ALDEN, JAMES. 



ALEXANDER II. 



13 



bank of the Chattahoochee Kiver." Memorials 

 were addressed to Congress, asking that the 

 public lands in the State be granted in aid of 

 public schools, and that an appropriation be 

 made for the improvement of the Alabama 

 Eiver. 



Under the changes in the constitution of 

 this State, effected in 1876, elections and legis- 

 lative sessions occur henceforth but once in 

 two years. This year there was no State 

 election, and consequently no political action 

 calling for record. There was also no session 

 of the Legislature for 1877-'8, and, as a conse- 

 quence, no official reports of the financial or 

 other interests of the Government for this year 

 are obtainable. Unofficial statements repre- 

 sent the Treasury and the public institutions 

 of the State as in a more satisfactory condi- 

 tion than for several years past. 



The compromise of the State debt offered to 

 the holders of the bonds had been accepted by 

 most of them before the close of the year. 

 "When completed, it will leave the outstanding 

 indebtedness as follows : 



Old bonded debt $5,084,718 50 



Debt incurred since July 13, 1 868 8,041,209 50 



Debt incurred for railway companies 1,542,500 00 



Total . $9,668,428 00 



"Patton" certificates 87,255 00 



Grand total $9,705,678 00 



The receipts of the Treasury for the year 

 ending September 30th were $1,034,559.53, in- 

 cluding a balance of $54,967.32 from the pre- 

 ceding year. The disbursements amounted to 

 $880,604.06, leaving an unexpended balance 

 of $153,955.47. The estimated receipts for 

 1877-'8 are $925,000; expenditures, $852,752. 



ALDEN, Rear- Admiral JAMES, was born in 

 Maine in 1809, and died in San Francisco, Gal., 

 February 6, 1877. In 1828 he entered the Navy 

 as a midshipman ; in 1841 he was made a lieu- 

 tenant, in 1863 a captain, in 1866 a commo- 

 dore, and in 1872 he retired with the rank of 

 rear-admiral. He accompanied the Wilkes Ex- 

 ploring Expedition, took part in naval opera- 

 tions during the Mexican War, and from 1848 

 to 1860 was engaged in the coast survey. At 

 the beginning of the Civil War he was in com- 

 mand of the steamer South Carolina, and in 

 1862 he was transferred to the sloop-of-war 

 Richmond. He was engaged in the capture of 

 New Orleans, and in the attacks upon Vicks- 

 burg and Port Hudson. The steam-sloop 

 Brooklyn, designated as the leading ship of the 

 line, was commanded by Captain Alden in 

 1864, and participated in the engagement in 

 Mobile Bay, and in two attacks on Fort Fisher. 

 In 1868 he commanded the navy-yard in Cali- 

 fornia. In 1869 he was appointed Chief of the 

 Bureau of Navigation and Detail in the Navy 

 Department. In 1871 he was promoted to the 

 rank of rear-admiral, and took command of the 

 European squadron. 



ALEXANDER II., autocrat of Russia, was 

 born April 29 (old style, 17), 1818, and suc- 

 VOL. xvii. 1 A 



ceeded his father, the Emperor Nicholas, March 

 2, 1855. Like all the Russian princes, his father 

 intended to give him a military education, but, as 

 his disposition was not at all warlike, the de- 

 velopment of his mind received an essentially 

 different direction under the guidance of the 

 poet Shukovski. As Czarevitch he kept aloof 

 as much as possible from the army, but de- 

 voted particular attention to diplomatic and 

 administrative affairs. On several occasions, 

 during the absence of his father from Russia, 

 he acted as regent of the empire, and in 1848 

 was sent on a special mission to Berlin, Vienna, 

 and other European capitals. He ascended the 

 throne in the midst of the Crimean War, which 

 he continued with undiminished energy, visit- 

 ing in the fall of 1855 Odessa and the Crimea. 

 The treaty of Paris in 1856 weakened the po- 

 sition of Russia in the East considerably, but 

 it soon recovered from this blow by the cau- 

 tious and yet energetic policy of Alexander. 

 The subjection of the tribes of the Caucasus 

 was continued and completed, while at the 

 same time the extensive territories between 

 the Caspian and the Aral seas were brought 

 under Russian influence, and the greater part 

 annexed to the empire. Much more impor- 

 tant, however, than these conquests, were the 

 reforms introduced by Alexander at home. 

 With the accession of Alexander, it seemed, in- 

 deed, as if a new spirit pervaded the empire, 

 many of his first acts being indicative of a re- 

 formatory policy. Thus, the number of stu- 

 dents at the Russian universities was no longer 

 restricted, the difficulty of obtaining passports 

 for traveling abroad was removed, and the 

 rigor of the press laws was relaxed. But the 

 most important act of his reign was the aboli- 

 tion of serfdom, by which millions of human 

 beings were freed from bondage fully equal 

 to that imposed upon the negro slaves. Steps 

 were also taken to reorganize the army, while 

 at the same time a system of public education, 

 comprising all degrees from the primary school 

 to the university, was introduced, so that now 

 Russia can boast of an educational system su- 

 perior to that of many of the older countries 

 of Europe. On the other hand, he has been 

 blamed for the barbaric severity with which 

 his government suppressed the insurrection in 

 Poland in 1863, and the severity with which 

 the Russification of the Polish and Baltic prov- 

 inces was conducted. Two attempts against 

 his life, in 1866, and again in 1867, greatly 

 diminished his reformatory zeal, and in some 

 respects, particularly with regard to the lib- 

 erty of the press, he has partly undone his 

 former work. With regard to the army and 

 navy, he remained true to his early distaste, 

 and surrendered these two departments entirely 

 into the hands of his brothers. (See NICHOLAS 

 and MICHAEL.) At the beginning of his reign, 

 he had the good fortune in finding in Prince 

 Gortchakoff (q. v.) a statesman of great ability, 

 and has ever since intrusted to his chancellor 

 the supreme direction of the foreign policy of 



