Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/645

Rh inherited post of a magistrate when the French revolution began. He then entered the array of the new republic, and rose to high rank, but finally returned to the bench. Pierre, his youngest son, was sent to the Jesuits' college at Toulouse, to be prepared for ecclesiastical orders; but the rigid disci- pline was repugnant to him. and he re- turned home in 1816. The following year he was sent to the city of Bordeaux to com- plete his education ; but he took part in a plot against Louis XVIII., was detected, and fled on foot to the mountains of the ancient Beam coun- try, where, disguised as a shepherd, he re- mained a year. The government pardoned him. and he returned to Bordeaux, where he taught in an academy, and he then removed to Paris, where he earned support as a tutor while complet- ing his education, and then studied law. In 1824 Soule's pen found access to the Paris Liberal jour- nals, and introduced him to the intimacy of the Liberal leaders. In 1825 he was an editor of ' Le Nain jaune," a paper noted for its extreme liberal ideas and the bitterness of its attacks upon the ministers of Charles X. One of the severest of these articles was traced to Soule, and he was ar- rested and tried before the cour correctionnelle. Soule's lawyer sought rather to soften the severity of the impending sentence than to defend his client's course, whereupon Soule, indignant at this surrender of his honest convictions, rose in court and defended them boldly, frankly, and eloquently. His sentence was only the more severe close con- finement in the prison of St. Pelagie and a fine of 10,000 francs. The only escape from this was self- exile. Soule left Paris, with the passport of his friend, the poet Barthelemy, who closely resembled him. He had an offer from the president of Chili to become his private secretary, and he intended to sail from England with the Chilian charge d'affaires, but when he had crossed the channel the ship on which he was to embark had departed. Soule now was reduced to such a strait that he returned to France, prepared to face the dungeon. At Havre, just as he landed, he was met by a friend, afterward a French admiral, who persuaded him to embark for Hayti, where he arrived in September, 1826. He was kindly received by President Boyer, to whom he bore letters of intro- duction, but, finding no opening, sailed in October for Baltimore, and thence went to New Orleans toward the close of the year. He found a knowl- edge of English indispensable, and went to Ten- nessee to study it, becoming for a while a guest of Gen. Andrew Jackson. Afterward he went to Bardstown, Ky., where, falling sick and being without funds, he obtained employment as ;i gardener, and while engaged in that capacity learned English and studied the elements of American law. On his return to New Orleans. Soule studied Louisiana law in the office of Moreau Lislet, speedily passed his examination in English, and then became Lislet's partner. He rose rapidly in his profession, and for many years he was asso- ciated in the conduct of most of the celebrated civil and criminal cases in the Louisiana courts ; but lie was more distinguished for originality, power, and brilliancy as an advocate than for pro- fundity as a jurist." He entered politics, in the first presidential campaign after he began his le- gal career, as a public speaker on the Democratic side. Under the new constitution of 184.5 Mr. Soule was elected to the state senate. In 1847 Gov. Isaac Johnson appointed him to the I". S. senate to fill a vacancy, and in 1849 he WHS elected to that body by the legislature for the full term. In all public measures affecting the south he espoused the extreme southern view. He took an active part in the long debates upon Henry Clay's compromise bill of 1850, and led his party in op- position to that measure. He frequently chal- lenged Clay and Webster in debate, and advocated secession without delay, foreseeing, as he claimed, that from compromise to compromise the sov- ereignty of the states would speedily surrender to the supremacy of a central government. In March, 1853, President Pierce offered Soule the mission to Spain, with the special object in view of the ac- quisition of Cuba. This news preceded him to Madrid, and he was received there very coldly. At a ball in Madrid a remark by the Duke of Alva was accidentally heard by Mr. Soule's son, Nelvil, who considered it offensive to his fam- ily, and, though the duke denied any such in- tention, a duel with swords was the result. Mr. Soule then challenged the French ambassador, the Marquis de Turgot, as responsible for what had taken place under his roof, ami crippled him for life. On 28 Aug., 1854, a revolutionary out- burst took place in the streets of Madrid. It has been charged that Mr. Soule favored this with all his power ; but there is no evidence to show it, though he doubtless sympathized, as was natural. with the Spanish Liberal party. In 1854, Mr. Soule was one of the ministers that framed the cele- 'brated " Ostend manifesto" (see PIERCE, FH .K- LIN), and it was understood that he was the mov- ing spirit in its preparation. At some previous period he had violently attacked Napoleon III., and when on his way to Ostend he was stopped by the authorities at the southern frontier of France ; but as soon as the officials at Paris were in- formed of this they sent him authority to pursue his journey. At the same time French spies fol- lowed him to Ostend. Mr. Soule was naturally deeply disappointed by his government's policy of non-action upon the manifesto. He resigned in June, 1855, and returned to New Orleans, where he resumed the practice of law without aban- doning politics. In 1856, and again in 1860, he warmly advocated the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas for the presidency. After the election of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Soule, to the surprise of his friends, opposed secession, and favored "co- operation" of the southern states to secure what they considered their rights. With this view, when Gov. Thomas 0. Moore called a state conven- tion in January. 1861, Mr. Soule was a candidate for delegate, but was not elected. During the can- vass he depicted in the darkest colors the calami- ties secession would bring, and predicted the de- feat of the south, but declared that he would abide by llie decision of his state. On the passage of the ordinances of secession he tendered his ser- vices to the Confederate government, but. being in failing health, he soon returned to New Orleans, and remained there until the city fell into the hands of the National forces in April, 1862. Shortly after- ward he was arrested and taken to Fort Lafayette, New York harbor, where he was imprisoned for