Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/773

Rh in which he published several of his best works. He also wrote " La Ida del Sol," " A Ticul," " A Tunkas," " El Prisma de la Vida," " El Contra- bandista," a tragedy, and other compositions, which were published in 1848 in the satirical paper " Don BuUebuUe." He was a member of the government council and comptroller of the treasury of his na- tive state when he died. A collection of his works has been published (Merida, 1885).

PEREZ, Santiago (pay'-reth), Colombian states- man, b. in Cipaquira in 1880. He studied in IJogota in the colleges of Espiritu Santo and Nuestra Senora del Rosario, and was graduated as LL. D. in 1851, and admitted to the bar. He had begun to cultivate poetry in college, and scarcely had entered the practice of his profession when he issued a volume of verses, and one of his dramas was rep- resented in the theatre of Bogota. In 1853 he was appointed member of a commission under Gen. Codazzi, to form a map of the republic, and visited the states of Antioquia and Cauca, publishing his observations on his return. He soon began to take an active part in politics, and in 1856 was an editor of the journal " El Tiempo." In 1857 he founded a college in Bogota, where many men that are now eminent in Colombia received their education. After the triumph of the Ijiberal party, Perez was elected to congress in 1868, but in i864 he was called by President Manuel Murillo Toro (q. v.) to the cabinet as secretary of the interior and foreign relations. When the Liberal party split into two factions, and Perez's political opponent, Gen. Mos- quera, was elected president in 1866, Perez, with Felipe Zapata and Tomas Cuenca, foimded " El Mensajero," which represented the radical opposi- tion, and contributed powerfully to the fall and impeachment of Mosquera in 1867. In the begin- ning of 1868 Perez was elected to the senate, but in April he was called by Gen. Santos Gutierrez to his former seat in the cabinet. From 1870 till 1872 he was minister to the United States ; from 1872 to the end of 1873 he was general director of public instruction. In the elections of the latter year he was chosen to the chief executive of the nation for the term from 1 April, 1874, till 1876. At the expiration of his term he was appointed rector of the National university, but he was sent soon again to the United States as minister. Since 1878 he has not occupied any public office, but has given himself to educational work and literary and scientific studies. He is considered one of the best writers in South America, and is esteemed even by his political adversaries on account of his spotless character and kindly disposition. He is the author of " Coleccion de Poesias " (Bogota, 1851) : " Jacobo Molay," a drama, which was represented in Bogota (1851); " Apuntamientos de Viaje por las Provin- cias del Sur" (1854); •' Leonor," a legend (1855); " Elcastillo de Berkley," a drama, represented in Bogota (1856) ; " Compendio de Gramatica Castel- lana " (1858) ; and " Romances Nacionales," a col- lection of war anecdotes (1860).

PEREZ DE URDININEA, Jose Maria, Bolivian soldier, b. in La Paz in 1782; d. there in 1865. He studied in the seminaries of La Paz and Chuquisaca, and when upper Peru was invaded in 1810 by the Argentine army he entered the service with the patriots. Afterward he served under San Martin, and was about to follow the latter to Peru in 1820 when he was appointed by the province of Cuyo commander-in-chief to resist an invasion. He was commissioned by San Martin to raise an auxiliary army in Cuyo, to operate against upper Peru, but when he at last entered the latter prov- ince the battle of Ayacucho had already decided the cause of independence. During the invasion by the Peruvian army in 1828 he was president of the cabinet and general-in-chief, ])ut he afterward retired into private life. In 1838 Gen. Santa Cruz called him again into service during the Chilian in- vasion, and he was chief of cavalry in the battle of Yungai, 20 Jan., 1839. He was minister of ^ar and president of the council in 1841-'7, and from 1855 till 1857 minister of the interior.

'''PEREZ DE ZAMBRANA. Luisa''', Cuban author, b. in El Cobi'e, near Santiago, in 1837. When she was only fourteen years old she began to publish poems. The first collection was issued at Santiago in 1856. She married in 1858 Dr. Zam- brana, a distinguished physician of Havana, where she published a new volume of poems, which in- creased her reputation (1860). Her prose works include the novels " Angelica y Estrella " and " La hija del Verdugo." Several of Luisa Perez's poems have been translated into French and Ital- ian, and Spanish critics have praised her produc- tions. Her poetry is simple, but full of feeling.

PERHAM, Sidney, governor of Maine, b. in Woodstock, Me., 27 March, 1819. He was educated in the public schools, and subsequently was a teacher and farmer. He was a member of the state board of agriculture in 1852-'3, speaker of the legislature in 1854, a presidential elector in 1856, and clerk of the supreme judicial court of Oxford county in 1859-'63. He was elected to congress as a Republican, and served in 1863-'9. He was governor of Maine in 1871-'4.

PERINCHIEF, Octavius, clergvman, b. in Warwick parish, Bermuda, W. I., 2 Oct., 1829 ; d. in Bridgeport, Pa., 29 Ai)ril, 1877. He came to New York in 1847, became a clerk, and after- ward entered Trinity college. After teaching a year in Racine he returned to New York in 1855, studied in the General theological seminary, and after his ordination in 1857 went as a missionary to Quendaro, Mo., where his health was impaired for life. He afterward held various pastorates. Mr. Perinchief wrote a work on " Education " for the government of Japan (1872). He had a repu- tation for eloquence, and his sermons have been edited by Charles Lanman (Washington. 1869-'70). See his '"Life," by Charles Lanman (1879).

PERIT, Pelatiah, merchant, b. in Norwich, Conn., 23 June, 1785; d. in New Haven. Conn., 8 March, 1864. He was graduated at Yale in 1802, taught for a year, and in 1809 settled in business in New York. He became a partner in a firm of shipping-merchants in 1817, in which he continued till 1863. He was president of the chamber of commerce in 1853-'68, and took an active part in the monetary affairs of that city. In June, 1857, in the contest between the two city police forces (see Matsell, George W.), he was chosen a com- missioner of police, and rendered important ser- vice in restoring the public security, riiroughout his career he was a supporter of benevolent and educational institutions, and during the cholera epidemic of 1832 he nursed the sick and gave large sums to the sufferers.

PERKINS, Charles Callalian, anthor, b. in Boston, Mass., 1 March, 1823; d. in Windsor, Vt., 25 Aug., 1886. His early years were spent in Boston, and he was graduated at Harvard in 1843. He then went to Europe, residing first in Rome, and later in Paris, where he studied painting under Ary Scheffer. He also devoted nnich attention to music, continuing his studies in that direction on his re- turn to Europe in 1851. During a later visit in 1865 he studied etching, and subsequently etched the illustrations for his works on the Tuscan and