Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/642

602 OSMOND, René Eustache, Marquis de (os- mong), French diplomatist, b. in Port au Prince, Hayti, in 1751 ; d. in Paris in 1838. He entered the military service in 1767, was transferred in 1776 as colonel of cavalry to France, and in 1788 was minister to the Hague. After the revolution of 1791 he was appointed by the Constitutionalists ambassador to St. Petersburg, but declined and emigrated to Italy, and Napoleon afterward made fruitless attempts to attract him into his service. After the return of Louis XVIII., Osmond was ap- pointed ambassador in Turin, and in 1815 a peer of France and ambassador to London. He retired from service in 1819, and continued in the chamber of peers till the revolution of 1830. — His brother, Aiitoine Eustache, French bishop, b. in Port au Prince in 1754 ; d. in Nancy in 1823, studied in his native city, was graduated in the Sorbonne of Paris, ordained priest, and afterward became vicar- general of Toulouse and bishop of Comminges. During the revolution he emigrated to Spain, and afterward to England, but returned to France in 1801, became bishop of Nancy in 1802, and in 1810 archbishop of Florence, but resigned in 1814 to re- sume his see of Nancy, where he did much good. — Another brother, Marie Joseph Eustache Viscount d', b. in Port au Prince in 1756; d. in Pont- ehartrain in 1839, was colonel of the regiment of Normandy when the revolution began, and emi- grated with his family. After the return of Louis XVIII. he was promoted to major-general, became lieutenant-general in 1818, and retired in 1819.

OSMUN, Thomas Embly, author, b. in Sum- mit county, Ohio, 26 Feb., 1826. He was educated at Oberlin college and in Germany and Paris, spending sis years in Europe. He has devoted himself to orthoepy and the art of elocution. By criticising in the public press the mispronuncia- tions of actors, he has induced the dramatic pro- fession to observe a severer standard of orthoepy. He has written in condemnation of artificial meth- ods of elocution. His books, published under the pen-name of " Alfred Ayres," comprise " The Or- thoepist" (New York, 1880); "The Verbalist" (1881) ; " The Mentor," a manual of social usages (1884) : and " The Essentials of Elocution " (1886).

OSORIO, Manuel (os-o'-re-o), Spanish soldier, b. in Seville in 1770 ; d. in Havana, Cuba, about 1830. He studied in the artillery college of Sego- via, and entered the army, serving as captain in the first siege of Saragossa in 1807. On 19 Aug.. 1812, he arrived in Lima as commander of artillery and director of the powder-factory, with the rank of colonel. When the viceroy, Abascal, repudiated the treaty that Gen. Gainza {q. v.) had made with the Independents of Chili in Lircay. 3 May, 1814, he superseded Gainza by Osorio, who left Lima on 19 July with an expedition of about 600 men, and totally defeated the Republicans at Rancagua on 2 Oct. He occupied Santiago on 9 Oct., and sullied his victory by arbitrary measures, notably the banishment of more than thirty of the principal citizens to the island of Juan Fernandez. He sent two agents to Spain to solicit his confirmation as president of Chili, but, although he was promoted Ijrigadier, he was superseded in the presidency by Gen. Marco del Pont, to whom he delivered the government in December, 1815, returning to Lima in June, 1816. Meanwhile Gen. San Martin with the Argentine army had passed the Andes and in- vaded Chili, defeating Marco in Chacabuco, 12 Feb., 1817. The viceroy, Pezuela, now sent Osorio to re- conquer Chili, and the latter left Lima with ten vessels and about 2,600 men, and landed at Tal- cahuano, 18 Jan., 1818. San Martin encamped with a superior force at Cancha-Rayada, where he was surprised in the night of 19 March by the Spanish army and totally routed, but Osorio, in- stead of marching immediately on the capital, lost time by inactivity, notwithstanding the advice of his lieutenants. This had given the patriot general time to reorganize his army, and he defeated Osorio on the march to Santiago in the plain of Maipu on 4 April. Osorio fled to Concepcion, and, after disarming the fortifications of Talcahuano, left the command to Gen. Sanchez, and arrived in Lima in September, 1818. He did not again enter active service in Peru, and went in 1819 to Spain, where he was promoted major-general in 1822, and sent later to serve in Havana, where he died.

OSPINA, Manuel (os-pe'-nah), Colombian statesman, b. in Guasca in 1803 ; d. in Medellin in 1885. He studied jurisprudence and political sci- ence in the College of San Bartolome in Bogota, and was graduated in 1825 in the College of Tunja. He began early to take part in politics, and was an ac- tive member of the party that opposed the govern- ment of Gen. Simon Bolivar. When Bolivar was proclaimed dictator, Ospina was among the most strenuous opponents of that measure, and he took part in the rebellion of Gen. Jose M. Cordova in 1830. After the dissolution of Colombia, Ospina sustained the party of the new president of New Granada, Francisco de P. Santander, and his suc- cessor, Jose J. de Marquez. He was in congress in 1838-'40, in 1841 became secretary of the interior and foreign relations, and later was made governor of the province of Bogota. When the Conserva- tive party went out of power in 1849, Ospina, with Jose E. Caro, edited " La Civilazacion," which was in violent opposition to the government. When the reform in the constitution in 1853 gave the election of provincial governors to popular vote, Ospina was unanimously elected to the executive of his native state of Medellin, and he contributed to the re-establishment of order in 1854, when Gen. Melo attempted to assume the military dictator- ship. In 1855-6 he was a senator, and in the lat- ter year he was elected president of the republic. The first two years of his administration were peaceable, and he made many reforms, but when, toward the end of 1858, the central system of gov- ernment was changed into a federation, Ospina, who did not sympathize with the latter form of government, refused to execute the law. The newly created states violently attacked the executive, and Gen. Mosquera, governor of the state of Cauca, rose in arras against the central government in the beginning of 1860. When Ospina's term of office closed, in April, 1861, Mosquera's army threatened the capital, and the former left for Medellin, but when the city fell on 16 July he was arrested and taken to the fortress of Carthagena. After a few months he escaped and went to Guatemala, where he resided till 1872. On his return to Colombia he went to live in Medellin, devoting himself to the education of youth and to journalism, defending with unabated energy his conservative principles in opposition to the Liberal government. He was one of the greatest statesmen of Colombia, an emi- nent scholar and scientist, and of unswerving recti- tude. He had a haughty and reserved manner, but, if he was not beloved, he was generally es- teemed bv his eountrvmen.

OSTAADE, Piet Van, Dutch navigator, b. in Muyden, near Amsterdam, about 1670; d. in Amsterdam in 1711. He had gained reputation as a successful pilot, when he was chosen by the states- general in 1709 as commander of an expedition to the arctic regions. Sailing from Amsterdam, 21