廣廠 2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Bates (H. W.), Central and South America. London, 1882. Fröbel (Julius), Seven Years' Travel in Central America. 8. London, 1853. Marr (Wilhelm), Reise nach Central-America. 2 vols. 8. Hamburg, 1863. Pelletier (Consul E.), Honduras et ses ports. Documents officiels sur le chemin de fer interocéanique. S. Paris, 1869. Reichardt (M.), Centro-America. 8. Braunschweig, 1851. Scherzer (Karl, Ritter von), Wanderungen durch die mittelamerikanischen Freistaaten Nicaragua, Honduras und San Salvador. 8. Braunschweig, 1857. Soltera (Maria), A Lady's Ride Across Spanish Honduras. London, 1884. Squier (E. G.), Honduras: descriptive, historical, and statistical. 8. London, 1870. MEXICO. (REPÚBLICA MExicana.) Constitution and Government. THE present constitution of Mexico bears date February 5, 1857, with subsequent modifications, down to October 3, 1882. By its terms Mexico is declared a federative republic, divided into States -19 at the outset, but at present 27 in number, with 1 territory and the Federal District-each of which has a right to manage its own local affairs, while the whole are bound together in one body politic by fundamental and constitutional laws. The powers of the supreme government are divided into three branches, the legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative power is vested in a Congress consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate, and the executive in a President. Representatives elected by the suffrage of all respectable male adults, at the rate of one member for 40,000 inhabitants, hold their places for two years. The qualifications requisite are to be twenty-five years of age, and a resident in the state. The Senate consists of fifty-six members, 2 for each state, of at least thirty years of age, who are returned in the same manner as the deputies. The members of both Houses receive salaries of 3,000 dollars a year. The President is elected by electors popularly chosen in a general election, holds office for four years, and cannot be re-elected until another period of four years has elapsed after the expiration of his term. The Senator who presides over the Senate by monthly election acts temporarily in default of the President of the Republic. Congress has to meet annually from April 1 to May 30, and from September 16 to December 15, and a permanent committee of both houses sits during the recesses. President of the Republic.-General Porfirio Diaz; installed President of the Republic, as successor of General Manuel Gonzales, December 1, 1884. The administration is carried on, under the direction of the President, by a council of six Secretaries of State, heads of the departments of Justice, Finance, the Interior, War and Navy, Foreign Affairs, and Public Works. The prevailing religion is Roman Catholic, but the Church and State are independent of each other, and by law there is toleration of all other religions. There are 62 Protestant churches with over 20,000 adherents. No ecclesiastical body can acquire landed' property. Primary education has been declared compulsory, but the law is not strictly enforced. Schools are supported partly by the central, partly by the State governments, and partly by beneficent societies. In the year 1884 there were in Mexico 8,986 public elementary schools, with nearly 500,000 pupils, and 138 for superior and professional education, with an attendance of 17,200. The amount spent by Government on education in 1884 was 680,0007. Revenue, Expenditure, and Army. The public revenue is derived to the extent of 60 per cent. from customs duties. The amount spent on public works has increased in recent years, while nearly one-third of the total expenditure is allotted to the army. The revenues of the State have been as follows 1870-71 to 1880-85: Owing, it is officially stated, to the excessive protection given by Mexico to railways and other public works, the expenses of the Republic have not been covered by the increased revenues. expenditure was as follows in the above named years : : The During the past twenty years the revenue has doubled, while the expenditure has been nearly quadrupled. The following are the budget estimates of revenue and expenditure for the year ending June 30, 1887 : The revenue and expenditure of the various states, according to the latest official data collected in 1883, balanced at 8,325,635 dollars. The result of the heavy expenditure in recent years was a financial collapse at the close of the financial year 1884-85, when the unpaid deficits amounted to nearly 27,000,000 dollars, besides current liabilities of other kind. A decree of June 22, 1885, diseharged the floating debt by the issue of 25,000,000 dollars six per cent. Treasury bonds, redeemable in twenty-five years. Another decree reduced all salaries of public servants, while still a third decree, also of June 22, 1885, issued in virtue of a law of 1883, consolidated the National Debt into new bonds, bearing 3 per cent. per annum, from and after January 1890. In 1886 they were to receive 1 per cent.; in 1887, 13; in 1888, 2 per cent.; and in 1889, 24 per cent. The conversion included, among other debts, the English debt, converted already by the law of October 14, 1850; the 3 per cent. bonds of 1850, and issued up to 1857; the bonds of the extinct English convention of December 1851, and other bonds of internal debt, but not any 'claims or demands arising from the de facto Governments which ruled in Mexico from December 17, 1857, to December 24, 1860, and from June 1, 1863, to June 21, 1867.' (Art. 17 of Decree.) The Maximilian loans, thus unrecognised, amount to about 40,000,000l. The bases of the conversion are these: Bonds of the law of October 1850, to be converted at par; unconsolidated claims in respect of the debt contracted in London to be converted at 201. in a bond of the new issue for certificates representing a claim of 1007.; and the other claims at par. No provision was made as to settling the arrears of interest due on the English debt of 1850-51, amounting to about 60 per cent., that being left for an arrangement with the bondholders. Such arrangement was agreed upon in London on June 23, 1886, between the Government's representative and the bondholders; and its principal provisions are: 1. New bonds shall be delivered at the rate of 50 per cent. of the bonds of 1864 (which Mexico only recognises as representing the unpaid interest of the bonds of 1851, from July 1854 to July 1863). The bonds of 1864 are of the nominal amount of 4,864,8007. which are now reduced to 2,432,4001. 2. For each 601. nominal value of the coupons and interest unpaid of each 100l. bond of 1851 the holders shall receive 15 per cent., or 91. in the new bonds. The total of this debt is 6,144,990. 3. In exchange for existing bonds of the deferred debt of 1837, and unpaid certificates of conversion of 1851, new bonds at the rate of 20 per cent. shall be issued. 4. The interest on the new bonds to be as decreed by the Government in June 1885. This arrangement was ratified on July 16, 1886, and it has been approved by the Mexican Chambers. The total amount of the English debt recognised by Mexico was 22,341,322., and that arrangement has reduced it to 13,991,7751.; Mexico, therefore, being relieved by 8,349,5977. After passing the decrees of June 1885, the Government made the following basis of expenditure for 1885-86 : But the budget of ordinary expenses has already been fixed by the Committee of the Chamber at 30,855,740 dollars, and as the minimum amount of revenue is 30,000,000 dollars there is a deficit of 855, 740 dollars, without contingent expenses and railway subsidies. The following calculation of the Mexican debt, after the decree of June 1885, has been made by the accountant to the Council of Foreign Bondholders: There are probably some discounts to be deducted in the 1 |