Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/756

Rh 720 EUROPE Bulgaria the hatred against the Jews is so great that, on the evacuation of Eustchuk by the Turks, the Bulgarians sent a deputation requesting the Russian commander to expel the whole Jewish community and to plunder their shops. The liberal movement of Roumania was dictated partly by a desire to obtain the sympathy of Western Europe ; for until recently persecution of the Jews was carried on as vigorously there as in the neighbouring countries. Between Roman Catholics and Protestants the ancient feud has lost some of its bitterness. In Scotland and England the legal emancipation of the Catholics in 1829 has been followed by social changes of great im portance, the extent of which may be estimated by tho little opposition which was offered to the restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Scotland in 1878. In Prussia and throughout the German empire there has been a recrudescence of animosity between the confessions; but it is to be observed that the contest is rather between tho state and a political party than between the Catholics as Catholics and the Protestants as Protestants. In fact, it is only part of a wider contest which is being fought under varying forms throughout the greater part of Europe, as to whether the state or the church is to be the dominant power. Many of the measures which the Government has adopted have certainly led to what is practically religious persecution ; but this persecution is totally different in its character from the persecutions of the Huguenots in the 17th century. The most extreme exertions of power have been the suppression of religious communities, the removal and appointment of priests and bishops by the civil authorities, the prohibition of religious processions, and in 1876 the closing of all Catholic schools and the assertion of complete state cantrol over all church property. In Switzerland the movement was similar ; the Old Catholic party was re cognized by the state in 1875, and the cathedrals of Bern and Geneva handed over to its clergy. In Belgium the Liberal and Protestant minority have excited violent disturbances in several cities, as Ghent and Brussels, and the social fermentation has been carried to dangerous extremes ; but by the constitution there is full religious liberty, all the churches are subsidized by the Government, and by a curious anomaly the heaviest subsidy is paid to the weakest denomination. The relations established between Italy and the pope, by the absolute irrecon cilability of their territorial claims, has naturally led the Italian Government to adopt a strongly anti-ecclesiasti cal policy : the state religion is Roman Catholicism, but^the suppression of monasteries has been vigorously carried out, and religious processions outside of the churches can only take place by special permission of the prefects. The constitution sanctions full religious liberty. In France Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Jews all receive grants from the public treasury. The Russian Government exercises its authority in favour of the Greek church in a way that frequently infringes on the liberties of other religionists, and no secession can take place from the pale of the establishment ; but at the same time the profession of any creed is legally allowed. Spain, by the last of her many revolutions, has taken a step backwards : private worship is still permitted to non-Catholic religions, and foreigners are considered inviolable, but all public manifestations, by printed notices, emblems, or otherwise, are strictly prohibited. It has happily become impossible for even the most re- H trograde of nations to recall the days of the Inquisition, a ta fact that is at least partly due to the influence of another great movement, which may be distinguished as humani- tarianism. This movement is evident in so many depart ments of thought and action, here introducing a less painful process of killing into the slaughter-house, and there affect ing the decision of questions of speculative theology, that only a few suggestive facts need be mentioned. The penal codes of all European nations have been cleared of most of their mediaeval barbarism ; and the infliction of direct physical suffering is reserved for the more brutal class of criminals. Instruments of torture are mere antiquarian curiosities. The punishment of death, once the common penalty for trivial and heinous offences, already appears to many minds .as altogether inhuman, and lias been com pletely abolished or discontinued in Holland, Belgium, Por tugal, Switzerland, and Roumania. The bill for its abolition in Italy in 1875 was lost by 73 to 36, and the district of Tus cany, which had adopted the abolition about twenty years before, was forced to conform to the general law. In 1876, however, the committee for the revision of the penal code unanimously voted for the abolition. The introduction of private instead of public executions is a step in the same direction, though like many other partial measures it may delay the complete disuse of capital punishment. Mention may also be made of the amelioration of prison discipline, of the magnificent progress in the treatment of the insane which has been effected by the philanthropists of the last two generations, of the enormous increase which has taken place in the number of our hospitals, asylums, and benevolent institutions, and of the growing attention that is paid to relief of the sufferings of the lower animah. &quot;Whatever be the wisdom of the measure, the law of 1876 in Eng land in regard to vivisection speaks volumes for the advance of the humanitarian movement. In this respect as in others the various European nations are in very different stages : while the English magistrate is fining a collier or carter for lending his countenance to a cockfight, the Spanish magistrate is applauding the exploits of a picador or matador. That we are approximating to a unity of sentiment is shown among other things by the support which has been given to the Geneva convention for the mitigation of the sufferings of the wounded in war, which was formed in 1864 by the representatives of Baden, Belgium, Denmark, France, Hesse, Italy, the Netherlands, Prussia, Switzerland, and Wiirtemberg, and which has since obtained the adhesion of Greece, Great Britain, and Turkey. (rr. A. w.) Animals, 003; Uomeslic, COG. Birds, 0!)4. Botany, COO. Boundaries, 081. Canals, 710. Charlemagne, empire of (with map), 714. Cities, population of, 705. Climate, 689. Coast-line. G81. Commerce, 707. Countries, table of, 703. Crusades, period of (with map), 715. Cultivated plants, 001. Debts, national, 700. Domestic animals, (.96. Earthquakes, C83. INDEX. Education, 710. Ethnology, 697. Extent, 6S1. Fishes, 095. Forests, (!92. Geological formations, 6S7. Highlands and lowlands ratio of, Humanitarianism, 720. Industries, 707. Insects, 0!)r&amp;gt;. Internationalism, 719. Lakes, 6S7. Land and sea, changes of 682. Languages, 699. Mammals. 693. Manufactures, 707 C83. Metals, OSS. Military forces, 70-3. Minerals, 6SS. Mountains, 084. National debts, 706. Nationalism, 718. Naval forces, 706. Plants, cultivated. 691 Political divisions. 702; changes in. 713 7 Is. Population, 704. Races, 697. Railways, 709. Rainfall, 689. Relief, 683. Religion, 712 Reptiles, 695. Rivers, O8. r &amp;gt;; table ou 680. Roman empire (with map), 7T9. Sea and land, changes of, 682. Sexes, proportions of. 704. Shipping, commercial, 707.
 * . Snow-line, 690.
 * Telegraphs, 709.

Tendencies, general, 718. Territorial distribution, changes 713-718. Toleration, 719. Universities, 711. Volcanoes, 6SJ). Winds, 690. Zoology, 63. Of,