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YANCEY, WILLIAM LOWNDES (1814-1863)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 903 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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YANCEY, See also:WILLIAM See also:LOWNDES (1814-1863) , See also:American See also:political See also:leader, son of See also:Benjamin See also:Cudworth Yancey, an able lawyer of See also:South Carolina, of Welsh descent, was See also:born near the Falls of the Ogeechee, See also:Warren See also:county, See also:Georgia, on the loth of See also:August 1814. After his See also:father's See also:death in 1817, his See also:mother remarried and removed to See also:Troy, New See also:York. Yancey attended See also:Williams See also:College for one See also:year, studied See also:law at See also:Greenville, South Carolina, and was admitted to the See also:bar. As editor of the Greenville (South Carolina) Mountaineer (1834—35), he ardently opposed See also:nullification. In 1835 he married a wealthy woman, and in the See also:winter of 1836—1837 removed to her See also:plantation in See also:Alabama, near Cahaba (See also:Dallas county), and edited weekly papers there and in Wetumpka (Elmore county), his summer See also:home. The accidental poisoning of his slaves in 1839 forced him todevote himself entirely to law and journalism; he was now an impassioned See also:advocate of See also:State's Rights and supported See also:Van Buren in the presidential See also:campaign of 184o. He was elected in 1841 to the state See also:House of Representatives, in which he served for one year; became state senator in 1843, and in 1844 was elected to the See also:national House of Representatives to fill a vacancy, being re-elected in 1845. In See also:Congress his ability and his unusual oratorical gifts at once gained recognition. In 1846, however, he resigned his seat, partly on See also:account of poverty, and partly because of his disgust with the See also:Northern Democrats, whom he accused of sacrificing their principles to their economic interests. His entire See also:energy was now devoted to the task of exciting resistance to See also:anti-See also:slavery aggression. In 1848 he secured the See also:adoption by the state Democratic See also:convention of the so-called " Alabama See also:Platform," which was endorsed by the legislatures of Alabama and Georgia and by Democratic state conventions in See also:Florida and See also:Virginia, declaring that it was the See also:duty of Congress not only to allow slavery in all the territories but to protect it, that a territorial legislature could not exclude it, and that the Democratic party should not support for See also:president or See also:vice-president a See also:candidate " not . . openly and unequivocally opposed to either of the forms of excluding slavery from the territories of the See also:United States mentioned in these resolutions." When the conservative See also:majority in the national Democratic convention in See also:Baltimore refused to incorporate his ideas into the platform, Yancey with one colleague See also:left the convention and wrote an Address to the See also:People of Alabama, defending his course and denouncing the cowardice of his associates.

Naturally, he opposed the See also:

Compromise of 185o, and went so far as openly to advocate See also:secession; but the conservative See also:element was in See also:control of the state. Disappointment of the South with the results of " Squatter See also:Sovereignty " caused a reaction in his favour, and in r858 he wrote a See also:letter advocating the See also:appointment of committees of safety, the formation of a See also:League of United Southerners, and the See also:repeal of the See also:laws making the See also:African slave-See also:trade piracy. After twelve years' See also:absence from the national conventions of the Democratic party, he attended the See also:Charleston convention in See also:April 186o, and again demanded the adoption of his ideas. Defeated by a small majority, he again left the See also:hall,' followed this See also:time by the delegates of Alabama, See also:Mississippi, See also:Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, See also:Texas, and two of the three delegates from See also:Delaware. On the next See also:day the Georgia delegation and a majority of the See also:Arkansas delegation withdrew. In the Baltimore convention of the seceders he advocated the nomination of See also:John C. See also:Breckinridge, and he made a tour of the See also:country on his behalf. In Alabama he was the guiding spirit in the secession convention and delivered the address of welcome to See also:Jefferson See also:Davis on his arrival at See also:Montgomery. He refused a See also:place in President Davis's See also:cabinet. On the 31st of See also:March 1861 he sailed for See also:Europe as the See also:head of a See also:commission sent to secure recognition of the Confederate See also:government, but returned in 1862 to take a seat in the Confederate See also:Senate, in which he advocated a more vigorous See also:prosecution of the See also:war. On account of his failing See also:health, he left See also:Richmond See also:early in 1863, and on the 27th of See also:July died at his home near Montgomery. See J.

W. Du Bose, See also:

Life and Times of W. L. Yancey (See also:Birmingham, See also:Ala., 1892) ; W. G. See also:Brown, The See also:Lower South in American See also:History (New York, 19o2); and See also:Joseph See also:Hodgson, The See also:Cradle of the Confederacy (See also:Mobile, Ala., 1876). YANG-CHOW FU, a prefectural See also:city in the See also:province of Kiangsu, See also:China, forming the two distinct cities of Kiang-tu and Kanch`tian, on the See also:Grand See also:Canal, in 32° 21' N., 119° 15' E. Pop. about roo,000. The walls are between three and four See also:miles in circumference. The streets are well supplied with shops, and there are handsome temples, colleges, and other public buildings. There was a serious religious outbreak in 1868, when See also:Hudson See also:Taylor, the founder of the China Inland See also:Mission, opened a station here; but Yang-chow is now one of the centres of the See also:Protestant ' It is probable that Yancey was approached with the offer of the vice-presidential nomination on the See also:Douglas See also:ticket by See also:George N. See also:Sanders.

There was a See also:

movement to nominate him on the ticket with Breckinridge also. missionaries in the province. Yang-chow Fu possesses an early See also:historical connexion with foreigners, for Marco See also:Polo ruled over it for three years by appointment from Kublai See also:Khan (?1282—85). YANGTSZE-KIANG, a See also:great See also:river of China, and the See also:principal commercial watercourse of the country. It is formed by the junction of a See also:series of small streams draining the E. slopes of the Tibetan See also:plateau, and for the first third of its course flows almost parallel with the See also:Mekong and the See also:Salween, each, however, separated from the other by intervening ridges of great height. The See also:total length of the Yangtsze is calculated to be not less than 3000 M. Although the See also:term Yangtsze is applied by Europeans to the whole course of the river, in China it indicates only the last three or four See also:hundred miles, where it flows through a See also:division of the See also:empire which in See also:ancient time was known as " Yang," a name which also survives in the city of Yang-Chow in the province of Kiang-su. The See also:ordinary See also:official name for the whole river is Ch'ang Kiang (pronounced in the See also:north, Chiang) or Ta Chiang, meaning the " See also:long river " or the " great river." Popularly in the upper reaches every See also:section has its See also:local name. As it emerges from See also:Tibet into China it is known as the Kinsha Kiang or river of See also:Golden See also:Sand, and farther down as the Pai-shui Kiang. In Sze-ch'uen, after its junction with the large tributary known as the See also:Min, it is for some distance called the Min-kiang, the people being of See also:opinion that the Min See also:branch is in fact the See also:main river. The fall in the upper reaches is very rapid. At the junction of the two main affluents in Upper Tibet, where the river is already a formidable torrent barely fordable at See also:low See also:water, the See also:altitude is estimated at 13,000 ft.

From Patang (8J40 ft.) to R'a-Wu in Sze-ch'uen (1900 ft.) the fall is about 8 ft. per mile, thence to Hwang-kwo-shu (1200 ft.) about 6 ft. per mile, and farther down to Pingshan (1039 ft.) the fall is about ,; ft. per mile. At Pingshan, in the province of Sze-ch'uen, the river first becomes navigable, and the fall decreases to about 6 in. per mile down to Chungk'See also:

ing (63o ft.). From Chungk'ing through the See also:gorges to Ich'ang (13o ft.), a distance of nearly 400 m., the fall again increases to about 14 in. per mile; but from Ich'ang down to the See also:sea, a distance of r000 m., the fall is exceedingly small, being as far as See also:Hankow at the See also:rate of 2$ in., and from Hankow to the mouth at the rate of little more than 1 in. per mile. The last 200 M. are practically a dead level, for at low-water See also:season there is a rise of See also:tide enough to See also:swing See also:ships as far up as See also:Wuhu, 200 n1. from the mouth. The principal tributaries, counting from the sea upwards, are: (I) the outlet from Poyang See also:lake, draining the province of Kiang-si; (2) the Han river, entering on the left See also:bank at Hankow; (3) the outlet from Tungt'ing lake on the right bank, draining the province of Hu'nan; (4) the three great See also:rivers of Sze-ch'uen, the Kialing, the To Kiang and the Min, all entering on the left bank; and (5) the Yaiung, draining a vast See also:area on the borderland between Sze-ch'uen and Tibet. The whole drainage area is about 65o,000 sq. m., of which more than four-fifths See also:lie above Hankow. The See also:period of low water is from See also:December to March. The melting of the snows on the Tibetan See also:highlands combined with the summer rainfall causes an See also:annual rise in the river of from 7o to 90 ft. at Chungk'ing and from 40 to 50 at Hankow and Kiukiang. The mean See also:volume of water discharged into the sea is estimated at 770,000 cub. ft. per second. The quantity of sediment carried in See also:solution and deposited at the mouth is similarly estimated at 6428 million cub. ft. per annum, representing a subaerial denudation of the whole drainage area at the rate of one See also:foot in 3707 years. (See See also:Journal of the China Branch of the Royal See also:Asiatic Society, vol. xvi., Dr Guppy.) The Yangtsze-kiang forms a See also:highway of first-class importance. As the rise in the river is only about 130 ft. for the first loon m., it resembles a huge canal expressly formed for See also:steam See also:navigation.

Except at winter low water, steamers of 5000 or 6000 tons can reach Hankow with ease. Between Hankow and Ich'ang, especially above the outlet from Tungt'ing lake, the volume of water diminishes very much, and as the channel is continually shifting with the shifting sand-See also:

banks, navigation is more difficult. Above Ich'ang, where the river flows" between rocky gorges, and where a series of rapids are encountered, navigation is still more difficult. But taking the Yangtsze as a whole, with its numerous subsidiary streams, canals and lakes, it forms a highway of communication unrivalled in any other country in the See also:world. About See also:half the sea-See also:borne coinmerce of all China is further distributed by means of the Yangtsze and its connexions, not to mention the interchange of native See also:pro-duce between the provinces, which is carried by native sailing See also:craft numbered by thousands. The Yangtsze valley as a political term indicates the See also:sphere ofinfluence or development which by See also:international agreement waa assigned to Great See also:Britain. This was first acquired in a somewhat negative manner by the See also:Chinese government giving an undertaking, which they did in 1898, not to alienate any See also:part of the Yangtsze valley to any other See also:power. A more formal recognition of the See also:British claim was embodied in the agreement between the British and See also:Russian governments in 1899 for the delimitation of their respective railway interests in China, See also:Russia agreeing not to interfere with British projects in the See also:basin of the Yangtsze, and Great Britain agreeing not to interfere with Russian projects north of the Great See also:Wall (See also:Manchuria). The basin or valley of the Yangtsze was de-fined to comprise all the provinces bordering on the Yangtsze river, together with the provinces of Ho-nan and Chehekiang. This agreement was communicated to the Chinese government, and has been generally acknowledged. The See also:object of the negotiations was to guard against conflict of railway interests; in all other respects the policy known as that of the " open See also:door " was advocated by Great Britain and the See also:chief commercial states. This policy was more fully declared by mutual engagements entered into in 1900 by the Great See also:Powers on the initiative of the United States, whereby each undertook to See also:guarantee equality of treatment to the See also:commerce of all nations within its own sphere.

As to railway enterprise, an agreement of 1910 admitted See also:

French, See also:German and American See also:financial interests equally with those of great Britain in the projected See also:line from Hankow to Sze-ch'uen. (G.

End of Article: YANCEY, WILLIAM LOWNDES (1814-1863)

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