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BESTIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 826 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BESTIA , the name of a See also:

family in See also:ancient See also:Rome, of which the following were the most distinguished. I. See also:Lucius See also:CALPURNIUS BESTIA, See also:Roman See also:tribune of the See also:people in 121 B.C., See also:consul in Having been appointed to the command of the operations against Jugurtha, he at first carried on the See also:campaign energetically, but soon, having been heavily bribed, concluded a disgraceful See also:peace. On his return to Rome he was brought to trial for his conduct and condemned, in spite of the efforts of See also:Marcus See also:Scaurus who, though formerly his See also:legate and equally guilty, was one of the See also:judges. He is probably identical with the Bestia who encouraged the Italians in their revolt, and went into See also:exile (90) to avoid See also:punishment under the See also:law of Q. Varius, whereby those who had secretly or openly aided the See also:Italian See also:allies against Rome were to be brought to trial (See also:Appian, See also:Bell. Civ. i. 37; Val. Max. viii. 6. 4). Both See also:Cicero and See also:Sallust See also:express a high See also:opinion of Bestia's abilities, but his love of See also:money demoralized him.

He is mentioned in a Carthaginian inscription as one of a See also:

board of three, perhaps an agricultural See also:commission. See Sallust, Jugurtha; Cicero, See also:Brutus, xxxiv. 128; for the See also:general See also:history, A. H. J. Greenidge, Flist. of Rome, vol. i. (1904), pp. 346 See also:foil. 2. Lucius CALPURNIUS BESTIA, one of the Catilinarian conspirators, possibly a See also:grandson of the above. He was tribune elect in 63, and it had been arranged that, after entering upon his See also:office, he should publicly accuse Cicero of responsibility for the impending See also:war. This was to be the See also:signal for the outbreak of revolution.

The See also:

conspiracy, however, was put down and Bestia had to content himself with delivering a violent attack upon the consul on the expiration of his office. This Bestia is probably not the Lucius Calpurnius Bestia, See also:aedile, and a See also:candidate for the praetorship in 57. He was accused of See also:bribery during his candidature, and, in spite of Cicero's See also:defence, was condemned. In 43 he attached himself to the party of Antony, apparently in the See also:hope of obtaining the consulship. Sallust, Caliline, xvii. 43; Appian, Bell. Cis,. ii. 3; Cicero, Ad Q. Fr. ii. 3, 6. BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, ALEXIUS PETROVICH, See also:COUNT (1693-1768), See also:grand See also:chancellor of See also:Russia, the second son of Count See also:Peter Bestuzhev, the See also:early favourite of the empress See also:Anne, was See also:born at See also:Moscow on the 1st of See also:June 1693. Educated abroad, with his See also:elder See also:brother Mikhail, at See also:Copenhagen and See also:Berlin, he especially distinguished himself in See also:languages and the applied sciences.

Peter the See also:

Great, in 1712, attached him to See also:Prince See also:Kurakin at the See also:Utrecht See also:Congress that he might learn See also:diplomacy, and for the same See also:reason permitted him in 1713 to enter the service of the elector of See also:Hanover. See also:George I. took him to See also:London in 1714, and sent him to St See also:Petersburg as his accredited See also:minister with a notification of his See also:accession. Bestuzhev then returned to See also:England, where he remained four years. It was the necessary See also:apprenticeship to his brilliant See also:diplomatic career. His See also:passion for intrigue is curiously illustrated by his See also:letter to the tsarevich Alexius at See also:Vienna, assuring his " future See also:sovereign " of his devotion, and representing his sojourn in England as a deliberate seclusion of a zealous but powerless well-wisher. This extra-See also:ordinary indiscretion might well have cost him his See also:life, but the tsarevich fortunately destroyed the letter.' On his return to Russia he served for two years without any See also:salary as See also:chief See also:gentleman of the Bedchamber at the See also:court of Anne of See also:Courland, and in 1721 succeeded Vasily Dolgoruki as See also:Russian minister at Copenhagen. Copenhagen was then a whirlpool of diplomatic intrigue, for George I. was endeavouring to See also:arm the See also:northern See also:powers against Peter the Great, and this it was Bestuzhev's See also:mission to counteract. On the occasion of the peace of Nystad, which terminated the 21 years' war between Russia and See also:Sweden, Bestuzhev designed and struck a commemorative See also:medal with a panegyrical Latin inscription, which so delighted Peter (then at See also:Derbent) that he sent a letter of thanks written with his own See also:hand and his portrait set in brilliants. It was at this See also:time too that the many-sided Alexius invented his famous " drops," or tinctura toniconervina Bestusclae fi, the See also:recipe of which was stolen by the See also:French brigadier Lamotte, who made his See also:fortune by introducing it at the French court, where it was known as See also:Elixir d'Or. The sudden See also:death of Peter the Great seriously injured Bestuzhev's prospects. For more than ten years he remained at Copenhagen, looking vainly towards Russia as a sort of promised See also:land from which he was excluded by enemies or rivals. He rendered some important services, however, to the empress Anne, for which he was decorated and made a privy councillor.

He also won the favour of See also:

Biren, and on the tragic fall of Artemy See also:Voluinsky in 1739 was summoned See also:home to take his See also:place in the See also:council. He assisted Biren to obtain the regency in the last days of the empress Anne, but when his See also:patron See also:fell three See also:weeks later, his own position became extremely See also:precarious. His See also:chance came when the empress See also:Elizabeth, immediately after her accession, summoned him back to court, and appointed him See also:vice-chancellor. For the next twenty years, during a See also:period of exceptional difficulty, he practically controlled the See also:foreign policy of Russia. Bestuzhev rightly recognized that, at this time, See also:France was the natural enemy of Russia. The interests of the two states in See also:Turkey, See also:Poland and Sweden were diametrically opposed, and Russia could never hope to be safe from the intrigues of France in these three borderlands. All the enemies of France were thus necessarily the See also:friends of Russia, and her friends Russia's enemies. Consequently Great See also:Britain, and still more See also:Austria, were Russia's natural allies, while the aggressive and energetic See also:king of See also:Prussia was a danger to be guarded against. It was, therefore, the policy of Bestuzhev to bring about a quadruple See also:alliance between Russia, Austria, Great Britain and See also:Saxony, to counterpoise the Franco-Prussian See also:league. But he was on dangerous ground. The empress herself was averse from an alliance with Great Britain and Austria, whose representatives had striven to prevent her accession; and many of her See also:personal friends, in the pay of France and Prussia, took See also:part in innumerable conspiracies to overthrow Bestuzhev. Nevertheless, step by step, Bestuzhev, aided by his elder brother Mikhail, carried out his policy.

On the 11th of See also:

December 1742, a defensive alliance was concluded between Great Britain and Russia. Bestuzhev had previously rejected with scorn the proposals of the French See also:government to mediate between Russia and Sweden on the basis of a territorial surrender on the part of the former; and he conducted the war so vigorously that by the end of 1742 Sweden See also:lay at the See also:mercy of the empress. At the peace congress of See also:Abo (January—August 1743) he insisted that the whole of See also:Finland should be ceded to Russia, by way of completing the testament of Peter the Great. But the French party contrived to get better terms for Sweden, by artfully appealing to the empress's fondness for the See also:house of See also:Holstein. The Swedes, at the See also:desire of Elizabeth, accepted See also:Adolphus See also:Frederick, See also:duke of Holstein, as their future king, and, in return, received back Finland, with the exception of a small See also:strip of land up to the See also:river Kymmene. Nor could ' A copy of the letter was taken by way of precaution, beforehand, by the See also:Austrian ministers, and this copy is still in the Vienna archives. Bestuzhev prevent the See also:signing of a Russo-Prussian defensive alliance (See also:March 1743); but he deprived it of all See also:political significance by excluding from it the proposed See also:guarantee of Frederick's Silesian conquests. Moreover, through Bestuzhev's efforts, the See also:credit of the Prussian king (whom he rightly regarded as more dangerous than France) at the Russian court fell steadily, and the vice-chancellor prepared the way for an alliance with Austria by acceding to the treaty of See also:Breslau (1st of See also:November 1743)• A See also:bogus conspiracy, however, got up by the Holstein See also:faction, aided by France and Prussia, who persuaded Elizabeth that the Austrian See also:ambassador was intriguing to replace See also:Ivan VI. on the See also:throne, alienated the empress from Austria for a time; and Bestuzhev's ruin was regarded as certain when, in 1743, the French See also:agent, the See also:marquis de La Chetardie, arrived to reinforce his other enemies. But he found a friend in need in M. L. See also:Vorontsov, the empress's confidant, who shared his political views.' Still his position was most delicate, especially when the See also:betrothal between the grand-duke Peter and See also:Sophia of See also:Anhalt-See also:Zerbst (afterwards Catharine II.) was carried through against his will, and Elizabeth of Holstein, the See also:mother of the See also:bride, arrived in the Prussian interests to See also:spy upon him. Frederick II., conscious of the instability of his French ally, was now eager to See also:contract an offensive alliance with Russia; and the first step to its realization was the overthrow of Bestuzhev, " upon whom," he wrote to his minister Axel von Mardefeld, " the See also:fate of Prussia and my own house depends." But Bestuzhev succeeded, at last, in convincing the empress that Chetardie was an impudent intriguer, and on the 6th of June 1744, that diplomatist was ordered to quit Russia within twenty-four See also:hours.

Five weeks later Bestuzhev was made grand chancellor (See also:

July 15th). Before the end of the See also:year Elizabeth of Holstein was also expelled from Russia, and Bestuzhev was supreme. The See also:attention of See also:European diplomacy at this time was concentrated upon the king of Prussia, whose insatiable acquisitiveness disturbed all his neighbours. Bestuzhev's offer, communicated to the See also:British government at the end of 1745, to attack Prussia if Great Britain would guarantee subsidies to the amount of some £6,000,000, was rejected as useless now that Austria and Prussia were coming to terms. Then he turned to Austria, and on the 22nd of May 1746, an offensive and defensive alliance was concluded between the two powers manifestly directed against Prussia. In 1747, alliances were also concluded with See also:Denmark and the See also:Porte. At the same time Bestuzhev resisted any rapprochement with France, and severely rebuked the court of Saxony for its intrigues with that of See also:Versailles. About this time he was hampered by the persistent opposition of the vice-chancellor Mikhail Vorontsov, formerly his friend, now his jealous See also:rival, who was secretly supported by Frederick the Great. In 1748, however, he got rid of him by proving to the empress that Vorontsov was in the pay of Prussia. The See also:hour of Bestuzhev's See also:triumph coincided with the peace congress of See also:Aix-la-Chapelle, which altered the whole situation of European politics and introduced fresh combinations, the breaking away of Prussia from France and a rapprochement between England and Prussia, with the inevitable corollary of an alliance between France and the enemies of Prussia. Bestuzhev's violent political prejudices at first prevented him from properly recognizing this See also:change. Passion had always been too large an ingredient in his diplomacy.

His Anglomania also misled him. His enemies, headed by his elder brother Mikhail and the vice-chancellor Vorontsov, powerless while his diplomacy was faultless, quickly took See also:

advantage of his mistakes. When, on the 16th of See also:January 1756, the Anglo-Prussian, and on the 2nd of May the Franco-Austrian alliances were concluded, Vorontsov advocated the accession of Russia to the latter league, whereas Bestuzhev insisted on a See also:subsidy treaty with Great Britain. But his See also:influence was now on the wane. The totally unexpected Anglo-Prussian alliance had justified the arguments of his enemies that England was impossible, while his hatred of France prevented him from adopting the only alternative of an alliance with her. To prevent undergound intrigues, Bestuzhev now proposed the erection of a council of ministers, to See also:settle all important affairs, and at its first session (14th–3oth of March) an alliance with Austria, France and Poland against Frederick II. was proposed, though Bestuzhev opposed any See also:composition with France. He endeavoured to support his failing credit by a See also:secret alliance with the grand-duchess See also:Catherine, whom he proposed to raise to the throne instead of her Holstein See also:husband, Peter, from whom Bestuzhev expected nothing See also:good either for himself or for Russia. The negotiations were conducted through the See also:Pole See also:Stanislaus See also:Poniatowski. The accession of Russia to the See also:anti-Prussian See also:coalition (1756) was made over his See also:head, and the cowardice and incapacity of Bestuzhev's friend, the Russian See also:commander-in-chief, See also:Stephen See also:Apraksin, after the See also:battle of See also:Gross-Jagersdorf (1757), was made the pretext for overthrowing the chancellor. His unwillingness to agree to the coalition was magnified into a determination to defeat it, though it is quite obvious that he could only gain by the humiliation of Frederick, and nothing was ever proved against him. Nevertheless he was deprived of the chancellorship and banished to his See also:estate at Goretovo (See also:April 1759), where he remained till the accession of Catharine II., who recalled him to court and created him a See also:field See also:marshal. But he took no leading part in affairs and died on the 21st of April 1768, the last of his See also:race.

See The Sbornik of the Russian See also:

Historical Society, vols. 1, 3, 5, 7, 12, 22, 26, 66, 79, 8o, 81, 85-86, 91-92, 96, 99, 100, 103 (St Petersburg, 187o, &c.) ; Politische Correspondenz Friedrichs See also:des Grossen, vols. 1-21 (Berlin, 1879–1904) ; R. Nisbet See also:Bain, The Daughter of Peter the Great (London, 1899). (R. N. B.) BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, MIKHAIL PETROVICH, COUNT (1688–176o), Russian diplomatist, elder brother of the foregoing, was educated at Berlin, and was sent by Peter the Great to represent Russia at Copenhagen in 1705. In 1720 he was appointed See also:resident at London at a time when the See also:English court was greatly inflamed against Peter, who was regarded as a dangerous rival in the Baltic; and Bestuzhev was summarily dismissed for protesting against the lately-formed Anglo-See also:Swedish alliance. On the conclusion of the peace of Nystad in 1721 he was sent as ambassador to the court of See also:Stockholm. His first See also:official See also:act was the signing of a defensive alliance between Russia and Sweden for twelve years, in 1724. He was successively transferred to See also:Warsaw (1726) and to Berlin (1730), but returned to Stockholm in 1732. How far Bestuzhev was concerned in the See also:murder (June 28th, 1739) of the Swedish diplomatic agent See also:Sinclair in See also:Silesia on his See also:journey home from See also:Constantinople, it is difficult to say.

It is certain that Bestuzhev sent See also:

information to his court of Sinclair's mission, which was supposed to be hostile to Russia, and even supplied the portrait of the See also:envoy for recognition. The Swedish authorities are unanimous in describing Bestuzhev as the See also:arch-plotter in this miserable affair; yet, while the active agents were banished to See also:Siberia, Bestuzhev was not even censured. The Sinclair murder led ultimately to the Swedish-Russian War of 1741, when Bestuzhev was transferred first to See also:Hamburg and subsequently to Hanover, where he endeavoured to conclude an alliance between Great Britain and Russia. On his return to Russia in 1743, he was made grand marshal, and married See also:Anna, the widow of See also:Paul Yaguzhinsky, Peter the Great's famous See also:pupil. A few months later his wife was implicated in a bogus conspiracy got up by the French ambassador, the marquis de La Chetardie, to ruin the Bestuzhevs (see BESTUZIIEV-RYUMIN, ALEXIUS), and after a public See also:whipping, had her See also:tongue cut out and was banished to Siberia. Thither Bestuzhev had not the manhood to follow her, but went abroad, and subsequently resumed his diplomatic career. His last and most brilliant mission was to Versailles, shortly after the conclusion of the coalition against Frederick the Great, where he cut a great figure. He died at See also:Paris on the 26th of See also:February 176o. See See also:Robert Nisbet Bain, The Daughter of Peter the Great (London, 1899) ; Mikhail Sergyievich, History of Russia (See also:Ras.), vols. xv.-xxii. (2nd ed., St Petersburg, 1897). (R. N.

End of Article: BESTIA

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