SPAItf. 



SPEED, JAMES. 



741 



eign rights over the territory of Ifni on the 

 west coast of Africa, and the coast of the Des- 

 ert of Sahara between Cape Bojador and Cape 

 Blanco, possessions of undetermined extent. 

 A royal decree, placing this Saharan territory 

 under the governorship of the Captain-General 

 of the Canary Islands, was published on April 

 7. It was acquired by virtue of treaties with 

 the Sheikhs of Adarer, whose dominions lie 

 back of the annexed territory, which has a 

 coast-line of about 500 miles, and extends 150 

 miles into the interior. There is only one har- 

 bor the Rio de Oro which is shallow, but is 

 capable of improvement. The Spanish Gov- 

 ernment, in the spring of 1887, purchased of 

 some native chief:* a strip of land on the Red 

 Sea coast, south of Massowah, and within the 

 limits of the Italian protectorate, where, by ar- 

 rangement with the Government of Italy, it 

 intends to establish a coaling-station. 



Abuses in the administration of the Caroline 

 and Palaos led to a catastrophe in July, 1887. 

 The islands were insufficiently garrisoned, and 

 the Governor of the Philippines, General Ter- 

 rero, neglected to send the regular supplies 

 and re-enforcements. Captain Posadillo, Gov- 

 ernor of the Carolines, exasperated the natives 

 by his tyrannical and arbitrary conduct, and 

 when he decided to expel their friends, the 

 American missionaries, and suppress the mis- 

 sion-schools, they rose in revolt. Mr. Deane, 

 a missionary, was arrested and carried in chains 

 to Manila. Soon afterward a native force col- 

 lected and marched on Ponape, a Spanish set- 

 tlement on the island of Asuncion, and the 

 capital of the eastern Carolines. Captain Po- 

 sadillo sent out a squad of twenty soldiers to 

 watch the rebels, and an engagement took 

 place in which the Spanish force was annihi- 

 lated. The women and Capuchin missionaries 

 took refuge on the corvette " Maria de Mo- 

 lina," while Ponape was fortified, and stood 

 a siege, until, on July 5, the ammunition be- 

 came exhausted. The Spaniards then attempt- 

 ed to retreat to the corvette, but the greater 

 part of the garrison and some of the civil of- 

 ficials were killed on the way. The natives 

 for forty days made efforts to capture the cor- 

 vette. At length a vessel arrived from Manila, 

 and took away the remaining Europeans. The 

 captain-general sent a force to put down the 

 rebellion. In the mean time the United States 

 Government had made reclamations in regard 

 to the suppressed Protestant mission and the 

 maltreated missionary, and the Madrid authori- 

 ties took action to compel the colonial adminis- 

 tration to respect treaty rights. 



A large military expedition was sent out 

 from Manila on Jan. 10, 1887, to subjugate the 

 natives of the Mindanao islands and the Sulu 

 Archipelago. The operations in the Mindanao 

 group were concluded in the early part of 

 March, when the Sultan of Bahagan and other 

 chiefs submitted to the Spanish forces on terms 

 that were considered satisfactory. The expedi- 

 tion then sailed for Sulu. The Governor, Col. 



Arolas, in April, won a victory over the rebels, 

 capturing and burning the town of Maiburg. 

 About a month later 800 troops of the expedi- 

 tionary force captured a fortified village on the 

 island of Tapula, after severe fighting and 

 heavy losses on both sides, and the inhabitants 

 submitted to the authority of the Sultan of 

 Sulu, and accepted the Spanish dominion. 



SPEED, JAMES, an American statesman, born 

 near Louisville, Ky., March 11, 1812; died 

 there, June 25, 1887. He was graduated at 

 St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Ky., and then 

 devoted his attention to the law, being em- 

 ployed for a time in the office of the clerk of 

 the circuit and county courts, and complet- 

 ing his legal study in Transylvania University. 

 After his admission to the bar, he removed to 

 Louisville, and began practice in 1833. In 1847 

 he was elected to the State Legislature, but 



JAMES SPEED. 



served one term only. In 1849 he was the 

 unsuccessful candidate of- the Emancipation 

 party for a seat in the State Constitutional 

 Convention. He was elected to the State 

 Senate in 1861. At the outbreak of the civil 

 war he was an uncompromising Union man, 

 standing with Gen. Rousseau, Judge Har- 

 land, and others in determined opposition to 

 the neutral position forced upon his State by 

 the conduct of her authorities. It is said that 

 next to Gen. Rousseau's establishment of a 

 Union recruiting-camp opposite Louisville, the 

 firm attitude of Mr. Speed was the most effect- 

 ive step taken by the loyalists of Kentucky 

 to keep the State in the Union. When Presi- 

 dent Lincoln issued the call for 75,000 men, in 

 April, 1861, Mr. Speed was placed in charge 

 of the recruiting stations in Kentucky, and de- 

 voted his whole time and influence to the serv- 

 ice of his country. In November, 1864, 

 President Lincoln appointed him Attorney- 

 General of the United States, and he was re- 

 tained in office by President Johnson till July, 

 1866, when he resigned on account of dissatis- 

 faction with the reconstruction policy of the 

 President. On the assembling of the loyalist 

 convention in Philadelphia, in I860, Mr. Speed 



