prived of many rights which they enjoy in nearly every country of Europe; still, the rigorous laws against the press, and the right of holding meetings, were relaxed, and the number of Liberal papers therefore largely increased. Russia issued new edicts for the extirpation of the Polish language and nationality, but made considerable progress in point of education, in the extension of her railroad system, and other points of home administration. Turkey feels herself compelled to make every year some concession to the liberal tendencies in the Christian provinces. The most important reform introduced last year was the organization of a Council of State, to consist of fifty members, both Mohammedans and

Christians.

The overthrow of the throne of Queen Isabella of Spain adds another to the many vicissitudes which have befallen monarchy in Europe since the beginning of the present century. Absolute monarchy is nearly gone, and an irresistible current drives the peoples onward, toward securing greater liberties, and more and more threatens the very existence of all monarchies. In view of the unceasing conflict which may bring important changes in the course of the year 1869, the following brief retrospect (from the Paris Siècle) of the fate of European monarchy will be found useful for reference, whenever a new change may take place:

The great conqueror of the century, he who transmuted the French Republic into a sort of universal monarchy, Napoleon I., was thrown down definitively in 1815. His brothers, the Kings Jerome and Joseph, had already succumbed. Murat, King of Naples, disappeared soon after. Immediately upon being restored, the Bourbon monarchy in Spain began to totter. It lost all its American colonies, which became republics, and Ferdinand VII. was kept on the throne only by the French expedition in 1823. In the following year took place the fall of Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico. The Sultan of Turkey was shortly afterward deprived of Greece, which was proclaimed an independent monarchy on the 3d of February, 1830. In the same year fell the Dey of Algiers, and also Charles X.,led on by M. de Polignac, and the Ultra Legitimist and clerical faction. The King of Holland lost Belgium, that is to say, one-half of his states, on the 25th of August, and the deposition of the house of Orange-Nassau was proclaimed at Brussels. The Duke Charles of Brunswick was, on the 7th September, 1830, driven from his dominions by an insurrection. The Czar, at the same epoch, lost Poland for a time. In 1833, the too famous Dom Miguel, King of Portugal, was compelled to cede the crown to Dona Maria, daughter of Dom Pedro, who retained the sovereignty of Brazil. Louis Philippe was sacrificed to the faults and obstinacy of M. Guizot. On the 1st December, 1848, the Emperor Ferdinand of Austria had to abdicate, in order to avoid being expelled. At that epoch Pius IX. was brought back to and has since been supported at Rome only by the French aras. Austria, for a short time, lost possession of Hungary. The King of Prussia, Frederick William IV., threatened all along from 1848, was forced on the 6th of February, 1850, to take an oath to preserve the Prussian charter. In 1855, Nicholas I. died of vexation and wounded self-love, because he was stopped on the road to Constantinople. In 1859, the Duke of Modena, the Duchess of Parma, and the Grandduke of Tuscany were struck out from the list of reigning princes. Soulouque, the Emperor of Hayti,

was hurled from his throne on the 15th January, 1859. In the following year, Francis II., King of Naples, and again another deposition was announced. Otho, saw Garibaldi enter his capital on the 7th September, King of the Hellenes, was driven from his throne by an insurrection in 1862. Three years later, Prince Couza lost the quasi-sovereignty of Roumania. In 1866, the Emperor of Austria definitively gave up Venetia; the surrender of which may, perhaps, have saved his empire. In the same year Prussia overthrew the thrones of Hanover, Nassau, and Electoral Hesse; and Maximilian fell in Mexico. During all this lapse of time no constitutional monarchy has been disturbed-no revolution has taken place in England or in Sweden, where the young dynasty continues; in Belgium the royal house has survived the storms of 1848; so in Portugal.

the official censuses or calculations published At the close of the year 1868, according to up to that time, the area and population of the countries of Europe were as follows:

The total area of Europe is about 3,786,000 square miles, and the total population about 293,500,000. The number of the population connected with the Roman Catholic Church is 142,117,000; of the Protestant population, 68,028,000; of the population of the Eastern Churches, 69,782,000.*

The progress of statistical science in all countries of Europe supplies us with valuable comparative statistics, showing the relative position of the several countries in point of progress, prosperity, and morality. Special attention is devoted to the statistics illustrating the movement of population. From recent publications on this subject, we learn that in France the marriages, which had declined from 305,203 in 1861 to 298,838 in 1865, rose in 1866 to 301,390; but the births, which numbered 994,288 in 1866, were 12,465 less than the number in 1865. To 100,000 of the population in France in 1866, there were 1,584 persons married, while the proportional number in England was 1,770; and to 100,000 of population in either country, the number of births was 2,612 in France, and 3,554 in England. Taking the interval between the mean age of the mothers at marriage and their mean age at the birth of their children at six years, then the number of legitimate births to a marriage in

FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. No change was made in the general system of finance of the Federal Government during 1868. The results were in some respects more favorable to the Treasury; but the greatest improvement was made in the circumstances of the people by the progress of recovery from the destructive effects of war.

A statement of the receipts and expenditures of the Government for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, and an estimate of the same for the remaining three-quarters of the year were made by the Secretary of the Treasury in his annual report of December, 1867. The actual receipts of the first quarter of the fiscal year above-mentioned were as follows:

Miscellaneous sources. 18,361,462 62

Expendit's for civil service.. $13,152,348 08 Pensions and Indians. 10,484,476 11 War Department...... 30,537,056 35 "Navy Department.. 5,579,704 67

66 Int. on public debt..... 38,515,640 47

1866 was 3.1 in France, and 4.2 in England. The death-rate in France in 1866 was 23.26 per 1,000 of population; that of England being 23.61. The population of the kingdom of Italy in 1866, exclusive of Venetia, was 22,703,135; the death and birth rates respectively were 28.96 and 38.62 per 1,000 of population. Spain, with an estimated population in 1866 of 16,516,949, returned a death-rate of 28.05 per 1,000, and a birth-rate of 37.03 per 1,000. The results for the Austrian empire, exclusive of the states of Italy, show a population in 1866 of 37,929,918; the respective death and birth rates were 32.32 and 40.34 per 1,000 persons living; the marriage-rate was low, 14.58 persons married to 1,000 of population; but it will be remembered that 1866 was the year when disaster befell the arms of that empire. Thus, the returns of Austria show a birth-rate much higher than the English rate, and conspicuously higher than the French rate. The birth-rates of Italy and Spain are both higher than the English rate, and show a superiority only too striking over that of France. The death-rate of Austria is considerably higher than the rates of England and France, and the death-rates of Spain, as well as of the Italian kingdom, contrast unfavorably with those of England and France.

$164,464,599 1,348,715 1,788,145 191,087,589

$65,073,086 34

Tables of the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Churches in every country of Europe, corrected up to January, 1869, are given in Schem's American Ecclesiastical and Educational Almanac. (New York, 1869.)