[1] The derivation from Bibroci, a British tribe in the time of
Caesar, which probably inhabited Surrey or Middlesex, seems
philologically impossible.
BERLAD, the capital of the department of Tutova, Rumania, on the river
Berlad, which waters the high plains of Eastern Moldavia. Pop. (1900)
24,484, about one-fourth of whom are Jews. At Berlad the railway from
Jassy diverges, one branch skirting the river Sereth, the other skirting
the Pruth; both reunite at Galatz. Among a maze of narrow and winding
streets Berlad possesses a few good modern buildings, including a fine
hospital, administered by the St Spiridion Foundation of Jassy. Berlad
has manufactures of soap and candles, and some trade in timber and
farm-produce, while the annual horse-fairs are visited by dealers from
all parts of the country. In the vicinity are traces of a Roman camp.
BERLICHINGEN, GOETZ or GOTTFRIED VON (1480-1562), German knight, was
born at the castle of Jagsthausen now in Wurttemberg. In 1497 he entered
the service of Frederick IV., margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and in
1498 fought for the emperor Maximilian I. in Burgundy, Lorraine and
Brabant, and next year in Switzerland. About 1500 he raised a company of
freelances, and at their head took part in various private wars. In
1505, whilst assisting Albert IV., duke of Bavaria, at the siege of
Landshut, his right hand was shot away, and an iron one was substituted
which is still shown at Jagsthausen. In spite of this "Goetz with the
iron hand" continued his feuds, their motive being mainly booty and
ransom. In 1512 an attack near Forchheim on some merchants returning
from the great fair at Leipzig, caused him to be put under the ban of
the empire by Maximilian, and he was only released from this in 1514
upon a promise to pay 14,000 gulden. In 1516 he made a raid into Hesse
and captured Philip IV., count of Waldeck, whom he compelled to pay a
ransom of 8400 gold gulden, and in 1518 was again placed under the ban.
He fought for Ulrich I., duke of Wurttemberg, when he was attacked by
the Swabian League in 1519, and after a spirited resistance was
compelled, through want of ammunition and provisions, to surrender the
town of Mockmuhl. In violation of the terms of the capitulation he was
held prisoner, and handed over to the citizens of Heilbronn, but owing
to the efforts of Sickingen and Georg von Frundsberg was released in
1522, upon paying 2000 gulden, and swearing not to take vengeance on the
League. When the Peasants' War broke out in 1525 Goetz was compelled by
the rebels of the Odenwald district to act as their leader. He accepted
the position, according to his own account, partly because he had no
choice, partly in the hope of curbing the excesses of the insurgents;
but, finding himself in this respect powerless, after a month of nominal
leadership, he took the first opportunity of escaping to his castle. For
his part in the rebellion he was called to account before the diet of
Speier, and on the 17th of October 1526 was acquitted by the imperial
chamber. In spite of this the Swabian League seized the opportunity of
paying off old scores against him. Lured to Augsburg, under promise of
safe conduct, to clear himself of the charges made against him on behalf
of the League, he was there treacherously seized on the 28th of November
1528, and kept a close prisoner for two years. In 1530 he was liberated
on repeating his oath of 1522, and undertaking not to leave the
neighbourhood of his castle of Hornberg on the Neckar. He appears to
have remained there quietly until 1540 when the emperor Charles V.
released him from his oath. In 1542 he fought against the Turks in
Hungary, and in 1544 accompanied Charles when he invaded France. He
returned to Hornberg, where he passed his time until his death on the
23rd of July 1562. He was twice married and left three daughters and
seven sons. The counts von Berlichingen-Rossach, of Helmstadt near
Heidelberg, one of the two surviving branches of the family, are his
descendants. The other branch, that of the Freiherrn von
Berlichingen-Jagsthausen, is descended from Goetz's brother Hans. "Goetz
von Berlichingen" is the title of Goethe's play, which, published in
1773, marked an epoch in the history of German drama (see GOETHE).
See R. Pallmann, _Der historische Goetz von Berlichingen_ (Berlin,
1894); F.W.G. Graf von Berlichingen-Rossach, _Geschichte des Ritters
Goetz von Berlichingen und seiner Familie_ (Leipzig, 1861). Goetz's
_Autobiography_, valuable as a record of his times, was first
published by Pistorius at Nuremberg (1731), and again at Halle (1886).
BERLIN, ISAIAH (1725-1799), an eminent rabbi of Breslau; he was the
author of acute notes on the Talmud which had their influence in
advancing the critical study of that work.
BERLIN, the largest city of the German empire, the capital of the
kingdom of Prussia. It is the principal residence of the German emperor
and king of Prussia, the seat of the imperial parliament (_Reichstag_)
and the Prussian diet (_Landtag_) and of the state offices of the
empire, except of the supreme court of justice (_Reichsgericht_), which
is fixed at Leipzig. It lies in a flat, sandy plain, 110 ft. above
sea-level, on both banks of the navigable Spree, which intersects it
from S.E. to N.W. The highest elevation in the immediate neighbourhood
is the Kreuzberg (200 ft.), a hill in the southern suburb of Schoneberg,
which commands a fine view of the city. The situation of Berlin, midway
between the Elbe and the Oder, with which rivers it is connected by a
web of waterways, at the crossing of the main roads from Silesia and
Poland to the North Sea ports and from Saxony, Bohemia and Thuringia to
the Baltic, made it in medieval days a place of considerable commercial
importance. In modern times the great network of railways, of which it
is the centre and which mainly follow the lines of the old roads,
further established its position. Almost equidistant from the remotest
frontiers of Prussia, from north to south, and from east to west, 180 m.
from Hamburg and 84 from Stettin, its situation, so far from being
prejudicial to its growth and prosperity, as was formerly often
asserted, has been, in fact, the principal determining factor in its
rapid rise to the position of the greatest industrial and commercial
city on the continent of Europe. In point of wealth and population it
ranks immediately after London and Paris.
The boundaries of the city have not been essentially extended since
1860, and though large and important suburbs have crept up and
practically merged with it, its administrative area remains unchanged.
It occupies about 29 sq. m., and has a length from E. to W. of 6 and a
breadth from N. to S. of 5-1/2 m., contains nearly 1000 streets, has 87
squares and open spaces, 73 bridges and a population (1905) of 2,033,900
(including a garrison of about 22,000). If, however, the outer police
district, known as "Greater Berlin," embracing an area of about 10 m.
radius from the centre, be included, the population amounts to about
3-1/4 millions.
Berlin is essentially a modern city, the quaint two-storied houses,
which formerly characterized it, having given place to palatial business
blocks, which somewhat dwarf the streets and squares, which once had an
air of stately spaciousness. The bustle of the modern commercial city
has superseded the austere dignity of the old Prussian capital. Thus the
stranger entering it for the first time will find little to remind him
of its past history. The oldest part of Berlin, the city and Alt-Kolln,
built along the arms of the Spree, is, together with that portion of the
town lying immediately west, the centre of business activity. The west
end and the south-west are the residential quarters, the north-west is
largely occupied by academic, scientific and military institutions, the
north is the seat of machinery works, the north-east of the woollen
manufactures, the east and south-east of the dyeing, furniture and metal
industries, while in the south are great barracks and railway works.
In 1870 Berlin was practically bounded on the south by the Landwehr
Canal, but it has since extended far beyond, and the Tempelhofer Feld,
where military reviews are held, then practically in the country, is now
surrounded by a dense belt of houses. The Landwehr Canal, leaving the
Spree near the Schlesische Tor (gate), and rejoining it at
Charlottenburg, after a course of 6 m., adds not a little to the charm
of the southern and western districts, being flanked by fine boulevards
and crossed by many handsome bridges. The object of this canal was to
relieve the congestion of the water traffic in the heart of Berlin. It
was superseded, however, in its turn by a new broad and deep canal
opened in 1906, lying from 3 to 4 m. farther south. This, the Teltow
Canal, leaves the Spree above Berlin at Kopenick, and running south of
Rixdorf, Sudende and Gross-Lichterfelde, enters the Havel at Teltow.
This important engineering work was planned not only to afford a more
convenient waterway between the upper Spree and the Havel (and thus to
the Elbe), but was to remove from the city to its banks and vicinity
those factories of which the noxious gases and other poisonous
emanations were regarded as dangerous to the health of the community. A
dislocation of the manufacturing factors has therefore been in progress,
which with the creation of a "trans Tiberim" (as in ancient Rome) is, in
many respects, altering the character and aspect of the metropolis.
The effect upon Berlin of the successful issue of the Franco-Prussian
War of 1870-71 was electrical. The old Prussian capital girded itself at
once to fulfil its new role. The concentration upon the city of a large
garrison flushed with victory, and eager to emulate the vanquished foe
in works of peace, and vie with them in luxury, was an incentive to
Berliners to put forth all their energy. Besides the military, a
tremendous immigration of civilian officials took place as the result of
the new conditions, and, as accommodation was not readily available,
rents rose to an enormous figure. Doubts were often expressed whether
the capital would be able to bear the burden of empire, so enormous was
the influx of new citizens. It is due to the magnificent services of the
municipal council that the city was enabled to assimilate the hosts of
newcomers, and it is to its indefatigable exertions that Berlin has in
point of organization become the model city of Europe. In no other has
public money been expended with such enlightened discretion, and in no
other has the municipal system kept pace with such rapid growth and
displayed greater resource in emergencies. In 1870 the sanitary
conditions of Berlin were the worst of any city of Europe. It needed a
Virchow to open the eyes of the municipality to the terrible waste of
life such a state of things entailed. But open sewers, public pumps,
cobble-paved roads, open market-places and overcrowded subterranean
dwellings are now abolished. The city is excellently drained,
well-paved, well-lighted and furnished with an abundant supply of
filtered water, while the cellar dwellings have given place to light and
airy tenements, and Berlin justly claims to rank among the cleanest and
healthiest capitals in Europe. The year 1878 marks a fresh
starting-point in the development of the city. In that year Berlin was
the meeting-place of the congress which bears its name. The recognition
of Germany as a leading factor in the world's counsels had been given,
and the people of Berlin could indulge in the task of embellishing the
capital in a manner befitting its position. From this time forward,
state, municipal and private enterprise have worked hand in hand to make
the capital cosmopolitan. The position it has at length attained is due
not alone to the enterprise of its citizens and the municipality. The
brilliancy of the court and the triumph of the sense of unity in the
German nation over the particularism of the smaller German states have
conduced more than all else to bring about this result. It has become
the chief pleasure town of Germany; and though the standard of morality,
owing to the enormous influx of people bent on amusement, has become
lower, yet there is so much healthy, strenuous activity in intellectual
life and commercial rivalry as to entitle it, despite many moral
deficiencies, to be regarded as the centre of life and learning in
Germany. Dr A. Shadwell (_Industrial Efficiency_, London, 1906)
describes it as representing "the most complete application of science,
order and method of public life," adding "it is a marvel of civic
administration, the most modern and most perfectly organized city that
there is."
_Streets._--The social and official life of the capital centres round
Unter den Linden, which runs from the royal palace to the Brandenburger
Tor. This street, one of the finest and most spacious in Europe, nearly
a mile in length, its double avenue divided by a favourite promenade,
planted with lime trees, presents Berlin life in all its varying
aspects. Many historical events have taken place in this famous
boulevard, notably the entry of the troops in 1871, and the funeral
pageant of the emperor Willaim I. South of Unter den Linden lies the
Friedrichstadt, with its parallel lines of straight streets, including
the Behren-strasse--(the seat of finance)--the Wilhelm-strasse, with the
palace of the imperial chancellor, the British embassy, and many
government offices--the official quarter of the capital--and the busy
Leipziger-strasse, running from the Potsdamer-platz to the
Donhoff-platz. This great artery and Unter den Linden are crossed at
right angles by the Friedrich-strasse, 2 m. long, flanked by attractive
shops and restaurants, among them the beer palaces of the great
breweries. In the city proper, the Konig-strasse and the
Kaiser-Wilhelm-strasse, the latter a continuation of Unter den Linden,
are the chief streets; while in the fashionable south-west quarter
Viktoria-strasse, Bellevue-strasse, Potsdamer-strasse and
Kurfursten-strasse and the Kurfurstendamm are the most imposing. Among
the most important public squares are the Opern-platz, around or near
which stand the opera house, the royal library, the university and the
armoury; the Gendarmen-markt, with the royal theatre in its centre, the
Schloss-platz; the Lustgarten, between the north side of the royal
palace, the cathedral and the old and new museums; the Pariser-platz
with the French embassy, at the Brandenburg Gate; the Konigs-platz, with
the column of Victory, the Reichstagsgebaude and the Bismarck and Moltke
monuments; the Wilhelms-platz; the circular Belle-Alliance-platz, with a
column commemorating the battle of Waterloo; and, in the western
district, the spacious Lutzow-platz.
_Bridges._--Of the numerous bridges, the most remarkable are the
Schloss-brucke, built after designs by Schinkel in 1822-1824, with eight
colossal figures of white marble, representing ideal stages in a
warrior's life, the work of Drake, Albert Wolff and other eminent
sculptors; the Kurfursten--or Lange-brucke, built 1692-1695, and
restored in 1895, with an equestrian statue of the great elector, and
the Kaiser-Wilhelm-brucke (1886-1889) connecting the Lustgarten with the
Kaiser-Wilhelm-strasse in the inner town. In the modern residential
quarter are the Potsdamer-Viktoria-brucke, which carries the traffic
from two converging streets into the outer Potsdamer-strasse, and the
Herkules-brucke connecting the Lutzow-platz with the Tiergarten. The
first three cross the Spree and the last two the Landwehr Canal.
_Churches._--Berlin, until the last half of the 10th century, was in
respect of its churches probably the poorest of the capitals of
Christendom, and the number of worshippers on an average Sunday was then
less than 2% of the population. The city now contains over a hundred
places of worship, of which ten are Roman Catholic, and nine Jewish
synagogues. Of the older Evangelical churches but four date from medieval
days, and of them only the Marien-kirche, with a tomb of Field marshal
O.C. von Sparr (1605-1665), and the Nikolai-kirche are particularly
noteworthy. Of a later date, though of no great pretensions to
architectural merit, are the Petri-kirche with a lofty spire, the
Franzosische-kirche and the Neue-kirche with dome-capped towers, on the
Gendarmen-markt, and the round, Roman Catholic St Hedwigs--kirche behind
the Opera-house. The Garrison church in the centre of the city, which was
erected in 1722 and contained numerous historical trophies, was destroyed
by fire in 1908. Of modern erections the new cathedral (_Dom_), on the
Spree, which replaces the old building pulled down in 1853, stands first.
It is a clumsy, though somewhat imposing edifice of sandstone in Italian
Renaissance style, and has a dome rising, with the lantern, to a height
of 380 ft. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtnis-kirche (in the suburb
Charlottenburg) with a lofty spire, the Dankes-kirche (in commemoration
of the emperor William I.'s escape from the hand of the assassin,
Nobiling, in 1878) in Wedding, and the Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedachtnis-kirche
on a grassy knoll in the north of the Tiergarten are also worthy of
notice. In the Monbijou Park, on the north bank of the Spree, is the
pretty English church of St George. The main Jewish synagogue, a fine
building in oriental style, erected in 1866, stands in a commanding
position in the Oranienburger-strasse and is remarkable for its stained
glass. Berlin was a walled city until 1867-1868. Of the former nineteen
city gates only one remains, the Brandenburg Gate (1789-1793), an
imitation of the Propylaea at Athens. It is 201 ft. broad and nearly 65
ft. high, and is supported by twelve Doric columns, each 44 ft. in
height, and surmounted by a car of victory (Auriga), which, taken by
Napoleon to Paris in 1807, was brought back by the Prussians in 1814. The
gate has been enlarged by two lateral colonnades, each supported by
sixteen columns.
_Public Buildings._--In secular buildings Berlin is very rich. Entering
the city at the Potsdam Gate, traversing a few hundred yards of the
Leipziger-strasse, turning into Wilhelm-strasse, and following it to
Unter den Linden, then beginning at the Brandenburg Gate and proceeding
down Unter den Linden to its end, one passes, among other buildings, the
following, many of them of great architectural merit--the admiralty, the
ministry of commerce, the ministry of war, the ministry of public works,
the palace of Prince Frederick Leopold, the palace of the imperial
chancellor, the foreign office, the ministry of justice, the residences
of the ministers of the interior and of public worship, the French and
the Russian embassies, the arcade, the palace of the emperor William I.,
the university, the royal library, the opera, the armoury, the palace of
the emperor Frederick III., the Schloss-brucke, the royal palace, the
old and new museums and the national gallery. At a short distance from
this line are the new town-hall, the mint, the imperial bank and the
royal theatre. Berlin differs from all other great capitals in this
respect that with the exception of the royal palace, which dates from
the 16th century, all its public buildings are modern. This palace,
standing in the very heart of the city, is a huge quadrangular building,
with four courts, and is surmounted by a dome 220 ft. high. It contains
more than 600 rooms and halls; among the latter the Weisse-saal used for
great court pageants, the halls of the chapters of the Black and the Red
Eagle orders, a picture gallery and a chapel. The first floor
overlooking the Schloss-platz is the Berlin residence of the emperor,
and that square is embellished by a huge fountain (Neptuns-brunnen) by
R. Begas. Facing the west portal is the monument to the emperor William
I., and before the north gate, opening upon the Lustgarten, are the
famous bronze groups, the "horse-tamers" by Clodt, the gift of the
emperor Nicholas I. of Russia. The establishment of the imperial
government in Berlin naturally brought with it the erection of a large
number of public buildings, and the great prosperity of the country, as
well as the enhanced national feeling, has enabled them to be built on a
scale of splendour befitting the capital of an empire. First in
importance is the Reichstagsgebaude (see ARCHITECTURE, plate ix. fig.
47), in which the federal council (_Bundesrat_) and the imperial
parliament (_Reichstag_) hold their sittings. A special feature is the
library, which is exceedingly rich in works on constitutional law. A new
house has also been built for the Prussian parliament (_Landtag_) in the
Albrecht-strasse. Other new official buildings are the patent office on
the site of the old ministry of the interior; the new ministry of posts
(with post museum) at the corner of the Mauer-strasse and
Leipziger-strasse; the central criminal court in Moabit; the courts of
first instance on the Alexander-platz; the ministry of police, and the
_Reichsversicherungsamt_, the centre for the great system of state
insurance. In addition to these, many buildings have been restored and
enlarged, chief among them being the armoury (_Zeughaus_), the war
office and the ministry of public works, while the royal mews
(_Marstall_) has been entirely rebuilt with an imposing facade.
Among the public monuments comes first, in excellence, Ranch's
celebrated statue of Frederick the Great, which stands in Unter den
Linden opposite the palace of the emperor William I.; and in size the
monument to the emperor William I. (by R. Begas), erected opposite the
west portal of the royal palace. The space for the site was gained by
pulling down the old houses composing the Schlossfreiheit and damming
the Spree. The monument, which cost L200,000, is surmounted by an
equestrian statue of the emperor in a martial cloak, his right hand
resting on a field marshal's baton, reining in his charger, which is led
by a female genius of peace. The high pedestal on which these figures
stand is surrounded by an Ionic colonnade. The equestrian statue of the
great elector on the Lange-brucke has been already mentioned. In the
Lustgarten is a statue of Frederick William III., by Wolff; in the
Tiergarten, Drake's marble monument to the same ruler; and in the
mausoleum in the park in Charlottenburg he and his queen, Louisa, are
sculptured in marble by Rauch. Here also lie the emperor William I. and
the empress Augusta under marble effigies by Encke. A second group of
monuments on the Wilhelms-platz commemorates the generals of the Seven
Years' War; and a third in the neighbourhood of the opera-house the
generals who fought against Napoleon I. On the Kreuzberg a Gothic
monument in bronze was erected by Frederick William III. to commemorate
the victories of 1813-1815; and in the centre of the Konigs-platz stands
a lofty column in honour of the triumphs of 1864, 1866 and 1870-1871,
surmounted by a gilded figure of Victory. Literature, science and art
are represented in different parts of the city by statues and busts of
Rauch, Schinkel, Thaer, Beuth, Schadow, Winckelmann, Schiller, Hegel and
Jahn. On the Konigs-platz between the column of Victory and the
Reichstagsgebaude, and immediately facing the western facade of the
latter, is the bronze statue of Bismarck, unveiled in 1901, a figure 20
ft. in height standing on a granite base. From the south side of the
Konigs-platz crossing the Tiergarten and intersecting the avenue from
the Brandenburg Gate to Charlottenburg runs the broad Sieges-allee
adorned by thirty-two groups of marble statuary representing famous
rulers of the house of Hohenzollern, the gift of the emperor William II.
to the city. The Tiergarten, the beautiful west-end park with its
thickets of dense undergrowth and winding lanes and lakes has lost
somewhat of its sylvan character owing to building encroachments on the
north side and the laying out of new rides and drives. It has, in
addition to those above enumerated, statues of Queen Louisa, Goethe and
Lessing.
_Communications._--Berlin is the centre of the North German network of
railways. No fewer than twelve main lines concentrate upon it. Internal
communication is provided for by the Ringbahn, or outer circle, which
was opened in 1871, and by a well-devised system connects the termini of
the various main lines. The through traffic coming from east and west is
carried by the Stadtbahn, or city railway, which also connects with and
forms an integral part of the outer circle. This line runs through the
heart of the city, and was originally a private enterprise. Owing,
however, to the failure of the company, the work was taken in hand by
the state, and the line opened in 1878. It has four tracks--two for the
main-line through traffic, and two for local and suburban service, and
is carried at a height of about 20 ft. above the streets. Its length is
12 m., the total cost 3-3/4 millions sterling. The chief stations are
Zoologischer Garten, Friedrich-strasse, Alexander-platz and Schlesischer
Bahnhof. Lying apart from the system are the Lehrter Bahnhof for Hamburg
and Bremen, the Stettiner for Baltic ports, and the Gorlitzer, Anhalter
and Potsdamer termini for traffic to the south, of which the last two
are fine specimens of railway architecture. Internal communication is
also provided for by an excellent system of electric tram-lines, by an
overhead electric railway running from the Zoologischer Garten to the
Schlesische Tor with a branch to the Potsdam railway station, and by an
underground railway laid at a shallow depth under the Leipziger-strasse.
Most of the cabs (victorias and broughams) have fare-indicators.
Steamboats ply above and below the city.
_Industry, Trade and Commerce._--It is in respect of its manufacture and
trade that Berlin has attained its present high pitch of economic
prosperity. More than 50% of its working population are engaged in
industry, which embraces almost all branches, of which new ones have
lately sprung into existence, whilst most of the older have taken a new
lease of life. The old wool industry, for example, has become much
extended, and now embraces products such as shawls, carpets, hosiery,
&c. Its silk manufactures, formerly so important, have, however,
gradually gone back. It is particularly in the working of iron, steel
and cloth, and in the by-products of these, that Berlin excels. The
manufacture of machinery and steam-engines shows an enormous
development. No fewer than 100 large firms, many of them of world-wide
reputation, are engaged in this branch alone. Among the chief articles
of manufacture and production are railway plant, sewing machines,
bicycles, steel pens, chronometers, electric and electric-telegraph
plant, bronze, chemicals, soap, lamps, linoleum, china, pianofortes,
furniture, gloves, buttons, artificial flowers and ladies' mantles, the
last of an annual value exceeding L5,000,000. It has extensive breweries
and vies in the amount of the output of this production with Munich.
Berlin is also the great centre and the chief market for speculation in
corn and other cereals which reach it by water from Poland, Austria and
South Russia, while in commerce in spirits it rivals Hamburg. It is also
a large publishing centre, and has become a serious rival to Leipzig in
this regard.
The Borse, where 4000 persons daily do business, is the chief market in
Germany for stocks and shares, and its dealings are of great influence
upon the gold market of the world. Numerous banks of world-wide
reputation, doing an extensive international business, have their seats
in Berlin, chief among them, in addition to the Reichs-bank, being the
Berliner Kassen-Verein, the Diskonto-Gesellschaft, the Deutsche Bank,
and the Boden-Kredit Bank.
_Learning and Art._--Berlin is becoming the centre of the intellectual
life of the nation. The Friedrich Wilhelm University, although young in
point of foundation, has long outstripped its great rival Leipzig in
numbers, and can point with pride to the fact that its teaching staff
has yielded to none in the number of illustrious names. It was founded
in 1810, when Prussia had lost her celebrated university of Halle, which
Napoleon had included in his newly created kingdom of Westphalia. It was
as a weapon of war, as well as a nursery of learning, that Frederick
William III. and the great men who are associated with its origin,
called it into existence. Wilhelm von Humboldt was at that time at the
head of the educational department of the kingdom, and men like Fichte
and Schleiermacher worked on the popular mind. Within the first ten
years of its existence it counted among its professors such names as
Neander, Savigny, Eichhorn, Bockh, Bekker, Hegel, Raumer, Niebuhr and
Buttmann. Later followed men like Hengstenberg, Homeyer,
Bethmann-Hollweg, Puchta, Stahl and Heffter; Schelling, Trendelenburg,
Bopp, the brothers Grimm, Zumpt, Carl Richter; later still, Twesten and
Dorner, Gneist and Hinschius; Langenbeck, Bardeleben, Virchow, Du-Bois
Reymond; von Ranke, Curtius, Lipsius, Hofmann the chemist, Kiepert the
geographer; Helmholtz, van't Hoff, Koch, E. Fischer, Waldeyer and von
Bergmann among scientists and surgeons; Mommsen, Treitschke and Sybel
among historians, Harnack among theologians, Brunner among jurists.
Taking ordinary, honorary, extraordinary professors and licensed
lecturers (_Privat-docenten_) together, its professorial strength
consisted, in 1904-1905, of 23 teachers in the faculty of theology, 32
in that of law, 175 in that of medicine and 227 in that of
philosophy--altogether 457. The number of matriculated students during
the same period was 7154, as against 5488 in the preceding summer term.
The number of matriculated students is usually greater in winter than in
summer; the reason of the disproportion being that in the summer
university towns having pleasant surroundings, such as Bonn, Heidelberg,
Kiel and Jena, are more frequented. Berlin is essentially a Prussian
university--of students from non-German states, Russia sends most, then
the United States of America, while Great Britain is credited with
comparatively few. It is, however, in the ugly palace of Prince Henry
of Prussia, which was given for the purpose in the days of Prussian
poverty and distress, that the university is still housed, and although
some internal rearrangement has been effected, no substantial
alterations have been made to meet the ever-increasing demand for
lecture-room accommodation. The garden towards Unter den Linden is
adorned by a bronze statue of Helmholtz; the marble statues of Wilhelm
and Alexander von Humboldt, which were formerly placed on either side of
the gate, have been removed to the adjacent garden. Technical education
is provided in the magnificent buildings erected at a cost of L100,000
in Charlottenburg, which are equipped with all the apparatus for the
teaching of science. Among other institutions of university rank and
affiliated to it are the school of mines, the agricultural college, the
veterinary college, the new seminary for oriental languages, and the
high school for music. The geodetic institute has been removed to
Potsdam. The university is, moreover, rich in institutions for the
promotion of medical and chemical science, for the most part housed in
buildings belonging to the governing body. There should also be
mentioned the Royal Academy of Sciences, founded in 1700. The name of
Leibnitz is associated with its foundation, and it was raised to the
rank of a royal academy by Frederick the Great in 1743. The Royal
Academy of Arts is under the immediate protection of the king, and is
governed by a director and senate. There is also an academy of vocal
music.
_Schools._--Berlin possesses fifteen _Gymnasia_ (classical schools, for
the highest branches of the learned professions), of which four are
under the direct supervision of the provincial authorities and have the
prefix _koniglich_ (royal), while the remaining eleven are municipal and
under the control of the civic authorities. They are attended by about
7000 scholars, of whom a fourth are Jews. There are also eight
_Real-gymnasia_ (or "modern" schools), numerous _Real-schulen_
(commercial schools), public high schools for girls, and commodious and
excellently organized elementary schools.
_Museums._--The buildings of the royal museum are divided into the old
and new museums. The former is an imposing edifice situated on the
north-east side of the Lustgarten, facing the royal palace. It was built
in the reign of Frederick William III. from designs by Schinkel. Its
portico supported by eighteen colossal Ionic columns is reached by a
wide flight of steps. The back and side walls of the portico are covered
with frescoes, from designs by Schinkel, representing the world's
progress from chaos to organic and developed life. The sides of the
flight of steps support equestrian bronze groups of the Amazon by Kiss,
and the Lion-slayer by Albert Wolff. Under the portico are monuments of
the sculptors Rauch and Schadow, the architect Schinkel, and the art
critic Winckelmann. The interior consists of a souterrain, and of a
first floor, entered from the portico through bronze doors, after
designs by Stiller, weighing 7-1/2 tons, and executed at a cost of
L3600. This floor consists of a rotunda, and of halls and cabinets of
sculpture. The second floor, which formerly contained the national
gallery of paintings, is occupied by a collection of northern
antiquities and by the Schliemann treasures.
The new museum, connected with the old museum by a covered corridor, is,
in its internal arrangements and decorations, one of the finest
structures in the capital. The lowest of its three floors contains the
Egyptian museum; on the first floor plaster casts of ancient, medieval
and modern sculpture are found, while the second contains a cabinet of
engravings. On the walls of the grand marble staircase, which rises to
the full height of the building, Kaulbach's cyclus of stereochromic
pictures is painted, representing the six great epochs of human
progress, from the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel and the
dispersion of the nations to the Reformation.
The national gallery, a fine building surrounded by a Corinthian
colonnade and lying between the royal museums and the Spree, contains a
number of modern German paintings. Behind these buildings, again, is the
Pergamum museum, which houses a unique collection, the result of the
excavations at Pergamum. Still farther away, on a triangular plot of
land enclosed by the two arms of the Spree and the metropolitan railway,
stands the Kaiser Friedrich museum (1904). This edifice, in the Italian
baroque style, surmounted by a dome, possesses but little architectural
merit, and its position is so confined that great ingenuity had to be
employed in its internal arrangements to meet the demands of space, but
its collection of pictures is one of the finest in Europe. Hither were
removed, from the old and new museums, the national gallery of pictures,
the statuary of the Christian epoch and the numismatic collection. The
gallery of paintings, on the first floor, is distributed into the
separate schools of Germany, Italy, Flanders and Holland, while another
of the central rooms embraces those of Spain, France and England. The
collection, which in 1874 contained 1300 paintings, was then enriched by
the purchase by the Prussian government for L51,000 of the Suermondt
collection which, rich in pictures of the Dutch and Flemish schools,
contained also a few by Spanish, Italian and French masters. The gallery
as a whole has been happily arranged, and there are few great painters
of whom it does not contain one or more examples. The Kunst-gewerbe
museum, at the corner of the Koniggratzer-strasse and Albrecht-strasse,
contains valuable specimens of applied art.
_Theatres._--In nothing has the importance of Berlin become more
conspicuous than in theatrical affairs. In addition to the
old-established Opernhaus and Schauspielhaus, which are supported by the
state, numerous private playhouses have been erected, notably the
Lessing and the Deutsches theatres, and it is in these that the modern
works by Wildenbruch, Sudermann, and Hauptmann have been produced, and
it may be said that it is in Berlin that the modern school of German
drama has its home. In music Berlin is not able to vie with Leipzig,
Dresden or Munich, yet it is well represented by the Conservatorium,
with which the name of Joachim is connected, while the more modern
school is represented by Xaver Scharwenka.
_Government, Administration and Politics._--On the 1st of April 1881
Berlin was divided off from the province of Brandenburg and since forms
a separate administrative district. But the chief presidency
(_Oberprasidium_), the Consistory, the provincial school-board, and the
board of health of the province of Brandenburg remain tribunals of last
instance to which appeals lie from Berlin. The government is partly
semi-military (police) and partly municipal. The ministry of police (a
branch of the home office) consists of six departments: (1) general; (2)
trade; (3) building; (4) criminal; (5) passports; (6) markets. It
controls the fire brigade, has the general inspection over all
strangers, and is responsible for public order. The civil authority
(_Magistrat_) consists of a chief mayor (_Oberburgermeister_), a mayor
(_Burgermeister_), and a city council (_Stadtrat_). The
_Oberburgermeister_, who is _ex officio_ a member of the Prussian Upper
House, and the _Burgermeister_ are elected by the common council
(_Stadtverordnetenversammlung_) of 144 members, i.e. three delegates
chosen by manhood suffrage for each ward of the city; but the election
is subject to the veto of the king without reason given. The _Stadtrat_
consists of 32 members, of whom 15 are paid officials (including 2
syndics, 2 councillors for building, and 2 for education), while 17
serve gratuitously. For general work the _Magistrat_ and the
_Stadtverordnetenversammlung_ coalesce, and committees are appointed for
various purposes out of the whole body, these being usually presided
over by members of the _Magistrat_. Their jurisdiction extends to
water-supply, the drainage, lighting and cleaning of the streets, the
care of the poor, hospitals and schools. Politically the city is divided
into six Reichstag and four Landtag constituencies, returning six and
nine members respectively, and it must be noted that in the case of the
Landtag the allocation of seats dated from 1860, so that the city, in
proportion to its population, was in 1908 much under-represented. It
should have had twenty-five members instead of nine.
[Illustration: Map of Berlin and Environs.]
_Population._--The stupendous growth of the population of Berlin during
the last century is best illustrated by the following figures. In 1816
it contained 197,717 inhabitants; in 1849, 431,566; in 1871, 826,341;
in 1880, 1,122,330; 1890, 1,578,794, and in 1905, 2,033,900. The
birth-rate is about 30, and the death-rate 20 per 1000 inhabitants a
year. Illegitimate births amount to about 15% of the whole. According to
religion, about 84% are Protestants, 10% Roman Catholics and 5% Jews,
but owing to the great number of Jews who for social and other reasons
ostensibly embrace the Christian faith, these last figures do not
actually represent the number of Jews by descent living in the city.
_Environs._--Marvellous as has been the transformation in the city
itself, no less surprising results have been effected since 1875 in the
surroundings of Berlin. On the east, north and west, the city is
surrounded at a distance of some 5 m. from its centre by a thick belt of
pine woods, the Jungfernheide, the Spandauer Forst, and the Grunewald,
the last named stretching away in a south-westerly direction as far as
Potsdam, and fringing the beautiful chain of Havel lakes. These forests
enjoyed until quite recent times an unenviable notoriety as the
camping-ground and lurking-place of footpads and other disorderly
characters. After the opening of the circular railway in 1871, private
enterprise set to work to develop these districts, and a "villa colony"
was built at the edge of the Grunewald between the station West-end and
the Spandauer Bock. From these beginnings, owing mainly to the expansion
of the important suburb of Charlottenburg, has resulted a complete
transformation of the eastern part of the Grunewald into a picturesque
and delightful villa suburb, which is connected by railway,
steam-tramway and a magnificent boulevard--the Kurfurstendamm--with the
city. Nowadays the little fishing villages on the shores of the lakes,
notably the Wannsee, cater for the recreation of the Berliners, while
palatial summer residences of wealthy merchants occupy the most
prominent sites. Suburban Berlin may be said to extend practically to
Potsdam.
_Traffic._--The public streets have a total length of about 350 m., and
a large staff of workmen is regularly employed in maintaining and
cleaning the public roads and parks. The force is well controlled, and
the work of cleaning and removing snow after a heavy fall is thoroughly
and efficiently carried out. The less important thoroughfares are mostly
paved with the so-called Vienna paving, granite bricks of medium size,
while the principal streets, and especially those upon which the traffic
is heavy, have either asphalt or wood paving.
_Water-Supply and Drainage._--The water-supply is mainly derived from
works on the Muggel and Tegeler lakes, the river water being carefully
filtered through sand. The drainage system is elaborate, and has stood
the test of time. The city is divided into twelve radial systems, each
with a pumping station, and the drainage is forced through five mains to
eighteen sewage farms, each of which is under careful sanitary
supervision, in respect both of the persons employed thereon, and the
products, mainly milk, passing thence to the city for human consumption.
Only in a few isolated cases has any contamination been traced to fever
or other zymotic germs. In this connexion it is worth noting that the
infectious diseases hospital has a separate system of drainage which is
carefully disinfected, and not allowed to be employed for the purposes
of manure.
_Hospitals._--In no other city of the world is the hospital organization
so well appointed as in Berlin, or are the sick poor tended with greater
solicitude. State, municipal and private charity here again join hands
in the prompt relief of sickness and cases of urgency. The municipal
hospitals are six in number, the largest of which is the Virchow
hospital, situate in Moabit and opened in 1906. It is arranged on the
pavilion system, contains 2000 beds, and is one of the most splendidly
equipped hospitals in the world. The cost amounted to L900,000. Next
comes that of Friedrichshain, also built on the pavilion system, while
the state controls six (not including the prison infirmaries) of which
the world-renowned Charite in the Luisen-strasse is the principal. The
hospitals of the nursing sisters (Diakonissen Anstalten) number 8, while
there are 60 registered private hospitals under the superintendence of
responsible doctors and under the inspection of government.
_Charities._--Berlin is also very richly endowed with charitable
institutions for the relief of pauperism and distress. In addition to
the municipal support of the poor-houses there are large funds derived
from bequests for the relief of the necessitous and deserving poor;
while night shelters and people's kitchens have been organized on an
extensive scale for the temporary relief of the indigent unemployed. For
the former several of the arches of the city railway have been utilized,
and correspond in internal arrangement to like shelters instituted by
the Salvation Army in London and various other cities.
_Markets._--Open market-places in Berlin are things of the past, and
their place has been taken by airy and commodious market halls. Of
these, 14 in number, the central market, close to the Alexander-platz
station of the city railway with which it is connected by an admirable
service of lifts for the rapid unloading of goods, is the finest. It has
a ground area of about 17,000 sq. yds., and is fitted with more than
2000 stalls. The other markets are conveniently situated at various
accessible places within the city, and the careful police supervision to
which they are subjected, both in the matter of general cleanliness, and
in the careful examination of all articles of food exposed for sale, has
tended to the general health and comfort of the population.
The central cattle market and slaughter-houses for the inspection and
supply of the fresh meat consumed in the metropolis occupy an extensive
area in the north-east of the city on the Ringbahn, upon which a station
has been erected for the accommodation of meat trains and passengers
attending the market. The inspection is rigorously carried out, and only
carcases which have been stamped as having been certified good are
permitted to be taken away for human consumption.
_History._--The etymology of the word "Berlin" is doubtful. Some derive
it from Celtic roots--_ber_, small, short, and _lyn_, a lake; others
regard it as a Wend word, meaning a free, open place; others, again,
refer it to the word _werl_, a river island. Another authority derives
it from the German word _Bruhl_, a marshy district, and the Slavonic
termination _in_; thus Bruhl, by the regular transmutation Buhrl
(compare Ger. _bren_-nen and Eng. burn), Burhlin. More recent research,
however, seems to have established the derivation from _Wehr_, dam.
Similar obscurity rests on the origin of the city. The hypotheses which
carried it back to the early years of the Christian era have been wholly
abandoned. Even the margrave Albert the Bear (d. 1170) is no longer
unquestionably regarded as its founder, and the tendency of opinion now
is to date its origin from the time of his great-grandsons, Otto III.
and John I. When first alluded to, what is now Berlin was spoken of as
two towns, Kolln and Berlin. The first authentic document concerning the
former is from the year 1237, concerning the latter from the year 1244,
and it is with these dates that the trustworthy history of the city
begins. In 1307 the first attempt was made to combine the councils of
Kolln and Berlin, but the experiment was abandoned four years later, and
the two towns continued their separate existence till 1432, when the
establishment of a common council for both led to disturbances of which
the outcome was that Frederick II. the Iron in 1442 abolished this
arrangement, seriously curtailed the privileges of both towns, and began
the building of a castle at Kolln. A feud between the elector and the
Berliners ended in the defeat of the latter, who in 1448 were forced to
accept the constitution of 1442. From this time Berlin became and
continued to be the residence of the Hohenzollerns, the elector John
Cicero (1486-1499) being the first to establish a permanent court inside
the walls. It was not, however, until the time of King Frederick William
I. that the sovereigns ceased to date their official acts from Kolln. In
1539, under the elector Joachim II., Berlin embraced the Lutheran
religion. Henceforth the history of Berlin was intimately bound up with
the house of Hohenzollern. The conversion of the elector John Sigismund
in 1613 to the Reformed (Calvinist) faith was hotly resented by the
Berliners and led to bloody riots in the city. The Thirty Years' War all
but ruined the city, the population of which sank from some 14,000 in
1600 to less than 8000 in 1650. It was restored and the foundations of
its modern splendour were laid by the Great Elector, by the time of
whose death (1688) the population had risen to some 20,000. During this
period several suburbs had begun to grow up, Friedrichswerder in 1667
and the Dorotheenstadt, so named in 1676 after the electress Dorothea
its founder. In 1688 Frederick III. (afterwards King Frederick I.) began
the Friedrichstadt, completed by Frederick William I. Under Frederick
I., who did much to embellish the city as the royal _Residenzsiadt_, the
separate administrations of the quarters of Berlin, Kolln,
Friedrichstadt, Friedrichswerder and Dorotheenstadt were combined, and
the separate names were absorbed in that of Berlin. The fortifications
begun in 1658 were finally demolished under Frederick the Great in 1745,
and the Neue Friedrich-strasse, the Alexander-strasse and the
Wall-strasse were laid out on their site.
Twice during the Seven Years' War Berlin was attacked by the enemy: in
1757 by the Austrians, who penetrated into the suburbs and levied a
heavy contribution, and in 1760 by the Russians, who bombarded the city,
penetrated into it, and only retired on payment of a ransom of 1,500,000
thalers (L225,000). After the disastrous campaign of Jena, Berlin
suffered much during the French occupation (24th October 1806 to 1st
December 1808). In spite of these misfortunes, however, the progress of
the city was steady. In 1809 the present municipal government was
instituted. In 1810 the university was founded. After the alliance of
Prussia and Russia in 1812 Berlin was again occupied by the French, but
in March 1813 they were finally driven out. The period following the
close of the war saw great activity in building, especially in the
erection of many noble monuments and public buildings, e.g. those by the
architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The most notable event in the history
of Berlin during the 19th century, prior to the Franco-German War, was
the March revolution of 1848 (see GERMANY: _History_, and FREDERICK
WILLIAM IV., king of Prussia). The effect of the war of 1870-71 on the
growth of Berlin has been sufficiently indicated already.
AUTHORITIES.--For the history of Berlin see the publications of the
"Verein fur die Geschichte Berlins"; the _Berlinische Chronik nebst
Urkundenbuch_, and the periodicals _Der Bar_ (1875, &c.) and
_Mitteilungen_ (1884, &c.). Of histories may be mentioned A.
Streckfuss, _500 Jahre Berliner Geschichte_ (new ed. by Fernbach,
1900); _Berlin im 19ten Jahrhundert_ (4 vols., 1867-1869), and
_Statistisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Berlin_ (1904-1905); Fidiein,
_Historisch-diplomatische Beitrage zur Geschichte der Stadt Berlin_ (5
vols., 1837-1842); Brockhaus, _Konversations-Lexikon_ (1904); Meyer,
_Konversations-Lexikon_ (1904); Baedeker, _Fuhrer durch Berlin_;
Woeri, _Fuhrer durch Berlin_; J. Pollard, _The Corporation of Berlin_
(Edinburgh, 1893); A. Shaclwell, _Industrial Efficiency_ (London,
1906); _Berliner Jahrbuch fur Handel und Industrie_ (1905); and O.
Schwebel, _Geschichte der Stadt Berlin_ (Berlin, 1888). (P. A. A.)
BERLIN, CONGRESS AND TREATY OF. The events that led up to the assembling
of the congress of Berlin, the outcome of which was the treaty of the
13th of July 1878, are described elsewhere (see EUROPE: _History_;
TURKEY: _History_; RUSSO-TURKISH WAR). Here it must suffice to say that
the terms of the treaty of San Stefano (3rd March 1878), by which the
Russo-Turkish War had been brought to a conclusion, seemed to those of
the other powers who were most interested scarcely less fatal to the
Ottoman dominion than that Russian occupation of Constantinople which
Great Britain had risked a war to prevent. By this instrument Bulgaria
was to become a practically independent state, under the nominal
suzerainty of the sultan, bounded by the Danube, the Black Sea, the
Aegean and Albania, and cutting off the latter from the remnant of
Rumelia which, with Constantinople, was to be left to the Turks. At the
same time the other Christian principalities, Servia and Montenegro,
were largely increased in size and their independence definitively
recognized; and the proposals of the powers with regard to Bosnia and
Herzegovina, communicated to the Ottoman plenipotentiaries at the first
sitting of the conference of Constantinople (23rd December 1876), were
to be immediately executed. These provisions seemed to make Russia
permanently arbiter of the fate of the Balkan peninsula, the more so
since the vast war indemnity of 1,400,000,000 roubles exacted in the
treaty promised to cripple the resources of the Ottoman government for
years to come.
The two powers whose interests were most immediately threatened by the
terms of the peace were Austria and Great Britain. The former
especially, refusing to be bribed by the Russian offer of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, saw herself cut off from all chance of expansion in the
Balkan peninsula and threatened with the establishment there of the
paramount power of Russia, a peril it had been her traditional policy to
avert. On the 5th of February, accordingly, Count Andrassy issued a
circular note, addressed to the signatory powers of the treaty of Paris
of 1856 and the London protocol of 1871, suggesting a congress for the
purpose of establishing "the agreement of Europe on the modifications
which it may become necessary to introduce into the above-mentioned
treaties" in view of the preliminaries of peace signed by Russia and
Turkey. This appeal to the sanctity of international engagements,
traditional in the diplomatic armoury of Austria, and strengthened by so
recent a precedent as that of 1871, met with an immediate response. On
the 1st of April Lord Salisbury had already addressed a circular note to
the British embassies refusing on behalf of the British government to
recognize any arrangements made in the peace preliminaries, calculated
to modify European treaties, "unless they were made the subject of a
formal agreement among the parties to the treaty of Paris," and quoting
the "essential principle of the law of nations" promulgated in the
London protocol. By Great Britain therefore the Austrian proposal was at
once accepted. Germany was very willing to fall in with the views of her
Austrian ally and share in a council in which, having no immediate
interests of her own, Bismarck could win new laurels in his role of
"honest broker." In these circumstances Russia could not but accept the
principle of a congress. She tried, however, to limit the scope of its
powers by suggesting the exclusion of certain clauses of the treaty from
its reference, and pointed out (circular of Prince Gorchakov, April 9th)
that Russia had not been the first nor the only Power to violate the
treaties in question. The answer of Lord Beaconsfield was to mobilize
the militia and bring Indian troops to the Mediterranean; and finally
Russia, finding that the diplomatic support which she had expected from
Bismarck failed her, consented to submit the whole treaty without
reserve to the congress.
On the 3rd of June Count Munster, in the name of the German government,
issued the formal invitation to the congress. The congress met, under
the presidency of Prince Bismarck, at Berlin on the 13th of June. Great
Britain was represented by Lord Beaconsfield, Lord Salisbury and Lord
Odo Russell, ambassador at Berlin; Germany by Prince Bismarck, Baron
Ernst von Bulow and Prince Chlodwig von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst,
ambassador at Paris; Austria by Count Andrassy, Count Louis Karolyi and
Baron Heinrich Karl von Haymerle, ambassador at Rome; France by William
H. Waddington, the Comte de Saint-Vallier, ambassador at Berlin, and
Felix Hippolyte Desprez, director of political affairs in the department
for foreign affairs; Russia by the chancellor, Prince Gorchakov, Count
Peter Shuvalov, ambassador to the court of St James's, and Paul
d'Oubril, ambassador at Berlin; Turkey by Alexander Catheodory Pasha,
minister of public works, All Pasha, _mushir_ of the Ottoman armies, and
Sadullah Bey, ambassador at Berlin. The bases of the conferences had, of
course, been settled beforehand, and the final act of the congress was
signed by the plenipotentiaries mentioned above exactly a month after
the opening of the congress, on the 13th of July.
The treaty of Berlin consists in all of sixty-four articles, of which it
will be sufficient to note those which have had a special bearing on
subsequent international developments. So far as they affect the
territorial boundaries fixed by the treaties of Paris and San Stefano it
will be sufficient to refer to the sketch map in the article EUROPE:
_History_. By Art. I. Bulgaria was "constituted an autonomous and
tributary principality under the suzerainty of H.I.M. the Sultan"; it
was to have "a Christian government and a national militia," Art. II.
fixed the boundaries of the new state and provided for their
delimitation by a European commission, which was "to take into
consideration the necessity for H.I.M. the Sultan to be able to defend
the Balkan frontiers of Eastern Rumelia." Arts. III. to XII. provide for
the election of a prince for Bulgaria, the machinery for settling the
new constitution, the adjustment of the relations of the new Bulgarian
government to the Ottoman empire and its subjects (including the
question of tribute, the amount of which was, according to Art. XII., to
be settled by agreement of the signatory powers "at the close of the
first year of the working of the new organization"). By Art. X.
Bulgaria, so far as it was concerned, was to take the place of the
Sublime Porte in the engagements which the latter had contracted, as
well towards Austria-Hungary as towards the Rustchuck-Varna Railway
Company, for working the railway of European Turkey in respect to the
completion and connexion, as well as the working of the railways
situated in its territory.
By Art. XIII. a province was formed south of the Balkans which was to
take the name of "Eastern Rumelia," and was to remain "under the direct
military and political control of H.I.M. the Sultan, under conditions of
administrative autonomy." It was to have a Christian governor-general.
Arts. XIV. to XXIII. define the frontiers and organization of the new
province, questions arising out of the Russian occupation, and the
rights of the sultan. Of the latter it is to be noted that the sultan
retained the right of fortifying and occupying the Balkan passes (Art.
XV.) and all his rights and obligations over the railways (Art. XXI.).
Art. XXV., which the events of 1908 afterwards brought into special
prominence, runs as follows: "The provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina
shall be occupied and administered by Austria-Hungary. The government of
Austria-Hungary, not desiring to undertake the administration of the
sanjak of Novi-Bazar, ... the Ottoman administration will continue to
exercise its functions there. Nevertheless, in order to assure the
maintenance of the new political state of affairs, as well as freedom
and security of communications, Austria-Hungary reserves the right of
keeping garrisons and having military and commercial roads in the whole
of this part of the ancient vilayet of Bosnia."
By Art. XXVI. the independence of Montenegro was definitively
recognized, and by Art. XVIII. she received certain accessions of
territory, including a strip of coast on the Adriatic, but under
conditions which tended to place her under the tutelage of
Austria-Hungary. Thus, by Art. XXIX. she was to have neither ships of
war nor a war flag, the port of Antivari and all Montenegrin waters were
to be closed to the war-ships of all nations; the fortifications between
the lake and the coast were to be razed; the administration of the
maritime and sanitary police at Antivari and along the Montenegrin
littoral was to be carried on by Austria-Hungary "by means of light
coast-guard boats"; Montenegro was to adopt the maritime code in force
in Dalmatia, while the Montenegrin merchant flag was to be under
Austro-Hungarian consular protection. Finally, Montenegro was to "come
to an understanding with Austria-Hungary on the right to construct and
keep up across the new Montenegrin territory a road and a railway."
By Art. XXXIV. the independence of Servia was recognized, subject to
conditions (as to religious liberty, &c.) set forth in Art. XXXV. Art.
XXXVI. defined the new boundaries.
By Art. XLIII. the independence of Rumania, already proclaimed by the
prince (May 22/June 3 1877), was recognized. Subsequent articles define
the conditions and the boundaries.
Arts. LII. to LVII. deal with the question of the free navigation of the
Danube. All fortifications between the mouths and the Iron Gates were to
be razed, and no vessels of war, save those of light tonnage in the
service of the river police and the customs, were to navigate the river
below the Iron Gates (Art. LII.). The Danube commission, on which
Rumania was to be represented, was maintained in its functions (Art.
LIII.) and provision made for the further prolongation of its powers
(Art. LIV.).