Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/685

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

BISHOP STORTFORD BISMARCK-SCHONHAT7SEN 665 Melodies." 1 In 1842 ho was knighted by Queen Victoria. Ho had in 1841 been elected pro- fessor of music in the university of Edinburgh, but he resigned in 1843, about which time he received the degree of doctor of music from Oxford, and on the death of Dr. Crotch in 1848 was elected to the chair of music in that university, which appointment he held till his death. Toward the close of his life he ar- ranged for the "Illustrated London News" a largo number of old English airs, to which Dr. Charles Mackny wrote the words. His style was devoid of affectation, free, flowing, and harmonious. II. Anna Riviere, an English vo- calist, wife of the preceding, born in London in 1814. She was married in 1831, and her career as a vocalist began in 1837. Her first success was gained as a singer of classical and oratorio music. Later she turned her atten- tion to the opera. Her professional career has been followed in every quarter of the world, and her presence is as familiar in the concert rooms of Australia as in those of England and America. In 1858 she was married to Mr. Schultz of New York, where she resides. BISHOP STORTFORD, a town of Hertford- shire, England, 32 m. by rail N. E. of London ; pop. about 0,000. It derives the first part of its name from having been since the Saxon era the property of the bishops of London, and the second from its situation on the river Stort. It consists chiefly of two lines of streets, and con- tains a fine parish church, restored in 1820, a capacious market house with a corn exchange, and various educational institutions. A canal connects it with London through the river Lea, and it carries on an extensive trade in malt. IMSMUU k-St IlitMIUsKV Otto Ednard Leo- pold, prince, a German statesman, born at the manor of Schonhausen, in the district of Mag- deburg, April 1, 1815. His father, Karl Wil- helm Ferdinand von Bismarck, was captain in the royal body guard of Prussia, and died in 1845. His mother, who died in 1839, was a daughter of Cabinet Councillor Menken. The Bismarck family has been known for upward of five centuries, during which period several members of it were prominent chiefly as military men under the electors of Brandenburg and the kings of Prussia. Otto von Bismarck was one of six children, the two eldest and the youngest of whom died in infancy. In 1832 he studied jurisprudence and political science at Got- tingen. Toward the end of 1833 he entered the university of Berlin, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1835. In 1836-'7 he was referendary at Aix-la-Chapelle and Potsdam. He served his years of military duty partly in the latter city (1837) and partly in Greifs- wald (1838), where he familiarized himself with the science of husbandry. In 1847 he attended the first united diet at Berlin in his capacity of district delegate of the nobility at the diet of the province of Saxony, and became known as an able and vehement opponent of liberal reforms. In 1848, after the first storm of the revolution, he participated in the gath- ering of the rural nobility in Berlin, known under the nickname of the Junker parliament, and wrote in favor of the feudal party in the newly established Kreuzzeitung. In 1849-'50, as a member of the second chamber of the Prussian diet, he urged increased powers for the monarchy, and the consolidation of the German nationality by the joint action of Prussia and Austria. He combated the schemes of union discussed at the Frankfort and Erfurt parlia- ments, though he was himself a member of the latter, as destructive of the true basis of Prus- sian power ; and in his reactionary zeal even applauded Manteuffel's surrender to Austria at Olmutz. After having been secretary of lega- tion, he was appointed in August, 1851, Prus- sian ambassador to the Germanic diet at Frank- fort. Here he soon manifested a decided turn in his international views, and the pretensions of Austria were repelled by him with so much bitterness that on the eve of the Franco-Italian war of 1859 it was judged prudent to transfer him to St. Petersburg, where he strengthened the friendly relations between Russia and Prus- sia, and remained till the spring of 1862. He then became Prussian ambassador in Paris for a few months, and in September of the same year succeeded Prince Hohenzollern as prime minister, first provisionally, and on Oct. 8 be- came the virtual head of the administration and minister of foreign affairs. During the long and exciting conflict between the diet and the government on the subject of the in- crease and reform of the army, the new pre- mier took strong ground in favor of strength- ening the military force, and of the royal pre- rogative in general. Despite the unfriendly attitude of Austria, he was unceasing in his efforts to effect a joint action with that power in the interest of German unity, and succeeded in procuring her cooperation in the Schleswig-Holstein war (1864), notwithstand- ing the unwillingness of the Germanic diet. He concluded a new commercial treaty with Aus- tria in 1865. The Gastein convention, Aug. 14, 1865, put an end for a time to the Schleswig- Holstein complications. Bismarck was pro- moted to the rank of count, Sept. 20, and in- vested with ministerial authority over the newly conquered territories. The relations with Aus- tria, however, continuing unsatisfactory, Bis- marck concluded an alliance with Italy, and war was declared against Austria and her allies at the Frankfort diet (June, 1866). A few weeks' campaign sufficed to crush them, and the treaty of Prague (Aug. 23) extinguished Austria as a German power, dissolved the old German diet, secured Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia, and placed Prussia at the head of a North Ger- man confederation. The statesman formerly so unpopular and even hated, on whose life shortly before the outbreak of the war an at- tempt was made by a young fanatic, was now idolized by the Prussian people. The victories achieved by Bismarck's diplomacy for the