Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/181

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SOULS SOULT 173 other districts in Maine and Massachusetts, he was elected in 1810 book agent and editor of the "Methodist Magazine." In 1820 he was stationed in the city of Few York; in 1821 he was preacher in charge of the station in that city, and in 1822-'3 of the Baltimore city station. In 1824 he was elected bishop. He was delegate from the general conference to the British "Wesleyan Methodist conference in 1842; and afterward he travelled extensively in the British islands and in France. On the division of the church, Bishop Soule adhered to the southern portion, and removed from Lebanon, O., to Nashville, Tenn. In 1853-'4 he made an episcopal tour in California. SOULE, Pierre, an American statesman, born in Castillon, France, in 1801, died in New Or- leans, March 16, 1870. He studied in the Jesu- its' college at Toulouse, was implicated in a plot against the Bourbons, fled to a village in Navarre, and became a shepherd. He was afterward an advocate in Paris, and for an at- tack upon the ministry in the Nain newspaper he was fined 10,000 francs and sentenced to prison. He escaped to England, and in 1825 emigrated to New Orleans, where he rose to eminence at the bar. In 1847 he was elected United States senator from Louisiana to fill a vacancy, and in 1849 was reflected for a full term. In 1853 he was appointed minister to Spain, where he fought a duel with M. Turgot, the French ambassador, and wounded him. He participated in the Ostend conference in 1854 (see BUCHANAN, JAMES), and came home in 1855. In 1861 he visited Europe as diplo- matic agent of the confederate government, and in 1862 was arrested in New Orleans by Gen. Butler, and imprisoned, but was released on condition of leaving the country. He re- turned to New Orleans shortly before his death. SOI UK, Melchior Frederic, a French novelist, born at Foix, Dec. 23, 1800, died at Bievre, near Paris, Sept. 23, 1847. He was expelled from the law school in Paris on account of his radicalism, and after publishing in 1824 Amours francais, an unsuccessful volume of poems, he supported himself as the foreman of an uphol- sterer till 1828, when his drama Romeo et Ju- liette proved successful at the Odeon. Most of his subsequent pieces failed, excepting Glotilde in 1832. He achieved greater celebrity as a novelist, especially by Diane et Louise (1836), which he dramatized under several titles. He published more than 150 volumes of novels, in- cluding Le mattre d'ecole (1839), Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait (1842), and his Me- moires du diable (1844), which had a prodi- gious circulation. His monument in Pere La- chaise was unveiled Feb. 20, 1875. SOULOUQUE, Fanstin, a Haytian emperor under le title of Faustin I., born in the district of 'etit Goave, in the southern peninsula of Hayti, ">out 1785, died there in July, 1867. He was )rn a slave, but became free by the decree 1790, took part in the negro insurrection st the French in 1803, served as captain under President Boyer in 1820, as colonel un- der H6rard in 1844, as brigadier general under Guerrier in 1845, and was commander of a division at the time of the death of Riche in February, 1847. While the generals Souffran and Paul were disputing and plotting for the succession, the senate unexpectedly elected Sou- louque to the presidency, March 1, 1847. He belonged to the party of the mulattoes, but, jealous of their power, he began to attach the blacks to his interest, and to pursue a system of terror toward the citizens, whom he deci- mated in 1848 by confiscations, proscriptions, and executions. Like his predecessors he vain- ly sought to subjugate the republic of Do- minica. In 1849 he caused the restoration of monarchy, ostensibly by the will of the people and the action of the chambers, was almost unanimously chosen emperor (Aug. 26), as- sumed the title of Faustin I., surrounded him- self with a numerous court, founded a military and civil order and an order of nobility, and issued a constitution, reserving to himself the right at any juncture to rule as he pleased. He was crowned in 1850, and a second time, with greater pomp, on April 18, 1852. In 1855 he repeated his attempt to conquer the neighbor- ing republic, and took the field with a consid- erable army, but was so completely defeated by a few hundred Dominicans under Santana that he barely escaped capture, and his trea- sure and throne fell into the hands of the ene- my. A campaign in the following year also terminated in his defeat. A commercial crisis in 1858 increased the general discontent, and Gen. Geffrard led a revolt, and was recognized as president of the republic of Hayti. Sou- louque was, however, allowed to depart (Jan. 15, 1859) with his wife and child for Jamaica. After the fall of Geffrard in 1867, he returned to Hayti. SOULT, Nicolas Jean de Dieu, duke of Dalmatia, a French soldier, born at St. Amans-la-Bastide, Guienne, March 29, 1769, died there, Nov. 26, 1851. He enlisted in 1785, became a captain in 1793, and reached in one year the rank of brigadier general after the battle of Fleurus (June 26, 1794). In 1799 he was made general of division by Massena, with whom he distin- guished himself at the battle of Zurich, Sept. 25, which saved France from invasion, and at the siege of Genoa, during which he was sur- rounded and captured by the Austrians, May 15, 1800, but was speedily exchanged, after the battle of Marengo. In 1804 Napoleon made him a marshal. In 1805 he increased his repu- tation at the head of the fourth corps in Ger- many, especially at Austerlitz, Dec. 2, where Napoleon declared him to be the first strate- gist of Europe. In 1806-'7 he won additional fame in the. campaign against Prussia, and final- ly occupied Konigsberg (June 16, 1807), and after the treaty of Tilsit he was made governor of Berlin and duke of Dalmatia. Next appoint- ed commander of the second corps in Spain, he nearly annihilated the Spanish army at Burgos,