168 BLANCH AED, THOMAS. 



deed in every battle of the campaign, his di- 

 vision was foremost in the very heart of danger. 

 On the 23d of July, Gen. Grant promoted him 

 to the command of the 10th army corps, in the 

 Army of the James. Early in October he was 

 taken sick with malarious fever, and his con- 

 stitution was so seriously impaired by the great 

 exertions he had made at the time of the rebel 

 attack on Kautz's cavalry corps, being then ill 

 in bed, that it could not withstand the onset 

 of the disease. He was brought home to Phila- 

 delphia, and though almost in a dying state, in- 

 sisted on being borne to the polls (the State 

 election being in progress) to vote before he 

 was carried home. He was greatly esteemed 

 and beloved both in the army and in Philadel- 

 phia. 



BLANCHARD, THOMAS, an American me- 

 chanic and inventor, born in Sutton, Worcester 

 County, Mass., June 24, 1788, died in Boston, 

 April 16, 1864. At the age of 18 years he 

 joined his brother, who was engaged in the 

 manufacture of tacks by hand, a slow and diffi- 

 cult process. After six years of study and ex- 

 periment he perfected a tack machine which 

 would turn out 500 tacks per minute better 

 made than they had ever been by hand. Hav- 

 ing sold this machine and the right to make it, 

 he next turned his attention to constructing a 

 machine for turning and finishing gun-barrels 

 by a single operation. He overcame the diffi- 

 culty of finishing the octagon portion of the 

 barrel at the breech, by changing the action of 

 his lathe to vibratory motion at a given point. 

 The invention of a lathe for turning gunstocks, 

 afterward extended to the turning of all kinds of 

 irregular forms, was his next achievement, and 

 this was really one of the most remarkable in- 

 ventions of the century. (For description of 

 its mode of operation, see BLANCHARD, THOMAS, 

 in New American Cyclopaedia, vol. iii., p. 381.) 

 He subsequently became interested in the con- 

 struction of railroads and locomotives, and 

 made numerous improvements in both. He 

 also contrived boats which would ascend rapids, 

 or rivers having strong currents, invented ma- 

 chines for bending heavy timbers into any 

 required form, machines for cutting and folding 

 envelopes at a single operation, and morticing 

 machines. In all, he took out between 20 and 

 30 patents, but realized but little from most of 

 them. 



BEAZIL, an Empire in South America. It 

 is, in extent of territory, the third country of 

 the world, being exceeded only by China and 

 Russia. The area is estimated at 147,624 geo- 

 graphical or 3,100,104 English square miles. 

 The population, according to the last census of 

 1856, was 7,677,800, being, on an average, only 

 three persons a square mile. About 2,500,000 

 of the population are negro slaves, and about 

 500,000 native Indians. A very extensive mix- 

 ture of white, the negro, and the Indian races 

 has taken place, and the greater part of the 

 population consists of mixed breeds, which are 

 distinguished as Mulattoes (offspring of a white 



BRAZIL. 



with a negro); Nameluco (a white with an 

 Indian) ; Cafuzo (an Indian with a negro) ; 

 Curiboco (a Cafuzo with an Indian) ; Yibaro 

 (a Cafuzo with a negro). 



The total value of imports and exports into 

 and from the Empire in each year from 1858 

 to 1862 was as follows : 



The actual income of the Empire during the 

 years 1860-'63 was as follows : 1860-'61, 53,- 

 350,905milreis; 1861-'62, 55,857,726 ; 1862-'63, 

 50,724,034. The budget of expenditures for 

 the year 1864-'65 was estimated at 56,588,818, 

 and the receipts at 52,000,000 ; deficit 4,588,- 

 818. The total amount of the public debt of 

 Brazil in 1863 was as follows, according to the 

 official statement of the Minister of Finance : 



1. Foreign Funded Debt, on Dec. 81st, 1863 : 



Loan of the year 1824 2,358,601 



" " " 1829 825,200 



" " " 1843 362,000 



" " " 1852 890,000 



" " " 1859 427,000 



" " " 1863 3,855,300 



For Don Pedro Railway Company, May 9, 1858.. . 1,333,200 

 For Pernambuco Railway Company and Union 

 Industrial and Mercury Companies, March 16, 



1860 1,278,600 



10,820,200 



2. Internal Funded Debt on March 31st, 1863, 76,777,400 

 milreis. 



In the army estimates for 1863-'64, the 

 strength of the regular force is fixed at 14,000 

 men, and in extraordinary cases at 25,000, and 

 the strength of the marine troops at from 3,000 

 to 5,000. The navy, in 1863, consisted of 16 

 sailing vessels and 22 steamers. 



The new session of the Brazilian Parliament 

 was opened on the 9th of May by a speech 

 from the throne. The Emperor announced 

 that in no part of the Empire had the public 

 order been disturbed. The English Government 

 having accepted the mediation of Portugal for 

 reestablishing the diplomatic relations between 

 Brazil and England, the Brazilian Government 

 had likewise accepted this offer. The relation, 

 of Brazil with other Powers were unchanged. 

 The continuance of the civil war in Uruguay, 

 and the complaints made by Brazilian residents 

 in that State, had suggested to the Brazilian 

 Government that, without violating its neu- 

 trality in the civil war of Uruguay, it ought to 

 send a commissioner to the Government of 

 Montevideo to claim for the Brazilian residents 

 a compliance with those guarantees which th^ 

 laws of Uruguay grant to foreign residents. 



Among the laws needing amendment, the 

 Emperor referred to that of Dec. 3, 1841, on 

 magistracies ; that on the national guard ; the 

 mortgage law ; the electoral law ; that concern- 

 ing the administration of provinces and mu- 

 nicipalities. The Emperor also recommended 

 that provisions be made for the introductioo 



