Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/447

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BAGDAD.
383
BAGGAGE.

Genghis Khan, Hulaku, put an end to tlie Abbas- side Caliphate: but the descendants of the Tar- tar conqueror were expelled by Tiniur. who took the city in 1393. In the beginning of the Six- teenth Century, Shah Ismail, the founder of the Sofi dynasty in Persia, made himself master of it. Turks and Persians strove for its posses- sion until Amurath IV., in 1038, definitely an- nexed it to the Ottoman Empire, which has since retained it. Consult Le Strange, "Baghdad dviring the Abbasid Caliphate," in Royal Asiatic tiuciely Journal (London, 1899).


BAGDAD. The port of JIatamoros (q.v.), Jlexifo. It is situated at the mouth of the Rio Grande del Norte, in the Gulf of Mexico, but its harbor is not navigable for large vessels. During the Civil War it was an important ti'ading-place for the Confederates, who had to riui the block- ade of the Federal ships.


BAGE, Robert (1728-1801). An English novelist. He was born at Darley. Derbyshire, Feln-uary 29, 1728. At the age of 23 he settled at Elford, near Tamworth, where he engaged in the nianufactui'e of paper till his death, Septem- ber 1, 1801. The prevailing French social theo- ries he embodied in several novels of considerable interest, as Mount Henneth (1781): Barham Don-iis (1784); and Hermspron'j (1796). Con- sult Ballantyne, Xot^Jists' Library, edited by W. Scott (London, 1821-24).


BAGEHOT, bflj'ot, Walter (182(5-77). An English economist and publicist. He was born at Langport, Somersetshire, February 23, 1826, and was educated at University College, London, where he won distinction by his work in mathe- matics and in intellectual and moral philosophy and political economy. He began to read law, but never practiced the profession. After a stay of some months in Paris in 18.31, where he lived through the coup d'etat of December, he returned to England to take part in his father's ship-own- ing and banking business. In 18.58 he married the eldest daughter of the Right Hon. .James Wilson, founder of the Economist, which had been established during the Corn-Law agitation to advocate free-trade principles. In 18(iO. on the departure of his father-in-law for India, Bagehot became the editor of the Economist and retained that position until his death in 1877.

Bagehot's principal works, which were widely translated and passed through several editions, were: The EvpUsh Constitution (1807); Phys- ics and Politics (1872); and Lombard Street (1873). The first work, which has been widely used in England and the ITnitod States as a text- book, is a keen analysis of the English system of government. It is striking in its distinction between the 'ornamental or theatrical' part and the practical parts, the Crown and the House of Lords constituting the first, the House of Com- mons and the Cabinet the second. The vigor of his language would imply that the theatrical parts were useless ; but, on the contrary, Bage- hot holds them in high honor, despite proposals for reforming the House of Lords. They seem to assure confidence in the staljility of government, and inculcate a respect for superiority and tra- dition which is the saving grace of English democracy. In his discussion of the practical parts he brings out strongly the essence of par- liamentary government in the blending of execu- tive and legislative authority in the Cabinet, He was among the first to point out the excel- lences of the cabinet system. His work. Physics and Politics, expands the thesis that rule and tradition, awakening the spirit of eooi)eration, is the keynote of political progress. Without this habit of pulling together, nations of brilliant intellectual parts have failed to maintain them- selves.

His Lombard street, which is a description of the role that the Bank of England plays in the English financial system, lies in quite another field of thought, for which, however, his training as vice-chairman of the Langport Bank and his position as editor of England's financial organ gave him special facilities of knowledge. The work is a masterly analysis of the English credit system, and its lucidity of statement has gained for it a wide reading and a permanent place in the literature of political economy.

Bagehot was a man of great versatility, whose reputation as one of the best conversationalists of his day will more readily be understood by those who read his Literary Studies and Bio- graphical Studies, republished after his death in his collected writings, in which his vivacity and humor find greater scope than in the larger works already noted. For a memoir of Bagehot consult the prefatory notice to Literary Studies, edited by R. H. Hutton (London, 1879).


BAG'GAGE (Fr. layage, from OF. bague, bundle, pack). In the law of common carriers all such articles of a traveler as are incidental to the journey or required by him during the jour- ney. Thus, personal jewelry and a reasonable amount of money for expenses, as well as wearing apparel, etc., are baggage ; but jewelry and goods intended for sale, articles of furniture, etc., are not. The significance of the distinction lies in the fact that the extraordinary liability of the common carrier extends to the baggage of a passenger, and yet. as a carrier of passengers, he is exempt from that liability for goods not com- ing under the description of baggage. The car- rier, however, is liable for damage resulting from his gross negligence, even if the articles shipped or carried by the passenger are not baggage; and his acceptance of them, knowing their character, may put upon him the full liability of a common carrier. See Cabriek, Common.


BAGGAGE, Military. The impedimenta of an army, including all articles of stores neces- sary, or pertaining to, a body of men moving from one point to another. Ammunition and food supplies, while coming imder this general heading, take ])recedence of all other baggage, on account of their imperative necessity to the ex- istence of troops in the field. In all armies, strict rules are enforced, regulating the amount and description of baggage that may be carried for officers and soldiers at home and abroad, both in time of peace and during war. In the field, though a soldier in the ranks carries his whole kit, yet a certain proportion of wagons are allotted to his command for the heavier baggage — tents, cooking utensils, ammuTiition, etc. The question of baggage is one of the most difficult problems a commander in the field has to deal with. In the LTnited States the transportation of baggage is covered by Sec. 1242, United States Arm;/ Regulations, which provides that the baggage to be transported at public expense, including mess-chests and personal baggage, upon