BSP0U8ALS 290 E8TR0KIA
the Armenian Rite. Rt. Rev. Joseph Melkisedekian, brought up in the Orthodox faith, and at the same
b. 22 July, 1848, ordained 2 April, 1874, was period proceedings were taken against Lutheran
appointed to this see 27 August, 1911, and filed pastors who recognized convert6 from the Orthodox
it until his death, 23 January, 1920. From 1915 Church. Five-sixths of the people are Lutherans,
until 1918 he was interned by the Turks at Eghin. According to the new constitution (15 June, 1920)
Out of a total population of 500,000 inhabitants, there is no state religion in Esthonia; freedom of
10,000 are Cathoncs. The 1920 statistics credit the relidon and conscience prevails. Ecclesiastically
diocese with 41 missionary priests, 2 regular priests, Estnonii. belongs to the archdiocese of Mohileff
and 66 churches or chapels. The see is at present (q.v.). On 11 April, 1919, the Holy See recognized
(1922) vacant. provisionally the National Council of Esthonia as
nage, whether umUteral or bilaterel.£it is not ex. ^cognition, which was accorded by the Canfinkl conted as prescribed m the decree "Ne temere,' is gecrltaiy of State 10 October, 1921. void m both the internal and the external forum EDUCAHON.-In 1919 there were in Esthonia 1257 The. text Of the canon makes provision for^e elementary schools with four years' couree. Of inability of either or both of the parties to wnte t^ese 1227 were supported by community, town, whether that anses from illiteracy, or from a ^^ ^f^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^ private schools. The num- physical cause. A promise of marnage, even if ^er of higher schools with seven yeare* course vahd and mexcusably violated cannot be the basis amounted to 211, seven of which were private, of an action to compel one to marry, though it ^here were also 85 middle-class schools for general gives a ji«t claim for damages if any resulted, education; 32 of these were private schools, mostly Espousab do not now create a matrunomal impedi- supported by the government. There ar« teachers' ment; Uiey may be dissolved by mutual consent, geidnaries in Tallin, Tartu, and Rakwere, naviga- '*'v!^,^^^^f^^^rS3S%^^%Ji^}{ M iw tion schools in Tallin, Kasmu. Kuresaai«, and
PwwmTB, The New Church Law on Matnnumv (Philadelphia, ^amu, as alSO Commercial SCnoolS, agricultural
1921). 84-41: DB Smet. De SponMolibv* et Matrimonio (Bruges, schools, and industrial schools. Since 1721 the 1920). I. 8-31. educational ^stem of the province has been in the
Esthonia, an independent republic, formed from hands of the Russian administration, and has not the former Russian Estland, the northern part of differed from that prevailing in other Govern- Livland, the northwestern portion of the Pskoff ments," but the earlier period of German domi- Government, and the islands of Saaremaa (Oesel), nance has left its impression on higher education. Hiiumaa (Dago), and Muhumaa in the Baltic Sea. The University of Dorpat, founded in 1632 by Gus- It is bounded on the east by Peipus Lake and tavus Adolphus, was a center of German culture, Russia, on the south by Latvia, on the west by and although it disappeared for a time during the the Baltic Sea, and on the north by the Gulf of wars of the eighteenth century, it was re-establidied Finland. The country is 217 miles long and about in 1802 by Alexander I on the model of a German 124 miles broad, the total area being about 23,160 university, and the monopoly of the Germans was sq. miles. The population, about 1,750,000, is com- not seriously challenged until the establishment of posed of Esthonians (95%), Germans (Baits, 1%). the German Empire antagonized the Russian Gov- Russians (0%), Letts (0.0%), Swedes (.08%), and emment. In 1889 Russian influence prevailed in Jews (j05%). The republic is divided into nine the university, and' in protest the Germans closed districts: Harju (Tallinn-Reval), Wiru (Rakwere- their higher educational establishments. After the Wesenberg), Jarva (Paide-Wrisenstein), Laane- revolution of 1905 German institutions were again Weik (Hapsal), Tartu (Tartu-Dorpat), Worn, regarded with favor, and a German union was Wiljandi (Wiljandi-Fellin), Pamu (Pemau), Saar- formed to found schools, German bein^ again recog- emaa-Oesel (Kuresaare-Arensburg). The capital, nised as a permissible language in private schools. Tallin (Reval), was founded in 1219 and has 160,000 The University of Dorpat was re-opened on 1 inhabitants. Pamu, on the Gulf of Riga, has December, 1919, as an I^honian seat of learning, 23,000, and Narva 35,000. The Esthonians (Ehsts) maintained by the Government. The attendance in nationality, speech, and customs belons to the in 1920 was 2127. The Technicum at Tallin is Ugro-Finnish familv and therefore to the Ural- a higher professional school with 500 students Altaic branch of the race. They first appear in (1920).
history as a predatoiy-piratical race in the Northern Eoonomic Education. — ^Even without the com- Baltio provmce, who are supposed to have mi- plications brought about by the European War, grated from the interior of Ruasia to the Baltic the province of Esthonia was in an extremely dis- coast, in advance of the two Finnish tribes of turbed state and became the scene of destructive Tavasti and Koreli. In physiognomy the Esthon- revolutionary struggles. The Russian authorities ians closely resemble the Finns of Tavastland, a were trying to Russianize the country by force, the Ural-Altaic Mongohan type. inhabitants were struggling for land possession and
Rbuoion. — ^When Esthonia was incorporated with better industrial concutions, and the Germans were Russia the whole population, German and native, aiming at industrial dominion. At the present belonged to the Lutheran Church, but with the time mdustries of all kinds, as weU as agriculture, government of the Tsar (1721) came also the Orth- to a lai^ge extent, are in a state of suspension, odox Church, of which he was the titular head. Agriculture is the chief occupation, half the area He at once granted religious freedom, and there of Esthonia being taken up by large landed prop- was henceforward a new religious influence which, erties of more than 2000 hectares each. An agrarian tended to identify itself with the movement for law, passed on 10 October, 1919, gave the Govem- spreadixig Russian institutions in the Baltic prov- ment the power to take over, for the purpose of inces. Orthodoxy and Lutheranism competed for creating a land reserve," any estates belonging to the religious allegiance of the people, and after the Bait nobility, and any arable land, except that 1883 the Orthodox Church was represented as being owned by charitable institutions or by farmers, not endangered by Lutheran propaganda. Mixed mar- noble, holding less than about 400 acres of land, riages were prohibited (1886), except when written Compensation for the land itself was to be fixed guarantees were given that the children should be later by special legislation. The purpose of the law
