BÁNFFY, DEZSÖ [Desiderius], Baron (1843–), Hungarian statesman, the son of Baron Daniel Bánffy and Anna Gyárfás, was born at Klausenburg on the 28th of October 1843, and educated at the Berlin and Leipzig universities. As lord lieutenant of the county of Belsö-Szolnok, chief captain of Kövár and curator of the Calvinistic church of Transylvania, Bánffy exercised considerable political influence outside parliament from 1875 onwards, but his public career may be said to have begun in 1892, when he became speaker of the house of deputies. As speaker he continued, however, to be a party-man (he had always been a member of the left-centre or government party) and materially assisted the government by his rulings. He was a stringent adversary of the radicals, and caused some sensation by absenting himself from the capital on the occasion of Kossuth’s funeral on the 1st of April 1894. On the 14th of January 1895, the king, after the fall of the Széll ministry, entrusted him with the formation of a cabinet. His programme, in brief, was the carrying through of the church reform laws with all due regard to clerical susceptibilities, and the maintenance of the Composition of 1867, whilst fully guaranteeing the predominance of Hungary. He succeeded in carrying the remaining ecclesiastical bills through the Upper House, despite the vehement opposition of the papal nuncio Agliardi, a triumph which brought about the fall of Kalnóky, the minister for foreign affairs, but greatly strengthened the ministry in Hungary. In the ensuing elections of 1896 the government won a gigantic majority. The drastic electoral methods of Bánffy had, however, contributed somewhat to this result, and the corrupt practices were the pretext for the fierce opposition in the House which he henceforth had to encounter, though the measures which he now introduced (the Honved Officers’ Schools Bill) would, in normal circumstances, have been received with general enthusiasm. Bánffy’s resoluteness enabled him to weather all these storms, and his subsequent negotiations with Austria as to the quota and commercial treaties, to the considerable political advantage of Hungary, even enabled him for a time to live at peace with the opposition. But in 1898 the opposition, now animated by personal hatred, took advantage of the ever-increasing difficulties of the government in the negotiations with Austria, and refused to pass the budget till a definite understanding had been arrived at. They refused to be satisfied with anything short of the dismissal of Bánffy, and passion ran so high that on the 3rd of January 1899 Bánffy fought a duel with his most bitter opponent, Horánszky. On the 26th of February Bánffy resigned, to save the country from its “ex-lex,” or unconstitutional situation; he was decorated by the king and received the freedom of the city of Buda. Subsequently he contributed to overthrow the Stephen Tisza administration, and in May 1905 joined the Kossuth ministry.
See article “Bánffy,” by Marczall, in Pallas Nagy Lexikona, Köt 17. (R. N. B.)
BANG, HERMANN JOACHIM (1858–), Danish author, was born of a noble family in the island of Zealand. When he was twenty he published two volumes of critical essays on the realistic movement. In 1880 he published his novel Haablöse Slaegter (“Families without hope”), which at once aroused attention. After some time spent in travel and a successful lecturing tour in Norway and Sweden, he settled in Copenhagen, and produced a series of novels and collections of short stories, which placed him in the front rank of Scandinavian novelists. Among his more famous stories are Faedra (1883) and Tine (1889). The latter won for its author the friendship of Ibsen and the enthusiastic admiration of Jonas Lie. Among his other works are:—Det hvide Hus (The White House, 1898), Excentriske Noveller (1885), Stille Eksistenzer (1886), Liv og Död (Life and Death, 1899), Englen Michael (1902), a volume of poems (1889) and of recollections (Ti Aar, 1891).
BANGALORE, a city of India, the capital of the native state of Mysore, and the largest British cantonment in the south of India. It is 3113 ft. above the sea, and 219 m. W. of Madras by rail. Pop. (1901) 69,447. The foundation of the present fort was laid by a descendant of Kempe-Goude, a husbandman of the neighbouring country, who, probably in the 16th century, had left his native village to avoid the tyranny of the wadeyar of that place, and settled on a spot a few miles to the north of Bangalore. To the peaceful occupation of a farmer he added that of a warrior, and his first exploit was the conquest of this place, where, and at Savendrug, his family subsequently erected fortresses. Bangalore, with other possessions, was, however, wrested from them by Bijapur. Somewhat later we find it enumerated among the jagirs of Shahji, father of Sivaji, the founder of the Mahratta sway; and at an early period of his career in the service of the Bijapur state, that adventurer seemed to have fixed his residence there. It appears to have passed into the possession of Venkaji, one of the sons of Shahji; but he having occupied Tanjore, deemed Bangalore too distant, especially under the circumstances of the times, to be safe. He accordingly, in 1687, entered into a bargain for its sale to Chikka Deva, raja of Mysore, for three lakhs of rupees; but before it could be completed, Kasim Khan, commander of the forces of Aurangzeb, marched upon the place and entered it almost without resistance. This event, however, had no other result than to transfer the stipulated price from one vendor to another; for that general, not coveting the possession, immediately delivered it over to Chikka Deva on payment of the three lakhs. In 1758, Nanjiraj, the powerful minister of the raja, caused Bangalore to be granted, as a jagir or fief, to Hyder Ali, afterwards usurper of Mysore, who greatly enlarged and strengthened the fort, which, in 1760, on his expulsion from Seringapatam, served as his refuge from destruction. The fort formed the traditional scene of the first captivity of Sir David Baird after Baillie’s defeat at Perambakam in 1780. The prison cell of Sir David and his fellow-captive is from 12 to 15 ft. square, with so low a roof that a man can scarcely stand upright in it. In 1791 it was stormed by a British army commanded by Lord Cornwallis. In 1799 the district was included by the treaty of Seringapatam within the territory of the restored raja of Mysore. It formed the headquarters of the British administration of Mysore from 1831 to 1881. When the state of Mysore was restored to its raja in 1881, the civil and military station of Bangalore was permanently reserved under British jurisdiction as an “assigned tract.” It has an area of 13 sq. m., and had in 1901 a population of 89,599, showing a decrease of 10% in the decade, due to plague. Bangalore is the headquarters of a military district, its elevation rendering it healthy for British troops, with accommodation for a strong force of all arms and an arsenal in the old fort. It is the headquarters of a brigade in the 9th division of the Indian army. A considerable number of European pensioners reside here. There is a modern palace for the maharaja. There is an aided Roman Catholic college, besides many schools for Europeans. A permanent water-supply has been introduced and there is a complete system of drainage. Bangalore is an important railway centre. There are several cotton mills. The city suffered severely from plague in 1899 and 1900.
The district of Bangalore borders on the Madras district of Salem. The main portion consists of the valley of the Arkavati river, which joins the Cauvery on the southern frontier. Its area is 3079 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 789,664, showing an increase of 15% in the decade. The district is crossed by several lines of railway. Outside Bangalore city there is a woollen mill, which turns out blankets, cloth for greatcoats, and woollen stuffs.
BANGANAPALLE, a state of southern India, surrounded by the Madras district of Kurnool. Area, 255 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 32,264, showing a decrease of 9% in the decade; estimated revenue £6400, of which a large portion is alienated in grants to junior branches of the family; no tribute. The excessive expenditure of the nawab, Syed Fateh Ali Khan, and the general inefficiency of the administration caused much anxiety to the government, and in February 1905 he was temporarily removed from the administration of the state. The town of Banganapalle is not far from the branch of the Southern Mahratta railway from Guntakal to Bezwada.
