BABECF, FRANCOIS NOEL. 



BAB1NGTON, WILLIAM. 



footing in the Punjab. But the orcrthrow of the Afghan dominion 

 in Hindustan wa* decided by the expedition which Baber undertook 

 in ;:.:. On the 18th of December of tht year he passed over the 

 Indus ; th.-n marching along the tkirti of the Himalaya, and crossing 

 the ritren Behut, Cbenab, Ravee, and Boyah, be took the Afghan fort 

 of Hilwat (January 5, 1628), where he left a governor and garrison. 

 Upon reaching Dun, Baber revolved to march at once agiiut Sultan 

 Itoahim Lodi, the Afghan aorereign, in whoae possession the throne 

 of Delhi and the dominion* of Hindustan at tdat time were. Advancing 

 by the town* of Sirhiud. Ambala, and Shobabod, he crowed the 

 Jumna by a ford near Sinaweh, and reached Panipat (April 12), a 

 town about 50 mile* Jf.W. from Delhi Here Sultan Ibrahim, with 

 hit army, encountered him on the 21 t of April, but was completely 

 defeated and killed in the battle. Thi victory decided the c- 

 of Hindiut&n ; for, although there were many little principal ities in 

 the bill", yet the Afghan government, which extended from the Indus 

 to Behar, wai the only one of importance. Baber immediately 

 dispatched detachment* to occupy the two principal cities, Delhi and 

 Agra; the Utter town he himself entered on the 10th of May, and 

 took up hi* residence in Sultan Ibrahim's palace, while hi* son 

 Humiiun marchtd eastward against two Afghan chiefs who had 

 aimiiililnil an army of 40,000 or 50,000 men. They were defeated 

 and dispersed. Other important conquests were made ; and in 

 February 1527 Baber won a decisive victory at Biana, near Agra, 

 over Itana-Sanka, the most powerful of the native Hindoo princes, in 

 consequence of which he assumed the epithet of 'Gbozi,' that is, 'the 

 victorious in war against infidela.' The conquests of Baber, from the 

 Indus to the mouth* of the Ganges, were made so rapidly, and they 

 comprehended so wide an extent of countries and fa great a variety of 

 population, that to cement them into a firm union would have required 

 many more years than Baber lived. Hu son Humaiun had difficulty in 

 maintaining possession of these extensive territories; and it was not till 

 the reisn of Baber'* grandson, Akbar, that a regular administration of 

 the whole empire wa* established. 



Toward* the conclusion of his reign, Baber endeavoured to promote 

 the prosperity of his empire. He made or improved public roads, 

 with resting-places for travellers at suitable distances; he caused the 

 hud to be measured, in order to have, a scale whereby to fix the 

 taxation ; he planted garden*, and introduced fruit-trees from abroad 

 into the several provinces of Hindustan ; anil he ordered a regular line 

 of post-house* to be built from Agra to Oabul. 



Baber died at the Cbarbagh, near Aprs, on the 26th of December, 

 1630, and wa* succeeded by his son Hiimfiiun on the throne of the 

 empire. Baber wa* undoubtedly one of tho most distinguished sove- 

 reign* that ever sat upon an Asiatic throne. In no common degree he 

 po*ed benevolence, good-nature, and frank gaiety ; and witli these 

 qualities he united the leading characteristics of a statesman and a 

 military commander. Of hi* literary accomplishments and general 

 information, the autobiographic memoir written by himself in his 

 native language, the ' JaghaUi Turk!,' give* ua a favourable idea : 

 there is pt-rhap* no other work of this kind in existence which afford* 

 more accurate notion, not only of the life, character, and way of 

 thinking of it* author, but of the whole aspect of hi* age, and of the 

 prnon* and object* surrounding him. 



(Mrmoiri of Xehir-td-dta Muhammed Baber, translated by John 

 Leyden and William Erskine, London, 1826, 4to.) 



BABKUK, FKAXrolS NOEL, is chiefly known in the history of 

 the French Revolution a* the originator of the Babeuf conspiracy. 

 He was born at 8t-Qnentin, in the department of Aisne, in 1764. He 

 wa* apprenticed to an architect and surveyor in the town of Koye, in 

 the department of the Somme, but was soon drawn from that pursuit 

 by the commencement of the revolution, of which he began to advocate 

 the principle* in t> journal entitled the ' Correspondent Picard,' pub- 

 lished at Amiens. The violence he displayed in this journal cauied 

 him to be prosecuted at Part* in 1790, but he wa* acquitted. He was 

 subsequently appointed administrator of the department of the Somme, 

 and abortly afterward* removed, with the tame title, to Montdidier. 

 Bring accuicd of forgery, he fled to Paris, waa there arrested, and sent 

 before the tribunal of Aisne, where he waa again acquitted. He 

 returned to Paris, and commenced in July, 1794, a journal called ' The 

 Tnbunc of the People/ taking for it* motto a maxim of Rousseau 

 " the object of society i* the general good : " and signing the article* 

 Cain* (Jracrbu*. a name by which he wa* afterward* generally known ; 

 and in this journal be developed the principle* of an universal equality. 

 In 1796, he and hi* adherent*, then become somewhat numerous, 

 instituted a secret committee, consisting of twelve, who were styled 

 chiefs of (JTondiMemenU. They placed themselves in connection with 

 the rqireaenUUie* of section*, who were wholly unknown to each 

 other, and also gained the adhesion of tome regiments in garrison at 

 Paris and the cnvironr. They counted alan on the rapport of tho 

 department*, where they had organised an insurrectionary army. 

 The proposed plan wa* to attack simultaneously the Directory, the 

 Hfinlativ. body, and the chief* of the staff. Their plan* were car. fully 

 prepared ; but one of the conspirators named Oiisel betrayed the plot 

 to Barraa at the moment when tbeee plan* were to be carried Into 

 Mention, Bam* caused Babeuf and sixty-five of hi* fellow-con -).in. 

 ton to be seiaed. They were tried before the high court of Vendome 

 <m May 24, 177. Babeuf and another named Durthtf were found 



guilty, and sentenced to death, seven other* were condemned to trans- 

 portation, and fifty six were ultimately acquitted. Babeuf and Darth<5 

 tabbed themselve* at the moment of pronouncing the decree, on 

 May 27th. but were notwithstanding borne, bleeding and expiring, to 

 the sen: 



Babeuf, going before the agitator* of the present day, seems to have 

 wished to give the revolution that tendency which we call Socialimn. 

 In all his writing* he maintained a eocial equality, a community of 

 good*, no want, no riches. Tim idle theory can never become a prac- 

 tical condition of mankind ; for whatever interferes with the intellectual 

 liberty of the individual, restricting bis choice of occupation and " 

 restraining hi* desire for the acquisition of property, must inevitably 

 fail, being opposed to the elements of the human character. 



BABINGTOX, WILLIAM, ii distinguished: .v as born in 



Juno 1 750 at Port glenone, a village on the Han, near Coleraine, in the 

 north of Ireland. After acquiring the usual element* of general 

 education, he wa* apprenticed to a medical practitioner at London- 

 derry, and on completing his apprenticeship he proceeded to London 

 to pursue bis medical education. Being provided with an introduction 

 to Mr. Frank, Burgeon to Guy's Hospital, ho became his dresser at that 

 institution. Thence he went to Hailar Hospital, and afterwards for a 

 short time to Winchester Hospital A vacancy having taken place in 

 the office of apothecary at Guy's Hospital, liabington, although young, 

 received the appointment; and Boon afterward* he waa selected to 

 assist Dr. Saunder* at the hospital in his lectures on chemistry. 

 While still there, by the advice of some friend*, he purchased the 

 valuable collection of minerals which had belonged to the Earl of 

 Bute perhaps the finest which at that time existed in England. On 

 obtaining possession of hi* purchase he proceeded to class the mineral* 

 and to catalogue them. He also divided the cabinet into several 

 portions, which he disposed of at different times. His attention was 

 thus drawn to the subject of mineralogy, and he studied tho subject 

 i-o well, as to be able to publixh, in 1795, a work entitled ' A Systematic 

 Arrangement of Minerals, founded on the joint consideration of their 

 Chemical, Physical, and External Characters.' The arrangement wa* 

 presented in the form of table*. 



In 1797 he resigned hi* office at Guy's Hospital, and having obtained 

 the degree of Doctor of Medicine, he commenced private practice as a 

 physician in Freeman's-court, Cornhill, in the city of London. Soon 

 after he waa elected one of the physicians to Guy's Hospital, wlx 

 had continued to lecture on chemistry, in which duty he was joined 

 ).y Mr. William Allen. In 1799 he published his ' New System of 

 Mineralogy,' which may bo considered a continuation of the former 

 work. In 1802 he published a ' Syllabus of the Course of Chemical 

 Lecture*.' In 1796 he became a Fellow of the Medical Society of 

 London, and exerted himself zealously to promote the advancement 

 of the science of medicine. He removed to BaMnghall-strcet, where 

 he became the neighbour and friend of Dr. Lett*) in, the chief pro- 

 moter of the Medical Society. As his practice soon greatly increased, 

 he removed to a large house in Aldermaubury. To this house, iu 

 1807, "with a view to enable Count Bournon, of whom he had been 

 n pupil, to publish his elaborate monograph on the carbonate of lime, 

 Dr. I'ubington invited a number of gentlemen the most distinguished 

 for their zeal in the prosecution of mineralogic.il knowledge. A sub- 

 scription wa* opened, and the necessary sum readily collected. This 

 object having been accomplished, other meetings of the same gentle- 

 men took place, for the joint purpose of friendly intercourse and 

 mutual instruction. From such small beginnings sprang the Geological 

 Society, and among the name* of those by whose care and watchful- 

 ness it was supported during the early period of its history, that of 

 Dr. Babington must always stand conspicuous." (Mr. Greenough'8 

 ',\.l,lr.ii to the Geological Society,' 1834.) In 1822 ho was elected 

 president of the society, having been vice-president in 1810 and the 

 three subsequent year*. He enriched the museum and library with 

 liberal donations, and the 'Transactions' of the society contain several 

 papers by him. 



A fine trait in Dr. Babington's character wa* his readiness to It-urn 

 from other*, although himsclbso well qualified to ba an instructor. 

 In this ipirit he became a pupil of Mr. Webster, after he had quitted 

 the office of president of the Geological Society, and he attended the 

 course of chemical lecture* at the London University in the year 

 In addition to the discharge of his duties a* a physician, he continued 

 his studies in practical chemistry, especially pharmacy, geology, and 

 vegetable physiology. In order to promote the advancement of medical 

 science, Dr. Babington assisted in instituting in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of his residence a society called the Hunteriau, for the 

 pnrpoee of friendly meetings and the discussion of medical topics. He 

 also became a member of the Modico-Cbirurgical Society, and the first 

 volume of their ' Transactions ' contains a paper by him, ' A Cose of 

 Exposure to the Vapour of Burning Charcoal,' 1809. While his 

 mornings were devoted to the practice of his profession, his evening* 

 were dedicated to study, or social intercourse with individuals distin- 

 guished by their attainment* or love of science. He was < 

 friend of nearly all the most eminent scientific men of hi* day, and 

 he wa* justly esteemed by the public a* an able and enlightened 

 physician. 



The Royal Society admitted Dr. Babington as one of it* fellows, and 

 the Royal College of Physicians testified their *ense of his character by 



