HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY GIFT OF BOSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE LIBRARY JUN 17 1940 ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the PREFACE. THIS volume of the ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA, for the year 1869, presents the United States in a condition of peaceful development. The armies have entirely disappeared, the wounds of the recent conflict are healing, the angry passions are calmed, legitimate authority exerts its powerful sway, institutions are moulded to the new order of affairs, industry is everywhere active, improvements of every conceivable kind are projected, and a buoyant spirit inspires the nation with vast anticipations of future prosperity. A change in the persons who administered the Federal Government took place during the year, which secured unanimity and coöperation in all departments. Immediate steps were taken to hasten the work of reconstruction in the three States then unrepresented at Washington. Conventions were held, constitutions drafted and discussed, amended and submitted to the people, and adopted; State officers were chosen, and the entire organization of local governments completed. The progress of the other reconstructed States, under the joint rule of the white and colored man, as a citizen, a legislator, and a judicial officer, the contests of factions, the disturbances of citizens, the relaxation of restraints upon those active in the late hostilities, and the recuperative power of the people, socially and financially, are herein presented. The proposition to throw open the ballot of the country to every citizen, without distinction of race, color, or previous condition; the debates in Congress upon the measure, the arguments in its favor, and the objections against it; the numerous aspects of the question presented and discussed, with the final action of that body and the formal submission of the question to the Legislatures of the States, are also contained in these pages. The details of the internal affairs of the United States comprise the revenue and expenditures of the Government, the measures taken to reduce the publie debt, the modifications of its currency, and the discussions relative to the same; its fluctuations, the changes in the system of taxation to promote the relief of the people, with its effects upon their industrial interests and prosperity; the banking system, with its expansions and contractions; the fruits of agriculture, and the spread of internal trade and commerce; the proceedings in the Southern States to establish securely their social affairs; the various political conventions of the year, both national and State; the results of elections; the acts of State Legislatures; the rapid improvement of educational and charitable institutions under the care of the State governments; the surprising extension of the facilities of transportation, especially of railroads; the resources of the several States, and all those facts which manifest their rapid progress. In Europe, the progress of the peaceful reconstruction of the Government of France, under the control of Napoleon, has awakened unusual interest. The improvements in Turkey and the unsettled relations with Egypt; the movements in Spain, under the conduct of a provisional government, to inaugurate popular institutions; the modifications in the relations existing between England and Ireland; the unsettled state of affairs in Italy, together with other events of less importance, and the movements among the nations of Eastern Asia for a more free and friendly intercourse with the civilized world, are very fully narrated in these pages. The progress of mechanical industry was displayed by the completion of the Pacific Railroad, and the opening for navigation of the Suez Canal, besides many other works less extensive and important, which are herein noticed. The diplomatic relations of the Federal Government were of a most friendly character during the year, and the discussions or efforts to arrange every vexed question were, by common consent, as it were, laid aside. Negotiations for authority to construct a canal across the Isthmus of Darien, and for the acquisition of San Domingo, were successfully made, and are stated in these pages. The advance in the various branches of Astronomical, Chemical, and other sciences, with new applications to useful purposes, are extensively described. Geographical discoveries have been actively pushed forward in various quarters of the globe, with interesting results. The record of Literature and Literary Progress is as extensive as during any previous year. The titles of all the more important works have been presented, with some remarks on the nature of their contents. The history of the religious denominations of the country, with an account. of their conventions, plans of union, branches, membership, views on public affairs and progress of opinions, are presented from official sources. The preliminary proceedings and opening of the Ecumenical Council in Rome are also fully narrated. A brief tribute has been given to the memory of deceased persons of note in every department of society. All important documents, messages, orders, treaties, and letters from official persons, have been inserted entire. THE ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA. ABYSSINIA (Arabic, Hábesh), an empire in Eastern Africa, consists of the three former kingdoms of Amhara, Shoa, and Tigré. It has an area estimated at 158,392 square miles, and a population of from three to four millions. The inhabitants are mostly Ethiopian Christians, but there are many Mohammedans in the towns, the most important of which are the following: Adoa, with a population variously estimated at from 3,500 to 10,000 inhabitants; Aliya Amba, 2,500; Aouzienne (Tigré), 2,000; Dixan (Sarae), 2,000; Gondar, 5,000 to 12,000; Methemmeh, 1,200 to 5,000; Mota (Godjam), 3,000; Tchelenkot (Tigré), 3,000; Kurata has become the most important town since the destruction of Gondar.* The soil of Abyssinia is exceedingly fertile; but the population is subject to exorbitant taxes and continued plundering, and thereby reduced to wretched poverty. A The great interest which the civilized world has for several years taken in Abyssinia has nearly come to an end with the close of the English expedition. The Emperor Theodore II., whose life and tragic death have been narrated in the preceding volumes of the ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA, was, by his superior statesmanship and barbaric energy, on the point of consolidating the incongruous tribes which inhabit that country into one, of creating an Abyssinian nationality, and of securing for his country a recognized rank among the nations of the earth. No more conclusive proof of the exceptional ability of Theodore could be given, than a comparison of his administration with the anarchy into which Abyssinia is now relapsing for want of a man who can follow in his footsteps. In fact, the whole history of Abyssinia from December, 1868, to October, 1869, the date of our latest advices, has been an uninterrupted civil war. Three princes are aspiring to the inheritance of Theodore. Kas For a fuller account of the topography of the country, 868 AMERICAN ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA for 1868. VOL. IX.-1. A sai, Prince of Tigré, who last year concluded friendship with Sir Robert Napier, keeps at his court at Adoa two German missionaries, aad an English officer, Colonel Kirkham, who renders him important services as instructor of his army; and he intends, as soon as his troops shall have been well drilled, to begin a campaign against Gobazie, the ruler of Amhara, and Menilek, the Prince of Shoa, the former of whom last year caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia. The occasion for this imminent war has been furnished by the expected arrival of a new Abuna, or head of the Abyssinian Church, who, as usual, is sent by the Coptic Patriarch of Cairo, and for the reception of whom Kassai has sent an embassy to Egypt with costly presents. Gobazie disputes with his neighbor the possession of the Abuna, who generally resides in Amhara; for it is the privilege of the Abuna to crown the Emperor of Ethiopia. Prince Kassai, one of the three competitors for the throne, has abolished the slave-trade, and the export and import duties. His chiefs have been ordered to assist foreign merchants. Kassai has also established a market for foreign goods at Adoa, and offers large tracts of uncultivated land for the culture of cotton, coffee, indigo, and sugar. The people of Abyssinia are so well aware of the great loss which their country has suffered by the death of Theodore, that they have begun to venerate him as a saint. The German missionaries in Abyssinia report that thousands of pilgrims visit his grave, where a number of miracles are said to have occurred. A greater influence, however, upon the destinies of Abyssinia, than by the miracles of St. Theodore, is likely to be exercised by the progress which neighboring Egypt cannot fail to make in consequence of the opening of the Isthmus of Suez. There still are in Abyssinia a few distinguished Europeans who hold a high position. A German naturalist, Wilhelm Schimper, who had left for the East in 1834, settled, after several years' travelling, in Abyssinia, married a native woman, and won the confidence of the Prince Ubië, of Tigré, to such a degree, as to be intrusted by him with the administration of the district of Antilecho. Another German, Eduard Zander, went to Abyssinia in 1847, and obtained likewise an influential position with Ubië. After the decisive battle, in 1855, Zander entered the service with Theodore, was appointed commander of the fortified island of Gorgora in the Lake Tsana, and rose to the highest military rank. He still was with Theodore in February, 1868, but has not been heard from since. Dr. Munzinger, a native of Switzerland, has been for many years English consul at Massowah, near the Abyssinian frontier, where he still resides. He is also married to a native woman, and author of some of the best works on the country and its languages. The Lutheran Church of Sweden, a few years ago, established a mission in Abyssinia, which remained undisturbed by Theodore, and new German missionaries were sent to the country in 1868. The continuance of civil war made, however, the life of foreigners in Abyssynia very insecure. An Englishman, Mr. Powell, his wife, his son, a Swedish missionary, Mr. Elfbold, and several attendants, were, in April, 1869, murdered by the natives. A brother of Mr. Powell, and another relative, Mr. Jenkins, succeeded, subsequently, in tracing the mutilated bones, which, by certain infallible proofs -such as peculiar stoppages of teeth-they were able to identify as the remains of their murdered relatives. Moreover, they avenged the murder by marching with an armed force, placed at their disposal by Prince Kassai, of Tigré, against the Shangalla tribe, the perpetrators of the cruel deed. The Shangallas, however, were informed of the expedition before the followers of Mr. Powell were ready for the attack, and the greater portion escaped free through the jungle, which in this neighborhood is very high. Eight Shangalla savages were killed in the affray, one of whom wore the murdered Mr. Powell's coat, and had, it subsequently transpired, been the chief instigator of the crime. Five villages, numbering fifty-two houses, in which two guns and other relics were found, were ignited and razed to the ground. Fourteen hundred head of cattle were captured, and, in short, every thing was done to show the Shangalla tribe the punishment they had laid themselves open to. In England, the interest in the Abyssinian question was somewhat kept up by the discovery that the actual cost of the war exceeded all previous calculation. The work already mentioned by Captain Hozier, who was Assistant Military Secretary to Lord Napier, gives on this point some new information, which supplements our previous accounts of the English expedition. If Captain Hozier's statements can be relied upon, in the long records of English blunderings in former wars, nothing can be found to surpass the absurdity of the preparations for the Abyssinian war made in Bombay. The following is a specimen of the complaints of the author: Every thing depended on land transport, and this, according to Captain Hozier, was intentionally crippled. The early difficulties of the expedition were traceable to defective organization, which Sir Robert Napier had to remodel after he took the field. The first of the series of posts by which the British line of march was secured was Senafe, about seven thousand feet above the sea-level, and sixty-five miles from Zulla. The road between these two places was made by the army, and it was liable to be interrupted in the rainy season, so that it was absolutely necessary to accumulate supplies in Senafe sufficient to feed the army in the event of communications being temporarily severed. The only food that could be obtained in the country was meat, and, in order to maintain the health of the troops, vegetables, tea, sugar, and spirits, had to be carried on every day's march. The supplies of these articles required by an army of even moderate dimensions quickly swell up to an enormous amount, and demand a large quantity of carriage. In this requisite the force was still deficient at the end of January, nearly a month after the commander-in-chief and a large part of his army had landed at Zulla. Sufficient time had not yet elapsed to repair an originally defective organization, and the ravages of epidemic among the animals. Adigerat, in February, an alteration was made in the general organization of the Transport Corps. It was separated into two divisions. One, called the lowland division, carried supplies from Zulla to Adigerat. The other, called the highland division, worked between Adigerat and the army advancing on Magdala. The highland train consisted of four divisions, of two thousand mules each, which were subdivided into troops of one hundred and fifty mules. Its organization was entirely military, and it worked under the department of the quartermaster-general. The two Punjab muletrains were the nucleus of the highland trains. The muleteers were armed, and under strict discipline, and, consequently, the highland train was independent of the regular army for escorts or convoys, or for guards for grass-cutters. In fact, this train had now become what Sir Robert Napier had wished to have originally. The cold nights of the highland region rendered blankets and warm clothing necessary, and thus increased the baggage necessarily carried by the troops; but, on the other hand, the followers, which are indispensable in India, were left behind at Zulla as an encumbrance. At The English expedition, which was accompanied by a large number of able scholars, has, as was to be expected, called forth many able works on Abyssinia, which have considerably added to our knowledge of the country. Among them we mention: Graham, "Glimpses of Abyssinia" (London, 1867); |