Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/894

 864 TRIESTE suburbs, 109,324. It consists of tho old town, with a fortified castle, the new or Theresa town, and the new Joseph ami Francis sub- urbs, with rapacious streets and many squares and promenades. The finest public building is tho chamber of commerce, formerly tho ex- change building. Tho monuments include the statue of Leopold I., and that by Kosetti of Winckelmanu, who was murdered here. Tho cathedral is remarkable chiefly for walled-in antiquities. The. recently opened Protestant church is one of tho finest in the city. Trieste is the seat of a bishop, and has a theological seminary and many schools, besides a commer- cial and naval academy with an observatory, a museum rich in botany, and a public library. The "Adriatic Scientific Society" was estab- lished in 1874. The Torgesteum is the build- ing of the Austrian Lloyd's, which company for steamboat navigation and miscellaneous enterprises is ono of the largest organizations of the kind in the world. Trieste is Italian in appearance and in language, though much German is spoken. There an- (I reek and Eng- lish merchants. Tho constant arrival and de- parture of steamers make the port very lively; but the increase of commerce and population is of comparatively recent origin. In 17f>8 the population was only 6,000. In Ih7:> flu- arrivals of vessels numbered 8,046, chiefly Ital- ian and Austrian, and the departures 8,219, with a respective tonnage of 8 ( J8,487 and 1109,- 402. Tho imports, chiefly coal, grain, iron, and oil, amounted to 140,164,000 florins, and the exports, mainly grain, flour, timber, and staves, to 92,877,000 florins. This was a de- cline from previous years, duo to the competi- tion of Hamburg; and tho sanguine expecta- Triosto. tions of increasing the importance of Trieste in the India trade have been rather damped since the opening of the Suez canal. Its sta- tus as a free port is limited by the govern- ment monopoly of gunpowder, salt, and to- bacco, and by an excise upon wine, spirits, and other articles. A breakwater for pro- tecting tho port was begun in 1865, and an abortive attempt was made in 1874 to fill up the malarious part of tho canale grande, origi- nally intended to supplement tho port and tho roads. Tergoste was originally settled either by the Carnians or Istrians. The earliest his- torical mention of it as a Roman town dates from 51 B. 0. Augustus laid tho foundation of its prosperity. It was under tho domin- ion of the Ostrogoths, and afterward of the Greek emperors, till the period of tho Lom- bard invasion. Subsequently Trieste became independent under its bishop, who bore the title of count, and who gradually sold to the inhabitants the privileges of a free city. Long wars ensued with tho patriarchate of Aquileia, which claimed tho allegiance of tho bishops of Trieste, and in these wars Venice and (ienoa also took part. The peace of Turin in 1381 acknowledged Trieste as an independent city, and the next year tho citizens voluntarily sub- mitted to tho house of Austria. Charles VI. declared it a free city in 1719, and Maria The- resa made it a free port in 1 7 .">(>. It was taken by tho French in 1797 and 1805. From ISO!) to 1814 it belonged to tho French province of lllyrifl, and subsequently to the Austrian king- dom of that name till 1849, when the so-railed kingdom was dissolved. In reward for its fidelity to Austria during the revolutionary pe- riod of 1848-'9, when the port was blockaded by an Italian squadron, tho city and district were invested on Oct. 2, 1849, with tho privi-