Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/443

Rh MORIARTY, Patrick Eugene, clergyman, b. in Dublin, Ireland. 4 July, 1804 : d. at Villanova, Pa., 10 July, 1875. His early education was at a pi'ivate academy that his father had founded for Roman Catholic youth. In 1820 he entered the novitiate of the Augustinian convent at Callan, with a view of preparing himself for the priesthood, and he afterward studied in colleges of his order at Lucca and Rome. After his ordination he was stationed in Dublin, and in 1835 was sent as a mis- sionary to India. There he acted for several years as secretary of the vicar-apostolic of Goa and as chaplain to the British troops at Madras, being the first Catholic chaplain that was recognized by the English government since the Reformation. On his return to Rome from the East he was the bearer of an address to the pope from 2,700 Roman Catho- lics of Madras. In 1839 Dr. Moriarty joined the Augustinian mission in the United States, and for nearly twenty years, with brief intervals, he was stationed at the Church of St. Augustine in Phila- delphia. He was soon recognized as one of the best church orators in the United States, and made a reputation as a public lecturer on religious sub- jects. He was given the post of father-superior of his order in this country, and in thirty-iive years he saw it increase from one house and three priests until it numbered twenty-four convents a,nd churches. He was for many years president of Villanova college. Pa. Dr. Moriarty published numerous essays on Irish history and controversial subjects in Roman Catholic periodicals, fugitive pieces under the pen-names of " Ermite " and " Hierophilos," and in book-form " The Life of St. Augustine " (1873).

MORIBECHA, Melchior Dias (mo-ree-bay- tchnh), Brazilian miner, b. in Sao Paulo about 1689 ; d. in Baliia in 1741. V^ery little is known of his life except that he was a half-breed and worked as a miner, also earning a living as a hunter or a vaquero. During a hunting expedition he dis- covered rich silver- and diamond-mines in the dis- trict of Jacobina, and also a silver-mine in the Sierra de Borracia. The Portuguese authorities, having heard of these discoveries, made him prop- ositions to sell his secret, but he obstinately re- fused to locate the mines, as he had little faith in the generosity of the government. The author- ities resolved to compel him to tell his secret, and brought him to Bahia, where he was imprisoned in a dungeon nearly deprived of air, light, and food. lie lived five years in this dungeon, and died of his privations, still refusing to reveal his secret. The mines that were seen by Moribecha have not been re-discovered, but their existence can scarcely be doubted. Moribecha composed in his prison some " Roteiros," in which he deplores his misfor- tune, and which are inserted in Acciole's " Memo- rias historicas e politicas da provincia da Bahia."

MORILLO, Pablo (mo-reel'-j-o), Spanish soldier, b. in Fuente de Malva in 1777; d. in Rochefort, France, 27 July, 1838. He was the son of poor laborers, and worked in his youth as a shepherd, but enlisted in 1797 in the marines, and served at Trafalgar in 1805. When the French invaded Spain he organized bands of guerillas in the prov- ince of Murcia. and after the fall of Vigo in 1809 was appointed colonel in the regular army, becom- ing major-general in 1814. In the following year he was sent to Venezuela and Colombia with an army of 10.000 men against the revolutionists, and in April attacked the island of Margarita, which surrendered after a short resistance. He then made sail for Corralitos. and after several engagements entered Caracas on 11 May, imposed a heavy con- tribution on the city, and organized a government. He landed with the main army on 20 Aug. near Carthagena. which he besieged for nearly three months. After a strenuous resistance, famine com- pelled the garrison to abandon the place during the night, and on 6 Dec. Morillo entered the city, after losing 3,000 men during the siege. Continu- ing his march toward Mompox, he entered Santa Fe de Bogota on 26 May, 1816, and executed 125 prominent citizens alone, including several women. The title of " pacificator " was conferred upon Morillo bv royal order, and he was created Count of Carthagena. On 20 Nov.. 1816, he left Bogota for Venezuela. He was defeated by Paez at Mu- curitas on 28 Jan., 1817, and, seeing that the inde- pendent forces were gathering strength, retreated to the north, and after receiving re-enforcements in Cumana in June, sailed with 3,000 men for Margarita. He landed on 16 July, and after a campaign of a month, in which he lost many men without gaining any advantage, returned on 17 Aug. to the continent, when he heard of the con- tinuous success of Bolivar in Guyana. In the fol- lowing November he occupied Calabozo, but after the junction of Bolivar and Paez, he abandoned that city in February, 1818, and retired toward Caracas. On 15 March he defeated Bolivar at La Puerta, being dangerously wounded during the action, and for his victory was created Marquis de la Puerta. In January, 1819, he marched again at the head of 6,500 men against Paez, but tired out by the rapid retreats of that general, who cut off his supplies, Morillo retired across Arauca river, and, after a defeat at Queseras del Medio on 2 April, returned with his army to Calabozo. Mean- while Bolivar had been victorious in Colombia, and when Morillo received news in March, 1820, of the revolution of Cadix, and knew that he could not count on re-enforcements, he opened negotia- tions with Bolivar and other independent generals. They would treat only on the condition that he should recognize the independence of the country, and finally the armistice of Trujillo was signed on 25 Nov. Convinced of the ultimate triumph of the cause of independence, Morillo had long before asked to be relieved, and on receiving a favorable answer sailed for Spain on 17 Dec, 1820. Being appointed to the command of the garrison of Madrid, he defeated the rebels at La Granja in 1821, became captain-general of Galicia in 1822, and took part with the constitutionalists against the I'oyalists, commanding in 1823 the fourth army corps against the invading French army that was sent to restore the authority of Ferdinand VII. After the defeat of the cortes in August, Morillo, degraded by the king, retired to Rochefort in France. He published " Memorias relativas a los principal es acontecimientos de mis campanas en America " (Rochefort, 182,6).

MORIN, Alexandre Etienne (mo-rang). West Indian historian, b. in St. Lucia in 1776; d. in New Orleans, La., in 1831. He received his early education in Martinique, but finished his studies in Paris, and obtained the commission of lieutenant in the garrison of Santo Domingo in 1791. During the ensuing troubles in the colony he sided with the Democrats, and was the first to incite the soldiers to disregard the orders of Col. Mauduit du Plessis (q. v.). He was arrested for his bold language, but liberated a few days later, when Mauduit was murdered by the insurgents. Morin soon became disgusted with his former associates, and, joining the regular army again, was a formidable foe to the bands of negroes that pillaged the country. He held various important commands