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 BLAIR BLAKE 689 he attached himself to the free-soil branch of the democratic party, supporting Mr. Van Buren for the presidency, publicly opposed the exten- sion of slavery into the territories, and for a time was editor of the "Missouri Democrat." In 1852, and again in 1854, he was elected to the legislature of Missouri. In 1856 he was elected a member of congress as a republican, and made a speech in favor of colonizing the colored population of the United States in Cen- tral America. At the next congressional elec- tion his democratic opponent was returned, and Mr. Blair contested the seat. He was again elected to congress in 1860 and 1862. He en- tered the army as colonel of volunteers in 1861, and was appointed brigadier general Aug. 7 and major general Nov. 29, 1862, resigning his seat in congress in 1863. He commanded a division during the Vicksbnrg campaign, and in 1864-'5 the 17th corps in the army of the Ten- nessee in Sherman's campaigns from Chatta- nooga to Atlanta, in the march to the sea, and in the Carolinas. In 1866 he was appointed col- lector of customs at St. Louis, and commission- er of the Pacific railroad. Becoming dissatis- fied with the policy of the administration, he returned to the democratic party, and in 1868 was its candidate for the office of vice presi- dent. In 1870 he was chosen United States senator from Missouri to fill a vacancy, his term expiring March 4, 1873. BLAIR, Hugh, a Scottish divine and author, born in Edinburgh, April 7, 1718, died there, Dec. 27, 1800. In 1759 he delivered a cour.se of lectures on rhetoric and belles-lettres, which were so well received that the king was in- duced to establish a professorship of rhetoric and polite literature at the university of Edin- burgh, and to appoint Dr. Blair its first profes- sor. In 1763 he published a dissertation on the authenticity of Macpherson's " Ossian," and in 1777 the first volume of his sermons, subsequently followed by four others. In 1783 his lectures were published in 3 vols. 8vo. BLAIR, James, D. D., an American clergyman and teacher, born in Scotland in 1656, died in Virginia, Aug. 8, 1743. He was educated in one of the Scottish universities, took orders in the Episcopal church in Scotland, removed to England in the latter part of the reign of Charles II., and in 1685 was sent by Dr. Comp- ton, bishop of London, as missionary to Vir- ginia. In 1689 he was appointed ecclesiastical commissary, the highest ecclesiastical officer in the province. Here he devoted his energies to the founding of a college, and having obtained the approval of the colonial government crossed the ocean to ask for help in England and secure a charter. This was granted in 1693, and Dr. Blair was made first president of William and Mary college. Through his energy the new institution survived various trials and discour- agements, especially the destruction by fire of the college building in 1705. He was fur some time president of the council of the colony and rector of Williamsburg. In 1722 he published " Our Saviour's Divine Sermon on the Mount explained and recommended in divers Sermons and Discourses " (4 vols. 8vo). These discour- ses were afterward republished with a com- mendatory preface by Dr. Waterland (1740). BLAIR, John, a Scottish chronologist and geographer, bom in Edinburgh, died June 24, 1782. He early removed to London, and in 1754 published his "Chronological History of the World, from the Creation to A. D. 1753." He received several ecclesiastical preferments, was appointed in 1757 chaplain to the prin- cess dowager of Wales, and in 1763 was select- ed to accompany the duke of York on a tour to the continent. BLAIR, Robert, a Scottish poet, horn in Edin- burgh in 1699, died Feb. 4, 1746. He was minister of Athelstaneford, East Lothian, from 1731 till his death. His poem of " The Grave," in blank verse, which appeared after his death (London, 1 747), was highly praised by Campbell. BLAIRSVILLE, a post borough of Indiana county, Penn., situated on the Conemaugh river and Pennsylvania canal, 36 m. E. of Pittsburgh, and about 3 m. from the Central railroad, with which it is connected by a branch ; pop. in 1870, 1,054. It is the shipping point of nearly all the grain, pork, lumber, and coal ex- ported from the county. There is a handsome bridge across the Conemaugh, with a single arch of 295 ft. BLAKE, George Smith, an American naval officer, born in Worcester, Mass., in 1803, died at Longwood, Mass., June 24, 1871. He en- tered the navy as a midshipman in 1818, be- came lieutenant in 1827, and in 1846 obtained command of the 10-gun brig Perry, which was wrecked in a hurricane upon the coast of Flor- ida. In 1847 he was promoted to commander, in which grade he was attached for some time to the bureau of construction and equipment. He also served as fleet captain and commander of the razee Independence in the Mediterra- nean for three years. In 1855 he was pro- moted to captain, and in 1857 was ordered as superintendent of the United States naval academy, which position he held during the civil war, the academy being removed from Annapolis, Md., to Newport, R. I. On the reorganization of the navy in July, 1862, Capt. Blake was promoted to commodore; and in 1866-'9 he was lighthouse inspector. BLAKE, John Lanris, D. D., an American au- thor and clergyman, born at Northwood, N. H., Dec. 21, 1788, died at Orange, N. J., July 6, 1857. He was educated at Brown univer- sity, graduating in 1812, and in 1813 he was licensed by the Rhode Island association of Congregational ministers, but soon after joined the Episcopal church, and organized the parish of St. Paul's at Pawtncket. In 1820 he return- ed to New Hampshire, and, taking temporary supervision of the churches in Concord and Hopkinton, established at the former place a young ladies' seminary, which in 1822 he re- moved to Boston. He continued in this school