BEUST, FmEnrucn FEnnixAND FREIHERR VON, German statesman, one of the most prominent modern politicians. Ills family is of •old nobility, distinguished both in the field and the cabinet. B. was b. on 13th Jan., 1809, at Dresden, and after a ful preliminary education in Dresden, he attended the. -universities of Gottingen and Leipzie. Having conceived early a liking for polities, lie devoted himself td diplomacy. After spending some time in travel (1834-35), he served as secretary of embassy, Iirst nt •3erlin, and then in Paris. • In 1838, he represented his government at 'Munich, where lie began to show his diplomatic talents, and soon acquired a certain celebrity. Eight tears later, he went to London in the same character, from which he was removed in 1848 to Berlin. When called back to Dresden in 1840, he received the portfolio of foreign affairs. In this office, lie declared against the adoption of the new constitution for the German empire, and when thereupon an insurrection broke out in Dresden, he called in the assistance of Prussian military, which speedily crushed it. A few years later, he was made •minister of the interior. On the death of Frederick VII. of Denmark (1863), 11. came forward prominently as the exponent of the German national feeling on the Slesvig-Holstein question. In the name of his government, he disavowed the London
protocol, and urged. a policy favorable to the wishes of the duchies, and in harmony with time national feelingof Germany. Anil, indeed, so proininent and popular did he become at this time, that he was sent as representative of the German blind (the first that ever was sent) to the London conference, where lie stood his ground firmly, taking for his basis the principle of nationalities. Always the friend of Austria, he naturally supported that country in the crisis of 1866, joining in the declaration of war against Prussia, against the wishes of at least the liberal party in Saxony. After the termination of the " six weeks' war," he was obliged, at the demand Of Prussia, to resign his office. Ile has since entered the service of Austria, and risen to the head of affairs. The chief result of his policy in the reorganization of the empire is the reconciliation of 'Hungary (1867) on the footing of its remaining a separate kingdom. See GERMANY. In 1811, he resigned the office of chancellor, and from that year till 1878 was ainbassador in England.