Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/157

Rh ment he served in Germany in 1758, was made lieutenant-colonel of the 104th regiment in 1761, and in 1775-'83 was governor of East Florida. On 1 Jan., 1798, he became general.

TOOKE, John Home, English politician, b. in Westminster, England, 25 June, 1736 ; d. in Wim- bledon, England, 18 March, 1812. He changed his name from Home to take an estate that was be- queathed him by William Tooke in 1782. He was a minister of the established church, a follower of John Wilkes, and in 1768 a founder of the Society for the support of the bill of rights. He bitterly opposed the coercion of the American colonies, and, after the battles of Lexington and Concord, adver- tised for a subscription for " the widows and or- phans of the American soldiers who were murdered by the king's troops." The ministry prosecuted him for libel, and he was tried at Guilford hall in July, 1777. He conducted his own defence, that he might personally attack the government, and was condemned to one year's imprisonment, and to pay a fine of £200. While in jail he published his cele- brated " Letter to Mr. Dunning," in which he criti- cally explained the case of the King vs. Lawley, which had been used as a precedent against him- self on his trial. He served in parliament in 1801-'2, and was an important factor in the Liberal party. His numerous publications are included in " Me- moirs of John Home Tooke, together with his valu- able Speeches and Writings, by John A. Graham (New York, 1828). See " Memoirs of John Home Tooke, with Original Documents," by Alexander Stephens (2 vols., 1813).

TOOMBS, Robert, senator, b. in Wilkes county, Ga., 2 July, 1810 ; d. in Washington, Ga., 15 Dec., 1885. He studied at the University of Georgia, was graduated at Union college in 1828, attended lectures in the law department of the University of Vir- ginia the next year, and in 1830, by a special act of the legislature, was ad- mitted to the bar before he had at- tained his majority. He then settled in his native county, subsequently attain- ingareputationsuch as few lawyers ever enjoyed in the state. When the war with the Creek Indians began in 1836 he raised a company of volunteers, led them as their captain, and served under Gen. Winfield Scott until the close of hostilities. He was in the legislature in 1837-40, and in 1842-'3 took an ac- tive part in politics, and was a leader of the so-called " State-rights Whigs." He supported William H. Harrison for the presidency in 1840, and Henry Clay in 1844, and in the latter year was chosen to congress as a Southern Whig. His first speech in the house of representatives was on the Oregon question, and placed him among the first debaters and orators in that body. He was active in the compromise measures in 1850, and greatly con- tributed to their passage. After eight years' ser- vice in the house he took his seat in the U. S. senate in March, 1853, holding office by re-election till 1861. As a senator he was intolerant, dogmatic, and extreme, but able and eloquent. He believed in the absolute sovereignty of the states, and that it was a necessity for the south both to maintain and extend slavery. He advocated disunion with all the force of his oratory, and after the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency made a series of speeches in Georgia in which he asserted that the north would no longer respect the constitu- tional rights of the south, and that secession was the only remedy. When the State convention met in 1861, he was mainly instrumental in securing the majority of votes on the resolution to secede. He resigned his seat in the U. S. senate in January, 1861, and in March was formally expelled from that body. He was a member of the Confederate con- gress at its first session, and but for a misunder- standing might have been chosen president of the Confederacy. After the election of Jefferson Davis he became secretary of state, but resigned in a few weeks to take the commission of brigadier-general in the army. He fought at the second battle of Bull Run and at the Antietam, but resigned and returned to Georgia. In 1864 he commanded the militia, of which he was brigadier-general. After the war he eluded arrest as a political prisoner, and passed two years in Cuba, France, and England, but returned on the restoration in 1867 of the privi- lege of habeas corpus, resumed practice, and ac- cumulated an estate that was estimated at about % 500,000. As he refused to take the oath of alle- giance to the U. S. government, he was debarred from all the rights and privileges of citizenship. He was a member of the Georgia Democratic state convention in 1872, and advocated Horace Greeley as a candidate for the presidency. In 1874 he began the railroad war, to which he devoted his energies until his death. The legislature of that year had passed a law taxing railroads as all other property was taxed. The railroads resisted, and Gen. Toombs, in behalf of the state, took the mat- ter into court, established the principle that they should pay the same taxes as other property, and collected $300,000, including some arrears of taxes. In the State convention of 1877 he introduced a resolution providing for the appointment of three commissioners who should have the power to over- see the business of the roads, to make and unmake rates, and to order improvements. In accordance with this provision, the next legislature adopted what is known as the commission railroad law. He continued his hostility to the United States govern- ment until his death.

TOPETE, Juan Bautista (to-pay'-tay), Spanish naval officer, b. in Tlacotalpan, Mexico, 24 May, 1821. His parents retired to Spain after the country had won its independence, and he entered the Spanish navy as a midshipman. In 1865 he was post-captain, commanding one of the ships of the Spanish fleet in the Pacific, and after the suicide of Admiral Jose de Pareja, when Admiral Mendez Nufiez assumed command, Topete became second commander of the expedition with the rank of commodore, and participated in the bombardment of Valparaiso, 31 March, 1866, and in the attack on Callao, 2 May, 1866, where he was dangerously wounded. When Admiral Nunez sailed in the "Numancia" on a voyage round the world, Topete assumed command of the rest of the fleet, which he brought back to Spain in 1867. He was promoted rear-admiral and commander of the iron-clad squadron at Cadiz, and pronounced against the government, 17 Sept., 1868, with Gen. Prim, who arrived on board the fleet on 19 Sept. He became a member of the provisional government as secretary of the navy on 8 Oct., and was later returned to the constituent cortes by the city of