BKLJJ1UM. 



BOLIVIA. 



61 



majority was necessary to carry an amendment. 

 Parliament \va- di->olved on May 24, and June 



1 I wa> appointed fcir the elections. 



In the rlrrtiuiis tin- Liberals won several 

 I'mni tin- Clerical-ConservativM) thereby 

 reducing their majority con>iderably. In the 

 old Chamber there were 188 members alto- 

 gether, and of tln->c -11 were Liberals and 94 

 Clericals, while in the Senate 60 out of 89 wen 

 Clericals and 1! were Liberals. Tlir members 

 of the lower house were increased in propor- 

 tion to tin- growth of population to 152 and the 

 Senator- it) IH. Tht' reduction in tin- strength 

 of tho Clericals was chiefly owing to the con- 

 solidation of the divided Liberah of Brussels 

 in favor of universal suffrage, which gave them 

 an overwhelming majority in the capital, where 

 the Conservatives have been in the ascendency 

 for eight years, and increased their representa- 

 tion in the Chamber from 3 to 18 and in the 

 Senate won for them 8 seats. The old Liberal 

 party virtually retired, leaving the field to the 

 Radicals. The Moderate Conservatives, on the 

 other hand, were pushed aside by the Clerical 

 extremists. The election was therefore a victory 

 for universal suffrage, which M. Woeste avowed 

 his intention of using for the purpose of establish- 

 ing a thoroughly religious system of elementary 

 education. The ballotings on June 21 for 8 con- 

 tested seats in the Chamber and 4 in the Senate 

 decided the final proportion of the parties in the 

 Constituent Chambers. The Clericals had 90 

 seats in the Chamber against 60 obtained by the 

 Liberals, and thus the majority of 50 command- 

 ed by the Ministry in the last Parliament was 

 reduced to 32. In the Senate the Clericals won 

 Mi and their opponents 30 seats, reducing the 

 Conservative majority from 31 to 16. 



The Constituent Chambers were opened on 

 July 11. The expected trial of strength between 

 the Prime Minister and M. Woeste was avoided 

 by the declaration of M. Beernaert that the Cabi- 

 net would not stake its fate on the referendum 

 or household suffrage or any part of the revision 

 scheme, but would let the Government proposals 

 be dealt with by a committee which should en- 

 deavor, before the reassembling of the Parliament 

 in November, so to amend them as to secure the 

 requisite two-third majority. 



Anarchist Terrorism. On July 26 a jury 

 at Liege brought in a verdict against 9 out of 

 16 Anarchists who were tried for plotting dyna- 

 mite explosions. The culprits were sentenced to 

 long terms of imprisonment, Moineau, the most 

 deeply incriminated, being doomed to twenty- 

 five years' hard labor and twenty years more 

 of police supervision ; Wolffs and Beaujean to 

 twenty years of penal servitude ; Mateyssen, 

 Maivotty, Lacroix, and Nossent to fifteen years; 

 and llansen and Uuilinot to ten and three years 

 of simple imprisonment. The outrages for which 

 they were convicted were committed in Liege on 

 May 1 and 2, and during the two months preced- 

 ing the May-day labor celebration. Moineau, 

 who was a traveling salesman, while the others 

 were workmen and miners, was charged with 

 having taken a prominent part with Nossent, 

 Wolffs, and Charles Berre, who was acquitted, 

 in the actual commission of the crimes, while 

 Jacques Benv. who escaped conviction with his 

 brother, was believed to have been concerned 



with Beaujean in the making of the bombs and 

 infernal machines. 



On March Hi the criminal court at Liege had 

 found three men, named llansen. HUM in, and 

 Langendorf. guilty of the theft of 500 pounds of 

 dynamite from a powder mill in the neighboring 

 village of Ombret, and of an attempt to blow up 

 the mill for the purpose of concealing the rob- 

 bery. Hansen was sentenced to imprisonment 

 for fifteen and his companions for twelve years. 

 The presiding judge received letters of intimi- 

 dation, and two days after the coi elusion of the 

 trial a dynamite cartridge was found on the 

 doorstep of the house of the commissioner of 

 police. M. Mignon. On the evening of May 1 a 

 dynamite bomb was exploded at the residence of 

 Senator de Selys, and another before that of his 

 son; a third one went off in the church of St. 

 Martin with a tremendous detonation, shatter- 

 ing beautiful mediaeval stained-glass windows; 

 and a fourth was found with an extinguished 

 fuse. The consternation produced by these at- 

 tempts was redoubled when, on the following 

 night, a cartridge burst with terrific force, doing 

 great damage to the house of Count Minette, 

 which is in the same street in which the first out- 

 rages occurred. On May 4 Beaujean was arrest- 

 ed, and in his house were found dynamite and 

 materials for manufacturing bombs. One of his 

 accomplices. Lacroix, on being arrested, was in- 

 duced to turn state's evidence, and, from infor- 

 mation obtained from him, the rest of the gang 

 were caught. The explosives used were forcite, 

 stolen from the Baneux powder mills, and dyna- 

 mite mixed with coarse gunpowder, stolen a year 

 before from a factory at Flemalle. On the even- 

 ing of the day on which Beaujean and Lacroix 

 were arrested, a cartridge with a burning fuse 

 attached was discovered in one of the suburbs. 



BOLIVIA, a republic in South America. 

 The ( 'onstitution of Oct. 28, 1880, vests the legis- 

 lative power in a Senate and House of Repre- 

 sentatives, and the executive power in a Presi- 

 dent, who is elected for four years by direct 

 universal suffrage. There are 18 -Senators and 

 68 Representatives. Aniceto Arce became Presi- 

 dent on Aug. 6, 1888. 



Finances. The revenue for 1891 was esti- 

 mated at 3,321,280 bolivianos or silver dollars, 

 and the expenditure at 3,613,698 bolivianos. The 

 internal debt in 1890 amounted to $4,450,000, 

 and the foreign debt, which is being rapidly 

 extinguished, to $622,121. 



Defense. The regular army numbers only 

 140 officers and 1,112 men. The military strength 

 of the republic consists in a well-organized mili- 

 tia of 20,000 men, which can be doubled in case 

 of war. 



Commerce and Production. Bolivia is a 

 country of great natural wealth. Wool-bearing 

 animals, such as the vicuna, alpaca, guanaco, 

 llama, and hairy goat, and the chinchilla, nutria, 

 and other fur-bearing animals, and an abundance 

 of horses, mules, and cattle are found in the cold 

 and temperate regions. The African dromedary 

 is bred in the south. The woods produce cabi- 

 net and dye woods, caoutchouc in inexhaustible 

 quantity, cork, cinchona, jalap, sarsaparilla, 

 copaiba, ipecac, camphor, balsams, etc. Cotton 

 of three varieties of color, quillay or vegetable 

 soap, agave, hemp, tobacco, vanilla, coffee that 



