HERTFORD COLLEGE, Oxford, Eng land, a foundation of Oxford University (q.v.). which in its modem form dates from 1874 when Thomas Charles Baring, then a member of Parliament for South Essex, provided an endowment for 15 fellows and 30 scholars, 7 lecturers and dean and bursar. The founda tion now consists of a principal, 17 fellows and 40 scholars. In its earlier form the institution dated from 1283 when Elias of Hertford ac quired a hall on the site which became known as Hert or Hart Hall. The hall was depend ent on Exeter College until 1760 when a char ter was granted establishing Hertford as a col lege. After a struggling existence the charter was detlared -void frotn 1805 and the Hertford scholarship endowed by the university in 1834 with part of its property was all that perpetu ated the name until, in 1874, the principal and scholars of Magdalen Hall, an offshoot of Mag dalen College from 160Z who had occupied the old buildings, reorganized anew and revived the title of Hertford College. The old buildings have undergone restoration and fine modern buildings have been added since 1903.
liERTLING, Georg F., COUNT VON, Ger man statesman: b. Darmstadt, 31 Aug. 1843; d. Ruhpolding, Bavaria, 3 Jan. 1919. After completing his studies in philosophy and history at Miinster, Munich and Berlin he spent two years in Italy studying the dogmatic history of the Roman Catholic Church, of which be was an uncompromising adherent. In 1867 he set tled as tutor of philosophy at the University of Bonn, obtained his professorship in 1880 and two years later was transferred to the chair of philosophy at Munich. For many years he acted as the unofficial representative of Germany at the Vatican, where he conducted numerous important German negotiations with the Pope, dividing his time between occasional university lectures at home and fremit t visits to Rome. He sat in the Reichstag fron 1875 to 1890 and again from 1896 to 1912, ill imately becoming the leader of the Roman Cad olic Centre party. In 1912 he succeeded Count Podewils as Min ister-President of Bavaria. Herding had con
tributed to the overthrow of Von Bethmann Hollweg, the ImRerial Chancellor, both by the Bavarian opposition to ((reform>) and by his own influence with the Centre party. Induly 1917, without consulting Von Bethmann- oll weg, the Kaiser offered the chancellorship to Hertling, who refused the post, and it was given to an almost unknown Prussian official, Herr Michaelis (q.v.). The latter, handicapped by the critical position of Germany and his personal incompetence, held office for only three months and a half. On 1 Nov. 1917 Herding was formally appointed Chancellor and Minister-President of Prussia. Though in his 75th year, he was at first very suc cessful, handling the internal situation with adroitness, bargaining with the emperor and managing the Reichstag so skilfully that he was able to begin with something like a definite pledge from the Reichstag of acquiescent be havior for the duration of the war. He pro duced as much stability in Germany as would have sufficed if the troops could have carried out their promises and prevented the defection of Germany's allies and the military disaster in the West. If the German offensive in 1918 had succeeded, Hertling would have emerged from the ordeal as the "victorious Chancellor.' He carefully kept himself in the background as regarded foreign policy, leaving to Herr von Kuhlmann the responsibility as well as most of the odium for the treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest. Before the end of June 1918 Kuhlmann announced the impossibihty of end ing the war by purely military means and was dropped out of office. Hertling clung on through all the military disasters until the de fection of Bulgaria, when he fell and was suc ceeded by Prince Max of Baden, .the 8th and last German Chancellor. In his last speech to the Reichstag (September 1918), Herding admitted that the situation was serious but not alarming; he declared that the German peo ple would not beg for mercy and that the hour must come °when our enemies will see reason and make an end of the war.°