The Lebanon has now been constituted a sanjak or mutessariflik, dependent directly on the Porte, which acts in this case in consultation with the six great powers. This province extends about 93 m. from N. to S. (from the boundary of the sanjak of Tripoli to that of the caza of Saida), and has a mean breadth of about 28 m. from one foot of the chain to the other, beginning at the edge of the littoral plain behind Beirut and ending at the W. edge of the Buka’a; but the boundaries are ill-defined, especially on the E. where the original line drawn along the crest of the ridge has not been adhered to, and the mountaineers have encroached on the Buka’a. The Lebanon is under a military governor (mushir) who must be a Christian in the service of the sultan, approved by the powers, and has, so far, been chosen from the Roman Catholics owing to the great preponderance of Latin Christians in the province. He resides at Deir al-Kamar, an old seat of the Druse amirs. At first appointed for three years, then for ten, his term has been fixed since 1892 at five years, the longer term having aroused the fear of the Porte, lest a personal domination should become established. Under the governor are seven kaimakams, all Christians except a Druse in Shuf, and forty-seven mudirs, who all depend on the kaimakams except one in the home district of Deir al-Kamar. A central mejliss or Council of twelve members is composed of four Maronites, three Druses, one Turk, two Greeks (Orthodox), one Greek Uniate and one Metawali. This was the original proportion, and it has not been altered in spite of the decline of the Druses and increase of the Maronites. The members are elected by the seven cazas. In each mudirieh there is also a local mejliss. The old feudal and mukataji (see [Druses]) jurisdictions are abolished, i.e. they often persist under Ottoman forms, and three courts of First Instance, under the mejliss, and superior to the petty courts of the mudirs and the village sheikhs, administer justice. Judges are appointed by the governor, but sheikhs by the villages. Commercial cases, and litigation in which strangers are concerned, are carried to Beirut. The police is recruited locally, and no regular troops appear in the province except on special requisition. The taxes are collected directly, and must meet the needs of the province, before any sum is remitted to the Imperial Treasury. The latter has to make deficits good. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction is exercised only over the clergy, and all rights of asylum are abolished.
This constitution has worked well on the whole, the only serious hitches having been due to the tendency of governors-general and kaimakams to attempt to supersede the mejliss by autocratic action, and to impair the freedom of elections. The attention of the porte was called to these tendencies in 1892 and again in 1902, on the appointments of new governors. Since the last date there has been no complaint. Nothing now remains of the former French predominance in the Lebanon, except a certain influence exerted by the fact that the railway is French, and by the precedence in ecclesiastical functions still accorded by the Maronites to official representatives of France. In the Lebanon, as in N. Albania, the traditional claim of France to protect Roman Catholics in the Ottoman Empire has been greatly impaired by the non-religious character of the Republic. Like Italy, she is now regarded by Eastern Catholics with distrust as an enemy of the Holy Father.
See [Druses]. Also V. Cuinet, Syrie, Liban et Palestine (1896); N. Verney and G. Dambmann, Puissances étrangères en Syrie, &c. (1900); G. Young, Corps de droit ottoman, vol. i. (1905); G. E. Post, Flora of Syria, &c. (1896); M. von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer, &c. (1899).
(A. So.; D. G. H.)
LEBANON, a city of Saint Clair county, Illinois, U.S.A., on Silver Creek, about 24 m. E. of Saint Louis, Missouri. Pop. (1910) 1907. It is served by the Baltimore & Ohio South-Western railroad and by the East Saint Louis & Suburban Electric line. It is situated on a high tableland. Lebanon is the seat of McKendree College, founded by Methodists in 1828 and one of the oldest colleges in the Mississippi valley. It was called Lebanon Seminary until 1830, when the present name was adopted in honour of William McKendree (1757-1835), known as the “Father of Western Methodism,” a great preacher, and a bishop of the Methodist Church in 1808-1835, who had endowed the college with 480 acres of land. In 1835 the college was chartered as the “McKendreean College,” but in 1839 the present name was again adopted. There are coal mines and excellent farming lands in the vicinity of Lebanon. Among the city’s manufactures are flour, planing-mill products, malt liquors, soda and farming implements. The municipality owns and operates its electric-lighting plant. Lebanon was chartered as a city in 1874.
LEBANON, a city and the county-seat of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., in the fertile Lebanon Valley, about 25 m. E. by N. of Harrisburg. Pop. (1900) 17,628, of whom 618 were foreign-born, (1910 census) 19,240. It is served by the Philadelphia & Reading, the Cornwall and the Cornwall & Lebanon railways. About 5 m. S. of the city are the Cornwall (magnetite) iron mines, from which about 18,000,000 tons of iron ore were taken between 1740 and 1902, and 804,848 tons in 1906. The ore yields about 46% of iron, and contains about 2.5% of sulphur, the roasting of the ores being necessary—ore-roasting kilns are more extensively used here than in any other place in the country. The area of ore exposed is about 4000 ft. long and 400 to 800 ft. wide, and includes three hills; it has been one of the most productive magnetite deposits in the world. Limestone, brownstone and brick-clay also abound in the vicinity; and besides mines and quarries, the city has extensive manufactories of iron, steel, chains, and nuts and bolts. In 1905 its factory products were valued at $6,978,458. The municipality owns and operates its water-works.
The first settlement in the locality was made about 1730, and twenty years later a town was laid out by one of the landowners, George Steitz, and named Steitztown in his honour. About 1760 the town became known as Lebanon, and under this name it was incorporated as a borough in 1821 and chartered as a city in 1885.