[1] Beissel (known in the community as “Friedsam”) was their leader until his death; he published several collections of hymns. The stone over his grave bears the inscription: “Here rests an outgrowth of the love of God, ‘Friedsam,’ a Solitary Brother, afterwards a leader of the Solitary and the Congregation of Grace in and around Ephrata ... Fell asleep July 6, 1768, in the 52nd year of his spiritual life, but the 72nd year and fourth month of his natural life.” The borough of Ephrata was separated from the township in 1891. Pop. (1900) of the borough, 2451; of the township, 2390. The “Brother House” and the “Sister House” are still standing (though in a dilapidated condition). In 1777, after the battle of Brandywine, many wounded American soldiers were nursed here by the Sisters, and about 200 are buried here.
GERMAN CATHOLICS (Deutschkatholiken), the name assumed in Germany towards the close of 1844 by certain dissentients from the Church of Rome. The most prominent leader of the German Catholic movement was Johann Ronge, a priest who in the Sächsische Vaterlandsblätter for the 15th of October 1844 made a vigorous attack upon Wilhelm Arnoldi, bishop of Trier since 1842, for having ordered (for the first time since 1810) the exposition of the “holy coat of Trier,” alleged to be the seamless robe of Christ, an event which drew countless pilgrims to the cathedral. Ronge, who had formerly been chaplain at Grottkau, was then a schoolmaster at Laurahütte near the Polish border. The article made a great sensation, and led to Ronge’s excommunication by the chapter of Breslau in December 1844. The ex-priest received a large amount of public sympathy, and a dissenting congregation was almost immediately formed at Breslau with a very simple creed, in which the chief articles were belief in God the Father, creator and ruler of the universe; in Jesus Christ the Saviour, who delivers from the bondage of sin by his life, doctrine and death; in the operation of the Holy Ghost; in a holy, universal, Christian church; in forgiveness of sins and the life everlasting. The Bible was made the sole rule, and all external authority was barred. Within a few weeks similar communities were formed at Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin, Offenbach, Worms, Wiesbaden and elsewhere; and at a “council” convened at Leipzig at Easter 1845, twenty-seven congregations were represented by delegates, of whom only two or at most three were in clerical orders.
Even before the beginning of the agitation led by Ronge, another movement fundamentally distinct, though in some respects similar, had been originated at Schneidemühl, Posen, under the guidance of Johann Czerski (1813-1893), also a priest, who had come into collision with the church authorities on the then much discussed question of mixed marriages, and also on that of the celibacy of the clergy. The result had been his suspension from office in March 1844; his public withdrawal, along with twenty-four adherents, from the Roman communion in August; his excommunication; and the formation, in October, of a “Christian Catholic” congregation which, while rejecting clerical celibacy, the use of Latin in public worship, and the doctrines of purgatory and transubstantiation, retained the Nicene theology and the doctrine of the seven sacraments. Czerski had been at some of the sittings of the “German Catholic” council of Leipzig; but when a formula somewhat similar to that of Breslau had been adopted, he refused his signature because the divinity of Christ had been ignored, and he and his congregation continued to retain by preference the name of “Christian Catholics,” which they had originally assumed. Of the German Catholic congregations which had been represented at Leipzig some manifested a preference for the fuller and more positive creed of Schneidemühl, but a great majority continued to accept the comparatively rationalistic position of the Breslau school. The number of these rapidly increased, and the congregations scattered over Germany numbered nearly 200. External and internal checks, however, soon limited this advance. In Austria, and ultimately also in Bavaria, the use of the name German Catholics was officially prohibited, that of “Dissidents” being substituted, while in Prussia, Baden and Saxony the adherents of the new creed were laid under various disabilities, being suspected both of undermining religion and of encouraging the revolutionary tendencies of the age. Ronge himself was a foremost figure in the troubles of 1848; after the dissolution of the Frankfort parliament he lived for some time in London, returning in 1861 to Germany. He died at Vienna on the 26th of October 1887. In 1859 some of the German Catholics entered into corporate union with the “Free Congregations,” an association of free-thinking communities that had since 1844 been gradually withdrawing from the orthodox Protestant Church, when the united body took the title of “The Religious Society of Free Congregations.” Before that time many of the congregations which were formed in 1844 and the years immediately following had been dissolved, including that of Schneidemühl itself, which ceased to exist in 1857. There are now only about 2000 strict German Catholics, all in Saxony. The movement has been superseded by the Old Catholic (q.v.) organization.
See G.G. Gervinus, Die Mission des Deutschkatholicismus (1846); F. Kampe, Das Wesen des Deutschkatholicismus (1860); Findel, Der Deutschkatholicismus in Sachsen (1895); Carl Mirbt, in Herzog-Hauck’s Realencyk. für prot. Theol. iv. 583.
GERMAN EAST AFRICA, a country occupying the east-central portion of the African continent. The colony extends at its greatest length north to south from 1° to 11° S., and west to east from 30° to 40° E. It is bounded E. by the Indian Ocean (the coast-line extending from 4° 20′ to 10° 40′ S.), N.E. and N. by British East Africa and Uganda, W. by Belgian Congo, S.W. by British Central Africa and S. by Portuguese East Africa.
Area and Boundaries.—On the north the boundary line runs N.W. from the mouth of the Umba river to Lake Jipe and Mount Kilimanjaro including both in the protectorate, and thence to Victoria Nyanza, crossing it at 1° S., which parallel it follows till it reaches 30° E. In the west the frontier is as follows: From the point of intersection of 1° S. and 30° E., a line running S. and S.W. to the north-west end of Lake Kivu, thence across that lake near its western shore, and along the river Rusizi, which issues from it, to the spot where the Rusizi enters the north end of Lake Tanganyika; along the middle line of Tanganyika to near its southern end, when it is deflected eastward to the point where the river Kalambo enters the lake (thus leaving the southern end of Tanganyika to Great Britain). From this point the frontier runs S.E. across the plateau between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa, in its southern section following the course of the river Songwe. Thence it goes down the middle of Nyasa as far as 11° 30′ S. The southern frontier goes direct from the last-named point eastward to the Rovuma river, which separates German and Portuguese territory. A little before the Indian Ocean is reached the frontier is deflected south so as to leave the mouth of the Rovuma in German East Africa. These boundaries include an area of about 364,000 sq. m. (nearly double the size of Germany), with a population estimated in 1910 at 8,000,000. Of these above 10,000 were Arabs, Indians, Syrians and Goanese, and 3000 Europeans (over 2000 being Germans). The island of Mafia (see below) is included in the protectorate.
Physical Features.—The coast of German East Africa (often spoken of as the Swahili coast, after the inhabitants of the seaboard) is chiefly composed of coral, is little indented, and is generally low, partly sandy, partly rich alluvial soil covered with dense bush or mangroves. Where the Arabs have established settlements the coco-palm and mango tree introduced by them give variety to the vegetation. The coast plain is from 10 to 30 m. wide and 620 m. long; it is bordered on the west by the precipitous eastern side of the interior plateau of Central Africa. This plateau, considerably tilted from its horizontal position, attains its highest elevation north of Lake Nyasa (see [Livingstone Mountains]), where several peaks rise over 7000 ft., one to 9600, while its mean altitude is about 3000 to 4000 ft. From this region the country slopes towards the north-west, and is not distinguished by any considerable mountain ranges. A deep narrow gorge, the so-called “eastern rift-valley,” traverses the middle of the plateau in a meridional direction. In the northern part of the country it spreads into several side valleys, from one of which rises the extinct volcano Kilimanjaro (q.v.), the highest mountain in Africa (19,321 ft.). Its glaciers send down a thousand rills which combine to form the Pangani river. About 40 m. west of Kilimanjaro is Mount Meru (14,955 ft.), another volcanic peak, with a double crater. The greater steepness of its sides makes Meru in some aspects a more striking object than its taller neighbour. South-east of Mount Kilimanjaro are the Pare Mountains and Usambara highlands, separated from the coast by a comparatively narrow strip of plain. To the south of the Usambara hills, and on the eastern edge of the plateau, are the mountainous regions of Nguru (otherwise Unguru), Useguha and Usagara. As already indicated, the southern half of Victoria Nyanza and the eastern shores, in whole or in part, of Lakes Kivu, Tanganyika and Nyasa, are in German territory. (The lakes are separately described.) Several smaller lakes occur in parts of the eastern rift-valley. Lake Rukwa (q.v.) north-west of Nyasa is presumably only the remnant of a much larger lake. Its extent varies with the rainfall of each year. North-west of Kilimanjaro is a sheet of water known as the Natron Lake from the mineral alkali it contains. In the northern part of the colony the Victoria Nyanza is the dominant physical feature. The western frontier coincides with part of the eastern wall of another depression, the Central African or Albertine rift-valley, in which lie Tanganyika, Kivu and other lakes. Along the north-west frontier north of Kivu are volcanic peaks (see [Mfumbiro]).