Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 25 - A-AUS.pdf/283

 ALABAMA ARBITRATION — ALARCON 239 sister Southern States, is confronted, is the race problem. The as a profession, he joined with Torcuato Tarrago y Mateos constitution of 1875, under which the political supremacy of the in editing a Cadiz newspaper entitled El Eco de Occidente. white race was re-established, provides (Art. XIII. sec. 1) that a system of public schools shall be maintained throughout the State In 1853 he travelled to Madrid in the hope of finding a “torthe equal benelitot the children thereof. . . but separate schools publisher for his long continuation of Espronceda’s celeshall be provided for the children of citizens of African descent.” brated poem, El Diablo Mundo. Disappointed in his From that time negro children have been enjoying in their separate object, and finding no opening at the capital, he settled at schools the equal benefits of an educational fund of approximately one million dollars a year, the bulk of which is produced by taxes Granada, became a Radical journalist in that city, and contributed by the whites. In spite of this, however, the great showed so much ability that, in 1854, he was appointed mass of negroes, in whose hands rests so large a proportion of the editor of a very advanced journal, El Ldtigo, published at political power, have little or no training in the duties of citizenship. In the hope of solving the race problem upon a broad and Madrid. The extreme violence of his polemic writings led humane basis a South Conference was formed in Alabama, the to a duel between him and the Byronic poet, Jose first meeting of which was held under brilliant auspices. The Heriberto Garcia Quevedo. The earliest of his novels, El chief difficulty is, of course, that of franchise. If it is to be Final de Norma, was published in 1855, and though its limited by educational or property qualifications, whatever disabilities may be imposed must rest upon both races alike. If the construction is feeble, it brought the writer into notice as negro shall be disfranchised by his illiteracy, he can remove the a master of elegant prose. A small anthology, called disability in the schools which the white people of the State Mananas de Abril y Mayo (1856), proves that Alarcbn maintain for his equal benefit. Such a plan, if adopted as in was recognized as a leader by young men of promise, for other Southern States, will result in a gradual and conservative among the contributors were Castelar, Manuel del Palacio, political emancipation. and L6pez de Ayala. A dramatic piece, El Hi jo prodig o, AIa.ba.ma. Arbitra/tion. See Arbitration, was hissed off the stage in 1857, and the failure so stung International. Alarcbn that he enlisted under O’Donnell’s command as a Alagoas, an Atlantic state of Brazil. Its area volunteer for the war in Morocco. His Diario de un covers 22,580 square miles. The population in 1872 was testigo de la guerra de Africa (1859) is a brilliant account 348,009, and in 1890, 511,440. The capital is Alagoas of the events of the expedition. The first edition, Maceid, and amongst other towns are Camaragibe, Penedo, amounting to fifty thousand copies, was sold within a S. Miguel dos Campos, Pilar, and Porto Calvo. The state fortnight, and Alarcbn’s name became famous throughout has railways from Mageid to Muricy and Vigosa, and from the Peninsula. The book is not in any sense a formal Piranhas to the Rio Moxotd. Alagoas Maceio, with a history; it is precisely what its title implies, a series of population of 30,000, is an important shipping port, picturesque impressions told with remarkable force. On visited by Transatlantic steamers, and the terminus of the his return from Africa Alarcbn did the Liberal party much good service as editor of La Politico, but his marriage to Alagoas railway (55 miles) a devout lady, Paulina Contrera y Reyes, in 1866, led him Alais, chief town of arrondissement, department of to modify his political views considerably. On the overCard, France, 27 miles N.W. by N. of Nlines, on railway throw of the monarchy in 1868, Alarcbn advocated the from Paris to Nimes, via the Cevenues. Amongst the claims of the Due de Montpensier, was extremely neutral public institutions are the municipal chemical laboratory during the period of the Republic, and declared himself a and two hospitals. Sericulture is extensively engaged in, upon the restoration of the dynasty in and silk, both raw and manufactured, furnishes a large Conservative December 1874. These political variations alienated part of the town’s widespread trade. Pasteur here pro- Alarcbn’s old allies and failed to conciliate the royalists. secuted his early investigations. A statue has been But though his political influence was ruined, his success erected to his memory. The chemist Dumas was a native as a writer was greater than ever. The publication in the of Alais. Population (1881), 1G,945 ; (1891), 18,333; Revista Europea (1874) of a short story, “El Sombrero de (1896), 18,249. tres picos,” a most ingenious resetting of an old popular Alajuela, a province of Costa Rica, Central America. tale, made him almost as well known out of Spain as in it. Its area is 4250 square miles, and the population in 1897 This remarkable triumph in the picaresque vein encouraged numbered 60,000. The capital is Alajuela, and amongst him to produce other works of the same kind ; yet, though other considerable towns are San Ramon, Grecia, Atenas, his Cuentos amatorios (1881), his Historietas nacionales and Naranjo. The province is divided into seven cantons. (1881), and his Narraciones inverosimiles (1882) are Alajuela, capital of the above province, situated at pleasing, they have not the delightful gaiety and charm of the terminus of the railway line from Limon, 12 miles W. their predecessor. In a longer novel, El Escdndalo (1875), of San Jose, and 2J miles W.N.W. of Cartago. It has Alarcbn had appeared as a partisan of the neo-Catholic some trade with Punta Arenas, 23 miles distant by mule reaction, and this change of opinion brought upon him road, and on the formation of the new port on the Pacific many attacks, mostly unjust. His usual bad fortune at the head of the Gulf of Nicoya will increase in import- followed him, for while the Radicals denounced him as an apostate, the neo-Catholics professed that El Escdndalo ance. Population, 7000. was tainted with Jansenism. Of his later volumes, written Alameda, a residential city of Alameda county, in failing health and spirits, it is only necessary to mention California, U.S.A., is situated in 37° 46' N. lat. and the Capitdn Veneno and the Historia de mis libros, both 122° 16' W. long., on the east side of San Francisco Bay, issued in 1881. Alarcbn was elected a member of the directly south of Oakland, and separated from it by San Spanish Academy in 1875. He died at Madrid, after a Antonio creek. Its site is low and level and its plan long and painful illness, on the 20th of July 1891. The fairly regular. It is entered by the Southern Pacific impression which he makes upon the reader is brilliant, but railway. The population in 1880 was 5708, in 1890 unenduring. His later novels and tales are disfigured by it was 11,165, and in 1900 it was 16,464. their didactic tendency, their feeble drawing of character, Alantika, Mount. See Cameroon. and even by certain Gallicisms of style. But, at his best, Alarcon, Pedro Antonio de (1833-1891), Alarcon may be read with great pleasure. The Diario de Spanish writer, was born on 10th March 1833 at Guadix. un testigo is still unsurpassed as a picture of campaigning He graduated at the university of Granada, studied law and life, while “ El Sombrero de tres picos ” is a very perfect theology privately, and made his first appearance as a example of malicious wit and minute observation. dramatist before he was of age. Deciding to follow literature (j. F. K.)