BEUST, FRIEDRICH FERDINAND VON, COUNT (1809-1886), Austrian statesman, was born January 13, 1809, in Dresden, of an ancient Brandenburg family long settled in Saxony. He was educated at Leipzig and Gottingen, and entered the Saxon diplomatic service in which he served at Berlin, Paris, Munich and London. In Feb. 1849 he became minister for for eign affairs and also minister for education and public worship, an office he exchanged in 1853 for the ministry for internal affairs, in which year he also became minister-president. His was the hand that guided Saxony through the revolutionary days of 1849 and which subsequently restored order by repressive measures that won him the hatred of the German Liberals. But his chief interest was in foreign policy, and he became the champion of the lesser German states against the hegemony, and unifying policy, of Prussia. This policy naturally brought him into conflict with Bismarck who attacked him in the press as a "particularist," or supporter of the smaller states as against Prussia. In 1851 he supported Austria and again in 1866 when Bismarck forced the Seven Weeks' War upon Austria. After Koniggratz, Bismarck re fused to negotiate with him; and Beust in consequence resigned all his offices.
At the moment when his public career seemed to have ended in disaster, he received a wholly unexpected offer from the Emperor Francis Joseph of the Austro-Hungarian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. A Protestant and a Saxon might well have hesi tated to accept such a post at such a moment ; but Beust did not hesitate, and threw himself into his new task with all his untiring energy. He brought the negotiations for the Ausgleich between Austria and Hungary to a successful conclusion and, in his capacity of Austro-Hungarian minister-president, restored parlia mentary government and by a liberal policy did much to rid the country of repressive and mediaeval institutions and restrictions. For his services in these and other matters, he was raised to the dignity of a count in 1868 and made chancellor of the empire. At the same time he surrendered the office of minister-president to Hohenwart whose federalist plans were subsequently a prob able cause of his downfall. In foreign policy Beust did much to improve the reputation of the empire abroad, and he ever worked steadfastly to promote a Franco-Austrian entente. When the Franco-Prussian war broke out, Beust openly displayed his sym pathy for France ; but he completely accepted the resulting uni fication of Germany and, at the moment of his dismissal from office in 1871, was engaged in promoting a good understanding between the Central empires.
The exact reason for his dismissal has never been divulged (it is said Beust himself never learnt of it), but his downfall was softened by his appointment as Austrian ambassador at London from whence he was transferred to Paris in 1878. He retired from the diplomatic service in 1882, and died at Altenberg, near Vienna, on Oct. 24, 1886.
A diplomatist a la carriere, a wit and man of the world, Beust has hitherto been dismissed too lightly as a statesman of the make shift school. The recent opening to public inspection of the Austrian archives has enabled the full details of his diplomacy to be studied; and from such a study Beust emerges with an enhanced reputation. His sangfroid in moments of crisis was wholly admirable, because it was not the sangfroid of one who did not appreciate the dangers by which he was beset. If he was more German than Hungarian in his outlook on affairs that mutually concerned the two races, he can scarcely be blamed; and certainly at all times he sought to tread along a middle course of safety in foreign policy and firm and equitable government at home.