Little is said of Burgundy in particular, the work being principally taken up with France and Flanders. It is not of much value in point of historical research, following only the French printed chronicles; but, in point of execution, it has great merit. The style is simple and clear; and the author does not add a single remark of his own. This way of writing history, in which he took the old chronicles for models, as he says in his preface,was something new in France, and has found imitators. In 1826, he was elected member of the French academy in the room of Desèze, and, in his eulogy on his predecessor, attacked the revolution. He is now writing a history of the parliament of Paris. BARBERINI VASE. (See Portland Vase.) BARROW, John, member of the royal society of London, and secretary of the admiralty, from his youth has been devoted to the study of geography, mathematics and astronomy. From 1786 to 1791, he taught astronomy at Greenwich. When lord Macartney, in 1792, went on his famous embassy to China, he took Mr. Barrow with him as his private secretary, and sir George Staunton (q. v.) as secretary of legation. These gentlemen, as well as Macartney's other companions -Anderson, Holmes and Alexandereach published, in a separate work, an account of what he had seen. Barrow's is the most satisfactory. He describes, minutely, Cochin-China, whither he had gone, while the other members of the embassy remained with the Chinese court in the Mantchoo country. Soon after his return to Europe, he published, in 1794, descriptions of various sorts of pocketapparatuses of mathematical instruments, for which he had already collected materials during his residence in Oxford and Greenwich. The fame of Mungo Park (q. v.) excited in him a desire to travel in Africa; and he wished to penetrate into the interior of this continent from the south. He travelled through the desert of Karroo, and through the mountain chains of Zwartberg and Nieuweldt, and at last arrived at the village of Graaf-Reynet, where he joined a mission to some Caffre chiefs. He penetrated to the Sneuwberg, and made himself acquainted with the Hottentots, Caffres, and the wild Bushmen. Having returned to Cape Town, he went, without any companion or servant, into the territory of Namaqua, in the neighborhood of the western coast, and made a second journey into the country of the Caffres. His work-Account of Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa (London, 1801-4) gives a new view of Southern Africa and its inhabitants, and remains, together with those of Lichtenstein and Thompson, the safest guide for travellers in that region. In 1804, he published his Observations on China, which excited so much interest in France that the son of the celebrated orientalist De Guignes wrote a particular treatise on it-Observations sur les Voyages de Barrow à la Chine. Two years after, appeared his journey to Cochin-China, to which is added an account of travels to the residence of the chief of the Bushwanas, in 1801-2, the farthest point to which any European had penetrated in Africa from the south. MalteBrun translated the whole into French in 1807. In this year, Barrow published Memoirs of lord Macartney; but these are considered to be much biased by personal friendship. The most elaborate work which he has published is his Historical Account of Voyages into the Arctic Regions (London, 1818). Having been, for a number of years, under-secretary to the admiralty, he has been able to do a great deal for the advancement of geography and natural history. No scientific expedition, for about twenty years, has been undertaken from England for which he has not made the plan, or selected the persons, or prepared questions to determine the points to which their activity should be directed. Parry, Ross, Buchan, Franklin, Richardson, &c., have benefited by his instructions. He is a member of most geographical societies, and his correspondence extends over the globe. May 24, 1830, he proposed, in the Raleigh traveller's club, the foundation of a geographical society, such as had already been formed by Malte-Brun, Eyriès, &c., in Paris, and by Ritter and Berghaus, in Berlin. July 16, the society was instituted; and Barrow, its vice-president, is the soul of it. BARTH, Jean. (See Baert.) BARTHÉLEMY AND MERY; two French poets, who have coöperated in their productions, like Beaumont and Fletcher. Both were born towards the end of the last century, at Marseilles. Their education was almost monastic. The authors of Rome à Paris learned Greek and Latin in the school of the fathers of the oratory (pères de l'oratoire). In their fifteenth year, when they left this school, they could read Homer and Virgil; but Racine and Voltaire were unknown to them. They studied with zeal to supply the deficiencies in their education. In 1823, shortly before the campaign in Spain, they went to the capital. The political struggle had ended favorably for the ultras; and the vanquished revenged themselves by speeches in the chambers, and sarcastic attacks in the journals. The poetical twins caught the spirit of the time, and their satire, though more sportive than bitter, assailed individuals by name. The Sidiennes, Épitres-Satyres sur le dix-neuvième Siècle (1825), addressed to Sidi Mohammed, ambassador of the bey of Tunis, who was present at the coronation of Charles X, were not received with undivided applause. They long sought in vain for a publisher; and for their next satire, La Villeliade, they were 'offered only 100 francs. They therefore printed it at their own expense, and sold sixteen editions, amounting to 50,000 copies. From 1825 to 1828, appeared Les Jésuites; Rome à Paris; La Peyronnéide; La Corbiereide; Le Congrès des Ministres; Une Soirée chez Peyronnet; and La Censure. Four days before the dissolution of Villèle's cabinet, the Adieur aur Ministres appeared. Under Martignac the satirists found little matter for their lash. With Napoléon en Egypte (1828), they entered a new field, and gave to French literature the most successful poem in the historical style which it yet possesses. While Mery made a journey to Greece, Barthélemy went to Vienna to offer this poem to the duke of Reichstadt, but could not succeed in getting access to the young duke. After his return, he described the history of this unsuccessful attempt, and the feelings which agitated his soul when he saw the prince in the theatre, in his poem Le Fils de l'Homme, ou Souvenirs de Vienne. The police immediately laid hands on it; but an edition, published in Brussels, which supplied some passages omitted in the edition of Paris, got into circulation before the legal prosecution of the poet and the printer began. On the trial, Barthelemy read a defence in verse, in which, precisely a year before the decisive days of July, 1830, he says, with bitter sarcasm, that fourteen years of tranquillity had given stabil. ity to the monarchy, and that nothing was to be feared at a time when the nation was tranquillized, and the king without suspicion. Que les tems sont changes! Citoyens varisques, Helas! loin d'exciter des tempêtes publiques, Tremblans, privés d'appui, bannis, persécutez, Gênes par la censure ou par nos libertes, Nous trouvons à la fin pour unique refuge Un arrêt pour salaire et pour critique un juge But neither his harmonious verses, nor Merilhou's eloquent defence, could save the poet: he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, and to pay a fine of 1000 francs. In the next year, he and Méry published, together, another satire, Waterloo au Général Bourmont, and Barthélemy alone produced a less spirited Satyre Politique. Both took an active part in the revolution of 1830. L'Insurrection, a triumphal song, was finished within a few days after. Barthélemy received a pension from the new government, which, however, he soon gave up, as subjecting him to unpleasant restraint. His latest poems are Douze Journées de la Révolution, which have appeared in numbers, since March, 1832. The Twelve Days begin with June 20, 1789 (the oath in the tennis court at Versailles), and end with the 18th of Brumaire. The poem on the 10th of August, 1792, is entitled Le Peuple-Roi. The periodical Nemesis, which was received with much approbetion, came to an end on April 1, 182; and Barthélemy returned to Marseilles. The Nemesis was written in verse, generally of a satirical character, and treated of the persons and events of the time. Mery is now a librarian in Marseilles. He assisted his friend in editing the Nemesis. Méry has written two novels-Le Bonnet Vert (which reminds the reader of Victor Hugo's Dernier Jours d'un Condamné), and L'Assassinat (Paris, 1832), a dramatic picture of the royalist reaction in the south of France, in 1815. A complete collection of the works of both has lately been published in Paris, under the title of Œuvres de Barthelemy et Méry, with an introduction by Reybaud. The portraits in this edition are miserable. BASAR. (See Bazar.) BATH METAL (See Copper.) BAYNHAM, William, surgeon, son doctor John Baynham, of Caroline county, Virginia, was born in December, 1749. To complete his education, he went to London, in 1769, where he entered as a student at St. Thomas's hospital. Here he devoted himself particularly to the study of anatomy and surgery, and soon acquired great proficiency in both these departments. In 1772, he was en ployed, by the professor of anatomy at Cambridge, to dissect and prepare the subjects for his lectures, and continued to assist him in this manner for several winters, practising, during the remaining part of the year, very profitably, at Margate. He afterwards returned to London, and became assistant demonstrator to Mr. Else, professor of anatomy in St. Thomas's hospital. June 7, 1781, Mr. Baynham was made a member of the company of surgeons of London (which is to the surgeon what the degree of doctor of physic is to the physician), and commenced the practice of surgery in that city, in which he continued for several years. Having resided sixteen years in England, he returned to his native country, and settled in Essex, where he acquired extensive reputation, and was often sent for to the large towns, and sometimes even into other states. There is scarcely any difficult operation in surgery which he did not perform, and with almost invariable success. As a surgeon, Mr. Baynham had probably no superior; as an anatomist, he certainly was unsurpassed. He likewise obtained great eminence as a physician. Whilst in Britain, he was, unquestionably the best practical anatomist there, being unrivalled in the dissecting-room. He continued practising in Essex county until his death, which occurred on the 8th of December, 1814, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. BEAR and BULL. (See the article StockExchange.) BEECH DROP. (See Cancer Root.) BEHEMOTH. (See Hippopotamus.) BELGIUM, SINCE 1830. When we referred from the article Netherlands to the article Belgium, in the Appendix to the concluding volume, we hoped to be able to give an account of the settlement of the dispute between Holland and this new kingdom; but the difficulties between the two powers are not yet adjust ed. As the Belgic revolution, however, is an event of great interest, and by many but imperfectly understood, we shall now give an account of it down to the latest information received. The statements, as far as to March, 1832, are taken from the article Belgium, in the new supplement to the German Conversations-Lexikon (Conversations Lexicon of the latest Events and Literature, Leipsic, 1832); and the degree of confidence which they deserve must depend on the degree of fidelity with which that article is drawn up. If, at some future period, a supplement to this work should be published, more in formation will be given under the heads Netherlands, Leopold, King of Belgium, and London Conferences. It is one of the striking events of an age of a most peculiar character, that while an oppressed people on the Vistula, which, from the beginning of modern European history, had formed a distinct nation, was suffered to be ground to the dust in its struggle to regain the independence which force and fraud had wrung from it-it is strange, we say, that, while such a people was sinking, unaided, like a hero covered with wounds, yet sword in hand, against the universal feeling and interest of Europe, and against the principles of humanity and justice, at this very time, a population on the Meuse and Scheldt, which had no peculiar history or language, which never formed a distinct nation, and had nothing in its natural situation to give it such a character, which had been prospering under a constitutional government and a conscientious king, has been raised to the rank of an independent state; and, in the face of the fundamental treaties of the European powers, from the fear of a general war, Belgium, a district originally belonging to Germany, then united with the rest of the Netherlands and with Burgundy, afterwards separated from them and belonging to Spain, then to France, Austria and Holland, at length, for a few years, to France alone, and, at last, to Holland alone, after having invariably been the prey of foreign arms, and acquired, through French conquests, the German province of Liege (q. v.), has, at length, become, in consequence of a revolution, and by means of sixty and more protocols of the plenipotentiaries of the five great powers of Europe, a separate state; and the Letto-Germanic, Wallonie, Flemish, German, Dutch and French population, which is as heterogeneous as its dialects, its laws, and its successive rulers, has received a separate constitution, a German king, and the guarantee of French protection. It is promised perpetual peace or neutrality, while war hangs over it like the suspended sword of Damocles. This independence-if such it may be called-is burthened with an old and new public debt, and a deficit in the very cradle of its national existence, and has been acquired at the expense of the mart of its industry, and its channels of export. This state of things is the result of powerful causes, at work in other parts of Europe, aided by the total difference of the Dutch and the Belgians, and is supported by one half of Europe, while the other is decidedly hostile to it, though not yet prepared to manifest their inclination. It has been, also, repeatedly asserted from Belgium itself, that more than half of the four millions of Belgians bit terly regret the separation from Holland. Before we describe the events which led to the present result, we must take a rapid view of the former position of Belgium, with regard to Holland. The Southern Netherlands, or Belgium, and the Northern Netherlands, or Holland, were united into one political body by the congress of Vienna (q. v.), in 1814 and 1815, with the view of giving Germany more security against France, and in consideration of the union which had formerly existed between all the provinces of the Netherlands; perhaps, also, in some measure, with a view to the interests of both parties. The consent of the Southern Netherlands was not asked: the great powers disposed of them as of oth er conquered provinces and districts. But there are hardly two nations of Europe more unlike than the people of the Southern Netherlands and of Hollandin religion, language, manners, domestic customs, and interests. Politicians, who were well acquainted with both parties, and well disposed towards them, deprecated the idea of their union, but to no purpose. England was decidedly in favor of it. Four millions of Catholics, chiefly employed in agriculture and manufactures, were united with two millions of Calvinists, in the Dutch sense of the word, essentially commercial in their pursuits and dispositions, speaking a different language, and one which had always been disagreeable to the Belgians. They were to have one constitution, one legis lature, one executive. But the agricultural and manufacturing interests of Belgium were so opposed to the commercial interests of the Dutch, that measures highly acceptable to the one were often odious to the other. Yet this diversity of interest seems to have been by no means so great a cause of disagreement as the difference of language, religion and character. The proud and rich Belgians, in language and manners resembling the * Niebuhr, the historian of Rome, who was well acquainted with the country and people, having lived some time there in the service of the Prussian government, was of opinion that the two portions, if united at all under one king, ought, at least, to have separate constitutions and legis latures, like Norway and Sweden. As early as 1821, we heard him predict a violent separa French, though far behind them in cultsvation, at the same time dependent upon a jealous and blind Catholic clergy, decidedly hostile to all innovations, particularly when proceeding from two millions of Dutch, were bitterly opposed to the measures of king William and his ministers, for blending the two discordant masses into one, by making the Dutch language general in the country, and the offcial language. It was not to be supposed that the Belgians would willingly suffer this, as the language of a man is his very being; yet, on the other hand, it was natural that the government should wish to introduce more uniformity and stronger national ties; and they could hardly be expected to make the French the common language, as the Dutch formed the nucleus of the nation, from whom the political institutions of the country came, as the result of a long and glorious historynot to mention that the king himself is native Dutchman. The king, however, revoked the decrees which had given such offence to the Belgians, and even + Though it might be supposed self-evident that language and religion must be the dearest possessions of every man, we find so many attempts, in history, on the part of governments, to make vioduced to translate a passage of a ministerial delent changes in these particulars, that we feel incree in Prussia, of Dec. 23, 1822, dictated by a spirit of true wisdom. It may be found in the Annals of the Prussian Popular School System (vol. iii, Berlin, 1826). At the same time, we should mention that the Prussian government takes care to Germanize, as rapidly as reason wil permit, those districts which speak languages that either never arrived at any literary cultivation, or are now spoken only by small communities, and therefore, serve only as barriers to the spread and act wisely. If a small community speaks a dr progress of civilization. And, in so doing, they ferent language from the surrounding people, and thus separates itself from the great current of civ ilization, while it is incapable of having a literature and intellectual developement of its own, as was the case with some Bohemian communities, but a short time since, in the mark of Brandraburg, they are liable, as many remarkable a stances show, to suffer a complete mental stagna tion. The passage of the decree of the Prussian prepaminister of instruction is this" As to the sary that we perceive clearly what we wish, or gation of the German language, it is first neces should wish, in this respect, namely, whether only to diffuse a general knowledge of German amoeg the inhabitants of the Polish provinces, or to Ge manize the whole people by degrees, indeed, azel imperceptibly, yet, nevertheless, as completely as possible. In the opinion of this department, the first only is necessary, advisable and practicable, the second injudicious and impracticable. In or der to be a good subject, and to participate in the benefits of the institutions of the state, it is, 2deed, desirable and necessary for the Poles that they should understand the language of the king decreed the abolition of the philosophical college at Louvain-an institution founded with the best intentions, but a stumbling-block to the majority of the Catholic clergy of Belgium, who thought the light of science incompatible with the objects at what they aimed. But this measure did not satisfy the Belgians: the great body of them hated the Dutch as Protestants, while those who did not care for religious distinctions were equally hostile, because the Dutch, as they thought, were preferred to them. Thus it happened that the modern party of liberals, and the ultra-Catholic party (which had already successfully opposed the reforms of Joseph II), united-strange as it may seem-in order to oppose the Dutch Protestant government, as they called it (though no Catholic was ever molested in his religious rights), in the chambers, periodicals, and by petitions, with a mingled spirit of republicanism and ultramontanism; so that foreign observers were often struck with the tone of their newspapers as singularly inconsistent. The feeling of grievances now outweighed by far the consciousness of advantages secured to the Belgians by the act of union. One great complaint had always been that the Belgian deputies originally had actually rejected the constitution, which gave to the Dutch provinces, though much inferior in area and population, an equal number of representatives in the states-general with the Belgians, for which reason the majority of the Belgian notables rejected it; but, as the votes of the members not present were counted as ayes, the new constitution was, nevertheless, declared to have been adopt dom and government, and be able to make themselves understood in the same; but it is not necessary that they should, therefore, give up their national tongue, or treat it as secondary. The knowledge of two languages is not a disadvantage, but, on the contrary, may be considered as an advantage, as it is generally connected with greater versatility of the mental powers, and a readier power of perception. But, even if it should be considered desirable to limit, by degrees, the use of the Polish language, and thus to denationalize the people, yet every open step towards the extirpation of the language would only tend to defeat the object. With the religion and language of a nation all their feelings and thoughts are interwoven. A government which acknowledges, values and protects these, may be sure to gain the hearts of its subjects; but one which slights or attacks them, embitters or dishonors the people, and makes disloyal and bad subjects. But those who may think that it would materially contribute to the civilization of the Polish nation to be Germanized, at least in language, are greatly mistaken. The cul ed. This was the first ostensible cause of the discontent of the Belgians, which continually increased. Hence the Belgic opposition waged a continual war against the administration, perhaps so much the more violent as they had been obliged to observe a deathlike silence under Napoleon's government. The liberals, uniting with the ultramontane party, demanded, under pretext of freedom of education, the continuation or restoration of the Catholic colleges, yet on the old Jesuitical plan, for which reason the clergy, who were highly influential with the lower classes, joined with the liberals in the demand for the liberty of the press, juries, and the responsibility of ministers. Laws had been passed, respecting the schools, which limited the right of instruction, so that the government could exercise a supervision as to the competency of the teachers. The clergy hated this restriction, as it deprived them of the sole management and direction; so that the Catholic clergy in Belgium demanded for the people the same thing which it denied, at that very time, to the liberals in France. The opposition had become so violent, and not unfrequently, as respected the tone of the newspapers, so revolutionary, that the government thought itself obliged, towards the end of 1829, to resolve upon a firm resistance, having tried in vain to allay the spirit of opposition by various concessions. Those officers who, in the house of deputies, had voted against the budget, lost their offices and pensions; and a prosecution for treason was undertaken on the ground of De Potter's private correspondence. During the next session of the states-general, 964 petitions tivation of an individual and of a nation can only be effected through the vernacular tongue. The language in which a man thinks, is the most proper and powerful element of his improvement: he may have learned a great deal in foreign languages; but that which he actually knows and understands, he knows and understands only in one language, namely, in that in which he thinks, therefore generally in his vernacular tongue. To take from him this, and to force upon him another, would be a preposterous mode of promoting the improvement even of an individual; how much more unsuitable is it to be applied to a whole nation! even if the latter had not so rich, independently developed and grammatically perfect a language as the Polish. If it is truly desirable to aid in the cultivation of the Polish nation, this will always be done most certainly by means of their own language; and the interest of government will be sufficiently provided for if the German language is introduced into every Polish school as one of the subjects of instruction, and care is taken that children are well versed in it before they leave the school" |
