Sabah is the name applied by the natives to certain portions of the
territory situated on the north-western coast of the island, and
originally in no way included the remainder of the country now owned by
the British North Borneo Company. It has become customary, however, for
the name to be used by Europeans in Borneo to denote the whole of the
company's territory, and little by little the more educated natives are
insensibly adopting the practice.
_History._--As has been seen, the British connexion with northern and
north-western Borneo terminated with the 18th century, nor was it
resumed until 1838, when Raja Brooke set out for Brunei and Sarawak. The
island of Labuan (q.v.) was occupied by the British as a crown colony in
1848, and this may be taken as the starting-point of renewed British
relations with that portion of northern Borneo which is situated to the
north of Brunei. In 1872 the Labuan Trading Company was established in
Sandakan, the fine harbour on the northern coast which was subsequently
the capital of the North Borneo Company's territory. In 1878, through
the instrumentality of Mr (afterwards Sir) Alfred Dent, the sultan of
Sulu was induced to transfer to a syndicate, formed by Baron Overbeck
and Mr Dent, all his rights in North Borneo, of which, as has been seen,
he had been from time immemorial the overlord. The chief promoters of
this syndicate were Sir Rutherford Alcock, Admiral the Hon. Sir Harry
Keppel, who at an earlier stage of his career had rendered great
assistance to the first raja of Sarawak in the suppression of piracy,
and Mr Richard B. Martin. Early in 1881 the British North Borneo
Provisional Association, Limited, was formed to take over the concession
which had been obtained from the sultan of Sulu, and in November of that
year a petition was addressed to Queen Victoria praying for a royal
charter. This was granted, and subsequently the British North Borneo
Company, which was formed in May 1882, took over, in spite of some
diplomatic protests on the part of the Dutch and Spanish governments,
all the sovereign and territorial rights ceded by the original grants,
and proceeded under its charter to organize the administration of the
territory. The company subsequently acquired further sovereign and
territorial rights from the sultan of Brunei and his chiefs in addition
to some which had already been obtained at the time of the formation of
the company. The Putatan river was ceded in May 1884, the Padas
district, including the Padas and Kalias rivers, in November of the same
year, the Kawang river in February 1885, and the Mantanani islands in
April 1885. In 1888, by an agreement with the "State of North Borneo,"
the territory of the company was made a British protectorate, but its
administration remained entirely in the hands of the company, the crown
reserving only control of its foreign relations, and the appointment of
its governors being required to receive the formal sanction of the
secretary of state for the colonies. In 1890 the British government
placed the colony of Labuan under the administration of the company, the
governor of the state of North Borneo thereafter holding a royal
commission as governor of Labuan in addition to his commission from the
company. This arrangement held good until 1905, when, in answer to the
frequently and strongly expressed desire of the colonists, Labuan was
removed from the jurisdiction of the company and attached to the colony
of the Straits Settlements. In March 1898 arrangements were made whereby
the sultan of Brunei ceded to the company all his sovereign and
territorial rights to the districts situated to the north of the Padas
river which up to that time had been retained by him. This had the
effect of rounding off the company's territories, and had the additional
advantage of doing away with the various no-man's lands which had long
been used by the discontented among the natives as so many Caves of
Adullam. The company's acquisition of territory was viewed with
considerable dissatisfaction by many of the natives, and this found
expression in frequent acts of violence. The most noted and the most
successful of the native leaders was a Bajau named Mat Saleh (Mahomet
Saleh), who for many years defied the company, whose policy in his
regard was marked by considerable weakness and vacillation. In 1898 a
composition was made with him, the terms of which were unfortunately not
defined with sufficient clearness, and he retired into the Tambunan
country, to the east of the range which runs parallel with the west
coast, where for a period he lorded it unchecked over the Dusun tribes
of the valley. In 1899 it was found necessary to expel him, since his
acts of aggression and defiance were no longer endurable. A short, and
this time a successful campaign followed, resulting, on the 31st of
January 1900, in the death of Mat Saleh, and the destruction of his
defences. Some of his followers who escaped raided the town of Kudat on
Marudu Bay in April of the same year, but caused more panic than damage,
and little by little during the next years the last smouldering embers
of rebellion were extinguished. At the present time, though effective
administration of the more inaccessible districts of the interior cannot
be said to have been established even yet, the pacification of the
native population is to all intents and purposes complete. The Tambunan
district, the last stronghold of Mat Saleh, is now thoroughly settled.
It is some 500 sq. m. in extent, and carries a population of perhaps
12,000.
_Geography._--The state of North Borneo may roughly be said to form a
pentagon of which three sides, the north-west, north-east and east are
washed by the sea, while the remaining two sides, the south-west and the
south, are bordered respectively by the Malayan sultanate of Brunei, and
by the territories of the raja of Sarawak and of the Dutch government.
The boundary between the company's territory and the Dutch government is
defined by the treaty concluded in June 1891, of which mention has
already been made.
The total area of the company's territory is estimated at about 31,000
sq. m., with a coast-line of over 900 m. The greater portion is
exceedingly hilly and in parts mountainous, and the interior consists
almost entirely of highlands with here and there open valleys and
plateaus of 50 to 60 sq. m. in extent. On the west coast the mountain
range, as already noted, runs parallel with the seashore at a distance
from it of about 15 m. Of this range the central feature is the mountain
of Kinabalu, which is composed of porphyritic granite and igneous rocks
and attains to a height of 13,698 ft. Mount Madalon, some 15 or 20 m. to
the north, is 5000 ft. in height, and inland across the valley of the
Pagalan river, which runs through the Tambunan country and falls into
the Padas, rises the peak of Trus Madi, estimated to be 11,000 ft. above
sea-level. The valley of the Pagalan is itself for the most part from
1000 to 2000 ft. above the sea, forming a string of small plateaus
marking the sites of former lakes. From the base of Trus Madi to the
eastern coast the country consists of huddled hills broken here and
there by regions of a more mountainous character. The principal plateaus
are in the Tambunan and Kaningau valleys, in the basin of the Pagalan,
and the Ranau plain to the eastward of the base of Kinabalu. Similar
plateaus of minor importance are to be found dotted about the interior.
The proximity of the mountain range to the seashore causes the rivers of
the west coast, with the single exception of the Padas, to be rapid,
boulder-obstructed, shallow streams of little value as means of
communication for a distance of more than half a dozen miles from their
mouths. The Padas is navigable for light-draught steam-launches and
native boats for a distance of nearly 50 m. from its mouth, and smaller
craft can be punted up as far as Rayoh, some 15 m. farther, but at this
point its bed is obstructed by impassable falls and rapids, which are of
such a character that nothing can even be brought down them. Even below
Rayoh navigation is rendered difficult and occasionally dangerous by
similar obstructions. The other principal rivers of the west coast are
the Kalias, Kimanis, Benoneh, Papar, Kinarut, Putatan, Inaman,
Mengkabong, Tampasuk and Pandasan, none of which, however, is of any
great importance as a means of communication. There is a stout breed of
pony raised along the Tampasuk, which is also noted for the Kalupis
waterfall (1500 ft.), one of the highest in the world, though the volume
of water is not great. Here also are the principal Bajau settlements.
Throughout the Malayan Archipelago the words _Bajau_ and _perompak_
(pirate) are still used as synonymous terms. At the northern extremity
of the island Marudu Bay receives the waters of the Marudu which rises
on the western side of Mount Madalon. On the east coast the principal
rivers are the Sugut, which rises in the hills to the east of Kinabalu
and forms its delta near Torongohok or Pura-Pura Island; the Labuk,
which has its sources 70 m. inland and debouches into Labuk Bay; and the
Kinabatangan, the largest and most important river in the territory,
which is believed to have its rise eastward of the range of which Trus
Madi is the principal feature, and is navigable by steamer for a
considerable distance and by native boats for a distance of over 100 m.
from its mouth. Some valuable tobacco land, which, however, is somewhat
liable to flood, and some remarkable burial-caves are found in the
valley of the Kinabatangan. The remaining rivers of the east coast are
the Segamah, which rises west of Darvel Bay, the Kumpong, and the
Kalabakang, which debouches into Cowie Harbour. Taking it as a whole,
the company's territory is much less generously watered than are other
parts of Borneo, which again compares unfavourably in this respect with
the Malayan states of the peninsula. Many of the rivers, especially
those of the west coast, are obstructed by bars at their mouths that
render them difficult of access. Several of the natural harbours of
North Borneo, on the other hand, are accessible, safe and commodious.
Sandakan Harbour, on the north-east coast (5 deg. 40' N., 118 deg. 10'
E.), runs inland for some 17 m. with a very irregular outline broken by
the mouths of numerous creeks and streams. The mouth, only 2 m. across,
is split into two channels by the little, high, bluff-like island of
Barhala. The depth in the main entrance varies from 10 to 17 fathoms,
and vessels drawing 20 ft. can advance half-way up the bay. The
principal town in the territory, and the seat of government (though an
attempt has been unsuccessfully made to transfer this to Jesselton on
the west coast), is Sandakan, situated just inside the mouth of the
Sarwaka inlet. At Silam, on Darvel Bay, there is good anchorage; and
Kudat in Marudu Bay, first surveyed by Commander Johnstone of H.M.S.
"Nigeria" in 1881, is a small but useful harbour.
_Climate and Population._--The climate of North Borneo is tropical, hot,
damp and enervating. The rainfall is steady and not usually excessive.
The shade temperature at Sandakan ordinarily ranges from 72 deg. to 94
deg. F. The population of the company's territory is not known with any
approach to accuracy, but is estimated, somewhat liberally, to amount to
175,000, including 16,000 Chinese. Of this total about three-fourths are
found in the districts of the west coast. The seashore and the country
bordering closely on the west coast are inhabited chiefly by Dusuns, by
Kadayans, by Bajaus and Ilanuns--both Malayan tribes--and by Brunei
Malays. The east coast is very sparsely populated and its inhabitants
are mostly Bajaus and settlers from the neighbouring Sulu archipelago.
The interior is dotted with infrequent villages inhabited by Dusuns or
by Muruts, a village ordinarily consisting of a single long hut divided
up into cubicles, one for the use of each family, opening out on to a
common verandah along which the skulls captured by the tribe are
festooned. It has been customary to speak of these tribes as belonging
to the Dyak group, but the Muruts would certainly seem to be the
representatives of the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, and there
is much reason to think that the Dusuns also must be classed as distinct
from the Dyaks. The Dusun language, it is interesting to note, presents
very curious grammatical complications and refinements such as are not
to be found among the tongues spoken by any of the other peoples of the
Malayan Archipelago or the mainland of south-eastern Asia. Dusuns and
Muruts alike are in a very low state of civilization, and both indulge
inordinately in the use of intoxicating liquors of their own
manufacture.
_Settlements and Communication._--The company possesses a number of
small stations along the coast, of which Sandakan, with a population of
9 500, is the most important. The remainder which call for separate
mention are Lahat Datu on Darvel Bay on the east coast; Kudat on Marudu
Bay and Jesselton on Gaya Bay on the west coast. A railway of
indifferent construction runs along the west coast from Jesselton to
Weston on Brunei Bay, with a branch along the banks of the Padas to
Tenom above the rapids. It was originally intended that this should
eventually be extended across the territory to Cowie Harbour (Sabuko
Bay) on the east coast, but the extraordinary engineering difficulties
which oppose themselves to such an extension, the sparse population of
the territory, and the failure of the existing line to justify the
expectations entertained by its designers, combine to render the
prosecution of any such project highly improbable. Sandakan is connected
by telegraph with Mempakul on the west coast whence a cable runs to
Labuan and so gives telegraphic communication with Singapore. The
overland line from Mempakul to Sandakan, however, passes through
forest-clad and very difficult country, and telegraphic communication is
therefore subject to very frequent interruption. Telegraphic
communication between Mempakul and Kudat, via Jesselton, has also been
established and is more regularly and successfully maintained. The only
roads in the territory are bridle-paths in the immediate vicinity of the
company's principal stations. The Sabah Steamship Company, subsidized by
the Chartered Company, runs steamers along the coast, calling at all the
company's stations at which native produce is accumulated. A German firm
runs vessels at approximately bi-monthly intervals from Singapore to
Labuan and thence to Sandakan, calling in on occasion at Jesselton and
Kudat _en route_. There is also fairly frequent communication between
Sandakan and Hong-Kong, a journey of four days' steaming.
_Products and Trade._--The capabilities of the company's territory are
only dimly known. Coal has been found in the neighbourhood of Cowie
Harbour and elsewhere, but though its quality is believed to be as good
as that exported from Dutch Borneo, it is not yet known whether it
exists in payable quantities. Gold has been found in alluvial deposits
on the banks of some of the rivers of the east coast, but here again the
quantity available is still in serious doubt. The territory as a whole
has been very imperfectly examined by geologists, and no opinion can at
present be hazarded as to the mineral wealth or poverty of the company's
property. Traces of mineral oil, iron ores, copper, zinc and antimony
have been found, but the wealth of North Borneo still lies mainly in its
jungle produce. It possesses a great profusion of excellent timber, but
the difficulty of extraction has so far restricted the lumber industry
within somewhat modest limits. Gutta, rubber, rattans, mangrove-bark,
edible nuts, guano, edible birds'-nests, &c., are all valuable articles
of export. The principal cultivated produce is tobacco, sago, cocoanuts,
coffee, pepper, gambier and sugar-canes. Of these the tobacco and the
sago are the most important. Between 1886 and 1900 the value of the
tobacco crop increased from L471 to L200,000.
As is common throughout Malayan lands, the trade of North Borneo is
largely in the hands of Chinese shopkeepers who send their agents inland
to attend the _Tamus_ (Malay, _temu_, to meet) or fairs, which are the
recognized scenes of barter between the natives of the interior and
those of the coast. At Sandakan there is a Chinese population of over
2000.
_Administration._--For administrative purposes the territory is divided
into nine provinces: Alcock and Dewhurst in the north; Keppel on the
west; Martin in the centre; Myburgh, Mayne and Elphinstone on the east
coast; and Dent and Cunliffe in the south. The boundaries of these
provinces, however, are purely arbitrary and not accurately defined. The
form of government is modelled roughly upon the system adopted in the
Malay States of the peninsula during the early days of their
administration by British residents. The government is vested primarily
in the court of directors appointed under the company's charter, which
may be compared to the colonial office in its relation to a British
colony, though the court of directors interests itself far more closely
than does the colonial department in the smaller details of local
administration. The supreme authority on the spot is represented by the
governor, under whom are the residents of Kudat, Darvel Bay and Keppel,
officers who occupy much the same position as that usually known by the
title of magistrate and collector. The less important districts are
administered by district magistrates, who also collect the taxes. The
principal departments, whose chiefs reside at the capital, are the
treasury, the land and survey, the public works, the constabulary, the
medical and the judicial. The secretariat is under the charge of a
government secretary who ranks next in precedence to the governor.
Legislation is by the proclamation of the governor, but there is a
council, meeting at irregular intervals, upon which the principal heads
of departments and one unofficial member have seats. The public service
is recruited by nomination by the court of directors. The governor is
the chief judge of the court of appeal, but a judge who is subordinate
to him takes all ordinary supreme court cases. The laws are the Indian
Penal and Civil Procedure Codes and Evidence Acts, supplemented by a few
local laws promulgated by proclamation. There is an Imam's court for the
trial of cases affecting Mahommedan law of marriage, succession, &c. The
native chiefs are responsible to the government for the preservation of
law and order in their districts. They have restricted judicial powers.
The constabulary numbers some 600 men and consists of a mixed force of
Sikhs, Pathans, Punjabi Mahommedans, Dyaks and Malays, officered by a
few Europeans. There is a Protestant mission which supports a
church--the only stone building in the territory--and a school at
Sandakan, with branches at Kudat, Kaningau and Tambunan. The Roman
Catholic mission maintains an orphanage, a church and school at
Sandakan, and has missions among the Dusuns at several points on the
west coast and in the Tambunan country. Its headquarters are at Kuching
in Sarawak. The Chinese have their joss-houses and the Mahommedans a few
small mosques, but the vast majority of the native inhabitants are
pagans who have no buildings set apart for religious purposes.
_Finance and Money._--The principal sources of revenue are the licences
granted for the importation and retailing of opium, wine and spirits,
which are in the hands of Chinese; a customs duty of 5% on imports; an
export tax of 5% on jungle produce; a poll-tax sanctioned by ancient
native custom; and a stamp duty. A land revenue is derived from the sale
of government lands, from quit rents and fees of transfer, &c. Judicial
fees bring in a small amount, and the issue and sale of postage and
revenue stamps have proved a fruitful source of income. The people of
the country are by no means heavily taxed, a large number of the natives
of the interior escaping all payment of dues to the company, the revenue
being for the most part contributed by the more civilized members of the
community residing in the neighbourhood of the company's stations. There
are bank agencies in Sandakan, and the company does banking business
when required. The state, which has adopted the penny postage, is in the
Postal Union, and money orders on North Borneo are issued in the United
Kingdom and in most British colonies and vice versa. Notes issued by the
principal banks in Singapore were made current in North Borneo in 1900.
There is also a government note issue issued by the company for use
within the territory only. The currency is the Mexican and British
dollar, the company issuing its own copper coin--viz. cents and half
cents. It is proposed to adopt the coinage of the Straits Settlements,
and measures have been taken with a view to the accomplishment of this.
In the interior the principal medium of exchange among the natives is
the large earthenware jars, imported originally, it is believed, from
China, which form the chief wealth both of tribes and individuals.
(H. Cl.)
AUTHORITIES.--Among early works may be mentioned, S. Blommaert,
_Discours ende ghelegentheyt van het eylandt Borneo int Jear 1609_;
_Hachelyke reystogt van Jacob Jansz. de Roy na Borneo en Atchin in het
jaar 1691_; Beeckman, _Visit to Borneo_, 1718, in J. Pinkerton's
_General Collections_ (1808-1814); F. Valentijn in _Ond en Nieuw Oost
Indien_ (Dordrecht, 1724-1726). See also H. Keppel, _Expedition to
Borneo of H.M.S. "Dido"_ (London, 1846); R. Mundy, _Narrative of
Events in Borneo and Celebes_ (London, 1848); F.S. Marryat,
_Borneo_, &c. (1848); P.J. Veth, _Borneo's Westerafdeeling_
(Zalt-Bommel, 1854 and 1856); S. Muller, _Reizen en onderzoekingen in
den Indischen Archipel_ (Amsterdam, 1857); C. Bock, _Head-hunters of
Borneo_ (London, 1881), and _Reis in Oost en Zuid-Borneo_ (The Hague,
1887); J. Hatton, _The New Ceylon, a Sketch of British North Borneo_
(London, 1882); F. Hatton, _North Borneo_ (London, 1885); T. Posewitz,
_Borneo... Verbreitung der nutzbaren Mineralien_ (Berlin, 1889), Eng.
trans., _Borneo; its Geology and Mineral Resources_ (London, 1892); J.
Whitehead, _Exploration of Mount Kini Balu_ (London, 1893); Mrs W.B.
Pryor, _A Decade in Borneo_ (London, 1894); H. Ling Roth, _The Natives
of Sarawak and North Borneo_ (London, 1896); G.A.F. Molengraaf,
_Geologische Verkinningstochten in Centraal Borneo_ (Leiden, 1900,
Eng. trans. 1902); A.W. Niewenhuis, _In Centraal Borneo_ (Leiden,
1901), and _Quer durch Borneo_ (Leiden, 1904), &c.; W.H. Furness,
_Home Life of Borneo Head-hunters_ (London, 1902); O. Beccari, _Nelle
Foreste di Borneo_ (Florence, 1902), Eng. trans., _Wanderings in the
Great Forests of Borneo_ (London, 1904); D. Cator, _Everyday Life
among the Head-hunters_ (London, 1905). For geology, besides the works
of Posewitz and Molengraaf already cited, see R.B. Newton in _Geol.
Mag_., 1897, pp. 407-415, and _Proc. Malac. Soc_., London, vol. v.
(1902-1903), pp. 403-409. A series of papers on the palaeontology of
the island will be found in the several volumes of the _Samml. Geol_.
R. Mus., Leiden.
BORNHOLM, an island in the Baltic Sea, 22 m. S.E. of the Swedish coast,
belonging to Denmark, lying on 15 deg. E., and between 55 deg. and 55
deg. 18' N., and measuring 24 m. from S.E. to N.W. and 19 (extreme) from
E. to W. Pop. (1901) 40,889. The surface is generally hilly; the scenery
is fine in the north, where the cliffs reach a height of 135 ft., and
the granite hill of Helligdomsklipper dominates the island. Besides
freestone, exported for building, limestone, blue marble, and
porcelain-clay are worked. A little coal is found and used locally, but
it is not of good quality. Oats, flax and hemp are cultivated. The
inhabitants are employed in agriculture, fishing, brewing, distillation
and the manufacture of earthenware. Weaving and clock-making are also
carried on to some extent. The capital is Ronne (115 m. by sea from
Copenhagen), and there are five other small towns on the
island--Svanike, Nekso, Hasle, Allinge, and Sandvig. A railway connects
Ronne with Nekso (22 m. E. by S.), where a bust commemorates J.N.
Madvig, the philologist, who was born there in 1804 (d. 1886). Blanch's
Hotel, 10 m. N. of Ronne, is the most favoured resort on the island,
which attracts many visitors. On the north-west coast are the ruins of
the castle of Hammershus, which was built in 1158, and long served as a
state prison; while another old castle, erected by Christian V. in 1684,
and important as commanding the entrance to the Baltic, is situated on
Christianso, one of a small group of islands 15 m. E. by N. The island
of Bornholm has had an eventful history. In early times it was long the
independent seat of marauding Vikings. In the 12th century it became a
fief of the archbishop of Lund. In 1510 it was captured by the Hanseatic
League, in 1522 it came under Danish sway, and in 1526 it was made
directly subject to the city of Lubeck. In 1645 the Swedes took it by
storm, and their possession of it was confirmed by the peace of Roskilde
in 1658; but the sympathies of the people were with Denmark, and a
popular insurrection succeeded in expelling the Swedish forces, the
island coming finally into the possession of Denmark in 1660.
BORNIER, HENRI, VICOMTE DE (1825-1901) French poet and dramatist, was
born at Lunel (Herault) on the 25th of December 1825. He came to Paris
in 1845 With the object of studying law, but in that year he published a
volume of verse, _Les Premieres Feuilles_, and the Comedie Francaise
accepted a play of his entitled _Le Mariage de Luther_. He was given a
post in the library of the Arsenal, where he served for half a century,
becoming director in 1889. In 1875 was produced at the Theatre Francais
his heroic drama in verse, _La Fille de Roland_. The action of the play
turns on the love of Gerald, son of the traitor Ganelon, for the
daughter of Roland. The patriotic subject and the nobility of the
character of Gerald, who renounces Berthe when he learns his real
origin, procured for the piece a great success. The conflict between
honour and love and the grandiose sentiment of the play inevitably
provoked comparison with Corneille. The piece would indeed be a
masterpiece if, as its critics were not slow to point out, the verse had
been quite equal to the subject. Among the numerous other works of M. de
Bornier should be mentioned: _Dimitri_ (1876), libretto of an opera by
M.V. de Joncieres; and the dramas, _Les Noces d'Allila_ (1880) and
_Mahomet_ (1888). The production of this last piece was forbidden in
deference to the representations of the Turkish ambassador. Henri de
Bornier was critic of the _Nouvelle Revue_ from 1879 to 1887. His
_Poesies completes_ were published in 1894. He died in January 1901.
BORNU, a country in the Central Sudan, lying W. and S. of Lake Chad. It
is bounded W. and S. by the Hausa states and N. by the Sahara. Formerly
an independent Mahommedan sultanate it has been divided between Great
Britain, Germany and France. To France has fallen a portion of northern
Bornu and also Zinder (q.v.), a tributary state to the north-west, while
the south-west part is incorporated in the German colony of Cameroon.
Three-fourths of Bornu proper, some 50,000 sq. m., forms part of the
British protectorate of Nigeria.
Bornu is for the most part an alluvial plain, the country sloping
gradually to Lake Chad, which formerly spread over a much larger area
than it now occupies. The Komadugu (i.e. river) Waube--generally known
as the Yo--and its tributaries rise in the highlands which, beyond the
western border of Bornu, form the watershed between the Niger and Chad
systems, and flow north and east across the plains to Lake Chad, the Yo
in its last few miles marking the frontier between the French and
British possessions. In the south-west a part of Bornu drains to the
Benue. The rivers are intermittent, and water in southern Bornu is
obtained only from wells, which are sunk to a great depth. The vast
plain of Bornu is stoneless, except for rare outcrops of ironstone, and
consists of the porous fissured black earth called "cotton soil" in
India, alternating with, or more probably overlaid by, sand. Throughout
the flat country water is apparently found everywhere at a depth of 54
ft., corresponding to the level of Chad. Towards Damjiri in the
north-west the country becomes more broken, hilly and timbered. In the
south limestone is found near Gujba and also along the Gongola tributary
of the Benue. A forest of red and green barked acacia, yielding the
species of gum most valuable in the market, extends from the Gongola to
Gujba. Immense baobabs (_Adansonia digitata_), fine tamarinds and a few
trees of the genus _Ficus_ are met with in the south. North of Maifoni
(latitude 12 deg. N.) the baobab ceases, except at Kuka, where extensive
plantations have been made, and its place is taken by the _Kigelia_ and
also by a very handsome species of _Diospyros_. North of Kuka is a dense
belt of _Hyphaene_ palm with fine tamarinds and figs. Cotton and indigo
grow wild, and afford the materials for the cloths, finely dyed with
blue stripes, which form the staple fabric of the country. On the shores
of Lake Chad the cotton grown is of a peculiarly fine quality. Rice and
wheat of excellent quality are raised, but in small quantities, the
staple food being a species of millet called _gussub_, which is made
into a kind of paste and eaten with butter or honey. Ground-nuts, yams,
sweet potatoes, several sorts of beans and grains, peppers, onions,
water-melons and tomatoes are grown. Of fruit trees the country
possesses the lime and fig.
Wild animals, in great numbers, find both food and cover in the
extensive districts of wood and marsh. Lions, giraffes, elephants,
hyenas, crocodiles, hippopotami, antelopes, gazelles and ostriches are
found. The horse, the camel and the ox are the chief domestic animals;
all are used as beasts of burden. The country abounds with bees, and
honey forms one of the chief Bornuese delicacies.
The climate, especially from March to the end of June, is oppressively
hot, rising sometimes to 105 deg. and 107 deg., and even during most of
the night not falling much below 100 deg. In May the wet season begins,
with violent storms of thunder and lightning. In the end of June the
rivers and lakes begin to overflow, and for several months the rains,
accompanied with sultry weather, are almost incessant. The inhabitants
at this season suffer greatly from fevers. In October the rains abate;
cool, fresh winds blow from the west and north-west; and for several
months the climate is healthy and agreeable.
_Inhabitants._--The inhabitants, of whom the great majority profess
Mahommedanism, are divided into Negroes and those of mixed blood, i.e.
Negro and Berber, Arab or other crossing. The total population of
British Bornu is estimated at 500,000. The dominant tribe, called
Bornuese, Berberi or Kanuri, a Negro race with an infusion of Berber
blood, have black skins, large mouths, thick lips and broad noses, but
good teeth and high foreheads. The females add to their want of beauty
by extensive tattooing; they also stain their faces with indigo, and dye
their front teeth black and their canine teeth red. The law allows
polygamy, but the richest men have seldom more than two or three wives.
The marriage ceremonies last for a whole week, the first three days
being spent in feasting on the favourite national dishes, and the others
appropriated to certain symbolical rites. A favourite amusement is the
watching of wrestling matches. A game bearing some resemblance to chess,
played with beans and holes in the sand, is also a favourite occupation.
The pastoral districts of the country are occupied by the Shuwas, who
are of Arab origin, and speak a well-preserved dialect of Arabic. Of the
date of their immigration from the East there is no record; but they
were in the country as early as the middle of the 17th century. They are
divided into numerous distinct clans. Their villages in general consist
of rudely constructed huts, of an exaggerated conical form. Another
tribe, called La Salas, inhabits a number of low fertile islands in Lake
Chad, separated from the mainland by fordable channels.
The Bornuese are noted horsemen, and in times of war the horses, as well
as the riders, used to be cased in light iron mail. The Shuwas, however,
are clad only in a light shirt, and the Kanembu spearmen go almost
naked, and fight with shield and spear. It is indispensable to a chief
of rank that he should possess a huge belly, and when high feeding
cannot produce this, padding gives the appearance of it. Notwithstanding
the heat of the climate, the body is enveloped in successive robes, the
number indicating the rank of the wearer. The head likewise is enclosed
in numerous turbans. The prevailing language in Bornu is the Kanuri. It
has no affinity, according to Heinrich Barth, with the great Berber
family. A grammar was published in 1854 by S.W. Koelle, as well as a
volume of tales and fables, with a translation and vocabulary.
The towns in Bornu, which have populations varying from 10,000 to 50,000
or more, are surrounded with walls 35 or 40 ft. in height and 20 ft. in
thickness, having at each of the four corners a triple gate, composed of
strong planks of wood, with bars of iron. The abodes of the principal
inhabitants form an enclosed square, in which are separate houses for
each of the wives; the chief's palace consists of turrets connected
together by terraces. These are well built of a reddish clay, highly
polished, so as to resemble stucco; the interior roof, though composed
only of branches, is tastefully constructed. Maidugari, which in 1908
became the seat of the native government, is a thriving commercial town
some 70 m. south-west of Lake Chad. The former capital, Kuka (q.v.), and
Ngornu (the town of "blessing"), are near the shores of Lake Chad. On
the Yo are still to be seen extensive remains of Old Bornu or Birni and
Gambarou or Ghambaru, which were destroyed by the Fula about 1809.
Dikwa, the capital chosen by Rabah (see below), lies in the German part
of Bornu.
_History._--The history of Bornu goes back to the 9th century A.D., but
its early portions are very fragmentary and dubious. The first dynasty
known is that of the Sefuwa or descendants of Sef, which came to the
throne in the person of Dugu or Duku, and had its capital at Njimiye
(Jima) in Kanem on the north-east shores of Lake Chad. The Sefuwa are of
Berber origin, the descent from Sef, the Himyaritic ruler, being
mythical. From this Berber strain comes the name Berberi or
Ba-Berberche, applied by the Hausa to the inhabitants of Bornu.
Mahommedanism was adopted towards the end of the 11th century, and has
since continued the religion of the country. From 1194 to 1220 reigned
Selma II., under whom the power of the kingdom was greatly extended; and
Dunama II., his successor was also a powerful and warlike prince. In
the following reigns the prosperity of the country began to diminish,
and about 1386 the dynasty was expelled from Njimiye, and forced to seek
refuge in the western part of its territory by the invasion of the
Bulala. Mai Ali (I.) Ghajideni, who founded the city of Birni, rendered
his country once more redoubtable and strong. His successor, Idris II.,
completely vanquished the Bulala and subjugated Kanem; and under
Mahommed V., the next monarch, Bornu reached its highest pitch of
greatness. At this period Zinder became a tributary state. A series of
for the most part peaceful reigns succeeded till about the middle of the
18th century, when Ali (IV.) Omarmi entered upon a violent struggle with
the Tuareg or Imoshagh. Under his son Ahmed (about 1808) the kingdom
began to be harassed by the Fula, who had already conquered the Hausa
country. Expelled from his capital by the invaders, Ahmed was only
restored by the assistance of the fakir Mahommed al-Amin al-Kanemi, who,
pretending to a celestial mission, hoisted the green flag of the
Prophet, and undertook the deliverance of his country. The Fula appear
to have been taken by surprise, and were in ten months driven completely
out of Bornu. The conqueror invested the nearest heir of the ancient
kings with all the appearance of sovereignty--reserving for himself,
however, under the title of sheik, all its reality. The court of the
sultan (_shehu_) was established at New Bornu, or Birni, which was made
the capital, the old city having been destroyed during the Fula
invasion; while the sheik, in military state, took up his residence at
the new city of Kuka. Fairly established, he ruled the country with a
rod of iron, and at the same time inspired his subjects with a
superstitious notion of his sanctity. His zeal was peculiarly directed
against moral or religious offences. The most frivolous faults of women,
as talking too loud, and walking in the street unveiled, rendered the
offender liable to public indictment, while graver errors were visited
with the most ignominious punishments, and often with death itself.
Kanemi died in 1835, and was succeeded by his son, Sheik Omar, who
altogether abolished the nominal kingship of the Sefuwa.
During Omar's reign, which lasted about fifty years, Bornu was visited
by many Europeans, who reached it via Tripoli and the Sahara. The first
to enter the country were Walter Oudney, Hugh Clapperton and Dixon
Denham (1823). They were followed in 1851-1855 by Heinrich Barth. Later
travellers included Gerhard Rohlfs (1866) and Gustav Nachtigal. All
these travellers were well received by the Kanuri, whose power from the
middle of the 19th century began to decay. This was foreseen by Barth;
and Nachtigal, who in 1870 conveyed presents sent by King William of
Prussia, in acknowledgment of the sheik's kindness to many German
explorers, writes thus in December 1872:
"The rapid declension of Bornu is an undeniable and lamentable fact.
It is taking place with increasing rapidity, and the boundless
weakness of Sheik Omar--otherwise so worthy and brave a man--must bear
almost all the blame. His sons and ministers plunder the provinces in
an almost unheard-of manner; trade and intercourse are almost at a
standstill; good faith and confidence exist no more. The indolence of
the court avoids military expeditions, and anarchy and a lack of
security on the routes are the consequences.... Thus the sheik and the
land grow poorer and poorer, and public morality sinks lower and
lower."
After the visit of Nachtigal the country was visited by no European
traveller until 1892, when Colonel P.L. Monteil resided for a time at
Kuka during his great journey from the Senegal to Tripoli. The French
traveller noticed many signs of decadence, the energy of the people
being sapped by luxury, while a virtual anarchy prevailed owing to
rivalries and intrigues among members of the royal family. The chief of
Zinder had ceased to pay tribute, and the sultan was not strong enough
to exact it by force. At the same time a danger was threatening from the
south-east, where the negro adventurer Rabah, once a slave of Zobeir
Pasha, was menacing the kingdom of Bagirmi. After making himself master
of the fortified town of Manifa, Rabah proceeded against Bornu,
defeating the army of the sultan Ahsem in two pitched battles. In
December 1893 Ahsem fled from Kuka, which was entered by Rabah and soon
afterwards destroyed, the capital being transferred to Dikwa in the
south-east of the kingdom. These events ruined for many years the trade
between Tripoli and Kuka by the long-established route via Bilma. Rabah
had raised a large, well-drilled army, and proved a formidable opponent
to the French in their advance on Lake Chad from the south. However in
1900 he was killed at Kussuri near the lower Shari, by the combined
forces of three French expeditions which had been converging from the
Congo, the Sahara and the Niger.
By an Anglo-French agreement of 1898 the tributary state of Zinder in
the north had been included in the French sphere, and after the defeat
of Rabah French military expeditions occupied both the German and
British portions of Bornu, but in 1902 on the appearance of British and
German expeditions the French withdrew to their own country east of the
Shari. The British placed on the throne of Bornu Shehu Garbai, a
descendant of the ancient sultans, and Kuka was again chosen as the
capital of the state. From that date British Bornu has been under
administrative control. It has been divided into East and West Bornu,
the line of division being fixed approximately at longitude 12 deg., and
placed under the administration of a resident. Maifoni and Kuka were
selected for British stations in the east, and Damjiri and Gujba in the
west. Garrisons are quartered at these points. The province has been
mapped, and a network of tracks available for wheeled transport has been
made through it. Water communication with the Benue and Niger has been
opened through the Gongola river. The _shehu_, who took the oath of
allegiance to the British crown on the occasion of his formal
installation in November 1904, is maintained in all local dignity as a
native chief, and co-operates loyally with the British administration.
Peace has prevailed in Bornu since the British occupation, and it is
estimated that the population has increased by immigration to about 50%
more than it was in 1902. The people are industrious. Extensive areas
are being brought under cultivation, and taxes are collected without
difficulty. Owing to its increasing commercial importance, the native
capital was in 1908 transferred to Maidugari (see also NIGERIA:
_History;_ and RABAH).
AUTHORITIES.--Heinrich Barth's _Travels in North and Central Africa_
(1857, new ed., London, 1890) contains an exact picture of the state
in the period (c. 1850) preceding its decay. The earlier _Travels_ of
Denham and Clapperton (London, 1828) may also be consulted, as well as
Rohlfs, _Land und Volk in Afrika_ (Bremen, 1870); Nachtigal, _Sahara
und Sudan_, vol. i. (Berlin, 1879); and Monteil, _de St.-Louis a
Tripoli par le lac Tchad_ (Paris, 1895). For later information consult
Lady Lugard's _A Tropical Dependency_ (London, 1905), and the _Annual
Reports_, from 1900 onward, on Northern Nigeria, issued by the
Colonial Office, London. (F. L. L.)
BORODIN, ALEXANDER PORFYRIEVICH (1834-1887), Russian musical composer,
natural son of a Russian prince, was born in St Petersburg on the 12th
of November 1834. He was brought up to the medical profession, and in
1862 was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at the St Petersburg
academy of medicine. He wrote several works on chemistry, and took a
leading part in advocating women's education, helping to found the
school of medicine for women, and lecturing there from 1872 till his
death. But he is best known as a musician. His interest in music was
indeed stimulated from 1862 onwards by his friendship with Balakirev,
and from 1863 by his marriage with a lady who was an accomplished
pianist; but in his earlier years he had been proficient both in playing
the piano, violin, 'cello and other instruments, and also in composing;
and during life he did his best to pursue his studies in both music and
chemistry with equal enthusiasm. Like other Russian composers he owed
much to the influence of Liszt at Weimar. His first symphony was written
in 1862-1867; his opera _Prince Igor_, begun in 1869, was left
unfinished at his death, and was completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and
Glazounov (1889); his symphonic sketch, "In the Steppes" (1880) is,
however, his best-known work. Borodin also wrote a second symphony
(1871-1877), part of a third (orchestrated after his death by
Glazounov), and a few string quartets and some fine songs. His music is
characteristically Russian, and of an advanced modern type. He died
suddenly at St Petersburg, on the 28th of February 1887.
BORODINO, a village of Russia, 70 m. W. by S. of Moscow, on the
Kolotscha, an affluent of the river Moskva, famous as the scene of a
great battle between the army of Napoleon and the Russians under Kutusov
on the 7th of September 1812. Though the battle is remembered chiefly
for the terrible losses incurred by both sides, in many respects it is
an excellent example of Napoleon's tactical methods. After preliminary
fighting on the 5th of September both sides prepared for battle on the
6th, Napoleon holding back in the hope of confirming the enemy in his
resolution to fight a decisive battle. For the same reason the French
right wing, which could have manoeuvred the Russians from their
position, was designedly weakened. The Russian right, bent back at an
angle and strongly posted, was also neglected, for Napoleon intended to
make a direct frontal attack. The enemy's right centre near the village
of Borodino was to be attacked by the viceroy of Italy, Eugene, who was
afterwards to roll up the Russian line towards its centre, the so-called
"great redoubt," which was to be attacked directly from the front by Ney
and Junot. Farther to the French right, Davout was to attack frontally a
group of field works on which the Russian left centre was formed; and
the extreme right of the French army was composed of the weak corps of
Poniatowski. The cavalry corps were assigned to the various leaders
named, and the Guard was held in reserve. The whole line was not more
than about 2 m. long, giving an average of over 20 men per yard. When
the Russians closed on their centre they were even more densely massed,
and their reserves were subjected to an effective fire from the French
field guns. At 6 A.M. on the 7th of September the French attack began.
By 8 A.M. the Russian centre was driven in, and though a furious
counter-attack enabled Prince Bagration's troops to win back their
original line, fresh French troops under Davout and Ney drove them back
again. But the Russians, though they lost ground elsewhere, still clung
to the great redoubt, and for a time the advance of the French was
suspended by Napoleon's order, owing to a cavalry attack by the Russians
on Eugene's extreme left. When this alarm was ended the advance was
resumed. Napoleon had now collected a sufficient target for his guns. A
terrific bombardment by the artillery was followed by the decisive
charge of the battle, made by great masses of cavalry. The horsemen,
followed by the infantry, charged at speed, broke the Russian line in
two, and the French squadrons entered the gorge of the great redoubt
just as Eugene's infantry climbed up its faces. In a fearful _melee_ the
Russian garrison of the redoubt was almost annihilated. The defenders
were now dislodged from their main line and the battle was practically
at an end. Napoleon has been criticized for not using the Guard, which
was intact, to complete the victory. There is, however, no evidence that
any further expenditure of men would have had good results. Napoleon had
imposed his will on the enemy so far that they ceded possession of
Moscow without further resistance. That the defeat and losses of the
Russian field army did not end the war was due to the national spirit of
the Russians, not to military miscalculations of Napoleon. Had it not
been for this spirit, Borodino would have been decisive of the war
without'the final blow of the Guard. As it was, the Russians lost about
42,000 men out of 121,000; Napoleon's army (of which one-half consisted
of the contingents of subject allies-Germany, Poland, Switzerland,
Holland, &c.) 32,000 out of 130,000 (Berndt, _Zahl im Kriege_). On the
side of the French 31 general officers were killed, wounded or taken,
and amongst the killed were General Montbrun, who fell at the head of
his cavalry corps, and Auguste Caulaincourt, who took Montbrun's place
and fell in the _melee_ in the redoubt. The Russians lost 22 generals,
amongst them Prince Bagration, who died of his wounds after the battle,
and to whose memory a monument was erected on the battle-field by the
tsar Nicholas I.
BOROLANITE, one of the most remarkable rocks of the British Isles, found
on the shores of Loch Borolan in Sutherlandshire, after which it has
been named. In this locality there is a considerable area of granite
rich in red alkali felspar, and passing, by diminution in the amount of
its quartz, into quartz-syenites (nordmarkites) and syenites. At the
margins of the outcrop patches of nepheline-syenite occur; usually the
nepheline is decomposed, but occasionally it is well-preserved; the
other ingredients of the rock are brown garnet (melanite) and aegirine.
The abundance of melanite is very unusual in igneous rocks, though some
syenites, leucitophyres, and aegirine-felsites resemble borolanite in
this respect. In places the nepheline-syenite assumes the form of a dark
rock with large rounded white spots. These last consist of an
intermixture of nepheline or sodalite and alkali-felspar. From the
analogy of certain leucite-syenites which are known in Arkansas, it is
very probable that these spots represent original leucites which have
been changed into aggregates of the above-named minerals. They resemble
leucite in their shape, but have not yet been proved to have its
crystalline outlines. The "pseudo-leucites," as they have been called,
measure one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch across. The dark matrix
consists of biotite, aegirine-augite and melanite. Connected with the
borolanite there are other types of nepheline-syenite and pegmatite. In
Finland, melanite-bearing nepheline rocks have been found and described
as Ijolite, but the only other locality for melanite-leucite-syenite is
Magnet Cove in Arkansas. (J. S. F.)
BORON (symbol B, atomic weight 11), one of the non-metallic elements,
occurring in nature in the form of boracic (boric) acid, and in various
borates such as borax, tincal, boronatrocalcite and boracite. It was
isolated by J. Gay Lussac and L. Thenard in 1808 by heating boron
trioxide with potassium, in an iron tube. It was also isolated at about
the same time by Sir H. Davy, from boracic acid. It may be obtained as a
dark brown amorphous powder by placing a mixture of 10 parts of the
roughly powdered oxide with 6 parts of metallic sodium in a red-hot
crucible, and covering the mixture with a layer of well-dried common
salt. After the vigorous reaction has ceased and all the sodium has been
used up, the mass is thrown into dilute hydrochloric acid, when the
soluble sodium salts go into solution, and the insoluble boron remains
as a brown powder, which may by filtered off and dried. H. Moissan
(_Ann. Chim. Phys._, 1895, 6, p. 296) heats three parts of the oxide
with one part of magnesium powder. The dark product obtained is washed
with water, hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid, and finally
calcined again with the oxide or with borax, being protected from air
during the operation by a layer of charcoal. Pure amorphous boron is a
chestnut-coloured powder of specific gravity 2.45; it sublimes in the
electric arc, is totally unaffected by air at ordinary temperatures, and
burns on strong ignition with production of the oxide B2O3 and the
nitride BN. It combines directly with fluorine at ordinary temperature,
and with chlorine, bromine and sulphur on heating. It does not react
with the alkali metals, but combines with magnesium at a low red heat to
form a boride, and with other metals at more or less elevated
temperatures. It reduces many metallic oxides, such as lead monoxide and
cupric oxide, and decomposes water at a red heat. Heated with sulphuric
acid and with nitric acid it is oxidized to boric acid, whilst on fusion
with alkaline carbonates and hydroxides it gives a borate of the alkali
metal. Like silicon and carbon, very varying values had been given for
its specific heat, until H.F. Weber showed that the specific heat
increases rapidly with increasing temperature. By strongly heating a
mixture of boron trioxide and aluminium, protected from the air by a
layer of charcoal, F. Wohler and H. Sainte-Claire Deville obtained a
grey product, from which, on dissolving out the aluminium with sodium
hydroxide, they obtained a crystalline product, which they thought to be
a modification of boron, but which was shown later to be a mixture of
aluminium borides with more or less carbon. Boron dissolves in molten
aluminium, and on cooling, transparent, almost colourless crystals are
obtained, possessing a lustre, hardness and refractivity near that of
the diamond. In 1904 K.A. Kuhne (D.R.P. 147,871) described a process in
which external heating is not necessary, a mixture of aluminium
turnings, sulphur and boric acid being ignited by a hot iron rod, the
resulting aluminium sulphide, formed as a by-product, being decomposed
by water.
Boron hydride has probably never been isolated in the pure condition;
on heating boron trioxide with magnesium filings, a magnesium boride
Mg3B2 is obtained, and if this be decomposed with dilute hydrochloric
acid a very evil-smelling gas, consisting of a mixture of hydrogen and
boron hydride, is obtained. This mixture burns with a green flame
forming boron trioxide; whilst boron is deposited on passing the gas
mixture through a hot tube, or on depressing a cold surface in the gas
flame. By cooling it with liquid air Sir W. Ramsay and H.S. Hatfield
obtained from it a gas of composition B3H3. The mixture probably
contained also some BH3 (W. Ramsay and H.S. Hatfield, _Proc. Chem.
Soc._, 17, p. 152). Boron fluoride BF3 was first prepared in 1808 by
Gay Lussac and L. Thenard and is best obtained by heating a mixture of
the trioxide and fluorspar with concentrated sulphuric acid. It is a
colourless pungent gas which is exceedingly soluble in water. It fumes
strongly in air, and does not attack glass. It rapidly absorbs the
elements of water wherever possible, so that a strip of paper plunged
into the gas is rapidly charred. It does not burn, neither does it
support combustion. A saturated solution of the gas, in water, is a
colourless, oily, strongly fuming liquid which after a time
decomposes, with separation of metaboric acid, leaving hydrofluoboric
acid HF.BF3 in solution. This acid cannot be isolated in the free
condition, but many of its salts are known. Boron fluoride also
combines with ammonia gas, equal volumes of the two gases giving a
white crystalline solid of composition BF3.NH3; with excess of ammonia
gas, colourless liquids BF3.2NH3 and BF3.3NH3 are produced, which on
heating lose ammonia and are converted into the solid form.
Boron chloride BCl3 results when amorphous boron is heated in chlorine
gas, or more readily, on passing a stream of chlorine over a heated
mixture of boron trioxide and charcoal, the volatile product being
condensed in a tube surrounded by a freezing mixture. It is a
colourless fuming liquid boiling at 17-18 deg. C, and is readily
decomposed by water with formation of boric and hydrochloric acids. It
unites readily with ammonia gas forming a white crystalline solid of
composition 2BCl3.3NH3.
Boron bromide BBr3 can be formed by direct union of the two elements,
but is best obtained by the method used for the preparation of the
chloride. It is a colourless fuming liquid boiling at 90.5 deg. C.
With water and with ammonia it undergoes the same reactions as the
chloride. Boron and iodine do not combine directly, but gaseous
hydriodic acid reacts with amorphous boron to form the iodide, BI3,
which can also be obtained by passing boron chloride and hydriodic
acid through a red-hot porcelain tube. It is a white crystalline solid
of melting point 43 C.; it boils at 210 deg. C., and it can be
distilled without decomposition. It is decomposed by water, and with a
solution of yellow phosphorus in carbon bisulphide it gives a red
powder of composition PBI2, which sublimes _in vacuo_ at 210 deg. C.
to red crystals, and when heated in a current of hydrogen loses its
iodine and leaves a residue of boron phosphide PB.
Boron nitride BN is formed when boron is burned either in air or in
nitrogen, but can be obtained more readily by heating to redness in a
platinum crucible a mixture of one part of anhydrous borax with two
parts of dry ammonium chloride. After fusion, the melt is well washed
with dilute hydrochloric acid and then with water, the nitride
remaining as a white powder. It can also be prepared by heating
borimide B2(NH)3; or by heating boron trioxide with a metallic
cyanide. It is insoluble in water and unaffected by most reagents, but
when heated in a current of steam or boiled for some time with a
caustic alkali, slowly decomposes with evolution of ammonia and the
formation of boron trioxide or an alkaline borate; it dissolves slowly
in hydrofluoric acid.
Borimide B2(NH)3 is obtained on long heating of the compound B2S3.6NH2
in a stream of hydrogen, or ammonia gas at 115-120 deg. C. It is a
white solid which decomposes on heating into boron nitride and
ammonia. Long-continued heating with water also decomposes it slowly.
Boron sulphide B2S3 can be obtained by the direct union of the two
elements at a white heat or from the tri-iodide and sulphur at 440
deg. C., but is most conveniently prepared by heating a mixture of the
trioxide and carbon in a stream of carbon bisulphide vapour. It forms
slightly coloured small crystals possessing a strong disagreeable
smell, and is rapidly decomposed by water with the formation of boric
acid and sulphuretted hydrogen. A pentasulphide B2S5 is prepared, in
an impure condition, by heating a solution of sulphur in carbon
bisulphide with boron iodide, and forms a white crystalline powder
which decomposes under the influence of water into sulphur,
sulphuretted hydrogen and boric acid.
Boron trioxide B2O3 is the only known oxide of boron; and may be
prepared by heating amorphous boron in oxygen, or better, by strongly
igniting boric acid. After fusion the mass solidifies to a transparent
vitreous solid which dissolves readily in water to form boric acid
(q.v.); it is exceedingly hygroscopic and even on standing in moist
air becomes opaque through absorption of water and formation of boric
acid. Its specific gravity is 1.83 (J. Dumas). It is not volatile
below a white heat, and consequently, if heated with salts of more
volatile acids, it expels the acid forming oxide from such salts; for
example, if potassium sulphate be heated with boron trioxide, sulphur
trioxide is liberated and potassium borate formed. It also possesses
the power of combining with most metallic oxides at high
temperatures, forming borates, which in many cases show characteristic
colours. Many organic compounds of boron are known; thus, from the
action of the trichloride on ethyl alcohol or on methyl alcohol, ethyl
borate B(OC2H5)3 and methyl borate B(OCH3)3 are obtained. These are
colourless liquids boiling at 119 deg. C. and 72 deg. C. respectively,
and both are readily decomposed by water. By the action of zinc methyl
on ethyl borate, in the requisite proportions, boron trimethyl is
obtained, thus:--2B(OC2H5)2 + 6Zn(CH3)2 = 2B(CH3)3 +
/ CH3
+ 6Zn <
\ OC2H5
as a colourless spontaneously inflammable gas of unbearable smell.
Boron triethyl B(C2H5)3 is obtained in the same manner, by using zinc
ethyl. It is a colourless spontaneously inflammable liquid of boiling
point 95 deg. C. By the action of one molecule of ethyl borate on two
molecules of zinc ethyl, the compound B(C2H5)2.OC2H5 diethylboron
ethoxide is obtained as a colourless liquid boiling at 102 deg. C. By
the action of water it is converted into B(C2H5)2.OH, and this latter
compound on exposure to air takes up oxygen slowly, forming the
compound B.C2H5.OC2H5.OH, which, with water, gives B(C2H5).(OH)2. From
the condensation of two molecules of ethyl borate with one molecule of
zinc ethyl the compound B2.C2H5.(OC2H5)5 is obtained as a colourless
liquid of boiling point. 112 deg. C. Boron triethyl and boron
trimethyl both combine with ammonia.
The atomic weight of boron has been determined by estimating the water
content of pure borax (J. Berzelius), also by conversion of anhydrous
borax into sodium chloride (W. Ramsay and E. Aston) and from analysis
of the bromide and chloride (Sainte-Claire Deville); the values
obtained ranging from 10.73 to 11.04. Boron can be estimated by
precipitation as potassium fluoborate, which is insoluble in a mixture
of potassium acetate and alcohol. For this purpose only boric acid or
its potassium salt must be present; and to ensure this, the borate can
be distilled with sulphuric acid and methyl alcohol and the volatile
ester absorbed in potash.
BOROUGH [BURROUGH, BURROWE, BORROWS], STEVEN (1525-1584), English
navigator, was born at Northam in Devonshire on the 25th of September
1525. In 1553 he took part in the expedition which was despatched from
the Thames under Sir Hugh Willoughby to look for a northern passage to
Cathay and India, serving as master of the "Edward Bonaventure," on
which Richard Chancellor sailed as pilot in chief. Separated by a storm
from the "Bona Esperanza" and the "Bona Confidentia," the other two
ships of the expedition, Borough proceeded on his voyage alone, and
sailing into the White Sea, in the words of his epitaph, "discouered
Moscouia by the Northerne sea passage to St Nicholas" (Archangel). In a
second expedition, made in the "Serchthrift" in 1556, he discovered Kara
Strait, between Novaya Zemlya and Vaygach island. In 1560 he was in
charge of another expedition to Russia, and, probably in 1558, he also
made a voyage to Spain. At the beginning of 1563 he was appointed chief
pilot and one of the four masters of the queen's ships in the Medway,
and in this office he spent the rest of his life. He died on the 12th of
July 1584, and was buried at Chatham. His son, Christopher Borough,
wrote a description of a trading expedition made in 1579-1581 from the
White Sea to the Caspian and back.
His younger brother, WILLIAM BOROUGH, born in 1536, also at Northam,
served as an ordinary seaman in the "Edward Bonaventure" on her voyage
to Russia in 1553, and subsequently made many voyages to St Nicholas.
Later he transferred his services from the merchant adventurers to the
crown. As commander of the "Lion" he accompanied Sir Francis Drake in
his Cadiz expedition of 1587, but he got himself into trouble by
presuming to disagree with his chief concerning the wisdom of the attack
on Lagos. He died in 1599. He was the author of _A Discourse of the
Variation of the Compas, or Magneticall Needle_ (1581), and some of the
charts he made are preserved at the British Museum and Hatfield.
BOROUGH (A.S. nominative _burh_, dative _byrig_, which produces some of
the place-names ending in _bury_, a sheltered or fortified place, the
camp of refuge of a tribe, the stronghold of a chieftain; of. Ger.
_Burg_, Fr. _bor_, _borc_, _bourg_), the term for a town, considered as
a unit of local government.
_History of the English Borough._--After the early English settlement,
when Roman fortifications ceased to shelter hostile nations, their
colonies and camps were used by the Anglo-Saxon invaders to form tribal
strongholds; nevertheless burhs on the sites of Roman colonies show no
continuity with Roman municipal organization. The resettlement of the
Roman Durovernum as the burh of the men of (East) Kent, under a changed
name, the name "burh of the men of Kent," Cant-wara-byrig (Canterbury),
illustrates this point. The burh of the men of West Kent was
Hrofesceaster (Durobrivae), Rochester, and many other _ceasters_ mark
the existence of a Roman camp occupied by an early English burh. The
tribal burh was protected by an earthen wall, and a general obligation
to build and maintain burhs at the royal command was enforced by
Anglo-Saxon law. Offences in disturbance of the peace of the burh were
punished by higher fines than breaches of the peace of the "ham" or
ordinary dwelling. The burh was the home of the king as well as the
asylum of the tribe, and there is reason to think that the boundary of
the borough was annually sanctified by a religious ceremony, and hence
the long retention of a processional perambulation. Possibly the "hedge"
or "wall" of the borough gave it, besides safety, a sanctity analogous
to that enjoyed by the Germanic assembly while gathered within its
"hedge," which the priests solemnly set up when the assembly gathered,
and removed when it was over. While the "peace" of the Germanic assembly
was essentially temporary, the "peace" of the burh was sacred all the
year round. Its "hedge" was never removed. The sanctity of the burh was
enjoyed by all the dwellings of the king, at first perhaps only during
his term of residence. Neither in the early English language nor in the
contemporary Latin was there any fixed usage differentiating the various
words descriptive of the several forms of human settlement, and the
tribal refuges cannot accordingly be clearly distinguished from villages
or the strongholds of individuals by any purely nomenclative test. It is
not till after the Danish invasions that it becomes easier to draw a
distinction between the burhs that served as military strongholds for
national defence and the royal vills which served no such purpose. Some
of the royal vills eventually entered the class of boroughs, but by
another route, and for the present the private stronghold and the royal
dwelling may be neglected. It was the public stronghold and the
administrative centre of a dependent district which was the source of
the main features peculiar to the borough.
Many causes tended to create peculiar conditions in the boroughs built
for national defence. They were placed where artificial defence was most
needed, at the junction of roads, in the plains, on the rivers, at the
centres naturally marked out for trade, seldom where hills or marshes
formed a sufficient natural defence. The burhs drew commerce by every
channel; the camp and the palace, the administrative centre, the
ecclesiastical centre (for the mother-church of the state was placed in
its chief burh), all looked to the market for their maintenance. The
burh was provided by law with a mint and royal moneyers and exchangers,
with an authorized scale for weights and measures. Mercantile
transactions in the burhs or _ports_, as they were called when their
commercial rather than their military importance was accentuated, were
placed by law under special legal privileges in order no doubt to secure
the king's hold upon his toll. Over the burh or port was set a reeve, a
royal officer answerable to the king for his dues from the burh, his
rents for lands and houses, his customs on commerce, his share of the
profits from judicial fines. At least from the 10th century the burh had
a "moot" or court, the relation of which to the other courts is matter
of speculation. A law of Edgar, about 960, required that it should meet
three times a year, these being in all likelihood assemblies at which
attendance was compulsory on all tenants of the burghal district, when
pleas concerning life and liberty and land were held, and men were
compelled to find pledges answerable for their good conduct. At these
great meetings the borough reeve (_gerefa_) presided, declaring the law
and guiding the judgments given by the suitors of the court. The reeve
was supported by a group of assistants, called in Devon the "witan," in
the boroughs of the Danelaw by a group of (generally twelve) "lawmen,"
in other towns probably by a group of aldermen, senior burgesses, with
military and police authority, whose office was in some cases
hereditary. These persons assisted the reeve at the great meetings of
the full court, and sat with him as judges at the subordinate meetings
which were held to settle the unfinished causes and minor causes. There
was no compulsion on those not specially summoned to attend these extra
meetings. At these subordinate jurisdictional assemblies, held in
public, and acting by the same authority as the annual gathering of all
the _burh-wara_, other business concerning borough administration was
decided, at least in later days, and it is to these assemblies that the
origin of the town council may in many cases be ascribed. In the larger
towns the division into wards, with a separate police system, can be
traced at an early time, appearing as a unit of military organization,
answerable for the defence of a gate of the town. The police system of
London is described in detail in a record of 930-940. Here the free
people were grouped in associations of ten, each under the
superintendence of a headman. The bishops and reeves who belonged to the
"court of London" appear as the directors of the system, and in them we
may see the aldermen of the wards of a later time. The use of the word
_bertha_ for ward at Canterbury, and the fact that the London wardmoot
at a later time was used for the frankpledge system as well as for the
organization of the muster, point to a connexion between the military
and the police systems in the towns. At the end of the 9th and beginning
of the 10th century there is evidence of a systematic "timbering" of new
burhs, with the object of providing strongholds for the defence of
Wessex against the Danes, and it appears that the surrounding districts
were charged with their maintenance. In charters of this period a "haw,"
or enclosed area within a burh, was often conveyed by charter as if it
were an apanage of the lands in the neighbourhood with which it was
conveyed; the Norman settlers who succeeded to lands in the county
succeeded therewith to houses in the burhs, for a close association
existed between the "thegns" of the shire and the shirestow, an
association partly perhaps of duty and also of privilege. The king
granted borough "haws" as places of refuge in Kent, and in London he
gave them with commercial privileges to his bishops. What has been
called the "heterogeneous" tenure of the shirestow, one of the most
conspicuous characteristics of that particular type of borough, was
further increased by the liberty which some burgesses enjoyed to
"commend" themselves to a lord of their own choosing, promising to that
lord suit and service and perhaps rent in return for protection. Over
these burgesses the lords could claim jurisdictional rights, and these
were in some cases increased by royal grants of special rights within
certain "sokes." The great boroughs were honeycombed with sokes, or
areas of seignorial jurisdiction, within which the royal reeve's
authority was greatly restricted while that of the lord's reeve took
precedence. Even the haws, being "burhs" or strongholds within a
stronghold, enjoyed a local "peace" which protected from official
intrusion. Besides heterogeneity of tenure and jurisdiction in the
borough, there was also heterogeneity of status; there were burh-thegns
and cnihts, mercatores, burgesses of various kinds, the three groups
representing perhaps military, commercial and agricultural elements. The
burh generally shows signs of having been originally a village
settlement, surrounded by open fields, of which the borough boundary
before 1835 will suggest the outline. This area was as a rule eventually
the area of borough jurisdiction. There is some evidence pointing to the
fact that the restriction of the borough authority to this area is not
ancient, but due to the Norman settlement. The wide districts over which
the boroughs had had authority were placed under the control of the
Norman castle which was itself built by means of the old English levy of
"burh-work." The borough court was allowed to continue its work only
within its own immediate territory, and, to prevent conflict, the castle
was placed outside the borough. Losing their place in the national
scheme of defence, the burgess "cnihts" made commerce their principal
object under the encouragement of the old privileges of the walled
place.
Besides the great co-operative strongholds in which many lords had
burgesses, there were small boroughs held by a single lord. In many
cases boroughs of this "seignorial" type were created upon the royal
estates. Out of the king's vill, as a rule the jurisdictional centre of
a hundred, there was sometimes created a borough. The lines of division
before Domesday Book are obscure, but it is probable that in some cases,
by a royal grant of jurisdiction, the inhabitants of a populous royal
vill, where a hundred court for the district was already held, were
authorized to establish a permanent court, for the settlement of their
disputes, distinct from the hundred court of the district. Boroughs of
this type with a uniform tenure were created not only on the king's
estates but also on those of his tenants-in-chief, and in 1086 they were
probably already numerous. A borough was usually, though perhaps not
invariably, the companion of a Norman castle. In some cases a French
"bourg" was created by the side of an English borough, and the two
remained for many generations distinct in their laws and customs: in
other cases a French "bourg" was settled by the side of an English
village. A large number of the followers of the Norman lords had been
almost certainly town-dwellers in their own country, and lost none of
their burghal privileges by the migration. Every castle needed for its
maintenance a group of skilled artisans, and the lords wished to draw to
the castle gates all kinds of commodities for the castle's provision.
The strength of the garrison made the neighbourhood of the castle a
place of danger to men unprotected by legal privilege; and in order to
invite to its neighbourhood desirable settlers, legal privileges similar
to those enjoyed in Norman or English boroughs were guaranteed to those
who would build on the plots which were offered to colonists. A low
fixed rental, release from the renders required of villeins, release
from the jurisdiction of the castle, and the creation of a separate
borough jurisdiction, with or without the right to choose their own
officers, rules fixing the maximum of fees and fines, or promising
assessment of the fines by the burgesses themselves, the cancelling of
all the castellan's rights, especially the right to take a forced levy
of food for the castle from all within the area of his jurisdiction,
freedom from arbitrary tallage, freedom of movement, the right to
alienate property and devise land, these and many other privileges named
in the early seignorial charters were what constituted the Norman _liber
burgus_ of the seignorial type. Not all these privileges were enjoyed by
all boroughs; some very meagre releases of seignorial rights accompanied
the lord's charter which created a borough and made burgesses out of
villeins. However liberal the grant, the lord or his reeve still
remained in close personal relation with the burgesses of such places,
and this character, together with the uniformity of their tenure,
continued to hold them apart from the boroughs of the old English type,
where all varieties of personal relationship between the lords and their
groups of tenants might subsist. The royal charters granting the right
to retain old customs prevented the systematic introduction into the old
boroughs of some of the incidents of feudalism. Rights of the king took
precedence of those of the lord, and devise with the king's consent was
legal. By these means the lords' position was weakened, and other
seignorial claims were later evaded or contested. The rights which the
lords failed to keep were divided between the king and the municipality;
in London, for instance, the king obtained all escheats, while the
borough court secured the right of wardship of burgess orphans.
From Norman times the yearly profit of the royal boroughs was as a rule
included in the general "farm" rendered for the county by the sheriff;
sometimes it was rendered by a royal farmer apart from the county-farm.
The king generally accepted a composition for all the various items due
from the borough. The burgesses were united in their efforts to keep
that composition unchanged in amount, and to secure the provision of the
right amount at the right time for fear that it should be increased by
way of punishment. The levy of fines on rent arrear, and the distraints
for debt due, which were obtained through the borough court, were a
matter of interest to the burgesses of the court, and first taught the
burgesses co-operative action. Money was raised, possibly by order of
the borough court, to buy a charter from the king giving the right to
choose officers who should answer directly to the exchequer and not
through the sheriff of the county. The sheriff was in many cases also
the constable of the castle, set by the Normans to overawe the English
boroughs; his powers were great and dangerous enough to make him an
officer specially obnoxious to the boroughs. Henry I. about 1131 gave
the London citizens the right to choose their own sheriffs and a
justiciar answerable for keeping the pleas of the crown. In 1130 the
Lincoln citizens paid to hold their city in chief of the king. By the
end of the 12th century many towns paid by the hand of their own reeves,
and John's charters began to make rules as to the freedom of choice to
be allowed in the nomination of borough officers and as to the royal
power of dismissal. In Richard I.'s reign London imitated the French
communes in styling the chief officer a mayor; in 1208 Winchester also
had a mayor, and the title soon became no rarity. The chartered right to
choose two or more citizens to keep the pleas of the crown gave to many
boroughs the control of their coroners, who occupied the position of the
London justiciar of earlier days, subject to those considerable
modifications which Henry II.'s systematization of the criminal law had
introduced. Burgesses who had gone for criminal and civil justice to
their own court in disputes between themselves, or between themselves
and strangers who were in their town, secured confirmation of this right
by charter, not to exclude the justices in eyre, but to exempt
themselves from the necessity of pleading in a distant court. The
burgess, whether plaintiff or defendant, was a privileged person, and
could claim in this respect a "benefit" somewhat similar to the benefit
of clergy. In permitting the boroughs to answer through their own
officers for his dues, the king handed over to the boroughs the farming
of his rents and a large number of rights which would eventually prove
to be sources of great profit.
No records exist showing the nature of municipal proceedings at the time
of the first purchase of charters. Certain it is that the communities in
the 12th century became alive to the possibilities of their new
position, that trade received a new impulse, and the vague
constitutional powers of the borough court acquired a new need for
definition. At first the selection of officers who were to treat with
the exchequer and to keep the royal pleas was almost certainly
restricted to a few rich persons who could find the necessary
securities. Nominated probably in one of the smaller judicial
assemblies, the choice was announced at the great Michaelmas assembly of
the whole community, and it is not till the next century that we hear of
any attempt of the "vulgus" to make a different selection from that of
the magnates. The "vulgus" were able to take effective action by means
of the several craft organizations, and first found the necessity to do
so when taxation was heavy or when questions of trade legislation were
mooted (see GILDS). The taxation of the boroughs in the reign of Henry
II. was assessed by the king's justices, who fixed the sums due _per
capita_; but if the borough made an offer of a gift, the assessment was
made by the burgesses. In the first case the taxation fell on the
magnates. In the levy _per communam_ the assessment was made through the
wardmoots (in London) and the burden fell on the poorer class. In Henry
II.'s reign London was taxed by both methods, the _barones majores_ by
head, the _barones minores_ through the wardmoot. The pressure of
taxation led in the 13th century to a closer definition of the burghal
constitutions; the commons sought to get an audit of accounts, and (in
London) not only to hear but to treat of municipal affairs. By the end
of the century London had definitely established two councils, that of
the mayor and aldermen, representing the old borough court, and a common
council, representing the voice of the commonalty, as expressed through
the city wards. The choice of councillors in the wards rested probably
with the aldermen and the ward jury summoned by them to make the
presentments. In some cases juries were summoned not to represent
different areas but different classes; thus at Lincoln there were in
1272 juries of the rich, the middling and the poor, chosen presumably by
authority from groups divided by means of the tax roll. Elsewhere the
several groups of traders and artisans made of their gilds all-powerful
agencies for organizing joint action among classes of commons united by
a trade interest, and the history of the towns becomes the history of
the struggle between the gilds which captured control of the council
and the gilds which were excluded therefrom. Many municipal revolutions
took place, and a large number of constitutional experiments were tried
all over the country from the 13th century onward. Schemes which
directed a gradual co-optation, two to choose four, these six to choose
more, and so in widening circles from a centre of officialdom, found
much favour throughout the middle ages. A plan, like the London plan, of
two companies, alderman and council, was widely favoured in the 14th
century, perhaps in imitation of the Houses of Lords and Commons. The
mayor was sometimes styled the "sovereign" and was given many
prerogatives. Great respect was paid to the "ancients," those, namely,
who had already held municipal office. Not till the 15th century were
orderly arrangements for counting "voices" arrived at in a few of the
most highly developed towns, and these were used only in the small
assemblies of the governing body, not in the large electoral assemblies
of the people.
In London in the 13th century there was a regular system for the
admission of new members to the borough "franchise," which was at first
regarded not as conferring any form of suffrage but as a means to secure
a privileged position in the borough court and in the trade of the
borough. Admission could be obtained by inheritance, by purchase or
gift, in some places by marriage, and in London, at least from 1275, by
a municipal register of apprenticeship. The new freeman in return for
his privileges was bound to share with the other burgesses all the
burdens of taxation, control, &c., which fell upon burgesses. Personal
service was not always necessary, and in some towns there were many
non-resident burgesses. When in later times admission to this freedom
came to be used as means to secure the parliamentary franchise, the
freedom of the borough was freely sold and given. The elections in which
the commons of the boroughs first took interest were those of the
borough magistrates. Where the commons succeeded for a time in asserting
their right to take part in borough elections they were rarely able to
keep it, not in all cases perhaps because their power was feared, but
sometimes because of the riotous proceedings which ensued. These led to
government interference, which no party in the borough desired. The
possibility of a forfeiture of their enfranchised position made the
burgesses on the whole fairly submissive. In the 13th century London
repeatedly was "taken into the king's hand," subjected to heavy fines
and put under the constable of the Tower. In the 15th century
disturbances in the boroughs led to the issue of new constitutions, some
of which were the outcome of royal charters, others the result of
parliamentary legislation. The development of the law of corporations
also at this time compelled the boroughs to seek new charters which
should satisfy the now exacting demands of the law. The charters of
incorporation were issued at a time when the state was looking more and
more to the borough authorities as part of its executive and judicial
staff, and thus the government was closely interested in the manner of
their selection. The new charters were drafted in such a way as to
narrow the popular control. The corporations were placed under a council
and in a number of cases popular control was excluded altogether, the
whole system being made one of co-optation. The absence of popular
protest may be ascribed in part to the fact that the old popular control
had been more nominal than real, and the new charter gave as a rule two
councils of considerable size. These councils bore a heavy burden of
taxation in meeting royal loans and benevolences, paying _per capita_
like the magnates of the 12th century, and for a time there is on the
whole little evidence of friction between the governors and the
governed. Throughout, popular opinion in the closest of corporations had
a means of expression, though none of execution, in the presentments of
the leet juries and sessions juries. By means of their "verdicts" they
could use threats against the governing body, express their resentment
against acts of the council which benefited the governing body rather
than the town, and call in the aid of the justices of assize where the
members of the governing body were suspected of fraud. Elizabeth
repeatedly declared her dislike of incorporations "because of the
abuses committed by their head rulers," but in her reign they were
fairly easily controlled by the privy council, which directed their
choice of members of parliament and secured supporters of the government
policy to fill vacancies on the borough bench. The practice in Tudor and
Stuart charters of specifying by name the members of the governing body
and holders of special offices opened the way to a "purging" of the
hostile spirits when new charters were required. There were also rather
vaguely worded clauses authorizing the dismissal of officers for
misconduct, though as a rule the appointments were for life. When under
the Stuarts and under the Commonwealth political and religious feeling
ran high in the boroughs, use was made of these clauses both by the
majority on the council and by the central government to mould the
character of the council by a drastic "purging." Another means of
control first used under the Commonwealth was afforded by the various
acts of parliament, which subjected all holders of municipal office to
the test of an oath. Under the Commonwealth there was no improvement in
the methods used by the central government to control the boroughs. All
opponents of the ruling policy were disfranchised and disqualified for
office by act of parliament in 1652. Cases arising out of the act were
to be tried by commissioners, and the commissions of the major-generals
gave them opportunity to control the borough policy. Few Commonwealth
charters have been preserved, though several were issued in response to
the requests of the corporations.
In some cases the charters used words which appeared to point to an
opportunity for popular elections in boroughs where a usage of election
by the town council had been established. In 1598 the judges gave an
opinion that the town councils could by by-law determine laws for the
government of the town regardless of the terms of the charter. In the
18th century the judges decided to the contrary. But even where a usage
of popular election was established, there were means of controlling the
result of a parliamentary election. The close corporations, though their
right to choose a member of parliament might be doubtful, had the sole
right to admit new burgesses, and in order to determine parliamentary
elections they enfranchised non-residents. Where conflicts arose over
the choice of a member, and two selections were made, the matter came
before the House of Commons. On various occasions the House decided in
favour of the popularly elected candidate against the nominee of the
town council, on the general principle that neither the royal charter
nor a by-law could curtail this particular franchise. But as each case
was separately determined by a body swayed by the dominant political
party, no one principle was steadily adhered to in the trial of election
petitions. The royal right to create boroughs was freely used by
Elizabeth and James I. as a means of securing a submissive parliament.
The later Stuarts abandoned this method, and the few new boroughs made
by the Georges were not made for political reasons. The object of the
later Stuarts was to control the corporations already in existence, not
to make new ones. Charles II. from the time of his restoration decided
to exercise a strict control of the close corporations in order to
secure not only submissive parliaments, but also a pliant executive
among the borough justices, and pliant juries, which were impanelled at
the selection of the borough officers. In 1660 it was made a rule that
all future charters should reserve expressly to the crown the first
nomination of the aldermen, recorder and town-clerk, and a proviso
should be entered placing with the common council the return of the
member of parliament. The Corporation Act of 1661 gave power to royal
commissioners to settle the composition of the town councils, and to
remove all who refused the sacraments of the Church of England or were
suspected of disaffection, even though they offered to take the
necessary oaths. Even so the difficulty of securing submissive juries
was again so great in 1682 that a general attack on the borough
franchises was begun by the crown. A London jury having returned a
verdict hostile to the crown, after various attempts to bend the city to
his will, Charles II. issued a _quo warranto_ against the mayor and
commonalty in order to charge the citizens with illegal encroachments
upon their chartered rights. The want of a sound philosophical
principle in the laws which were intended to regulate the actions of
organized groups of men made it easy for the crown judges to find flaws
in the legality of the actions of the boroughs, and also made it
possible for the Londoners to argue that no execution could be taken
against the mayor, commonalty and citizens, a "body politic invisible";
that the indictment lay only against every particular member of the
governing body; and that the corporation as a corporation was incapable
of suffering a forfeiture or of making a surrender. The judges gave a
judgment for the king, the charters were forfeited and the government
placed with a court of aldermen of the king's own choosing. Until James
II. yielded, there was no common council in London. The novelty of the
proceedings of Charles II. and James II. lay in using the weapon of the
_quo warranto_ systematically to ensure a general revocation of
charters. The new charters which were then granted required the king's
consent for the more important appointments, and gave him power to
remove officers without reason given. Under James II. in 1687 six
commissioners were appointed to "regulate" the corporations and remove
from them all persons who were opposed to the abolition of the penal
laws against Catholics. The new appointments were made under a writ
which ran, "We will and require you to elect" (a named person). When
James II. sought to withdraw from his disastrous policy, he issued a
proclamation (October 17, 1688) restoring to the boroughs their ancient
charters. The governing charter thenceforth in many boroughs, though not
in all, was the charter which had established a close corporation, and
from this time on to 1835 the boroughs made no progress in
constitutional growth. The tendency for the close corporation to treat
the members of the governing body as the only corporators, and to
repudiate the idea that the corporation was answerable to the
inhabitants of the borough if the corporate property was squandered,
became more and more manifest as the history of the past slipped into
oblivion. The corporators came to regard themselves as members of a
club, legally warranted in dividing the lands and goods of the same
among themselves whensoever such a division should seem profitable. Even
where the constitution of the corporation was not close by charter, the
franchise tended to become restricted to an ever-dwindling electorate,
as the old methods for the extension of the municipal franchise by other
means than inheritance died out of use. At Ipswich in 1833 the "freemen"
numbered only one fifty-fifth of the population. If the electorate was
increased, it was increased by the wholesale admission to the freedom of
voters willing to vote as directed by the corporation at parliamentary
elections. The growth of corruption in the boroughs continued unchecked
until the era of the Reform Bill. Several boroughs had by that time
become insolvent, and some had recourse to their member of parliament to
eke out their revenues. In Buckingham the mayor received the whole town
revenue without rendering account; sometimes, however, heavy charges
fell upon the officers. Before the Reform era dissatisfaction with the
corporations was mainly shown by the number of local acts of parliament
which placed under the authority of special commissioners a variety of
administrative details, which if the corporation had not been suspected
would certainly have been assigned to its care. The trust offered
another convenient means of escape from difficulty, and in some towns
out of the trust was developed a system of municipal administration
where there was no recognized corporation. Thus at Peterborough the
feoffees who had succeeded to the control of certain ancient charities
constituted a form of town council with very restricted powers. In the
17th century Sheffield was brought under the act "to redress the
misemployment of lands given to charitable uses," and the municipal
administration of what had been a borough passed into the hands of the
trustees of the Burgery or town trust.
The many special authorities created under act of parliament led to much
confusion, conflict and overlapping, and increased the need for a
general reform. The reform of the boroughs was treated as part of the
question of parliamentary reform. In 1832 the exclusive privileges of
the corporations in parliamentary elections having been abolished and
male occupiers enfranchised, the question of the municipal franchise was
next dealt with. In 1833 a commission inquired into the administration
of the municipal corporations. The result of the inquiry was the
Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which gave the municipal franchise to
the ratepayers. In all the municipal corporations dealt with by the act,
the town council was to consist of a mayor, aldermen and councillors,
and the councils were given like powers, being divided into those with
and those without a commission of the peace. The minutes were to be open
to the inspection of any burgess, and an audit of accounts was required.
The exclusive rights of retail trading, which in some towns were
restricted to freemen of the borough, were abolished. The system of
police, which in some places was still medieval in character, was placed
under the control of the council. The various privileged areas within
the bounds of a borough were with few exceptions made part of the
borough. The powers of the council to alienate corporate property were
closely restricted. The operations of the act were extended by later
legislation, and the divers amendments and enactments which followed
were consolidated in the Municipal Corporations Act 1882. (M. Bat.)
_Irish Boroughs._--In Ireland the earliest traces of burghal life are
connected with the maritime settlements on the southern and eastern
coast. The invasion of Henry II. colonized these Ostman ports with
Anglo-Norman communities, who brought with them, or afterwards obtained,
municipal charters of a favourable kind. The English settlement
obviously depended on the advantages which the burgesses possessed over
the native population outside. Quite different from these were the new
close boroughs which during the plantation of Ulster James I. introduced
from England. The conquest was by this time completed, and by a rigorous
enforcement of the Supremacy and Uniformity Acts the existing liberties
of the older boroughs were almost entirely withdrawn. By the new rules
published (in terms of the Act of Settlement and Explanation) in 1672
resident traders were permitted to become freemen, but neither this
regulation nor the ordinary admissions through birth, marriage and
apprenticeship succeeded in giving to Ireland free and vigorous
municipalities. The corrupt admission of non-resident freemen, in order
to outvote the ancient freeholders in parliamentary elections, and the
systematic exclusion of Roman Catholics, soon divorced the "commonalty"
from true local interests, and made the corporations, which elected
themselves or selected the constituency, dangerously unpopular.
_Scottish Boroughs._--In Scotland burghs or burrows are divided into
royal burghs, burghs of regality and burghs of barony. The first were
erected by royal charter, and every burgess held direct of the crown. It
was, therefore, impossible to subfeu the burgh lands,--a distinction
still traceable in modern conveyancing. Where perhaps no charter ever
existed, the law on proof of immemorial possession of the privileges of
a royal burgh has presumed that a charter of erection once existed. The
charter gave power to elect provost, bailies and council, a power long
exercised under the act of 1469, which directed the new council to be
chosen annually by the retiring council, and the magistrates by both
councils. The jurisdiction of these magistrates, which was specially
reserved in the act of 1747 abolishing heritable jurisdictions, was
originally cumulative with, and as large as, that of the sheriff. It is
now confined to police offences, summary ejections, orders for _interim_
aliment (for prisoners), payment of burgh dues and delivery of title
deeds. Three head courts were held in the year, at which all burgesses
were obliged to attend, and at which public business was done and
private transactions were ratified. There were three classes of
burgesses--burgesses _in sua arte_, members of one or other of the
corporations; burgesses who were gild brothers; and simple burgesses.
The Leges Burgorum apparently contemplate that all respectable
inhabitants should have the franchise, but a ceremony of admission was
required, at which the applicant swore fealty and promised to watch and
ward for the community, and to pay his "maill" to the king. These
borough maills, or rents, and the great and small customs of burghs,
formed a large part of the royal revenue, and, although frequently
leased or feued out for a fixed duty, were on the accession of James I.
annexed to the crown as an alimentary fund. Burgh customs still stand in
the peculiar position of being neither adjudgeable nor arrestable; they
are therefore bad security. The early charters contain the usual
privileges of holding a market, of exemption from toll or tribute, and
that distraint will be allowed only for the burgess's own debts. There
was also the usual strife between the gildry and the craftsmen, who were
generally prohibited from trading, and of whom dyers, fleshers and
shoemakers were forbidden to enter the gildry. Deacons, wardens and
visitors were appointed by the crafts, and the rate of wages was fixed
by the magistrates. The crafts in Scotland were frequently incorporated,
not by royal charter, but, as in the case of the cordiners of Edinburgh,
by seals of cause from the corporation. The trade history of the free
burghs is very important. Thus in 1466 the privilege of importing and
exporting merchandise was confined to freemen, burgesses and their
factors. Ships were directed to trade to the king's free burghs, there
to pay the customs, and to receive their _cocquets_ or custom-house
seals; and in 1503 persons dwelling outside burghs were forbidden to
"use any merchandise," or to sell wine or staple goods. An act of 1633,
erroneously called a _Ratification_ of the privileges of burghs,
extended these privileges of buying and selling to retail as well as
wholesale trade, but restricted their enjoyment to royal burghs.
Accordingly, in 1672, a general declaratory act was passed confirming to
the freemen in royal burghs the wholesale trade in wine, wax, silk,
dyeing materials, &c., permitting generally to all persons the export of
native raw material, specially permitting the burgesses of barony and
regality to export their own manufactures, and such goods as they may
buy in "markets," and to import against these consignments certain
materials for tillage, building, or for use in their own manufactures,
with a general permission to retail all commodities. This extraordinary
system was again changed in 1690 by an act which declared that freemen
of royal burghs should have the sole right of importing everything by
sea or land except bestial, and also of exporting by sea everything
which was not native raw material, which might be freely exported by
land. The gentry were always allowed to import for their personal
consumption and to export an equal quantity of commodities. The act
mentions that the royal burghs as an estate of the kingdom contributed
one-sixth part of all public impositions, and were obliged to build and
maintain prison-houses. Some of these trade privileges were not
abolished till 1846.
In the north of Scotland there was an association of free burghs called
the Hanse or _Ansus_; and the lord chamberlain, by his _Iter_, or
circuit of visitation, maintained a common standard of right and duties
in all burghs, and examined the state of the "common good," the accounts
of which in 1535 were appointed to be laid before the auditors in
exchequer. The chamberlain latterly presided in the Curia Quatuor
Burgorum (Edinburgh, Berwick, Stirling, Roxburgh), which not only made
regulations in trade, but decided questions of private right (e.g.
succession), according to the varying customs of burghs. This court
frequently met at Haddington; in 1454 it was fixed at Edinburgh. The
more modern convention of royal burghs (which appeared as a judicial
_persona_ in the Court of Session so late as 1839) probably dates from
the act of James III. (1487, c. 111), which appointed the commissioners
of burghs, both north and south, to meet yearly at Inverkeithing "to
treat of the welfare of merchandise, the good rule and statutes for the
common profit of burghs, and to provide for remeid upon the skaith and
injuries sustained within the burghs." Among the more important
functions of this body (on whose decrees at one time summary diligence
proceeded) were the prohibition of undue exactions within burghs, the
revisal of the "set" or mode of municipal election, and the _pro rata_
division among the burghs of the parliamentary subsidy required from the
third estate. The reform of the municipalities, and the complete
representation of the mercantile interests in the united parliament,
deprived this body of any importance.
Burghs of regality and of barony held in vassalage of some great
lordship, lay or ecclesiastical, but were always in theory or in
practice created by crown grant. They received jurisdiction in civil and
criminal matters, generally cumulative with that of the baron or the
lord of regality, who in some cases obtained the right of nominating
magistrates. Powers to hold markets and to levy customs were likewise
given to these burghs.
The Scottish burghs emerged slowly into political importance. In 1295
the procurators of six burghs ratified the agreement for the marriage of
Edward Baliol; and in 1326 they were recognized as a third estate,
granting a tenth penny on all rents for the king's life, if he should
apply it for the public good. The commissioners of burghs received from
the exchequer their costages or expenses of attending parliament. The
burghs were represented in the judicial committee, and in the committee
on articles appointed during the reign of James V. After the
Reformation, in spite of the annexation of kirk lands to the crown, and
the increased burdens laid on temporal lands, the proportion of general
taxation borne by the burghs (viz. 1s. 6d.) was expressly preserved by
act 1587, c. 112. The number of commissioners, of course, fluctuated
from time to time. Cromwell assigned ten members to the Scottish burghs
in the second parliament of Three Nations (1654). The general practice
until 1619 had been, apparently, that each burgh should send two
members. In that year (by an arrangement with the convention of burghs)
certain groups of burghs returned one member, Edinburgh returning two.
Under art. 22 of the treaty of Union the number of members for royal
burghs was fixed at fifteen, who were elected in Edinburgh by the
magistrates and town council, and in the groups of burghs by delegates
chosen ad hoc. (W. C. S.)
See C. Gross, _Bibliography of British Municipal History_ (1897),
which contains all needful references up to that date; F.W. Maitland,
_Township and Borough_ (1898); A. Ballard, _Domesday Boroughs_ (1904);
M. Bateson, _Borough Customs_ (1904-1906); S. and B. Webb, _English
Local Government_ (3 vols., 1906-1908). For the character of the
modern Scottish burgh see Mabel Atkinson, _Local Government in
Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1904), where other works are mentioned.
BOROUGHBRIDGE, a market town in the Ripon parliamentary division of the
West Riding of Yorkshire, England; 22 m. N.W. of York on a branch of the
North Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 830. It lies in the central plain of
Yorkshire, on the river Ure near its confluence with the Swale. It is in
the parish of Aldborough, the village of that name (q.v.), celebrated
for its Roman remains, lying a mile south-east.
About half a mile to the west of Boroughbridge there are three upright
stones called the Devil's Arrows, which are of uncertain origin but
probably of the Celtic period. The manor of Boroughbridge, then called
Burc, was held by Edward the Confessor and passed to William the
Conqueror, but suffered so much from the ravages of his soldiers that
by 1086 it had decreased in value from L10 to 55 s. When the site of
the Great North Road was altered, towards the end of the 11th century,
a bridge was built across the Ure, about half a mile above the Roman
bridge at Aldborough, and called Burgh bridge or Ponteburgem. This
caused a village to spring up, and it afterwards increased so much as
to become a market town. In 1229 Boroughbridge, as part of the manor
of Aldborough, was granted to Hubert de Burgh, but was forfeited a few
years later by his son who fought against the king at Evesham. It then
remained a royal manor until Charles I. granted it to several citizens
of London, from whom it passed through numerous hands to the present
owner. The history of Boroughbridge during the early 14th century
centres round the war with Scotland, and culminates with the battle
fought there in 1321. When in 1317 the Scots invaded England, they
penetrated as far south as Boroughbridge and burnt the town.
Boroughbridge was evidently a borough by prescription, and as such was
called upon to return two members to parliament in 1299. It was not
represented again until 1553, when the privilege was revived. The town
was finally disfranchised in 1832. In 1504 the bailiff and inhabitants
of Boroughbridge received a grant of two fairs, and Charles II. in
1670 created three new fairs in the borough, on the 12th of June, the
5th of August and the 12th of October, and leased them to Francis
Calvert and Thomas Wilkinson for ninety-nine years.
BOROUGH ENGLISH, a custom prevailing in certain ancient English
boroughs, and in districts attached to them (where the lands are held in
socage), and also in certain copyhold manors (chiefly in Surrey,
Middlesex, Suffolk and Sussex), by which in general lands descend to the
youngest son, to the exclusion of all the other children, of the person
dying seised and intestate. Descent to the youngest brother to the
exclusion of all other collaterals, where there is no issue, is
sometimes included in the general definition, but this is really a
special custom to be proved from the court-rolls of the manor and from
local reputation--a custom which is sometimes extended to the youngest
sister, uncle, aunt. Generally, however, Borough English, apart from
specialties, may be said to differ from gavelkind in not including
collaterals. It is often found in connexion with the distinct custom
that the widow shall take as dower the whole and not merely one-third of
her husband's lands.