Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/396

372 lution was a royalist writer in the public papers, for which reason he was banished in 1792. In 1797 he returned to Prance, but was exiled again, and was not allowed to return till 1799. In 1801 he was appointed secretary to Gen. Leclerc, brother- in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte, whom he accom- panied in his expedition to Santo Domingo, and re- mained there after Leclerc's death. On his return to Paris he was appointed censor of the tiieatres and libraries, afterward chief of a department in the ministry of police, and in 1810 he became a member of the Academy of sciences. He published a didactic poem of eight cantos, " La Navigation," containing exact descriptions of the scenery of tropical seas and the landscapes of Santo Domingo (Paris, 1805) ; and also wrote the text for the opera of " Trajanus," by Lesueur (1807), and that of " Iler- nan Cortes," by Spontini (1809). A satire against the Russian emperor, Alexander I. (1811), caused his banishment to Italy, but he was recalled after three months, and was killed while returning.

ESPADA Y LANDA, Juan J. Diàz de (es-pah - dah), Cuban bishop, b. in Alava, Spain, 20 April, 1756 ; d. in Havana, 13 Aug., 1832. lie studied at the University of Salamanca, where he received sacred orders. He was appointed bishop of Havana in January, 1800, but did not assume his office till 26 Feb., 1802. During thirty years Bishop Espada contributed actively toward the progress and wel- fare of the island. In 1804 he caused a vast public cemetery to be laid out in Havana, the first one ever established in the island, and it was subsequently named after him. In 1804-'6 other cities and towns of Cuba were also provided with cemeteries, abol- ishing forever the old and unhealthy custom of burying in the churches or near them. During the first decade of the century Bishop Espada encour- aged vaccination, which had been introduced in the island in 1801, endowed many public schools out of his own revenues, founded in 1827 an asylum for the insane, and paid much attention to the improve- ment of the morals of the clergy. He was inde- fatigable in his efforts to promote public instruction, and introduced many useful reforms in the Theo- logical seminary of San Carlos, and in the Univer- sity of Havana, where he created several new cathedras. In 1833 a memorial of Bishop Espada was published, to which the best writers of Cuba contributed. In 1880 his remains were transferred, with great pomp and solemnity, from their old resting-place to the new cemetery near Havana, where a fine monument has been erected to his memory. A street in Havana bears his name.

ESPADERO, Nicolas Ruiz (es-pah-day'-ro), Cuban musical composer, b. in Havana, Cuba, in 1833. He was a friend of Gottschalk and of Fon- tana, and acquired a remarkable mastery of the piano. Gottschalk says of Espadero : " He has written with such a freshness of melody, an ele- gance of harmony, a sonority and knowledge of the piano, that a prominent place is insured for him among the multitude of modern composers." In 1876 Espadero was commissioned to collect and classify the unpublished works of Gottschalk. Among his principal productions are "La chute des feuilles," " La Plainte du Poete," " Sur la tombe de Gottschalk," " Chant de I'ame," " Ossian," " La plainte de I'esclave," " Grand Senate," " Ave Maria," besides many barcarolles, nocturnes, and songs. See " Biographie universelle des musi- ciens " (Paris. 1881).

ESPARTERO, Baldomero (es-par-tay'-ro), Spanish soldier, b. in Granatula. Ciudad Real, 27 Oct., 1793; d. in Logrono, Spain, 8 Jan., 1879. He was the son of a peasant, and destined for the church ; enlisted as a soldier in 1809, and took part against the French in the battle of Ocana on 19 Nov. of that year. Afterward he entered the military academy of Isla de Leon, where he was graduated, 12 Jan., 1812, as ensign of engineers, but, failing to pass subsequent examinations, was transferred to the infantry, and took part in the blockade of Tortosa in 1813. In Feb- ruary, 1815, Es- partero sailed from Spain, as lieutenant of the regiment of Estremadu- ra, in the expe- dition against Colombia un- der Gen. Pablo Murillo. He was ordered to Peru, promoted captain in Jan- uary, 1816, and afterward, in command of a company of sappers, took an active part in numeroxis encounters with the guerilla chiefs of the insurgents. He participated in the expedition of the Laguna and the defence of Chuquisaca, 10 and 11 Feb., 1816, and on 1 Aug., 1817, was promoted major. In 1820, while in temporary command of his battalion, at Oruro, he succeeded, by prompt action and personal valor, in quelling a revolt, and thus prevented this important town, with a large deposit of ammunition and arms, from falling into the hands of the republicans. For his behavior on this occasion he was promoted lieu- tenant-colonel of his battalion, 20 Feb., 1821. He was bre'vetted colonel, 23 May, 1822. and toward the latter part of the year joined the division of Gen. Valdes, operating in the southern coast-districts against the insurgents under Gen. Alvarado. On 19 Jan., when at the head of his battalion, he was the first to take possession, under the enemy's fire, of the heights of Valdivia, where the bloody battle of Torata was fought. Here Espartero, although re- peatedly wounded, sustained himself against supe- rior forces with great bravery. On 21 Jan., notwith- standing his wounds received at Torata, he took an active part with his battalion in the operations of Valde's brigade against the enemy's right wing at Moquegua, and on 1 Feb. was promoted by the vice- roy to the full rank of colonel. H"e afterward took part in Valdes's campaign against the northern provinces, and also in the unlucky battle of Zepita, 20 Aug., 1823. In September, Espartero was pro- moted to brigadier-general, and soon afterward commissioned by the viceroy, La Serna, to go to Salta for a conference with the Argentine general, Las Heras, respecting an armistice proposed by the Spanish government. On his return, at the end of January, 1824, he was sent to upper Peru t(t suppress the revolt of Gen. Pedro Olafieta. and on 5 June sailed for Spain, to explain and justify La Serna's conduct in making rapid promotions, which had been the cause of Olaiieta's disaffection. He had a long audience with Ferdinand VII., and was so skilful in his representations that all the acts of La Serna were approved, and Espartero himself ap- pointed chief of the general staff of the army of Peru. He arrived in the poi-t of Quilca, 4 May, 1825, after the overthrow of the Spanish dominion