748 



SPAIN. 



SUNDAY LEGISLATION. 



air was injurious to the health of the people, 

 as the sulphurous fumes poisoned the air for a 

 wide distance. The mines had been sold in 

 1873 for 92,800,000 pesetas by the Govern- 

 ment to an English company, which had de- 

 veloped an industry that gave employment to 

 12,000 work - people. The Government ap- 

 pointed a commission, and at the request of 

 the local officials issued a provisional edict for- 

 bidding the open-air process of calcination 

 pending the investigation. The mining com- 

 pany entered a protest, which was supported 

 by the English ambassador, and when the Gov- 

 ernment declined to rescind the order the man- 

 agers cut down wages and discharged a part of 

 the force of laborers. This led to a general 

 strike and tumultuous demonstrations. The 

 miners demanded not only the restoration of 

 the old scale of wages, but the shortening of 

 the hours of work in their deadly occupation 

 as a preventive of mortality. The Govern- 

 ment ordered out the military, and in a colli- 

 sion on February 4 the troops were ordered to 

 fire, and poured a volley into the unarmed 

 crowd. There were 230 persons hit, and 50 

 were killed, whose blood " sprinkled the min- 

 isterial bench." Romero Robledo declared in 

 moving a vote of censure, which received only 

 19 votes against 176. A royal decree was is- 

 sued in accordance with the conclusions of the 

 commission on March 1 for the gradual aboli- 

 tion before 1891 of open-air calcinations. This 

 decision, contravening the contract with the 

 company and the law of Dec. 17, 1873, it is 

 feared will ruin the industry and give cause for 

 claims against the Government. 



The Barcelona Exhibition. An international 

 industrial exhibition, opened on April 7, 1888, 

 was planned on a large scale, and proved mod- 

 erately successful notwithstanding the large 

 number of similar exhibitions that were held 

 in Europe, and the critical economical and 

 political conditions existing in Spain. 



When Queen Christina visited the National 

 Exhibition at Barcelona in May, the naval 

 powers of Europe united in a demonstration 

 in her honor in the harbor, where the greater 

 part of the Spanish fleet was also assembled. 

 The Italian navy was represented by the 

 "Italia," '' Duilio," and other great ships; the 

 French by the " Colbert," " Amiral Dupret," 

 "Courbet," and other formidable iron-clads; 

 Great Britain by the Mediterranean squadron 

 under the command of the Duke of Edinburgh ; 

 Austria- Hungary by an imposing detachment; 

 Germany by the "Kaiser"; and the United 

 States, Russia, the Netherlands, and Portugal 

 by representatives from their respective fleets. 



Colonies. The colonial possessions of Spain 

 comprise Cuba, with 118,833 square kilometres 

 of territory and 1,521,684 inhabitants; Porto 

 Rico, with an area of 9,620 square kilometres 

 and 754,313 inhabitants in 1880; the Philip- 

 pine Islands, having an area of 293,726 square 

 kilometres and 5,559,020 inhabitants; the Sulu 

 Islands, 2,456 square kilometres in extent, and 



containing a population of about 75,000 ; the 

 Mariana Islands, with an area of 1,140 square 

 kilometres and a population of 8,665 ; the Caro- 

 lines, 700 square kilometres in extent, with 

 22,000 inhabitants; the Palaos Islands, 750 

 square kilometres in extent, with a population 

 of about 14,000 souls; Fernando Po, Elobey, 

 Annobom, and the territory of San Juan, on 

 the coast of Guinea, having an aggregate area 

 of 2,203 square kilometres and 68,656 inhabit- 

 ants; and the Western Sahara, between Cape 

 Bojador and Cape Blanco, with the territory 

 of Ifni and other districts on the west coast of 

 Africa. The extent and population of these 

 latter possessions are not known, except in the 

 case of the barren Saharan, where her coast- 

 line is 1,300 kilometres, and her claim extends 

 400 kilometres into the interior. The territory 

 at Coresco Bay, on the French Gaboon, is 24,- 

 960 square kilometres in extent. Spain also 

 claims the little district of Spri, at Cape Nun. 

 The strip of coast in Assab Bay, between Ras 

 Garibal and Ras Macatna, on which there is a 

 commodious harbor, has been leased from Italy 

 as a coaling-station for fifteen years. 



In March extensive districts in the Suln 

 Archipelago were occupied, but not without a 

 sharp conflict, during which many of the na- 

 tives and several Spaniards were slain. 



SUNDAY LEGISLATION. The Roman Empire 

 established religion by entering into a contract 

 with the gods through its official representa- 

 tives. Worship, therefore, consisted of cere- 

 monies, prayers, sacrifices, and games, through 

 which the people fulfilled their part of this 

 contract. The state maintained colleges of 

 sacred lore, which determined all matters con- 

 nected with religion. The most important of 

 these was the College of Pontifices. The Em- 

 peror stood at the head of this as Pontifex 

 Maximus, and had full power to decide " what 

 days were suitable for the transaction of busi- 

 ness, public or private, and what were not." 

 The Oriental sun-worship cultus, Mithraicism, 

 was widely prevalent and extremely popular 

 in the Roman Empire about the beginning of 

 the Christian era. It was for a long time a 

 dangerous and a well-nigh successful compet- 

 itor for the controlling religious influence 

 throughout the empire. The evidences of this 

 worship are still associated with the ruins of 

 all the principal military stations that sprung 

 up in the course of the Roman conquest of 

 Europe. The division of days into judicial and 

 non-judicial was an established custom under 

 the original pagan cultus of the empire. This 

 custom was enlarged and intensified by the 

 influence of Mithraicism, in which the sun's 

 day occupied a prominent place. Even before 

 the age of Augustus the number of days on 

 which no trials could take place at Rome, be- 

 cause of reverence to the gods to whom these 

 days were consecrated, had become a means 

 by which wealthy criminals evaded justice ; 

 and Suetonius sets it down as a praiseworthy 

 act on the part of Augustus that he rejected 



