SeeThe Life, Public Services, Addresses and Letters of Elias Boudinot, edited by J.J. Boudinot (Boston and New York, 1896).
SeeThe Life, Public Services, Addresses and Letters of Elias Boudinot, edited by J.J. Boudinot (Boston and New York, 1896).
BOUÉ, AMI(1794-1881), Austrian geologist, was born at Hamburg on the 16th of March 1794, and received his early education there and in Geneva and Paris. Proceeding to Edinburgh to study medicine at the university, he came under the influence of Robert Jameson, whose teachings in geology and mineralogy inspired his future career. Boué was thus led to make geological expeditions to various parts of Scotland and the Hebrides, and after taking his degree of M.D. in 1817 he settled for some years in Paris. In 1820 he issued hisEssai géologique sur l’Écosse, in which the eruptive rocks in particular were carefully described. He travelled much in Germany, Austria and southern Europe, studying various geological formations, and becoming one of the pioneers in geological research; he was one of the founders of the Société Géologique de France in 1830, and was its president in 1835. In 1841 he settled in Vienna, and became naturalized as an Austrian. He died on the 21st of November 1881. To the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Vienna he communicated important papers on the geology of the Balkan States (1859-1870), and he also publishedMémoires géologiques et paléontologiques(Paris, 1832) andLa Turquie d’Europe; observations sur la géographie, la géologie, l’histoire naturelle, &c.(Paris, 1840).
BOUFFLERS, LOUIS FRANÇOIS,Duc de, comte de Cagny (1644-1711), marshal of France, was born on the 10th of January 1644. He entered the army and saw service in 1663 at the siege of Marsal, becoming in 1669 colonel of dragoons. In the conquest of Lorraine (1670) he served under Marshal de Créqui. In Holland he served under Turenne, frequently distinguishing himself by his skill and bravery; and when Turenne was killed by a cannon-shot in 1675 he commanded the rear-guard during the retreat of the French army. He was already a brigadier, and in 1677 he becamemaréchal de camp. He served throughout the campaigns of the time with increasing distinction, and in 1681 became lieutenant-general. He commanded the French army on the Moselle, which opened the War of the League of Augsburg with a series of victories; then he led a corps to the Sambre, and reinforced Luxemburg on the eve of the battle of Fleurus. In 1691 he acted as lieutenant-general under the king in person; and during the investment of Mons he was wounded in an attack on the town. He was present with the king at the siege of Namur in 1692, and took part in the victory of Steinkirk. For his services he was raised in 1692 to the rank of marshal of France, and in 1694 was made a duke. In 1694 he was appointed governor of French Flanders and of the town of Lille. By a skilful manoeuvre he threw himself into Namur in 1695, and only surrendered to his besiegers after he had lost 8000 of his 13,000 men. In the conferences which terminated in the peace of Ryswick he had a principal share. During the following war, when Lille was threatened with a siege by Marlborough and Eugene, Boufflers was appointed to the command, and made a most gallant resistance of three months. He was rewarded and honoured by the king for his defence of Lille, as if he had been victorious. It was indeed a species of triumph; his enemy, appreciating his merits, allowed him to dictate his own terms of capitulation. In 1708 he was made a peer of France. In 1709, when the affairs of France were threatened with the most urgent danger, Boufflers offered to serve under his junior, Villars, and was with him at the battle of Malplaquet. Here he displayed the highest skill, and after Villars was wounded he conducted the retreat of the French army without losing either cannon or prisoners. He died at Fontainebleau on the 22nd of August 1711.
See F....,Vie du Mal. de Boufflers(Lille, 1852), and Père Delarue’s and Père Poisson’sOraisons funèbres du Mal. B.(1712).
See F....,Vie du Mal. de Boufflers(Lille, 1852), and Père Delarue’s and Père Poisson’sOraisons funèbres du Mal. B.(1712).
BOUFFLERS, STANISLAS JEAN,Chevalier de(1737-1815), French statesman and man of letters, was born near Nancy on the 31st of May 1738. He was the son of Louis François, marquis de Boufflers. His mother, Marie Catherine de Beauveau Craon, was the mistress of Stanislas Leszczynski, and the boy was brought up at the court of Lunéville. He spent six months in study for the priesthood at Saint Sulpice, Paris, and during his residence there he put in circulation a story which became extremely popular,Aline, reine de Golconde. Boufflers did not, however, take the vows, as his ambitions were military. He entered the order of the Knights of Malta, so that he might be able to follow the career of arms without sacrificing the revenues of a benefice he had received in Lorraine from King Stanislas. After serving in various campaigns he reached the grade ofmaréchal de campin 1784, and in the next year was sent to West Africa as governor of Senegal. He proved an excellent administrator, and did what he could to mitigate the horrors of the slave trade; and he interested himself in opening up the material resources of the colony, so that his departure in 1787 was regarded as a real calamity by both colonists and negroes. TheMémoires secretsof Bachaumont give the current opinion that Boufflers was sent to Senegal because he was in disgrace at court; but the real reason appears to have been a desire to pay his debts before his marriage with Mme de Sabran, which took place soon after his return to France. Boufflers was admitted to the Academy in 1788, and subsequently became a member of the states-general. During the Revolution he found an asylum with Prince Henry of Prussia at Rheinsberg. At the Restoration he was made joint-librarian of the Bibliothèque Mazarine. His wit and his skill in light verse had won him a great reputation, and he was one of the idols of the Parisian salons. His paradoxical character was described in an epigram attributed to Antoine de Rivarol, “abbé libertin, militaire philosophe, diplomate chansonnier, émigré patriote, républicain courtisan.†He died in Paris on the 18th of January 1815.
HisŒuvres complèteswere published under his own supervision in 1803. A selection of his stories in prose and verse was edited by Eugène Asse in 1878; hisPoésiesby O. Uzanne in 1886; and theCorrespondance inédite de la comtesse de Sabran et du chevalier de Boufflers(1778-1788), by E. de Magnieu and Henri Prat in 1875.
HisŒuvres complèteswere published under his own supervision in 1803. A selection of his stories in prose and verse was edited by Eugène Asse in 1878; hisPoésiesby O. Uzanne in 1886; and theCorrespondance inédite de la comtesse de Sabran et du chevalier de Boufflers(1778-1788), by E. de Magnieu and Henri Prat in 1875.
BOUGAINVILLE, LOUIS ANTOINE DE(1729-1811), French navigator, was born at Paris on the 11th of November 1729. He was the son of a notary, and in early life studied law, but soon abandoned the profession, and in 1753 entered the army in the corps of musketeers. At the age of twenty-five he published a treatise on the integral calculus, as a supplement to De l’Hôpital’s treatise,Des infiniment petits. In 1755 he was sent to London as secretary to the French embassy, and was made a member of the Royal Society. In 1756 he went to Canada as captain of dragoons and aide-de-camp to the marquis de Montcalm; and having distinguished himself in the war against England, was rewarded with the rank of colonel and the cross of St Louis. He afterwards served in the Seven Years’ War from 1761 to 1763. After the peace, when the French government conceived the project of colonizing the Falkland Islands, Bougainville undertook the task at his own expense. But the settlement having excited the jealousy of the Spaniards, the French government gave it up to them, on condition of their indemnifying Bougainville. He was then appointed to the command of the frigate “La Boudeuse†and the transport “L’Etoile,†and set sail in December 1766 on a voyage of discovery round the world. Having executed his commission of delivering up the Falkland Islands to the Spanish, Bougainville proceeded on his expedition, and touched at Buenos Aires. Passing through the Straits of Magellan, he visited the Tuamotu archipelago, and Tahiti, where the English navigator Wallis had touched eight months before. He proceeded across the Pacific Ocean by way of the Samoan group, which he named the Navigators Islands, the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands. His men now suffering from scurvy, and his vessels requiring refitting, he anchored at Buru, one of the Moluccas, where the governor of the Dutch settlement supplied his wants. It was the beginning of September, and the expedition tookadvantage of the easterly monsoon, which carried them to Batavia. In March 1769 the expedition arrived at St Malo, with the loss of only seven out of upwards of 200 men. Bougainville’s account of the voyage (Paris, 1771) is written with simplicity and some humour. After an interval of several years, he again accepted a naval command and saw much active service between 1779 and 1782. In the memorable engagement of the 12th of April 1782, in which Rodney defeated the comte de Grasse, near Martinique, Bougainville, who commanded the “Auguste,†succeeded in rallying eight ships of his own division, and bringing them safely into St Eustace. He was createdchef d’escadre, and on re-entering the army, was given the rank ofmaréchal de camp. After the peace he returned to Paris, and obtained the place of associate of the Academy. He projected a voyage of discovery towards the north pole, but this did not meet with support from the French government. Bougainville obtained the rank of vice-admiral in 1791; and in 1792, having escaped almost miraculously from the massacres of Paris, he retired to his estate in Normandy. He was chosen a member of the Institute at its formation, and returning to Paris became a member of the Board of Longitude. In his old age Napoleon I. made him a senator, count of the empire, and member of the Legion of Honour. He died at Paris on the 31st of August 1811. He was married and had three sons, who served in the French army.
Bougainville’s name is given to the largest member of the Solomon Islands, which belongs to Germany; and to the strait which divides it from the British island of Choiseul. It is also applied to the strait between Mallicollo and Espiritu Santo Islands of the New Hebrides group, and the South American climbing plantBougainvillea, often cultivated in greenhouses, is named after him.
BOUGHTON, GEORGE HENRY(1834-1905), Anglo-American painter, was born in England, but his parents went to the United States in 1839, and he was brought up at Albany, N.Y. He studied art in Paris in 1861-62, and subsequently lived mainly in London; he was much influenced by Frederick Walker, and the delicacy and grace of his pictures soon made his reputation. He was elected an A.R.A. in 1879, and R.A. in 1896, and a member of the National Academy of Design in New York in 1871. His pictures of Dutch life and scenery were especially characteristic; and his subject-pictures, such as the “Return of the Mayflower†and “The Scarlet Letter,†were very popular in America.
BOUGIE,a seaport of Algeria, chief town of an arrondissement in the department of Constantine, 120 m. E. of Algiers. The town, which is defended by a wall built since the French occupation, and by detached forts, is beautifully situated on the slope of Mount Guraya. Behind it are the heights of Mounts Babor and Tababort, rising some 6400 ft. and crowned with forests of pinsapo fir and cedar. The most interesting buildings in the town are the ancient forts, Borj-el-Ahmer and Abd-el-Kader, and the kasbah or citadel, rectangular in form, flanked by bastions and towers, and bearing inscriptions stating that it was built by the Spaniards in 1545. Parts of the Roman wall exist, and considerable portions of that built by the Hammadites in the 11th century. The streets are very steep, and many are ascended by stairs. The harbour, sheltered from the east by a breakwater, was enlarged in 1897-1902. It covers 63 acres and has a depth of water of 23 to 30 ft. Bougie is the natural port of Kabylia, and under the French rule its commerce—chiefly in oils, wools, hides and minerals—has greatly developed; a branch railway runs to Beni Mansur on the main line from Constantine to Oran. Pop. (1906) of the town, 10,419; of the commune, 17,540; of the arrondissement, which includes eight communes, 37,711.
Bougie, if it be correctly identified with the Saldae of the Romans, is a town of great antiquity, and probably owes its origin to the Carthaginians. Early in the 5th century Genseric the Vandal surrounded it with walls and for some time made it his capital. En-Nasr (1062-1088), the most powerful of the Berber dynasty of Hammad, made Bougie the seat of his government, and it became the greatest commercial centre of the North African coast, attaining a high degree of civilization. From an old MS. it appears that as early as 1068 the heliograph was in common use, special towers, with mirrors properly arranged, being built for the purpose of signalling. The Italian merchants of the 12th and 13th centuries owned numerous buildings in the city, such as warehouses, baths and churches. At the end of the 13th century Bougie passed under the dominion of the Hafsides, and in the 15th century it became one of the strongholds of the Barbary pirates. It enjoyed partial independence under amirs of Hafside origin, but in January 1510 was captured by the Spaniards under Pedro Navarro. The Spaniards strongly fortified the place and held it against two attacks by the corsairs Barbarossa. In 1555, however, Bougie was taken by Salah Rais, the pasha of Algiers. Leo Africanus, in hisAfricae descriptio, speaks of the “magnificence†of the temples, palaces and other buildings of the city in his day (c.1525), but it appears to have fallen into decay not long afterwards. When the French took the town from the Algerians in 1833 it consisted of little more than a few fortifications and ruins. It is said that the French word for a candle is derived from the name of the town, candles being first made of wax imported from Bougie.
BOUGUER, PIERRE(1698-1758), French mathematician, was born on the 16th of February 1698. His father, John Bouguer, one of the best hydrographers of his time, was regius professor of hydrography at Croisic in lower Brittany, and author of a treatise on navigation. In 1713 he was appointed to succeed his father as professor of hydrography. In 1727 he gained the prize given by the Académie des Sciences for his paper “On the best manner of forming and distributing the masts of shipsâ€; and two other prizes, one for his dissertation “On the best method of observing the altitude of stars at sea,†the other for his paper “On the best method of observing the variation of the compass at sea.†These were published in thePrix de l’Académie des Sciences. In 1729 he publishedEssai d’optique sur la gradation de la lumière, the object of which is to define the quantity of light lost by passing through a given extent of the atmosphere. He found the light of the sun to be 300 times more intense than that of the moon, and thus made some of the earliest measurements in photometry. In 1730 he was made professor of hydrography at Havre, and succeeded P.L.M. de Maupertuis as associate geometer of the Académie des Sciences. He also invented a heliometer, afterwards perfected by Fraunhofer. He was afterwards promoted in the Academy to the place of Maupertuis, and went to reside in Paris. In 1735 Bouguer sailed with C.M. de la Condamine for Peru, in order to measure a degree of the meridian near the equator. Ten years were spent in this operation, a full account of which was published by Bouguer in 1749,Figure de la terre déterminée. His later writings were nearly all upon the theory of navigation. He died on the 15th of August 1758.
The following is a list of his principal works:—Traité d’optique sur la gradation de la lumière(1729 and 1760);Entretiens sur la cause d’inclinaison des orbites des planètes(1734);Traité de navire, &c.(1746, 4to);La Figure de la terre déterminée, &c.(1749), 4to;Nouveau traité de navigation, contenant la théorie et la pratique du pilotage(1753);Solution des principaux problèmes sur la manoeuvre des vaisseaux(1757);Opérations faites pour la vérification du degré du méridien entre Paris et Amiens, par Mess. Bouguer, Camus, Cassini et Pingré(1757).See J.E. Montucla,Histoire des mathématiques(1802).
The following is a list of his principal works:—Traité d’optique sur la gradation de la lumière(1729 and 1760);Entretiens sur la cause d’inclinaison des orbites des planètes(1734);Traité de navire, &c.(1746, 4to);La Figure de la terre déterminée, &c.(1749), 4to;Nouveau traité de navigation, contenant la théorie et la pratique du pilotage(1753);Solution des principaux problèmes sur la manoeuvre des vaisseaux(1757);Opérations faites pour la vérification du degré du méridien entre Paris et Amiens, par Mess. Bouguer, Camus, Cassini et Pingré(1757).
See J.E. Montucla,Histoire des mathématiques(1802).
BOUGUEREAU, ADOLPHE WILLIAM(1825-1905), French painter, was born at La Rochelle on the 30th of November 1825. From 1843 till 1850 he went through the course of training at the École des Beaux-Arts, and in 1850 divided the Grand Prix de Rome scholarship with Baudry, the subject set being “Zenobia on the banks of the Araxes.†On his return from Rome in 1855 he was employed in decorating several aristocratic residences, deriving inspiration from the frescoes which he had seen at Pompeii and Herculaneum, and which had already suggested his “Idyll†(1853). He also began in 1847 to exhibit regularly at the Salon. “The Martyr’s Triumph,†the body of St Cecilia borne to the catacombs, was placed in the Luxembourg after being exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1855; and in the sameyear he exhibited “Fraternal Love,†a “Portrait†and a “Study.†The state subsequently commissioned him to paint the emperor’s visit to the sufferers by the inundations at Tarascon. In 1857 Bouguereau received a first prize medal. Nine of his panels executed in wax-painting for the mansion of M. Bartholomy were much discussed—“Love,†“Friendship,†“Fortune,†“Spring,†“Summer,†“Dancing,†“Arion on a Sea-horse,†a “Bacchante†and the “Four Divisions of the Day.†He also exhibited at the Salon “The Return of Tobit†(now in the Dijon gallery). While in antique subjects he showed much grace of design, in his “Napoleon,†a work of evident labour, he betrayed a lack of ease in the treatment of modern costume. Bouguereau subsequently exhibited “Love Wounded†(1859), “The Day of the Dead†(at Bordeaux), “The First Discord†(1861, in the Club at Limoges), “The Return from the Fields†(a picture in which Théophile Gautier recognized “a pure feeling for the antiqueâ€), “A Fawn and Bacchante†and “Peaceâ€; in 1863 a “Holy Family,†“Remorse,†“A Bacchante teasing a Goat†(in the Bordeaux gallery); in 1864 “A Bather†(at Ghent), and “Sleepâ€; in 1865 “An Indigent Family,†and a portrait of Mme Bartholomy; in 1866 “A First Cause,†and “Covetousness,†with “Philomela and Procneâ€; and some decorative work for M. Montlun at La Rochelle, for M. Emile Péreire in Paris, and for the churches of St Clotilde and St Augustin; and in 1866 the large painting of “Apollo and the Muses on Olympus,†in the Great Theatre at Bordeaux. Among other works by this artist may be mentioned “Between Love and Riches†(1869), “A Girl Bathing†(1870), “In Harvest Time†(1872), “Nymphs and Satyrs†(1873), “Charity†and “Homer and his Guide†(1874), “Virgin and Child,†“Jesus and John the Baptist,†“Return of Spring†(which was purchased by an American collector, and was destroyed by a fanatic who objected to the nudity), a “Pietà †(1876), “A Girl defending herself from Love†(1880), “Night†(1883), “The Youth of Bacchus†(1884), “Biblis†(1885), “Love Disarmed†(1886), “Love Victorious†(1887), “The Holy Women at the Sepulchre†and “The Little Beggar Girls†(1890), “Love in a Shower†and “First Jewels†(1891). To the Exhibition of 1900 were contributed some of Bouguereau’s best-known pictures. Most of his works, especially “The Triumph of Venus†(1856) and “Charity,†are popularly known through engravings. “Prayer,†“The Invocation†and “Sappho†have been engraved by M. Thirion, “The Golden Age†by M. Annetombe. Bouguereau’s pictures, highly appreciated by the general public, have been severely criticized by the partisans of a freer and fresher style of art, who have reproached him with being too content to revive the formulas and subjects of the antique. At the Paris Exhibition of 1867 Bouguereau took a third-class medal, in 1878 a medal of honour, and the same again in the Salon of 1885. He was chosen by the Society of French Artists to be their vice-president, a post he filled with much energy. He was made a member of the Legion of Honour in 1856, an officer of the Order 26th of July 1876, and commander 12th of July 1885. He succeeded Isidore Pils as member of the Institute, 8th of January 1876. He died on the 20th of August 1905.
See Ch. Vendryes,Catalogue illustré des Å“uvres de Bouguereau(Paris, 1885); Jules Claretie,Peintres et sculpteurs contemporains(Paris, 1874); P.G. Hamerton,French Painters; Artistes modernes: dictionnaire illustré des beaux-arts(1885); “W. Bouguereau,â€Portfolio(1875); Émile Bayard, “William Bouguereau,â€Monde moderne(1897).
See Ch. Vendryes,Catalogue illustré des Å“uvres de Bouguereau(Paris, 1885); Jules Claretie,Peintres et sculpteurs contemporains(Paris, 1874); P.G. Hamerton,French Painters; Artistes modernes: dictionnaire illustré des beaux-arts(1885); “W. Bouguereau,â€Portfolio(1875); Émile Bayard, “William Bouguereau,â€Monde moderne(1897).
BOUHOURS, DOMINIQUE(1628-1702), French critic, was born in Paris in 1628. He entered the Society of Jesus at the age of sixteen, and was appointed to read lectures on literature in the college of Clermont at Paris, and on rhetoric at Tours. He afterwards became private tutor to the two sons of the duke of Longueville. He was sent to Dunkirk to the Romanist refugees from England, and in the midst of his missionary occupations published several books. In 1665 or 1666 he returned to Paris, and published in 1671Les Entretiens d’Ariste et d’Eugène, a critical work on the French language, printed five times at Paris, twice at Grenoble, and afterwards at Lyons, Brussels, Amsterdam, Leiden, &c. The chief of his other works areLa Manière de bien penser sur les ouvrages d’esprit(1687),Doutes sur la langue française(1674),Vie de Saint Ignace de Loyola(1679),Vie de Saint François Xavier(1682), and a translation of the New Testament into French (1697). His practice of publishing secular books and works of devotion alternately led to themot,â€qu’il servait le monde et le ciel par semestre.â€Bouhours died at Paris on the 27th of May 1702.
See Georges Doucieux,Un Jésuite homme de lettres au dix-septième siècle: Le père Bouhours(1886). For a list of Bouhours’ works see Backer and Sommervogel,Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, i. pp. 1886 et seq.
See Georges Doucieux,Un Jésuite homme de lettres au dix-septième siècle: Le père Bouhours(1886). For a list of Bouhours’ works see Backer and Sommervogel,Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, i. pp. 1886 et seq.
BOUILHET, LOUIS HYACINTHE(1822-1869), French poet and dramatist, was born at Cany, Seine Inférieure, on the 27th of May 1822. He was a schoolfellow of Gustave Flaubert, to whom he dedicated his first work,Méloenis(1851), a narrative poem in five cantos, dealing with Roman manners under the emperor Commodus. His volume of poems entitledFossilesattracted considerable attention, on account of the attempt therein to use science as a subject for poetry. These poems were included also inFestons et astragales(1859). As a dramatist he secured a success with his first play,Madame de Montarcy(1856), which ran for seventy-eight nights at the Odéon; andHélène Peyron(1858) andL’Oncle Million(1860) were also favourably received. But of his other plays, some of them of real merit, only theConjuration d’Amboise(1866) met with any great success. Bouilhet died on the 18th of July 1869, at Rouen. Flaubert published his posthumous poems with a notice of the author, in 1872.
See also Maxime du Camp,Souvenirs littéraires(1882); and H. de la Ville de Mirmont,Le Poète Louis Bouilhet(1888).
See also Maxime du Camp,Souvenirs littéraires(1882); and H. de la Ville de Mirmont,Le Poète Louis Bouilhet(1888).
BOUILLÉ, FRANÇOIS CLAUDE AMOUR,Marquis de(1739-1800), French general. He served in the Seven Years’ War, and as governor in the Antilles conducted operations against the English in the War of American Independence. On his return to France he was named governor of the Three Bishoprics, of Alsace and of Franche-Comté. Hostile to the Revolution, he had continual quarrels with the municipality of Metz, and brutally suppressed the military insurrections at Metz and Nancy, which had been provoked by the harsh conduct of certain noble officers. Then he proposed to Louis XVI. to take refuge in a frontier town where an appeal could be made to other nations against the revolutionists. When this project failed as a result of Louis XVI.’s arrest at Varennes, Bouillé went to Russia to induce Catherine II. to intervene in favour of the king, and then to England, where he died in 1800, after serving in various royalist attempts on France. He leftMémoires sur la Révolution française depuis son origine jusqu’à la retraite du duc de Brunswick(Paris, 1801).
BOUILLON,formerly the seat of a dukedom in the Ardennes, now a small town in the Belgian province of Luxemburg. Pop. (1904) 2721. It is most picturesquely situated in the valley under the rocky ridge on which are still the very well preserved remains of the castle of Godfrey of Bouillon (q.v.), the leader of the first crusade. The town, 690 ft. above the sea, but lying in a basin, skirts both banks of the river Semois which is crossed by two bridges. The stream forms a loop round and almost encircles the castle, from which there are beautiful views of the sinuous valley and the opposite well-wooded heights. The whole effect of the grim castle, the silvery stream and the verdant woods makes one of the most striking scenes in Belgium. In the 8th and 9th centuries Bouillon was one of the castles of the counts of Ardenne and Bouillon. In the 10th and 11th centuries the family took the higher titles of dukes of Lower Lorraine and Bouillon. These dukes all bore the name of Godfrey (Godefroy) and the fifth of them was the great crusader. He was the son of Eustace, count of Boulogne, which has led many commentators into the error of saying that Godfrey of Bouillon was born at the French port, whereas he was really born in the castle of Baisy near Genappe and Waterloo. His mother was Ida d’Ardenne, sister of the fourth Godfrey (“the Hunchbackâ€), and the successful defence of the castle when a mere youth of seventeen on her behalf was the first feat of arms of the future conqueror of Jerusalem. This medieval fortress, strong byart as well as position before the invention of modern artillery, has since undergone numerous sieges. In order to undertake the crusade Godfrey sold the castle of Bouillon to the prince bishop of Liége, and the title of duke of Bouillon remained the appendage of the bishopric till 1678, or for 580 years. The bishops appointed “châtelains,†one of whom was the celebrated “Wild Boar of the Ardennes,†William de la Marck. His descendants made themselves quasi-independent and called themselves princes of Sedan and dukes of Bouillon, and they were even recognized by the king of France. The possession of Bouillon thenceforward became a constant cause of strife until in 1678 Louis XIV. garrisoned it under the treaty of Nijmwegen. From 1594 to 1641 the duchy remained vested in the French family of La Tour d’Auvergne, one of whom (Henry, viscount of Turenne and marshal of France) had married in 1591 Charlotte de la Marck, the last of her race. In 1676 the duke of Créquy seized it in the name of Louis XIV., who in 1678 gave it to Godefroy Marie de La Tour d’Auvergne, whose descendants continued in possession till 1795. Bouillon remained French till 1814, and Vauban called it “the key of the Ardennes.†In 1760 the elder Rousseau established here the famous press of the Encyclopaedists. In 1814-1815, before the decrees of the Vienna Congress were known, an extraordinary attempt was made by Philippe d’Auvergne of the British navy, the cousin and adopted son of the last duke, to revive the ancient duchy of Bouillon. The people of Bouillon freely recognized him, and Louis XVIII. was well pleased with the arrangement, but the congress assigned Bouillon to the Netherlands. Napoleon III. on his way to Germany after Sedan slept one night in the little town, which is a convenient centre for visiting that battlefield.
BOUILLOTTE,a French game of cards, very popular during the Revolution, and again for some years from 1830. Five, four or three persons may play; a piquet pack is used, from which, in case five play, the sevens, when four the knaves, and when three the queens also, are omitted. Counters or chips, as in poker, are used. Before the deal each player “antes†one counter, after which each, the “age†passing, may “raise†the pot; those not “seeing the raise†being obliged to drop out. Three cards are dealt to each player, and a thirteenth, called theretourne, when four play, turned up. Each player must then bet, call, raise or drop out. When a call is made the hands are shown and the best hand wins. The hands rank as follows:brélan carré, four of a kind, one being theretourne;simple brélan, three of a kind, ace being high;brélan favori, three of a kind, one being theretourne. When no player holds abrélanthe hand holding the greatest number of pips wins, ace counting 11, and court cards 10.
BOUILLY, JEAN NICOLAS(1763-1842), French author, was born near Tours on the 24th of January 1763. At the outbreak of the Revolution he held office under the new government, and had a considerable share in the organization of primary education. In 1799 he retired from public life to devote himself to literature. His numerous works include the musical comedy,Pierre le Grand(1790), for Grétry’s music, and the opera,Les Deux Journées(1800), music by Cherubini; alsoL’Abbé de l’épée(1800), and some other plays; andCauseries d’un vieillard(1807),Contes à ma fille(1809), andLes Adieux du vieux conteur(1835). HisLéonore(1798) formed the basis of the libretto of theFidelioof Beethoven. Bouilly died in Paris on the 14th of April 1842.
See Bouilly,Mes récapitulations(3 vols., 1836-1837); E. Legouvé,Soixante ans de souvenir(lère partie, 1886).
See Bouilly,Mes récapitulations(3 vols., 1836-1837); E. Legouvé,Soixante ans de souvenir(lère partie, 1886).
BOULAINVILLIERS, HENRI,Comte de(1658-1722), French political writer, was born at St Saire in Normandy in 1658. He was educated at the college of Juilly, and served in the army until 1697. He wrote a number of historical works (published after his death), of which the most important were the following:Histoire de l’ancien gouvernement de la France(La Haye, 1727);État de la France, avec des mémoires sur l’ancien gouvernement(London, 1727);Histoire de la pairie de France(London, 1753);Histoire des Arabes(1731). His writings are characterized by an extravagant admiration of the feudal system. He was an aristocrat of the most pronounced type, attacking absolute monarchy on the one hand and popular government on the other. He was at great pains to prove the pretensions of his own family to ancient nobility, and maintained that the government should be entrusted solely to men of his class. He died in Paris on the 23rd of January 1722.
BOULANGER,the name of several French artists:—Jean(1606-1660), a pupil of Guido Reni at Bologna, who had an academy at Modena; his cousinJean(1607-1680), a celebrated line-engraver; the latter’s sonMatthieu, another engraver;Louis(1806-1867), a subject-painter, the friend of Victor Hugo, and director of the imperial school of art at Dijon; the best-known,Gustave Rodolphe Clarence(1824-1888), a pupil of Paul Delaroche, a notable painter of Oriental and Greek and Roman subjects, and a member of the Institute (1882); andClément(1805-1842), a pupil of Ingres.
BOULANGER, GEORGE ERNEST JEAN MARIE(1837-1891), French general, was born at Rennes on the 29th of April 1837. He entered the army in 1856, and served in Algeria, Italy, Cochin-China and the Franco-German War, earning the reputation of being a smart soldier. He was made a brigadier-general in 1880, on the recommendation of the duc d’Aumale, then commanding the VII. army corps, and Boulanger’s expressions of gratitude and devotion on this occasion were remembered against him afterwards when, as war minister in M. Freycinet’s cabinet, he erased the name of the due d’Aumale from the army list, as part of the republican campaign against the Orleanist and Bonapartist princes. In 1882 his appointment as director of infantry at the war office enabled him to make himself conspicuous as a military reformer; and in 1884 he was appointed to command the army occupying Tunis, but was recalled owing to his differences of opinion with M. Cambon, the political resident. He returned to Paris, and began to take part in politics under the aegis of M. Clémenceau and the Radical party; and in January 1886, when M. Freycinet was brought into power by the support of the Radical leader, Boulanger was given the post of war minister.
By introducing genuine reforms for the benefit of officers and common soldiers alike, and by laying himself out for popularity in the most pronounced fashion—notably by his fire-eating attitude towards Germany in April 1887 in connexion with the Schnaebele frontier incident—Boulanger came to be accepted by the mob as the man destined to give France her revenge for the disasters of 1870, and to be used simultaneously as a tool by all the anti-Republican intriguers. His action with regard to the royal princes has already been referred to, but it should be added that Boulanger was taunted in the Senate with his ingratitude to the duc d’Aumale, and denied that he had ever used the words alleged. His letters containing them were, however, published, and the charge was proved. Boulanger fought a bloodless duel with the baron de Lareinty over this affair, but it had no effect at the moment in dimming his popularity, and on M. Freycinet’s defeat in December 1886 he was retained by M. Goblet at the war office. M. Clémenceau, however, had by this time abandoned his patronage of Boulanger, who was becoming so inconveniently prominent that, in May 1887, M. Goblet was not sorry to get rid of him by resigning. The mob clamoured for their “brav’ général,†but M. Rouvier, who next formed a cabinet, declined to take him as a colleague, and Boulanger was sent to Clermont-Ferrand to command an army corps. A Boulangist “movement†was now in full swing. The Bonapartists had attached themselves to the general, and even the comte de Paris encouraged his followers to support him, to the dismay of those old-fashioned Royalists who resented Boulanger’s treatment of the duc d’Aumale. His name was the theme of the popular song of the moment—“C’est Boulanger qu’il nous fautâ€; the general and his black horse became the idol of the Parisian populace; and he was urged to play the part of a plebiscitary candidate for the presidency.
The general’s vanity lent itself to what was asked of it; after various symptoms of insubordination had shown themselves, hewas deprived of his command in 1888 for twice coming to Paris without leave, and finally on the recommendation of a council of inquiry composed of five generals, his name was removed from the army list. He was, however, almost at once elected to the chamber for the Nord, his political programme being a demand for a revision of the constitution. In the chamber he was in a minority, since genuine Republicans of all varieties began to see what his success would mean, and his actions were accordingly directed to keeping the public gaze upon himself. A popular hero survives many deficiencies, and neither his failure as an orator nor the humiliation of a discomfiture in a duel with M. Floquet, then an elderly civilian, sufficed to check the enthusiasm of his following. During 1888 his personality was the dominating feature of French politics, and, when he resigned his seat as a protest against the reception given by the chamber to his revisionist proposals, constituencies vied with one another in selecting him as their representative. At last, in January 1889, he was returned for Paris by an overwhelming majority. He had now become an open menace to the parliamentary Republic. Had Boulanger immediately placed himself at the head of a revolt he might at this moment have effected thecoup d’étatwhich the intriguers had worked for, and might not improbably have made himself master of France; but the favourable opportunity passed. The government, with M. Constans as minister of the interior, had been quietly taking its measures for bringing a prosecution against him, and within two months a warrant was signed for his arrest. To the astonishment of his friends, on the 1st of April he fled from Paris before it could be executed, going first to Brussels and then to London. It was the end of the political danger, though Boulangist echoes continued for a little while to reverberate at the polls during 1889 and 1890. Boulanger himself, having been tried and condemnedin absentiafor treason, in October 1889 went to live in Jersey, but nobody now paid much attention to his doings. The world was startled, however, on the 30th of September 1891 by hearing that he had committed suicide in a cemetery at Brussels by blowing out his brains on the grave of his mistress, Madame de Bonnemains (néeMarguerite Crouzet), who had died in the preceding July.
See also the articleFrance: History; and Verly,Le Général Boulanger et la conspiration monarchique(Paris, 1893).
See also the articleFrance: History; and Verly,Le Général Boulanger et la conspiration monarchique(Paris, 1893).
(H. Ch.)
BOULAY DE LA MEURTHE, ANTOINE JACQUES CLAUDE JOSEPH,Comte(1761-1840), French politician and magistrate, son of an agricultural labourer, was born at Chamousey (Vosges) on the 19th of February 1761. Called to the bar at Nancy in 1783, he presently went to Paris, where he rapidly acquired a reputation as a lawyer and a speaker. He supported the revolutionary cause in Lorraine, and fought at Valmy (1792) and Wissembourg (1793) in the republican army. But his moderate principles brought suspicion on him, and during the Terror he had to go into hiding. He represented La Meurthe in the Council of Five Hundred, of which he was twice president, but his views developed steadily in the conservative direction. Fearing a possible renewal of the Terror, he became an active member of the plot for the overthrow of the Directory in November 1799. He was rewarded by the presidency of the legislative commission formed by Napoleon to draw up the new constitution; and as president of the legislative section of the council of state he examined and revised the draft of the civil code. In eight years of hard work as director of a special land commission he settled the titles of land acquired by the French nation at the Revolution, and placed on an unassailable basis the rights of the proprietors who had bought this land from the government. He received the grand cross of the Legion of Honour and the title of count, was a member of Napoleon’s privy council, but was never in high favour at court. After Waterloo he tried to obtain the recognition of Napoleon II. He was placed under surveillance at Nancy, and later at Halberstadt and Frankfort-on-Main. He was allowed to return to France in 1819, but took no further active part in politics, although he presented himself unsuccessfully for parliamentary election in 1824 and 1827. He died in Paris on the 4th of February 1840. He published two books on English history—Essai sur les causes qui, en 1649, amenèrent en Angleterre l’établissement de la république(Paris, 1799), andTableau politique des regnes de Charles II et Jacques II, derniers rois de la maison de Stuart(The Hague, 1818)—which contained much indirect criticism of the Directory and the Restoration governments. He devoted the last years of his life to writing his memoirs, which, with the exception of a fragment on theThéorie constitutionnelle de Sieyès(1836), remained unpublished.
His elder son, ComteHenri Georges Boulay de la Meurthe(1797-1858), was a constant Bonapartist, and after the election of Louis Napoleon to the presidency, was named (January 1849) vice-president of the republic. He zealously promoted popular education, and became in 1842 president of the society for elementary instruction.
BOULDER,a city and the county-seat of Boulder county, Colorado, U.S.A., about 30 m. N.W. of Denver. Pop. (1890) 3330; (1900) 6150 (693 foreign-born); (1910) 9539. It is served by the Union Pacific, the Colorado & Southern, and the Denver, Boulder & Western railways; the last connects with the neighbouring mining camps, and affords fine views of mountain scenery. Boulder lies about 5300 ft. above the sea on Middle Boulder Creek, a branch of the St Vrain river about 30 m. from its confluence with the Platte, and has a beautiful situation in the valley at the foot of the mountains. The state university of Colorado, established at Boulder by an act of 1861, was opened in 1877; it includes a college of liberal arts, school of medicine (1883), school of law (1892), college of engineering (1893), graduate school, college of commerce (1906), college of education (1908), and a summer school (1904), and has a library of about 42,000 volumes. There are a fine park of 2840 acres, the property of the city, and three beautiful cañons near Boulder. At the southern limits, in a beautiful situation 400 ft. above the city, are the grounds of an annual summer school, the Colorado Chautauqua. The climate is beneficial for those afflicted with bronchial and pulmonary troubles; the average mean annual temperature for eleven years ending with 1907 was 51° F. There are medicinal springs in the vicinity. The water-works are owned and operated by the city, the water being obtained from lakes at the foot of the Arapahoe Peak glacier in the Snowy Range, 20 m. from the city. The surrounding country is irrigated, and successfully combines agriculture and mining. There are ore sampling works and brick-making establishments. Oil and natural gas abound in the vicinity; there are oil refineries in the city; and in Boulder county, especially at Nederland, 18 m. south-west, and at Eldora, about 22 m. south-west of the city, has been obtained since 1900 most of the tungsten mined in the United States; the output in 1907 was valued at about $520,000. The first settlement near the site of Boulder was made in the autumn of 1858. Placer gold was discovered on an affluent of Boulder Creek in January 1859. The town was laid out and organized in February 1859, and a city charter was secured in 1871 and another in 1882.
BOULDER(short for “boulder-stone,†of uncertain origin; cf. Swed.bullersten, a large stone which causes a noise of rippling water in a stream, frombullra, to make a loud noise), a large stone, weathered or water-worn; especially a geological term for a large mass of rock transported to a distance from the formation to which it belongs. Similarly, in mining, a mass of ore found at a distance from the lode.
BOULDER CLAY,in geology, a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and America. Boulder clay is variously known as “till†or “ground moraine†(Ger.Blocklehme,GeschiebsmergelorGrundmoräne; Fr.argile à blocaux,moraine profonde; Swed.Krosstenslera). It is usually a stiff, tough clay devoid of stratification; though some varieties are distinctly laminated. Occasionally, within the boulder clay, there are irregular lenticular masses of more or less stratified sand, gravel or loam. As the boulder clay is the result of the abrasion (direct or indirect) of the older rocks over which the ice has travelled, it takes its colour from them; thus, in Britain,over Triassic and Old Red Sandstone areas the clay is red, over Carboniferous rocks it is often black, over Silurian rock it may be buff or grey, and where the ice has passed over chalk the clay may be quite white and chalky (chalky boulder clay). Much boulder clay is of a bluish-grey colour where unexposed, but it becomes brown upon being weathered.
The boulders are held within the clay in an irregular manner, and they vary in size from mere pellets up to masses many tons in weight. Usually they are somewhat oblong, and often they possess a flat side or “soleâ€; they may be angular, sub-angular, or well rounded, and, if they are hard rocks, they frequently bear grooves and scratches caused by contact with other rocks while held firmly in the moving ice. Like the clay in which they are borne, the boulders belong to districts over which the ice has travelled; in some regions they are mainly limestones or sandstones; in others they are granite, basalts, gneisses, &c.; indeed, they may consist of any hard rock. By the nature of the contained boulders it is often possible to trace the path along which a vanished ice-sheet moved; thus in the Glacial drift of the east coast of England many Scandinavian rocks can be recognized.
With the exception of foraminifera which have been found in the boulder clay of widely separated regions, fossils are practically unknown; but in some maritime districts marine shells have been incorporated with the clay. SeeGlacial Period; andGlacier.
BOULÄ’(Gr.βουλή, literally “will,†“adviceâ€; hence a “councilâ€), the general term in ancient Greece for an advisory council. In the loose Homeric state, as in all primitive societies, there was a council of this kind, probably composed of the heads of families,i.e.of the leading princes or nobles, who met usually on the summons of the king for the purpose of consultation. Sometimes, however, it met on its own initiative, and laid suggestions before the king. It formed a means of communication between the king and the freemen assembled in the Agora. In Dorian states this aristocratic form of government was retained (for the Spartan Council of Elders seeGerousia). In Athens the ancient council was called the Boule until the institution of a democratic council, or committee of the Ecclesia, when, for purposes of distinction, it was described as “the BoulÄ“ on the Areopagus,†or, more shortly, “the Areopagus†(q.v.). It must be clearly understood that the second, or Solonian Boule, was entirely different from the Areopagus which represented the Homeric Council of the King throughout Athenian history, even after the “mutilation†carried out by Ephialtes. Further, it is, as will appear below, a profound mistake to call the second Boule a “senate.†There is no real analogy between the Roman senate and the Athenian council of Five Hundred.
Before describing the Athenian Boule, the only one of its kind of which we have even fairly detailed information, it is necessary to mention that councils existed in other Greek states also, both oligarchic and democratic. A Boulē was in the first place a necessary part of a Greek oligarchy; the transition from monarchy to oligarchy was nominally begun by the gradual transference of the powers of the monarch to the Boule of nobles. Further, in the Greek democracy, the larger democratic Boule was equally essential. The general assembly of the people was utterly unsuited to the proper management of state affairs in all their minutiae. We therefore find councils of both kinds in almost all the states of Greece. (1) At Corinth we learn that there was an oligarchic council of unknown numbers presided over by eight leaders (Nicol. Damasc.Frag. 60). It was probably like the old Homeric council, except that its constitution did not depend on a birth qualification, but on a high census. This was natural in Corinth where, according to Herodotus (ii. 167), mercantile pursuits bore no stigma. (2) From an inscription we learn that the Athenians, in imposing a constitution on Erythrae (about 450B.C.), included a council analogous to their own. (3) In Elis (Thuc. v. 47) there was an aristocratic council of ninety, which was superseded by a popular council of six hundred (471). (4) Similarly in Argos there were an aristocratic council of eighty and later a popular council of much larger size (Thuc. v. 47). Councils are also found at (5) Rhodes, (6) Megalopolis (democratic), (7) Corcyra (democratic), (Thuc. iii. 70). Of these seven the most instructive is that of Erythrae, which proves that in the 5th century the Council of Five Hundred was so efficient in Athens that a similar body was imposed at Erythrae (and probably in the other tributary cities).
The Boulē at Athens. History.—The origin of the second Boulē, or Council of Four Hundred, at Athens is involved in obscurity. In the AristotelianConstitution of Athens(c.4), it is stated that Draco established a council of 401, and that he transferred to it some of the functions of the Council of Areopagus (q.v.). It is, however, generally held (seeDraco) that this statement is untrue, and that it was Solon who first established the council as a part of the constitution. Thirdly, it has been held that the council was not invented either by Draco or by Solon, but was of older and unknown origin. Fourthly, it has also been maintained by some recent writers that no Boulē existed before Cleisthenes. The principal evidence for this view is the omission of any reference to the Boulē in one of the earliest Athenian inscriptions, that relating to Salamis (Hicks and Hill, No. 4), where in place of the customary formula of a later age,ἔδοξε τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τῷ δήμῳ, we have the formulaἔδοχσεν τῷ δήμῳ. This argument is far from conclusive, and it is clear from theConstitution(c.20) that the resistance of the Boulē to Cleomenes and Isagoras was anterior to the legislation of Cleisthenes (i.e.that the Boulē in question was the Solonian and not the Cleisthenian). On the whole it is reasonable to conclude that it was Solon who invented the Boulē to act as a semi-democratic check upon the democracy, whose power he was increasing at the expense of the oligarchs by giving new powers to the people in the Ecclesia and the Dicasteries. Practically nothing is known of the operations of this council until the struggle between Isagoras and Cleisthenes (Herod, v. 72). Solon’s council had been based on the four Ionic tribes. When Cleisthenes created the new ten tribes in order to destroy the local influence of dominant families and to give the country demes a share in government, he changed the Solonian council into a body of 500 members, 50 from each tribe. This new body (see below) was the keystone of the Cleisthenean democracy, and may be said in a sense to have embodied the principle of local representation. After Cleisthenes, the council remained unaltered till 306B.C., when, on the addition of two new tribes named after Antigonus and his son, Demetrius Poliorcetes, its numbers were increased to 600. InA.D.126-127 the old number of 500 was restored. A council of 750 members is mentioned in an inscription of the early 3rd centuryA.D., and aboutA.D.400 the number of councillors had fallen to 300.
Constitution and Functions.—(a) Under Solon the council consisted of 400 members, 100 from each of the four Ionic tribes. It is certain that all classes were eligible except the Thētes, but the method of appointment is not known.Solon’s council.Three suggestions have been made, (1) that each tribe chose its representatives, (2) that they were chosen by lot from qualified citizens in rotation, (3) that the combined method of selection by lot from a larger number of elected candidates was employed. According to the passage in Plutarch’sSolonthe functions of this body were from the firstprobouleutic(i.e.it prepared the business for the Ecclesia). Others hold that this function was not assigned to it until the Cleisthenean reforms. When we consider, however, the double danger of leaving the Ecclesia in full power, and yet under the presidency of the aristocratic archons, it seems probable that the probouleutic functions were devised by Solon as a method of maintaining the balance. On this hypothesis the Solonian Boulē was from the first what it certainly was later, acommitteeof the Ecclesia,i.e.not a “senate.†It may be regarded as certainCleisthenes’ council.that the system of Prytaneis was the invention of Cleisthenes, not of Solon. (b) Under Cleisthenes the council reached its full development as a democratic representative body. Its actual organization is still uncertain, but it may be inferred that it became gradually a more strictly self-existent body than the Solonian council. Everyfull citizen of thirty years of age was eligible, and, unlike other civil offices, it was permissible to serve twice, but not more than twice (Ath. Pol.c. 62). It may be regarded as certain, although our evidence is derived from inscriptions which date from the 3rd centuryB.C., that from the first the Bouleutae were appointed by the demes, in numbers proportionate to the size of the deme, and that from the first also the method of sortition was employed. For each councillor chosen by lot, a substitute was chosen in case of death or disgrace. After nomination each had to pass before the old council an examination in which the whole of his private life was scrutinized. After this, the councillors had to take an oath that they (1) would act according to the laws, (2) would give the best advice in their power, and (3) would carry out the examination of their successors in an impartial spirit. As symbols of office they wore wreaths; they received payment originally at the rate of one drachma a day,1at the end of the 4th century of five obols a day. At the end of the year of office each councillor had to render an account of his work, and if the council had done well the people voted crowns of honour. Within its own sphere the council exercised disciplinary control over its members by the device known asEcphyllophoria; it could provisionally suspend a member, pending a formal trial before the whole council assembledad hoc. The council had further a complete system of scribes or secretaries (grammateis), private treasury officials, and a paid herald who summoned the Boule and the Ecclesia. The meetings took place generally in the council hall (Bouleuterion), but on special occasions in the theatre, the stadium, the dockyards, the Acropolis or the Theseum. They were normally public, the audience being separated by a barrier, but on occasions of peculiar importance the public was excluded.
The Ecclesia, owing to its size and constitution, was unable to meet more than three or four times a month; the council, on the other hand, was in continuous session, except on feast days. It was impossible that the Five HundredPrytaneis.should all sit every day, and, therefore, to facilitate the despatch of business, the system of Prytaneis was introduced, probably by Cleisthenes. By this system the year was divided into ten equal periods. During each of these periods the council was represented by the fifty councillors of one of the ten tribes, who acted as a committee for carrying on business for a tenth of the year. Each of these committees was led by a president (Epistates), who acted as chairman of the Boule and the Ecclesia also, and a third of its numbers lived permanently during their period of office in the Tholos (Dome) or Skias, a round building where they (with certain other officials and honoured citizens) dined at the public expense. In 378-377B.C.(or perhaps in the archonship of Eucleides, 403) the presidency of the Ecclesia was transferred to theEpistates of the Proedri, theProedribeing a body of nine chosen by lot by the Epistates of the Prytaneis from the remaining nine tribes. It was the duty of the Boule (i.e.the Prytany which was for the time in session) to prepare all business for the consideration of the Ecclesia. Their recommendation (Ï€ÏοβοÏλευμα) was presented to the popular assembly (for procedure, seeEcclesia), which either passed it as it stood or made amendments subject to certain conditions. It must be clearly understood that the recommendation of the council had no intrinsic force until by the votes of the Ecclesia it passed into law as a psephism. But in addition to this function, the Council of the Five Hundred had large administrative and judicial control. (1) It was before the council that the Poletae arranged the farming of public revenues, the receipt of tenders for public works and the sale of confiscated property; further, it dealt with defaulting collectors (ἑκλόγεις), exacted the debts of private persons to the state, and probably drew up annual estimates. (2) It supervised the treasury payments of the Apodectae (“Receiversâ€) and the “Treasurers of the God.†(3) From Demosthenes (In Androt.) it is clear that it had to arrange for the provision of so many triremes per annum and the award of the trierarchic crown. (4) It arranged for the maintenance of the cavalry and the special levies from the demes. (5) It heard certain cases ofeisangelia(impeachment) and had the right to fine up to 500 drachmas, or hand the case over to the Heliaea. The cases which it tried were mainly prosecutions for crimes against the state (e.g.treason, conspiracy, bribery). In later times it acted mainly as a court of first instance. Subsequently (Ath. Pol.c. 45) its powers were limited and an appeal was allowed to the popular courts. (6) The council presided over thedokimasia(consideration of fitness) of the magistrates; this examination, which was originally concerned with a candidate’s moral and physical fitness, degenerated into a mere inquiry into his politics. (7) In foreign affairs the council as the only body in permanent session naturally received foreign envoys and introduced them to the Ecclesia. Further, the BoulÄ“;, with the Strategi (“Generalsâ€), took treaty oaths, after the Ecclesia had decided on the terms. The XenophonticPoliteiastates that the council of the 5th century was “concerned with war,†but in the 4th century it chiefly supervised the docks and the fleet. On two occasions at least the council was specially endowed with full powers; Demosthenes (De Fals. Leg.p. 389) states that the people gave it full powers to send ambassadors to Philip, and Andocides (De Myst.14 foil.) states that it had full power to investigate the affair of the mutilation of the Hermae on the night before the sailing of the Sicilian Expedition.
It will be seen that this democratic council was absolutely essential to the working of the Athenian state. Without having any final legislative authority, it was a necessary part of the legislative machinery, and it may be regarded as certain that a large proportion of its recommendations were passed without alteration or even discussion by the Ecclesia. The Boulē was, therefore, in the strict sense a committee of the Ecclesia, and was immediately connected with a system of sub-committees which exercised executive functions.