readjustment. The leading issue was the free coinage of silver under conditions which would have made the monetary standard silver instead of gold, and would have lowered its value. The Democratic convention repudiated Mr Cleveland, accepted free coinage, and nominated W. J. Bryan. The Republicans, at the cost of a formidable party defection, endorsed the gold standard and a highly protective tariff, and nominated William McKinley, whose record and character made him an exceptionally strong candidate. In doing this the Democratic organization became the party of radicalism, the Republican, the party of conservatism. The committal of the Republican party to the maintenance of the gold standard far more than its continued support of high protection, established its position in the reconstructed party system. In doing this it allied its fortunes with those of all the property-holding classes of the country, while retaining in a high degree the confidence of the wage-earners. Period 1897-1910.-During this period there was first a rapid recovery from economic depression, and then ten years of almost unexampled prosperity, followed by two years of moderate depression. But the period is chiefly memorable for the war of 1898 with Spain; for the oversea territorial expansion that followed; for the rise of the so-called policy of imperialism; for the assumption of a far more prominent international role; for wide-reaching measures of internal reform; and, lastly, for the establishment of the policy of conserving the natural resources of the nation.
Throughout this period the Republican party had undisputed control of the national government. One of the earliest acts in the administration of Mr McKinley was the enactment in 1897 of the highly protective Dingley Tariff. The provision for Reciprocity proved at first of little use. But the need of foreign markets for the rapidly growing output of manufactured products, the rising demand that the interests of the home consumer, as well as those of the producer, should be considered, and the conviction that high protection fostered monopolies, brought about a change of sentiment in the party. Mr McKinley, in his last speech, made at the Buffalo Exposition on the 5th of September 1901, gave voice to this change: “ The period of exclusiveness is past. The expansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unprofitable. A policy of good will and friendly trade relations will prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the times. Measures of retaliation are not.” These views gained headway against the strenuous opposition of the “stand-patters, ”1 until revision of the tariff downward was demanded in the platform of 1908, and achieved to a moderate degree in the Tariff Act of 1909. The party has also fulfilled its promise to establish 'the gold monetary standard on a firm basis. During the war with Spain and in meeting the new problems of colonial empire, the Republican party has again justified its reputation for efficiency. Not less noteworthy has been the policy of the party initiated and urged by President Theodore Roosevelt and developed by President W. H. Taft for the regulation of railways and all corporations and trusts engaged in interstate business. The latest important event in the history of the Republican party is the rise of the “ Insurgents, ” a group of senators and congressmen whose professed aims are to resist centralization in both party and national government, to lessen the influence of the money power over public policy, to regulate tariff schedules largely in the interest of the consumer, and in brief to emphasize anew the subordination of party and government to the will and service of the people.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.*S€6 Francis Curtis, History of the Republican Party (2 vols., New York, 1904); ]. F. Rhodes, Hisgory of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 (ibid., 1 93-1904); ]. W. Burgess, The Middle Period (New York, 1397), The Civil War and the Constitution (ibid., 1899) and Reconstruction and the Constitution (ibid., 1902); T. C. Smith, The Parties and Slavery, 1851-1859 (ibid., 1906); Henry Wilson, Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America (3 vols., Boston, 1872-77); ]. G. Blaine, Twenty Those members of the Republican party who would maintain as far as possible the high protective duties of the Dingley Tariff. Years of Congress '(2 vols., Norwich, Conn., 1884-1886); Horace Greeley, The American Conflict (2 vols., Hartford, 1864-66); ]. G. Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln, A History (Io vols., New York, 1890); ]. T. Morse, Life of Lincoln (2 vols., Boston, 1893); F. Bancroft, Life of W. H. Seward (New York, 1900); H. E. Von Holst, Political and Constitutional History of the United States (Chicago, 1899); and E. Stanwood, History of the Presidency (Boston, 1898). (A. D. Mo.)
REQUENA, a town of E. Spain, in the province of Valencia;
on the left bank of the river Magro, and on the railway
from Valencia to Utiel. Pop. (1900) 16,236. The town was
formerly a Moorish fortress, occupying a strong position in the
mountainous region of Las Cabrillas (3400 ft). It is dominated
by the ancient citadel of the Moors, and still has traces of the
original town walls. There are three ancient parish churches;
San Nicolas, the oldest, dates from the 13th century, but was
partly restored in 1727. Near the town are the sulphurous
springs of Fuentepodrida. The chief industries are the cultivation
of grain, fruit and saffron, and the manufacture of wine
and silk.
REQUESENS, LUIS DE ZUNIGA Y (?–1576), Spanish
governor of the Netherlands, had the misfortune to succeed
the duke of Alva (q.v.) and to govern amid hopeless difficulties
under the direction of Philip II. His early career was that
of a government official and diplomatist. In 1563 he gained
the king's confidence as his representative at Rome. In 1568
he was appointed lieutenant-general to Don John of Austria
during the suppression of the Morisco revolt in Granada, and
he also accompanied Don John during the Lepanto campaign,
his function being to Watch and control his nominal commander in-chief,
whose excitable temperament was distrusted by the
king. Philip must have been satisfied with Requesens, for
he named him Viceroy in Milan, a post usually given to a great
noble. Requesens was only “ a gentleman of cloak and sword ”
(caballero de capa y espada), though by the king's favour he
was “ grand commander ” of the military order of Santiago
in Castile. He was credited with having shown moderation
at Milan, but it is certain that he came into sharp collision
with the archbishop, Saint Charles Borromeo, who took up
the cause of his flock. His docility rather than his capacity
marked him out to succeed Alva. The king wished to
pursue a more conciliatory policy, without, however, yielding
any one of the points in dispute between himself and the
revolted Netherlanders. Requesens came to Brussels on the
17th of November 1573, and till his death on the 5th of March
1576 was plunged into insuperable difficulties. With an empty
treasury and unpaid mutinous troops, no faculty could have
helped Requesens to succeed; and he was only an honest
official who was worn out in trying to do the impossible.
Authorities.—Documentos Inéditos para la historia de España (Madrid, 1892); and Nueva Coleccion de documentos, vols. iv. and v. (Madrid).
REQUEST, LETTERS OF. The legal terms “letters
rogatory, ” or “ of request” (commission rogatoire), express a
request made by one judge for the assistance of another in
serving a citation, taking the deposition of a witness, executing
a judgment, or the performance of any other judicial act. The
later law of Rome imposed a duty of mutual assistance on the
courts of the Empire, and this was extended to the courts of
different states when, and so far as, Roman law came to rule
the modern world. Consequently, outside ecclesiastical law (see below), the only trace of such a practice to be found in England or the United States, independent of statutory enactment, is in the admiralty doctrine that the sentence of a foreign court of admiralty may be executed on letters of request from the foreign judge or on a libel by a party for its execution. See the authorities collected by Sir R. Phillimore in The City of Mecca, 5 P.D. 28. The need of a assistance in taking the depositions of witnesses outside their jurisdiction was long in being felt by the British and United States courts, because they issued commissions for that purpose to private persons, sometimes to foreign judges in their private capacities. But an increasing sensitiveness as to the rights of sovereignty led to
