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 626 HELPS HELSINGFORS classes in Sparta were the Spartans, the Pe- rioeci, and the helots. The first two were united and constituted one national aggregate, known by the common name of Lacedaemonians; but the last was for ages an entirely separate and inferior class. Several derivations of the name helots are given, including that from Helos, the Laconian town, but perhaps the most probable is that from eAm>, to take, ma- king the name signify captives. They were re- garded as the property of the state, which reserved the power of emancipating them, and were attached to the soil, each Spartan citizen receiving the number that belonged to his allotment of land, without any power to sell or free them. With the exception of the few who lived in the city as domestic servants, the helots occupied rural villages apart from their masters, and with only the obligation to till the land and pay a certain proportion of the produce to their masters as rent. The amount of rent was 82 medimni (about 120 bushels) of barley and a proportionate amount of wine and oil for each allotment, which was inhabited by six or seven families. This rent had been established at a very early period, and any increase of the amount was impera- tively forbidden. Their number has been va- riously estimated, but it is certain that, though few at first, they increased through the con- quest of rebel towns, till they far exceeded the Lacedaemonians themselves. O. Muller com- putes their number to have been about 224,000, at a time when the Lacedaemonians numbered but 156,000. They were liable to service in time of war, generally as light-armed troops, and a certain number of them attended on each Spar- tan. They were also in later times much em- ployed in the navy. Only in particular emer- gencies did they serve as heavy-armed troops, and then they were generally emancipated after the war. The manumitted helots were not re- ceived into the Perioeci, but still were a sepa- rate class, under the name of neodamodes, or newly enfranchised. Particularly liable to sus- picion, they were often employed on foreign service, or among the different trades at Sparta. At the end of the second Messenian war, 668 B. C., the Messenians were reduced to slavery and incorporated with the helots. In 464 the helots revolted, and marched directly against Sparta, which they nearly succeeded in taking. After long and obstinate struggles they were finally subdued. They were constant subjects of apprehension to the Spartans, and were sometimes cruelly massacred, in order to keep down their numbers, the young men being sent out secretly to slaughter them. The most noted of these massacres was in 424, when 2,000 of the helots who had rendered distin- guished services in war were slain. HELPS, Sir Arthur, an English author, born about 1817. He was educated at Trinity col- lege, Cambridge, entered the public service as prirate secretary to Lord Monteagle, chan- xselloj of the exchequer, and was appointed commissioner of French, Danish, and Spanish claims. He was afterward secretary to Lord Morpeth, chief secretary for Ireland, in 1859 be- came clerk of the privy council, and was knight- ed in 1872. His earlier publications, all of which appeared anonymously, are: "Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd " (London, 1835) ; "Essays written in the Intervals of Business" (1841) ; two dramas entitled " King Henry II." and "Catharine Douglas" (1843); and "The Claims of Labor" (1844). A work which much enhanced his reputation as a subtle thinker and graceful writer was entitled " Friends in Council, a Series of Headings and Discourses thereon " (1847 ; 2d series, 1859), a collection of essays with conversations interspersed. It was followed by a similar work entitled " Com- panions of my Solitude " (1851). His " Con- querors of the New World, and their Bonds- men" (2 vols., 1848-'52) was enlarged into " The Spanish Conquest in America " (3 vols., 1855-'7), in which he narrates the origin and growth of negro slavery. His later works are : "Eealmah" (1868); "The Life of Pizarro" (1869) ; " Casimir Maremma " and " Brevia, or Short Essays and Aphorisms " (1870) ; " Con- versations on "War and general Culture," " Life of Cortes," and " Thoughts upon Government " (1871) ; " Life and Labors of Mr. Brassey " (1872); "Oulitathe Serf, a Tragedy" (1873); and " Ivan de Biron, or the Russian Court in the Middle of the Last Century " (1874). All his writings are marked by a philosophical tone and moral fervor, and Ruskin confesses his obligations to " the beautiful quiet English of Helps." He is understood to have assisted Queen Victoria in the preparation of her " Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands" (London, 1869). HELSINGBORG, a town of Sweden, in the Ian and 32 m. N. N. W. of the town of Malmo, at the narrowest part of the Sound; pop. in 1871, 7,560. It lies just opposite Elsinore, with which there is regular communication. Sev- eral battles have been fought here, and several Swedish diets held. HELSINGFORS, a city of Russia, capital of the grand duchy of Finland, on the gulf of Finland, 180 m. W. by N. of St. Petersburg; pop. in 1870, 32,113. It was founded by Gus- tavus I. of Sweden in the middle of the 16th century, burned by the Russians in 1728, taken by them in 1742 and again in 1808, and finally ceded to them with the whole of Fin- land in 1809. The government was transferred from Abo to Helsingfors in 1819, and a few years later the town was almost rebuilt. The streets were laid out with great regularity, public buildings were erected, and it has risen to be a large and handsome city. It has a fine harbor, capable of containing 60 or 70 men-of- war, protected by the fortress of Sveaborg, built on seven islands, presenting a front of about a mile, and mounting about 800 cannon. In 1827, Abo having been burned, the emperor Nicholas reestablished its university atHelsing-