7. Ministerio de Hacienda, Ministry of Finance.-Senor Manuel Moreno Lopez, appointed August 4, 1863.

The sovereign is permitted to consult, in important cases, a Council of State, consisting of the ministers and thirty-two privy councillors. The Council of State was first organised by royal decree of July 14, 1858, which was modified by a law of the Cortes sanctioned September 1, 1860. According to this law, all privy councillors must be Spaniards by birth, and not less than twenty-five years of age. The council is divided into six sections, namely, first, foreign affairs and justice; second, war and marine; third, finances; fourth, interior and public welfare, or 'fomento;' fifth, colonies; and sixth, department for deciding affairs in dispute between the various ministers. The privy councillors, whose number must not exceed thirty-two, are nominated by the sovereign.

Church and Education.

The national Church of Spain is the Roman Catholic, and the whole population of the kingdom, with the exception of about 60,000 persons, adhere to the same faith. According to the eleventh article of the constitution, the clergy of the established Church are to be maintained by the State. By two decrees of the Cortes, passed July 23, 1835, and March 9, 1836, all conventual establishments were suppressed, and their property confiscated for the benefit of the nation. These decrees gave rise to a long dispute with the head of the Roman Catholic Church, which ended in the sovereign pontiff conceding the principle of the measure. By a concordat with Rome, concluded in August 1859, the Spanish government was authorised to sell the whole ecclesiastical property, except churches and parsonages, in return for an equal amount of untransferable public debt certificates, bearing interest at the rate of 3 per cent. The proceeds of the public sale of church property up to the commencement of 1863, amounted to more than 3,000,000,000 reales, or 30,000,0002.*

In 1862 there were in Spain 2,806 prelates and priests of cathedrals and colleges; 33,881 incumbents, or priests with parochial cures; and 3,198 assistant priests, without cure of souls. The numbers show an immense decline over previous periods. According to the official returns of the census of 1787, the ecclesiastics of all descriptions, including 61,617 monks, 32,500 nuns, and 2,705 inquisitors, amounted to 188,625 individuals. Half a century later, in 1833, the class still comprised 175,574 individuals, of whom 61,727 were monks, and 24,007 nuns.† The total number of secularised religious or 'regulares exclaustrados,' amounted to 6,822 in

* Memoria redactada por la Asesoria general del ministerio de Hacienda. † Correo Literario. Madrid, 1833.

1858, to 6,323 in 1859, and to 6,072 in 1862. Of this number about 3,000 assist the secular clergy, and the rest make up the 3,198 assistant priests without cure of souls. The upper hierarchy comprises nine archbishops and seventy bishops.

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Up to a very recent period, public education was entirely in the hands of the clergy, but late enactments have made a radical change in this respect. The State, however, pays but a very small sum towards public education, which is left mainly to the charge of the communes and the parents themselves: but the intendence of the government over educational matters has led to vast progress. In 1797 only 393,126 children attended the primary schools, which were very imperfect. In 1812, the Cortes tried to introduce some modifications, but failed, on account of the war, in making a radical reform in popular education. Fresh efforts were made in 1820 and 1825, but still without much success. The law of July 21, 1838, enjoining the expenditure of considerable sums by the communes for the purpose of public instruction, proved a great step in advance. Since that time the laws have been several times amended, especially in 1847 and 1857 when the masters were subjected to examination, schoolrooms built, and different scholastic institutions founded. The result was, that in 1848 there were 663,711 pupils, and on January 1, 1861, 1,046,558 pupils, of both sexes, divided between the public and private schools as follows:

Middle-class education is given in fifty-eight public colleges by 757 professors to 13,881 pupils. In first-class education, the most remarkable feature is the large number of law-students, namely, 3,755 in 1859-60, divided among ten faculties. There are ten faculties of literature and philosophy, with 224 students; seven faculties of sciences, with 141 students; four faculties of pharmacy, with 544; seven faculties of medicine, with 1,178; and six faculties of theology, with 339 students-in all 6,181 students.*

Revenue and Expenditure.

The budgets of the kingdom for the last six years have been as follows for each financial period, from July 1 to June 30:

The details of the budget from July 1, 1862 to June 30, 1863, are as follows:

* Anuario estadistico de Espano, publicado por la comision de estadistica general del Reino, 1862.

The budget for the financial year 1863-64 was laid before the Cortes in August, 1863. In the estimates the receipts are calculated at 2,108,638,000 reales, or 21,086,3807., and the ordinary expenditure at 2,098,692,262 reales, or 20,986,9221. This would leave a surplus of 9,945,738 reales, or 99,4577., but for an extraordinary

expenditure of 420,170,348 reales, or 4,201,7031., destined chiefly for the construction of new roads and railways. The deficit of 410,224,610 reales, or 4,102,2467., thus created is to be covered by the sale of State property.

The national liabilities of Spain, both funded and unfunded, amounted in July 1863, to 15,550,000,000 reales, or 155,500,000Z., of which sum 14,700,000,000, or 147,000,000l., form the consolidated and 850,000,000, or 8,500,000l. the floating debt. The sale of church property, in return for which the former owners receive obligations on the national exchequer, has chiefly contributed of late years to swell the national liabilities. A return ordered by the Cortes, on November 1, 1858, gives the following account of the funded debt of Spain at that period :

There exist no recent official returns regarding the details of the floating debt of the kingdom.

Army and Navy.

The army is formed by conscription; but the purchase of substitutes is not only allowed, but encouraged by the government. The price to be paid for substitutes was fixed by a decree of December 1859, at 8,000 reales, or 801. There are, on the average, about 20,000 volunteers, or men procured by enlistment in the regular army. The time of service in the infantry is eight years, of which five have to be spent in the infantry of the line, and three in the provincial militia. For military purposes the kingdom is