Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/293

 FLORIDA BLANCA FLOTOW 285 Florida were removed by proclamation of President Johnson dated April 29, 1865, and on July 13 William Marvin was appointed pro- visional governor. On Oct. 10 was held an election of delegates to a state convention, which assembled in Tallahassee on the 25th, and on the 28th repealed the ordinance of se- cession. Subsequently a legislature and state officers were elected, to whom the civil au- thority was transferred in January, 1866. Under the reconstruction measures of con- gress in 1867 Florida was made a part of the third military district, of which Maj. Gen. Pope was appointed commander. A conven- tion to reorganize the state government was authorized by vote of the people in November. It assembled in Tallahassee Jan. 20, 1868, and subsequently framed a new constitution, which was ratified by the people in May. At the same election state officers and a legislature were chosen. The legislature convened June 1, and adopted the 14th amendment to the federal constitution, in consequence of which Florida was recognized as a state by the gen- eral government. On July 4 the government was transferred to the state authorities. FLORIDA BLANCA, Jose Moftino, count of, a Spanish statesman, born in Murcia about 1728, died in Seville, Nov. 20, 1808. His family was noble, but poor. He became an advocate, was appointed fiscal to the tribunal of the council of Castile, and made a report on the suppression of the Jesuits, which led to his appointment as ambassador to Rome. In 1777 he became premier to Charles III. In his administration of 15 years he built extensive roads, canals, bridges, and conduits; created more than 60 agricultural societies and numer- ous philanthropic institutions ; founded the national bank of St. Charles, and the Spanish company of the Philippines ; made treaties of commerce with the Porte, and concluded a treaty with Portugal which quieted the dis- putes about the South American colonies, and treaties with the emperor of Morocco and Hy- der Ali ; sought to avert the war against Spain by England in 1778, and made its burdens lighter on the people than those of any pre- vious one of equal duration ; made a treaty with Tripoli ; punished the Algerine pirates ; opened the trade with America to the world ; reduced direct taxes and imposts ; and intro- duced great and valuable reforms in the ad- ministration of justice. In 1792, after having been for three years the premier of the im- becile Charles IV., he was imprisoned in the castle of Pamplona, where but for his brother he would have perished from starvation. He was at length permitted to retire to Murcia. When the Spaniards rose against Napoleon in 1808 he was called to the presidency of the central junta of the kingdom, but soon sank under his onerous duties. Among his pub- lished works are : Respuesta fiscal sobre la libre disposition, patronato y protection inme- diato de 8. M. en los Menes ocupados d loa Jesuitas (Madrid, 1768), and Juicio impartial sobre las letras en forma de ~breve publicadas por la curia romana, &c. (1768-'9). FLORIDA KEYS, a series of islands, extending in the form of a crescent 220 m. S. W. along the S. coast of Florida, beginning near Cape Flori- da, and ending in the Dry Tortugas, belonging partly to Dade and partly to Monroe county ; pop. in 1870, 5,553. They lie between the mainland and the Florida reefs, and from 3 to 5 m. from the Gulf stream. They are very numerous, and vary in extent from a few acres to 25 sq. m. Cayo Largo (Long Key) is the largest of these islets (about 30 m. long and i m. to 5 m. wide), and Key West the most im- portant. They lie but a few feet above tide water, are of a uniform coral formation, very rocky, and mostly covered with a growth of ha/d wood. FLORIN (lt.fiorino a gold coin first issued in Florence in the llth century, of about the value of a ducat, bearing an impression on the obverse of a lily, and on the reverse of John the Baptist. It was soon imitated in other cities of Italy and in France and Spain, and in Germany gave origin to the mediaaval Goldgulden and the later Gulden, which are still distinguished by the abbreviation (Fl.). Florin is now the appellation both of gold and silver coins in Europe, which vary in value in different countries. (See COINS.) FLORIS, Frans, a Flemish painter, whose real name was De Vriendt, born in Antwerp about 1520, died there, Oct. 1, 1570. He first studied sculpture and then painting, and es- tablished a school which brought forward many eminent artists. He enjoyed great pop- ularity owing to his rapid and prolific pencil, and to the boldness of his designs. He was one of the most successful painters and one of the greatest drunkards of his day. His masterpiece, "The Fall of the Rebel Angels," is in the Louvre. His other principal works are "The Last Judgment," in the church of Notre Dame at Brussels, and " The Assump- tion," in the Antwerp cathedral. FLORUS, Lucius innrcus, a Roman historian, probably of Spanish birth, lived under the em- perors Trajan and Hadrian. He is the author of an epitome of Roman history, in four books, extending from the foundation of the city to the time when Augustus closed the temple of Janus. The work is believed by some to have been compiled from the lost books of Livy and other historians. The style is declamatory, abounding in extravagant conceits and meta- phors, and panegyrics of the Romans. The Pervigilium Veneris and three other short poems are with little authority ascribed to this writer, and the Epitomw of the books of Livy have also been attributed to him. FLOTOW, Friedrich von, a German composer, born in Teutendorf, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, April 27, 1812. A fondness for music led him in early youth to Paris, where he was instruct- ed in composition by Reicha. In consequence