10 



AFRICA. 



ALABAMA. 



rung a war against the colony. Much discon- 

 tent has been manifested in the Transvaal 

 against the annexation of that country to the 

 British colony. In December, the Boers rose 

 against English rule, proclaimed the restora- 

 tion of the Transvaal republic, and drove the 

 English troops out of a number of places. 

 (See CAPE COLOXY.) 



Affairs in Egypt have been unusually pros- 

 perous. The material condition of the people 

 has improved, the financial exhibits have been 

 more satisfactory, and the foreign relations of 

 the country have been more pleasant. Hos- 

 tilities with Abyssinia have been suspended, 

 and the conclusion of peace between the two 

 countries was reported in June; but another 

 concentration of troops on the Abyssinian bor- 

 der was mentioned in the fall. The slave- 

 trade, notwithstanding the Government pro- 

 fessed to be making great efforts to put it 

 down, has been kept up in the southern prov- 

 inces and on the coast of the Red Sea. (See 

 EGYPT.) 



The condition of the Jews in Morocco has 

 attracted serious attention. The numerous 

 complaints of ill treatment which came from 

 tin-in, led to the calling of a conference of 

 plenipotentiaries at Madrid, which was attend- 

 ed by a Moorish envoy. This body agreed 

 upen a paper, which was put into the hands 

 of the envoy, claiming liberty of conscience 

 and equality of rights for all the Christian 

 and Hebrew subjects of the Sultan. The 

 Sultan was believed to be willing to promise 



reform, but wholly incapable and unwilling to 

 carry it out. (See MOROCCO.) 



AGRICULTURE. (See COMMERCE and 

 UNITED STATES.) 



ALABAMA. The session of the Legislature 

 of Alabama commenced on November 9th, and 

 with a recess in December continued into the 

 ensuing year. Senator Rothen was chosen 

 President of the Senate, and, in the House, N. 

 H. R. Dallas was chosen Speaker. 



The financial condition of the State has been 

 greatly improved within the last six years. A 

 readjustment of the debt has been made, which 

 is now wellnigh executed in its details ; ex- 

 penditures have been reduced, resources econ- 

 omized, outstanding warrants cleared off, pay- 

 ment of interest resumed, expenses paid as 

 they were incurred, and a balance accumulated 

 in the Treasury, while the rate of taxation has 

 been reduced from eight mills to seven on the 

 dollar. 



The total interest-bearing bonded debt of 

 the State is now $9,008,000, on which the in- 

 terest for the current year will be $244,040, 

 and for the year 1881-'82,owing to the increased 

 rate on the A and the C classes of bonds, $319,- 

 130. The amount of the bonded debt, and 

 therefore of interest, will be increased from 

 time to time by further exchanges until the 

 settlement embodied in the act of February 

 23, 1876, is complete. 



On September 30, 1878, there remained in 

 the Alabama Insane Hospital at Tuscaloosa 

 401 patients. In the last two years 214 pa- 



