Chapter XIV: Part 14

HAPUR, a town of British India in the Meerut district of the United Provinces, 18 m. S. of Meerut. Pop. (1901) 17,796. It is said to have been founded in the 10th century, and was granted by Sindhia to his French general Perron at the end of the 18th century. Several fine groves surround the town, but the wall and ditch have fallen out of repair, and only the names of the five gates remain. Considerable trade is carried on in sugar, grain, cotton, timber, bamboos and brass utensils.

HARA-KIRI (Japanese _hara_, belly, and _kiri_, cutting), self-disembowelment, primarily the method of suicide permitted to offenders of the noble class in feudal Japan, and later the national form of honourable suicide. Hara-kiri has been often translated as "the happy dispatch" in confusion with a native euphemism for the act. More usually the Japanese themselves speak of hara-kiri by its Chinese synonym, _Seppuku_. Hara-kiri is not an aboriginal Japanese custom. It was a growth of medieval militarism, the act probably at first being prompted by the desire of the noble to escape the humiliation of falling into an enemy's hands. By the end of the 14th century the custom had become a much valued privilege, being formally established as such under the Ashi-Kaga dynasty. Hara-kiri was of two kinds, obligatory and voluntary. The first is the more ancient. An official or noble, who had broken the law or been disloyal, received a message from the emperor, couched always in sympathetic and gracious tones, courteously intimating that he must die. The mikado usually sent a jewelled dagger with which the deed might be done. The suicide had so many days allotted to him by immemorial custom in which to make dignified preparations for the ceremony, which was attended by the utmost formality. In his own baronial hall or in a temple a dais 3 or 4 in. from the ground was constructed. Upon this was laid a rug of red felt. The suicide, clothed in his ceremonial dress as an hereditary noble, and accompanied by his second or "Kaishaku," took his place on the mat, the officials and his friends ranging themselves in a semicircle round the dais. After a minute's prayer the weapon was handed to him with many obeisances by the mikado's representative, and he then made a public confession of his fault. He then stripped to the waist. Every movement in the grim ceremony was governed by precedent, and he had to tuck his wide sleeves under his knees to prevent himself falling backwards, for a Japanese noble must die falling forward. A moment later he plunged the dagger into his stomach below the waist on the left side, drew it across to the right and, turning it, gave a slight cut upward. At the same moment the Kaishaku who crouched at his friend's side, leaping up, brought his sword down on the outstretched neck. At the conclusion of the ceremony the bloodstained dagger was taken to the mikado as a proof of the consummation of the heroic act. The performance of hara-kiri carried with it certain privileges. If it was by order of the mikado half only of a traitor's property was forfeited to the state. If the gnawings of conscience drove the disloyal noble to voluntary suicide, his dishonour was wiped out, and his family inherited all his fortune.

Voluntary hara-kiri was the refuge of men rendered desperate by private misfortunes, or was committed from loyalty to a dead superior, or as a protest against what was deemed a false national policy. This voluntary suicide still survives, a characteristic case being that of Lieutenant Takeyoshi who in 1891 gave himself the "belly-cut" in front of the graves of his ancestors at Tokyo as a protest against what he considered the criminal lethargy of the government in not taking precautions against possible Russian encroachments to the north of Japan. In the Russo-Japanese War, when faced by defeat at Vladivostock, the officer in command of the troops on the transport "Kinshu Maru" committed hara-kiri. Hara-kiri has not been uncommon among women, but in their case the mode is by cutting the throat. The popularity of this self-immolation is testified to by the fact that for centuries no fewer than 1500 hara-kiris are said to have taken place annually, at least half being entirely voluntary. Stories of amazing heroism are told in connexion with the performance of the act. One noble, barely out of his teens, not content with giving himself the customary cuts, slashed himself thrice horizontally and twice vertically. Then he stabbed himself in the throat until the dirk protruded on the other side with the sharp edge to the front, and with a supreme effort drove the knife forward with both hands through his neck. Obligatory hara-kiri was obsolete in the middle of the 19th century, and was actually abolished in 1868.

See A. B. Mitford, _Tales of Old Japan_; Basil Hall Chamberlain,
_Things Japanese_ (1898).

HARALD, the name of four kings of Norway.

HARALD I. (850-933), surnamed Haarfager (of the beautiful hair), first king over Norway, succeeded on the death or his father Halfdan the Black in A.D. 860 to the sovereignty of several small and somewhat scattered kingdoms, which had come into his father's hands through conquest and inheritance and lay chiefly in south-east Norway (see NORWAY). The tale goes that the scorn of the daughter of a neighbouring king induced Harald to take a vow not to cut nor comb his hair until he was sole king of Norway, and that ten years later he was justified in trimming it; whereupon he exchanged the epithet "Shockhead" for the one by which he is usually known. In 866 he made the first of a series of conquests over the many petty kingdoms which then composed Norway; and in 872, after a great victory at Hafrsfjord near Stavanger, he found himself king over the whole country. His realm was, however, threatened by dangers from without, as large numbers of his opponents had taken refuge, not only in Iceland, then recently discovered, but also in the Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides and Faeroes, and in Scotland itself; and from these winter quarters sallied forth to harry Norway as well as the rest of northern Europe. Their numbers were increased by malcontents from Norway, who resented Harald's claim of rights of taxation over lands which the possessors appear to have previously held in absolute ownership. At last Harald was forced to make an expedition to the west to clear the islands and Scottish mainland of Vikings. Numbers of them fled to Iceland, which grew into an independent commonwealth, while the Scottish isles fell under Norwegian rule. The latter part of Harald's reign was disturbed by the strife of his many sons. He gave them all the royal title and assigned lands to them which they were to govern as his representatives; but this arrangement did not put an end to the discord, which continued into the next reign. When he grew old he handed over the supreme power to his favourite son Erik "Bloody Axe," whom he intended to be his successor. Harald died in 933, in his eighty-fourth year.

HARALD II., surnamed Graafeld, a grandson of Harald I., became, with his brothers, ruler of the western part of Norway in 961; he was murdered in Denmark in 969.

HARALD III. (1015-1066), king of Norway, surnamed Haardraade, which might be translated "ruthless," was the son of King Sigurd and half-brother of King Olaf the Saint. At the age of fifteen he was obliged to flee from Norway, having taken part in the battle of Stiklestad (1030), at which King Olaf met his death. He took refuge for a short time with Prince Yaroslav of Novgorod (a kingdom founded by Scandinavians), and thence went to Constantinople, where he took service under the empress Zoe, whose Varangian guard he led to frequent victory in Italy, Sicily and North Africa, also penetrating to Jerusalem. In the year 1042 he left Constantinople, the story says because he was refused the hand of a princess, and on his way back to his own country he married Ellisif or Elizabeth, daughter of Yaroslav of Novgorod. In Sweden he allied himself with the defeated Sven of Denmark against his nephew Magnus, now king of Norway, but soon broke faith with Sven and accepted an offer from Magnus of half his kingdom. In return for this gift Harald is said to have shared with Magnus the enormous treasure which he had amassed in the East. The death of Magnus in 1047 put an end to the growing jealousies between the two kings, and Harald turned all his attention to the task of subjugating Denmark, which he ravaged year after year; but he met with such stubborn resistance from Sven that in 1064 he gave up the attempt and made peace. Two years afterwards, possibly instigated by the banished Earl Tostig of Northumbria, he attempted the conquest of England, to the sovereignty of which his predecessor had advanced a claim as successor of Harthacnut. In September 1066 he landed in Yorkshire with a large army, reinforced from Scotland, Ireland and the Orkneys; took Scarborough by casting flaming brands into the town from the high ground above it; defeated the Northumbrian forces at Fulford; and entered York on the 24th of September. But the following day the English Harold arrived from the south, and the end of the long day's fight at Stamford Bridge saw the rout of the Norwegian forces after the fall of their king (25th of September 1066). He was only fifty years old, but he was the first of the six kings who had ruled Norway since the death of Harald Haarfager to reach that age. As a king he was unpopular on account of his harshness and want of good faith, but his many victories in the face of great odds prove him to have been a remarkable general, of never-failing resourcefulness and indomitable courage.

HARALD IV. (d. 1136), king of Norway, surnamed Gylle (probably from _Gylle Krist_, i.e. servant of Christ), was born in Ireland about 1103. About 1127 he went to Norway and declared he was a son of King Magnus III. (Barefoot), who had visited Ireland just before his death in 1103, and consequently a half-brother of the reigning king, Sigurd. He appears to have submitted successfully to the ordeal of fire, and the alleged relationship was acknowledged by Sigurd on condition that Harald did not claim any share in the government of the kingdom during his lifetime or that of his son Magnus. Living on friendly terms with the king, Harald kept this agreement until Sigurd's death in 1130. Then war broke out between himself and Magnus, and after several battles the latter was captured in 1134, his eyes were put out, and he was thrown into prison. Harald now ruled the country until 1136, when he was murdered by Sigurd Slembi-Diakn, another bastard son of Magnus Barefoot. Four of Harald's sons, Sigurd, Ingi, Eysteinn and Magnus, were subsequently kings of Norway.

HARBIN, or KHARBIN, town of Manchuria, on the right bank of the river Sungari. Pop. about 20,000. Till 1896 there was only a small village here, but in that year the town was founded in connexion with surveys for the Chinese Eastern railway company, at a point which subsequently became the junction of the main line of the Manchurian railway with the branch line southward to Port Arthur. Occupying such a position, Harbin became an important Russian military centre during the Russo-Japanese War. The portion of the town founded in 1896 is called Old Harbin, but the centre has shifted to New Harbin, where the chief public buildings and offices of the railway administration are situated. The river-port forms a third division of the town, industrially the most important; here are railway workshops, factories and mercantile establishments. Trade is chiefly in the hands of the Chinese.

HARBINGER, originally one who provides a shelter or lodging for an army. The word is derived from the M. E. and O. Fr. _herbergere_, through the Late Lat. _heribergator_, formed from the O. H. Ger. _heri_, mod. Ger. _Heer_, an army, and _bergen_, shelter or defence, cf. "harbour." The meaning was soon enlarged to include any place where travellers could be lodged or entertained, and also by transference the person who provided lodgings, and so one who goes on before a party to secure suitable lodgings in advance. A herald sent forward to announce the coming of a king. A Knight Harbinger was an officer in the royal household till 1846. In these senses the word is now obsolete. It is used chiefly in poetry and literature for one who announces the immediate approach of something, a forerunner. This is illustrated in the "harbinger of spring," a name given to a small plant belonging to the Umbelliferae, which has a tuberous root, and small white flowers; it is found in the central states of North America, and blossoms in March.

HARBOUR (from M. E. _hereberge_, _here_, an army; cf. Ger. _Heer_ and -_beorg_, protection or shelter. Other early forms in English were _herberwe_ and _harborow_, as seen in various place names, such as Market Harborough. The French _auberge_, an inn, derived through _heberger_, is thus the same word), a place of refuge or shelter. It is thus used for an asylum for criminals, and particularly for a place of shelter for ships.

Sheltered sites along exposed sea-coasts are essential for purposes of trade, and very valuable as refuges for vessels from storms. In a few places, natural shelter is found in combination with ample depth, as in the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, New York Harbour (protected by Long Island), Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton Water (sheltered by the Isle of Wight), and the land-locked creeks of Milford Haven and Kiel Harbour. At various places there are large enclosed areas which have openings into the sea; but these lagoons for the most part are very shallow except in the main channels and at their outlets. Access to them is generally obstructed by a bar as at the lagoon harbour of Venice (fig. 1), and similar harbours, like those of Poole and Wexford; and such harbours usually require works to prevent their deterioration, and to increase the depth near their outlet. Generally, however, harbours are formed where shelter is provided to a certain extent by a bay, creek or projecting headland, but requires to be rendered complete by one or more breakwaters (see BREAKWATER), or where the approach to a river, a ship-canal or a seaport, needs protection. A refuge harbour is occasionally constructed where a long length of stormy coast, near the ordinary track of vessels, is entirely devoid of natural shelter. Naval harbours are required by maritime powers as stations for their fleets, and dockyards for construction and repairs, and also in some cases as places of shelter from the night attacks of torpedoes. Commercial harbours have to be provided for the formation of ports within their shelter on important trade routes, or for the protection of the approaches from the sea of ports near the sea-coast, or maritime waterways running inland, in some cases at points on the coast devoid of all natural shelter. A greater latitude in the selection of suitable sites is, indeed, possible for refuge and naval harbours than for commercial harbours; but these three classes of harbours are very similar in their general outline and the works protecting them, only differing in size and internal arrangements according to the purpose for which they have been constructed, the chief differences being due to the local conditions.

Harbours may be divided into three distinct groups, namely, lagoon harbours, jetty harbours and sea-coast harbours, protected by breakwaters, including refuge, naval and commercial harbours.

_Lagoon Harbours._--A lagoon, consisting of a sort of large shallow
lake separated from the sea by a narrow belt of coast, formed of
deposit from a deltaic river or of sand dunes heaped up by on-shore
winds along a sandy shore, possesses good natural shelter; and, owing
to the large expanse which is filled and emptied at each tide, even
when the tidal range is quite small, together with the discharge from
any rivers flowing into the lagoon, one or more fairly deep outlets
are maintained through the fringe of coast, which afford navigable
access to the lagoon; whilst channels formed inside by the currents
lead to ports on its banks. Lagoons, however, are liable to be
gradually silted up, if rivers flowing into them bring down
considerable quantities of alluvium, which is readily deposited in
their fairly still waters; and their outlet channels are in danger of
becoming shallower, by the sea in storms forming additional outlets by
breaking through the narrow barrier separating them from the sea.
Moreover, the approach from the sea to these channels through the
fringe of coast is generally impeded by a bar, owing to the scour of
the issuing current through these outlet channels becoming gradually
too enfeebled, on entering the open sea, to overcome the heaping-up
action of the waves along the shore, which tends to form a continuous
beach across these openings. Rivers, accordingly, whose discharge is
very valuable in maintaining a lagoon if their waters are free from
sediment, must, if possible, be diverted from a lagoon if they bring
down large amounts of silt; whilst the narrow belt of land in front of
the lagoon must be protected from erosion by the waves, on its sea
face, by groynes or revetments. The depth over the bar in front of an
outlet can be improved by concentrating the current through the outlet
by jetties on each side, and prolonging the jetties, and consequently
the scour, out to the bar so as to lower it, and by supplementing the
scouring action, if necessary, by dredging.

_Jetty Harbours._--Several small ports were formed on the sea-coast
long ago at points where flat marshy ground lying below the level of
high-water, and shut off from the sandy beach by dikes or sand dunes,
was connected with the sea by a small creek or river. Such ports
presented in their original condition a slight resemblance to lagoons
on a very small scale. Several examples are to be found on the sandy
shores of the English Channel and North Sea, such as Dieppe, Boulogne,
Calais, Dunkirk, Nieuport and Ostend, where the influx and efflux of
the water from these enclosed tide-covered areas, through a narrow
opening, sufficed to maintain a shallow channel to the sea across the
beach, deep enough near high-water for vessels of small draught. When
the increase in draught necessitated the provision of an improved
channel, the scour of the issuing current was concentrated and
prolonged by erecting parallel jetties across the beach, raised solid
to a little above low water of neap tides, with open timber-work above
to indicate the channel and guide the vessels. Even this low
obstruction, however, to the littoral drift of sand caused an advance
of the low water line as the jetties were carried out, so that further
extensions of the jetties had eventually to be abandoned, as occurred
at Dunkirk (see DOCK). Moreover, reclamation of the low-lying areas
was gradually effected, thus reducing the tidal scour; and sluicing
basins were excavated in part of the low ground, into which the tide
flowed through the entrance channel, and the water being shut in at
high tide by gates at the outlet of the basin, was released at low
water, producing a rapid current through the channel as a compensation
for the loss of the former natural scour. The current, however, from
the sluicing basin gradually lost its velocity in passing down the
channel, and besides, being most effective near the outlet of the
basin, could only scour the channel down to a moderate depth below low
water, on account of the increase in the volume of still water in the
channel at low tide as its deepening progressed. Lastly, about 1880,
improvements in suction dredgers (see DREDGE and DREDGING) led to the
adoption of sand-pump dredging in the outer part of the channel, and
across the foreshore in front to deep water; and at Dunkirk, docks
were formed on the site of the sluicing basin; whilst at Calais
sluicing was abandoned in favour of dredging. Ostend is the only jetty
harbour in which a large sluicing basin has been recently constructed,
but it can only provide for the maintenance of deep-water quays in its
vicinity; and dredging is relied upon to an increasing extent, both
for the maintenance and further deepening of the outer portion of the
approach channel, and for maintaining the direct channel dredged to
deep water across the Stroombank extending in front of Ostend (fig.
2).

Similar methods of improving the entrance channel to ports possessing
an extensive backwater have been adopted on a large scale in the
United States. For instance at Charleston, converging jetties, about
2-3/4 m. long, have been extended across the bar to concentrate the
scour due to a small tidal range expanding over the enclosed
backwater, 15 sq. m. in extent, and to protect the channel from
littoral drift; but these jetties have caused an advance of the
foreshore, and a progression seawards of the bar, necessitating
dredging beyond the ends of the jetties to maintain the requisite
depth.

Parallel jetties, moreover, across the beach, combined with extensive
sand-pump dredging, have been employed with success at some of the
ports situated at the outlet of rivers, enclosed bays, or lagoons, on
the sandy shores of south-east Africa, for improving the access to
them across encumbering shoals, where the littoral drift is too great
to allow of the projection of breakwaters from the shore to shelter an
approach channel.

_Harbours Protected by Breakwaters._--The design for a harbour on the
sea-coast must depend on the configuration of the adjacent coast-line,
the extent and direction of the exposure, the amount of sheltered area
required and the depth obtainable, the prospect of the accumulation of
drift or the occurrence of scour from the proposed works, and the best
position for an entrance in respect of shelter and depth of approach.

_Completion of Shelter of Harbours in Bays._--In the case of a deep,
fairly land-locked bay, a detached breakwater across the outlet
completes the necessary shelter, leaving an entrance between each
extremity and the shore, provided there is deep enough water near the
shore, as effected at Plymouth harbour, and also across the wider but
shallower bay forming Cherbourg harbour. A breakwater may instead be
extended across the outlet from each shore, leaving a single central
entrance between the ends of the breakwaters; and if one breakwater
placed somewhat farther out is made to overlap an inner one, a more
sheltered entrance is obtained. This arrangement has been adopted at
the existing Genoa harbour within the bay (fig. 3), and for the
harbour at the mouth of the Nervion (see RIVER ENGINEERING). The
adoption of a bay with deep water for a harbour does not merely reduce
the shelter to be provided artificially, but it also secures a site
not exposed to silting up, and where the sheltering works do not
interfere with any littoral drift along the open coast. A third method
of sheltering a deep bay is that adopted for forming a refuge harbour
at Peterhead (fig. 4), where a single breakwater is extended out from
one shore for 3250 ft. across the outlet of the bay, leaving a single
entrance between its extremity and the opposite shore and enclosing an
area of about 250 acres at low tide, half of which has a depth of over
5 fathoms.

_Harbours possessing partial Natural Shelter._--The most common form
of harbour is that in which one or more breakwaters supplement a
certain amount of natural shelter. Sometimes, where the exposure is
from one direction only, approximately parallel with the coast-line at
the site, and there is more or less shelter from a projecting headland
or a curve of the coast in the opposite direction, a single breakwater
extending out at right angles to the shore, with a slight curve or
bend inwards near its outer end, suffices to afford the necessary
shelter. As examples of this form of harbour construction may be
mentioned Newhaven breakwater, protecting the approach to the port
from the west, and somewhat sheltered from the moderate easterly
storms by Beachy Head, and Table Bay breakwater, which shelters the
harbour from the north-east, and is somewhat protected on the opposite
side by the wide sweep of the coast-line known as Table Bay.
Generally, however, some partial embayment, or abrupt projection from
the coast, is utilized as providing shelter from one quarter, which is
completed by breakwaters enclosing the site, of which Dover and
Colombo (fig. 5) harbours furnish typical and somewhat similar
examples.

_Harbours formed on quite Open Seacoasts._--Occasionally harbours have
to be constructed for some special purpose where no natural shelter
exists, and where on an open, sandy shore considerable littoral drift
may occur. Breakwaters, carried out from the shore at some distance
apart, and converging to a central entrance of suitable width, provide
the requisite shelter, as for instance the harbour constructed to form
a sheltered approach to the river Wear and the Sunderland docks (fig.
6). If there is little littoral drift from the most exposed quarter,
the amount of sand brought in during storms, which is smaller in
proportion to the depth into which the entrance is carried, can be
readily removed by dredging; whilst the scour across the projecting
ends of the breakwaters tends to keep the outlet free from deposit.
Where there is littoral drift in both directions on an open, sandy
coast, due to winds blowing alternately from opposite quarters, sand
accumulates in the sheltered angles outside the harbour between each
converging breakwater and the shore. This has happened at Ymuiden
harbour at the entrance to the Amsterdam ship-canal on the North Sea,
but there the advance of the shore appears to have reached its limit
only a short distance out from the old shore-line on each side; and
the only evidence of drift consists in the advance seawards of the
lines of soundings alongside, and in the considerable amount of sand
which enters the harbour and has to be removed by dredging. The worst
results occur where the littoral drift is almost wholly in one
direction, so that the projection of a solid breakwater out from the
shore causes a very large accretion on the side facing the exposed
quarter; whilst owing to the arrest of the travel of sand, erosion of
the beach occurs beyond the second breakwater enclosing the harbour on
its comparatively sheltered side. These effects have been produced at
Port Said harbour at the entrance to the Suez Canal from the
Mediterranean, formed by two converging breakwaters, where, owing to
the prevalent north-westerly winds, the drift is from west to east,
and is augmented by the alluvium issuing from the Nile. Accordingly,
the shore has advanced considerably against the outer face of the
western breakwater; and erosion of the beach has occurred at the shore
end of the eastern breakwater, cutting it off from the land. The
advance of the shore-line, however, has been much slower during recent
years; and though the progress seawards of the lines of soundings
close to and in front of the harbour continues, the advance is checked
by the sand and silt coming from the west passing through some
apertures purposely left in the western breakwater, and falling into
the approach channel, from which it is readily dredged and taken away.
Madras harbour, begun in 1875, consists of two breakwaters, 3000 ft.
apart, carried straight out to sea at right angles to the shore for
3000 ft., and completed by two return arms inclined slightly
seawards, enclosing an area of 220 acres and leaving a central
entrance, 550 ft. wide, facing the Indian Ocean in a depth of about 8
fathoms. The great drift, however, of sand along the coast from south
to north soon produced an advance of the shore against the outside of
the south breakwater, and erosion beyond the north breakwater; and the
progression of the foreshore has extended so far seawards as to
produce shoaling at the entrance. Accordingly, the closing of the
entrance, and the formation of a new entrance through the outer part
of the main north breakwater, facing north and sheltered by an arm
starting from the angle of the northern return arm and running north
parallel to the shore, round the end of which vessels would turn to
enter, have been recommended, to provide a deep entrance beyond the
influence of the advancing foreshore.

Proposals have been made from time to time to evade this advance of
the foreshore against a solid obstacle, by extending an open viaduct
across the zone of littoral drift, and forming a closed harbour, or a
sheltering breakwater against which vessels can lie, beyond the
influence of accretion. This principle was carried out on a large
scale at the port of call and sheltering breakwater constructed in
front of the entrance to the Bruges ship-canal, at Zeebrugge on the
sandy North Sea coast, where a solid breakwater, provided with a wide
quay furnished with sidings and sheds, and curving round so as to
overlap thoroughly the entrance to the canal and shelter a certain
water-area, is approached by an open metal viaduct extending out 1007
ft. from low water into a depth of 20 ft. (fig. 7). It is hoped that
by thus avoiding interference with the littoral drift close to the
shore, coming mainly from the west, the accumulation of silt to the
west of the harbour, and also in the harbour itself, will be
prevented; and though it appears probable that some accretion will
occur within the area sheltered by the breakwater, it will to some
extent be disturbed by the wash of the steamers approaching and
leaving the quays, and can readily be removed under shelter by
dredging.

_Entrances to Harbours._--Though captains of vessels always wish for
wide entrances to harbours as affording greater facility of safe
access, it is important to keep the width as narrow as practicable,
consistent with easy access, to exclude waves and swell as much as
possible and secure tranquillity inside. At Madras, the width of 550
ft. proved excessive for the great exposure of the entrance, and
moderate size of the harbour, which does not allow of the adequate
expansion of the entering swell. Where an adequately easy and safe
approach can be secured, it is advantageous to make the entrance face
a somewhat sheltered quarter by the overlapping of the end of one of
the breakwaters, as accomplished at Bilbao and Genoa harbours (fig.
3), and at the southern entrance to Dover harbour. Occasionally, owing
to the comparative shelter afforded by a bend in the adjacent
coast-line, a very wide entrance can be left between a breakwater and
the shore; typical examples are furnished by the former open northern
entrance to Portland harbour, now closed against torpedoes, and the
wide entrances at Holyhead and Zeebrugge (fig. 7). With a large
harbour and the adoption of a detached breakwater, it is possible to
gain the advantage of two entrances facing different quarters, as
effected at Dover and Colombo, which enables vessels to select their
entrance according to the state of the wind and weather; where there
is a large tidal rise they reduce the current through the entrances,
and they may, under favourable conditions, create a circulation of the
water in the harbour, tending to check the deposit of silt.
(L. F. V.-*H.)

HARBURG, a seaport town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hanover, on the left bank of the southern arm of the Elbe, 6 m. by rail S. of Hamburg. Pop. (1885), 26,320; (1905)--the area of the town having been increased since 1895--55,676. It is pleasantly situated at the foot of a lofty range of hills, which here dip down to the river, at the junction of the main lines of railway from Bremen and Hanover to Hamburg, which are carried to the latter city over two grand bridges crossing the southern and the northern arms of the Elbe. It possesses a Roman Catholic and two Protestant churches, a palace, which from 1524 to 1642 was the residence of the Harburg line of the house of Brunswick, a high-grade modern school, a commercial school and a theatre. The leading industries are the crushing of palm-kernels and linseed and the manufacture of india-rubber, phosphates, starch, nitrate and jute. Machines are manufactured here; beer is brewed, and shipbuilding is carried on. The port is accessible to vessels drawing 18 ft. of water, and, despite its proximity to Hamburg, its trade has of late years shown a remarkable development. It is the chief mart in the empire for resin and palm-oil. The Prussian government proposes establishing here a free port, on the lines of the _Freihafen_ in Hamburg.

Harburg belonged originally to the bishopric of Bremen, and received municipal rights in 1297. In 1376 it was united to the principality of Luneburg, along with which it fell in 1705 to Hanover, and in 1806 to Prussia. In 1813 and 1814 it suffered considerably from the French, who then held Hamburg, and who built a bridge between the two towns, which remained standing till 1816.

See Ludewig, _Geschichte des Schlosses und der Stadt Harburg_
(Harburg, 1845); and Hoffmeyer, _Harburg und die nachste Umgegend_
(1885).

HARCOURT, a village in Normandy, now a commune in the department of Eure, arrondissement of Bernay and canton of Brionne, which gives its name to a noble family distinguished in French history, a branch of which was early established in England. Of the lords of Harcourt, whose genealogy can be traced back to the 11th century, the first to distinguish himself was Jean II. (d. 1302) who was marshal and admiral of France. Godefroi d'Harcourt, seigneur of Saint Sauveur le Vicomte, surnamed "Le boiteux" (the lame), was a marshal in the English army and was killed near Coutances in 1356. The fief of Harcourt was raised to the rank of a countship by Philip of Valois, in favour of Jean IV., who was killed at the battle of Crecy (1346). His son, Jean V. (d. 1355) married Blanche, heiress of Jean II., count of Aumale, and the countship of Harcourt passed with that of Aumale until, in 1424, Jean VIII., count of Aumale and Mortain and lieutenant-general of Normandy, was killed at the battle of Verneuil, and with him the elder branch became extinct in the male line. The heiress, Marie, by her marriage with Anthony of Lorraine, count of Vaudemont, brought the countship of Harcourt into the house of Lorraine. The title of count of Harcourt was borne by several princes of this house. The most famous instance was Henry of Lorraine, count of Harcourt, Brionne, and Armagnac, and nicknamed "Cadet la perle" (1601-1666). He distinguished himself in several campaigns against Spain, and later played an active part in the civil wars of the Fronde. He took the side of the princes, and fought against the government in Alsace; but was defeated by Marshal de la Ferte, and made his submission in 1654.

The most distinguished among the younger branches of the family are those of Montgomery and of Beuvron. To the former belonged Jean d'Harcourt, bishop of Amiens and Tournai, archbishop of Narbonne and patriarch of Antioch, who died in 1452; and Guillaume d'Harcourt, count of Tancarville, and viscount of Melun, who was head of the administration of the woods and forests in the royal domain (_souverain maitre et reformateur des eaux et forets de France_) and died in 1487.

From the branch of the marquises of Beuvron sprang Henri d'Harcourt, marshal of France, and ambassador at the Spanish court, who was made duke of Harcourt (1700) and a peer of France (1709); also Francois Eugene Gabriel, count, and afterwards duke, of Harcourt, who was ambassador first in Spain, and later at Rome, and died in 1865. This branch of the family is still in existence.

See G. A. de la Rogne, _Histoire genealogique de la maison d'Harcourt_
(4 vols., Paris, 1662); P. Anselme, _Histoire genealogique de la
maison de France_, v. 114, &c.; and Dom le Noir, _Preuves
genealogiques et historiques de la maison de Harcourt_ (Paris, 1907).
(M. P.*)

HARCOURT, SIMON HARCOURT, 1ST VISCOUNT (c. 1661-1727), lord chancellor of England, only son of Sir Philip Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, by his first wife, Anne, daughter of Sir William Waller, was born about 1661 at Stanton Harcourt, and was educated at a school at Shilton, Oxfordshire, and at Pembroke College, Oxford. He was called to the bar in 1683, and soon afterwards was appointed recorder of Abingdon, which borough he represented as a Tory in parliament from 1690 to 1705. In 1701 he was nominated by the Commons to conduct the impeachment of Lord Somers; and in 1702 he became solicitor-general and was knighted by Queen Anne. He was elected member for Bossiney in 1705, and as commissioner for arranging the union with Scotland was largely instrumental in promoting that measure. Harcourt was appointed attorney-general in 1707, but resigned office in the following year when his friend Robert Harley, afterwards earl of Oxford, was dismissed. He defended Sacheverell at the bar of the House of Lords in 1710, being then without a seat in parliament; but in the same year was returned for Cardigan, and in September again became attorney-general. In October he was appointed lord keeper of the great seal, and in virtue of this office he presided in the House of Lords for some months without a peerage, until, on the 3rd of September 1711, he was created Baron Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt; but it was not till April 1713 that he received the appointment of lord chancellor. In 1710 he had purchased the Nuneham-Courtney estate in Oxfordshire, but his usual place of residence continued to be at Cokethorpe near Stanton Harcourt, where he received a visit in state from Queen Anne. In the negotiations preceding the peace of Utrecht, Harcourt took an important part. There is no sufficient evidence for the allegations of the Whigs that Harcourt entered into treasonable relations with the Pretender. On the accession of George I. he was deprived of office and retired to Cokethorpe, where he enjoyed the society of men of letters, Swift, Pope, Prior and other famous writers being among his frequent guests. With Swift, however, he had occasional quarrels, during one of which the great satirist bestowed on him the sobriquet of "Trimming Harcourt." He exerted himself to defeat the impeachment of Lord Oxford in 1717, and in 1723 he was active in obtaining a pardon for another old political friend, Lord Bolingbroke. In 1721 Harcourt was created a viscount and returned to the privy councils; and on several occasions during the king's absences from England he was on the council of regency. He died in London on the 23rd of July 1727. Harcourt was not a great lawyer, but he enjoyed the reputation of being a brilliant orator; Speaker Onslow going so far as to say that Harcourt "had the greatest skill and power of speech of any man I ever knew in a public assembly." He was a member of the famous Saturday Club, frequented by the chief _literati_ and wits of the period, with several of whom he corresponded. Some letters to him from Pope are preserved in the _Harcourt Papers_. His portrait by Kneller is at Nuneham.

Harcourt married, first, Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Clark, his father's chaplain, by whom he had five children; secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Spencer; and thirdly, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Vernon. He left issue by his first wife only. His son, Simon (1684-1720), married Elizabeth, sister of Sir John Evelyn of Wotton, by whom he had one son and four daughters, one of whom married George Venables Vernon, afterwards Lord Vernon (see HARCOURT, SIR WILLIAM--footnote). Simon Harcourt predeceased his father, the lord chancellor, in 1720, leaving a son SIMON HARCOURT (1714-1777), 1st Earl Harcourt, who succeeded his grandfather in the title of viscount in 1727. He was educated at Westminster school. In 1745, having raised a regiment, he received a commission as a colonel in the army; and in 1749 he was created Earl Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt. He was appointed governor to the prince of Wales, afterwards George III., in 1751; and after the accession of the latter to the throne he was appointed, in 1761, special ambassador to Mecklenburg-Strelitz to negotiate a marriage between King George and the princess Charlotte, whom he conducted to England. After holding a number of appointments at court and in the diplomatic service, he was promoted to the rank of general in 1772; and in October of the same year he succeeded Lord Townsend as lord lieutenant of Ireland, an office which he held till 1777. His proposal to impose a tax of 10% on the rents of absentee landlords had to be abandoned owing to opposition in England; but he succeeded in conciliating the leaders of Opposition in Ireland, and he persuaded Henry Flood to accept office in the government. Resigning in January 1777, he retired to Nuneham, where he died in the following September. He married, in 1735, Rebecca, daughter and heiress of Charles Samborne Le Bas, of Pipewell Abbey, Northamptonshire, by whom he had two daughters and two sons, George Simon and William, who succeeded him as 2nd and 3rd earl respectively.

See Lord Campbell, _Lives of the Lord Chancellors_, vol. v. (London,
1846); Edward Foss, _The Judges of England_, vol. viii. (London,
1848); Gilbert Burnet, _Hist. of his own Time_ (with notes by earls of
Dartmouth and Hardwicke, &c., Oxford, 1833); Earl Stanhope, _Hist. of
England, comprising the reign of Queen Anne until the Peace of
Utrecht_ (London, 1870). In addition to the above-mentioned
authorities many particulars concerning the 1st Viscount Harcourt, and
also of his grandson, the 1st earl, will be found in the _Harcourt
Papers_. For the earl, see also Horace Walpole, _Memoirs of the Reign
of George II._ (3 vols., 2nd ed., London, 1847), _Memoirs of the Reign
of George III._ (4 vols., London, 1845, 1894); also, for his
vice-royalty of Ireland, see Henry Grattan, _Memoirs of the Life and
Times of the Right Hon. H. Grattan_ (5 vols., London, 1839-1846);
Francis Hardy, _Memoirs of J. Caulfield, Earl of Charlemont_ (2 vols.,
London, 1812); and for his genealogy, see Sir John Bernard Burke,
_Genealogical History of Dormant and Extinct Peerages_ (London, 1883).
(R. J. M.)

HARCOURT, SIR WILLIAM GEORGE GRANVILLE VENABLES VERNON (1827-1904). English statesman, second son of the Rev. Canon William Vernon Harcourt (q.v.), of Nuneham Park, Oxford, was born on the 14th of October 1827. Canon Harcourt was the fourth son and eventually heir of Edward Harcourt (1757-1847), archbishop of York, who was the son of the 1st Lord Vernon (d. 1780), and who took the name of Harcourt alone instead of Vernon on succeeding to the property of his cousin, the last Earl Harcourt, in 1831.[1] The subject of this biography was therefore born a Vernon, and by his connexion with the old families of Vernon and Harcourt was related to many of the great English houses, a fact which gave him no little pride. Indeed, in later life his descent from the Plantagenets[2] was a subject of some banter on the part of his political opponents. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating with first-class honours in the classical tripos in 1851. He was called to the bar in 1854, became a Q.C. in 1866, and was appointed Whewell professor of international law, Cambridge, 1869. He quickly made his mark in London society as a brilliant talker; he contributed largely to the _Saturday Review_, and wrote some famous letters (1862) to _The Times_ over the signature of "Historicus," in opposition to the recognition of the Southern States as belligerents in the American Civil War. He entered parliament as Liberal member for Oxford, and sat from 1868 to 1880, when, upon seeking re-election after acceptance of office, he was defeated by Mr Hall. A seat was, however, found for him at Derby, by the voluntary retirement of Mr Plimsoll, and he continued to represent that constituency until 1895, when, having been defeated at the general election, he found a seat in West Monmouthshire. He was appointed solicitor-general and knighted in 1873; and, although he had not shown himself a very strenuous supporter of Mr Gladstone during that statesman's exclusion from power, he became secretary of state for the home department on the return of the Liberals to office in 1880. His name was connected at that time with the passing of the Ground Game Act (1880), the Arms (Ireland) Act (1881), and the Explosives Act (1883). As home secretary at the time of the dynamite outrages he had to take up a firm attitude, and the Explosives Act was passed through all its stages in the shortest time on record. Moreover, as champion of law and order against the attacks of the Parnellites, his vigorous speeches brought him constantly into conflict with the Irish members. In 1884 he introduced an abortive bill for unifying the municipal administration of London. He was indeed at that time recognized as one of the ablest and most effective leaders of the Liberal party; and when, after a brief interval in 1885, Mr Gladstone returned to office in 1886, he was made chancellor of the exchequer, an office which he again filled from 1892 to 1895.

Between 1880 and 1892 Sir William Harcourt acted as Mr Gladstone's loyal and indefatigable lieutenant in political life. A first-rate party fighter, his services were of inestimable value; but in spite of his great success as a platform speaker, he was generally felt to be speaking from an advocate's brief, and did not impress the country as possessing much depth of conviction. It was he who coined the phrase about "stewing in Parnellite juice," and, when the split came in the Liberal party on the Irish question, even those who gave Mr Gladstone and Mr Morley the credit of being convinced Home Rulers could not be persuaded that Sir William had followed anything but the line of party expediency. In 1894 he introduced and carried a memorable budget, which equalized the death duties on real and personal property. After Mr Gladstone's retirement in 1894 and Lord Rosebery's selection as prime minister Sir William became the leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons, but it was never probable that he would work comfortably in the new conditions. His title to be regarded as Mr Gladstone's successor had been too lightly ignored, and from the first it was evident that Lord Rosebery's ideas of Liberalism and of the policy of the Liberal party were not those of Sir William Harcourt. Their differences were patched up from time to time, but the combination could not last. At the general election of 1895 it was clear that there were divisions as to what issue the Liberals were fighting for, and the effect of Sir William Harcourt's abortive Local Veto Bill on the election was seen not only in his defeat at Derby, which gave the signal for the Liberal rout, but in the set-back it gave to temperance legislation. Though returned for West Monmouthshire (1895, 1900), his speeches in debate only occasionally showed his characteristic spirit, and it was evident that for the hard work of Opposition he no longer had the same motive as of old. In December 1898 the crisis arrived, and with Mr John Morley he definitely retired from the counsels of the party and resigned his leadership of the Opposition, alleging as his reason, in letters exchanged between Mr Morley and himself, the cross-currents of opinion among his old supporters and former colleagues. The split excited considerable comment, and resulted in much heart-burning and a more or less open division between the section of the Liberal party following Lord Rosebery (q.v.) and those who disliked that statesman's Imperialistic views.

Though now a private member, Sir William Harcourt still continued to vindicate his opinions in his independent position, and his attacks on the government were no longer restrained by even the semblance of deference to Liberal Imperialism. He actively intervened in 1899 and 1900, strongly condemning the government's financial policy and their attitude towards the Transvaal; and throughout the Boer War he lost no opportunity of criticizing the South African developments in a pessimistic vein. One of the readiest parliamentary debaters, he savoured his speeches with humour of that broad and familiar order which appeals particularly to political audiences. In 1898-1900 he was conspicuous, both on the platform and in letters written to The _Times_, in demanding active measures against the Ritualistic party in the Church of England; but his attitude on that subject could not be dissociated from his political advocacy of Disestablishment. In March 1904, just after he had announced his intention not to seek election again to parliament, he succeeded, by the death of his nephew, to the family estates at Nuneham. But he died suddenly there on the 1st of October in the same year. He married, first, in 1859, Therese (d. 1863), daughter of Mr T. H. Lister, by whom he had one son, Lewis Vernon Harcourt (b. 1863), afterwards first commissioner of works both in Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's 1905 ministry (included in the cabinet in 1907) and in Mr Asquith's cabinet (1908); and secondly, in 1876, Elizabeth, widow of Mr T. Ives and daughter of Mr. J. L. Motley, the historian, by whom he had another son, Robert (b. 1878).

Sir William Harcourt was one of the great parliamentary figures of the Gladstonian Liberal period. He was essentially an aristocratic type of late 19th century Whig, with a remarkable capacity for popular campaign fighting. He had been, and remained, a brilliant journalist in the non-professional sense. He was one of those who really made the _Saturday Review_ in its palmy days, and in the period of his own most ebullient vigour, while Mr Gladstone was alive, his sense of political expediency and platform effectiveness in controversy was very acute. But though he played the game of public life with keen zest, he never really touched either the country or his own party with the faith which creates a personal following, and in later years he found himself somewhat isolated and disappointed, though he was free to express his deeper objections to the new developments in church and state. A tall, fine man, with the grand manner, he was, throughout a long career, a great personality in the life of his time. (H. Ch.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] William, 3rd and last Earl Harcourt (1743-1830), who succeeded
his brother in the title, was a soldier who distinguished himself in
the American War of Independence by capturing General Charles Lee,
and commanded the British forces in Flanders in 1794, eventually
becoming a field-marshal. He was a son of Simon, 1st earl
(1714-1777), created viscount and earl in 1749, a soldier, and from
1772 to 1777 viceroy of Ireland, who was grandson and heir of Simon,
Viscount Harcourt (1661-1727), lord chancellor--the "trimming
Harcourt" of Swift--the purchaser of the Nuneham-Courtney estates in
Oxfordshire, and son of Sir Philip Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt. The
knights of Stanton Harcourt, from the 13th century onwards, traced
their descent to the Norman de Harcourts, a branch of that family
having come over with the Conqueror; and the pedigree claims to go
back to Bernard of Saxony, who in 876 acquired the lordships of
Harcourt, Castleville and Beauficel in Normandy. Viscount Harcourt's
second son Simon, who was father of the 1st earl, was also father of
Martha, who married George Venables Vernon, of Sudbury, created 1st
Baron Vernon in 1762. The latter was a descendant of Sir Richard
Vernon (d. 1451), speaker of the Leicester parliament (1425) and
treasurer of Calais, a member of a Norman family which came over with
the Conqueror.

[2] The Plantagenet descent (see _The Blood Royal of Britain_, by the
marquis of Ruvigny, 1903, for tables) could be traced through Lady
Anna Leveson Gower (wife of Archbishop Harcourt) to Lady Frances
Stanley, the wife of the 1st earl of Bridgewater (1579-1649), and so
to Lady Eleanor Brandon, wife of the earl of Cumberland (1517-1570),
and daughter of Mary Tudor (wife of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk,
1484-1545), the daughter of Henry VII. and grand-daughter of Edward
IV.

HARCOURT, WILLIAM VERNON (1789-1871), founder of the British Association, was born at Sudbury, Derbyshire, in 1789, a younger son of Edward Vernon [Harcourt], archbishop of York (see above). Having served for five years in the navy he went up to Christ Church, Oxford, with a view to taking holy orders. He began his clerical duties at Bishopthorpe, Yorkshire, in 1811, and having developed a great interest in science while at the university, he took an active part in the foundation of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, of which he was the first president. The laws and the plan of proceedings for the British Association for the Advancement of Science were drawn up by him; and Harcourt was elected president in 1839. In 1824 he became canon of York and rector of Wheldrake in Yorkshire, and in 1837 rector of Bolton Percy. The Yorkshire school for the blind and the Castle Howard reformatory both owe their existence to his energies. His spare time until quite late in life was occupied with scientific experiments. Inheriting the Harcourt estates in Oxfordshire from his brother in 1861, he removed to Nuneham, where he died in April 1871.