rk which has been
accomplished, and which has transformed the aspect of Greece, thanks to
its national and political enfranchisement.

Fifty years ago Greece emerged from a catastrophe: she had been deprived
of everything and devastated by a long and desperate war; she was
without resources, without agriculture, without commerce, without
manufactures, without the least social or political organization;
everything had perished during her long struggle for independence,
except her genius and her faith in the future. This faith has already
wrought marvels. Agriculture, which is _par excellence_ the basis of the
prosperity of nations, has made considerable progress; its development
goes on day by day in geometrical progression. Thus, in the space of the
last fifteen years there have been taken into cultivation nearly
5,000,000 acres. The number of inhabitants engaged in the cultivation of
the soil, including the shepherds, is, according to the census of 1870,
562,559 out of the 901,387 inhabitants (among the 1,457,894 inhabitants
of the kingdom) whose employment could be stated. Of this number 218,027
are agriculturists, properly so called. This is the chief industry of
the country. Like agriculture, manufactures have also made considerable
progress of late. We extract from M. Mansolas' book the interesting
description which he gives of the state and progress of manufacturing
industry in Greece:--

"Any one returning to Athens after an absence of fifteen years would
certainly be surprised to see, on landing at the Piraeus, tall chimneys
by the side of the railway station, and the vast district of industrial
establishments which has been formed, where a few years ago one did not
see a single cottage, a tree, or a blade of grass.

"When we consider that all these manufacturing establishments which one
sees in Greece are the work of a few years, we shall learn with interest
what progress has been made in so short a space of time, and so much the
more so since all this is due to individual enterprise, to the
association of capital, and to competition, that universal condition of
the progress of nations as of individuals. The various manufactories in
which steam-power is employed, distributed among the different towns in
the kingdom, have been founded since 1863; their saleable value is over
L1,000,000 sterling. They spend L1,600,000 in raw material, about
L100,000 in fuel, and turn out products of the value of nearly
L2,000,