RAMET, Nicolas (rah-may), French philologist, b. in the county of Soissonnois in 1673 ; d. in Bor- deaux in 1733. He made extensive voyages through the West Indies, Guiana, Louisiana, and several parts of South America, and was a shareholder of the Mississipi company, and an advocate of colonial extension. His works include " Traite d'une poli- tique coloniale" (Utrecht, 1712); "Etudes sur 1'origine et la formation de la langue Cara'ibe " (1716) ; " Memoire pour servir a la defense du sys- teme financier de Law " (Amsterdam, 1721) ; " For- mations granimaticales et phonetiques des dialectes Indiens " (2 vols., 1723) ; " Dictionnaire de la langue Tupi " (1726) ; and " Analogic entre les langues Indiennes de 1'Amerique du Sud et les langues Critiques."
RAMIREZ, Alejandro (rah-me'-reth), Cuban
financier, b. in Alaejos, Valladolid, in 1777: d. in
Havana, Cuba, in 1821. When he was fifteen years
old he entered in the service of the government at
Alciilade Henares. In 1794 he went to Guatemala,
where he was employed in the department of
finance, and became its superintendent. In this
capacity he made many important reforms, im-
proved the means of communication in the coun-
try, introduced the cultivation of several useful
plants, and founded many public schools and a
public library. He was appointed in 1813 super-
intendent of the finances of Porto Rico, where one
of his first measures was to open the ports of the
island to foreign commerce. He founded a board
of commerce, a board of agriculture, a literary and
scientific society, and many public schools, and
gave a great impulse to the development and prog-
ress of the island. In 1816 he was promoted su-
perintendent of the finances of Cuba, where he
founded the cities of Guantanamo, Sagua, Nuevi-
tas, and Mariel. A census of the population and
ivsmiives ,,f tin' island was taken, and the tobacco
monopoly was abolished, lie established at Ha-
vana a botanical garden, an anatomical museum, a
free academy of drawing, and numerous public
srlm iN, and promoted the development of the
commerce, agriculture, and industries of the isl-
and. He was one of the best and most honest
officers that was ever sent by Spain to her colonies
in America, and his memory is held in high esteem
throughout the island. His portrait hangs in the
recepGon-room of the Sociedad economica, whose
president he was, and it has been proposed to erect
his statue in Havana.
RAMIREZ, Francisco, R. C. bishop, b. in
Mexico in 1823 ; d. in Brazos Santiago, Texas, 18
July, 1869. He entered the priesthood, and in the
revolution of 1857 sided with the clerical party in
opposing Benito Juarez. He gained the regard
and confidence of the French during the occupa-
tion of Mexico, and through the influence of the
archbishop of Morelia he was created bishop of
Caradro and vicar-apostolic of Tamaulipas. Dur-
ing the empire he was attached to the court, and
was appointed by Maximilian to be his almoner
and a member of the imperial cabinet and council.
On the fall of the empire he escaped to Texas,
where he lived in great obscurity and poverty.
RAMIREZ, Ignacio, called KL NIGROMANTE,
Mexican philosopher, b. in San Miguel el Grande,
23 June, 1818 ; d. in Mexico, 15 June, 1879. He
was of pure Aztec blood. He began his studies in
Queretaro, and finished them in the College of San
Gregorio in Mexico, where he was graduated in
law in 1841. In 1846 he founded the paper "Don
Simplicio," and began to publish a series of philo-
sophical articles, under the pen-name of ".El Nigro-
mante," and many satirical poems, in which he se-
verely criticised the government of Gen. Paredes,
so that his paprr was suppressed and he was im-
prisoned. When the federal system was estab-
lished in the same year, Ramirez wa,s appointed
secretary to the governor of the state of Mexico, re-
organized the administration, and during the Amer-
ican invasion equipped and organized the state
troops, taking part in the battle of Padierna.
After the evacuation, he was appointed professor
of law in the Literary institution of Mexico, and at
the same time gave lectures on literature and phi-
losophy ; but his liberal ideas alarmed the Con-
servatives, and he was removed. In 1851 he was
elected deputy to congress by the state of Sinaloa,
and in the next year he was appointed government
secretary of that state, where he introduced many
reforms. The revolution of the same year caused
him to emigrate to Lower California, where he dis-
covered rich pearl-oyster banks. In 1853 he was
called by Sanchez Solis to his newly founded col-
lege in Mexico, where he opened a course of philos-
ophy that attracted students by the thousand, but,
fell under the suspicion of the dictator, Santa-Anna,
who imprisoned Ramirez. After the fall of Santa-
Anna, Ramirez was returning to Sinaloa, when he
met Gen. Ignacio Comonfort, who appointed him
his general secretary ; but when he saw that Com-
onfort was separating from the Liberals, Ramirez,
being elected deputy for Sinaloa, joined the op-
position. After the dissolution of congress by Com-
onfort, which he disapproved, he was persecuted,
and on his flight to Sinaloa was captured, carried
to Queretaro, and condemned to death ; but the sen-
tence was commuted, and after long imprisonment
he was liberated. He joined Juarez immediately
in Vera Cruz, and was sent to the northwestern
states, to prepare for the triumph of the reform
measures. After the overthrow of Miramon at
Calpulalpam, Ramirez returned to Mexico with
Juarez, was appointed minister of justice, instruc-
tion, and public works, and as such executed the
law of 5 Feb., 1861, dissolving the monastic orders,
hastened the building of the Vera Cruz railway,
reformed the law of mortgages, founded the Na-
tional library, and saved the valuable paintings
that existed in the convents, forming a gallery in
the Academy of San Carlos. After accomplishing
these reforms he resigned, and when the Republican
government abandoned the capital before the in-
vading French army, he went to Sinaloa and after-
ward to Sonora to organize resistance. When the
law of 3 Oct., 1805, was promulgated, Ramirez re-
turned to Sinaloa to defend in the courts-martial
the guerillas that had been captured by the French ;
but he was soon banished, and went to San Francisco, Cal. Returning afterward to Mexico, he was imprisoned by the imperial government in San Juan de Ulua, and banished to Yucatan. After
the re-establishment of the republic, he was appointed judge of the supreme court, and for some years was associate editor of " El Correo de Mexico." After his re-election as judge in 1874. he sided
with Iglesias and other judges against Lerdo de
Tejada, and was imprisoned in November, 1870;
but after the battle of Tecoac he was liberalcd,
and appointed by President Diaz secretary of jus-
tice, instruction, and public works. He resigned in
May, 1877, and returned to the supreme court,
where he served until his death. His many literary
works were never collected, but his " Proyecto de
enseiianza primaria," written in 1873, was published
by the in, ern i, ml 1 Chiliuaha, Carlos Pachecu (l*sl).
RAMIREZ DE QUIÑONES, Pedro, b. in Spain late in the 15th century: d. at Lima, Peru, abmit 1570. When the audiencia of Confines, or Central
