Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/533

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

BEM BEMBO 513 a major of artillery, and in June, 1831, took part in the battle of Ostrolenka, where he was noticed for the skill and perseverance with which he fought against the vastly superior Rus- sian batteries. When the Polish army had been finally repulsed in its attacks against the Rus- sians who had passed the Narew, he covered the retreat by a bold advance. He was now created colonel, soon after general, and called to the comraaiid-in-chief of the Polish artillery. After the fall of Warsaw, in the defence of which he took part, he crossed the Prussian frontier with the rest of the army, but urged the men not to lay down their arms before the Prussians, and thus provoked a bloody collision, called at that time the battle of Fischau. He then abandoned the army and organized in Ger- many committees for the support of Polish emigrants, after which he went to Paris. Travels through Portugal, Spain, Holland, Bel- gium, and France absorbed his time during the period from 1834 to 1848. On the first ap- pearance in March, 1848, of revolutionary symptoms in Austrian Poland, he hastened to Lemberg, and thence, on Oct. 14, to Vienna, which had risen in insurrection on the 6th. But he in vain exerted all his energy in organ- izing the insurgents. After a remarkable de- fence, Oct. 28, 1848, of the great barricade erected in the Jagernzeile, and after the open- ing of negotiations between the Vienna magis- trates and Prince Windischgratz, he disappear- ed, secretly escaping to Pesth. The revolu- tionary Hungarian government gave him com- mand of Transylvania. Opening the first cam- paign toward the end of December, 1848, with a force of about 8,000 ill-organized and badly armed men, he finished it in about three months, Laving vanquished Puchner with an Austrian army of 20,000, Engelhardt with an auxiliary force of 6,000 Russians, and Urban with his freebooters. But during the next summer the war was renewed by the Russians, and, after desperate fighting on the part of Bern and his army, was terminated disastrously for them by the decisive battles of Schassburg (July 31, 1849) and Temesv&r (Aug. 9), which were speedily followed by the surrender of Gorgey. After a vain attempt to make a last stand at Lugos and in Transylvania, he was com- pelled to take refuge in the Turkish territory. With the purpose of opening to himself a new field of activity against Russia, Bern embraced the Mussulman faith, and was raised by the sultan to the dignity of a pasha, under the name of Amurath, with a command in the Turkish army; but, on the remonstrances of the European powers, he was relegated to Aleppo. Having there succeeded in repressing some sanguinary excesses committed in No- vember, 18oO, on the Christian residents by the Mussulman populace, ho died about a month later, of a violent fever, for which he would allow no medical aid. His publications include Expose general de la methode mnemo- nique polonaise, &c. (Paris and Leipsic, 1839), part of which work served as a basis for the " Polish-American System of Chronology," by Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody (New York, 1852). BEMAN, Nathaniel S. S., an American clergy- man, born at New Lebanon, N. Y., in 1785, died at Carbondale, 111., Aug. 8, 1871. He grad- uated at Middlehury college in 1807, studied theology, and about 1810 was ordained pastor of a Congregational church in Portland, Me. Two or three years later he went as a mission- ary to Georgia, where he devoted himself es- pecially to the work of establishing educational institutions. In 1822 he became pastor of the first (and at that time the only) Presbyterian church in Troy, N. Y. He retained the charge of this church more than 40 years, and became a leading member of his denomination, entering warmly into the temperance, moral reform, revival, and anti-slavery movements of his time. In 1831 he was moderator of the gen- eral assembly of the Presbyterian church ; and during the discussions which in 1837 led to the disruption of that church he was the leader of the New School branch. In 1863 he resigned the pastoral office, and for the re- mainder of his life resided in Troy or with his daughter in Illinois. Dr. Beman was among the most cultivated scholars and eloquent preachers of the American church. Many of his sermons, addresses, and essays have been separately printed ; he also published a vol- ume containing "Four Sermons on the Atone- ment," and was, by appointment of the gen- eral assembly, one of the compilers of the hymn book adopted by the New School branch of the Presbyterian church. BK.1IBO. I. Bonifazio, an Italian painter, born at Valdarno, was employed by the court of Milan about the middle of the 15th century. He assisted in the decoration of the cathedral of Cremona, where he painted the "Purifica- tion" and the "Adoration of the Magi." His works are esteemed for their brilliant coloring, bold attitudes, and splendid drapery. II. Gio- vanni Francesco, brother and pupil of the pre- ceding, a painter of the Cremonese school, who of all his contemporaries departed furthest from the antique manner, and resembles Fra Bartolommeo in coloring. BEMBO, Pietro, an Italian cardinal and au- thor, born in Venice, May 20, 1470, died in Rome, Jan. 18, 1547. He was of a noble fam- ily, and at an early age studied at Florence, whither his father was sent as ambassador, and afterward at Messina, whence he returned in 1494 to his native city. Soon after he wrote a treatise upon Mount Etna, which was his first publication. He then frequented the courts of Ferrara and U rbino, pursuing philosophical and literary studies, and admired for his wit and graceful manners. Learning and letters were then in the highest esteem in the noble families of Italy, and Bembo had many power- ful patrons, received favors from Pope Julius II., and accompanied his friend Giovanni de' Medici on his way to Rome to be crowned pope as Leo