BREAD MAKING

since 1910 no entirely new and different methods of preparing bread have been introduced, but there has been a slow evolution of methods and machines which were introduced in earlier years. the machinery has been pass- ing through a process of perfection and elaboration so that as near an approach as possible is being made towards an auto- matic system of forming the dough and shaping the loaf. arrangement of plant-——in a modern bakery, the plant is arranged on three floors. in the upper is the flour store where the mixing and sieving machines pass the flour on to the automatic weigher. from there, it passes to the mixing machine where the water at a proper temperature is added. from the dough mixer the dough passes into the trough where it is to ferment. large pieces are cut out at the end of that period and fed to the automatic divider which passes the weighed pieces of dough on to a machine called the rounder up or moulding machine which first gives shape and form to the piece of dough. the loaf then passes into the travelling trays which move slowly through a large proofing chamber which can be kept at a uniform tempera- ture and where the dough again expands. afterwards, the dough again passes through the moulding machine which gives it the final shaping before it passes into the oven. motive power.—with the increased use of machinery more attention has been given to motive power. electricity is largely used and the motor is part of the machine so that there is no waste of power by carrying loads unnecessarily. ovens.—the machine bakery demands a type of oven capable of being used more speedily than the older forms, where the oven was filled by means of the long-handled wooden spade, known as a peel, and much greater use is being made of travelling ovens. the bread to be baked is placed on rows of tins or otherwise on platforms which are carried through the oven by power at such a rate that when it reaches the further end of the oven it is completely baked. | fuel.—for firing purposes, solid fuel is being replaced by more modern and cleaner methods of heating. in newly installed ovens, gas either from a producer furnace or from the ordinary munici- pil supply is used. where heating by steam pipe is still in use, the heating is obtained from oil burners, the necessary power for the spraying of the oil being obtained from that already in use in the bakery. the use of oil fuel means a decrease in cost and labour and a great increase in cleanliness. in a large bakery where oil fuel has been introduced, the ratio of cost per sack between coke and oil firing is as 9 to 5. there is the absence of all dust which is bound to be present where solid fuel is used and a steady heat is kept up for a continuous process of baking. from every point of view, the ideal oven is one that is heated electrically. fine ovens of this type are now available and the only requisite for their extensive use is a current supply at a reasonably small rate per unit. recent changes —the opcrations in a modern bakery are no longer carried on by rule of thumb and traditional methods but are based on technical knowledge. the number of revolutions of the mixer is predetermined and the speeds of the divider, rounder, proofer, moulder, travelling oven, cooler and wrapping machine are synchronised so as to eliminate waste time and motion. the humidity of the dough room is fixed. temperatures are exactly observed and often thermostatically controlled. some advance has been made, in america mostly, in arriving by a rapid method of indicators at the correct degree of acidity in the dough when it is ready for moulding. fermentation in two stages, first in a thin sponge of flour, salt and water, and finally in a thicker dough made by mixing in a further quantity of flour, is being superseded by a shorter process where the first mixture of flour, water, yeast and salt is the final one. in this process the fermentative action of the yeast is usually stimulated by the use of some form of the many chemical yeast foods that are now breal—brest-litovsk, battles of obtainable. these usually contain phosphates and are sold under proprietary names and are not considered legally to be adulterants. in the large bread factories in the west of scot- land, the process of preparing dough is still the sponge and dough process, with the fermenting agent a fairly acid barm called parisian barm, the epithet being merely distinctive. the use of enriching materials such as whole and skimmed milk has improved the character of bread and its nutritive value, protein and mineral content of muk being removed in the process of milling the flour. delivery.—a further-development in the hygiene of the bread supply has taken place within the past few years. the bread, before being delivered, is allowed to cool in ordinary bread racks, or in specially devised ones, and then passed through a machine which automatically wraps it in paper ready for delivery. the transport to the customer in a motor delivery van completes the whole process of the mechanical handling of this food product, perhaps, the most important of them all. see j. grant, the chemisiry of bread making, 4th ed. (1924); j. stewart, bread and bread bakiig (1924). (ste: he. ba.) breal, michel jules alfred (1832-1915), french philologist (see 4.481), died in paris noy. 25 1915. breasted, james henry (1865~ ), american orien- talist and historian, was born at rockford, dll., aug. 27 1865. after graduating from northwestern college in 1888 he studied at the chicago theological seminary and at yale university. in 1894 he obtained the degree of ph.d. from the university of berlin, and subsequently honorary degrees from the chicago theological seminary and the universities of california and ox- ford. obtaining an appointment at the university of chicago in 1894 as an assistant in egyptology, he became professor of egyptology and oriental history in 1905, and in 1915 was made chairman of the department of oriental languages, becoming also, four years later, director of the oriental institute of the univer- sity. by commission of the royal academies of germany in 1900 he was appointed on a mission to the museums of europe to copy and arrange the egyptian inscriptions in those museums for an egyptian dictionary. je directed archacological expeditions for the university of chicago in egypt in 1894-5 and 1905-7 and in mesopotamia in 1920. in 1925 he headed an expedition organised for the excavation of armageddon in palestine. he has published, among other works, de izymmis in solemn sub rege amenophide iv. concepiis (1894); a new chapter tn the life of thutmose iii. (1900); auctent records of egypt (5 vol., 1906-7); a iistory of egypt (1906, 2nd ed., 1909; also french, german and russian editions and editions for the blind); egypt through the stereoscope (1905); the baitle of kadesh (1903); fhe temples of lower nubia (1906); a fistory of the ancient egyptians (1908); the monumenis of sudanese nubia (1908); development of religion and thought in ancient egypt (1912); survey of the ancient world (1919); and ifistory of europe, ancient and medieval (with j. h. robinson, 1920). . breguet, louis charles (1880- ), french engineer, a descendant of the famous watchmaker, abraham louis bre- guet, was born jan. 2 1880 in taris. he received his education at the lycees condorcet and carnot, and graduated in science. he was from the outsct of his career a prominent member of the engineering firm that bears his family name, and eventually became head engineer of its electric service. the maison bre- guet, which camc to the front in french aeronautical construc- tion, provided him with ample ground for research; he published a quantity of reports on acrodynamics, on the energy set in force by propellers in motion and on the rise of aircraft from the ground. he studied and equipped in 1909 the first helicopter able to rise perpendicularly carrying a passenger. breitner, george hendrik (1857-1923), dutch painter, was born sept. 12 1857 at rotterdam. he began to study painting at the hague, and was a pupil of william maris. his early work showed the influence of rochussen, who was the first to discover breitner’s great talent. in later years he was strongly influenced by jacob maris’ colouring, but afterwards became an independent impyessionist, occupying a prominent 431 place in modern painting. the subjects of breitner’s pictures were chosen from the old parts of amsterdam, from popular life in the town or from the vigorous movements of manoeuvring cavalry and artillery. he died at amsterdam june 5 1923. bremen (sce 4.493) had a population in 1919 of 269,806; in 1921 two fresh communes and parts of two others were added to the city. bremen is the chief port in germany after hamburg for international trade, and in 1925 the shipping had almost reached its pre-war level. in 10913, 3,876 vessels, totalling 2,149,000 tons, entered the port. in 1923 the number was 3,407, totalling 3,256,000 tons. sailings to new york by the north german lloyd line, which lost nearly nine-tenths of its tonnage during the war and under the peace treaty, were resumed in 1922. the total water area of the docks is 126 ac., and the water- way is kept open as far as the ijohethorshaven in winter by ice- breakers. the museum in the bahnhofsplatz was enlarged be- tween 1907 and 1911. the cathedral, bourse and town hall were damaged in the spartacist disturbances of 1919, when the city was bombarded and occupied by government troops. brentano, ludwig joseph (1844- ), german econo- mist (see 4.406), was one of the delegates sent over to london in nov. 1919 to attend the economic conference convened by the “ fight the famine ”’ council. at the first session of the con- ference, held at the caxton hall on nov. 4, he urged the organisa- tion and encouragement of german industry to enable germany to fulfil her treaty obligations. his more recent publications in- clude a pamphlet on the proposed league of nations, and two short works, /st das system brentano zusammengebrochen? and russland, der kranke afann (1918). breslau (sce 4.408) had in 1919 a population of 528,260, in- cluding the suburb of griibschen, which was included in rogrtr. an estimate in 1925 was 563,c00. it is the capital of the prus- sian province of lower silesia, the largest town in silesia, the seventh in the republic, and the chief industrial centre of eastern germany. in 1913 an exhibition to celebrate the centenary of the wars of liberation was held ina building specially built to the east of the city. a vast, circular building, called the jahrhundert halle and seating 10,000 people, was also erected; the dome has a span of 220 feet. since 1918 fairs have been held three times a year in these buildings. a canal, the breitenbachfahrt, for the use of barges from upper silesia, which branches off the oder neat wilhelmshaven and joins the alte oder below the grischel bridge, was made between 1912 and 1917. in july 1923 com- munist outbreaks occurred here. | | brest-litovsk, battles of.—under this heading are re- lated the fortunes of mackensen’s third forward bound in the great offensive of the central powers against russia in 1915. the period covered is from the middle of july to the middle of september. the aim of mackensen’s group of armies, directed between the bug and vistula rivers toward brest-litovsk—the same direction as that of the first austrian offensive of the war— was to force the retirement of the russians from the polish salient, and, if possible, to cut their line of retreat. his attack was combined with one from the north by gallwitz’s xii. army against the narew line. in the upshot, though both attacks were successful, russian resistance slowed them down sufliciently to enable the forces in the polish salient to escape. mackensen’s two previous attacks had carried him from the dunajec to the san, then, after a pause, to lemberg, which was captured on june 22, and northeast toward the chelm (kholm)- lublin line. again a short pause was necessary to reorganise his forces and prepare a fresh advance. meanwhile the russians had transferred three corps, guard, ii. siberian and vi. siberian from their northwestern armies to the iii. and iv. armies op- posite mackensen. the iv. army (ewarth) had, on july 8, administered a sharp check to the austrian iv. army, under the archduke joseph ferdinand, at krasntk. the armies employed.—in the middle of july, when mac- kensen resumed his advance, the position of the opposing forces was roughly as follows: the russian iv. (ewarth), iii. (lesh) and xiii. (gorbatovski) armies faced southwest, from the pilica river near its junction with the vistula to about sokal 432 on the bug (northeast of lemberg), covering deblin (iwan- gerod), lublin, chelm and wlodimierz wolynski. on the right of this group, the ii. army still held the bzura-rawa- ruska positions west of warsaw; on the left, the vill., xl and ix. armies stretched south along the upper bug to zloczew and thence to the rumanian border. the russian losses had been extremely heavy; in the iii. army, for example, five corps mustered between them only 25,000 bayonets. their morale had naturally suffered. mackensen’s group comprised, in that order from northwest to southeast, the austrian iv. army, the german xi. army, the new german army of the bug (linsingen), and the austrian i. army (puhallo). the first three were to carry out the main attack between the bug and the vistula, while the i. army was to cover the right and advance towards wlodimierz wolynski. further south, the austrian il. army and german southern army were to cover the offensive against counter-attack from the east, the same task that the austrian it. and iii. armies had failed to perform at the beginning of the war. on the extreme right, the vii. army (pflanzer-baltin) was to push forward and clear the southern portion of east galicia. west of the vistula, woyrsch’s corps of landwehr was to advance in conjunction with mackensen’s left and if possible cross the river below deblin. the fighting begins —mackensen’s attack began on july 15. from the first, progress was slow. the austrian i. army cap- tured sokal and established a bridgehead east of the bug, and the xi. army took krasnystaw. the russians withdrew a few miles, but in no part of the line was any decisive success achieved. on the 18th, for the first time in history, the prussian guard met the russian guard on the field of battle; henours appear to have been even between them. meanwhile woyrsch had overcome the right wing of the russian iv. army and reached the vistula; he crossed on july 28, some 20 m. north of deblin. mackensen attacked again on the 29th and broke through the russian front half way between lublin and chelm; the former place was evacu- ated on july 31 and the latter on aug. 1. it had taken mackensen 17 days to make good the 25 m. from his starting point to these places. gallwitz in the north had also been unable to gain a rapid success and was advancing only slowly. but before the triple threat of the forces of mackensen, woyrsch, now firmly estab- lished east of the vistula, and gallwitz, the russians were com- pelled to evacuate warsaw and deblin, the former on aug. 4, the latter on aug. 5. the russian left wing (iv., iii, xiii. armies) in front of mackensen was now executing a wheel to the east, to conform with the retreat of the centre from the salient. positions had been entrenched in anticipation of this movement. mackensen made a last effort to break through and intercept the russian centre between warsaw and brest-litovsk. but his attacks at lubartow between aug. 5 and 8 only gained ground slowly. by aug. 9 the russian line ran from loniza, west of siedlce and north of lubartow-wiodawa. it was obvious that they had escaped from the noose which it had been proposed to draw round their centre. the main portion of mackensen’s group moved northeast towards brest-litovsk, exercising a purely frontal pressure on the retreating russians. the only out-flanking movement now possible in this part of the field was east of the bug, directed against the rear of brest-litovsk. this was attempted by the austrian i. army and the army of the bug. the austrian i. army had crossed the bug early in aug. and had pushed its cavalry as far as wlodimierz wolynski. it now advanced on kowel, while the bug army, which had crossed the river at wlodawa, advanced through the pinsk marshes (pol- yesie) to cut the brest-litovsk-kobryn-pinsk railway line. the final stages —the remainder of the story can be quickly told. under increasing pressure from the austrian iv. army and the german xi. army, the russians evacuated brest- litovsk on aug. 26. but they held off the bug army from kobryh sufficiently long to allow of the safe withdrawal of their forces from brest-litovsk. the austrian i. army, after reach- ing kowel, sent heydebreck’s cavalry corps across the pinsk marshes to join the bug army, and itself became involved in brest-litovsk, treaty of battle against the southwestern group of russian armies towards luck (lutsk) and rewne. at the end of aug. mackensen’s force was reduced. the aus- trian iy. army was transferred to the right group, south of the marshes; portions of the xi. army had already been withdrawn for the serbian campaign, to which mackensen himself was row called. what remained of his forces was placed under linsingen and pursued the russians as far as pinsk, where a line was taken up which remained unaltered to the end of the war. the poverty of the communications had much hampered mackensen. in his previous drives from the dunajec and from the san he had depended principally on the effect of his heavy artillery. the lack of roads and railways south of lublin and chelm made it difficult to advance his guns and to keep them supplied with ammunition. the russians, too, had shown all their traditional stubbornness in retreat. in this part of the theatre the pinsk marshes made a wide enveloping movement impossible, and the direction of mackensen’s advance was in- evitable. ludendorff had foreseen the slowness of advance on this line and had persistently counselled that the main blow should be directed by kovno and wilno (vilna) on minsk. see also eastern evropean front and map; duwnajjec-san; lemberg; narew. brs_rograpny.— e. von falkenhayn, general headquarters, 1914- 6, and its critical decisions (1919); sir a. inox, with the russian army 1914-7 (1921); see also world war: bibliography. (a. p. w.) brest-litovsk, treaty of.—there were two treaties of brest-litovsk, the first a treaty between the ukrainian rada and the central empires, signed on feb. 9 1918, and the second a treaty between the soviet govt. of russia and the central empires, signed three weeks later. the ukrainian treaty was signed by the representatives of a ukrainian govt. which had no longer any footing in the ukraine, where it had been replaced by the soviets. it was followed by other agreements which invited the occupation of the ukraine by the germans. it was never annulled because, although the germans restored the govern- ment that had signed it to power in kiev, that government ceased to exist as soon as the germans, having occupied the ukraine, had no further need of it. the second of the two treaties is that generally known as the treaty of brest-litovsk. an armistice between russia and the central empires was arranged in brest-litovsk on dec. 5 1917.! peace negotiations were to begin at once. the russians, who hoped to secure the support of the working classes of germany and to rouse those of other countries to demand an immediate ending of the war, wished to ensure publicity for the negotiations, and proposed that they should be held in pskov or in any neutral capital? (stockholm was suggested). the germans, for precisely opposite reasons, wished that they should be held within the walls of what was then a german fortress. the negotiations were held in brest- litovsk.? it soon became clear that the germans wished to con- clude an oppressive peace and to secure the connivance of the russians in covering it witha “ democratic ’”’ formula. negotia- tions were adjourned on dec. 28 for ro days, in the hope that other fighting powers might be induced to join in them. mean- while, the soviet govt. was to consider the german proposals. when the negotiations were renewed, the russians showed at once that they had no intention of pretending that the german proposals fuliilled the conditions they had previously announced of ‘a peace without annexations or contributions on a basis of the sclf-determination of peoples.” it is impossible to say whether the germans would or would not have modified their demands if their task had not been sud- denly made easier for them by the readiness of the ukrainian delegates to conclude a separate treaty. the ukraine was at this time in a state of civil war between the ukrainian soviets and the ukrainian rada, which had sent its own delegates to brest, where, at first, they worked in contact with the delegation from the soviet government. on feb. 9, the ukrainian delegation, 1 proc. of b. l. peace conf., pp. 35-6. 2 proc., pp. 46-8. : § dec. 22. proc., p. 36. breton—briand knowing that the rada which they represented had been driven from kiev and the rule of soviets proclaimed there, concluded a scparate peace,! thus cutting the russian front (such as it was) in half and admitting, even inviting, the germans into the ukraine. trotsky, who knew that the russian trenches were already empty, then made a despcrate appeal over the heads of the ger- man delegation to the german people, and declared that russia would not sign an abominable peace but would demobilise her army and no longer consider herself at war. he hoped that the germans would not be able to move their troops. three davs later the germans denounced the armistice and on feb. 18 began a practically unopposed advance towards petrograd. the bolshevik leaders were almost equally divided, half of them thinking that they could best serve world revolution by being destroyed, half of them ied by lenin urging that they would do bettec to secure a breathing space for the revolution in russia. after a series of debates, lenin got a majority by one vote (given him by trotsky, who crossed over) and a telegram was sent stating russian willingness to sign the treaty at once. the germans continued to advance and preparations were begun for a hopeless struggle. finally, the germans offered peace on conditions much worsc* than those originally refused. russia lost the baltic provinces and had to cede kars, ardahan and batum to turkey, to de- mobilise even the post-revolutionary formations, and to pay a thinly disguised indemnity of 300,000,000 gold roubles. this trcaty was signed on march 3 1918, was ratified by the congress of soviets on march 11, and accepted by the reichstag on march 22. it was annulled by germany in accordance with point xv. of the armistice, concluded on the western front on nov. 11 1918, and annulled by the soviet govt. on nov. 13 1918. bin_iograrny.—h. w. v. temperley, the peace conference in paris, vol. t, ch. 6, pt. 2, pp. 221-35; u.s.a. dept.of state. pro- ceedings of the brest-litousk peace conference, nov. 2% 1917—march 3 1918 (washington, 1918); deutscher geschichtskalender, licf, 44,45, die friedensverhandiungen tn brest-litousk und der friede nuit russland (1917-8). (a, r.) breton, jules adolphe aime louis (1827-1906), french painter (see 4.501), died july 5 1906. brezina, ottakar: see jebavy, vaclav. briand, aristide (1862- ), french statesman (see 4.515). in oct. 1906 m. clemenceau formed his first govern- ment, and in it m. briand remained minister of public in- struction and worship. during the life of this ministry his principal work was in connection with the separation law (see 10.891), in the application of which there were certain difficulties, due to the hostility of the vatican. it was then that m. briand gave proof of his essential liberalism. though he held fast to the principle of the new legislation, he made possible the carrying on of the rites of the catholic church under the laws as to asso- ciations and public gatherings. on the death of m. guyot- dessaigne in jan. 1908 he was appointed to the ministry of justice. when the govt. of m. clemenceau fell in july 1909 m. briand formed his first cabinet, himself taking the portfolio of interior and worship. he announced that he would adopt a policy of national understanding and tranquillity. in oct. 1910 there was a threat of a gencral strike on the railways. m. briand mobilised all the railwaymen who were still subject to military service, dismissed those who disobeyed, and had the members of the strike committee arrested. a majority in the chamber approved his action, but in spite of this the govt. resigned on nov. 2 ro1ro as a result of the withdrawal of m. viviani, the minister of labour, who disagreed with his colleagues on the question of the right to strike. m. briand immediately formed a new cabinet, of a more radical tendency than its predecessor. this altcration, which offended the moderate republicans without conciliating the radicals, weakened the position of the ministry. a colonial difficulty embarrassed them still further. the franco-german 1proc., p- 159; temperley, pp. 227-8. 2*proc., pp. 172-4. 3 proc.,p. 176. 433 convention of t909 had provided for economic collaboration between the two countries both in morocco and french-congo. in dee. t9o10 m. pichon, the minister of foreign affairs, and the german ambassador signed an agreement by which ger- man capital was to be invested in a french undertaking in the congo, the n’goko-sangha, which was also to receive a large subsidy from the french government. the opposition criticised this scheme, and the cabinet did not venture to ask parliament to ratify, thus exposing themselves to the reproaches of the german government. this affair, which was one of the causes or rather pretexts of the agadir crisis of the following july, was among the principal reasons for the resignation of the govt., although this was not stated at the time. a parliamentary in- cident gave m. briand an excuse for an unobtrusive withdrawal. in feb. rorr, when he was accused by the radicals of failing in the strict application of the law with regard to religious houses, his majority fell to six and he resigned. after some months out of office, he became minister of justice in m. poincare’s first cabinet on jan. 13 1912. when m. poincare was clected president of the republic in jan. 1913 m. briand succeeded him as premier. the hfe of this govt. was brief. its most important work was to ask parliament to lengthen the period of military service from two to three years as a rejoinder to the increase in german armaments. on march 18 1913, on the question of electoral reform, the ministry was overthrown by the senate, which defeated a proposal to introduce proportional representation that had already been passed by the chamber. m. briand remained more or less in retirement until the out- break of the world war. on aug. 26 1914 m. viviani felt himsclf obliged to broaden the base of his govt. and offered m. briand the portfolio of justice. on the fall of the viviani cabinet, m. briand on oct. 29 1915 formed a government in which he himself took over the direction of foreign affairs. he made its character as a national coalition clear by including as ministers, without portfolio, the socialist guesde, the catholic conservative cochin and the three former premiers, de frey- cinet, combes and bourgeois. however, in the beginning of the summer of 1916, he was accused in certain political circles of a lack of vigour in the prosecution of the war. m. clemenceau was one of his fiercest critics. in june he was forced to agree to the holding of secret sessions in both chambers, and to the appointment of a parliamentary commission to supervise the affairs of the army. by the end of autumn, the rumanian disaster, and especially the situation in greece, made him the object of further attacks. he was accused, for instance, of being the willing dupe of king constantine. the question of the higher command was also causing much anxiety. at this time joffre, who had been made a marshal, was replaced by nivelle. m. briand thought it ad- visable for all these reasons to reform his cabinet. he appointed lyautey minister for war, and called in experts who were not in parliament to take charge of the more technical offices. on march 14 ror7 a difference of opinion between the chamber and lyautey brought about the lattcr’s resignation. after a vain attempt to rcform his govt., m. briand decided to resign. for three years m. briand took scarcely any part in public affairs. it must, however, be noted that in sept. 1917 von der lancken, the civil commissioner of germany in brussels, renew- ing an attempt which he had already made in the spring, pro- posed to m. briand, through a belgian intermediary, a mecting in switzerland to discuss the possibility of peace. m. briand was inclined to accept the offer, but m. ribot, the minister of forcign affairs, counselled him to avoid it as a snare. during the years which immediately followed the war, m. briand still remained in retirement. he showed, however, by one or two speeches in the chamber, that he was inclined to move to the left. in jan. 1921, on the fall of the leygues ministry, he was called upon to form a government, and himself took charge of foreign affairs. he interested himself particularly in the application of the treaty of versailles, especially with regard to reparations. in the autumn he went to washington as 434 the french representative at the conference on naval disarma- ment. from that moment he was fiercely attacked by those who accused him of having failed to safeguard the interests of his own country. this campaign reached its height when, early in 1922, the inter-allied conference met at cannes, and m. briand discussed with mr. lloyd george the question of an anglo- french defensive pact. a telegram which he received from mi. millerand, then president of the republic, decided m. briand to return to paris and confront his enemies. when he arrived he realised that his position had become untenable. he an- nounce.t his resignation to the chamber on jan. 12 1922. in april 1925 he was offered the portfolio of foreign affairs in m. painleve’s cabinet, and he remained in the same office in the second govt. formed by this leader in october. the locarno agreement in oct. 1925 enormously increased the influence of m. briand, who had played an important part in the negoti- ations. when m. painleve resigned on nov. 22, m. briand be- came the new head of the government. a great parliamentarian, although he broke with the extreme left in 1906, he retained his connection with many of the more advanced political thinkers. his genuincly liberal ideas, and his constant endeavours toward national unity, gained him the sympathy of the moderate parties. his ease and animation as a speaker, his parliamentary experience, and his well-known ability in the conduct of foreign affairs, all contributed to that great influence which made him, up to that time, premier more often than any other politician in france. (pb)