Constitution and Government.

The fundamental law of the kingdom is the 'Carta constitutional ' granted by King Pedro IV., April 29, 1826, and altered by an additional act, dated July 5, 1852. The crown is hereditary in the female as well as male line; but with preference of the male in case of equal birthright. The constitution recognises four powers in the State, the legislative, the executive, the judicial, and the 'moderating' authority, the last of which is vested in the Sovereign. There are two legislative Chambers, the 'Cámara dos Pares,' or House of Peers, and the 'Cámara dos Deputados,' or House of Commons, which are conjunctively called the Cortes Geraes. The peers, unlimited in number, but actually comprising 150, are named for life by the Sovereign, by whom also the president and vicepresident of the first Chamber are nominated. The peerage is still hereditary in certain families; but on May 27, 1864, the Cortes passed a law making certain qualifications necessary for peers chosen by the Crown. Fresh reforms in the organisation of the Upper House were in contemplation in 1883. The members of the second Chamber are chosen in direct election, by all citizens twenty-one years of age, who can read or write, possessing a clear annual income of 221., and by heads of families; electors must register themselves. The deputies must have an income of at least 390 milreis, or 891., per annum; but lawyers, professors, physicians, or the graduates of any of the learned professions, need no property qualification. The number of electors was 823,356, or 18 per cent. of the total population, in 1882. Continental Portugal is divided into ninety-four electoral districts, which, with Madeira and the Azores, return 149 deputies, or 1 deputy to 30,540 people. Each deputy has a remuneration of about 10s. a day during the session. The annual session lasts three months, and fresh elections must take place at the end of every four years. In case of dissolution, a new Parliament must be called together immediately. The General Cortes meet and separate at specified periods, without the intervention of the Sovereign, and the latter has no veto on a law passed twice by both Houses. All laws relating to the army and general taxation must originate in the Chamber of Deputies.

The executive authority rests, under the Sovereign, in a responsible Cabinet, divided into seven departments, in charge of the following ministries appointed October 24, 1883 :

1. Presidency of the Council and Minister of War.-General A. M. de Fontes Pereira de Mello.

2. The Ministry of the Interior.-Senhor A. C. Barjona Freitas. 3. The Ministry of Justice and of Ecclesiastical Affairs.Senhor Lopo Vaz.

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4. The Ministry of Public Works.-Senhor A. A. Aguiar. 5. Minister of Finance.-Dr. E. R. Hintz Ribeiro.

6. The Ministry of Marine and of the Colonies.-Senhor Pinheiro Chagas.

7. Ministry of Foreign Affairs.-Senhor Barboza Bocage.

The Sovereign is permitted, in important cases, to take the advice of a Council of State, or Privy Council, consisting, when full, of thirteen ordinary and three extraordinary members, nominated for life. The leading ministers, past and present, generally form part of the Privy Council, which in 1884 numbered twelve members. Justice is administered by means of a supreme tribunal which sits in Lisbon, and decides cases for the whole Portuguese dominions. Courts of 'Relaçao, three in number (similar to the French Cour de Cassation'), at Lisbon, Oporto, and in the Azores; and Courts of first instance in all district towns.

Church and Education.

The Roman Catholic faith is the State religion; but all other forms of worship are tolerated. The Portuguese Church is under the special jurisdiction of a 'Patriarch,' with extensive powers, two archbishops, and fourteen bishops. The Patriarch of Lisbon is always a cardinal, and, to some extent, independent of the Holy See of Rome. Under the Patriarch are five continental and five colonial bishops; under the Archbishop of Braga, who has the title of Primate, are six; and under the Archbishop of Evora three bishops. The total income of the upper hierarchy of the Church is calculated to amount to 300,000 milreis, or 66,6661. There are 3,769 parishes, each under the charge of a presbitero, or incumbent. All the conventual establishments of Portugal were suppressed by decree of May 28, 1834, and their property confiscated for the benefit of the State. At that period there existed in the country 632 monasteries and 118 nunneries, with above 18,000 monks and nuns, and an annual income of nearly a million sterling. This revenue was applied to the redemption of the national debt; while a library of 30,000 volumes was set up at the former convent of San Francisco, at Lisbon, from the collections of books and manuscripts at the various monasteries. A few religious establishments are still permitted to exist; but their inmates are in a state of great poverty, and the buildings are gradually falling to ruin. The lower ranks of the priesthood are poorly educated, and their income scarcely removes them from the social sphere of the peasants and labouring classes. The number of Protestants in Portugal, mostly foreigners, does not exceed 500. They have chapels at Lisbon and Oporto.

In a report from the British Legation in Lisbon, dated 1883

(based on the census of 1875), the number of illiterate inhabitants in Portugal and its islands is stated to be 3,751,774, or 82 per cent. of the total population, including, however, young children.

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. By a law enacted in 1844, it is compulsory on parents to send their children to a place of public instruction; but this prescription is far from being enforced, and only a very small fraction of the children of the middle and lower classes really attend school. From the year 1854 to 1862 the Government founded 588 new schools, of which for boys 452, for girls 136. In 1876, there were 3,510 primary schools, with 198,131 pupils, whereas in 1854 there were only 1,200 public schools, with 55,192 scholars. Portugal has six normal schools. Within the last few years there has been great progress in primary education. There is only one university in the kingdom, that of Coimbra, founded in 1290. It has five faculties, and 46 professors and lecturers, who are attended by between 800 and 900 students. There are 21 lyceums (1875) which, with private middle-class schools, imparting secondary instruction, number 182, with, on the average, 9,274 scholars. The clergy are educated in six seminaries and eight training schools, where most of them receive gratuitous instruction. In the building of the extinct monastery at Belem, about 900 orphan and abandoned children of both sexes are supported, educated, and taught various useful trades.

The expenditure on public education by the Government averaged 9,000 milreis, or 2,000l., in the years 1875-79; while in 1884-85 it had risen to 870,067 milreis, or 193,3487.

Revenue and Expenditure.

The annual revenue of Portugal amounted, on the average of the last ten years, to nearly 6,000,000l. sterling, while the average expenditure during the same period was about 750,000l. more. The actual revenue in the year 1878-79 was 6,432,1077., and the actual expenditure 7,581,933l., thus showing a deficit of 1,149,8267. In 1882-3 the revenue was, according to the rectified budget estimate, 7,177,8867., and expenditure 7,739,185l., showing a deficit of 561,2527., and in 1883-4 the revenue was 6,886,6467., and expenditure 7,115,145l., showing a deficit of 228,4791., besides extraordinary expenditure of 988,0607. In 1883-4 there was an extraordinary revenue of 1,066,4447., including a loan of 908,8887., to cover recent deficits.

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, 1885:

The estimated deficit was consequently 1,335,5847. In the extraordinary budget of 1882-3, about 70,000l. were set down to supplement the deficient revenue of the colonies; in 1883-4 this amounted to above 13,000l. The bulk of the extra expenditure in 1883-4, 700,000l., and in 1884-5 904,000l. was for public works.

There has been no budget for the last thirty years without a deficit. The deficit for the year 1867-68 amounted to 5,811,560 milreis, or 1,291,4577., and it rose to 6,133,627 milreis, or 1,363,0287. in 1868-69, but fell to 1,156,000 milreis, or 256,8881., in the estimates of 1879-80, and amounted to 307,8851. in the revised estimates of 1883-4. The revenue of the kingdom during the thirty years 1850-80 increased by about sixty per cent.

The direct taxes consist of a land-tax amounting to one-half of the direct taxes; an industrial tax on all industries, trades, and professions one-sixth; house-tax of 2 per cent. on rents; incometax of 3 per cent. on all incomes, but now only levied on salaries and the coupons of the internal debt; sumptuary tax on carriages, horses, servants. The chief sources of revenue are indirect taxes and customs.

The public debt of Portugal dates from the year 1796, when the first loan of 4,000,000 milreis, or about 900,000l., was raised. Increasing very slowly at first, it was not till the year 1826 that another large sum was raised, namely, 35 millions of milreis, or 7,777,7771. The total debt rose gradually in the next thirty years, and at the end of 1856 had come to amount to 20,974,000l., requiring an annual interest of 629,000. The debt more than doubled

in the next ten years, and at the end of 1866 amounted to 43,255,000l., the annual interest being 1,297,000l. At the end of 1871 the debt had risen to 64,333,000l., the annual interest amounting to 1,927,000l.; and at the end of 1881 the debt was 96,163,3447. A loan for 5,189,000l. was issued in 1882, two loans amounting to 2,800,000l. were made in 1883, and a loan of 4,000,0007. was issued in 1884 through Messrs. Stern, of London. The total charge for the public debt in 1885 is 2,909,7067.

At the end of 1884, the debt of Portugal stood as follows:53,640,1417., 3 per cent external bonds; 46,952,1537., 3 per cent. internal bonds; 5,870,6207., 5 per cent. bonds; total 106,462,9147. 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 247., and the annual share of interest to 14s. Besides the funded debt there is a floating debt which, in January 1884, stood at 2,988,9107.

This

A large portion of the foreign debt of Portugal consists of loans raised between 1877 and 1884. The first of these, a foreign loan of 6,500,0007. nominal, at three per cent., was issued at 50 in 1877. Only 4,000,000l. of this loan was subscribed at the time. was followed by the issue of another foreign loan of 2,500,000l., on the same terms, in July 1878, and by a foreign loan of 5,000,000%., issued in December 1880, and by the loans mentioned above.

The interest on the public debt has remained frequently unpaid. Portions of the national debt have also been repudiated at various periods; among others the loan contracted by Don Miguel in 1832.

Army and Navy.

The army of the kingdom is formed partly by conscription, and partly by voluntary enlistment. Its organisation is based on the law of June 23, 1864, modified by subsequent laws in 1868, 1869, 1875, 1877, and 1884. All young men of twentyone-years of age, with certain exceptions, are obliged to serve. The effective is fixed annually by the Cortes. By the law of 1884, the army will consist of 24 regiments of infantry, 12 regiments of chasseurs, 10 regiments of cavalry, 3 regiments of mounted artillery, 1 brigade of mountain artillery, 1 regiment and 4 companies of garrison artillery, and 1 regiment of engineers. The duration of service will be 12 years, 3 with the active army, 5 in the first, and 4 in the second reserve. The war effective will be 120,000 men. The strength of the army was fixed for 1884 at 24,450 men. The number of troops in the Portuguese colonies amount to 455 officers and 8,522 infantry and artillery.

The navy of Portugal was composed, at the end of 1884, of 30