ernment of King Alfonso was closed on January 5th, when several changes in the ministry took place. Martin de Herrera was appointed Colonial Minister; Manuel Silvela, Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Calderon y Collantes, Minister of Justice. On April 25th, the Cortes were opened by the King. In a speech from the throne, he referred in satisfactory terms to the country as at peace, and promised the prompt pacification of Cuba, the insurgents being totally disorganized. The Cortes were asked to unite in raising the country from the abyss into which it had fallen. The difference

in the Sulu Archipelago had been settled satisfactorily with England and Germany. There was an enormous deficiency in the treasury, owing to the war expenses, and it was necessary to reorganize the finances of the country with the support of the deputies. Señor Posada Herrera was reëlected President of the Cortes by a vote of 265 to 5, the Constitutionalists abstaining from voting. Señor Canovas del Castillo, the Prime Minister, addressing a meeting of Senators, said the cabinet would pursue a conciliatory policy. If revolutionary violence went so far as to menace the institu

tions of the country, the Government, with the support of the Senate, would be able to defend the throne and dynasty. On May 5th, the Minister of Foreign Affairs made a speech in the Senate, opposing an amendment which had been moved to the address in reply to the speech from the throne, demanding that the Government should support the restoration of the Pope's temporal power. The minister pointed out that it did not become Spain to interfere in questions which did not come within her province, and which affected nations allied with her. The Catholic party subsequently withdrew the amendment, the Government being, however, at the same time, requested to adopt the most suitable means for securing for the Pope complete and real independence. In the Chamber of Deputies, on May 9th, Señor Gamazo, a member of the opposition, attacked the foreign policy of the Government. With regard to the treaty with Germany and England, Señor Silvela, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Señor Collantes, the Minister of Justice, replied, defending the Protocol signed in April, and declaring that, by

that treaty, the Spanish sovereignty over the Sulu Archipelago was recognized, and liberty of foreign commerce tolerated with places not actually occupied by Spain. With regard to the relations with the United States, Señor Collantes stated that at the accession of the present Government, between two and three years ago, the relations of Spain with the United States were in an extremely critical condition; but during that time all the subjects of complaint on the part of the United States had been satisfactorily settled, including pecuniary indemnification to the officers and crew of the Virginius, the prosecution of Burriel, the pardon of sundry Americans condemned to death for treason to Spain, the restitution of their confiscated property, and the settlement of various other private claims, besides two great subjects which had been for many years fruitful sources of discord between the two countries, namely, the subject of extradition, and, above all, that of the true construction of the treaty of 1795.

The declaration of Señor Calderon y Collantes as to the understanding of his Government

1. No citizen of the United States residing in Spain, her adjacent islands, or her ultramarine possessions, charged with acts of sedition, treason, or conspiracy against the institutions, the public security, the integrity of the territory, or against the Supreme Government, or any other crime whatsoever, shall be subject to trial by an exceptional tribunal, but exclusively by the ordinary jurisdiction, except in the case of being captured with arms in hand.

2. Those who, not coming within this last case, may be arrested or imprisoned, shall be deemed to have been so arrested or imprisoned by order of the civil authority, for the effects of the law of April 17, 1821, even though the arrest or imprisonment shall have been effected by armed force.

3. Those who may be taken with arms in hand, and who are therefore comprehended in the exception of the first article, shall be tried by ordinary council of war, in conformity with the second article of the herein before-mentioned law; but, even in this case, the accused shall enjoy for their defense the guarantees embodied in the aforesaid law of April 17, 1821.

4. In consequence whereof, as well in the cases mentioned in the third paragraph as in those of the

torneys and advocates, who shall have access to them at suitable times. They shall be furnished in due season with a copy of the accusation and a list of witnesses for the prosecution, which latter shall be examined before the presumed criminal, his attorney Articles xx. to xxxi. of the said law; they shall have and advocate, in conformity with the provisions of the right to compel the witnesses of whom they desire to avail themselves to appear and give testimony, or to do it by means of depositions; they shall prethey shall be permitted to be present and make their sent such evidence as they may judge proper, and selves, or by means of their counsel. defense in public trial, orally or in writing by them

the Audiencia of the Judicial District of the Captain5. The sentence pronounced shall be referred to before the ordinary judge or before the Council of General, according as the trial may have taken place War, in conformity also with what is prescribed in the above-mentioned law.

Cortes. In the course of the debate Señor CaIn July, the budget was agreed to in the novas del Castillo said the financial situation was improving. The Government had been able to abandon the system of raising loans to

pay the coupons. A copyright bill was adopted, whereby subjects of states whose legislation in regard to literary matters is similar to Spain's will have in Spain the same rights as Spanish subjects. The Cortes finally adjourned in the middle of July. Before their adjournment, the King had appointed Señor Orovio Minister of Finances. The insurrection in Cuba continued during the year, although the Government troops, under the chief command of General Martinez Campos, who had been appointed in 1876, made considerable progress in reconquering territory from the insurgents. The Governor-General, Jovellar, in order to induce the insurgents to return to their al

legiance, issued the following decree on May 5th:

of banishment decreed gubernatively by this GovARTICLE I. From the date of this decree, all orders ernment for political motives are hereby rescinded, and all proceedings now under way regarding the same are hereby overruled.

ART. II. The embargoes imposed gubernatively themselves for pardon before the termination of the on insurgents who have presented or may present war shall also be raised. There will, however, be excepted from the favor of disembargo the property of backsliding insurgents and that of the leaders of Government will adopt the measure it deems most the insurrection, in respect to which this General convenient, according to the special circumstances of each case.

ART. III. The property, embargoed gubernatively, of the disloyal (infidentes") who have since died, shall also be released from embargo, and delivered unto their lawful heirs, if these remain faithful to the Spanish nation.

ART. IV. The property referred to in the two preceding articles once returned, its owners or holders shall not sell, assign, transfer, or burden it in any manner until two years after the official publication of the complete pacification of the island.

ART. V. The proceeds of property before its return shall be considered as applied toward the expenses of the war, unless otherwise provided for, and its owners without any right to make reclamation of any nature whatsoever.

ART. VI. None of those whose property has been released from embargo shall either have the right to make reclamation for any loss or injury that may have been suffered by the property or object returned them.

ART. VII. To assist as far as possible in the return of said property, this Government will authorize the Governors and Lieutenant-Governors of the island to effect the same in each case, to those comprised in this decree, whose property is situated within their respective jurisdictions, with the due precautions which shall be communicated to them from the office of the Secretary of the General Government.

ART. VIII. The judicial proceedings actually under way against infidentes shall be forwarded until overruled or judged, as may result in law.

ART. IX. Concerning the property adjudged to the State, by sentence of competent tribunals, his Majesty's Government will decide in due time whatever it may deem most convenient.

ART. X. The requisite orders shall be issued through the office of the Secretary of this General Government, that the foregoing articles shall be duly complied with by whom it may concern.

On November 3d he issued another decree, declaring that all estates ruined during the war, and in the way of reconstruction, shall be free from contributions for five years from the date of the decree. Every new estate and all new property acquired in cities or villages of the central and oriental departments will have the same privilege. All industries and commerce in said departments newly established will be exempt for three years from contributions. All female cattle, either Spanish or foreign, imported into Cuba with the exclusive object of raising stock, will be duty free for two years. Instructions for the fulfillment of this decree were given at the respective centres of the island. The decree was received with much satisfaction.

On March 28th, the Spanish Government paid to Mr. Cushing, the Minister of the United States, the sum of £102,574 14s. 2d., being the first installment of the indemnification declared up to that time to citizens of the United States by the commission of arbiters. The remainder, amounting to £106,768 5s. 1d., was paid on October 8th.

STANLEY, HENRY M. The recent return from Africa of this noted traveler created a wide-spread interest in his achievements. He

was born near Denbigh, Wales, in 1840. His original name was John Rowlands. At the age of three he was sent to the poorhouse at St. Asaph, where he remained till he was thirteen, receiving there a good education. For a year he was a teacher at Mold, Flintshire, and then shipped at Liverpool as a cabin-boy, on a vessel bound to New Orleans. There he found employment with a merchant named Stanley, who subsequently adopted him and gave him his name. His benefactor died intestate, and young Stanley, at the outbreak of the civil war, enlisted in the Confederate army, was taken prisoner, volunteered in the United States navy, and subsequently became an acting ensign in the iron-clad Ticonderoga. After the close of the war he traveled in Turkey and Asia Minor, and in 1866 visited Wales. He gave a dinner to the children in St. Asaph poorhouse, telling them in a speech that, whatever success he had attained, or would attain in the future, he owed to the education he received there. In the spring of 1867 he returned to the United States, and in 1868 accompanied the British expedition to Abyssinia as correspondent of the New York Herald. In 1869 he was sent to Spain in the same capacity, and on October 17th of that year was

commissioned by the proprietor of the Herald to find Dr. Livingstone. After attending the opening of the Suez Canal, he visited Constantinople, Palestine, the Crimea, the Valley of the Euphrates, Persia, and India, and sailed from Bombay, October 12, 1870. He arrived at Zanzibar, January 6, 1871, and set out for the interior of Africa on March 21st, with 192 followers. He found Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji, Lake Tanganyika, November 10th, explored with him the northern portion of the lake, and began his return voyage on March 14, 1872. He arrived in England late in July, and gave an account of his expedition before the British Association at Brighton, August 16th. On August 27th the Queen sent him a gold snuffbox set with diamonds, and on October 21st he was banqueted by the Royal Geographical Society. In November he published "How I found Livingstone" (London and New York). In 1873 he received the patron's medal of the Royal Geographical Society. After the death of Livingstone, Mr. Stanley was commissioned, by the proprietors of the New York Herald and the London Telegraph, to explore the lake region of Equatorial Africa. As reported in his letters to those journals, he left Zanzibar in November, 1874, at the head of 350 men, diverged from the usual road at Upwapwa, reached the western frontier of Ugongo on December 31st, struck direct across an almost level plain, and at Tchiwyu, in the Urimi country, about the latitude of Ujiji, he found the waters flowing northward. Thence he followed the course of the river Shemeeyu for 350 miles, and reached Kagehyi, on the Victoria N'yanza Lake, February 27, 1875, having lost 194 men by death and desertion. He launched a boat, conveyed in pieces from the coast, and circumnavigated the lake, assisted by 30 canoes lent him by M'tesa, King of Uganda. His circumnavigation covered about 1,000 miles; he minutely explored the inlets, and found that the opinion of Burton and Livingstone, based on native reports, that N'yanza is a collection of lagoons, is wrong, and that Speke and Grant were right in declaring it to be one large lake, containing many islands. On April 17th he started to complete his exploration of the west side of the Victoria N'yanza. In November, 1876, Stanley reached Nyangwa, the farthest northern point attained by Livingstone or Cameron. He was on the Congo River for nine months, and reached the Atlantic coast in August, 1877. He returned to Europe at the beginning of 1878, where he was received with the highest honors. For the details of Stanley's recent explorations see GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS in this volume, also ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1876.

STEPHENS, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, member of Congress from Georgia. He was born in Talliaferro County, Ga., February 11, 1812. He graduated at Franklin College, Athens, Ga., in 1832, was admitted to the bar in 1834, and rapidly obtained a large and lucrative prac

tice at Crawfordville. He was elected to the Legislature of Georgia in 1836, and was reelected for five successive terms. In 1842 he was elected to the State Senate. In 1843 he was elected as a Whig to Congress, and held his seat till 1859. In February, 1847, he submitted a series of resolutions in relation to the Mexican War, which afterward formed the platform of the Whig party. He opposed the Clayton Compromise in 1848, and took a leading part in the compromises of 1850. The passage of the Kansas and Nebraska Act in 1854 in the House of Representatives was strongly supported by him as chairman of the Committee on Territories. After the breaking up of the Whig party, he acted with the Democrats. At the close of the 35th Congress, Mr. Stephens declined to be again a candidate, and on July 2, 1859, he made a speech at Augusta, Ga., announcing his retirement from public life. During the Presidential canvass of 1860 he sustained Douglas, and denounced those who advocated a dissolution of the Union in case of Mr. Lincoln's election; and in November, 1860, he made a speech before the Legislature of Georgia against secession, on which subject he had an interesting correspondence with Mr. Lincoln in December. He was nevertheless elected to the Secession Convention which met at Milledgeville, January 16, 1861, and there spoke and voted against the secession ordinance. He was a member of the Southern Congress which met in Montgomery, Ala., in February, and was elected Vice-President of the Confederacy. On March 21st he delivered a speech in Savannah, in which he declared slavery to be the corner-stone of the new government. On April 23d, as a special commissioner from the Confederate States, he addressed the convention at Richmond, urging the union of Virginia with the Confederacy. He frequently differed from the policy of the Richmond government, especially on the subject of martial law; and on September 8, 1862, he pronounced the appointment by General Bragg of James M. Calhoun as civil governor of Atlanta a palpable usurpation. His letter on this subject created a marked sensation through the South. On February 3, 1865, with R. M. T. Hunter and John A. Campbell, he held an informal conference on a steamer in Hampton Roads with President Lincoln and Mr. Seward, which had no practical result. After Lee's surrender, Stephens returned to his home in Crawfordville, where, on May 11, 1865, he was arrested and sent to Fort Warren, in Boston harbor; but on October 11th he was released on parole. On February 22, 1866, he delivered a speech before the Legislature of Georgia, favoring the restoration policy of President Johnson. In the same month he was elected to the United States Senate; but as the State had not complied with the conditions of reconstruction, he was not permitted to take his seat. In 1872 he was elected to Congress, where he has since continued, being reelected in 1874 and 1876.