the era of progressive reform, which illustrated the inauguration of the Empire, continues.
The Government is now vested in a Council of State, composed of a Chancellor, six Ministers, five Councillors, and a Chief Secretary. The will of the sovereign is, how-
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CHILDREN OF THE LOWER CLASS
ever, supreme. The Departments of State are conducted by nine ministers, chief of whom is the Prime Minister, assisted in his Cabinet by the President of the Privy Council, the Ministers of the Household, of Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, Finance, War, Law, Education, and Agriculture. With improved internal administration many of the abuses which existed under the old system have disappeared. There are still many grievances, and the working of the new machine of State cannot be said to give unalloyed satisfaction. Justice is still hedged about with bribery; official corruptness admits of the venal purchase of office. Much outcry accompanies the sweeping of the Augean stables; and, at present, the advantages of the improvements hardly justify the ecstatic jubilation by which their intro-
