Middletown transcript., 1916-09-09

w HEN the Notifications of
| XN the inner city of Lemberg
" were dismantled in 1911 and
the space which they occu-
pied was converted into promenades
for the prosperous citizens of this
modern Galician capital of 100000 in
habitants, it was doubtless assumed
by many that, having suffered 1.-The
sling and arrows of outrageous for
tune" for the five centuries of its
municipal existence, fate would allot
1t a surcease from siege and capture,
says the bulletin of the National Geo
graphic society.
Lying 60 miles almost due east of
Przemysl, and more than $50 miles
northeast of Vienna, Lemberg is sit
uated on the banks of the Peltew river,
an affluent of the Bug. 1t nestles in a
small valley which opens to the north,
and is surrounded by hills, the
most picturesque being the Wildwood
ed Franz-Josef Berg to the northeast.
To the east, a distance of Z miles, is
TarnOpol, near the Russian border,
one of the first points Of attack when
the Muscovites pushed beyond the
Galician frontier.
A description of the modern city of
Lemberg as it existed in August, 1914,
requires many notifications today, for
the scars of war are to be found in its
many handsome homes; its broad, we'll
paved streets; its Roman Catholic
cathedral, handsome gothic structure
completed in 1880; its Greek cathedral,
completed in 1779; its Armenian
cathedral in the Byzantine style, dat
ing back to 1437, and its magnificent
monuments to such Polish patriots as
King John III Sobieski who, after
having saved Lemberg from the Turks
a few years previously, in 1883 saved
all Europe from Mohammedan inva-
sion by routing an army of 100000
Turks encamped about Vienna, his own
force numbering only 10000.
Nearly 700 Years Old.
Called Lwow in the Polish tongue
and LeOpolis in Latin, Lemberg was
founded by Ruthenian prince in 1859.
Nearly a hundred years later it was
added to the domain Of Casimir the
Great, who bestowed upon the city
the charter and privileges widely
known during the middle ages as the
Magdeburg Right.
Following the fall of Constantinople,
Lemberg enjoyed a revival Of trade
with the East, but it was caught in the
maelstrOm of rebellion and pillage
which swept over the Ukraine and a
part Of Poland during the last half of
the seventeenth century, when the Cos
sack hetman, Chmielnicka, was direct
Ing the infamies of the 'serfs' fury"
Lemberg was one of the Polish cities
to fall before the arms of Charles XII |
of Sweden when the ill-advised Au-
gustus II was drawn into the Great |
Northern war, which devastated CEN
tral Europe for the first 20 years Of the
eighteenth century. In 1772, upon the
first partition of Poland, Lemberg be- |
came an Austrian possession, and u |
years after this event Joseph II es-
tablished the University of Lemberg
which, at the time of the outbreak of |
the present war, had more than 1000
students.
One of the most attractive parks of
Lemberg, and a favOrite promenade,
bears the name of the Polish patriot,
Jan Kilinski, a humble little shoe-
maker, who fought bravely in 1896,
was captured and taken to st. Peters
burg. After his release he returned
to his shOemaker's bench and in his
leisure hours wrote his recollectOns, a
record of this period of his
country's history.
Since the establishment of the Ga.
Iician diet in 1861 Lemberg has en-
jOyed increasing prosperity. Its manu-
fGctures include machinery and iron
ware, matches, candles, liqueurs,
leather, bricks and tiles.
while its commerce is largely in linen,
fax, hemp, wool and oil.
In 1907 two interesting finds were
made in the vicinity of this city by