[1] For a discussion of the ecclesiastical validity of the marriage
see W.H. Wilkins, _Mrs Fitzherbert and George IV._ (1905), chs. vi.
and vii.
[2] Mrs Fitzherbert herself, after her final separation from the
prince, with an annuity of L6000 a year, lived an honoured and more
or less retired life mainly at Brighton, a town which owed its rapid
development in fashionable popularity and material wealth to its
selection by the prince and herself as a residence from the earliest
years of their union; and there she died, seven years after the death
of George IV., in 1837. William IV. on his accession offered to
create her a duchess, but she declined; she accepted, however, his
permission to put her servants in royal livery. William IV. in fact
did all he could, short of a public acknowledgment (which the duke of
Wellington opposed on state grounds), to recognize her position as
his brother's widow. Charles Greville, writing of her after her
death, says in his _Diary_, "She was not a clever woman, but of a
very noble spirit, disinterested, generous, honest and affectionate."
The actual existence of a marriage tie and the documentary evidence
of her rights were not definitely established for many years; but in
1905 a sealed packet, deposited at Coutts's bank in 1833, was at
length opened by royal permission, and the marriage certificate and
other conclusive proofs therein contained were published in Mr W.H.
Wilkins's _Mrs Fitzherbert and George IV_. In 1796 the prince had
made a remarkable will in Mrs Fitzherbert's favour, which he gave her
in 1799, and it is included among these documents (now in the private
archives at Windsor). In this he speaks of her emphatically
throughout as "my wife." It also contained directions that at his
death a locket with her miniature, which he always wore, should be
interred with him; and Mrs Fitzherbert was privately assured, on the
duke of Wellington's authority, that when the king was buried at
Windsor the miniature was on his breast.
GEORGE V. [GEORGE FREDERICK ERNEST ALBERT], king of Great Britain and
Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, emperor of India
(1865- ), second son of King Edward VII., was born at Marlborough House,
London, on the 3rd of June 1865. When four years old, he and his elder
brother, Prince Albert Victor, two years his senior, were placed under
the tutorship of John Neale Dalton, then curate of Sandringham. In 1877
the two princes became naval cadets on the "Britannia" at Spithead,
where they passed through the ordinary curriculum, and in 1879 they
joined H.M.S. "Bacchante" under the command of Captain Lord Charles
Scott, making a voyage to the West Indies, in the course of which they
were rated midshipmen. After a month at home in 1880 they returned to
the ship to make another prolonged cruise in H.M.S. "Bacchante," in the
course of which they visited South America, South Africa, Australia, the
Fiji Islands, Japan, Ceylon, Egypt, Palestine and Greece. A narrative of
this voyage, _The Cruise of H.M.S. "Bacchante_," compiled from the
letters, diaries and notebooks of the princes, was published in 1886. At
the close of this tour in 1882 the brothers separated. Prince George,
who remained in the naval service, was appointed to H.M.S. "Canada,"
commanded by Captain Durrant, on the North American and West Indian
station, and was promoted sub-lieutenant. On his return home he passed
through the Royal Naval College at Greenwich and the gunnery and torpedo
schools, being promoted lieutenant in 1885. A year later he was
appointed to H.M.S. "Thunderer" of the Mediterranean squadron, and was
subsequently transferred to H.M.S. "Dreadnaught" and H.M.S. "Alexandra."
In 1889 he joined the flagship of the Channel squadron, H.M.S.
"Northumberland," and in that year was in command of torpedo boat No. 79
for the naval manoeuvres. In 1890 he was put in command of the gunboat
H.M.S. "Thrush" for service on the North American and West Indian
station. After his promotion as commander in 1891 he commissioned H.M.S.
"Melampus," the command of which he relinquished on the death of his
brother, Albert Victor, the duke of Clarence, in January 1892, since his
duties as eventual heir to the crown precluded him from devoting himself
exclusively to the navy. He was promoted captain in 1893, rear-admiral
in 1901, and vice-admiral in 1903. He was created duke of York, earl of
Inverness, and Baron Killarney in 1892, and on the 6th of July 1893 he
married Princess Victoria Mary (b. 26th May 1867), daughter of Francis,
duke of Teck, and Princess Mary Adelaide, duchess of Teck, daughter of
Adolphus Frederick, duke of Cambridge. Their eldest son, Prince Edward
Albert, was born at White Lodge, Richmond, on the 23rd of June 1894;
Prince Albert Frederick George was born at Sandringham on the 14th of
December 1895; Princess Victoria Alexandra on the 25th of April 1897;
Prince Henry William Frederick Albert on the 31st of March 1900; Prince
George Edward Alexander Edmund on the 20th of December 1902; and Prince
John Charles Francis on the 12th of July 1905. The duke and duchess of
York visited Ireland in 1899, and it had been arranged before the death
of Queen Victoria that they should make a tour in the colonies. On the
accession of King Edward VII. (1901) this plan was confirmed. They
sailed in the "Ophir" on the 16th of March 1901, travelling by the
ordinary route, and landed at Melbourne in May, when they opened the
first parliament of the Commonwealth. They then proceeded to New
Zealand, returning by way of South Africa and Canada. An official
account of the tour was published by Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace as
_The Web of Empire_ (1902). In November 1901 the duke was created prince
of Wales. On the death of Edward VII. (May 6, 1910) he succeeded to the
Crown as George V., his consort taking the style of Queen Mary.
GEORGE V., king of Hanover (1819-1878), was the only son of Ernest
Augustus, king of Hanover and duke of Cumberland, and consequently a
grandson of the English king George III. Born in Berlin on the 27th of
May 1819, his youth was passed in England and in Berlin until 1837, when
his father became king of Hanover and he took up his residence in that
country. He lost the sight of one eye during a childish illness, and the
other by an accident in 1833. Being thus totally blind there were doubts
whether he was qualified to succeed to the government of Hanover; but
his father decided that he should do so, as the law of the dissolved
empire only excluded princes who were born blind. This decision was a
fatal one to the dynasty. Both from his father and from his maternal
uncle, Charles Frederick, prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1785-1837),
one of the most influential men at the Prussian court, George had
learned to take a very high and autocratic view of royal authority. His
blindness prevented him from acquiring the shrewdness and knowledge of
the world which had assisted his father, and he easily fell into the
hands of unwise, and perhaps dishonest and disloyal, advisers. A man of
deep religious feeling, he formed a fantastic conception of the place
assigned to the house of Guelph in the divine economy, and had ideas of
founding a great Guelph state in Europe. It is, therefore, not
surprising that from the time of his accession in November 1851 he was
constantly engaged in disputes with his _Landtag_ or parliament, and was
consequently in a weak and perilous position when the crisis in the
affairs of Germany came in 1866. Having supported Austria in the diet of
the German confederation in June 1866, he refused, contrary to the
wishes of his parliament, to assent to the Prussian demand that Hanover
should observe an unarmed neutrality during the war. As a result his
country and his capital were at once occupied by the Prussians, to whom
his army surrendered on the 29th of June 1866, and in the following
September Hanover was formally annexed by Prussia. From his retreat at
Hietzing near Vienna, George appealed in vain to the powers of Europe;
and supported by a large number of his subjects, an agitation was
carried on which for a time caused some embarrassment to Prussia. All
these efforts, however, to bring about a restoration were unavailing,
and the king passed the remainder of his life at Gmunden in Austria, or
in France, refusing to the last to be reconciled with the Prussian
government. Whilst visiting Paris for medical advice he died in that
city on the 12th of June 1878, and was buried in St George's chapel,
Windsor. In February 1843 he had married Marie, daughter of Joseph, duke
of Saxe-Altenburg, by whom he left a son and two daughters. His son,
Ernest Augustus, duke of Cumberland (b. 1845), continued to maintain the
claim of his house to the kingdom of Hanover.
By the capitulation of 1866 the king was allowed to retain his personal
property, which included money and securities equal to nearly
L1,500,000, which had been sent to England before the Prussian invasion
of Hanover. The crown jewels had also been secretly conveyed to England.
His valuable plate, which had been hidden at Herrenhausen, was restored
to him in 1867; his palace at Herrenhausen, near Hanover, was reserved
as his property; and in 1867 the Prussian government agreed to
compensate him for the loss of his landed estates, but owing to his
continued hostility the payment of the interest on this sum was
suspended in the following year (see HANOVER).
See O. Klopp, _Konig Georg V._ (Hanover, 1878); O. Theodor,
_Erinnerungen an Georg V._ (Bremerhaven, 1878); and O. Meding,
_Memoiren zur Zeitgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1881-1884).
GEORGE I., king of the Hellenes (1845- ), second son of King Christian
IX. of Denmark, was born at Copenhagen on the 24th of December 1845.
After the expulsion of King Otho in 1862, the Greek nation, by a
plebiscite, elected the British prince, Alfred, duke of Edinburgh
(subsequently duke of Coburg), to the vacant throne, and on his refusal
the national assembly requested Great Britain to nominate a candidate.
The choice of the British government fell on Prince Christian William
Ferdinand Adolphus George of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg,
whose election as king of the Hellenes, with the title George I., was
recognized by the powers (6th of June 1863). The sister of the new
sovereign, Princess Alexandra, had a few months before (10th March)
married the prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII., and his father
succeeded to the crown of Denmark in the following November. Another
sister, Princess Dagmar, subsequently married the grand duke Alexander
Alexandrovitch, afterwards Emperor Alexander III. of Russia. On his
accession, King George signed an act resigning his right of succession
to the Danish throne in favour of his younger brother Prince Waldemar.
He was received with much enthusiasm by the Greeks. Adopting the motto,
"My strength is the love of my people," he ruled in strict accordance
with constitutional principles, though not hesitating to make the
fullest use of the royal prerogative when the intervention of the crown
seemed to be required by circumstances. For the events of his reign see
GREECE: _History_.
King George married, on the 27th of October 1867, the grand duchess Olga
Constantinovna of Russia, who became distinguished in Greece for her
activity on behalf of charitable objects. Their children were Prince
Constantine, duke of Sparta (b. 1868), who married in 1889 Princess
Sophia of Prussia, daughter of the emperor Frederick, and granddaughter
of Queen Victoria; Prince George (b. 1869), from November 1898 to
October 1906 high commissioner of the powers in Crete; Prince Nicholas
(b. 1872), who married in 1902 the grand duchess Helen-Vladimirovna of
Russia; Prince Andrew (b. 1882), who married in 1903 Princess Alice of
Battenberg; Prince Christopher (b. 1888); and a daughter, Princess Marie
(b. 1876), who married in 1900 the grand duke George Michailovich of
Russia.
GEORGE, king of Saxony (1832-1904), the youngest son of King John of
Saxony (d. 1873) and Queen Amelia, was born at Dresden on the 8th of
August 1832. From an early age he received a careful scientific and
military training, and in 1846 entered the active army as a lieutenant
of artillery. In 1849-1850 he was a student at the university of Bonn,
but soon returned to military life, for which he had a predilection. In
the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 he commanded a Saxon cavalry brigade,
and in the early part of the war of 1870-71 a division, but later
succeeded to the supreme command of the XII. (Saxon) army corps in the
room of his brother, the crown prince Albert (afterwards king) of
Saxony. His name is inseparably associated with this campaign, during
which he showed undoubted military ability and an intrepidity which
communicated itself to all ranks under his command, notably at the
battles of St Privat and Beaumont, in which he greatly distinguished
himself. On his brother succeeding to the throne he became
commander-in-chief of the Saxon army, and was in 1888 made a Prussian
field marshal by the emperor William I. He married in 1859 the infanta
Maria, sister of King Louis of Portugal, and King Albert's marriage
being childless, succeeded on his death in 1902 to the throne of Saxony.
He died on the 15th of October 1904, at Pillnitz.
GEORGE OF LAODICEA in Syria, often called "the Cappadocian," from 356 to
361 Arian archbishop of Alexandria, was born about the beginning of the
4th century. According to Ammianus (xxii. 11), he was a native of
Epiphania, in Cilicia. Gregory Nazianzen tells us that his father was a
fuller, and that he himself soon became notorious as a parasite of so
mean a type that he would "sell himself for a cake." After many
wanderings, in the course of which he seems to have amassed a
considerable fortune, first as an army-contractor and then as a receiver
of taxes, he ultimately reached Alexandria. It is not known how or when
he obtained ecclesiastical orders; but, after Athanasius had been
banished in 356, George was promoted by the influence of the then
prevalent Arian faction to the vacant see. His theological attitude was
that known as semi-Arian or Homoiousian, and his associates were
Eustathius of Sebaste and Basil of Ancyra. At George's instigation the
second Sirmian formula (promulgated by the third council of Sirmium
357), which was conciliatory towards strict Arianism, was opposed at the
council of Ancyra in 358 (Harnack, _Hist. of Dogma_, iv. 76). His
persecutions and oppressions of the orthodox ultimately raised a
rebellion which compelled him to flee for his life; but his authority
was restored, although with difficulty, by a military demonstration.
Untaught by experience, he resumed his course of selfish tyranny over
Christians and heathen alike, and raised the irritation of the populace
to such a pitch that when, on the accession of Julian, his downfall was
proclaimed and he was committed to prison, they dragged him thence and
killed him, finally casting his body into the sea (24th of December
361). With much that was sordid and brutal in his character George
combined a highly cultivated literary taste, and in the course of his
chequered career he had found the means of collecting a splendid
library, which Julian ordered to be conveyed to Antioch for his own use.
An anonymous work against the Manicheans discovered by Lagarde in 1859
in a MS. of Titus of Bostra has been attributed to him.
The original sources for the facts of the life of George of Laodicea
are Ammianus, Gregory Nazianzen, Epiphanius and Athanasius. His
character has been drawn with graphic fidelity by Gibbon in the 23rd
chapter of the _Decline and Fall_; but the theory, accepted by Gibbon,
which identifies him with the patron saint of England is now rejected
(see GEORGE, SAINT). See C.S. Hulst, _St George of Cappadocia in
Legend and History_ (1910).
GEORGE OF TREBIZOND (1395-1484), Greek philosopher and scholar, one of
the pioneers of the revival of letters in the Western world, was born in
the island of Crete, and derived his surname Trapezuntios from the fact
that his ancestors were from Trebizond. At what period he came to Italy
is not certain; according to some accounts he was summoned to Venice
about 1430 to act as amanuensis to Francesco Barbaro, who appears to
have already made his acquaintance; according to others he did not visit
Italy till the time of the council of Florence (1438-1439). He learned
Latin from Vittorino da Feltre, and made such rapid progress that in
three years he was able to teach Latin literature and rhetoric. His
reputation as a teacher and a translator of Aristotle was very great,
and he was selected as secretary by Pope Nicholas V., an ardent
Aristotelian. The needless bitterness of his attacks upon Plato (in the
_Comparatio Aristotelis et Platonis_), which drew forth a powerful
response from Bessarion (q.v.), and the manifestly hurried and
inaccurate character of his translations of Plato, Aristotle and other
classical authors, combined to ruin his fame as a scholar, and to
endanger his position as a teacher of philosophy. The indignation
against him on account of his first-named work was so great that he
would probably have been compelled to leave Italy had not Alphonso V.
given him protection at the court of Naples. He subsequently returned to
Rome, where he died in great poverty on the 12th of August 1484. He had
long outlived his reputation, and towards the end of his life his
intellect failed him. From all accounts he was a man of very
disagreeable character, conceited and quarrelsome.
See G. Voigt, _Die Wiederbelebung des klassischen Altertums_ (1893),
and article by C.F. Bahr in Ersch and Gruber's _Allgemeine
Encyklopadie_. For a complete list of his numerous works, consisting
of translations from Greek into Latin (Plato, Aristotle and the
Fathers) and original essays in Greek (chiefly theological) and Latin
(grammatical and rhetorical), see Fabricius, _Bibliotheca Graeca_ (ed.
Harles), xii.
GEORGE THE MONK [GEORGIOS MONACHOS], called Hamartolos (Greek for
"sinner"), Byzantine chronicler, lived during the reign of Michael III.
(842-867). He wrote a _Chronicle_ of events, in four books, from the
creation of the world to the death of the emperor Theophilus (842),
whose widow Theodora restored the worship of images in the same year. It
is the only original contemporary authority for the years 813-842, and
therefore so far indispensable; the early parts of the work are merely a
compilation. In the introduction the author disclaims all pretensions to
literary style, and declares that his only object was to relate such
things as were "useful and necessary" with a strict adherence to truth.
Far too much attention, however, is devoted to religious matters; the
iconoclasts are fiercely attacked, and the whole is interlarded with
theological discussions and quotations from the fathers. The work was
very popular, and translations of it served as models for Slavonic
writers. The MSS. give a continuation down to 948, the author of which
is indicated simply as "the logothete," by whom probably Symeon
Metaphrastes (second half of the 10th century) is meant. In this
religious questions are relegated to the background, more attention is
devoted to political history, and the language is more popular. Still
further continuations of little value go down to 1143. The large
circulation of the work and its subsequent reissues, with alterations
and interpolations, make it very difficult to arrive at the original
text.
EDITIONS: E. de Muralt (St Petersburg, 1859); J.P. Migne, _Patrologia
Graeca_, cx.; C. de Boor (in Teubner series, 1904- ). See F. Hirsch,
_Byzantinische Studien_ (1876); C. de Boor in _Historische
Untersuchungen_ (in honour of Arnold Schafer, Bonn, 1882); C.
Krumbacher, _Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur_ (1897).
GEORGE THE SYNCELLUS [GEORGIOS SYNKELLOS], of Constantinople, Byzantine
chronicler and ecclesiastic, lived at the end of the 8th and the
beginning of the 9th century A.D. He was the _syncellus_ (cell-mate, the
confidential companion assigned to the patriarchs, sometimes little more
than a spy; see SYNCELLUS) or private secretary of Tara(u)sius,
patriarch of Constantinople (784-806), after whose death he retired to a
convent, and wrote his _Chronicle_ of events from Adam to Diocletian
(285). At his earnest request, the work, which he doubtless intended to
bring down to his own times, was continued after his death by his friend
Theophanes Confessor. The _Chronicle_, which, as its title implies, is
rather a chronological table (with notes) than a history, is written
with special reference to pre-Christian times and the introduction of
Christianity, and exhibits the author as a staunch upholder of
orthodoxy. But in spite of its religious bias and dry and uninteresting
character, the fragments of ancient writers and apocryphal books
preserved in it render it specially valuable. For instance, considerable
portions of the original text of the _Chronicle_ of Eusebius have been
restored by the aid of Syncellus. His chief authorities were Annianus of
Alexandria (5th century) and Panodorus, an Egyptian monk, who wrote
about the year 400 and drew largely from Eusebius, Dexippus and Julius
Africanus.
Editio princeps, by J. Goar (1652); in Bonn _Corpus scriptorum hist.
Byz._, by W. Dindorf (1829). See also H. Gelzer, _Sextus Julius
Africanus_, ii. 1 (1885); C. Krumbacher, _Geschichte der
byzantinischen Litteratur_ (1897).
GEORGE, HENRY (1839-1897), American author and political economist, was
born in Philadelphia, Penn., on the 2nd of September 1839. He settled in
California in 1858; removed to New York, 1880; was first a printer, then
an editor, but finally devoted all his life to economic and social
questions. In 1871 he published _Our Land Policy_, which, as further
developed in 1879 under the title of _Progress and Poverty_, speedily
attracted the widest attention both in America and in Europe. In 1886 he
published _Protection or Free Trade_. Henry George had no political
ambition, but in 1886 he received an independent nomination as mayor of
New York City, and became so popular that it required a coalition of
the two strongest political parties to prevent his election. He received
68,000 votes, against 90,000 for the coalition candidate. His death on
the 29th of October 1897 was followed by one of the greatest
demonstrations of popular feeling and general respect that ever attended
the funeral of any strictly private citizen in American history. The
fundamental doctrine of Henry George, the equal right of all men to the
use of the earth, did not originate with him; but his clear statement of
a method by which it could be enforced, without increasing state
machinery, and indeed with a great simplification of government, gave it
a new form. This method he named the _Single Tax_. His doctrine may be
condensed as follows: The land of every country belongs of right to all
the people of that country. This right cannot be alienated by one
generation, so as to affect the title of the next, any more than men can
sell their yet unborn children for slaves. Private ownership of land has
no more foundation in morality or reason than private ownership of air
or sunlight. But the private occupancy and use of land are right and
indispensable. Any attempt to divide land into equal shares is
impossible and undesirable. Land should be, and practically is now,
divided for private use in parcels among those who will pay the highest
price for the use of each parcel. This price is now paid to some persons
annually, and it is called _rent_. By applying the rent of land,
exclusive of all improvements, to the equal benefit of the whole
community, absolute justice would be done to all. As rent is always more
than sufficient to defray all necessary expenses of government, those
expenses should be met by a tax upon rent alone, to be brought about by
the gradual abolition of all other taxes. Landlords should be left in
undisturbed possession and nominal ownership of the land, with a
sufficient margin over the tax to induce them to collect their rents and
pay the tax. They would thus be transformed into mere land agents.
Obviously this would involve absolute free trade, since all taxes on
imports, manufactures, successions, documents, personal property,
buildings or improvements would disappear. Nothing made by man would be
taxed at all. The right of private property in all things made by man
would thus be absolute, for the owner of such things could not be
divested of his property, without full compensation, even under the
pretence of taxation. The idea of concentrating all taxes upon
ground-rent has found followers in Great Britain, North America,
Australia and New Zealand. In practical politics this doctrine is
confined to the "Single Tax, Limited," which proposes to defray only the
needful public expenses from ground-rent, leaving the surplus, whatever
it may be, in the undisturbed possession of landowners.
The principal books by Henry George are: _Progress and Poverty_
(1879), _The Irish Land Question_ (1881), _Social Problems_ (1884),
_Protection or Free Trade_ (1886), _The Condition of Labor_ (1891), _A
Perplexed Philosopher_ (1892), _Political Economy_ (1898). His son,
Henry George (b. 1862), has written a _Life_ (1900). For the Single
Tax theory see Shearman's _Natural Taxation_ (1899). (T. G. S.)
GEORGE PISIDA [GEORGIOS PISIDES], Byzantine poet, born in Pisidia,
flourished during the 7th century A.D. Nothing is known of him except
that he was a deacon and chartophylax (keeper of the records) of the
church of St Sophia. His earliest work, in three cantos ([Greek:
akroaseis]), on the campaign of the emperor Heraclius against the
Persians, seems to be the work of an eyewitness. This was followed by
the _Avarica_, an account of a futile attack on Constantinople by the
Avars (626), said to have been repulsed by the aid of the Virgin Mary;
and by the _Heraclias_, a general survey of the exploits of Heraclius
both at home and abroad down to the final overthrow of Chosroes in 627.
George Pisida was also the author of a didactic poem, _Hexaemeron_ or
_Cosmourgia_, upon the creation of the world; a treatise on the vanity
of life, after the manner of _Ecclesiastes_; a controversial composition
against Severus, bishop of Antioch; two short poems upon the
resurrection of Christ and on the recovery of the sacred crucifix stolen
by the Persians. The metre chiefly used is the iambic. As a versifier
Pisida is correct and even elegant; as a chronicler of contemporary
events he is exceedingly useful; and later Byzantine writers
enthusiastically compared him with, and even preferred him to Euripides.
Recent criticism, however, characterizes his compositions as artificial
and almost uniformly dull.
Complete works in J.P. Migne, _Patrologia Graeca_, xcii.; see also _De
Georgii Pisidae apud Theophanem aliosque historicos reliquiis_.
(1900), by S.L. Sternbach, who has edited several new poems for the
first time from a Paris MS. in _Wiener Studien_, xiii., xiv.
(1891-1892); C. Krumbacher, _Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur_
(1897); C.F. Bahr in Ersch and Gruber's _Allgemeine Encyklopadie_.
GEORGE, LAKE, a lake in the E. part of New York, U.S.A., among the S.E.
foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. It extends from N.N.E. to S.S.W.
about 34 m., and varies in width from 2 to 4 m. It has a maximum depth
of about 400 ft., and is 323 ft. above the sea and 227 ft. above Lake
Champlain, into which it has an outlet to the northward through a narrow
channel and over falls and rapids. The lake is fed chiefly by mountain
brooks and submerged springs; its bed is for the most part covered with
a clean sand; its clear water is coloured with beautiful tints of blue
and green; and its surface is studded with about 220 islands and islets,
all except nineteen of which belong to the state and constitute a part
of its forest reserve. Near the head of the lake is Prospect Mountain,
rising 1736 ft. above the sea, while several miles farther down the
shores is Black Mountain, 2661 ft. in height. Lake George has become a
favourite summer resort. Lake steamers ply between the village of Lake
George (formerly Caldwell) at the southern end of the lake and Baldwin,
whence there is rail connexion with Lake Champlain steamers.
Lake George was formed during the Glacial period by glacial drift which
clogged a pre-existing valley. According to Prof. J.F. Kemp the valley
occupied by Lake George was a low pass before the Glacial period; a dam
of glacial drift at the southern end and of lacustrine clays at the
northern end formed the lake which has submerged the pass, leaving
higher parts as islands. Before the advent of the white man the lake was
a part of the war-path over which the Iroquois Indians frequently made
their way northward to attack the Algonquins and the Hurons, and during
the struggle between the English and the French for supremacy in
America, waterways being still the chief means of communication, it was
of great strategic importance (see CHAMPLAIN, _Lake_). Father Isaac
Jogues, Rene Goupil and Guillaume Couture seem to have been the first
white men to see the lake (on the 9th of August 1642) as they were being
taken by their Iroquois captors from the St Lawrence to the towns of the
Mohawks, and in 1646 Father Jogues, having undertaken a half-religious,
half-political mission to the Mohawks, was again at the lake, to which,
in allusion to his having reached it on the eve of Corpus Christi, he
gave the name Lac Saint Sacrement. This name it bore until the summer of
1755, when General William Johnson renamed it Lake George in honour of
King George II.
General Johnson was at this time in command of a force of colonists and
Indians sent against the French at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. The
expedition, however, had proceeded no farther than to the head of Lake
George when Johnson was informed that a force of French and Indians
under Baron Ludwig August Dieskau was pushing on from Crown Point to
Fort Lyman (later Fort Edward), 14 m. to the S. of their encampment.
Accordingly, on the morning of the 8th of September a detachment of 1000
colonials under Colonel Ephraim Williams (1715-1755) and 200 Indians
under Hendrick, a Mohawk chief, was sent to aid Fort Lyman, but when
about 3 m. S. of the lake this detachment fell into an ambuscade
prepared for it by Dieskau and both Williams and Hendrick were killed.
The survivors were pursued to their camp, and then followed on the same
day the main battle of Lake George, in which 1000 colonials fighting at
first behind a hastily prepared barricade defeated about 1400 French and
Indians. Both commanders were wounded; Dieskau was captured; the French
lost about 300; and the colonials nearly the same (including those who
fell earlier in the day). Johnson now built on the lake shore, near the
battlefield, a fort of gravel and logs and called it Fort William Henry
(the site was occupied by the Fort William Henry Hotel till it was
burned in 1909). In the meantime the French entrenched themselves at
Ticonderoga at the foot of the lake. In March 1757 Fort William Henry
successfully withstood an attack of 1600 men sent out by the marquis de
Vaudreuil, governor of Canada, but on the 9th of August of the same year
its garrison, after being reduced to desperate straits, surrendered to
the marquis de Montcalm. By the terms of surrender the garrison was to
be allowed to march out with the honours of war and was to be escorted
to Fort Edward, but the guard provided by Montcalm was inadequate to
protect them from his Indian allies and on the day following the
surrender many were massacred or taken prisoners. The fort was razed to
the ground. In 1758 General James Abercrombie proceeded by way of Lake
George against Fort Ticonderoga, and in 1759 Baron Jeffrey Amherst,
while on his way to co-operate with General James Wolfe against Quebec,
built near the site of Fort William Henry one bastion of a fort since
known as Fort George, the ruins of which still remain.
A monument commemorative of the battle of Lake George was unveiled on
the 8th of September 1903, on the site of the battle, and within the
state reservation of 35 acres known as Fort George Battle Park. Horicon
is a name that was given to the lake by James Fenimore Cooper. The
Indian name of the lake was Andia-ta-roc-te.
See Francis Parkman, _Montcalm and Wolfe_ (Boston, 1884); and E.E.
Seelye, _Lake George in History_ (Lake George, 1897).
GEORGE JUNIOR REPUBLIC, an American industrial institution, situated
near the small village of Freeville, in Tompkins county, New York,
U.S.A., 9 m. E.N.E. of Ithaca, at the junction of the Sayre-Auburn and
the Elmira-Cortland branches of the Lehigh Valley railway. The George
Junior Republic forms a miniature state whose economic, civic and social
conditions, as nearly as possible, reproduce those of the United States,
and whose citizenship is vested in young people, especially those who
are neglected or wayward, who are thus taught self-reliance,
self-control and morality. The founder, William Reuben George (b. 1866),
was a native of West Dryden, a village near Freeville, who as a business
man in New York City became interested in the Fresh Air Fund charity
supervised by the New York _Tribune_, took charge of summer outings for
city children (1890-1894), and, becoming convinced that such charities
tended to promote pauperism and crime among the older of their proteges,
devised first (1894) the plan of requiring payment by the children in
labour for all they received during these summer jaunts, then (1895)
self-government for a summer colony near Freeville, and finally a
permanent colony, in which the children stay for several years. The
Republic was founded on the 10th of July 1895; the only check on the
powers of executive, representative and judicial branches of the
government lies in the veto of the superintendent. "Nothing without
labour" is the motto of the community, so strictly carried out that a
girl or boy in the Republic who has not money[1] to pay for a night's
lodging must sleep in jail and work the next day for the use of the
cell. The legislative body, originally a House of Representatives and a
Senate, in 1899 became more like the New England town meeting. The
respect for the law that follows its enactment by the citizens
themselves is remarkable in a class so largely of criminal tendencies;
and it is particularly noticeable that positions on the police force are
eagerly coveted. Fifteen is the age of majority; suffrage is universal,
children under fifteen must be in charge of a citizen guardian. The
average age of citizens was seventeen in 1908. The proportion of girls
to boys was originally small, but gradually increased; in 1908 there
were about 70 girls and 90 boys. The tendency is to admit only those
aged at least sixteen and physically well equipped. In the Republic's
earlier years the citizens lived in boarding-houses of different grades,
but later in family groups in cottages (there were in 1910 twelve
cottages) under the care of "house-mothers." The labour of the place is
divided into sewing, laundry work, cooking and domestic service for the
girls, and furniture making, carpentry, farm work, baking bread and
wafers (the business of an Auburn biscuit factory was bought in 1903),
plumbing and printing for the boys. Masonry and shoe and harness making
were tried for a few years. There is an efficient preparatory and high
school, from which students enter directly leading colleges. The
religious influence is strong, wholesome and unsectarian; students in
Auburn Theological Seminary have assisted in the religious work; Roman
Catholic and Hebrew services are also held; and attendance at church
services is compulsory only on convicts and prisoners.
There are "Woman's Aid" societies in New York City, Ithaca, Syracuse,
Buffalo, Boston and elsewhere, to promote the work of the Republic. A
"republic" for younger boys, begun at Freeville, was established in
Litchfield, Connecticut; and a National Junior Republic near Annapolis
Junction, Maryland, and a Carter Junior Republic at Readington, near
Easton, Pennsylvania, are modelled on the George Junior Republic. In
1908-1910 new "states" were established at Chino, California, Grove
City, Pennsylvania, and Flemington Junction, New Jersey. In February
1908 the National Association of Junior Republics was formed with Mr
George (its founder) as its director, its aims being to establish at
least one "republic" in each state of the Union, and in other countries
similar institutions for youth and miniature governments modelled on
that of the country in which each "state" is established, and to
establish colonies for younger children, to be sent at the age of
fifteen to the Junior Republic. At the time of its formation the
National Association included the "states" at Freeville, N.Y.,
Litchfield, Conn., and Annapolis Junction, Md.; others joined the
federation later.
See William R. George, _The Junior Republic: its History and Ideals_
(New York, 1910); _The Junior Republic Citizen_ (Freeville, 1895
sqq.), written and printed by "citizens"; _Nothing Without Labor,
George Junior Republic_ (7th ed., Freeville, 1909), a manual; J.R.
Commons, "The Junior Republic," in _The American Journal of Sociology_
(1898); D.F. Lincoln, "The George Junior Republic," in _The Coming
Age_ (1900); and Lyman Abbott, "A Republic within a Republic," in the
_Outlook_ for February 15, 1908.