Spain shall be a constitutional monarchy, the executive resting in the King, and the power to make laws in the Cortes with the King.' The Cortes are composed of a Senate and Congress, equal in authority. There are three classes of senators-first, senators by their own right, or Senadores de derecho propio; secondly, 100 life senators nominated by the Crown-these two categories not to exceed 180; and thirdly, 180 senators, elected by the Corporations of State-that is, the communal and provincial states, the church, the universities, academies, &c.-and by the largest payers of contributions. Senators in their own right are the sons, if any, of the King and of the immediate heir to the throne, who have attained their majority; Grandees who are so in their own right and who can prove an annual renta of 60,000 pesetas, or 2,4007.; captain-generals of the army; admirals of the navy; the patriarch of the Indias and the archbishops; the presidents of the Council of State, of the Supreme Tribunal, and of the Tribunal of Cuentas del Reino. The elective senators must be renewed by one-half every five years, and by totality every time the Monarch dissolves that part of the Cortes. The Congress is formed by deputies 'named in the electoral Juntas in the form the law determines,' in the proportion of one to every 50,000 souls of the population. According to the law of June 26, 1890, the electoral qualification is held by all male Spaniards, 25 years of age, who enjoy full civil rights, and have been citizens of a municipality for at least two years. By a royal decree issued August 8, 1878, the island of Cuba received the privilege of sending deputies to the Cortes, in the proportion of one to every 40,000 free inhabitants, paying 125 pesetas annually in taxes. Members of Congress must be 25 years of age; they are re-eligible indefinitely, the elections being for 5 years. Deputies, to the number of 10, are admitted who, although not elected for any one district, have obtained a cumulative vote of more than 10,000 in several districts. Deputies to the number of 88 are elected by scrutin de liste in 26 large districts, in which minorities may be duly represented. There are in all 431 deputies. The deputies cannot take State office, pensions, and salaries ; but the ministers are exempted from this law. Both Congress and Senate meet every year. The Monarch has the power of convoking them, suspending them, or dissolving them; but in the latter case a new Cortes must sit within three months. The Monarch appoints the president and vice-presidents of the Senate from members of the Senate only; the Congress elects its own officials. The Monarch and each of the legislative chambers can take the initiative in the laws. The Congress has the right of impeaching the ministers before the Senate. GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTION 935 The Constitution of June 30, 1876, further enacts that the Monarch is inviolable, but his ministers are responsible, and that all his decrees must be countersigned by one of them. The Cortes must approve his marriage before he can contract it, and the King cannot marry any one excluded by law from the succession to the crown. Should the lines of the legitimate descendants of the late Alfonso XII. become extinct, the succession shall be in this order-first, to his sisters; next to his aunt and her legitimate descendants; and next to those of his uncles, the brothers of Ferdinando VII., unless they have been excluded.' If all the lines become extinct, the nation will elect its Monarch.' The executive is vested, under the Monarch, in a Council of Ministers of nine members, appointed 1890, as follows: President of the Council.-Antonio Canovas del Castillo. Minister of Foreign Affairs.-The Duke of Tetuan (C. M. O'Donell). Minister of Finance.-F. Cos-Gayon. Minister of the Interior.-F. Silvela. Minister of Justice.-R. F. Villaverde. Minister of Instruction, Commerce, and Agriculture.-S. de Isasa. Minister of Marine.-Señor J. M. Beranger. Minister of the Colonies.- A. Fabié. II. LOCAL GOVERNMENT. The various provinces and communes of Spain are governed by the provincial and municipal laws. Every commune has its own elected Ayuntamiento, consisting of from five to thirty-nine Regidores, or Concejales, and presided over by the Alcalde, at whose side stand, in the larger towns, several Tenientes Alcaldes. The entire municipal government, with power of taxation, is vested in the Ayuntamientos. Half the members are elected every two years, and they appoint the Alcalde, the executive functionary, from their own body. In the larger towns he may be appointed by the King. Each province of Spain has its own Parliament, the Diputacion provincial, the members of which are elected by the constituencies. The Diputaciones provinciales meet in annual session, and are permanently represented by the Comission provincial, a committee elected every year. The Constitution of 1876 secures to the Diputaciones provinciales and the Ayuntamientos the government and administration of the respective provinces and communes. Neither the national executive nor the Cortes have the right to interfere in the established municipal and provincial administration, except in the case of the action of the Diputaciones provinciales and Ayuntamientos going beyond the locally limited sphere to the injury of general and permanent interests. In the Basque provinces self-government has been almost abolished since the last civil war, and they are ruled as the rest of Spain. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Constitution, pressure is too frequently brought to bear upon the local elections by the Central Government. Area and Population. The following table gives the area and population of each of the forty-nine provinces into which the Kingdom is divided, according to the census of 1887 : There were in 1887, 8,607,242 males and 8,943,004 females. The legal population as distinct from the population present was rêturned at 17,650,234. The area of continental Spain is 191,100 square miles, and its population (1887) 16,945,786. The population of Ceuta, included in that of Cadiz, is 9,694. to the census returns of 1887, there were at that date only 25,824 resident According foreigners the mass of them in four provinces--namely Barcelona, Cadiz, Gerona, and Madrid. The Basques in the North, numbering 440,000, differ in race and language from the rest of Spain; there are 60,000 Morescoes in the South, 50,000 gipsies, and a small number of Jews. In 1789 the population was estimated to number 10,061,480; in 1820 it was 11,000,000; in 1828, 13,698,029; in 1846, 12,168,774, and it was at the census of 1860 15,658,531. At the census of 1877 the population amounted to 16,634,345, being an increase of 976,814 in the course of seventeco years, or at the rate of about 0:35 per cent. per annum; in 1887 it was 17,550,246, being an increase of 915,901 in ten years, being at the rate of 0·55 per cent. per annum. The births in Spain in 1884 were 518,136 (54 per cent. illegitimate), and deaths 444,385; surplus 73,751. The following were the populations of the principal towns in 1887, viz. : The national Church of Spain is the Roman Catholic, and the whole population of the Kingdom adhere to that faith, except (in 1887) 6,654 Protestants, 402 Jews, 9,645 Rationalists, 510 of other religions, and 13,175 of religion not stated. There were in 1884 in Spain 32,435 priests in the 62 dioceses into which the country is divided; 1,684 monks resident in 161 monastic houses, and 14,592 nuns in 1,027 convents. The number of cathedrals was 65, of religious colleges 30, of churches 18,564, and of convents, religious houses, sanctuaries, and other buildings of a religious character 11,202. According to Article 12 of the Constitution of 1876, a restricted liberty of worship is allowed to Protestants, but it has to be entirely in private, all public announcements of the same being strictly forbidden. The Constitution likewise enacts that the nation binds itself to maintain the worship and ministers of the Roman Catholic religion.' Resolutions of former legislative bodies, not repealed in the Constitution of 1876, settled that the clergy of the Established Church are to be maintained by the State. On the other hand, by two decrees of the Cortes, passed July 23, 1835, and March 9, 1836, all conventual establishments were suppressed, and their property confiscated for the benefit of the nation. These decrees gave rise to a long dispute with the head of the Roman Catholic Church, which ended in the sovereign pontiff conceding the principle of the measure. By a concordat with Rome concluded in August 1859, the Spanish Government was authorised to sell the whole ecclesiastical property, except churches and parsonages, in return for an equal amount of untransferable public debt certificates bearing interest at the rate of 3 per cent. Instruction. The latest census returns show that a large proportion of the inhabitants are illiterate. In the following table there are given the per centages of those who could read and write, of those who could read only. and of those who could not read, in 1860 and 1877: By a law of 1857 an elaborate system of primary education was ordained: education was to be compulsory, there was to be a primary school for every 500 inhabitants, and instruction was to be on a rigidly uniform plan. Compulsion has never been enforced, and, partly from political causes, and partly from the wretched pay of most of the elementary teachers (10%. to 207. per annum), education is very inefficient. In 1881, however, several improvements were introduced. Under the Minister of Public Works there is a Director-General of Public Instruction, with a Council; there are ten educational districts, with the universities as centres, 49 inspectoral districts, and numerous local educational authorities. The public and primary schools are supported mainly by the municipalities, the total sum spent in each of the last three years on primary education, including a small contribution by Government, being about 1,000,0007. Most of the children are educated free. The following table shows the number of schools in the years 1850, 1870, and 1880: In 1885 (to which the latest issued reports refer) there were 24,52) public and 5,576 private primary schools, or 1 for every 560 inhabitants, including 1,774 public and private schools for adults and Sunday schools. In 1885 there were 1,843,183 pupils on the books. Secondary education is conducted in 'institutions,' or middle-class schools, somewhat like universities in their organisation; there must be one of them in every province in addition to private schools. These are largely attended, but the education is inefficient. These institutions prepare for the universities, of which there are ten, attended by 16,000 students. The fees largely cover the expenses of the universities. Government also supports various special schools-engineering, agriculture, architecture, fine arts, music, &c. In 1887 the total sum set apart for education in the budget was only 1,868,650 pesetas. Finance. The revenue of the Kingdom is raised by a system of direct and indirect taxation, stamp duties, Government monopolies, and income from State property. The direct taxes are imposed on landed property, houses, live stock, industry, commerce, registration acts, titles of nobility, mortgages, and mineral produce. The indirect taxes are derived from foreign imports, articles of consumption, tolls, bridge and ferry dues. There have been no accounts of the actual public revenue and expenditure of the Kingdom published since the year 1870-71, but only budget estimates. There are, indeed, accounts of public revenue and expenditure published monthly; but the public accounts have not been approved by Parliament since 1865-67 ; and the Tribunal de Cuentas has not audited the accounts later than 1868-69. According to official returns, the following were |