New-York tribune., 1874-03-11
MODERN GREECE.

THE KINGDoM-PoITTICAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS
The Hon. John NJ. Francis recently United ota'cs
Minister to Greece, read paper last evening ocioio
the American Geographical Society on urccco "'
Il isn in the hall of the NewYork HISTORICAL Socie.y'
st Secoud-aye. and Eleventh-st PREVIOUS " '"o
reading Of the paper a number OF genueinen "eio
elected Fellows of the Society, among whom "eIo
.,bos,o, Arthur Geo H. Andrews, L. NJ. Bates, w.
astts S. II. Blatcbford s. N BOardman, W. C. Church.
Commodore X. r. Breese. and s. III. Wales. and as
.orr.sDondinO members S. b. Williams OF Pekmg,
CHINA Can't j. NJ Dow and DR.. Mcdowell, Panama
apetter was read from the German Association for
Polar Exploration of Bremen, stating that one OF the
recently discovered capos in Eastern Greenland was
named Cape DAY." in recognition OF the interest
taken in the work by Chief-Justice DAILY. Resolu-
hons were adopted. thanking the German Society
for the honor conferred their President and the
italian Society ALSO for interesting information In
introducing Mr.. Francis, Chief-Justice I. 7. Day
I'D:
g justhity years since the first blow was struck iof
6yenlAn Independence and it was fully twenty hVe years
Afterwards before the Independence OF Greece was iuy
achieved We are TO listen tonight to very dsl'u
gushol citizen OF state who represented our county
the Court OF Athens for some uIne ana RETURNED "
his own solicitation. who while at Athons hau every
opp ,rtunty TO observe everything around him. lshclu
io, at a later hour of the evening to say sometnns
fu rther on this subject, " is no" u
after Of great interest, the most important mo'eon,
Ss modern times. still remember Win unulul'hSuoN
tecng and the curdling of my blood, the saushNtihg
OF ten thousand Of inhabitants OF one OF the Gie'n
islands, but this only characterized the Oaroaroos rue
nj the Turks over Greece. | felt then and feel now
that the most obstacle that stands IN the way
OF civilization the Mohammedan rule wherever II Is
The recians rescued from that rule ana no" 1t s
matter Of great TO learn the resnit' when
will be given by Mt Fancis have now the pleasure
70 introduce TO YOU the Hon. John NJ Francis
The paper was very interesting aud listened 10
with marked attention by the large audience pres
ent At the close number of stereopticon views oil
ancient and modern Greece exhibited, while
Prof Zacchus explained each one as it appeared on
the screen. The line OF thought IN the lecture is
followed below:
Mr. PRECEDENT FELLOWS or TnE AMERICAN gro
eRAPHcAL SOCIETY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN; pro
pose TO speak IL is. Ancient Greece need
not here discuss. You know Il as was, with all lts
grand associations its clements OF knowledge and poec
inspiration constituting the basis of civil
tsation. Nor shall dwell upon the circumstances OF
is achievement Of national independence after sul5ee
tion hundreds OF years 10 Turkish domination. The
Greece OF today is living reality, but II largely mis-
apprehended and often msrepestuted II stands out on
the little tagged knRdom. embracing mainland and
tsthInns and many islands, literally ribbed with mount
aims overlooking the But cTcumscrIbed as 1t Is IN
territorial area, and embracing only small part Of
what constituted ancient Greece, this Kingdom e1er
sises sovereignty what in the past the most
Interesting portion OF the gObeover Atnca, with elias
sic Athens; Thebes, Parnassus, Delphi, Sparta
Cornth, Myoena. TyTns. Ithaca aud many other local.
ties wherein great and wonderful history wrought
cut In the early Greece embraces Of some
1900 square miles It's population numbers about
10000 souls. The country bas surely Ioade
progress. Forty-four years ago, az the OF she
ssnsuinary OF the revolution, the people
were very poor. The estates of the wealthy
had devastated and their proprietors
whelmed with debt reduced to penury The cutiva-
tiOu OF the soil bad been negected all the interests Of
industry had diverted in the supreme effort for the
achievement Of national independence There was not
. village OF tOeTable size in the Kingdom Athens
taiued less than 90 inhabitants and there
nrstclass dwelling house IN the place the people for the
most part living ~ mud novels clustering about the
aoropOhs. Now this charming capital Of Greece
has o population lof more than i1tty thousand
souls. It's architecture will compare favor
ably with that Of any other city Of It's IN Europe. II
has many imposing and costly public and private build
jDgs. Among the ed1ces nearly completed are the
Academy OF Art, the Polytechnic Institution and
Museum, aud the French Academy, each costing about
sloc0oOO, The work OF building and city improvement
now gong on very large reminding one of the pro-
gess OF our enerPrisine American cities Then there
are the important and growing seaport tOwHs-the
Pr@os, near Athens, with population Of 1900 to
1900; syra, the chief town aud commercial mart Of the
Cyelades, population 5000; Patras principal seat
OF the currant trade OF the Peloponnesus and with
larger foreign commerce than any other part
81 the kingdom, population quite 3QOO0 and steadily
increasing; Zante, chlet town of the lower
group Of the Ionian islands, population 10000 Corfu
Of the upper group and the old capital Of those
islands the Summer residence OF the court pOpus-
pon over 20oOO To these may be added Cephaoua, on
one OF the ISLANDS Of the name noted for the
duetion OF wines and currants population estimated al
5000 In continental Greece there are Arachoya on
spur OF the ParnssSus population $500 Lebadea, in
Boola the center OF fertile region aud the mart OF .e
ton 6Oo0 and Thebes on the site OF ancient Thebes,
tfu adjacent country In the PeloponncsUs, there are
the villages OF Naupia Argos, and new Cornrh, OF 1900
the islands and elsewhere OF 300 TO 1909
BANKING, TRANSFORMATION AND INTERNAL WORKS.
Prof TO 1871 there was banking establishment in
she country. Now there IaIe four large banks al
Athens, having branches in all the principal towns Of
the Kingdom, with paid.up capital OF s12OOooOO
The ssnng of notes, however restricted TO two banks
the National and the IODan aud their circulation is
about E01g.OO0 This would be equivalent to "a paper
currency IN the United States the population Of the two
countries taken into account of about $O0000O0 which
was, believe, the largest volume OF our paper money
before We entered upon the policy Of Dhaon during the
late war. Specie pay ments have always been main
tanned by them 10 addition " bank notes, there 10
great deal OF gold silver aud copper money IN crcula
uon The paidup capital, win reserve OF the four prn
epal insurance companies OF Greece, aggregates SC5C,
'ol0 Other aud smaller insurance organizations would
probably Increase the amount 10 S2,O0O0O. The only
steam navigation company IN Greece. founded in 1851
has paldup capital " nearly EO00y; II owns 10 steam
OF an aggregate OF $500 tonnage which ply exclusively
Ia Greek waters. Another steam navigation company
has recently beea organized by Greek capitalists with
class steamers 10 between the chief ports the
East and Frauce, ltay, England, and ultimately the
United States The mercantile OF Greece
larger than OF auy other county IN the world
population considered IL .iueludes less than 2l7O
vessels OF all kinds, with aggregate tonnage OF 4 O4
about oDe-sIXth tue tonnage or ali American vessels
aeAl Greece has been very backward the matter
ln'erhal improvements There j. but one passenger
d