Greece entered, in 1868, the Monetary League of the Continental States, and by a decree of the Government, dated August 11, 1876, all foreign silver coins, with the exception of those of the League, ceased to be legal tender in the kingdom. The chief medium of circulation has been an inconvertible paper currency, consisting chiefly of notes of the National Bank, which were made legal tender by a royal decree of July 1, 1877. (See preceding page.) The Ionian Bank at Corfu and the Thessalian bank at Larissa have also the right to circulate their own notes in their respective provinces.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Greece. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Commerce de la Grèce avec les pays étrangères du Sept. 1 au Déc. 31, 1886. Athènes, 1887.

The Finances of Greece. Speeches delivered by H. E. M. Charilaos Tricoupis in introducing to the Hellenic Chamber the budgets for 1887 and 1888. London, 1886-87.

Report by Mr. R. G. Watson, Secretary of Legation, on the state of education and the obstacles of material progress in Greece, dated Athens, Jan. 20, 1872; in Reports of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' No. I. 1872. 8. London, 1872.

Report and Analysis of the Greek Budget of 1884, by Mr. Nicolson, in Part III.; by Mr. Ford on the Greek Budget, in Part I., of Reports from H.M.'s Diplomatic and Consular Officers.' Part I. 1884. Folio, London, 1884. Report by Mr. Nicolson on the finances, &c. of Greece, in Reports of H.M.'s Diplomatic and Consular Officers Abroad.' Part I., 1885. Folio. Report by Sir Horace Rumbold on the Budget of 1885, and the general condition of the Greek finances, in Reports of H.M.'s Diplomatic and Consular Agents Abroad.' Part IV. Folio. London, 1885.

Report by Consul-General Schuyler on the commerce and products of Greece in Reports from the Consuls of the United States,' August 1883. Washington, 1883.

Report on the trade of Corfu in No. 17, and on Syra in No. 37, of 'Diplomatic and Consular Reports.' London, 1886.

Reports on Cephalonia, Corfu, and Zante, in Part I., on Patras in Part II., and on Volo in Part III. of Reports of H.M.'s Consuls.' London, 1886. Report on the finances of Greece, No. 194 Diplomatic and Consular Reports.' London, 1887.

་

Reports for 1886 on the trade of Patras in No. 78, of Volo in No. 98, and Syra in No. 193 of 'Diplomatic and Consular Reports.' London, 1887.

Trade of Greece with the United Kingdom; in 'Annual Statement of the trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions, for the year 1886.' Imp. 4. London, 1887.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Bernardakis (A. N.), Le présent et l'avenir de la Grèce. 8. Paris, 1870. Bianconi (C. F.), Ethnographie de la Turquie, de l'Europe et de la Grèce. Paris, 1877.

Brockhaus (Hermann), Griechenland, geographisch, geschichtlich und kulturhistorisch von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart dargestellt. 4. Leipzig, 1870.

Campbell (Hon. Dudley), Turks and Greeks. 8. London, 1877.

Carnarvon (Earl of), Reminiscences of Athens and the Morea. 8. London,

1870.

Cusani (F.), Memorie storico-statistiche sulla Dalmazia, sulle isole Ionie e sulla Grecia. 2 vols. 8. Milano, 1862.

Digenis (Basile), Quelques notes statistiques sur la Grèce. 8. Marseille, 1878.

Dora d'Istria (Mme.), Excursions en Roumélie et en Morée. 2 vols. 8. Paris, 1865.

Kirkwall (Viscount), Four Years in the Ionian Islands: their Polit al and Social Condition, with a History of the British Protectorate. 2 vols. London, 1864.

8.

Mansolas (Alex.), Rapport sur l'état de la statistique en Grèce présenté au Congrès International de Statistique de St.-Pétersbourg en 1872. 8. Athènes, 1872.

Mansolas (A.), La Grèce à l'Exposition universelle de Paris en 1878. 8. Paris, 1878.

Maurer (G. L. von), Das Griechische Volk in öffentlicher und privatrechtlicher Beziehung. 3 vols. 8. Heidelberg, 1835.

Murray's Handbook for Greece. 2 vols. London, 1884.

Reclus (Elisée), Géographie Universelle. Vol. I. Paris, 1877.

Schmidt (Dr. Julius), Beiträge zur physicalischen Geographie von Griechenland. 3 vols. 8. Leipzig, 1864-70.

Sergeant (Lewis), New Greece. 8. London, 1878.

Tuckerman (Charles K.), The Greeks of To-day. 8. London, 1873.

Wyse (Sir Thomas), Impressions of Greece. 8. London, 1871.

ITALY.

(REGNO D'ITALIA.)

Reigning King.

Umberto I., born March 14, 1844, the eldest son of King Vittorio Emanuele II. of Italy and of Archduchess Adelaide of Austria. Succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, January 9, 1878. Married, April 22, 1868, to Queen Margherita, born November 20, 1851, the only daughter of the late Prince Ferdinando of Savoy, Duke of Genoa.

Son of the King.

Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, born November 11, 1869.

Sisters and Brother of the King.

I. Princess Clotilde, born March 2, 1843; married, January 30, 1859, to Prince Napoleon Jérôme Bonaparte, born Sept. 9, 1822; offspring of the union are Napoleon Jérôme, born July 18, 1862; Louis, born July 16, 1864; and Marie, born Dec. 20, 1866.

II. Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, born May 30, 1845, lieutenantgeneral; elected King of Spain by the Cortes Constituyentes Nov. 16, 1870; abdicated the crown February 11, 1873; married, May 30, 1867, to Maria, daughter of the late Prince Carlo Emanuele del Pozzo della Cisterna, born August 9, 1847; widower, Nov. 8, 1876. Offspring of the union are three sons:-1. Prince Emanuele, born Jan. 13, 1869. 2. Prince Vittorio, born Nov. 24, 1870. 3. Prince Luigi, born Jan. 30, 1873.

III. Princess Pia, born Oct. 16, 1847; married, Sept. 27, 1862, to King Luis I. of Portugal.

Aunt of the King.

Princess Elisabetta, born Feb. 4, 1830, the daughter of King Jchann of Saxony; married, April 30, 1850, to Prince Ferdinando of Savoy, Duke of Genoa; widow, Feb. 10, 1855; re-married,

in 1856, to the Marquis of Rapallo. Offspring of the first union. are:-1. Princess Margherita, born Nov. 20, 1851; married, April 22, 1868, to King Umberto I. 2. Prince Tommaso of Savoy, Duke of Genoa, born Feb. 6, 1854, married April 14, 1883, to Princess Isabella, daughter of the late Prince Adalbert of Bavaria; offspring, Prince Ferdinando Umberto, born April 21, 1884.

The origin of the reigning house is not historically established; but most genealogists trace it to a German Count Berthold, who, in the eleventh century, established himself on the western slope of the Alps, between Mont Blanc and Lake Leman. In the end of the eleventh century the Prince of Savoy acquired the countries of Turin and Susa. Count Amadeus, in 1383, founded a law of primogeniture which greatly strengthened the family, leading to the immediate acquisition of the territory of Nice. In 1416 the Counts of Savoy adopted the title of Duke; in 1418 they acquired the principality of Piedmont; and in 1713 they obtained the island of Sicily, with the title of King. Sicily had to be exchanged, in 1720, for the isle of Sardinia, to which henceforth the royal dignity remained attached. Genoa and the surrounding territory were added to the Sardinian Crown at the peace of 1815. The direct male line of the House of Savoy died out with King Carlo Felix in 1831, and the existing Salic law prohibiting the accession of females, the crown fell to Prince Carlo Alberto, of the house of Savoy-Carignano, a branch founded by Tommaso Francesco, born in 1596, younger son of Duke Carlo Emanuele I. of Savoy. King Carlo Alberto, the first of the house of Savoy-Carignano, abdicated the throne March 23, 1849, in favour of his son, the late king Vittorio Emanuele II. By the Peace of Zürich, Nov. 10, 1859, King Vittorio Emanuele II. obtained Lombardy, with the exception of Mantua, part of the Papal States, and the Duchies of Parma and Modena. In March 1860 annexation to Sardinia was voted by plébiscite in Parma, Modena, the Romagna, and Tuscany; and, in October, Sicily and Naples. The first Italian Parliament assembled in February 1861, and declared Vittorio Emanuele King of Italy. The remaining part of Lombardy with Venetia were added to his dominions in 1866. Finally, the Papal States, having been taken possession of by an Italian army, after the retreat of the French garrison, were, after a plébiscite, annexed to the kingdom Oct. 2, 1870.

The Dotazione della Corona,' or civil list of the King, has been settled at 15,350,000 lire, or 614,000l. Out of this the brother of the King, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, has an 'Appannaggio,' or State allowance, of 300,000 lire, or 12,000l.; his cousin Prince Tommaso, Duke of Genoa, an allowance of 300,000 lire, or 12,000l.; and the Prince Carignano 200,000 lire, or 8,000l. To these sums

are added 100,000 lire, or 4,000l., as เ spese di rappresentanza.' The private domains of the reigning family were given up to the State in 1848.

Constitution and Government.

The present constitution of Italy is an expansion of the 'Statuto fondamentale del Regno,' granted on March 4, 1848, by King Charles Albert to his Sardinian subjects. According to this charter, the executive power of the State belongs exclusively to the sovereign, and is exercised by him through responsible ministers; while the legislative authority rests conjointly in the King and Parliament, the latter consisting of two Chambers-an upper one, the Senato, and a lower one, called the Camera de' Deputati.' The Senate is composed of the princes of the royal house who are of age, and of an unlimited number of members, above forty years old, who are nominated by the King for life; a condition of the nomination being that the person should either fill a high office, or have acquired fame in science, literature, or any other pursuit tending to the benefit of the nation, or, finally, should pay taxes to the annual amount of 3,000 lire, or 1201. The deputies of the lower House are elected according to the electoral law of Sept. 24, 1882, which introduced the scrutin de liste, by ballot, by all citizens who are twenty-one years of age, can read and write, and pay taxes to the amount of 19 lire, or 80 centesimi. Members of academies, professors, persons who have served their country under arms for two years, and numerous other classes, are qualified to vote by their position. The number of deputies is 508, or 1 to every 57,000 of the population (census 1881). The number of inscribed electors in 1886 was 2,480,897, or 8.57 per 100 inhabitants, or about 1 in 12. The number who voted. in 1886 was 1,415,801, or 58.50 per cent. of the total number. For electoral purposes the whole of the kingdom is divided into 135 electoral colleges, or districts, and these again into several sections. No deputy can be returned to Parliament unless at least one-eighth of the inscribed electors appear at the poll. A deputy must be thirty years old, and have the requisites demanded by the electoral law. Incapable of being elected are all salaried government officials, as well as all persons ordained for the priesthood and filling clerical charges, or receiving pay from the State. Officers in the army and navy, ministers, under-secretaries of state, and various other classes of functionaries high in office, may be elected, but their number must never be more than 40, not including the ministers and the secretaries-general. Neither senators nor deputies receive any salary or other indemnity, but are allowed to travel free throughout Italy by rail or steamer.