Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/221

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SPAIN 209 sette" the total revenue for 1874-'5 was $108,- 960,000, and the total expenditure $104,105,- 000. The revenue was derived chiefly from direct and indirect taxes, stamps, tobacco and other monopolies, sales of national property, and exemptions from military service. The receipts from colonies amounted to only $595,- 000. The chief items of expenditure were $55,800,000 for war and marine, and $31,- 195,000 for the other ministries. This state- ment shows a slight surplus of revenue, but if the interest on the public debt had been paid there would have been the usual deficit. Of the coins of Spain, the real is equal in value to about 5 cts., the peseta is equal to four realeS) and the escudo to ten reales. The French metric system was introduced Jan. 1, 1859, but the old weights and measures are still much used. Nearly the whole popula- tion of Spain belongs to the Roman Catholic church ; and before the establishment of the Spanish republic in 1868 no other religious denomination was recognized by law or en- joyed the right of public worship. To teach or to embrace Protestantism, or to circulate, buy, or sell Protestant books, was also punish- able by law. Only a few congregations of foreign Protestants and Jews were allowed to worship according to the rites of their respec- tive religions. A few natives were known to profess Protestant opinions, and they gradually came to be tolerated as long as they did not assemble for public worship. After the expul- sion of Queen Isabella Protestant congrega- tions were formed in all the large and in some of the small towns ; they were soon organized into a Spanish evangelical synod, and a con- sistory was appointed in Madrid for adminis- trative purposes. Besides the congregations connected with this synod, there are a few Baptist, Scotch Presbyterian, and Anglican churches. The whole number of Protestants in 1874 was variously estimated from 30,000 to 120,000. The Roman Catholic church in Spain is divided into 54 dioceses, 9 of which are archbishoprics, viz. : Burgos, Santiago, Gra- nada, Saragossa, Toledo, Tarragona, Seville, Valencia, and Valladolid. In the Spanish pos- sessions out of Europe, there are in America one archbishopric (Santiago de Cuba) and two bishoprics ; in Asia, one archbishopric (Manila) and four bishoprics. The archbishop of To- ledo is primate of Spain. In 1830 the clergy and religious orders counted 152,305 members, including 30,900 monks and 24,700 nuns in 1,940 convents. In 1835-'6 nearly all the con- vents were suppressed ; but subsequently va- rious female communities, mostly devoted to teaching and to the care of the sick, and a few male orders, were reestablished by permission of the government. In 1860 there were 32 male convents with 719 monks, and 866 female convents with 12,990 nuns. The number of priests in 1867 was 43,948. In former times the church owned immense possessions, but in 1835 they were declared national property and confiscated, and the clergy indemnified by fixed salaries. Up to 1839 the ecclesiastical property which had been sold amounted to $78,000,000. A concordat, concluded Aug. 25, 1859, and promulgated Jan. 14, 1860, stipu- lated that the church should remain in the pos- session of all the property not yet disposed of, and should have in future the right of acqui- ring property of any kind. The organization of public instruction dates from 1845. At the head of educational affairs is a royal council subdivided into six sections, viz. : primary in- struction, philosophy, ecclesiastical sciences, jurisprudence, medical science, and adminis- tration of public instruction. In 1852 there were fewer than 2,000,000 individuals who were able to read, and scarcely 1,200,000 knew how to write. Since then the government has made efforts to improve public instruction, and the higher institutions of learning have been the object of special solicitude. In 1867 there were 26,332 public schools, with 1,425,339 pu- pils, of whom 850,762 were boys and 574,577 girls. In 1872 the middle schools consisted of 50 provincial and 13 municipal institutes, be- sides several private colegios, with an aggre- gate attendance of about 26,000. Spain has 1 universities, in Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Oviedo, Salamanca, Seville, Santiago, Valencia, Valladolid, and Saragossa. The total number of students in 1868 was 12,269. Three uni- versities (Madrid, Barcelona, and Granada) have each five faculties (philosophy and litera- ture, exact sciences, pharmacy, medicine, and law), two four faculties, one three faculties, and the others but two. The theological facul- ties have been abolished in all the universities, and theological instruction is imparted at the seminaries connected with the episcopal sees. Normal schools have been established, in ac- cordance with the law of 1857, in the capitals of the several provinces. Special instruction is provided for by a school of engineering, commercial schools, a college for the deaf and dumb, a school for the blind, and a higher vet- erinary school at Madrid, with branch estab- lishments at Cordova and Saragossa. Spain has many literary societies, yet none of them can compare with similar societies in most other European countries. The best known among them are the royal academy at Madrid, found- ed in 1714 ; the academy of sciences at Seville ; the academy of plastic arts at Madrid; the acad- emies of arts at Seville, Cadiz, Valencia, Sara- gossa, and Palma ; the royal academy of Spanish history at Madrid ; and the academy of geog- raphy at Valladolid. Of public libraries there are the royal library and six others at Madrid, one in the Escurial, two at Valencia, two at Saragossa, and one at Toledo, besides those belonging to the different universities. In 1808 only four periodicals were published in Spain; in 1868 there were 468. In 1867 there were 335 theatres, with accommodations for 169,376 people. The Spanish peninsula was early vis- ited by the Phoenicians, who established flour-