Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Cañedo, Juan de Dios

CAÑEDO, Juan de Dios (cah-nya'-do), Mexican statesman, b. in Guadalajara, 18 Jan., 1786; d. in the city of Mexico, 28 March, 1850. He received a good education and was admitted to the bar in 1809. He was elected a deputy to the Spanish Cortés in 1813, and soon became prominent as a parliamentary orator. While in Madrid he published a manifesto to the Spanish nation in defence of the colonial interests, which was eagerly read both in Spain and her American possessions. On his return to Mexico in 1824, Cañedo took part in the debate relative to the new republican constitution. He was several times deputy and senator, minister of foreign affairs under Victoria's administration, represented his country as plenipotentiary in Brazil, Peru, and Chili, and was in charge of the foreign office and the department of the interior under Bustamante. Afterward he went to Europe, where he resided for some years, and had just returned to Mexico when he was killed by an unknown assassin.