Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/289

Rh intelligence was brought to the pope that he was an adherent of the doctrines of Jansenius. He was at once ordered to return to Rome; but, instead of doing so, he went to Utrecht and was one of the principal agents in founding the Jansenist church of that city. He consecrated four archbishops of the Jansenist church in succession, and was several times excommunicated by the pope.

VARNHAGEN, Francisco Adolpho de, Brazilian historian, b. in San João de Ypanema in 1816. He acquired his primary education in Rio Janeiro and went to Portugal to study in the University of Coimbra. When the ex-emperor of Brazil, Pedro I., was trying to re-establish the government of his daughter, Maria da Gloria, in 1834, Varnhagen enlisted in the constitutional army, and afterward re-entered college and completed his career as a military engineer in 1840, when he devoted himself to poetry and literature. He was appointed secretary of legation in Madrid, with the commission to revise the documents in the government archives concerning the boundaries of the empire of Brazil. In 1859 he returned to South America and was appointed minister-resident to the republic of Paraguay; but, on account of the despotic government of the dictator Lopez, he resigned his post and was commissioned to travel through Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, and the Antilles, and report on the agricultural progress of those countries. He executed this commission satisfactorily, presenting reports on coffee, sugar, and tobacco. Soon afterward, as minister of Brazil to Chili and Peru, he protested against the hostile attitude of the Spanish government toward the republics of the Pacific. While in Lima he began to investigate documents about Amerigo Vespucci, among which there is a letter from Peter Martyr to Columbus, in which he says that the Bay of Honduras had been visited before by others, thereby confirming Oviedo's assertion in his &ldquo;Historia de las Indias.&rdquo; He was sent to Vienna in 1868 as minister-resident, promoted plenipotentiary in 1871, and created in 1874 Viscount of Porto Seguro and member of the imperial council, continuing in Vienna till 1878, when he returned to Brazil. He writes equally well in French, German, and Italian as in his own language, and is the author of &ldquo;Noticias do Brazil,&rdquo; printed by the Royal academy of science of Lisbon (1852); &ldquo;Trovas e Cantares&rdquo; (Lisbon, 1853); &ldquo;Historia geral do Brazil,&rdquo; to the revolution against Portugal (2 vols., 1854-'8); &ldquo;Os Indios bravos e o Sr. Lisboa&rdquo; (Lima, 1867); &ldquo;Le premier voyage de Amerigo Vespucci, définitivement expliqué dans ses détails&rdquo; (Vienna, 1869); &ldquo;Das wahre Guanahani des Columbus&rdquo; (1869); &ldquo;Sull' importanza d'un manoscritto inedito della Biblioteca imperiale di Vienna per verificare, quale fu la prima isola scoperta del Colombo, ed anche altri punti della Storia della America&rdquo; (1869); &ldquo;Nouvelles Recherches sur les derniers voyages du navigateur Florentin, et le reste des documents et éclaircissements sur lui, avec les textes dans les langues originelles,&rdquo; with a facsimile of Ptolemy's chart of 1513 (1871); and &ldquo;L'origine Touranienne des Américains Tupis-Caribes, et des anciens Egyptiens, indiquée principalement par la philologie comparée; traces d'une ancienne migration en Amérique, invasion du Brésil par les Tupis, etc.&rdquo; (1876).

VARNUM, James Mitchel, soldier, b. in Dracut, Mass., 17 Dec., 1748; d. in Marietta, Ohio, 10 Jan., 1789. His great-grandfather came to Massachusetts about 1634. James was graduated at Brown in 1769, admitted to the bar in 1771, and settled in East Greenwich, R. I., where he practised

his profession. In 1774 he became colonel of the Kentish guards, and at the beginning of the Revolutionary war he was commissioned as colonel of the 1st Rhode Island infantry, 8 May, 1775, and was present with his regiment at the shelling of Roxbury, Mass., the siege of Boston, the action at Harlem Heights, and the battle of White Plains. He was specially recommended for retention in the army on its rearrangement for the war, was appointed brigadier-general of Rhode Island troops, 12 Dec., 1776, and to the same rank in the Continental army, 13 Feb., 1777, and took part with his brigade in numerous engagements, including that at Red Bank, where he commanded all the American troops on the Jersey side of the Delaware. He rendered valuable services in the defence of the forts on the Delaware, was at Valley Forge in the winter of 1778, and afterward took an active part at the battle of Rhode Island. In 1778 he advocated the raising of a battalion of negroes in Rhode Island, and at his instance the legislature passed an act offering freedom to all slaves that should enlist in the army. He resigned his commission and was honorably discharged, 5 March, 1779, and resumed the practice of his profession at East Greenwich, where he speedily attained the first rank as a lawyer, took part in most of the chief cases in Rhode Island, and was recognized as a polished and eloquent orator. He was major-general of the Rhode Island militia from 1779 till 1788, and in that capacity was in the service of the United States in July and August, 1780, under the Comte de Rochambeau. He was a member of the Continental congress from Rhode Island in 1780-'2 and 1786-'7, and was there recognized by his colleagues as &ldquo;a man of uncommon talents and most brilliant eloquence.&rdquo; In October, 1787, he was appointed by congress one of the judges of the Northwest territory, and removed to Marietta, Ohio, in June, 1788. He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and second president of the Rhode Island society of that order. &mdash; His brother, Joseph Bradley, senator, b. in Dracutt, Mass., 29 Jan., 1750; d. there, 21 Sept., 1821, at the age of eighteen was commissioned captain by the committee of the colony of Massachusetts bay, and in 1787 colonel by the commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was made brigadier-general in 1802, and in 1805 major-general of the state militia, holding the latter office at his death in 1821. From 1780 till 1795 he was a member of the house of representatives and senate of Massachusetts, and in 1787 and 1795 he served as a member of the governor's council. From 1795 till 1811 he was a member of the National house of representatives, during which time he was chosen speaker two terms, from 1807 till 1811, being the immediate predecessor of Henry Clay. From 1811 till 1817 he was U. S. senator from Massachusetts, being elected in opposition to Timothy Pickering,