Part 43

FRIEDLAND, a town of Prussia, on the Alle, 27 m. S.E. of Konigsberg (pop. 3000), famous as the scene of the battle fought between the French under Napoleon and the Russians commanded by General Bennigsen, on the 14th of June 1807 (see NAPOLEONIC CAMPAIGNS). The Russians had on the 13th driven the French cavalry outposts from Friedland to the westward, and Bennigsen's main body began to occupy the town in the night. The army of Napoleon was set in motion for Friedland, but it was still dispersed on its various march routes, and the first stage of the engagement was thus, as usual, a pure "encounter-battle." The corps of Marshal Lannes as "general advanced guard" was first engaged, in the Sortlack Wood and in front of Posthenen (2.30-3 A.M. on the 14th). Both sides now used their cavalry freely to cover the formation of lines of battle, and a race between the rival squadrons for the possession of Heinrichsdorf resulted in favour of the French under Grouchy. Lannes in the meantime was fighting hard to hold Bennigsen, for Napoleon feared that the Russians meant to evade him again. Actually, by 6 A.M. Bennigsen had nearly 50,000 men across the river and forming up west of Friedland. His infantry, in two lines, with artillery, extended between the Heinrichsdorf-Friedland road and the upper bends of the river. Beyond the right of the infantry, cavalry and Cossacks extended the line to the wood N.E. of Heinrichsdorf, and small bodies of Cossacks penetrated even to Schwonau. The left wing also had some cavalry and, beyond the Alle, batteries were brought into action to cover it. A heavy and indecisive fire-fight raged in the Sortlack Wood between the Russian skirmishers and some of Lannes's troops. The head of Mortier's (French and Polish) corps appeared at Heinrichsdorf and the Cossacks were driven out of Schwonau. Lannes held his own, and by noon, when Napoleon arrived, 40,000 French troops were on the scene of action. His orders were brief: Ney's corps was to take the line between Posthenen and the Sortlack Wood, Lannes closing on his left, to form the centre, Mortier at Heinrichsdorf the left wing. Victor and the Guard were placed in reserve behind Posthenen. Cavalry masses were collected at Heinrichsdorf. The main attack was to be delivered against the Russian left, which Napoleon saw at once to be cramped in the narrow tongue of land between the river and the Posthenen mill-stream. Three cavalry divisions were added to the general reserve. The course of the previous operations had been such that both armies had still large detachments out towards Konigsberg. The afternoon was spent by the emperor in forming up the newly arrived masses, the deployment being covered by an artillery bombardment. At 5 o'clock all was ready, and Ney, preceded by a heavy artillery fire, rapidly carried the Sortlack Wood. The attack was pushed on toward the Alle. One of Ney's divisions (Marchand) drove part of the Russian left into the river at Sortlack. A furious charge of cavalry against Marchand's left was repulsed by the dragoon division of Latour-Maubourg. Soon the Russians were huddled together in the bends of the Alle, an easy target for the guns of Ney and of the reserve. Ney's attack indeed came eventually to a standstill; Bennigsen's reserve cavalry charged with great effect and drove him back in disorder. As at Eylau, the approach of night seemed to preclude a decisive success, but in June and on firm ground the old mobility of the French reasserted its value. The infantry division of Dupont advanced rapidly from Posthenen, the cavalry divisions drove back the Russian squadrons into the now congested masses of foot on the river bank, and finally the artillery general Senarmont advanced a mass of guns to case-shot range. It was the first example of the terrible artillery preparations of modern warfare, and the Russian defence collapsed in a few minutes. Ney's exhausted infantry were able to pursue the broken regiments of Bennigsen's left into the streets of Friedland. Lannes and Mortier had all this time held the Russian centre and right on its ground, and their artillery had inflicted severe losses. When Friedland itself was seen to be on fire, the two marshals launched their infantry attack. Fresh French troops approached the battlefield. Dupont distinguished himself for the second time by fording the mill-stream and assailing the left flank of the Russian centre. This offered a stubborn resistance, but the French steadily forced the line backwards, and the battle was soon over. The losses incurred by the Russians in retreating over the river at Friedland were very heavy, many soldiers being drowned. Farther north the still unbroken troops of the right wing drew off by the Allenburg road; the French cavalry of the left wing, though ordered to pursue, remaining, for some reason, inactive. The losses of the victors were reckoned at 12,100 out of 86,000, or 14%, those of the Russians at 10,000 out of 46,000, or 21% (Berndt, _Zahl im Kriege_).

[Illustration: Map.]

FRIEDMANN, MEIR (1831-1908), Hungarian Jewish scholar. His editions of the Midrash are the standard texts. His chief editions were the _Sifre_ (1864), the _Mekhilta_ (1870), _Pesiqla Rabbathi_ (1880). At the time of his death he was editing the _Sifra_. Friedmann, while inspired with regard for tradition, dealt with the Rabbinic texts on modern scientific methods, and rendered conspicuous service to the critical investigation of the Midrash and to the history of early homilies. (I. A.)

FRIEDRICH, JOHANN (1836- ), German theologian, was born at Poxdorf in Upper Franconia on the 5th of May 1836, and was educated at Bamberg and at Munich, where in 1865 he was appointed professor extraordinary of theology. In 1869 he went to the Vatican Council as secretary to Cardinal Hohenlohe, and took an active part in opposing the dogma of papal infallibility, notably by supplying the opposition bishops with historical and theological material. He left Rome before the council closed. "No German ecclesiastic of his age appears to have won for himself so unusual a repute as a theologian and to have held so important a position, as the trusted counsellor of the leading German cardinal at the Vatican Council. The path was fairly open before him to the highest advancement in the Church of Rome, yet he deliberately sacrificed all such hopes and placed himself in the van of a hard and doubtful struggle" (_The Guardian_, 1872, p. 1004). Sentence of excommunication was passed on Friedrich in April 1871, but he refused to acknowledge it and was upheld by the Bavarian government. He continued to perform ecclesiastical functions and maintained his academic position, becoming ordinary professor in 1872. In 1882 he was transferred to the philosophical faculty as professor of history. By this time he had to some extent withdrawn from the advanced position which he at first occupied in organizing the Old Catholic Church, for he was not in agreement with its abolition of enforced celibacy.

Friedrich was a prolific writer; among his chief works are: _Johann Wessel_ (1862); _Die Lehre des Johann Hus_ (1862); _Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands_ (1867-1869); _Tagebuch wahrend des Vatikan. Concils gefuhrt_ (1871); _Zur Verteidigung meines Tagebuchs_ (1872); _Beitrage zur Kirchengeschichte des 18ten Jahrh._ (1876); _Geschichte des Vatikan. Konzils_ (1877-1886); _Beitrage zur Gesch. des Jesuitenordens_ (1881); _Das Papsttum_ (1892); _I. v. Dollinger_ (1899-1901).

FRIEDRICHRODA, a summer resort in the duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Germany, at the north foot of the Thuringian Forest, 13 m. by rail S.W. from Gotha. Pop. 4500. It is surrounded by fir-clad hills and possesses numerous handsome villa residences, a _Kurhaus_, sanatorium, &c. In the immediate neighbourhood is the beautiful ducal hunting seat of Reinhardsbrunn, built out of the ruins of the famous Benedictine monastery founded in 1085.

FRIEDRICHSDORF, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, on the southern slope of the Taunus range, 3 m. N.E. from Homburg. Pop. 1300. It has a French Reformed church, a modern school, dyeworks, weaving mills, tanneries and tobacco manufactures. Friedrichsdorf was founded in 1687 by Huguenot refugees and the inhabitants still speak French. There is a monument to Philipp Reis (1834-1874), who in 1860 first constructed the telephone while a science master at the school.

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Wurttemberg, on the east shore of the Lake of Constance, at the junction of railways to Bretten and Lindau. Pop. 4600. It consists of the former imperial town of Buchhorn and the monastery and village of Hofen. The principal building is the palace, formerly the residence of the provosts of Hofen, and now the summer residence of the royal family. To the palace is attached the Evangelical parish church. The town has a hydropathic establishment and is a favourite tourist resort. Here are also the natural history and antiquarian collections of the Lake Constance Association. Buchhorn is mentioned (as Buachihorn or Puchihorn) in documents of 837 and was the seat of a powerful countship. The line of counts died out in 1089, and the place fell first to the Welfs and in 1191 to the Hohenstaufen. In 1275 it was made a free imperial city by King Rudolph I. In 1802 it lost this status and was assigned to Bavaria, and in 1810 to Wurttemberg. The monastery of Hofen was founded in 1050 as a convent of Benedictine nuns, but was changed in 1420 into a provostship of monks. It was suppressed in 1802 and in 1805 came to Wurttemberg. King Frederick I., who caused the harbour to be made, amalgamated Buchhorn and Hofen under the new name of Friedrichshafen.

FRIEDRICHSRUH, a village in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein, 15 m. S.E. of Hamburg, with a station on the main line of railway to Berlin. It gives its name to the famous country seat of the Bismarck family. The house is a plain unpretentious structure, but the park and estate, forming a portion of the famous Sachsenwald, are attractive. Close by, on a knoll, the Schneckenberg, stands the mausoleum in which the remains of Prince Otto von Bismarck were entombed on the 16th of March 1899.

FRIENDLY[1] SOCIETIES. These organizations, according to the comprehensive definition of the Friendly Societies Act 1896, which regulates such societies in Great Britain and Ireland, are "societies for the purpose of providing by voluntary subscriptions of the members thereof, with or without the aid of donations, for the relief or maintenance of the members, their husbands, wives, children, fathers, mothers, brothers or sisters, nephews or nieces, or wards being orphans, during sickness or other infirmity, whether bodily or mental, in old age, or in widowhood, or for the relief or maintenance of the orphan children of members during minority; for insuring money to be paid on the birth of a member's child, or on the death of a member, or for the funeral expenses of the husband, wife, or child of a member, or of the widow of a deceased member, or, as respects persons of the Jewish persuasion, for the payment of a sum of money during the period of confined mourning; for the relief or maintenance of the members when on travel in search of employment or when in distressed circumstances, or in case of shipwreck, or loss or damage of or to boats or nets; for the endowment of members or nominees of members at any age; for the insurance against fire to any amount not exceeding L15 of the tools or implements of the trade or calling of the members"--and are limited in their contracts for assurance of annuities to L52 (previous to the Friendly Societies Act 1908 the sum was L50), and for insurance of a gross sum to L300 (previous to the act of 1908 the sum was L200). They may be described in a more popular and condensed form of words as the mutual insurance societies of the poorer classes, by which they seek to aid each other in the emergencies arising from sickness and death and other causes of distress. A phrase in the first act for the encouragement and relief of friendly societies, passed in 1793, designating them "societies of good fellowship," indicates another useful phase of their operations.

The origin of the friendly society is, probably in all countries, the burial club. It has been the policy of every religion, if indeed it is not a common instinct of humanity, to surround the disposal of a dead body with circumstances of pomp and expenditure, often beyond the means of the surviving relatives. The appeal for help to friends and neighbours which necessarily follows is soon organized into a system of mutual aid, that falls in naturally with the religious ceremonies by which honour is done to the dead. Thus in China there are burial societies, termed "long-life loan companies," in almost all the towns and villages. Among the Greeks the [Greek: eranoi] combined the religious with the provident element (see CHARITY AND CHARITIES). From the Greeks the Romans derived their fraternities of a similar kind. The Teutons in like manner had their gilds. Whether the English friendly society owes its origin in the higher degree to the Roman or the Teutonic influence can hardly be determined. The utility of providing by combination for the ritual expenditure upon burial having been ascertained, the next step--to render mutual assistance in circumstances of distress generally--was an easy one, and we find it taken by the Greek [Greek: eranoi] and by the English gilds. Another modification--that the societies should consist not so much of neighbours as of persons having the same occupation--soon arises; and this is the germ of our trade unions and our city companies in their original constitution. The interest, however, that these inquiries possess is mainly antiquarian. The legal definition of a friendly society quoted above points to an organization more complex than those of the ancient fraternities and gilds, and proceeding upon different principles. It may be that the one has grown out of the other. The common element of a provision for a contingent event by a joint contribution is in both; but the friendly society alone has attempted to define with precision what is the risk against which it intends to provide, and what should be the contributions of the members to meet that risk.

_United Kingdom._--It would be curious to endeavour to trace how, after the suppression of the religious gilds in the 16th century, and the substitution of an organized system of relief by the poor law of Elizabeth for the more voluntary and casual means of relief that previously existed, the modern system of friendly societies grew up. The modern friendly society, particularly in rural districts, clings with fondness to its annual feast and procession to church, its procession of all the brethren on the occasion of the funeral of one of them, and other incidents which are almost obviously survivals of the customs of medieval gilds. The last recorded gild was in existence in 1628, and there are records of friendly societies as early as 1634 and 1639. The connecting links, however, cannot be traced. With the exception of a society in the port of Borrowstounness on the Firth of Forth, no existing friendly society is known to be able to trace back its history beyond a date late in the 17th century, and no records remain of any that might have existed in the latter half of the 16th century or the greater part of the 17th. One founded in 1666 was extant in 1850, but it has since ceased to exist. This is not so surprising as it might appear. Documents which exist in manuscript only are much less likely to have been preserved since the invention of printing than they were before; and such would be the simple rules and records of any society that might have existed during this interval--if, indeed, many of them kept records at all. On the whole, it seems probable therefore that the friendly society is a lineal descendant of the ancient gild--the idea never having wholly died out, but having been kept up from generation to generation in a succession of small and scattered societies.

At the same time, it seems probable that the friendly society of the present day owes its revival to a great extent to the Protestant refugees of Spitalfields, one of whose societies was founded in 1703, and has continued among descendants of the same families, whose names proclaim their Norman origin. This society has distinguished itself by the intelligence with which it has adapted its machinery to the successive modifications of the law, and it completely reconstructed its rules under the provisions of the Friendly Societies Acts 1875 and 1876.

Another is the society of Lintot, founded in London in 1708, in which the office of secretary was for more than half a century filled by persons of the name of Levesque, one of whom published a translation of its original rules. No one was to be received into the society who was not a member, or the descendant of a member, of the church of Lintot, of recognized probity, a good Protestant, and well-intentioned towards the queen [Anne] and faithful to the government of the country. No one was to be admitted below the age of eighteen, or who had not been received at holy communion and become member of a church. A member should not have a claim to relief during his first year's membership, but if he fell sick within the year a collection should be made for him among the members. The foreign names still borne by a large proportion of the members show that the connexion with descendants of the refugees is maintained.

The example of providence given by these societies was so largely followed that Rose's Act in 1793 recognized the existence of numerous societies, and provided encouragement for them in various ways, as well as relief from taxation to an extent which in those days must have been of great pecuniary value, and exemption from removal under the poor law. The benefits offered by this statute were readily accepted by the societies, and the vast number of societies which speedily became enrolled shows that Rose's Act met with a real public want. In the county of Middlesex alone nearly a thousand societies were enrolled within a very few years after the passing of the act, and the number in some other counties was almost as great. The societies then formed were nearly all of a like kind--small clubs, in which the feature of good fellowship was in the ascendant, and that of provident assurance for sickness and death merely accessory. This is indicated by one provision which occurs in many of the early enrolled rules, viz. that the number of members shall be limited to 61, 81 or 101, as the case may be. The odd 1 which occurs in these numbers probably stands for the president or secretary, or is a contrivance to ensure a clear majority. Several of these old societies are still in existence, and can point to a prosperous career based rather upon good luck than upon scientific calculation. Founded among small tradesmen or persons in the way to thrive, the claims for sickness were only made in cases where the sickness was accompanied by distress, and even the funeral allowance was not always demanded.

The societies generally not being established upon any scientific principle, those which met with this prosperity were the exception to the rule; and accordingly the cry that friendly societies were failing in all quarters was as great in 1819 as in 1869. A writer of that time speaks of the instability of friendly societies as "universal"; and the general conviction that this was so resulted in the passing of the act of 1819. It recites that "the habitual reliance of poor persons upon parochial relief, rather than upon their own industry, tends to the moral deterioration of the people and to the accumulation of heavy burthens upon parishes; and it is desirable, with a view as well to the reduction of the assessment made for the relief of the poor as to the improvement of the habits of the people, that encouragement should be afforded to persons desirous of making provision for themselves or their families out of the fruits of their own industry. By the contributions of the savings of many persons to one common fund the most effectual provision may be made for the casualties affecting all the contributors; and it is therefore desirable to afford further facilities and additional security to persons who may be willing to unite in appropriating small sums from time to time to a common fund for the purposes aforesaid, and it is desirable to protect such persons from the effects of fraud or miscalculation." This preamble went on to recite that the provisions of preceding acts had been found insufficient for these purposes, and great abuses had prevailed in many societies established under their authority. By this statute a friendly society was defined as "an institution, whereby it is intended to provide, by contribution, on the principle of mutual insurance, for the maintenance or assistance of the contributors thereto, their wives or children, in sickness, infancy, advanced age, widowhood or any other natural state or contingency, whereof the occurrence is susceptible of calculation by way of average." It will be seen that this act dealt exclusively with the scientific aspect of the societies, and had nothing to say to the element of good fellowship. Rules and tables were to be submitted by the persons intending to form a society to the justices, who, before confirming them, were to satisfy themselves that the contingencies which the society was to provide against were within the meaning of the act, and that the formation of the society would be useful and beneficial, regard being had to the existence of other societies in the same district. No tables or rules connected with calculation were to be confirmed by the justices until they had been approved by two persons at least, known to be professional actuaries or persons skilled in calculation, as fit and proper, according to the most correct calculation of which the nature of the case would admit. The justices in quarter sessions were also by this act authorized to publish general rules for the formation and government of friendly societies within their county. The practical effect of this statute in requiring that the societies formed under it should be established on sound principles does not appear to have been as great as might have been expected. The justices frequently accepted as "persons skilled in calculation" local schoolmasters and others who had no real knowledge of the technical difficulties of the subject, while the restrictions upon registry served only to increase the number of societies established without becoming registered.

In 1829 the law relating to friendly societies was entirely reconstructed by an act of that year, and a barrister was appointed under that act to examine the rules of societies, and ascertain that they were in conformity to law and to the provisions of the act. The barrister so appointed was John Tidd Pratt (1797-1870); and no account of friendly societies would be complete that did not do justice to the remarkable public service rendered by this gentleman. For forty years, though he had by statute really very slight authority over the societies, his name exercised the widest influence, and the numerous reports and publications by which he endeavoured to impress upon the public mind sound principles of management of friendly societies, and to expose those which were managed upon unsound principles, made him a terror to evil-doers. On the other hand, he lent with readiness the aid of his legal knowledge and great mental activity to assisting well-intentioned societies in coming within the provisions of the acts, and thus gave many excellent schemes a legal organization.