Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

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S A I —S A I
other churches or convent chapels are of interest, but it is
enough to mention St Sepulchre’s (14th century) for the
sake of its beautiful stone spire and stained-glass windows.
A fine collection of records, a picture gallery, and a theatre
are all accommodated in the town-hall, built of the materials
of the abbey of St Bertin. Among the five hospitals the
military hospital is of note as occupying the college opened
by the English Jesuits in 1592 and known as the place
where O’Connell received his education. The old episcopal
palace is used as a court-house. Several learned societies
exist in the town; the public library contains 20,000
volumes and 1000 MSS. The arsenal is an extensive series
of buildings. Besides 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 tobacco-
pipes exported to America and the colonies, St Omer
manufactures cloth, hosiery, and tulle, cambric, and muslin
embroideries. Its trade (and it is the seat not only of a
tribunal but also of a chamber of commerce) is mainly in
provisions for England, the products of the local industry,
and those of the paper-mills, flour-mills, distilleries, and
sugar-factories in the vicinity, especially along the banks of
the Aa. The suburb of Haut Pont to the north of St
Omer is inhabited by a special stock, which has remained
faithful to the Flemish tongue, its original costume, and
its peculiar customs, and is distinguished by honesty and
industry. The ground which these people cultivate has
been reclaimed from the marsh, and the legres (i.e., the
square blocks of land) communicate with each other only
by boats floated on the ditches and canals that divide them.
At the end of the marsh, on the borders of the forest of
Clairmarais, are the ruins of the abbey founded in 1140 by
Thierri d’Alsace, to which Thomas a Becket betook himself
in 1165. To the south of St Omer on a hill commanding
the Aa lies the camp of Helfaut, often called the camp of
St Omer. On 15th June 1884 a statue was erected to
Jacqueline Robin, a heroine who in the time of Louis XIY.
saved St Omer from foreign occupation. The population
of the town was 20,479 in 1881 (21,556 in the commune).
Near a castle named Sithiu, Omer, bishop of Therouanne, erected
churches and the monks of Luxeuil established monasteries in the
7th century; and in the 9th century the village thus originated
took the name of its founder St Omer. The Normans laid the
place waste in 861 and 881, but ten years later found town and
monastery surrounded by walls and safe from their attack. Situ¬
ated on the borders of territories frequently disputed by French,
Flemish, English, and Spaniards, St Omer long continued subject
to siege and military disaster. In 1071 Philip I. put all to sword
and flame. Burned in 1136, captured in 1198 by Richard and
Baldwin IX., attacked in 1214 by Ferrand of Portugal, in 1302
and 1303 by the Flemish, in 1337 and 1339 by the English, and
in 1477 by Louis XL, St Omer at last fell in 1487 into the hands
of Charles YIII. Two years later it was recovered by the arch¬
duke Maximilian ; and Charles Y. strengthened its ramparts with
bastions. The French made five futile attempts against it between
1551 and 1596, and had no better success in 1638 (under Richelieu)
or in 1647. But on 26th April 1677, after seventeen days’ siege,
Louis XIY. forced the town to capitulate; and the peace of
Nimeguen permanently confirmed the conquest. From time to
time the people of St Omer (Audomarois) still celebrate the entrance
into the town of William Cliton, count of Flanders, from whom in
1127 they obtained a communal charter granting them numerous
privileges. St Omer ceased to be a bishopric in 1790.
SAINTONGE (Santonia, Santonensis tractus), an old
province of France, of which Saintes (q.v.) was the capital,
was bounded on the N.W. by Aunis, on the N.E. by
Poitou, on the E. by Angoumois, on the S. by Guienne, and
on the W. by Guienne and the Atlantic. It now forms a
small portion of the department of Charente and the
greater part of that of Charente Inferieure.
ST OFTEN, an industrial district in the outskirts of
Paris, on the right bank of the Seine, 1 mile above St Denis.
It had 17,718 inhabitants in 1881. The docks (6 acres in
area), where the boats from the lower Seine discharge,
are connected by rail with the Northern and Eastern lines
at Paris and with the circular railway near Batignolles.
The importance of St Ouen is mainly due to its industrial
establishments,—foundries and forges, steam-engine fac¬
tories, dyeworks, waxcloth works, potteries, &c.; it has also
the steam-pumps for supplying the upper quarters of Paris
with water from the river, a racecourse, and a fine castle
occupying the site of the building in which Louis XVIII.
signed (2d May 1814) the declaration by which he pro¬
mised a charter to France.
ST PAUL, a city of the United States, second city of
Minnesota, a port of entry and the capital of the State and
of Ramsey county, is situated in 44° 52' 46" N. lat. and
93° 5' W. long., on the Mississippi river, 2150 miles from
its mouth, 10 below the falls of St Anthony, the natural
head of navigation, and 360 north-west of Chicago. The
ground on which the city is built rises from the river in
a series of terraces, the ascent being in many places pre¬
cipitous and not easily adapted to urban uses. The city
is mainly confined to the second and third terraces, but is
gradually spreading over the elevated plateau beyond. The
difficulties of the situation have much increased the cost of
erecting large business structures, circumscribed the busi¬
ness quarter, and impeded the railway companies in secur¬
ing convenient and adequate facilities. The city site is
underlaid with a thick stratum of bluish limestone, which
comes near the surface, and which, while it renders excava¬
tion expensive, furnishes unlimited supplies of building
material of a fair quality. The streets of the older portions
are uncomfortably narrow, but the newer streets are better
Plan of St Paul.
1. State Capitol.
2. U.S. Custom-House and
Post-Office.
3. City-Hall.
4. City-Market.
5. Opera-House.
6. Chamber of Commerce.
7. Rice Park.
8. Smith Park.
laid out. The chief public buildings are the State capitol
(built in 1882), the United States custom-house and post-
office, the city-hall, and the city-market. A handsome opera-
house and a chamber of commerce building are conspicuous
features. In 1885 there were seventy-one church organiza¬
tions,—9 Episcopal, 7 Presbyterian, 4 Congregational, 12
Methodist, 12 Lutheran, 2 Jewish, 7 Baptist, 11 Roman
Catholic, 1 Unitarian, 4 Evangelical, 1 Swedenborgian,
and 1 Disciples of Christ. Besides the charitable institu¬
tions connected with the church organizations there are
an orphan asylum, a home for the friendless, a Swedish
hospital, a women’s Christian home, and a Magdalen home.
Of periodical publications there were issued in 1885 5
dailies, 17 weeklies, and 7 monthlies. The city has (1886)
eleven banks, of which six are national with an aggregate
paid-up capital of $5,200,000, and five State institutions
with a paid-up capital of $1,150,000. St Paul is an im¬
portant railway centre, dividing with Minneapolis the ter¬
minal and distributing business of no less than fifteen lines
owned by six different corporations and having an aggre¬
gate length of 15,818 miles. The navigation of the upper
Mississippi acts as a check upon the rates charged by the