Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/424

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386
MORAES E SILVA
MORALES

general of the Peru-Bolivian confederation. In 1843 he returned to Spain and directed the College of San Felipe in Cadiz, and in 1856 he was again made consul-general to London. He was a mem- ber of the Royal academy of Madrid. He trans- lated into Spanish " Ivanhoe " and " The Talis- man," and was the first to familiarize the Spaniards with the writings of Walter Scott. His works in- clude a " History of the Arabs " (2 vols., London, 1826), and " Spanish Legends," on which his fame chiefly rests (1840). Many of his lyrical and sa- tirical poems are contained in Ferdinand Wolf's " Floresta de Rimas modernas Castellanas " (1832). He also edited the works of Luis de Grenada, in a collection of the Spanish classics (1848).


MOBAES E SILVA, Antonio de (mo-rah- ess-ay-sil'-vah), Brazilian lexicographer, b. in Rio Janeiro in 1756 ; d. in Pernambueo in 1825. He studied in Rio Janeiro, was graduated at Coimbra, and, returning to Brazil, became a judge in Bahia, but resigned in 1803 and retired to Pernambueo. where he acquired much property and was created Count of Engenho in 1805. At the time of the revolution of 1817 he was elected colonel of the militia of Maribeca and refused the nomination for governor of the province. He afterward led a re- tired life devoted to literary researches and re- spected by all parties and administrations, which often sought his advice. As an author he obtained a great reputation, and most of his works are yet in use in the universities of Brazil. They include "Historia de Portugal composta em Inglez por uma sociedade de litteratos. transladada em vulgar, com as addicoes da versao franceza e notas do traductor portuguez " (3 vols., Lisbon, 1788 ; second ed., re- vised, 4 vols., Pernambueo, 1806) ; and " Dicciona- rio da Lingua Portugueza" (2 vols., Lisbon, 1789; revised ed., Pernambueo, 1815). The latter was enlarged by Agostinho do Mendonga Falcao, and in its new form is the standard dictionary of the Portuguese language. He also wrote " Recregao do homem sensivel, o collegao de Exemplos verda- deiros e patheticos " (2 vols., Pernambueo, 1819) ; and several less important works.


MORAIS, Sabato (mo-rah'-ees), clergvman, b. in Leghorn, Italy, 29 April, 1824 ; d. in Philadel- phia, 11 Nov., 1897. After careful stuily he went to London in 1845, and in 1846 was elected head- master in the Orphans' school of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue. In 1851 he came to this country and settled in Philadelphia as minister of a synagogue, which post he continued to occupy. He was connected with all the Jewish movements of his time and powerfully defended conservative Judaism. On the opening of Maimonides college, Philadelphia, in 1867, he was chosen professor of Hebrew and biblical literature. He had been a frequent contributor to the American Jewish press, princi[)ally on themes connected with Hebrew lit- erature. He had been connected with Italian poli- tics, became a Freemason to advocate liberty and unity in Italy, and was an intimate friend of Jo- seph Mazzini. His outspoken opposition to slavery led to his being chosen an honorary member of the Union league of Philadelphia during the civil war. He took an active part in the establishment of the conservative Jewish theological seminary of New York, opened in January, 1887, of which he was chosen president, and had been active in further- ing Jewish cliaritable and educational progress in Philadelphia. In 1887 he received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Pennsylvania.


MORALES, Aqustin (mo-rah'-lays), Bolivian soldier, b. in La Paz in 1810; d. there, 28 Nov., 1872. He entered the military service in his youth. and served throughout the campaign of the Peru- Bolivian confederation under Gen. Santa Cruz. After attaining the rank of colonel, he took part in numerous military revolutions in his country. His last expedition, in October, 1869, being totally de- feated, he took refuge in Peru, and was specially excepted from the amnesty of March, 1870. The prestige and popularity that he had acquired, and his reputation as an enterprising and audacious leader, called him to the command of the uprising against the tyranny of Melgarejo {q. v.) in Nov., 1870, and, after the final overthrow of the latter on 15 Jan., 1871, Morales assumed the executive, and in June was promoted general by congress, and elected provisional president for one year. On 23 Aug., 1872, he was declared constitutional president for the term of four years, but soon his overbearing character and oppressive rule roused general opposition, and on 24 Nov., after the cele- bration of the anniversary of Melgarejo's deposi- tion, when he tried to intimidate congress by mili- tary force into granting him the mines of Aullaga, he met with firm resistance and dissolved the legis- lative body. This brought affairs to a climax, and being informed that an insurrection was on foot, and that one of his adjutants had been commis- sioned to arrest him, he rushed in a drunken frenzy into the room that was occupied by the officers in attendance on him, accused them of being traitors, and assaulted them indiscriminately, until he was shot by his own nephew. La Faye.


MORALES, Juan Bautista. Mexican author, chiefly known by his pen-name " Gallo Pitagorico." b. in Guanajuato, 29 Aug., 1788; d. in Mexico, 29 July, 1856. He began his education in his native city, in 1809 came to Mexico to study jurisprudence in the College of San Ildefonso and in the theoretic-practical academy of law, but on account of straitened circumstances was not graduated till 1820, when he was admitted to the bar. He strenuously opposed Iturbide, when the latter assumed the imperial crown, and was imprisoned. After Iturbide's fall. Morales was elected to the constituent congress of 1824, which modelled the first constitution, and he was afterward several times a member of congress and senator whenever the Federal party was in power. In 1835 he obtained by competition the chair of canonical law in the College of San Ildefonso, and in 1837 he was elected judge of the Federal supreme court. When Santa-Anna usurped power in 1841, and the junta de notables published in 1843 the famous " bases organicas," which abol- ished the federal system, Morales defended his ideas in the press, and published critical articles in the " Siglo XIX.," of which he was editor. He was banished by Santa- Anna, was one of the principal instigators of the rcA^olution of 6 Dec, 1844, which overthrew the dictator, and was elected governor of Guanajuato, where, in his short administration, he established many useful reforms. After the pronunciamento of Gen. Paredes in January, 1846, a congress, elected by classes, was instituted, and Morales was appointed to represent the magistracy; but, true to his Federal opinions, he declined. He was elected by congress president of the supreme court in 1850, bi;t deposed by Santa-Anna at his return to power. After the final fall of that general in 1855, Morales was reinstated in the supreme court, and in the last years of his life he defended the Church party, and wrote a pamphlet against religious toleration. He was the founder of the- "Semanario Judicial," and at different times edited " El Hombre Libre," " La Gaceta," " Aguila Mexicana." " Siglo XIX.," " Monitor," " Debates," " Democrata," and " Republicano " ; but his principal