SAN SALVADOR. Constitution and Government. THE republic of San Salvador, an independent state since 1853, when it dissolved its federative union with Honduras and Nicaragua, is governed nominally under a constitution proclaimed in March 1864, but undergoing frequent alterations through internecine war. The constitution vests the legislative power in a Congress of two Houses, the Senate, in the proportion of 1 member to 30,000 inhabitants, and the House of Representatives, 1 member to 15,000 inhabitants. The election is by suffrage of married men or of unmarried who can read and write and have the means of living. The Senate is chosen for three years and the Representatives for one year. The executive is in the hands of a President, originally elected for six years, but whose tenure of office was in 1867 limited to four : years. President of the Republic.-Don Rafael Zaldivar y Lazo, reelected for the second time, January 1844. The regular election of the President has in recent years been constantly superseded by 'pronunciamientos' and military nominations. The administrative affairs of the republic are carried on, under the President, by a ministry of four members, having charge of the departments of the Interior, War and Finance, Foreign Affairs and Public Instruction. The army numbers 1,400 men, with 18,500 militia. Revenue, Population, and Trade. The revenue for the year 1881 was estimated at 3,952,000 dollars, or 790,4007., and the expenditure at 3,827,000 dollars, or 765,400l., thus leaving a calculated surplus of 25,000l. The revenue is derived largely from customs and excise. The largest item of expense is the army, 180,000l. in 1881; while 30,4001. is set down for public instruction and 70,4001. for the debt. San Salvador had in 1871 but a small public debt, amounting to 705,800 dollars, or 141,160l., represented chiefly by 'libranzas,' or treasury bills. The debt was largely increased during the years 1872 and 1873, when the republic raised at various periods troops to invade Honduras. In 1881 it was stated to be 113,3001. There exists besides a floating debt of at least 333,6247. The area of the republic is estimated at 7,225 English square miles. The population, according to an official census of 1878, was 554,785, giving an average of 77 inhabitants to the square mile, being 19 times that of the average of the other states of Central America. Aboriginal and mixed races constitute the bulk of the population, among whom live about 10,000 whites, or descendants of Europeans. The native population of San Salvador, more inclined to civilised pursuits than that of any neighbouring state, is largely engaged in agriculture, as well as various branches of manufacture, and in recent years the working of iron mines has been undertaken. The principal articles of agricultural produce are indigo, coffee, sugar, and balsam. The value of the silver ores raised in 1882 was 140,000l. Capital of the republic is the city of San Salvador, founded in 1528, with 18,500 inhabitants. The city was repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, the last time on April 16, 1854, when it was overwhelmed by almost total ruin, in consequence of which most of the inhabitants erected new dwellings on a neighbouring site, at present called Nueva San Salvador. The new capital again was partly destroyed in 1873 by a series of earthquakes and eruptions. The capital is connected by a good road with the port of La Libertad, fifteen miles distant, the principal harbour of the republic. In 1882 a railway connecting Sonsonate with the port of Acajutla was opened, and is being extended to Santa Anna. The commercial intercourse of San Salvador is chiefly with Great Britain (33 per cent. imports, 37 per cent. exports), the United States (22 per cent. imports, 25 per cent. exports), and France (20 per cent. imports, 16 per cent. exports). In the year 1882, the value of the total imports was estimated at 634,4117., and that of the exports at 109,2287. Among the exports were coffee, 540,160.; indigo, 259,1107.; mineral ores, 144,3931.; sugar, 27,1107. Among the imports were cotton goods, 283,9461.; small wares, 87,0171.; flour, 34,955l.; liquors, 38,1591.; coin, 62,6381. In 1882, 330 vessels of 444,825 tons entered the ports of the republic. The statistics of the commercial intercourse of San Salvador with the United Kingdom are not given in the annual statement of the Board of Trade, in which the trade of the republic is thrown together with that of the states of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, under the general designation of Central America.' (See p. 576.) There are 750 miles of telegraph in operation and construction, with 54 stations. Diplomatic Representatives. 1. OF SAN SALVADOR IN GREAT BRITAIN. Minister.-Don José Maria Torres Caicedo, accredited December 12, 1877. 2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN SAN SALVADOR. Minister and Consul-General.-F. R, St. John. Money, Weights, and Measures. The money, weights, and measures of San Salvador, and the British equivalents, are: The weights and measures of the United States are, besides the above, in general use. Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning San Salvador. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Report by Mr. Edward Corbett on the financial position of San Salvador, dated Guatemala, October 22, 1872; in Reports of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' No. I. 1873. 8. London, 1873. Report by Vice-Consul Moffat, on the trade and Commerce of Salvador for 1881 and 1882; in Reports of H.M's Consuls.' Part XI. 1883. 2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Fröbel (Julius), Aus America. 2 vols. 8. Leipzig, 1857-58. Laferrière (J.), De Paris à Guatemala. Notes de voyage au Centre-Amérique. 8. Paris, 1877. Marr (Wilhelm), Reise nach Central-America. 2 vols. 8. Hamburg, 1863, Morelot (L.), Voyage dans l'Amérique centrale. 2 vols. 8. Paris, 1859. Scherzer (Karl Ritter von), Wanderungen durch die mittelamerikanischen Freistaaten Nicaragua, Honduras und San Salvador. 8. Braunschweig, 1857. Squier (E. G.), The States of Central America. 8. London, 1868. UNITED STATES. (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.) Constitution and Government. THE form of government of the United States is based on the constitution of September 17, 1787, to which ten amendments were added, December 15, 1791; an eleventh amendment, January 8, 1798; a twelfth amendment, September 25, 1804; a thirteenth amendment, December 18, 1865; a fourteenth amendment, July 28, 1868; and a fifteenth amendment, March 30, 1870. By the constitution, the government of the nation is entrusted to three separate authorities, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The executive power is vested in a President, who holds his office during the term of four years, and is elected, together with a Vice-President, chosen for the same term, in the mode here prescribed. 'Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legis lature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress: but no senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.' The constitution enacts that 'the Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States; and further that'no person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.' The President is commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and of the militia in the service of the Union. He has the power of a veto on all laws passed by Congress; but notwithstanding his veto. any bill may become a law on its afterwards being passed by each House of Congress by a two-thirds vote. The Vice-President is ex-officio president of the Senate; and in case of the death or resignation of the president, he becomes the President for the remainder of the term, and the Senate chooses a President pro tempore. The elections for President and Vice-President are at present held in all the states on Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, every four years, in a leap-year; and on the 4th of March following the new President elect is inaugurated. President of the United States.-Chester Allan Arthur, born at Fairfield, Franklin County, State of Vermont, October 15,1830; the son of a Baptist minister born in the north of Ireland; educated at Union College, Schenectady, and at the Albany Law School, and was admitted to the Bar of New York in 1848; entered the army at the outbreak of the civil war in the United States, QuartermasterGeneral of State of New York; after the war closed he became a member of one of the leading firms of lawyers of New York; appointed by President Grant Collector of the Port of New York, November 21, 1872, holding the office till July 20, 1878, when removed by President Hayes. Elected Vice-President of the United States, November 3, 1880; succeeded to the Presidency on the death of General J. A. Garfield, September 20, 1881. The President of the United States has an annual salary of 50,000 dollars, or 10,000l., and the Vice-President of 10,000 dollars, or 2,000l. Since the adoption of the constitution the offices of President and Vice-President have been occupied as follows:— |