turn to congress, as his popularity in his district remained unshaken. When petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia were presented in the house of representatives in 1886. Mr. Bell voted to receive them, and he also opposed the "Atherton gag" in 1888. In this course he was supported by his constituents, though assailed in his position. President Harrison made him secretary of war in 1841, but he resigned with the rest of the cabinet (Mr. Webster only excepted) when President Tyler separated from the whig party. Declining the U. S. senatorship, offered him by the Tennessee legislature, he remained in retirement until 1847, when he was chosen to the state senate and immediately afterward to the national senate, where he remained until 8 March, 1859. He was prominent in his opposition to the policy of annexation. When the Kansas-Nebraska bill was brought forward, in 1854, Mr. Bell opposed its passage with all his power, not only as violating the Missouri compact, to which the honor of the south was pledged, but as unsettling the compromise of 1850, to which both the great parties had solemnly subscribed. Four years later he was equally earnest in his opposition to the Lecompton constitution that had been framed for Kansas. In 1860 Mr. Bell was nominated for the presidency by the " constitutional union " party, Edward Everett receiving the nomination for the vice-presidency. This ticket had no chance of success, but it was well supported, receiving the electoral votes of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. At the beginning of the civil war, Mr. Bell was one of those who condemned secession, but were also opposed to all "coercion." On 18 April, 1861, with seven other citizens of Tennessee, he issued an ad- dress recommending his state to preserve an armed neutrality, and on 28 April, in a speech at Nashville, he favored standing by the southern states.
BELL, Robert, Canadian geologist, b. in Toronto, Canada, 8 .June, 1841. He was educated at
the university of Edinburgh, Scotland, and at McGill university, Montreal, where he received the degree of C. E. 'in 1861, M. D. in 1878, and B. A. Sc.
in 1884. Queen's university gave him the degree
of LL. D. in 1888. He has been connected with
the geological survey of Canada since 1856, and
was appointed assistant director of the survey
about 1877. He has been longer in the service
than any other member of the staff. From 1868 till
1868 he was professor of chemistry and the natural sciences in Queen's university. He has travelled extensively through Canada in connection with the geological survey. He strongly advocated the
building of the Canada Pacific railway in 1869,
since 1877 has favored the opening of the Hudson bay route, and has surveyed the principal water-ways between Hudson bay and the great
lakes, part of both shores of Hudson bay, and
various rivers in the province of Quebec. In 1884
he accompanied the Hudson bay expedition in
the " Neptune " as scientist and medical officer,
and made a valuable collection of geological and
other specimens. Dr. Bell has taken much interest in Canadian university affairs. He was the graduates' representative fellow in McGill university, from 1880 till 1886, and was one of the eighty original fellows of the Canadian royal society. He has been a life fellow of the geological society
of London, England, since 1865, and is a member of
several other learned societies. He published reports on geology and natural history in the progress reports of the geological survey, nearly every
year, from 1857 till 1885; numerous articles in
American, Canadian, and English journals, on ge-
ology, mining, geography, natural history, medi-
cine, and forestry, from 1859 till 1886 ; and wrote
the chapter on the progress of science in Canada,
in the "Dominion Annual Register," from 1878
till 1884, inclusive.
BELL, Samuel, governor of New Hampshire,
b. in Londonderry, N. H., 9 Feb., 1770; d. in Chester, N. H., 23 Dec, 1850. His family emigrated
from Scotland to Ireland, whence his grandfather,
John Bell, came to New Hampshire in 1722. Samuel worked on his father's farm when a boy, and
then went to Dartmouth college, graduating in
1793. He studied law, and in 1796 was admitted
to the bar, where he attained distinction. He was
sent to the legislature in 1804, was twice re-elected,
serving till 1808, and during his last two terms he
was speaker. In 1807 he declined the office of attorney-general, and sat in the state senate for a
year. He was a member of the executive council
in 1809, and from 1816 till 1819 judge of the state
supreme court. He then served five successive
terms as governor, from 1819 till 1823, and from
4 March, 1828, till 3 March, 1835, was a member
of the U. S. senate. In 1885 he retired from
public life to his farm in Chester, N. H. Gov.
Bell had five sons that became eminent.—His
son, Samuel Dana, jurist, b. in Francestown,
N. H., 9 Oct., 1798; d. in Manchester, N. H., 31
July, 1868. He was graduated at Harvard in
1816, read law with George Sullivan, of Exeter,
and began practice in Meredith. He removed to
Chester, N. H., in 1820, ten years later to Concord,
and in 1839 to Manchester, where he lived until
his death. He was a member of the legislature
about 1825, and for several years clerk of that
body, was solicitor for Rockingham co. from 1828
till 1828, and in 1830, 1842, and 1867 was one of
the commissioners appointed to revise the state
statutes. He was appointed justice of the superior court, and in 1855, on the reorganization of the court, chosen justice of the supreme court. In
1859 he was appointed chief justice of the same
court, which office he resigned 1 Aug., 1864. In
1861 he was the unsuccessful democratic candidate
for congress, in the 2d New Hampshire district.
He received the degree of LL. D. from Dartmouth
college in 1854. He was one of the early members
of the New Hampshire historical society, and the
establishment of the Manchester public library
was due, in a large measure, to his personal efforts.—Another son, John, a physician of great promise, was b. 5 Nov., 1800; d. in La Fouche, La., 29 Nov., 1830. He was graduated at Union in 1819, studied medicine in Boston and Paris, and received his diploma from Bowdoin in 1822. He was professor of anatomy at the university of Vermont, and editor of the "New York Medical and Surgical Journal."—Another son, James, senator, was b. in Francestown, N. H., 13 Nov., 1804 ; d. in Laconia,
N. H., 26 May, 1857. He was graduated at Bowdoin
in 1822, and "studied law with his brother, Samuel
Dana Bell, and afterward at the Litchfield, Conn.,
law school. He was admitted to the bar in 1825,
and began to practise at Gilmanton, N. II.. in 1831
he removed to Exeter, N. H.. and in 1846 represented that town in the legislature. In that same year he removed to Gilford, where he took charge
of the enterprise of damming the outlets of Lake
Winnipiseogee and other lakes, so that the large
mills on the Merrimac might not suffer from a diminished water-supply during the dry season. By prudent management he gained over those property-owners whose interests seemed to be threatened, and the scheme was successful. He was a member of the state constitutional convention in
