oro territory was at once excluded from the de- 

 liberations, because the Spanish commissioners 

 assumed that the dividing line extended indefi- 

 nitely into the interior, embracing a part of the 

 Algerian Hinterland. The commissioners were 

 no better able to reach a common understanding 

 regarding the historical claims of Spain to the 

 large region inclosed by the Muni and Benito 

 rivers, and consequently they separated in the 

 beginning of April after deciding that the ques- 

 tions in dispute should be referred to arbitra- 

 tion. The Spanish authorities have been at war 

 with the natives both of the Philippines and the 

 Caroline Islands. American missionaries inter- 

 ceded in 1890 to save the inhabitants of the Caro- 

 line Islands from the cruelty and oppression 

 of Spanish soldiers, and the governor promised 

 to grant protection. Some time afterward the 

 natives rose in rebellion and drove out their op- 

 pressors, who were lascars from Manilla, not 

 Spaniards. This led to the bombardment of 

 Ponape and other villages and the expulsion of 

 Americans. In the first attempt to land, 40 

 Spanish soldiers were killed, and in the course 

 of the war about 300 native warriors fell. The 

 budget of receipts in the Philippine Islands for 

 1890 was $9,837,896, while the expenses were es- 

 timated at $11,201,810, of which $5,611,557 were 

 for the army and navy. The Spanish force 

 maintained there numbered 452 soldiers and 

 2,818 sailors. The imports in 1887 were valued 

 at $17,530,296, and the exports at $25,254,140. 

 The chief exports are tobacco, sugar, coffee, 

 and manilla hemp, the exports of the first being 

 valued at $7,995,726, those of hemp and manu- 

 factures of hemp at $5,460,454, those of tobacco 

 and cigars at $2.024,767. and those of coffee at 

 $2,093,518. Other articles of export are dye- 

 woods., indigo, and skins. The number of vessels 

 entered during 1887 was 438, of 359,999 tons, 

 and the number cleared was 435, of 345,350 tons. 

 There is a railroad building to connect Manilla 

 with Daerupan, the distance being 120 miles. 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY, two kingdoms in 

 the north of Europe united in the person of tho 

 sovereign, and having a common diplomacy di- 

 rected by a Council of State in which both na- 

 tions have representatives. The reigning King 

 is Oscar II, born Jan. 21. 1829, who succeeded 

 Carl XV, his brother, on Sept. 18, 1872. The 

 heir-apparent is the King's oldest son, Gustaf, 

 Duke of Wermland, born June 16, 1858. 



SWEDEN. The legislative power is vested in 

 a Diet, consisting of two chambers, one of 147 

 members, elected for nine years by the communes, 

 and the other of 228 members, elected for three 

 years by direct suffrage in towns, and by either 

 direct or indirect suffrage, as the majority de- 

 cides, in the rural districts. The following min- 

 isters were in office in the beginning of 1891 : 



