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object of the attacks of the reactionary party. The immediate occasion of his dismissal was a demand by the reactionists, growing out of an incident in the Vera Sassulitch trial, that advocates should be subjected to Government control. Count Pahlen opposed this proposal, and was removed, to make way for M. Nabokoff, a reactionist.

The resignation of M. de Reutern as Minister of Finance was officially announced July 19th. He was succeeded by M. Greig. General Timacheff, Minister of the Interior, resigned his position in December. The Emperor addressed him a letter of thanks for the service he had given, and conferred upon him the Vladimir order of the first class. Privy Councilor Makoff was appointed Provisional Minister of the Interior, and General Timacheff was appointed a member of the Senate. An intention was attributed to the Czar, toward the end of the year, to take advantage of the changes which the resignations of the old ministers were making necessary in the personality of his Cabinet to introduce a new policy of administration, and substitute for the present Committee of Ministers a Cabinet which should hold its councils under his presidency. In this Cabi

SAN SALVADOR (REPÚBLICA DE SAN SALVADOR), one of the five independent states of Central America. (For territorial division, area, population,* etc., see "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1873). The President of the Republic is Señor Don R. Zaldívar (May, 1876); and the Vice-President, Sr. Don T. Larreynaga. The Cabinet is composed of the following ministers: Interior, Sr. Don A. Lopez; Foreign Affairs, Sr. Don C. Ulloa; Justice, Sr. Don G. Aguilar; Public Instruction, Sr. Don M. Gallardo; and War and Finance, Sr. Don A. Moran. The President of the Corps Législatif is Sr. Don M. Olivares; President of the Senate, Sr. Don T. Moreno; and the Bishop, T. M. Pineda y Zaldaña.

The standing army is 1,000 strong, and the militia 5,000. The Minister of War reports the condition of the forces as most admirable, and that the troops were well supplied with good arms of all kinds.

The national revenue for 1876 was set down at $1,096,591, and the expenditure at $1,794,282, constituting a deficit of $697,691. The financial condition of the country has for a number of years been extremely unfavorable; but symptoms of improvement have of late been observed. For instance, the revenue and expenditures for 1878 were estimated at $1,500,000 and $1,300,000 respectively; and the Treasury returns for February and March of the same year show a total income of $261,

*European statisticians estimate the population as not exceeding 450,000.

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net it was understood that Count Shouvaloff would take the chief position, an event which was made more practicable and probable by the growing age and infirmities of Prince Gortchakoff. Nothing definite on this subject had been made known at the close of the year.

Attention has been paid recently to the communications with Siberia by way of the Arctic Ocean and the great rivers of that country. Three ships laden with corn, hemp, flax, etc., were sent from Siberia by the Arctic route to Europe in 1878. A great development of industrial activity has taken place in southern Siberia since the recent acquisition by Russia of Semivitchinsk, Kuldja, and the Ili Valley. The Russian legation at Teheran is promoting the construction of a railway between Tiflis and the Persian capital, which will be carried out, if necessary, exclusively with means supplied from Russia; and an extension of the line, it was said in September, was even contemplated to Herat. A grand national exhibition is projected to be held at Moscow in 1880, a date which will correspond with the twenty-fifth year of the accession of the present Emperor to the throne.

507, with but $73,792 of expenditures. The spirit tax alone yielded $146,760 in the first quarter; and the total yield of that monopoly for the year was estimated at $670,000. "The financial difficulties having now been removed," writes a newspaper correspondent, "the ordinary revenues of the country will, with economy and wise management, suffice to meet all present requirements." The floating home debt of the republic was reported to amount to $1,072,948 on September 30, 1876.

The exports for 1876 were of a total value of $3,605,023, against $3,179,514 in 1875; and the imports, $1,698,083, against $2,689,968 in 1875. The following tables exhibit the value of the foreign commerce of San Salvador for the year 1877, and the countries with which it was carried on:

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Great Britain were of nearly double the value of those to the United States, and the value of the imports from the former almost five times as great as that of the imports from the latter; but, what is more remarkable still, the absolute balance of trade in favor of San Salvador in both cases was almost the same, say very little less than $700,000. The value of the cotton goods imported from the United States was but $45,010, against $983,247 from Great Britain; but American machinery was imported to the amount of $20,418, against but $1,073 worth of British. The chief staples of export are indigo, coffee, sugar, balsam of Peru, and Indiarubber, the first thing by far the most important. The total indigo crop in 1877 amounted to 1,636,227 lbs., of which Great Britain alone took 1,055,700 lbs. There were 15,861,947 lbs. of coffee produced in the same year, and 3,521,138 lbs. of sugar. Rice is now grown in considerable quantities, as is also tobacco: of the former Costa Rica took 405,635 lbs., and of the latter 213,650; the entire crop amounting to 604,135 and 270,550 lbs. respectively. Of 313,062 lbs. of hides shipped, the larger portion went to the United States.

The total values of some of the principal commodities exported to all destinations in 1877 were as follows: Indigo, $1,636,227 (considerably less than usual); coffee, $1,686,194; silver ores, $142,466; sugar, $111,634; balsam of Peru, $50,137. Cotton fabrics were imported to the amount of $1,077,701; woolen fabrics, $58,832; silk fabrics, $53,215; hardware, $370,404; flour, $111,856 (mainly from California); provisions, $58,242; wines, spirits, etc., $48,065; glass and earthen ware, $64,448. The shipping employed in the foreign trade of the republic in 1877 was nearly 12,000 tons; of which 4,269 were for the United States, 4,564 for England, 1,080 for France, 788 for Germany, 726 for Costa Rica, and the remainder for other republics of Central and South America.

A new contract with the Pacific Mail Company was talked of. The Government expressed its willingness to pay $10,000 per annum in addition to the present subsidy, on condition that all through steamers should touch at both La Libertad and Acajutla every voyage, keeping up the same service as usual in the intermediate lines.

In Chalchuapa, a fertile district in the northern part of the republic, inducements are offered to immigrants. A free building site in the town, and security of person and property, are guaranteed. The lands are remarkably good, and those not private property can easily be obtained. Coffee, sugar, indigo, tobacco, etc., are the staples of production.

The Government has announced its intention of joining the Postal Union. Although the mail service is tolerably well provided for, so far as the establishment of mail routes is concerned within the republic, the rates of postage on letters have always been high.

Peace remained undisturbed throughout the republic during the year.

SERVIA, a principality of southeastern Europe. The Prince, Milan IV. Obrenovitch, born in 1854, succeeded to the throne by the election of the Servian National Assembly, after the assassination of his uncle, Prince Michael Obrenovitch, in June, 1868. He was crowned at Belgrade, and assumed the government August 22, 1872. He was married October 17, 1875, to Natalie de Keshko, the daughter of a Russian nobleman, and has one son, Prince Alexander, born August 14, 1876. The area of Servia is 18,687 square miles; population in 1878, 1,720,000. According to the budget for the year 1877-'78, the revenue was 38,800,338 "tax piasters" (1 piaster = 7 cents), and the expenditures 38,627,752 piasters. A loan was contracted in 1876 in consequence of the war, the amount of which is not known. The number of taxable persons in 1875 was 287,047. The imports in 1874 amounted to 32,456,362 francs, the exports to 39,001,878 francs, and the transit trade to 6,631,000 francs.

The army consists of the standing army and the national army. The former is estimated at 4,222 men, and the latter at 150,590.

For an account of the war with Turkey, and the provisions of the treaty of Berlin affecting Servia, see TURKEY and EASTERN QUESTION.

The Skupshtina was opened on July 7th, by Prince Milan. In his speech from the throne he stated the motives for entering upon a second campaign against Turkey, and thanked the national militia for their services in the field. He dweit upon the article of the treaty of San Stefano relative to the independence of Servia and the extension of her territory, and expected that the Congress would sanction Servian independence, and increase Servian territory by those districts in which Servians for centuries past have demanded union with Servia. The Prince also expected from the justice and good will of the Great Powers an amelioration of the condition of the Servian countries not united with Servia. Servia, independent and enlarged, would, he said, acquire fresh strength for the development of all the national forces. The Prince concluded by recommending to the Skupshtina to confine itself to the most pressing matters, such as the budget, the laws enacted during the war, the discussion of the law upon invalided soldiers, and the reorganization of the active army. Senator Matitch was then elected President of the Skupshtina. On July 18th the Skupshtina unanimously voted the budget for 1878 as introduced by the Government, with the exception of a few unimportant amendments, and on the 20th the bill with regard to the pensions for invalids and the families of soldiers who fell in the late war. M. Ristitch, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, addressing the House on the 24th, declared that Servia should be well satisfied with the result of the Berlin Congress. She had acquired more than her

neighbors, and it was impossible to obtain further concessions from the Great Powers without risking everything. The Skupshtina was closed on July 25th. In the latter part of August the entire Ministry resigned, and M. Ristitch was intrusted with the formation of a new Cabinet, which was announced in the early part of October, as follows: President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ristitch; Interior, Miloikovitch; Finances, Jovanovitch; War, Leshyanin; Worship, Wassilyevitch; Justice, Lazarevitch; Public Works, Alimpitch. The Skupshtina assembled again on December 3d. Of six deputies named by the Skupshtina, Prince Milan selected M. Taskakovitch as President, and M. Vasitch as VicePresident. In his speech from the throne he declared that the equal rights of Servian subjects of all religious denominations should be recognized.

On August 22d the Servians celebrated simultaneously the independence of Servia, Prince Milan's birthday, and his accession to the throne. The Prince issued a proclamation in which he announced a future era of peace, thanked the nation for the sacrifices it made during the war, congratulated the country on the accession of territory, and promised help to the families of those killed or injured during the hostilities.

SERVICE, UNITED STATES LIFE-SAVING. This institution was formally established during the past year, by an act of Congress ap

proved June 18, 1878. It is the only exclusively governmental establishment of the kind in the world, the life-saving institutions abroad being all voluntary societies, supported by the donations of benevolent persons; and to this country belongs the eminent distinction of having organized an elaborate system of relief for seafarers wrecked upon its coasts, backed by the means and energies of the Government.

Although the coast of the United States is more extended than that of any other maritime country, and is fraught with peculiar difficulties and perils to navigators, as many shipwrecks show, the public movements for protecting the lives imperiled by disaster upon it appear to have long been remarkably feeble and disconnected, considering the active sympathy called into play by constantly recurring calamity. The first regular attempt at organized succor was made by the Massachusetts Humane Society, an association of gentlemen originally formed in 1786, incorporated for general purposes of benevolence in 1791, but directed toward the alleviation of the miseries of shipwreck in 1789, when it placed some huts on desolate portions of the coast of Massachusetts for the shelter of mariners who might escape from the sea, the first building for this purpose being erected on Lovell's Island, near Boston. In 1807 this society established the first lifeboat station at Cohasset. Subsequently it erected a number of others. Its efforts, although necessarily limited by reliance upon volunteer

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LIFE-SAVING CREW WITH HAND-CART LOADED WITH APPARATUS.

crews and by the conditions of extemporized service, were of such value as to evoke at various times some pecuniary aid from both the State and the General Government. An appropriation of $5,000 made by Congress in 1847,

"for furnishing the lighthouses on the Atlantic coast with the means of rendering assistance to shipwrecked mariners," which for two years lay unused in the Treasury, was permitted to be expended by this society in 1849. In 1855

it received from Congress an appropriation of $10,000; in 1857, another of $10,000; and again in 1870, one of $15,000. The extension in 1872 of the Government life-saving service to Cape Cod relieved the society of its onerous charge in this region, and enabled it to devote its main energies to the better protection of other parts of the Massachusetts coast. The society still continues its wardenship of such localities, and has now 78 stations. No other organized efforts, outside of those of the Government subsequently described, were made to mitigate the distresses of shipwreck, beyond those of three or four other societies, all ephemeral in their character, except the Life-saving Benevolent Association of New York, chartered by the Legislature of that State in 1849, which is still in existence, but whose operations have been mainly exerted in other and limited channels of benevolence.

For nearly half a century the efforts of the Government for the protection of navigators upon our coasts were listless and occasional. In 1807 an attempt was made to organize a national Coast Survey, which failed. The charts and sailing directions used for the guidance of mariners were for a long period of foreign origin, and extremely untrustworthy. These were superseded, however, by charts and a "Coast Pilot" of great value, made by the Messrs. Blunt from surveys of leading harbors and the more frequented and perilous parts of the Atlantic coast, undertaken at their own expense. In 1820 there were but 55 lighthouses, all poorly built, mostly badly located, and furnished with oil lamps of inferior illuminating power. In 1832 the important step was taken of establishing the Coast Survey, which at once began its magnificently comprehensive labors and the publication of complete and accurate charts. About the same time the Engineer Corps of the army began a similar survey of the Great Lakes. The gathering movement in aid of commerce extended to the lighthouse system, which by 1837 had 208 fixed and floating lights in operation. At the latter date Congress passed an act authorizing suitable public vessels to cruise upon the coast to assist shipping in distress, and the revenue cutters were designated for this duty; an action which resulted in as much benefit as could have been expected from the limited number of vessels comprising the fleet. No other measures in aid of the mariner were taken till 1848, a date which marks the inception of the Life-saving Service. In August of that year a vigorous and graphic appeal was made in the House of Representatives by the Hon. William A. Newell, of New Jersey, which secured an appropriation of $10,000 for providing surf-boats and other appliances for rescuing life and property from shipwreck on the coast of that State. With this money eight buildings were erected at different points, and furnished accordingly. An important feature of these appointments was the life-car, the invention of which is in dispute

between Mr. Joseph Francis, of New Jersey, then a boat-builder of the Novelty Iron Works of New York, and Captain Douglas Ottinger, an officer of the Revenue Marine, under whose supervision_the_establishment of these stations was effected. In March, 1849, Congress made a further appropriation of $20,000 for lifesaving purposes. With half this sum eight buildings were erected and furnished on the coast of Long Island, under the supervision of Mr. Edward Watts, a civil engineer, aided by a committee of the before-mentioned New York Life-saving Benevolent Association. The remainder of the money was devoted to establishing six additional stations on the coast of New Jersey, under the superintendence of Lieutenant (now Captain) John McGowan, of the Revenue Marine, assisted by a committee of the Philadelphia Board of Underwriters. The same year, as before stated, an unexpended appropriation of $5,000, made two years before, was allowed to be expended by the Massachusetts Humane Society upon Cape Cod, so that life-saving protection was extended simultaneously to the coasts of Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey, thus inuring to the benefit of the commerce of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The newly established stations, though manned upon occasion only by extemporized crews, so proved their value at several scenes of shipwreck that the next year, 1850, Congress again appropriated $20,000 for life-saving purposes. Half this sum went to the establishment of additional stations on the coast of Long Island, and one at Watch Hill, Rhode Island, under the supervision of Lieutenant Joseph Noyes, of the Revenue Marine, cooperated with by the New York Lifesaving Benevolent Association. The remaining $10,000 was used in placing life-boats at different points on the coasts of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas, and sheltering them with boat-houses. The growing interest in the protection of navigation was strikingly shown two years later by the act of Congress organizing the Lighthouse Board. The system of lighting the coast had continued to be imperfect, although the number of lights had been increased to 320-a paltry number, however, for the then second commercial nation in the world; and all but seven of them were oil lamps with common reflectors. But in 1852, the date of the legal organization of the Board, this service underwent a memorable transformation. A scientific programme for regularly lighting the coast was adopted; towers of masonry or iron, built by the highest engineering skill, arose at selected points, crowned with the splendid Fresnel lenses, whose drum of prisms augments the light eightfold; responsible keepers were appointed, under inspection and discipline, as wardens of these beacons; and the work of development was begun which has resulted in the establishment of 1,336 lights on the seacoasts and the shores of the great Western rivers, together with a large number of day

marks, fog-signals, and buoys. The Coast Survey was also continuing its vast hydrographic labors, extended to a study of the Gulf Stream and its influences, and the laws and operations of tides, currents, winds, and storms, and changes of the shore, and involving the copious issue of the best possible charts and other publications of signal value to seafarers and maritime interests generally. It is possible that the achievements of these two noble branches of the public service, acting on the mind of the nation, had a reciprocal effect upon the fortunes of the nascent Life-saving Service; for in the years 1853 and 1854 Congress appropriated $42,500 for its uses. With this money fourteen new stations were added to those on the New Jersey coast, built under the care of Mr. S. C. Dunham, and eleven on the coast of Long Island, under the supervision of Mr. J. N. Schillenger. Twenty-three life-boats were also placed at points upon Lake Michigan, and several others at various places on the Atlantic and Lake coasts. Exclusive of the boats at the 55 stations on the New York and New Jersey coasts, there were in 1854 eighty-two life-boats at different localities elsewhere.

The measures taken up to this time, although dictated by frequent appalling catastrophes, had nevertheless a certain indeterminate and groping character. The life-boats provided and the stations established were doubtless of occasional and even signal benefit, but the lack of responsible custodians for these means and appliances of relief rendered them in a great degree nugatory. The boats in many cases were appropriated to private uses or fell into dilapidation. In some instances natural changes in the beaches, wrought by winds and tides, made the stations out of situation for use, and the ravages of time and weather had told upon them all, while their equipments became diminished by pillage or worthless by decay. Heart-rending sccnes of disaster occurred where, either through the paucity of the stations or the time-eaten character of the appliances at hand, succor was impossible. By 1854 the inefficiency of these means, emphasized by frequent calamity, had become glaring. Public sentiment now excited Congress toward action. A bill for the increase and repair of the stations and the guardianship of the life-boats, passed by the Senate in 1853, had failed to reach the House before its adjournment. A frightful disaster on the New Jersey coast, the wreck of the Powhatan, involving the loss of 300 lives, brought it up at the session of 1854, when it became a law. It is noteworthy that its passage was strenuously opposed in discussion in the House, and upon a yea and nay vote 45 members recorded their votes against it. Under its provisions a superintendent, at a compensation of $1,500 per annum, was appointed for each of the two coasts; a keeper was assigned each station at a salary of $200; the stations and their equipments were made serviceable, and bonded custodians were secured for the

life-boats. Partial improvement in the service resulted; but the absence of drilled and disciplined crews, of regulations of any kind for the government of those concerned, and above all of energetic central administration of its affairs, were radical defects, and the record continued to be one of meager benefits checkered by the saddest failures. In Congress, in 1869, the Hon. Charles Haight, of New Jersey, at the instance of a resolution of the Legislature of his State, moved an amendment to an appropriation bill, providing for the employment of crews of surfmen at the stations, which, though urged with great force, was defeated. Through the vigorous efforts of the Hon. S. S. Cox, however, a substitute was adopted, which secured the employment of these crews, though only at alternate stations. This was a measure of signal benefit, chiefly because it opened the door to the subsequent employment of crews at all the stations. At the time it was not enough to more than improve the existing conditions, and the service, which then scarcely deserved the name, remained half abortive until 1871.

This was the date of the organization of the present life-saving system. Order now began to stream from chaos. During the winter of 1870-'71 several fatal disasters, some of them occurring near the stations, others at points where stations should have been, and all referable to irresponsible employees, inadequate boats and apparatus, or remoteness of lifesaving appliances, roused the Treasury Department, then under the administration of the Hon. George S. Boutwell, to make proper representations upon the subject to Congress, which on April 20, 1871, appropriated $200,000, and authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to employ crews of surfmen at such stations and for such periods as he might deem necessary. In the February previous Mr. Sumner I. Kimball took charge of the Revenue Marine Service, and the life-saving stations, being then under the charge of that bureau, also became the subject of his consideration. The first step was to definitely ascertain their condition. At his instance, Captain John Faunce, of the Revenue Marine, was detailed for this duty, and set out on a tour of inspection of the stations, Mr. Kimball accompanying him a portion of the way. Captain Faunce's report was submitted on August 9, 1871. The report disclosed stations too remote from each other and from the scenes of periodic shipwreck; the houses filthy, misused, dilapidated, some in ruins, the remainder needing enlargement and repairs; outfits defective or lacking, even such articles as powder, rockets, shot-lines, hawsers, and shovels being often wanting; apparatus rusty or broken through neglect, sometimes destroyed by vermin, or by those evil persons who, as Bacon says, are but a higher kind of vermin; larceny everywhere active, every portable article being stolen from some of the stations; the keepers often living

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