صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

the boundaries of the new state and provided for their delimitation by a European commission, which was " to take into consideration the necessity for H.1.M. the Sultan to be able to defend the Balkan frontiers of Eastern Rumelia." Arts. III. to XII. provide for the election of a prince for Bulgaria, the machinery for settling the new constitution, the adjustment of the relations of the new Bulgarian government to the Ottoman empire and its subjects (including the question of tribute, the amount of which was, according to Art. XII., to be settled by agreement of the signatory powers "at the close of the first year of the working of the new organization "): By Art. X. Bulgaria, so far as it was concerned, was to take the place of the Sublime Porte in the engagements which the latter had contracted, as well towards Austria-Hungary as towards the RustchuckVarna Railway Company, for working the railway of European Turkey in respect to the completion and connexion, as well as the working of the railways situated in its territory.

By Art. XIII. a province was formed south of the Balkans which was to take the name of "Eastern Rumelia," and was to remain "under the direct military and political control of H.I.M.the Sultan,under conditions of administrative autonomy.” It was to have a Christian governor-general. Arts. XIV. to XXIII. define the frontiers and organization of the new province, questions arising out of the Russian occupation, and the rights of the sultan. Of the latter it is to be noted that the sultan retained the right of fortifying and occupying the Balkan passes (Art. XV.) and all his rights and obligations over the railways (Art. XXI.).

Art. XXV., which the events of 1908 afterwards brought into special prominence, runs as follows: "The provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be occupied and administered by AustriaHungary. The government of Austria-Hungary, not desiring to undertake the administration of the sanjak of Novi-Bazar, ... the Ottoman administration will continue to exercise its functions there. Nevertheless, in order to assure the maintenance of the new political state of affairs, as well as freedom and security of communications, Austria-Hungary reserves the right of keeping garrisons and having military and commercial roads in the whole of this part of the ancient vilayet of Bosnia." By Art. XXVI. the independence of Montenegro was definitively recognized, and by Art. XVIII. she received certain accessions of territory, including a strip of coast on the Adriatic, but under conditions which tended to place her under the tutelage of Austria-Hungary. Thus, by Art. XXIX. she was to have neither ships of war nor a war flag, the port of Antivari and all Montenegrin waters were to be closed to the war-ships of all nations; the fortifications between the lake and the coast were to be razed; the administration of the maritime and sanitary police at Antivari and along the Montenegrin littoral was to be carried on by Austria-Hungary "by means of light coast-guard boats"; Montenegro was to adopt the maritime code in force in Dalmatia, while the Montenegrin merchant flag was to be under Austro-Hungarian consular protection. Finally, Montenegro was to come to an understanding with Austria-Hungary on the right to construct and keep up across the new Montenegrin territory a road and a railway."

[ocr errors]

22

By Art. XXXIV. the independence of Servia was recognized, subject to conditions (as to religious liberty, &c.) set forth in Art. XXXV. Art. XXXVI. defined the new boundaries. By Art. XLIII. the independence of Rumania, already prowas recognized. Subsequent articles define the conditions and the boundaries. Arts. LII. to LVII. deal with the question of the free navigation of the Danube. All fortifications between the mouths and the Iron Gates were to be razed, and no vessels of war, save those of light tonnage in the service of the river police and the customs, were to navigate the river below the Iron Gates (Art. LII.). The Danube commission, on which Rumania was to be represented, was maintained in its functions (Art. LIII.) and provision made for the further prolongation of its powers (Art. LIV.).

claimed by the prince (May 23 1877),

Art. LVIII. cedes to Russia the territories of Ardahan, Kars and Batoum, in Asiatic Turkey. By Art. LIX. "H.M. the emperor of Russia declares that it is his intention to constitute Batoum a free port, essentially commercial."

By Art. LXI." the Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out, without further delay, the improvements and reforms demanded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and to guarantee their security against the Circassians and Kurds." It was to keep the powers informed periodically of" the steps taken to this effect."

Art. LXII. made provision for the securing religious liberty in the Ottoman dominions.

Finally, Art. LXIII. declares that "the treaty of Paris of 30th March 1856, as well as the treaty of London of 13th March 1871, are maintained in all such of their provisions as are not abrogated or modified by the preceding stipulations."

For the full text of the treaty in the English translation see E. Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaty, vol. iv. p. 2759 (No. 530); for the French original see State Papers, vol. Ixix. p. 749. (W. A. P.)

BERLIN, a city of Coos county, New Hampshire, U.S.A., on the Androscoggin river, in the N. part of the state, about 98 m. N.W. of Portland, Maine. Pop. (1890) 3729; (1900) 8886, of whom 4643 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 11,780. The area of the city in 1906 was 57-81 sq. m. Berlin is served by the Grand Trunk and Boston & Maine railways. It is situated in the heart of the White Mountains and 16 m. from the base of Mt. Washington. Berlin Falls. on the picturesque Androscoggin river, furnishes an immense water-power, the development of which for manufacturing purposes accounts for the rapid growth of the city. The forests of northern New England and of the province of Quebec supply the raw material for the extensive saw-mills and planing-mills, the pulp- and paper-mills, and the sulphite fibre mills, said to be the largest in existence. In 1905 the city's factory products were valued at $5,989,119, of which 78.5% was the value of the paper and wood pulp manufactured. Berlin was first settled in 1821, was incorporated as a township in 1829, and was chartered as a city in 1897.

BERLIN, a city and port of entry, Ontario, Canada, and capital of Waterloo county, 58 m. W. of Toronto, on the Grand Trunk railway. It is the centre of a prosperous farming and manufacturing district, inhabited chiefly by German immigrants and their descendants. An electric railway connects it with the town of Waterloo (pop. 4100) 2 m. to the north, which has important flour and woollen mills and distilleries. Berlin is a flourishing manufacturing town, and contains a beet sugar refinery, automobile, leather, furniture, shirt and collar, felt, glove, button and rubber factories. Pop. (1881) 4054; (1901) 9747.

BERLIN, a four-wheeled carriage with a separate hooded seat behind, detached from the body of the vehicle; so called from having been first used in Berlin. It was designed about 1670, by a Piedmontese architect in the service of the elector of Brandenburg. It was used as a travelling carriage, and Swift refers to it in his advice to authors "who scribble in a berlin." As an adjective, the word is used to indicate a special kind of goods, originally made in Berlin, of which the best known is Berlin wool. A Berlin warehouse is a shop for the sale of wools and fancy goods (cf. Italian warehouse). The spelling" berlin is also used by Sir Walter Scott for the "hirlinn," a large Gaelic rowing-boat.

[ocr errors]

BERLIOZ, HECTOR (1803-1869), French musical composer, was born on the, 11th of December 1803 at Côte-Saint-André, a small town near Grenoble, in the department of Isère. His father, Louis Berlioz, was a physician of repute, and by his desire Hector for some time devoted himself to the study of medicine. At the same time he had music lessons, and, in secret, perused numerous theoretical works on counterpoint and harmony, with little profit it seems, till the hearing and subsequent careful analysis of one of Haydn's quartets opened a new vista to his unguided aspirations. A similar work written by Berlioz in imitation of Haydn's masterpiece was favorably received by his friends. From Paris, where he had been sent to complete his

medical studies, he at last made known to his father the unalter- | But it is as the symbol of French romanticism in the whole able decision of devoting himself entirely to art, the answer to domain of aesthetic perception that his pre-eminence has come which confession was the withdrawal of all further pecuniary to be recognized. His Mémoires (begun in London in 1848 and assistance. In order to support life Berlioz had to accept the finished in 1865) illustrate this romantic spirit at its highest humble engagement of a singer in the chorus of the Gymnase elevation as well as at its lowest depths. Victor Hugo was a theatre. Soon, however, he became reconciled to his father and romantic, Musset was a romantic, but Berlioz was romanticism entered the Conservatoire, where he studied composition under itself. As a boy he is in despair over the despair of Dido, and Reicha and Lesueur. His first important composition was an his breath is taken away at Virgil's “Quaesivit coelo lucem opera called Les Francs-Juges, of which, however, only the ingemuitque reperta." At the age of twelve he is in love with overture remains extant. In 1825 he left the Conservatoire, "Estelle," whom he meets fifty years afterwards. The scene and began a course of self-education, founded chiefly on the is described by himself (1865) with minute fidelity—a scene works of Beethoven, Gluck, Weber and other German masters. which Flaubert must have known by heart when he wrote its About this period Berlioz saw for the first time the talented Irish parallel in the novel L'Éducation sentimentale. The romance of actress Henrietta Smithson, who was then charming Paris by this meeting between the man-old, isolated, unspeakably sad, her impersonations of Ophelia, Juliet and other Shakespearean with the halo of public fame burning round him-and the characters. The enthusiastic young composer became deeply woman-old also, a mother, a widow, whose beauty he had enamoured of her at first sight, and tried, for a long time in vain, worshipped when she was eighteen-is striking. In a frame of to gain the love or even the attention of his idol. To an incident chastened melancholy and joy at the sight of Estelle, Berlioz of this wild and persevering courtship Berlioz's first symphonic goes to dine with Patti and her family. Patti, on the threshold work, Épisode de la vie d'un artiste, owes its origin. By the of her career, pets Berlioz with such uncontrollable affection, advice of his friends Berlioz once more entered the Conservatoire, that as the composer wrote a description of his feelings he was where, after several unsuccessful attempts, his cantata Sardana- overwhelmed at the bitterness of fate. What would he not palus gained him the first prize for foreign travel (1830), in spite have given for Estelle to show him such affection! Patti seemed of the strong personal antagonism of one of the umpires. During to him like a marvellous bird with diamond wings flitting round a stay in Italy Berlioz composed an overture to King Lear, and his head, resting on his shoulder, plucking his hair and singing Le Retour à la vie—a sort of symphony, with intervening her most joyous songs to the accompaniment of beating wings. poetical declamation between the single movements, called by "I was enchanted but not moved. The fact is that the young, the composer a melologue, and written in continuation of the beautiful, dazzling, famous virtuoso who at the age of twenty-two Épisode de la vie d'un artiste, along with which work it was has already seen musical Europe and America at her feet, does performed at the Paris Conservatoire in 1832. Paganini on that not win the power of love in me; and the aged woman, sad, occasion spoke to Berlioz the memorable words: “ Vous com- obscure, ignorant of art, possesses my soul as she did in the days mencez par où les autres ont fini.” Miss Smithson, who also was gone by, as she will do until my last day.” If this episode present on the occasion, consented to become the wife of her touches the sublime, it may be urged with almost equal truth ardent lover in 1833. The marriage was a tempestuous mistake. that his description of the exhumation of his two wives and their In 1840 he separated from his wife, who died in 1854. Six reburial in a single tomb touches the ridiculous. And yet the months later Berlioz married Mademoiselle Récio. His second scene is described with a perception of all the detail which would wife did not live very long, nor was there much that was edifying call for the highest praise in a novelist. Perhaps some parallel in this marriage. Between the date of his first marriage and between the splendid and the ridiculous in this singular figure 1840 came out his dramatic symphonies Harold en Italie, Funèbre may be seen in the comparison of Nadar's caricature with et iriomphale, and Roméo et Juliette; his opera Benvenuto Cellini Charpentier's portrait of the composer. (1837); his Requiem, and other works. In the course of time The profound admiration of Berlioz for Shakespeare, which rose Berlioz won his due share of the distinctions generally awarded at moments to such a pitch of folly that he set Shakespeare in the to artistic merit, such as the ribbon of the Legion of Honour place of God and worshipped him, cannot be explained simply and the membership of the Institute. But these distinctions on the ground that Henrietta Smithson was a great Shakespearean he owed, perhaps, less to a genuine admiration of his compositions actress. Unquestionably the great figures in English literature than to his successes abroad and his insluential position as the had a profound attraction for him, and while the romantic spirit musical critic of the Journal des Débats (a position which he held is obvious in his selections from Byron and Scott, it can also be from 1838 to 1864, and which he never used or abused to push his traced in the quality of his enthusiasm for Shakespeare. It is in own works). In 1842 Berlioz went for the first time to Germany, his music more than in his literary attitude, however, that is where he was hailed with welcome by the leading musicians of disclosed something in addition to the pure romance of Schumann the younger generation, Robert Schumann foremost amongst -something that places him nearer in kind to Wagner, who them. The latter paved the way for the French composer's recognized in him a composer from whose works he might learn success by a comprehensive analysis of the Episode in his something useful for the cultivation of his own ideals. As a musical journal, the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. In 1846 he youth the power of Beethoven's symphonies made a deep produced his magnificent cantata La Damnation de Faust. impression on Berlioz, and what has been described as the Berlioz gave successful concerts at Leipzig and other German “poetical idea " in Beethoven's creations ran riot in the young cities, and repeated his visit on various later occasions-in 1852 medical student's mind. He thus became one of the most by invitation of Liszt, to conduct his opera, Benbenuto Cellini ardent and enlightened originators of what is now known as (hissed off the stage in Paris), at Weimar; and in 1855 to“ programme music.” Technically he was a brilliant musical produce his oratorio-trilogy, L'Enfance du Christ, in the same colourist, often extravagant, but with the extravagant emotionalcity. This latter work had been previously performed at Paris, ism of genius. He was a master of the orchestra; indeed, his where Berlioz mystified the critics by pretending to have found treatment of the orchestra and his invention of unprecedented the last chorus amongst the manuscript scores of a composer of effects of timbre give him a solitary position in musical history; the 17th century, Pierre Ducré by name. In 1855 his Te Deum he had an extraordinary gift for the use of the various instruwas written for the opening of the Paris exhibition. Berlioz also ments, and himself propounded a new ideal for the force to be made journeys to Vienna (1866) and St Petersburg (1867), employed, on an enormous scale. where his works were received with great enthusiasm. In 1861 His literary works include the Traill d'instrumentation he produced his work Béatrice e Benedict, and in 1863 Les (1844); Voyage musical en Allemagne el en Italie (1845); Les Troyens. He died in Paris on the 8th of March 1869. Soirées d'orchestre (1853); Les Grotesques de la musique (1859);

It is not only as a composer that the life of Berlioz is full of À travers chant (1862); Mémoires (1870); Lettres intimes (1882). interest, although in this respect his achievement is singularly for a full list of his musical works, Grove's Dictionary should be significant for the comprehension of the modern spirit in music. consulted.

The new critical edition of the complete musical works (published BERMUDAS, a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, forming by Breitkopf and Härtel) is in ten series. I. Symphonies: Fantasa British colony, in 32° 15′ N. and 64° 50′ W., about 580 m. Ligue, Op. 14; Funebre et triomphale, Op. 15, for military band and chorus; Harold en Italie, Op. 16, with viola solo; Roméo et Juliette, E. by S. from Cape Hatteras on the American coast. The group, with chorus and soli. 11. Overtures (ten, including the five belong-consisting of small islands and reefs (which mark the extreme ing to larger works). 111. Smaller instrumental works, of which northern range of the coral-building polyps), is of oval form, only the Funeral March for Hamlet is important. IV. Sacred measuring 22 m. from N.E. to S.W., the area being 20 sq. m. music: the Grande Messe des morts, Op. 5; the Te Deum, Op. 22; L'Enfance du Christ, Op. 25, and four smaller pieces. V. Secular The largest of the islands is Great Bermuda, or the Main Island, cantatas, including Huit scenes de Faust, Op. 1; Lélio, ou le retour 14 m. long and about a mile in average width, enclosing on the à la vie, Op. 146 (sequel to Symphonie fantastique), and La Damnation cast Harrington or Little Sound, and on the west the Great de Faust, Op. 24. VI. Songs and lyric choruses with orchestra, two Sound, which is thickly studded with islets, and protected on vols. VII. Songs and lyric choruses with pianoforte, 2 vols. including arrangements of the orchestral songs. VIII. Operas: the north by the islands of Watford, Boaz, Ireland and Somerset. Benvenuto Cellini; Les Troyens (five acts in two parts, La Prise de The remaining members of the group, St George, Paget, Smith, Troie and Les Troyens à Carthage); Recitatives for the dialogue in St David, Cooper, Nonsuch, &c., lie N.E. of the Main Island, and Weber's Freischütz. IX. Arrangements, including the well-known form a semicircle round Castle Harbour. The fringing islands orchestral version of Weber's Invitation à la danse. X. Fragments and new discoveries. which encircle the islands, especially on the north and west, leave a few deep passages wide enough to admit the largest vessels. Geology. The Bermudas consist of aeolian limestones (cf. BAHAMAS) which in some of the larger islands form irregular hills attaining a height of some 200-250 ft. These limestones are composed chiefly of comminuted shells drifted and deposited by the wind, and they are very irregularly stratified, as is usually the case with wind-blown deposits. Where fresh the rock is soft, but where it has been exposed to the action of the sea it is covered by a hard crust and often loses all trace of stratification. The surface is frequently irregularly honeycombed. Even the reefs are not wholly formed of coral. They are ridges of aeolian limestone plastered over by a thin layer of corals and other calcareous organisms. The very remarkable “serpuline atolls "are covered by a solid crust made of the convoluted tubes of serpulae and Vermetus, together with barnacles, mussels, nullipores, corallines and some true incrusting corals. They probably rest upon a foundation of aeolian rock. The Bermudas were formerly much more extensive than at present, and they may possibly stand upon the summit of a hidden volcano. There are evidences of small oscillations of levels, but no proofs of great elevation or depression.

Adolphe Julien's biography of Berlioz (1888) first gave a careful account of the details of his life. See also the books by R. Pohl (1884), P. Galibert (1890), E. Hippeau (1890), G. Noufflard (1885). L. Mesnard (1888), Louise Pohl (1900), and D. Bernard (trans. by H. M. Dunstan, 1882). An illuminating essay on Berlioz is in Filson Young's Mastersingers (1902). See also the essay in W. H. Hadow's Studies in Modern Music (1st series, 1908). Berlioz's Traité d'instrumentation has been translated into German and brought up to date by Richard Strauss (Peters' edition [1906]). BERM (probably a variant of "bri.n "), a narrow ledge of ground, generally the level banks of a river. In parts of Egypt the whole area reached by the Nile is included in the berm. Thus of the lands near Berber, Mr C. Dupuis writes (in Sir William Garstin's Report on the Upper Nile, 1904), "In most places there is a well-defined alluvial berm of recent formation and varying width, up to perhaps a couple of kilometres." In military phraseology the berm is the space of ground between the base of a rampart and the ditch.

BERMONDSEY, a south-eastern metropolitan borough of London, England, bounded N. and E. by the Thames, S.E. by Deptford, S.W. by Camberwell, and W. by Southwark. Pop. (1901) 130,760. It is a district of poor streets, inhabited by a labouring population employed in leather and other factories, and in the Surrey Commercial Docks and the wharves bordering the river. The parish of Rotherhithe or Redriff has long been associated with a seafaring population. A tunnel connecting it with the opposite shore of the river was opened in June 1908. The neighbouring Thames Tunnel was opened in 1843, but, as the tolls were insufficient to maintain it, was sold to the East London Railway Company in 1865. The Herold Institute, a branch of the Borough Polytechnic, Southwark, is devoted to instruction in connexion with the leather trade. Southwark Park in the centre of the borough is 63 acres in extent. Bermondsey is in the parliamentary borough of Southwark, including the whole of Rotherhithe and part of the Bermondsey division. The borough council consists of a mayor, 9 aldermen, and 54 councillors. Area 1499-6 acres.

The name appears in Domesday, the suffix designating the former insular, marshy character of the district; while the prefix is generally taken to indicate the name of a Saxon overlord, Beormund. Bermondsey was in favour with the Norman kings as a place of residence, and there was a palace here, perhaps from pre-Norman times. A Cluniac monastery was founded in 1082, and Bermondsey Cross became a favoured place of pilgrimage. The foundation was erected into an abbey in 1399, and Abbey Road recalls its site. Similarly, Spa Road points to the existence of a popular spring and pleasure grounds, maintained for some years at the close of the 18th century. Jacob Street marks Jacob's Island, the scene of the death of Bill Sikes in Dickens's Oliver Twist. Tooley Street, leading east from Southwark by London Bridge railway station, is well known in connexion with the story of three tailors of Tooley Street, who addressed a petition to parliament opening with the comprehensive expression We, the people of England." The name is a corruption of St Olave, or Olaf, the Christian king of Norway, who in 994 attacked London by way of the river, and broke down London Bridge.

[ocr errors]

See E. T. Clarke, Bermondsey, its Historic Memories (1901)

Soil, Climate, &c.-The surface soil is a curious kind of red earth, which is also found in ochre-like strata throughout the limestone. It is generally mixed with vegetable matter and coral sand. There is a total want of streams and wells of fresh water, and the inhabitants are dependent on the rain, which they collect and preserve in tanks. The climate is mild and healthy, although serious epidemics of yellow fever and typhus have occurred. The maximum reading of the thermometer is about 87° F. and its minimum 49°, the mean annual temperature being 70°. The islands attract a large number of visitors annually from America. Vegetation is very rapid, and the soil is clad in a mantle of almost perpetual green. The principal kind of tree is the so-called "Bermudas cedar," really a species of juniper, which furnishes timber for small vessels. The shores are fringed with the mangrove; the prickly pear grows luxuriantly in the most barren districts; and wherever the ground is left to itself the sage bush springs up profusely. The citron, sour orange, lemon and lime grow wild; but the apple and peach do not come to perfection. The loquat, an introduction from China, thrives admirably. The mild climate assists the growth of esculent plants and roots; and a considerable trade is carried on with New York, principally in onions, early potatoes, tomatoes, and beetroot, together with lily bulbs, cut flowers and some arrowroot. Medicinal plants, as the castor-oil plant and aloe, come to perfection without culture; and coffee, indigo, cotton and tobacco are also of spontaneous growth. Few oxen or sheep are reared in the colony, meat, as well as bread and most vegetables, being imported from America. The indigenous mammals are very few, and the only reptiles are a small lizard and the green turtle. Birds, however, especially aquatic species, are very numerous. Insects are comparatively few, but ants swarm destructively in the heat of the year. Fish are plentiful round the coasts, and the whale-fishery was once an important industry, but the fisheries as a whole have not been developed.

Towns, and Administration.-There are two towns in the Bermudas: St George, on the island of that name, founded in

1794 and incorporated in 1797; and Hamilton, on the Main Island, | founded in 1790 and incorporated in 1793. St George was the capital till the senate and courts of justice were removed by Sir James Cockburn to Hamilton, which being centrally situated, is more convenient. Hamilton, which is situated on the inner part of the Great Sound, had a population in 1901 of 2246, that of St George being 985. In Ireland Island is situated the royal dockyard and naval establishment. The harbour of St George's has space enough to accommodate a vast fleet; yet, till deepened by blasting, the entrance was so narrow as to render it almost useless. The Bermudas became an important naval and coaling station in 1869, when a large iron dry dock was towed across the Atlantic and placed in a secure position in St George, while, owing to their important strategic position in mid-Atlantic, the British government maintains a strong garrison. The Bermudas are a British crown colony, with a governor resident at Hamilton, who is assisted by an executive council of 6 members appointed by the crown, a legislative council of 9 similarly appointed, and a representative assembly of 36 members, of whom four are returned by each of nine parishes. The currency of the colony, which had formerly twelve shillings to the pound sterling, was assimilated to that of England in 1842.. The English language is universal. The colony is ecclesiastically attached to the bishopric of Newfoundland. In 1847 an educational board was established, and there are numerous schools; attendance is compulsory, but none of the schools is free. Government scholarships enable youths to be educated for competition in the Rhodes scholarships to Oxford University. The revenue of the islands shows a fairly regular increase during the last years of the 19th century and the first of the 20th, as from £37,830 in 1895 to £63,457 in 1904; expenditure is normally rather less than revenue. In the year last named imports were valued at £589,979 and exports at £130,305, the annual averages since 1895 being about £426,300 and £112,500 respectively. The population shows a steady increase, as from 13,948 in 1881 to 17,535 in 1901; 6383 were whites and 11,152 coloured in the latter year.

History. The discovery of the Bermudas resulted from the shipwreck of Juan Bermudez, a Spaniard (whose name they now bear), when on a voyage from Spain to Cuba with a cargo of hogs, early in the 16th century. Henry May, an Englishman, suffered the same fate in 1593; and lastly, Sir George Somers shared the destiny of the two preceding navigators in 1609. Sir George, from whom the islands took the alternative name of Somers, was the first who established a settlement upon them, but he died before he had fully accomplished his design. In 1612 the Bermudas were granted to an offshoot of the Virginia Company, which consisted of 120 persons, 60 of whom, under the command of Henry More, proceeded to the islands. The first source of colonial wealth was the growing of tobacco, but the curing industry ceased early in the 18th century. In 1726 Bishop George Berkeley chose the Bermudas as the seat of his projected missionary establishment. The first newspaper, the Bermuda Gazette, was published in 1784.

See Godet, Bermuda, its History, Geology, Climate, &c. (London, 1860); Lefroy, Discovery and Settlement of the Bermudas (London, 1877-1879); A. Heilprin, Bermuda Islands (Philadelphia, 1889); Stark, Bermuda Guide (London, 1898); Cole, Bermuda .. Biblio graphy (Boston, 1907); and for geology see also A. Agassiz, "Visit to the Bermudas in March 1894," Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, vol. xxvi. No. 2, 1895; A. E. Verrill," Notes on the Geology of the Bermudas," Amer. Journ. Sci. ser. 4, vol. ix. (1900), pp. 313-340; "The Bermuda Islands; Their Scenery, &c.," Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts and Sci. vol. xi. pt. 2 (1901-1902).

BERMUDEZ, a N.E. state of Venezuela, between the Caribbean Sea and the Orinoco river, bounded E. by the gulf of Paria and the Delta-Amacuro territory, and W. by the states of Guarico and Miranda. Pop. (est. 1905) 364,158. It was created in 1881 by the union of the states of Barcelona, Cumaná and Maturín, dissolved in 1901 into its three original states, and reorganized in 1904 with a slight modification of territory. The state includes the oldest settlements in Venezuela, and was once very prosperous, producing cattle and exporting hides, but wars and political disorders have partly destroyed its industries and

impeded their development. Its principal productions are coffee, sugar, and cacáo, and-less important-cotton, tobacco, cocoanuts, timber, indigo and dyewoods. Its more important towns are the capital, Barcelona, Maturín (pop. 14,473), capital of a district of the same name, and Cumaná (10,000), on the gulf of Cariaco, founded in 1520 and one of the oldest towns of the continent.

BERN (Fr. Berne), after the Grisons, the largest of the Swiss cantons, but by far the most populous, though politically Bern ranks after that of Zürich. It extends right across Switzerland from beyond the Jura to the snow-clad ranges that separate Bern from the Valais. Its total area is 2641-9 sq. m., of which 2081 sq. m. are classed as "productive " (including 591 sq. m of forests, and 2.1 m. of vineyards), while of the remainder 111.3 sq. m, are occupied by glaciers (the Valais and the Grisons alone surpass it in this respect). It is mainly watered by the | river Aar (q.v.), with its affluents, the Kander (left), the Saane or Sarine (left) and the Emme (right); the Aar forms the two lakes of Brienz and Thun (q.v.). The great extent of this canton accounts for the different character of the regions therein com prised. Three are usually distinguished:-(1) The Oberland or Highlands, which is that best known to travellers, for it includes the snowy Alps of the Bernese Oberland (culminating in the Finsteraarhorn, 14,026 ft., and the Jungfrau, 13,669 ft.), as well as the famous summer resorts of Grindelwald, Mürren, Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken, Meiringen, Kandersteg, Adelboden, Thun and the fine pastoral valley of the Simme. (2) The Mittellard or Midlands, comprising the valley of the Aar below Thun, and that of the Emme, thus taking in the outliers of the high Alps and the open country on every side of the town of Bern. (3) The Secland (Lakeland) and the Jura, extending from Bienne and its lake across the Jura to Porrentruy in the plains and to the upper course of the Birs. The Oberland and Mittelland form the "old" canton, the Jura having only been acquired in 1815, and differing from the rest of the canton by reason of its Frenchspeaking and Romanist inhabitants.

In 1900 the total population of the canton was 589,433, of whom 483,388 were German-speaking, 97,789 French-speaking, and 7167 Italian-speaking; while there were 506,699 Protestants, 80,489 Romanists (including the Old Catholics), and 1543 Jews. The capital is Bern (q.v.), while the other important towns are Bienne (q.v.), Burgdorf (q.v.), Delémont or Delsberg (5053 inhabitants), Porrentruy or Pruntrut (6959 inhabitants), Thun (q.v.), and Langenthal (4799 inhabitants). There is a university (founded in 1834) in the town of Bern, as well as institutions for higher education in the principal towns. The canton is divided into 30 administrative districts, and contains 507 communes (the highest number in Switzerland). From 1803 to 1814 the canton was one of the six "Directorial cantons of the Confederation. The existing cantonal constitution dates from 1893, but in 1906 the direct popular election of the executive of 9 members (hitherto named by the legislature) was introduced. The legislature or Grossrath is elected for four years (like the executive), in the proportion of 1 member to every 2500 (cr fraction over 1250) of the resident population. The obligatory Referendum obtains in the case of all laws, and of decrees relating to an expenditure of over half a million francs, while 12.000 citizens have the right of initiative in the case of legislative projects, and 15,000 may demand the revision of the cantonal constitution. The 2 members sent by the canton to the federal Ständerath are elected by the Grossrath, while the 29 members sent to the federal Nationalrath are chosen by a popular vote. In the Alpine portions of the canton the breeding of cattle (those of the Simme valley are particularly famous) is the chici industry; next come the elaborate arrangements for summer travellers (the Fremdenindustrie). It is reckoned that there are 2430 Alps" or mountain pastures in the canton, of which 1474 are in the Oberland, 627 in the Jura, and 280 in the Emme valley; they can maintain 95,478 cows and are of the estimated value of 461 million francs. The cheese of the Emme valley is locally much esteemed. Other industries in the Alpine region are wood-carving (at Brienz) and wine manufacture (on the shores

.

of the lakes of Bienne and of Thun). The Mittelland is the | certainly a bear is shown on the earliest known town seal (1224), agricultural portion of the canton. Watchmaking is the principal while live bears have been maintained at the charges of the industry of the Jura, Bienne and St Imier being the chief centres town since 1513. There is comparatively little industrial activity of this industry. Iron mines are also worked in the Jura, while in the town, the importance of which is mainly political, though the Heimberg potteries, near Thun, produce a locally famous of late years it has been selected as the seat of various interware, and there are both quarries of building stone and tile national associations (postal, telegraph, railway, copyright, &c.). factories. The canton is well supplied with railway lines, the The climate is severe, as the town is much exposed to cold winds broad gauge lines being 228 m. in length, and the narrow gauge blowing from the snowy Alps. In point of population it is lines 157 m.-in all 385 m. Among these are many funicular exceeded in Switzerland by Zürich, Basel and Geneva, though cog-wheel lines, climbing up to considerable heights, so up to the number of inhabitants has risen from 27,558 in 1850 and Mürren (5368 ft.), over the Wengern Alp (6772 ft.), up to the 43,197 in 1880 to 64,227 in 1900. In 1900, 59,698 inhabitants Schynige Platte (6463 ft.), and many others still in the state of were German-speaking; while 57,144 were Protestants, 6087 projects. All these are in the Oberland where, too, is the Romanists (including Old Catholics) and 655 Jews. The height so-called Jungfrau railway, which in 1906 attained a point (the of the town above the sea-level is 1788 ft. Eismeer station) in the south wall of the Eiger (13,042 ft.) that was 10,371 ft. in height, the loftiest railway station insula, guarded the passage over the Aar, and it was probably Switzerland.

The canton of Bern is composed of the various districts which the town of Bern acquired by conquest or by purchase in the course of time. The more important, with dates of acquisition, are the following:-Laupen (1324), Hasli and Meiringen (1334), Thun and Burgdorf (1384), Unterseen and the Upper Simme valley (1386), Frutigen, &c. (1400), Lower Simme valley (14391449), Interlaken, with Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen and Brienz (1528, on the suppression of the Austin Canons of Interlaken), Saanen or Gessenay (1555), Köniz (1729), and the Bernese Jura with Bienne (1815, from the bishopric of Basel). But certain regions previously won were lost in 1798—Aargau (1415), Aigle and Grandson (1475), Vaud (1536), and the Pays d'En-Haut or Château d'Oex (1555). From 1798 to 1802 the Oberland formed a separate canton (capital, Thun) of the Helvetic Republic. (W. A. B. C.) BERN (Fr. Berne), the capital of the Swiss canton of the same name, and, by a Federal law of 1848, the political capital of the Swiss confederation. It is most picturesquely situated on a high bluff or peninsula, round the base of which flows the river Aar, thus completely cutting off the old town, save to the west. Five lofty bridges have been thrown over the Aar, the two most modern being the Kirchfeld and Kornhaus bridges which have greatly contributed to create new residential quarters near the old town. Within the town the arcades (or Lauben) on either side of the main street, and the numerous elaborately ornamented fountains attract the eye, as well as the two remaining towers that formerly stood on the old walls but are now in the centre of the town; the Zeitglockenthurm (famous for its singular 16thcentury clock, with its mechanical contrivances, set in motion when the hour strikes) and the Käfichthurm. The principal medieval building in Bern is the (now Protestant) Münster, begun in 1421 though not completed till 1573. The tower, rising conspicuously above the town, has recently been well restored, but the church was never a cathedral church (as is often stated), for there has never yet been a bishop of Bern. The federal Houses of Parliament (Bundeshaus) were much enlarged in 1888-1897, the older portions dating from 1852-1857, and also contain the offices of the federal executive and administration, The town-hall dates from 1406, while some of the houses belonging

to the old gilds contain much of interest. The town library (with which that of the university was incorporated in 1905) contains a vast store of MSS. and rare printed books, but should be carefully distinguished from the national Swiss library, which, with the building for the federal archives, is built in the new Kirchfeld quarter. There are a number of muscums; the historical (archaeological and medieval), the natural history (in which the skin of Barry, the famous St Bernard dog, is preserved), the art (mainly modern Swiss pictures), and the Alpine (in which are collections of all kinds relating to the Swiss Alps). Bern possesses a university (founded in 1834) and two admirably organized hospitals. The old fortifications (Schanzen) have been converted into promenades, which command wonderful views of the snowy Alps of the Bernese Oberland. Just across the Nydeck bridge is the famous bear pit in which live bears are kept, as they are supposed to have given the name to the town;

The ancient castle of Nydeck, at the eastern end of the penin

its existence that induced Berchtold V., duke of Zäringen, to found Bern in 1191 as a military post on the frontier between the Alamannians (German-speaking) and the Burgundians (French-speaking). Thrice the walls which protected the town were moved westwards, about г250, in 1346 and in 1622, though even at the last-named date the town only stretched a little way to the west of (or beyond) the present railway station. After the extinction of the Zäringen dynasty (1218) Bern became a free imperial city, but it had to fight hard for its independence, which was finally secured by the victories of Dornbühl (1298) over Fribourg and the Habsburgs, and of Laupen (1339) over the neighbouring Burgundian nobles. In the second battle Bern received help from the three forest cantons with which it had become allied in 1323, while in 1353 it entered the Swiss confedera tion as its eighth member. It soon took the lead in the confederation, though always aiming at enlarging its own borders, even at great risks (see the article on the canton). In 1528 Bern accepted the religious reformation, and henceforth became one of its chief champions in Switzerland. In the 17th century the number of families by which high offices of state could be held was diminished, so that in 1605 there were 152 thus qualified, but in 1691 only 104, while towards the end of the 18th century there were only 69 such families. Meanwhile the rule of the town was extending over more and more territory, so that finally it governed 52 bailiwicks (acquired between 1324 and 1729), the Bernese patricians being thus extremely powerful and forming an oligarchy that administered affairs like a benevolent and well-ordered despotism. In 1723 Major Davel, at Lausanne, and in 1749 Henzi, in Bern itself, tried to break down this monopoly, but in each case paid the penalty of failure on the scaffold, The whole system was swept away by the French in 1798, and though partially revived in 1815, came to an end in 1831, since which time Bern has been in the van of political progress. From 1815 to 1848 it shared with Zürich and Lucerne the supreme rule (which shifted from one to the other every two years) in the Swiss confederation, while in 1848 a federal law made Bern the sole political capital, where the federal government is permanently fixed and where the ministers of foreign powers reside.

(Bern, 1903); Archiv d. hist. Vercins d. Kant. Bern, from 1848, AUTHORITIES. Die Alp- und Weidewirthschaft im Kant. Bern and Blatter fur bernische Geschichte, from 1905: Bernische Biographicn (Bern, 1898-1906); E. Friedli, Barndütsch als Spiegel bernischen Volkstums, vol. i. (Lützelfluh, Bern. 1905), and vol. ii. (Grindelwald, Bern, 1908); Festschrift zur 7ten Sakularfeier d. Gründung Berns, Bern, 1883-1908); K. Geiser, Geschichte d. bernischen Verfassung, 1191 (Bern, 1891); Fontes Rerum Bernensium (to 1378), (9 vols., 1191-1471 (Bern, 1888); B. Haller, Bern in seinen Rathsmanualen, 1465-1565 (3 vols., Bern, 1900-1902); E. F. and W. F. von Mulinen, Beiträge zur Heimathskunde, d. Kantons Bern, deutschen Theils (3 vols., Bern, 1879-1894); W. F. von Mülinen, Berns Geschichte, 1191-1891 (Bern, 1891); E. ven Rodt, Bernische Stadtgeschichte (Bern, 1888), and 6 finely illustrated vols. on Bern in the 13th to 19th centuries (Bern, 1898-1907); L. S. von Tscharner, Rechtsgeschichte des Obersimmenthales bis zum Jahre 1798 (Bern, 1908); E. von Wattenwyl, Geschichte d. Stadt u. Landschaft Bern (to 1400), (2 vols.); Schaffhausen and Bern (1867-1872); F. E. Welti, Die Rechtsquellen d. Kant. Bern, vol. i. (Aarau, 1902); Gertrud Züricher, Kinderspiel u. Kinderlied im Kant. Bern (Zürich, 1902). (W. A. B. C.)

« السابقةمتابعة »