History for ready reference, Volumes 1 to 5

Chapter CDXV: Act 8: Parliament 1. repeated in Act 99. Parliament 7 (12)

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The Social Democrats "retained their position as the strongest
party in the empire in the elections of 1893, casting nearly
1,800,000 votes, and electing 44 members of parliament. …
Another indication of the growth of social democracy, is the
fact that it has gained a foothold among the students of the
universities."

_R. T. Ely,
Socialism,
page 59._

"The two principal leaders of the Social-Democratic party in
Germany—in fact, the only members of the party to whom the
term leader can properly be applied—are now Wilhelm Liebknecht
and August Bebel. Both men have lived eventful lives and have
suffered often and severely for the sake of their cause. …
Liebknecht has done a great deal to popularise the political
and social theories of men like Marx and Lassalle.
{2955}
He is through and through a Communist and a Republican, and he
is determined upon realising his ideals by hook or by crook. …
He works for the subversion of the monarchical principle and
for the establishment of a Free People's State. In this State
all subjects will stand upon the same level: there will be no
classes and no privileges. … Bebel once summarised his views
in a sentence which, so far as he spoke for himself, is as
true as it is short. 'We aim,' he said, 'in the domain of
politics at Republicanism, in the domain of economics at
Socialism, and in the domain of what is to-day called religion
at Atheism.' Here we see Bebel as in a mirror. He is a
Republican and a Socialist, and he is proud of it; he is
without religion, and he is never tired of parading the fact,
even having himself described in the Parliamentary Almanacs as
'religionslos.' Like his colleague Liebknecht he is a warm
admirer of England."

_W. H. Dawson,
German Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle,
chapter 15._

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1880.
Mr. Henry George, and the proposed confiscation of rent.
The Single-Tax movement.

The doctrine of Mr. Henry George, set forth in his famous
book, "Progress and Poverty," published in 1880, is stated in
his own language as follows: "We have traced the want and
suffering that everywhere prevail among the working classes,
the recurring paroxysms of industrial depression, the scarcity
of employment, the stagnation of capital, the tendency of
wages to the starvation point, that exhibit themselves more
and more strongly as material progress goes on, to the fact
that the land on which and from which all must live is made
the exclusive property of some. We have seen that there is no
possible remedy for these evils but the abolition of their
cause; we have seen that private property in land has no
warrant in justice, but stands condemned as the denial of
natural right—a subversion of the law of nature that as social
development goes on must condemn the masses of men to a
slavery the hardest and most degrading. … I do not propose
either to purchase or to confiscate private property in land.
The first would be unjust; the second, needless. Let the
individuals who now hold it still retain, if they want to,
possession of what they are pleased to call their land. Let
them continue to call it their land. Let them buy and sell,
and bequeath and devise it. We may safely leave them the
shell, if we take the kernel. It is not necessary to
confiscate land; it is only necessary to confiscate rent. Nor
to take rent for public uses is it necessary that the State
should bother with the letting of lands, and assume the
chances of the favoritism, collusion, and corruption that
might involve. It is not necessary that any new machinery
should be created. The machinery already exists. Instead of
extending it, all we have to do is to simplify and reduce it.
By leaving to land owners a percentage of rent which would
probably be much less than the cost and loss involved in
attempting to rent lands through State agency, and by making
use of this existing machinery, we may, without jar or shock,
assert the common right to land by taking rent for public
uses. We already take some rent in taxation. We have only to
make some changes in our modes of taxation to take it all.
What I, therefore, propose, as the simple yet sovereign
remedy, which will raise wages, increase the earnings of
capital, extirpate pauperism, abolish poverty, give
remunerative employment to whoever wishes it, afford free
scope to human powers, lessen crime, elevate morals, and
taste, and intelligence, purify government and carry
civilization to yet nobler heights, is—to appropriate rent by
taxation. In this way, the State may become the universal
landlord without calling herself so, and without assuming a
single new function. In form, the ownership of land would
remain just as now. No owner of land need be dispossessed, and
no restriction need be placed upon the amount of land any one
could hold. For, rent being taken by the State in taxes, land,
no matter in whose name it stood, or in what parcels it was
held, would be really common property, and every member of the
community would participate in the advantages of its
ownership. Now, insomuch as the taxation of rent, or land
values, must necessarily be increased just as we abolish other
taxes, we may put the proposition into practical form by
proposing—To abolish all taxation save that upon land values."

_H. George,
Progress and Poverty,
book 8, chapter 2._

"Mr. George sent his 'Progress and Poverty' into the world
with the remarkable prediction that it would find not only
readers but apostles. … Mr. George's prediction is not more
remarkable than its fulfilment. His work has had an unusually
extensive sale; a hundred editions in America, and an edition
of 60,000 copies in this country [England, 1891] are
sufficient evidences of that; but the most striking feature in
its reception is precisely that which its author foretold; it
created an army of apostles, and was enthusiastically
circulated, like the testament of a new dispensation.
Societies were formed, journals were devised to propagate its
saving doctrines, and little companies of the faithful held
stated meetings for its reading and exposition. … The author
was hailed as a new and better Adam Smith, as at once a
reformer of science and a renovator of society."

_J. Rae,
Contemporary Socialism,
chapter 12._

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1883-1889.
State Socialistic measures of the German Government.

"Replying once to the accusation made by an opponent in the
Reichstag that his social-political measures were tainted with
Socialism, Prince Bismarck said, 'You will be compelled yet to
add a few drops of social oil in the recipe you prescribe for
the State; how many I cannot say.' In no measures has more of
the Chancellor's 'social oil' been introduced than in the
industrial insurance laws. These may be said to indicate the
high-water mark of German State Socialism. … The Sickness
Insurance Law of 1883. the Accident Insurance Laws of 1884 and
1885, and the Old Age Insurance Law of 1889 are based upon the
principle of compulsion which was introduced into the sick
insurance legislation of Prussia in 1854. … The trio of
insurance laws was completed in 1889 by the passing of a
measure providing for the insurance of workpeople against the
time of incapacity and old age (Invalidäts und
Altersversicherungsgesetz). This was no after-thought
suggested by the laws which preceded. It formed from the first
part of the complete plan of insurance foreshadowed by Prince
Bismarck over a decade ago, and in some of the Chancellor's
early speeches on the social question he regarded the
pensioning of old and incapacitated workpeople as at once
desirable and inevitable. …
{2956}
The Old Age Insurance Law is expected to apply to about twelve
million workpeople, including labourers, factory operatives,
journeymen, domestic servants, clerks, assistants, and
apprentices in handicrafts and in trade (apothecaries
excluded), and smaller officials (as on railways, etc.), so
long as their wages do not reach 2,000 marks (about £100) a
year; also persons employed in shipping, whether maritime,
river, or lake; and, if the Federal Council so determine,
certain classes of small independent undertakers. The
obligation to insure begins with the completion of the
sixteenth year, but there are exemptions, including persons
who, owing to physical or mental weakness, are unable to earn
fixed minimum wages, and persons already entitled to public
pensions, equal in amount to the benefits secured by the law,
or who are assured accident annuities. The contributions are
paid by the employers and work-people in equal shares, but the
State also guarantees a yearly subsidy of 50 marks (£2.10s.)
for every annuity paid. Contributions are only to be paid when
the insured is in work. The law fixes four wages classes, with
proportionate contributions as follows:

Of course, of these contributions the workpeople only pay
half. Old age annuities are first claimable at the beginning
of the seventy-first year, but annuities on account of
permanent incapacity may begin at any time after the workman
has been insured for five years. The minimum period of
contribution in the case of old age pensioning is thirty years
of forty-seven premiums each. Where a workman is prevented by
illness (exceeding a week but not exceeding a year), caused by
no fault of his own, or by military duties, from continuing
his contributions, the period of his absence from work is
reckoned part of the contributory year. … Contributions are
made in postage stamps affixed to yearly receipt cards
supplied to the insured. Annuities are to be paid through the
post-office monthly in advance."

_W. H. Dawson,
Bismarck and State Socialism,
chapter 9._

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1887-1888.
Development of the "New Trade Unionism."

"The elements composing what is termed the New Trade Unionism
are not to be found in the constitution, organization, and
rules of the Unions started within the last two or three
years. In these respects they either conform to the experience
of modern Unions, or they revive the practices of the older
Unions. There is scarcely a feature in which any of them
differ from types of Unions long in existence. In what, then,
consists the 'New Trade Unionism,' of which we hear so much?
Mainly in the aspirations, conduct, modes of advocacy, and
methods of procedure of, and also in the expressions used, and
principles inculcated by the new leaders in labour movements,
in their speeches and by their acts. This New Unionism has
been formulated and promulgated at Trades Union Congresses, at
other Congresses and Conferences, and at the meetings held in
various parts of the country; and in letters and articles
which have appeared in the newspaper, press, and public
journals from the pens of the new leaders. … The institution
of Labour Bureaus, or the establishment of Labour Registries,
is one of the acknowledged objects of the Dockers' Union.
Singularly enough this is the first time that any such project
has had the sanction of a bona-fide Trade Union. All the older
Unions repudiate every such scheme. It has hitherto been
regarded as opposed in principle to Trade Unionism. … At the
recent Trades Union Congress held in Liverpool, September
1890, the following resolution was moved by one of the London
delegates representing the 'South Side Labour Protection
League'—'That in the opinion of this Congress, in order to
carry on more effectually the organization of the large mass
of unorganized labour, to bring into closer combination those
sections of labour already organized, to provide means for
communication and the interchange of information between all
sections of industry, and the proper tabulation of statistics
as to employment, &c., of advantage to the workmen, it is
necessary that a labour exchange, on the model of the Paris
Bourse des Travail, should be provided and maintained by
public funds in every industrial centre in the kingdom." … The
mover said that 'not a single delegate could deny the
necessity for such an institution, in every industrial
centre.' The Congress evidently thought otherwise, for only 74
voted for the resolution, while 92 voted against it. … The
proposal, however, shows to what an extent the New Trade
Unionism seeks for Government aid, or municipal assistance, in
labour movements. The most astonishing resolution carried by
the Congress was the following—'Whereas the ever-changing
methods of manufacture affect large numbers of workers
adversely by throwing them out of employment, without
compensation for loss of situation, and whereas those persons
are in many instances driven to destitution, crime, and
pauperism: Resolved, that this Congress is of opinion that
power should at once be granted to each municipality or County
Council to establish workshops and factories under municipal
control, where such persons shall be put to useful employment,
and that it be an instruction to the Parliamentary Committee
to at once take the matter in hand.' … The proposal of all
others which the new Trade Unionists sought to ingraft upon,
and had determined to carry as a portion of the programme of
the Trades Union Congress, was the 'legal Eight Hour day;' and
they actually succeeded in their design after a stormy battle.
The new leaders, with their socialist allies, had been working
to that end for over two years."

_G. Howell,
Trade Unionism, New and Old,
chapter 8, part. 2._

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1888-1893.
Mr. Bellamy's "Looking Backward,"
and the Nationalist movement.

"The so-called 'Nationalist' movement, originating in an
ingenious novel called 'Looking Backward' [published in 1888],
is one of the most interesting phenomena of the present
condition of public opinion in this country. Mr. Edward
Bellamy, a novelist by profession, is the recognized father of
the Nationalist Clubs which have been formed in various parts
of the United States within the last twelve months. His
romance of the year 2000 A. D. is the reason for their
existence, and furnishes the inspiration of their
declarations. …
{2957}
The new society [depicted in Mr. Bellamy's romance] is
industrial, rather than militant, in every feature. There are
no wars or government war powers. But the function has been
assumed by the nation of directing the industry of every
citizen. Every man and woman is enrolled in the 'industrial
army,' this conception being fundamental. This universal
industrial service rests upon the recognized duty of every
citizen 'to contribute his quota of industrial or intellectual
work to the maintenance of the nation.' The period of service'
is twenty-four years, beginning at the close of the course of
education at twenty-one, and terminating at forty-five. After
forty-five, while discharged from labor, the citizen still
remains liable to special calls, in case of emergencies.'
There are, of course, no such numerous exemptions from this
industrial service as qualify very greatly the rigor of the
Continental military service of the present day. Every new
recruit belongs for three years to the class of unskilled or
common laborers. After this term, he is free to choose in what
branch of the service he will engage, to work with hand or
with brain:—'It is the business of the administration to seek
constantly to equalize the attractions of the trades, so far
as the conditions in them are concerned, so that all trades
shall be equally attractive to persons having natural tastes
for them. This is done by making the hours of labor in
different trades to differ according to their arduousness. The
principle is that no man's work ought to be, on the whole,
harder for him than any other man's for him, the workers
themselves to be the judges.' The headship of the industrial
army of the nation is the most important function of the
President of the United States. Promotion from the ranks lies
through three grades up to the officers. These officers are,
in ascending order, lieutenants, captains, or foremen,
colonels, or superintendents, and generals of the guilds. The
various trades are grouped into ten great departments, each of
which has a chief. These chiefs form the council of the
general-in-chief, who is the President. He must have passed
through all the grades, from the common laborers up. …
Congress has but little to do beyond passing upon the reports
of the President and the heads of departments at the end of
their terms of office. Any laws which one Congress enacts must
receive the assent of another, five years later, before going
into effect; but, as there are no parties or politicians in
the year 2000 A. D., this is a matter of little consequence.
In Mr. Bellamy's Utopia, money is unknown: there is,
therefore, no need of banks or bankers. Buying and selling are
processes entirely antiquated. The nation is the sole producer
of commodities. All persons being in the employment of the
nation, there is supposed to be no need of exchanges between
individuals. A credit-card is issued to each person, which he
presents at a national distributing shop when in need of
anything, and the amount due the government is punched out.
The yearly allowance made to each person Mr. Bellamy does not
put into figures. … Every person is free to spend his income
as he pleases; but it is the same for all, the sole basis on
which it is awarded being the fact that the person is a human
being. Consequently, cripples and idiots, as well as children,
are entitled to the same share of the products of the national
industries as is allowed the most stalwart or the most
capable, a certain amount of effort only being required, not
of performance. Such is the force of public opinion that no
one of able body or able mind refuses to exert himself: the
comparative results of his effort are not considered. Absolute
equality of recompense is thus the rule; and the notion of
charity with respect to the infirm in body or mind is
dismissed, a credit-card of the usual amount being issued to
every such person as his natural right. 'The account of every
person, man, woman, and child … is always with the nation
directly, and never through any intermediary, except, of
course, that parents to a certain extent act for children as
their guardians. … It is by virtue of the relation of
individuals to the nation, of their membership in it, that
they are entitled to support.' … The idea naturally occurred
to a considerable number of Bostonians, who had read Mr.
Bellamy's socialistic romance with an enthusiastic conviction
that here at last the true social gospel was delivered, that
associations for the purpose of disseminating the views set
forth in the book could not be formed too soon, as the
forerunners of this National party of the future. Accordingly,
a club, called 'The Boston Bellamy Club,' was started in
September, 1888, which was formally organized as 'The
Nationalist Club,' in the following December."

_N. P. Gilman,
"Nationalism" in the United States
(Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oct., 1889)._

The Nationalists "have very generally entered into the
Populist movement, not because they accept that in its present
form as ideal, but because that movement has seemed to give
them the best opportunity for the diffusion of their
principles; and there can be no doubt that they have given a
socialistic bias to this movement. They have also influenced
the labor movement, and, with the Socialistic Labor Party,
they have succeeded in producing a strong sentiment in favor
of independent political action on the part of the
wage-earners. Especially noteworthy was the platform for
independent political action offered at the meeting of the
American Federation of Labor in Chicago in December, 1893."

_R. T. Ely,
Socialism,
page 69._

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1894.
The American Railway Union and the Pullman Strike.

In May, 1894, some 4,000 workmen, employed in the car shops of
the Pullman Company, at the town of Pullman, near Chicago,
stopped work, because of the refusal of the company to restore
their wages to the standard from which they had been cut down
during the previous year and because of its refusal to
arbitrate the question. While this strike was in progress, the
American Railway Union, a comparatively new but extensive
organization of railway employees, formed by and under the
presidency of Eugene V. Debs, met in convention at Chicago,
and was induced to make the cause of the Pullman workmen its
own. The result was a decision on the part of the Union to
"boycott" all Pullman cars, ordering its members to refuse to
handle cars of that company, on the railways which center at
Chicago. This order went into effect on the evening of June
26, and produced the most extensive and alarming paralysis of
traffic and business that has ever been experienced in the
United States. Acts of violence soon accompanied the strike of
the railway employees, but how far committed by the strikers
and how far by responsive mobs, has never been made clear.
{2958}
The interruption of mails brought the proceedings of the
strikers within the jurisdiction of the federal courts and
within reach of the arm of the United States government. The
powers of the national courts and of the national executive
were both promptly exercised, to restore order and to stop a
ruinous interference with the general commerce of the country.
The leaders of the strike were indicted and placed under
arrest; United States troops were sent to the scene; President
Cleveland, by two solemn proclamations, made known the
determination of the Government to suppress a combination
which obstructed the United States mails and the movements of
commerce between the states. Urgent appeals were addressed by
the leaders of the American Railway Union to other labor
organizations, with the hope of bringing about a universal
strike, in all departments of industry throughout the country;
but it failed. The good sense of workingmen in general
condemned so suicidal a measure. By the 15th of July the
Pullman strike was practically ended, and the traffic of the
railways was resumed. President Cleveland appointed a
commission to investigate and report on the occurrence and its
causes, but the report of the commission has not been
published at the time this is printed (November, 1894).

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1894.
The Coxey Movement.

"A peculiar outcome of the social and political conditions of
the winter [of 1893-4] was the organization of various 'armies
of the unemployed' for the purpose of marching to Washington
and petitioning Congress for aid. The originator of the idea
seems to have been one Coxey, of Massillon, Ohio, who took up
the proposition that, as good roads and money were both much
needed in the country, the government should in the existing
crisis issue $500,000,000 in greenbacks, and devote it to the
employment of workers in the improvement of the roads. He
announced that he would lead an 'Army of the Commonweal of
Christ' to Washington to proclaim the wants of the people on
the steps of the Capitol on May 1, and he called upon the
unemployed and honest laboring classes to join him. On March
25 he set out from Massillon at the head of about a hundred
men and marched by easy stages and without disorder through
Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland, provisions being donated by
the towns and villages on the way, or purchased with funds
which had been subscribed by sympathizing friends. The numbers
of the army increased as it advanced, and groups of volunteers
set out to join it from distant states. On May 1 the
detachment, numbering about 350, marched to the Capitol, but
under an old District law was prevented by the police from
entering the grounds. Coxey and another of the leaders,
attempting to elude the police and address the assembled
crowds, were arrested and were afterwards convicted of a
misdemeanor. … Somewhat earlier than the start from Massillon,
another organization, 'The United States Industrial Army,'
headed by one Frye, had started from Los Angeles, California,
for Washington, with purposes similar to those of the Coxey
force, though not limiting their demands to work on the roads.
This force, numbering from six to eight hundred men, availed
themselves of the assistance, more or less involuntary, of
freight trains on the Southern Pacific Railway as far as St.
Louis, from which place they continued on foot. Though
observing a degree of military discipline, the various
'armies' were unarmed, and the disturbances that arose in
several places in the latter part of April were mostly due to
the efforts of the marchers, or their friends in their behalf,
to press the railroads into service for transportation. Thus a
band under a leader named Kelly, starting from San Francisco,
April 4, secured freight accommodations as far as Omaha by
simply refusing to leave Oakland until the cars were
furnished. The railroads eastward from Omaha refused
absolutely to carry them, and they went into camp near Council
Bluffs, in Iowa. Then sympathizing Knights of Labor seized a
train by force and offered it to Kelly, who refused, however,
to accept it under the circumstances, and ultimately continued
on foot as far as Des Moines, in Iowa. After a long stay at
that place he was finally supplied with flatboats, on which,
at the close of this Record, his band, now swollen to some
1,200 men, was floating southward. A band coming east on a
stolen train on the Northern Pacific, after overpowering a
squad of United States marshals, was captured by a detachment
of regular troops at Forsyth, Montana, April 26. Two days
later the militia were called out to rescue a train from a
band at Mount Sterling, Ohio."

_Political Science Quarterly:
Record of Political Events, June, 1894._

There were straggling movements, from different quarters of
the country, in imitation of those described, prolonged
through most of the summer of 1894; but the public feeling
favorable to them was limited, and they commonly came to an
ignominious end.

----------SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: End--------

SOCIAL WAR:
In the Athenian Confederacy.

See ATHENS: B. C. 378-357.

SOCIAL WAR:
Of the Achaian and Ætolian Leagues.

See GREECE: B. C. 280-146.

SOCIAL WAR:
Of the Italians.

See ROME: B. C. 90-88.

SOCIALIST PARTIES IN GERMANY.

Some matter first placed under this title, and so referred to,
has been incorporated in the more general article above.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS.

SOCIETY OF JESUS.

See JESUITS.

SOCII, The.

The Italian subject-allies of Rome were called Socii before
the Roman franchise was extended to them.

See ROME: B. C. 90-88.

SOCMEN.

Mr. Hallam thinks the Socmen, enumerated in Domesday Book, to
have been ceorls who were small landowners.

_H. Hallam,
The Middle Ages,
chapter 8, note 3 (volume. 2)._

SOCRATES:
As soldier and citizen.

See ATHENS: B. C. 424-406;
and GREECE: B. C. 406.

SOCRATES:
As teacher. See EDUCATION, ANCIENT: GREECE.

SODALITATES.

"There were [among the Romans] … unions originally formed for
social purposes, which were named 'sodalitates,' 'sodalitia,'
and these may be compared with our clubs. These associations
finally were made the centres of political parties, and we may
assume that they were sometimes formed solely for political
purposes."

_G. Long,
Decline of the Roman Republic,
volume 3, chapter 11._

See, also, COLLEGIA.

{2959}

SODOR AND MAN, The Bishopric of.

In the 11th century, the peculiar naval empire which the
Norsemen had established in the Hebrides, and on the
neighboring coasts of Ireland and Scotland, under the rulers
known as the Hy Ivar, became divided into two parts, called
Nordureyer or Norderies and Sudureyer or Suderies, the
northern and southern division. The dividing-line was at the
point of Ardnamurchan, the most westerly promontory of the
mainland of Scotland. "Hence the English bishopric of Sod or
and Man—Sodor being the southern division of the Scottish
Hebrides, and not now part of any English diocese.… The Bishop
of Sodor and Man has no seat in the House of Lords, owing, as
it is commonly said, to Man not having become an English
possession when bishops began to sit as Lords by tenure."

_J. H. Burton,
History of Scotland,
chapter 15, foot-note (volume 2)._

See, also,
NORMANS.
NORTHMEN: 10-13TH CENTURIES.

SOFT-SHELL DEMOCRATS, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1845-1846.

SOGDIANA.

"North of the Bactrians, beyond the Oxus, on the western slope
of Belurdagh, in the valley of the Polytimetus (Zarefshan, i.
e. strewing gold), which flows towards the Oxus from the east,
but, instead of joining it, ends in Lake Dengis, lay the
Sogdiani of the Greeks, the Suguda of the Old Persian
inscriptions, and Çughdha of the Avesta, in the region of the
modern Sogd. As the Oxus in its upper course separates the
Bactrians from the Sogdiani, the Jaxartes, further to the
north, separates the latter from the Scyths. According to
Strabo, the manners of the Bactrians and Sogdiani were
similar, but the Bactrians were less rude. Maracanda
(Samarcand), the chief city of the Sogdiani, on the
Polytimetus, is said to have had a circuit of 70 stades in the
fourth century B. C."

_M. Duncker,
History of Antiquity,
book 7, chapter 1 (volume 5)._

See, also, BOKHARA.

SOGDIANA.
Occupied by the Huns.

See HUNS, THE WHITE.

SOHR, Battle of (1745).

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1744-1745.

----------SOISSONS: Start--------

SOISSONS:
Origin of the name.

See BELGÆ.

SOISSONS: A. D. 457-486.
Capital of the kingdom of Syagrius.

See GAUL: A. D. 457-486;
also, FRANKS: A. D. 481-511.

SOISSONS: A. D. 486.
The capital of Clovis.

See PARIS: THE CAPITAL OF CLOVIS.

SOISSONS: A. D. 511-752.
One of the Merovingian capitals.

See FRANKS: A. D. 511-752.

SOISSONS: A. D. 1414.
Pillage and destruction by the Armagnacs.

In the civil wars of Armagnacs and Burgundians, during the
reign of the insane king Charles VI., the Armagnacs, then
having the king in their hands, and pretendedly acting under
his commands, laid siege to Soissons and took the city by
storm, on the 21st of May, A. D. 1414. "In regard to the
destruction committed by the king's army in Soissons, it
cannot be estimated. … There is not a Christian but would have
shuddered at the atrocious excesses committed by this soldiery
in Soissons: married women violated before their husbands,
young damsels in the presence of their parents and relatives,
holy nuns, gentle women of all ranks, of whom there were many
in the town: all, or the greater part, were violated against
their wills, and known carnally by divers nobles and others,
who, after having satiated their own brutal passions,
delivered them over without mercy to their servants; and there
is no remembrance of such disorder and havoc being done by
Christians. … Thus was this grand and noble city of Soissons,
strong from its situation, walls and towers, full of wealth,
and embellished with fine churches and holy relics, totally
ruined and destroyed by the army of king Charles, and of the
princes who accompanied him. The king, however, before his
departure, gave orders for its rebuilding."

_Monstrelet,
Chronicles (translated by Johnes),
book 1, chapter 120 (volume 1)._

----------SOISSONS: Start--------

SOISSONS, Battle of (718).

See FRANKS: A. D. 511-752.

SOISSONS, Battle of (923).

The revolt against Charles the Simple, which resulted in the
overthrow of the Carolingian dynasty, had its beginning in
918. In 922, Robert, Duke of France and Count of Paris,
grandfather of Hugh Capet, was chosen and crowned king by the
malcontents. On the 15th of June in the next year the most
desperate and sanguinary battle of the civil war was fought at
Soissons, where more than half of each army perished. The
Capetians won the field, but their newly crowned king was
among the slain.

_Sir F. Palgrave,
History of Normandy and England,
volume 2, page 40._

SOISSONS, Peace Congress of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1726-1731.

SOKEMANNI.

See SLAVERY, MEDIÆVAL: ENGLAND.

SOLEBAY, Naval battle of (1672).

See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1672-1674.

SOLES, Society of.

See CUBA: A. D. 1514-1851.

SOLFERINO, Battle of (1859).

See ITALY: A. D. 1856-1859.

SOLIDUS, The.

"The solidus or aureus is computed equivalent in weight of
gold to twenty-one shillings one penny English money."

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 32, foot-note._

SOLON, The Constitution of.

See ATHENS: B. C. 594;
also, DEBT, LAWS CONCERNING: ANCIENT GREEK.

SOLWAY-FRITH, SOLWAY MOSS, The Battle of.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1542.

SOLYMAN,
Caliph, A. D. 715-717.

Solyman I., Turkish Sultan, 1520-1566.

Solyman II., Turkish Sultan, 1687-1691.

SOLYMI, The.

See LYCIANS.

SOMA. HAOMA.

"It is well known that both in the Veda and the Avesta a plant
is mentioned, called Soma (Zend, haoma). This plant, when
properly squeezed, yielded a juice, which was allowed to
ferment and, when mixed with milk and honey, produced an
exhilarating and intoxicating beverage. This Soma juice has
the same importance in Vedic and Avestic sacrifices as the
juice of the grape had in the worship of Bacchus. The question
has often been discussed what kind of plant this Soma could
have been. When Soma sacrifices are performed at present, it
is confessed that the real Soma can no longer be procured, and
that some ci-près, such as Pûtikâs, etc., must be used
instead." The Soma of later times seems to have been
identified with a species of Sarcostemma. The ancient Soma is
conjectured by some to have been the grape, and by others to
have been the hop plant.

_F. Max Müller,
Biography of Words,
appendix 3._

See, also, ZOROASTRIANS.

{2960}

SOMASCINES, The.

The Somascines, or the Congregation of Somasca, so called from
the town of that name, were an order of regular clergy founded
in 1540 by a Venetian noble, Girolamo Miani. They devoted
themselves to the establishment and maintenance of hospitals,
asylums for orphans, and the education of the poor.

_L. Ranke,
History of the Popes,
book 2, section 3 (volume 1)._

SOMATOPHYLAX.

"A somatophylax in the Macedonian army was no doubt at first,
as the word means, one of the officers who had to answer for
the king's safety; perhaps in modern language a colonel in the
body-guards or house-hold troops; but as, in unmixed
monarchies, the faithful officer who was nearest the king's
person, to whose watchfulness he trusted in the hour of
danger, often found himself the adviser in matters of state,
so, in the time of Alexander, the title of somatophylax was
given to those generals on whose wisdom the king chiefly
leaned, and by whose advice he was usually guided."

_S. Sharpe,
History of Egypt,
chapter 6, section 18 (volume 1)._

SOMERS, Lord,
and the shaping of constitutional government in England.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1710-1712.

SOMERSETT, The case of the negro.

See SLAVERY, NEGRO: A. D. 1685-1772.

SOMNAUTH, The gates of.

See AFGHANISTAN: A. D. 1842-1869.

SONCINO, Battle of (1431).

See ITALY: A. D. 1412-1447.

SONDERBUND, The.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1803-1848.

SONOMA: A. D. 1846.
The raising of the Bear Flag.

See CALIFORNIA; A. D. 1846-1847.

SONS OF LIBERTY.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1765 THE RECEPTION OF THE NEWS.

SONS OF LIBERTY, Knights of the Order of the.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (OCTOBER).

SOPHENE, Kingdom of.

See ARMENIA.

SOPHERIM.

See SCRIBES.

SOPHI I.,
Shah of Persia, A. D. 1628-1641.

Sophi II., Shah of Persia, 1666-1694.

SOPHI, The.

See MEGISTANES.

SORA, The School of.

See JEWS: 7TH CENTURY.

SORABIANS, The.

A Sclavonic tribe which occupied, in the eighth century, the
country between the Elbe and the Saale. They were subdued by
Charlemagne in 806.

_J. I. Mombert,
History of Charles the Great,
book 2, chapter 11._

SORBIODUNUM.

A strong Roman fortress in Britain which is identified in site
with Old Sarum of the present day.

_T. Wright,
Celt, Roman and Saxon,
chapter 5._

SORBONNE, The.

See EDUCATION, MEDIÆVAL: FRANCE.
UNIVERSITY OF PARIS.

SORDONES, The.

A people of the same race as the ancient Aquitanians, who
inhabited the eastern Pyrenees and the Aude.

_Napoleon III.,
History of Cæsar,
book 3, chapter 2 (volume 2). _

SOTIATES, The.

See AQUITAINE: THE ANCIENT TRIBES.

SOTO, Hernando de, The expedition of.

See FLORIDA: A. D. 1528-1542.

SOUDAN, The.

See SUDAN.

SOUFFRANCE, A.

"The word is translated as a truce, but it means something
very different from a modern truce. … The Souffrance was more
of the nature of a peace at the present day; and the reason
why of old it was treated as distinct from a peace was this:
The wars of the time generally arose from questions of
succession or of feudal superiority. When it became desirable
to cease fighting, while yet neither side was prepared to give
in to the other, there was an agreement to give up fighting in
the mean time, reserving all rights entire for future
discussion. A Souffrance or truce of this kind might last for
centuries."

_J. H. Burton,
History of Scotland,
chapter 21 (volume 2)._

SOULT, Marshal, Campaigns of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1806 (OCTOBER);
1807 (FEBRUARY-JUNE);
SPAIN: A. D. 1808 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER) to 1812-1814;
GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (MAY-AUGUST);
FRANCE: A. D. 1815 (JUNE).

----------SOUTH AFRICA: Start--------

SOUTH AFRICA:
The aboriginal inhabitants.

South Africa in its widest extent is peopled by two great and
perfectly distinct indigenous races—the Kafirs and the
Hottentots. The affinity of the Kafir tribes, ethnographically
including the Kafirs proper and the people of Congo, is based
upon the various idioms spoken by them, the direct
representatives of a common but now extinct mother tongue. The
aggregate of languages is now conventionally known as the
A-bantu, or, more correctly, the Bantu linguistic system. The
more common term Kafir, from the Arabic Kâfir = infidel,
really represents but a small section of this great family,
and being otherwise a term of reproach imposed upon them by
strangers, is of course unknown to the people themselves. All
the Bantu tribes are distinguished by a dark skin and woolly
hair, which varies much in length and quality, but is never
sleek or straight. … According to its geographical position
the Bantu system is divided into the Eastern group, from its
principal representatives known as the Ama-Zulu and Ama-Khosa
or Kafir proper, the Central, or Be-tchuana group, and the
Western or O-va-Herero, or Damara group. … The northern
division of these Bantus bears the name of Ama-Zulu, and they
are amongst the best representatives of dark-coloured races.
The Zulus are relatively well developed and of large size,
though not surpassing the average height of Europeans, and
with decidedly better features than the Ama-Khosa. … The most
wide-spread and most numerous of all these Kafir tribes are
the Bechuanas [including the Basutos], their present domain
stretching from the upper Orange river northwards to the
Zambesi, and over the west coast highland north of
Namaqualand; of this vast region, however, they occupy the
outskirts only. … The Hottentots, or more correctly Koi-Koin
(men), have no material features in common with the great
Bantu family, except their woolly hair, though even this
presents some considerable points of difference. Their general
type is that of a people with a peculiar pale yellow-brown
complexion, very curly 'elf-lock' or matted hair, narrow
forehead, high cheek-bones projecting side-ways, pointed chin,
body of medium size, rather hardy than strong, with small
hands and feet, and platynocephalous cranium. … The Hottentots
are properly divided into three groups: the Colonial, or
Hottentots properly so called, dwelling in Cape Colony, and
thence eastwards to the borders of Kafirland …; the Korana,
settled mainly on the right bank of the Orange river …;
lastly, the Namaqua, whose domain embraces the western portion
of South Africa, bordering eastwards on the Kalahari desert."

_Hellwald-Johnston,
Africa (Stanford's Compendium),
chapter 25._

See, also, AFRICA: THE INHABITING RACES.

{2961}

SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1486-1806.
Portuguese discovery.-
Dutch possession.
English acquisition.

The Cape of Good Hope, "as far as we know, was first doubled
by Bartholomew Diaz in 1486.

See PORTUGAL: A. D. 1463-1498.

He, and some of the mariners with him, called it the Cape of
Torments, or Capo Tormentoso, from the miseries they endured.
The more comfortable name which it now bears was given to it
by King John of Portugal, as being the new way discovered by
his subjects to the glorious Indies. Diaz, it seems, never in
truth saw the Cape, but was carried past it to Algoa Bay. …
Vasco da Gama, another sailor hero, said to have been of royal
Portuguese descent, followed him in 1497. He landed to the
west of the Cape. … Vasco da Gama did not stay long at the
Cape, but proceeding on went up the East Coast as far as our
second South African colony, which bears the name which he
then gave to it. He called the land Tierra de Natal, because
he reached it on the day of our Lord's Nativity. The name has
stuck to it ever since and no doubt will now be preserved.
From thence Da Gama went on to India. … The Portuguese seem to
have made no settlement at the Cape intended even to be
permanent; but they did use the place during the 16th and
first half of the next century as a port at which they could
call for supplies and assistance on their way out to the East
Indies. The East had then become the great goal of commerce to
others besides the Portuguese. In 1600 our own East India
Company was formed, and in 1602 that of the Dutch. Previous to
those dates, in 1591, an English sailor, Captain Lancaster,
visited the Cape, and in 1620 Englishmen landed and took
possession of it in the name of James I. But nothing came of
these visitings and declarations, although an attempt was made
by Great Britain to establish a house of call for her trade
out to the East. For this purpose a small gang of convicts was
deposited on Robben Island, which is just off Capetown, but as
a matter of course the convicts quarrelled with themselves and
the Natives, and came to a speedy end. In 1595 the Dutch came,
but did not then remain. It was not till 1652 that the first
Europeans who were destined to be the pioneer occupants of the
new land were put on shore at the Cape of Good Hope, and thus
made the first Dutch settlement. Previous to that the Cape had
in fact been a place of call for vessels of all nations going
and coming to and from the East. But from this date, 1652, it
was to be used for the Dutch exclusively. … The home Authority
at this time was not the Dutch Government, but the Council of
Seventeen at Amsterdam, who were the Directors of the Dutch
East India Company. … From 1658, when the place was but six
years old, there comes a very sad record indeed. The first
cargo of slaves was landed at the Cape from the Guinea Coast.
In this year, out of an entire population of 360, more than a
half were slaves. The total number of these was 187. To
control them and to defend the place there were but 113
European men capable of bearing arms. This slave element at
once became antagonistic to any system of real colonization,
and from that day to this has done more than any other evil to
retard the progress of the people. It was extinguished, much
to the disgust of the old Dutch inhabitants, under Mr.
Buxton's Emancipation Act in 1834;—but its effects are still
felt." The new land of which the Dutch had taken possession
"was by no means unoccupied or unpossessed. There was a race
of savages in possession, to whom the Dutch soon gave the name
of Hottentots. [The name was probably taken from some sound in
their language which was of frequent occurrence; they seem to
have been called 'Ottentoos,' 'Hotnots," Hottentotes,'
'Hodmodods,' and 'Hadmandods,' promiscuously. —Foot-note.) …
Soon after the settlement was established the burghers were
forbidden to trade with these people at all, and then
hostilities commenced. The Hottentots found that much, in the
way of land, had been taken from them and that nothing was to
be got. They … have not received, as Savages, a bad character.
They are said to have possessed fidelity, attachment, and
intelligence. … But the Hottentot, with all his virtues, was
driven into rebellion. There was some fighting, in which the
natives of course were beaten, and rewards were offered, so
much for a live Hottentot, and so much for a dead one. This
went on till, in 1672, it was found expedient to purchase land
from the natives. A contract was made in that year to prevent
future cavilling, as was then alleged, between the Governor
and one of the native princes, by which the district of the
Cape of Good Hope was ceded to the Dutch for a certain nominal
price. … But after a very early period—1684 —there was no
further buying of land. … The land was then annexed by
Europeans as convenience required. In all this the Dutch of
those days did very much as the English have done since. … The
Hottentot … is said to be nearly gone, and, being a yellow
man, to have lacked strength to endure European seductions.
But as to the Hottentot and his fate there are varied
opinions. I have been told by some that I have never seen a
pure Hottentot. Using my own eyes and my own idea of what a
Hottentot is, I should have said that the bulk of the
population of the Western Province of the Cape Colony is
Hottentot. The truth probably is that they have become so
mingled with other races as to have lost much of their
identity; but that the race has not perished, as have the
Indians of North America and the Maoris. … The last half of
the 17th and the whole of the 18th century saw the gradual
progress of the Dutch depôt,—a colony it could hardly be
called,—going on in the same slow determined way, and always
with the same purpose. It was no colony because those who
managed it at home in Holland, and they who at the Cape served
with admirable fidelity their Dutch masters, never entertained
an idea as to the colonization of the country. … In 1795 came
the English. In that year the French Republican troops had
taken possession of Holland [see FRANCE: A. D. 1795
(JUNE-DECEMBER)], and the Prince of Orange, after the manner
of dethroned potentates, took refuge in England. He_gave an
authority, which was dated from Kew, to the Governor of the
Cape to deliver up all and everything in his hands to the
English forces.
{2962}
On the arrival of the English fleet there was found to be, at
the same time, a colonist rebellion. … In this double
emergency the poor Dutch Governor, who does not seem to have
regarded the Prince's order as an authority, was sorely
puzzled. He fought a little, but only a little, and then the
English were in possession. … In 1797 Lord Macartney came out
as the first British Governor. Great Britain at this time took
possession of the Cape to prevent the French from doing so. No
doubt it was a most desirable possession, as being a half-way
house for us to India as it had been for the Dutch. But we
should not, at any rate then, have touched the place had it
not been that Holland, or rather the Dutch, were manifestly
unable to retain it. … Our rule over the Dutchmen was uneasy
and unprofitable. Something of rebellion seems to have been
going on during the whole time. … When at the peace of Amiens
in 1802 it was arranged that the Cape of Good Hope should be
restored to Holland [see FRANCE: A. D. 1801-1802], English
Ministers of State did not probably grieve much at the loss. …
But the peace of Amiens was delusive, and there was soon war
between England and France. Then again Great Britain felt the
necessity of taking the Cape, and proceeded to do so on this
occasion without any semblance of Dutch authority. At that
time whatever belonged to Holland was almost certain to fall
in to the hands of France. In 1805 … Sir David Baird was sent
with half a dozen regiments to expel, not the Dutch, but the
Dutch Governor and the Dutch soldiers from the Cape. This he
did easily, having encountered some slender resistance; and
thus in 1806, on the 19th January, after a century and a half
of Dutch rule, the Cape of Good Hope became a British colony."

_A. Trollope,
South Africa,
volume 1, chapter 2._

ALSO IN:
_W. Greswell,
Our South African Empire,
volume 1, chapters 1-4._

_R. Russell,
Natal,
part 2, chapters 1-3._

_Sir B. Frere,
Historical Sketch of South Africa
(Royal Historical Society Transactions N. S.,
volumes 2 and 4). _

SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1806-1881.
The English and the Dutch Boers.
The "Great Trek."
Successive Boer republics of Natal, Orange Free State,
and the Transvaal, absorbed in the British dominions.
The Boer War.

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