Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/28

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8
GRYMES
GUAL

his wife. During the financial depression that followed the war of 1812, he was in 1819 elected to the Tennessee legislature, where he opposed all relief laws, but successfully advocated the estab- lishment of the state bank. In 1820 he was ap- Sointed a commissioner to settle the boundary-line ispute with Kentucky. In 1829 he was elected to the U. S. senate for the unexpired term of John H. Eaton, as an avowed Jacksonian. His speech in 1830 on Foote's resolution was regarded by many in Tennessee as leaning toward nullification, but in the Jackson-Calhoun imbroglio Grundy criticised both participants. In 1832 and 1833, when he was a candidate for re-election, in spite of a letter from Jackson approving his course, he was bitterly op- posed by administration organs, but was finally successful after a long contest. In the senate he was chairman Of the committee on post-offices and of the judiciary committee. He supported and defended nearly all of Jackson's measures. In 1838 he entered Van Buren's cabinet a,s attorney- feneral, but only served from September, 1838, to December, 1839, when he resigned, having been re-elected to the senate on 19 Nov. in place of Ephraim H. Foster. On 14 Dec. he resigned his seat on the ground of ineligibility, as he had been still attorney -general when chosen, but he was at once re-elected. In 1838, being instructed to vote against the sub-treasury system, he did so, though favoring it. He opposed all protection except that which is incidental to a tariff levied for revenue, favored the compromise bill of 1833, and suggested and was a member of the committee that revised it. He lies buried in the Nashville city cemetery, where a monument has been erected to his memory. His most finished oration was that delivered on the death of Jefferson and Adams. He was a man of commanding presence, gentle, and amiable. The legal literature of the southwest is filled with anecdotes about him. His last political act was to speak in Tennessee for Van Buren against Har- rison. During this contest Henry Clay, who was passing through Nashville, visited Mrs. Grundy, and, on being told where her husband was, said: " Ah, I see ! Still pleading the cause of criminals."


GRYMES, John Randolph, soldier, b. in Vir- ginia about 1746; died there in 1820. In 1776 he {'oined the royal army under Lord Dunmore at the tead of a troop of horse that he had himself raised. In a letter to Lord George Germain, Lord Dunmore said that Mr. Grymes was, " from his fortune, posi- tion, and strict honor, a valuable acquisition to the royal cause." The same year he was expelled from his estate, and all his negroes, cattle, and personal property fell into the hands of the patriots. He joined " the rangers," a battalion of horse, in 1777, and at the close of 1778 resigned and went to England, where he was agent for prosecuting the claims of the loyalists in Virginia. When the in- vasion of Napoleon was apprehended the loyalist Americans in London offered, with the king's ap- Sroval, to form themselves into a company, and Er. Grymes was appointed ensign. While in Lon- don he married his cousin, the daughter of John Randolph, last royal attorney-general of Virginia, and niece of Peyton Randolph, president of the Continental congress. He afterward returned to the United States, settled in Orange county, Va., and became a wealthy slave-holder and planter. — His son, John Randolph, Jr., lawyer, b. in Orange county, Va., in 1786 ; d. in New Orleans, La., 4 Dec, 1854, removed to Louisiana in 1808. At the battle of New Orleans he volunteered as aide to Gen. Jackson, and was complimented in the despatches of the commander to the war department. Mr. Grymes was engaged during his practice in almost every case of importance in the courts of New Orleans and the surrounding counties. He was one of Gen. Jackson's counsel in the U. S. bank case, and opposed Daniel Webster in the city of New Orleans against Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines. He held at different periods the offices of U. S. district attorney and attorney-general of the state, served in the legislature several terms, and was a member of the State constitutional convention. During his professional career he fought two duels, in one of which he was severely wounded.

GUACANAGARI (gwa-cah-nah-gar'-e), Haytian cacique. He was one of the five native kings who ruled over Hayti at the time of the discovery of the island. He sent a message to Columbus in De- cember, 1492, begging the Tatter to come to his residence. He received the Spaniards with great courtesy, and when he heard of the shipwreck of one. of the vessels of Columbus he invited the dis- coverer to stay at his residence. In 1493 the neighboring caciques attacked the fortress La Na- vidad, which had been built by Columbus, and massacred the Spanish garrison. Guacanagari and his subjects fought in the defence of the Spaniards, but were routed, their leader wounded, and his village burned to the ground. When Columbus returned on his second voyage, Guacanagari sent his brother to greet the admiral. He refused to take part in the plan formed by Caonabo in 1494 to exterminate the foreign invaders, and incurred thereby the hostility of his fellow-caciques. He informed Columbus of this secret league, and as- sisted him in his expedition against the Indians that were assembled at the Vega, in March, 1495, under Manicaotex. This conduct excited the ha- tred of all the caciques of the island, and he fled to the mountains, where he died in obscurity.


GUAL, Pedro (goo-ahl'), South American patriot, b. in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1784; d. in Guayaquil, Ecuador, 6 May, 1862. He was graduated at the University of Caracas in 1809, and soon afterward emigrated to Trinidad, to escape imprisonment for having expressed revolutionary opinions. He returned to Caracas on hearing of the revolution of 1810, was elected a member of the legislature in 1811, and also acted as secretary to Gen. Miranda. After the surrender of the Republicans in 1812, Gual escaped to New York, but afterward returned to Cartagena. He was obliged to flee again to St. Thomas, but subsequently became governor of Cartagena, and then ambassador to the United States from Colombia. He was admitted to the bar in Washington, D. C, and began to practise law, when Bolivar summoned him to join the expedition of Montilla and Brion in 1816, which resulted in regaining the provinces of Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Rio Hacha. These provinces were united in one state, of which Gual became governor. While member of the congress of Cucuta he was made minister of finance and foreign affairs, and afterward held the same office in Bogota till 1826. He was a member of the American assembly which met in Mexico in 1826. From 1828 till 1837 he lived in retirement, when he was sent to Europe by the government of Ecuador, and caused Spain to acknowledge the independence of that country. In 1848 he removed to Caracas, where he lived in retirement during the administration of Monagas. On 15 March, 1858, there was a revolt against Monagas, and the National convention appointed Gual president of the provisional government. He restored order, and was appointed president of the council of state by Gen. Castro, but resigned, and was elected dep-