tution
designates no fewer than twelve classes from which appointments may be
made, the range of choice is large. Among the categories enumerated
are the presidents of the legislative chambers; deputies who have been
members of as many as three congresses, or who have served during as
many as eight sessions; ministers of the crown; bishops; grandees;
lieutenant-generals of the army and vice-admirals of the navy, of (p. 617)
two years' standing; ambassadors, after two years of active service,
and ministers plenipotentiary, after four years; presidents and
directors of the half-dozen royal academies, and persons who in point
of seniority belong within the first half of the list of members of
these respective bodies; head professors in the universities, who have
held this rank and have performed the duties pertaining to it through
a period of four years; and a variety of other administrative,
judicial, and professional functionaries. Persons belonging to any one
of these groups, however, are eligible for appointment only in the
event that they enjoy an annual income of 7,500 pesetas ($1,500),
derived from property of their own or from salaries of permanent
employments, or from pensions or retirement allowances. In addition to
the classes mentioned persons are eligible who for two years have
possessed an annual income of 20,000 pesetas, or who have paid into
the public treasury a direct tax of 4,000 pesetas, provided that in
addition they possess titles of nobility, or have been members of the
Cortes, provincial deputies, or mayors in capitals of provinces or in
towns of more than 20,000 inhabitants. Appointments are made regularly
for life.

The conditions under which the quota of 180 elected senators are
chosen were defined by a statute of February 8, 1877. One senator is
chosen by the clergy in each of the nine archbishoprics; one by each
of the six royal academies; one by each of the ten universities; five
by the economic societies; and the remaining 150 by electoral colleges
in the several provinces. The electoral college is composed of members
of the provincial deputations and of representatives chosen from among
the municipal councillors and largest taxpayers of the towns and
municipal districts. But no one may become a senator by election who
would be ineligible, under the conditions above mentioned, to be
appointed to a seat by the crown. And it is required in all cases that
to become a senator one must be a Span