occupied by the British, to whom they were ceded by the treaty of Paris in 1814. Throughout this period Mons. J. B. Quéau de Quincy (1748–1827) administered the islands. This remarkable man, a Parisian by birth, became governor of the Seychelles in 1789 under the monarchy, continued to serve under the First Republic, and Napoleon I.,—acknowledging the British authority when ships of that nationality entered the harbour,—and when the Seychelles were made a dependency of Mauritius was appointed by the British agent-civil. In all he governed the islands thirty-eight years, dying in 1827. His tomb is in Government House garden. Under de Quincy’s administration the islands prospered; the cultivation of cotton and coffee was then begun, much of the land being deforested for this purpose—a deforestation practically completed when vanilla was introduced. In 1834 the abolition of slavery led to a decline in the prosperity of the islands, but as many of the slaves captured by British cruisers off the east coast of Africa. were landed at Seychelles economic conditions were gradually ameliorated. There was also a slight immigration of coolies from India. From 1810 until 1872 the administration was dependent upon Mauritius; from that date onward greater powers were given to the local authorities, until in 1903 Seychelles was erected into a separate colony with its own governor. The over-dependence placed on one product caused waves of depression to alternate with waves of prosperity, and the depression following the fall in the price of vanilla was aggravated by periods of drought, “agricultural sloth and careless extravagance.”[1] But during 1905–1910 successful efforts were made to broaden the economic resources of the colony. A natural field for the energies of the surplus population was also found in colonization work in British East Africa. The islands were chosen in 1897 as the place of deportation of Prempeh, ex-king of Ashanti, and in 1901 Mwanga, ex-king of Uganda, and Kabarega, ex-king of Unyoro were also deported thither. Mwanga died at the Seychelles in May 1903.
Dependencies.—The outlying islands forming part of the colony of Seychelles consist of several widely scattered groups and have a total population of about 900. The Amirante archipelago is situated on a submarine bank west and south-west of the Seychelles, the nearest island being about 120 m. from Mahé. The archipelago consists of a number of coral islets and atolls comprising the African Islands (4), the St Joseph group (8), the Poivre Islands (9) and the Alphonso group (3). Farther south and within 170 m. of Madagascar is the Providence group (3) formed by the piling up of sand on a surface reef of crescent shape. The Cosmoledo Islands, 12 in number, lie some 210 m. west of Providence Island, while 70 m. further west are the Aldabra Islands (q.v.). The chief island in the Cosmoledo group is 9 m. long by 6 broad. Coetivy (transferred from Mauritius to the Seychelles in 1908) lies about 100 m. S.S.E. of Platte. The majority of the outlying islands are extremely fertile, coco-nut trees and maize growing luxuriantly. Several of the islands contain valuable deposits of guano and phosphate of lime, and their waters are frequented by edible and shell turtle. Like the Amirantes all the other islands named are of coral formation.
See Unpublished Documents on the History of the Seychelles Islands Anterior to 1810, with a cartography and a bibliography compiled by A. A. Fauvel (Mahé, 1909); Ancient Maps of Seychelles Archipelago, a portfolio containing 28 maps (Mahé, 1909); J. Stanley Gardiner, “The Seychelles Archipelago” (with bibliographical notes), in Geo. Jnl. vol. 29 (1907) and “The Indian Ocean,” Geo. Jnl. vol. 28 (1906). See also the annual reports on the Seychelles issued by the Colonial Office; those from 1901 onward contain valuable botanical reports. For the dependencies see R. Dupont, Report on a Visit of Investigation to St Pierre, Astove, Cosmoledo, Assumption and the Aldabra Group of the Seychelles Islands (Seychelles, 1907).
SEYDLITZ, FRIEDRICH WILHELM, Freiherr von (1721–1773), Prussian soldier, one of the greatest cavalry generals of history, was born on the 3rd of February 1721 at Calcar in Cleve duchy, where his father, a major of Prussian cavalry, was stationed. After his father’s death in 1728 he was brought up in straitened circumstances by his mother, but at the age of thirteen he went as a page to the court of the margrave of Schwedt, who had been his father’s colonel. Here he acquired a superb mastery of horsemanship, and many stories are told of his feats, the best known of which was his riding between the sails of a wind-mill in full swing. In 1740 he was commissioned a cornet in the margrave’s regiment of Prussian cuirassiers. Serving as a subaltern in the first Silesian War, he was taken prisoner in May 1742 after so gallant a defence that King Frederick offered to exchange an Austrian captain for him. In 1743 the king made him a captain in the 4th Hussars, and he brought his squadron to a state of conspicuous efficiency. H'e served through the second war, and after Hohenfriedberg was promoted major at the age of twenty-four. At the close of the war he had an opportunity of successfully handling 15 squadrons in front of the enemy, and this, with other displays of his capacity of leading cavalry in the searching tests of Frederick’s “reviews,” secured his promotion in 1752 to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and in 1753 to the command of the 8th cuirassiers. Under his hands this regiment soon became a pattern to the rest of the army. In 1755 he was made colonel. Next year the Seven Years’ War, that was to make his name immortal, broke out. In 1757, regardless of the custom of keeping back the heavy cavalry in reserve, he took his regiment to join the advanced guard, at Prague he nearly lost his life in attempting to ride through a marshy pool, and at Kolin, at the head of a cavalry brigade, he distinguished himself in checking the Austrian pursuit by a brilliant charge. Two days later the king made him major-general and gave him the order pour le mérite, which promotion he felt to be no more than his deserts, for to Zieten’s congratulations he responded: “It was high time, Excellency, if they wanted more work out of me. I am already thirty-six.” Four times in the dismal weeks that followed the disaster of Kolin, Seydlitz asserted his energy and spirit in cavalry encounters, and on, the morning of Rossbach Frederick, superseding two senior generals, placed Seydlitz in command of the whole of his cavalry. The result of the battle was the complete rout and disorganization of the enemy, and in achieving that result only seven battalions of Frederick’s army had fired a shot. The rest was the work of Seydlitz and his 38 squadrons. The same night the king gave him the order of the Black Eagle, and promoted him lieutenant-general. But he had received a wound in the mélée, and for some months he was away from the army. He rejoined the king in 1758, and at the battle of Zorndorf Seydlitz’s cavalry again saved the day and won the victory. At Hochkirch with 108 squadrons he covered the Prussian retreat, and in the great disaster of Kunersdorf he was severely wounded in a hopeless attempt to storm a hill held by the Russians. During his convalescence he married Countess Albertine Hacke. He rejoined the army in May 1760, but his health was so impaired that Frederick sent him home again. It was not until 1761 that he reappeared at the front. He now commanded a wing of Prince Henry’s army, composed of troops of all arms, and many doubts were expressed as to his fitness for this command, as his service had hitherto been with the cavalry exclusively. But he answered his critics by his conduct at the battle of Freyburg (October 29, 1762), in which, leading his infantry and his cavalry in turn, he decided the day. After the peace of Hubertusburg he was made inspector-general of the cavalry in Silesia, where eleven regiments were permanently stationed and whither Frederick sent all his most promising officers to be trained by him. In 1767 he was made a general of cavalry. But his later years were clouded by domestic unhappiness. His wife was unfaithful to him, and his two daughters, each several times married, were both divorced, the elder once and the younger twice. His formerly close friendship with the king was brought to an end by some misunderstanding, and it was only in his last illness, and a few weeks before his death, that they met again. Seydlitz died of paralysis at Ohlau on the 27th of August 1773.
See Varnhagen von Ense, Das Leben des Generals von Seydlitz (Berlin, 1834); and Bismarck, Die kgl. preussische Reiterei unter Friedrich dem Grossen (Karlsruhe, 1837).
SEYMOUR, or St Maur, the name of an English family in which several titles of nobility have from time to time been created, and of which the duke of Somerset is the head. The family was settled in Monmouthshire in the 13th century. The original form of the name, which has been resumed by the dukes of Somerset since 1863, seems to have been St Maur, of which Camden says that Seymour was a later corruption. It appears
- ↑ Colonial Reports . . . Seychelles (1907).
