Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/96

* BILOXI. a point across the bay from the present city and named it Biloxi. from the Biloxi Indians. He also built near by a fort ( Fort Maurepas), which was the first French fortification in this part of the country. In 1701 the settlement (now known as Old Biloxi 1 was abandoned because of a destructive fire, and about 1712 a permanent settlement, the first within the present limits of Mississippi, was made on the present site. For several years in the early part of the Eighteenth Century, Biloxi was the capital of the French territory in this part of North America. It was incorporated as a town in 1872 and as a city in 1890. the date of the charter now in force, which provides for a mayor, elected every two years, and a city council. " Population, in ISnO. .3234: in 1900, 5467, For the history of Old Biloxi ( 1699- 1701), consult French, Historical Collections of Louisiana. BILOXI. A small tribe of Indians, originally residing about Biloxi Bay, on the Gulf coast of ilississippi. whence they removed to Louisiana, probably early in the Eighteenth Century. From their geographic position and alliances it was long assumed that they were related to the Choc- taws, but in 1880 Gatschet discovered a few fam- ilies in Louisiana still speaking their language, and demonstrated that it is a detached dialect of the great Siouan stock. BILSE, bil'sc, Benjamin (1816-1902). A Ger- man musical conductor, born at Liegnitz. He became conductor of the orchestra in his native citv and brought it to such a degree of perfec- tion that in 1867 he could undertake to give orchestral ijerformances in Paris during the ex- hibition. From 1864 to 1884 he was established at the Conccrthaus, Berlin, where his popular concerts attracted large audiences. With his orchestra of seventy members he undertook sev- eral tours through Germany, Belgium, northern France, and Poland, and also visited Saint Pe- tersburg. His repertory was very extensive. BILSTON, bil'ston. A town of Staffordshire, England, situated on rising groimd, about 2 miles southeast of Wolverhampton (Map: Eng- land, D 4). It forms a part of the parliamen- tary borough of 'olverhanipton. It has exten- sive iron and coal mines, iron-smelting works, iron foundries for making machinery, besides •works for manufacturing tin-plate goods, ja- panned and enameled wares, nails, wire, screws, and coarse pottery. Fine sand, adajjted for nietal-castins, is found here. The municipality owns and o|)erates its water-works and maintains " ■ ' Population, in 1891, 1,000. BIMA, l.r.'mi. See BinM.. BIMBASHI. See Bashi. BIM'BISA'KA. A king of Magadha, the modern Bili:ir. one of the earliest friends and protectors of the Bnddlia. whom he presented with the famous pleasure-park. Veuvana. Bini- bisara reigned in the Sixth Century n.c. for fifty- two years, and he was nnirdcred by his son, Aiata.<atru. According to other accounts, how- ever, Bimbisara reigned only twenty-eight years. BI'MELER, -T. AI. See Battmeleb. .Joseph MiCIIAKI . BIMETALLISM (Lat. lis, twice + metal- 2uin. metal). The name given to a monetary system in which both gold and silver stand upon public baths and parks, about 23,500; in 1901, 24,0 78 BIMETALLISM. precisely the same footing as regards mintage and legal tender. The practical difficulties which in times past have confronted the maintenanc-e of a concurrent circulation of the two metals have led one nation after another to abandon the eft'ort, and to adopt a system of monometallism, with gold as its basis. The historical develop- ment of coinage in modern nations has been from silver monometallism through a more or less un- satisfactory ex])erience with bimetallism to the single gold standard. The English monetary notation with the jiound as the unit recalls the origin of English money, with ii poimd of silver as its basis. By successive debasements the coinage of the mone- tary pound parted company with the pound weight, until, in the time of Elizabeth, the pound weight of sih'er was coined into 62s. instead of 20s. Gold coinage had been introduced by Ed- ward III., but a long course of experimentation, often of a most arbitrary nature, both with the silver coinage and the gold coinage, had failed to accomplish any satisfactory adjustment of their mutual relations. During this whole period silver was in theory tlie standard coin of the realm, and was so considered when William III., in 1699, completed the recoinage of the silver coin. His Government fixed the value of the guinea at 21s. 6d., but as this overrated gold, the silver coinage, in excellent condition from its recent passage through the mint, was rapidly exported, and the loss of the small change caused great inconvenience among the people. On the advice of Sir Isaac Newton, then master of the mint, the guinea was in 1717 declared to be equal in value to 21s. This mitigated the evil, but did not remove it. Silver could be freely minted, as before, but since its market value was higher than its legal vahic, it was not carried to the mint. For all larger pa>-ments gold became the exclusive medium of exchange, for there was scarcely enough silver to meet the needs of retail trade. During the course of the century the stock of silver coin was not replenished, and the money in circulation became e.xtremeh' abraded. This depreciation of the coin led. in 1774. to the law that in sums of £25 and upward silver should be legal tender by weight only, and not by tale. By the coinage law of 1810 silver was reduced to the place of a token coinage. By that law, 60s. were to be coined from the pound weight of silver, though the mint i)rice paid to individuals renuxined, as before. 02s. for the pound. This threw the coinage of silver in fact ujinn the (ioverument. and by the coinage act of 1870 the right of individuals to take silver to the mint for coinage was abolished. By these successive steps England legalized the single gold standard, which had in fact been in oi)eration since 1699 at least. Other nations were slow to follow this exam- ple. By the monetary law of 1801 France con- templated the 5-franc silver piece as the stand- ard money, but in fact established a bimetallic syst<'m. In the first half of the century silver remained the usual currency of the country: but after the discovery of gold in California and Australia and the fall of the price of gold rela- tively to silver, the Frencli law favored the coin- age of gold. Silver disajipeared from circilation, and the lack of small cliange led in 1800 to the reduction of the smaller silver coins to tokens by increasing the percentage of alloy. Similar