Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/308

280 cabinet as secretary of state. He was active in forwarding the Pan-American congress, a conference of representatives of the independent governments of North and South America, held in Washington, and also gave his attention to the international conference for the adoption of regulations to govern vessels at sea. The McKinley tariff measure was supplemented, largely through his suggestions, by treaties of reciprocity with various nations, and he was also actively concerned in the diplomatic treatment of the seal-fishery dispute, the recognition of the newly organized Brazilian republic, the trouble with Italy over the lynching of alleged Italian subjects in New Orleans, the civil war in Chili, and a dispute with Spain regarding the rights of American missionaries in the Caroline islands.

On 4 June, 1892, Mr. Blaine suddenly resigned his portfolio, and three days later, at the republican national convention in Minneapolis, his name was once more conspicuous among those of the presidential candidates. His resignation caused much speculation, and many persons coupled it with his subsequent candidacy for the presidential nomination; but he himself gave as his reason that he desired to rest. His health now failed rapidly, and he took no more active interest in public life, his death following soon afterward.

BLAIR, Austin, governor of Michigan, b. in Caroline, Tompkins eo., N. Y., 8 Feb., 1818 ; d. in Jackson, Mich., G Aug.. 1894. He was educated at Union college, being graduated in 1889, studied law, and removed to Michigan. He was county clerk of Eaton county, member of the legislature in 1846, and prosecuting attorney of Jackson county from 1852 till 1854. He was state senator from 1854 till 1856, and from 1861 till 1865 was governor of the state, in which office he was active in his support of the national government. In 1866 he was elected as a republican to congress, where he was a member of the committees on foreign affairs, rules, and militia, and was twice re-elected in succession, serving on the committee on land-claims. In 1878 he resumed law practice in Jackson, Mich.

BLAIR, Francis Preston, statesman, b. in Abingdon, Va., 12 April, 1791 ; d. in Silver Spring, Md., 18 Oct., 1876. He was educated at Transylvania university, Kentucky, and studied law, but never practised. He early took part in politics, and in 1824 supported Henry Clay for the presidency. He dissented, however, from Clay's views in relation to the United States Bank, and in 1828 became an ardent Jackson man. In 1829 an article in a Kentucky paper by Mr. Blair against the nullification movement attracted the president's attention, and he invited the writer to establish a journal at Washington to support the union. This led to the establishment of the "Globe," which was the recognized organ of the democratic party until 1845, when President Polk, against Gen. Jackson's published protest, removed Mr. Blair from the management. This action signified the triumph of Calhoun and his adherents over the Jackson or national democracy. President Polk offered Mr. Blair the Spanish mission, which was declined. He supported Mr. Van Buren in 1848, and promoted the reunion of the party, by which Pierce's election was secured in 1852. After the repeal of the Missouri compromise in 1854, Mr. Blair was active in the organization of the republican party, presiding over the Pittsburg convention of 1856 and drawing up the platform adopted there. After peremptorily refusing to allow his own name to be used, he favored the nomination of Col. Fremont for the presidency. Mr. Blair was also one of the leaders in the Chicago convention of 1860, which nominated Lincoln, and, after the election of the latter, had much influence with his administration. In 1864 Mr. Blair conceived the idea that, through his personal acquaintance with many of the confederate leaders, he might be able to effect a peace. Without telling the president of his intention, he asked for a pass to the south, and had several interviews with Jefferson Davis and others. His efforts finally led to the unsatisfactory "peace conference" of 3 Feb., 1865. After Lincoln's death, Mr. Blair's opposition to the re- construction measures and to the general policy of the republicans led to his co-operation with "the democratic party, though his counsels were disregarded by its leaders till 1876, when Mr. Tilden was nominated for the presidency. — His son, Francis Preston, soldier,

b. in Lexington, Ky., 19 Feb., 1821; d. in St Louis, Mo., 8 July, 1875. After graduation at Princeton, in 1841, he studied law in Washington and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1843, and began to practise in St. Louis. In 1845 he went for his health to the Rocky mountains with a company of trappers, and when the war with Mexico began he enlisted in the army as a private. After the war he returned to the practice of his profession in St. Louis. In 1848 he joined the free-soil branch of the democratic party, was for a time editor of the "Missouri Democrat," and from 1852 till 1856 was a member of the Missouri legislature. In 1856 he joined the newly organized republican party, and was elected to congress, where, in 1857, he spoke in favor of colonizing the negroes of the United States in Central America. In 1858 the democratic candidate for congress was returned. Mr. Blair successfully contested the seat, but immediately resigned, and was defeated in the election that followed. He was, however, elected again in 1860 and in 1862. Soon after the South Carolina secession convention was called, in November, 1861, Mr. Blair, at a meeting of the republican leaders in St. Louis, showed the necessity of immediate effort to prevent the seizure by the state authorities of the St. Louis arsenal, containing 65,000 stand of arms belonging to the government. He became the head of the military organization then formed, which guarded the arsenal from that time ; and it was at his suggestion that the state troops under Gen. Frost were captured on 10 May, 1861, without orders from Washington. It is claimed that he thus saved Missouri and Kentucky to the union. Entering the army as a colonel of volunteers, he was made brigadier-general 7 Aug., 1861, and major-general 29 Nov., 1862, resigning his seat in congress in 1863. He commanded a division in the Vicksburg campaign, led his men in the battles of Lookout Mouiitain and Missionary Ridge, and was at the head of the 17th corps during Sher-