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Rh the Orangemen of British North America in 1848, and retained that office for several years. When the project of annexing Canada to the United States was mooted, Mr. Benjamin issued a manifesto, in which he urged Orangemen to oppose it.

BENJAMIN, John Forbes, soldier, b. in Cicero, N. Y., 23 Jan., 1817; d. in Washington, D. C, 8 March, 1877. He received a common- school education, and, after three years spent in Texas, went to Missouri, where he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and began practice at Shelbyville in 1848. He was a member of the legis- lature in 1850 and 1853, and presidential elector on the democratic ticket in 1856. He entered the national army as a private in the Missouri cav- alry in 1861, was made captain in January, 1862, major in May, and lieutenant-colonel in Septem- ber. He resigned to become provost-marshal of the 8th distrfct of Missouri in 1863. In 1864 he was elected to congress, where he served three suc- cessive terms, from 4 Dec, 1865, till 3 March, 1871. After this he practised law and was a banker in Washington until his death.

BENJAMIN, Judah Philip, lawyer, b. in St. Croix, W. I., 11 Aug., 1811 ; d. in Paris, 6 May, 1884. His parents were English Jews, who in 1811 sailed from England to settle in New Or- leans. The mouth of the Mississippi being block- aded by the British fleet, they landed at St. Croix, where Mr. Benjamin was born. His boyhood was passed in Wilmington, N. C, and in 1825 he en- tered Yale, but left college three years later, with- out receiving a degree. He then studied law in New Orleans in a notary's of- fice, and was admitted to the bar 11 Dec, 1832. For some time he was en- gaged in teach- ing school, and in compiling a digest of cases decided in the lo- cal courts. This, at first only intended for his personal use, was subsequently enlarged and published as "A Digest of Reported Decisions of the Supreme Court of the late Territory of Orleans and of the Supreme Court of Louisiana " (1834). He soon rose to the head of his profession, and in 1840 became a member of the firm of Slidell, Benjamin & Conrad, having an extensive practice in planters' and cotton merchants' cases. He was a whig, and in 1845 a member of the convention held to revise the constitution of the state, in wliicii body he advocated the addition of an article requiring the governor to be a citizen born in the United States. In 1847 a U. S. commissioner was appointed to investigate the Spanish land-titles, under which the early settlers in California claimed their property, and Benjamin was re- tained as counsel. On his return he was admitted to practice in the U. S. supreme court, and for a time much of his business was with that body at Washington. In 1848 he became one of the presi- dential electors at large from Louisiana, and was elected to the U. S. senate in 1853, and again in 1857, but on the secession of Louisiana he with- drew from the senate, with his colleague, John Slidell, 4 Feb., 1861. During his senatorial career he had attained pre-eminence in the southern wing of the democratic party. A sharp personal contro- versy between himself and Jefferson Davis seemed likely to cause a duel, when the latter apologized on the floor of the senate for the harsh language he had used. He advocated the Kansas-Nebraska bill of Mr. Douglas in 1854, but afterward insisted that the principle of popular sovereignty had been definitely set aside by the declaration of the su- preme court in the Dred-Scott case, which, he con- tended, should be accepted as conclusive. His firm advocacy of the legal claims of slavery brought from Senator Wade, of Ohio, the remark that Mr. Benjamin was " a Hebrew with Egyptian princi- ples." On the formation of the provisional gov- ernment of the confederate states, he was ap- pointed attorney-general, and in August, 1861, was transferred to the war department, succeeding L. P. Walker. Having been accused of incompetence and neglect of duty by a committee of the con- federate congress, he resigned his office, but im- mediately became secretary of state, which place he held until the final overthrow of the confederate government. He had the reputation of being " the brains of the confederacy," and it is said that Mr. Davis was in the habit of sending to him all work that did not obviously belong to the department of some other minister. It was his habit to begin work at 8 a. m., and he was often occupied at his desk until 3 o'clock next morning. On the fall of the confederacy he fled from Richmond with other members of the cabinet, and, on becoming separated from the party, escaped from the coast of Florida to the Bahamas in an open boat, thence going to Nassau, and in September, 1865, reached Liverpool. He at once began the study of English law, and was entered as a student at Lincoln's Inn, 13 Jan., 1866. In the following summer he was called to the English bar, at the age of fifty-five. At first his success was slight, and he was compelled to re- sort to journalism for a livelihood. In 1868 he pub- lished " A Treatise on the Law of Sale of Personal Property," which is now the authority on this sub- ject in "English law (3d ed., London, 1883). His practice then grew rapidly, and in June, 1872, he was made queen's counsel, after which his busi- ness soon became as large and remunerative as that of any lawyer in the land. Among his many arguments, the "one most generally known is that which he delivered before the court for crown cases reserved, on behalf of the captain of the " Franconia." His last great nisi prius case was that of Anson and others against the London and northwestern railway. After this he accepted only briefs upon appeal, and appeared solely before the house of lords and the privy council. Early in 1883 he was compelled by failing health to retire from practice, and a famous farewell banquet was given him in the hall of the Inner Temple, London, 30 June, 1883. He then went to Paris, where his wife and daughter resided, and rapidly failed until his death. See life hv Francis Lawley (London, 1898).

BENJAMIN, Nathan, missionary, b. in Cats- kill, N. Y., 14 Dec, 1811 ; d. in Constantinople, Turkey, 27 Jan., 1855. He was graduated at Will- iams, in 1832, and at Andover theological seminary in 1835, was appointed as missionary to Greece and Turkey by the American board, and went to Argos in 1836. He removed to Athens m 1838, and there labored for six years, chiefly in con- nection with the press. From 1843 till 1845 he was acting U. S. consul at Athens, and he then