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BEURNONVILLE, PIERRE DE RUEL, MARQUIS...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 835 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BEURNONVILLE, See also:PIERRE DE RUEL, See also:MARQUIS DE (1752-1821) , See also:French See also:general. After service in the colonies, he married a wealthy See also:Creole, and returning to See also:France See also:purchased the See also:post of See also:lieutenant of the Swiss guard of the See also:count of See also:Provence. During the Revolution he was named lieutenant-general, and took an active See also:part in the battles of Valmy and Jemmapes. See also:Minister of See also:war in See also:February 1793, he denounced his old See also:commander, C. F. See also:Dumouriez, to the See also:Convention, and was one of the four deputies sent to See also:watch him. Given over by him to the Austrians on the 3rd of See also:April 1793, Beurnonville was not ex-changed until See also:November 1795• He entered the service again, commanded the armies of the Sambre-et-See also:Meuse and of the See also:North, and was appointed inspector of See also:infantry of the See also:army of See also:England in 1798. In 1800 he was sent as See also:ambassador to See also:Berlin, in 1802 to See also:Madrid. See also:Napoleon made him a senator and count of the See also:empire. In 1814 he was a member of the See also:pro-visional See also:government organized after the See also:abdication of Napoleon, and was created a peer of France. During the See also:Hundred Dayshe followed See also:Louis XVIII. to See also:Ghent, and after the second restoration was made marquis and See also:marshal of France. See A.

Chaquet, See also:

Les Guerres de la Revolution (See also:Paris, 1886). BEUST, See also:FRIEDRICH See also:FERDINAND VON (1809–1886), See also:Austrian statesman, was descended from a See also:noble See also:family which had originally sprung from the See also:Mark of See also:Brandenburg, and of which one See also:branch had been for over 300 years settled in See also:Saxony. He was See also:born on the 13th of See also:January 1809 in See also:Dresden, where his See also:father held See also:office at the Saxon See also:court. After studying at See also:Leipzig and See also:Gottingen he entered the Saxon public service; in 1836 he was made secretary of See also:legation at Berlin, and afterwards held appointments at Paris, See also:Munich and See also:London. In See also:March 1848 he was summoned to Dresden to take the office of See also:foreign minister, but in consequence of the outbreak of the revolution was not appointed. In May he was appointed Saxon See also:envoy at Berlin, and in February 1849 was again summoned to Dresden, and this See also:time appointed minister of foreign affairs, an office which he continued to hold till 1866. In addition to this he held the See also:ministry of See also:education and public See also:worship from 1849 to 1853; that of See also:internal affairs in 1853, and in the same See also:year was appointed minister-See also:president. From the time that he entered the ministry he was, however, the leading member of it, and he was chiefly responsible for the events of 1849. By his See also:advice the See also:king refused to accept the constitution proclaimed by the See also:Frankfort See also:parliament, a policy which led to the outbreak of revolution in Dresden, which was suppressed after four days' fighting by Prussian troops, for whose assistance Beust had asked. On Beust See also:fell also the See also:chief responsibility for governing the See also:country after See also:order was restored, and he was the author of the so-called coup d'etat of See also:June 185o by which the new constitution was overthrown. The vigour he showed in repressing all resistance to the government, especially that of the university, and in reorganizing the See also:police, made See also:hip one of the most unpopular men among the Liberals, and his name became synonymous with the worst See also:form of reaction, but it is not clear that the attacks on him were justified. After this he was chiefly occupied with foreign affairs, and he soon became one of the most conspicuous figures in See also:German politics.

He was the See also:

leader of that party which hoped to maintain the See also:independence of the smaller states, and was the opponent of all attempts on the part of See also:Prussia to attract them into a See also:separate See also:union; in 1849–1850 he had been obliged to join the " three See also:kings' union " of Prussia, See also:Hanover and Saxony, but he was careful to keep open a See also:loop-hole for withdrawal, of which he speedily availed himself. In the crisis of 1851 Saxony was on the See also:side of See also:Austria, and he supported the restoration of the See also:diet of the See also:confederation. In 1854 he took part in the See also:Bamberg conferences, in which the smaller German states claimed the right to See also:direct their own policy See also:independent of that of Austria or of Prussia, and he was the leading supporter of the See also:idea of the Trias, i.e. that the smaller states should form a closer union among themselves against the preponderance of the See also:great monarchies. In 1863 he came forward as a warm supporter of the claims of the See also:prince of Augustenburg to See also:Schleswig-See also:Holstein (see SCIILESWIGHOLSTEIN QUESTION); he was the leader of the party in the German diet which refused to recognize the See also:settlement of the Danish question effected in 1852 by the treaty of London, and in 1864 he was appointed representative of the diet at the See also:congress of London. He was thus thrown into opposition to the policy of See also:Bismarck, and he was exposed to violent attacks in the Prussian See also:press as a " particularist," i.e. a supporter of the independence of the smaller states. The See also:expulsion of the Saxon troops from See also:Rendsburg nearly led to a conflict with Prussia. Beust was accused of having brought about the war of 1866, but the responsibility for this must See also:rest with Bismarck. On the outbreak of war Beust accompanied the king to See also:Prague, and thence to See also:Vienna, where they were received by the See also:emperor with the See also:news of See also:Koniggratz. Beust undertook a See also:mission to Paris to procure the help of Napoleon. When the terms of See also:peace were discussed he resigned, for Bismarck refused to negotiate with him. After the victory of Prussia there was no See also:place for Beust in See also:Germany, and his public career seemed to be closed, but he quite unexpectedly received an invitation from the emperor of Austria to become his foreign minister. It was a bold decision, for Beust was not only a stranger to Austria, but also a See also:Protestant; but the choice of the emperor justified itself.

Beust threw himself into his new position with great See also:

energy; it was owing to him that the negotiations with See also:Hungary were brought to a successful issue. When difficulties came he went himself to See also:Budapest, and acted directly with the Hungarian leaders. In 1867 he also held the position of Austrian minister-president, and he carried through the See also:measures by which See also:parliamentary government was restored. He also carried on the negotiations with the See also:pope concerning the See also:repeal of the See also:concordat, and in this See also:matter also did much by a liberal policy to relieve Austria from the pressure of institutions which had checked the development of the country. In 1868, after giving up his post as minister-president, he was appointed See also:chancellor of the empire, and received the See also:title of count. His conduct of foreign affairs, especially in the matter of the See also:Balkan States and See also:Crete, successfully maintained the position of the empire. In 1869 he accompanied the emperor on his expedition to the See also:East. He was still to some extent influenced by the See also:anti-Prussian feeling he had brought from Saxony. He maintained a See also:close understanding with France, and there can be little doubt that he would have welcomed an opportunity in his new position of another struggle with his old See also:rival Bismarck. In 1867, however, he helped to bring the affair of See also:Luxemburg to a peaceful termination. In 1870 he did not disguise his sympathy for France, and the failure of all attempts to bring about an intervention of the See also:powers, joined to the See also:action of See also:Russia in denouncing the treaty of Paris, was the occasion of his celebrated saying that he was nowhere able to find See also:Europe. After the war was over he completely accepted the new organization of Germany.

As See also:

early as See also:December 187o he had opened a See also:correspondence with Bismarck with a view to establishing a See also:good understanding with Germany. Bismarck accepted his advances with alacrity, and the new entente, which Beust announced to the Austro-Hungarian delegations in See also:July 1871, was sealed in See also:August by a friendly See also:meeting of the two old rivals and enemies at See also:Gastein. In 1871 Beust interfered at the last moment, together with See also:Andrassy, to prevent the emperor accepting the federalist plans of Hohenwart. He was successful, but at the same time he was dismissed from office. The precise cause for this is not known, and no See also:reason was given him. At his own See also:request he was appointed Austrian ambassador at London; in 1878 he was transferred to Paris; in 1882 he retired from public See also:life. He died at his See also:villa at Altenberg, near Vienna, on the 24th of See also:October 1886, leaving two sons, both of whom entered the Austrian See also:diplomatic service. His wife, a Bavarian See also:lady, survived him only a few See also:weeks. His See also:elder See also:brother Friedrich Konstantin (1806-1891), who was at the See also:head of the Saxon See also:department for mines, was the author of several See also:works on See also:mining and See also:geology, a subject in which other members of the family had distinguished themselves. Beust was in many ways a diplomatist of the old school. He had great social gifts and See also:personal See also:graces; he was proud of his proficiency in the lighter arts of composing waltzes and vers de societe. His chief See also:fault was vanity, but it was an amiable weakness.

It was more vanity than rancour which made him glad to appear even in later years as the great opponent of Bismarck; and if he cared too much for popularity, and was very sensitive to neglect, the saying attributed to Bismarck, that if his vanity were taken away there would be nothing See also:

left, is very unjust. He was See also:apt to look more to the form than the substance, and attached too much importance to the verbal victory of a well-written despatch; but when the opportunity was given him he showed higher qualities. In the crisis of 1849 he displayed considerable courage, and never lost his See also:judgment even in personal danger. If he was defeated in his German policy, it must be remembered that Bismarck held all the good See also:cards, and in 1866 Saxony was the only one of the smaller stateswhich entered on the war with an army properly equipped and ready at the moment. That he was no See also:mere reactionary the whole course of his government in Saxony, and still more in Austria, shows. His Austrian policy has been much criticized, on the ground that in establishing the See also:system of See also:dualism he gave too much to Hungary, and did not really understand Austrian affairs; a,nd the Austro-Hungarian crisis during the early years of the See also:present See also:century has given point to this view. Yet it remains the fact that in a crisis of extraordinary difficulty he carried to a successful conclusion a policy which, even if it was not the best imaginable, was probably the best attainable in the circumstances. Beust was the author of reminiscences: Aus drei Viertel-Jahrhunderten (2 vols., See also:Stuttgart, 1887; See also:English trans. edited by See also:Baron H. de See also:Worms) ; and he also wrote a shorter See also:work, Erinnerungen zu Erinnerungen (Leipzig, 1881), in See also:answer to attacks made on him by his former colleague, Herr v. Frieseri, in his reminiscences. See also Ebeling, F. F. See also:Graf v.

Beust (Leipzig, 1876), a full and careful See also:

account of his See also:political career, especially up to 1866; Diplomatic Sketches: No. z, Count Beust, by Outsider (Baron Carl v. Malortie) ; Flathe, Geschichte von Sachsen, vol. iii. (See also:Gotha, 1877) ; Friesen, Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben (Dresden, i88o). (J. W.

End of Article: BEURNONVILLE, PIERRE DE RUEL, MARQUIS DE (1752-1821)

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