BESTOUJEFF-RUMINE, a family said to be of English origin, but naturalized in Russia since the fifteenth century. The original family name was Best. Several celebrated Russian statesmen have sprang from this family. Among these the following were among the most remarkable:—
Bestoujeff, Michael Petrovitch, Count, privy councillor and chevalier of Saint Andrew, died in 1760. He became grand-marshal of the court of Peter the Great, and from 1756 to 1760 was Russian ambassador at Paris.
Bestoujeff-Rumine, Michael, captain in the Russian imperial guard, born towards the end of the last century, and one of the leaders of the conspiracy of 1825. (See Pestel.) He was a man of extraordinary energy, and the revolt of his regiment at Mosca may be attributed to his influence alone. Mortally wounded in this revolt, he was yet condemned to death, and was hung, together with Pestel, Rilejeff, Murawieff, and Kakhouskoi, on the 26th December, 1825. This conspiracy is very noteworthy from the fact, that it was the first undertaking in Russia with a political revolution in view. The numerous conspiracies by which the Russian emperors had been overthrown, from the days of Peter I., may all be regarded as plots of the palace. The conspiracy of Pestel was constitutional in its aim.
Bestoujeff, Alexander, a distinguished Russian writer, born in the year 1795, celebrated for having, together with Rilejeff, founded and conducted the Polar Star, a literary and political review, which, even under Alexander I. of Russia, ventured to treat of country, liberty, and religion. The Polar Star had, however, but a brief existence. The editors belonged to that nucleus of Russian patriots who, in 1825, attempted to establish a constitutional government in Russia. On the failure of the conspiracy in which he was involved (see Pestel), Bestoujeff was condemned to hard labour for life in the mines of Siberia. In 1830 his sentence was commuted to compulsory enlistment as a common soldier in the army of the Caucasus. He was killed in an engagement with the Circassians in 1837. Bestoujeff was a distinguished writer of romances. His works are remarkable for imaginative power and grasp of thought. Perhaps, however, in his eagerness to avoid the formality of the classical school, he has fallen somewhat into the other extreme. His best works are "Mulla Niehr" and "Aunnalath Bey," both taken from the traditions of Circassia.
Bestoujeff-Rumine, Count Alexis, vice-chancellor and marshal of the Russian empire; born at Mosca in 1693. Bestusceff was a perfect master of the courtier's art; he witnessed the rise and fall of seven governments; yet such were his subtlety and talent that though he mingled in all the conspiracies by which they were overthrown, he contrived ever to retain the favour of each as it arose. Privy councillor of the Empress Anna, chancellor under Elizabeth, and marshal of the empire under Catherine II., Bestoujeff is chiefly noted as having been the promoter of the alliance between Austria and Russia. He died at St. Petersburg in 1766.—M. Q.
BESUCHET, Jean-Claude, a French physician, born at Boulogne, near Paris, on the 13th October, 1790, entered the military service as a surgeon in 1806, after his friends had, with some difficulty, induced him to suppress his ardent desire to join the fighting portion of the army. He went through all the campaigns of the imperial wars from that year until 1815, was twice wounded, and twice placed on the lists of promotion in the legion of honour. His second wound, received in Spain, compelled him ultimately to quit the service, and in 1816 he commenced the practice of medicine in Paris. The principal works of Besuchet are a "Domestic Medicine," published at Paris in 1818; "The Anti-Charlatan, or rational treatment of the venereal disease," Paris, 1819 (and in Spanish, 1828); and a "Treatise on Gastritis, and affections of the organs of Digestion," Paris, 1837, of which an edition appeared in 1840, under the title of "Gastritis, the nervous and chronic affections of the Viscera," &c. Besuchet is also the author of numerous articles upon medicine and natural history in the Encyclopedie Moderne of Didot, and of a large work "On Freemasonry," containing a history of the order, with a biography of its most celebrated members, which was published at Paris in 1829.—W. S. D.
BETANCOS, Domingo de, a celebrated Spanish missionary, born at Leon towards the end of the fifteenth century. After studying law at Salamanca he repaired to Rome, and assumed the habit of St Benedict; but finding human society, even in a convent, uncongenial, he withdrew to Poma, a little island four or five leagues distant from Naples, and established himself in a solitary cave where, for five years, he practised the most rigid austerities, ruining his health, and shunning the face of mankind with equal zeal. One tie bound him to his species, his affection for a certain Pedro de Arconeda, and that feeling prevailed so far with the hermit of Poma as to make him undertake a journey into Spain for the purpose of seeing his friend. This was the commencement of his career as a philanthropist, which, illustrated rather than marred by the asceticism which still clung to him, drew the attention of christendom. He was persuaded to take priest's orders, and embark for Hispaniola as a missionary to the Indians. From San Domingo, where he was an indignant witness of the cruelties which horrified Las Casas, he passed into Mexico where he founded two convents, for which, although a Spaniard and a monk, he refused all endowment, and only claimed the benevolence of his countrymen and his catechumens. In 1535 he was elected provincial, an honour as much merited as it was little coveted. His reiterated appeals on behalf of the Indians procured from Pope Paul III. in 1537, the famous bull by which, to their great astonishment, the conquerors of the new world were informed that Indians and Spaniards were of one blood, and that the extermination of the heathen was by no means necessary for the honour and glory of Santiago. After the publication of this bull, the enthusiastic Benedictine proposed to repair to China, but to this his superiors demurred, urging that his labours were already apostolical in measure. He was seized with a desire to revisit Europe, sailed for Spain, and reached San Lucar in July, 1549. A month afterwards he expired at Valladolid.—J. S., G.
BETHAM, Edward, an English divine, noted especially for his charity, was educated at Eton, and passed to Cambridge in 1728. He was presented with the living of Greenford in Middlesex, and became one of the Whitehall preachers. He presented £2000 to the botanical garden at Cambridge, and in 1780 founded a charity-school in his own parish, providing in all time coming for the education and clothing of poor children, and also for the clothing of the aged. He left by his will a sum of money for the erection of a statue to Henry VI., the founder of Eton, which stands in that institution, and bears Betham's name. He died in 1783.—J. B.
BETHAM, Sir William, a distinguished antiquary and genealogist, was born at Stradbroke, in Suffolk, on the 22d May, 1779, and descended from the ancient family of De Betham, which took their name from the locality of Betham, in Westmoreland, where they were settled at the time of the Conquest. Sir William's father, the Rev. William Betham, was himself a genealogist, and author of the genealogical tables of the sovereigns of the world, and of a baronetage of England. In 1805 William went to Ireland, where he became acquainted with Sir Chichester Fortescue, then Ulster king of arms, who, in the month of November, 1807, appointed him his deputy, as also Athlone pursuivant. In 1812 he was appointed genealogist to the order of St. Patrick, and on the 15th of July, in that year, he was knighted, and on the 18th April of the following year, he succeeded Sir Chichester Fortescue as Ulster king of arms. Meanwhile Sir William Betham had abundant time to pursue his favourite studies, for which his office of deputy-keeper of the records of the Birmingham tower, and keeper of the parliamentary records in Ireland, afforded favourable opportunities; and he applied himself with great industry to collect and compile records and documents, which labour he continued up to the time of his death; so that he formed a valuable collection of several hundred volumes of genealogical, topographical, and legal subjects, all methodized, and furnished with indexes. In addition to these. Sir William abstracted the inquisitions in the rolls in the chief remembrancer's office; and finally, the whole of the wills, administrations, and marriage-licences, in the prerogative court, from the earliest period to the year 1800. This work occupied him from 1807 till 1828, and consists of forty large folio volumes. Sir William was also a sedulous collector of manuscripts. He purchased the genealogical collection of Lodge, the collection of records of Mr. Lynch, and many others, while he procured copies of numerous records and historical manuscripts existing throughout Ireland, thus centralizing a body of information which few men could have the facilities or the energy to amass. Sir William was a vice-president and active member of the Royal Dublin Society, and in 1825 was admitted a member of the Royal Irish Academy, filling the office
