Chapter LXXXIII: Act 1903: , the powers and duties of the Board of Trade under the (8)

In June 1862 the vessel, the ``Alabama,'' originally known as ``No. 290,'' was being built by Messrs. Laird at Birkenhead. She was then nearly completed and was obviously intended for a man-of-war. On the 23rd of June Mr C. F. Adams forwarded to Earl Russell a letter from the United States consul at Liverpool giving certain particulars as to her character. This letter was laid before the law officers, who advised that, if these particulars were correct, the vessel ought to be detained. On the 21st of July sworn evidence, which was supplemented on the 23rd of July, was obtained and laid before the commissioners of customs (who were the proper authorities to enforce the provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819), but they declined to move. On the 23rd of July the same evidence was laid before the law officers, who advised that there was sufficient ground fordetention. By some accident, which has never been satisfactorily explained, but was probably connected with the severe illness of Sir John Harding, the queen's advocate, the papers were not returned till the 29th of July. Instructions were then issued to seize the vessel, but she had already sailed on the evening of the 28th. Although she remained for two days off the coast of Anglesey, there was no serious attempt at pursuit. She afterwards made her way to the Azores, where she received her armament, which was brought from Liverpool in two British ships. Captain Sommes there took command of her under a commission from the Confederate government. After a most destructive career she was sunk off Cherbourg by the ``Kearsarge'' on the 19th of June 1864.

On these facts the United States government alleged against Great Britain two grievances, or sets of grievances. The first was the recognition of the Southern States as belligerents and a general manifestation of unfriendliness in other ways. The second was in respect of breaches of neutrality in allowing the ``Alabama,'' the ``Florida'' (originally the ``Oreto'', the ``Shenandoah'' and other Confederate vessels to be built and equipped on British territory. Correspondence ensued extending over several years. At length in February 1871 a commission was appointed to sit at Washington in order, if possible, to arrive at some common understanding as to the mode in which the questions at issue might be settled. With resoect to the ``Alabama'' claims the British commissioners suggested that they should be submitted to arbitration. The American commissioners refused ``unless the principles which should govern the arbitrators in the consideration of the facts could be first agreed upon.'' After some discussion the British commissioners consented that the three following rules should apply. A neutral government is bound---(1) to use due diligence to prevent the fitting out, arming or equipping within its jurisdiction of any vessel, which it has reasonable ground to believe is intended to cruise or to carry on war against a power with which it is at peace, and also to use like diligence to prevent the departure from its jurisdiction of any vessel intended to cruise or carry on war as above, such vessel having been specially adapted, in whole or in part, within such jurisdiction, to warlike use; (2) not to permit or suffer either belligerent to make use of its ports or waters as the base of naval operations against the other, or for the purpose of the renewal or augmentation of military supplies or arms or the recruitment of men; (3) to exercise due diligence in its own ports and waters, and as to all persons within its jurisdiction to prevent any violation of the foregoing obligation and duties. The arrangements made by the commission were embodied in the treaty of Washington, which was signed on the 8th of May 1871, and approved by the Senate on the 24th of May. Article 1, after expressing the regret felt by Her Majesty's government for the escape, in whatever circumstances, of the ``Alabama', and other vessels from British ports, and for the depredations committed by these vessels, provided that ``the claims growing out of the acts of the said vessels, and generically known as the `Alabama' claims'' should be referred to a tribunal composed of five arbitrators, one to be named by each of the contracting parties and the remaining three by the king of Italy, the president of the Swiss Confederation and the emperor of Brazil respectively. By Article 2 all questions submitted were to be decided by a majority of the arbitrators, and each of the contracting parties was to name one person to attend as agent. Article 6 provided that the arbitrators should be governed by the three rules quoted above, and by such principles of international law not inconsistent therewith as the arbitrators should determine to be applicable to the case. By the same article the parties agreed to observe these rules as between themselves in future, and to bring them to the knowledge of other maritime powers. Article 7 provided that the decision should be made within three months from the close of the argument, and gave power to the arbitrators to award a sum in gross in the event of Great Britain being adjudged to be in the wrong.

The treaty was, on the whole, welcomed in England. The United States appointed Mr C. F. Adams as arbitrator and Mr J. C. Bancroft Davis as agent. The British government appointed Sir Alexander Cockburn as arbitrator and Lord Tenterden as agent. The arbitrators appointed by the three neutral powers were Count Sclopis (Italy), M. Staempfli (Switzerland), Baron d'Itajuba (Brazil). The first meetinhof the tribunal took place on the 15th of December 1871 in the Hotel de Ville, Geneva. As soon as the cases had been formally presented, the tribunal adjourned till the following June. There followed immediately a controversy which threatened the collapse of the arbitration. It was found that in the American case damages were claimed not only for the property destroyed by the Confederate cruisers, but in respect of certain other matters known as ``indirect losses,'' viz. the transference of the American marine to the British flag, the enhanced payments of insurance, the expenses of pursuit and the prolongation of the war. But this was not all. The American case revived the charges of ``insincere neutrality'' and ``veiled hostility'' which had figured in the diplomatic correspondence, and had been repudiated by Great Britain. It dwelt at length upon such topics as the premature recognition of belligerency, the unfriendly utterances of British politicians and the material assistance afforded to the Confederates by British traders. The inclusion of the indirect losses and the other matters just referred to caused great excitement in England. That they were within the treaty was disputed, and it was argued that, if they were, the treaty should be amended or denounced. In October 1872 Lord Granville notified to General Schenck, the United States minister, that the British government did not consider that the indirect losses were within the submission, and in April the British counter-case was filed without prejudice to this contention. On the 15th of June the tribunal reassembled and the A11erican argument was filed. The British agent then applied for an adjournment of eight months, ostensibly in order that the two governments might conclude a supplemental convention, it having been meanwhile privately arranged between the arbitrators that an extra-judicial declaration should be obtained from the arbitrators on the subject of the direct claims. On the 10th of June Count Sclopis intimated on behalf of all his colleagues that, without intending to express any opinion upon the interpretation of the treaty, they had arrived at the conclusion that ``the indirect claims did not constitute upon the principles of international law applicable to such cases a good foundation for . an award or computation of damages between nations.'' In consequence of this intimation Mr Bancroft Davis informed the tribunal on the 25th of June that he was instructed not to press those claims; and accordingly on the 27th of June Lord Tenterden withdrew his application for an adjournment, and the arbitration was allowed to proceed. The discussion turned mainly on the question of the measure of ``due diligence.'' The United States contended that it must be a diligence commensurate with the emergency or with the magnitude of the results of negligence. The British government maintained that while the measure of care which a government is bound to use in such cases must be dependent more or less upon circumstances, it would be unreasonable to require that it should exceed that which the governments of civilized states were accustomed to employ in matters concerning their own security or that of their citizens.

The tribunal adopted the view suggested by the United States. It found that Great Britain was legally responsible for all the depredations of the ``Alabama'' and ``Florida'' and for those committed by the ``Shenandoah'' after she left Melbourne. In . the case of the ``Alabama'' the court was unanimous; in the case of the ``Florida'' Sir A. Cockburn alone, in that of the ``Shenandoah'' he and Baron d'Itajuba, dissented from the majority, In the cases of the other vessels the judgment was in favour of Great Britain. The tribunal decided to award a sum in gross, and (Sir A. Cockburn again dissenting) fixed the damages at $15,500,000 in gold. On the 14th of September the award was formally published, and signed by all the arbitrators except Sir A. Cockburn, who filed a lengthy statement of his reasons.

The stipulation that the three rules should be jointly submitted by the two powers to foreign nations has never been carried out. For this the British government has been blamed by some. But the general view of continental publicists is, that the language of the rules was not sufficiently precise to admit of their being generally accepted as a canon of neutral obligations. (M. H. C.)

ALABAMA RIVER, a river of Alabama, U.S.A., formed by the Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, which unite about 6 m. above Montgomery. It flows W. as far as Selma, then S.W. until, about 45 m. from Mobile, it unites with the Tombigbee to form the Mobile and Tensas rivers, which discharge into Mobile Bay. The course of the Alabama is tortuous; its width varies from 200 to 300 yds., its depth from 3 to 7 ft.; its length by the United States Survey is 312 m., by steamboat measurement, 420 m. The river crosses the richest agricultural and timber districts of the state, and railways connect it with the mineral regions of north central Alabama. The principal tributary of the Alabama is the Canaba (about 200 m. long), which enters it about 10 m. below Selma. Of the rivers which form the Alabama, the Coosa crosses the mineral region of Alabama, and is navigable for light-draft boats from Rome, Georgia (where it is formed by the junction of the Oostenaula and Etowah rivers), to about 117 m. above Wetumpka (about 102 m. below Rome and 26 m. below Greensport), and from Wetumpka to its junction with the Tallapoosa; the channel of the river has been considerably improved by the Federal government. The navigation of the Lallapoosa river (which has its source in Paulding county, Georgia, and is about 250 m. long) is prevented by shoals and a 60-ft. fall at Tallassee, a few miles N. of its junction with the Coosa. The Alabama is navigable throughout the year. In 1878 the Federal government undertook to make a channel tho length of the Alabama 200 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep; an amendment in 1891 provided for a 6-ft. channel at low water, and in June 1907 this work was reported as ``10% completed'' at an expenditure of $303,650. The Mobile river is navigable for vessels of about 14 ft. draft. The Alabama is an important carrier of cotton, cotton seed, fertilizer, cereals, lumber, naval stores, &c.; and in the fiscal year 1906-1907 the freight tonnage was 417,041 tons.

ALABASTER, or ARBLASTIER, WILLIAM (1567--1640), English Latin poet and scholar, was born at Hadleigh, Suffolk, in 1567. He was, so Fuller states, a nephew by marriage of Dr John Still, bishop of Bath and Wells. His surname, sometimes written Arblastier, is one of the many variants of arbalester, a cross-bowman. Alabaster was educated at Westminster school, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1583. He became a fellow, and in 1592 was incorporated of the university of Oxford. About 1502 he produced at Trinity College his Latin tragedy of Roxana.1 It is modelled on the tragedies of Seneca, and is a stiff and spiritless work. Fuller and Anthony a Wood bestowed exaggerated praise on it, while Samuel Johnson regarded it as the only Latin verse worthy of notice produced in England before Milton's elegies. Roxana is founded on the La Dalida (Venice, 1567) of Luigi Groto, known as Cieco di Hadria, and Hallam asserts that it is a plagiarism (Literature of Europe, iii. 54). A surreptitious edition in 1632 was followed by an authorized version a plagiarii unguibus vindicata, aucta et agnita ab Aithore, Gulielmo, Alabastro. One book of an epic poem in Latin hexameters, in honour of Queen Elizabeth, is preserved in MS. in the library of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. This poem, Elisaeis, Apotheosis poetica, Spenser highly esteemed. ``Who lives that can match that heroick song?'' he says in Colin Clout's come home again, and begs ``Cynthia'' to withdraw the poet from his obscurity. In June 1596 Alabaster sailed with Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, on the expedition to Cadiz in the capacity of chaplain, and, while he was in Spain, he became a Roman Catholic. An account of his change of laith is given in an obscurely worded sonnet contained in a MS. copy of Divine Meditations, by Mr Alabaster (see J. P. Collier, Hist. of Eng. Dram. Poetry, ii. 341). He defended his conversion in a pamphlet, Seven Motives, of which no copy is extant. The proof of its publication only remains in two tracts, A Booke of the Seuen Planets, or Seuen wandring motives of William Alablaster's (sic) wit . . ., by John Racster (1598), and An Answer to William Alabaster. his Motives, by Roger Fenton (1599). From these it appears that Alabaster was imprisoned for his change of faith in the Tower of London during 1598 and 1599. In 1607 he published at Antwerp Apparatus in Revelationem Jesu Christi, in which his study of the Kabbalah was turned to account in a mystical interpretation of scripture which drew down the censure alike of Protestants and Catholics. The book was placed on the Index librorum prohibitorum at Rome early in 1610. Alabaster says in the preface to his Ecce sponsus veni (1633), a treatise on the time of the second advent of Christ, that he went to Rome and was there imprisoned by the Inquisition but succeeded in escaping to England and again embraced the Protestant faith. He received a prebend in St Paul's cathedral, London, and the living of Therlield, Hertfordshire. He died in 1640. Alabaster's other cabalistic writings are Commenitarius de Beslia Apocalyptica (1621) and Spiraculum tubarum . . . . (1633), a mystical interpretation of the Pentateuch. It was by these theological writings that he won the praise of Robert Herrick, who calls him ``the triumph of the day'' and the ``one only glory of a million'' (``To Doctor Alabaster'' in Hesperides, 1648). He also published (1637) Lexicon Pentaglottoni, Hebraicum, Chaldaicum, Syriacum. Talmudico-Rabbinicci et Arabicum.

See T. Fuller, Worthies of England (ii. 343); J. P. Collior, Bibl. and Crit. Account of the Rarest Books in the English Language (vol. i. 1865); Pierre Bayle, Dictionary, Historical and Critical (ed. London, 1834); also the Athenaeum (December 26, 1903), there Sir Bertram Dobell describes a MS. in his possession containing forty-three sonnets by Alabaster.

1 For an analysis of the play see an article on the Latin university plays in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare Gesellschaft (Weimar, 1898)

ALABASTER, a name applied to two distinct mineral substances, the one a hydrous sulphate of lime and the other a carbonate of lime. The former is the alabaster of the present day, the latter is generally the alabaster of the ancients. The two kinds are readily distinguished from each other by their relative hardness. The modern alabaster is so soft as to be readily scratched even by the finger-nail (hardness= 1.5 to 2), whilst the stone called alabaster by the ancients is too hard to be scratched in this way (hardness=3), though it yields readily to a knife. Moreover, the ancient alabaster, being a carbonate, effervesces on being touched with hydrochloric acid, whereas the modern alabaster when so treated remains practically unaffected.

Ancient Alabaster.---This substance, the ``alabaster'' of scripture, is often termed Oriental alabaster, since the early examples came from the East. The Greek name alabastrites is said to be derived from the town of Alabastron, in Egypt, where the stone was quarried, but the locality probably owed its name to the mineral; the origin of the mineral-name is obscure, and it has been suggested that it may have had an Arabic origin. The Oriental alabaster was highly esteemed for making small perfume-bottles or ointment vases called alabastra; and this has been conjectured to be a possible source of the name. Alabaster was also employed in Egypt for Canopic jars and various other sacred and sepulchral objects. A splendid sarcophagus, sculptured in a single block of translucent Oriental alabaster from Alabastron, is in the Soane Museum, London. This was discovered by Giovanni Beizoni, in 1817, in the tomb of Seti I., near Thebes, and was purchased by Sir John Soane, having previously been offered to the British Museum for

Oriental alabaster is either a stalagmitic deposit, from the floor and walls of limestone-caverns, or a kind of travertine, deposited from springs of calcareous water. Its deposition in successive layers gives rise to the banded appearance which the marble often shows on cross-section, whence it is known as onyx-marble or alabaster-onyx, or sometimes simply as onyx--a term which should, however, be restricted to a siliceous mineral. The Egyptian alabaster has been extensively worked near Suez and near Assiut; there are many ancient quarries in the hills overlooking the plain of Tell el Amarna. The Algerian ony.xmarble has been largely quarried in the province of Oran. In Mexico there are famous deposits of a delicate green variety at La Pedrara, in the district of Tecali, near Puebla. Onyx-marble occurs also in the district of Tehuacan and at several localities in California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Virginia.

Modern Alabaster.--- When the term ``alabaster'' is used without any qualification it invariably means, at the present day, a finely granular variety of gypsum (q.v..) This mineral, or alabaster proper, occurs in England in the Keuper marls of the Midlands, especially at Chellaston in Derbyshire, at Fauld in Staffordshire and near Newark in Nottinghamshire. At all these localities it has been extensively worked. It is also found, though in subordinate quantity, at Watchet in Somersetshire, near Penarth in Giamorganshire, and elsewhere. Iii Cumberland and Westmorland it occurs largely in the New Red rocks, but at a lower geological horizon. The alabaster of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire is found in thick nodular beds or ``floors,'' in spheroidal masses known as ``balls'' or ``bowls.'' and in smaller lenticular masses termed ``cakes.'' At Chellaston. where the alabaster is known as ``Patrick,'' it has been worked into ornaments under the name of ``Derbyshire spar''---a term applied also to fluor-spar. The finer kinds of alabaster are largely employed as an ornamental stone, especially for ecclesiastical decoration, and for the srails of staircases and halls Its softness enables it to be readily carved into elaborate forms, but its solubility in water renders it inapplicable to outdoor work. The purest alabaster is a snow-white material of fine tiniforni grain, but it is often associated with oxide of iron, which produces brown clouding and veining in the stone. The coarser varieties of alabaster are converted by calcination into plaster of Paris, whence they are sometimes known as ``plaster stone.''

On the continent of Europe the centre of the alabaster trade is Florence. The Tuscan alabaster occurs in nodular masses, embedded in limestone, interstratified with marls of Miocene and Pliocene age. The mineral is largely worked, by means of underground galleries, in the district of Volterra. Several varieties are recognized---veined, spotted, clouded, agatiform, &c. The finest kind, obtained principally from Castellina, is sent to Florence for figure-sculpture, whilst the common kinds are carved locally, at a very cheap rate, into vases, clock-cases and various ornamental objects, in which a large trade is carried on, especially in Florence, Pisa and Leghorn. In order to diminish the translucency of the alabaster and to produce an opacity suggestive of true marble, the statues are immersed in a bath of water and gradually heated nearly to the boiling-point--an operation requiring great care, for if the temperature be not carefully regulated, the stone acquires a dead-white chalky appearance. The effect of heating appears to be a partial dehydration ofthegypsum. If properly treated, it Very closely resembles true marble, and is known as mormo di Castellina. It should be noted that sulphate of lime (gypsum) was used also by the ancients, and was employed, for instance, in Assyrian sculpture, so that some of the ancient alabaster is identical with the modern stone.

Alabaster may be stained by digesting it, after heing heated, in various pigmentary solutions; and in this way a good imitation of coral has been produced (alabaster coral).

See M. Carmichael, Report on the Volterra Alabaster Industry, Foreign Office, Miscellaneous Series, No. 352 (London, 1895): A. T. Metcalfe, ``The Gypsum Deposits of Nottingham and Derbyshire,'' Transactions of the Federated Institution, vol. xii. (1896), p. i107; J . G. Goodchild, ``The Natural Uistory of Gypsum''' Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. x. (1888), p. 425; George P. Merrill, ``The Onyx Marbles,'' Report of the U. S. National Museum for 1893, p. 539. (F. W. R.*)

ALACOQUE, or AL COQ, MARGUERITE MARIE (1647--1690), French nun and mystic, was born at Lauthecourt, a village in the diocese of Autun, on the 22nd of July 1647. She would seem to have been from the first of a morbid and unhealthy temperament, and before the age of thirteen was the subject of a paralytic seizure. Having been cured of this, as she believed, by the intercession of the Holy Virgin, she changed her name to Marie and vowed to devote her life to her service. In May 1671 she entered the Visitation convent at Paray-le-Monial, in the diocese of Autun, and took the final vows in November 1672. Though her reading was confined to the lives of the saints, she taught in the school kept by the nuns for the girls of the neighbourhood, to whom she endeared herself by her kindly disposition. The appalling austerities, however, to which she was allowed to subject herself quickly affected her mental and bodily health. Hallucinations, to which she had been always subject, became more and more frequent. She conceived herself to be specially favoured by Christ, who appeared to her in the most extravagant forms. At last, by dint of fasting and lacerating her flesh, she succeeded in reducing herself to such a state of ecstatic suffering that she belies'ed herself to be undergoing in her own person the Passion of the Lord. Her reward was the supreme vision in which Christ revealed to her His heart burning with divine love, and even, so she afflrmed, exchanged it with hers, at the same time bidding her establish, on the Friday following, the feast of Corpus Christi, a festival in honour of His Sacred Heart. It was not till ten years later, in 1685, that the festival was first celebrated at Paray, and not till after the death of Marguerite, on the 17th of October 1690, that the cult of the Sacredheart, fostered by the Jesuits and the subject of violent controversies within the church, spread throughout France and Christendom. (See SACRED HEART.) .

Marguerite Alacoque was beatified by Pius IX. in 1864. Her short devotional writing, La Devotion au Sacre-Coeur de Jesus, was published by J. Croiset in 1698, and is now very popular among Roman Catholics.

See Bishop Languet, Vie de la venerable Marguerite-Marie (Paris, 1724), translated and edited by F. W. Faber (1847): Mgr. Bougaud, Histoire de la bienheureuse Marguerite-Marie (Paris, 1874); G. Tckell, S.J., The Life ofblessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, with some account of the devotion to the Sacred Heart (London, 18O9); b. B. H. R. . Capefigue, Marie Marguerite Al-Coq (Paris, 1866).

ALAGOAS, a maritime state of Brazil, bounded N. and W. by the state of Pernambuco, S. and W. by the state of Sergipe, and E. by the Atlantic. It hasan area of 22,584 sq. m. A dry, semibarren plateau, fit for grazing only, extends across the W. part of the state, breaking down into long fertile valleys and wooded ridges towards the coast, giving the country a mountainous character. The coastal plain is filled with lakes (logoas), in some cases formed by the blocking up of river outlets by beach sands. The valleys and slopes are highly fertile and produce sugar, cotton, tobacco, Indian corn, rice, mandioca and Iruits. Hides and skins, mangabeira rubber, cabinet woods, castor beans and rum are also exported. Cattle-raising was formerly a prominent industry, but it has greatly declined. Manufactures have been developed to a limited extent only, though protective tariff laws have been adopted for their encouragement. The climate is hot and humid, and fevers are prevalent in the hot season. The capital, Maceio, is the chief commercial city of the state, and its port (Jaragua) has a large foreign and coastwise trade. The principal towns are Alagoas, formerly the capital, picturesquely situated on Lake Manguaba, 15 m. S.W. of Maceio, and Penedo, a small port on the lower Sao Francisco, 26 m. above the river's mouth. Before 1817 Alagoas formed part of the capitania of Pernambuco, but in that year the district was rewarded with a separate government for refusing to join a revolution, and in 1823 became a province of the empire. The advent of the republic in 1889 changed the province into a state.

ALAIN DE LILLE [Alanus de Insulis] (c. 1128-1202), French theologian and poet, was born, probably at Lille, some years before 1128. Little is known of his life. He seems to have taught in the schools of Paris, and he attended the Lateran Council in 1179. He afterwards inhabited Montpellier (he is sometimes called Alanus de Montepessulano), lived for a time outside the walls of any cloister, and finally retired to Citeaux, where he died in 1202. He had a very widespread reputation during his lifetime and his knowledge, more varied than profound, caused him to be called Doctor universalis. Among his very numerous works two poems entitle him to a distinguished place in the Latin literature of the middle ages; one of these, the De planctu naturae, is an ingenious satire on the vices of humanity; the other, the Anticlaudianus, a treatise on morals, the form of which recalls the pamphlet of Claudian against Rufinus, is agreeably versified and relatively pure in its latinity. As a theologian Alain de Lille shared in the mystic reaction of the second half of the 12th century against the scholastic philosophy. His mysticism, however, is far from being as absolute as that of the Victorines. In the Anticlaudianus he sums up as follows: Reason, guided by prudence, can unaided discover most of the truths of the physical order; for the apprehension of religious truths it must trust to faith. This rule is completed in his treatise, Ars catholicae fidei, as follows: Theology itself may be demonstrated by reason. Alain even ventures an immediate application of this principle, and tries to prove geometrically the dogmas defined in the Creed. This bold attempt is entirely factitious and verbal, and it is only his employment of various terms not generally used in such a connexion (axiom, theorem, corollary, etc.) that gives his treatise its apparent originality. Alain de Lille has often been confounded with other persons named Alain, in particular with Alain, archbishop of Auxerre, Alan, abbot of Tewkesbury, Alain de Podio, etc. Certain facts of their lives have been attributed to him, as well as some of their works: thus the Life of St Bernard should be ascribed to Alain of Auxerre and the Commentary upon Merlin to Alan of Tewkesbury. Neither is the philosopher of Lille the author of a Memoriale rerum difficilium, published under his name; and it is exceedingly doubtful whether the Dicta Alani de lapide philocophico really issued from his pen. On the other hand, it now seems practically demonstrated that Alain de Lille was the author of the Ars catholicae fidei and the treatise Contra haereticos.

The works of Alain de Lille have been published by Migne, Patrologia latina, vol. ccx. A critical edition of the Anticlaudianus and of the De planctu naturae is given by Th. Wright in vol. ii. of the Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets and Epigrammatists of the Twelfth Century (London, 1872). See Haureau, Memoire sur la vie et quelques oeuvres d'Alain de Lille (Paris, 1885); M. Baumgartner, Die Philosophie des Alanus de Insulis (Munster, 1896). (P. A.)

ALAIS, a town of southern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Gard, 25 m. N.N.W. of Nimes on the Paris-Lyon railway, on which it is an important junction. Pop. (1906) 18,987. The town is situated at the foot of the Cevenues, on the left bank of the Gardon, which half surrounds it. The streets are wide and its promenades and fine plane-trees make the town attractive; but the public buildings, the chief of which are the church of St Jean, a heavy building of the 18th century, and the citadel, which serves as barracks and prison, are of small interest. Pasteur prosecuted his investigations into the silkworm disease at Alais, and the town has dedicated a bust to his memory. There is also a statue of the chemist J. B. Dumas. Alais has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a lycee and a school of mines. The town is one of the most important markets for raw silk and cocoons in the south of France, and the Gardon supplies power to numerous silkmills. It is also the centre of a mineral field. which yields large quantities of coal, iron, zinc and lead; its blast-furnaces, foundries, glass-works and engineering works afford employment to many workmen.

In the 16th century Alais was an important Huguenot centre. In 1629 the town was taken by Louis XIII., and by the peace of Alais the Huguenots gave up their right to places de surete (garrison towns) and other privileges. A bishopric was established there in 1694 but suppressed in 1790.

ALAJUELA, the capital of the province of Alajuela, in Costa Rica, Central America, on the`transcontinental railway, 15 m. W. of San Jose. Pop. (1904) 4860. Alajuela is built at the southern base of the volcano of Poas (8895 ft.) and Overlooks the fertile plateau of San Jose. Its central square, adorned with a handsome bronze fountain, contains the municipal buildings, and a large but unattractive cathedral. The town covers a considerable area; the detached white houses of its suburbs are surrounded by trees and flowering shrubs. Alajuela is the centre of the Costa Rican sugar trade, and an important market for coffee. Its products are exported from Puntarenas, on the Pacific Ocean, 32 m. W. The province of Alajuela includes the territory of the Guatusos Indians, along the northern frontier; the towns of Atenas, Grecia, Naranjo and San Ramon (all with less than 5000 inhabitants), and the gold-mines of Aguacate, a little north of Atenas.

ALAMANNI, or ALLEMANNI, a German tribe, first mentioned by Dio Cassius, under the year 213. They apparently dwelt in the basin of the Maine, to the south of the Chatti. According to Asinius Quadratus their name indicates that they were a conglomeration of various tribes. There can be little doubt, however, that the ancient Hermunduri formed the preponderating element in the nation. Among the other elements may be mentioned the Juthungi, Bucinobantes, Lentienses, and perhaps the Armalausi. From the 4th century onwards we hear also of the Suebi or Suabi. The Hermunduri had apparendy belonged to the Suebi, but it is likely enough that reinforcements from new Suebic tribes had now moved westward. In later times the names Alamanni and Suebi seem to be synonymous. The tribe was continually engaged in conflicts with the Romans, the most famous encounter being that at Strassburg, in which they were defeated by Julian, afterwards emperor, in the year 357, when their king Chonodomarius was taken prisoner. Early in the 5th century the Alamanni appear to have crossed the Rhine and conquered and settled Alsace and a large part of Switzerlafid. Their kingdom lasted until the year 405, when they were conquered by Clovis, from which time they formed part of the Frankish dominions. The Alamannic and Swabian dialects are now spoken in German Switzerland, the southern parts of Baden and Alsace, Wurttemberg and a small portion of Bavaria.

See Dio Cassius lxvii. ff.; Ammianus Marcellinus, passim; Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, book ii.; C. Zeuss, Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstamme (Munich, 1837), pp. Ro5 ff.; O. Bremer in H. Paul, Grundriss der Permanischen Philologie (2nd ed., Strassburg, 1900), vol. iii. pp. 930 h. (F. G. M. B.)

ALAMANNI, or ALEMANNI, LUIGI (1405-1556), Italian statesman and poet, was born at Florence. His father was a devoted adherent of the Medici party, but Luigi, smarting under a supposed injustice, joined with Others in an unsuccessful conspiracy against Giulio de' Medici, afterwards POpe Clement VII. He was obliged in consequence to take refuge in Venice, and, on the accession of Clement, to flee to France. When Florence shook off the papal yoke in 1527, Alamanni returned, and took a prominent part in the management of the affairs of the republic. On the restoration of the Medici in 1530 he had again to take refuge in France, where he composed the greater part of his works. He was a favourite with Francis I., who sent him as ambassador to Charles V. after the peace of Crepy in 1544. As an instance of his tact in this capacity, it is related that, when Charles interrupted a complimentary address by quoting from a satirical poem of Alamanni's the words---

``l' aquila grifagna, Che per piu devorar, duoi rostri porta''

(Two crooked bills the ravenous eagle bears, The better to devour),

the latter at once replied that he spoke them as a poet, who was permitted to use fictions, but that he spoke now as an ambassador, who was obliged to tell the truth. The ready reply pleased Charles, who added some complimentary words. After the death of Francis, Alamanni enjoyed the confidence of his successor Henry II., and in 1551 was sent by him as his ambassador to Genoa. He died at Amboise on the 18th of April 1556. He wrote a large number of poems, distinguished by the purity and excellence of their style. The best is a didactic poem, La Coltivazione (Paris, 1546), written in imitation of Virgil's Georgics. His Opere Toscane (Lyons, 1532) consists of satirical pieces written in blank verse. An unfinished poem, Avarchide, in imitation of the Iliad, was the work of his old age and has little merit. It has been said by some that Alamanni was the first to use blank verse in Italian poetry, but the distinction belongs rather to his contemporary Giangiorgio Trissino. He also wrote a poetical romance, Girone il Cortese (Paris, 1548); a tragedy, Antigone; a comedy, Flora; and other poems. His works were published, with a biography by P. Raffaelli, as Versi e prose di Luigi Alamanni (Florence, 1859).

See G. Naro, Luigi Alamanni e la coltivazione (Syracuse, 1897), and C . Corso, Un decennio di patriottismo di Luigi Alamanni (Palermo, 1898).

ALAMEAGH, or ALUMBAGH, the name of a large park 01 walled enclosure, containing a palace, a mosque and other buildings, as well as a beautiful garden, situated about 4 m. from Lucknow, near the Cawnpore road, in the United Provinces of India. It was converted into a fort by the mutineers in 1857, and after its capture by the British was of importance in connexion with the military operations around Lucknow. (See INDIAN MUTINY and OUTRAM, SIR JAMES.)

ALAMEDA, a residential city of Alameda county, California, U.S.A., on an artificial island about 5 m. long and 1 m. wide, on the E. side of San Francisco bay, opposite to and about 6 m. from San Francisco, and directly S. of Oakland, from which it is separated by a drainage canal, spanned by bridges. Included within the limits of the city is Bay Farm island, with an area of about 3 sq. m. Pop. (1870) 15571 (1880) 5708; (1890) 11,165; (1900) 16,464, of whom 4175 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 23,383. Alameda is served by the Southern Pacific railway, and is connected by an electric line with Oakland and Berkeley. Its site is low and level and its plan fairly regular. Among the city's manufactures are terra-cotta tiles, pottery, rugs, refrigerators and salt. The city owns and operates the electriclighting plant; the water-works system is privately owned, and the water supply is obtained from deep wells at San Leandro. A settlement existed here before the end of the Mexican period. In 1854 it was incorporated as a town and in 1885 was chartered as a city. In 1906 the city adopted a freehold charter, centralizing power in the mayor and providing for a referendum. The county was organized in 1853.

ALAMOS DE BARRIENTOS, BALTASAR (1555-1640), Spanish scholar, was born at Medina del Campo in 1555. His friendship with Antonio Perez caused him to be arrested in 1590 and imprisoned for nearly thirteen years. His 7Acito espanol ilustrado con aforismos (Madrid, 1614) is the only work which bears his name, but he is probably the author of the Discurso del gobierno ascribed to Perez. Through the influence of Lerma (to whom the Tacito is dedicated) and of Olivares, he subsequently attained high official position.

See L'Art de gouverner, ed. J. M. Guardia (Paris, 1867); P. J. Pidal, Historia de las alteraciones de Aragon en el reinado de Felipe II. (Madrid, 1862), vol. iii. pp. 29-30; A. Perez, Relaciones (Geneva, 1654), pp. 86-88.

ALAND ISLANDS, an archipelago at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia, about 25 m. from the coast of Sweden, and 15 from that of Finland. The group, which forms part of the Finnish province of Abo-Bjorneborg, consists of nearly three hundred islands, of which about eighty are inhabited, the remainder being desolate rocks. These islands form a continuation of a dangerous granite reef extending along the south coast of Finland. They formerly belonged to Sweden, and in the neighbourhood the first victory of the Russian fleet Over the Swedes was gained by Peter the Great in 1714. They were ceded to Russia in 1809. They occupy a total area of 1426 sq. km., and their present population is estimated at about 19,000. The majority of these occupy the island of Aland, upon which is situated the town of Mariehamn with a population of 1171. The inhabitants are mostly of Swedish descent, and are hardy seamen and fishermen. The surface of the islands is generally sandy, the soil thin and the climate keen; yet Scotch fir, spruce and birch are grown; and rye, barley, flax and vegetables are produced in sufficient quantity for the wants of the people. Great numbers of cattle are reared; and cheese, butter and hides, as well as salted meat and fish, are exported. There are several excellent harbours (notably that of Ytternas), which were at one time of great importance to Russia from the fact that they are frozen up for a much briefer period than those on the coast of Finland.

The Aland Islands occupy a position of the greatest strategic importance, commanding as they do both the entrance to the port of Stockholm and the approaches to the Gulf of Bothnia, through which the greater part of the trade of Sweden is carried on. When, by the 4th article of the treaty of Fredrikshavn (Friedrichshamn), 5/17 September 1809, the islands were ceded to Russia, together with the territories forming the grand-duchy of Finland on the mainland, the Swedes were unable to secure a provision that the islands should not be fortified. The question was, however, a vital one not only for Sweden but for Great Britain, whose trade in the Baltic was threatened. In 1854, accordingly, during the Crimean War, an Anglo-French force attacked and destroyed the fortress of Bomersund, against the erection of which Palmerston had protested without effect some twenty years previously. By the ``Aland Convention,'' concluded between Great Britain, France and Russia on the 30th of March 1856, it was stipulated that ``the Aland Islands shall not be fortified, and that no military or naval establishments shall be maintained or created on them.'' By the 33rd article of the treaty of Paris (1856) this convention, annexed to the final act, was given ``the same force and validity as if it formed part thereof,'' Palmerston declaring in the House of Commons (May 6) that it had ``placed a barrier between Russia and the north of Europe.,' Some attention was attracted to this arrangement when in 1906 it was asserted that Russia, under pretext of stopping the smuggling of arms into Finland, was massing considerable naval and military forces at the islands. The question of the Aland Islands created some discussion in 1907 and 1908 in connexion with the new North Sea agreements, and undoubtedly Russia considered the convention of 1856 as rather humiliating. But it was plainly shown by other powers that they did not propose to regard it as modified or open to question, and the point was not definitely and officially raised.

See the article by Dr Verner Soderberg in the National Review, No. 392, for April 1908.

ALANI (Gr. 'Alanoi,'Alaunoi; Chinese 'O-lan-na; since the 9th century A.D. they have been called As, Russ. Jasy, Georgian Ossi), the easternmost division of the Sarmatians (see SCYTHIA), Iranian nomads with some Altaic admixture. First met with north of the Caspian, and later (c. 1st century A.D.) spreading into the steppes of Russia, the Alans made incursions into both the Danubian and the Caucasian provinces of the Roman empire. By the Huns they were cut into two portions, of which the western joined the Germanic nations in their invasion of southern Europe, and, following the fortunes of the Vandals, disappeared in North Africa. Those of the eastern division, though dispersed about the steppes until late medieval times, were by fresh invading hordes forced into the Caucasus, where they remain as the Ossetes. At one time partially Christianized by Byzantine missionaries, they had almost relapsed into heathenism, but are now under Russian influence returning to Christianity. (E. II. M.)

ALANCON, HERNANDO DE, Spanish navigator of the 16th century, is known only in connexion with the expedition to the coast of California, of which he was leader. He set sail on the 9th of May 1540 with orders from the Spanish court to await at a certain point on the coast the arrival of an expedition by land under the command of Vasquez de Coronado. The junction was not effected, though Alarcon reached the appointed place and left letters, which were afterwards found by Diaz, another explorer. Alarcon was the first to determine with certainty that California was a peninsula and not an island, as had been supposed. He made a careful survey of the coast, ascended the Rio del Tizon Or Rio de Buena Guia (Colorado) for 85 Spanish m., and was thus able on his return to New Spain in 1541 to construct an excellent map of California.

See Herrera, Decade VI. book ix. ch. 15; vol. vi. fol. 212 of Madrid edition of 1730.

ALARCON, JUAN RUIZ DE (1518?-1639), Spanish dramatist, was born about 1581 at Tlacho (Mexico), where his father was superintendent of mines. He came to Europe in 1600, studied law at Salamanca, and in 1608 went back to Mexico to compete for a professorial chair. Returning to Spain in 1611, he entered the household of the marquis de Salinas, became a successful dramatist, and was nominated a member of the council of the Indies in 1623. He died at Madrid on the 4th of August 1639. His plays were published in 1628 and 1634; the most famous of these is La Verdad sospechosa, which was adapted by Corneille as the Menteur. Alarcon had the misfortune to be a hunchback, to be embittered by his deformity, and to be constantly engaged in personal quarrels with his rivals; but his attitude in these polemics is always dignified, and his crushing retort to Lope de Vega in Los pechos privilegiados is an unsurpassable example of cold, scornful invective. More than any other Spanish dramatist, Alarcon is preoccupied with ethical aims, and his gift of dramatic presentation is as brilliant as his dialogue is natural and vivacious. It has been alleged that his foreign origin is noticeable in his plays, and there is some foundation for the criticism; but his workmanship is exceptionally conscientious, and in El Tejedor de Segovia he had produced a masterpiece of national art, national sentiment and national expression. (J. F.-K.)

ALARCON, PEDRO ANTONIO DE (1833-1891), Spanish writer, was born on the 10th of March 1833 at Guadix. He graduated at the university of Granada, studied law and theology privately, and made his first appearance as a dramatist before he was of age. Deciding to follow literature as a profession, he joined with Torcuato Tarrago y Mateos in editing a Cailiz newspaper entitled El Eco de Occidente. In 1853 he travelled to Madrid in the hope of finding a publisher for his continuation of Espronceda's celebrated poem, El Diablo Mundo. Disappointed in his object, and finding no opening at the capital, he settled at Granada, became a radical journalist in that city, and showed so much ability that in 1854 he was appointed editor of a republican journal, El Latigo, published at Madrid. The extreme violence of his polemics led to a duel between him and the Byronic poet, Jose Heriberto Garcia Quevedo. The earliest of his novels, El Final de Norma, was published in 1855, and though its construction is feeble it brought the writer into notice as a master of elegant prose. A small anthology, called Mananias de Abril y Mayo (1856), proves that Alarcon was recognized as a leader by young men of promise, for among the contributors were Castelar, Manuel del Palacio and Lopez de Ayala. A dramatic piece, El Hijo prodigo, was hissed off the stage in 1857, and the failure so stung Alarcon that he enlisted under O'Donnell's command as a volunteer for the war in Morocco. His Diario de un testigo de la guerra de Africa (1859) is a brilliant account of the expedition. The first edition, amounting to fifty thousand copies, was sold within a fortnight, and Alarcon's name became famous throughout the peninsula. The book is not in any sense a formal history; it is a series of picturesque impressions rendered with remarkable force. On his return from Africa Alarcon did the Liberal party much good service as editor of La Politica, but after his marriage in 1866 to a devout lady, Paulina Contrera y Reyes, he modified his political views considerably. On the overthrow of the monarchy in 1868, Alarcon advocated the claims of the duc de Montpensier, was neutral during the period of the republic, and declared himself a Conservative upon the restoration of the dynasty in December 1874. These political variations alienated Alarcon's old allies and failed to conciliate the royalists. But though his political influence was ruined, his success as a writer was greater than ever. The publication in the Revista Europea (1874) of a short story, El Sombrero de tres picos, a most ingenious resetting of an old popular tale, made him almost as well known out of Spain as in it. This remarkable triumph in the picturesque vein encouraged him to produce other works of the same kind; yet though his Cuentos amatorios (1881), his Historietas nacionales (1881) and his Narracionies inverosimiles (1882) are pleasing, they have not the delightful gaiety and charm of their predecessor. In a longer novel, El Escandalo (1875), Alarcon had appeared as a partisan of the neo-Catholic reaction, and this change of opinion brought upon him many attacks, mostly unjust. His usual bad fortune followed him, for while the Padicals denounced him as an apostate, the neo-Catholics alleged that El Escandalo was tainted with Jansenism. Of his later volumes, written in failing health and spirits, it is only necessary to mention El Capitan Veneno and the Historia de mis libros, both issued in 1881. Alarcon was elected a member of the Spanish Academy in 1875. He died at Madrid on the 20th of July 1891. His later novels and tales are disfigured by their didactic tendency, by feeble drawing of character, and even by certain gallicisms of style. But, at his best, Alarcon may be read with great pleasure. The Diario de un testigo is still unsurpassed as a picture of campaigning life, while El Sombrero de tres picos is a very perfect example of malicious wit and minute observation. (J. F.-K.)

ALARD, JEAN DELPHIN (1815-1888), French violinist and teacher, was born at Bayonne on the 8th of May 1815. From 1827 he was a pupil of F. A. Habeneck at the Paris Conservatoire, where he succeeded P. de Sales Baillot as professor in 1843, retaining the post till 1875. His playing was full of fire and point, and his compositions had a great success in France, while his violin school had a wider vogue and considerably greater value. Mention should also be made of his edition in 40 parts of a selection of violin compositions by the most eminent masters of the 18th century, Les Maitres classiques du violon (Schott). Alard died in Paris on the 22nd of February 1888.

ALARIC (Ala-reiks, ``All-ruler''), (c. 370-410), Gothic conqueror, the first Teutonic leader who stood as a conqueror in the city of Rome, was probably born about 370 in an island named Peuce (the Fir) at the mouth of the Danube. He was of noble descent, his father being a scion of the family of the Balthi or Bold-men, next in dignity among Gothic warriors to the Amals. He was a Goth and belonged to the western branch of that nation --sometimes called the Visigoths--who at the time of his birth were quartered in the region now known as Bulgaria, having taken refuge on the southern shore of the Danube from the pursuit of their enemies the Huns.

In the year 394 he served as a general of foederati (Gothic irregulars) under the emperor Theodosius in the campaign in which he crushed the usurper Eugenius. As the battle which terminated this campaign, the battle of the Frigidus, was fought near the passes of the Julian Alps, Alaric probably learnt at this time the weakness of the natural defences of Italy on her northeastern frontier. The employment of barbarians as foederali, which became a common practice with the emperors in the 4th century, was both a symptom of disease in the body politic of the empire and a hastener of its impending ruin. The provincial population, crushed under a load of unjust taxation, could no longer furnish soldiers in the numbers required for the defence of the empire; and on the other hand, the emperors, ever fearful that a brilliantly successful general of Roman extraction might be proclaimed Augustus by his followers, preferred that high military command should be in the hands of a man to whom such an accession of dignity was as yet impossible. But there was obviously a danger that one day a barbarian leader of barbarian troops in the service of the empire might turn his armed force and the skill in war, which he had acquired in that service, against his trembling masters, and without caring to assume the title of Augustus might ravage and ruin the countries which he had undertaken to defend. This danger became a reality when in the year 395 the able and valiant Theodosius died, leaving the empire to be divided between his imbecile sons Arcadius and Honorius, the former taking the eastern and the latter the western portion, and each under the control of a minister who bitterly hated the minister of the other.

In the shifting of offices which took place at the beginning of the new reigns, Alaric apparently hoped that he would receive one of the great war ministries of the empire, and thus instead of being a mere commander of irregulars would have under his orders a large part of the imperial legions. This, however, was denied him, and he found that he was doomed to remain an oflicer of foederati. His disappointed ambition prompted him to take the step for which his countrymen were longing, for they too were grumbling at the withdrawal of the ``presents,'' in other words the veiled ransom-money, which for many years they had been accustomed to receive. They raised him on a shield and acclaimed him as a king; leader and followers both resolving (says Jordanes the Gothic historian) ``rather to seek new kingdoms by their own labour, than to slumber in peaceful subjection to the rule of others.''