ty, and Town, throughout the Northern States during the autumn of 1863, were largely attended, and gave, to some extent, an additional stimulus to the development of agriculture.

The grants of land, by the Government, under the Agricultural College Act of 1862, have been accepted by all the Northern States, and arrangements made by most of them either to organize Agricultural Colleges, or to add an Agricultural Department to colleges already established. In New Hampshire, Dartmouth College receives the endowment, and is to organize an Agricultural School in connection with the Chandler Scientific School; in Massachusetts there is a vigorous competition between the prominent towns of the commonwealth, for the location of the Agricultural College; Rhode Island bestows the lands upon Brown University, which is to have an Agricultural Department; Connecticut donates them to the Agricultural Department of Yale College, connected with the Sheffield Scientific School; New York divides hers between the Agricultural College at Ovid, New York, and the People's College, at Havana. Pennsylvania has handed over her share to her excellent Agricultural College in Central County, the most efficient institution of its class in the United States, and which, by this grant, will be placed in a condition of still greater efficiency. In most of the Western States, where Agricultural Colleges have been already chartered, the grant has been bestowed upon them, and will, in most instances, secure their speedy organization, or if already organized, aid in their rapid development.

Foreign agriculture offers but little of special interest at the present time. The crops of cereals in 1863, in Great Britain and on the continent, were generally good, and were for the most part successfully harvested. The price of wheat, in England, which, in September, 1860, had been $1.62 per American bushel, in 1861, $1.45, and, in 1862, $1.40, was in September, 1863, $1.16-a very marked reduction; and the potato crop was generally good in Great Britain, though almost a failure in Ireland. In France, the crop, though injured in some quarters by the drought, was on the whole a fair average. The practice of holding regional agricultural expositions in the different departments of France, annually, is coming rapidly into favor. For the most part these have been confined thus far to the exhibition

of horses, cattle and sheep, and agricultural implements, but in some, lately, fruits have been exhibited with advantage. A few particulars concerning the agricultural products of Sweden, a country which has furnished so large a body of farmers to the Northwestern States, may be of interest to the readers of the Cyclopædia. They were collected by the United States consul at Gottenburg.

The crop of 1863, which at one time promised to be unusually large, was damaged by rainy weather during harvest time, and thus reduced to an average amount, of which the figures in the table below may be taken as a fair statement.

About 1,500,000 Swedish acres, equal to 48,600,000 English acres, are devoted to growing grain, and 100,000 Swedish acres, or 3,200,000 English acres, to potatoes; yet the yield of potatoes is so large, that it stands in the ratio of 3 to 5. The potato can be raised in the short summer of these high latitudes, when no grain, save barley, can live, and thus becomes the "staff of life" to the Swedish peasants. Fine crops of potatoes, and occasionally of barley, are raised far within the arctic circle, and even above 70° north latitude, the highest cultivated land in the world.

The Alsike clover is the most productive clover in Sweden; cuts about five tons to the Swedish acre, can be made to yield two crops in the short Swedish summer, and has been introduced into Scotland to great advantage.

There is a kind of egg plant called "Gula Plummon," which is produced in the middle and southern districts of Sweden in considerable quantities. This plant is of a light straw color, firm, juicy, and of a peachy flavor. It is thought it would flourish in the northern counties of New England and New York.

This table is the average yearly product of Sweden, taking the figures for five years to 1861:

85,210

1860..

1861..

ernment.

The changes which took place in the State of Alabama during 1863 present no new aspect. Immediately after the occupation of the peninsula, opposite Vicksburg, by General Grant's army, in January, measures were taken to cut off the communication between the inhabitants in the east and west sides of the Mississippi through Red River. From that stream the inhabitants on the east side of the Mississippi had access to vast supplies, particularly of salt, sugar, and molasses. A large portion of the Confederate army was supplied from the same source. This communication was destroyed by the gunboats of Admiral Porter, which were below the batteries at Vicksburg, and by vessels of Admiral Farragut's fleet at New Orleans. In April a scarcity of provisions prevailed in the southern part of the State, which created an advance in prices. This was attended with a depreciation of the currency, and food soon advanced almost beyond the reach of the poor. About the 15th of April a scene occurred in Mobile, which was thus described :

"A number of ladies, perhaps a dozen, composed of the wives and daughters of soldiers' families, who represented themselves and their families to have been deprived of anything to eat in the last few days, save a small portion of corn bread, were seen perambulating our streets until they came up to a provision store on Whitehall street. They all entered it, being preceded by a tall lady, on whose countenance rested care and determination. She asked the merchant the price of bacon. He replied, stating that it was $1.10 per pound. She remonstrated with him as to the impossibility of females in their condition paying such prices for the necessaries of life. He remaining inexorable in his demand, the tall lady proceeded to draw from her bosom a long navy repeater, and at the same time ordered the others in the

6.478

crowd to help themselves to what they liked, which they did accordingly, giving preference to the bacon, until they had taken about $200 worth. They went out, and on being questioned by some gentlemen as to what they meant, they related their suffering condition.

"Seeing what was going on, and feeling a deep sympathy for these ladies, a number of gentlemen, of very moderate means, who themselves have families to support, set to work to raise a subscription in their behalf."

This was one of several instances of distress which occurred at Mobile. The famine existed chiefly in the families of absent soldiers.

The scarcity of provisions was such as to induce all the authorities to wisely prepare for the ensuing winter. The Confederate Congress urged the people to plant less cotton and more corn; and the Governors of the States repeated the request.

Governor Shorter issued an appeal to the planters of the State at this time, urging the importance of raising articles necessary to keep the people froin starving. He said:-"Failing to accomplish our subjugation by the force of arms and the power of numbers, the enemy has called to his aid the terrible appliances of want and starvation, and is carrying out this savage and inhuman policy by the wholesale larceny of slaves, the seizure of provisions, and even the destruction of agricultural implements. Are you, the planters of Alabama, prepared to aid in this policy by pursuing a course which may tend to its accomplishment? Look around you this moment, when the crop upon which the poor must mainly depend is not yet planted, and behold the want and destitution which, notwithstanding the munificent provision made by public and private benevolence, are to be found at the hearthstones of many whose legitimate protectors have fallen in battle, or are now fighting in defence of your homes and property. Let us not deceive ourselves. failure to raise the largest possible quantity of supplies in the present year may bring disaster

The

and ruin upon our cause. The soldier must be fed and his family provided for, and our home population, white and black, must be supported. The experience of the past and the necessities of the present give serious and solemn warning as to the future. Let not our armies, which have hitherto, by the blessing of God, proved invincible, be conquered or disbanded by the want of subsistence in their camps, or be demoralized by the presence of famine in their homes. These results can and will be prevented if the planting community realize their heavy responsibility, and discharge their full duty to the country. The Legislature of Georgia is called to reassemble to reconsider its late action upon this important subject; and the Confederate Congress, perceiving the danger, have given timely notice of its approach by an earnest appeal to the whole country. The indications of a continuance of the war are so unmistakable, and the necessity of providing the means indispensable to its prosecution so urgent, that I have thought it not improper to unite in the appeal to that class of our population through whose active energies and foresight alone these means can be supplied." An address was also made to the people by the Senators and Representatives of the State in Congress, urging them to plant corn and raise hogs and cattle. At this time bands of deserters from the Southern army and Union men were organized in the northern part of the State. In Wayne and the adjoining counties they were quite numerous.

After the losses at Gettysburg and the retreat of General Lee from Pennsylvania, extraordinary efforts were made to recruit the Southern armies. On the 20th of July, Gov

ernor Shorter issued a call for an extra session of the State Legislature to be convened Aug. 17th. The reason for this session was to pro

vide for the better defence of the State.

In his message to the Legislature the Governor confined his remarks to the subject of mili tary defence. He examined the question relative to the classes exempt under the State and Confederate enactments, and being without means of ascertaining the number of exempts, he supposed there were several thousand. He recommended that all persons between the ages of sixteen and sixty, including those having substitutes, those of foreign birth domiciled within the State, and all who had evaded the full requirements of the Confederate Government, should be embraced in an amendment to the militia laws as liable to military duty; also that the officers of the State should be charged with the duty of arresting stragglers and deserters, and that the judicial officers should be held to a rigid enforcement of the penalties against their abettors. He concluded as follows:

Alabama has and will cheerfully respond to every demand upon her, so long as the unnatural foe perseveres in his unholy crusade. May the invaded people not give way to alarm and false security, but nerve themselves to an undying resistance to the despotism which has decreed the emancipation of our slaves, the

Resolved, That the people of Alabama and the State hereby pledge the entire resources of the State, to the last dollar and the last man, to a successful prosecution of the war now being waged by the North for the subjugation of the people of the Confederate States, and that we will never yield the contest until the achievement of the acknowledgment of our independence as a separate people.

A joint resolution relative to the employment of slaves was adopted as follows:

Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress to provide by law for the employment in the service of the Confederate States of America, in such situations and in such numbers as may be found absolutely necessary, of the able bodied slaves of the country, whether as pioneers, sappers and miners, cooks, nurses or teamsters.'

On the 22d of August, Robert Jemison, jr., was elected to fill the unexpired term of William Yancey, deceased, in the Senate of the Confederate Congress. He was a member of the convention which passed the ordinance of Secession, and at that time a "coöperationist" (see ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA, 1861. ALABAMA), but became "a firm and uncompromising supporter of the war." For many years he had been a member of the State Legislature from Tuscaloosa county.

At the election for State officers in August, 1863, Governor John G. Shorter and Thomas H. Watts were the candidates for the office of governor. The result in fifty-two counties was: Watts, 22,223 votes; Shorter, 6,342 votes. The former was elected by a large majority.

Governor Watts had been one of the electors named on the Bell and Everett ticket at the presidential election in 1860. Soon after his

election it was stated that he was in favor of a reconstruction of the Union. A letter was addressed to him on this subject, to which he made the following reply:

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA,
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, RICHMOND, Sept. 12th.

}

Hon. Ira Foster, Quartermaster-General of Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia:

DEAR SIR: I have to-day received your letter of the 1st inst., forwarded to me from Montgomery, Alabama, and hasten to reply. You say that my name, since the Alabama election, has been freely used by many in connection with "reconstruction," meaning thereby that some people in Georgia suppose I am in favor of re-union with the Yankee Government of the North. I am surprised and mortified that any body in the those who claim my election as indicating any such South should so interpret the Alabama election. If feeling in Alabama had read my letter of the 21st March to Gen. Lawler, and my short address to the people of Alabama, dated 6th June last, they would never have entertained such false notions. It is due to the gallant people of my State to call attention to the resolutions of the recent called session of the Legislature, passed unanimously, pledging all the men and resources of the State to prosecute the war until the independence of the Confederate States is fully established. For myself, I will not forfeit my self-respect by arguing the question of "reconstruction." He who is now, deliberately or otherwise, in favor of "reconstruction" with

a convocation of four representatives of each province (two of each party), in the hands of whom the reins of government were to be placed, and who should elect a new president. The acting president, General Paez, was to remain, until the election, at the head of the civil administration, and General Falcon, the chief of the Federalists, was appointed commander-in-chief of all the troops. In consequence of this convention General Paez (chief of the Unitarian party) resigned the presidency. The representatives of the nation thus elected assembled on June 17th at Vittoria, and appointed General Juan E. Falcon (chief of the Federalist party) provisional president, and General Antonio Guzman Blanco provisional vicepresident. General Leon de Febres Cordero, at the head of the garrison of Porto Cabello, protested against the transfer of the supreme power to the assembly of Vittoria, and organized another government at Porto Cabello. General Falcon, the provisional president, entered Caraccas on July 24th, and convoked a constituent assembly for December 10th, in order to establish a legal government. In Uruguay a civil war broke out in consequence of an invasion of the country by the former president, Flores, who was supposed to be encouraged by the Government of the Argentine Republic. The war had not ended at the close of the year. Between Chili and Bolivia a war threatened to break out in consequence of long pending difculties concerning the regulation of the frontier. It was, however, averted by negotiations, and a peaceable solution of the dispute was expected. In December, 1863, a revolution broke out in the United States of Colombia against President Mosquera. In the State of Antioquia about four thousand men of the revolutionary party were under arms. The Government of the State raised a large militia force to suppress the revolution.

The encroachments of European powers upon the rights of American States, which were encouraged by the existence of civil war in the United States, became more conspicuous and numerous during the year 1863. France continued vigorously the war for the overthrow of the Mexican republic, and under the protection of French bayonets a small number of Mexican notables abolished the republican form of government, declared Mexico to be an empire, and elected Archduke Maximilian of Austria, the first emperor. (See MEXICO.) The natives of Santo Domingo, which republic was a few years ago treacherously sold by its last president, Santana, to Spain, rose again in insurrection for the recovery of their independence, and by the end of the year the Spaniards, notwithstanding their overwhelming numbers, had not succeeded in suppressing the insurrection. (See SPAIN.) The insolent conduct of England toward Brazil led to a diplomatic rupture between these two powers. (See BRAZIL.) No one of the European Powers is more eager to extend her influence upon this continent

than France. Louis Napoleon, in 1862, in his celebrated letter to Marshal Forey, avowed his intention to gain a controlling influence over the Latin race. French agents are known to be active in a number of the South American republics to create and encourage a monarchical party. In some, these attempts have met with considerable success. In the republic of Ecuador, in particular, a number of the leading statesmen, including the president of the republic, were reported to be favorable to the establishment of a French protectorate. Some of the papers of this republic openly denounced the republican form of government, and recommended a return to monarchy, as the only salvation from general anarchy. General Pezet, who by the unexpected death of General San Roman, April 3d, was called to the presidency of Peru, the most populous of the South American republics, manifested likewise some sympathy with monarchical tendencies, by appointing avowed partisans of a monarchical party to important diplomatic positions.

These anti-republican schemes of European Powers awakened, in many of the States of South America a desire to form an American Continental Alliance between all the republics on the continent. Formal propositions to this effect were made, in 1862, by several of them to the Government of the United States, but they were declined by the latter, on the ground of their involving a deviation from its traditional policy of neutrality. Another proposition to the same effect was, after the fall of the city of Mexico, made to the republics of Central and South America, by President Juarez, of Mexico, but it likewise led to no result. The people of Santo Domingo addressed, in December, 1863, an appeal to the governments and people of Spanish America, to aid them in their unequal struggle against Spain. A great interest was particularly manifested in the idea of an American Continental Alliance in Chili and New Granada.

The year 1863 is also marked in the history of the American Continent by the great changes which took place with regard to slavery. By a proclamation of the President of the United States, of January 1st, 1863, slavery was declared abolished in the States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, with the exception of a few districts of Louisiana and Virginia, which were at the time of the issuing of the proclamation within the Federal lines. In an amnesty proclamation, issued on December 8th, the President proclaimed that in each of the above named States one tenth of the number of voters at the presidential election of 1860, who would take the oath to abide by and support the acts of Congress passed during the existing war, with reference to slaves and the presidential proclamations on the subject, should be authorized to reëstablish a State government. The new State of West