PREFACE. 



THE ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA has always met with an appreciative reception 

 among the American public. Its still extending nse and demand approve the 

 fitness of its plan. Few annual publications in the world have as successfully 

 stood the ordeal of time. First started in 1861, the volume for 1880 is the 

 twentieth of the series. The largest and most comprehensive general year-book 

 printed in any country, no pains or research are spared to make it complete and 

 trustworthy. 



The " Annual Cyclopaedia " aims to give a record of politkal events, of legis- 

 lative action, of the judicial interpretation of the laws, and of the condition and 

 workings of the public administration of the General Government and of each 

 of the State governments, with an impartial review of political questions as they 

 arise, and of the aims and sentiments of party organizations. It thus places 

 before the citizen all the information which is necessary for the understanding 

 of the public affairs of the nation, and the intelligent exercise of the rights and 

 duties of citizenship. 



Coordinated with the political knowledge given in the " Annual Cyclopaedia " 

 is as large a body of authentic and systematized information as can be collected 

 relating to the development of the agricultural, industrial, and commercial inter- 

 ests of the country ; and every important subject of public comment and concern 

 is treated in its appropriate connection. The religious statistics and denomina- 

 tional records are presented as an important part of the social history of a Chris- 

 tian people. The political and social history of each nation in the world is given 

 with equal comprehensiveness as, though less detail than, that of our own coun- 

 try. The " Annual Cyclopaedia " is also a record of science, literature, and art. 



In 1880 the quadrennial election occupied the attention of the American peo- 

 ple more than all other considerations. In the articles on the UNITED STATES 

 and the several States the developments and questions of the campaign are fully 

 presented. In Europe the Irish land question is the most important subject of 

 the year. The conditions of the problem are clearly explained in a special arti- 

 cle on IRELAND, by the late Professor A. J. Schem. The developments of the 

 Nihilistic conspiracies are recounted in RUSSIA. In Afghanistan and South 

 Africa troubles excited by the British imperial policy are still fermenting. The 

 developments are recounted under their proper headings. In MONTENEGRO, 

 GREECE, TURKEY, BULGARIA, RUSSIA, and the AUSTRO-!!UNGARIAN MONARCHY, the 



