Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/97

Rh than any country of Europe, except Russia and Sweden. The population has doubled since 1832. It was then (exclusive of the Ionian Islands) only 612,608, and it is now (also excluding the Ionian Islands) 1,448,601. The males outnumber the females in Greece by 82,385. The only reason we have seen assigned for this IB that Urge numbers of the women go out of the country as domestic servants, and are not counted in the census, while sailors, who are also at work out of the country, are counted. Bat this seems an iiudequate explanation, for in 1S70 the number of sailors not present in the country was only 5180. The disproportion between men and woman appears, too, to be increasing, for there were 50,468 more men than women in Greece in 1870, when the whole population was 220,000 less than it was in 1879. The average birth-rate for the four years 1870-73 was 1 in 34 ; the average death-rate for the same period was 1 in 45. The largest towns in Greece are Athena, with a population in 1870 of 59,000 ; Patras, with 26,000 ; Corfu, with 24,000; Hermopolis or Syra, 21,000; Zante, with 20,500 ; Chalcis, 11,000 ; Sparta&quot;, with 10,700 ; and Argos, with 10,600.

The kingdom of Greece is an hereditary constitutional monarchy, descending by primogeniture from male to male, female succession being only allowed in the event of the absolute failure of legitimate heirs male. The title of the sovereign at first (according to the convention of London, May 1832) was king of Greece, but it was altered by the conference of London, August 1853, to king of the Hellenes. The king attains his majority at eighteen years of age. Both he and the heir-apparent are required to belong to the Greek orthodox church, but a special excep tion is made for the present king, who is a Lutheran. The king receives an annuil income of 52,179, of which .40,179 comes from the civil list, and 12,000 from personal donations of 4,000 from each of the three pro tecting powers. He has a palace in Athens built by Otho at a cost of 500,000 and a summer residence at Corfu. The legislative power is shared by the king with a single chamber called the boule, a house of repre sentatives which is elected for four years by the people ; its numbers cannot fall below 150, and amounted in 1872 to 133. The election is by universal (manhood) suffrage, protected by the ballot. The boule elects its own president, and its members are paid 9 a month during the session. The executive is vested in the king, who, however, is personally irresponsible, and rules by ministers chosen by himself and responsible to the legislature, in whose deliberations they also tike part. They are seven in number, and their several departments of administation are foreign affairs, home affairs, justice, finance, education and worship, army, and navy. A minister s salary is 423 a year. The king appoints all public officials,- civil, naval, and military, sanctions and proclaims laws, calls anl prorogues parliament, grants pardon or amnesty, coins unney, and confers decorations. There are 18,860 public offices in the patronage of the ministry, and, as in America, a large number of them change hands with every change of administration. The effect of this in a country where politics is an open profession, and where there is a plethora of well-educated men who can find nothing to do, has been to poison political life to an unusual degree with the vice of place-hunting, to create several active political parties in the state, which, instead of being the representatives of any policy or cause, tend too much to degenerate into mere rings of post-mongers, and conduce, by their constant strife, to an excessive frequency of minis terial crises which greatly checks the national progress of the country.

For purposes of local government Greece is divided into 13 nomarchies, under officers called nomarchs, whose duties correspond with those of the French prefects ; the nomarchies are subdivided into 59 eparchies under eparchs, corresponding to French sub-prefects ; and the eparchies are further subdivided into 351 demarchies, under demarchs or mayors. The following is a list of the nomarchies, with their areas, populations, and capitals :

i Sq. Mili-s. Pop. in 1870. Capitals. A. In Northern Greece 1. Attica and Bceotia .... 2. Eubcea 2481 1574 185,364 95,136 Athens. Chalcis. 3. Phthiotis and Phoeis 4. Acarnania and /Etolia B. In Morea 5. Achaia and Elis 2053 3025 1908 128,440 138,444 181 632 Lamia. Mesolonghi. Patras. 6. Arcadia 2028 148 905 Tripolitza. 7. Laconia 1678 121 116 Sparta. 8. Messenia 1226 155 760 Kalanmta. 9. Argolis and Corinthia C. In the Islands 10. Cyclades 1448 926 136,081 132 020 Nauplia. Syra. 11. Corfu 427 106 109 Corfu. 12. Cephalonia 802 80 543 Argostoli. 13. Zante 277 44 522 Zante.

The demarchs are elected by the people for four years ; the nomarchs and eparchs are elected by the Government without fixed terms. The nomarchs are assisted in the administration of the province by a council elected by universal secret suffrage for four years, which manages the police, roads, and other local business, and imposes the assessments. The local accounts must be sent once a year to Athens to be audited by a court of Government officials. The deinarchies vary in size, but, in 1861, out of 280 that then existed, only 57 were under 2000 in population, and only 7 above 10,000.

Greece has an admirable legal system, which is the one good thing it has got from the Bavarians. It is based on the old Roman law, with modifications drawn from the Bavarian and French. Liberty of person and domicile is inviolate ; no one can be apprehended, no house can be entered, and no letter can be opened without a judicial warrant. Criminal and political offences and delinquencies of the press are tried by jury. The commercial code is identical with that of France. The civil law is administered by a supreme court of cassation (the Areopagus) ; 4 courts of appeal ; 17 courts of first instance, with jurisdiction up to 500 drachmas; 191 judges of the peace, with jurisdiction up to 30 drachmas, or, with an appeal, to 300 drachmas ; and 4 commercial courts (at Syra, Nauplia, Patras, and Corfu), with jurisdiction up to 800 drachmas. To be a judge, it is necessary to have graduated as doctor of laws at Athens or some other European university; a judge cannot hold any other salaried appointment at the same time except that of professor in the university. Judges are appointed by the crown, and are as yet removable. Criminal courts are held in connexion with those of the peace, of first instance, and of appeal ; in the last the judicial authority is vested in a jury of twelve, with three accessory judges selected from those of the inferior courts, who apply the law in accordance with the jury s verdict. The crown is prosecutor in all criminal cases, and punishments are by fines, imprisonment, and, in the case of capital offences, death by guillotine. The prisons are extremely defective in construction and administration, except that of Corfu; improvements are often projected but constantly put off from want of funds to carry them out. There is no Habeas Corpus Act, and an accused person may be detained indefinitely before being brought to trial. Judicial commissions and extraordinary courts of judicature cannot be established under any pretext. 