Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 4, Slice 1 Part 10

In 1868 Blaikie was called to the chair of apologetics and pastoral theology at New College, Edinburgh. In dealing with the latter subject he was seen at his very best. He had wide experience, a comprehensive grasp of facts, abundant sympathy, an extensive knowledge of men, and a great capacity for teaching. In 1870 he was one of two representatives chosen from the Free Church of Scotland to attend the united general a.s.sembly of the Presbyterian churches of the United States. He prolonged his visit to make a thorough acquaintance with American Presbyterianism, and this, followed by a similar tour in Europe, fitted him to become the real founder of the Presbyterian Alliance. Much of his strength in the later years of life was given to this work. In 1892 he was elected to the chairmans.h.i.+p of the general a.s.sembly, the last of the moderators who had entered the church before the disruption. In 1897 he resigned his professors.h.i.+p, and died on the 11th of June 1899.

Blaikie was an ardent philanthropist, and an active and intelligent temperance reformer, in days when this was far from easy. He raised 14,000 for the relief of the Waldensian churches. Although he took an active part in the affairs of his denomination, he was not a mere ecclesiastic. He had a keen eye for the evidences of spiritual growth or decline, and emphasized the need of maintaining a high level of spiritual life. He welcomed Moody to Scotland, and the evangelist made his headquarters with him during his first visit. His best books are _The Work of the Ministry--A Manual of Homiletic and Pastoral Theology_ (1873); _The Books of Samuel_ in the _Expositors' Bible Series_ (2 vols.); _The Personal Life of David Livingstone_ (1880); _After Fifty Years_ (1893), an account of the Disruption Movement in the form of letters of a grandfather; _Thomas Chalmers_ (1896). (D. Mn.)

BLAINE, JAMES GILLESPIE (1830-1893), American statesman, was born in West Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on the 31st of January 1830, of st.u.r.dy Scottish-Irish stock on the side of his father. He was the great-grandson of Colonel Ephraim Blaine (1741-1804), who during the War of Independence served in the American army, from 1778 to 1782 as commissary-general of the Northern Department. With many early evidences of literary capacity and political apt.i.tude, J.G. Blaine graduated at Was.h.i.+ngton College in Was.h.i.+ngton, Pennsylvania, in 1847, and subsequently taught successively in the Military Inst.i.tute, Georgetown, Kentucky, and in the Inst.i.tution for the Blind at Philadelphia. During this period, also, he studied law. Settling in Augusta, Maine, in 1854, he became editor of the _Kennebec Journal_, and subsequently of the _Portland Advertiser_. But his editorial work was soon abandoned for a more active public career. He was elected to the lower house of the state legislature in 1858, and served four years, the last two as speaker. He also became chairman of the Republican state committee in 1859, and for more than twenty years personally directed every campaign of his party.

In 1862 he was elected to Congress, serving in the House thirteen years (December 1863 to December 1876), followed by a little over four years in the Senate. He was chosen speaker of the House in 1869 and served three terms. The House was the fit arena for his political and parliamentary ability. He was a ready and powerful debater, full of resource, and dexterous in controversy. The tempestuous politics of the war and reconstruction period suited his aggressive nature and constructive talent. The measures for the rehabilitation of the states that had seceded from the Union occupied the chief attention of Congress for several years, and Blaine bore a leading part in framing and discussing them. The primary question related to the basis of representation upon which they should be restored to their full rank in the political system. A powerful section contended that the basis should be the body of legal voters, on the ground that the South could not then secure an increment of political power on account of the emanc.i.p.ated blacks unless these blacks were admitted to political rights. Blaine, on the other hand, contended that representation should be based on population instead of voters, as being fairer to the North, where the ratio of voters varied widely, and he insisted that it should be safeguarded by security for impartial suffrage. This view prevailed, and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Const.i.tution was substantially Blaine's proposition. In the same spirit he opposed a scheme of military governments for the southern states, unless a.s.sociated with a plan by which, upon the acceptance of prescribed conditions, they could release themselves from military rule and resume civil government. He was the first in Congress to oppose the claim, which gained momentary and widespread favour in 1867, that the public debt, pledged in coin, should be paid in greenbacks. The protection of naturalized citizens who, on return to their native land, were subject to prosecution on charges of disloyalty, enlisted his active interest and support, and the agitation, in which he was conspicuous, led to the treaty of 1870 between the United States and Great Britain, which placed adopted and native citizens on the same footing.

As the presidential election of 1876 approached, Blaine was clearly the popular favourite of his party. His chance for securing the nomination, however, was materially lessened by persistent charges which were brought against him by the Democrats that as a member of Congress he had been guilty of corruption in his relations with the Little Rock & Fort Smith and the Northern Pacific railways.[1] By the majority of Republicans, at least, he was considered to have cleared himself completely, and in the Republican national convention he missed by only twenty-eight votes the nomination for president, being finally beaten by a combination of the supporters of all the other candidates. Thereupon he entered the Senate, where his activity was unabated. Currency legislation was especially prominent. Blaine, who had previously opposed greenback inflation now resisted depreciated silver coinage. He was the earnest champion of the advancement of American s.h.i.+pping, and advocated liberal subsidies, insisting that the policy of protection should be applied on sea as well as on land. The Republican national convention of 1880, divided between the two nearly equal forces of Blaine and General U.S. Grant--John Sherman of Ohio also having a considerable following--struggled through thirty-six ballots, when the friends of Blaine, combining with those of Sherman, succeeded in nominating General James A. Garfield. In the new administration Blaine became secretary of state, but, owing to the a.s.sa.s.sination of President Garfield and the reorganization of the cabinet by President Chester A. Arthur, he held the office only until December 1881. His brief service was distinguished by several notable steps. In order to promote the friendly understanding and co-operation of the nations on the American continents he projected a Pan-American congress, which, after being arranged for, was frustrated by his retirement. He also sought to secure a modification of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, and in an extended correspondence with the British government strongly a.s.serted the policy of an exclusive American control of any isthmian ca.n.a.l which might be built to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

With undiminished hold on the imagination and devotion of his followers he was nominated for president in 1884. After a heated canva.s.s, in which he made a series of brilliant speeches, he was beaten by a narrow margin in New York. By many, including Blaine himself, the defeat was attributed to the effect of a phrase, "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion,"

used by a clergyman, Rev. Samuel D. Burchard (1812-1891), on the 29th of October 1884, in Blaine's presence, to characterize what, in his opinion, the Democratic party stood for. The phrase was not Blaine's, but his opponents made use of it to misrepresent his att.i.tude toward the Roman Catholics, large numbers of whom are supposed, in consequence, to have withdrawn their support. Refusing to be a presidential candidate in 1888, he became secretary of state under President Harrison, and resumed his work which had been interrupted nearly eight years before. The Pan-American congress, then projected, now met in Was.h.i.+ngton, and Blaine, as its master spirit, presided over and guided its deliberation through its session of five months. Its most important conclusions were for reciprocity in trade, a continental railway and compulsory arbitration in international complications. Shaping the tariff legislation for this policy, Blaine negotiated a large number of reciprocity treaties which augmented the commerce of his country. He upheld American rights in Samoa, pursued a vigorous diplomacy with Italy over the lynching of eleven Italians, all except three of them American naturalized citizens, in New Orleans on the 14th of May 1891, held a firm att.i.tude during the strained relations between the United States and Chile (growing largely out of the killing and wounding of American sailors of the U.S. s.h.i.+p "Baltimore" by Chileans in Valparaiso on the 16th of October 1891), and carried on with Great Britain a resolute controversy over the seal fisheries of Bering Sea,--a difference afterwards settled by arbitration. He resigned on the 4th of June 1892, on the eve of the meeting of the Republican national convention, wherein his name was ineffectually used, and he died at Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., on the 27th of January 1803.

During his later years of leisure he wrote _Twenty Years of Congress_ (1884-1886), a brilliant historical work in two volumes. Of singularly alert faculties, with a remarkable knowledge of the men and history of his country, and an extraordinary memory, his masterful talent for politics and state-craft, together with his captivating manner and engaging personality, gave him, for nearly two decades, an unrivalled hold upon the fealty and affection of his party.

See the _Biography of James G. Blaine_ (Norwich, Conn., 1895) by Mary Abigail Dodge ("Gail Hamilton"), and, in the "American Statesmen Series," _James G. Blaine_ (Boston, 1905) by C.E. Stanwood; also Mrs Blaine's _Letters_ (1908). (C. E. S.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] This attack led to a dramatic scene in the House, in which Blaine fervidly a.s.severated his denial.

BLAINVILLE, HENRI MARIE DUCROTAY DE (1777-1850), French naturalist, was born at Arques, near Dieppe, on the 12th of September 1777. About 1796 he went to Paris to study painting, but he ultimately devoted himself to natural history, and attracted the attention of Baron Cuvier, for whom he occasionally lectured at the College de France and at the Athenaeum.

In 1812 he was aided by Cuvier to obtain the chair of anatomy and zoology in the Faculty of Sciences at Paris, but subsequently an estrangement grew up between the two men and ended in open enmity. In 1825 Blainville was admitted a member of the Academy of Sciences; and in 1830 he was appointed to succeed J.B. Lamarck in the chair of natural history at the museum. Two years later, on the death of Cuvier, he obtained the chair of comparative anatomy, which he continued to occupy for the s.p.a.ce of eighteen years, proving himself no unworthy successor to his great teacher. He died at Paris on the 1st of May 1850. Besides many separate memoirs, he was the author of _Prodrome d'une nouvelle distribution methodique du regne animal_ (1816); _Osteographic ou description iconographique comparee du squelette, &c._ (1839-1864); _Faune francaise_ (1821-1830); _Corns de physiologie generale et comparee_ (1833); _Manuel de malacologie et de conchyliologie_ (1825-1827); _Histoire des sciences de l'organisme_ (1845).

BLAIR, FRANCIS PRESTON (1791-1876), American journalist and politician, was born at Abingdon, Virginia, on the 12th of April 1791. He removed to Kentucky, graduated at Transylvania University in 1811, took to journalism, and was a contributor to Amos Kendall's paper, the _Argus_, at Frankfort. In 1830, having become an ardent follower of Andrew Jackson, he was made editor of the Was.h.i.+ngton _Globe_, the recognized organ of the Jackson party. In this capacity, and as a member of Jackson's "Kitchen Cabinet," he long exerted a powerful influence; the _Globe_ was the administration organ until 1841, and the chief Democratic organ until 1845; Blair ceased to be its editor in 1849. In 1848 he actively supported Martin Van Buren, the Free Soil candidate, for the presidency, and in 1852 he supported Franklin Pierce, but soon afterwards helped to organize the new Republican party, and presided at its preliminary convention at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in February 1856.

He was influential in securing the nomination of John C. Fremont at the June convention (1856), and of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. After Lincoln's re-election in 1864 Blair thought that his former close personal relations with the Confederate leaders might aid in bringing about a cessation of hostilities, and with Lincoln's consent went unofficially to Richmond and induced President Jefferson Davis to appoint commissioners to confer with representatives of the United States. This resulted in the futile "Hampton Roads Conference" of the 3rd of February 1865 (see LINCOLN, ABRAHAM). After the Civil War Blair became a supporter of President Johnson's reconstruction policy, and eventually rejoined the Democratic party. He died at Silver Spring, Maryland, on the 18th of October 1876.

His son, MONTGOMERY BLAIR (1813-1883), politician and lawyer, was born in Franklin county, Kentucky, on the 10th of May 1813. He graduated at West Point in 1835, but, after a year's service in the Seminole War, left the army, studied law, and began practice at St Louis, Missouri.

After serving as United States district attorney (1839-1843), as mayor of St Louis (1842-1843), and as judge of the court of common pleas (1843-1849), he removed to Maryland (1852), and devoted himself to law practice princ.i.p.ally in the Federal supreme court. He was United States solicitor in the court of claims from 1855 until 1858, and was a.s.sociated with George T. Curtis as counsel for the plaintiff in the Dred Scott case in 1857. In 1860 he took an active part in the presidential campaign in behalf of Lincoln, in whose cabinet he was postmaster-general from 1861 until September 1864, when he resigned as a result of the hostility of the Radical Republican faction, who stipulated that Blair's retirement should follow the withdrawal of Fremont's name as a candidate for the presidential nomination in that year. Under his administration such reforms and improvements as the establishment of free city delivery, the adoption of a money order system, and the use of railway mail cars were inst.i.tuted --the last having been suggested by George B. Armstrong (d. 1871), of Chicago, who from 1869 until his death was general superintendent of the United States railway mail service. Differing from the Republican party on the reconstruction policy, Blair gave his adherence to the Democratic party after the Civil War. He died at Silver Spring, Maryland, on the 27th of July 1883.

Another son, FRANCIS PRESTON BLAIR, jun. (1821-1875), soldier and political leader, was born at Lexington, Kentucky, on the 19th of February 1821. After graduating at Princeton in 1841 he practised law in St Louis, and later served in the Mexican War. He was ardently opposed to the extension of slavery and supported Martin Van Buren, the Free Soil candidate for the presidency in 1848. He served from 1852 to 1856 in the Missouri legislature as a Free Soil Democrat, in 1856 joined the Republican party, and in 1857-1860 and 1861-1862 was a member of Congress, where he proved an able debater. Immediately after South Carolina's secession, Blair, believing that the southern leaders were planning to carry Missouri into the movement, began active efforts to prevent it and personally organized and equipped a secret body of 1000 men to be ready for the emergency. When hostilities became inevitable, acting in conjunction with Captain (later General) Nathaniel Lyon, he suddenly transferred the arms in the Federal a.r.s.enal at St Louis to Alton, Illinois, and a few days later (May 10, 1861) surrounded and captured a force of state guards which had been stationed at Camp Jackson in the suburbs of St Louis with the intention of seizing the a.r.s.enal. This action gave the Federal cause a decisive initial advantage in Missouri. Blair was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers in August 1862 and a major-general in November 1862. In Congress as chairman of the important military affairs committee his services were of the greatest value. He commanded a division in the Vicksburg campaign and in the fighting about Chattanooga, and was one of Sherman's corps commanders in the final campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas. In 1866 like his father and brother he opposed the Congressional reconstruction policy, and on that issue left the Republican party. In 1868 he was the Democratic candidate for vice-president on the ticket with Horatio Seymour. In 1871-1873 he was a United States senator from Missouri. He died in St Louis, on the 8th of July 1875.

BLAIR, HUGH (1718-1800), Scottish Presbyterian divine, was born on the 7th of April 1718, at Edinburgh, where his father was a merchant.

Entering the university in 1730 he graduated M.A. in 1739; his thesis, _De Fundamentis et Obligations Legis Naturae_, contains an outline of the moral principles afterwards unfolded in his sermons. He was licensed to preach in 1741, and a few months later the earl of Leven, hearing of his eloquence, presented him to the parish of Collessie in Fife. In 1743 he was elected to the second charge of the Canongate church, Edinburgh, where he ministered until removed to Lady Yester's, one of the city churches, in 1754. In 1757 the university of St Andrews conferred on him the degree of D.D., and in the following year he was promoted to the High Church, Edinburgh, the most important charge in Scotland. In 1759 he began, under the patronage of Lord Kames, to deliver a course of lectures on composition, the success of which led to the foundation of a chair of rhetoric and _belles lettres_ in the Edinburgh University. To this chair he was appointed in 1762, with a salary of 70 a year. Having long taken interest in the Celtic poetry of the Highlands, he published in 1763 a laudatory _Dissertation_ on Macpherson's _Ossian_, the authenticity of which he maintained. In 1777 the first volume of his _Sermons_ appeared. It was succeeded by four other volumes, all of which met with the greatest success. Samuel Johnson praised them warmly, and they were translated into almost every language of Europe. In 1780 George III. conferred upon Blair a pension of 200 a year. In 1783 he retired from his professors.h.i.+p and published his _Lectures on Rhetoric_, which have been frequently reprinted. He died on the 27th of December 1800. Blair belonged to the "moderate" or lat.i.tudinarian party, and his _Sermons_ have been criticized as wanting in doctrinal definiteness. His works display little originality, but are written in a flowing and elaborate style. He is remembered chiefly by the place he fills in the literature of his time. _Blair's Sermons_ is a typical religious book of the period that preceded the Anglican revival.

See J. Hall, _Account of Life and Writings of Hugh Blair_ (1807).

BLAIR, JAMES (1656-1743), American divine and educationalist, was born in Scotland, probably at Edinburgh, in 1656. He graduated M.A. at Edinburgh University in 1673, was beneficed in the Episcopal Church in Scotland, and for a time was rector of Cranston Parish in the diocese of Edinburgh. In 1682 he left Scotland for England, and three years later was sent by the bishop of London, Henry Compton, as a missionary to Virginia. He soon gained great influence over the colonists both in ecclesiastical and in civil affairs, and, according to Prof. Moses Coit Tyler, "probably no other man in the colonial time did so much for the intellectual life of Virginia." He was the minister of Henrico parish from 1685 until 1694, of the Jamestown church from 1694 until 1710, and of Bruton church at Williamsburg from 1710 until his death. From 1689 until his death he was the commissary of the bishop of London for Virginia, the highest ecclesiastical position in the colony, his duties consisting "in visiting the parishes, correcting the lives of the clergy, and keeping them orderly." In 1693, by the appointment of King William III., he became a member of the council of Virginia, of which he was for many years the president. Largely because of charges brought against them by Blair, Governor Sir Edmund Andros, Lieutenant-governor Francis Nicholson, and Lieutenant-governor Alexander Spotswood were removed in 1698, 1705 and 1722 respectively. Blair's greatest service to the colony was rendered as the founder, and the president from 1693 until his death, of the College of William and Mary, for which he himself secured a charter in England. "Thus, James Blair may be called,"

says Tyler, "the creator of the healthiest and most extensive intellectual influence that was felt in the Southern group of colonies before the Revolution." He died on the 18th of April 1743, and was buried at Jamestown, Va. He published a collection of 117 discourses under the t.i.tle _Our Saviour's Divine Sermon on the Mount_ (4 vols., 1722; second edition, 1732), and, in collaboration with Henry Hartwell and Edward Chilton, a work ent.i.tled _The Present State of Virginia and the College_ (1727; written in 1693), probably the best account of the Virginia of that time.

See Daniel E. Motley's _Life of Commissary James Blair_ (Baltimore, 1901; series xix. No. 10, of the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science), and, for a short sketch and an estimate, M.C. Tyler's _A History of American Literature, 1607-1765_ (New York, 1878).

BLAIR, ROBERT (1699-1746), Scottish poet, eldest son of the Rev. Robert Blair, one of the king's chaplains, was born at Edinburgh in 1699. He was educated at Edinburgh University and in Holland, and in 1731 was appointed to the living of Athelstaneford in East Lothian. He married in 1738 Isabella, daughter of Professor William Law. The possession of a small fortune gave him leisure for his favourite pursuits, gardening and the study of English poets. He died at Athelstaneford on the 4th of February 1746. His only considerable work, _The Grave_ (1743), is a poem written in blank verse of great vigour and freshness, and is much less conventional than its gloomy subject might lead one to expect. Its religious subject no doubt contributed to its great popularity, especially in Scotland; but the vogue it attained was justified by its picturesque imagery and occasional felicity of expression. It inspired William Blake to undertake a series of twelve ill.u.s.trative designs, which were engraved by Louis Schiavonetti, and published in 1808.

See the biographical introduction prefixed to his _Poetical Works_, by Dr Robert Anderson, in his _Poets of Great Britain_, vol. viii.

(1794.)

BLAIR ATHOLL (Gaelic _blair_, "a plain"), a village and parish of Perths.h.i.+re, Scotland, 35 m. N.W. of Perth by the Highland railway. Pop.

(1901) 367; of parish, 1722. It is situated at the confluence of the Tilt and the Garry. The oldest part of Blair Castle, a seat of the duke of Atholl, dates from 1269; as restored and enlarged in 1869-1872 from the plans of David Bryce, R.S.A., it is a magnificent example of the Scottish baronial style. It was occupied by the marquess of Montrose prior to the battle of Tippermuir in 1644, stormed by the Cromwellians in 1653, and garrisoned on behalf of James II. in 1689. The Young Pretender stayed in it in 1743, and the duke of c.u.mberland in 1746. The body of Viscount Dundee, conveyed hither from the battlefield of Killiecrankie, was buried in the church of Old Blair, in which a monument was erected to his memory in 1889 by the 7th duke of Atholl.

The grounds surrounding the castle are among the most beautiful in the Highlands. A golf course has been laid down south-east of the village, between the railway and the Garry, and every September a great display of Highland games is held. Ben-y-gloe (3671 ft. high), the scene of the hunt given in 1529 by the earl of Atholl in honour of James V. and the queen dowager, may be climbed by way of Fender Burn, a left-hand tributary of the Tilt. The falls of Fender, near the old bridge of Tilt, are eclipsed by the falls of Bruar, 4 m. west of Blair Atholl, formed by the Bruar, which, rising in Ben Dearg (3304 ft.), flows into the Garry after an impetuous course of 10 m.

BLAIRGOWRIE, a police burgh of Perths.h.i.+re, Scotland, situated on the Ericht. Pop. (1901) 3378. It is the terminus of a branch line of the Caledonian railway from Coupar Angus, from which it is 4 m. distant, and is 16 m. N. by E. of Perth by road. The town is entirely modern, and owes its progress to the water-power supplied by the Ericht for linen and jute factories. There are also sawmills, breweries and a large factory for bee appliances. Strawberries, raspberries and other fruits are largely grown in the neighbourhood. A park was presented to the town in 1892. On the left bank of the Ericht, opposite Blairgowrie, with which it is connected by a four-arched bridge, stands the town and police burgh of Rattray (pop. 2019), where there are flax and jute mills. Donald Cargill the Covenanter, who was executed at Edinburgh, was a native of the parish. Four miles west of Blairgowrie, on the coach road to Dunkeld, lies Loch Clunie, of some interest historically. On a crannog in the lake are the ruins of a small castle which belonged to James ("the Admirable") Crichton, and the large mound near the loch was the site of the castle in which Edward I. lodged on one of his Scottish expeditions.

BLAKE, EDWARD (1833- ), Irish-Canadian statesman, eldest son of William Hume Blake of Cashel Grove, Co. Galway, who settled in Canada in 1832, and there became a distinguished lawyer and chancellor of Ontario, was born on the 13th of October 1833 at Adelaide in Middles.e.x county, Ontario. Educated at Upper Canada College and the university of Toronto, Blake was called to the bar in 1856 and quickly obtained a good practice, becoming Q.C. in 1864. In 1867 he was elected member for West Durham in the Dominion parliament, and for South Bruce in the provincial legislature, in which he became leader of the Liberal opposition two years later. On the defeat of John Sandfield Macdonald's government in 1871 Blake became prime minister of Ontario, but resigned this office the same year in consequence of the abolition of dual representation. He declined the leaders.h.i.+p of the Liberal party in the Dominion parliament, but, having taken an active part in bringing about the overthrow of Sir John Macdonald's ministry in 1873, joined the Liberal cabinet of Alexander Mackenzie, though without portfolio or salary. Impaired health soon compelled him to resign, and to take the voyage to Europe; on his return in 1875 he rejoined the cabinet as minister of justice, in which office it fell to him to take the chief part in framing the const.i.tution of the supreme court of Canada. Continued ill-health compelled him in 1877 again to seek rest in Europe, having first exchanged the portfolio of justice for the less exacting office of president of the council.

During his absence the Liberal government was driven from power by the elections of 1878; and Blake himself, having failed to secure re-election, was for a short time without a seat in parliament. From 1880 to 1887 he was leader of the opposition, being succeeded on his resignation of the position in the latter year by Mr (afterwards Sir) Wilfrid Laurier. In 1892 he became a member of the British House of Commons as an Irish Nationalist, being elected for South Longford. But he did not fulfil the expectations which had been formed on the strength of his colonial reputation; he took no very prominent part in debate, and gave little evidence of his undoubted oratorical gifts. In 1907 he retired from public life. In 1858 he had married Margaret, daughter of Benjamin Cronyn, first bishop of Huron.

See John Charles Dent, _The Last Forty Years: Canada Since the Union of 1841_ (2 vols., Toronto, 1881); J.S. Willison, _Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal Party_ (2 vols., London, 1904).

BLAKE, ROBERT (1509-1657), English parliamentarian and admiral, was born at Bridgwater in Somersets.h.i.+re. The day of his birth is not known, but he was baptized on the 27th of September 1599. Blake was the eldest son of a well-to-do merchant, and received his early education at the grammar school of Bridgwater. In 1615 he was sent to Oxford, entering at first St Alban's Hall, but removing afterwards to Wadham College, then recently founded. He remained at the university till 1625, but failed to obtain any college preferment. Nothing is known of his life with certainty for the next fifteen years. An anonymous Dutch writer, in the _Hollandische Mercurius_ (1652), represents him as saying that he had lived in Schiedam "for five or six years" in his youth. He doubtless engaged in trade, and apparently with success. When, after eleven years of kings.h.i.+p without parliaments, a parliament was summoned to meet in April 1640, Blake was elected to represent his native borough. This parliament, named "the Short," was dissolved in three weeks, and the career of Blake as a politician was suspended. Two years later the inevitable conflict began. Blake declared for the Parliament, and served under Sir John Horner. In 1643 he was entrusted with the command of one of the forts of Bristol. This he stoutly held during the siege of the town by Prince Rupert, and earned the approval of parliament by refusing to surrender his post till duly informed of the capitulation. In 1644 he gained high distinction by the resolute defence of Lyme in Dorsets.h.i.+re.

The siege was raised on the 23rd of May, and on the 8th of July Blake took Taunton by surprise, and notwithstanding its imperfect defences and inadequate supplies, held the town for the Parliament against two sieges by the Royalists until July 1645, when it was relieved by Fairfax. In 1645 he re-entered parliament as member for Taunton, when the Royalist Colonel Windham was expelled.

He adhered to the Parliamentary party after the king's death, and within a month (February 1649) was appointed, with Colonels Dean and Popham, to the command of the fleet, under the t.i.tle of General of the Sea. In April he was sent in pursuit of Prince Rupert, who with the Royalist fleet had entered the harbour of Kinsale in Ireland. There he blockaded the prince for six months; and when the latter, in want of provisions, and hopeless of relief, succeeded in making his escape with the fleet and in reaching the Tagus, Blake followed him thither, and again blockaded him for some months. The king of Portugal refusing permission for Blake to attack his enemy, the latter made reprisals by falling on the Portuguese fleet, richly laden, returning from Brazil. He captured seventeen s.h.i.+ps and burnt three, bringing his prizes home without molestation. After revictualling his fleet, he sailed again, captured a French man-of-war, and then pursued Prince Rupert, who had been asked to go away by the Portuguese and had entered the Mediterranean. In November 1650 Blake destroyed the bulk of the Royalist squadron near Cartagena.

The thanks of parliament were voted to Blake, and he received a grant of 1000. He was continued in his office of admiral and general of the sea; and in May following he took, in conjunction with Ayscue, the Scilly Islands. For this service the thanks of parliament were again awarded him, and he was soon after made a member of the council of state.

In 1652 war broke out with the Dutch, who had made great preparations for the conflict. In March the command of the fleet was given to Blake for nine months; and in the middle of May the Dutch fleet of forty-five s.h.i.+ps, led by their great admiral Tromp, appeared in the Downs. Blake, who had only twenty s.h.i.+ps, sailed to meet them, and the battle took place off Dover on the 19th of May. The Dutch were defeated in an engagement of four or five hours, lost two s.h.i.+ps, and withdrew under cover of darkness. Attempts at accommodation were made by the states, but they failed. Early in July war was formally declared, and in the same month Blake captured a large part of the Dutch fishery-fleet and the twelve men-of-war that formed their convoy. On the 28th of September Blake and Penn again encountered the Dutch fleet, now commanded by De Ruyter and De Witt, off the Kentish Knock, defeated it, and chased it for two days. The Dutch took refuge in Goree. A third battle was fought near the end of November. By this time the s.h.i.+ps under Blake's command had been reduced in number to forty, and nearly the half of these were useless for want of seamen. Tromp, who had been reinstated in command, appeared in the Downs, with a fleet of eighty s.h.i.+ps besides ten fires.h.i.+ps. Blake, nevertheless, risked a battle off Dungeness, but was defeated, and withdrew into the Thames. The English fleet having been refitted, put to sea again in February 1653; and on the 18th Blake, at the head of eighty s.h.i.+ps, encountered Tromp in the Channel. The Dutch force, according to Clarendon, numbered 100 s.h.i.+ps of war, but according to the official reports of the Dutch, only seventy. The battle was severe, and continued through three days, the Dutch, however, retreating, and taking refuge in the shallow waters off the French coast. In this action Blake was severely wounded. The three English admirals put to sea again in May; and on the 3rd and 4th of June another battle was fought near the North Foreland. On the first day Dean and Monk were repulsed by Tromp; but on the second day the scales were turned by the arrival of Blake, and the Dutch retreated to the Texel.

Ill-health now compelled Blake to retire from the service for a time, and he did not appear again on the seas for about eighteen months; meanwhile he sat as a member of the Little Parliament (Barebones's). In November 1654 he was selected by Cromwell to conduct a fleet to the Mediterranean to exact compensation from the duke of Tuscany, the knights of Malta, and the piratical states of North Africa, for wrongs done to English merchants. This mission he executed with his accustomed spirit and with complete success. Tunis alone dared to resist his demands, and Tunis paid the penalty of the destruction of its two fortresses by English guns. In the winter of 1655-1656, war being declared against Spain, Blake was sent to cruise off Cadiz and the neighbouring coasts, to intercept the Spanish s.h.i.+pping. One of his captains captured a part of the Plate fleet in September 1656. In April 1657 Blake, then in very ill health, suffering from dropsy and scurvy, and anxious to have a.s.sistance in his arduous duties, heard that the Plate fleet lay at anchor in the bay of Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe. The position was a very strong one, defended by a castle and several forts with guns. Under the shelter of these lay a fleet of sixteen s.h.i.+ps drawn up in crescent order. Captain Stayner was ordered to enter the bay and fall on the fleet. This he did. Blake followed him.

Broadsides were poured into the castle and the forts at the same time; and soon nothing was left but ruined walls and charred fragments of burnt s.h.i.+ps. The wind was blowing hard into the bay; but suddenly, and fortunately for the heroic Blake, it s.h.i.+fted, and carried him safely out to sea. "The whole action," says Clarendon, "was so incredible that all men who knew the place wondered that any sober man, with what courage soever endowed, would ever have undertaken it; and they could hardly persuade themselves to believe what they had done; while the Spaniards comforted themselves with the belief that they were devils and not men who had destroyed them in such a manner." The English lost one s.h.i.+p and 200 men killed and wounded. The thanks of parliament were voted to officers and men; and a very costly jewel (diamond ring) was presented to Blake, "as a testimony," says Cromwell in his letter of 10th June, "of our own and the parliament's good acceptance of your carriage in this action." "This was the last action of the brave Blake."