Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/824

SECESSIOIT. 746 SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. slavery from the Territories. (See Teruitoiues. ) In 1847. wheii Uie iiuesUon began to u.-.suiiie an acute stage. Caltiouii uiuiertook to secure the co- operation of the slave States in a movement looking toward secession, but the plan failed. The enactment of the so-called Compromise Measures of 1850 (q.v.) again raised the ques- t ion, but in one or two Southern States, where it was made an issue, the secessionists were de- feated. Then came the passage in some of the Northern States of so-called personal liberty laws in contravention of the Fugitive Slave Law, the John Brown raid, and the election of President Lincoln, all of which intensified the feeling in the South in favor of withdrawal from the Lnion. In the South the right of secession was regarded as one of the reserved powers of the States, there being no prohibition in this re- spect in the Constitution nor any power conferred upon the Federal Government to compel a State to remain in the Union against its wishes. It is worthy of note that as late as ISGO many persons of prominence in the North, among them Horace Greeley, acknowledged the right of secession, only insisting that the step should be taken "with the deliberation and gravity befitting so momentous an issue." The regular machinery by which the work of secession was accomplished w'as a State convention called by the Legislature or self assembled, as in Texas. See Ci^iL War; COXFEDKRATE St.TE.S OF AMERICA; and UNITED States, ami authorities cited under those titles. SECESSION, War of. See Civil War in America. SECESSIONISTS. In modern German art, more especially in painting, the adherents of that tendency which, in subject, form, and color- ing, deviated from traditional conceptions to such an e.xtent as to result in the secession of the younger generation of artists from the older art unions, and in the arrangement of separate exhibitions by the Munich, Vienna, and Berlin ■Secessions' respectively. SECHTER, seiv'ter, Simon (1788-1807). An Austrian music teacher and contrapuntist, born at Friedberg. Bohemia. In 1851 he became Court organist and professor of harmony and composi- tion at the Vienna Conservatory. He wrote much church music, numerous fugues, pianoforte pieces, preludes, the burlesque opera Ali Hitsch-Hatsch (1844). a Geyteralhass-Schule, and songs. His greatest work is Die frvundsiitze der musikal- ischcn Kompoxiiion (185.3-54), a most valuable musical treatise. SECKEWDORFF, zek'cn-dorf, Friedricii llEixHii'ii, Ciuiit (1C73-1763). A German field- marshal and di])lomat. He was born at Konigs- berg. Franeonia. He served successivelv. from 1093, in the English-Dutch and imperial armies, rose to the rank of colonel, and fought with conspicuous bravery during the War of the Spanish Succession. From 1709 in the service of Augustus II. of Poland and Saxonv, he operated m Flanders (1710-11) and attended the peace negotiations at The Hague. Made lieutenant- general after suppressing an uprising of the Poles in 1713. he took part in the siege of Stralsund by the Prussians (1715). Appointed lieutenant- fieldniarshal by Emperor Charles VI.. in 1717 he fought at Belgrade, and in 1718 in Sicilv and was raised to the dignity of count of the Empire In 1721 he became Governor of Leipzig, but also remained in the imperial service, was made Feld- zeugmeister in 1723, and sent as Ambassador to Berlin in 1720. Obtaining leave to join the army on the Khine, in 1734, he again rendered important services, and, although greatly ham- pered by the inactivity of Prince Leopold of An- halt-Dessau, signally defeated the French at Klausen, October 20, 1735. He was sent to Hun- gary in 1737 as field-marshal to command the imperial forces against the Turks. Victorious at first, he was blamed for the unsuccessful progress of the campaign, was recalled to Vienna, tried, and was kept in durance at Gratz until Novem- ber, 1740, when the investigation was suspended. In 1741 he resigned his offices and, transferring his allegiance to Bavaria, rendered valuable ser- vices to Emperor Charles VII. during the War of the Austrian Succession. On the election of Em- peror Francis I. Seckendorff obtained from Maria Theresa his reinstatement into all his former offices. In December, 1758, Frederick II., who bore him a grudge for the advice given to Austria, had him kidnapped by a detail of thirty hussars, while he was at church, and kept him in cu.stody at Magdeburg until May, 1759. Seck- endorff died at Meuselwitz, November 23, 1703. SECKENDORFF, Gistav Anton, Baron (1775-1823). A German writer, born at Meusel- witz. After studying at Leipzig, Freiburg, and Wittenberg, he traveled for two vears in the United States (1796-98). He chiefiy devoted himself, however, to recitations and lectures on aesthetics, which he delivered under the pseudo- nym of Patrick Peale, and to literature. In 1814 he was a]ipointed professor at the Carolinum in Brunswick, but in 1821 went again to America and died in poverty at Alexandria, Louisiana. His works include the tragedies Otto Til. (1805) and Orsina (1816), a sequel to Lessing's Emilia Galotti; Kritik der Kunst (1812) ; and Bcitriige zur Philosopliie des Herzens (1814). SECKENDORFF, Veit Ludwig von (1020- 92). A German statesman and historian, born at Herzogenauraeh, near Erlangen. Upon leav- ing the LTniversity of Strassburg he entered the service of his patron, Ernst the Pious, Duke of Gotha, rose to the post of privy councilor and chancellor, and brought about important reforms in the ducal territories. In 1604 he became chancellor to Duke Moritz of Saxony-Zeitz. after whose death in 1081 Seckendorff retired to his estate at Meuselwitz. Called to Berlin, in 1091, by the Elector Frederick III, of Brandenburg, to adjust certain sectarian difficulties, he was re- warded with the appointment as chancellor of tli(> newly established university at Halle. A distin- guished student of political science and the fore- most Protestant Church historian of his time, he published Der dcutsche Fiirstei^fitaat (1055) . for a long time the standard work of its kind at the Ger- man universities; Der Christenstaat (1685) ; and. most important of all, the Comnicntarius His- toriciis ct Apolopetictis de Lutheranismo (1688), a documentary refutation of Malmbourg's His- toire dii Luthfranisme. SECOND. For musical usage, see Interval; for mathematical, see CIRCLE. SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST. The re- turn of .Tesus Christ in visible form to earth. On the basis of certain sayings of Jesus, the early