JAMAICA, BISHOP OF. 



JAPAN. 



413 



1631 took place. The devastation caused 

 thereby was terrible. Thousands of acres of 

 cultivated land were covered with ashes and 

 lava, and vineyards and farms were buried out 

 of sight. About twelve persons, as far as 

 could be ascertained, were killed, and an equal 

 number injured. The villages of San Sebas- 

 tiano and Massa di Somma were almost en- 

 tirely destroyed, and a considerable number 

 of towns and villages were for a time threat- 

 ened with destruction, and their inhabitants 

 compelled to flee. On May 1st the eruption 

 ceased. The Chamber of Deputies authorized 

 the Government to take the necessary meas- 

 ures to provide for the comfort of the people 

 who were so suddenly deprived of their homes. 

 During the month of October, terrific inun- 

 dations laid waste almost every part of the 

 peninsula, and especially the Lombard and 



Emilian provinces, bordering on the Po. The 

 disaster assumed the dimensions of a national 

 calamity. The greatest sufferers were the 

 provinces of Mantua and Ferrara. In the 

 former, two-thirds of the area were inundated, 

 and, in the latter, one-third. The number of 

 houseless persons, in the two provinces, was 

 estimated at over 60,000. Sermide, a town 

 about half-way between Mantua and Ferrara, 

 was completely inundated, the water rising up 

 to the first floor of the houses. No lives were 

 lost, but the amount of damage could not be es- 

 timated. At Mirandola, a town about twenty 

 miles north of Modena, 7,000 fugitives arrived, 

 and the local authorities were doing their best 

 to supply them with food and shelter. Many 

 houses had been destroyed, and the waters 

 had risen more than a metre higher than in 

 the floods of 1839. 



JAMAICA, Eight Eev. AUBREY GEORGE 

 SPENCER, D. D., Bishop of, born in London, 

 February 12, 1795; died at Torquay, February 

 24, 1872. He was the eldest son of William 

 E. Spencer, and great-grandson of Charles, 

 second Duke of Marlborough, and was educated 

 at Dr. Burney's school in Greenwich, and at 

 Magdalen Hall, Oxford. He was ordained 

 about 1820. After having held some parochial 

 cares in England, and the archdeaconry of 

 Bermuda, he was consecrated, in 1839, to the 

 bishopric of Newfoundland, whence he was 

 translated, in 1843, to the See of Jamaica ; in 

 which island the bishop was also a Privy Coun- 

 cillor. The gross income of the diocese, which 

 comprised Jamaica, British Honduras, the Ba- 

 hamas, Turk's Islands, and the Bay Islands, 

 was $15,000 per annum, chargeable on the 

 Consolidated Fund. Dr. Spencer published a 

 volume of sermons, charges, etc., and contrib- 

 uted some poems to BlaclcwoocTs Magazine and 

 other periodical publications. He resigned the 

 administration of his diocese into the hands of 

 the Eight Eev. Dr. Courtenay, who, in 1856, 

 was consecrated Bishop of Kingston, and suf- 

 fragan and coadjutor to the Bishop of Jamaica. 



JAPAN, an empire in Eastern Asia. The 

 administration and the supreme executive 

 power of the country are vested in the Mikado. 

 The United States Government was represent- 

 ed at the imperial court, in 1871, by C. E. De 

 Long, minister resident at Yeddo. 



According to official sources, the population 

 of Japan amounted, in 1870, to 34,786,321 ; 

 the imperial family had 20 members ; the 

 families of the daimios, 3,186; the Samurai, 

 officers, scholars, and warriors, represented a 

 population of 1,872,959; the Buddhist priests, 

 244,869; the Sintoo priests, 163,140; nuns, 

 C,7ll ; peasants, traders, mechanics, etc., 31,- 

 954,821 ; beggars, 82,920; pariahs, tanners, etc., 

 459j695. 



The area of the country, comprising Japan 

 proper, and 3,850 islands, which are its de- 

 pendencies, is reported as follows: 



The government* is now organized on a basis 

 which is partly European and partly Japanese. 

 The Mikado is, theoretically, an absolute mon- 

 arch, who reigns and governs, while, in reality, 

 the work of the Government is done by the 

 Great Council, which is divided into three 

 sections, the Centre, Eight, and Left. The 

 Centre is composed of the Prime-Minister, 

 Vice-Prime-Minister, and five advisers. The 

 Left consists exclusively of the Council of 

 State, whose functions are analogous to those 

 of the French Conseil cTjfitat, so far at least as 

 the preparation and discussion of laws are con- 

 cerned. The Eight includes all the ministers 

 and vice-ministers of the nine departments 

 into which the administration has lately been 

 divided. The ministers, either individually or 

 united as a cabinet, decide all ordinary ques- 

 tions ; but the more important points are re- 

 served for the Great Council, presided over by 

 the Mikado. A Parliament was formed in 

 1869, with deputies selected by the provincial 

 governments, whose functions were purely 

 consultative, and in no way legislative. But, 



* The following information on the organization of the 

 Government is> abridged from an article on Japan, in 

 BlackwoocTs Magazine, September, 1872, which is among 

 the best that have been written on Japan. 



