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OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (BLACKBURN BROOM i;.) 



originally intended as a semi-military charitable 

 school for the sons of poor officers, but which he 

 built up into a fully equipped public school of high 

 standard. While chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral 

 he established a training college for the clergy with 

 the idea of giving them the. theological and profes- 

 sional education that the universities no longer sup- 

 plied. As bishop of the revived Cornish see of 

 Truro, he built the first new cathedral, save St. 

 Paul's, that has been erected in England since the 

 Reformation. His genius for organization was di- 

 rected there to the revival of Christian activity in 

 many directions. He became Primate of All England 

 when the Church was torn asunder and not a little 

 debased by the dissensions between the Ritualists 

 and the preponderant Low Church party. He was 

 acceptable to all parties, sympathizing with the his- 

 torical and ecclesiastical High-Church attitude, im- 

 bued at the same time with the evangelical spirit 

 of personal piety, and liberal enough in his theology 

 to suit the Broad Church. Hence he was more 

 successful as a peacemaker than Archbishop Tait 

 had been. The controversy, after a brief truce, 

 broke out again when Dr. King, the newly ap- 

 pointed Bishop of Lincoln, showed himself an ex- 

 treme Ritualist. Moved by urgent petitions, the 

 archbishop, having been assured of his jurisdiction 

 in the case, cited the Bishop of Lincoln to answer 

 allegations of offenses against the ecclesiastical law. 

 The trial took place in 1890, and the conclusions 

 reached by Dr. Benson, in which on almost every 

 point the whole bench of assessors concurred, settled 

 definitely the main questions of the Ritualistic con- 

 troversy. The effect of the judgment was to legal- 

 ize several practices that had been held to be un- 

 lawful, such as the mixed chalice, if the mixing of 

 the wine was not made a part of the service, the 

 cleansing of the sacramental vessels in a reverent 

 way, and the singing of the "Agnus Dei" in the 

 communion office. The court did not find ground 

 for pronouncing it to be unlawful to place two 

 lighted candles upon the table during service, but 

 held that there was no justification for making the 

 sign of the cross in giving the final benediction. 

 Archbishop Benson resisted with energy every 

 movement for curtailing the rights and powers of 

 the Established Church, especially the proposition 

 to disestablish the Church in Wales, and was a con- 

 stant attendant in the House of Lords. He in- 

 augurated a mission to the Assyrian Christians, and 

 contended earnestly against the propagandism of 

 Roman Catholicism in England the " Italian mis- 

 sion," as he termed it. Archbishop Benson died 

 suddenly while visiting Mr. Gladstone. His pub- 

 lished works include : " Boy Life " (1874) ; " Single- 

 heart " (1877); "Living Theology" (1878): "The 

 Cathedral : Its Necessary Place in the Work and 

 Life of the Church " (1879) ; " The Seven Gifts " 

 (1885) ; " Christ and his Time " (1889) ; and " Fish- 

 ers of Men" (1893). (See portrait in the "Annual 

 Cyclopaedia " for 1883, page 58.) 



Blackburn, Colin, Lord, a British jurist, born in 

 Killearn, Stirling, Scotland, in 1813; died in Allo- 

 way, Ayrshire, Jan. 8, 1896. lie was educated at 

 Eton and Cambridge, and was called to the bar in 

 1838. He made a reputation for legal learning by 

 the publication in 1845 of a book on " Sales," and was 

 engaged in reporting cases till he was appointed a 

 puisne judge of the Queen's Bench in 1859 by Lord 

 Campbell, whose act in selecting a fellow-country- 

 man little known at the bar was the subject of 

 severe criticisms. But his judgment was borne out 

 by the judicial career of Judge Blackburn, who was 

 made one of the judges of appeals when the appel- 

 late division was established in 1876. He presided 

 at the Queen's Bench over several important crim- 

 inal trials, the most famous of which was that of 



Allen, Larkin. Gould, Maguire, and Shore, known 

 afterward among the Irish as "the Manchester 

 martyrs," whom he sentenced to deal h on t he charge 

 of murdering Sergeant James Brett in an attempt 

 to rescue Col. Kelly and ('apt. Deasy on Sept. 18, 

 1807. In 1868 he decided that an indictment would 

 lie against Gov. Eyre for his acts of cruelty and 

 oppression in Jamaica, especially the execution of 

 rioters after summary military trials, but by his 

 extenuating charge to the grand jury prevented an 

 indictment. In the libel suit of Rigby Wason, a 

 member of Parliament, against the "Times," and 

 his action against Lord Russell and other political 

 magnates for conspiracy, Justice Blackburn ruled 

 that newspapers are privileged to comment in good 

 faith on matters of public concern, and that mem- 

 bers of Parliament are not liable civilly or criminally 

 for any statements made in Parliament. In the 

 case of Dawkins against Lord Rokeby, he decided 

 that statements made before a military court of in- 

 quiry are privileged equally with those made before 

 an ordinary tribunal. He became a life peer when 

 created a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary under the act 

 of 1876, and in his new capacity he took part in 

 many important cases, both in the House of Lords 

 and in the Privy Council. lie retired in 1886. 



Blind, Mathilde. an English poet, born in Mann- 

 heim, Germany, March 21. 1S47: died in London, 

 Nov. 26, 1896. Her stepfather, Karl Blind, having 

 been involved in the Baden revolt of 1849, she went 

 with her parents to England, and as a girl was 

 much influenced by Ma/./.ini, whom she knew well, 

 and whose enthusiasm she shared. Her earliest 

 writing of note was a critical article on Shelley in 

 the " Westminster Review " in 1870, though she 

 had published a volume of " Poems " in 1867, under 

 the pseudonym of " Claude Lake.'' Her subsequent 

 works include a notably good translation of Strauss's 

 The Old Faith and the Xew." with a life of the 

 author (London, 1873) ; " The Prophecy of St. Oran 

 .unl Other Poems" (1881); "Life of George Eliot" 

 (1883); " Tarentella," a brilliant romance (1884); 

 "Madame Roland" (1886): "The Heather on Fire: 

 A Tale of the Highland Clearances" (1886) ; "The 

 Ascent of Man," verse (1889) ; " Dramas in Minia- 

 ture " (1892) ; and " Songs and Sonnets," a selection 

 from her lyrics (is!):!). 



Boyer, Jean Pierre, a French prelate, born in 

 Paray-le-Monial. July 27, 1829 ; died in Bourges 

 Dec. 16, 1896. He became in 1878 Coadjutor Bishop 

 of Clermont, was made Archbishop of Bourges in 

 1893, and on Xov. 29. 1895. was created a cardinal. 



Broome, Sir Frederick Napier, a British ad- 

 ministrator, born in Canada, Nov. 18, 1842; died in 

 London, Nov. 26, 1896. He was the son of an Eng- 

 lish clergyman, and was educated in England till 

 1857, when he went to New Zealand. There he be- 

 came a pastoralist, and took in 1865 to his station 

 in the Southern island as his wife the widow of Sir 

 (reorge Barker, known as an author already, and 

 afterward as a writer on New Zealand life. He also 

 published " Poems from New Zealand " and " Stran- 

 ger of Seriphos," and in 1869 he went to London to 

 embark in literary and journalistic occupations. 

 He served also on several public commissions as 

 secretary, and contributed largely to the " Times," 

 which sent him out on several important occasions 

 as special correspondent. In 1875 he entered the 

 public service as Colonial Secretary to Natal, was 

 t ransferred to Mauritius, and in 1880 was made Lieu- 

 tenant Governor of that colony. In 1882 he was 

 appointed Governor of Western Australia. He pro- 

 moted railroads, telegraphs, and other public under- 

 takings, and became an ardent champion of the 

 claims of the colony for self-government. He recei ved 

 the order of St. Michael and St. George in 1884. 

 Through his exertions the restrictions as to the dis- 



