BROWNING, ORVILLE H. 



BULGARIA. 



73 



proof of unprecedented assiduity, disciplined 

 union, and abnegation of self-interest. 



Nevertheless, and in face of all opposition, 

 the spirit and letter of the emancipation law * 

 of September, 1871, continue to be observed, 

 and every measure is taken that, directly or 

 indirectly, contributes to the accomplishment 

 of the great work of abolition. In December, 

 1880, the Provincial Legislature of Rio de Ja- 

 neiro imposed a tax of $500 on each slave 

 brought into the province, except in the case 

 of slaves already owned when the law was 

 passed, and merely transferred from an estate 

 outside the province to another within the 

 province, and the property of the same plant- 

 er. A tax of $15 was imposed on the register 

 of slaves moved from one municipality to an- 

 other. A bill, signed by the majority of the 

 members, was brought into the Sao Paulo As- 

 sembly, imposing a fee of $1,000 for the regis- 

 ter of every slave, not inherited, brought here- 

 after into the province. Half the fee was to 

 be applied to emancipations. Thus Sao Paulo 

 and Minas-Geraes have followed the course of 

 the province of Rio de Janeiro to stop, by 

 prohibitive taxes, the further introduction of 

 slaves. 



There were reports that the question of Chi- 

 nese labor would be brought to test before 

 long, "an eminent American contractor hav- 

 ing undertaken to forward to Rio de Janeiro a 

 number of coolies, under contract to serve five 

 years on plantations, at five dollars a month, 

 with rations." 



BROWNING, OEVILLE H., born in Harrison 

 County, Kentucky, 1806; died August 10, 1881, 

 at Qtuncy, Illinois. Early in life Mr. Brown- 

 ing removed to Buckner County, where he went 

 through a course of classical studies at Augusta 

 College, while officiating as clerk in the county 

 and circuit courts. He afterward studied law 

 and was admitted to the bar. In 1831 he went 

 to reside in Quincy, Illinois, where he practiced 

 his profession. Having served through the 

 Black Hawk War, he was elected in 1836 to 

 the Illinois Senate, and four years later to the 

 Lower House, in which he served two years. 

 At the Bloomingdale Convention he co-oper- 

 ated with Abraham Lincoln in organizing the 

 Republican party of Illinois. In 1860 he was 

 a delegate to the Chicago Convention which 

 nominated Mr. Lincoln for the presidency, and 

 during the war he was an active supporter of 

 the Government. In 1861 Governor Yates 

 appointed Mr. Browning to fill a vacancy 

 caused by the death of Mr. Douglas, United 

 States Senator from Illinois. In this position 

 he served for two years with distinction. While 

 in Washington he engaged in the practice of 

 law with Hon. Jeremiah Black and Hon. 

 Thomas G. Ewing. President Andrew John- 

 son appointed Mr. Browning Secretary of the 

 Interior, and he also acted as Attorney-Gen- 

 eral for a brief time, upon the retirement of 

 Henry Stanbery, of Ohio. At the expiration 

 * See "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1S71. 



of his service as Secretary of the Interior, Mr. 

 Browning resumed his profession in Quincy, 

 where he continued to reside in active practice 

 up to the time of his death. His State laments 

 his decease as the loss of an able public ser- 

 vant. 



BULGARIA, a principality of Southeast- 

 ern Europe, which was created in 1878 by the 

 Treaty of Berlin, as a dependency of Turkey. 

 Reigning Prince, Alexander I,* elected in 187i ; 

 area, 63,972 square kilometres (1 kilometre = 

 0*386 square mile) ; population on January 1, 

 1881, 1,995,701. The population of the prin- 

 cipal cities on the same date wa.s as follows : 

 Sofia (the capital), 20,541; Rustchuk, 26,867; 

 Varna. 24,649; Shumla, 22,921; Widdin, 13,- 

 602; tirnova, 11,500; Sistova, 11,438. The 

 only railroad in operation was that from Rust- 

 chuk to Varna, 224 kilometres. The number 

 of postoffices in 1879 was 35; the number of 

 letters and postal-cards sent, 337,600 ; of print- 

 ed matter and packages, 2,060 ; of newspapers, 

 402,454. The length of the government tele- 

 graph lines in 1879 was 2,057 kilometres, and 

 of the wires 3,021 kilometres. The number of 

 offices was 31, and of dispatches 99,350. The 

 National Assembly consists of the Exarch or 

 head of the Bulgarian Church, of one half of 

 the bishops, one half of the presidents and 

 members of the Supreme Court, one half of 

 the presidents of the district courts and of the 

 commercial court, and of deputies of the peo- 

 ple one member representing 20,000 per- 

 sons. 



The people of the principality were in 1881 

 deprived of the Constitution, which, in accord- 

 ance with the Treaty of Berlin, they had formed 

 to suit themselves. The change from a consti- 

 tutional monarchy, with exaggeratedly demo- 

 cratic popular rights and guarantees, to an au- 

 tocratic state, was accomplished by a virtual 

 act of usurpation on the part of their elected 

 prince, Alexander. On the 9th of May the 

 Prince dissolved the National Assembly, and 

 declared the Constitution suspended. The in- 

 coinpetency of the administration, and the mis- 

 takes of the majority, whose alleged follies 

 and short-comings had prompted the arbitrary 

 course of the sovereign, were in a measure 

 confessed by the chief members of the Liberal 

 party themselves. Their parliamentary leader, 

 the Minister-President Zancoff, proposed, in- 

 stead of the total revocation of the Constitu- 

 tion, as demanded by the Prince, its suspension 

 for three years, during which time the Prince 

 should govern with the assistance of a Cabinet 

 and of a Council of State, composed of foreign 

 experts, selected by the Assembly. 



The draft of a constitution made by Prince 

 Dondoukoff-KorsnkofF was constructed in har- 

 mony with the liberal views of the popular 

 party, who have all along carried with them 



* For a biography of Alexander I, see " Annual Cyclopae- 

 dia" for 1879, article ALEXANDER I: for an account of the 

 history of the race, of the progress of education, of newspa- 

 pers, of industry, and of the Bulgarian Church, see " Annual 

 Cyclopaedia 1 ' for IBIS, article BULGARIA. 



