ABD-EL KADER

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ABELARD

Abd-el-Kader (abd'el ka'dir) (born 1806, died 1883), ^was emir or prince of the Arab tribes in Algeria He is famous for his stubborn resistance to the French, who, m 1830, had driven out the Turks, the former rulers of the country For eighteen years he fought with bravery and high generalship against the larger forces of the French Five successive generals were sent against him, some of the tribes were bribed to desert, and the Moors were made to attack him Yet he utterly defeated the French twice, and kept up a successful resistance till 1848, when he was defeated, and soon after captured and imprisoned for four years at Pans In i860 Abd-el-Kader was in Damascus, and, at great risk to himself, aided the Christians during the Moham-

medan riots In the later years of his life he was a pensioner of the French government

Abdul-Hamid II (ab'dŏŏl-ha'mĭd), Sultan of Turkey and tributary states, from 1876 to 1909, was the second son of Sultan Abdul-Medjid, of the House of Othman He was born Sept 22, 1842, and succeeded to the throne on the deposition of his elder brother, Murad V, on Aug 31, 1876 He was a Turk and Mussulman of the old school and consequently showed little inclination towards reform withm the Ottoman Empire, which was stipulated by the Treaty of Berlin, in 1878, following on the war with Russia of the previous year, which proved disastrous to the Porte In later years he lived under the dread of assassination and showed distrust even of his own ministers He looked askant at England's operations in Egypt, and was believed to have secretly stimulated the rebellion of Arabi Pasha in 1882

The same malign influence was also known to be at work in Armenia, where the Christian world was horrified at the atrocities committed there by the Turkish soldiery Resistance to the outrage and rapine there has been greatly handicapped by jealousies among the European Powers

In 1908, following a revolt led by the Young Turks' party and involving the army, Abdul was forced to grant a Constitution, and an assembly, but in April 1909, a revolt against the new order was instigated by the Sultan This was quickly put down Abdul Hamid was dethroned and his brother Reshed Effendi was placed on the throna as Mehmed V The change was attendee] with massacres at Adana and other places

A Becket. See Becket

A'bel, the second son of Adam, was a shepherd and offered a sacrifice of the "first lings of his flock " His offering was preferred to that of his brother Cam, who in anger killed him This violent death gave him the title of the "first martyr "

Ab'elard (ab'e-lard), Pierre, a brilliant French scholar, was born in Brittany in 1079 Moved by a thirst for knowledge he gave his family inheritance up to his brothers and went to Pans, where he devoted himself to study. His fearless independence intellectually, and his success in, public debates, led him to establish a school of his own, which became so famous that other teachers were almost deserted He fell in love with Héloise, a beautiful and accomplished girl, one of his pupils As marriage would interfere with his rising in the church, Abelard and Héloise were secretly united Their union soon became known, and they separated, Abelard becoming a monk and Héloise a nun Devoting himself to theology he was tried and convicted of heresy, and driven to found a hermitage, which he called the Paraclete He gave up this

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