REICHSTAG 



6543 



right. Upon his mother becoming 

 grand duchess of Parma, 1815, 

 the lad remained in Austria, 

 being expressly debarred from 

 the succession to the duchy. 

 In 1818 the emperor of Austria 

 made him duke of Reichstadt. He 

 died July 22, 1832. Rostand's play 

 L'Aiglon (the young eagle), 1900, 

 is written round the thwarted hopes 

 and ambitions which embittered 

 his life and hastened his death. 

 As L'Aiglon, Sarah Bernhardt 

 achieved one of her greatest suc- 

 cesses. See The Duke of Reich- 

 stadt, E. Wertheimer. Eng. trans. 

 1905 ; Napoleon's Son, C. Tschu- 

 di, Eng. trans. 1912. 



Reichstag. laterally, the day Or 

 the empire, a word often transla- 

 ted into English as diet. The rulers 

 of the medieval empire, like other 

 European sovereigns, were in the 

 habit of summoning their vassals 

 to consult with them, and so arose 

 the phrase Reichstag for the day 

 of such meeting. These meetings 

 became the diets of German history, 

 and gradually became more formal 

 and elaborate. The Reichstag met 

 whenever summoned by the em- 

 peror until 1663 ; until 1806 it met 

 regularly at Ratisbon. 



When in 1871 the German Em- 

 pire was founded, the name was 

 given to one of the two houses set 

 up in Berlin. It was composed 

 of 397 members elected by a popu- 

 lar franchise for five years. The 

 name and constitution of the 

 Reichstag were retained after the 

 changes of 1918. Its membership, 

 however, was raised to 466, and 

 their period of office reduced to 

 four years. All men and women 

 were given the power to vote. See 

 Berlin; Diet; Empire, Holy Roman; 

 Germany. 



Reichswehr (Ger., empire de- 

 fence). Name given after the 

 revolution of 1918 to the regular 

 army maintained by the German 

 government. The Reichswehr was 

 organized, like the army before 

 1918, on a territorial basis. Under 

 the peace treaty of 1919 its maxi- 

 mum was fixed at 100,000. See 

 Germany: History. 



Reid, SIB GEORGK (1841-1913). 

 Scottish portrait painter. Born at 

 Aberdeen, Oct. 31, 1841, and 

 trained as a 

 lithographer, 

 he studied 

 under Molling- 

 er and Israels. 

 He painted 

 genre hi the 

 Dutch man- 

 ner, and some 

 etraightfor- 



ward land- Sir George Eeid , 

 scapes, but is Scottish painter 

 best known by w. E. orey 



Reichstag, Berlin. 



The president addressing the German assembly at the 

 momentous sitting of Aug. 4, 1914 



his realistic portraiture. He was 

 elected A.R.S.A., 1870, R.S.A. in 

 1878, and P.R.S.A. in 1891, when 

 he was also knighted. He died 

 Feb. 9, 1913. 



Reid, SIR GEORGE (1845-1918). 

 Australian statesman. A son of the 

 manse, he was born in Renfrew- 

 shire, S c o t- 

 land, Feb. 25, 

 1845. In 1852 

 his parents 

 went to Aus- 

 tralia and set- 

 tled in Syd- 

 ney. In 1864 

 he entered the 

 civil service of 

 Sir George Reid, New South 

 Australian statesman Wales, becom- 



some years later. He was elected 

 to the state legislature in 1880, 

 became minister of public instruc- 

 tion in 1883, and, after three years 

 as leader of the opposition, was 

 premier, 1894-99. Reid was a 

 staunch free trader, and on that 

 account was not very enthusiastic 

 over the formation of the Common- 

 wealth in 1901. However, he en- 

 tered the first Commonwealth par- 

 liament, and was leader of the 

 opposition until he became pre- 

 mier in 1904. But his ministry 

 did not last twelve months, and in 

 1908 he retired from Australian 

 politics. In 1909 he was appointed 

 high commissioner to Great Britain, 

 and took up his residence in Lon- 

 don. He filled that post for five 

 years, and in 1916 entered Parlia- 

 ment as M.P. for St. George's, Han- 

 over Square. He died Sept. 12, 1918, 

 having been made G.C.B., 1916. 



Reid, SIR HUGH GILZEAN (1836- 

 1911). British journalist. Born 

 at Cruden, Aberdeenshire, Aug. 11, 

 1836, he was editor of newspapers 

 in Peterhead and Edinburgh as a 

 young man, and founded several 

 journals in Yorkshire, including 



The North Eastern Daily Gazette. 

 First president of the Institute of 

 Journalists, 1888-90, he was also 

 first president of the World's Press 

 Parliament, U.S.A., and sat as 

 Liberal mem- 

 ber for Aston 

 Manor, 1886. 

 He took an ac- 

 tive interest in 

 the affairs of 

 the Belgian 

 Congo, was 

 knighted in 

 1893, and re- 

 ceived the 



Ordre de Leo- 

 pold, 1897, and 



Sir Hugh Reid, 

 British journalist 



Elliotl A fry 



the Ordre de la Couronne, 1899. 

 He published several miscellaneous 

 volumes, and died Nov. 5, 1911. 



Reid, THOMAS (1710-96). Scot- 

 tish philosopher. Born at Aber- 

 deen, April 26, 1710, and educated 

 there, he was 

 appointed pro- 

 fessor at Mari- 

 schal College, 

 j Aberdeen, 1752 

 -64, and sub- 

 sequently a t 

 Glasgow. He 

 was the origin- 

 ator of the so- 

 Thomas Reid, called philoso- 

 Scottish philosopher p hy o f " com- 

 mon sense," meaning thereby the 

 beliefs which all rational beings 

 have in common. He was opposed 

 to Berkeley's idealism, according to 

 which we do not really perceive 

 any external things, but only ideas. 

 The latter is bound to lead to scep- 

 ticism and can be combated only 

 by the common-sense conviction 

 that nature affords us an immedi- 

 ate certainty of our own existence 

 and of the existence of sensual 

 external things. Common -sense 

 embodies a number of irrefutable, 

 fundamental truths, independent of 

 experience. Reid died Oct. 7, 1796. 



