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The final appellate jurisdiction will not be vested, as heretofore, in the Ruling Senate, but in the Committee of Ministers or a Department of the Council of State. The district chiefs will be nominated from the nobility by the provincial governor. Another part of Tolstoi's project makes the Zemstvos dependent bodies by ordaining that the president, who has hitherto been freely elected, shall be appointed by the Government and wear a uniform, and that he shall prescribe the order of business after receiving his instructions from the governor of the province. An imperial ukase, dated July 19, 1889, sanctioning a decision of the Council of State, greatly diminishes and restricts the functions and jurisdiction of Russian juries. An agitation against trial by jury has been carried on for a long time by reactionaries, on the ground that in cases of political crime, or in which administrative oppression or provocation could be assigned as a cause of an offense, the offender is invariably acquitted. In future, certain categories of crimes and misdemeanors will be adjudicated without a jury, but by a specially constituted court, composed not only of professional judges but of representatives of the various classes of the community, appointed by the Minister of Justice. The cases that are excluded from the competency of juries include all offenses and derelictions of Government employés, rebellion, resistance to the authorities, insults offered to officials, sentinels, or constables, tampering with official seals, rescuing criminals, insubordination of laborers employed in Government mines, factories, or lands, contraband traffic in Government salt, smuggling and breach of the excise laws, abandonment of a ship or railroad-engine, resistance to custom-house authorities, bank frauds and forgeries, and polygamy.

Russification of the Baltic Provinces.During the reign of Alexander III the German schools of Livonia, Esthonia, and Courland have been compelled to adopt the Russian language; a law has been enacted requiring all children of mixed marriages to be reared in the Orthodox faith; and disciplinary measures have been taken against more than sixty Evangelical clergymen of Livonia. The so-called German provinces are only German in the sense that Germans have composed the ruling classes for 700 years, and by the favor of former Czars have been able to impose their religion and institutions upon the rest of the population. The noble and burgher classes are German by blood. They constitute 200,000 out of a total population of 1,700.000, or less than 12 per cent. The peasantry speak the Lettish or Esth tongue. The Letts, who are allied to the Russian race, and the Esths, a Finnish tribe, have no affection for the German feudal lords, although the former are with few exceptions Protestants. The Government has determined to abolish the special administrative and legislative privileges granted in former times to the Baltic provinces. The Panslavists desire to impose the national religion and language on the Germans, who have always excited the jealousy of Russians because, owing not less to their native energy and ability than to the patronage of the Czars, they have been represented in the highest posts of the Government and the army in strikingly disproportionate numbers. Not VOL. XXIX.-48 A /

long ago an enumeration showed that 24 per cent. of the field officers, 58 per cent. of the staff, and 75 per cent, of the general officers of the Russian army were of German extraction.

Some of the best of the German schools have been closed because they refused to introduce Russian as the language of instruction. In February, 1889, the juristic faculty was reorganized in pursuance of an imperial ukase, so as to give predominance to Russian law and language. By a recent order, religious instruction must be imparted in the language familiarly spoken in each locality, and German teachers are required to be able to speak the Russian and the local language. German pastors who were banished to Siberia for inducing Letts who had embraced the state religion to return to the Lutheran faith, have been pardoned, but not allowed to return to Livonia. The Ministry of the Interior, which has supervision over the foreign confessions, issued a decree in July forbidding collections to be taken in Evangelical congregations for missionary purposes, or remittances to be sent abroad for the support of Protestant missions. In August an imperial edict was published abolishing the old German courts and system of judicature, controlled by the German barons, and introducing the Russian judicial code of 1864, thus assimilating the legal procedure to that of the rest of the empire.

Nihilistic Conspiracies.-One of the leaders of the Nihilist refugees in Switzerland, named Thikomiroff, publicly abjured his revolutionary sentiments, and in January, 1889, was pardoned by the Czar. Shortly after this a new attempt against the life of the Czar was planned in Switzerland. The Russian Minister of Justice was warned of this by disinterested persons, and the inquiries that he instituted resulted in the arrest of many persons in Wilna and other places. Some bombs that were made in Zürich were discovered by the Swiss authorities, who arrested and eventually expelled several Russians. Several bombs were known to have been sent to Russia, but the search for these was ineffectual. Officers of the artillery and other branches of the Russian military service who had formed a secret political club in which a change in the system of government was discussed were found out, and many were arrested in Cronstadt and St. Petersburg and in the provinces, and sent to prison or to Siberia. Instead of having to do with a single revolutionary organization, as formerly, the police came upon traces of different societies having no connection with one another, and pursuing different aims and methods. The Czar again immured himself in Gatchina.

Treaty with Corea.-A treaty of commerce concluded with Corea is expected to open to Russian enterprise the frontier districts bordering on the south Ussuri region of the Amur. Besides the ports of Genssan, Chemalpo, and Fussan, and the cities of Séoul and Yanchuatsin, the town of Kong Chong in the north of Corea is made free to Russian traders, and the Russian Government is at liberty to establish a consulate there. Russians are permitted to acquire a site for a commercial colony. Arms, opium, spirits, and books are the only articles that can not be imported. The duties are lower than those collected at the seaport towns.

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ST. MARY'S FALLS CANAL. The St. Mary's river connects Lake Superior with Lake Huron, and it is the only outlet for the waters of Lake Superior. The head of the St. Mary's river is at Point Iroquois, near the southeastern corner of Whitefish Bay, and the foot of that portion which is at present navigated by the commerce of the United States is at Point Detour, at the head of Lake Huron. The body of water called St. Mary's river is not a river but a strait, composed of several lakes, connected by narrow and tortuous streams. The fall from Lake Superior to Lake Huron is 20.5 feet, and it occurs in the first 50 miles of the channel navigated by American vessels. One tenth of a foot of this fall occurs between the head of the river and the Falls of St. Mary, a distance of 15 miles; 18 feet are at the falls, or rapids; and the other 2:3 feet are between these and the head of Mud Lake, 35 miles below. The greatest single fall is at the East Neebish, the rapids at the foot of Lake George. The American channel, as navigated through these several bodies of water, is 75 miles long. The lower 25 miles, from the head of Mud Lake to Lake Huron, present an abundance of water. The upper portion begins at Point Iroquois, turns northeast three miles below St. Mary's Falls, passes north of Sugar Island, then east of this island through Lake George, then past the East Neebish to the eastward of Neebish Island into Mud Lake, thence through Mud Lake and Potaganissing Bay to the west of Drummond Island and into Lake Huron. The improvement of St. Mary's river began in 1852, in the construction of the first lock at the Sault," a grant of land for which was made to the State of Michigan. This canal cost $1,000,000. The lock had two chambers, each 70 feet wide and 350 feet long between gates, and passed vessels drawing a maximum of 11 feet. This structure, opened for business in 1855, met the immediate necessities of the early development around the shores of Lake Superior, especially in iron and copper ore productions. The first year's tonnage through the lock was 100,000 tons; five years later it was 400,000; ten years later, 700,000; in 1875, 1,260,000; and in 1880, 1,750,000. By this time the iron ores of Lake Superior were supplying one third of the ore for the total pig-iron production of the United States.

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Ten years had not elapsed from the completion of the first canal and lock before the rapid increase of tonnage demonstrated the necessity of another structure, with largely increased capacity. The construction of the lock now in use gave this; and it is one of the grandest engineering works of the time. The dimensions of this work, known as the second canal, are, length 515 feet, width 80 feet, and 17 feet of water over the miter sill. It was opened for business, Sept, 1, 1881. While this work was in progress, extensive improvements were made in the canal above the lock, and at different points in the river below, by which was obtained nearly an equal depth of water with that carried by the lock

16 feet. This increased capacity through the entire strait was advantageous to the shipping on the lakes and to all producing interests. The increased draught of water largely augmented the vessel-carrying capacity and diminished the cost of transportation. The saving in the cost of iron-ore transportation alone from Lake Superior in the following year was $800,000. The cost of this canal was $2,000,000.

But the tonnage once more began to crowd the lock capacity, and Congress moved in the direction of relief by the passage of a resolution, Dec. 29, 1881, calling on the War Department for information as to what additional works were necessary on the St. Mary's river and St. Mary's Falls to complete the improvements thereof in a manner to serve the interests of the commerce of the northern lakes. Under this call, Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, then in charge, reported, Jan. 14, 1882, recommending "the construction of a dry dock on the canal, the improvement of the Hay-Lake channel, and the immediate construction of another lock." The new lock, which occupies the site of the original lock of 1855, is 800 feet long, 100 feet wide, and has 21 feet of water over the miter sill. The estimated total cost of these works is, for the Hay-Lake channel, $2,659,115; for the lock and canal, $4,738,865. Hydraulic machinery operates the gates and valves of the locks, and a movable dam has been constructed, designed to stop the flow of water through the canal or locks whenever an accident to the locks or the banks below requires it. These improvements have rendered no longer pertinent the objections that were made, early in 1879, to the effect that "the greatest obstruction to this water-way is in the St. Mary's river, between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, the present condition of which permits vessels of twelve feet draught to pass; and although the Government has made large expenditure in the construction of a ship-canal for vessels drawing sixteen feet of water, it can not be available for the purposes designated until such further improvements are made to the river below as will give the required depth of water, and thus save the present loss of 30 per cent. in the carrying capacity of modern lake vessels, and the annually recurring loss of so much of the public wealth." It is the purpose of the engineers to give a depth of twenty-one feet through the entire chain of lakes by deepening the St. Clair flats and the Lime-Kilns channel; but, as the only lock is on the Sault St. Marie, the work is begun there. Ultimately, the deepening of all the lake channels will admit of the use of vessels of 2,500 tons burden. Boats of great depth carry coal and freight from Buffalo to the ports of Lake Superior, and bring return cargoes of grain and iron ore. The ore enriches manufacturing cities like Cleveland, Buffalo, and Pittsburg; and the grain contributes largely to the commerce of the city of New York. The distance from the St. Mary's Falls Canal to the head of Lake Superior is 397 miles. Early in 1888 the report of the United States engineer in

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charge of the improvements at the St. Mary's Falls Canal stated that, for the year 1887, the down freight was 1,749,536 tons, and the up freight 1,745,313 tons. The total freight-charges, including terminal charges, were $10,075,153; average freight-charges per ton per mile, 23.100 of a cent. The United States Bureau of Statistics gave the average freight-charges per ton per mile on the trunk railroads for 1886, in round numbers, at one cent. To realize what this benefit means, it is only necessary to show that it represents more than ten times the cost of improving the canal and St. Mary's river to that date, or about six times the estimated cost of the proposed further improvement. At the close of 1888 a similar report stated that the canal was open to navigation from May 7 to Dec. 11.

In the 212 days of navigation, in 1888, there passed through the St. Mary's Canal an aggregate tonnage of over 6,200,000. This, for seven months of navigation, would average 900,000 a month, or nearly double the usual monthly tonnage of the Suez Canal. In 1889 the tonnage was 7,400,000. In other words, St. Mary's Canal does as much in six or seven months as the Suez Canal does in an entire year; and it has one quarter of all the seaport tonnage of the United States. An equally noteworthy fact is the steady increase in the size of vessels. Thus, while there was a decrease of 1,552 vessels, there was an increase of 37 per cent. in the registered tonnage, and an increase in the average cargo of 40 per cent. The average cargo of registered vessels in 1887 was 644 tons; in 1888, 876-6 tons. The to

The length of wire of telegraph lines in operation was 2,323 kilometres in 1888, with 83 offices. The number of messages was 356,779 in the same year; the receipts $99,354; and the expenses $82,494. A telephone service connects San Salvador with Santa Tecla and Santa Ana.

In 1887 the 38 post-offices handled 725,622 items of mail matter, 266,033 being letters, 487.272 newspapers; 247 postal-cards: 1,839 sample packages; 433 registered letters; and 6,309 Government dispatches.

Commerce. There has been a steady increase in foreign trade, owing to the remunerative prices that coffee and indigo have brought for several years past. The imports rose from $2,134,095 in 1885 to $2,427,643 in 1886; $3,343,820 in 1887; and $4,076,404 in 1888; while the exports, inclusive of specie and bullion, increased as follows: 1885, $5,716,428; 1886, $4,754,649; 1887, $5,242,697; 1888, $6,707,024. The American trade exhibits these figures:

tal valuation of commerce through the canal in
1888 was $82,156,020, an increase of $3,000,000
over 1887. It was expected that no material in-
crease would be shown, because of the comple-
tion of three new lines of railroad which com-
pete with the canal. The report ascribes this
result to the increase in shipments of grain,
manufactured iron, and copper. The annual
report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889,
includes some of the facts noted above, and
brings them down to a later date. During the
past fiscal year the tonnage passing through this
canal has been much greater than in any other
year since its construction, and far in excess of
the business of the Suez Canal, in the months
during which the St. Mary's river was open to
navigation. About 8.500 vessels, not counting
rafts, etc., passed through the St. Mary's Canal,
carrying 6,932,203 tons of freight. This vast
quantity was by no means made up of iron ore,
coal, and wheat alone; it included, besides 1,854,-
000 tons of coal, 3,414,000 tons of iron ore, and
13,084,000 bushels of wheat, in round figures,
over 30,000 tons of copper, 3,500 tons of silver
ore, 2,152,000 barrels of flour, 59,000 tons of man-
ufactured iron, 207,000 barrels of salt, 33,700 1887
tons of building-stone, 276,180,000 feet of lum-
ber, and 351,000 tons of miscellaneous freight.
On July 16, 1889, notice was given that the draught
of vessels passing through the canal might be
increased to fifteen feet and three inches. The
Government of the Dominion of Canada has seen
the importance of a canal at this point, and sur-
veys have been made looking to the construction
of a canal around the falls of the St. Mary's
river on the Canadian side.

SALVADOR. a republic in Central America. Area, 18,720 square miles; population, Jan. 1, 1888, 664,513; capital, San Salvador; population, 16,327.

Government. The President is Gen. Francisco Menendez, whose term of office will expire in 1891. His Cabinet is composed of the following ministers: Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Public Worship, Dr. M. Delgado; Finances, War, and Navy, Dr. S. Mendez; Public Instruction and Charity. Dr. J. Interiano; Interior, J. Larreynaga. The United States Minister, resident at Guatemala, is Lansing B. Mizner. The American Consul at San Salvador is Thomas T. Tunstall. The Consul-General of San Salvador in the United States is Antonio Pérez Bonalde.

Finances. The internal debt amounted in 1888 to $6,723,590; the income in the same year was $3,603,000, and the outlay $3,523,000. During the summer the London and Southwestern Bank of London floated for the Government a 6-per-cent. railroad loan of £300,000 at 954, to run till Aug. 15, 1914, with a 2-per-cent. per annum sinking-fund attached to it, for the completion of the Sonsonate and San Salvador Railroad from Ateos to San Salvador. Salvador has no other foreign indebtedness.

Army. The strength of the regular army is 2,000 men; of the militia, 10,000.

Communications.--The following lines of railway are in operation: From Acajutla to Sonsonate, 24 kilometres, and from Sonsonate to Amate Maria, 71 kilometres; in course of construction, the line from Amate Maria to San Salvador.

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Mines and Quarries.-The number of mines and quarries, many of them being worked in Salvador, in 1889, was 180, of which two were limestone; six flagstones; two argentiferous lead, one tin and lead, one rock crystal, one marble, one tin, three non-argentiferous lead, nine iron, fifteen chalk, one quicksilver, twenty silver, one hundred gold and silver, seven copper, four coal, and five argentiferous copper.

Education.--Public instruction is free from supervision by the Church in Salvador, and is gratuitous and obligatory. The number of primary public schools in 1888 was 559-375 for boys and 184 for girls. The average attendance during the year was 21,200, against 11,468 in 1874. There are three grammar-schools, attended by 343 pupils. At the capital the Government supports two normal schools and a polytechnic institute, the number of pupils aggregating 294. In the National University-reorganized on Feb. 15, 1886-98 studied law in 1888, 59 medicine and surgery, 13 chemistry, and 10 engineering.

SAMOA, a kingdom in the western Pacific Ocean, occupying fourteen volcanic islands. Treaties of commerce were concluded with the United States on Jan. 17, 1878, with Germany on Jan. 24, 1879, and with Great Britain on Aug. 28, 1879. By the convention of Sept. 2. 1879, the town and district of Apia were placed under a municipality, at the head of which were the consuls of Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. In 1887 King Malietoa was seized by the Germans, deported on a war-vessel, and held in captivity in the Cameroons and the Marshall Islands.

Statistics. The area of the islands is 2,787 square kilometres, and the native population in 1874 was 34.265 persons, of whom 16,568 were on the island of Upolu, 12,530 on Savaii, and 3,746 on Tutuila. There are besides about 300 whites and 1,000 laborers on the plantations, imported from other islands. The natives belong to the Polynesian race, and profess Chris

tianity. The chief articles of importation are clothing, hardware, iron manufactures, arms and ammunition, provisions, drinks, animals, and coal. The Germans have plantations in Upolu, comprising the greater part of the cultivated land on the north side of the island, their area being 9,260 acres. They cultivate cotton for three years after clearing the land, then plant cocoanut palms and sow to grass, and, when the trees have a growth of six years, cattle are admitted to graze the land. There are 500 or 600 tons of copra or dried cocoanut-kernels exported. Coffee of superior quality is also cultivated, and the culture is extending. The laborers are brought from the Solomon, New Hebrides, New Britain, New Ireland, Ellice, and Gilbert Islands, and while on the plantations they are well fed and cared for. (For maps of the islands, see the “Annual Cyclopædia" for 1886 and 1888.)

The Samoan Question.—The firm opposition of the United States, and a change in the attitude of Great Britain, impelled Prince Bismarck before the beginning of 1889 to restrain the annexationist proceedings of the German consular and naval authorities in Samoa. A formal arrangement to respect the neutrality of Samoa existed between Germany and England, and with the United States there was a diplomatic understanding to the same effect. Yet at the Washington Conference of 1887 the English Government was willing to agree to German predominance. The powers agreed at the conference that the neutrality of Samoa should be respected, and that the Samoans might select their own rulers. The Samoan treaty with the United States concedes the same privileges that had been or might in the future be granted to any other government. The German consul, Dr. Knappe, when informed by Capt. Brandeis, Tamasese's German adviser, that he was going to make peace with Mataafa, owing to lack of ammunition and the desertion of his men, induced the naval commander to send a party of marines against Mataafa to enforce disarmament. This action, which resulted in the combat of Dec. 18, 1888, and the killing of 20 and wounding of 30 Germans, had no other motive than a desire to bring about the German annexation of the islands. When Prince Bismarck, on Jan. 27, 1889, said in the Reichstag that Germany and England were going hand in hand in Samoa, he was told by Lord Salisbury, in a dispatch to the British ambassador at Berlin, that England declined any responsibility for the conflict between the German Government and a part of the inhabitants of Samoa. Before the warlike operations of December, 1888, Prince Bismarck had directed the consul at Apia to restrict his action to the protection of the lives and property of Germans. Capt. Fritze, the German naval commander, referred Capt. Leary, who protested against the violation of the property of Americans by German marines, to the consul; but in January, 1889, the Chancellor instructed naval officers hereafter, before taking any action, to examine both the political and the military grounds. On Jan. 8 Count Bismarck telegraphed to the German consul that annexation was impossible, on account of the agreement with the United States and England. Tamasese was recognized as King not only by Germany but by Great

Britain; yet the Samoans flocked to the camp of Mataafa. The German authorities declared war against Mataafa, proclaimed martial law, bombarded villages, searched English vessels, destroyed the property of Americans, suppressed the English newspaper in Apia, assumed control of the post-office, arrested British and American citizens, and threatened to bombard Apia. Admiral Kimberly sailed for Samoa on the "Trenton," with powers to inquire into the situation and the acts of the Germans, and to oppose their subjugation of the native Government as a violation of a positive agreement between the treaty powers. The German Government, which had requested the co-operation of the United States, was informed that the American Government was willing to aid in the restoration of order on the basis of the preservation of the complete independence of Samoa. Secretary Bayard protested to Count Arco-Valley that the German authorities in Samoa overstepped the bounds recognized in the law of nations when they assumed to subject American citizens in Samoa to military law. Prince Bismarck telegraphed orders to the naval commander to withdraw the proclamation of martial law, as far as it applied to foreigners, and to Consul Knappe (who was shortly afterward recalled) to retract the demand he had made to have the administration of the country temporarily given into his charge, and to desist from the control of the administration. In the diplomatic appropriations Congress voted $100,000 for the purpose of establishing a coaling-station at Pango Pango harbor, and $500,000 for the execution of the treaty obligations of the United States in Samoa, and the protection of American rights. Consul Sewall, who was objectionable to the Germans, was asked to resign. The English consul in Apia had at first declared that the proclamation of Jan. 19 had no validity as respects British subjects, but when the German naval commander issued a counter-declaration that Englishmen were subject to martial law, he announced that he had been officially informed that the German Government had declared war against the Samoan Islands, and therefore advised English captains of vessels to submit to searches for contraband of war.

On Jan. 19 Prince Bismarck proposed to the Government of the United States à renewal of the conference of 1887. Mr. Bayard accepted the invitation, on condition that in the mean time belligerent action should be suspended. In his letter the Chancellor renewed the declaration made in 1887 that Germany would not call in question the independence of Samoa nor the equal rights of the treaty powers. The German authorities in Samoa, in the beginning of March, withdrew their decree establishing martial law, and abandoned the right of search. Mataafa remained in his intrenched camp with his army of 6,000 warriors. The German consul could not induce him to agree to terms of peace involving a preponderant German influence in the administration, nor would he consent to lay down his arms, but he agreed to keep a truce during the diplomatic negotiations. Tamasese, whose following had dwindled to 600 men, remained in the fort at Zuatuanu.

Dr. Stübel was sent to Apia as consul-general

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