[1] Named after William Robert Broughton (1762-1821), an English
navigator who explored these seas in 1795-1798.
KOREA, a tributary state of India, transferred from Bengal to the
Central Provinces in 1905; area, 1631 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 35,113, or
only 22 persons per sq. m.; estimated revenue, £1200. It consists of an
elevated table-land, with hills rising to above 3000 ft. Such traffic as
there is is carried by means of pack-bullocks.
KORESHAN ECCLESIA, THE, or CHURCH ARCHTRIUMPHANT, a communistic body,
founded by Cyrus R. Teed, a medical practitioner, who was born at Utica,
New York, in 1839. Teed was regarded by his adherents as "the new
Messiah now in the World," and many other extravagant views both in
science and economics are held by them. Two communities were founded: in
Chicago (1886) and at Estero, in Lee county, Florida (1894), where in
1903 the Chicago community removed. Their name is derived from Koresh,
the Hebrew form of Cyrus, and they have a journal, _The Flaming Sword_.
KORIN, OGATA (c. 1657-1716), Japanese painter and lacquerer, was born at
Koto, the son of a wealthy merchant who had a taste for the arts and is
said to have given his son some elementary instruction therein. Korin
also studied under Soken Yamamoto, Kano, Tsunenobu and Gukei Sumiyoshi;
and he was greatly influenced by his predecessors Koyetsu and Sotatsu.
On arriving at maturity, however, he broke away from all tradition, and
developed a very original and quite distinctive style of his own, both
in painting and in the decoration of lacquer. The characteristic of this
is a bold impressionism, which is expressed in few and simple highly
idealized forms, with an absolute disregard either of realism or of the
usual conventions. In lacquer Korin's use of white metals arid of
mother-of-pearl is notable; but herein he followed Koyetsu. Korin died
on the 2nd of June 1716, at the age of fifty-nine. His chief pupils were
Kagei Tatebashi and Shiko Watanable; but the present knowledge and
appreciation of his work are largely due to the efforts of Hoitsu Sakai,
who brought about a revival of Korin's style.
See A. Morrison, _The Painters of Japan_ (1902); S. Tajima,
_Masterpieces selected from the Korin School_ (1903); S. Hoitsu, _The
100 Designs by Korin_ (1815) and _More Designs by Korin_ (1826).
(E. F. S.)
KORKUS, an aboriginal tribe of India, dwelling on the Satpura hills in
the Central Provinces. They are of interest as being the westernmost
representatives of the Munda family of speech. They are rapidly becoming
hinduized, as may be gathered from the figures of the census of 1901,
which show 140,000 Korkus by race, but only 88,000 speakers of the Korku
language.
KÖRMÖCZBÁNYA (German, _Kremnitz_), an old mining town, in the county of
Bars, in Hungary, 158 m. N. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900), 4299. It
is situated in a deep valley in the Hungarian Ore Mountains region.
Among its principal buildings are the castle, several Roman Catholic
(from the 13th and 14th centuries) and Lutheran churches, a Franciscan
monastery (founded 1634), the town-hall, and the mint where the
celebrated Kremnitz gold ducats were formerly struck. The bulk of the
inhabitants find employment in connexion with the gold and silver mines.
By means of a tunnel 9 m. in length, constructed in 1851-1852, the water
is drained off from the mines into the river Gran. According to
tradition, Körmöczbánya was founded in the 8th century by Saxons. The
place is mentioned in documents in 1317, and became a royal free town
in 1328, being therefore one of the oldest free towns in Hungary.
KÖRNER, KARL THEODOR (1791-1813), German poet and patriot, often called
the German "Tyrtaeus," was born at Dresden on the 23rd of September
1791. His father, Christian Gottfried Körner (1756-1831), a
distinguished Saxon jurist, was Schiller's most intimate friend. He was
educated at the Kreuzschule in Dresden and entered at the age of
seventeen the mining academy at Freiburg in Saxony, where he remained
two years. Here he occupied himself less with science than with verse, a
collection of which appeared under the title _Knospen_ in 1810. In this
year he went to the university of Leipzig, in order to study law; but he
became involved in a serious conflict with the police and was obliged to
continue his studies in Berlin. In August 1811 Körner went to Vienna,
where he devoted himself entirely to literary pursuits; he became
engaged to the actress Antonie Adamberger, and, after the success of
several plays produced in 1812, he was appointed poet to the
Hofburgtheater. When the German nation rose against the French yoke, in
1813, Körner gave up all his prospects at Vienna and joined Lützow's
famous corps of volunteers at Breslau. On his march to Leipzig he passed
through Dresden, where he issued his spirited _Aufruf an die Sachsen_,
in which he called upon his countrymen to rise against their oppressors.
He became lieutenant towards the end of April, and took part in a
skirmish at Kitzen near Leipzig on the 7th of June, when he was severely
wounded. After being nursed by friends at Leipzig and Carlsbad, he
rejoined his corps and fell in an engagement outside a wood near
Gadebusch in Mecklenburg on the 26th of August 1813. He was buried by
his comrades under an oak close to the village of Wöbbelin, where there
is a monument to him.
The abiding interest in Körner is patriotic and political rather than
literary. His fame as a poet rests upon his patriotic lyrics, which were
published by his father under the title _Leier und Schwert_ in 1814.
These songs, which fired the poet's comrades to deeds of heroism in
1813, bear eloquent testimony to the intensity of the national feeling
against Napoleon, but judged as literature they contain more bombast
than poetry. Among the best known are "Lützow's wilde verwegene Jagd,"
"Gebet während der Schlacht" (set to music by Weber) and "Das
Schwertlied." This last was written immediately before his death, and
the last stanza added on the fatal morning. As a dramatist Körner was
remarkably prolific, but his comedies hardly touch the level of
Kotzebue's and his tragedies, of which the best is _Zriny_ (1814), are
rhetorical imitations of Schiller's.
His works have passed through many editions. Among the more recent
are: _Sämtliche Werke_ (Stuttgart, 1890), edited by Adolf Stern; by H.
Zimmer (2 vols., Leipzig, 1893) and by E. Goetze (Berlin, 1900). The
most valuable contributions to our knowledge of the poet have been
furnished by E. Peschel, the founder and director of the Körner Museum
in Dresden, in _Theodor Körners Tagebuch und Kriegslieder, aus dem
Jahre 1813_ (Freiburg, 1893) and, in conjunction with E. Wildenow,
_Theodor Körner und die Seinen_ (Leipzig, 1898).
KORNEUBURG, a town of Austria, in Lower Austria, 9 m. N.W. of Vienna by
rail. Pop. (1900), 8298. It is situated on the left bank of the Danube,
opposite Klosterneuburg. It is a steamship station and an important
emporium of the salt and corn trade. The industry comprises the
manufacture of coarse textiles, pasteboard, &c. Its charter as a town
dates from 1298, and it was a much frequented market in the preceding
century. At the beginning of the 15th century it was surrounded by
walls, and in 1450 a fortress was erected. It was frequently involved in
the conflict between the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus and the
emperor Frederick William III., and also during the Thirty Years' War.
KOROCHA, a town of central Russia, in the government of Kursk, 75 m.
S.S.E. of the city of Kursk, on the Korocha river. Pop. (1897), 14,405.
Its inhabitants live by gardening, exporting large quantities of dried
cherries, by making candles and leather, and by trade; the merchants
purchase cattle, grain and salt in the south and send them to Moscow.
Founded in 1638, Korocha was formerly a small fort intended to check the
Tatar invasions.
KORSÖR, a seaport of Denmark, in the _amt_ (county) of the island of
Zealand, 69 m. by rail W.S.W. of Copenhagen, on the east shore of the
Great Belt. Pop. (1901), 6054. The harbour, which is formed by a bay of
the Baltic, has a depth throughout of 20 ft. It is the point of
departure and arrival of the steam ferry to Nyborg on Fünen, lying on
the Hamburg, Schleswig, Fredericia and Copenhagen route. There is also
regular communication by water with Kiel. The chief exports are fish,
cereals, bacon; imports, petroleum and coal. A market town since the
14th century, Korsör has ruins of an old fortified castle, on the south
side of the channel, dating from the 14th and 17th centuries.
KORTCHA (Slavonic, _Goritza_ or _Koritza_), a city of Albania, European
Turkey, in the vilayet of Iannina, in a wide plain watered by the Devol
and Dunavitza rivers, and surrounded by mountains on every side except
the north, where Lake Malik constitutes the boundary. Pop. (1905), about
10,000, including Greeks, Albanians and Slavs. Kortcha is the see of an
Orthodox Greek metropolitan, whose large cathedral is richly decorated
in the interior with paintings and statues. The Kortcha school for
girls, conducted by American missionaries, is the only educational
establishment in which the Turkish government permits the use of
Albanian as the language of instruction. The local trade is chiefly
agricultural.
KORYAKS, a Mongoloid people of north-eastern Siberia, inhabiting the
coast-lands of the Bering Sea to the south of the Anadyr basin and the
country to the immediate north of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the
southernmost limit of their range being Tigilsk. They are akin to the
Chukchis, whom they closely resemble in physique and in manner of life.
Thus they are divided into the settled fishing tribes and the nomad
reindeer breeders and hunters. The former are described as being more
morally and physically degraded even than the Chukchis, and hopelessly
poor. The Koryaks of the interior, on the other hand, still own enormous
reindeer herds, to which they are so attached that they refuse to part
with an animal to a stranger at any price. They are in disposition
brave, intelligent and self-reliant, and recognize no master. They have
ever tenaciously resisted Russian aggression, and in their fights with
the Cossacks have proved themselves recklessly brave. When outnumbered
they would kill their women and children, set fire to their homes, and
die fighting. Families usually gather in groups of sixes or sevens,
forming miniature states, in which the nominal chief has no
predominating authority, but all are equal. The Koryaks are polygamous,
earning their wives by working for their fathers-in-law. The women and
children are treated well, and Koryak courtesy and hospitality are
proverbial. The chief wedding ceremony is a forcible abduction of the
bride. They kill the aged and infirm, in the belief that thus to save
them from protracted sufferings is the highest proof of affection. The
victims choose their mode of death, and young Koryaks practise the art
of giving the fatal blow quickly and mercifully. Infanticide was
formerly common, and one of twins was always sacrificed. They burn their
dead. The prevailing religion is Shamanism; sacrifices are made to evil
spirits, the heads of the victims being placed on stones facing east.
See G. Kennan, _Tent Life in Siberia_ (1871); "Über die Koriaken u.
ihnen nähe verwandten Tchouktchen," in _Bul. Acad. Sc. St.
Petersburg_, xii. 99.
KOSCIUSCO, the highest mountain in Australia, in the range of the
Australian Alps, towards the south-eastern extremity of New South Wales.
Its height is 7328 ft. An adjacent peak to the south, Mueller's Peak,
long considered the highest in the continent, is 7268 ft. high. A
meteorological station was established on Kosciusco in 1897.
KOSCIUSZKO, TADEUSZ ANDRZEJ BONAWENTURA (1746-1817), Polish soldier and
statesman, the son of Ludwik Kosciuszko, sword-bearer of the palatinate
of Brzesc, and Tekla Ratomska, was born in the village of
Mereczowszczyno. After being educated at home he entered the corps of
cadets at Warsaw, where his unusual ability and energy attracted the
notice of Prince Adam Casimir Czartoryski, by whose influence in 1769 he
was sent abroad at the expense of the state to complete his military
education. In Germany, Italy and France he studied diligently,
completing his course at Brest, where he learnt fortification and naval
tactics, returning to Poland in 1774 with the rank of captain of
artillery. While engaged in teaching the daughters of the Grand Hetman,
Sosnowski of Sosnowica, drawing and mathematics, he fell in love with
the youngest of them, Ludwika, and not venturing to hope for the consent
of her father, the lovers resolved to fly and be married privately.
Before they could accomplish their design, however, the wooer was
attacked by Sosnowski's retainers, but defended himself valiantly till,
covered with wounds, he was ejected from the house. This was in 1776.
Equally unfortunate was Kosciuszko's wooing of Tekla Zurowska in 1791,
the father of the lady in this case also refusing his consent.
In the interval between these amorous episodes Kosciuszko won his spurs
in the New World. In 1776 he entered the army of the United States as a
volunteer, and brilliantly distinguished himself, especially during the
operations about New York and at Yorktown. Washington promoted
Kosciuszko to the rank of a colonel of artillery and made him his
adjutant. His humanity and charm of manner made him moreover one the
most popular of the American officers. In 1783 Kosciuszko was rewarded
for his services and his devotion to the cause of American independence
with the thanks of Congress, the privilege of American citizenship, a
considerable annual pension with landed estates, and the rank of
brigadier-general, which he retained in the Polish service.
In the war following upon the proclamation of the constitution of the
3rd of May 1791 and the formation of the reactionary Confederation of
Targowica (see POLAND: _History_), Kosciuszko took a leading part. As
the commander of a division under Prince Joseph Poniatowski he
distinguished himself at the battle of Zielence in 1792, and at Dubienka
(July 18) with 4000 men and 10 guns defended the line of the Bug for
five days against the Russians with 18,000 men and 60 guns, subsequently
retiring upon Warsaw unmolested. When the king acceded to the
Targowicians, Kosciuszko with many other Polish generals threw up his
commission and retired to Leipzig, which speedily became the centre of
the Polish emigration. In January 1793, provided with letters of
introduction from the French agent Perandier, Kosciuszko went on a
political mission to Paris to induce the revolutionary government to
espouse the cause of Poland. In return for assistance he promised to
make the future government of Poland as close a copy of the French
government as possible; but the Jacobins, already intent on detaching
Prussia from the anti-French coalition, had no serious intention of
fighting Poland's battles. The fact that Kosciuszko's visit synchronized
with the execution of Louis XVI. subsequently gave the enemies of Poland
a plausible pretext for accusing her of Jacobinism, and thus prejudicing
Europe against her. On his return to Leipzig Kosciuszko was invited by
the Polish insurgents to take the command of the national armies, with
dictatorial power. He hesitated at first, well aware that a rising in
the circumstances was premature. "I will have nothing to do with Cossack
raiding," he replied; "if war we have, it must be a regular war." He
also insisted that the war must be conducted on the model of the
American War of Independence, and settled down in the neighbourhood of
Cracow to await events. When, however, he heard that the insurrection
had already broken out, and that the Russian armies were concentrating
to crush it, Kosciuszko hesitated no longer, but hastened to Cracow,
which he reached on the 23rd of March 1794. On the following day his
arms were consecrated according to ancient custom at the church of the
Capucins, by way of giving the insurrection a religious sanction
incompatible with Jacobinism. The same day, amidst a vast concourse of
people in the market-place, Kosciuszko took an oath of fidelity to the
Polish nation; swore to wage war against the enemies of his country; but
protested at the same time that he would fight only for the independence
and territorial integrity of Poland.
The insurrection had from the first a purely popular character. We find
none of the great historic names of Poland in the lists of the original
confederates. For the most part the confederates of Kosciuszko were
small squires, traders, peasants and men of low degree generally. Yet
the comparatively few gentlemen who joined the movement sacrificed
everything to it. Thus, to take but a single instance, Karol Prozor sold
the whole of his ancestral estates and thus contributed 1,000,000
thalers to the cause. From the 24th of March to the 1st of April
Kosciuszko remained at Cracow organizing his forces. On the 3rd of April
at Raclawice, with 4000 regulars, and 2000 peasants armed only with
scythes and pikes, and next to no artillery, he defeated the Russians,
who had 5000 veterans and 30 guns. This victory had an immense moral
effect, and brought into the Polish camp crowds of waverers to what had
at first seemed a desperate cause. For the next two months Kosciuszko
remained on the defensive near Sandomir. He durst not risk another
engagement with the only army which Poland so far possessed, and he had
neither money, officers nor artillery. The country, harried incessantly
during the last two years, was in a pitiable condition. There was
nothing to feed the troops in the very provinces they occupied, and
provisions had to be imported from Galicia. Money could only be obtained
by such desperate expedients as the melting of the plate of the churches
and monasteries, which was brought in to Kosciuszko's camp at Pinczow
and subsequently coined at Warsaw, minus the royal effigy, with the
inscription: "Freedom, Integrity and Independence of the Republic,
1794." Moreover, Poland was unprepared. Most of the regular troops were
incorporated in the Russian army, from which it was very difficult to
break away, and until these soldiers came in Kosciuszko had principally
to depend on the valour of his scythemen. But in the month of April the
whole situation improved. On the 17th of that month the 2000 Polish
troops in Warsaw expelled the Russian garrison after days of street
fighting, chiefly through the ability of General Mokronowski, and a
provisional government was formed. Five days later Jakob Jasinski drove
the Russians from Wilna.
By this time Kosciuszko's forces had risen to 14,000, of whom 10,000
were regulars, and he was thus able to resume the offensive. He had
carefully avoided doing anything to provoke Austria or Prussia. The
former was described in his manifestoes as a potential friend; the
latter he never alluded to as an enemy. "Remember," he wrote, "that the
only war we have upon our hands is war to the death against the
Muscovite tyranny." Nevertheless Austria remained suspicious and
obstructive; and the Prussians, while professing neutrality, very
speedily effected a junction with the Russian forces. This Kosciuszko,
misled by the treacherous assurances of Frederick William's ministers,
never anticipated, when on the 4th of June he marched against General
Denisov. He encountered the enemy on the 5th of June at Szczekociny, and
then discovered that his 14,000 men had to do not merely with a Russian
division but with the combined forces of Russia and Prussia, numbering
25,000 men. Nevertheless, the Poles acquitted themselves manfully, and
at dusk retreated in perfect order upon Warsaw unpursued. Yet their
losses had been terrible, and of the six Polish generals present three,
whose loss proved to be irreparable, were slain, and two of the others
were seriously wounded. A week later another Polish division was
defeated at Kholm; Cracow was taken by the Prussians on the 22nd of
June; and the mob at Warsaw broke upon the gaols and murdered the
political prisoners in cold blood. Kosciuszko summarily punished the
ringleaders of the massacres and had 10,000 of the rank and file drafted
into his camp, which measures had a quieting effect. But now dissensions
broke out among the members of the Polish government, and it required
all the tact of Kosciuszko to restore order amidst this chaos of
suspicions and recriminations. At this very time too he had need of all
his ability and resource to meet the external foes of Poland. On the 9th
of July Warsaw was invested by Frederick William of Prussia with an army
of 25,000 men and 179 guns, and the Russian general Fersen with 16,000
men and 74 guns, while a third force of 11,000 occupied the right bank
of the Vistula. Kosciuszko for the defence of the city and its outlying
fortifications could dispose of 35,000 men, of whom 10,000 were
regulars. But the position, defended by 200 inferior guns, was a strong
one, and the valour of the Poles and the engineering skill of
Kosciuszko, who was now in his element, frustrated all the efforts of
the enemy. Two unsuccessful assaults were made upon the Polish positions
on the 26th of August and the 1st of September, and on the 6th the
Prussians, alarmed by the progress of the Polish arms in Great Poland,
where Jan Henryk Dabrowski captured the Prussian fortress of Bydogoszcz
and compelled General Schwerin with his 20,000 men to retire upon
Kalisz, raised the siege. Elsewhere, indeed, after a brief triumph the
Poles were everywhere worsted, and Suvarov, after driving them before
him out of Lithuania was advancing by forced marches upon Warsaw. Even
now, however, the situation was not desperate, for the Polish forces
were still numerically superior to the Russian. But the Polish generals
proved unequal to carrying out the plans of the dictator; they allowed
themselves to be beaten in detail, and could not prevent the junction of
Suvarov and Fersen. Kosciuszko himself, relying on the support of
Poninski's division 4 m. away, attacked Fersen at Maciejowice on the
10th of October. But Poninski never appeared, and after a bloody
encounter the Polish army of 7000 was almost annihilated by the 16,000
Russians; and Kosciuszko, seriously wounded and insensible, was made a
prisoner on the field of battle. The long credited story that he cried
"Finis Poloniae!" as he fell is a fiction.
Kosciuszko was conveyed to Russia, where he remained till the accession
of Paul in 1796. On his return on the 19th of December 1796 he paid a
second visit to America, and lived at Philadelphia till May 1798, when
he went to Paris, where the First Consul earnestly invited his
co-operation against the Allies. But he refused to draw his sword unless
Napoleon undertook to give the restoration of Poland a leading place in
his plans; and to this, as he no doubt foresaw, Bonaparte would not
consent. Again and again he received offers of high commands in the
French army, but he kept aloof from public life in his house at
Berville, near Paris, where the emperor Alexander visited him in 1814.
At the Congress of Vienna his importunities on behalf of Poland finally
wearied Alexander, who preferred to follow the counsels of Czartoryski;
and Kosciuszko retired to Solothurn, where he lived with his friend
Zeltner. Shortly before his death, on the 2nd of April 1817, he
emancipated his serfs, insisting only on the maintenance of schools on
the liberated estates. His remains were carried to Cracow and buried in
the cathedral; while the people, reviving an ancient custom, raised a
huge mound to his memory near the city.
Kosciuszko was essentially a democrat, but a democrat of the school of
Jefferson and Lafayette. He maintained that the republic could only be
regenerated on the basis of absolute liberty and equality before the
law; but in this respect he was far in advance of his age, and the
aristocratic prejudices of his countrymen compelled him to resort to
half measures. He wrote _Manoeuvres of Horse Artillery_ (New York, 1808)
and a description of the campaign of 1792 (in vol. xvi. of E.
Raczynski's _Sketch of the Poles and Poland_ (Posen, 1843).
See Jozef Zajaczek, _History of the Revolution of_ 1794 (Pol.)
(Lemberg, 1881); Leonard Jakob Borejko Chodzko, _Biographie du général
Kosciuszko_ (Fontainebleau, 1837); Karol Falkenstein, _Thaddäus
Kosciuszko_ (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1834; French ed., Paris, 1839); Antoni
Choloniewski, _Tadeusz Kosciuszko_ (Pol.) (Lemberg, 1902); Franciszek
Rychlicki, _T. Kosciuszko and the Partition of Poland_ (Pol.) (Cracow,
1875). (R. N. B.)
KÖSEN, a village and summer resort of Germany, in the Prussian province
of Saxony, 33 m. by rail S. by W. of Halle, on the Saale. Pop. (1905),
2990. The town has a mineral spring, which is used for bathing, being
efficacious for rheumatism and other complaints. Kösen, which became a
town in 1869, has large mill-works; it has a trade in wood and wine. On
the adjacent Rudelsburg, where there is a ruined castle, the German
students have erected a monument to their comrades who fell in the
Franco-German War of 1870-71. Hereon are also memorials to Bismarck and
to the emperor William I. The town is famous as the central
meeting-place of the German students' corps, which hold an annual
congress here every Whitsuntide.
See Techow, _Führer durch Kösen und Umgegend_ (Kösen, 1889); and
Rosenberg, _Kösen_ (Naumburg, 1877).
KOSHER, or KASHER (Hebrew clean, right, or fit), the Jewish term for any
food or vessels for food made ritually fit for use, in contradistinction
to those _pasul_, unfit, and _terefah_, forbidden. Thus the vessels used
at the Passover are "kosher," as are also new metal vessels bought from
a Gentile after they have been washed in a ritual bath. But the term is
specially used of meat slaughtered in accordance with the law of Moses.
The _schochat_ or butcher must be a devout Jew and of high moral
character, and be duly licensed by the chief rabbi. The
slaughtering--the object of which is to insure the complete bleeding of
the body, the Jews being forbidden to eat blood--is done by severing the
windpipe with a long and razor-sharp knife by one continuous stroke
backwards and forwards. No unnecessary force is permitted, and no
stoppage must occur during the operation. The knife is then carefully
examined, and if there be the slightest flaw in its blade the meat
cannot be eaten, as the cut would not have been clean, the uneven blade
causing a thrill to pass through the beast and thus driving the blood
again through the arteries. After this every portion of the animal is
thoroughly examined, for if there is any organic disease the devout Jew
cannot taste the meat. In order to soften meat before it is salted, so
as to allow the salt to extract the blood more freely, the meat is
soaked in water for about half an hour. It is then covered with salt for
about an hour and afterwards washed three times. Kosher meat is labelled
with the name of the slaughterer and the date of killing.
KÖSLIN, or CÖSLIN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Pomerania, at the foot of the Gollenberg (450 ft.), 5 m. from the
Baltic, and 105 m. N.E. of Stettin by rail. Pop. (1905), 21,474. The
town has two Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, a gymnasium, a
cadet academy and a deaf and dumb asylum. In the large market place is
the statue of the Prussian king Frederick William I., erected in 1824,
and there is a war memorial on the Friedrich Wilhelm Platz. The
industries include the manufacture of soap, tobacco, machinery, paper,
bricks and tiles, beer and other goods. Köslin was built about 1188 by
the Saxons, and raised to the rank of a town in 1266. In 1532 it
accepted the doctrines of the Reformation. It was severely tried in the
Thirty Years' War and in the Seven Years' War, and in 1720 it was burned
down. On the Gollenberg stands a monument to the memory of the
Pomeranians who fell in the war of 1813-15.
KOSSOVO, or Kosovo, a vilayet of European Turkey, comprising the sanjak
of Uskub in Macedonia, and the sanjaks of Prizren and Novibazar (q.v.)
in northern Albania. Pop. (1905), about 1,100,000; area, 12,700 sq. m.
For an account of the physical features of Kossovo, see ALBANIA and
MACEDONIA. The inhabitants are chiefly Albanians and Slavs, with smaller
communities of Greeks, Turks, Vlachs and gipsies. A few good roads
traverse the vilayet (see USKÜB), and the railway from Salonica
northward bifurcates at Usküb, the capital, one branch going to
Mitrovitza in Albania, the other to Nish in Servia. Despite the
undoubted mineral wealth of the vilayet, the only mines working in 1907
were two chrome mines, at Orasha and Verbeshtitza. In the volume of its
agricultural trade, however, Kossovo is unsurpassed by any Turkish
province. The exports, worth about £950,000, include livestock, large
quantities of grain and fruit, tobacco, vegetables, opium, hemp and
skins. Rice is cultivated for local consumption, and sericulture is a
growing industry, encouraged by the Administration of the Ottoman Debt.
The yearly value of the imports is approximately £1,200,000; these
include machinery and other manufactured goods, metals, groceries,
chemical products and petroleum, which is used in the flour-mills and
factories on account of the prohibitive price of coal. There is
practically no trade with Adriatic ports; two-thirds of both exports and
imports pass through Salonica, the remainder going by rail into Servia.
The chief towns, Usküb (32,000), Prizren (30,000), Koprülü (22,000),
Ishtib [Slav. _Stip_] (21,000), Novibazar (12,000) and Prishtina
(11,000) are described in separate articles.
In the middle ages the vilayet formed part of the Servian Empire, its
northern districts are still known to the Serbs as Old Servia (_Stara
Srbiya_). The plain of Kossovo (Kossovopolje, "Field of Blackbirds"), a
long valley lying west of Prishtina and watered by the Sibnitza, a
tributary of the Servian Ibar, is famous in Balkan history and legend as
the scene of the battle of Kossovo (1389), in which the power of Servia
was destroyed by the Turks. (See SERVIA: _History_.)
KOSSUTH, FERENCZ LAJOS AKOS (1841- ), Hungarian statesman, the son of
Lajos Kossuth, was born on the 16th of November 1841, and educated at
the Paris Polytechnic and the London University, where in 1859 he won a
prize for political economy. After working as a civil engineer on the
Dean Forest railway he went (1861) to Italy, where he resided for the
next thirty-three years, taking a considerable part in the railway
construction of the peninsula, and at the same time keeping alive the
Hungarian independence question by a whole series of pamphlets and
newspaper articles. At Cesena in 1876 he married Emily Hoggins. In 1885
he was decorated for his services by the Italian government. His last
great engineering work was the construction of the steel bridges for the
Nile. In 1894 he escorted his father's remains to Hungary, and the
following year resolved to settle in his native land and took the oath
of allegiance. As early as 1867 he had been twice elected a member of
the Hungarian diet, but on both occasions refused to accept the mandate.
On the 10th of April 1895 he was returned for Tapolca and in 1896 for
Cegléd, and from that time took an active part in Hungarian politics. In
the autumn of 1898 he became the leader of the obstructionists or
"Independence Party," against the successive Szell, Khuen-Haderváry,
Szápáry and Stephen Tisza administrations (1898-1904), exercising great
influence not only in parliament but upon the public at large through
his articles in the _Egyetértés_. The elections of 1905 having sent his
party back with a large majority, he was received in audience by the
king and helped to construct the Wekerle ministry, of which he was one
of the most distinguished members.
See Sturm, _The Almanack of the Hungarian Diet_ (1905-1910), art.
"Kossuth" (Hung.) (Budapest, 1905).
KOSSUTH, LAJOS [Louis] (1802-1894), Hungarian patriot, was born at
Monok, a small town in the county of Zemplin, on the 19th of September
1802. His father, who was descended from an old untitled noble family
and possessed a small estate, was by profession an advocate. Louis, who
was the eldest of four children, received from his mother a strict
religious training. His education was completed at the Calvinist college
of Sárospatak and at the university of Budapest. At the age of nineteen
he returned home and began practice with his father. His talents and
amiability soon won him great popularity, especially among the peasants.
He was also appointed steward to the countess Szápáry, a widow with
large estates, and as her representative had a seat in the county
assembly. This position he lost owing to a quarrel with his patroness,
and he was accused of appropriating money to pay a gambling debt. His
fault cannot have been very serious, for he was shortly afterwards (he
had in the meantime settled in Pesth) appointed by Count Hunyady to be
his deputy at the National Diet in Pressburg (1825-1827, and again in
1832). It was a time when, under able leaders, a great national party
was beginning the struggle for reform against the stagnant Austrian
government. As deputy he had no vote, and he naturally took little share
in the debates, but it was part of his duty to send written reports of
the proceedings to his patron, since the government, with a
well-grounded fear of all that might stir popular feeling, refused to
allow any published reports. Kossuth's letters were so excellent that
they were circulated in MS. among the Liberal magnates, and soon
developed into an organized parliamentary gazette (_Orszagyulesi
tudositasok_), of which he was editor. At once his name and influence
spread. In order to increase the circulation, he ventured on
lithographing the letters. This brought them under the official censure,
and was forbidden. He continued the paper in MS., and when the
government refused to allow it to be circulated through the post sent it
out by hand. In 1836 the Diet was dissolved. Kossuth continued the
agitation by reporting in letter form the debates of the county
assemblies, to which he thereby gave a political importance which they
had not had when each was ignorant of the proceedings of the others. The
fact that he embellished with his own great literary ability the
speeches of the Liberals and Reformers only added to the influence of
his news-letters. The government in vain attempted to suppress the
letters, and other means having failed, he was in May 1837, with
Weszelenyi and several others, arrested on a charge of high treason.
After spending a year in prison at Ofen, he was tried and condemned to
four more years' imprisonment. His confinement was strict and injured
his health, but he was allowed the use of books. He greatly increased
his political information, and also acquired, from the study of the
Bible and Shakespeare, a wonderful knowledge of English. His arrest had
caused great indignation. The Diet, which met in 1839, supported the
agitation for the release of the prisoners, and refused to pass any
government measures; Metternich long remained obdurate, but the danger
of war in 1840 obliged him to give way. Immediately after his release
Kossuth married Teresa Meszleny, a Catholic, who during his prison days
had shown great interest in him. Henceforward she strongly urged him on
in his political career; and it was the refusal of the Roman priests to
bless their union that first prompted Kossuth to take up the defence of
mixed marriages.
He had now become a popular leader. As soon as his health was restored
he was appointed (January 1841) editor of the _Pesti Hirlap_, the newly
founded organ of the party. Strangely enough, the government did not
refuse its consent. The success of the paper was unprecedented. The
circulation soon reached what was then the immense figure of 7000. The
attempts of the government to counteract his influence by founding a
rival paper, the _Vilag_, only increased his importance and added to the
political excitement. The warning of the great reformer Szechenyi that
by his appeal to the passions of the people he was leading the nation to
revolution was neglected. Kossuth, indeed, was not content with
advocating those reforms--the abolition of entail, the abolition of
feudal burdens, taxation of the nobles--which were demanded by all the
Liberals. By insisting on the superiority of the Magyars to the Slavonic
inhabitants of Hungary, by his violent attacks on Austria (he already
discussed the possibility of a breach with Austria), he raised the
national pride to a dangerous pitch. At last, in 1844, the government
succeeded in breaking his connexion with the paper. The proprietor, in
obedience to orders from Vienna (this seems the most probable account),
took advantage of a dispute about salary to dismiss him. He then applied
for permission to start a paper of his own. In a personal interview
Metternich offered to take him into the government service. The offer
was refused, and for three years he was without a regular position. He
continued the agitation with the object of attaining both the political
and commercial independence of Hungary. He adopted the economic
principles of List, and founded a society, the "Vedegylet," the members
of which were to consume none but home produce. He advocated the
creation of a Hungarian port at Fiume. With the autumn of 1847 the great
opportunity of his life came. Supported by the influence of Louis
Batthyany, after a keenly fought struggle he was elected member for
Budapest in the new Diet. "Now that I am a deputy, I will cease to be an
agitator," he said. He at once became chief leader of the Extreme
Liberals. Deak was absent. Batthyany, Szechenyi, Szemere, Eotvos, his
rivals, saw how his intense personal ambition and egoism led him always
to assume the chief place, and to use his parliamentary position to
establish himself as leader of the nation; but before his eloquence and
energy all apprehensions were useless. His eloquence was of that nature,
in its impassioned appeals to the strongest emotions, that it required
for its full effect the highest themes and the most dramatic situations.
In a time of rest, though he could never have been obscure, he would
never have attained the highest power. It was therefore a necessity of
his nature, perhaps unconsciously, always to drive things to a crisis.
The crisis came, and he used it to the full.
On the 3rd of March 1848, as soon as the news of the revolution in
Paris had arrived, in a speech of surpassing power he demanded
parliamentary government for Hungary and constitutional government for
the rest of Austria. He appealed to the hope of the Habsburgs, "our
beloved Archduke Francis Joseph," to perpetuate the ancient glory of the
dynasty by meeting half-way the aspirations of a free people. He at once
became the leader of the European revolution; his speech was read aloud
in the streets of Vienna to the mob by which Metternich was overthrown
(March 13), and when a deputation from the Diet visited Vienna to
receive the assent of the emperor to their petition it was Kossuth who
received the chief ovation. Batthyany, who formed the first responsible
ministry, could not refuse to admit Kossuth, but he gave him the
ministry of finance, probably because that seemed to open to him fewest
prospects of engrossing popularity. If that was the object, it was in
vain. With wonderful energy he began developing the internal resources
of the country: he established a separate Hungarian coinage--as always,
using every means to increase the national self-consciousness; and it
was characteristic that on the new Hungarian notes which he issued his
own name was the most prominent inscription; hence the name of _Kossuth
Notes_, which was long celebrated. A new paper was started, to which was
given the name of _Kossuth Hirlapia_, so that from the first it was
Kossuth rather than the Palatine or the president of the ministry whose
name was in the minds of the people associated with the new government.
Much more was this the case when, in the summer, the dangers from the
Croats, Serbs and the reaction at Vienna increased. In a great speech of
11th July he asked that the nation should arm in self-defence, and
demanded 200,000 men; amid a scene of wild enthusiasm this was granted
by acclamation. When Jellachich was marching on Pesth he went from town
to town rousing the people to the defence of the country, and the
popular force of the _Honved_ was his creation. When Batthyany resigned
he was appointed with Szemere to carry on the government provisionally,
and at the end of September he was made President of the Committee of
National Defence. From this time he was in fact, if not in name, the
dictator. With marvellous energy he kept in his own hands the direction
of the whole government. Not a soldier himself, he had to control and
direct the movements of armies; can we be surprised if he failed, or if
he was unable to keep control over the generals or to establish that
military co-operation so essential to success? Especially it was Görgei
(q.v.) whose great abilities he was the first to recognize, who refused
obedience; the two men were in truth the very opposite to one another:
the one all feeling, enthusiasm, sensibility; the other cold, stoical,
reckless of life. Twice Kossuth deposed him from the command; twice he
had to restore him. It would have been well if Kossuth had had something
more of Görgei's calculated ruthlessness, for, as has been truly said,
the revolutionary power he had seized could only be held by
revolutionary means; but he was by nature soft-hearted and always
merciful; though often audacious, he lacked decision in dealing with
men. It has been said that he showed a want of personal courage; this is
not improbable, the excess of feeling which made him so great an orator
could hardly be combined with the coolness in danger required of a
soldier; but no one was able, as he was, to infuse courage into others.
During all the terrible winter which followed, his energy and spirit
never failed him. It was he who overcame the reluctance of the army to
march to the relief of Vienna; after the defeat of Schwechat, at which
he was present, he sent Bem to carry on the war in Transylvania. At the
end of the year, when the Austrians were approaching Pesth, he asked for
the mediation of Mr Stiles, the American envoy. Windischgrätz, however,
refused all terms, and the Diet and government fled to Debrecszin,
Kossuth taking with him the regalia of St Stephen, the sacred Palladium
of the Hungarian nation. Immediately after the accession of the Emperor
Francis Joseph all the concessions of March had been revoked and Kossuth
with his colleagues outlawed. In April 1849, when the Hungarians had won
many successes, after sounding the army, he issued the celebrated
declaration of Hungarian independence, in which he declared that "the
house of Habsburg-Lorraine, perjured in the sight of God and man, had
forfeited the Hungarian throne." It was a step characteristic of his
love for extreme and dramatic action, but it added to the dissensions
between him and those who wished only for autonomy under the old
dynasty, and his enemies did not scruple to accuse him of aiming at the
crown himself. For the time the future form of government was left
undecided, but Kossuth was appointed responsible governor. The hopes of
ultimate success were frustrated by the intervention of Russia; all
appeals to the western powers were vain, and on the 11th of August
Kossuth abdicated in favour of Görgei, on the ground that in the last
extremity the general alone could save the nation. How Görgei used his
authority to surrender is well known; the capitulation was indeed
inevitable, but a greater man than Kossuth would not have avoided the
last duty of conducting the negotiations so as to get the best terms.
With the capitulation of Villagos Kossuth's career was at an end. A
solitary fugitive, he crossed the Turkish frontier. He was hospitably
received by the Turkish authorities, who, supported by Great Britain,
refused, notwithstanding the threats of the allied emperors, to
surrender him and the other fugitives to the merciless vengeance of the
Austrians. In January 1849 he was removed from Widdin, where he had been
kept in honourable confinement, to Shumla, and thence to Katahia in Asia
Minor. Here he was joined by his children, who had been confined at
Pressburg; his wife (a price had been set on her head) had joined him
earlier, having escaped in disguise. In September 1851 he was liberated
and embarked on an American man-of-war. He first landed at Marseilles,
where he received an enthusiastic welcome from the people, but the
prince-president refused to allow him to cross France. On the 23rd of
October he landed at Southampton and spent three weeks in England, where
he was the object of extraordinary enthusiasm, equalled only by that
with which Garibaldi was received ten years later. Addresses were
presented to him at Southampton, Birmingham and other towns; he was
officially entertained by the lord mayor of London; at each place he
pleaded the cause of his unhappy country. Speaking in English, he
displayed an eloquence and command of the language scarcely excelled by
the greatest orators in their own tongue. The agitation had no immediate
effect, but the indignation which he aroused against Russian policy had
much to do with the strong anti-Russian feeling which made the Crimean
War possible.
From England he went to the United States of America: there his
reception was equally enthusiastic, if less dignified; an element of
charlatanism appeared in his words and acts which soon destroyed his
real influence. Other Hungarian exiles protested against the claim he
appeared to make that he was the one national hero of the revolution.
Count Casimir Batthyany attacked him in _The Times_, and Szemere, who
had been prime minister under him, published a bitter criticism of his
acts and character, accusing him of arrogance, cowardice and duplicity.
He soon returned to England, where he lived for eight years in close
connexion with Mazzini, by whom, with some misgiving, he was persuaded
to join the Revolutionary Committee. Quarrels of a kind only too common
among exiles followed; the Hungarians were especially offended by his
claim still to be called governor. He watched with anxiety every
opportunity of once more freeing his country from Austria. An attempt to
organize a Hungarian legion during the Crimean War was stopped; but in
1859 he entered into negotiations with Napoleon, left England for Italy,
and began the organization of a Hungarian legion, which was to make a
descent on the coast of Dalmatia. The Peace of Villafranca made this
impossible. From that time he resided in Italy; he refused to follow the
other Hungarian patriots, who, under the lead of Deak, accepted the
composition of 1867; for him there could be no reconciliation with the
house of Habsburg, nor would he accept less than full independence and a
republic. He would not avail himself of the amnesty, and, though elected
to the Diet of 1867, never took his seat. He never lost the affections
of his countrymen, but he refrained from an attempt to give practical
effect to his opinions, nor did he allow his name to become a new cause
of dissension. A law of 1879, which deprived of citizenship all
Hungarians who had voluntarily been absent ten years, was a bitter blow
to him.
He died in Turin on the 20th of March 1894; his body was taken to Pesth,
where he was buried amid the mourning of the whole nation, Maurus Jokai
delivering the funeral oration. A bronze statue, erected by public
subscription, in the Kerepes cemetery, commemorates Hungary's purest
patriot and greatest orator.
Many points in Kossuth's career and character will probably always
remain the subject of controversy. His complete works were published
in Hungarian at Budapest in 1880-1895. The fullest account of the
Revolution is given in Helfert, _Geschichte Oesterreichs_ (Leipzig,
1869, &c.), representing the Austrian view, which may be compared with
that of C. Gracza, _History of the Hungarian War of Independence,
1848-1849_ (in Hungarian) (Budapest, 1894). See also E. O. S.,
_Hungary and its Revolutions, with a Memoir of Louis Kossuth_ (Bohn,
1854); Horvath, _25 Jahre aus der Geschichte Ungarns, 1823-1848_
(Leipzig, 1867); Maurice, _Revolutions of 1848-1849_; W. H. Stiles,
_Austria in 1848-1849_ (New York, 1852); Szemere, _Politische
Charakterskizzen: III. Kossuth_ (Hamburg, 1853); Louis Kossuth,
_Memoirs of my Exile_ (London, 1880); Pulszky, _Meine Zeit, mein
Leben_ (Pressburg, 1880); A. Somogyi, _Ludwig Kossuth_ (Berlin, 1894).
(J. W. He.)
KOSTER (or COSTER), LAURENS (c. 1370-1440), Dutch printer, whose claims
to be considered at least one of the inventors of the art (see
TYPOGRAPHY) have been recognized by many investigators. His real name
was Laurens Janssoen-Koster (i.e. sacristan) being merely the title
which he bore as an official of the great parish church of Haarlem. We
find him mentioned several times between 1417 and 1434 as a member of
the great council, as an assessor (_scabinus_), and as the city
treasurer. He probably perished in the plague that visited Haarlem in
1439-1440; his widow is mentioned in the latter year. His descendants,
through his daughter Lucia, can be traced down to 1724.
See Peter Scriver, _Beschryvinge der Stad Harlem_ (Haarlem, 1628);
Scheltema, _Levensschets van Laurens d. Koster_ (Haarlem, 1834); Van
der Linde, _De Haarlemsche Costerlegende_ (Hague, 1870).
KOSTROMA, a government of central Russia, surrounded by those of
Vologda, Vyatka, Nizhniy-Novgorod, Vladimir and Yaroslav, lying mostly
on the left bank of the upper Volga. It has an area of 32,480 sq. m. Its
surface is generally undulating, with hilly tracts on the right bank of
the Volga, and extensive flat and marshy districts in the east. Rocks of
the Permian system predominate, though a small tract belongs to the
Jurassic, and both are overlain by thick deposits of Quaternary clays.
The soil in the east is for the most part sand or a sandy clay; a few
patches, however, are fertile black earth. Forests, yielding excellent
timber for ship-building, and in many cases still untouched, occupy 61%
of the area of the government. The export of timber is greatly
facilitated by the navigable tributaries of the Volga, e.g. the
Kostroma, Unzha, Neya, Vioksa and Vetluga. The climate is severe; frosts
of -22° F. are common in January, and the mean temperature of the year
is only 3°.1 (summer, 64°.5; winter, -13°.3). The population, which
numbered 1,176,000 in 1870 and 1,424,171 in 1897, is almost entirely
Russian. The estimated population in 1906 was 1,596,700. Out of
20,000,000 acres, 7,861,500 acres belong to private owners, 6,379,500 to
the peasant communities, 3,660,800 to the crown, and 1,243,000 to the
imperial family. Agriculture is at a low ebb; only 4,000,000 acres are
under crops (rye, oats, wheat and barley), and the yield of corn is
insufficient for the wants of the population. Flax and hops are
cultivated to an increasing extent. But market-gardening is of some
importance. Bee-keeping was formerly an important industry. The chief
articles of commerce are timber, fuel, pitch, tar, mushrooms, and wooden
wares for building and household purposes, which are largely
manufactured by the peasantry and exported to the steppe governments of
the lower Volga and the Don. Boat-building is also carried on. Some
other small industries, such as the manufacture of silver and copper
wares, leather goods, bast mats and sacks, lace and felt boots, are
carried on in the villages; but the trade in linen and towelling,
formerly the staple, is declining. There are cotton, flax and linen
mills, engineering and chemical works, distilleries, tanneries and paper
mills. The government of Kostroma is divided into twelve districts, the
chief towns of which, with populations in 1897, are Kostroma (q.v.),
Bui (2626), Chukhloma (2200), Galich (6182), Kineshma (7564), Kologriv
(2566), Makariev (6068), Nerekhta (3002), Soligalich (3420), Varnavin
(1140), Vetluga (5200) and Yurievets (4778).
KOSTROMA, a town of Russia, capital of the government of the same name,
230 m. N.N.E. of Moscow and 57 m. E.N.E. from Yaroslav, on the left bank
of the Volga, at the mouth of the navigable Kostroma, with suburbs on
the opposite side of the Volga. Pop. (1897), 41,268. Its glittering
gilded cupolas make it a conspicuous feature in the landscape as it
climbs up the terraced river bank. It is one of the oldest towns of
Russia, having been founded in 1152. Its fort was often the refuge of
the princes of Moscow during war, but the town was plundered more than
once by the Tatars. The cathedral, built in 1239 and rebuilt in 1773, is
situated in the kreml, or citadel, and is a fine monument of old Russian
architecture. In the centre of the town is a monument to the peasant
Ivan Susanin and the tsar Michael (1851). The former sacrificed his own
life in 1669 by leading the Poles astray in the forests in order to save
the life of his own tsar Michael Fedeorovich. On the opposite bank of
the Volga, close to the water's edge, stands the monastery of Ipatiyev,
founded in 1330, with a cathedral built in 1586, both associated with
the election of Tsar Michael (1669). Kostroma has been renowned since
the 16th century for its linen, which was exported to Holland, and the
manufacture of linen and linen-yarn is still kept up to some extent. The
town has also cotton-mills, tanneries, saw-mills, an iron-foundry and a
machine factory. It carries on an active trade--importing grain, and
exporting linen, linen yarn, leather, and especially timber and wooden
wares.
KÖSZEG (Ger. _Güns_), a town in the county of Vas, in Hungary, 173 m. W.
of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900), 7422. It is pleasantly situated in the
valley of the Güns, and is dominated towards the west by the peaks of
Altenhaus (2000 ft.) and of the Geschriebene Stein (2900 ft.). It
possesses a castle of Count Esterhazy, a modern Roman Catholic Church in
Gothic style and two convents. It has important cloth factories and a
lively trade in fruit and wine. The town has a special historical
interest for the heroic and successful defence of the fortress by
Nicolas Jurisics against a large army of Sultan Soliman, in July-August
1532, which frustrated the advance of the Turks to Vienna for that year.
To the south-east of Köszeg, at the confluence of the Güns with the
Raab, is situated the town of Sárvár (pop. 3158), formerly fortified,
where in 1526 the first printing press in Hungary was established.
KOTAH, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency, with an area of
5684 sq. m. The country slopes gently northwards from the high
table-land of Malwa, and is drained by the Chambal with its tributaries,
all flowing in a northerly or north-easterly direction. The Mokandarra
range, from 1200 to 1600 ft. above sea-level, runs from south-east to
north-west. The Mokandarra Pass through these hills, in the
neighbourhood of the highest peak (1671 ft.), has been rendered
memorable by the passage of Colonel Monson's army on its disastrous
retreat in 1804. There are extensive game preserves, chiefly covered
with grass. In addition to the usual Indian grains, wheat, cotton,
poppy, and a little tobacco of good quality are cultivated. The
manufactures are very limited. Cotton fabrics are woven, but are being
rapidly superseded by the cheap products of Bombay and Manchaster.
Articles of wooden furniture are also constructed. The chief articles of
export are opium and grain; salt, cotton and woollen cloth are imported.
Kotah is an offshoot from Bundi state, having been bestowed upon a
younger son of the Bundi raja by the emperor Shah Jahan in return for
services rendered him when the latter was in rebellion against his
father Jahangir. In 1897 a considerable portion of the area taken to
form Jhalawar (q.v.) in 1838 was restored to Kotah. In 1901 the
population was 544,879, showing a decrease of 24% due to the results of
famine. The estimated revenue is £206,000; tribute, £28,000. The maharao
Umad Singh, was born in 1873, and succeeded in 1889. He was educated at
the Mayo College, Ajmere, and became a major in the British army. A
continuation of the branch line of the Indian Midland railway from Goona
to Baran passes through Kotah, and it is also traversed by a new line,
opened in 1909. The state suffered from drought in 1896-1897, and again
more severely in 1899-1900.
The town of Kotah is on the right bank of the Chambal. Pop. (1901),
33,679. It is surrounded and also divided into three parts by massive
walls, and contains an old and a new palace of the maharao and a number
of fine temples. Muslins are the chief articles of manufacture, but the
town has no great trade, and this and the unhealthiness of the site may
account for the decrease in population.
KOTAS (Kotar, Koter, Kohatur, Gauhatar), an aboriginal tribe of the
Nilgiri hills, India. They are a well-made people, of good features,
tall, and of a dull copper colour, but some of them are among the
fairest of the hill tribes. They recognize no caste among themselves,
but are divided into _keris_ (streets), and a man must marry outside his
_keri_. Their villages (of which there are seven) are large, averaging
from thirty to sixty huts. They are agriculturists and herdsmen, and the
only one of the hill tribes who practise industrial arts, being
excellent as carpenters, smiths, tanners and basket-makers. They do
menial work for the Todas, to whom they pay a tribute. They worship
ideal gods, which are not represented by any images. Their language is
an old and rude dialect of Kanarese. In 1901 they numbered 1267.
KOTKA, a seaport of Finland, in the province of Viborg, 35 m. by rail
from Kuivola junction on the Helsingfors railway, on an island of the
same name at the mouth of the Kymmene river. Pop. (1904), 7628. It is
the chief port for exports from and imports to east Finland and a centre
of the timber trade.
KOTRI, a town of British India, in Karachi district, Sind, situated on
the right bank of the Indus. Pop. (1901), 7617. Kotri is the junction of
branches of the North-Western railway, serving each bank of the Indus,
which is here crossed by a railway bridge. It was formerly the station
for Hyderabad, which lies across the Indus, and the headquarters of the
Indus steam flotilla, now abolished in consequence of the development of
railway facilities. Besides its importance as a railway centre, however,
Kotri still has a considerable general transit trade by river.
KOTZEBUE, AUGUST FRIEDRICH FERDINAND VON (1761-1819), German dramatist,
was born on the 3rd of May, 1761, at Weimar. After attending the
gymnasium of his native town, he went in his sixteenth year to the
university of Jena, and afterwards studied about a year in Duisburg. In
1780 he completed his legal course and was admitted an advocate. Through
the influence of Graf Görtz, Prussian ambassador at the Russian court,
he became secretary of the governor-general of St Petersburg. In 1783 he
received the appointment of assessor to the high court of appeal in
Reval, where he married the daughter of a Russian lieutenant-general. He
was ennobled in 1785, and became president of the magistracy of the
province of Esthonia. In Reval he acquired considerable reputation by
his novels, _Die Leiden der Ortenbergischen Familie_ (1785) and
_Geschichte meines Vaters_ (1788), and still more by the plays _Adelheid
von Wulfingen_ (1789), _Menschenhass und Reue_ (1790) and _Die Indianer
in England_ (1790). The good impression produced by these works was,
however, almost effaced by a cynical dramatic satire, _Doktor Bahrdt mit
der eisernen Stirn_, which appeared in 1790 with the name of Knigge on
the title-page. After the death of his first wife Kotzebue retired from
the Russian service, and lived for a time in Paris and Mainz; he then
settled in 1795 on an estate which he had acquired near Reval and gave
himself up to literary work. Within a few years he published six volumes
of miscellaneous sketches and stories (_Die jüngsten Kinder meiner
Laune_, 1793-1796) and more than twenty plays, the majority of which
were translated into several European languages. In 1798 he accepted the
office of dramatist to the court theatre in Vienna, but owing to
differences with the actors he was soon obliged to resign. He now
returned to his native town, but as he was not on good terms with
Goethe, and had openly attacked the Romantic school, his position in
Weimar was not a pleasant one. He had thoughts of returning to St
Petersburg, and on his journey thither he was, for some unknown reason,
arrested at the frontier and transported to Siberia. Fortunately he had
written a comedy which flattered the vanity of the emperor Paul I.; he
was consequently speedily brought back, presented with an estate from
the crown lands of Livonia, and made director of the German theatre in
St Petersburg. He returned to Germany when the emperor Paul died, and
again settled in Weimar; he found it, however, as impossible as ever to
gain a footing in literary society, and turned his steps to Berlin,
where in association with Garlieb Merkel (1769-1850) he edited _Der
Freimütige_ (1803-1807) and began his _Almanach dramatischer Spiele_
(1803-1820). Towards the end of 1806 he was once more in Russia, and in
the security of his estate in Esthonia wrote many satirical articles
against Napoleon in his journals _Die Biene_ and _Die Grille_. As
councillor of state he was attached in 1816 to the department for
foreign affairs in St Petersburg, and in 1817 went to Germany as a kind
of spy in the service of Russia, with a salary of 15,000 roubles. In a
weekly journal (_Literarisches Wochenblatt_) which he published in
Weimar he scoffed at the pretensions of those Germans who demanded free
institutions, and became an object of such general dislike that he was
obliged to move to Mannheim. He was especially detested by the young
enthusiasts for liberty, and one of them, Karl Ludwig Sand, a
theological student, stabbed him, in Mannheim, on the 23rd of March
1819. Sand was executed, and the government made his crime an excuse for
placing the universities under strict supervision.
Besides his plays, Kotzebue wrote several historical works, which,
however, are too one-sided and prejudiced to have much value. Of more
interest are his autobiographical writings, _Meine Flucht nach Paris im
Winter_ 1790 (1791), _Über meinen Aufenthalt in Wien_ (1799), _Das
merkwürdigste Jahr meines Lebens_ (1801), _Erinnerungen aus Paris_
(1804), and _Erinnerungen von meiner Reise aus Liefland nach Rom und
Neapel_ (1805). As a dramatist he was extraordinarily prolific, his
plays numbering over 200; his popularity, not merely on the German, but
on the European stage, was unprecedented. His success, however, was due
less to any conspicuous literary or poetic ability than to an
extraordinary facility in the invention of effective situations; he
possessed, as few German playwrights before or since, the unerring
instinct for the theatre; and his influence on the _technique_ of the
modern drama from Scribe to Sardou and from Bauernfeld to Sudermann is
unmistakable. Kotzebue is to be seen to best advantage in his comedies,
such as _Der Wildfang_, _Die beiden Klingsberg_ and _Die deutschen
Kleinstädter_, which contain admirable genre pictures of German life.
These plays held the stage in Germany long after the once famous
_Menschenhass und Reue_ (known in England as _The Stranger_), _Graf
Benjowsky_, or ambitious exotic tragedies like _Die Sonnenjungfrau_ and
_Die Spanier in Peru_ (which Sheridan adapted as _Pizarro_) were
forgotten.
Two collections of Kotzebue's dramas were published during his
lifetime: _Schauspiele_ (5 vols., 1797); _Neue Schauspiele_ (23 vols.,
1798-1820). His _Sämtliche dramatische Werke_ appeared in 44 vols., in
1827-1829, and again, under the title _Theater_, in 40 vols., in
1840-1841. A selection of his plays in 10 vols, appeared at Leipzig in
1867-1868. Cp. H. Döring, _A. von Kotzebues Leben_ (1830); W. von
Kotzebue, _A. von Kotzebue_ (1881); Ch. Rabany, _Kotzebue, sa vie et
son temps_ (1893); W. Sellier, _Kotzebue in England_ (1901).
KOTZEBUE, OTTO VON (1787-1846), Russian navigator, second son of the
foregoing, was born at Reval on the 30th of December 1787. After being
educated at the St Petersburg school of cadets, he accompanied
Krusenstern on his voyage of 1803-1806. After his promotion to
lieutenant Kotzebue was placed in command of an expedition, fitted out
at the expense of the imperial chancellor, Count Rumantsoff, in the brig
"Rurick." In this vessel, with only twenty-seven men, Kotzebue set out
on the 30th of July 1815 to find a passage across the Arctic Ocean and
explore the less-known parts of Oceania. Proceeding by Cape Horn, he
discovered the Romanzov, Rurik and Krusenstern Islands, then made for
Kamchatka, and in the middle of July proceeded northward, coasting along
the north-west coast of America, and discovering and naming Kotzebue
Gulf or Sound and Krusenstern Cape. Returning by the coast of Asia, he
again sailed to the south, sojourned for three weeks at the Sandwich
Islands, and on the 1st of January 1817 discovered New Year Island.
After some further cruising in the Pacific he again proceeded north, but
a severe attack of illness compelling him to return to Europe, he
reached the Neva on the 3rd of August 1818, bringing home a large
collection of previously unknown plants and much new ethnological
information. In 1823 Kotzebue, now a captain, was entrusted with the
command of an expedition in two ships of war, the main object of which
was to take reinforcements to Kamchatka. There was, however, a staff of
scientists on board, who collected much valuable information and
material in geography, ethnography and natural history. The expedition,
proceeding by Cape Horn, visited the Radak and Society Islands, and
reached Petropavlovsk in July 1824. Many positions along the coast were
rectified, the Navigator islands visited, and several discoveries made.
The expedition returned by the Marianna, Philippine, New Caledonia and
Hawaiian Islands, reaching Kronstadt on the 10th of July 1826. There are
English translations of both Kotzebue's narratives: _A Voyage of
Discovery into the South Sea and Beering's Straits for the Purpose of
exploring a North-East Passage, undertaken in the Years 1815-1818_ (3
vols. 1821), and _A New Voyage Round the World in the Years 1823-1826_
(1830). Three years after his return from his second voyage, Kotzebue
died at Reval on the 15th of February 1846.
KOUMISS, milk-wine, or milk brandy, a fermented alcoholic beverage
prepared from milk. It is of very ancient origin, and according to
Herodotus was known to the Scythians. The name is said to be derived
from an ancient Asiatic tribe, the Kumanes or Komans. It is one of the
staple articles of diet of the Siberian and Caucasian races, but of late
years it has also been manufactured on a considerable scale in western
Europe, on account of its valuable medicinal properties. It is generally
made from mares' or camels' milk by a process of fermentation set up by
the addition to the fresh milk of a small quantity of the finished
article. This fermentation, which appears to be of a symbiotic nature,
being dependent on the action of two distinct types of organisms, the
one a fission fungus, the other a true yeast, eventuates in the
conversion of a part of the milk sugar into lactic acid and alcohol.
Koumiss generally contains 1 to 2% of alcohol, 0.5 to 1.5% of lactic
acid, 2 to 4% of milk sugar and 1 to 2% of fat. _Kefir_ is similar to
koumiss, but is usually prepared from cows' milk, and the fermentation
is brought about by the so-called Kefir Grains (derived from a plant).
KOUMOUNDOUROS, ALEXANDROS (1814-1883), Greek statesman, whose name is
commonly spelt Coumoundouros, was born in 1814. His studies at the
university of Athens were repeatedly interrupted for lack of means, and
he began to earn his living as a clerk. He took part in the Cretan
insurrection of 1841, and in the demonstration of 1843, by which the
Greek constitution was obtained from King Otto, he was secretary to
General Theodoraki Grivas. He then settled down to the bar at Kalamata
in Messenia, where he married a lady belonging to the Mavromichalis
family. He was elected to the chamber in 1851, and four years later his
eloquence and ability had secured the president's chair for him. He
became minister of finance in 1856, and again in 1857 and 1859. He
adhered to the moderate wing of the Liberal party until the revolution
of 1862 and the dethronement of King Otto, when he was minister of
justice in the provincial government. He was twice minister of the
interior under Kanaris, in 1864 and in 1865. In March 1865 he became
prime minister, and he formed several subsequent administrations in the
intervals of the ascendancy of Tricoupi. During the Cretan insurrection
of 1866-68 he made active warlike preparations against Turkey, but was
dismissed by King George, who recognized that Greece could not act
without the support of the Powers. He was again premier at the time of
the outbreak of the insurrection in Thessaly in January 1878, and
supported by Delyanni as minister of foreign affairs he sent an army of
10,000 men to help the insurgents against Turkey. The troops were
recalled on the understanding that Greece should be represented at the
Congress of Berlin. In October 1880 the fall of the Tricoupi ministry
restored him to power, when he resumed his warlike policy, but repeated
appeals to the courts of Europe yielded little practical result, and
Koumoundouros was obliged to reduce his territorial demands and to
accept the limited cessions in Thessaly and Epirus, which were carried
out in July 1881. His ministry was overturned in 1882 by the votes of
the new Thessalian deputies, who were dissatisfied with the
administrative arrangements of the new province, and he died at Athens
on the 9th of March 1883.
KOUSSO (KOSSO or CUSSO), a drug which consists of the panicles of the
pistillate flowers of _Brayera anthelmintica_, a handsome rosaceous tree
60 ft. high, growing throughout the table-land of Abyssinia, at an
elevation of 3000 to 8000 ft. above the sea-level. The drug as imported
is in the form of cylindrical rolls, about 18 in. in length and 2 in. in
diameter, and comprises the entire inflorescence or panicle kept in form
by a band wound transversely round it. The active principle is koussin
or kosin, C31H38O10, which is soluble in alcohol and alkalis, and may be
given in doses of thirty grains. Kousso is also used in the form of an
unstrained infusion of ¼ to ½ oz. of the coarsely powdered flowers,
which are swallowed with the liquid. It is considered to be an effectual
vermifuge for _Taenia solium_. In its anthelmintic action it is nearly
allied to male fern, but it is much inferior to that drug and is very
rarely used in Great Britain.
KOVALEVSKY, SOPHIE (1850-1891), Russian mathematician, daughter of
General Corvin-Krukovsky, was born at Moscow on the 15th of January
1850. As a young girl she was fired by the aspiration after intellectual
liberty that animated so many young Russian women at that period, and
drove them to study at foreign universities, since their own were closed
to them. This led her, in 1868, to contract one of those conventional
marriages in vogue at the time, with a young student, Waldemar
Kovalevsky, and the two went together to Germany to continue their
studies. In 1869 she went to Heidelberg, where she studied under H. von
Helmholtz, G. R. Kirchhoff, L. Königsberger and P. du Bois-Reymond, and
from 1871-1874 read privately with Karl Weierstrass at Berlin, as the
public lectures were not then open to women. In 1874 the university of
Göttingen granted her a degree _in absentia_, excusing her from the oral
examination on account of the remarkable excellence of the three
dissertations sent in, one of which, on the theory of partial
differential equations, is one of her most remarkable works. Another was
an elucidation of P. S. Laplace's mathematical theory of the form of
Saturn's rings. Soon after this she returned to Russia with her husband,
who was appointed professor of palaeontology at Moscow, where he died in
1883. At this time Madame Kovalevsky was at Stockholm, where Gustaf
Mittag Leffler, also a pupil of Weierstrass, who had been recently
appointed to the chair of mathematics at the newly founded university,
had procured for her a post as lecturer. She discharged her duties so
successfully that in 1884 she was appointed full professor. This post
she held till her death on the 10th of February 1891. In 1888 she
achieved the greatest of her successes, gaining the Prix Bordin offered
by the Paris Academy. The problem set was "to perfect in one important
point the theory of the movement of a solid body round an immovable
point," and her solution added a result of the highest interest to those
transmitted to us by Leonhard Euler and J. L. Lagrange. So remarkable
was this work that the value of the prize was doubled as a recognition
of unusual merit. Unfortunately Madame Kovalevsky did not live to reap
the full reward of her labours, for she died just as she had attained
the height of her fame and had won recognition even in her own country
by election to membership of the St Petersburg Academy of Science.
See E. de Kerbedz, "Sophie de Kowalevski," _Benidiconti del circolo
mathematico di Palermo_ (1891); the obituary notice by G. Mittag
Leffler in the _Acta mathematica_, vol. xvi.; and J. C. Poggendorff,
_Biographisch-literarisches Handwörterbuch_.
KOVNO (in Lithuanian _Kauna_), a government of north-western Russia,
bounded N. by the governments of Courland and Vitebsk, S.E. by that of
Vilna, and S. and S.W. by Suwalki and the province of East Prussia, a
narrow strip touching the Baltic near Memel. It has an area of 15,687
sq. m. The level uniformity of its surface is broken only by two low
ridges which nowhere rise above 800 ft. The geological character is
varied, the Silurian, Devonian, Jurassic and Tertiary systems being all
represented; the Devonian is that which occurs most frequently, and all
are covered with Quaternary boulder-clays. The soil is either a sandy
clay or a more fertile kind of black earth. The government is drained by
the Niemen, Windau, Courland Aa and Dvina, which have navigable
tributaries. In the flat depressions covered with boulder-clays there
are many lakes and marshes, while forests occupy about 25½% of the
surface. The climate is comparatively mild, the mean temperature at the
city of Kovno being 44°F. The population was 1,156,040 in 1870, and
1,553,244 in 1897. The estimated population in 1906 was 1,683,600. It is
varied, consisting of Lithuanians proper and Zhmuds (together 74%), Jews
(14%), Germans (2½%), Poles (9%), with Letts and Russians; 76.6% are
Roman Catholics, 13.7% Jews, 4.5% Protestants, and 5% belong to the
Greek Church. Of the total 788,102 were women in 1897 and 147,878 were
classed as urban. The principal occupation of the inhabitants is
agriculture, 63% of the surface being under crops; both grain (wheat,
rye, oats and barley) and potatoes are exported. Flax is cultivated and
the linseed exported. Dairying flourishes, and horse and cattle breeding
are attracting attention. Fishing is important, and the navigation on
the rivers is brisk. A variety of petty domestic industries are carried
on by the Jews, but only to a slight extent in the villages. As many as
18,000 to 24,000 men are compelled every year to migrate in search of
work. The factories consist principally of distilleries, tobacco and
steam flour-mills, and hardware manufactories. Trade, especially the
transit trade, is brisk, from the situation of the government on the
Prussian frontier, the custom-houses of Yerburg and Tauroggen being
amongst the most important in Russia. The chief towns of the seven
districts into which the government is divided, with their populations
in 1897, are Kovno (q.v.), Novo-Alexandrovsk (6370), Ponevyezh (13,044),
Rosieny (7455), Shavli (15,914), Telshi (6215) and Vilkemir (13,509).
The territory which now constitutes the government of Kovno was formerly
known as Samogitia and formed part of Lithuania. During the 13th, 14th
and 15th centuries the Livonian and Teutonic Knights continually invaded
and plundered it, especially the western part, which was peopled with
Zhmuds. In 1569 it was annexed, along with the rest of the principality
of Lithuania, to Poland; and it suffered very much from the wars of
Russia with Sweden and Poland, and from the invasion of Charles XII. in
1701. In 1795 the principality of Lithuania was annexed to Russia, and
until 1872, when the government of Kovno was constituted, the territory
now forming it was a part of the government of Vilna.