A treaty between Catherine II of Russia and the Sultan Abdul-Hamed, signed in 1774, after the occupation by the Russians of Crim-Tartary, Moldavia and Wallachia. Turkey surrendered the Crimea, Azov and Taganrog, and by the seventh clause of the treaty undertook to protect the Christian religion and its churches, and to permit the Russian Minister to make at all times representations on behalf of the new church in Constantinople, such representations to be taken into consideration as proceeding from a sincerely friendly Power. In this clause lay the germ of the Crimean War, for Russia interpreted it as giving her the right to interfere for the protection of all Christians of the Greek Church in the Turkish Empire.
L
La Granja, Revolution of.
The revolution by which Queen Christina of Spain was compelled in 1836 to restore the constitution of 1812 which had been abrogated by Ferdinand.
Labancz.
The name given to their opponents by the Hungarians under Tököli and Rákóczy in 1678 and 1704 respectively. It signifies the “foot people,” the Magyars being almost all mounted men.
Labour, American Federation of.
A labour organization founded at Columbus, Ohio, in 1886, and now claiming to have over 600,000 members.
Labourers, Statute of.
A statute passed in the reign of Edward III, after the Black Death in 1348. This pestilence had made labour scarce, and labourers were demanding exorbitant wages. It was enacted that all labourers should be compelled to serve their former masters and for the same wage that they had received before the plague.