546

SICILIES-SIEBOLD.

national debt is estimated at £20,000,000. | too, in the capital at least, is generally in -The military force, in 1838, amounted favour of the offender.-The inhabitants to nearly 45,000 men. In time of war, are Roman Catholics, excepting only about the effective force amounts to 64,237 men, 75,000 Greeks (chiefly the descendants of independently of the militia. The soldiers Greek colonists, who settled in the south of the regular army have, at different times, of Italy after the destruction of the Greek been employed in useful public works, such empire by the Turks), about 800 Proas paving the streets, &c.: they are ill testants, and a few Jews. According to paid, and deficient in courage, morale, and the concordat concluded with the Papal most of the qualities that constitute good court in 1818, the pope has the sole privisoldiers. The naval force consisted, very lege of confirming the archbishops and lately, of 2 ships of the line, 5 frigates, 2 bishops of the Neapolitan dominions in corvettes, besides smaller craft. The their sees, with other important privileges. monarchy, in respect to the continental Still, however, as we are told by Raumer, portion of the kingdom, was formerly quite the Neapolitan government does not allow unlimited, while Sicily had a parliament the publication and application of any papal of its own. But in 1821, a consulta was rescripts without its own consent being in established for each separate division of the every case first obtained, and displays such Neapolitan dominions; that for the conti- firmness, and sometimes even severity, in nental portion consisting of 16 members, matters concerning the bishops and clergy, and that for Sicily of 8 members, appointed as the court of Rome would scarcely suffer by the government from lists of candidates a Protestant sovereign to exercise without named by the inhabitants of the different reprimand.-Public instruction, generally, provinces. Each consulta was presided is in a very miserable state; and in some over by a vice-president nominated by the king; and both assemblies frequently met in one, termed the consulta generale, in which a minister of state, also appointed by the king, sat as president. In 1837, these consulta particolari were permanently amalgamated into one parliament, which sits at Naples. But the functions of this body are of the most restricted description; and it has hitherto implicitly obeyed every dictate of the monarch. Justice is administered by judges who, like most other functionaries, hold their appointments for 3 years. Trials are public, and the code of laws, as well as the judicial forms, established by the French, have been generally adopted, except that trials by jury are unknown. Some late statistics and details show that the average of persons accused is as 1 to 1020, and of those convicted as 1 to 1438 of the population. Of 5813 accusations, in a given period, 104 were for offences against religion, 996 | for homicide, intentional or otherwise, and 1703 for violations of property. Capitanata is a province distinguished for crime; and both it and Molise have been noted for brigandage on a large scale. Mr. Craven states, that even the favourite amusements of the children, in some districts in these provinces, consist in mock representations of attacks by brigands on travellers, &c., in which the former invariably gain the advantage. The country bordering on the Papal territories is also infamous for robberies. Under the French, the police was well organized, but it is now extremely corrupt and inefficient. Popular feeling,

of the provinces, scarcely one in 150 or 160 persons are said to learn to read or write. The city of Naples, however, has a university, attended by about 1500 students: there are royal lyceums in Naples, Salerno, Bari, Catanzaro, and Aquila; royal colleges in all the other provincial capitals; and 42 secondary schools. Yet, with the exception of mathematics, antiquities, and perhaps physic, all the higher branches of science and philosophy are in the most degraded state; and even the fine arts have not escaped the general paralysis. The censorship of the press prevents native talent, if it exist, from distinguishing itself; and the oppressive duties on foreign books hinder the people from acquiring that information from abroad which they cannot obtain at home.

SIEBOLD (Philip Francis von) was born at Würzburg, in Germany, in February 1796. He became a pupil, in 1809, of the gymnasium of that place, and a student of the university there in 1815. Besides acquiring a knowledge of the different branches of medicine, his attention was directed to the assiduous study of natural history, especially botany. Having taken his doctor's degree in 1820, he was, not long afterwards, on the point of undertaking a journey to Brazil, under the patronage of the "Senkenberg society" at Frankfort on the Maine, when he obtained, through the instrumentality of a friend of his father, a medical appointment in Holland, of so advantageous a nature that he deemed it expedient to accept of it, and to abandon his intended project. Scarcely,

SIEBOLD-SIERRA LEONE.

547

the intercourse which he had maintained with his Japanese friends, of a nature to involve them with the government, he took high ground, and absolutely refused to comply with either of these conditions. His courage and magnanimity produced a favourable impression; and his difficulties were at length brought to a close by the passage against him, in October 1829, of a sentence of banishment from Japan, leaving him at the same time free to take with him all his collections and papers. He accordingly returned with them to Europe in the summer of 1830. His collections were deposited by him in the museum at Leyden, and consist, first, of specimens of most of the natural productions of the Japanese islands, - and secondly, of his numerous manuscripts relating to the history, mythology, language, manners and customs, of their inhabitants. He has the merit of having transplanted the tea of Japan into the island of Java, and of having also introduced the cultivation into Europe of several hundred Japanese plants.-Siebold has since returned to Java, where he holds the office of chief of the medical staff in the army of the Dutch E. I. Company. He is the author of a work "De historia naturalis in Japonio statu," of an "Epitome linguæ Japonica," a "Synopsis plantarum in Japonia usitatarum," and of an essay "On the origin of the Japanese." All these were inserted in the "Transactions of the Batavian Society." He has published, also, “ Niphon, or Archives for the description of Japan, &c." in 12 numbers (1832-42), and a ChineseJapanese Dictionary (1841); and he is the author, jointly with Temminck, H. Schlegel, and de Haan, of a "Fauna Japonica" (1833), of "Tsian Dsü Wên, sive mille literæ ideographicæ, &c.” (1833), and “Sin Zoi Zi Lin Gjok Ben, novus et auctus literarum ideographicarum Thesaurus" (1834).

however, had he arrived in the Nether- | papers, and making disclosures, relating to lands, when a desire was awakened in him to explore the natural history of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies; and he succeeded in obtaining an order to proceed to the island of Java. A few months after his arrival at Batavia, he was attached, in the double capacity of physician and naturalist, to the expedition fitted out by the Dutch E. I. Company for extending its commerce with Japan, as well as enlarging the knowledge already possessed by Europeans concerning that singular empire. The expedition set sail from Batavia on the 28th of June 1823, and reached the harbour of Nangasaki on the 12th of August. Owing to the restrictions imposed by the Japanese authorities on the Dutch at their factory of Desima, Siebold's researches into the natural history, and the condition generally of the country, were begun under the greatest disadvantages. But by his skill as a physician, as well as by the amenity of his manners, he gradually gained the confidence of the natives, and even at length succeeded in imbuing some of the more intelligent among them with tastes kindred with his own. Through their co-operation, he was enabled to make extensive collections of plants and other natural objects. Having also, in the mean time, made himself acquainted, as far as his opportunities permitted, with the language, and the manners and customs of the Japanese, he accompanied the Dutch ambassador to the capital, Jeddo, in the year 1826. Here he became favourably known to many of the most important personages, and the way seemed open to him to obtain every information which he desired to have without any farther hindrance. But an occurrence now took place that for a while threatened him with the most disastrous consequences. The emperor's astronomer and chief librarian, with whom Siebold had formed the most friendly relations, had communicated to him a copy of a map which had been constructed by the authority of the government. This transaction becoming known, it was regarded as a high crime or misdemeanor on the part of the astronomer, and the receiver of the map was suspected of being a Russian spy. During the investigation which ensued, very little freedom of intercourse with the natives was allowed to him; but though, in a measure, a prisoner, and his situation a very irksome one, not to speak of the personal risks to which he was subjected,-when given to understand that he might purchase the liberty of quitting Japan by yielding up his

66

SIENNA. Population, in 1836, 18,975. Its university has a library of 25,000 volumes, and had formerly 60 professors. Its importance has greatly declined; but it is still celebrated as a school of medicine, and may have about 300 pupils. It has also an ecclesiastical and several other seminaries, and various academies and learned societies, among which are the Rozzi and Intronati, considered the oldest establishments of their kind in Europe. The Siennese pique themselves on speaking the Italian language in its greatest purity.

SIERRA LEONE.* The population of

SIERRA LEONE-SILK.

SILK-SLAG.

also to those of China.-Turkey silk wholly consisted, some years back, of what is termed long reel and short reel brutia, a rather coarse description, suited to few buyers; but of late it has been produced of a very far superior texture and quality, coming successfully into competition with Italian and China silk. The principal seat of the Turkish silk-trade is at Brussa, in Asia Minor. The adjacent country produces different kinds of silk, varying considerably in the size of the thread, in colour, and quality. The village of Demirdask produces the finest, owing to the care taken by the natives in selecting the best cocoons, and attending carefully to the evenness of the thread throughout the process of reeling. It is said that the brightness and glossiness by which this silk is distinguished is owing to some peculiarity in the water of the place.―The attempts made in the United States, of late years, to cultivate the mulberry-tree (morus multicaulis), were productive of no beneficial results, and served, indeed, no other purpose than to excite a reckless spirit of gambling in the purchase and sale of the trees, as soon, or even before, they had begun to exist, a spirit by no means confined to the professional speculator, but extending its pernicious influence, in many cases, into quarters the most remote from the ordinary pursuits of business.

66

*

549

being neither import or export duties, nor harbour or shipping-dues. But notwithstanding the absence of all such imposts, the revenue of Singapore amounted, in 1842-43, to 509,000 rupees, while its expenditure, civil and military, amounted to only 494,029 rupees. The value of the exports from it, in the year just mentioned, was 11,386,138, and of the imports 13,152,888 dollars. The population was estimated, in 1843, to exceed 45,000, of whom about a half were Chinese, and the remainder for the most part Malays.

His

SISMONDI* died in June 1842, at his seat in the neighbourhood of Geneva. During the latter portion of his life, he was a member of the representative council of Geneva, and in the year of his death, of the constituent assembly which formed a new constitution for that canton, a project to which he was decidedly and earnestly opposed, as uncalled for by any practical evils growing out of the former organization of the government. principal occupation, however, was the continuation of his "Histoire des Français," of which he lived to correct the proofs for the 29th volume, bringing it down to the close of the reign of Louis XV.-In addition to the important work just mentioned, and the other works enumerated in the previous article in this encyclopædia concerning Sismondi, he is the author of a "History of the Italian Republics," published originally in English, in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia, and afterwards (1832, 2 vols.) in French; a "History of the Fall of the Roman Empire," also in English, for Lardner's Cyclopædia, and then (1835, 2 vols.) in French; a " Précis" of the history of the French, in 3 volumes, the first two of which appeared in 1839, and the third subsequently; together with various articles contributed by him to the "Atti della Academia Italiana," the Bibliothèque universelle" of Geneva, the "Encyclopédie des gens du monde," &c.

SIMONIANISM (ST.) The dissensions among the leaders of the St. Simonians produced a state of anarchy among them, which affected even their doctrines. These assumed, in general, more and more of a disorganizing and immoral character. At length, on the 22d of January 1832, the family" was dispersed by the government. Enfantin and Rodriguez were tried on various charges, and imprisoned for a year. The former afterwards collected again a part of the society at Ménilmontant; but it broke up for want of funds. Some former members of the St. Simonian association are now in places of rank and consideration some of the most extravagant SIZE; a gelatinous substance, obtained are said to have gone to the East; and from parchment shavings, fish-skin, and Enfantin is without followers. several animal membranes. It is less adSINCAPORE,* or more properly Singa-hesive than glue; and is used by bookpore, derives its importance from being an binders, paper-hangers, and painters. It entrepôt for the commerce between East- is sometimes mixed with flour and gum. ern and Western Asia, and also between SLAG; the imperfect glassy or vitrifiathe former and Europe. For this it is ad-ble compounds which are produced during mirably suited by its geographical position, being in the direct track of vessels going betwixt the Indian and Chinese seas, and in the immediate vicinity of the Malay peninsula, and the richest of the Indian Islands. It is, in every respect, a free port, there

the reduction of metallic ores by various fluxes. In the neighbourhood of large smelting works, especially of iron and copper, the slags, which are abundantly produced, are sometimes used as building materials, and for making or mending roads.

They often contain a considerable relative proportion of metal.

generally carried to the British settlement of Sierra Leone. In addition to the trade in slaves on the western coast of Africa, there is a periodical exportation of them by caravans from Soudan to the Barbary states and to Egypt. Many of these, according to Dr. Bowring, are boys who have been cruelly mutilated in Kordofan for employment in the harems. And there is also a considerable slave-trade carried on by the subjects of the Sultan of Muscat from Zanguebar, as well as by the Portuguese from Mozambique, for the supply of various parts of the East.

SLOOP; a vessel of one mast, the mainsail of which is attached to a gaff above, to a boom below, and to the mast on its foremost edge; differing from a cutter by having a fixed bowsprit and a jib-stay. It is also a general name for ships of war below the size of frigates.

SMACK is a vessel with one mast, commonly rigged as a sloop, and used in the coasting trade of Great Britain, or as a tender in the British navy.

SLAVERY.* The most important event connected with the subject of slavery, to be added to those mentioned in the article Slavery in a preceding volume, is the passage by the parliament of Great Britain, in 1834, of an act, by which, on the 1st of August of that year, slavery was to cease throughout the British dominions, and the then existing slaves to become apprenticed labourers; the term of their apprenticeship to cease partly on the 1st of August 1838, and partly on the 1st of August 1840. But a clamour having been raised against the duration of the apprenticeship, its period was subsequently shortened, and the blacks became universally free in 1833. To attain this object the sum of £20,000,000 | was distributed in certain proportions, and according to certain conditions, among the planters, as a compensation for the loss of their slaves. The slave-trade is now prohibited by most of the maritime powers; and by Portugal it is allowed only within certain geographical limits. Nevertheless, it is extensively carried on by contraband dealers; and the engagements entered into by the European states to enforce the strictest measures in regard to the right of search on the coast of Africa, and to regard those concerned in the trade as pirates, have been inadequate to materially diminish its amount. This illicit trade exists chiefly on the part of the African coast situated between the Niger and Angola.-Since the slave-trade has been declared illegal, there can be little doubt that the sufferings of the negroes have been greatly increased, owing to its being necessary to coop them up in a small compass in their passage across the Atlantic, the better to avoid the British cruisers, while a pursuit by the latter often leads to their being thrown overboard. The loss of life in the middle passage is supposed to average one-fourth of SMITH (General Samuel), a distinguishthe cargo; which is exclusive of that pro-ed officer of the Revolution, was born in duced by the wars among the African tribes, in order to procure captives for the slavers, and by the "seasoning" of the negroes, after their reaching the West Indies, or South America. The commodities given in exchange for the slaves in Africa consist chiefly of coarse arms and gunpowder, imported into Brazil and other places expressly for this traffic, from England and Belgium, and the common cotton fabrics, known in the British manufacturing districts under the name of "coast goods." The negroes, seized on board slave-vessels by the English cruisers, are

SMITH (Sir James Edward), an eminent naturalist, was born at Norwich in England, in the year 1759. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, and took his degree of M. D. in 1786. Having next visited France and Italy, he published, on his return to England, his "Sketch of a Tour on the Continent," in 3 volumes, a work which contains much information on subjects of natural history. He founded the Linnæan Society, and was its first President. He was knighted by George IV., and died in 1828, at his native city, where he had long practised as a physician. - Besides his "Tour" before mentioned, he was the author of a "Natural History of the Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia” (2 vols. fol.); " "English Botany" (36 vols. 8vo.); a "Flora Botanica" (3 vols. 8vo.); the "English Flora" (4 vols. 8vo.); and an "Introduction to Botany."

Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, July 27th 1752. Disposing of his patrimonial estate, the general's father, Mr. John Smith, removed to Carlisle, where he engaged successfully in business as a merchant, and was for several years elected a member of the Legislature. In 1760, he removed to Baltimore, and contributed to give an impulse to the commerce of that city. He was a member of the body which formed the constitution of Maryland in 1776, and was a representative in the Legislature of that state during a number of years.The general, after being educated first at