BOURMONT, COUNT DE. 



BOURNE, VIN( 



promoted to the nak of major-general. At this time he was only in 

 his twenty-first year- 

 la December 1793 he was tent to England to endeavour to prevail 

 oo the British government to assist the Bourbon cause, but his mission 

 moved abortive. He bad the aatiafaction however of seeing the Count 

 d'Artou, aftenrardi Charle* X, who received him in the meet cordial 

 manner, knighted him, and authorised him to confer the same honour 

 on other loyal gentlemen adhering to the monarchical interest*, and 

 more particularly on the Viscount de Soe'peaux. lie paid a second visit 

 to England in 1 796, exhibit inp the greatest zeal in animating the French 

 emigrant* against tho republic, and in collecting all tho elements of 

 civil war. Soon after he returned to France to share the perils of a 

 new insurrection of the Vendeans, and commanded a division of the 

 Chouaus in 1799. On the 1 tith of October of the same year he forced 

 his way into Le-Mans, the chief place in the department of Sarthe, 

 committing it is averted great cruelties, pillaging the inhabitants of 

 nearly a million of francs, burning the post-office, the public records, 

 and the library in the Hotel-de-Villo. 



About the period of the 18th Brumaire, when M. de Chatillon and 

 other insurgent leaden found it necessary to submit to the consular 

 government, the Count de Bourmout followed their example. Ue 

 strove to induce George Cadaudal to do the same ; but that inflexible 

 chief, far from complying, evinced his disgust at the proposal in 1801 

 by ordering Bourmont' s brother-in-law to be shot. The active mind 

 of the young soldier indisposed him to a life of ease ; he therefore 

 offered his services to Bonaparte, and appears to have exhibited more 

 eagerness than discretion in so doing. The ever-vigilant PouchiS sus- 

 pected this seal ; he caused the count to be strictly watched, and, 

 having discovered what he considered sufficient proofs of intended 

 treachery, he sent him a prisoner to the Temple in 1803. From this 

 prison he was transferred, first to the citadel of Dijon, and thence to 

 that of Brsancpn. Having escaped from this last place of confine- 

 ment, be went to Portugal, where he remained five years. Tho French 

 army having become masters of that country in 1810, Bourmont made 

 interest with the victorious general, was included in the capitulation, 

 and returned to France with tho army. He now rubmitud fully to 

 the imperial government of Napoleon, and was offered the brevet of 

 colonel, which he accepted. It must be observed however, that in the 

 vindication of his career, published ip 1840 by his son, it is stated 

 that when the count made his submission he was at Nantes in France, 

 and that he was allowed his liberty only on condition of taking service 

 in the army of Napoleon. His son goes so far as to assert that in 

 1800 the First Consul offered him the post of lieutenant-general, 

 which he declined. 



From 1810 to 1814, Bourmont continued faithful to his new master; 

 distinguished himself in several battles, especially at that of Nogeut ; 

 and received no less than ten wounds, four of which were sabre cute 

 on the head. For this conduct he was rewarded with the rank of 

 brigadier-general in 1813, and made a lieutenant-general the following 

 year. When the fall of Napoleon tested the character of so many 

 generals and marshals, Bourmont only followed the example of an 

 almost universal defection. He did not betray Louis XVIII. in the 

 spring of 1815 ; but offered him the use of his sword on the very eve 

 of his departure from the Tuileries. After the flight of the king, he 

 did not refuse to take service a second time under the powerful man, 

 a single word from whom would have consigned his family to ruin. 

 But he could not brook the despotism manifested in the Acte Addi- 

 tionnel, and tendered his resignation to the Emperor hi consequence 

 of it. Receiving no answer, he left tho French army on the 15th June 

 1815, after fully communicating his design to his successor. General 

 Hulat, to whom he likewise explained every requisite detail of the 

 service. Marshal Gerard, under whom he commanded a division during 

 the campaign, and General Hulat, have since then, exonerated Count 

 de Bourmont from all imputation of treachery; whilst Napoleon, in 

 his account of the battle of Waterloo, does not even accuse him. 



After his second restoration, Louis XVIII. gave Count de Bourmont 

 the command of a division, in tho infantry of his Guards; and in this 

 rank he served in the campaign of 1828, under the Duke of Angou- 

 Mme in Spain ; and on the return of the duke to France, he appointed 

 Bourmont to the command of the army of occupation. In 1829 the 

 portfolio of the ministry of war was offered to him by Prince Polignac ; 

 but the count declined the offer several times, recommended other 

 gwwtmls in preference to himself, and was only persuaded to take 

 office by the earnest request of the king. In 18SO the great expe- 

 dition to Algiers was resolved upon, and the command of an army of 

 37,000 troops was conferred upon Bourmont. We have not space to 

 follow his Algerine career. But it must be noted as somewhat remark- 

 able that the man, who in a few weeks obtained for France this large 

 and valuable colony, the principal conquest the has retained during 

 the present century, should have been the object of so much aver- 

 sion. The revolution of July added further bitterness to that dislike, 

 and after Bourmont had been superseded in bis command on the 2nd 

 of September, by General Clauxel, a charge was brought against the 



J!A*VA_^U| 1__ J__ _* 1. . ..._ ^ .. W 



' n Tin appropriated to his own use, the treasure 



d in MM of the captured towns. One of his sons had fallen in 



Uus campaign, and the oustom-honse officer at Marseille, after the 



Hag at Bourmont, carried his seal to such an excess, ss to examine 



the corps, in search for the hidden gold. Tho count bore this out- 



rage patiently, but the Countess de Bouriuout received so groat a 

 shock, that she never rallied afterwards. 



From the year 1830 Mmhl de Bourmout lived in exile; residing 

 it various times in England, Holland, Germany, and other countries, 

 tie was Ht length allowed to retu.-u to France by Louis Philippe, 

 and in 1840 he took up his abode with his family at the castle of 

 Bourmont. Here he continued to reside in the greatest retirement 

 until the day of his death, which occurred on the 27th of IK 

 1846, at the age of seventy-three. In France Bourmont is, of all tho 

 republican and imperial generals upon whom tho charge of treason 

 has been affixed, the most unpopular. Neither Mi-ro.ni nr I'iuhegru, 

 neither liernadotte nor Muriuont has been so furiously pursued with 

 the public odium. Grouchy himself is only his second in obloquy. 

 After a careful examination of their real conduct, and due allowance 

 being made for the circumstances of the time, it would not iv.pin.' 

 an unusual stress of charity to remove much of the opprobrium which 

 now attaches to many of these great military names. But th 

 to do it effectually is not yet come; and public opinion must be 

 respected even where most it appears to err. 



(Biographit del Coniemporaint ; Alison, J/utoiy of Europe ; Sarrut 

 t't Saint Kdme, Kotict ; Feller, Dictiunnaire JIutorigue.) 



BOURNE, HUGH, the founder of the Primitive Methodist 

 nexion, was born April 3rd, 1772, in the neighbourhood of Stoke-upon- 

 Treut, in Staffordshire. He was brought up in the Wesleyau Method 1st 

 communion, and became an active and zealous preacher of that body. 

 His zeal appears to have carried him beyond the bounds alluwi-J 

 by the leaders of the Wesleyan Conference, for when he was about 

 thirty years of ago he associated himself with William Clowes and 

 some other preachers of the Wesleyan body in reviving open-air 

 religious services and camp meetings, or great gatherings for preaching 

 and public worship. These proceedings, although common enough 

 in the early days of Methodism, and carried to very great lengths in 

 America, were discountenanced by the Conference, which in 1807 

 passed a resolution to the following effect : " It is our judgment that 

 even supposing such meetings (camp meetings) to be allowed in 

 America, they are highly improper in England, and likely to be pro- 

 ductive of considerable mischief, and we disclaim nil n with 

 them." This led to Sir. liourue'a separation from the Wesleyan Con- 

 ference, and the establishment of the I'rimitiv Connexion, 

 the first class (or local society) of which was formed at Standley, iu 

 Staffordshire, in 1810. This body, which iu 1811 had two preachers 

 and about 200 members, had increased in I>L1 tn -02 travelling and 

 1435 local preachers, and 7842 member*. 1 Connexion 

 numbered 1789 chapels and 3565 rented rooms, with fib'S paid travelling 

 preachers, and 9594 local preachers. The members at the same time 

 had reached 10S,926. The difference between the Primitive Method- 

 ists and the Wesleyan Methodists consists chiefly iu the free admission 

 of laymen to the conference of the former body. 



Mr. Bourne, after he had organised the society in England, iu which 

 he was assisted by William Clowes, who had likewise been dismissed 

 for similar irregularities from the Wesleyau body, made journey* in 

 Scotland and Ireland for the purpose of forming ivli^ious societies in 

 connection with his new organisation. In 1844 he visited the United 

 States of America, where his preaching attracted large congregations, 

 Mr. Bourne lived to be fourscore years of age, and was much revered 

 by the members of the Connexion. From his youth he was a rigid 

 abstainer from intoxicating drinks, in which n-spect many of the 

 preachers and members of the Primitive Methodist Connexion have 

 followed his example. He died at Bemersley in Staffordshire, October 

 llth, 1852. 



BOUUNK, VINCENT, was probably born three or four years 

 before 1700, but the date of 1m birth does not appear to have been 

 recorded. He became a king's scholar in Westminster School iu 

 1710, whence he was elected to be sent to Trinity College, Cambridge, 

 in 1714; he took the degree of A. 11 iu 1717, and that of A.M. in 

 1721. He obtained a fellowship at Trinity College, and was after- 

 wards an usher in Westminster School, iu which situation he seems to 

 have continued for the rest of his life. He never took orders. He 

 died December 2, 1747. 



Vincent Bourne is the author of a considerable number of short 

 Latin poems, of several translations of short English poems into 

 Latin, and of a few epitaphs in Latin and English. He is an exceed- 

 ingly pleasing writer. He has great originality and variety of thought, 

 and great vividness of imagination, often combined with a delicate 

 humour quite peculiar to himself. His subjects are generally occa- 

 sional and of little importance ; but the treatment is very dehghtful, 

 and entirely free from classical or any other commonplaces. Ills 

 Latin is remarkably pure; the expressions are chosen with exquisite 

 tact, and his versification has a facility and harmony not surpassed by 

 any modern writer of Latin poetry. 



Some of Bourne's Latin translations are of poems admired once, but 

 little valued now, such as Mallet's ' William and Margaret,' Howe's 

 ' Colin s Complaint,' and Ticket's ' Lucy and Colin ;' but the versions 

 are of singular excellence, retaining every trace of thought and expres- 

 sion which is really poetical, and improving, without appearing to 

 change, the feeble imagery and spiritless language of the originals : 

 the trivial and monotonous versification has also disappeared, and 

 the poems have assumed a propriety and grace to which they had 



