Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/508

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476
BUSTAMANTE
BUTLER

San Luis regiment of militia, composed of the sons of the wealthy. He served in all the campaigns in which Calleja commanded till 1819, gaining dis- tinction especially in the battles of Aculco, Guana- juato, and Calderon, and at the siege of Cuautla in 1812, and rising to the rank of colonel. In 1820, having gained the confidence of Iturbide, he was made chief commander of the cavalry, and in 1821 member of the provisional junta. He was shortly afterward raised to the rank of field-marshal by the regency, and appointed captain-general of the eastern and western provinces of the interior. In April, 1822, he gained a signal victory over the re- maining Spanish forces near Juchi. After the death of the Emperor Iturbide, having taken sides with the federal party, he was by the government of Victoria appointed anew military governor of the provinces of the interior, with the rank of gen- eral of division, then the highest in the Mexican army. In 1829 he headed the revolution, and pro- claimed the plan of Jalapa toward the end of the same year ; and the first day of the following year found him vice-president of the republic and exer- cising the supreme executive power. In 1832, a new revolution having taken place under Santa Anna, Bustamante resigned the presidency. In 1833 he was exiled and visited the principal coun- tries of Europe, but especially France, where he resided till 1836, when he was recalled by the gov- ei'nment after the fall of Santa Anna. He was re- elected president of the republic, and as such be- gan his functions on 19 April, 1837, his adminis- tration continuing until 22 Sept., 1841. He then set out anew for Europe, and remained there till 1845. The next year he was appointed president of the congress, the last important oiRce that he filled. The republic had been prosperous under his administration.


BUSTAMANTE, Carlos Maria, Mexican his- torian, b, in Oajaca, 4 Nov., 1774; d. 21 Sept., 1848. He was graduated as a lawyer in 1801, soon dis- tinguished himself in his profession, and the Span- ish government gave him an important office. He then served the revolutionary party during the war, both with pen and sword. His numerous works include " Cuadro Historico de la Revolucion de la America Mejicana," " Galeriade Antiguos Principes Mejicanos," " Cronicas Mejieanas," " Historia del Emperador D. Agustin de Iturbide," and " Historia de la Invasion de los Anglo- Americanos en Mejico."


BUSTAMANTE, Jose Maria, Mexican com- poser, b. in Toluca in March, 1777; d. in 1861. He received a scientific education, but his real vo- cation was music. He was chapel-master of the cathedral, as well as of many other churches of the city of Mexico, and left a large number of com- positions, mostly religious, in their music libraries. Bustamante also composed several special orches- trations for Italian operas.


BUSTAMANTE Y GUERRA, José, Spanish naval officer, b. in Santander in 1759; d. in Mad- rid in 1825. He made an important exploring voyage in 1780 to examine the coasts of Marianas and Philippine islands, Macao, New Guinea, New Hebrides, New Zealand, Peru, Patagonia, and the Mai dive islands. In 1796 he was appointed gov- ernor of Montevideo, and it was due to him that the English fleet failed to get possession of that port. While he was escorting a transport to Lima four British ships attacked his own, and he was wounded, made a prisoner, and taken to England with his flotilla. When he had recovered from his wounds he returned to Spain, where, after an in- quest, he was honorably acquitted. In 1810 he was appointed captain-general and president of Guatemala, and thence he returned to Madrid to be director of the navy and fill other high offices until his death.


BUSTEED, Richard, lawyer, b. in Cavan, Ireland, 16 Feb., 1822 ; d. in Porilham, N. Y., 14 Sept., 1898. His father was a Dublin barrister, and at one time held a colonel's commission in the British army. In 1829 the elder Busteed was appointed chief secretary of the island of St. Lucia, but his zeal in the cause of emancipation led to his re- moval from office, and, after returning to Ireland, he emigrated to London, Canada, where he estab- lished a paper called " The True Patriot." Richard began work on this paper as a type-setter, and afterward accompanied his father to Cincinnati, Ohio, to Hartford, Conn., and finally to New York, where he worked on the " Commercial Advertiser." At this time he was licensed as a local preacher in the Methodist church. After a visit to Ireland for his health in 1840, he began the study of law. and was admitted to the bar in 1846. His management of the defence in several celebrated extradition cases soon made his reputation, and he became a successful lawyer. In 1856 he was elected corpora- tion counsel of New York city, holding the office till 1859, and in the presidential campaign of 1860 he was a supporter of Douglas, and a bitter oppo- nent of Lincoln, but after the attack on Sumter he became a strong union man. On 7 Aug., 1862, he was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers by President Lincoln, and assigned to duty, first in New York and then in Washington. In December, 1862, he took command of a brigade at Yorktown, Va. Gen. Busteed's course in support of the ad- ministration, and on the slavery question, had raised against him many enemies, who determined to prevent his confirmation. The five colonels of his brigade sent a joint letter to the senate, testi- fying to the improvement in discipline made by their commands imder him. His name, however, was not sent to that body for confirmation, as on 10 March, 1863, he sent his resignation to the presi- dent. On 17 Sept., 1863, Gen. Busteed was ap- pointed by President Lincoln to be U. S. district judge for Alabama. He was unanimously con- firmed by the senate on 20 Jan., 1864, and in the autumn of 1865 he opened the court. He decided that the test-oath prescribed by congress was un- constitutional, so far as it applied to attorneys practising before U. S. courts, and this decision was followed by judges in other states, the supreme court afterward delivering a similar opinion. In November, 1865, Judge Busteed had a controversy with the U. S. military authorities in Alabama, which excited great interest, and involved impor- tant questions relating to the suspension of the habeas corpus act. In 1874 he resigned and re- sumed the practice of law in New York city.


BUTLER, Benjamin Franklin, lawyer, b. at Kinderhook Landing, N. Y., 17 Dec, 1795; d. in Paris, France, 8 Nov., 1858. He was a lineal descendant of Oliver Cromwell on his mother's side. His early years were spent in his father's store and in attending the district school. At the age of fourteen he was sent to the academy at Hudson, and soon afterward began the study of law with Martin Van Buren, then practising in that town. He accompanied Van Buren to Albany in 1816, and, on admission to the bar, in 1817, became his partner. He was appointed district attorney of Albany co. in 1821, and held the office till January, 1825. In the latter year he was named by the legislature one of three commissioners to revise the statutes of New York. Chancellor Kent says that "the plan and order of the work, the learning of