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BIS the incorrect version of Count Benedetti's interview with King William at Ems. The war feeling was raised in intensity both at Berlin and Paris by this story of rudeness rebuffed. On the 15th England's offer to mediate was declined by Bismarck and Gramont respectively, and preparations for war were announced in the French legislative chamber. The declaration of war from France was laid on the table of the North German Parliament by Count von Bismarck on the 20th of July. He stated, at the same time, that there was one dispatch from Paris that he did not lay before the king, because the demand contained therein, of an apology from the king of Prussia to the emperor of the French, appeared to him ridiculous. The direction of public affairs. in the momentous war that followed, though modified by military requirements, never passed out of the hands of the Prussian prime minister. Much, indeed, devolved upon warriors and generals, yet the man of sage counsel and stern resolve was always near his sovereign, always labouring for the welfare and glory of his country. On the 25th July the world was astonished by the publication in the Times newspaper of the draft of a secret treaty proposed by France to Prussia, the purport of which was that Prussia might aggrandize herself unimpeded by the French government, if she would acquiesce in or actively support the annexation of Belgium to France. Count von Bismarck had possession of the draft treaty in Benedetti's handwriting; and though it was stated that the French envoy only wrote down the suggestions of the Prussian-Machiavel, the world was slow to believe the statement. The feeling excited in England by the publication of the projected treaty was very adverse to France. Bismarck accompanied the king on his victorious march to Paris; and on the 18th September had an interview at Ferrières with M. Jules Favre, a member of the Provisional Government of France. What the French minister called the Prussian's "impudent pretensions" (the demand for Strassburg, Toul, and Verdun) were rejected. M. Favre called Strassburg the key of the house, leaving it doubtful which house he meant. "It is the key of our house," replied the minister-president, "and we object to leaving it in foreign hands." Other fruitless attempts at negotiation followed. On the 25th November a political question foreign to his own immediate concerns engaged the attention of Count von Bismarck, who on that day issued invitations for a conference to the representatives of those governments that were parties to the treaty of Paris of 1856, from which treaty Russia suddenly announced her intention to withdraw. The conference met in London on the 17th December. On the day following a scene of another kind was witnessed at Versailles. King William, accompanied by his son, Bismarck, Moltke, and other distinguished persons, received a deputation of the North German Diet sent to offer him the imperial crown. He was proclaimed emperor in the Hall of Mirrors in the palace of the French kings on the 18th January, 1871. Ten days later Paris surrendered to the Prussians, and Count von Bismarck's labours for the settlement of peace began. His task was arduous. He had to exact a heavy penalty from a people vain of their martial achievements, and accustomed to look with levity upon war as upon an opportunity of harvesting glory, if not of acquiring fresh territory. The chancellor of the German empire, for so was Bismarck styled on and after the 24th January, 1871, fulfilled his duty faithfully and sternly. On the 26th February he signed at Versailles a treaty of peace between Germany and France. Returning to Berlin he was created prince by his grateful sovereign, and received a handsome grant of land and money.—R. H.  BISSET,, a Scotch physician, born at Dunkeld in Perthshire in 1717; after completing his studies at the university of Edinburgh, entered the marine service, visited America and the West Indies, and on his return to England purchased an ensigncy in the forty-second regiment, with which he served in France, Ireland, and in Dutch Flanders, distinguishing himself particularly in matters of military engineering. He died at Knayton, near Thirsk in Yorkshire, where he had practised for a number of years, in 1791. His acquirements included a considerable acquaintance with mathematics and engineering. "An Essay on the Theory and Construction of Fortifications," 1751; "A Treatise on the Scurvy," 1755; "Medical Essays and Observations," 1766, are his principal works.—J. S., G.  BISSET,, a miscellaneous writer, born at Perth in 1752; died at Leamington in 1832. Among his works are—"A Guide to Leamington," 1814; and "A Poetical Tour in the Environs of Birmingham," 1800. He was an industrious antiquarian and curiosity-hunter, and left a valuable museum.  BISSO,, a Sicilian physician, born at Palermo, and obtained a reputation which extended over the whole of Italy. In 1580 he was appointed by the king Philip II., chief physician of the kingdom of Sicily. He died in Palermo, 1598. His principal medical work is an "Epistola Medica de Erysipelate," Messina, 1589.—W. S. D.  BISSOLO,, flourished at Venice about 1520; he was an imitator of Titian's master, Bellini, and attained a certain gentle, good-natured softness of manner, but his motives were not powerful. His heads are sometimes beautiful, and always show a certain facility and sentiment. His best work is a "Christ exchanging Saint Catherine's crown of thorns for one of gold." Ancona possesses one of his masterpieces. He worked with the Murani.—W. T.  BISSONI,, a Paduan painter, who lived about 1576. He was first a scholar of Appolodoro, surnamed Il Porcia, an eminent portrait painter, and then of Dario Varotari. He studied at Rome, and was much employed at learned Padua. Ravenna and his own Paduan churches store up his works. He died in 1636.—W. T.  BITHYAS, a Numidian general, who deserted the service of Gulussa, son of Masinissa, an ally of the Romans in the Punic wars, and went over to the Carthaginians. He was taken prisoner by Scipio and conducted to Rome. By special favour he was allowed to reside at large in one of the towns of Italy.  BITON a Greek author known solely by a work entitled —a curious treatise on engines of war. He also wrote a work on optics that has not reached us. <section end="640H" /> <section begin="640I" />BITZIUS,, generally known under his nom de plume , an eminent popular writer, was born at Murten, 4th October, 1797, and died at Lützelflüh in the canton of Berne, 22nd October, 1854. He led the usual uneventful life of a clergyman, and, besides the discharge of his clerical duties, published an astonishing number of tales and miscellaneous writings, all of which are pervaded by an earnest and truly pious spirit, and tend to improve and christianize the common people. Most of them were originally written in the Swiss dialect, and afterwards translated into High-German. Perhaps the most popular of them were "Kathi die Grossmutter," 1847; "Uli der Knecht;" and its continuation "Uli der Pächter."—K. E. <section end="640I" /> <section begin="640J" />BIUMI,, an Italian physician, born at Milan. He went to Pavia to study medicine, took his degree there in 1685, and afterwards practised in that town for some years. From Pavia, Biumi returned to Milan, where he became physician to the hospital, and in 1699 demonstrator of anatomy. He died at Milan in 1731. His writings relating to anatomical subjects were the source of most of his celebrity.—W. S. D. <section end="640J" /> <section begin="640K" />BIXIO,, an eminent French journalist, born in 1808 at Chiavari. He studied medicine at the college of St. Barbe, but after taking his doctor's degree, diverted his attention to journalism; established the Revue des Deux Mondes; published Maison Rustique du dixneuvième siécle, and directed from its first issue in 1837 till 1848, the Journal d'Agriculture pratique. In 1848 he was for a short period a member of the provisional government, and subsequently representative of France at Turin. Returning to Paris, shortly before the memorable 24th June, he was wounded while attempting to rally the soldiery after the fall of General Bedeau. Having been deputed to the assembly by the department of Doubs, he was severally elected to the vice-president's chair. After the nomination of Louis Napoleon to the presidency, he was for a short time minister of agriculture and commerce, but in June, 1851, retired from public life. He died in 1865.—J. S., G. <section end="640K" /> <section begin="640Zcontin" />BIZZARI,. This distinguished historian, born at Sassoferrato about the year 1530, began his literary career in Venice, where, it is said, he taught belles-lettres to a great concourse of students. In the expectation that Queen Elizabeth, whom he had celebrated in some of his canzones, might grant him her patronage, he came to London in 1565; but having met with disappointment, he returned to Italy, and remained for a few months at Genoa. From thence he went to Holland, befriended by the celebrated reformer Hubert Languet, whose religious principles, it is supposed. Bizzari adopted. Through the influence of his patron he obtained an appointment in the court of the elector of Saxony, and in 1573 he went to Basle, <section end="640Zcontin" />