KELSON, SAMUEL. 



NETHERLANDS, THE. 529 



Bones," 1837; "Treatise on Tumors of the 

 Breast," 1839; "Comparison of Different 

 Methods of Operatiug in the Treatment of 

 Cataract," 185U; "On the Influence of Po- 

 sition in Surgical Diseases," 1851 ; " Elements 

 of Surgical Pathology," 5 vols., 1844-1860 

 a work of great value. Dr. Nelaton also con- 

 tributed with MM. Velpeau, Denonville, F. 

 Guyon, etc., to the report on the " Progress of 

 Surgery," at the Exposition in Paris in 1867. 



NELSON, SAMUEL, LL. D., an American 

 jurist, tor twenty-seven years one of the As- 

 sociate Justices of the Supreme Court of the 

 United States, born at Hebron, Washington 

 County, N. Y., November 10, 1792 ; died in 

 Cooperstown, N. Y., December 13, 1873. He 

 was of Scotch-Irish lineage, his grandfather 

 having emigrated from the north of Ireland to 

 Salem, Washington County, N. Y., in 1760. 

 Yonng Nelson's early life was spent on the 

 farm. In 1811, being then nineteen years old, 

 he entered Middlebnry College, Vermont, and 

 graduated in 1813. Having selected the law 

 for his profession, he became a student in the 

 office of Savage & Woods, where he remained 

 two years. He was admitted to the bar in 

 January, 1817, and begen practice in the vil- 

 lage of Cortland. His first suits were confined 

 to the narrow arena of the justices' courts, bnt 

 in trying his first case in the Court of Com- 

 mon Pleas, he detected an error in practice 

 on the part of his opponent, procured a stay 

 of proceedings, and the execution already en- 

 tered being set aside, tried his case, and gained 

 it. This success at once brought him reputa- 

 tion and clients. His first appearance in poli- 

 tics was in 1820 as presidential elector, the vote 

 of the State being given to James Monroe and 

 Daniel D. Tompkins. In 1823 Governor Yates 

 nominated him as Circuit Judge for the dis- 

 trict which included the counties of Broome, 

 Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Tioga, 

 Tompkins, Steuben, and Yates. This post he 

 held for eight years, proving himself equal to 

 every emergency. On the 1st of February, 

 1831, he was made Associate Justice of the 

 Supreme Court of this State. After six years' 

 service in this position, he was promoted by 

 Governor Marcy to the chief-justiceship, and 

 presided over the court for eight years, at a 

 period when its decisions were quoted as final 

 in every State in the Union, and respected as 

 authority in the courts of England. He was 

 elected a member of the Constitutional Con- 

 vention of 1846. He was appointed by Presi- 

 dent Tyler to fill a seat on the bench of the 

 Supreme Conrt of the United States left vacant 

 by the deatli of Smith Thompson, in 1844. 

 Tliis was more than a promotion ; it was a 

 transfer to a field of labor which presented 

 many and varied difficulties to a judge whose 

 previous work, while thorough and successful, 

 had been in a comparatively narrow sphere. 

 In the Supreme Court, his decisions did more 

 than command the respect of bar and bench ; 

 they were conclusive and unanswerable. In 



VOL. XIII. 34 A 



the famous Dred Scott case, Judge Nelson con- 

 curred in the decision of Chief-Justice Taney, 

 urging that if Congress possessed power under 

 the Constitution to abolish slavery, "it must 

 necessarily possess the like power to establish 

 it." During the war, his conservatism, as well 

 as his life-long political affinities, led him to 

 regret many encroachments of the military on 

 the civil power, but his relations with the Ad- 

 ministration were as harmonious as his loy- 

 alty was undoubted. In 1871 Justice Nelson 

 was appointed by President Grant to serve as 

 a member of the Joint High Commission to 

 arbitrate the Alabama claims on the part of 

 the United States. The delicate and respon- 

 sible duties here imposed upon him compelled 

 a temporary cessation of his attendance on the 

 bench, and enfeebled as he was by age, it was 

 evident that his strength was undergoing 

 heavier drafts than it could safely endure. 

 Exposure to cold during the final sessions of 

 the Commission, the fires having been allowed 

 to go out, it is said, brought on a serious at- 

 tack of lumbago. He returned to Coopers- 

 town still suffering from its effects, and spent 

 a quiet summer, but at the end of that time 

 found himself unable to return to the seat 

 which he never occupied again. His resigna- 

 tion was tendered to the President in October, 

 1872, and Ward Hunt was appointed his suc- 

 cessor. His death was very sudden ; indeed, 

 without warning, and without pain. Judge 

 Nelson was a man of grave and dignified ap- 

 pearance, gentle and courteous in his manner. 

 His figure was erect till his last years. He 

 was as cheerful and his intellect as clear and 

 strong at eighty as when he was but twenty 

 years of age. He was slow in forming his 

 judgments of men, and was generally reluctant 

 to express them when they were not favorable. 

 His career upon the bench was characterized 

 by honesty, firmness, discretion, and the pur- 

 pose to do justice. 



NETHERLANDS, THE, a country in En- 

 rope. King, William III., born February 19, 

 1817; succeeded his father, March 17, 1849; 

 8ons 1. William, Prince of Orange, heir-ap- 

 parent to the throne, born September 4, 1840, 

 admiral-lieutenant in the navy; 2. Alexan- 

 der, born May 25, 1851, lieutenant in the na- 

 vy; brother of the King, Henry, born June 

 13, 1820. The area of the kingdom is 12,679 

 square miles. The population of the provinces 

 was, according to the census of 1872, asfollows: 



