56 



BELGIUM. 



BENEDICT, ERASTUS C. 



a universal federation of freethinkers, the Gen- 

 eral Council of which, it was resolved, should 

 have its seat in London. An International Con- 

 gress of Commerce and Industry was opened 

 at Brussels on the 6th of September. The 

 King was present. The purpose of the Congress 

 was explained by M. Dansaert, member of the 

 Chamber and President of the Congress, and by 

 M. Sainctelette, Minister of Public Works. 



The Parliamentary session was opened No- 

 vember 9th. The King, in his speech from the 

 throne, thanked the people for the manifesta- 

 tions of loyalty which they had given during 

 the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of 

 the independence of the nation ; said that the 

 condition of the Treasury had improved ; and 

 expressed a hope that the budget of 1880 would 

 show a balance between revenue and expendi- 

 ture. The rupture of diplomatic relations with 

 the Vatican formed one of the most promi- 

 nent topics of discussion. M. Frere-Orban, the 

 Premier, in an address which occupied several 

 hours on November 30th and December 1st, 

 said that in his long political career he had 

 always been .in favor of the secularization of 

 public education, and against the maintenance 

 of diplomatic relations with the Papal See. He 

 reviewed his negotiations with the Vatican, and 

 contended that the Belgian Cabinet had acted 

 with the greatest straightforwardness, and that 

 the Vatican had been guilty of duplicity unex- 

 ampled in diplomatic annals. The speech was 

 cheered by the majority, and by the visitors who 

 thronged the Chambers. The debate was con- 

 tinued, and the Premier, speaking during the 

 following week, rebuked the clerical side for 

 having dragged the name of the King into the 

 debate, as if a private correspondence of the 

 King with the Pope, or anybody else, was a 

 matter of common concern. He denied that 

 Leopold I had ever solicited from Pope Greg- 

 ory XVI a cardinal's hat for the Nuncio Pecci 

 (the present Pope) at Brussels, and stated that 

 documents h;id been carried off from the ar- 

 chives of the Belgian Foreign Office under 

 former ministries, notably those relating to the 

 missions of the Nuncio Pecci. He also attacked 

 the policy of the Clerical party in opposing 

 amendments to the new Public Education Law, 

 which would have rendered it more acceptable 

 to them. The Liberal party gained one seat in 

 the Senate by the election, in October, of M. de 

 Kerckhove, from Ghent, to fill a seat which was 

 formerly occupied by a member of the Clerical 

 party. An election for one deputy was held 

 in Brussels, November 29th. Five candidates 

 were in the field, all advanced Liberals. Pro- 

 fessor Vanderkindere, Rector of the Universi- 

 ty of Brussels, was chosen. He is an advocate 

 of the movement called u the Flemish move- 

 ment," the object of which is to secure for 

 the Flemish language in the Flemish provinces 

 equality of consideration with the French lan- 

 guage. 



Major-General Gratry was appointed Minis- 

 ter of War in November. He was formerly 



director of the Engineer Department in the 

 Ministry of War. and had lately been in mili- 

 tary command of the province of Brabant. 



Twelve persons were condemned, Decem- 

 ber 6th, to imprisonment for different terms 

 on charges of participation in the traffic in 

 English girls for immoral purposes. Since the 

 case concerned English girls chiefly, the pro- 

 ceedings were watched by an English solicitor 

 on behalf of the British Government. 



BENEDICT, EKASTUS CORNELIUS, LL. D., 

 Chancellor of the University of the State of 

 New York, was born at Brauford, Connecticut, 

 March 19, 1800. His family removed to New 

 York when he was three years of age. In 

 1821 he graduated with the highest honors 

 from Williams College, Massachusetts. He 

 taught school in various parts of the State of 

 New York until he was admitted to the New 

 York bar, in 1824. His interest in all that 

 concerned public education remained undimin- 

 ished through his legal career, although he at- 

 tained a large practice, and for half a century 

 was considered a leader in admiralty cases. 

 He held no office until 1840, when he was 

 chosen Assistant Alderman for the Fifteenth 

 Ward. In 1850 he became a member of the 

 Board of Education, of which body he remained 

 the President until his resignation in 1863. He 

 systematized the whole educational system of 

 New York, and under his nurturing care the 

 Free Academy developed into the College of 

 the City of New York, of which he may be 

 justly called the founder. He was a member of 

 the Assembly in 1848 and 1864. In 1872 he 

 was sent to the State Senate in the interest of 

 reform. He had been made a member of the 

 Board of Regents of the University of New 

 York State, and, on the death of Chancellor 

 Pruyn, in 1878, he was chosen his successor. 

 He was also a trustee of Williams College, and 

 endowed his alma mater with a fund for 

 " Benedict prizes." An elder in the Dutch 

 Reformed Church, he was widely connected 

 with religious and charitable organizations. 

 He was a manager of the Association for Im- 

 proving the Condition of the Pocr, and Gov- 

 ernor of the New York State Woman's Hos- 

 pital. He published in 1850 what has become 

 a standard legal authority on " American Ad- 

 miralty." In 1860 he wrote a slight volume 

 of European travel. He was the author of 

 many lectures delivered before the Geographi- 

 cal and various historical and scientific socie- 

 ties of which he was a member. He made three 

 distinct translations of the " Dies Iras." The 

 first is remarkable as being expressed entirely 

 in words of Gotho-English derivation. The 

 second is very successful from its nearness in 

 words and rhythm to the original. Perhaps 

 the most lasting monument of his elegant and 

 facile pen is the translation of the " Hymn of 

 Hildebert and other Mediaeval Hymns "(1868). 

 He excelled in metrical translation, and has left 

 many scholarly renderings of French, German, 

 and Latin poems. He received the degree of 



