Ashpital prize of the R.I.B.A. In 1892 he left England for South Africa, and there, with Cecil Rhodes as his friend and patron, began the work of reviving the old traditions of the architecture and craftsmanship of the colony. For Rhodes he built Groote Schuur, afterwards the permanent home of the prime ministers of South Africa, and also a house which the same patron built on Table Mountain for his friend Rudyard Kipling. Cecil Rhodes sent him on a tour of travel and study in Egypt and southern Europe, and, as a recognition of this generosity and the value of such an opportunity to a young architect, Baker founded the South African Scholarship at the British School in Rome. After the death of Rhodes he carried out the great Memorial on the slopes of Table Mountain, important features of which were the sculpture work of J. M. Swan, R.A. the bronze lions and a head of Rhodes himself - and the mounted equestrian figure -" Physical Energy "- by G. F. Watts, R.A.
The end of the South African War saw Baker in full practice in the Transvaal and South Africa. In addition to the Gov- ernment buildings at Pretoria the administrative capital of South Africa -he carried out the cathedrals at Cape Town, Pretoria, and Salisbury, and many colleges and schools. Amongst the houses he built in South Africa are the Government House in Pretoria, and that for Sir Lionel Phillips, afterwards the governor-general's Johannesburg home. He also designed the buildings for the S. A. Institute of Medical Research at Johannesburg, and laid out many model mining villages on the Rand. His works in England include Sir Philip Sassoon's house at Lympne and the restoration of Chilham Castle, Kent. He was appointed one of the three principal architects for the war cemeteries in England and Flanders, and carried out many war memorials in England, amongst them those at Canterbury, Winchester and at Harrow school. Baker was appointed in 1913 joint architect for the new Imperial City of Delhi, in col- laboration with Sir Edwin Lutyens. For this great scheme he designed the .buildings for the secretariats, the Legislative Assembly, the Councils of State and of Princes, and the Vice- roy's Dome for General Assembly.
BAKER, NEWTON DIEHL (1871–), American politician, was born at Martinsburg, W. Va., Dec. 3 1871. He was educated at Johns Hopkins (A.B. 1892) and Washington and Lee (LL.B. 1894). In 1896 he became private secretary to Postmaster-General Wilson, but the following year opened a law office in his native town. Later he moved to Cleveland, O., where in 1902 he was made city solicitor and in 1912 mayor. The latter office he had held for two terms
when in 1916 he was appointed U.S. Secretary of War by
President Wilson. He had declined the Secretaryship of the
Interior in 1912. After the outbreak of the World War he
endorsed the Administration's peace policy, supported the
League to Enforce Peace, and urged that the national guard be
tried fully before compulsory service be decided upon. After
America entered the war he recommended moderation towards
conscientious objectors and forbade men in uniform to inter-
fere with anti-conscription meetings. The charge of pacifism
was often brought against him, and his career generally as
Secretary was widely condemned throughout the United States
as lacking in energy, foresight and ability, and especially for
his failure to prepare adequately in the months immediately
preceding the American declaration of war.
BAKST, LEON NICOLAIEVICH (1866–), Russian painter and theatrical designer, was born at St. Petersburg May 10 (April 27 O.S.) 1866. He was educated at St. Petersburg, where he afterwards studied art, and later went to Paris, subsequently returning and working in Moscow. In 1906 he settled in Paris, and soon became popular as a designer. In 1909 the Imperial Russian Ballet first visited Paris, and Bakst at once leapt into fame through his designs for the setting of the ballets Scheherazade and Cleopatre, followed in 1912 by L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune, Helene de Sparte, and St. Sebastien, and in 1913 by La Pisanella. He published in 1913 an article in La Hjouvelle Revue, entitled " Les Problemes de 1'Art Nouveau."
See L'Arl decoratif de Leon. Bakst, with appreciation by Arsene Alexandra, translated by H. Melvill (1913).
BALAKIREV, MILI ALEXEIVICH (1836–1910), Russian musical composer (see 3.234), died at St. Petersburg in May 1910.
BALDISSERA, ANTONIO (1838–1917), Italian general, was
born at Padua 1838, and died at Florence, on Jan. 9 1917.
His birthplace in 1858 being still under Austrian rule, young
Baldissera entered the Austrian army, in which he served
with distinction in an infantry regiment; he was captain in the
7th Jagers at Custozza (1866). But when Venetia became Ital-
ian, he opted for Italian nationality, retaining his rank in the
Italian army. In 1879 he was promoted colonel of the 7th
Bersaglieri and major-general in 1887, when he went to Eri-
trea under Gen. Asinari di San Marzano, remaining in the col-
ony as governor after the latter's return. Both as a soldier and
an administrator he showed high qualities. He occupied Asmara,
Keren and other territories, defeated the armies of Ras Alula,
and had planned still further extensions of Italian dominion,
profiting by the anarchy of Abyssinia. He organized the admir-
able native troops (Ascari), developed agriculture and built
roads. But owing to a disagreement with the home Govern-
ment over his Abyssinian policy he asked for and obtained his
recall after two years of successful activity. In 1892 he was
promoted lieutenant-general. When war with Abyssinia broke
out in 1895 the then governor of the colony, Gen. Baratieri,
did not enjoy the confidence of the Government, which decided
to send out Baldissera once more. Although the appointment
was kept secret, Baratieri got wind of it, and this probably
decided him to attack the enemy with an inferior force and
insufficient supplies, hoping to win glory for himself before
his successor's arrival. The result was the disaster of Adowa
(March i 1896); when Baldissera arrived he found a defeated
and demoralized army, and the victorious enemy advancing in
force. With lightning speed he reorganized the remains of
Baratieri's army and the reenforcements just landed, freed the
beleaguered garrisons of Cassale and Adigrat, drove back King
Menelek's army and reoccupied a large part of the lost terri-
tory. But peace was concluded before he had completely
retrieved the defeat of Adowa, and he was forced to limit his
activities to the internal reorganization of Eritrea. But even
this task he could not carry out as thoroughly as he wished
owing to the opposition of the home Government, which was
tired of African affairs. In 1897 Baldissera returned to Italy
and resumed his duties in the home army, successively command-
ing the VII. and VIII. Army Corps. In 1906 he was made a
senator. In 1908 he had to retire from the army under the
age limit.
BALFOUR, ARTHUR JAMES (1848–), British statesman (see 3.250), was confronted, as Conservative leader, after the general election of Jan. 1910, with a situation of some embarrassment. He had to endeavour to save the effective authority of a second Chamber and to avert Irish 'Home Rule,
with his supporters not yet completely united on the issue of Tariff Reform, and in face of a Liberal Ministry dominated once more by a body of 80 Irish Nationalists, who held the balance of power in the House of Commons, and who notified their inten-
tion not to vote for Mr. Lloyd George's disputed budget unless
their forward policy was adopted. He advocated House of
Lords reform as an alternative to the Ministerial Veto Resolu-
tions, which he denounced as irrational; and when Mr. Asquith
announced that, if he could not secure statutory effect for his
policy in that Parliament, he would not dissolve except under
conditions which would ensure that the will of the people should
be carried into law in the next Parliament, he exclaimed that
the Prime Minister had "bought the Irish vote for his Budget,
but the price paid is the dignity of his office." In the lull in
the party fight which followed the death of King Edward,
Mr. Balfour welcomed the suggestion of a conference between
the parties to endeavour to arrange a compromise, and was
one of the eight leaders who met on 21 occasions between
June and Nov. without coming to an agreement. When the
