BABEUF-BACK. it acknowledged the diversity in the na- | tural powers of men, and merely insisted on the utmost latitude being allowed for the development of these powers, consistent with the rights of all. Babouvisme goes beyond this, and maintains that all men should not only be rendered equal, but kept so, by all being obliged to labour for the benefit of all, every member of society being entitled to, and having secured to him, by compulsory measures if necessary, an equal share in the products of labour; and, in a manifesto put forth by its disciples, at a period when it flourished most, we read "Let there be no other differences among mankind than those of age and sex. Since all men have the same wants and the same faculties, let them all be educated alike, and fed alike. They are all of them obliged to be satisfied with the same sun and the same air. Wherefore, then, ought not the same portion, and the same quality of food, to be sufficient for each?" This is not the doctrine of the agrarians, or of those who hold to the expediency of a division of the property of the rich among the poor, but something still more absurd. Both would remove the principal stimulant to exertion, by preventing the individual accumulation of property; but the followers of Babeuf assume besides, as the basis of their system, a proposition so utterly inconsistent with notorious facts, as that the faculties and wants of men are always and everywhere the same. Hence, it is not at all surprising, even in the excited and unsettled state of the public mind in France, when that political fanatic appeared, that his doctrines should have made but a comparatively slight and transient impression. BACK (George), a captain in the British navy, first became known as a companion of Franklin and Richardson, in their expedition to the N. coast of America. During a summer residence in Italy, in 1832, he formed the resolution to go in quest of Captain Ross, who had then been three years absent on another expedition to the same region, and was generally supposed to have perished. His views having been approved by the British government, he quitted London on the 17th of February 1833, accompanied by surgeon King and three other properly qualified persons, two of whom had been with Captain Franklin. They proceeded by way of New York to Montreal, and remained sometime at Norway House, one of the principal trading stations of the Hudson's Bay Company, where he enlisted in his service 16 boatmen, fishermen, and carpenters. He com 71 menced his journey in a single boat, on the 28th of June. On the 8th of August, he reached Fort Resolution, on the Great Slave lake, and set out from there again on the 11th of the same month. In his farther progress, he encountered the greatest difficulties. Boat, baggage, and provisions, had repeatedly to be carried by the party over rocky eminences, sometimes 2000 feet high. On their route, they discovered a river to which the name of Back has since been given, as also Waldsley and Artillery lakes. They returned to the Great Slave lake, and passed the winter there; during which they themselves subsisted on a limited stock of provisions, while they witnessed with pain the wretchedness of the native Indians who gathered about them in crowds, entreating for relief from the miseries of famine, - -a relief not in their power to supply. Fahrenheit's thermometer fell, at the end of December, to 86° below 0 in the open air, and notwithstanding that a great fire was kept up in the middle of the hut occupied by Captain Back, it could not be made to rise higher than 100 below 0. The impression which was made by so great a degree of cold on the human body was exceedingly painful; and in order to assuage in some measure the suffering experienced, the most effectual method was found to be to smear the parts of the body, most affected by the frost, with grease. Almost every thing possessed of life disappeared. Even of the Indians who belonged to the expedition, nine perished. A thaw did not take place till the middle of April. On the 25th of this month, Captain Back received intelligence that Ross and his companions were in safety; whereupon he resolved on proceeding to the Arctic Ocean. He set out, with the surviving portion of his companions, on the 7th of June 1834, down Back's river, having had his boat conveyed to that stream, from the Great Slave lake, over a narrow strip of land. The weather was still very inclement; although, in May, the thermometer had risen in the sun to 41° of Fahrenheit. On the 29th of July, the party discovered, in N. lat. 66°, a large lake, with vast fields of ice occupying its borders. Making their way through the ice on the 22d day of this month, they continued their descent down Back's river for about 90 or 100 miles; when, meeting with some Esquimaux, they became aware of their near approach to the sea. These friendly savages warned Captain Back of a cataract over which he might otherwise have been precipitated; and it was only by their assistance that he testant, the Roman Catholic outnumbers the Protestant population in the proportion of somewhat more than 2 to 1; and there are about 20,000 Jews. The political division of the country into six circles was, in 1832, superseded by another into four, viz. the circles of the Lake (of Constance), and of the Upper, Middle, and Lower Rhine.-The following is a list of the principal towns of Baden, with their population, in 1840, annexed; Mannheim, 20,585; Carlsruhe, 20,487; Heidelberg, 13,670; Freiburg, 12,240; Bruchsal, 7200; Pforzheim, 6300; Constance, 6230; Lahr, 6000.-Baden owes the form of her present government in part to the desires loudly expressed by the people, at the conclusion of the general peace in 1815, for a representative constitution, but partly also to the claims set up by Bavaria to a considerable portion of her territory. The succeeded in transporting his boat to a secure part of the river. At length, he reached the Arctic Ocean on the 29th of July, just beyond a promontory, to which he gave the name of Cape Victoria. He then proceeded westwards along the coast till the 10th of August, when, being in N. lat. 65° 10, the obstructions which he encountered from the ice obliged him to retrace his course, without having been able to penetrate so far as Franklin's Point Turnagain. The region of coast discovered by him he called after the reigning king of England, William IV.; in whose name also he took formal possession of the country. Cape Richardson, the most northern point which he reached, is in N. lat. 68° 46′, and in W. long. 96° 20′. After a laborious journey of 36 days up the river which he had descended to the ocean, he arrived, towards the end of September, at the place where he had passed the pre-grand-duke Charles, who, at the congress ceding winter. In the following year (1835), Captain Back prosecuted his explorations in the Arctic Ocean with the greatest perseverance, and remained, from the month of August 1836 to the summer of 1837, fastened in the ice. On being liberated from this state of imprisonment, he returned with his companions to Europe, on board the British ship "Terror;" arriving on the 3d of September at Lough Swilly in Ireland, in a state of the greatest destitution and distress. See "Captain Back's Narrative of the Arctic Land Expedition to the mouth of the Great Fish river, and along the shores of the Arctic Ocean, in the years 1833, 1834, and 1835." BADEN.* The population of this grand duchy has been steadily increasing since the peace of 1815. It amounted, according to the census of 1834, to 241,520 families, or 1,231,319 inhabitants, of whom 600,334 were males, and 631,085 females; and, in 1840, it had become as many as 1,289,800. In proportion to its surface, Baden is one of the most populous parts of Germany. The lowlands of this state are, indeed, as densely inhabited as almost any other region of equal extent in Europe. The movement of the population, in the year 1833-34, was-births 48,025, of whom 40,465 were legitimate and 7560 illegitimate, marriages 9871, deaths 41,985. Thus the proportion to 1000 inhabitants is, of births 38, of deaths 34, of marriages 8; and the illegitimate births are to the legitimate as 1 to 5.4. The proportion of male to female births was, in the year 1834, as L06 to 1; of births of legitimate children to marriages as 4.1 to 1. Although the grand-duke is a Pro of Vienna, had been opposed to the proposed adoption by the German princes of a common obligation to introduce a representative system in their respective states, and who had before strenuously resisted every proposition of the kind made to him individually, at length, in 1818, a short time only before his death, acceded to the wishes of his subjects, and bestowed upon them a constitution. What his chief motive was in taking this important step, is apparent from the incorporation into the instrument of the principle of the indivisibility of the existing territory of Baden. He evidently wished to make the constitution a permanent bond of union between his own family and all those who were destined by him to enjoy its benefits. Mention has already been made of the meeting of the Chambers of Baden in 1819 and 1820. Their third session, after having lasted seven months, was suddenly prorogued on the 31st of January 1823, on account of the refusal of the deputies to vote the sum required by the ministry for the maintenance of the army; 1,600,000 or at the least 1,550,000 florins were asked for, and only 1,500,000 voted. In December 1824, the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved; and so great, in the mean time, had been the reaction of public opinion in favour of the government, that of the 63 members of which the second chamber consisted, three only, on the meeting of the chambers in January 1825, took ground in opposition to it. Indeed, such was the violence of this reaction, that addresses were received from various towns and rural districts urging the entire abrogation of the constitution, or, at least, its suspen sion during the life of the reigning grand- had taken, and which has just been de- The ac ber 13th 1833, although composed, with elections; and when the chambers met | in addition to all these, there is a polytechagain in May 1842, they refused to restrict their debates, as they were earnestly desired to do in the opening speech, to the budget and to the subject of railroads. While the taxes required were voted, and propositions by the government concerning railroads, approved, a number of motions were made, by the leading members of the opposition, on the most important branches of administration, of a most annoying nature to the ministry. Of these may be particularized a motion having reference to the interference of the government in the elections of the deputies, and to a circular letter which had been issued by the chief minister with this object in view, and which had caused the greatest excitement throughout the country. Notwithstanding the protestations of the ministers against such a step being taken by the chamber, a formal resolution was adopted and placed on record, censuring their proceedings as calculated to restrict the right of the people freely to choose their own representatives. It is scarcely necessary to say that, during all the opposition which the government experienced from the popular branch of the legislature, it met with a steady support from the members of the other chamber. The session was closed on the 9th of September 1842; and although no very tangible advantage had been gained by the popular party, a moral impression had been produced, of a character to lead eventually to consequences, perhaps of the greatest moment, an impression of which some estimate may be formed from the enthusiastic reception of the opposition members, by their constituents, on their return to their homes, and from the festivities and entertainments got up on that occasion. The legislation of the constitutional government of Baden will compare advantageously with that of most of the other European states. It has been especially distinguished by the attention which has been shown to the intellectual and moral interests of the community. Education is very extensively diffused, and skilfully conducted. There are 1900 elementary or common schools, with about 2400 teachers, and 190,000 pupils, besides many schools of a somewhat higher order in the towns, a number of trades' schools, 2 seminaries for the instruction of schoolmasters, a deaf and dumb institute at Pforzheim, and one for the blind at Bruchsal. There are also 7 pædagogiums, 6 gymnasiums, and 4 lyceums; together with the universities of Heidelberg and Freiburg. And nic institute (at Carlsruhe), a veterinary school, a military school, and a seminary for Roman Catholic priests (at Freiburg). The polytechnic school was established, under the especial patronage of the government, in the year 1834, and has 30 instructors, and 300 scholars. Its establishment has, very probably, contributed in part to the diminution which has latterly taken place in the number of the students attending the universities. But other causes have co-operated; such as the extension and improvement of the courses of instruction in the gymnasiums and lyceums, necessarily advancing the age at which young men can find admission to an institution of a still higher order, and the stricter examinations to which candidates for the different professions are now subjected. The natural effects of these arrangements have been to render the student more disposed to be satisfied, than heretofore, with the scientific and literary acquirements obtained by him before entering the university, and to make this essentially a place of resort for obtaining a mere professional education.-The foundations of the different religious denominations, for religious and charitable purposes, are stated by a late writer as follows: Catholic (religious), 1731 foundations, with an annual revenue of 996,525 florins; Catholic (secular), 613 found., ann. rev. 430,713 fl.; Protestant, 603 found., ann. rev. 674,616 fl.; Jewish, ann. rev. 14,900 fl. In addition to these rich endowments, all classes of civil and religious functionaries have subscription funds for providing for orphans and widows; and savings' banks are general, to encourage providence among the lower classes. Beyond these institutions, no formal provision is made for the poor, whose moderate habits keep them from being burdensome. In the larger towns, subsidiary relief is generally given in the shape of food, clothing, or fuel, from voluntary subscriptions raised by the inhabitants. The regulations are very strict as regards settlements in the communes, and permission to marry; and the number of tradesmen is everywhere limited by the magistracy.-Roman Catholics and Protestants have equal political privileges; and the government, in reference to them, has been administered with the utmost impartiality. The Jews, however, whose number in the grand duchy, as has been before stated, amounts to 20,000, are, as elsewhere in most Christian countries, still kept in a degraded condition. A proposition for their emancipation, made in the BADEN-BAHAMAS. 1 Chamber of Deputies, so late as the year 1842, met with no success; many of the liberal members of that body being, on this point, equally illiberal with those to whom they were habitually opposed. -The estimate of the budget for 1837-38 was 13,026,559 florins a year. The public debt amounted to about the same sum.The contingent of Baden to the army of the Germanic Confederation is 10,000 men, with a reserve of a third of this number. BAGAUDE. In the third century of the Christian era, whilst the empire of Rome, and Gaul especially, was desolated by civil warfare, the peasantry of this province, reduced to an extreme degree of misery by the oppression of the landed proprietors, revolted, and committed the most horrible depredations everywhere around. They received the name of Bagaude, a name analogous to that of the Jacquerie applied to the peasantry of the same country, at a later period, under similar circumstances. BAGNERES; the name of two wateringplaces in the south of France; the one, Bagnères-de-Bigorre, in the department of the "Hautes Pyrénées;" the other, Bagnères-de-Luchon, in that of the "Haute Garonne." Bagnères-de-Bigorre has about 8000 inhabitants, is well built, and beautifully situated on the river Adour. It contains a college, a museum, and manufactures of wool, leather, and paper. But its celebrity is owing to its mineral springs and baths, which were known to the Romans, and which render it at the present day a place of considerable resort, in the summer season, for visiters, even Russians and English. As many as 8000 are reported to have been assembled here at the same time. The temperature of the different springs, of which there are about 30, varies from 18° to 41° of Réaumur. The waters are said to be aperient, diuretic, and slightly cathartic in their effects.Bagnères-de-Luchon is a much smaller place, having little more than 2000 inhabitants. It is, like the former, one of the most frequented wateringplaces in France, and, like it, was well known to the Romans. There are 9 mineral springs, varying in temperature from 26° to 525 of Reaumur. The waters have a fetid smell, and are said to be very efficacious in a number of complaints, especially in rheumatism and gout. BAGRATION (Peter, Prince), one of the most distinguished of the Russian generals, was born about the year 1762, and entered the Russian service in 1783, where his military talents were developed in the school of Suwarrow. He was present at 75 the storming of Oczakow; fought against the Poles, having already attained to the rank of general, in 1792 and 1794; and partook of the memorable campaign of 1799 in Italy and Switzerland, where he was twice dangerously wounded. He acted an important part in the AustroRussian campaign of 1805; especially earning enduring laurels on the 16th of November of that year. The Russian general-in-chief, Kutusow, who was on his march for Znaim in Moravia, having received intelligence of the passage of the Danube by the French at Vienna, became apprehensive lest, gaining his rear, they would reach the former town before him, and intercept his retreat upon the reinforcements which were approaching to join him. To prevent this, he despatched Bagration, at the head of 8000 of his best troops, to Hollabrunn, against Prince Murat, with orders to defend himself there to the last extremity, until the main army should have passed Sprottenthal. The Russians were attacked, in the position assigned them, by Murat, who had at his disposal the entire corps of Marshal Lasnes, together with the cavalry of reserve. By their obstinate and prolonged resistance, Bagration was enabled to secure the object he had in view, and Kutusow succeeded in reaching Znaim in safety. Bagration took, also, an active part in the battle of Austerlitz. He fought bravely at the battles of Eylau and Friedland. After the peace of Tilsit, he was engaged against the Swedes, taking possession of the islands of Aland in behalf of Russia. In the Rus sian campaign against the Turks of the year 1809, he was present at the sanguinary battles fought in the neighbourhood of Silistria, and, by his defeat of the force sent from Adrianople to its relief, decided the fate of this fortress. In 1812, he commanded the second army of the West; was unsuccessful in his attack upon Marshal Davoust at Mohilew; but succeeded in effecting a junction with the first army at Smolensk. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Borodino, and died shortly afterwards, on the 7th of October 1812. BAHAMAS,* Only 25 of these islands are inhabited. The population, in 1832, was 4674 whites, 4069 free blacks and people of colour, and 9765 slaves. In 1837, the total population was 19,943. The Bahamas form a British colony, the government of which is modelled after that of the British colonies on the continent of America. It consists of a governor, a council of 12, and a house of assembly of 30 members. The revenue of these |