GUATEMALA. 



HAMPTON, WADE. 



375 



The members propose to increase their knowledge 

 by means of debates and lectures, and to extend it 

 by means of education and printing. 



In order to realize the objects of the institution 

 the Atheneum shall publish, and cause to be pub- 

 lished and circulated throughout the country, the 

 writings best fitted for the diffusion of useful knowl- 

 edge ; shall publish a weekly paper wholly free from 

 political questions ; promote the establishment of 

 free schools and public lectures, inviting for the 

 same persons of acknowledged ability and capacity. 



The Atheneum shall have a library and a reading- 

 room in which will be found all of the periodicals 

 published in Guatemala and the most prominent of 

 those published abroad. 



The Atheneum will consist of three sections, viz : 

 1. Moral and political science ; 2. National and phys- 

 ical science and mathematics; 3. Literature and the 

 tine arts. Each member shall belong to one of these 

 at least. 



The opening of five evening schools in the 

 capital, for the benefit of the working and trade 

 classes, was ordered in July. None not punc- 

 tual or failing to make fair progress will be 

 allowed to continue as members of the classes. 



In an official return, the value of the imports 

 for the year 1876 was set down at $2,264,832, 

 which, with $451,962, freight, insurance, com- 

 mission, etc., makes a total of $2,716,794. 



The countries most extensively represented 

 in the imports, and the value of the merchan- 

 dise received therefrom, were as follows : 



Great Britain $1,125,150.81 



France 449,587.33 



Germany 264,288.25 



United States. 245,867.54 



Total $2,084,843.48 



The yield of the custom-house for the same 

 year was $1,275,625.38. 



In the month of January, 1877, several im- 

 portant laws were made for the encouragement 

 of agricultural industry, and the assistance of 

 them who have employed their capital in cul- 

 tivating the land of the Republic. A con- 

 tract was made between the Government and 

 Messrs. Cleaves & Co. for the introduction of 

 agricultural machinery, planting of corn on 

 modern principles, raising of improved stock, 

 and breeding of fish, etc., etc., coupled with 

 the obligation of instructing a certain number 

 of youths in the science of agriculture. 



On account of the scarcity of flour in Gua- 

 temala the importation of that article into the 

 Republic was declared free of duty till the 31st 

 of October 1877. The heavy tax imposed by 

 the decree of 22d May last upon each head of 

 cattle for consumption was reduced, and at the 

 same time the Government arranged for the 

 establishment of a new slaughter-house in the 

 capital, and laid down instructions by which 

 this business was to be regulated in the differ- 

 ent departments. 



The work on the railroad from San Jos6 de 

 Guatemala to Escuintla was to begin in Sep- 

 tember, under the direction of Mr. Nanne, with 

 whom were associated Captain A. T. Douglas 

 and two or three of the leading capitalists of 

 Costa Rica. 



The Government, at the suggestion of Mr. 

 Nanne, adopted the standard gauge of 4 feet 

 8 inches for the line. 



The Government was negotiating for the es- 

 tablishing of a line of telegraph with Mexico, 

 which would place Guatemala in telegraphic 

 communication with the United States and 

 Europe. The Government of Mexico has ex- 

 pressed itself favorable to the enterprise, and 

 it was believed that by the end of the year the 

 wires of the two republics would be connected. 

 Mexico appeared for the present to have given 

 up the question of boundaries with Guatemala. 



On July llth, the telegraph-line connecting 

 Huehutenango with Nenton, immediately on 

 the Mexican frontier, was opened to the pub- 

 lic. This conerodes the contract with Mr. S. 

 McNider for the construction of telegraph- 

 lines in the State. The entire Republic is now 

 united by telegraph. There are some 42 sta- 

 tions or offices and 1,073 miles of wire in 

 use. 



An attempt was made to assassinate Presi- 

 dent Barrios on September 25, 1877, while he 

 was visiting at San Pedro Jocopilas, near the 

 Mexican frontier. Seventeen of the principal 

 conspirators were executed at the capital in 

 November. 



The international affairs with Costa Rica, 

 etc., were of an unimportant character through- 

 out the year. 



H 



HAMPTON, WADE, Governor of South 

 Carolina, was born at Columbia, in that State, 

 in 1818. He graduated at the University of 

 South Carolina, studied law, and was succes- 

 sively a member of the House and of the 

 Senate in the State Legislature. At the be- 

 ginning of the Civil War he entered the Con- 

 federate service, and commanded the Hampton 

 Legion of Cavalry at the battle of Rull Run, 

 where he was wounded. He was made brig- 

 adier-general, served in the Chickahominy 

 campaign, and was again wounded in the 

 battle of Seven Pines. He afterward com- 



manded a cavalry force in the Army of North- 

 ern Virginia, and was again wounded at Get- 

 tysburg. In 1864 he was made lieutenant- 

 general, and commanded a body of cavalry in 

 Virginia. He was afterward sent to South 

 Carolina, and in February, 1865, commanded 

 the rear-guard of the Confederate army at 

 Columbia. Large quahtities of cotton had 

 been stored here ; and, upon the approach of 

 the Union army, under General Sherman, this 

 was piled in an open square, ready to be 

 burned. Fire was set to it, which resulted in 

 a conflagration, by which a great part of the 



