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WALCOTT, CHARLES DOOLITTLE (1850- )
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See also:WALCOTT, See also: Survey, 1884) ; Fauna of the See also:Lower Cambrian or Olenellus See also:Zone (189o, issued 1891), and Fossil Medusae (Mon. U.S. Geol. Survey, 1898). WALDECK-PYRMONT, a principality of See also:Germany and a constituent state of the See also:German See also:empire, consisting of two See also:separate portions lying about 3o M. apart, viz, the See also:county of Waldeck, embedded in Prussian territory between the provinces of See also:Westphalia and See also:Hesse-See also:Nassau, and the principality of Pyrmont, farther to the north, between See also:Lippe, See also:Brunswick, Westphalia and See also:Hanover. Waldeck comprises an See also:area of 407 sq. m., covered for the most See also:part with hills, which culminate in the Hegekopf (2775 ft.). The centre is occupied by the See also:plateau of Corbach. The chief See also:rivers are the Eder and the Diemel, both of which eventually find their way into the See also:Weser. Pyrmont, only 26 sq. m. in extent, is also mountainous. The Emmer, also belonging to the Weser See also:system, is its chief stream. The united area is thus 433 sq. m., or about See also:half the See also:size of See also:Cambridge-See also:shire in See also:England, and the united See also:population in 1905 was 59,127, showing a See also:density of 138 to the square mile. The population is almost wholly See also:Protestant. In consequence of the comparatively high See also:elevation of the See also:country—the lowest part being 540 ft. above the See also:sea-level—the See also:climate is on the whole inclement. See also:Agriculture and See also:cattle-rearing are the See also:main resources of the in-habitants in both parts of the principality, but the See also:soil is nowhere very fertile. Only 57% of the area is occupied by arable See also:land and pasture; forests, one-tenth of which are coniferous, occupy 38%. Oats is the See also:principal See also:crop, but See also:rye, potatoes and See also:flax are also grown in considerable quantities. See also:Fruit is also cultivated in the principality. See also:Iron mines, See also:slate and See also: Wildungen is also a See also:spa of repute. The inhabitants to the north of the Eder are of Saxon stock, to the south of Franconian, a difference which is distinctly marked in See also:dialect, costumes and See also:manners.
Waldeck-Pyrmont has one See also:vote in the federal See also:council (Bundesrat) and one in the Reichstag. The constitution, dating from 1852, is a reactionary modification of one carried in 1849, which had been a considerable advance upon one granted in 1816. The Landtag of one chamber consists of fifteen members, three of whom represent Prymont, elected indirectly for three years. In the event of the male line of the See also:present ruling See also:family becoming See also:extinct, the See also:female line will succeed in Waldeck, but Pyrmont will fall to See also:Prussia. In terms of a treaty concluded in 1867 for ten years, renewed in 1877 for a similar See also:period, and continued in 1887 with the proviso that it should be terminable on two years' See also:notice, the finances and the entire See also:government of Waldeck-Pyrmont are managed by Prussia, the little country having found itself unable to support unassisted the military and other burdens involved by its See also:share in the North German See also:Confederation of 1867-1871 and subsequently as a constituent state of the German empire. The government is conducted in the name of the prince by a Prussian
" Landesdirector," while the state officials take the See also:oath of See also:allegiance to the See also: The prince is supported by the income derived from See also:crown lands. As regards the See also:administration of See also:justice, Waldeck and Pyrmont belong to the districts of See also:Cassel and Hanover respectively.
The princes of Waldeck-Pyrmont are descendants of the See also:counts of Schwalenberg, the earliest of whom known to See also:history was one See also:Widukind (d. 1137). His son Volkwin (d. 1178) acquired by See also:marriage the county of Waldeck, and his line was divided into two branches, Waldeck and See also:Landau, in 1397. In 1438 the land-See also:grave of Hesse obtained rights of See also:suzerainty over Waldeck, and the claims arising from this See also:action were not finally disposed of until 1847, when it was decided that the rights of Hesse over Waldeck had ceased with the See also:dissolution of the See also:Holy See also:Roman Empire. The Landau branch of the family became extinct in 1495, and in 1631 Waldeck inherited the county of Pyrmont, which had originally belonged to a branch of the Schwalenberg family. For a few years Waldeck was divided into Wildungen and See also:Eisenberg, but in 1692, when the Wildungen branch died out with See also:George See also:Frederick, the imperial See also: In 1807 Waldeck joined the confederation of the See also:Rhine, and in 1815 entered the German confederation. Its first constitution was granted in 1816 by Prince George II. (d. 1845). Prince Frederick (b. 186,5) succeeded his father, George See also:Victor (1831-1893), as ruler on the 12th of May 1893. The most important fact in the See also:recent history of the principality is its connexion with Prussia, to which reference has already been made. See Curtze, Geschichte and Beschreibung See also:des Furstentums Waldeck (Arolsen, 185o) ; See also:Lowe, Heimatskunde von Waldeck (Arolsen, 1887) ; J. C. C. Hoff meister, Historisch-genealogisches Handbuch fiber alle Grafen and Flies/en von Waldeck soft 1228 (Cassel, I883); BOttcher, Das Staatsrecht des Furstentums Waldeck (See also:Freiburg, 1884) ; A. See also:Wagner, See also:Die Geschichte Waldecks and Pyrmonts (Wildungen, 1888), and the Geschicktsbl¢tter See also:fur Waldeck and Pyrmont (Mengeringhausen, 1901, fol.). WALDECK-See also: He organized the National See also:Defence at St Nazaire, and himself marched out with the contingent, though no part of the force saw active service owing to lack of See also:ammunition, their private See also:store having been commandeered by the state. In 1873 he removed to the bar of See also:Rennes, and six years later was returned to the Chamber of Deputies. In his electoral See also:programme he had stated that he was prepared to respect all liberties except those of See also:conspiracy against the institutions of the country and of educating the See also:young in hatred of the See also:modern social See also:order. In the Chamber he sup-ported the policy of See also:Gambetta. The Waldeck-Rousseau family was strictly See also:Catholic in spite of its republican principles; nevertheless Waldeck-Rousseau supported the See also:anti-clerical education law submitted by Jules See also:Ferry as See also:minister of education in the See also:Waddington See also:cabinet. He further voted for the See also:abrogation of the law of 1814 forbidding See also:work on Sundays and fete days, for compulsory service of one See also:year for seminarists and for the re-establishment of See also:divorce. He made his reputation in the Chamber by a See also:report which he See also:drew up in 188o on behalf of the See also:committee appointed to inquire into the French judicial system. But then as later he was chiefly occupied with the relations between capital and labour. He had a large share in 1884 in securing the recognition of trade unions. In 1881 he became minister of the interior in Gambetta's See also:grand ministere, and he held the same See also:portfolio in the Jules Ferry cabinet of 1883-1885, when he gave See also:proof of See also:great administrative See also:powers. He sought to put down the system by which See also:civil posts were obtained through the local See also:deputy, and he made it clear that the central authority could not be defied by local officials. He had begun to practise at the Paris bar in 1886, and in 1889 he did not seek re-election to the Chamber, but devoted himself to his legal work. The most famous of the many noteworthy cases in which his See also:cold and penetrating See also:intellect and his See also:power of clear exposition were retained was the defence of M. de See also:Lesseps in 1893. In 1894 he returned to political life as senator for the See also:department of the Loire, and next year stood for the presidency of the republic against See also:Felix See also:Faure and See also:Henri See also:Brisson, being supported by the Conservatives, who were soon to be his See also:bitter enemies. He received 184 votes, but retired before the second See also:ballot to allow Faure to receive an See also:absolute See also:majority. During the political anarchy of the next few years he was recognized by the moderate republicans as the successor of Jules Ferry and Gambetta, and at the crisis of 1899 on the fall of the See also:Dupuy cabinet he was asked by President See also:Loubet to form a government. After an initial failure he succeeded in forming a See also:coalition cabinet which included such widely different politicians as M. See also:Millerand and See also:General de See also:Galliffet. He himself returned to his former See also:post at the See also:ministry of the interior, and set to work to quell the discontent with which the country was seething, to put an end to the various agitations which under specious pretences were directed against republican institutions, and to restore See also:independence to the judicial authority. His See also:appeal to all republicans to sink their differences before the See also:common peril met with some degree of success, and enabled the government to leave the second See also:court-See also:martial of See also:Captain See also:Dreyfus at Rennes an absolutely See also:free See also:hand, and then to See also:compromise the affair by granting a See also:pardon to Dreyfus. Waldeck-Rousseau won a great See also:personal success in See also:October by his successful intervention in the strikes at Le Creusot. With the condemnation in January 1900 of See also:Paul See also:Deroulede and his monarchist and nationalist followers by the High Court the worst of the danger was past, and Waldeck-Rousseau kept order in Paris without having recourse to irritating displays of force. The See also:Senate was staunch in support of M. Waldeck-Rousseau, and in the Chamber he displayed remarkable astuteness in winning support from various See also:groups. The See also:Amnesty See also:Bill, passed on r9th December, chiefly through his unwearied advocacy, went far to smooth down the acerbity of the preceding years. With the See also:object of aiding the See also:industry of See also:wine-producing, and of discouraging the See also:consumption of See also:spirits and other deleterious liquors, the government passed a bill suppressing the oclroi duties on the three " hygienic " drinks—wine, See also:cider and See also:beer. The See also:act came into force at the beginning of 1901. But the most important measure of his later administration was the Associations Bill of 1901. Like many of his predecessors, he was convinced that the stability of the republic demanded some See also:restraint on the intrigues of the wealthy religious bodies. All previous attempts in this direction had failed. In his speech in the Chamber M. Waldeck-Rousseau recalled the fact that he had endeavoured to pass an Associations Bill in 1882, and again in 1883. He declared that the religious associations were now being subjected for the first time to the regulations common to all others, and that the object of the bill was to ensure the supremacy of the civil power. The royalist See also:bias given to the pupils in the religious seminaries was undoubtedly a principal cause of the passing of this bill; and the government further took strong See also:measures to secure the presence of See also:officers of undoubted fidelity to the republic in the higher positions on the See also:staff. His speeches on the religious question were published in Igor under the See also:title of Associations et congr€gations, following a See also:volume of speeches on Questions sociales (1900). As the general election of 1902 approached all sections of the Opposition united their efforts, and M. Waldeck-Rousseau's name served as a See also:battle-cry for one See also:side, and on the other as a See also:target for the foulest abuse. The result was a decisive victory for republican stability. With the defeat of the machinations against the republic M. Waldeck-Rousseau considered his task ended, and on the 3rd of See also:June 1902 he resigned office, having proved himself the " strongest See also:personality in French politics since the See also:death of Gambetta. " He emerged from his retirement to protest in the Senate against the construction put on his Associations Bill by M. See also:Combes, who refused in See also:mass the applications of the teaching and See also:preaching congregations for See also:official recognition. His See also:health had See also:long been failing when he died on the loth of August 1904. His speeches were published as Discours parlementaires (1889) ; Pour la ripublique, 7883-7903 (1904), edited by H. Leyret; L'Etat et la liberti (1906); and his Plaidoyers (1906, &c.) were edited by H. Barboux. See also H. Leyret, Waldeck-Rousseau et la troisieme ripublique (1908), and the See also:article See also:FRANCE: History. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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