Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/506

BALSAM APPLE. BALSAM APPLE. See iloMORDiCA.

BALSAMO, biil'sa-mo, Joseph. See Cagli- OSTRO.

BAL'SAMODEN'DEON. See Mtrkh.

BALTA, biil'ti'i. A town in the Government of Podolia, Rtissia, situated on an affluent of tlio Bug, about 210 miles southeast of Kamcnetz- Podolski, the capital of the government (Map: Russia, C 5). It is poorly built and very filthy. It is connected by rail with Odessa. The chief articles of its commerce are grain, cattle, and some manufactures. It holds two annual fairs. Population, in 1807, 24,400. 7.5 per cent, of which are Jews. Formerly a Turkish possession, it was ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Jassy in 1791.

BALTA, Jos6 ( 1816-72). A Peruvian soldier and statesman, President of Peru in 1868-72, born at Lima. In sundry revolutions he won military distinction, and in 1855 he withdrew from the army with the rank of colonel. In 1867 he was one of the leaders of the insurrection which drove into exile (January, 1868) the dictator Prado. In 1872 he was shot by order of the Minister of War. General Gutierrez, who had instituted a military mutiny.

BALTARD, bAl'tiir', Louis Pierre ( 1765- lS4(i). A prominent French architect and en- graer. He was [irofessor of architecture at the Ecole Polytechnique in 1706, was architect of the Pantheon under the Empire, and super- visor of prisons and markets, 1815-18, He held, after 1818, a professorship at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and was, after 1837, general in- spector of Paris monuments. Among the build- ings designed by him were the prison and arsenal at Lyons. He published several works, and was engraver for the great work on Egypt issued by order of Napoleon.

BALTCHIK, biil-chek' (probably ancient Melissa ). A. seaport of Bulgaria, situated on the Black Sea, about 24 miles northeast of Var- na (q.v.) (Map: Balkan Peninsula, G 3), It has a well-protected harbor and is the seat of a considerable trade in agricultural products. Population, in 1893, 5137, consisting chiefly of Turks, and for the rest, Bulgarians, Tartars, and Greeks.

BALTHAZAR, biil-tha'zer. ( 1 ) A character in Eiehberg's opera of The Doctor of Alcantara. (2) Belshazzar, 'which that highte Balthasar,' in Chaucer's Monk's Talc. (3) One of the Wise Men of the East. (4) The name of several minor characters in plays of Shakespeare.

BALTHINGS, biil'tingz. The royal family from which the Visigoths chose their kings, wliile the Amelings, the old royal line of the Goths before the division, continued to rule the Ostrogoths.

BALTIC (b.il'tik), Battle of the. See COPEKIIAGEN.

BALTIC PROVINCES. A term comprehending three Russian governments bordering on the Baltic — viz. Courland, Livonia, and Esthonia (Map: Russia, C 3). Area, 36,560 square miles. Population, in 1897, 2,387,000. The great bulk of the population consists of Letts and Esths, the former akin to the Lithuanians, the latter a Finnish race. The higher classes, nobility and burghers, are Germans, who constitute about seven and a half per cent, of the total population of the three governments. The number of Russians is still insignificant. The Ivniglits. Swordbearers, and Teutonic Knights subjugated the Letts in the Thirteenth Century, planting German civilization and Christianity with fire and swoi'd. The inhabitants are nearly all Protestants. Although the soil is not very fertile, agriculture is in a flourishing condition, owing to the improved methods of cultivation and a generally higher intelligence of the people. Commerce and manufactures are also highly developed, favored as they are by the proximity of the Baltic. For further details, see articles on the separate governments.

The Baltic Provinces once belonged to Sweden, except Courland, which was a dependency of Poland. The Swedish provinces came into the possession of Russia in the beginning of the Eighteenth Century through the conquests of Peter the Great, and Courland was acquired in 1795. Peter the Great conceded to the provinces their own administration and guaranteed the in- habitants freedom of conscience. These rights were confirmed anew in 1856, but in spite of this a systematic attempt has been made by the Russian Government, especially since 1880, to assimilate the provinces with the rest of the Empire, The Greek Church has endeavored to proselytize the people, the Russian language has been substi- tuted for the German in the schools and courts, and the press has been subjected to censorship. These measures have aroused great discontent in the Baltic Provinces; not so much, however, among the masses of the people as among the German nobility, who. though constituting but a small fraction of the population, exercise great power over the peasantry. The attitude of the Russian Government toward the German prov- inces is dictated by the general policy of Russi- tieation which has been followed in the case of the Jews and of Finland (q.v.).

BALTIC SEA. The inclosed sea in northern Europe, bounded by Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, and communicating with the North Sea through a series of winding channels known as The Sound, Great Belt, Little Belt, Kattegat, and Skagerrak. From the peninsula of Denmark, which may be regarded as its western limit, the Baltic extends eastward to the frontier between Germany and Russia, and thence northward to about latitude 60°. The greatest length of the Baltic from Liibeck in Germany to Haparanda in Sweden is about 930 miles, while its breadth varies from an extreme of 425 miles (Stockholm to Saint Petersburg) to less than 50 miles at the southern extremity. It covers an area of about 160.000 square miles. The northern extension includes three large bays or gulfs, the Gulfs of Riga and Finland, indenting the coast of Russia, and the Gulf of Bothnia between Russia and Sweden. On the coast of Germany are smaller indentations, including the bays of Pomerania. Liibeck, and Kiel, and the Gulf of Danzig. The principal islands are Riigen^Bornholm. Oland, Gottland, Osel, Dago, and the Aland and Danish groups. The depression occupied by the Baltic is generally shallow: on the Stolpe Bank, off Stolpmiinde in Germany, the depth is less than 40 feet, and over consideralile areas it does not exceed 120 feet. Like the North Sea, the greatest depths are found in the northern part, the extreme being 1542 feet (south of Stockholm). The Baltic receives the drainage of a