Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/520

Rh 498 M I R M I R MIRABEAU, VICTOR RIQTTETI, MARQUIS DE (1715- 1789), himself a distinguished author and political econo mist, but more famous as the father of the great Mirabeau, was born at Pertuis near the old chateau de Mirabeau on October 4, 1715. He was brought up very sternly by his father, and in 1729 joined the army. He took keenly to cam paigning, but never rose above the rank of captain, owing to his being unable to get leave at court to buy a regiment. In 1737 he came into the family property on his father s death, and spent some pleasant years till 1743 in literary companionship with his dear friends Vauvenargues and Lefranc de Pompignan, which might have continued had he not suddenly determined to marry not for money, but for landed estates. The lady whose property he fancied was Marie Genevieve, daughter of a M. de Vassan, a brigadier in the army, and widow of the Marquis de Saulveboauf, whom he married without previously seeing her on April 21, 1743. While in garrison at Bordeaux, Mirabeau had made the acquaintance of Montesquieu, which may have made him turn his thoughts to political speculations ; anyhow it was while at leisure after retiring from the army that he wrote his first work, his Testament Politique (1747), which demanded for the prosperity of France a return of the French noblesse to their old position in the Middle Ages. This work, written under the influence of the feudal ideas impressed upon him by his father, was followed in 1750 by a book on the Utilite des $tats Provenciaux, full of really wise considerations for local self-government, which was published anonymously, and had the honour of being attributed to Montesquieu himself. In 1756 Mirabeau made his first appearance as a political economist by the publication of his Ami des Homines ou traite de la population. This work has been often attributed to the influence, and in part even to the pen, of Quesnay, the founder of the economical school of the physiocrats, but was really written before the marquis had made the acquaintance of the physician of Madame de Pompadour. In 1760 he published his Theorie de I lmpot, in which he attacked with all the vehemence of his son the farmers- general of the taxes, who got him imprisoned for eight days at Vincennes, and then exiled to his country estate at Bignon. At Bignon the school of the physiocrats was really established, and the marquis surrounded himself with devotees, and eventually in 1765 bought the Journal de I agriculture, du commerce, et des finances, which became the organ of the school. He was distinctly recog nized as a leader of political thinkers by Prince Leopold of Tuscany, afterwards emperor, and by Gustavus III. of Sweden, who in 1772 sent him the grand cross of the order of Vasa. But the period of his happy literary life was over; and his name was to be mixed up in a long scandalous lawsuit. Naturally his marriage had not been happy ; he had separated from his wife by mutual consent in 1762, and had, he believed, secured her safely in the provinces by a lettre de cachet, when in 1772 she suddenly appeared in Paris, and soon after commenced proceedings for a separation. The poor marquis did not know what to do ; his sons were a great trouble to him, and it was one of his own daughters who had encouraged his wife to take this step. Yet he was determined to keep the case quiet if possible for the sake of Madame de Pailly, a Swiss lady whom he had loved since 1756. But his wife would not let him rest ; her plea was rejected in 1777, but she renewed her suit, and, though the great Mirabeau had pleaded his father s case, was suc cessful in 1781, when a decree of separation was pro nounced. This trial had quite broken the health of the marquis, as well as his fortune ; he sold his estate at Bignon, and hired a house at Argenteuil, where he lived quietly till his death on July 11, 1789. For the whole family of Mirabeau, the one book to refer to is Louis de Lomenie s Lcs Miralcau, 2 vols., 1878, and it is greatly to be regretted that the talented author did not live to treat the lives of the great Mirabeau and his brother. Sec also Lucas de Mon- tigny s Memoircs dc Mirabeau, and, for the marquis s economical views, De la Vergne s ficonomistcs franfais du 18 me siecle. MIRAGE. See LIGHT, vol. xiv. p. 600. MIRAMON, MIGUEL, a Mexican soldier of French extraction, was born in the city of Mexico, September 29, 1832, and shot along with the emperor Maximilian at Queretaro, June 19, 1867. While still a student he helped to defend the military academy at Chapultepec against the forces of the United States; and, entering the army in 1852, he rapidly came to the front during the civil wars that dis turbed the country. It was largely due to Miramon s support of the ecclesiastical party against Alvarez and Comonfort that Zuloagawas raised to the presidency; and in 1859 he was called to succeed him in that office. Decisively beaten, however, by the Liberals, he fled the country in 1860, and spent some time in Europe earnestly advocating foreign intervention in Mexican affairs ; and when he returned it was as a partisan of Maximilian. His ability as a soldier was best shown by his double defence of Puebla in 1856. MIRANDA, FRANCESCO (1754-1816), was born at Santa F6 in New Granada in 1754. He entered the army, and served against the English in the American War of Independence. The success of that war inspired him with a hope of being the Washington of his own country, and a belief that the independence of Spanish America would increase its material prosperity. With these views, he began to scheme a revolution, but his schemes were dis covered and he had only just time to escape to the United States. Thence he went to England, where he was intro duced to Pitt, but chiefly lived with the leading members of the opposition Fox, Sheridan, and Romilly. Finding no help in his revolutionary schemes, he travelled over the greater part of Europe, notably through Austria and Turkey, till he arrived at the court of Russia, where he was warmly received, but from which he was dismissed, though with rich presents, at the demand of the Spanish ambassador, backed up by the envoy of France. The news of the dispute between England and Spain about Nootka Sound in 1790 recalled him to England, where he saw a good deal of Pitt, who had determined to make use of him to &quot; insurge &quot; the Spanish colonies, but the peaceful arrangement of the dispute again destroyed his hopes. In April 1792 he went to Paris, with introductions to Pdtion and the leading Girondists, hoping that men who were work ing so hard for their own freedom might help his country men in South America. France had too much to do in fighting for its own freedom to help others ; but Miranda s friends sent him to the front with the rank of general of brigade. He distinguished himself under Dumouriez, was intrusted in February 1793 with the conduct of the siege of Maestricht, and commanded the left wing of the French army at the disastrous battle of Neerwinden. Although he had given notice of Dumouriez s projected treachery, he was put on his trial for treason on May 12. He was unanimously acquitted, but was soon again thrown into prison, and not released till after the 9th Thermidor. He again mingled in politics, and was sentenced to be deported after the struggle of Vendemiaire. Yet he escaped, and continued in Paris til) the coup d etat of Fructidor caused him finally to take refuge in England. He now found Pitt and Dundas once more ready to listen to him, and the latter sent a special minute to Colonel Picton, the governor of Trinidad, to assist General Miranda s- schemes in every possible way ; but, as neither of them would or could give him substantial help, he went to the United States, where President Adams gave him fair words- but nothing more. Once more he returned to England,