Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/148

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AZANZA
AZPILCUETA

months, but was in the saddle again in December and engaging in the winter campaign on the Rappahannock. He was at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsvile, and the intervening engagements of less moment. As brigadier-general of volunteers from 29 Nov., 1862, he commanded a division of the 5th corps at Gettysburg, and was then ordered to New York city to suppress the draft riots. In 1864 he was with his command in the movement against Richmond, beginning with the battles of the Wilderness (May, 1864). He was wounded at the siege of Petersburg in June, returned to duty in August, and was present at the final engagements, ending with the surrender of Lee's army at Appomattox, 9 April, 1865. During this period he received successive promotions and brevets in his regular army grade until he was lieutenant-colonel of the 28th infantry and brevet major-general. He was mustered out of the volunteer service as major-general 30 April, 1866. Since the war he had served on various important commissions and boards. He was promoted in regular course to the colonelcy of the 3d artillery, 18 July, 1879.


AZANZA, Mig'uel Jose (ah-than'-thah), the 54th viceroy of Mexico, b. in Navarre in 1746; d. in 1826. After service to Spain as a diplomatist and soldier, he was appointed viceroy of New Spain and took command at Orizaba, 31 May, 1798. Under his rule Mexican commerce and industries, especially silk, cotton, and woollen manufacturing, were very much promoted, notwithstanding several public calamities like the hurricane that almost destroyed the city of Acapulco in July, 1799, and the terrible earthquake of March, 1800. In November of the previous year a great conspiracy to assassinate the wealthy Spaniards was discovered. Azanza was recalled to Spain in May, 1800.


AZARA, Felix de (ath'-a-ra), Spanish naturalist, b. in Aragon, 18 May, 1746; d. there in 1811. He became a brigadier-general in the Spanish army, and was wounded in the war against the Algerine pirates (1775). In 1781 he went to South America as one of the commissioners to settle the boundary between the Spanish and Portuguese possessions; and his researches, prosecuted for twenty years, made him an authority on the natural and political history of Paraguay and the Plata region. His "Essai sur I'histoire naturelle des quadrupedes de la province du Paraguay" was first published in French (Paris, 1801), and afterward in Spanish (Madrid, 1802), under the auspices of his brother, the Chevalier Jose Nicolas de Azara (b. in 1731, d. in Paris in 1804), Spanish ambassador to France, who made a Spanish translation of Middleton's Cicero. Felix de Azara's masterpiece, "Voyage dans l’Amerique meridionale depuis 1781 jusqu'en 1801" (4 vols., Paris, 1809), translated by Sonnini, was edited by Walckenaer, the French naturalist, whose commentaries, as well as those of Sonnini and Cuvier, give additional value to the work. It contains a narrative of the discovery and conquest of Paraguay and the Plata river, and ornithological descriptions. A Spanish translation by Varela was published in Montevideo.


AZEVEDO. Antonio Aranjo de (ah-thay-vay-do), count of Barca. Portuguese statesman, b. in 1784; died in 1817. After cooperating in the establishment of the academy of sciences at Lisbon, he represented his government in Holland, France, Prussia, and Russia. He was first minister of John VI., whom he followed to Brazil in 1807. There he was minister of the navy and of foreign affairs, and took great interest in promoting education and industry. He taught the Brazilians how to manufacture porcelain, made special studies and experiments in his own splendid botanical garden, as well as the first trials for the acclimatization and culture of the tea-plant in Brazil, and was the founder of a school of fine arts. His works include two tragedies and a translation of Virgil's pastorals.


AZEVEDO COUTINHO, Jozé Joaquim da Cunha (ah-thay-vay'-do cu-teen'-yo), Portuguese bishop, the last inquisitor-general of Portugal and Brazil, b. in Campos dos Goitacazes, Brazil, 8 Sept., 1742; d. 12 Sept., 1821. He studied at Coimbra in Portugal, received orders, and soon became prominent both in the church and in politics. In 1794 he was made bishop of Pernambuco. In 1818 he was appointed inquisitor-general, and shortly before his death he was elected to the cortes. He published "Ensaio economico sobre o commercio de Portugal e suas colonias" (1792); a pamphlet against the proposed abolition of the slave-trade (1788); and a memoir on the conquest of Rio de Janeiro by Duguay-Trouin in 1711.


AZEVEDO, Ignacius, Portuguese Jesuit, b. in Oporto in 1527 ; killed at sea in 1570. He was the eldest son of one of the noblest houses in Portugal, but relinquished his rights of primogeniture in favor of his brother Francis, and entered the society of the Jesuits at Coimbra in 1548. Here his abstinences and mortifications were so excessive that his; superiors had to compel him to moderate them. Before he was twenty years old he was appointed rector of the new college of St. Antony at Lisbon. Being wearied with the honors paid him and the marks of veneration that he attracted, he asked to be sent on a mission to the Indians; he embarked for Brazil, and he remained there three years. His labors in civilizing the savages were very successful. Being recalled by his superiors, he returned to Lisbon, 'but had hardly reached the city when he planned another voyage to America. He went to Rome to give an account of his journey, obtained the approval of the pope for his new projects, and received permission to select suitable companions in Spain and Portugal. A large number of young Jesuits agreed to follow him to Brazil, and he embarked with thirty-nine of them on board a merchant vessel at Lisbon, leaving the others to follow. The Portuguese vessel was attacked near the island of Palma by Jacques Sourie, of La Rochelle, vice-admiral of the queen of Navarre, and a fierce Calvinist. The Portuguese captain, not thinking his crew sufficient for the defence of the ship, wanted to arm the Jesuits, but was opposed by Azevedo, who exhorted the sailors, however, to fight, and ordered his followers to attend to the other needs of the ship, which was now surrounded by the boats of Sourie. Three Frenchmen attempt- ed to board the Portuguese vessel, but, not being seconded by their companions, they were taken by the Portuguese, decapitated, and thrown into the sea. Sourie, rendered furious by this, attacked the vessel with greater violence than ever, and the captain and several of the sailors were killed, and the rest surrendered. Sourie, who regarded Azevedo and his Jesuits as the authors of the death of his three sailors, massacred them with every circumstance of cruelty, and threw them into the sea.


AZPILCUETA, Juan (ath-peel-que-tah). Spanish missionary, b. in Navarre in 1515. He was a member of both the families to which Loyola and Xavier belonged, and became a Jesuit in 1544. He was sent to Brazil, where, after learning the language of the Indians, he surpassed all other missionaries in effecting conversions. He wrote prayers and religious songs in that language, made important geographical discoveries in Brazil, and accompanied the first expedition to the Minas territory.