PREFACE. 



THIS volume of the ANNUAL CYCLOP JBDIA is the first of a new series, and the 

 sixteenth of the whole series. It is uniform with the AMERICAN CYCLOPAEDIA, 

 and will supplement the latter work so far as relates to the events of history, the 

 records of religious movements, science, politics, literature, biography, etc. It is, 

 indeed, a worthy and fitting complement to the sixteen volumes of the revised CY- 

 CLOPAEDIA, and is bound up in the same style. 



The compass of this work embraces the world's history during the year, in every 

 department of human activity of sufficient importance to be a matter of record. A 

 special article is devoted to the affairs of every country, which contains a sketch of 

 its history during the year, and all official and reliable information on area, popu- 

 lation, religion, education, finances, army, navy, commerce, industry, military opera- 

 tions, the public questions agitated, and the reforms effected. Great efforts are 

 made to secure the completest material from all parts of the world, and the supe- 

 riority of this work over all other publications of a similar scope is each year more 

 generally appreciated and recognized. It is felt that in its several departments the 

 work may be safely consulted as the completest and most reliable book of reference. 



The details of American affairs in these pages embrace the administration of 

 the Federal Government ; its finances and systems of revenue and taxation ; the 

 banking system ; the currency, and public questions relating thereto ; commerce, 

 manufactures, and the general state of the country, and the important subjects that 

 agitate the public mind ; the finances of the States, their debts and resources ; 

 their educational, charitable, and reformatory institutions ; the various political 

 conventions, national and State, assembled during the year, with their nominations 

 and platforms ; the results of elections ; also, commercial and other conventions, 

 and their proceedings ; the important questions before Congress, such as counting 

 the presidential vote, amnesty, various constitutional amendments, specie payments, 

 etc., with the debates and decisions of that body ; important decisions of State and 

 Federal courts ; the proceedings of State Legislatures on the various local matters ; 

 the extension of railroads, telegraphs, and all those great improvements of every 

 kind involved in the rapid progress of the country. 



The most important feature in the international relations of the world during 

 the year 1876 was the thickening of the impending war-cloud in the East. The 

 efforts of Turkey to suppress the insurrectionary movements in the Christian prov- 

 inces proved unsuccessful. The Government of Servia, yielding to the impetuous 

 sympathies of its subjects with the insurrectionists, declared war against Turkey ; 

 and, although the disparity of the military forces made success impossible, yet the 



