Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/685

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PAREDES
PAREDES Y ARRILLAGA

the exchequer, which had been mismanaged. Dur- insT the yellow-fever epidemic in Lima in 18()7 Pardo was appointed president of the Charitable society, and by his efforts and fearless self-exposure contributed to check the disease. He was elected in 1868 presi- dent of the tribunal of commerce, and in 1869 mayor of Lima, and in 1872, by acclamation, became the candidate of tlie Liberal party for president. He was elected by a large ma- jority of the popular vote, but, when the two houses of congress met to canvass the vote, the minister of war of the administration of Jose Balta {q. v.), Tomas Gu- tierrez, who had vain- ly tried to induce the president to annul the

election and effect a

coup d'etat, imprisoned Balta, dissolved congress, and declared himself dictator. Pardo, with others, fled to the foreign legations, but, after the dictator was killed by the populace, he returned and was installed on 2 Aug. as the first civilian president of Peru. He was a man of literary attainments and enlightened views, and during his administration the country, which he found on the verge of finan- cial ruin, obtained an unwonted degree of prosper- ity. He curtailed the expenditures in every branch, reduced the army, promoted the exploration of navigable streams leading to the Amazon, and fos- tered literature. In 1873 he decreed that the great work of the naturalist and geographer, Antonio Raimondi, should be published at the expense of the government. In the same year, in an interview with President Ballivian, of Bolivia, he arranged a treaty between the two republics, guaranteeing the integrity of their respective territories, and in his efforts to alleviate the financial difficulties of the country he promulgated a decree making the ni- trate deposits of Tarapaca a government monop- oly. This proved ineffective, and it was followed in 1875 by another law, authorizing the state to buy all the nitrate-works. In 1874 Nicolas de Pierola {q. v.) rose in arms in the department of Moquegua and occupied a strong position at tlie famous " Cuesta de los Angeles," but Pardo sent forces against him, and soon the revolution was quelled. Pardo's administration will be long re- membered, and he was the best president that Peru has known. When his term of office came to an end, 2 Aug., 1876, he was peacefully succeeded by Gen. Mariano Prado. Pardo was elected after- ward to the senate, in which he continued as the leader of the popular or civilian party, and had be- come president of that body when, on entering the hall of congress, he was assassinated by a sergeant of the Lima garrison, probably at the instigation of the military party, who feared his preponder- ance. His death was considered a national calam- ity. Two generals and the wife of Pierola were arrested for complicity in the crime, but subse- quently released for want of evidence.


PAREDES, Ignacio (pah-ray'-des), Mexican clergyman, b. in San Juan de los Llanos, 20 Feb., 1703 ; d. about 1770. He became a Jesuit, made a thorough study of the Mexican language, and pub- lished " Catecismo del padre Ripalda y arreglado en el idioma Mexicano y aiiadido" (Mexico, 1758) and " Prontuario manual Mexicano," which is writ- ten in iMcxican and is very rare (1759).


PAREDES, Jose Gregorio, Peruvian scientist, b. in Lima in 1779: d. there, 16 Dec, 1839. He studied in the convent of Buenamuerte under Rev. Francisco Romero, and was graduated at the Univer- sity of San Marcos in 1803. He was appointed professor of geometry in 1803, and was made ex- aminer of the medical board, holding this office from 1807 till 1813, and that of librarian of the university from 1807 till 1821. On 10 Jan., 1809, he established with fifty scholars the class of mathe- matics in the College of San Fernando. In 1810 he was elected a member of the board of barristers, and in the same year he was appointed by the vice- roy Abascal editor of the "Gaceta Oficial." In 1814 he was appointed professor of mathematics in the University of San Marcos, where he introduced the study of astronomy applied to geography and hydrography, and was chosen in the same year cos- mographer, in charge of the yearly nautical alma- nacs. He visited Chili and wrote about the climate and diseases of that country. When independence was finally declared, Paredes, who had favored the patriot cause, wrote political articles in the paper " El Nuevo Sol de Peru." Pie was afterward comp- troller-general, minister to London, deputy to con- gress, and secretary of the treasury. He wrote " Modo de hallar por tres observaciones los ele- mentos de la orbita de un cometa" (Lima, 1814); " Tratado de Geometria y Trigonometria " (1830) ; and "Tratado de Aritmetica y Algebra" (1838).


PAREDES Y ARRILLAGA, Mariano, Mexican soldier, b. in the city of Mexico in 1797; d. there in September, 1849. He became a cadet in the Spanish service, 6 Jan., 1812, and had become a captain when, in March, 1821, he adhered to the Plan de Iguala, and participated in the encounters that preceded the occupation of Mexico by the patriot army. In Puebla he pronounced against Iturbide, 11 Feb., 1823, was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and served afterward on the northwest coast. In 1835 he commanded a brigade under Santa- Anna against the revolution of Zacatecas, and he continued to serve the Centralist party, taking part in the campaign of Morelia in 1841, for which he was promoted major-general and military commander of Jalisco. In August he pronounced against the government, together with Santa-Anna and Bravo, but after the establishment of a military dictatorship under the former, being slighted by the administration, which he thought owed its existence to him, he began to plot against it. He was several times arrested, and at last, to put him out of the way, he was sent to pacify Sonora, but on 1 Nov., 1844, he pronounced against the government with his army at Guadalajara. Paredes was successful in overthrowing Santa-Anna, but, lacking the necessary talent for governing, was again passed over in the choice of an executive, and Gen. Jose J. Herrera {q. v.) was appointed. At the beginning of difficulties with the United States, Paredes was appointed commander of the Army of the North, but on his march to the seat of war he headed a rebellion at San Luis Potosi, 14 Dec, 1845, and at last, on 2 Jan., 1846, was elected provisional president. His administration was short and remarkable for not taking any measure to repel the American invasion, even after the defeats of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma on 8 and 9 May. Discontent followed, and there were insurrections everywhere, and when Paredes, on 29 July, obtained permission to march to the interior to pacify the state of Jalisco, the revolt of the Ciudadela oc-