BLOWPIPE. 198 BLUDOFF. 1892) : W. A. Ross, The Blowpipe in Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology (London, 1889) ; and Moses and Parsons, Elements of Mineralogy, Crystallography, and Blowpipe Analysis from a Practical Standpoint (New York, 1895). See Analysis, Chemical. BLtfCHEB, bUiK'er. Gebhabd Leberecht ton. Prince of Wahlstadt (1742-1819). A Prussian field-marshal. He was bom at Rostock, in Meek- lenburg-Schwerin. December 16, 1742. At the beginning of the Seven Years' War he joined a regiment of Swedish hussars, and in liis first action was taken prisoner by the Prussian hus- sars, whose colonel persuaded him to enter the Prussian service and gave him a lieutenancy. Another lieutenant having been promoted over Bliichcr's head, the latter immediately wrote to Frederick the Great as follows : "Von Jiigersfeld, who has no merit except that of being the son of the JIargrave of Sehwedt, has been put over my head. I beg to request mj' discharge." Bliicher was put imder arrest and after repeated applica- tions for discharge, he received from Frederick the curt intimation: "Captain Bliicher is at liberty to go to the devil;" Bliicher betook himself to his estate at Gross-Raddow, in Pomerania, and devoted himself to farming, but soon tired of bucolic life, and in 1787 rejoined the army. He fought as colonel of hussars against the Freneli on the Rhine, evincing great ability as a leader of cavalry. In the campaign of 1806 he took part as lieutenant-general in the battle of Auerstiidt. Bliicher, with the greater part of the cavalry, cov- ered the retreat of the Prince von Hohenlohe through Pomerania. He was accused of not giv- ing the Prince due support, and thus causing the capitulation at Prenzlau. Bliicher marched into the territory of the free town of Liibeek, and hastily fortified the city; but the French took It by storm, and he was forced to surrender on the plain of Ratkow. near Liibeek, whither he had escaped with a few troops. A fortnight later he was exchanged for the French General Victor, and immediately on his arrival in Konigsberg was sent at the head of a corps to assist in the de- .fense of Stralsund. After the Peace of Tilsit he was employed in the War Depai-tment in Konigsberg and Berlin, and subsequently be- came commandant of Pomerania. At a later period he was placed on the retired list, together with several other men of note, at the instance, it was said, of Napoleon. He was one of the few to combat the general belief in the invincibility of Napoleon, which had grown into a sort of fatal- ism in high places. In common with Stein and Hardenberg, he labored to remove all weak and unpatriotic coun.selors from almut the King. When all the leaders of the army lost courage, his constancy revived confidence and made him the centre of all hope for the future. When his countrymen at last rose against the French in 1813, Bliicher was ap))ointed to the chief com- mand of the Prussians, reinfcuccd by General Winzingcrode's Russian corps. .t the battles of Liitzen, Bautzen, and Haynau, lie (lisi)layed lieroie ecurage. -t the Katzhadi he defeated Marshal Macdonald and cleared Silesia of the enemy. In vain did Napoleon himself attempt to stop the "old captain of hussars," as he called him, in his victorious career. In the battle of Leipzig he won a great advantage over ^Tarshal ^larmcmt, at Miiekern, October 16, ISl."!, and on the same day pressed on to the suburbs of the city. On the 18th, in conjunction with the Cro^vn Prince of Sweden, lie had a large share in the defeat of the Frendi, and on the 19th his troops were the first to enter Leipzig. Opposing the policy of Austria, Bliicher insisted thatthe taking of Paris was the end to be sought. On the first day of January, 1814, he crossed the Rhine, gar- risoiied Nancy on the 17th of the same month, and after winning the battle of La Rothifere, pressed forward toward Paris. But his scat- tered corps were routed by Napoleon, and he fought his way back to Chalons with great loss. On March 9, however, he defeated Napoleon at Laon; and at the end of the month, after being joined by Schwarzenberg and his corps, he again advanced toward Paris. The day of Mont- martre cro-mied the brilliant deeds of tliis cam- paign, and on March 31 the Allies entered the French capital. Bliicher iiimself, who was suf- fering from a malady of the eyes, abstained from entering the city on that day. Frederick William III. created him Prince of Wahlstadt, in remem- brance of the victory at the Katzbach. and gave him an estate in Silesia. In England, whither he followed the allied sovereigns, be was received with an enthusiasm never before excited by a German. The LIniversity of Oxford conferred on him the degree of doctor of laws. After Na- poleon's return from Elba, in 1815, Bliicher once more assumed the general conniiand, and prompt- ly led an army into the Netherlands. On June 16, 1815, he lost the battle of Ligny, and nar- rowly escaped being killed by his horse falling on him. The victory of the Allies in the battle of Waterloo was decided by Bliichcr's timely appear- ance on the field. He ordered his Prussians to pursue the fiying enemy, which they did the wliole night. Declining the offered truce. Bliicher marched against Paris, and on the second tak- ing of that city manifested a strong desire to retaliate on Paris the spoliation that other capitals had suffered at the hands of the French ; but he was held in clieck l)y the Duke of Wel- lington. In order to reward Bliieher's services to Prussia and the common cause, Frederick William III. created the Order of the Iron Cross, the badge of which consisted of an iron cross surrounded by golden rays. On August 26, 1819, a colossal bronze statue was erected in his honor in his native town. Bliicher died Septeuilwr 12, 1819, after a short illness, at liis estate of Kricblowitz, in Silesia. Consult: Scherr, /J/iVc/ier, seine Zeit und sein Leben (Leipzig, 1887); Varnhagen von Ense, "Fiirst Bliicher von Wahl- stadt," Vol. Ill, of the Biographische Dcnkmale (Leipzig, 1872) ; von Colonib, Bliicher in Brief en aus den I'ehlzUgcn, lSlS-15 (Stuttgart, 1876). . BLXTDOFF, bloo'dfif, Dimitri Nikola yevitcii Count (1785-1864), A Russian statesman, born in the (iovernment of Vladimir. He studied in Moscow, entered the diplomatic service, was ap- pointed Secretary of Slate under Nicholas I., and in 1832 became Secretary of the Interior. He uorked unceasingly for the welfare of the peas- ants. As Minister of Justice he obtained two ukases (1842, 1847) for the amelioration of the condition of the .serfs, and as president of the Imperial Council and of the Council of Ministers he set his signature to the act abolishing serf- dom. For his biography, consult Kovalevski (Saint Petersburg, 1866)".
