Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/849

 LA MORICIERE

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LA MORICIERE

nfglichen Sternwarte bei Munchen" contain a great deal of material. In 1840 he began to observe the faint stars from the seventh to the tentli magnitude, and recorded 80,000 of them. In geodetic work he added the Bavarian survey to the .\ustriaii. deter- mined the dilTerences of longitude of \'ii'nna. Munich, Geneva, and Strasburg, and completed the astronomi- cal triangulation of Bavaria. In telluric physics he was especially active. He organized a meteorological society which spread all over Germany. Numerous registering instruments of his own construction were set up, and officials attached to the various courts of law were also provided with meteorological instru- ments made by Lamont hunself. He invented a port- able thcodohte for magnetic measurements and with it he estalilishcd the constants of the earth's magnetic force for a number of places through Middle Europe, from Spain to Denmark. Owing to lack of funds only three numbers were published of the "Annalen ftir Meteorologie und Erdmagnetismus ", 1842-4, but these contain a mass of valuable information.

For fifty-two years Lamont lived alone in the quiet village near his observatory, greatly respected by the inhabitants. To Munich he went only to deliver his lectures, to attend the meetings of the academic sen- ate, or to spend a social evening in the Catholic Ca- sino. His religious and political views were very decidedly conservative. Not caring for the ordinary pleasures of life, he managed to save a little fortune on his moderate salary, which reached a maximum of 6500 florins yearly at the end. This fortune was devoted to a scholarship for mathematical students, amount- ing to 72,000 marks in 188.3. His larger works are: "Handbuch des Erdmagnetismus" (Berlin, 1849); "Handbuch des Magnetismus" (Leipzig, 1860); "As- tronomic und Erdmagnetismus" (Stuttgart, 1851).

GiNTHER in Allg. Deutsche Biog., XVII (Leipzig, 1883), 570; VON ScH.\FHA0TL in JoRG, Hist.-poUt. Blatter, LXXXV (Munich, 1880), 54; von Ohff in Carl's Bepertorium, XVI (Leipzig and Munich, 1880), 685.

William Fox.

La Moriciere, Louis-Christophe-Leon Juchault DE, French general and connnander-in-chief of the papal army, b. at Nantes, 5 February, 1806; d. at the chateau of Prouzel, near Amiens, 11 September, 1865. His father was descended from an old Breton family whose device was Spes viea Deus. His mother was D^sirde de Robineau de Bougon. He made his clas- sical studies at the college of Nantes, where his pro- fessor of philosophy was a priest who afterwards became the Trappist Abbot of Bellefontaine. As had been the custom for centuries for the sons in his fam- ily, he was early destined for the army, and accordingly entered the Ecole Polytechnique, in Paris, in 1826, and two years later the Ecole d' Application at Metz. He left the latter school with a commission as sub-lieu- tenant in the engineers and was sent to Montpelher. In 1830 he joined the detachment that took possession of Algiers, and was made a captiain of Zouaves as a reward for gallant conduct.

For seventeen years he remained in Africa, where he acquired a lasting reputation, acting not only as a valiant soldier, but as a pioneer of civilization, loved and esteemed by the Arabs as well as by his own sol- diers. In 1833 he was directed by the French gov- ernment to organize the "Bureau Arabe", a sort of tribunal whose mission was to serve as mediator be- tween Frenchmen and Arabs. His authority was so great among the native tribes that he never carried any arms while travelling through the country, but only a stick with which to defend himself, and this caused him to be named Bou-Aroua (father with a stick). After the capture of Bougie, he was pro- moted major and in 1835 lieutenant-colonel of Zou- aves. In that capacity he took part in many a coup de main, inspiring his troops with indomitable cour- age, and always placing himself at the most perilous

spot. His intrepidity at the storming of Constantine gained him the rank of colonel (1837). In 1840, after the engagmicnt of Mouzaia, he was raised to the rank of brigadier-general and was given the command of the division of (!)ran. In the I'olluu iug year he played a most prominent part in the expcdilion against Tag- tempt and Mascara. Thanks to his skilful tactics and intrepidity, he subdued the tribe of Filtas (1843), and was created lieutenant-general. He next went to Morocco (1844), drove back the Moorish troops at Lalla-Maghnia, and contributed largely to the success of the battle at Isly (1845). Towards the end of that year, he was entrusted with the temporary governor- ship of Algeria. He then crowned his military career by surrounding Abd-el-Kader, who was compelled to surrender (23 November, 1847). Algeria being paci- fied, the distinguished soldier thought of retiring from military life and taking an active part in polities.

In 1846, ha\'ing been elected deputy bj- the district of Saint-Calais (Sarthe), he had opposed the Guizot cabinet and created a stir by liis speeches on Algeria and promotion in the army. On 21 April, 1847, he married Amelie d'Auberville. In February, 1848, he held for a few days the portfolio of war in the Thiers- Barrot cabinet, which he gave up when the Revolu- tion burst out, causing the downfall of Louis Philippe. Having been elected to the Constituent Assembly (.\pri!, 1848) by the Department of Sarthe, he fought against the popular insurrection in June. On 28 June he again accepted the portfolio of war and directed all his efforts towards the organization of Algeria. AMien Louis Napoleon, to whose ambition he was strongly opposed, entered upon the presidency of the French Republic (20 December, 1848), he left the Cabinet and continued, as a deputy or as vice-president of the As- sembly, to antagonize the Government. In the Coup d'Etat (2 December, 1852), he was arrested, impris- oned, first at Mazas, then at Ham, and finally expelled from France. His pohtical career had lasted only four years; his exile lasted nine years. This was the most distressing period of his life. He first travelled in England and Germany and then settled in Belgium, pining in his enforced idleness, and longing for active occupation. It was then that he came back to the faith of his youth. For many years, without being an infidel, he had neglected his religious duties, and even for a time had gone astray with the Saint-Simonians. Yielding to the entreaties of his friend Charles de Mont- alembert, the great Catholic orator, he began to study one by one all the articles of the Credo. From that time to the day of his death he lived according to his faith as a devout Cathohc.

In 1860 his cousin, Mgr. de Merode, induced him to take command of the papal army. It was a hazard- ous task. Ignoring the jeopardy of his established military reputation, he went to Rome. It took only one year to convince him that the undertaking was hopeless. His 8000 men were defeated by the 50,000 men of Cialdini at Castelfidardo (18 September, 1860), and Ancona was obliged to surrender. He bore this severe blow to his reputation with Christian resig- nation. Deeming his services no longer useful to the papal army, he returned to France, and went to live in his chateau of Chaillon (Maine-et-Loire). A national subscription was collected to present liim with a sword of honour, but he emphatically declined to receive it, on the ground that he was only a defeated general. The only distinction he ever accepted, under personal pressure from Pope Pius IX, was the Cross of the Order of Christ. His last years were d(!Voted to pious works. He built a church at his own expense for the poor parish of Loroux-Beconnais, and contributed large sums to an orphanage and a Catholic school which he had founded. He took pleasure in reading religious books, among which the Holy Bible, the " Suinma Theologica " of Saint Thomas, and the " His- tory of the Church" bj' Darras, were his favourites.