Part 13

_Answer._—The steamer Lady Elgin was cut to the water’s edge by a sailing vessel named the Augusta, heavily loaded with lumber, which struck her amidships, during the night, Sept. 8, 1860. She sunk almost immediately. Carrying an excursion party from Chicago to Milwaukee at the time, she had about 400 passengers on board. The disaster occurred about twenty-two miles north of Chicago, nearly off Glencoe. Many of the passengers and crew got on rafts and portions of the wreck, and drifted toward the land. Some of these came ashore between Glencoe and Evanston; but the most of them, after getting within hail of the beach, despite the best efforts of citizens and students of Evanston and Winnetka to assist them, were swallowed up in the breakers and carried out into the lake by the terrible undertow. Men with ropes around their chests plunged into the breakers, seized exhausted, drowning men and women, and were dragged in by main strength of men at the lines. Conspicuous among these noble men was Mr. Edward W. Spencer, of Rock Island, Ill., then a student at Garrett Biblical Institute, who saved fourteen or fifteen passengers, persisting until he was utterly exhausted; an example of heroism which was suitably commemorated afterwards by the presentation of a memorial watch and chain, given him by citizens of Chicago and Evanston. Of the total list of passengers only about one-fourth were rescued; 297 perished.

AUSTRALIA.

COLMAR, Ill.

What are the area and principal natural features of Australia, and the nationalities and chief occupations of its population?

CHARLES L. BRICKWELL.

_Answer._—Australia, often spoken of as an island, is about ten times the size of Borneo, the largest island of the world properly so called, and is nearly half the size of South America. To be more specific, it measures about 2,500 miles from east to west, and 1,950 from north to south, containing an estimated area of 3,000,000 miles. This is about the same as the entire extent of the United States, exclusive of Alaska. Along the east and west coasts the country is broken, rising at no great distance from the sea into a succession of mountain ranges; but the vast interior is almost as level as a gently undulating ocean-bed, which it evidently was at no very distant period—geologically speaking. It seems to be for the most part a great sandstone basin, rising toward the coast in nearly every direction. The mountain range in the southeast, known as the Australian Alps, rises to a height of 7,000 feet; the granite and syenitic mountains on the west coast range from 800 to 3,000 feet in elevation, and those along the coast of Queensland, and along the greater part of the north coast, from 1,000 to 4,000 feet. There are immense quantities of coal in Eastern Australia, rich gold mines, some silver, and an abundance of iron, copper, and tin. The broken and much of the mountainous regions are well wooded, but the interior is comparatively naked, and much of it wears a parched look, like the dry, treeless plains of Eastern Wyoming and Colorado, which are available for flocks and herds the most of the year, but not cultivable with profit without artificial irrigation. There are millions of acres of fine agricultural and grazing lands without entering this interior basis to any great distance; and the governments of the several provinces are offering liberal inducements to settlers. Few of the rivers of this vast country are navigable to any great distance, although several of them may be made so for a large part of the year by slight improvements of the channels. Conspicuous among the latter are Murray River, 1,100 miles long; the Roper and the Victoria. The regions beyond the seaboard are not likely to develop rapidly until means of transportation are extended. The railroad mileage of Australia is only a little over 4,042 miles, or about the same as that of Minnesota, which is thirty-six times smaller in area and began to be settled much later. The telegraph lines measure over 30,000 miles. The climate of the Southern half of Australia is quite similar to that of Southern Brazil or Cuba, and that of the greater part of the rest of the continent is a good counterpart of that of Southern Europe. The total population of the five provinces of Australia, by the census of 1881, is as follows:

New South Wales 751,468 Queensland 213,525 South Australia 279,865 Victoria 862,346 Western Australia 29,708 ————————— Total 2,136,912

The above does not include aborigines, estimated to number 80,000. The increase by immigration is not rapid. The population is mostly of British origin, but it embraces also nearly 10,000 Polynesians and 25,000 Chinese. The chief occupations are agriculture, grazing, mining, building, and commerce. Manufactures do not flourish, the colonies being dependent almost entirely upon the United Kingdom for manufactured goods. The chief exports are wool, hides, preserved meats, copper, lead, coal, and gold. The total quantity of gold mined in Victoria alone, from the discovery in 1851 to the end of 1880, amounted to 49,500,000 oz., valued at $990,000,000. The government of the several provinces is similar to that of the provinces of the present Dominion of Canada before their union.

ALDERNEYS AND JERSEYS.

SCOTT, Ind.

What is the difference between Alderney cattle and Jerseys, if any? Where did the breeds originate? Your answer will settle a dispute.

A SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—Alderney, Jersey, and Guernsey are small islands in the British Channel, just off the coast of Normandy, France; from which the first, an isle of about four square miles in area, is separated by only a very narrow strait. Jersey, about sixteen miles off the coast, is a much larger and more fertile island, being about eleven times the size of Alderney. While the cattle of the three islands are all believed to have come from one common Norman stock, and pass under the common name of the Alderney breed, the Jersey cattle have been greatly improved by careful in-breeding, and are better milkers as to quantity, though not as to quality, than the native cattle of Alderney. Few cattle are exported from the latter island, while a considerable number of Jersey cattle are exported to England and this country, where nearly all the representatives of what is known as the Alderney breed are Jerseys. It would not be correct to speak of Alderneys and Jerseys as distinct breeds.

LOTTERY MATTER UNMAILABLE.

SHELL ROCK, Iowa.

Is it unlawful to send letters to lottery companies and lottery agents through the mails?

A SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—Postal regulation 674 declares “No letter or circular concerning lotteries, so-called gift concerts, or similar enterprises, offering prizes,” etc., “shall be carried in the mail. Any person who shall knowingly deposit or send anything to be conveyed by mail in violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $500 nor less than $100, with costs of prosecution.” Section 674 instructs postmasters and employes of the railway mail service to withdraw letters and third class matter addressed to lottery companies or agents from the mails and refer them to the proper officers for prosecution of the person mailing the same.

THE HIGH SEAS.

UNION GROVE, Wis.

1. What is meant by the “high seas” in article 1, section 8, of the Constitution of the United States? 2. Are the Great Lakes regarded as high seas? 3. If a crime were committed on any of the Great Lakes, where would the criminal be tried—in what court? 4. What persons are meant in the first clause of the ninth section of article 1 of the Constitution?

ROBERT ROBERTS.

_Answer._—1. By the “high seas” is meant the open sea: that is the waters outside of the civil jurisdiction of any country, which the law of nations limits to one marine league, or three geographical miles from shore. 2. The Great Lakes are regarded, beyond the limits above designated, as high seas. 3. In the event of crimes committed on the high seas, parties charged therewith are subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal or United States courts in the district which the vessel first enters after the commission of the crime, or in the district where the offender is found. The courts of States bordering on the great lakes have jurisdiction concurrent with that of the United States courts where it can be shown that the crime was committed within their limits, which extend to the central line of the lakes bounding them. 4. In the clause of the Constitution which reads: “The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808,” etc. The word “persons” was understood to mean African slaves. This form was adopted to avoid the use of the word slave in the Constitution, the very thought of which was repugnant to Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and other fathers of that instrument, whether from North or South. The slave trade, in conformity with the above clause of the Constitution, was promptly abolished in 1808.

UNIMPROVED LANDS—IMMIGRATION.

GANGES, Mich.

What proportion of the areas of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska is still unimproved Also, please state the number of immigrants arriving in this country in 1882.

H. H. H.

_Answer._—1. The census of 1880 gives the following statistics of improved lands embraced in farms in the several States above named, opposite which we place the total area of each State in acres:

No. of Improved Total States. farms. acres. acres.

Ohio 247,189 18,081,091 26,278,400 Michigan 154,008 8,296,862 37,705,600 Indiana 194,013 13,933,738 23,264,000 Illinois 255,741 26,115,154 36,256,000 Iowa 185,351 19,866,541 35,856,000 Nebraska 63,387 5,504,702 49,187,200

From this it appears that nearly one-third of Ohio, more than three-fourths of Michigan, about two-fifths of Indiana, a little more than one-fourth of Illinois, about three-sevenths of Iowa, and almost nine-tenths of Nebraska remained unimproved as farm property at the time of the last census. In settled States, the number of acres included in cities, towns, and villages, in roads, lakes, and navigable streams, will reduce the proportion of “unimproved acres” by about 2 per cent of the total area. The statistician of Indiana computes that there were in 1879, 249,686 acres, or 1⅛ per cent of the total State area, embraced in roads outside of cities and incorporated towns. 2. The total immigration into the United States in 1882 numbered 788,992.

LAW AGAINST CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

ROSCOE, Ill.

Please publish in Our Curiosity Shop in condensed form the law of this State to punish cruelty to animals. A person in this neighborhood, remonstrated with for cruelly beating his horse with a pitchfork, retorts that “a man has a right to pound his own horse.” Let us know the law for such cases.

A SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—Chapter 38, section 50, of the Revised Statutes of Illinois says: “Whoever shall be guilty of cruelty to any animal in any of the ways mentioned in this section shall be fined not less than $3 nor more than $200, viz.: By overloading, overdriving, cruelly beating, tormenting, mutilating, or cruelly killing any animal; by cruelly working any old, maimed, infirm, sick, or disabled animal; by failing to provide any animal in his charge or custody with proper food, drink, and shelter; by abandoning any old, maimed, infirm, sick, or disabled animal; or by causing or knowingly allowing the same to be done.”

EMANCIPATION IN JAMAICA.

SHULLSBURG, Wis.

In what year and by whom were the slaves of Jamaica emancipated? Also state the circumstances under which they gained their freedom.

RICHARD IVEY, M. D.

_Answer._—In 1807 the British Government abolished the slave trade in all British vessels and in British waters. The agitation against slavery was kept up in Parliament from that time, growing more and more irresistible every year, and spreading out into the farthest provinces, until in 1832 the negroes of Jamaica revolted, under the belief that emancipation had actually been decreed and that their masters were holding them in slavery against law as well as against natural right. The atrocities to be expected in a servile insurrection ensued; hundreds of lives and millions of property were destroyed. When the terrible tidings reached England it added new fuel to the emancipation agitation, already at white heat, and in 1833 the famous English emancipation act was passed. The government apportioned £6,161,927 among the owners of the slave population, of 309,338 persons; and after four years apprenticeship all of these former slaves became absolutely free.

BARNBURNERS AND HUNKERS.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.

How and when did the political nicknames “Hunker” and “Barnburner” originate in the State of New York?

J. H. P.

_Answer._—The Democratic party within New York State became badly divided soon after the inauguration of Mr. Polk, in 1845, owing to the slights put on Governor Silas Wright, of that State, to whose immense popularity Polk really owed his election. Wright could not carry all his friends over to Polk, as is shown by the fact that he was elected Governor by 10,030 majority, while Polk carried the State by 5,106. This, however, decided the electoral count in his favor. Polk was really a weak man, and showed it in nothing more than in his jealousy of Wright and annoyance at the general ascription, of his election by the organs of both parties, to Wright’s influence. He tendered Wright the choice of places in his Cabinet under constraint of the general wish of the party, and knowing that this statesman felt bound to retain the high office to which the people of New York had exalted him. Wright declined, but asked that Azariah C. Flagg, of New York, be made Secretary of the Treasury, and he understood the President to promise this; yet afterward the latter declined to make the appointment, and gave the portfolio of Secretary of State to ex-Governor Wm. L. Marcy, of New York, who was by no means friendly to Wright. The Collectorship of New York, it was understood, would be given as Governor Wright and ex-President Van Buren should request, but here again the President disappointed them. All this reminds us forcibly of the divisions in the Republican ranks in the same State, due to the Garfield-Conkling feud. The trouble rankled, and the Democratic party became divided into two pronounced factions before the election of delegates to the next gubernatorial convention. There were the administration Democrats, calling themselves Conservatives, and the “sore-heads” of those days, stigmatized as Radicals, because, among other things, they were affected with anti-slavery, or “free-soil” sentiments; whereas the administration party was strongly pro-slavery. In the Democratic State Convention, held at Syracuse early in 1847, the latter faction, by political manipulation, secured the organization of that body, and decided nearly all the contested seats in their own favor and made the State ticket and the State Committee to suit themselves; in other words, “carried off the hunk,” and fairly won the nickname of “Hunkers.” The other faction, led on by Governor Wright’s friends, Mr. Van Buren, Colonel Samuel Young, Michael Hoffman, and others, refused to support the ticket, and as a consequence the Whigs carried the State by over 30,000 majority in the gubernatorial election. One of the Hunker orators likened the Wright and Van Buren faction to the Dutch farmer who burned his barn to rid himself of the rats, and thenceforward the name Barnburners was fastened on them, and the two nicknames, Hunker and Barnburner, were bandied back and forth until after the latter joined with the Liberty party, in 1852, to support Mr. Van Buren as the Free Soil candidate for the Presidency. There is no difference of opinion as to the origin of the term Barnburner as above given, but Webster’s dictionary defines hunkerism as hostility to progress: “Bartlett’s Americanisms” defines “Hunkers” as a name given to a faction of the Democratic party because of devotion to old principles, from the Dutch “honk, place, post, home;” while others insist that the term grew out of the triumph of the administration faction at the Syracuse convention referred to above, which led them to imagine that they were “all hunk,” as the New York boys exclaim in certain games when they have reached their goal or “home” without being intercepted by the contestants on the other side of the game. Hunk, in this sense, is evidently a corruption of the Dutch “honk” or “home,” handed down by the Dutch children. As the Hankers did “carry off the hunk at Syracuse, did imagine themselves all hunk,” and were “hostile to progress,” either or all of the above explanations may be accepted without doing violence to history, whatever the consequences to philology.

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE.

CLINTON, Mich.

What is meant when it is said “the House went into committee of the whole?” Please explain the whole subject.

SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—Messages from the President and other matters of great importance are usually referred to a committee of the whole House, where general principles are digested in the form of resolutions, which are debated and amended until they get into a shape that meets the approbation of a majority. These resolutions, after being reported and confirmed by the House, are then referred to one or more select committees, where they are reduced into the form of bills or joint resolutions. It is found that the sense of the House is better learned in committee, because in all committees everyone speaks as often as he pleases. No gag law can be applied in committee by moving the previous question. The form for going from the House into the committee of the whole is for the Speaker, on motion, to put the question that the House do now resolve itself into a committee of the whole to take into consideration such a matter, naming it; to which the deliberations of the committee must be confined. If determined in the affirmative, he leaves the chair and takes a seat elsewhere, as any other member, and the person appointed chairman seats himself at the clerk’s table. The Speaker usually appoints a chairman, but the committee has full power to set him aside and select its own chairman. In case of the committee’s getting into violent disorder the Speaker, who is clothed with authority to call in the Sergeant-at-arms, if necessary, to enforce order, may take his chair, and at the tap of his gavel every member is required to take his proper seat, such action having the effect to dissolve the committee. Cases of this kind are rare. Usually when the committee is ready to rise the chairman rises, the Speaker immediately resuming the chair; if the business is unfinished, the chairman of the committee reports progress and asks permission for the committee to sit again, which the House may or may not consent to. If the business is finished the chairman tenders his report.

SAMUEL ADAMS, THE GREAT ORGANIZER.

CARBONDALE, Ill.

Give a short biographical sketch of Samuel Adams, of revolutionary times.

CHARLES L. H.

_Answer._—Samuel Adams was one of the very first who organized measures of resistance against the encroachments of Great Britain on the rights of the colonies. He drew up the famous petition of the General Court of Boston to the King, in 1764, against taxation on trade. He was elected a Representative in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1765, was chosen Clerk, and served in that body ten years. It is said that he was the first to suggest the congress of colonial delegates that assembled in New York in 1765, and was the father of the non-importation agreement of 1789, intended to check the use of British manufactures and other foreign imports and foster home manufactures and, still more, a spirit of independence. He was Chairman of the committee that waited on the Royal Governor and Council in 1770, on the day after the Boston riot and massacre, and demanded the removal of the troops. He was one of the signers of the declaration of independence: was one of those who matured the plan of the Continental Congress, to which he was a delegate from Massachusetts from 1774 to 1782, and signed the articles of confederation, which were the constitution of the country until replaced by the present Federal Constitution. He was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1789 to 1794, and Governor from 1794 to 1797. He was born in Boston Sept. 27, 1722, graduated at Harvard in 1740, and died in Boston Oct. 2, 1803.

ORIGIN OF THE CAUCUS.

CHICAGO, Ill.

Can you tell us the origin of the American caucus?

JOHN ALLEN.

_Answer._—The origin of the term “caucus” is traced back to the Caucus Club, Boston, of revolutionary days. This club was composed mainly of persons engaged in ship-building. It was one of the most radical opponents of British oppression. It and the Merchants’ Club of the same period, used to meet before elections and agree on candidates for town and provincial offices. “Caucus” is believed to be a corruption of “caulkers.”

THE YORK SHILLING.

CHICAGO, Ill.

To settle a dispute please inform us through Our Curiosity Shop whether the United States ever issued a coin called the “York shilling?” Was there not a coin of some kind called a York shilling?

READER.

_Answer._—The United States certainly never did mint any such coin. Neither did New York itself before the adoption of our present Constitution, under which individual States are not permitted to coin money. Most of the original thirteen States had issued bills of credit during colonial times, which had depreciated in the several colonies in different degrees, according to provisions made for their redemption and other incidents. In New England, after the adoption of the Federal decimal system, the pound in paper currency was worth only $3.33⅓ and the shilling 16⅔ cents, equal to six shillings to the dollar. This standard prevailed also in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. In New York the paper currency pound was worth only $2.50, and so the shilling was reckoned but 12½ cents, equal to eight shillings to the dollar. This last is the “York shilling,” a money of account. The only coin that ever passed by that name is the Spanish real, known along the Ohio and Lower Mississippi as “a bit,” which, until a few years ago, was current through the country at 12½ cents, the value, as above shown, of the New York paper currency shilling of the olden times. In Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland the pound was worth $2.70, making the shilling worth 13½ cents, or 7s. 6d. to the $1. In Georgia and South Carolina the pound was worth $4.20, and the shilling 21-3/7 cents, or 4s. 8d. to the dollar. Such was the force of habit that, long after the old colonial paper money passed out of use, people continued to buy and sell and keep accounts in pounds and shillings; and schoolboys were required to familiarize themselves with the rules for reducing the several State currencies to Federal currency.

THE GREAT NAPOLEON’S DEFEATS.

CHICAGO, Ill.

1. Was Bonaparte repulsed at Acre? 2. Was he forced to leave Egypt? 3. Did he make a disastrous retreat from Moscow? 4. Did the Duke of Wellington suffer defeats parallel to those endured by Napoleon Bonaparte?

THOMAS WILSON.