

DIEZ, FRIEDRIOH 0. 



May 29, 1876. He was born at Giessen, 

 Man-li 15, 1 V.' I. Ho attended the gymnasium 

 at tluit place, and entered the university at 

 Giessen in 1811. Here he devoted himself es- 

 pecially, under the care of F. G. Welcker, to 

 the study uf classical philology. In 1813 he 

 joined as a volunteer the Hessian corps in the 

 campaign against Napoleon, and acquitted him- 

 self with credit as a soldier. After the peace, 

 he discontinued the study of philology, and 

 devoted himself to that of the law. He soon 

 found that he had made a mistake in choosing 

 this branch, which was not adapted to his 

 taste, and turned his attention to modern lan- 

 guages and literature, which he studied at 

 Gottingen with great zeal and energy. He was 

 confirmed in giving this new direction to his 

 studies by his intercourse with Goethe, with 

 whom he became acquainted at Jena in the 

 spring of 1818. Goethe induced him to de- 

 vote himself especially to the Provencal lan- 

 guages and literature, and Diez followed the 

 advice, the more willingly as his own inclina- 

 tion accorded with it. He became deeply en- 

 gaged in his newly-chosen studies, and did not 

 even lose sight of them when circumstances 

 compelled him, in 1819, to accept a position as 

 tutor in Utrecht. The next year he lived pri- 

 vately for a short time at Giessen, in order to 

 qualify himself to become a private tutor in 

 Bonn. In 1823 he was made a professor-ex- 

 traordinary, in 1830 a regular professor, in 

 the university at Bonn. Here he continued to 

 work and enjoy the fruit of his labors. Till the 

 end of his life Diez displayed a stirring activ- 

 ity. His earliest works u Old Spanish Ro- 

 mances" (Berlin, 1821), and "Contributions to 

 the Knowledge of the Poetry of the Romance 

 Languages" (Berlin, 1825 ; republished in 

 French under the title of " Essai sur les Cours 

 d'Amour," Paris, 1842) displayed a remark- 

 able talent for the interpretation of foreign 

 poetry. His " Poetry of the Troubadours " 

 (Zwickau, 1826; republished in French at Par- 

 is, 1845), and his "Life and Works of the 

 Troubadours " (Zwickau, 1829), were very im- 

 portant contributions to the study of the mod- 

 ern languages, and soon made their author 

 famous. The chief works of his life were 

 the " Grammatik dor romanischen Sprachen " 

 (Grammar of the Romanic Languages, 3 vols., 

 Bonn, 1836-'42), and the " Etymologisches Wor- 

 terbuch der romanischen Sprachen " (Etymo- 

 logical Dictionary of the Romanic Languages, 

 Bonn, 1853). The "Grammar of the Roman- 

 ic Languages" has also been published in a 

 French translation (Paris, 1863), and in an Eng- 

 lish translation (London, 1863). Among his 

 other works are : "Altromanische Sprachdenk- 

 male" (Bonn, 1846); "Two Old Romance 

 Poems" (Bonn, 1852); and a work on the 

 early Portuguese poetry, " Ueber die erste 

 portugiesische Kunst- und Hofpoesie " (Bonn, 

 1863). Diez contributed many and important 

 articles to the literary journals, especially to 

 the Jahrlucher far wissentchaftliche Kritik, 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 231 



of Berlin, and to Haupt's Zeitchr\ft fur 

 Deutuchet Altherthum, and to other learned 

 works. 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE AND 

 FOREIGN RELATIONS. The relations of the 

 United States with other nations have been 

 of a most peaceful and ordinary character 

 during the year. Only two or three points 

 appear to be of sufficient importance to de- 

 serve a notice here. 



The immigration to California from China 

 has recently awakened so much interest as to 

 attract the attention of .Congress. It seems 

 that the Chinese immigrants of that State are 

 natives of the province of Kwangtung to such 

 an extent that it is safe to refer more than nine- 

 tenths of the whole to it. The entire area of 

 this province is reckoned at about 80,000 square 

 miles ; but the largest portion of the emigrants 

 go from its most populous prefecture of K wang- 

 chow, in which the city of Canton and colony 

 of Macao lie. This prefecture, which contains 

 fourteen districts, may be roughly estimated at 

 one-tenth or more of the whole province, and 

 for population, resources, and energy of its in- 

 habitants, is the leading division. They speak 

 generally the same dialect, and as they have 

 peculiar facilities for intercourse through the 

 great number of creeks and canals which inter- 

 sect it and connect with the Pearl River and 

 the sea-coast, in their admirable boats, they 

 are very well acquainted with each other's 

 movements, wants, and industries. It is from 

 this region, one also more or less connected 

 with foreign trade for the last three centuries, 

 that emigration has flowed to California and 

 Australia more than from other parts ; and to 

 this familiarity with that trade, by having 

 shared in its benefits, may partly be ascribed 

 the readiness with which its inhabitants have 

 gone abroad. The area of country from which 

 the emigration proceeds hardly exceeds 15,000 

 square miles, and this includes portions of the 

 adjoining prefectures. 



The population of this province of Kwang- 

 tung, according to the best information, is 

 about 20,000,000, and the proportion of this 

 particular region which furnishes the emigrants 

 not less than 5,000,000. Foreigners have not 

 that ready access to the official returns of 

 local censuses which will enable them to com- 

 pare them with the population personally ob- 

 served, even on a small area, and thus ascer- 

 tain what degree of accuracy can be fairly 

 ascribed to them ; but, as this region is ex- 

 ceedingly fertile and accessible, this estimate 

 of 5,000,000 is no doubt within the truth. 

 The city of Canton contains 1,000,000, and 

 there are other large cities. 



The American secretary of legation, Mr. 

 George F. Seward, under date of March 22, 

 1876, writes to Secretary Fish as follows: 



It is certain that a great immigration of Chinese 

 into our Pacific States would give rise to grave politi- 

 cal difficulties. But, to my mind, it is quite as cer- 

 tain that no such immigration will take place. The 



