Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/331

Rh was a leader of the Union party during the nullification excitement. He published &ldquo;The Book of Nullification&rdquo; (1832-'3), satirizing the advocates of the doctrine in biblical style. In 1836 he was elected to the legislature, where he opposed the suspension of specie payments by the banks in 1839. He assisted the attorney-general in the prosecution of the principal case, which resulted in a decision that the banks had forfeited their charters. For nearly twenty years he was at the head of the finance committee in the lower house of the legislature, from which he retired in 1852. He was again returned in 1854, having become particularly interested in the reformation of the public-school system. In 1859 he was a commissioner from South Carolina to Virginia to secure co-operation against the movements of abolitionists. He was appointed secretary of the Confederate treasury in February, 1861, and resigned in June, 1864. After the civil war he lived in retirement.

MENA, Carlos de (may'-nah), Mexican linguist, b. in Valladolid, Yucatan, about 1560; d. in the convent of Mococha, 16 Jan., 1633. He studied in the Seminary of Merida and entered the order of San Francisco, becoming afterward guardian of the convent of Mococha, which post he occupied till his death. Mena contributed greatly to the knowl- edge of the Indian languages. He wrote " Ser- mons and Dissertations " in the Maya language, and Cogolludo, in his " Historia de Yucatan," says that Mena was among the great Indian linguists of the province. Ephraim G. Squier, in his " Monography of Authors " (London, 1861), also gives him a prominent place.

MENACHO, Juan Perez de (may-nah'-cho), Peruvian clergyman, b. in Lima in 1565 ; d. there, 20 Jan., 1626. lie studied in the University of Lima, was graduated in Latin and philosophy in 1582, and entered the Jesuit order. He was gradu- ated as doctor in theology at the University of San Marcos in 1601, and obtained the chair of theology, which he held during twenty-seven years, gaining a wide reputation. During the earthquake that occurred in Lima in 1609 he sufiiered a fall, the re- sults of which obliged him to keep his bed for six- teen years. During this long period, and not- withstanding his sufiierings, he wrote many of his works. These are now in the library at Lima, and include " Summa theologijB Saneti Thomas " (6 vols.) ; " TheologiEee moralis tractatus " (2 vols.) ; "Tractatus preeepti ecclesifee " ; " Privilejios de la Compahia de Jesus " (2 vols.) ; " Privilejios de los indios"; "El Decalogo " ; " Consciencia erronea " ; and " Vida, virtudes y revelaciones de Santa Rosa."

MENARD, Michel Brauamour, pioneer, b. in Lapraine, Lower Canada, 5 Dec, 1805 ; d. in Gal- veston, Tex., in 1856. He was of French parent- age, and at the age of sixteen was engaged in the northwest fur-trade in the employ of a company at Detroit. Two years afterward he went to Mis- souri at the request of his uncle, Bierra Menard, then lieutenant-governor and an extensive Indian trader, and for several years bargained for him among the Indians. Becoming attached to the In- dian mode of life, he determined to remain among them, and was elected chief by the Shawnees. He held this place for several years, and not only dur- ing that period but afterward had great influenee over that tribe and others among whom he was known. It is said that at one time he negotiated with the U. S. government for the removal of all the tribes of the northwestern Indians to Utah and California. Regarding this abortive scheme, Me- nard subsequently said that he almost succeeded in uniting all the Indian tribes into one great na- tion and being their king. He went to Texas about 1833, settled at Nacogdoches, and engaged in trading with the Mexicans and Indians. At the beginning of the revolution in Texas, the Mexicans endeavored to induce the Indians on the north- east frontier to overrun and desolate the country, which they doubtless would have attempted to do but for the exertions of Menard, who prevailed upon them to remain neutral. He was a member of the convention that declared the independence of Texas, of the congress of that republic in 1839, and was the author and promoter of its system of finance by the issue of exchequer bills. The first congress of Texas, in December, 1836, conveyed to Menard, for $50,000, a league of land, including most of the site of Galveston. At that time it was unoccupied by a single dwelling. Menard was practically the founder of the city, and closely identified with its progress till his death. A few days before that event, a brother of Tecuraseh, with several other Shawnees, visited him at Galveston, and begged him to return and be their chief. The Indians long cherished his name, and in speaking of him said: "Michelee never deceived us."

MENARD, Rene, French missionary, b. in Paris in 1604 ; d. near Lake Superior in August, 1661. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624, went to Montreal in 1640, and was the confessor of the Daileboust family in that city. He was sent soon afterward as a missionary to the Nipissings and other Algonquin tribes, and labored among them till the Iroquois subdued the Hurons, when he was stationed at Three Rivers. When a mission was begun among the Iroquois, he was sent among the Cayugas and Oneidas of central New York, where he labored with success in 1656-'60, al- though he was often subjected to personal vio- lence. After the suspension of the Iroquois mis- sions he was sent to the Ottawas on Lake Superior, and established the mission station of St. Therese on Keweenaw bay. In the summer of 1661, in re- sponse to the appeal of some fugitive Plurons on Black river, he set out to visit them, and perished in some unknown manner while on the journey. A county in Illinois is named for him.

MENDANA DE NEYRA, Alvaro (men-dan-yah-deh-nay'-rah), Spanish navigator, b. in Saragossa in 1541 ; d. in Santa Cruz, Solomon islands, 18 Oct., 1596. He emigrated in 1565 to Peru, where his uncle. Lope Garcia de Castro, was governor-general, and held various posts till 1567, when Garcia appointed him to the command of two ships, with which to make discoveries and conquests in the Pacific ocean. Sailing from Callao on 19 Nov., 1567, Mendafia after a long voyage discovered a group which he named the Solomon islands, and visited the principal ones. He returned to Callao in 1569, and published a marvellous relation of his discoveries, praising the Solomon group as a very rich country, but, owing to the wars in which Spain was involved, he could not obtain the necessary means for a second expedition. He then married a wealthy Peruvian lady, Isabel Barreto, and in 1594 Philip II. commissioned him governor of the island of San Cristobal in the group that he had discovered, and gave orders to found a colony there. Mendana left Callao on 11 April, 1595, with four vessels and 280 soldiers, accompanied by his wife and Pedro de Quiros as chief pilot. At Payta more colonists joined the expedition, and on 16 June he left Peru for the Solomon islands. He discovered on 21 July a group, which he named Marquesas de Mendoza, in honor of the viceroy of Peru. Continuing his voyage toward the Solomon group, he discovered on