Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/752

 732 PORTO SANTO PORT ROYAL Britain, 5,374 cwt. to Spain and Cuba, and 9,088 cwt. to Germany. The export of coffee in the same year was 210,366 quintals, of to- bacco 54,640 quintals, and of molasses 7,590,- 915 gallons. The entrances in 1871 were 1,919 vessels, of an aggregate of 327,941 tons, of which 544, of 81,966 tons, were British. Porto Rico is connected by a telegraphic cable with the other West India islands, and a land tele- graph connects the principal towns. Several railways are projected, but none have been built. There is great need of better facilities for internal communication, as well as of drain- age, sewerage, and water supply; but as the surplus revenue has been used of late years to continue the war in Cuba, few public improve- ments have been made. Porto Rico is gov- erned under a constitution voted by the Span- ish cortes in 1869. The civil governor is presi- dent of the superior tribunals of justice and of the superior juntas of the capital ; but the fiscal administration has a special chief called intendant. The supreme judicial power lies in a royal audiencia. Justice is administered in the cities and in the country by judges of the first instance and by alcaldes. There are nine special tribunals : civil, ecclesiastical, war, marine, artillery, engineers, administration, probate, and commerce. Ecclesiastical affairs are presided over by a bishop chosen by the crown and approved by the pope. For admin- istrative purposes the island and its dependen- cies are divided into nine districts : Porto Rico, Bayamon, Arecibo, Aguadilla, Mayaguez, Ponce, Humacao, Guayama, and Vieques. The chief towns are San Juan de Puerto Rico, the capital, San German, Ponce, Mayaguez, Are- cibo, Guayama, Aguadilla, Caguas, Bayamon, and Humacao. Porto Rico was discovered by Columbus in 1493, and invaded in 1509 by the Spaniards under Ponce de Leon, who in a few years exterminated the natives, then 600,000 or 800,000 in number. Slavery was abolished in the island by the Spanish cortes in March, 1873. PORTO SANTO, an island iii the Atlantic ocean, 25 m. N. E. of Madeira, of which it is a dependency ; pop. about 1,600, of whom 300 re- side in the town of the same name. It is about 6 m. long and 2 m. broad, and its surface is rugged and hilly, although not more than 500 ft. high in any part. It is probably of volcanic origin, and has a black and barren appearance, being entirely destitute of trees. An inferior kind of wine, maize, barley, and vegetables, and a few fruits, are its chief productions. Live stock and poultry are plentiful. The town of Porto Santo is at the foot of a fine bay, which is protected by a battery. Its harbor is good, though exposed to southerly winds, and is frequented by vessels passing to and from the cape of Good Hope. Porto Santo was dis- covered by the Portuguese in 1418. It was for some time the residence of Columbus, whose wife owned property there. PORT ROYAL, the name of two Cistercian monasteries widely celebrated as the nurseries of Jansenism in France. The parent house, Port Royal des Champs, was situated at Che- vreuse, near Versailles, and Port Royal de Paris was situated in the faubourg St. Jacques, where is at present the hospital of La Ma- ternite. Port Royal des Champs was founded in 1204 by Matthieu de Moutmorency, lord of Marli, and his wife, Mathilde de Garlande, on a fief called Porrois, and later Port du Roi, whence the name of Port Royal. The Ber- nardine or Cistercian nuns to whom it was given elected their own abbess, and were al- lowed in 1223 by Pope Honorius III. to re- ceive into the community ladies wishing to find an asylum there without being bound by religious vows. The abbey became also a boarding school for the daughters of the nobility. It possessed great wealth, and had fallen away from its primitive austerity when in 1605 Marie Jacqueline Angelique Arnauld, known in history as Mere Marie Angelique de Ste. Madeleine, became abbess, and a few years afterward undertook a thorough reform of the sisterhood. Her success in this caused her to be sent to the monastery of Maubuisson, where she soon effected a similar change ; and on returning to her former charge she was followed by 30 of the nuns of Maubuisson. Noble novices flocked in from every side, and the community began to look out for a new abode. A change was, moreover, rendered necessary by the marshy nature of the sur- rounding country. Mme. Catherine Arnauld, mother of the abbess, thereupon purchased the spacious h6tel de Clagny or Clugny in the faubourg St. Jacques, and on May 28, 1625, a portion of the community removed thither, the others following soon afterward. Mme. Arnauld had given another daughter, Agnes, while yet a child, to Port Royal, who governed the abbey while Mere Marie Angelique was reforming Maubuisson. In 1626 Mme. Arnauld herself and her remaining daughters became members of the Parisian community, together with five of her grandchildren, daughters of Robert Arnauld. In 1630 a rule was estab- lished that the abbess of Port Royal de Paris should be elected every three years, and from this time Mere Marie Angelique and Mere Agnes discharged the office alternately, the institution being meanwhile filled by women of the highest distinction. In 1633, the increase of the community having necessitated the erec^ tion of a new edifice adjoining the old hotel, the sisters removed thither. The lands around Port Royal des Champs were meanwhile drained, the old abbey buildings were repaired, and a new construction was begun on a neigh- boring hill. About 1626 a community of pious and learned men took up their abode near the abbey in a farm house called Les Granges, and in 1627, after the departure of the last nuns, these gentlemen occupied the abbey buildings, which then passed under the immediate juris- diction of the archbishop of Paris. Among the "recluses (solitaires) of Port Royal" were