There was thus an expected surplus of 12,3341.

Since the establishment of Greece as an independent kingdom, there have been few financial terms without a deficit.

Greece has a very large public debt, consisting in part of unpaid arrears of old loans. In the budget estimates for the year 1884, the interest payable on the foreign debt was set down, as will be seen in the preceding table, at 1,100,250 drachmai, or 44,0101., and that on the

internal debt at 23,009,043 drachmai, or 920,3617., the total being equal to more than one-fourth of the entire expenditure. Interest is now paid on all the loans regularly, with the exception of the guaranteed loan, on which only a stated sum per annum is paid, as set forth below. The following, according to official statement, was the state of the debt of Greece in 1884:

This does not include a loan of 800,000l. authorised in 1882, for the purpose of road-making, to be advanced by the Bank as required; a loan for railways in Thessaly, amounting to 480,0007.; the Greek portion of the Ottoman public debt, and the sum to be paid to the Ottoman Government as indemnity for property acquired by the cession of Thessaly. A report of the British Embassy estimates the actual debt at 28,000,0001. The total amount of inconvertible bank-notes in circulation in January 1884 amounted to 4,165,5847., as against 3,988,4777. in 1883. It is stated that the loan of 1883-4 is intended to pay off the debt due to the National and Ionian Banks.

The loan of 1862, guaranteed by England, France, and Russia upon the elevation of the present King of Greece to the throne, amounted to 2,343,7501. Theguarantee is not by the Powers jointly, but is distinct in each case for a third of the loan. By the terms of a convention signed in 1866, it is arranged that the Government of Greece should pay to the three guaranteeing Powers not less than 36,000l. a year-British portion 12,000l.; and by the Act 27 and 28 Vict. c. 40, passed in 1864, a sum of 4,000l. sterling a year, out of the amount thus repayable in respect of the British portion, was relinquished in favour of the present King.

Army and Navy.

The army of the kingdom till recently was raised by conscription, but in the session of 1879 the Boulé passed a law introducing universal liability to arms on all able-bodied males aged 21 years and upwards. According to another law passed in 1882, the total service is for 19 years, of which for the infantry one year, and for the special corps two years must be passed with the colours; eight and seven years in the reserve, and the remainder in the militia or Landwehr. The nominal strength of the army was reported as follows in the budget estimates for the year 1884 :—

There are besides 3,474 horses and mules, and 64 guns. There are 406 pupils in the military school.

By the terms of a law passed by the Boulé in the session of 1877, the numerical strength of the army on the peace footing was fixed at 24,076 men, comprising 16,136 infantry, 4,877 cavalry, and 3,063 artillerymen and engineers. On the war footing, the strength could be mobilised to 100,000 men. The reserve forces alone give a total of 104,500 men, and behind these is what is called the territorial army, numbering 146,000 men.

The navy consisted, at the end of 1884, of a small ironclad, the King Georgios, and a wood built vessel, the Queen Olga, each carrying two 12-ton guns in single turrets; two iron wood-sheathed gun-boats built in 1881 in the Thames, called Hydra and Spetsia, carrying each one 26-ton Krupp gun and two Hotchkiss guns; a cruiser, Admiral Miaulis. Also two other steamers, the Greece and the Bouboubna; a cruiser, Psara, built in 1881; six screw steamers, Paralos, Salaminia, Plexaura, Syros, Nauplia, and Aphroessa; four

sailing vessels; 48 torpedo steamers; and the Royal yacht Amphitrite. In 1884 the Government were authorised to devote a sum of 1,600,000l. out of the 1883 loan for the purchase of four ironclads and some smaller vessels. The four ironclads are to be vessels of 5,000 tons, and with their armaments will cost about 350,0001. each. At the end of 1884 three small steamers, Kichle, Aëdon, and Kessa, were being constructed in the Thames for coast service, besides two cruisers, the Alpheos and the Achileos; two other cruisers, the Eurotas and Peneos, were launched in the Clyde in 1884, and other four are expected to be ready in the beginning of 1885. At the same date the navy was manned by 2,610 men, including 216 officers. The navy is manned partly by conscription from the people of the sea-coast, and partly by enlistment.

Population.

Greece, at the census of 1879, had a total population of 1,679,775 -881,080 males and 798,695 females-living on an area of 19,941 English square miles. The kingdom excluding these is divided into 13 Nomarchies, and subdivided into 59 Eparchies. In 1879, the area and population of each of the 13 Nomarchies were as follows with those of Thessaly for 1881:

The Albanian territory, detached from Thessaly and Epirus, was added to Greece by a treaty with Turkey, executed-under pressure of the Great Powers-June 14, 1881. The total population in 1883 was probably 2,000,000.

The number of foreigners living in Greece in 1879 was 31,969, of whom 23,133 were Turks, 3,104 Italians, 2,187 English, 534 French, 364 Austrians, 314 Germans, 101 Russians.

The following table shows the number of births, deaths, and marriages, with surplus of births over deaths, in each of the five years from 1878 to 1882, exclusive of the recently annexed provinces:

About one-half of the total population of Greece is agricultural, living dispersed in villages. The principal towns are the following:

The increase of the population of Greece from 1870 to 1879 was at the rate of 1.87 per cent. per annum.

At the liberation of the country, there were only nine towns which had partly escaped the total devastation of the rest; the principal of them being Lamia, Vonitza, Nauplia, and Chalcis. All the other towns and villages were in ruins, so that the first necessity of the inhabitants of the new State was to get housed. Since that time ten new cities have been founded, and twenty-three old towns, including Athens, Thebes, and Argos, have been rebuilt, besides many villages.

From a linguistic point of view, at least, the nationality of Greece is mainly Hellenic. Most of the Albanians who have, at various dates during the last 400 years, migrated into Greece, have become Hellenised. At present there are not more than 90,000 or 100,000 of distinct Albanian nationality in the whole of Greece. These are scattered in small communities chiefly over Attica; northwards, as