Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/312

* MEHEMET ALL 280 MEIER. European principles, built a licet, ami erected fortresses, inililarv shop-works, and arsenals. He sent a strong force to assist the Sultan in sup- pressing the Greek revolt in 1S24, but his new lleet was destroyed at Xavarino in 1827. In IS.W the Porte conferred on him the Government of Crete, but this did not satisfy his ambition. He determined to annex Syria to his dominions, and in 1831 despatched an army luulcr Ibrahim Pasha, who overran the country, defeating the Turks at Horas, .July, 1832, and bv his victory at Konieh (December 20, 1832) "brought the Turkish (Government to the brink of ruin. Rus- sia now stepped in. and a treaty was concluded (May 4, 1833) by which Syria was handed over to Mehemet. Neither of the belligerents was satisfied, and Mehemet continued to plot till Sul- tan itahnnid II. declared war in 1830 against his dangerous subject. At Xisib, .Tune 24. 183!!. the Turkish army was crushed by the forces of Mehemet Ali, but the European powers again in- terfered, and ilehemet was compelled to give up Syria and Crete and to content himself with the hereditary vice-royalty of Kgyi>t (1841). Me- hemet was at once a remorseless tyrant and an able, progressive administralor, and did much to develop Egypt. lie cleared his dominions of rob- bers, executed great public works, and may be said almost to have introduced the cultivation of cotton, indigo, and sugar into the country. He also established a system of national education in Egypt. He died August 2, 1849. See Egypt. MEHEMET ALI PASHA, pa-shii' ( 1S27-78). .V Turkisli soldier. lie was born in Prussia, and his name originally was Karl Detroit. In 1843 he ran away to sea and embarked for Turkey. Aali Pasha, later Grand Vizier, took an interest in him, and in 1846 sent him to a military school. He received a commission in the Otto- man army in 1853, and fought against Russia. In 1805 he was made a brigadier-general and pasha: in 1875-76 he commanded in Bosnia, and in the war of 1877-78 against Uussia he was at the head of the Turkish army in Bulgaria. He was successful in his operations on the River Lorn (August-September. 1877), but was after- ward forced back by the enemy. He failed to effect a jimction with Suleiman Pasha and was superseded by the latter. He was second plenipo- tentiary at the Berlin Congress, and on his re- turn was sent to Albania, where he was mobbed and killed bv insurgents at Diakova, September 7. 1878. MEHER'RIN. A small tribe of Troqioian stock, fiirnicrly living on the lower course of the river of the same name, on the VirginiaC'arolina border. For a long time they were a subject of contention between the two colonies, each claim- ing them as within her own jurisdiction. They were said tr> have been .a remnant of the Sus- quehanna or Conestoga. who lied southward after their expulsion from the head of ChesajH-ake Bay by the Iroquois about the year 1676. They made some tronlile during the Tuscarora W.ar of 1711-12. but soon afterward disappear from notice, having apparently been absorbed by that tribe or by the Tntelo. MEHUIi, mii'ul', Etie.n.ne Xiciiolas (1763- 1S17). A Krencli operatic composer, born at Givet. At the age of ten he was organist of his native village; in 1778 he went to Paris, where he gained the interest of GUick. .fter several un- successful efforts in composition his Eiiiihrosine cl Corradin finally achieved fame (1790), and other compositions previously written ere then brought to light. Hirutonicc appeared in 1792; and this was followed by patriotic national hynuis for the Army of the Republic, entitled "Le chant du depart," "Le chant de vietoire," "Le clumt du retour," which won him high popularity. Otlier works appeared in rapid succession; in 1806 Vtjial; previously. Viic folic, ou Ics m-cuiilcs de Tolcde (1802) ; and in 1807 .loseph, his most esteemed composition. In 1795 he was elected a member of the Academy, and also appointed an inspector of the Conservatory, which had but recently been established. His works comprise every form of music, but it is wholly by his operas that he is known to fame. They are marked by dramatic truth, noble melodies, and, though his work constantly shows a lack of thorough training, he was one of the first French composers adequately to express the meaning of the words in music. Consult Pougin, liiographie (Paris, 1889). MEI, ma. Lev (or MAY, Lyoff) Alexaxdro- viTCii (1822-62). A Russian poet. He was born in iloscow and was educated at the Institute of Tzarskoi Selo. He attracted a great deal of attention by his drama TsarxLi/a ycrinta (The Bride of the Czar) (1849), which was followed by the dramas Scrviliii and I'skoviliaiikd (The Woman of Pskov). Besides jniblishing several minor poems on classical and biblical subjects, he also considerably enriclied Russian literature by his translations from Jlilton, Byron. Schiller {Wallcnsteins Lager and Demetrius), Goethe, Heine, Beranger, and Victor Hugo. MEIBOM, mi'bom, Victor VON (1821-92). A Germ;ni jurist, bom at Cassel. He studied law at Maiburg and Berlin, and was for several years assistant judge at triliunals of Rotenburg and Marburg, in 1858 he was appointed pro- fessor of Gennau law at the I'niversity of Rostock, and from 1866 to 1873 held a similar appointment at Tiiliingen. lie then went to Bonn, where, he remained till 1875, when he became a member of the Supreme Court of the Eni])ire in I^eipzig. His chief work is Das deitlxelie Pfiiiid- recht (1867), a thorough and historically relia- ble discussion of the laws and regulaliims relat- ing to mortgage before the introduction of Roman law. MEIDERICH, mi'der-iK. . industrial town in the libine Province. Pnissia. situated 15 miles norllii'ast of Krefeld (.Map; Prussia. B 3|. It contains the Rhine Steel Works, employing over 2000 persons, and a nmnber of otlier iriui and steel works, machine shops, phosphate works, etc. In the vicinity are extensive coal mines and saline springs. The trade in cattle is im- piu-tant. The industries of Jleiderieh date from 1850. but the place was not raised to the rank of a town until 1894. Population, in 1890. 20,410: in 1900, 33.084, largely Protestants. MEIER, mi'er, .MoRiTZ Hermann EntABD (1796-1855). A (ierman classical philologist. born at Glogau. When twenty-four years of age he l)e- eame professor extraordiiiarius at the I'niversity of Greifswald. and in 1824 he was made pro- fessor ordinarius at Halle, where he remained until his death. Kriedrich .ugust Wolf, and especially Wolf's great pupil, .ugnst Boeckh, whose classic work on the public economv of