72 



BELL, SAMUEL D. 



had been, during Ms service in the Chinese 

 waters, very active in putting down the 

 Chinese and Malayan piratical vessels, which 

 were so numerous and dangerous in those 

 waters. He had gone to the Japanese coast, 

 and anchored in a somewhat rough and unsafe 

 roadstead, off the mouth of the Osaka River, 

 which he was desirous of entering, but which 

 was closed by a sand-bar, thrown up in a re- 

 cent violent storm ; and, at length, weary of 

 the delay, set out, accompanied by Flag- 

 Lieutenant John H. Reed and thirteen men, in 

 a boat from the Hartford, to enter the river. 

 The boat was capsized at the entrance of the 

 river, and the admiral, Lieutenant Reed, and 

 ten of the thirteen men, were drowned. 



BELL, SAMUEL DANA, LL. D., an eminent 

 jurist of New Hampshire, born in Frances- 

 town, N. H., October 9, 1798 ; died in Man- 

 chester, N. H., July 31, 1868. Judge Bell 

 was the son of Samuel Bell, Governor of the 

 State, Senator in Congress, and Justice of the 

 Superior Court, and a brother of Dr. John 

 Bell, James Bell, and Dr. Luther Y. Bell. 

 He graduated from Harvard University, in the 

 class of 1816; read law with George Sul- 

 livan, of Exeter, Attorney-General of New 

 Hampshire, and commenced practice in Mere- 

 dith. In 1820 he removed to Chester, N. H., 

 and ten years later to Concord. In 1839 he 

 removed again, to Manchester, where he re- 

 sided till his death. He was a member of the 

 Legislature about 1825; and, from 1823 to 

 1828, Solicitor for Rockingham County, and 

 for several years Clerk of the Legislature. In 

 1830 he was one of the commissioners ap- 

 pointed to revise the statutes of the State, and 

 held the same appointment in the revisions of 

 1842 and 1867. In 1849 he was appointed 

 Justice of the Superior Court, and in 1855, on 

 the reorganization of the court, he was cho- 

 sen Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1859 

 he was appointed Chief Justice of the 

 same court, and resigned August 1, 1864. In 

 1861 he was the unsuccessful Democratic 

 candidate for Congress, in the second New 

 Hampshire District. He received the degree 

 of LL. D. from Dartmouth College in 1854. 

 By constant industry and untiring devotion to 

 his profession, Judge Bell became one of the 

 most eminent and profound jurists of New 

 England, and by his death the bar of his 

 State, and of the country, sustained a great 

 loss. His extensive legal learning was united 

 to a character of unspotted integrity. The 

 amiability of his deportment and disposition, 

 and the charm of his conversation, won him a 

 multitude of friends, and universal respect and 

 esteem. He was one of the early members of 

 the New Hampshire Historical Society, and 

 one of the most valuable associates of that or- 

 ganization. It has been often stated that no 

 man living was so well versed in early New 

 Hampshire history as he. He was true and 

 liberal to the best interests of the city where 

 he resided, and the establishment of the Man- 



BERRYER, PIERRE A. 



Chester Public Library was due, in a large 

 measure, to his personal efforts. 



BERRYER, PIERKE ANTOINE, a French ad- 

 vocate, politician, and orator, born in Paris, 

 January 4, 1790; died at Angerville, near Paris, 

 November 29, 1868. His father was an advo- 

 cate, but at first intended his son for the church, 

 and placed him at the school of the Oratoriens 

 at Juille, to be educated for the priesthood. 

 He was a favorite with his teachers from his 

 intelligence and devotion, though inclined to 

 indolence, but no sooner had he arrived at the 

 age of manhood, than he abandoned theology, 

 and began the study of the law, marrying, 

 when he was only twenty-one years old, a girl 

 of sixteen. He soon entered on the practice 

 of his profession, and his powers as an orator 

 and debater were shown not only in the courts 

 of law, but in his political addresses. His 

 father was one of those liberal royalists who 

 had hoped to engraft on the French monarchy 

 a constitution like that of England ; and both 

 father and son were consistent Liberals, though 

 neither of them allowed political feeling to in- 

 terfere with the duties of an advocate. As 

 Napoleon was tottering to his downfall, Ber- 

 ryer had the boldness to proclaim his downfall 

 at Rennes, and to raise the white cockade. 

 This proceeding led to an order from the pre- 

 fect for his arrest ; but, fearing a too summary 

 execution of justice, he escaped to Nantes. He 

 won his first distinction at the bar, by his 

 father's side, in contending for the life of the 

 unfortunate Marshal Ney. His eloquence on 

 this occasion assured the successful career of 

 the young advocate. Cambronne, another of 

 the Bonapartists then accused of treason, im- 

 mediately confided his cause to Berry er, Junior, 

 and was justified by an acquittal, though Ber- 

 ryer was himself accused of uttering sedition 

 in his speech. He stood this attack firmly ; 

 and the King, admiring his steadiness, granted 

 the pardon of General Debelle to his solicita- 

 tion. In 1826 he defended the Abbe Lamen- 

 nais on a charge of sedition, and obtained his 

 acquittal on one count of the indictment, and 

 the infliction of a very small penalty on the 

 other. In 1830 Berry er was elected deputy 

 for the Haute Loire, and made his first appear- 

 ance in the Chamber, taking, as might be ex- 

 pected, high rank as a speaker. He was op- 

 posed to the Revolution, and favored the suc- 

 cession of the young Due de Bordeaux, under 

 the regency of his mother, the Duchess de 

 Berri. He was, in fact, the head of the Legiti- 

 mists, and was'therefore suspected of compli-. 

 city with the Duchess de Berri in her insurrec- 

 tion in La Vendee in 1832. Berryer had gone 

 to Nantes with a letter from Chateaubriand, 

 urging the duchess to abstain from such a 

 course as she meditated ; and, being natural] y 

 apprehensive of an arrest, he determined to go 

 to Switzerland for a time. He was, however, 

 apprehended and taken to Nantes. He was 

 tried at Blois on October 16, 1832 ; and the 

 case was seriously damaging to the French 



