Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/671

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

SAVIGNY the Kulpa it is navigable for vessels of 150 tons. Its principal affluents, all from the south, are the Kulpa, Unna, Verbas, Bosna, and Drina. SAVIGN1, Friedrieh Karl von, a German jurist, born in Frankfort, Feb. 21, 1779, died in Ber- lin, Oct. 25, 1861. He studied at Marburg, where he lectured on the civil law from 1801 to 1804. In 1808 he was appointed professor of law at Landshut, and in 1810 at Berlin. In 1842 he was appointed minister of justice for the revision of the law, and in 1848 retired from political life. He published Das Recht des Besitzes (1803; 7th ed., 1865; English translation, "Treatise on Possession," &c., 6th ed., 8vo, London, 1848) ; GescMchte des ro- miscJien Rechts im Mittelalter (6 vols., 1815- '31) ; and System des heutigen romischen Rechts (8 vols., 1840-'49), to which -Das OUigations- recht (2 vols., 1851-'3) is an appendix. SAVILE, or Saviilc, George, marquis of Hali- fax, an English statesman, born in Yorkshire in 1630, died in London, April 20, 1695. He was the son of a baronet, and for his zeal in bringing about the restoration was created in 1668 Baron Savile and Viscount Halifax ; in 1679 he was made earl, and in 1682 marquis of Halifax. In 1672 he was made a privy councillor, and in 1679 was admitted into the council of 30, and subsequently became one of Charles II.'s four confidential advisers. It was owing almost entirely to his oratory that the house of lords rejected the exclusion bill in 1680. He however defended Lord Eussell, and denounced the withdrawal of the Massa- chusetts charter. On the accession of James II. he was obliged to give up his post as lord privy seal and accept the presidency of the council ; but as he refused to support the king . in the repeal of the test and habeas corpus acts, he was dismissed from office. He was appointed by James one of the commissioners to treat with William of Orange, but the flight of the king put an end to his mission. When parliament met he was appointed speaker of the house of lords, and supported the claim of William as king regnant, presented the crown to William and Mary on their accession, and was made lord privy seal. But he soon went into opposition, and acted for a short time with the Jacobites. He was the chief of the party contemptuously called trimmers, a name which he accepted and defended. He wrote " Character of a Trimmer," " Anatomy of an Equivalent," "Letters to a Dissenter," and "Maxims of State," all of which were printed in 1 vol. 8vo after his death. Sev- eral historical essays were published under his name. Two manuscript copies of his memoirs were both destroyed. The poet Henry Carey, ancestor of Edmund Kean, was his natural son. SAVffl. See JUMPER. SAVINGS BANK, an institution for the deposit and safe keeping of small sums of money. Savings banks were originally established by benevolent individuals with a view to enable the poor to find places in which small savings SAVINGS BANK 647 could be deposited on interest, and thus to offer inducements to make such savings. Un- like ordinary banks, savings banks do not usu- ally lend money on personal security, but upon mortgage of real estate, stocks, and bonds of governments and incorporated companies. In some countries these banks are only permitted by law to invest in the national securities. The earliest savings bank of which there is any record was founded in Hamburg in 1778; but little is known of its history or operations. The next was in Bern, Switzerland, in 1787. In that country recently existed at Zurich the oldest savings bank in Europe, it having been founded in 1805. Francis Maseres in 1771 published in England a proposal that the rate payers of any parish should be incorporated for the purpose of receiving the savings of the people and of investing the same, and granting deferred annuities to the owners thereof. A bill based on this proposal passed the house of commons, but failed in the house of lords. In 1797 Jeremy Bentham suggested the plan of what he called "frugality banks "in connec- tion with the management of paupers. In 1798 a " Friendly Society for the Benefit of Women and Children " was established at Tot- tenham High Cross, Middlesex, by Mrs. Pris- cilla Wakefield, and in or before 1801 there were combined with it a fund for loans and a bank for savings. In 1804 this bank was regularly organized with Mr. Eardley Wilmot, M. P., and Mr. Spurling as its first trustees. In 1799 the Eev. Joseph Smith of Wendover, Bucks, circulated in his parish proposals to re- ceive sums on deposit during the summer, and to return them at Christmas with an addition of one third as a bounty on the economy of the depositors. The peasantry of the parish read- ily embraced this offer. In 1806 the "Provi- dent Institution " of London was established. A savings bank was at first attached to it, but was soon discontinued, and the institution be- came simply a life insurance company. In 1807 the Rev. John Muckersy established in Scotland the "West Calder Friendly Bank for the Savings of the Poor." In 1808 a society was opened in Bath, chiefly through the instru- mentality of ladies, for receiving the deposits of female servants. In 1810 the Rev. Henry Duncan, D. D., minister of Ruthwell, Dum- friesshire, Scotland, established a parish bank in that town, and at the end of four years had therein accumulated 1,160, at 5 per cent, in- terest. His attention had been directed to this subject by reading the writings of John Bone on social economy. He himself also wrote various essays, including "An Essay on Par- ish Banks." The institution established by him served as a model for various others. In gratitude to Dr. Duncan, a savings bank house was erected to his memory in the town of Dumfries soon after his death in 1846. In De- cember, 1813, the Edinburgh savings bank was founded, mainly through the instrumentality of J. H. Forbes, who was connected with the