WESTERN EMPIRE 563 in 1874 of 26,637 horses, 46,748 horned cat- tle, 777,861 sheep, and 13,290 swine. Large quantities of sandal wood and jarrah, or W. Australia mahogany, are annually cut and ex- ported. The exports of sandal wood in 1874 amounted in value to 70,580. The pearl fish- ery on the N. W. coast is increasing in value yearly. In 1874 a fleet of 54 schooners and cutters and 135 small boats were engaged in it, and the estimated value of the pearls and pearl shells obtained was 74,162. The chief seats of the fishery are Port Cossack and Shark's bay. Malays are employed as divers. The colony has an Anglican and a Roman Catholic bishop, both of whom reside at Perth. The settled portion of Western Australia, a district nearly as large as France, is divided into 25 counties. The administration is in the hands of a gov- ernor appointed by the crown, who is assisted by an executive council. In 1875 steps were taken for the establishment of a constitutional government. The total revenue for 1874 was 148,072, and the expenditure 143,266. The public debt in 1874 was 35,000, which has since been increased by a loan of 100,000, for the construction of a railway and telegraphs. The total value of imports during 1874 was 364,262 ; of exports, 428,836. The total shipment of wool was 2,874,982 Ibs., valued at 215,624. In the same year 144 vessels, of 65,351 aggregate tonnage, entered the ports. Steam communication has been established between the chief ports on the W. coast and Albany in King George's sound, where the mail steamers for Europe and the eastern colonies call. Western Australia was first taken pos- session of in 1826. In 1829 a settlement was made at Swan river, but the colony made little progress until after 1850, when convict labor was introduced. The transportation ceased in 1868, up to which time nearly 10,000 prisoners had been absorbed. During this period the colony made great material progress. In 1874 there were remaining 1,162 male convicts, 430 of whom were in confinement. WESTERN EMPIRE, the name given to the western of the two parts into which the Ro- man empire was divided on the death of Theo- dosius the Great, A. D. 395. By the will of that emperor the eastern portion, now known as the Byzantine empire, was given to his eld- er son Arcadius. (See BYZANTINE EMPIRE.) The western portion, with Rome as its capital, was bequeathed to his younger son Honorius, then in his llth year. His dominion extended over Italy, the islands of the western half of the Mediterranean, the province of Africa, Mauritania, Gaul, Spain, Britain, Rhsetia, Nori- cum, Pannonia, and Dalmatia. Yet it was in- tended by Theodosius that the two vast em- pires should be ruled in common by the two brothers. The guardian of Honorius was Sti- licho, the master general of the forces. (See STILICHO.) The Visigoths, under the lead of Alaric, in 395 invaded the rich provinces of Thrace and Macedonia, and ravaged almost all Greece ; and in 396 Stilicho marched at the head of the forces of the western empire to the Pelo- ponnesus with the design of destroying the bar- barian army. But the jealousy of the Byzan- tine court led it to order Stilicho out of Arca- dius's dominions, and make Alaric master gen- eral of eastern Illyricum. In 402 he invaded Italy, but in the spring of 403 was defeated with great slaughter by Stilicho at Pollentia and Verona. In 405 Radagaisus, at the head of a mixed horde of Goths, Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians, and Alans, crossed the Alps, pil- laged and destroyed many cities, and besieged Florence, where the army of Stilicho forced them to surrender. Radagaisus was put to death, and most of his surviving troops were sold as slaves. In 407 a private soldier named Constantine, who had been placed at the head of the army in Britain by the mutinous troops, crossed the channel to effect the conquest of the western empire. The imperial army was ignominiously defeated at Vienna in Gaul, and forced to recross the Alps. This success was soon followed by the conquest of Spain under the usurper's son Constans. In the mean time Alaric after his retreat from Italy had left the service of the eastern empire and gone over to that of the western, being created master general of western Illjricum, which then em- braced Noricum, Pannonia, and Dalmatia. In the negotiations which were carried on, Stili- cho, who knew the weakness of the empire, advised compliance with the extravagant de- mands of the Gothic king, and the senate con- sented to pay a subsidy of 4,000 pounds of gold. By the death of Stilicho, who was put to death in 408, the western empire lost its only military leader capable of withstanding the Goths. Alaric, after carrying on an artful negotiation with the Roman court, suddenly crossed the Alps and the Po in 408, ravaged all northern Italy, and encamped under the very walls of Rome; but he raised the siege on receiving 5,000 pounds of gold and 30,000 pounds of silver, besides an immense amount of silk and scarlet cloth and spices. Fixing his winter quarters in Etruria, Alaric renewed negotiations with the Roman court, which act- ed with its customary treachery and weakness. At last, indignant at repeated insults, he took Rome (409), and gave it a new emperor in the person of Attains, the prefect of the city, who in turn appointed the Gothic chieftain master general of the western empire. Nearly all Italy submitted to the new monarch, whom Alaric led to the gates of Ravenna, the capital of Honorius. The latter, without resources and surrounded by treachery, offered to divide the sovereignty with Attains. Alaric disdain- fully rejected the offer, and demanded for his creature the whole authority. Honorius was on the point of flying to the protection of his nephew Theodosius II., emperor of the East, when 4,000 veterans unexpectedly landed at Ravenna. The troops of Attnlus had been de- feated in Africa by Count Heraclian, divisions
