Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/609

 BETTING

539

BEUGNOT

to the neighbourhood of Bettiah. In 1883 Father Alexander of Albano opened an orphanage at Chak- nee; but, as the number of Italian missionaries was falling off, this district, then a portion of the Allaha- bad mission, was turned over (29 October, 1889) to the Capuchins of the Pro\-ince of Northern Tyrol. By a decree of 20 April, 1892, this country was made an independent prefecture, suffragan to the See of Agra; the districts of Bettiah, Champaru, Sarun, Tiroot, Mazuffarpore, Dharbanga, and part of those of Bhagalpur and Monghyr were assigned to it. Propaganda added, 19 May, 1893, the whole of Ne- pal, a territory wider than the whole of the original prefecture, and which extends to the borders of Tibet. Nepal thus became separated from the Diocese of Allahabad; it can scarcely be said, however, to have ever been evangelized, seeing that within its 59,000 square miles Rampur is the only station.

Generally speaking, missionary activity in this prefecture has been concentrated in the Bettiah dis- trict. According to the latest statistics of the Ca- puchin missions, the prefecture numbers 13,000,000 inhabitants, of whom only 3,633 are Catholics. Nearly all the Europeans (220) are Anglicans. In 1889 the mission had only three stations; there are now 12 stations and 11 churches or chapels. The principal stations are Bettiah (the residence of the Prefect Apostolic, Ilarione da Abtei), Chohoree, Chaknee, Latonah, Somastipore, Dharbanga, Somesar, Rampur (in Nepal), and Ramnagar. The minor stations are Mazuffarpore, Sonepore, Chapra, and Hipore. The mission is administered by 14 Capuchin priests, aided by 8 lay brothers. There are also 20 Sisters of the Holy Cross (Kreuzschwestem) from Switzerland; 35 schools, \\ith 854 pupils; and 10 orphanages, with 403 orphans.

Status Missionum Ord. Min. Cap. (1906).

Albert B.\tt.vndier.

Betting. — A bet may be defined as the backing of an affirmation or forecast by offering to forfeit, in case of an adverse issue, a sum of money or article of value to one who, by accepting, maintains the oppo- site and backs his opinion by a corresponding stipu- lation. Although there are no Federal statutes in the United States on this matter, many of the States make it a penal offence when the bet is upon a horse- race, or an election, or a game of hazard. Betting contracts are also frequently made void. Similarly in Great Britain betting in streets and pubUc places, and the keeping of betting houses are forbidden by law, and wagering contracts are null and void. Such laws are just and useful, inasmuch as they serve to keep within the bounds of decency the dangerous habit of gambling, and the many evils which are usually associated with it. Although betting is to be discouraged as being fraught with danger, and although it may be morally wrong, still in particular cases it is not necessarily so. As I may give the money of which 1 have the free disposal to another, so there is nothing in sound morals to prevent me from entering into a contract with another to hand over to him a sum of money if an assertion be found to be true, or if a certain event come to pass, with the stipulation that he is to do the same in my favour if the event be otherwise.

This may be an innocent form of recreation, or a ready way of settling a dispute. However, the practice is very liable to abuse, and that it may be morally justifiable theologians require the following conditions: The parties must have the free disposal of what they stake, and both must bind themselves to stand by the event and pay in case of lo.ss. Welsh- ing is wrong in morals as it is in law. Both must imderstand the matter of the bet in the same sense, and it must be uncertain for them both. If, howev'er, one has absolutely certain evidence of the truth of iiis contention, and says so to the other party, he is

not precluded from betting if the latter remains obstinate. If a bet fulfils these conditions and the object of it is honest, so that the bet is not an incentive to sin, it will be a valid contract, and therefore obligatory in conscience. Debts of honour then are also debts that we are bound in conscience to pay if they fulfil the conditions just laid down. It follows that the avocation of the professional bookmaker need not be morally wrong. It is quite possible to keep the moral law and at the same time so to arrange one's bets with different people that, though in all probabihty there will be some loss, still there will be gain on the whole. (See G.\mbling.)

LEH.MKUHL, Theohgia Moralis (Freiburg, 1898), I, n. 1138; Ballerini, Opus Morale (Prato, 1892), III, 788.

T. Slater.

Beugnot, Auguste- Arthur, Count, French histo- rian and statesman, b. at Bar-sur-Aube, 25 March, 1797; d. at Paris, 15 March, 1865. He was a son of Jacques-Claude Beugnot, who was a Deputy in the Legislative Body of 1791, Minister of Finance to Jerome, King of Westphalia in 1807, Minister of the Interior under the Provisional Government of 1814, and Postmaster General in 1815. At the age of twenty-one Auguste-Arthur Beugnot made known his ability as an historical writer by di\-iding with Mignet the prize of the Academic des Inscriptions (1818) for the best essay on the institutions of St. Louis. The competitions of 1822 and 1831 led to his work on "The Jews of the West" and his "History of the Destruction of Paganism in the West", in conse- quence of which he was elected to the Acad^mie des Inscriptions. To the general public the latter of these two works was more especially known; it was placed on the Index, and has lost its vogue since the ap- pearance of Seeck's treatise on the same subject. The learned, however, attach a higher value to the works of Beugnot on the Middle Ages; his editions of the "Assizes of Jerusalem" (1841-43), of Beauma- noir's book of the "Customs of Beauvaisis" (1842), and of the "Olim", or ancient registers of the Parlia- ment of Paris (1839-48). These editions are of great value for the history of feudal and customary law, and of juridical procedure. The name of Beugnot, lastly, is associated with the voluminous publication of the "Historians of the Crusades", which began in a memoir WTitten by him in 1834. Beugnot entered politics in 1841 as a Peer of France, was Deputy for Haute-Marne in the Chamber of 1849, and under the Empire went into a retirement which lasted until his death.

The Villemain educational plan of 1844, to subject the heads of independent institutions to the jurisdic- tion of the university, and to impose upon their pupils the obligation of making their studies in rhet- oric and philosophy in certain prescribed establish- ments, was opposed by Beugnot on liberal principles, whilst others opposed it on religious grounds. This project was withdrawn in January, 1845, its author having become demented. Beugnot, who had de- stroyed the draft of a speech in support of the Ville- main programme, was welcomed by the Catholics as a labourer entering the vineyard at the eleventh hour. In 1845 he advocated the claim of the bishops, as of all other citizens, to the right of petition. In his pamphlet, "L'6tat th&)logien", he made it clear that the attacks on the Jesuits were neither more nor less than attempts to destroy the liberty of associa- tion, and the Jesuits empowered him to treat with Guizot in their name at the time of the negotiations between France and the Holy See in regard to the dispersion of the Society. As drafter of the Law of 1850 on Liberty of Teaching, he vainly endeavoured to prevent the return of the bill to the Council of State, 7 November, 1849, and in the decisive de- bate (14 January to 15 March, 18,50) he vigorously seconded the efforts of Montalembert, Parieu, and