Fez, this was reported as indicating an absolute sale of the
country. The fanaticism of the people was aroused, and a
revolt broke out near the Algerian frontier. Such was the
condition of things when the news of the Anglo-French Agreement
of 1904 came as a blow to Abd-el-Aziz, who had relied on
England for support and protection against the inroads of
France. On the advice of Germany he proposed the assembly of
an international conference at Algeciras in 1906 to consult
upon methods of reform, the sultan's desire being to ensure
a condition of affairs which would leave foreigners with no
excuse for interference in the control of the country, and
would promote its welfare, which Abd-el-Aziz had earnestly
desired from his accession to power. The sultan gave his
adherence to the Act of the Algeciras Conference, but the
state of anarachy into which Morocco fell during the latter
half of 1906 and the beginning of 1907 showed that the young
ruler lacked strength sufficient to make his will respected
by his turbulent subjects. In May 1907 the southern tribes
invited Mulai Hafid, an elder brother of Abd-el-Aziz, and
viceroy at Marrakesh, to become sultan, and in the following
August Hafid was proclaimed sovereign there with all the usual
formalities. In the meantime the murder of Europeans
at Casablanca had led to the occupation of that port by
France. In September Abd-el-Aziz arrived at Rabat from Fez
and endeavoured to secure the support of the European powers
against his brother. From France he accepted the grand cordon
of the Legion of Honour, and was later enabled to negotiate a
loan. His leaning to Christians aroused further opposition
to his rule, and in January 1908 he was declared deposed by
the ulema of Fez, who offered the throne to Hafid. After
months of inactivity Abd-el-Aziz made an effort to restore
his authority, and quitting Rabat in July he marched on
Marrakesh. His force, largely owing to treachery, was
completely overthrown (August 19th) when near that city,
and Abd-el-Aziz fled to Settat within the French lines
round Casablanca. In November he came to terms with his
brother, and thereafter took up his residence in Tangier
as a pensioner of the new sultan. He declared himself more
than reconciled to the loss of the throne, and as looking
forward to a quiet peaceful life. (See MOROCCO, History.)
ABD-EL-KADER (c. 1807-1883), amir of Mascara, the great
opponent of the conquest of Algeria by France, was born near
Mascara in 1807 or 1808. His family were sherifs or descendants
of Mahomet, and his father, Mahi-ed-Din, was celebrated
throughout North Africa for his piety and charity. Abd-el
Kader received the best education attainable by a Mussulman
of princely rank, especially in theology and philosophy, in
horsemanship and in other manly exercises. While still a
youth he was taken by his father on the pilgrimage to Mecca
and Medina and to the tomb of Sidi Abd-el-Kader El Jalili at
Bagdad--events which stimulated his natural tendency to religious
enthusiasm. While in Egypt in 1827, Abd-el-Kader is stated
to have been impressed, by the reforms then being carried out
by Mehemet Ali with the value of European civilization, and
the knowledge he then gained affected his career. Mahi-ed-Din
and his son returned to Mascara shortly before the French
occupation of Algiers (July 1830) destroyed the government
of the Dey. Coming forward as the champion of Islam against
the infidels, Abd-el-Kader was proclaimed amir at Mascara in
1832. He prosecuted the war against France vigorously and
in a short time had rallied to his standard all the tribes
of western Algeria. The story of his fifteen years' struggle
against the French is given under ALGERIA. To the beginning
of 1842 the contest went in favour of the amir; thereafter
he found in Marshal Bugeaud an opponent who proved, in the
end, his master. Throughout this period Abd-el-Kader showed
himself a born leader of men, a great soldier, a capable
administrator, a persuasive orator, a chivalrous opponent.
His fervent faith in the doctrines of Islam was unquestioned,
and his ultimate failure was due in considerable measure
to the refusal of the Kabyles, Berber mountain tribes whose
Mahommedanism is somewhat loosely held, to make common cause
with the Arabs against the French. On the 21st of December
1847, the amir gave himself up to General Lamoriciere at Sidi
Brahim. On the 23rd, his submission was formally made to the
duc d'Aumale, then governor of Algeria. In violation of the
promise that he would be allowed to go to Alexandria or St Jean
d'Acre, on the faith of which he surrendered, Abd-el-Kader and
his family were detained in France, first at Toulon, then at
Pau, being in November 1848 transferred to the chateau of
Amboise. There Abd-el-Kader remained until October 1852, when
he was released by Napoleon III. on taking an oath never again
to disturb Algeria. The amir then took up his residence in
Brusa, removing in 1855 to Damascus. In July 1860, when the
Moslems of that city, taking advantage of disturbances among
the Druses of Lebanon, attacked the Christian quarter and
killed over 3000 persons, Abd-el-Kader helped to repress the
outbreak and saved large numbers of Christians. For this
action the French government, which granted the amir a pension
of L. 4000, bestowed on him the grand cross of the Legion of
Honour. In 1865, he visited Paris and London, and was again in
Paris at the exposition of 1867. In 1871, when the Algerians
again rose in revolt, Abd-el-Kader wrote to them counselling
submission to France. After his surrender in 1847 he devoted
himself anew to theology and philosophy, and composed a
philosophical treatise, of which a French translation was
published in 1858 under the title of Rappel a l'intelligent.
Avis a l'indifferent. He also wrote a book on the Arab
horse. He died at Damascus on the 26th of May 1883.
See Commdt. J. Pichon, Abd el Kader, 1807--1883
(Paris [1899]): Alex. Bellemare, Abd-el-Kader: sa
vie politique et militaire (Paris, 1863); Col. C. H.
Churchill, The Life of Abdel Kader (London, 1867).
ABDERA, an ancient seaport town on the south coast of Spain,
between Malaca and New Carthage, in the district inhabited by the
Bastuli. It was founded by the Carthaginians as a trading
station, and after a period of decline became under the Romans
one of the more important towns in the province of Hispania
Baetica. It was situated on a hill above the modern Adra
(q.v.). Of its coins the most ancient bear the Phoenician
inscription abdrt with the head of Heracles (Melkarth) and
a tunny-fish; those of Tiberius (who seems to have made the
place a colony) show the chief temple of the town with two
tunny-fish erect in the form of columns. For inscriptions
relating to the Roman municipality see C.I.L. ii. 267.
ABDERA, a town on the coast of Thrace near the mouth of the
Nestos, and almost opposite Thasos. Its mythical foundation
was attributed to Heracles, its historical to a colony from
Clazomenae in the 7th century B.C. But its prosperity
dates from 544 B.C., when the majority of the people of
Teos migrated to Abdera after the Ionian revolt to escape
the Persian yoke (Herod. i. 168); the chief coin type, a
gryphon, is identical with that of Teos; the coinage is
noted for the beauty and variety of its reverse types. The
town seems to have declined in importance after the middle
of the 4th century. The air of Abdera was proverbial as
causing stupidity; but among its citizens was the philosopher
Democritus. The ruins of the town may still be seen on
Cape Balastra; they cover seven small hills, and extend
from an eastern to a western harbour; on the S.W. hills
are the remains of the medieval settlement of Polystylon.
Mittheil. d. deutsch. Inst. Athens, xii. (1887),
p. 161 (Regel); Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions,
xxxix. 211; K. F. Hermann, Ges. Abh. 90-111, 370 in.
ABDICATION (Lat. abdicatio, disowning, renouncing,
from ab, from, and dicare, to declare, to proclaim as
not belonging to one), the act whereby a person in office
renounces and gives up the same before the expiry of the time
for which it is held. In Roman law, the term is especially
applied to the disowning of a member of a family, as the
disinheriting of a son, but the word is seldom used except
in the sense of surrendering the supreme power in a state.
Despotic sovereigns are at liberty to divest themselves of
their powers at any time, but it is otherwise with a limited
monarchy. The throne of Great Britain cannot be lawfully
abdicated unless with the consent of the two Houses of
Parliament. When James II., after throwing the great
seal into the Thames, fled to France in 1688, he did not
formally resign the crown, and the question was discussed
in parliament whether he had forfeited the throne or had
abdicated. The latter designation was agreed on, for in a
full assembly of the Lords and Commons, met in convention,
it was resolved, in spite of James's protest, ``that King
James II. having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of
the kingdom, by breaking the original contract between king
and people, and, by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked
persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and having
withdrawn himself out of this kingdom, has abdicated the
government, and that the throne is thereby vacant.'' The
Scottish parliament pronounced a decree of forfeiture and
deposition. Among the most memorable abdications of
antiquity may be mentioned that of Sulla the dictator, 79
B.C., and that of the Emperor Diocletian, A.D. 305. The
following is a list of the more important abdications of later
A.D.
Benedict IX., pope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1048
Stephen II. of Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1131
Albert (the Bear) of Brandenburg . . . . . . . . . . 1169
Ladislaus III. of Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1206
Celestine V., pope . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dec. 13, 1294
John Baliol of Scotland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1296
John Cantacuzene, emperor of the East . . . . . . . 1355
Richard II. of England . . . . . . . . . . Sept. 29, 1399
John XXIII., pope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1415
Eric VII; of Denmark and XIII. of Sweden . . . . . . 1439
Murad II., Ottoman Sultan . . . . . . . . .1444 and 1445
Charles V., emperor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1556
Christina of Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1654
John Casimir of Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1618
James II. of England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1688
Frederick Augustus of Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . 1704
Philip V. of Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1724
Victor Amadeus II. of Sardinia . . . . . . . . . . . 1730
Ahmed III., Sultan of Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . 1730
Charles of Naples (on accession to throne of Spain). 1759
Stanislaus II. of Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1795
Charles Emanuel IV. of Sardinia . . . . . . June 4, 1802
Charles IV. of Spain . . . . . . . . . . . .Mar. 19, 1808
Joseph Bonaparte of Naples . . . . . . . . . June 6, 1808
Gustavus IV. of Sweden . . . . . . . . . . .Mar. 29, 1809
Louis Bonaparte of Holland . . . . . . . . . July 2, 1810
Napoleon I., French Emperor. . . . . . . . .April 4, 1814, and June 22, 1815
Victor Emanuel of Sardinia . . . . . . . . .Mar. 13, 1821
Charles X. of France . . . . . . . . . . . . Aug. 2, 1830
Pedro of Brazil 1 . . . . . . . . . . . .April 7, 1831
Miguel of Portgual . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 26, 1834
William I. of Holland . . . . . . . . . . . Oct. 7, 1840
