ing resulted in total failure, Blennerhassett was arrested, but was soon discharged. He then attempted to return to his island home, but while on his way was again arrested at Lexington, Ky., and thrown into prison. He secured the legal services of Henry Clay, who was unsuccessful in procuring his discharge, and in consequence he was taken to Richmond for trial on a charge of treason. The prosecution against Burr having failed, Blennerhassett and the other conspirators were discharged in 1807. His property had been seized by creditors, the beautiful grounds used for the cultivation of hemp, and the mansion converted into a store-house for the preservation of crops. It was afterward burned, having been accidentally fired by some careless negroes. Blennerhassett then settled in Natchez, and afterward purchased 1,000 acres of land for the cultivation of cotton, near Port Gibson, Miss.; but this venture proved unfortunate. The war of 1812 prevented the success of most commercial enterprises, and his property steadily diminished. In 1819 he removed to Montreal, where he began the practice of law, hoping through the favor of his old schoolmate, the duke of Richmond, to obtain a judgeship. Failing in this, he sailed for Ireland in 1822, in order to recover his estates by means of a reversionary claim, but was unsuccessful. After various efforts to secure employment he retired to Guernsey, where he died. See William H. Safford's “Life of Harman Blennerhassett” (Cincinnati, 1853) and “Blennerhassett Papers, embodying the Private Journal of Harman Blennerhassett” (New York, 1864). John S. C. Abbott, under the title of “And who was Blennerhassett?” has very pleasantly, in “Harper's Magazine” for February, 1877, spoken of the life of this interesting character in his island home in the Ohio.—His wife,Adeline Agnew, whom he married in 1796, was a woman of great beauty and much talent. She was an accomplished linguist and a poet of some ability. Her works include “The Deserted Isle” (1822) and “The Widow of the Rock, and other Poems” (1824). In 1842, after the death of her husband, she returned to the United States and petitioned congress for a grant of money as compensation for the spoliation of her former home. The petition was presented by Henry Clay, and a committee of the senate reported favorably upon it; but she died before the bill was acted upon, and was buried in New York by sisters of charity.
BLISS, Daniel, missionary, b. in Georgia, Vt., 17 Aug., 1823. He studied at Kingsville, Ohio, academy, and was graduated at Amherst in 1852. He studied from 1852 till 1855 at Andover theological seminary, and was ordained a Congregational clergyman, 17 Oct., 1855. He was missionary of the American board at Mt. Lebanon, Syria, from 1856 till 1862, and subsequently, till 1864, was secretary to the board in New York. During 1864-'6 he labored in England in behalf of the Protestant college at Beyrout, Syria, of which he has been president since 1864. He has published several tracts, and is the author of a “Mental Philosophy” and “Natural Philosophy” in Arabic.
BLISS, Daniel, Canadian jurist, b. in Concord, Mass., in 1740; d. in Lincoln, New Brunswick, in 1806. He was graduated at Harvard in 1760, and was one of the barristers and attorneys that were addressers of Gov. Hutchinson in 1774. He was proscribed under the act of 1778, joined the British army, and was appointed commissary. Soon after the revolution he removed to New Brunswick, and became a member of the provincial council, and chief justice of the court of common pleas.—His son, John Murray, jurist, b. in Massachusetts in
1771; d. in St. John, New Brunswick, in August, 1834. He settled in New Brunswick in 1786, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and represented the county of York in the house of assembly. In 1816 he was elevated to the bench and to a seat in his majesty's council. On the decease, in 1824, of Ward Chipman, who was president and commander-in-chief of the colony, Judge Bliss administered the government until the arrival of Sir Howard Douglas, a period of nearly a year. He was a judge of the supreme court, and was the senior justice at the time of his death.
BLISS, George, lawyer, b. in Springfield, Mass., 16 Nov., 1793; d. there, 19 April, 1873. He was graduated at Yale in 1813, studied law under his father, was admitted to the bar, and entered upon practice at Monson, Mass., where he remained for seven years. He then returned to Springfield, and formed a law partnership with Jonathan Dwight, Jr., and in 1827 was elected to the lower branch of the legislature. He served for three successive terms, and also in 1853, when he was elected speaker. In 1835 he was elected president of the state senate. His attention was subsequently occupied with the completion of the Western railroad between Worcester and Albany, and prior to 1846 he was president of the road. After retiring from this office he spent some time in travel abroad, and on his return again interested himself in railroad enterprises, chiefly in the western states, in conducting which he gained a wide reputation. From May, 1860, until his death he lived in retirement at Springfield.
BLISS, Jonathan, Canadian jurist, b. in Springfield, Mass., in 1742; d. in Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1822. He was graduated at Harvard in 1763, and studied law in the office of Lieut.-Gov. Hutchinson. He was a member of the general court of Massachusetts in 1768, was one of the seventeen rescinders, and was proscribed under the act of 1778. He removed to New Brunswick with other loyalists in 1783, and in 1785 was elected to the provmcial legislature, and the same year, while in England, was appointed the second attorney-general of the province. In 1809 he became chief justice, which office he retained until his death. He was also president of the council. One of his sons, William Blowers, became a judge of the supreme court, Halifax, and another, Henry, was a lawyer in London, and for many years agent for New Brunswick in England.
BLISS, Philip Paul, singing evangelist, b. in Clearfield co.. Pa., 9 July, 1838; d. near Ashtabula, Ohio, 29 Dec, 1876. His early years were passed in the wilds of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and his education was of the most rudimentary description; but he possessed an innate passion for music, which at first was only cultivated by listening to his father singing hymns. When about ten years old he, for the first time, heard a piano, and was unable to resist the temptation that lured him through the open door and into the room. He stood spell-bound until the music ceased, and the player, becoming aware of his presence, barefooted and in rags, harshly ordered him away. Until 1855 he worked on a farm and at wood-cutting, but so faithfully improved his occasional opportunities for study that by 1856 he had obtained enough education to teach a school in Hartsville, Alleghany co., N. Y. The following winter he, for the first time, attended a singing-school in Towanda. Pa. The same winter he attended a musical convention in Rome, N. Y. In 1858 he taught school in Rome, his vocal powers developing through constant exercise. In the summer of 1860
