text:
Ismael Montes

Ismael Montes Gamboa (5 October 1861 – 16 October 1933) was a Bolivian general and political figure who served as the 26th president of Bolivia twice nonconsecutively from 1904 to 1909 and from 1913 to 1917. During his first term, the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Chile was signed on 20 October 1904.

Early life and military career
Montes was born on 5 October 1861, in the city of La Paz, Bolivia. He belonged to a wealthy land-owning family. Montes was the son of General Clodomiro Montes and Tomasa Gamboa.

In 1878, he continued his higher studies by entering the Faculty of Law of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA), but due to the occupation by the Chilean army of the Bolivian town of Antofagasta on 14 February 1879, Montes decided to leave his studies and enlist as a private in the Murillo Regiment, then belonging to the "Bolivian Legion". In 1880, Montes' regiment was ordered to participate in the Battle of Alto de la Alianza, the last great battle between Bolivia and Chile in the War of the Pacific, in which he participated and barely survived, finishing the battle seriously wounded. Incidentally, he was captured by the Chilean army and remained as a prisoner for the remainder of the war.

Upon his return to Bolivia, due to his heroism during the battle, Montes was directly promoted to the rank of captain by the government. Once Bolivia's participation in the war came to an end in 1880, Montes began working as an instructor in the Bolivian army. However, in 1884, Montes decided to retire from the army to continue with his law studies at the UMSA, which he had left at the beginning of the war. He graduated with a law degree on 12 June 1886.

Political career
In 1890, at the age of twenty-nine, Montes was elected as a Deputy representing the Liberal Party (Bolivia), however, his ideology collided with the prevailing conservatism of the time. Montes was elected as the head of Civil Law at the faculty of law in the UMSA.

As a deputy, Montes was known for his elegant and eloquent personality, making him a perfect partner to the vociferous and mercurial Atanasio de Urioste Velasco, another staunch liberal of the time. The two remained friends and allies until the end of their lives.

Prelude and the "Radicatory Law"
Conservative President Severo Fernández wanted to settle the decade-long debate regarding what city was officially the Bolivian capital. Up until 1880, the seat of executive power was wherever the current president resided. Hence, Congress met, between 1825 and 1900, on twenty-nine occasions in Sucre, twenty in La Paz, seven in Oruro, two in Cochabamba and one in Tapacarí. Officially, the capital of Bolivia was Sucre since the presidency of Antonio José de Sucre, remaining as such over the years due to the lack of resources to build a new capital and the influence of its aristocracy. However, by the 1880s, conservative presidents chose to settle in Sucre, making it the de facto capital of the country.

On 31 October 1898, the deputies of Sucre proposed to definitively install the executive capital in Sucre, known as the "Radicatory Law". However, their La Paz counterparts proposed that the Congress should move to Cochabamba (a neutral place), a proposition which was rejected. The liberals seemed to initially accept the plan to make Sucre the official capital. The liberals had done so strategically since if they had vetoed it they would have provoked the inhabitants of the capital, and they knew that if it was approved they could convince the people and the garrison of La Paz (under the orders of Colonel José Manuel Pando) to mount an insurrection. On 6 November there was a massive riot in La Paz: rioters demanded federalism and that their city be made the capital. On 14 November, a Federal Committee was created and chaired by Colonel Pando while its deputies defended their cause in Congress. Three days later, the "Radicatory Law" was approved, making Sucre the official capital and seat of executive power. On 19 November, the new status of the city was officially promulgated.

In response, on 12 December, with the people of La Paz behind them, a Federal Board of Liberals was formed, which included some authority figures who had switched sides (these being the Prefect and Commander General Serapio Reyes Ortiz and the Minister of Instruction Macario Pinilla). Pando's liberals allied themselves with Pablo Zárate Willka, cacique (or 'chief') of the Altiplano.

Outbreak of war
After these events, the deputies from La Paz withdrew by order of the Federal Board. The people of La Paz received their representatives with great fanfare and ceremony. One of the federalists' main objectives then became the overthrow of Fernández. In Sucre, La Paz's pro-Fernández counterpart, there were public demonstrations in support of the government.

Fernández decided to march on La Paz with the three divisions stationed in Sucre (Bolívar, Junín and Hussars). In Challapata, he found out that the rebels had acquired more than two thousand weapons, so he called for the recruitment of volunteers in the capital. Two brigades were formed: the first was made up of the 25 de Mayo battalion and the Sucre squadron. These were made up of upper-class youths with their own horses and weapons, and included the Olañeta battalion and the Monteagudo squadron, made up of young men from popular classes. During their march to reinforce the president, the government's forces plundered the indigenous populations that lived in the countryside.

The government's first brigade encountered Pando and some of his soldiers in Cosmini, and, after being forced to take refuge in the parish of Ayo Ayo, they were massacred on 24 January 1899. In Potosí the population was openly against helping government forces, meanwhile in Santa Cruz and Tarija the populations took a neutral stance. Among the indigenous communities of Cochabamba, Oruro, La Paz, and Potosí there were uprisings in favor of the Liberals.

The decisive battle of the civil war was the battle of the Segundo Crucero, on 10 April 1899, where the president and Pando met. After four hours of combat, Pando's troops emerged victorious. The defeated withdrew to Oruro and, shortly after, Fernández went into exile. During the entire duration of the conflict, Montes remained a loyal partisan to the liberal cause and fought under Pando's command.

After the civil war
Montes attended the Assembly of Oruro, a meeting convened to discuss the future of the country. Once Pando was elected president, Montes was appointed Minister of War of Bolivia and was promoted to colonel. During his time as minister, Montes was concerned with improving the army, subjecting it to greater discipline and equipping it with modern material. Montes also led a military expedition to fight in the north of the country against Brazilian filibusters in the so-called Acre War (1900–1903). After the war, he devoted himself fully to politics, intending to replace José Manuel Pando when his term ended.

In 1904, his party chose him as a candidate for the presidency in the general elections that were to be held that same year. His opponent, Lucio Pérez Velasco, was defeated after a hard-fought election.

First term
On 20 October 1904, the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Chile was signed, which put an end to the state of war between the two countries, not ended since the War of the Pacific because only a truce had been signed in 1884. In the treaty, Montes recognized the absolute and perpetual cession of the Bolivian coast occupied by Chile.

According to Bolivian historiography of the mid-20th century onwards, this treaty was the result of the harassing pressure exerted by Chile on Bolivia (motivated by the expropriation of Chilean and foreign capital that triggered the War of the Pacific), with customs controls and trade restrictions. The liberal governments of Pando and Montes believed that it was time to turn the page with Chile and were convinced that the development of the railways and free transit, stipulated in the treaty, were compensations that were worth the sacrifice. In 1902, Chile had signed a treaty with Argentina that ended their militaristic rivalry with Buenos Aires, reducing its military personnel, creating a compulsory military service law and reducing the number of naval units, meaning that Chile could hardly aspire to exert military pressure on the Montes government.

Montes also signed a trade and customs treaty with Peru in 1905. A staunch liberal, Montes established civil marriage, freedom of worship and the abolition of ecclesiastical jurisdiction as fundamental liberties and rights in the Bolivian Constitution. This caused a rupture between the Holy See and the Bolivian government, prompting Pope Pius X to issue the apostolic letter Afflictum propioribus in November 1906. He also modernized the Bolivian Army, managing to bring a French military mission from Europe.

During the general elections of 1908, the government promoted the candidacy of the politician Fernando Eloy Guachalla for President and Eufronio Viscarra for Vice President, a formula that was successful. However, Guachalla fell ill and died shortly before assuming the presidency. Under the influence of Montes, the liberal majority in Congress denied Vice President Viscarra the right of succession, with Atanasio de Urioste Velasco alleging that the incumbent's death had occurred before he took office, which allowed Montes to be granted a year-long extension to his current term. During the general elections of 1909, the liberal candidate Eliodoro Villazón Montaño, from the Liberal Party, was victorious.

Second term
In 1913, Montes returned to Bolivia from Europe to run again for the presidency of the republic. He won the general elections of 1913 by a wide margin, returning to the presidency for the second nonconsecutive time. Perhaps one of Montes' most important acts as president was the foundation of the Central Bank of the Bolivia, which would be crucial in centralizing the national ecnonomy.

During his second term, the dissidence of Liberal Party members increased. Eventually, several liberals defected to Pando's newly founded Republican Party, which the former president had founded in 1914. As the end of his constitutional period approached, Montes promoted the candidacy of the liberal José Gutiérrez Guerra, a childhood friend of his most loyal ally, Atanasio de Urioste. Gutiérrez was triumphant, thus maintaining the hegemony of the Liberal Party.

At the end of his government, Montes became the Bolivian ambassador to France. In 1920, he was still in the city of Paris, when the liberals were ousted from power by the republicans in Bolivia, which forced Montes to remain in France as an exile until 1928, the year in which he returned to assume the leadership of the Liberal Party yet again.

He was President of Central Bank of Bolivia from 1931 to 1933.

The Chaco War and its final years
Throughout his life, Montes had an illustrious military career which began at an early age, initially participating in the War of the Pacific in 1879, then in the Civil War of 1898–1899, and finally in the War of Acre of 1900–1903. These international as well as internal conflicts had given him valuable experiences in acquiring military prestige at the national level for more than fifty years. It is for this reason that during the Chaco War (1932–1935), President Daniel Salamanca decided to commission him as military advisor to the Bolivian army in the Chaco.

Montes was unable to witness the outcome nor the conclusion of the war. While he was still serving as military advisor, due to his advanced age, he suddenly died on 16 October 1933, in the city of La Paz.

title: Ismael Montes


text:
Francisco Labastida

Francisco Labastida Ochoa (born 14 August 1942) is a Mexican economist and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who became the first presidential candidate of his party to lose a presidential election, which he did in the 2000 presidential election to Vicente Fox.

Labastida was born to Gloria Ochoa de Labastida and Eduardo Labastida Kofahl. His wife, Teresa Uriarte, was director of UNAM's Institute of Aesthetics Research. His great-grandfather fought on the side of Mexican President Benito Juárez in the War of Reform, and his grandfather was Governor of Sinaloa as well as federal deputy.

Labastida served as governor of Sinaloa (1987–1992), defeating Manuel Clouthier of the National Action Party. During and after his tenure as governor, Labastida was accused of protecting Sinaloan drug traffickers and overlooking their activities.

Labastida was Secretary of Energy during the administration of Miguel de la Madrid. He was also Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of the Interior during the administration of Ernesto Zedillo.

After losing the 2000 presidential election, he served as president of the Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo de México. In the 2006 general election, he was elected to the Senate for the PRI, representing Sinaloa.

Publications

 * Las Razones de la Política
 * Planeación para el Desarrollo

Awards

 * National Order of Merit Grand Officer, of the government of France
 * Great Cross of Brazil
 * Medal of the Mexican Supreme Court

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Francisco Labastida


text:
Giulio Monteverde

Giulio Monteverde (8 October 1837 – 3 October 1917) was an Italian naturalist sculptor and teacher.

Biography
Monteverde was born in Bistagno, Italy and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. He later became a professor there. Among his students were Yulia Brazol, Lola Mora and Victor de Pol, who both developed significant public work in Buenos Aires. He was made an Officer in the Legion d'Honneur in 1878 and an Italian Senator in 1889. He died in Rome in 1917, five days shy of his 80th birthday.

Principal works

 * Bambini che giocano con il gatto (Children playing with a cat), (1867)
 * Pantheon of the Marquess of la Gándara: marbel angel, San Isidro Cemetery, Madrid
 * Monument to Raffaele Pratolongo, (1868) – Genoa, Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno
 * Colombo giovinetto (The boy Columbus) (1870)
 * Genio di Franklin (Franklin's genius) (1871)
 * Jenner colto nell'atto di inoculare il vaccino del vaiolo al proprio figlio (Jenner vaccinating his own son against smallpox) (1873) – Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
 * Monument to Giuseppe Mazzini (1879) – Buenos Aires, Argentina
 * Cristo morto (Christ dead) (1880) – Buenos Aires, Recoleta Cemetery, Argentina
 * Monument to Francesco Oneto (1882) – Genoa, Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno
 * Monument to Vincenzo Bellini (1882) - Catania, Piazza Stesicoro
 * Angelo della Resurrezione (1882) – Genoa, Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno
 * Tomba Celle (Cell tomb) (1893) – Genoa, Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno
 * Idealità e materialismo (Idealism and materialism) (1911) – Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
 * Il pensiero (The thought) – Rome, Vittoriano
 * Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II – Rovigo

Two of his angel statues are among the most copied in the world of funerary art; the angel in Staglieno Cemetery known as the Angelo della Resurrezione (The Resurrection Angel), and the angel in Rome's Verano Cemetery known as the Angel of the Night. There are three of the Resurrection Angel in the New York City area, and three of the Angel of the Night in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Monteverde also created a Resurrection Angel for his own family tomb in Verano Cemetery in Rome.

title: Giulio Monteverde


text:
Bernard de Montfaucon

Dom Bernard de Montfaucon, O.S.B. (13 January 1655 – 21 December 1741) was a French Benedictine monk of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He was an astute scholar who founded the discipline of palaeography, as well as being an editor of works of the Fathers of the Church. He is regarded as one of the founders of the modern discipline of archaeology.

Early life

Montfaucon was born on 13 January 1655 in the Castle of Soulatgé, a small village in the Corbières Massif, then in the ancient Province of Languedoc, now in the modern Department of Aude. Other sources claimed his birth date is in 16 January, the most accepted date. After one year he was moved to the Castle of Roquetaillade, residence of his family. When he was seven, he was sent to Limoux, to the college run by the Fathers of Christian Doctrine.

Career
Montfaucon served in the French army as a volunteer and participated in the Franco-Dutch War of 1673. He was a captain of grenadiers and made two campaigns under the command of Marshall Turenne, participated in the Battle of Herbsthausen and fell ill in Saverne in Alsace. Because of his infectious illness he made a vow to Our Lady of Marceille to give one hundred livres to her sanctuary in Limoux and to become a monk, if he was able to return to his country as a result of her intervention.

After the death of Montfaucon's father at the Château de Roquetaillade, in 1675 he entered the novitiate of the Benedictine monastery of Bream in Toulouse. There he learned several ancient languages: Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean, Syriac, and Coptic.

In 1687 Montfaucon was called to the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and he started to work on an edition of the works of the Greek Church Fathers.

In 1705 Montfaucon examined and described the manuscripts of the Fonds Coislin, in Bibliotheca Coisliniana (Paris, 1705). In 1708 in Palaeographia Graeca Montfaucon became the first to use the term "palaeography". The work illustrates the entire history of Greek writing. It contains Montfaucon's discussions of variations in Greek letter forms, the use of abbreviations in Greek manuscripts, and the process of deciphering archaic writing. It was Montfaucon's special interest. In this work he often cited Greek manuscripts in texts of Athanasius of Alexandria, Origen, and John Chrysostom. The book dealt so comprehensively with the handwriting and other characteristics of Greek manuscripts that it remained the leading authority on the subject for almost two centuries.

Montfaucon published 15 volumes of L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures between 1719 and 1724. An English translation of this work was published in 1721–25 under the title Antiquity Explained and Represented in Sculptures. The work contained copperplate folio engravings of classical antiquities. It included a depiction of the "Barberini Vase", more commonly known as the "Portland Vase". This book is published in English under the title Antiquities. The materials used in this work were taken from the manuscripts deposited in French libraries. It contains many illustrative facsimiles, though they are engraved in a rather coarse way.

In 1719, Montfaucon was nominated by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. In 1719, following the death of the Jesuit priest, Michel Le Tellier (1643–1719), confessor to the late King Louis XIV, Montfaucon became confessor to the young King Louis XV.

Montfaucon died on 21 December 1741 at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where he was buried.

Legacy
In a letter of 24 June 1786, Josiah Wedgwood explains that he had seen Montfaucon's engravings of the Portland Vase.

Montfaucon was the original editor of the homilies Adversus Judaeos by saint John Chrysostom along with many other works of the Fathers of the Church.

Montfaucon laid the foundation for the study of Greek manuscripts. Scrivener stated that his work still maintains a high authority, even "after more recent discoveries", especially of papyri in Egypt. Modern scholars agree that he effectively created a new discipline, palaeography, and brought it to an advanced state of sophistication.

Montfaucon was largely responsible for bringing the Bayeux Tapestry to public attention. In 1724, the scholar Antoine Lancelot discovered drawings of a section of the tapestry (about 30 feet of the Tapestry's 231 feet) among papers of Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, a Norman administrator. (These drawings of the tapestry's images "classicized" the somewhat crude Anglo-Norman originals by adding shadows and dimensionality to the figures.) Lancelot, unsure of what medium the drawings depicted, suggested that they might be a tomb relief, stained glass, a fresco, or even a tapestry. When Lancelot presented Foucault's drawings in 1724 to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris, they attracted the attention of Montfaucon, who subsequently tracked down the textile in the drawings with help from his Benedictine colleagues in Normandy. This is often regarded as the modern "discovery" of the Bayeux Tapestry, which had been displayed annually in Bayeux Cathedral, perhaps for centuries, without attracting outside attention. Montfaucon published the Foucault drawings in the first volume his Les Monumens de la Monarchie Françoise. In anticipation of volume 2 of Les Monumens, Montfaucon engaged the artist Antoine Benoit, and sent him to Bayeux to copy the Tapestry in its entirety and in a manner more faithful to its style. Emory University art history professor Elizabeth Carson Pastan criticizes Montfaucon for his "Norman Triumphalist" point of view in dealing with the story of the Tapestry, despite the fact that he asserted that one should trust "the best historians of Normandy". She does state, however, that modern scholars are indebted to him for his process of examining many accounts of the Norman Conquest in interpreting the Tapestry, and his highlighting of the Tapestry's ambiguity and enigma (such as why Harold Godwinson went to Normandy in 1064 and the identity of the elusive Aelfgyva).

Works

 * Analecta graeca, sive varia opuscula graeca hactenus non edita (Paris, 1688)
 * S. Athanasii opera omnia (Paris, 1698)
 * Diarium italicum (Paris, 1702)
 * Bibliotheca Coisliniana (Paris, 1705)
 * Collectio nova patrum graecorum (2 vols., 1706)
 * Palaeographia Graeca, sive, De ortu et progressu literarum graecarum (Paris, 1708)
 * Bibliotheca Coisliniana olim Segueriana, Paris: Ludovicus Guerin & Carolus Robustel, (Paris, 1715)
 * L'antiquité expliquée et representée en figures/Antiquitas explanatione et schematibus illustrata (Bilingual edition, vols. 1-15, Paris, 1719-1724)
 * Les monumens de la monarchie françoise (for Henrik IV, vols. 1-5, Paris, 1729–1733)
 * Sancti patris nostri Ioannis Chrisostomi opera omnia (Paris, 1718—1738)
 * Bibliotheca bibliothecarum manuscriptorum nova (vols. 1-2, Paris, 1739)

title: Bernard de Montfaucon


text:
Rodolfo Biagi

Rodolfo Biagi (March 14, 1906, in Buenos Aires – September 24, 1969) was an Argentine Tango musician who started his musical career by playing background pianist for silent movies, and this was where he was first discovered by a tango band leader.

As a tango pianist, he played with several orchestras, including the orchestra of Juan d'Arienzo from 1935 to 1938, and is often partly credited with the development of d'Arienzo's rhythmic style. He later formed his own orchestra, and the special rhythmic qualities of his music are easily recognisable.

title: Rodolfo Biagi


text: User talk:80.136.143.87

title: User talk:80.136.143.87


text:
Gondophares

Gondophares I (Greek: Γονδοφαρης Gondopharēs, Υνδοφερρης Hyndopherrēs; Kharosthi: 𐨒𐨂𐨡𐨥𐨪 ', '; 𐨒𐨂𐨡𐨥𐨪𐨿𐨣 ', '; 𐨒𐨂𐨡𐨂𐨵𐨪 ', ' ) was the founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom and its most prominent king, ruling from 19 to 46. He probably belonged to a line of local princes who had governed the Parthian province of Drangiana since its disruption by the Indo-Scythians in c. 129 BC, and may have been a member of the House of Suren. During his reign, his kingdom became independent from Parthian authority and was transformed into an empire, which encompassed Drangiana, Arachosia, and Gandhara. He is generally known from the Acts of Thomas, the Takht-i-Bahi inscription, and silver and copper coins bearing his visage.

He was succeeded in Drangiana and Arachosia by Orthagnes, and in Gandhara by his nephew Abdagases I.

Etymology
The name of Gondophares was not a personal name, but an epithet derived from the Middle Iranian name 𐭅𐭉𐭍𐭃𐭐𐭓𐭍, Windafarn (Parthian), and 𐭢𐭥𐭭𐭣𐭯𐭥, Gundapar (Middle Persian), in turn derived from the Old Iranian name 𐎻𐎡𐎭𐎳𐎼𐎴𐎠 (Vindafarnâ, "May he find glory" (cf. Greek Ἰνταφέρνης, Intaphernes)), which was also the name of one of the six nobles that helped the Achaemenid king of kings (shahanshah) Darius the Great ((r. 522 BC – 486 BC)) to seize the throne. In old Armenian, it is "Gastaphar". "Gundaparnah" was apparently the Eastern Iranian form of the name.

Ernst Herzfeld claims his name is perpetuated in the name of the Afghan city Kandahar, which he founded under the name Gundopharron.

According to a historical perspective to the Persian literature, Gondophares is identical with Fariborz of Iranian national narratives. The name of "Fariborz" (فریبرز) was written by Abu Ali Bal'ami and Al-Tabari as "Borzāfrah" (بُرزافره) and Ibn Balkhi as "Zarāfah" (زَرافَه). The author of Mojmal al-Tawarikh wrote the name as "Borzfari" (بُرزفَری) and stated that Ferdowsi changed it to "Fariborz" to keep the rhythmic structure of meter.

Background
Gondophares may have been a member of the House of Suren, one of the most esteemed families in Arsacid Iran, that not only had the hereditary right to lead the royal military, but also to place the crown on the Parthian king at the coronation. In c. 129 BC, the eastern portions of the Parthian Empire, primarily Drangiana, was invaded by nomadic peoples, mainly by the Eastern Iranian Saka (Indo-Scythians) and the Indo-European Yuezhi, thus giving the rise to the name of the province of Sakastan ("land of the Saka").

The ruler of the Parthian Empire ruler Mithridates II (124–88 BCE) vanquished the Sakas of the region of Sakastan, and established "Satraps" in the region, one of them probably being Tanlis Mardates. These Parthian satraps ruled over Sakastan until the establishment of the dynasty of Gondophares (19-46 CE).

As a result of these invasions, the Suren family was may have been given control of Sakastan in order to defend the empire from further nomad incursions; the Surenids not only may have managed to repel the Indo-Scythians, but also to invade and seize their lands in Arachosia and Punjab, thus resulting in the establishment of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom.

Rule
Gondophares ascended the throne in c. 19 or c. 20, and quickly declared independence from the Parthian Empire, minting coins in Drangiana where he assumed the Greek title of autokrator ("one who rules by himself").

Gondophares I has traditionally been given a later date; the reign of one king calling himself Gondophares has been established at 20 AD by the rock inscription he set up at Takht-i-Bahi near Mardan, Pakistan, in 46 AD., and he has also been connected with the third-century Acts of Thomas.

Gondophares I took over the Kabul valley and the Punjab and Sindh region area from the Scythian king Azes. In reality, a number of vassal rulers seem to have switched allegiance from the Indo-Scythians to Gondophares I. His empire was vast, but was only a loose framework, which fragmented soon after his death. His capital was the Gandharan city of Taxila. Taxila is located in Punjab to the west of the present Islamabad.

Chronology
On the coins of Gondophares, the royal names are Iranian, but the other legends of the coins are in Greek and Kharoṣṭhī.

Ernst Herzfeld maintained that the dynasty of Gondophares represented the House of Suren.

The Biblical Magus "Gaspar"
The name of Gondophares was translated in Armenian in "Gastaphar", and then in Western languages into "Gasbar[d], Gaspas, Caspus, Kaspar, גִזבָּר ". He may be the "Gasbar[d], Treasurer and King of Persia", who, according to apocryphal texts and eastern Christian tradition, was one of the three Biblical Magi who attended the birth of Christ. Through this interaction and association, Gaspar[d] was adopted by the Europeans (and in Western tradition) as a male first name.

Connection with Saint Thomas and Apollonius of Tyana
The apocryphical Acts of Thomas mentions one king Gudnaphar. This king has been associated with Gondophares I by scholars such as M. Reinaud, as it was not yet established that there were several kings with the same name. Since St. Thomas is said to have lived there in a specific time frame, this is often used to provide more specific chronology to an otherwise historiographically lacking time frame. Richard N. Frye, Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies at Harvard University, has noted that this ruler has been identified with a king called Caspar in the Christian tradition of the Apostle St Thomas and his visit to India. Recent numismatic research by R.C. Senior supports the notion that the king who best fits these references was Gondophares-Sases, the fourth king using the title Gondophares.

A. D. H. Bivar, writing in The Cambridge History of Iran, said that the reign dates of one Gondophares recorded in the Takht-i Bahi inscription (20–46 or later AD) are consistent with the dates given in the Apocryphal Acts of Thomas for the Apostle's voyage to India following the Crucifixion in c. 30 AD. B. N. Puri, of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, University of Lucknow, India, also identified Gondophares with the ruler said to have been converted by Saint Thomas the Apostle. The same goes for the reference to an Indo-Parthian king in the accounts of the life of Apollonius of Tyana. Puri says that the dates given by Philostratus in his Life of Apollonius of Tyana for Apollonius' visit to Taxila, 43–44 AD, are within the period of the reign of Gondophares I, who also went by the Parthian name, Phraotes. Saint Thomas was brought before King Gundaphar (Gondophares) at his capital, Taxila. "Taxila" is the Greek form of the contemporary Pali name for the city, "Takkasila", from the Sanskrit "Taksha-sila". The name of the city was transformed in subsequent legends concerning Thomas, which were consolidated into the Historia Trium Regum (History of the Three Kings) by John of Hildesheim (1364–1375), into "Silla", "Egrisilla", "Grisculla", and so on, the name having undergone a process of metamorphosis similar to that which transformed "Vindapharnah" (Gondophares) to "Caspar". Hildesheim's Historia Trium Regum says: "In the third India is the kingdom of Tharsis, which at that time was ruled over by King Caspar, who offered incense to our Lord. The famous island Eyrisoulla [or Egrocilla] lies in this land: it is there that the holy apostle St Thomas is buried". "Egrisilla" appears on the globe made in Nuremberg by Martin Behaim in 1492, where it appears on the southernmost part of the peninsula of Hoch India, "High India" or "India Superior", on the eastern side of the Sinus Magnus ("Great Gulf", the Gulf of Thailand): there Egrisilla is identified with the inscription, das lant wird genant egtisilla, ("the land called Egrisilla"). In his study of Behaim's globe, E. G. Ravenstein noted: "Egtisilla, or Eyrisculla [or Egrisilla: the letters "r" and "t" in the script on the globe look similar], is referred to in John of Hildesheim's version of the ‘Three Kings’ as an island where St. Thomas lies buried".

title: Gondophares


text:
Heidelberg (disambiguation)

Heidelberg is a city of 150,000 in southwestern Germany.

Heidelberg may also refer to:

Places

 * Europe:
 * Heidelberg, Taurida Governorate, Ukraine (now Novohorivka, Tokmak)

 * Oceania:
 * Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
 * Heidelberg railway station
 * Heidelberg, New Zealand, a suburb of Invercargill

 * Africa:
 * Heidelberg, Gauteng, South Africa
 * Heidelberg, Western Cape, South Africa

 * North America:
 * Heidelberg, Ontario, Canada
 * Heidelberg, Kentucky, USA
 * Heidelberg, Minnesota, USA
 * Heidelberg, Mississippi, USA
 * Heidelberg, Pennsylvania, USA
 * Heidelberg Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA
 * Lower Heidelberg Township, Pennsylvania, USA
 * North Heidelberg Township, Pennsylvania, USA
 * South Heidelberg Township, Pennsylvania, USA
 * Heidelberg Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, USA
 * Heidelberg Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, USA
 * Heidelberg Township, York County, Pennsylvania, USA
 * Heidelberg, Texas, USA
 * Heidelberg Street, a neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan, USA

Education

 * Heidelberg University, Germany
 * Heidelberg University (Ohio), United States
 * Heidelberg Center for Latin America, European-affiliated university in Chile
 * Colegio Heidelberg, Gran Canaria, Spain
 * Heidelberg Centre - School of Graphic Communications Management, Toronto, Canada

Other uses

 * Heidelberg strain of salmonella
 * Heidelberg School, the Australian art movement
 * Heidelberg Appeal, 1992 scientific manifesto
 * Heidelberg Project by Tyree Guyton in Detroit, Michigan
 * HeidelbergCement, a cement and building materials company
 * Heidelberg, brand name of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen printing presses
 * Heidelberg, codename for the third release of Fedora Core, a Linux distribution
 * Heidelberg Catechism
 * Heidelberg Tun
 * Heidelberg Disputation
 * Heidelberg Tavern massacre, Cape Town, South Africa
 * Heidelberg (electoral district)

title: Heidelberg (disambiguation)


text:
James Montgomery (poet)

James Montgomery (4 November 1771 – 30 April 1854) was a Scottish-born hymn writer, poet and editor, who eventually settled in Sheffield. He was raised in the Moravian Church and theologically trained there, so that his writings often reflect concern for humanitarian causes, such as the abolition of slavery and the exploitation of child chimney sweeps.

Early life and poetry
Montgomery was born at Irvine in south-west Scotland, the son of a pastor and missionary of the Moravian Brethren. He was sent to be trained for the ministry at the Moravian School at Fulneck, near Leeds, while his parents left for the West Indies, where both died within a year of each other. At Fulneck, secular studies were banned, but James still found means of borrowing and reading a good deal of poetry and made ambitious plans to write epics of his own.

On failing to complete his schooling, Montgomery was apprenticed to a baker in Mirfield, then to a store-keeper at Wath-upon-Dearne. After further efforts, including an unsuccessful attempt at a literary career in London, he moved north again to Sheffield in 1792 as an assistant to Joseph Gales, auctioneer, bookseller and printer of the Sheffield Register, who introduced him into the local Lodge of Oddfellows, to which he later addressed a song. In 1794, Gales left England to avoid political prosecution and Montgomery took the paper in hand, changing its name to the Sheffield Iris.

These were times of political repression. Montgomery was twice imprisoned on charges of sedition, first in 1795 for printing a poem to celebrate the fall of the Bastille in revolutionary France, and secondly in 1796 for criticising a magistrate for forcibly dispersing a political protest in Sheffield. Turning his jail experiences to some profit, he then published a pamphlet of poems written during his captivity: Prison Amusements (1797). His later prose account of the period appeared in 1840.

For some time the Iris was the only newspaper in Sheffield, but beyond an ability to produce fairly creditable articles from week to week, Montgomery lacked the journalistic skills to take full advantage of his position. Other newspapers arose to fill the place which his might have held and in 1825 he sold out to a local bookseller, John Blackwell.

Meanwhile, Montgomery continued to write poetry. He achieved some fame with The Wanderer of Switzerland (1806), a poem in six parts written in seven-syllable cross-rhymed quatrains. It addressed the French annexation of Switzerland and quickly went through two editions. When it was denounced the following year in the conservative Edinburgh Review as a poem that would be speedily forgotten, Lord Byron came to its defence in the satire English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. Nevertheless, within 18 months a fourth impression of 1500 copies was issued from the very presses that had printed the criticism, and several more would follow. This success brought Montgomery a commission from the printer Bowyer to write a poem on the abolition of the slave trade, to be published with other poems on the subject by Elizabeth Benger and James Grahame in a handsome illustrated volume. The subject appealed to the poet's philanthropic enthusiasm and his own family associations with the West Indies. The four-part poem in heroic couplets appeared in 1809 as The West Indies.

Montgomery also used heroic couplets for The World before the Flood (1812), a piece of historical reconstruction in ten cantos. He then turned to attacking the lottery in Thoughts on Wheels (1817) and took up the cause of chimney sweeps' apprentices in The Climbing Boys' Soliloquies. His next major poem was Greenland (1819) in five cantos of heroic couplets. It was prefaced by a description of the ancient Moravian church, its 18th-century revival and its mission to Greenland in 1733. The poem was noted for the beauty of its descriptions: "The moon is watching in the sky; the stars Are swiftly wheeling on their golden cars; Ocean, outstretcht with infinite expanse, Serenely slumbers in a glorious trance; The tide, o'er which no troubled spirits breathe, Reflects a cloudless firmament beneath, Where poised as in the centre of a sphere A ship above and ship below appear; A double image pictured on the deep, The vessel o’er its shadow seems to sleep; Yet, like the host of heaven, that never rest, With evanescent motion to the west, The pageant glides through loneliness and night, And leaves behind a rippling wake of light."

- Canto 1, lines 1-14

Later career
Montgomery's only other long poem, after retiring from newspaper editorship, was The Pelican Island (1828): nine cantos of descriptive blank verse, which garnered mixed responses, ranging between the summarily dismissive and Blackwood's Magazine's "the best of all Montgomery's poems: in idea the most original, in execution the most powerful."

Montgomery himself expected that his name would live, if at all, in his hymns. Some of these, such as "Hail to the Lord's Anointed", "Prayer is the Soul's Sincere Desire", "Stand up and Bless the Lord" and the carol "Angels from the Realms of Glory", are still sung. "The Lord Is My Shepherd" is a popular hymn with many denominations, based on Psalm 23. "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" has been adopted as a favourite in the Latter Day Saint movement. The earliest of his hymns dates from his days in Wath on Dearne and he added to their number over the years. The main boost came when the Rev. James Cotterill arrived at the parish church St Paul's, a chapel of ease to St Peter's, Sheffield's only parish church, in 1817.

Cotterill had compiled and published A Selection of Psalms and Hymns Adapted to the Services of the Church of England in 1810, but to his disappointment and concern he found that his new parishioners did not take kindly to using it. He therefore enlisted the help of James Montgomery to help him revise the collection and improve it by adding some hymns of the poet's own composition. This new edition, meeting with the approval of the Archbishop of York (and eventually of the parishioners at St Paul's), was finally published in 1820. In 1822 Montgomery published his own Songs of Zion: Being Imitations of Psalms, the first of several more collections of hymns. During his life he composed some 400 hymns, although less than a hundred of them are commonly sung today.

Montgomery later compiled and published the journals of Daniel Tyerman after his death during a missionary voyage with George Bennet. The account was originally published from London in a two-volume format in 1831, with the title Journal of voyages and travels by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq., deputed from the London Missionary Society to visit their various stations in the South Sea Islands, Australia, China, India, &c [Madagascar, and South Africa] between the years 1821 and 1829, and a revised second edition followed in 1840. This also contained a short chapter on African slavery.

From 1835 until his death, Montgomery lived at The Mount in Glossop Road, Sheffield. He was well regarded in the city and played an active part in its philanthropy and religious life. He died on 30 April 1854, was honoured by a public funeral, and buried in Sheffield General Cemetery. He had remained unmarried.

Legacy
In 1861, a monument designed by John Bell (1811–1895) was erected over his grave in the Sheffield cemetery at a cost of £1000, raised by public subscription on the initiative of the Sheffield Sunday School Union, of which he was among the founding members. On its granite pedestal is inscribed: "Here lies interred, beloved by all who knew him, the Christian poet, patriot, and philanthropist. Wherever poetry is read, or Christian hymns sung, in the English language, 'he being dead, yet speaketh' by the genius, piety and taste embodied in his writings." There are also extracts from his poems "Prayer" and "The Grave". After the statue fell into disrepair it was moved in 1971 to the precincts of Sheffield Cathedral, where there is also a memorial window to him.

Elsewhere in Sheffield there are various streets named after Montgomery, as is a Grade II-listed drinking fountain on Broad Lane. The Surrey Street meeting hall of the Sunday Schools Union (now known as The Montgomery) was named in his honour in 1886. It houses a 420-seat theatre, which also bears his name. Elsewhere, Wath-upon-Dearne, flattered by being called "the queen of villages" in his work, has repaid the compliment by naming after him a community hall, a street and a square. His birthplace in Irvine was renamed Montgomery House after he had paid the town a return visit in 1841, but it has since been demolished.

Other works

 * Poetical Works, four editions in 1821, 1836, 1841, and 1854
 * Editor: The Chimney-Sweeper's Friend and Climbing-Boy's Album, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1824
 * Editor: The Christian Psalmist; or, Hymns, Selected and Original, Glasgow: Chalmers and Collins, 1825. sixth edn. 1829; Read Books, 2008, ISBN 9781409799900
 * Editor: The Christian poet; or, selections in verse on sacred subjects, Wm Collins, Glasgow, 1825
 * An Essay on the Phrenology of the Hindoos and Negroes, London: Printed for E. Lloyd, 1829
 * Original Hymns For Public, Private, and Social Devotion, London: Longman, Brown, Green, 1853
 * Prose by a Poet, 2 vols, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1824
 * Voyages and travels round the world by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq. : deputed from the London Missionary Society to visit their various stations in the South Sea Islands, Australia, China, India, Madagascar, and South Africa, between the years 1821 and 1829
 * Prose by a Poet, 2 vols, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1824
 * Voyages and travels round the world by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq. : deputed from the London Missionary Society to visit their various stations in the South Sea Islands, Australia, China, India, Madagascar, and South Africa, between the years 1821 and 1829
 * Voyages and travels round the world by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq. : deputed from the London Missionary Society to visit their various stations in the South Sea Islands, Australia, China, India, Madagascar, and South Africa, between the years 1821 and 1829
 * Voyages and travels round the world by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq. : deputed from the London Missionary Society to visit their various stations in the South Sea Islands, Australia, China, India, Madagascar, and South Africa, between the years 1821 and 1829

title: James Montgomery (poet)


text:
Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd

Field Marshal Sir Archibald Armar Montgomery-Massingberd, (6 December 1871 – 13 October 1947), known as Archibald Armar Montgomery until October 1926, was a senior British Army officer who served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) from 1933 to 1936. He served in the Second Boer War and in the First World War, and later was the driving force behind the formation of a permanent "Mobile Division", the fore-runner of the 1st Armoured Division.

Military career

His father was Hugh de Fellenberg Montgomery, a landowner and Ulster Unionist politician, and his mother was Mary Sophia Juliana May Montgomery (née Maude). The young Montgomery was educated at Charterhouse and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and then was commissioned a second lieutenant into the Royal Field Artillery on 4 November 1891. He was posted to a field battery in India in 1892 and became a lieutenant on 4 November 1894. He served with the Royal Field Artillery during the Second Boer War and took part in the Battle of Magersfontein and the Battle of Paardeberg. Having been promoted to captain on 8 March 1900, he was mentioned in despatches on 4 September 1901. He stayed in South Africa throughout the war, which ended with the Peace of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902, and returned home on the SS Saxon which arrived at Southampton in late October 1902.

After the war, Montgomery served as a battery captain at Bulford Camp before attending Staff College, Camberley from 1905 to 1906. He became a staff captain at the Inspectorate of Horse and Field Artillery in 1907 and a staff officer at Aldershot Command in 1908. Promoted to major on 5 June 1909, he was appointed a general staff officer at the Indian Staff College at Quetta in India on 9 February 1912.

At the outbreak of the First World War in July 1914, Montgomery was appointed a general staff officer to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. He was appointed chief of staff at IV Corps in France in October 1914. Promoted to lieutenant colonel on 16 May 1915, he became chief of staff of the Fourth Army of the BEF in February 1916, a role which, according to General Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the BEF, from the planning for the Battle of the Somme in 1916 he carried out with "great ability and success". Promoted to the substantive rank of major-general on 1 January 1917, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath for his services in the field on 1 January 1918. He was effectively deputy commander of the Fourth Army (deputising for General Sir Henry Rawlinson) in the final months of the war and played an important role in the success of the Battle of Amiens. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for his services in connection with military operations in France and Flanders on 1 January 1919 and was also awarded the American Distinguished Service Medal by the President of the United States on 12 July 1919. The medal's citation reads:

"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Major General Archibald A. Montgomery, Royal British Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States, during World War I. As Chief of Staff of the 4th British Army, General Montgomery directed the operations of the 2d American Army Corps with distinguished ability, displaying military attainments of the highest order. The officers and soldiers of the 27th, 30th, and 33d U.S. Divisions are justly proud of having served with their English comrades against the common foe and of having shared with them in the successes which were due, in no small degree, to his capable direction."

Montgomery was appointed chief of staff of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) following the war and then Deputy Chief of the General Staff in India on 27 March 1920, before becoming General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 53rd (Welsh) Division on 3 March 1922. He became GOC 1st Division at Aldershot on 4 June 1923 and, having been advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1925 New Year Honours, he was promoted to lieutenant general on 16 March 1926. Following a two-year break on half-pay, he became GOC-in-C Southern Command on 17 June 1928. Promoted to full general on 1 October 1930, he was appointed Adjutant-General to the Forces on 1 March 1931 and made aide-de-camp general to the King on 3 March 1931.

Montgomery-Massingberd was appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) in February 1933. Among his main achievements at this time was the mechanising of the cavalry: indeed he was the driving force behind the formation of a permanent "Mobile Division". Despite this, according to Williamson and Millett, he was a great obstacle to innovation of mechanized forces and suppressed the analysis of the British Army's performance in the First World War initiated by his predecessor, Lord Milne. Advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the King's Birthday Honours 1934, he was made a field marshal on 7 June 1935. Following the death of King George V he took part in the funeral procession in January 1936 and then retired in March 1936.

Montgomery-Massingberd was also Colonel Commandant of the Royal Regiment of Artillery from 19 November 1927, Colonel Commandant of the Royal Tank Corps from 7 December 1934, Colonel Commandant of the 20th Burma Rifles from 5 April 1935, Honorary Colonel of the 46th (Lincolnshire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion, Royal Engineers, from 17 March 1937 and Colonel Commandant of the Royal Malta Artillery from 11 May 1937.

In retirement Montgomery-Massingberd became deputy lieutenant and then Vice-Lieutenant of the County of Lincoln. During the Second World War the Air Ministry attempted to build an airfield at Great Steeping in Lincolnshire that would have extended into Sir Archibald's wife's traditional family estate, necessitating the demolition of the magnificent mansion of Gunby Hall. He personally appealed to King George VI and the Air Ministry relented, redrawing the plans that resulted in the resiting of the new RAF Spilsby two miles further south. During the Second World War he also took charge of organizing and recruiting the Home Guard in Lincolnshire for nine months. His major passion in life was horsemanship. He died at the age of 75 at his home, Gunby Hall, on 13 October 1947 and was buried at St. Peter's Church in Gunby.

Family
In 1896 Archibald Montgomery married Diana Langton Massingberd. They had no children. In October 1926, his wife inherited Massingberd family estates, and he changed his name by Royal Licence to add her name to his own. Thus, references to him as "Montgomery-Massingberd" during the First World War are anachronistic. The journalist and genealogist Hugh Massingberd was a great-nephew of both the field marshal and, independently, the field marshal's wife, and in 1963 he and his father also adopted the Massingberd name to inherit the same estates.

title: Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd


text:
Frédéric de Lafresnaye

Baron Nöel Frédéric Armand André de Lafresnaye (24 July 1783 – 14 July 1861) was a French ornithologist and collector.

Lafresnaye was born into an aristocratic family at Chateau de La Fresnaye in Falaise, Normandy. He took an early interest in natural history, particularly entomology. It was only after acquiring a collection of European birds that he turned his attention to ornithology.

Lafresnaye described a number of new bird species, some with Alcide d'Orbigny. He accumulated a collection of over 8,000 bird skins at his home. After his death the collection was purchased by the American collector Henry Bryant and donated to the Boston Natural History Society. It was transferred to the Museum of Comparative Zoology in 1914.

Lafresnaye's piculet, Lafresnaye's woodcreeper and Lafresnaye's vanga are avian species that bear his name.

Selected works

 * Contributions à l'ornithologie, 1832 - Contributions to ornithology.
 * Catalogue des oiseaux de la collection de feu Mr. le bon. de Lafresnaye de Falaise, 1833 - Catalog of birds from the collection of Lafresnaye.
 * Essai d'une nouvelle manière de grouper les genres et les espèces de l'ordre des passereaux (Passeres L.) d'après leurs rapports de moeurs et d'habitation, 1838 - Essay on a new method of grouping the genera and species of the order Passeriformes, etc.
 * Monographie du genre Dendrocolaptes, 1849 - Monograph on the genus Dendrocolaptes.
 * Sur quelques espèces d'oiseaux nouveaux ou peu connus du Chili et de la Colombie, 1855 - On some new, little known avian species of Chile and Colombia.

title: Frédéric de Lafresnaye


text:
Hoop cheese

Hoop cheese is a traditional cow's milk cheese that was common in the Southern United States from the early to mid 1900s. It is still available today, although it is much less common. It is a simple cheese prepared by separating the whey from curds. Today, the American Dairy Association has no criteria in place to classify hoop cheese, although it has sometimes been referred to as a type of pot cheese.

Overview
Hoop cheese is a simple, traditional fresh cow's milk cheese, prepared by pressing curds until the whey is entirely pressed-out, leaving the final cheese product. This involves the use of a cheese hoop, a ring of wood used to press out and separate the whey from the completed cheese, typically with cheesecloth, whereby the whey drains out through the cloth and the hoop cheese remains atop. Using this preparation method, the cheese is typically pressed into rounds and then wrapped in cheesecloth or parchment paper or sealed in wax. Hoop cheese has been described as a "truly low-fat" product. It has a firm, but not hard, consistency, and has been described as being similar to farmer cheese and as having a creamy texture. In contemporary times, it is sometimes packaged with a coating of red wax.

Hoop cheese can be difficult to find commercially in some areas of the United States, due to the difficulty of automating the manufacturing process and because it has a short shelf life. It used to be a common cheese product in the Southern United States in the early to mid 1900s. Today, it can still be found at some roadside stands, small restaurants, grocers, farmers markets and independent gas stations in the Southern United States.

Classification
Today, the American Dairy Association has no criteria or standards in place to define what specifically constitutes hoop cheese. A 1915 Department Reports of the State of New York entry characterized hoop cheese as a type of pot cheese.

History
As an example of its commercial production, hoop cheese was mass-produced in the 1910s in Otsego County, New York and shipped along with farmer cheese to New York on the New York Central Railroad. During this time period hoop and farmer cheeses were packed in cans and boxes in 100-pound increments. Hoop cheese was also packed for commercial transport in this manner through the 1920s in New York state.

Hoop cheese was once so common that a device called a hoop cheese cutter was manufactured and used in general stores during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The hoop cheese cutter was patented in 1905 in the United States and resembled a turntable with a knife blade suspended above it. It was built by scale companies of the period to cut to order the exact amount of cheese a customer wanted.

Similar foods
Hoop cheese is different from farmer cheese in that farmer cheese is made with milk, cream, and salt, while hoop cheese is made from milk alone.

title: Hoop cheese


text:
Vincenzo Monti

Vincenzo Monti (19 February 1754 – 13 October 1828) was an Italian poet, playwright, translator, and scholar, the greatest interpreter of Italian neoclassicism in all of its various phases. His verse translation of the Iliad is considered one of the greatest of them all, with its iconic opening ("Cantami, o Diva, del Pelide Achille,/L'ira funesta[...]", lib. I, verses 1-2) becoming an extremely recognizable phrase among Italians (for example, being the text shown when opening a font file in Microsoft Windows).

Biography
Monti was born in Alfonsine, Province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna the son of Fedele and Domenica Maria Mazzari, landowners. He was educated at the seminar in Faenza and at the University of Ferrara, where he studied medicine and jurisprudence.

Chronology

In 1775 he is admitted to membership in the Academy of Arcadians and the next year his first book is published: "La visione di Ezechiello" ("Ezekiel's vision").

In 1778 Monti moves to Rome, invited there by cardinal and papal legate in Ferrara, Scipione Borghese. He marries Teresa Pichler who bears him a daughter, Costanza, and a son, Francesco (the latter dies at only two years old). Through her the singer Fanny Eckerlin is his niece.

He published in 1785 his tragedy of "Aristodemo," which was received with great favour. His poem entitled "Bassvilliana," (1793), suggested by the murder of Nicolas Jean Hugou de Basseville, envoy of the French Republic at Rome, had also great popularity, and passed through eighteen editions in six months.

In 1797 he leaves Rome and, after visiting Bologna and Venice, finally settles in Milan, forsaking his former opposition to the French Revolution (expressed in the "Bassvilliana") and becoming a supporter of the newborn Cisalpine Republic.

In 1799, he is forced to leave the city when the French are defeated, but it takes him only two years to come back, following the Battle of Marengo (1800).

While in Paris, Monti devotes more and more of his time to translations from French and Latin, which today are considered to be his best works: he publishes "La Pucelle d'Orleans" by Voltaire, soon to be followed by the "Satire" by Persius and the "Iliade" (Iliad) by Homer.

Soon after his return, Monti published his tragedy of "Caio Gracco," "La Mascheroniana," a poem on the death of his friend Lorenzo Mascheroni, and his beautiful and popular hymn beginning "Bell'Italia," etc. Monti became in 1803 professor of eloquence at Pavia, and on the coronation of Napoleon, in 1805, was appointed his historiographer. He filled this office rather as court poet than historian, and lavished a profusion of eulogistic verses on the emperor and his family. He was created by him a chevalier of the Legion of Honour and of the Iron Crown, and was chosen a member of the Institute of the Kingdom of Italy.

After the fall of Napoleon in 1815, Monti tries to win back the Austrian regime with his last poems "Il mistico omaggio" and "Il ritorno di Astrea", before committing to the development of Italian linguistics during his last years.

Criticism
Many authors have given different opinions about the poet's value. Two factors are generally agreed upon, but they are given different weight yielding a more or less favourable judgement: the lack of ideals and authenticity, and the superior technical skills.

In the fast-changing political scenario of his time, Monti appears not to live up to his ideals: he is blamed from the political point of view for being first an opposer to the French Revolution, then an open supporter of Napoleon, then eventually a supporter of the Austrian Empire. Furthermore, he is accused of expressing insincere feelings in his works and of only caring about the formal aspects of his productions.

In a time of strong political ideals such as the "Risorgimento" and strong interior passions such as Romanticism, famous representatives of Italian literature such as Ugo Foscolo and Giacomo Leopardi pointed to these as unforgivable flaws, whereas in their opinion a poet should never give up his beliefs in exchange for practical advantages, and should prefer a worthy content over a much refined literary technique.

Works

 * 1776 – "La visione di Ezechiello"
 * 1779 – "Prosopopea di Pericle" (ode) and "Saggio di poesie"
 * 1781 – "La bellezza dell'universo" (short poem)
 * 1782 – "Sciolti a Sigismondo Chigi" and "Pensieri d'amore"
 * 1783 – "Versi"
 * 1784 – "Al signor di Montgolfier" (ode)
 * 1787 – "Aristodemo" (tragedy)
 * 1788 – "Galeotto Manfredi"
 * 1793 – "Bassvilliana"/"In morte di Ugo di Bassville" (left unfinished)
 * 1797 – "La Musogonia" and "Prometeo"
 * 1800 – "Poesie", "Dopo la battaglia di Marengo", and translation of Voltaire's "La Pucelle d'Orléans" -> "La pulcella d'Orleans"
 * 1802 – "Mascheroniana"/"In morte di Lorenzo Mascheroni" (poem) and "Caio Gracco" (tragedy)
 * 1803 – translation: "Satire" (Persius)
 * 1805 – "Alla maestà di Napoleone"
 * 1806 – "Il bardo della Selva Nera", translated into French by Jacques-Marie Deschamps (le Barde de la Forêt-Noire, 1807)
 * 1810 – translation: "Iliade" (Homer)
 * 1815 – "Il mistico omaggio"
 * 1816 – "Il ritorno di Astrea"
 * 1825 – "Sulla mitologia"
 * 1817–1826 – "Proposta di alcune correzioni ed aggiunte al Vocabolario della Crusca"

title: Vincenzo Monti


text: User talk:206.39.111.18

title: User talk:206.39.111.18


text:
Boiler Room (film)

Boiler Room is a 2000 American crime drama film written and directed by Ben Younger, and starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long, Ben Affleck, Nicky Katt, Scott Caan, Tom Everett Scott, Ron Rifkin and Jamie Kennedy. The film was conceived when Younger interviewed for a job at brokerage firm Sterling Foster. "I walked in and immediately realized, 'This is my movie.' I mean, you see these kids and know something is going on."

The film was nominated for several awards including a Black Reel Award, a British Independent Film Award, and two Independent Spirit Awards. It won the Special Jury Prize at the 2000 Deauville Film Festival.

Plot
In 1999, Seth Davis, a 19-year-old Queens College dropout, runs an unlicensed casino in his home near the campus, catering to college students. Although he earns a successful living, he is a disappointment to his father, Marty, a New York City federal judge. One night, his cousin Adam stops by the casino to play blackjack, bringing a rich associate named Greg Weinstein along with him. Greg recruits Seth to join J. T. Marlin, a brokerage firm based somewhere off the Long Island Expressway, promising him that he has the opportunity to get rich.

Arriving at J. T. Marlin, Seth attends a group interview and learns from Jim Young, one of the co-founders of the firm, what is expected of his work and also how he can become a millionaire, which he assures to the new applicants will happen within three years of their first day of employment at J. T. Marlin. The firm's techniques of selling are through cold calling investors to sell stock, and Seth joins as a stockbroker trainee, having to close 40 accounts and pass a Series 7 Exam to begin working independently. The brokers love to quote insider trader Gordon Gekko from Wall Street, seeing him as a role model. He is soon making a good living, as well as winning his father's approval and embarking on a romance with Abbie Halpert, a secretary and Greg's ex-girlfriend.

Gradually, he learns that J. T. Marlin is a chop shop brokerage firm that runs a "pump and dump", using its brokers to create artificial demand in the stock of expired or fake companies, and speculative penny stocks. When the firm is done pumping the stock, the firm founders sell and trade for legitimate stocks for record profits. However, the investors then have no one to sell their shares to in the market when the price of the stock plummets, causing them to lose their investment. The FBI agents investigating the firm decide to pursue Seth, hoping to make him their informant.

Seth passes his Series 7 Exam and becomes a broker. He then contacts Harry Reynard, the purchasing manager of a gourmet foods company. Although Harry is reluctant, he gives in after Seth lies that the stock is guaranteed to go up in value; Seth sells him 100 shares at $8 each. When the stock's value drops, Harry calls back to ask why the stock has done so poorly, only to have Seth persuade him to buy more worthless shares. The stock eventually tanks, costing Harry his savings and his family.

Feeling guilty for scamming Harry, Seth resolves to shut the firm down. Marty, discovering that J.T. Marlin was nothing more than a chop shop meant to scam gullible investors, then disowns him, accusing him of destroying peoples' lives. Seth investigates further, discovering that the firm's founders are already preparing to abandon J. T. Marlin, destroy the records, and cut ties with their employees to re-brand and start their scheme under a new name, leaving their victims to face a lengthy legal battle without much hope of recovering their money. Seth shows up at his father's office and tearfully explains that he shut down his casino and went along with a highly criminal line of work that he thought was legal to gain his family's approval. He then requests that his father help him on an IPO scheme to rob the firm of their money and bring them down, hoping that his actions, while illegal, will recover enough money to help J. T. Marlin's victims. Although Marty initially refuses due to the risk of losing his judgeship, he calls Seth the next day, reconciling with him and offering to help with the scheme.

Seth is eventually arrested by the FBI for the violation of 26 SEC and NASD regulations, and is brought into their custody along with his father, as the bureau had discovered their IPO scheme from a tape-recorded phone conversation. The FBI offer him federal immunity if he agrees to testify against J. T. Marlin once all the suspects are brought into court, and threaten to involve Marty in order to assure Seth's cooperation. Seth asserts that he will testify against the firm and provide strong evidence of their illegal practices only if his father is released. He and the agents come to an agreement on this, with Seth being kept overnight. After that, it is implied that he will be free to go as the FBI will proceed to raid the building and prosecute everybody else.

Seth returns to work the next day and goes along with the FBI's instructions to make copies of investment files onto a floppy disk to use as evidence. Before leaving, Seth attempts to get Harry's money back. He lies to Michael Brantley, the company's founder, by explaining that the firm can lose a lot of money by refusing to continue to do business with Harry Reynard, who Seth makes out to be an important prospect at a make-or-break point. Brantley agrees to proceed, offering him shares of the next IPO, with a caveat that he cannot sell the shares until the firm has sold off theirs. In order to sell the shares behind Michael's back, Seth needs a sell ticket signed by a senior broker, something that his direct supervisor, Greg, has explicitly said that he would never do. He seeks a signing from Chris Varick, explaining that he may as well "do one thing right" in helping a severely hit investor make his money back, now that the firm will be raided and, soon enough, there will be no future in continuing business at J. T. Marlin. Chris reluctantly agrees, and proceeds to escape the building in an attempt to flee federal enforcement. Seth walks out to his car, deciding what to do with his life now that his ties with J. T. Marlin are finished. As he departs in his car, several FBI cars, buses, and tow trucks enter the parking lot, with agents storming out ready to raid the building.

Production
In interviews, Ben Younger said he was inspired to write the script for the film after going to a job interview at a Long Island-based brokerage firm that turned out to be a pyramid scheme. Younger said he used a speech given by a top broker to the would-be trainees as the model for the lecture the Jim Young character makes early in the film. Jordan Belfort, a former stockbroker who would write The Wolf of Wall Street, claimed that the movie was also loosely based on his rise and fall. Younger spent two years interviewing stockbrokers at boiler rooms, where callers aggressively peddle often fraudulent investments to consumers. Younger sold his script on the condition that he direct. Artisan Entertainment initially backed the production and helped bring actors Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, and Affleck to the project, but later backed out. New Line Cinema then stepped in for distribution.

Box office
The film opened in the United States on February 18, 2000, alongside Hanging Up, Pitch Black and The Whole Nine Yards, grossing $6.7 million on its opening weekend. Eventually, the film grossed $17 million domestically and $11.8 million in other territories, with a worldwide total of $28.8 million.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 66% based on reviews from 104 critics. The site's consensus is: "Its ending is disappointingly tidy, but Boiler Room boasts just enough sharp writing and brisk pacing to make getting there worthwhile." On Metacritic the film has a score of 63 out of 100 based on reviews from 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews" Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C+ on scale of A to F.

Multiple critics noted the film's echoes of other corporate greed films like Wall Street and Glengarry Glenn Ross. Malcolm Johnson of the Hartford Courant wrote "Affleck, the best-known actor in the ensemble, proves no match for Alec Baldwin of 'Glengarry,' who played a similar character in David Mamet's look at a phony real estate operation." He also said "the screenplay misses the verbal pyrotechnics of both [Oliver] Stone and Mamet." A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote Giovanni Ribisi "captures Seth's man-child suavity as well as his childish sensitivity, and the sweetness underneath his cynicism", and "Nia Long brings wit and patience to the underwritten role of Marlin's receptionist and Seth's love interest, a black woman surrounded by white guys trying to act like homeboys." Vin Diesel was also cited as being one of the more "likable" characters at the brokerage firm.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and wrote: "Has the high-octane feel of real life, closely observed." Emanuel Levy of Variety gave the film a mixed review and said while it "begins extremely well as a saga of greed and conspicuous consumption...it gradually loses its bite." Levy also praised Affleck for his performance. James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave it 3 out of 4 stars and called it "A compelling movie-going experience." Berardinelli praised the attention to detail and said the film achieves "the same sort of insight into stock brokering that Glengarry Glenn Ross offered into sales. In fact, this aspect of the film is what makes Boiler Room a compelling movie-going experience. The characters and plot become secondary to the setting and atmosphere."

title: Boiler Room (film)


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Theaudience (band)

Theaudience (styled as theaudience) were an English rock band, formed in London in 1996. They released one album and saw three singles enter the UK Singles Chart. The band's singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor became a successful solo artist after the band's disbandment.

History
theaudience were founded by guitarist Billy Reeves, formerly of the indie group Congregation. The group was fronted by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and included drummer/producer "Patch" Hannan (ex-The Sundays), keyboard player Nigel Butler (ex-The Bridge), guitarist Dean Mollett (ex-Porcupine) and bass guitarist Kerin Smith. Their one self-titled album received critical acclaim and reached No. 22 in the UK Albums Chart, with two of four singles released reaching the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart.

Reeves left the band in December 1998, and although the remaining band members wrote and demoed at least 33 songs for a second album, it was rejected by record label Mercury Records, who then dropped the band, which split in 1999. Approximately half of these tracks were leaked onto the internet, most of which appeared as a fourteen-track bootleg album in 2009 under the fan-made title Quiet Storm.

Ellis-Bextor started a solo career in major label artist-driven dance-pop music following the success of her collaboration with Spiller on "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" in 2000.

Discography
The discography of Theaudience consists of one studio album, four singles and four music videos. The album track "Keep In Touch" was earmarked as a potential fifth single.

Thirty three songs were recorded as full band demos in 1998-1999 for a second album, just over half of which circulate as bootleg/download tracks. One such track, "Out With The Old School" was released contemporarily on NME sampler cassette "Wicked Women" in late 1998.

title: Theaudience (band)


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Adolphe Monticelli

Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli (October 14, 1824 – June 29, 1886) was a French painter of the generation preceding the Impressionists.

Biography
Monticelli was born in Marseille in humble circumstances. He attended the École Municipale de Dessin in Marseille from 1842 to 1846, and continued his artistic training in Paris, where he studied under Paul Delaroche at the École des Beaux-Arts. In Paris he made copies after the Old Masters in the Louvre, and admired the oil sketches of Eugène Delacroix. In 1855 he met Narcisse Diaz, a member of the Barbizon school, and the two often painted together in the Fontainebleau Forest. Monticelli frequently adopted Diaz's practice of introducing nudes or elegantly costumed figures into his landscapes.

He developed a highly individual Romantic style of painting, in which richly colored, dappled, textured and glazed surfaces produce a scintillating effect. He painted courtly subjects inspired by Antoine Watteau; he also painted still lifes, portraits, and Orientalist subjects that owe much to the example of Delacroix.

After 1870, Monticelli returned to Marseille, where he lived in poverty despite a prolific output, selling his paintings for small sums. An unworldly man, he dedicated himself single-mindedly to his art.

The young Paul Cézanne befriended Monticelli in the 1860s, and the influence of the older painter's work can be seen in Cézanne's work of that decade. Between 1878 and 1884 the two artists often painted landscapes together, once spending a month roaming the Aix countryside. Although Monticelli experimented briefly around 1870 with a treatment of light reflecting the discoveries of the Impressionists, he found the objectivity of this approach uncongenial.

Confronted with criticism of his style of painting Monticelli himself remarked, "I paint for thirty years from now". His work reached its greatest spontaneity in the decade before his death in 1886.

Legacy

More than a century after his death, Monticelli's art is still subject to controversy.

In its painterly freedom Monticelli's work prefigures that of Vincent van Gogh, who greatly admired his work after seeing it in Paris when he arrived there in 1886. Van Gogh immediately adopted a brighter palette and a bolder attack, and later remarked, "I sometimes think I am really continuing that man." In 1890, Van Gogh and his brother Theo were instrumental in publishing the first book about Monticelli.

Monticelli's reputation grew after his death. Among his collectors was Oscar Wilde who, after going to prison in 1895, wrote of his bankruptcy in a letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, "De Profundis": "That all my charming things were to be sold: my Burne-Jones drawings: my Whistler drawings: my Monticelli: my Simeon Solomons: my china: my Library..."

Others have expressed disdain for Monticelli's work. In a statement published in 2005 in The Guardian, Sir Timothy Clifford, director general of the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, even chose Monticelli's A Garden Fete as the worst painting in Britain, and commented, "We have been bequested eight paintings by Monticelli, each one more hideous than the last. In my 21 years here, none has been hung because I think Monticelli produces screamingly awful art. I call this one a Fete Worse Than Death."

A monument honoring Monticelli, designed in 1909 by the sculptor Auguste Carli, is installed in the Palais Longchamp Marseille.

Exhibitions
From September 2008 until January 2009, an exhibition entitled "Van Gogh and Monticelli" took place in Marseille's Centre de la Vieille Charité, highlighting Monticelli's influence on Van Gogh's work.

From April 25 until September 27, 2015, an exhibition entitled "Van Gogh and Co. Criss-crossing the collection" at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, The Netherlands, displayed paintings by Van Gogh and his predecessors, contemporaries and followers, among them François Bonvin, Charley Toorop, Henri Fantin-Latour, Jean-Baptiste Corot, Paul Cézanne, Bart van der Leck and Adolphe Monticelli.

title: Adolphe Monticelli


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James Gabriel Montresor

James Gabriel Montresor (19 November 1704 – 6 January 1776) was a British military engineer.

Early life and the western Mediterranean
Montresor was born on Broad Street or St. James's, Westminster, 19 November 1704, the son of James Gabriel le Trésor and Nanon de Hauteville. His father, who belonged to a Huguenot refugee family, joined the British service and was naturalized, taking the name of Montresor. He would later become Lieutenant Governor of Fort William where he died 22 January 1723/4.

Joining the Royal Artillery, Montresor is said to have been present at the 1727 siege of Gibraltar, but more credible accounts place him in Menorca, as a matross. He was later a bombardier at Gibraltar, and was there commissioned as an engineer in 1731. He continued to serve at Gibraltar, with a brief interlude in Menorca, until in 1747 he was named chief engineer of Gibraltar. He had also held a commission as Lieutenant in the 14th Regiment of Foot since 23 July 1737.

America
In 1754, he was appointed chief engineer for General Braddock and went to America with the troops. He is frequently said to have been present at the defeat of Braddock's expedition in 1755, but this appears to confuse him with his son John Montresor, who was wounded in the battle (some accounts suggest illness prevented the father's presence). He spent most of the remainder of the French and Indian War in and around Albany, where his activities included the design and construction of numerous military fortifications, including a new fort on the site previously occupied by Fort William Henry, named Fort George. Montresor was promoted to Director and Lieutenant Colonel, Royal Engineers, 4 Jan. 1758.

Return to Britain
By 1760, he had risen to the role of Chief Engineer in the Provinces, and in recognition of his efforts in New York he was granted 10,000 acres (40 km2) of land on the eastern (Vermont) side of Lake Champlain. However, in that year ill health forced his return to England, followed by the resignation of his commission in the 14th Foot in 1762. He would later construct powder magazines at Purfleet, and was chief engineer at Chatham. Throughout his career, he also drafted numerous maps and plans of the areas around which he was stationed, and kept journals, which have been published.

James Gabriel Montresor married first, 11 June 1735, Mary Haswell, daughter of Robert Haswell, Master Attendant of the royal dockyard at Gibraltar. By her he had two daughters and five sons, most notable among these being John Montresor. Mary died 5 March 1761. He remarried 25 August 1766, Henrietta Fielding, daughter of novelist Henry Fielding who was already "in deep decline", and died months later, 11 December 1766. Montresor married as his third wife Frances Nickolls, daughter of H. Nickolls and widow of William Kemp. He died at Teynham, Kent, 6 January 1776.

title: James Gabriel Montresor


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Gerbert de Montreuil

Gerbert de Montreuil was a 13th-century French poet from the north of France.

He wrote Le Roman de la violette or Gérard de Nevers, one of the most outstanding medieval poems, famous for its vivid narrative and faithful depiction of contemporary customs. The poem underwent countless adaptations and imitations. It tells the trials of the unfortunate and innocent Euriant, who becomes an object of public dispute between Gérard de Nevers and Lisiard de Forez, the former taking her defense while the other suggests she is guilty of misconduct by claiming he knows of a violet-shaped mark on her bosom. The story percolated into Shakespeare's Cymbeline via Giovanni Boccaccio, and into Carl Maria von Weber's opera Euryanthe. Gerbert is possibly the author of "Gerbert's Continuation", one of the Four Continuations of Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.

title: Gerbert de Montreuil


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Boiler room

Boiler room may refer to:

 * Boiler room (building), a room or space in a building for mechanical equipment and its associated electrical equipment
 * Boiler room (business), a busy centre of activity, often selling questionable goods by telephone
 * Boiler Room (band), a nu metal band formed in 1996
 * Boiler Room (film), a 2000 U.S. film
 * Boiler Room (music project), a music project launched in London in 2010
 * Boiler room (ship), a compartment on a steamship that houses the boiler
 * Boiler Room, a restaurant launched by Vivian Howard
 * "The Boiler Room", an episode of the Tanner '88 television series

title: Boiler room


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Jorge Alvarez

Jorge Alvarez may refer to:

 * Jorge Álvarez Máynez (born 1985), Mexican politician
 * Jorge Álvarez (rower) (born 1959), Cuban Olympic rower
 * Jorge Álvarez (sport shooter) (born 1989), Cuban sport shooter
 * Jorge Montt Álvarez (1845–1922), vice-admiral of the Chilean navy and president of Chile from 1891 to 1896
 * Jorge Álvares (died 1521), Portuguese explorer
 * Jorge Álvarez (producer) (1932–2015), Argentine music producer
 * Jorge Álvarez (Chilean footballer) (born 1990), Chilean footballer
 * Jorge Álvarez (Honduran footballer) (born 1998), Honduran footballer

title: Jorge Alvarez


text:
Jorge Montt

Jorge Montt Álvarez (April 26, 1845 – October 8, 1922) was a vice admiral in the Chilean Navy and president of Chile from 1891 to 1896.

Early life
Born in Casablanca, Chile, He was a nephew of previous Chilean president Manuel Montt, and a cousin of future president Pedro Montt. After graduating from the naval academy in 1861, he served in the Chincha Islands War (1864-1866) and the War of the Pacific (1879-1883). He led the 1891 Chilean Civil War against President José Manuel Balmaceda to become provisional leader and eventually president in 1891.

Presidency
The close of the revolution against Balmaceda left the government of Chile in the hands of the junta under whose guidance the military and naval operations had been organized. Admiral Jorge Montt had been the head of this revolutionary committee, and he acted as president of the provisional government when the administration of the country changed hands after the victory of the Congressional party. An election was then immediately ordered to elect the president of the republic as well as representatives in the senate and chamber of deputies. Admiral Montt, as head of the executive power, staunchly refused to allow official influence to be brought to bear in any way in the presidential campaign. The great majority of the voters, however, required no pressure to decide who was in their opinion the man most fit to administer the affairs of the republic.

An election was held, and Admiral Montt was duly chosen by a nearly unanimous vote to be chief magistrate for the remaining time of the constitutional term of five years, till September 18, 1896. The senate and chamber of deputies were formally constituted in due course, and the government of the republic resumed normal conditions of existence. The new president showed admirable tact in dealing with the difficult problem he was called upon to face. Party feeling still ran high between the partisans of the two sides of the recent conflict. Admiral Montt took the view that it was politic and just to let bygones be bygones, and he acted conscientiously by this principle in all administrative measures in connection with the supporters of the late President Balmaceda. Early in 1892, amnesty was granted to the officers of the Balmaceda regime, and they were freely permitted to return to Chile without any attempts made against them. The first political act of national importance of the new government was the granting of control to the municipalities, which hitherto had possessed little power to direct local affairs and were not even permitted to make spending decisions of the municipal revenues to any important amount without first obtaining the consent of the central government. Almost absolute power was now given these corporations to manage their own concerns, and the organization of the police was placed in their hands; at a later period, however, it was found necessary to modify this latter condition. President Montt next turned his attention towards the question of how to best repair the damage caused to the country by eight months of civil warfare. The plan of public works authorized in 1887 was reconsidered, and the construction of portions of the various undertakings recommenced. The army and navy were reorganized. Additional instructors were brought from Germany, and all arms of the military service were placed on a thoroughly efficient footing in matters of drill and discipline. Several new and powerful cruisers were added to the navy, and the internal economy of this branch of the national defence was thoroughly inspected; many defects were remedied.

President Montt then took in hand the question of a reform of the currency, the abolition of nonconvertible paper money, and the re-establishment of a gold monetary standard for the republic. This reform of the currency became the keynote of the president's policy during the remainder of his term of office. Great opposition was raised by the representatives of the debtor class in congress to the suppression of the nonconvertible paper money, but in the end President Montt carried the day, and on February 11, 1895 a measure finally became law establishing a gold currency as the only tender in Chile. In July 1896, the Conversion Act was put in force, a dollar of 18d. being the monetary unit adopted.

In 1895, relations with the neighbouring republic of Argentina began to become somewhat strained in regard to the interpretation of the treaty concerning the boundary between the two countries. The treaties of 1881, 1893 and 1895 left doubts in the minds of both Chileans and Argentines as to the position of the frontier line. On April 17, 1896, another protocol was drawn up, by which the contending parties agreed to submit any differences to the arbitration of Great Britain, at the instance of one or both governments. President Montt had now fulfilled his term of office, and on September 18, 1896 he handed over the presidential power to his successor, Federico Errázuriz Echaurren, who had been duly elected in the month of June previously.

Post-presidency
Montt served as commander of the Chilean Navy from 1897 until his retirement in 1913. He then served as mayor of Valparaiso from 1915 to 1918. He died in Santiago in 1922.

title: Jorge Montt


text: User talk:68.239.158.62

title: User talk:68.239.158.62


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Pedro Montt

Pedro Elías Pablo Montt Montt (29 June 1849, Santiago, Chile – 16 August 1910, Bremen, Germany) was a Chilean political figure. He served as the president of Chile from 1906 to his death from a probable stroke in 1910. His government furthered railroad and manufacturing activities but ignored pressing social and labour problems.

Biography
The son of the former Chilean president Manuel Montt Torres and Rosario Montt Goyenechea, Pedro Montt graduated in law from the National Institute in 1870. He was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1876 and became its president in 1885. Montt held two posts in the cabinet of President José Manuel Balmaceda, but in 1891 he took an active part in the revolution that overthrew Balmaceda. He then went to the United States, first as an agent of the revolutionary junta and later (after U.S. recognition) as Minister.

Unsuccessful in his first bid for the presidency in 1901, Montt was elected by a large majority in 1906 as the candidate of the National Union ticket. His first action was to call out the army to suppress large-scale strikes in 1907, which resulted in the Santa María School massacre. His administration supported the construction of a railway that ran the length of the country and stimulated the production of nitrates and copper. It did little, however, to improve the living conditions of the people. In 1909, then-child-prodigy pianist Claudio Arrau played for Montt, who was so taken by the performance that he authorized a ten-year grant from the Chilean government for Arrau to study in Europe. In 1910, Montt left Chile for medical treatment in Germany, but died before he could return to Chile.

title: Pedro Montt