Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/95

 LADING LADRONE 89 Harvard college in 1797, and took an active part in organizing the American peace society, of which he was for many years president. In its interests he edited the " Friend of Peace," commenced by Dr. Noah Worcester, and the "Harbinger of Peace," and published a num- ber of essays and occasional addresses on the subject of peace, including " An Essay on a Congress of Nations " (8vo, Boston, 1840). He carried his views to the extent of denying the right to maintain defensive war, and caused this principle to be incorporated into the con- stitution of the American peace society. LAD1NO, a term applied throughout Central America, and particularly in Nicaragua and Guatemala, to the mestizo or half-breed de- scendants of whites and Indians. It was some- times, though rarely, used by the royal gover- nors and officers very nearly in the sense of criollo or Creole, to distinguish Spaniards born in the country from those who had emigrated from the Peninsula. In the production of the ladino the white element has almost always been represented by the father, inasmuch as few women accompanied the first settlers on their voyage to America. The ladinos are for the most part of a yellowish orange tinge ; the males more nearly approach to the European in form and feature than the females, in whom the Indian element predominates, but who may be said to be the handsomest women in Central America. The ladinos disdain all manual labor, and seek to adopt the same pursuits as the whites, with whom they desire to be confound- ed as much as possible ; hence a multitude of candidates for a very limited number of gov- ernment offices, the result of which is that the ladinos form a restless, turbulent class, to whom may be attributed in a great measure the civil wars and general insecurity of the Central American republics. LADISLAS (Hun. LdszU}, Saint, king of Hun- gary (1077-'95). See HUNGARY. LADISLAS jTol. Wladystaw) II., king of Po- land, born in Lithuania about 1350, died in Grodek, near Lemberg, Galicia, May 31, 1434. He was the son of Olgerd and grandson of Gedimin, grand dukes of Lithuania, and as a pagan prince, though the son of a Christian mother, received the name of Jagello or Ja- giello. He succeeded his father in Lithuania, and in 1386, having married Hedvig, the beau- tiful and pious young daughter of Louis the Great, king of Hungary and Poland, became a Christian and received the Polish crown. He converted Lithuania to Christianity, and finally united it with Poland. He was successful in his wars against the Teutonic knights, whom he routed in the battle of Grtinwald (1410). He greatly contributed to the development of the power of his kingdom, which was ruled by his dynasty down to 1572, when it became an elective state. His son and successor, LADIS- LAS III., having been elected king of Hungary (as Uladislas I.), waged war with the Turks, made peace with them, broke his oath, and fell in the battle of Varna (1444). He was suc- ceeded in Poland by his brother Casimir IV. LADMIRAULT, Louis Rene Paul de, a French soldier, born in 1808. He graduated at Saint- Cyr in 1829, and rose in Algeria to the rank of brigadier general in 1848. He was wounded at the battle of Solferino in 1859. In 1866 he became senator, and in 1867 was put in com- mand of the second army corps and of the camp of Chalons. During the Franco-German war he was at the head of the fourth corps, and took part in the battles around Metz. On the capitulation of that fortress he became a prisoner in Germany, and returned to France after the conclusion of peace in May, 1871. He took a conspicuous part as commander of the first corps under MacMahon in the opera- tions against the commune, and on July 1, 1871, was appointed military governor of Pa- ris, which post he still holds (1874). He has published Bases (Tun projet pour le recrutement de Varmee de terre (1871). LADOGA, a lake of Russia, the largest in Eu- rope, surrounded by the governments of Vi- borg, Olonetz, and St. Petersburg, and lying between lat. 59 58' and 61 46' N., and Ion. 29 50' and 32 55' E. ; length 124 m., greatest breadth 87 m. ; area, about 7,000 sq. m. It is 59 ft. above the sea. Its depth is very varia- ble, being in some places upward of 150 fath- oms, and in others too shallow for navigation. Its coast is generally low, much indented, and dangerous from hidden reefs. Its waters abound with fish. Storms are frequent and sudden, and the influx of 70 streams causes strong and uncertain currents. It is connected with Lake Onega by the river Svir, with Lake Ilmen by the Volkhov, and with the gulf of Finland by the Neva. It contains several isl- ands, some of them inhabited ; the largest are Valaam on the north and Konevetz on the south. The principal towns on its coasts are Kexholm, Schltisselburg, Serdobol, and Novaia (New) Ladoga. The Ladoga, Sias, and Svir canals form a continuous line around the S. and S. E. sides of the lafce ; and by the arti- ficial union of several rivers and lakes vessels pass from the Baltic to the Volga and thence to the Caspian sea. There is communication also with the White sea. LADRONE, Marianne, or Mariana Islands, a group of about 20 islands belonging to Spain, in the north Pacific ocean, N. of the Caroline islands, between lat. 13 and 21 N., and Ion. 144 and 146 E. ; area, 416 sq. m. ; pop. about 10,000. When the Spanish missionaries sent by Queen Mariana, widow of Philip IV. of Spain, established themselves on the islands toward the end of the 17th century, the na- tives numbered 40,000. The present inhab- itants are mostly descendants of settlers from Mexico and the Philippines. The islands are of volcanic formation, mountainous, well wa- tered, and well wooded. The breadfruit, bana- na, and cocoanut grow to perfection, and the soil is productive in sugar, rice, corn, tobacco,