He wields the executive authority, and appoints all civil, military, and judicial officers. He is also Commander-inChief of the forces, though not always a military officer.

There are fourteen Provinces-Buenos Aires, containing more than a third of the population, Santa Fé, Entre Rios, Corrientes, Rioja, Catamarca, San Juan, Mendoza, Cordova, San Luis, Santiago del Estero, Tucuman, Salta, and Jujuy.

The Legislature of each Province elects two Senators for nine years, and the capital also elects two, making a total of thirty, the Senate being renewed by thirds every three years. The qualification for candidates is an income of £100, and six years' enrolment as citizens of the Republic; no one being eligible under the age of thirty. Senators receive a salary of five thousand dollars (£1,000). The VicePresident (salary, £3,000) is ex-officio chairman of the Senate.

The Deputies number at present eighty-six, which is considerably below the proportion to population stipulated in the Constitution (one to 20,000). There is no property qualification for candidates, but they must have been enrolled as citizens of the Republic for four years after attaining the age of twenty-one. The House of Deputies is renewed by halves every two years. There is thus no "general" election in the country, and no means of obtaining a complete national verdict on public questions, unless it be at the Presidential election. On the other hand, a partial election of Senators or Deputies must take place in five out of every seven years, so that practically a popular verdict is obtained more frequently than in countries where the elections are regular but not annual. Deputies receive the same salaries as Senators.

The Senate and House of Deputies together constitute the Legislative Congress of the Republic, and sit annually for five months from the 1st of May.

There are five Secretaries of State-for the Interior, Foreign Affairs, Finance, War, and Justice-with departmental authority, the responsibility remaining with the President.

The Provinces are States with separate Legislatures and elective Governors, renewed every three years. They enjoy a full measure of local and municipal self-government, and in this respect are virtually independent of Congress, which confines itself to national affairs. It is evident that the Constitution was largely copied from that of the United States, though it has several distinct features.

The Territories are Misiones, Formosa, Chaco, Pampa, Rio Negro, Neuquen, Chupat (with its Welsh colony), Santa Cruz, and Tierra del Fuego. By an agreement with Chili in 1881, the Argentine Republic undertook the sovereignty of Patagonia, south of the Rio Negro, with the exception of the western slope of the Andes, which was taken by Chili. The government of the Territories is administered by the President and the Secretaries of State, to whom the local authorities are directly responsible.

The Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and four other judges, and appeals lie to it from the local civil and criminal courts. The criminal code embodies trial by jury. Public elementary education is supported in

Education

and each Province by a provincial tax, and in the Religion. Territories.by a Government grant. In Buenos Aires and in the Territories it is free. The central Government also maintains a secondary public school in each Province, and two universities, with several technical and thcological colleges, and normal schools. The expenditure of the State on education in 1887 was £1,319,170, which was nearly one-seventh of the total expenditure.

Tariff, &c.

The established religion is Roman Catholic. The heavy import and export duties yielded in 1887 about £6,114,000, or more than twothirds of the total income. The total public debt, including, internal and external loans, and guaranteed bank issues, amounts to over £55,000,000.

BOLIVIA.

The Republic of Bolivia (capital, Chuquisaca), which declared its independence of Spain in 1825, is bounded by Peru (with which country it has long maintained a close alliance), Brazil, Paraguay, the Argentine, and Chili. To the last-named Republic it lost in 1881 its only sea-coast province, Autofogasta.

Area, about 770,000 square miles; population, 1,400,000.

GOVERNMENT.

The Constitution was adopted in 1826, and has been modified on various subsequent occasions, but in its main features it is still what its author, Simon Bolivar, intended it to be a rough copy from that of the United States.

The executive power is with the President, elected in the same years and for the same term as the President of the States, nominally by universal suffrage. Two Vice-Presidents are elected with him, and he is assisted by a Council of Ministers, charged with Foreign Affairs and Colonization, Finance, War, Justice, and the Interior.

There is a Congress of two Chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives, also elected by universal suffrage. As a matter of fact, however, the elections have not been regularly held, and the terms during which the Presidents have held office have been very unequal.

There are nine Departments, each having a governor nominated by the President.

Barely 6 per cent. of the children attend the elementary schools; but Bolivia can boast of four universities. There is religious toleration, but the Roman Catholic worship is most commonly practised.

The expenditure considerably exceeds the revenue-the former approaching £660,000. Of the receipts about onethird is derived from customs, and one-third from a tribute paid by the aboriginal tribes. The public debt is about £2,500,000.

CHILI.

The Republic of Chili (capital, Santiago) became independent of Spain in 1818. It extends from Peru on the north to Cape Horn, a length of nearly 2,500 miles. Its neighbours are the Argentine Republic, Bolivia and Peru. The boundary with the Argentine Republic was settled in 1881, and with the other countries in 1883 (after the war of 1879-81), when Chili annexed the Peruvian province of Tarapaca, and Autofogasta, formerly the sea-coast province of Bolivia. The province of Tacna remains under Chilian government until 1893, when a popular vote is to decide whether it will revert to the possession of Peru.

Area, 300,000 square miles: population, 2,500,000; of which the foreign element (Peruvian, Bolivian, Germans, British, French, Argentines, &c.) numbers about 100,000.

GOVERNMENT.

The Constitution of Chili, adopted in 1833, was based in part on that of the United States. The Republic, though sometimes described as federal, is not so in the strictest sense, inasmuch as the provinces and territories are not

governed by elective executives and legislatures. Nevertheless, the provinces have local municipal government, and they are so far placed on an equality that each is represented in the Senate by two deputed members.

The executive government is vested in the President (salary, £3,600). The legislature consists of two elective. chambers, a Senate and a House of Deputies, together constituting a National Congress. The judiciary however, has not the interpreting authority in constitutional matters assigned to the Supreme Court of the United States.

The President is elected by indirect popular suffragedelegates being chosen for the purpose by ballot of the full electorate, and subsequently voting according to their mandate. The election is held every five years, and second terms are not lawful. The President's responsibility is shared by a Council of State-a body possibly taken from the French model, though only five out of eleven members are nominated by the President himself, the remaining six being chosen by Congress. The Councillors of State are not paid officials, and their responsibility is secured mainly by the power of impeachment.

There is in addition the usual Ministerial Council, which includes five Secretaries of State-for Foreign Affairs, the Interior, Finance, War (coupled with Justice), and Public Worship and Instruction.

The Senate, as already stated, is a body of forty members, two from each of the twenty provinces, as follows: