Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/300

264 cated him for the same profession, but he became a prosperous merchant and the partner of his brother Jasper in London. In 17(53 he was in- trusted with the representation of the interests of Massachusetts, of which Jasper Mauduit was the nominal agent. He became collector at Southamp- ton in 1765, and wrote several pamphlets in behalf of Massachusetts and of the New England colonies during the ten years of negotiations before the Revolution. His publications are " Considerations sur la guerre presente d'Allemagne" (London, 1760); "Memoires sur les finances et le commerce d'Angleterre," translated from the English of George Grenville (1769); a "Short View of the History of the New England Colonies" (1769); a "Short View of the History of Massachusetts Bay " (2d ed., 1774); "The Case of the Dissenting Minis- ters" (1774); and pamphlets in reference to the American war, treating Lord Howe and Sir William Howe with severity for their conduct in Boston. — His brother, Jasper, wrote " Letter relative to a Reimbursement from Parliament for supporting French Neutrals from Nova Scotia" (1763) ; " Let- ter relative to the Duty laid on Foreign Molasses" (1763) ; and " Letter on Foreign Molasses, the keep- ing up Ten Thousand Troops in America, etc." (1764) — all of which are published in the first series of the Massachusetts historical societv's collections.

MAUDUIT DU PLESSIS, Thomas Antoine, Chevalier de (mo-dwee), French soldier, b. in Hen- nebon, Morbihan, Brittany, 13 Sept.. 1753 ; d. in Port au Prince, Hayti, in 1791. At the age of twelve he ran away from the artillery school at Grenoble, went to Marseilles, and, there shipping as a cabin-boy, visited Alexandria, Egypt, and other parts of the Orient. In Constantinople the French ambassador became interested in him and sent him back to his family, by whom he was re- ceived with joy. Accompanying Rochambeau to the United States in 1780, he served with credit at the battle of the Brandywine, and left the country with the rank of major. In 1787 he was ordered to Port au Prince, and placed in command of the regiment stationed there. When the revolution began in France he declared himself its bitter opponent, and took ground against the emanci- pation of the slaves. With the governor, Comte de Blanchelande, he refused to publish the decrees that were sent from France, disarmed the nation- al guard, and organized a body of royal volun- teers under the name of the " Pompons Blancs," which he recruited from among the youth of the wealthy colonial families. He also arrested the members of the colonial committee, dissolved the assembly of St. Marc, and provoked an insurrection by a policy of bloody repression. On 2 March, 1791, detachments of the Artois and Normandy regiments having arrived, the soldiers fraternized with the people, and proved to the colonial troops that their colonel had deceived them by means of false orders which he pi'etended came from the home government. So general was the indigna- tion that was aroused by the discovery of this treachery, that an uprising took place, during which Mauduit was assassinated by his own men. He published "Relation d'un voyage aux Echelles du Levant" (Paris, 1785); and left unfinished a history of French dominion in Santo Domingo, which is deposited in the National library in Paris. See "Eloge historique du Chevalier Mauduit du Plessis," bv De la Fosse de Rouville (Senlis, 1818).

MAUREPAS, Jean Frederic Phelypeaux, Comte de (more-pah), French statesman, b. in Versailles, France, 9 July, 1701 ; d. there, 21 Nov.. 1781. He was the grandson of the chancellor Pontchartrain and son of Jerome de Pontchartrain, minister of marine and of the king's household, and, although only fourteen at the time of his father's forced resignation in 1715, was appointed the latter's successor on 8 Nov., 1715, but he did not administer the duties of office until 1718, when the regent gave him letters-patent. He became minister of state in 1738, but was removed in 1749 for writing an epigram on Mme. de Pompadour. He was recalled in 1774 and made president of the council, and, re- storing the exiled parliaments, called Turgot and Necker successively into the ministry. When Lafay- ette was soliciting troops and supplies for America, his importunity was such that Count Maurepas said one day : " It is fortunate for the king that Lafay- ette does not take it into his head to strip Versailles of its furniture to send to his dear Americans, as his majesty^would be unable to refuse it." See Con- dorcefs " Eloge de M. de Maurepas" (Paris, 1782); " Eloge historique de M. de Maurepas," by A. J, Guyot (1782) ; and " Memoires du Comte de Maure- pas," by N. N. de Salle (3 vols., 1792).

MAURVILLE, Louis Charles Joseph, Count Bide de (more-veal), French naval officer, b. in Rochefort, 17 Nov., 1752; d. in Paris, 11 March, 1840. He became midshipman in 1764, and served for several years in Newfoundland, Louisiana, and the West Indies, being appointed to command the cutter "Le Chasseur," which became famous for its captures of English vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. He served also under Admirals de Guichen and La Motte-Picquet, sustaining with his cutter off Santo Domingo, on 26 April, 1781, a battle against several English ships. Again, on 17 Jan., 1783, he drove an English frigate from the harbor of Porto Rico, and joining the Marquis of Vaud- reuil took the command of the vanguard of the latters squadron. He continued to serve in the West Indies, and in 1783 joined the fleet of Count de ^oulanges, which had several encounters with the English, participating altogether in seventeen naval battles during the war of 1778-83. He was made a knight of St. Louis at the conclusion of peace in 1783. and became a commander in 1792, but emigrated to England a few weeks later, re- turning to France in 1802. He re-entered the navy in 1816 as rear-admiral, and commanded the sta- tions of the West Indies, but retired in 1830.

MAURY, John Minor, naval officer, b. near Fredericksburg, Va., in 1795 ; d. at sea, near Norfolk. Va., 23 June, 1823. He was the son of Richard Maury, of Huguenot descent, who emigrated to Franklin. Tenn., in 1810. He was appointed midshipman on 16 Jan., 1809, served on the U. S. frigate " Essex " and on the " Essex, Jr.," and became 1st lieutenant on 28 June, 1811. At the age of twenty-seven he was fiag-eaptain of Com. David Porter's fleet, which destroyed the pirates of the West Indies. He died of yellow fever on his return voyage from that service, and was the youngest officer of his rank at that time in the na^. — His brother. Matthew Fontaine, scientist, b. in Spottsylvania county, Va., 14 Jan., 1806; d. in Lexington, Va., 1 Feb., 1873. In his sixteenth year young Maury entered Harpeth academy, then under the charge of Rev. James H. Otey, afterward bishop of Tennessee. On 1 Feb., 1825, he was appointed midshipman in the U. S. navy, making his first cruise in the frigate " Brandywine," on the coast of Europe and in the Mediterranean. In 1826 the "Brandywine" returned to the United States, and Maury was transferred to the sloop-of-war " Vincennes," for a cruise around the world. After the expiration of the cruise he passed with credit the usual examination, and in 1831 was ap-