PERSIA. 



PERU. 



629 



-. About 8,000,000 of the population are 

 of the Shiah faith, 800,000 are Sunnis, 9,000 

 Parsees, 20,000 Jews, 43,000 Armenians, and 28,- 

 000 Nestorians. Only about 800 Europeans re- 

 side in IVrsia. (For finances, see " Annual Cyclo- 

 l-a-.lia" of 1891.) 



A rniy. The arrny is raised by tribal levies, 

 although a decree was issued in 1875, but never 

 enforced, ordering that the army should be 

 rai<cd by conscription, and that the term of serv- 

 ice should be twelve years. The organization 

 of the army is by provinces, tribes, and districts ; 

 each province contributes several regiments, each 

 tribe one, or sometimes two, and each district 

 one regiment, the commanding officer being a 

 chief of the tribe or district from which the 

 regiment is raised. The Christians, Jews, and 

 Parsees, and the Mussulmans of the Kashan and 

 Yezd districts, are exempt from military service. 

 According to the official report of the Minister 

 of War, the army numbers 105,500 men, of whom 

 20 batteries, comprising 5,000 men form the artill- 

 ery ; 78 battalions, numbering 54,700 men, the 

 infantry ; 25.200 men the regular and irregular 

 aivalry ; and 24 battalions, containing 7,200 men, 

 the militia. Only half this number is liable to 

 be called for service, while the standing army 

 numbers about 24,500. (For commerce and 

 communications, see the "Annual Cyclopaedia" 

 for 1891, page 718.) 



Agitation against the Tobacco Monopoly. 

 Tobacco is one of the most important articles 

 in Persia, the people valuing it higher than 

 food or clothing, and would rather go without 

 the necessaries of life than dispense with their 

 tumbeki or tutun. When, in 1891, the Shah 

 granted a monopoly on tobacco to the Imperial 

 Tobacco Corporation, an English syndicate, a 

 strong protest was entered by the people, who 

 objected to having their rights of buying and 

 selling tobacco to whom they pleased curtailed. 

 The discontent of the Persian people has been 

 smoldering for long years. The system of farm- 

 ing out every lucrative post to the highest 

 bidder, who reimburses himself at the expense of 

 the people, had become unbearable. The gov- 

 ernors of the provinces have to pay a large price 

 for their office to the Shah, besides bribing the 

 ministers in order to obtain the appointment, 

 and then they farm out the offices that they have 

 the power to bestow, to the highest bidders, who 

 in turn make the populace pay their expenses, 

 and endeavor to lay by a fortune in anticipation 

 of their removal from office. Concessions 

 granted to foreigners are in the eyes of the peo- 



Sle only another way of robbing them, and they 

 ecided to have the principal one. the tobacco 

 monopoly, repealed. rJumerous riots took place 

 in the provinces as well as the cities, and the 

 mollaha, always ready to sympathize with the 

 people and to oppose the Shah, urged them on 

 to rebellion. Large forces were required to 

 quell the disturbances, but another difficulty 

 arose : the priests issued an order prohibiting the 

 use of tobacco among their adherents. In view 

 of the serious aspect of the case, the Government 

 decided to make concessions, and abolished the 

 projected institution of the tobacco monopoly 

 in the interior of Persia, limiting the concession 

 to export only. The people, however, were not 

 satisfied with this, but demanded the abrogation 



of the whole measure. This also was finally 

 promised by the Government, but the people 

 distrusted the promises of the Shah, and hesi- 

 tated to resume smoking before permission was 

 received from the mollahs. When, finally, the 

 negotiations with the Regie were concluded, the 

 interdict against the use of tobacco was with- 

 drawn and the people resumed smoking. The 

 Government of Persia undertook to pay to the 

 Imperial Tobacco Corporation an indemnity of 

 500,000, which is to be secured by the custom 

 duties of South Persia and the Persian Gulf. 



PERU, a republic in South America. Until 

 July 28, 1821, it was a Spanish viceroyalty, when 

 it declared its independence, but not until 1824 

 did it gain its actual freedom from Spanish 

 rule. The present Constitution was proclaimed 

 Oct. 16, 1856, and revised on Nov. 25, 1860. The 

 republic is divided into departments, and the 

 departments are subdivided in to provinces. The 

 Senate consists of 40 members, in the proportion 

 of 1 to every 2 provinces of each department : 

 the House of Representatives consists of 80 

 members, in the proportion of either 1 to every 

 30,000 inhabitants or 1 to every province. Both 

 houses are elected by indirect suffrage of the 

 departments. The executive power vests in a 

 President, who, as well as the 2 Vice- President*, 

 is elected for the term of four years. The pres- 

 ent incumbent of the presidential chair is Col. 

 Remigio Morales Bermudez; the 2 Vice-Presi- 

 dents are Pedro Solar and Col. Bergofio. The 

 President exercises his executive functions 

 through a Cabinet composed of 5 ministers, 

 which at the beginning of the year consisted 

 of the following members : Prime Minister and 

 Minister of War and of Marine, Justiniano Ber- 

 gofio; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. J. Fe- 

 derico ; Minister of Finance and of Commerce, 

 Senor Carbajal ; Minister of the Interior, Dr. F. 

 Herrera; Minister of Justice, Dr. C. Serpa. (For 

 area and population, see the " Annual Cyclopae- 

 dia " for 1891.) 



Finance. The revenues were estimated in 

 the budget for 1892 at 7,103,888 silver soles or 

 dollars, of which 5,359,350 soles were derived 

 from customs, 1,218.281 soles from direct taxes, 

 23,000 soles from telegraphs, 183,500 soles from 

 posts, and 319,757 soles from various other 

 sources. The expenditures were estimated at 

 7,105,132 soles, of which 306,047 soles were for 

 Congress, 998,988 soles for the Government, 211,- 

 921 soles for foreign affairs. 736,769 soles for the 

 Ministry of Justice, 1,469,211 soles for the finan- 

 cial administration. 3,381,487 soles for the army 

 and navy, and 709 soles for extraordinary ex- 

 penses. 



The public debt is divided into internal and 

 external; the former was estimated in 1888 at 

 109,287,000 soles, not including 83,747,000 soles 

 of paper money. The internal debt bears 1 per 

 cent, interest, and the market value of the bonds 

 in 1892 was 5^ percent, of their nominal value. 



The external debt, which was contracted in 

 England in 1870 and 1872, and amounted to 

 81,579,080, with interest since 1876, was ex- 

 tinguished by the Grace-Donoughmore contract 

 in 1890. (For particulars, see " Annual Cyclo- 

 paedia " for 1891.) 



Commerce. The foreign trade is largely 

 carried on with Great Britain and France, al- 



