BAVARIA. 



BELGIUM. 



165 



fith Europe, having seldom less than forty 

 ships afloat, and they despatched Mr. Bates, 

 then just of age, to Europe to manage the dif- 

 ficult business of protecting their interests there. 

 This dutv brought him into intimate relations 

 with the Hopes and Barings, and other great 

 commercial houses in Europe, and as he con- 

 tinned to have the control of Mr. Gray's affairs 

 all over Europe for several years after the 

 peace, these houses became deeply impressed 

 with his remarkable business abilities. In 

 . through the influence of Baring Brothers 

 & Co., he formed a house in London, in connec- 

 tion with Mr. John Baring, son of Sir Thomas 

 Baring, under the firm of Bates & Baring. 

 On the death of Mr. Holland, of the house of 

 Baring Brothers & Co., both Mr. Bates and 

 Mr. John Baring were made partners in the 

 house of Baring Brothers & Co., and for many 

 years past Mr. Bates has been the leading 

 member of the firm, the high reputation of 

 which has been greatly advanced by his un- 

 common abilities, judgment, and sterling integ- 

 rity. In 1854, when a joint commission was 

 appointed to make a final settlement of claims 

 between citizens of Great Britain and the 

 United States, Mr. Bates was appointed um- 

 pire between the British and American com- 

 missioners in all cases where they could not 

 agree. The position was one of great delicacy 

 and responsibilty, but the justice and equity of 

 his numerous decisions has never been called 

 in question in either country. Mr. Bates, in 

 his youth, had felt the necessity for a good 

 public library, and though he succeeded in ob- 

 taining the books which he needed, he never 

 forgot the difficulties encountered for the want 

 of them. Hence, when he learned, in 1852, 

 that the city of Boston was about taking meas- 

 ures for the establishment of a free public 

 library, he immediately addressed a letter to 

 the Mayor of Boston, offering $50,000 toward 

 such a library, conditioned only that the inter- 

 est of the money should be spent in the pur- 

 chase of books of permanent value and au- 

 thority, and that the city should always provide 

 comfortable accommodations for its use day 

 and evening by at least one hundred readers. 

 But his liberality did not stop there. As soon 

 as a suitable building was undertaken he began 

 to send books for it in large quantities; and 

 when the building was opened, in January, 

 1858, he had forwarded between 20,000 and 

 30,000 volumes, besides those purchased from 

 the interest of the fund. His interest in his 

 native country did not abate to the close of his 

 life. During the present war, his sympathies 

 for the United States Government have been 

 freely manifested; and it is perhaps due as 

 much to his prudent counsels and judicious 

 suggestions, as to those of any citizen of either 

 country, that a war between England and the 

 United States, which more than once has seem- 

 ed imminent, has been averted. 



BAVARIA. JOSEPH MAXIMILIAN II.. King 

 of, born at Munich, November 28th, 1811, died 



in the same city, March 10th, 1864. He was 

 educated at the University of Gottingen, where 

 he distinguished himself as a student, and sub- 

 sequently avoided as far as possible all connec- 

 tion with public affairs, devoting his whole at- 

 tention to science, literature, and art, until the 

 abdication of his father in March, 1848, called 

 him most unwillingly from his studies, to the 

 cares and duties of the throne. His adminis- 

 tration was moderately liberal, the revolutions 

 of 1848 rendering it unsafe for a German King 

 to attempt to maintain a despotic Government ; 

 and though for a time he indulged in some ty- 

 rannical measures, such as the exile of political 

 writers, and the dissolution of the Diet, yet he 

 soon returned to more liberal views, and in 

 1855 attempted to ameliorate the condition of 

 the Jews in his dominions, a measure upon 

 which none of his predecessors had ever ven- 

 tured. He had taken an active part in the 

 Danish question, insisting upon the right of 

 the Prince of Augustenburg to the Government 

 of Schleswig-Holstein, and repudiating in the 

 Diet the policy of Austria and Prussia, and the 

 London treaty of 1852, in which Bavaria was 

 not represented, and in this position he was 

 supported by a majority of the lesser Govern- 

 ments of Germany. His sympathies on this 

 question were more strongly enlisted against 

 Denmark, probably, from the fact that his 

 brother Otho had been expelled from the throne 

 of Greece, and a Danish Prince crowned in his 

 stead, to the prejudice of his own son, who he 

 had hoped would succeed to the vacant throne. 

 The chief merit of Maximilian II.'s reign, how- 

 ever, was the liberal encouragement he gave to 

 science, literature, and art. Following the ex- 

 ample of his father, he did his utmost to beau- 

 tify his capital. A church of great magnifi- 

 cence in exact imitation of a Roman Basilica, 

 a crystal palace erected for an international ex- 

 hibition which did not prove a success, a noble 

 triumphal arch standing between the Glypto- 

 thek and the Pinacothek, and broad boulevards 

 extending in different directions, show the archi- 

 tectural tastes of the King; while the eminom 

 men whom he called to places of honor and sci- 

 entific distinction in Munich, exhibit his solici- 

 tude for the intellectual advancement of his 

 capital. Ranke was appointed to preside over a 

 historical commission; Liebig was made Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry; Siebold called to the Pro- 

 fessorship of Physiology, Anatomy, and Zoology, 

 at the Munich Institute ; and Pfeiffer, Carriere, 

 and Geibel brought from other States to adorn 

 his capital by their scholarship. His fostering 

 care was also extended to the scholars, philoso- 

 phers, and artists already resident at his capital, 

 and under his influence the city maintained fully 

 its previous reputation as the musical capital 

 of Europe. He was succeeded by his son, Lud- 

 wig Otto Frederick Wilhelm, born August 25th. 

 1845, under the title of Ludwig II. 



BELGIUM. A kingdom in Europe. Reign- 

 ing sovereign Leopold I., King of the Belgians, 

 bora Dec. 16, 1790, the son of Duke Franc-is 



