but did not enter into active practice for many years. He also began a course of reading, by which he hoped to make up for his want of a college education. He entered politics as a supporter of Van Buren in 1840, and between 1842 and 1851 was seven times chosen as a democrat to the state legislature, where he soon became recognized as the leader of his party. In 1844, 1846, and 1848 he was defeated as a candidate for congress, and in 1849 and 1850 he was the democratic nominee for governor with no better success; but he was finally elected in 1851 and again in 1852 by a coalition with the free-soil party. In 1849-'50 he was state bank commissioner; in 1853 a member of the state constitutional convention. After the repeal of the Missouri compromise in 1854 he assisted in organizing the republican party, with which he has since acted. In 1860 he was a member of the Chicago convention which nominated Lincoln, and in February, 1861, was a delegate to the Washington peace conference. President Lincoln invited him to organize the new department of internal revenue in 1862, and he was its first commissioner, serving from July, 1862, till March, 1863. In 1862 he was chosen a member of congress from Massachusetts, and twice re-elected. In February, 1868, he made a speech advocating the impeachment of President Johnson, was chosen chairman of the committee appointed to report articles of impeachment, and became one of the seven managers of the trial. In March, 1869, he entered President Grant's cabinet as secretary of the treasury, where he opposed diminution of taxation and favored a large reduction of the national debt. In 1870 congress, at his recommendation, passed an act providing for the funding of the national debt and authorizing the selling of certain bonds, but not an increase of the debt. Secretary Boutwell attempted to do this by means of a syndicate, but expended more than half of one per cent., in which he was accused of violating the law. The house committee of ways and means afterward absolved him from this charge. In March, 1873, he resigned and took his seat as a U. S. senator from Massachusetts, having been chosen to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Henry Wilson to the vice-presidency. In 1877 he was appointed by President Hayes to codify and edit the statutes at large. Mr. Boutwell was for six years an overseer of Harvard, and for five years secretary of the Massachusetts state board of education, preparing the elaborate reports of that body. He afterward opened a law office in Washington, D. C. He is the author of “Educational Topics and Institutions” (Boston, 1859); a “Manual of the United States Direct and Revenue Tax” (1863); “Decisions on the Tax Law” (New York, 1863); “Tax-Payer's Manual” (Boston, 1865); a volume of “Speeches and Papers” (1867); and “Why I am a Republican” (Hartford, Conn., 1884).
BOUVE, Thomas Tracy, merchant, b. in Boston, Mass., 14 Jan.. 1815; d. in Hinghara, Mass., 3 June, 1896. He received his education in the Boston public schools, and at the age of twelve began his business career, in which he was eminently successful, and amassed a large fortune. His leisure was devoted to the study of natural history, and for many years he filled the offices of curator and councillor to the Boston society of natural history, becoming its president in 1870, and continuing as such until 1880. Mr. Bouve contributed many scientific papers to the proceedings of that society, and was the author of a "History of the Boston Society of Natural History for the First Half Century of its Existence, ending in 1880" (Boston).
BOUVIER, John, jurist, b. in Codogno, Italy,
in 1787; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 18 Nov., 1851, His family, who were Quakers, settled in Philadelphia in 1802. He was employed for several years
in a book-store, and then went to Brownsville, Pa., where he published in 1814 a newspaper called the "American Telegraph." He afterward studied
law, and during his studies made a complete analysis of Blackstone's "Commentaries." He was admitted to the bar in 1818 at Unionville, Fayette
co., Pa., where he published, from April, 1818, till July, 1820, "The Genius of Liberty and American Telegraph." In 1823 he began practice in Philadelphia, was recorder of that city in 1836, and in 1838 became associate judge of the court of criminal sessions. He published a "Law Dictionary adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America" (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1839; 15th ed., revised, 1886). On this work he had spent ten years of labor, and it was highly praised by Chief Justice Story, Judge Greenleaf, and other noted lawyers. In 1841 he began a new edition of Bacon's "Abridgment of the Law," consisting of
ten octavo volumes, and finished it in four years. Two months before his death he published his greatest work, the "Institutes of American Law"
(4 vols., Philadelphia, 1851; new edition by D. A. Gleason, 2 vols., 1870). This is a compendium of American law, based on Pothier's system, for which Judge Bouvier had a great admiration.
BOYEE, Christian Nestell, author, b. in New
York city, 22 Feb., 1820. His early instruction was obtained at private schools, and included some time spent under the teaching of Goold Brown, the grammarian. He served for six years in a flour store, but subsequently was admitted to the bar and followed law for many years with success,
gaining thereby a fortune, which in later years was lost. At one time he was the law partner of Clarkson N. Potter, and later was associated with other
firms. He was associated in the founding of the Athenaeum club of New York, and was for some time in its management, and was also for many
years a regent of the Long Island College Hospital. He devoted his leisure to literature, and has published "Thoughts, Feelings, and Fancies" (New
York, 1857), and "Intuitions and Summaries of Thought" (Boston, 1862). Many of his epigrammatic sayings, extracted from these volumes, have
had a wide circulation. "Thoughts and Events," a paper for the poorer classes, was edited by him during its short-lived career.
BOVES, José Tomás (bo'-vess), Spanish-American adventurer, b. in Spain; d. at Urica, Venezuela, 5 Dec, 1814. While employed as a naval officer on the northern coast of South America he was tried and imprisoned for bribery. After his release he acted with the revolutionists on the outbreak of the war of independence in Venezuela, but subsequently joined the royalists and served
