FRIENDLY SOCIETIES 



with 5502 inhabitants, and of a manufacturing 

 town in the north of Bohemia, on the Wittig, 16 

 miles N. of Reichenberg by rail, with a pop. of 4817. 

 The last gave name to the duchy from which Wallen- 

 stein (q. v.) took his title of Duke of Fried land. 



Friedland, VALENTIN, a remarkable educa- 

 tionist, generally called Trotzendorf, from his 

 birthplace, near Gorlitz, in Prussian Silesia, was 

 born 14th February 1490. At Leipzig he studied 

 Latin under Peter Mosellanus and Greek under 

 Richard Crocus, and he began his career as a teacher 

 in the school at Gorlitz. On the dawn of the 

 Reformation he proceeded to Wittenberg, arid 

 studied under Luther and Melanchthon. Settling 

 at Goldberg, in Silesia, as rector of the gymnasium 

 there in 1531, Friedland introduced into his 

 school a novel system of instruction and of dis- 

 cipline, which soon spread the fame of the institu- 

 tion through all the adjoining countries of Europe. 

 The principal feature of the disciplinary system 

 was that the preservation of order and decorum 

 was left in the hands of the boys themselves. 

 Instruction was imparted through the medium of 

 academic discussions, coupled with frequent repe- 

 titions and examinations. Friedland died, 26th 

 April 1556, at Liegnitz, whither he had removed his 

 school two years before. See the biographies by 

 Herrmann (1727), Frosch (1818), Pinzger (1825), 

 Kohler(1848), and Loschke (1856). 



Friedrich, JOHANN, a Catholic theologian, 

 a leader with Dollinger in the Old Catholic move- 

 ment. Born in Franconia in 1836, he became a 

 professor of Theology at Munich in 1865 ; assisted 

 at the Vatican Council in 1870 ; and subsequently, 

 in life and labours, has been identified with the 

 Old Catholics (q.v. ). 



Friedrichroda, a town of Thiiringen in the 

 charming Schilfwasser valley, 13 miles SW. of 

 Gotha by rail, is a favourite summer-resort, receiv- 

 ing some 7000 visitors yearly. Here is the Duke 

 of Gotha's beautiful country seat, Reinhardsbrunn, 

 on the site of the old abbey of that name, destroyed 

 in the Peasant War. Pop. (1895) 4248. 



Friedrifhsdorf, a town in the Prussian 

 province of Hesse-Nassau, on the southern slope of 

 the Taunus, 3 miles NE. of Homlmrg. It was 

 founded in 1687 by thirty-two Huguenot families, 

 and its 1200 inhabitants still speak French. 



Friedriclisrull, the castle and estate of Prince 

 Bismarck, in LauenLmrg, 16 miles SE. of Hamburg. 



Friendly Islands, or TONGA GROUP, lie 

 250 miles ESE. of Fiji (q.v.), number 32 inhabited 

 and about 150 small islands, and consist of three 

 sub-groups, with a collective area of only 385 sq. m. 

 Tonga-tabu ( 130 sq. m. ) is the largest ; and next in 

 importance are Eooa, Vavu, Namuka and Lefuka, 

 Tofoa, Late, and Kao. The great majority are of 

 coral formation ; but some are volcanic ; there are 

 several active volcanoes, such as Tofoa (2781 feet) 

 arid Late (1787); and earthquakes are frequent. 

 During a severe volcanic disturbance in October 

 1885 a small island 20 miles north-west of Honga 

 Hapai was upheaved, and named Sandfly Island, 

 after the government schooner which first visited it. 

 A treaty was concluded with Germany in 1876, 

 with Great Britain in 1879 ; the convention between 

 Britain and Germany in 1886 provided for the neu- 

 trality of this archipelago, and in 1899 Germany 

 renounced all her rights hero in favour of Britain. 

 The Friendly Islands were discovered by Tasman 

 in 1643, but received their collective name from 

 Cook, who visited them in 1777. Both these navi- 

 gators found the soil closely and highly culti- 

 vated, and the people apparently unprovided with 

 arms. The climate is salubrious, but humid ; 

 hurricanes are frequent. Among the products of 

 the islands are tropical fruits, copra, coffee, sponges, 



cocoa-nuts, and arrowroot. The imports in 1894 

 amounted to 82,831, and the exports to 67,633. 

 The flora resembles that of the Fiji group ; but 

 the native animals are very few. In the south part 

 of Tonga-tabu there is an ancient monument of two 



FRIENDLY I s- 



EnglishMiles 

 o 20 40" 60 8c 



^ Vavu 

 ^Cv Group 



lEooa 





perpendicular rectangular blocks of stone about 

 40 feet high, with a slab across the top, and thereon 

 a stone bowl. The stones must have been brought 

 by sea. 



The Friendly Islands were first visited by mis- 

 sionaries in 1797. In 1827 the work of evangelisa- 

 tion fell into the hands of the Wesleyan Methodists, 

 and, after a lengthened and perilous struggle with 

 the savage paganism of the inhabitants, it was 

 crowned with success. Almost all the islanders 

 (who, unlike the Fijians, belong to the fair 

 Polynesian stock ) are now Christians ; many can 

 speak English, and schools are numerous. In 

 mental development, skill in house-building, &c. , 

 they are superior to other South Sea islanders. 

 They are, however, decreasing in numbers ; once 

 estimated at 40,000 or 50,000, they had dwindled 

 to 17,500 in 1893. The various islands used to be 

 governed by independent chiefs, but in 1845 they 

 were brought under the rule of King George (1818- 

 93), who in 1862 gave the islands a 'constitution' 

 and summoned a parliament. He was succeeded by 

 his great-grandson, George II. See H. S. Cooper's 

 Coral Islands ( 1880), and Basil Thompson's Diver- 

 sions of a Prime Minister ( 1895). 



Friendly Societies! The prototype of the 

 modern friendly society has been found in the 

 medieval trade or craft guilds ; and there is 

 some connection between the older specimens of 

 the village benefit club and these guilds, which 

 were the friendly societies of their day. During 

 the nonage of Edward VI. the craft guilds were 

 disestablished and disendowed (their revenues 

 becoming the prey of greedy courtiers); but there 

 are traces in some rural districts of England that 

 the convivial, if not the beneficial, aspect of the 

 old guilds survives in the annual feast of the village 

 club. The germ, however, of the present system of 

 mutual provident associations under the friendly 

 society form is contained in Defoe's Essays on 

 Several Projects (1696), in which the author of 

 Robinson Crusoe advocated the promotion of 

 ' societies formed by mutual assurance for the 

 relief of the members in seasons of distress ... by 

 which not a creature so miserable or so poor but 

 should claim subsistence as their due, not ask 

 it of charity.' Indeed, it would seem as though 

 Defoe was only seeking to extend the operations of 



