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BELVIDERE 481 BENEDETTI BELVIDERE, a city of Illinois, the county-seat of Boone co. It is on the Kiswaukee river, and on the Chicago and Northwestern railroad. It is the center of a fertile agricultural region and has manufactures of sewing ma- chines, safety razors, bicycles, automo- biles, boilers, etc. There is a public li- brary, a park, an opera house, and other public buildings. Pop. (1910) 7,253; (1920) 7,804. BEMIDJI, a city of Minnesota, the county-seat of Beltrami co. It is on the Great Northern, and Minneapolis, Red Lake, and Manitoba, and other railroads. On account of its beautiful situation on a lake, it is a popular summer resort. It has a State normal school, Federal building, public library, and other public buildings. Lumbering is the chief in- dustry. Pop. (1910) 5,099; (1920) 7,086. BEMIS HEIGHTS, a village in Sara- toga CO., N. Y., on the Hudson river, famous as the scene of the first battle of Stillwater, Sept. 19, 1777. BENARES, a town in Hindustan, capital of the Benares division, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India, on the left bank of the Ganges, from which it rises like an amphitheater, presenting a splendid panorama of tem- ples, mosques, palaces, and other build- ings, with their domes, minarets, etc. Fine ghauts lead down to the river. It is one of the most sacred places of pil- grimage in all India, being the headquar- ters of the Hindu religion. The prin- cipal temple is dedicated to Siva, whose sacred symbol it contains. It is also the seat of government and other colleges, and of the missions of various societies. Benares carries on a large trade in the produce of the district and in English goods, and manufactures silks, shawls, embroidered cloth, jewelry, etc. Pop. about 220,000. The division has an area of 10,385 square miles, and a population of about 5,500,000. BENBOW, JOHN, an English admiral, born in 1650 at Shrewsbury. His skill and valor, displayed during an action with a Barbary pirate at the head of a superior force, gained him a captaincy in the Royal navy. Rear-Admiral in 1700, he had his leg carried away by a chain-shot during an engagement with the French Commodore, Du Casse, in 1702, and he died in Jamaica, in 1702. BENCH, in law, the seat which judges or magistrates occupy officially in a court of justice; also the judges or magis- trates sitting together to try cases. The Court of King's bench (named, when a female sovereign is on the throne, the Court of Queen's Bench) formerly was one of the three chief courts in Eng- land. The judicial business of the Great Council of the nation coming to be trans- acted in the King's palace, the court which attended to it was called that of the Avla Regis, viz., of the King's pal- ace. It gradually separated into three — the Courts of King's Bench, of Common Pleas, and of the Exchequer. From its very outset it was a court of record. Its separate existence was abolished by the judicature act of 1873, and now it is the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Judicature. In engineering, a bench is a horizontal ledge on the side of a cutting; an em- bankment or parapet, a berme, a ban- quette. BENCH WARRANT, a warrant is- sued by the court before which an in- dictment has been found to arrest the accused, that he may appear and find bail for his appearance at the trial. It is used extensively in the United States to bring into court persons who have neg- lected to obey an order of court, such as delinquent jurymen. BENCOOLEN, or BENKULEN, a sea- port on the W. coast of Sumatra Island, Dutch East Indies; capital of a resi- dency of the same name. It was founded in 1685 by the English and ceded to the Dutch in 1824. Area of residency, 9,433 square miles; pop. of residency about 225,000; of town about 12,000. BENDIGO, a city of Victoria, -Aus- tralia, the capital of Bendigo co. It is about 100 miles N. W. of Melbourne. In the neighborhood are important gold mines. The town is situated in a fer- tile agricultural region and grain and fruit are extensively grown. There are handsome public buildings including a town hall, a mechanics' institute, and several churches. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop. Pop. (1918) 35,590. BENEDETTI, VINCENT, COUNT DE, a French diplomatist of Italian extrac- tion, born in Bastia,, Corsica, April 29, 1817; was educated for public service, held consulates in Cairo, Palermo, Malta, and Tunis; and was Secretary of the Congress of Paris in 1856, and drew up the protocols of the treaty then agreed upon. In 1861 he was appointed Am- bassador to Italy, and in 1864 to Prussia. In 1870 Benedetti was under orders to protest against the candidature of Prince Leopold of the house of Hohenzollern for the crown of Spain. He became so im-