BAYARD, JAMES A. 



BELGIUM. 



has risen above the point of normal pressure 

 measured on the scale. To guard against evap- 

 oration of the water in the reservoir, the outer 

 air may be admitted only through a minute 

 puncture, or, better still, through a capillary 

 tube. The exact degree of atmospheric press- 

 ure is indicated by the readings of the water 

 barometer without the necessity of any reduc- 

 tion or calculation of errors. The range of er- 

 rors does not exceed the variation of pressure 

 measured by one millimetre on the scale of the 

 ordinary barometer, an amount which may be 

 disregarded, since in the usual barometric read- 

 ings the depression due to capillarity in the 

 mercury-tube is seldom taken account of, while 

 that caused by the tension of the mercurial va- 

 por must exceed one millimetre, and the expan- 

 sion of the confined air occasions an equal va- 

 riation. The indicator tube may be inclined 

 to any angle with the perpendicular, and the 

 delicacy of the indications proportionately in- 

 creased. One which has been put up in the 

 Grenelle Gasworks has a scale on which 70 

 millimetres correspond to one millimetre on the 

 mercurial tube, and which reveals minute un- 

 dulations of barometric pressure of which or- 

 dinary barometers give no suspicion. The wa- 

 ter-barometer can be constructed with little 

 expense. It will afford valuable data for the 

 study of rain and the other aqueous phenom- 

 ena of the atmosphere. If such barometers 

 were set up in the public places of towns, 

 they would be a useful means of popularizing 

 the knowledge of phenomena attended by vari- 

 ations of atmospheric pressure, and would prove 

 of great practical utility by indicating the ap- 

 proach of rain and storms. 



BAYARD, JAMES ASHETON, ex-Senator of 

 the United States from Delaware, died at Wil- 

 mington, Delaware, on June 13th, at the age 

 of eighty-one. He was a descendant of a dis- 

 tinguished French family who embraced the 

 Huguenot faith. During the persecutions fol- 

 lowing the massacre of St. Bartholomew they 

 fled to Holland, where Samuel Bayard mar- 

 ried the sister of Peter Stuyvesant, then Gov- 

 ernor of New Amsterdam, and his three sons 

 emigrated with their uncle, landing in New 

 York, May 11, 1647. Peter Bayard, the 

 youngest of these three brothers, removed to 

 Maryland, and from him descended the sub- 

 ject of this sketch. He was the second son 

 of James A. Bayard, member of Congress 

 from Delaware, and a leader of the Federal 

 party. In 1812 the elder James Bayard was 

 selected by President Madison as one of the 

 commissioners to arrange the treaty of peace 

 with Great Britain which was signed at Ghent. 

 He was envoy to St. Petersburg at the time of 

 his death, in 1815. His eldest son, Richard 

 Bayard, represented Delaware in the United 

 States Senate until his appointment as Minister 

 to Belgium. He was succeeded as Senator by 

 his brother, James Asheton Bayard, in 1850, 

 who was reflected in 1850, and again in 1862. 

 Mr. Bayard entered public life early, having 



been elected to Congress by the Democratic 

 party as early as 1828. He tilled many public 

 offices with unquestioned integrity. The Re- 

 publican committee of investigation in regard 

 to the Credit Mobil ier, in their report to the 

 House of Representatives, mentioned with 

 praise Senator Bayard's letter in response to 

 an offer of some of this stock, written in 1868, 

 before the character of that operation was 

 known, in which he said, "I take it for grant- 

 ed that the corporation has no application to 

 make to Congress on which I shall be called 

 upon to act officially, as I could not consistent- 

 ly with my views of duty vote upon a question 

 in which I had a pecuniary interest. 1 ' As a 

 lawyer Mr. Bayard was eminent. His clear 

 intellect and close logic fitted him for the pro- 

 fession which he chose and adorned. Among 

 other important positions which he filled, he 

 was for a long period chairman of the Com- 

 mittee on the Judiciary of the United States 

 Senate. His opinions on constitutional ques- 

 tions and his reports are weighty and authori- 

 tative. Under the Van Buren Administration 

 he was United States Attorney for Delaware. 

 In 1862, on his third election to the Senate, the 

 " iron-clad " oath was required of him. Grown 

 old in the service of the nation, he keenly re- 

 sented this indignity. After an eloquent pro- 

 test against its constitutionality, he took the 

 oath and immediately resigned his seat. The 

 Hon. George R. Riddle was elected in his place, 

 but, dying soon after, Mr. Bayard consented to 

 serve through his own unexpired term. His 

 son, Mr. Thomas F. Bayard, was elected Sena- 

 tor; and in 1869 both father and son sat in 

 the Senate, the only instance of the kind on 

 record.- After his retirement from public life, 

 Mr. Bayard lived in Wilmington. 



BELGIUM, a kingdom of Europe. Leopold 

 II., King of the Belgians, born April 9, 1835, 

 is the son of King Leopold I., former Duke of 

 Saxe-Coburg, and ascended the throne at his 

 death, December 10, 1865. He was married 

 August 22, 1853, to Marie Henriette, daughter 

 of the late Archduke Joseph of Austria (born 

 August 23, 1836), who has borne him three 

 daughters. The heir-apparent to the throne 

 is the brother of the King, Philip, Count of 

 Flanders, born March 24, 1837, Lieutenant- 

 General in the service of Belgium, who was 

 married, April 26, 1867, to Princess Marie of 

 Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (born November 17, 

 1845), and has two sons, Baldwin, born Julv 

 3, 1869, and Albert, born April 8, 1875. The 

 oldest daughter, Princess Louisa, born Febru- 

 ary 18, 1858, was married on February 4, 1875, 

 to Prince Philip, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and 

 Gotha. 



The area of this kingdom is 29,455*16 square 

 kilometres (1 square kilometre=0'386 square 

 mile) or 11,373 square miles. The population, 

 according to the census of December 31, 1876, 

 was 5,336,189, and in December, 1878, accord- 

 ing to a calculation based upon the movement 

 of population, 5,476,939. The following table 



