CMHHNKSS 



(.11 I OKD 



207 



in April 1848. On the outbreak of tin- \\iir 



with Kuss ia ho espoused the doctrines of the 

 ' Manchester school,' or ' Peace party.' Whilst 

 sitting for Ashton under-Lyne (1S.")7 6M) he with 

 appointed (is.'i't) president of tin- Board of Trade, 

 ami also iid-int^riin president of the Poor-law 

 ('omnii-sion. Tin' former office In- held until 

 1866. It \\as mainly through Gibson's instru- 

 mentality that the advertiMment duty was \-,- 

 pealed iii 1H.">:{, tin- newspaper stamp duty in ls.V>. 

 and in 18(51 tin- paper duty. From his defeat at 

 A-liloii under l.yin- in isiistill his death at Algiers, 

 _'." th February 18S4, ho took no prominent part in 

 public, life. 



Giddiness. See VERTIGO. 



See FKIIIIAR (NICHOLAS). 

 Josm A KI:I-:I>, an American states- 

 maii, was horn in Athens, Pennsylvania, 6th 

 October 1795, removed with his parents to Ohio 

 in 1806, was called to the har in 1820, and elected 

 to the Ohio legislature in 1826. He sat in congress 

 from 1838 to 1859, and was one of the most dis- 

 tinguished, outspoken, and aggreMive leaders of 

 the anti-slavery movement. In 1842 he was cen- 

 sured by a congressional vote (125 to 69) for liis 

 agitation, Imt at once- resigned and appealed to 

 his constituents, and was re-elected by a large 

 majority. In 1861 he was appointed consul- 

 general in Canada, and died at Montreal, 27th 

 May 1864. He published a volume of speeches 

 (1853), The Exiles of Florida (1858), and The 

 Rebellion: Its Authors and C'a*es (posthum. 1864). 



Gideon, the name of the greatest of all the 

 judges of Israel. He was the youngest son of 

 Joash, of the house of Abie/er, and lived with his 

 lather at Ophrah, in Manasseh. During his youth 

 Israel was sunk in idolatry and sloth, and was 

 oppressed by the plundering incursions of the 

 Amalekites and Midianites. The young Gideon 

 nursed his patriotic and religious wrath in quietness 

 until he saw that the people were ripe for resist - 

 ance to the enemy. The Book of Judges gives us 

 a dramatic glimpse of him ' threshing wheat by the 

 wine-press to hide it from the Midianites.' Con- 

 fident in the assurance of supernatural direction, he 

 mustered the people, next reduced the unwieldy 

 host to a handful of resolute men, fell suddenly 

 upon the enemy in tlie neighbourhood of Mount 

 Gill>oa, and routed them with great slaughter. 

 The effect of the victory was most decisive, and 

 Israel enjoyed ' quietness forty years in the days of 

 (lideon,' who was magnanimous enough to decline 

 the proffered crown. Gideon's name occurs also in 

 Heb. xi. 32, as that of a hero by faith, but nowhere 

 else. In 1 Sam. xii. 11 he is called Jerubbaal, and 

 Kuenen, refusing to accept the explanation offered 

 (Judges, vi. 31-32), thinks this his original name; 

 Gideon ( ' the hewer ' or ' warrior ' ) being an epithet 

 attached afterwards. There are good grounds for 

 believing the history of Gideon's conquest, given in 

 Judges, to be but a dramatised and epitomised 

 account of the course and issue of a struggle that 

 extended over a long period ; and that his role as 

 a religious reformer, instead of being completed in 

 early youth, was a continuous occupation through- 

 out a long life. 



Gien, a town in the French department of 

 Loiret, on the Loire, 38 miles SE. of Orleans, has 

 manufactures of pottery, and some trade in wine 

 and corn. Pop. 6833. 



Giesebrecht, WILHELM VON, historian, born 

 5th March 1814 in Berlin, became professor of 

 History at Kbnigsberg in 1857, and in 1862 at 

 Munich. His chief works are Geschirhti- <// 

 Deutschen Kaiserzeit (5 vols. 1855-80) ; Jahrbiichcr 

 des Deutsclicn A'ac/w (1840); a translation of 



.f Tom-* (l*l); DeuUdu RetUn (1871); 

 o* Bretcia (1873). Died Dec. 18, 1889. 

 Gleaeler, JOIIAXN HAUL Lirwwio, a great 



German \Miter of church history, wa* born 3d 

 Man-h I7'..'<, at I'ctcishagen, near Minden. He 

 made hi* studies ut Halle, and in 1813 volunteered 

 as a soldier during tin- war of liberation. After 

 the peace he returned to teaching, l>ecame conrcctor 

 of the gymnasium at Minden, next director of 

 the new gymnasium at ('leves. Hw 1'lntstthung 

 ini,l fntlii i'i- Si-ltirLxide d. Hchriftlichen Eitinyelicn 

 ( 1818) demolished the prevalent theory of a j/rimi- 

 tir>- written gospel, and procured him the chair of 

 Theology at the new university of Bonn. Hence 

 he was called to Giittingen in 1831, where he be- 

 came in 1837 a consistorial councillor, and died 8th 

 July 1854. His great work is the Lehrburh der 

 KirehmguehiekU (5 vols. 1824-57), of which the 

 last two volumes were edited by Kedepenning, who 

 added also a sixth, the DogwiengachicfUe, and pre- 

 fixed a Life to the fifth volume. Gieseler's pro- 

 found learning, judicial temper, and admirable 

 faculty of throwing fresh light upon the original 

 documents combine to make him an unusually 

 satisfactory historian, and indeed he falls short of 

 Neamler only in his rarest gift that profound 

 spiritual sense to which he owed his insight. The 

 English translation comes down only^to the begin- 

 ning of the Reformation ; the American, to the 

 peace of Westphalia. 



(lessen, a town of Hesse-Darmstadt, is 

 pleasantly situated at the confluence of the 

 Wieseck and the Lahn, 40 miles N. of Frankfort- 

 on-the-Main by rail. It is chiefly deserving of 

 notice for its university (founded in 1607), which 

 possesses well-appointed laboratories, collections, 

 and museums, and a good library, with upwards 

 of 50 professors, &c., and 500 students. Pop. (1875) 

 13,980; (1885) 19,001; (1895) 22,702. See three 

 works by Buchner ( 1879-86). 



Giffen, SIR ROBERT, K.C.B. (1895) and LL.D., 

 statistician and writer on trade and finance, was born 

 at Strathaven in Lanarkshire in 1837, studied at 

 Glasgow University, and was trained in a solicitor's 

 office. He entered journalistic life at Stirling in 

 1860, and two years later removed to London, where, 

 a strong free-trader, he was connected with the 

 Globe (until 1866), the Fortnightly Review, the 

 Examiner (1868-76), and the Daily News ( 1873-76). 

 In 1876 he was appointed chief of the statistical 

 department of the Board of Trade, and in 1893 of 

 the labour department also, but resigned in 1897. 

 He was president of the Statistical Society from 

 1882 to 1884, and has published Stock Exchange 

 Securities (1878), Essays in Finance (first series, 

 1879; 4th ed. 1886; second series, 1886), and 

 numerous official reports and papers. 



Gilford, ADAM, founder of the Scottish lecture- 

 ships in natural theology, was lorn in Edinburgh 

 in 1820, studied at the university there, and was 

 called to the Scotch bar in 1849. He became sheriff 

 of Orkney in 1865, was raised to the bench as Lord 

 Gilford in January 1S70, and diet! at Granton, near 

 Edinhmgh. 20th January 1SS7. By his will he left 

 25,000 to the university of Edinburgh, 20,000 

 each to Glasgow and Aberdeen, and 15,000 to 

 St Andrews, to endow lectureships in natural 

 theology, subject to no dogmatic tests n-hatso \ er. 

 The first lecturers appointed were Max Mailer, F. 1'.. 

 Tylor, Andrew Lang, and J. Hutchison Stirling. 



Gilford. WILLIAM, man of letters, was born at 

 Ashburton, Devonshire, in April 1756. Left an 

 orphan at twelve, he was first a cahiu-loy, then 

 for four years a shoemaker's apprentice, till in 1776 

 his attempts at versifying attracted the notice of a 

 local surgeon. With his assistance he proceeded 

 two years later as a Bible clerk to Exeter College, 



