Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/494

* SAINT JOSEPH. 452 SAINT LAWRENCE. lO.olio; in 1880, 32,431; in 1890, 52,324; in 1900, 102,'.I70. SAINT JOSEPH, Order of. A former grand- cliK-al onliM- of Tusi-any, fouiuloil in 1514 and ex- tinguished in 1800. It had three elasses, and was rostrieted to persons of noble birth. SAINT-JUNIEN, sax'zln.i'ne'ilN. A to>vn of the Deparlnieiil of Haute-Vienne. France, on the right bank of the Vienne, 18 miles north-north- west of J^imoges. The beautiful twelfth-century ab!]ey church contains a sculptured tomb of the patron saint from w'hom the town takes its name. Saint-.Iunicn has a college. The manufactures of gloves and straw ])apcr, and the leather-dressing, felt, and clog factories are important. Near by are a large porcelain plant and slate quarries. Population, in litOl, 11,432. SAINT-JUST, zhyst, Antoine (e.1767-94). A French revolutionary leader, born at Decize, in Nivernais. He was the son of a retired cavalry officer and was educated at Soissons by the Oratorians. He went to Rheims to study law, but soon returned to his native vil- lage, where he devoted himself exclusively to lit- erature. When the Revolution broke out Saint- Just was in Paris in connection with the pub- lication of his poem Organt, and he was at once transported with republican enthusiasm. Later on he became a lieutenant-colonel in the National Guard of his commune, and was present at Paris in 1790 to assist at the Fete of the Federation. In 1791 appeared his Esprit de la r^i-olution et de la constitutioti de la France, in which the various causes of the Revolution were dealt with ; and in the following year he was chosen Deputy to the Convention by the electors of Aisne. He voted for the death of the King and became one of Robespierre's strongest and most influential supporters. In all tlie fierce <lebates of this period Saint-.Just took a leading part. He also displayed a great capacit}' for administrative or- ganization. After the fall of the Girondists in June, 1793, Saint-Just became more prominent than ever. He had been chosen a member of the Committee of Public Safety in April, and during the Reign of Terror he showed him- self well fitted to be the associate of Robespierre and Couthon. On February 19. 1794, he was electeil president of the Convention. He drew up the re|)i)vt which led to the arrest and execution of Danton and his adherents. With R(>l]espierre, Saint-Just fell on the fateful Ninth Ther- midor. and with him was guillotined on the fol- lowing day, July 28, 1794. For the life of Saint- Just, consult Fleury. ,^aint-Just et la Terreur (Paris, 1.S51), Hamel. Hisioire de 8aint-.J imt (ih., 18.59), both of which, however, are biased; one of the best brief accounts is that in Aulard. Les orateurs de la Uyislatice et de la convention (Paris, 1879-81). SAINT KITTS. One of the Leeward Islands. See S.iixT Christopher. SAINT LAWRENCE. A river of North America (llap; Canada. R 7). The Ijasin of the Saint Lawrence inchides the entire system of the Great Lakes, constituting the largest body of fresh water in the w-orld. Its drainage area and rate of discharge, however, are much less than those of the Mississii)pi. The name Saint Lawrence River is properly confined to the outlet of Lake Ontario, flowing from the northeastern extremity of that lake in an almost straight northeast course of about 700- miles to the tiulf of Saint Lawrence, through which it enters the Atlantic Ocean. For a dis- tance of 30 miles below Lake Ontario the river is from 4 to 10 miles wide, but this wide expanse is filled with a wilderness of beautiful rocky and wooded islands, known as the Thousand Islands, ranging in size from about 20 square miles to mere rocks beai'ing a few trees. Below this ex- pansion tlie river maintains an average width of % miles as far as Quebec, narrowing in some places to less than a mile, and widening in others into lakes nearly 10 miles wide. The fall of the river from Lake Ontario to Quebec is 240 feet, nearly the whole of which is accomplished above Montreal in a series of rapids separated by long reaches of quiet water. The upper rapids occur where the Laurentian spurs cross the river to form the Adirondacks; the lowest are the La- chine Rapids, just above Montreal harbor, where a line of igneous rock traverses the plains. From INlontreal to Quebec the river passes between low banks through a wide, cultivated plain. Tide- water is reached at Three Rivers, about half way between ilontreal and Quebec, and at the latter city the spring tide rises 18V& feet, while salt water becomes noticeable 30 miles below. At Quebec begins the great estuary, which is 350 miles long, and widens gradually from 10 miles below the island of Orleans to about 90 miles at the west end of Anticosti Island, w-here it enters the gulf. The south shore continues low some dis- tance below Quebec. The north shore soon be- comes higli and bold, and toward the mouth of the estuary the south shore also is lined with high, rugged, and forest-covered mountains. The chief tributaries of the Saint Lawrence proper are the Ottawa, which enters it from the north through several channels aroimd the islands at Montreal, and whose dark, amber-colored waters flow side b.y side with the light blue of the main stream imtil tide-water is reached: the Richelieu, the outlet of Lake Champlain. which enters the river from the south some distance below Montreal; and the Saguenay, flowing into the estuary. In- stead of the river entering the ocean through a shallow and shifting delta, the valley of the Saint Lawrence has been submerged through the sinking of the land, so that its entrance is about 90 miles wide and 1200 feet deep. A depth of 000 feet ex- tends half way to Quebec, and the river is 100 feet deep nearly or quite up to that city. Between Quebec ami ilontreal the natural depth is over 20 feet, and the channel has here been deepened so that the largest ocean steamers can pass up to the wharves at the latter city. Above Jlontreal the rapids are passed by a series of 9 canals, with a total length of 42 miles, and provided with locks, each of which is 45 feet wide and 270 feet long, with 14 feet of water on the sills. These canals, however, are used only on the up-stream route; on the return tiip even the passenger steamers descend the rapids. For the navigation of the waterways abo-e the Saint Lawrence proper, see Great Lake.s. Consult Steckel, ^Yater Levels (Ottawa, 1893). SAINT LAWRENCE. An island in Bering Sea, belonging to Alaska, between that Territory and Siberia, to the southwest of Cape Nome (Map: Alaska. B 3). Its greatest length and width are respectively 90 miles and 30 miles.