3,543,646 wool-bearing animals, and 776,868 hogs. -The oils of Portugal, although poorly prepared, are very highly esteemed, and their production is considerable. The country produces also lemons, oranges, and all the fruits of temperate climates. Rice is cultivated in Algarve, upon inundated shores. Finally, attempts at silk growing have recently been made with success.-The distant fisheries of Portugal are almost destroyed. Coast fishing alone preserves a certain importance. The absence of routes on land has made coasting an indispensable means of transport, which is carried on largely by steam navigation. The tonnage of Portuguese sailing and steam ships is about 800,000.-The shipping in all the ports of Portugal, in 1869, amounted to: entries, 5,887 Portuguese and 4,525 foreign vessels; departures, 5,854 Portuguese and 4,428 foreign In 1870 the total number of ships departing was 10,088, gauging 1,459,008 cubic metres. - Portugal, having products similar to those of the south of Europe, has not much maritime commerce with the Mediterranean. It is mostly carried on with Brazil and the west of Europe. The movement of Portuguese commerce has constantly increased since 1852; the imports rose from 9,286,023 milreis in 1852 to 25,341,244 in 1870; the exports, in the same period, rose from 6,580,533 milreis to 20,293,457. (See note.)-There were, in 1856, only two banks; in 1873, the number had increased to fifteen, four of which were established during that year. The operations of these establishments, in 1858, were represented by a sum of 11,800,000 milreis; in 1872 by 24,421,400. The amount of the deposits rose from 3,182,502 milreis to 12,167,916; that of notes from 1,855,083 milreis to 3,258,978; that of discounts from 4,333,385 milreis to 15,869,442. The activity which the ministry and the legislative chambers of Portugal have displayed in comparatively recent years, has improved the financial situation, commenced a cadastre, and abolished monopolies. The construction of roads, on which depends the success of agriculture and commerce, must not be forgotten. The company of public works, founded in 1845, built roads from Lisbon to Cintra, from Oporto to Braga, and from Lisbon to Badajoz. In 1873 the length of the national highways was 2,918 kilometres, and that of district highways 569 kilometres; the communal roads, 122 kilometres, and 326 in course of construction. These roads cost the treasury about 50,000,000 francs. The clearing of the beds of rivers, the canalization of rivers, the extension of canals, and the construction of royal highways by the state, and of district and communal highways by the districts and communes, have been undertaken. The length of the principal railways was, in 1873, 804 kilometres; chiefly the one from Lisbon to the frontiers of Spain (275 kilometres), and to Oporto and Coïmbra (230 kilometres). These railroads, constructed by the aid of subsidies from the state, cost the treasury about 90,000,000 francs. Many branches are projected, notably

one from Oporto to Braga and Rego. The length of the system of telegraphic lines is 3,111 kilometres, and comprises the telegraph from the frontier, and that from the capital to the provinces of the north and the neighboring cities. The Spanish wires have been connected with the Portuguese wires. Up to 1866, Portugal had expended for all public works (highways, railways, telegraphs, ports, canals), 45,419,496 milreis. (For later statistics see note.)*-BIBLIOGRAPHY.

• Political History during the last decade. During the last decade the history of Portugal was more peaceful than that of Spain. A few riotous assemblies were held, and a few insignificant plots took place, but no civil war; neither did the parliamentary parties combat one another very violently, because in Portugal the republicans and social-democrats met with little sympathy among the people The permanent financial deficit constituted the principal object of contention; it furnished to every opposition, whether conservative or liberal, both the means and occasion for opposing and overthrowing the cabinet for the time being in power. In the chambers the regeneradores (conservatives), under the counselor of state de Fontes Pereira de Mella, on the one side, were opposed by the historians under Marquis Loulé and Braamcamp, and the reformers (liberals) under the leadership of the bishop of Vizen. The historians and the reformers at times combined, forming a great progressionist party. The reformers there, as reformers in general are wont to do in other parliaments, spoke of retrenching the expenditures of the state, of reducing the taxes, of thorough reforms in all branches of the administration, and made motions to that effect, which, however, could not be entertained by a cautious and conservative government. The regeneradores tried to restore the national wealth, by going to the utmost limit of taxation, supporting industry and increasing trade. thereby gradually doing away with the deficit. One cabinet after another vainly tried to solve this difficult problem. The republican and communistic agitation, which originated in Spain after the abdication of King Amadeus, only slightly disturbed Portugal. A republican committee, consisting of Spaniards and Portuguese, in 1873, issued a manifesto to the people of Portugal, by which the latter were urged to agitate in favor of an Iberian republic. But just as in 1869, when King Louis of Portugal, as well as his father, the titular king, Ferdinand, refused to accept the crown of Spain, which had been offered to them, the majority of the population neither felt like tying their future to revolutionary Spain, divided by exceedingly extreme parties, nor like exchanging their independence for the blessings of a Spanish province. The Portuguese press most emphatically rejected the proposition of an "Iberian Union." The cabinet of d'Avila, which by imposing new taxes had caused great dissatisfaction, was succeeded, on Sept. 13, 1871, by a conservative ministry, of which de Fontes Pereira was president and minister of finances. In a conflict with the chapter of the cathedral of Braganza the ministry energetically defended the rights of the state as against the church, and in 1875 a majority of the chamber and the press expressed themselves as opposed to the intentions of the clericals. The chambers of 1876 passed the bill for suppressing the last remnants of slavery on Sao Thomé. Although slavery had been abolished there, the emancipated negroes, who had been reduced to a state of bondage to the planters, were cruelly maltreated by the latter. Notwithstanding all its exertions within the province of economy and the increase of taxation, the Fontes Pereira cabinet was unable to do away with the deficit; for which reason the cabinet was violently attacked by the his torians and reformers, and being unable to meet these attacks satisfactorily, the cabinet handed in its resignation March 6, 1877. Thereupon a cabinet of the coalition was formed, Marquis d'Avila e Bolama, whose supporters occupied a position midway between conservatives and liberals, becoming president of the cabinet and minister of foreign affairs and of the interior. This cabinet, formed from the moderate elements of the regeneradores and of the opposition, was only able to maintain itself as long as it did not by any measures arouse the hostile feelings of those who constituted the majority in

the cortes. At the election for members of the city council in Lisbon the cabinet opposed the regeneradores, and it also appointed progressionists to the most important offices of the administration; for which reasons the regeneradores endeavored to overthrow the cabinet. In this they succeeded the more easily as the deficit had increased still more, and as the ministry had shown great weakness in dealing with the bishops. The vote of want of confidence offered by the regeneradores on the occasion of the debate on the address, and by which the ministry was accused of having violated the principles of liberalism and the rules of proper administration, was passed, Jan. 26, 1878, by a vote of 69 to 19. The cabinet thereupon resigned, and Fontes Pereira formed a new cabinet. This latter, it is true, had a decided majority in both chambers; but disagreement among the ministers themselves caused the cabinet to resign May 29, 1879. The new cabinet of the 1st of June was formed from the liberal opposition; Braamcamp, the leader of the historians, occupied the position of president and of minister of foreign affairs. But as, on the 3d of June, the conservative majority by 75 to 29 passed a vote expressing a want of confidence in the ministry, the latter dissolved the chambers and ordered a new election. The election resulted in a majority of 70 to 80 in favor of the ministry; the republican party was able to elect but one representative. The submission of the so-called Delagoa treaty, concluded with England in 1875, gave rise to severe conflicts. According to that treaty, England was to have the right to transport its goods through Delagoa Bay, a Portuguese possession in South Africa, from and to Transvaal free, also to build warehouses for goods free of duty, in the port of Lorenzo-Marques, to build a railroad from that city to Pretoria, în the Transvaal, and to operate the same on its own account. This was considered by public opinion as an abandonment of Portuguese territory and an actual repeal of the arbitration, made in 1875 by Marshal Mac Mahon in favor of the rights of Portugal to Delagoa Bay. The opponents of the Delagoa treaty, on March 8, 1881, asked to postpone the consideration of that matter until the English squadron should have left the harbor of Lisbon. The chamber of deputies, however, declined to pass this motion, and on the 10th of March sanctioned the treaty by a vote of 74 to 19; this vote was openly declared by the English press to be equivalent to a cession of Lorenzo-Marques to the British crown. The upper chamber, it is true, refused to entertain the vote censuring the government, which had been proposed, by a vote of 50 to 49; but, as there were two ministers among those who voted with the majority, the censure was in reality voted by a majority of 49 to 48. At that time great excitement prevailed in Lisbon. The republican party took the opportunity to call a meeting of the people, in which the government and even the dynasty were violently attacked. An emphatic protest against the treaty was voted, and handed to the president of the chamber by a deputation from the meeting. When the chamber, in spite of this protest, ratified that treaty, the ministers and their followers were publicly insulted by the mob, and cries of "Down with the ministry!" "Long live the republic!" were heard. In view of the exasperation of the populace and of the vote of the upper chamber, the Braamcamp cabinet was unable to maintain its position, and it resigned. Thereupon Rodriguez Sampajo formed a new ministry on the 28th of March, composed of conservatives of the second class and of members of the independent party. The chamber was dissolved, and general new elections were ordered. By these elections the ministry obtained an overwhelming majority, while the reformers, who, in the previous chamber had been in the majority, had but six votes left. Nevertheless, this cabinet tendered its resignation on the 13th of November, because it had been accused of excessive indifference toward the reformist and republican agitation, and because the municipal elections resulted strictly in favor of the conservatives. In consequence thereof, Fontes Pereira, on the 14th of November, formed another VOL. III. 20

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1838; Minutoli, Portugal und seine Colonien im Zahre, 1854, Stuttgart and Augsburg, 1855; Vogel, Le Portugal et ses colonies, Paris, 1861; Diccionario abreviado de chorographia, topographia e archeologia dos citades, etc., de Portugal, Lisbon, 1867; For

conservative cabinet, which was completed on the 16th of the same month. Fontes took the presidency, the ministry of finances, and provisionally that of war. The deficit in the budget for 1882-3 still amounted to 5,622 contos; the revenues amounted to 29,654, and the expenditures (including the extraordinary expenses) to 35,276 contos. Besides the financial question, public opinion also agitated the question of reforming the constitution. The general demand was in favor of transforming the upper chamber into a senate, partly filled by election, and in favor of a change of the elections for deputies, for the purpose of facilitating the representation of the minority. Opening the cortes in January, 1883, the king declared, in his address from the throne, that the government was considering a reform of the constitution. For the purpose of securing its authority in the Congo district of Africa, threatened by France, Portugal, in March, 1883, concluded a treaty with England, promising freedom of trade and measures against the slave trade; England, in turn, acknowledging Portugal's sovereign authority. At the same time Portugal equipped an expedition for the Congo. intended to guard Portugal's interests in that part of Africa.

Late Statistics. The number of Protestants in Portugal, mostly foreigners, does not exceed 500. They have chapels at Lisbon and Oporto. The superintendence of public instruction is under the management of a superior council of education, at the head of which is the minister of the interior. Public education is entirely free from the supervision and control of the church. Within the last few years, there has been great progress in primary education. The expenditure on public education by the government amounted to 868,648 milreis, or £193,033, in 1882-3.-The following were the estimated sources of revenue and branches of expenditure of the budget, approved by the general cortes, for the financial year ending June 30, 1883:

As remarked above, there has been no budget for the last thirty years without a deficit. The revenue of the kingdom during the thirty years 1850-80 increased by about 60 per cent. At the end of 1881 the debt was £97,512,000, the annual interest being £3,065,285. Included in the existing debt is the "old debt," which has been nearly all converted, only about £400.000 remaining unconverted. The external debt amounts to about £50,000,000, the last loan issued being one of £5,189,000 in 1882. The funded debt of Portugal, per head of population, is nearly as large as that of the United Kingdom, the quota of debt for each inhabitant amounting to £20 118., and the annual share of interest, at 3 per cent., to 13s. 6d. Besides the funded debt, there is a large floating debt, estimated variously at from £2,500,000 to £4,000,000.

public. Traces of it survived the fall of the old Roman empire, and lasted well on into the middle ages; but not as an institution with which modern postage can be shown to have any historical connection.-The postal systems which sprang up in the middle ages were, as might be expected, not centralized, but in the hands of local organi

J. DE BOISJOSLIN.

POSTOFFICE. History. The first extensively organized postal service was the cursus publicus of the Roman empire. It was developed in connection with the system of Roman roads, and, like them, was primarily intended to subserve military and administrative purposes. It amounted to nothing more than a fully equipped set of relay stations for the rapid forwarding of official

The

A large portion of the foreign debt of Portugal consists of loans raised between 1877 and 1882. The first of these, a foreign loan of £6,500,000 nominal, at 3 per cent., was issued at 50 in 1877. Only £4,000,000 of this loan was subscribed at the time. This was followed by the issue of another foreign loan of £2,500,000, on the same terms, in July, 1878, and by a foreign loan of £5,000,000, issued in December, 1880, and, finally, in 1882, by a loan of £5,189,000, in 5 per cent. bonds. The floating debt of Portugal has been increasing in recent years, although its gradual extinction was decreed in 1873, when the government raised a loan for this special object. The interest on the public debt has frequently remained unpaid. Portions of the national debt have also been repudiated at various periods. -The effective strength of the army is fixed annually by the cortes, and was nominally 78,200 officers and men, in 1882, on the war footing. The actual strength of the army in 1882 was reported to consist of 26,059 rank and file, chiefly infantry, the cavalry numbering 3,241, and the artillery 2,709, officers and men. number of troops in the Portuguese colonies amounts to 8,500 infantry and artillery, besides a reserve of 9,500 men. The navy of Portugal was composed, at the end of 1882, of thirtyone steamers and sixteen sailing vessels, most of the latter laid up in harbor. The steamers (1883) comprise: eight corvettes, of 2,300 horse power, having forty-six guns; ten sloops, of 637 horse power, having thirteen guns; nine gunboats, of 840 horse power, having thirty-one guns; two transports, of 420 horse power, having four guns; and two torpedo boats, of 600 horse power; making a total of thirty-one steamers, of 4,797 horse power, with ninety-four guns. The navy is officered by one vice admiral, ten rear admirals, forty-two captains, forty-one lieutenant captains, 149 lieutenants, and manned by 3,034 sailors. The commercial navy of Portugal consisted, on Jan. 1, 1881, of 453 vessels, including forty-one steamers, of an aggregate burthen of 88,829 tons. The total length of railways open for traffic in October, 1882, was 1,673 kilometres, or 1,045 English miles, with 144 kilometres, or ninety English miles more, in course of construction. All the railways receive subventions from the state. The number of postoffices in the kingdom, in September, 1881, was 858, besides forty-five on the islands. There were 20,338,171 letters and postal cards, and 15,276,552

packets and newspapers carried in 1881. --The number of telegraph offices at the end of 1880, was 196. There were at the same date 4,369 kilometres, or 2,715 English miles, of telegraph wires. The number of telegrams dispatched in the year 1880 was 1,121,384, comprising 423,937 inland dispatches, and the remainder international or transit. Of the whole number, 688,065 were official dispatches.

of knights. The city postoffices were the earliest organized, and in the time of prosperity of the Hanseatic league attained a high stage of development. Originally intended for purposes of trade communication between the guilds and merchants of Westphalia and those on the seacoast, they became an important convenience to the general public of northern Germany. The postal arrangements of the universities were developed in a similar way. First intended as a channel of communication between scholars and their homes, the same facilities were soon afforded to others who lived where they could avail themselves of them. The most important example of the third class was the postal service of the knights of the Teutonic order, extending over the northeast of Germany almost as widely as that of the Hanse towns over the northwest. At the end of the fifteenth century, as centralizing governments grew up and supplanted the feudal system, national postal service was attempted, and ultimately prevailed. In this, as in all other similar matters, France took the lead. The first steps were taken by Louis XI., and they were followed up by Charles VIII. The wars of the sixteenth century checked this development; but it was resumed under Louis XIII.; and in 1681 was so far advanced that letter carrying was made a government monopoly, though largely controlled by private hands till the legislation of 1790. In England there are traces of a postal service and postal regulations going back to a very early time; but the organized business of letter carrying seems to date from the reign of James I. It made a government monopoly by the legislation of 1649 and 1657, although the business was farmed out until 1709. In the countries ruled by the house of Austria an international postal system was started, under the administration of the Taxis family. At the beginning of the sixteenth century they established regular communication between Brussels and Vienna; soon a line was added to Milan and beyond, and not long after a further line to Madrid. In 1595 Leonard von Taxis received the office of postmaster general of the empire; and in 1615 this dignity was made hereditary. It was much harder to establish a monopoly here than in France or England, owing to the extent of ground to be covered, the full development of special postal services, and the weakness of the imperial authority. The nominal rights granted by the investiture could only be carried into effect by treaties with the individual states; and many of these preferred to maintain postal systems of their This was the case in Austria on the one

own.