GEORGIA. 



337 



times, examining all the water-courses with a 

 view to the discovery of navigable ways, and 

 cementing the good understanding with the 

 natives. The French Government felt at first 

 a cautious reluctance to embrace De Brazza's 

 scheme for the establishment of French prima- 

 cy on the Congo, but on the 30th of November, 

 1882, pursuant to a law of the Chambers, the 

 treaty with Makoko and his vassal chiefs was 

 ratified. The Portuguese, who claim the sov- 

 ereignty over the mouth of the Congo and the 

 interior, raised a protest, although their rights 

 in this region are merely nominal. De Brazza 

 and his coadjutors look to the extension of 

 French dominion from the Gaboon over the 

 valley of the Ogove' and thence to the middle 

 course of the Congo. 



AMERICA. The researches of Charnay in 

 Central America prove that the Toltecs and 

 Mayas stood in a high stage of civilization at 

 the period immediately preceding the coming 

 of the Spaniards, but that this civilization was 

 then of very recent development. The ruins 

 of a large city, probably that referred to by 

 Stephens as the "Phantom City," were dis- 

 covered in Guatemala on the TJsumucinta. The 

 city to which Charnay gave the name of Lor- 

 illard City consists of a multitude of palaces, 

 temples, and houses which resemble those of 

 Palenque, which it resembles also in being 

 built upon terraces cut out of natural hills. 

 The hieroglyphics are as elaborate as those of 

 Palenque and Comalcalco, and the bas-reliefs 

 even finer. The houses are of varying and ir- 

 regular construction, as at Palenque. The 

 great temple stands on the summit of a pyramid 

 120 feet high. The frieze is ornamented with 

 human figures. On the decorative coping once 

 stood a colossal statue. Beside the temple is a 

 large palace, and behind it a great pyramid on 

 which stood six palaces. 



GEORGIA. Governor, Alexander Hamilton 

 Stephens ; Secretary of State, N. 0. Baruett ; 

 Treasurer, D. N. Speer; Comptroller-General, 

 W. A. Wright; State School Commissioner, G. 

 J. Orr ; Attorney-General, Clifford Anderson ; 

 Commissioner of Agriculture, J. T. Hender- 

 son ; Railroad Commissioners, James M. Smith, 

 Campbell Wallace, L. N. Trammell ; Principal 

 Keeper of the Penitentiary, J. W. Nelms. Uni- 

 ted States Senators, Hon. Joseph E. Brown, 

 Hon. Pope Barrow (till March 4, 1883), Hon. 

 Alfred Holt Colquitt (after March 4th). Mem- 

 bers of Congress, J. 0. Nichols, First District ; 

 H. G. Turner, Second District; Charles F. 

 Crisp, Third District ; Hugh Buchanan, Fourth 

 District; N. J. Hammond, Fifth District; 

 James H. Blount, Sixth District ; J. 0. Clem- 

 ents, Seventh District; Seaborn Reese, Eighth 

 District; Allen D. Candler, Ninth District; 

 Thomas Hardeman, at large. 



FINANCIAL STATEMENT. The report of the 

 Treasurer for the fiscal year from October 1, 

 1881, to September 30, 1882, shows that the 

 total amount received in the Treasury for the 

 above period was $2,403,976.61, and that the 

 VOL. xxii. 22 A 



disbursements were $1,713,507.48, leaving a 

 balance in the Treasury, October 1, 1882, of 

 $690,472.15, in which are included $275,000 in 

 bonds of the State of Georgia ($115,000) and 

 in United States registered bonds ($160,000) 

 paid by the purchasers of the Macon and Bruns- 

 wick Railroad, and the suspended balances due 

 from the Citizens' Bank of Atlanta ($83,218.- 

 51) and from the Bank of Rome ($22,206.42). 

 Deducting this unavailable amount, $380,424.- 

 74, from the stated balance of $690,472.15, and 

 the actual cash balance on October 1, 1882, is 

 $310,047.41. The public debt of the State is 

 $9,624,135, the annual interest on which 

 amounts to $645,440. Of this debt, $100,000 

 mature in 1883; $100,000 in 1884; $175,635 

 in 1885; $4,000,000 in 1886; $2,098,000 in 

 1890; $307,500 in 1892; $542,000 in 1896; 

 $2,298,000 in 1898 ; and $3,000 in 1932. The 

 greater portion of this sum bears seven per 

 cent interest. In addition to this' bonded debt, 

 the State is liable absolutely and contingently 

 as indorser on bonds of the South Georgia 

 and Florida Railroad amounting to $464,000, 

 and on bonds of the Northeastern Railroad 

 amounting to $260,000. 



The property owned and possessed by the 

 State consists of the Western and Atlantic 

 Railroad, 138 miles, leased at an annual rental 

 of $300,000, the lease having nine years to run ; 

 Macon and Brunswick Railroad, 195 miles, 

 sold for $1,125,000, of which $625,000 are yet 

 due ; bonds of the Marietta and North Georgia 

 Railroad, $66,233.62 ; 186 shares of the Geor- 

 gia Railroad and Banking Company, $25,000; 

 and 440 shares of the Southern and Atlantic 

 Telegraph, guaranteed by the Western Union 

 Telegraph Company, $10,000. The value of 

 the public buildings owned by the State is not 

 estimated. The estimated receipts at the 

 Treasury for the year ending December 31, 

 1883, is $1,350,000, and the estimated dis- 

 bursements for the same period $1,361,317.14. 

 No State in the Union is in a sounder financial 

 condition, or has a higher standing in the 

 money markets of the world. In 1877 the 

 public debt was $11,044,000, with an annual 

 interest of $800,000. In 1876 the State had a 

 floating debt of $256,000, all of which has been 

 extinguished. For several years the State has 

 not borrowed a dollar to meet the expenses of 

 her government, but, on the contrary, she has 

 been able to pay off nearly $1,500,000 of her 

 debt, and reduce her annual interest account 

 $150,000. In addition to this, she has covered 

 in the Treasury nearly $250,000 from the col- 

 lection of outstanding debts long due to her. 

 At the close of 1881 the market for Georgia 

 stocks and bonds was brisk at very high fig- 

 ures, from seven to ten points above the pre- 

 vious year. But, mainly owing to the short 

 cotton crop, the year 1882 closed with lower 

 prices. The following quotations of South 

 Georgia, city of Savannah, and some railroad 

 mortgage bonds and stocks, will illustrate the 

 decline : 



