Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/903

* DANTON. 783 DANUBE. have relied largely upon the researches of Eobi- net. Other iinjmrtant works are: Bougeart. flan- ton (Paris, ISOl ) : Duliost, Itiiiiluii ct la poli- liffiie content puruinc (Paris, ISSO), a study of Dantou's iuHuence on I'reneh republiianism, which the author regards as permanent, and Dunton et les massacres de Septetnbrc (Paris, 188G) ; and Beeslv. Life of Danton (London, 1889). Belloc, Dimton: A Study (London, 1899), is a well-written book by a strong admirer. Dan- ton's works have been collected and edited by Vermorel, (Eucres de Dunton (Paris, 1880). An admirable .selection of significant extracts from his important speeches will be found, pre- ceded by a useful introduction, in li. Morse- Stephens, Orators of the French Revolution (Ox- lord, 1892), Consult, ahso: Aulard, Xotes sur Vcloqutnce de Danton (Paris, 1882) : Les ora- tcurs de la Legislative et de la (^'onventio^i (Paris, 1885-80); and Les iirajids Frnncais (Paris, 1887) : Gronlund, (,'a ira .' or, Danton in the French Reroluticm (Boston, 1888), is a trac- tate from the Socialist point of view. D'ANTRAIGUES, dilN'trag'. See Amtkai- GUES. DANTZIC, dlin'tslK. See Danzig. DAN'UBE (Ger. Donau, Hung. Duna. Lat, Danuvius. Ot'liurch Slav. Dunnri'i. Dunaij: con- nected with OHG. tiionaowa, foreign). The second of European rivers, inferior only to the V^olga. It has its origin in the Brege and Brigach. two mountain streams rising in the eastern part of the Black Forest, in Baden, at an elevation of 28.50 feet above sea-level, in latitude 48° C X., and in longitude 8° 9' E. (Map: Europe, E 4). The total length of the Danube is about 1800 miles. The area which it drains is estimated at about 300,000 square miles, comprising countries dif- fering widely in climate and productions, includ- ing southern Germany, a great part of Austria- Hungary, Bosnia. Servia, Bulgaria, and Eu- mania. The Danube is joined in its course by sixty navigable rivers, whose waters, with those of many lesser streams, it conveys into the Black Sea. From its source it flows in an easterly and then in a northeasterly direction through Baden, Hohenzollern, Wurttemberg, and Bavaria. Pass- ing Ulm. near which it receives the Iller, and at which point the river becomes navigable for small steamboats, it receives from the soiith the Lech and flows past Ingolstadt and Regensburg (Ratisbon), between which two towns it is joined by the Altmiihl from the left ; then, altering its course to the southeast, it receives the waters of the Isar and the Inn from the south, the latter joining it at Passau. It then traverses Upper and Lower Austria from west to east^ passing Linz and Vienna, and about 40 miles beyond the latter city it enters Hungary near the town of Pressburg. Between Passau and Pressl)urg it receives from the south the Enns, and from the north the ilarch. in a country' rich in minerals, well peopled, and highly cultivated. Below Press- burg it divides, inclosing the low-lying islands called the Great and Little Schiitt. Between Pressburg and Budapest, in which part of its course it passes the famous fortress of Komorn and the town of Gran ( Esztergom ), it receives from the north the Waag. the Xeutra. the Gran, and the Eipel, and from the south the Raab. A few miles above Budapest it turns directly south and enters the great Hungarian plain, in which it is continually forcing new channels and silting up old ones, sometimes sweeping away towns, or capriciously removing its diannel to a distance of several miles from those formerly upon its banks. Merc it receives from the west the Drave. After this the river turns toward the southeast, and, joined by the waters of the Theiss from the north and the Save from the west, sweeps past Belgiade, forming the boiuidary between Servia and Hungary, and receiving the Morava from the south. Krom Belgrade to Orsova, where it reaches the borders of Wallachia, the Danube pxirsues an easterly course. Leaving Oisova, the Danube passes the famous 'Iron Gate,' where the river formerly rushcil oyer a broad plateau of rock 1400 yards wide. Tliis rapid, which was folhjwed hy a series of whirlpools, eddies, and shallow falls, formed an efi'ectual bar to the upward progress of essels. no craft drawing more than two and one-half feet of water being able to pass it. In 1847-49, however, the obstruction formed by the 'Iron Gate' was to some extent removed b}' blasting, and since then further improve- ments have been made in this part of the course, the Austrian Government in 1890 having begun works for making the river constantly navigable at this point. The new passage was iormally opened September 27, 1896, For a sliort distance below this the river flows south between Wallachia and Ser'ia. and then, turn- ing eastward, traverses a vast jjlain, in which it forms the boundary between Wallachia and Bulgaria. From the Carpathians it receives the Shil and the .luta and Veda, and from the Balkan Mountains the Isker, the Osma, and the Yantra. Increased by these rivers and by numer- ous lesser streams, it progresses through a poor- ly cultivated and thinly peopled but fertile dis trict, occasionally broadening like a sea, as at Hirsova, and encircling many islands. After being joined by the Sereth and the Pruth from the north, and about 50 miles from the Black Sea, it divides into several branches, forming a great delta with an area of about 4000 square miles. The principal channel-mouth is the Sulina. through which the greater number of ships pass. This has been deepened by means of jetties, so as to admit vessels of 20 feet draught. The other principal mouths are the Kilia and Saint George, which, although useless for navigation, discharge a large proportion of the water. The Danube is the chief natural highway for central European commerce. Coiunumication has been established between it and the Rhine by the construction of the Ludwigs-Kanal, in Bavaria, connecting the Altmiihl with the Regnitz, an allluent of the Main, At the Peace of Paris in 1850 the navi- gation of the Danube was declared free to all nations, and its management was intrusted to two commissions, one re])resenting the European Powers, another named by tlu' States on the banks of the river. At the Berlin Congress of 1878 it was stipulated that no ships of war sliould navigate the Danube below the "Iron Gate.' ithin the last thirty years the Austrian Gov- ernment lias ex<'cuted great works for the iin- Iirovement of the navigation of the river at Vienna, and for the regulation of its flow, so as to avert disastrous inundations. The Daniilw Steam Xavigation Company has done much to increase the commerce.