Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/507

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BELGSE BELGIUM 487 Feb. 16, 1871, its garrison of 2,000 men being allowed free departure. At the conclusion of peace Belfort, with its surrounding district (rayon), was exempted from the cession of Al- sace to Germany ; but it is still occupied by a Beliort. German garrison (1873) pending the complete payment of the French indemnity. BELC.E, one of the three peoples who divided the possession of the whole of Gaul among them at the time of its invasion and conquest by Julius Caesar, the other two being the Celtse, in the centre, and the Aquitani, between the Garonne and the Pyrenees. The Belgse occu- pied the country between the Rhine, Seine, and Marne, embracing modern Belgium and por- tions of France, Germany, and Holland. (See GAUL.) It is not settled among ethnologists how far the Belgse and Celtse of Gaul were of different or kindred races ; nor at what time, whether previous or subsequent to this period, the Intel-migrations with Britain occurred. It is assumed, however, from many considera- tions, that the Belgse had at least a mixture of Teutonic blood, if they were not Teutons. BELGARD, a town of Prussia, in the province of Pomerania, on the Persante, 15 m. S. S. W. of Koslin ; pop. in 1871, 6,303. It has a castle, three churches, and important cattle and horse markets. BELGIUM, a town in the presidency of Bom- bay, Hindostan, the headquarters of the south- ern division of the Bombay army, 40 m. N. W. of Dharwar ; pop. about 8,000. Its site is ele- vated and healthy, and it is strongly fortified. The British captured this place in 1818, after a siege of 21 days. BELGIOJOSO, "Cristina, princess of, an Italian patriot and writer, born in Milan, June 28, 1808, died there, July 5, 1871. She was the daughter of the marquis Geronimo Isidore Trivulzio, and married on Sept. 14, 1824, the prince Emilio Barbian e Belgiojoso, who died Feb. 17, 1858. Their children were a son, who died in 1862, and a daughter who in 1861 be- came the wife of the marquis Trotti-Bentivo- glio. Allied to the most distinguished families and brought up under the influence of Manzoni, the princess Belgiojoso acquired prominence by her social position, her varied accomplish- ments, and her revo- lutionary ideas. Ex- pelled from Italy, her house in Paris became after 1830 a centre for scholars, artists, and liberal politicians. Mignet prevailed upon Louis Philippe to ob- tain from the Austrian government the resto- ration of her confisca- ted property, and she employed her fortune in promoting the edu- cation and prosperity of her tenantry. She vol- unteered as the amanu- ensis of the historian Thierry, studied math- ematics under Arago, was intimate with the St. Simonians, and published an Essai sur la formation du eulte dogmatique (Paris, 1846). In 1848 she equipped volunteers at her own expense in Lombardy ; in Home she shared in the labors of Margaret Fuller for the relief of the wounded patriots; and in 1849 she went into exile in Turkey, while the Austrians again confiscated her property, which was not re- stored to her till 1855. She thereupon entered upon a literary career, and some have recog- nized in her the original from whom Stendhal drew the duchess of San Severino, the heroine of his Chartreuse de Parme. She became the correspondent of several journals; published in 1850 her Souvenirs d' 'exile in the National; edited in Paris in 1851 Notions d'histoire d P usage des enfants ; and her travels in the East led to her publication of Emina, recits turco- asiatiques (2 vols., Leipsic, 1856), Asie Mineure et Syrie (1858), and Scenes de la me turque (1858). In 1860 appeared her Hwtoire de la maison de Savoie, and in 1869 her Reflexions sur Vetat actuel de Vltalie et sur son avenir. BELGIUM (Fr. La Belgique), a kingdom of Europe, situated between N. E. France, Hol- land, Germany, and the North sea, and extend- ing from lat. 49 30' to 51 30' N., and from Ion. 2 33' to 6 6' E. ; area, 11,372 sq. m. ; pop. in 1832, 4,064,235; in 1849, 4,359,090; in 1856, 4,529,360; in 1866, 4,829,320; in 1869, by cal- culation, 5,021,336. Its greatest length from S. E. to N". W. is 180 English miles, and its greatest breadth, from the northern boundary of Antwerp to the most southern part of Hai- naut, is 124 miles. The kingdom is divided into nine provinces, as follows: