Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/439

TOU his country, and generally to the literature of the continent, than any original works he might have produced could have been; for he familiarized the minds of his countrymen with a style of writing to which they had hitherto been in great measure strangers, and it was primarily through the literature of France that that of England exercised such a weighty and salutary influence on the mind of Germany. Le Tourneur thus played a much more important part than he himself may have been conscious of in the great intellectual revolution which signalized the close of the eighteenth century.  TOURNEUX,, an eloquent Roman catholic preacher, was born at Rouen in 1640, and died in 1689. He was very popular as a preacher in Paris. It is said that Louis XIV. once asked Boileau who this Le Tourneux was, who was drawing all the world after him, and received for answer—"Sire, your majesty knows that people always run after novelty—he is a preacher that preaches the gospel." The king then asking the poet's serious opinion of the man, he said—"When he ascends the pulpit he looks so frightfully that one wishes him down again; but when he once begins to speak, the fear is that he should descend too soon." Le Tourneux was rewarded for his eloquent preaching with a benefice at the Sainte Chapelle and a royal pension. His devotional treatises, which are his principal works, discover a considerable leaning towards the Jansenist way of thinking, a circumstance that serves to explain the very high esteem in which he was held by the admirers of Port-Royal.  TOURRETTE, , a French naturalist, was born at Lyons in August, 1729, and died in the same town in 1793. He prosecuted his early studies at a college at Lyons, and afterwards went to Paris. At first he was devoted to the study of belles-lettres, but natural history afterwards became his favourite pursuit. He was admitted a member of the Academy of Sciences of Lyons, and founded a botanic garden in that city. He also gave lectures on botany, and made excursions to various parts of France and Italy. He followed the system of Linnæus. In his father's park at Lyons he cultivated a large number of plants, especially foreign trees and shrubs. Among his published works are—"Demonstrations Elementaires de Botanique;" and "Chloris Lugdunensis," or an account of plants found in the neighbourhood of Lyons. He also published a trip to Mount Pilat, and contributed several papers to the Transactions of societies.—J. H. B.  TOURVILLE,, Count de, the most distinguished French naval officer of his age, was born in 1642. He commenced his naval career in the service of the Venetian republic, and performed several brilliant exploits, for which he was liberally rewarded. In 1667 he entered the French service, and received the command of a ship from Louis XIV. He served with distinction under the Count D'Estrées from 1671 to 1673, and subsequently took part in various naval conflicts with the Spaniards. After the peace of Nimeguen, he was present in the expeditions against Algiers and Tripoli, and at the bombardment of Genoa. In 1682 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general of the naval forces, and did good service in freeing the Mediterranean from the corsairs by whom it was then infested. He was made vice-admiral in 1689, and was appointed to the command of one of the squadrons sent to Ireland with reinforcements to James II. after his expulsion from the throne. In the following year he defeated the combined English and Dutch fleets off Beachy Head, under the incapable admiral, Lord Torrington; swept the Channel, and landed at Teignmouth, which he ravaged; but he retreated on the approach of a hastily levied force under Lord Lansdowne. In 1692 he was appointed with a fleet of forty-four ships of the line to protect the meditated descent upon England; but he was encountered off La Hogue by the English and Dutch fleets, and after a stubborn and protracted contest was completely defeated, and lost sixteen ships. When he presented himself at the French court, however, he was graciously received by Louis, who welcomed him with the words—"I am perfectly satisfied with you and with my sailors. We have been beaten, it is true, but your honour and that of the nation are unsullied." In the following year he did something to retrieve his great disaster at La Hogue, by intercepting and destroying a considerable portion of the Smyrna fleet near the bay of Lagos. In the same year Tourville was nominated a marshal of France. On the conclusion of the peace of Ryswick he retired into private life, and died in 1701. He was a most skilful seaman. It was said of him that he was competent to fill any place on shipboard, from that of carpenter up to that of admiral, and that to the dauntless courage of a seaman he united the suavity and urbanity of an accomplished gentleman. He was the author of a treatise on naval tactics, which was long regarded as an authority in the French navy.— (Memoirs of Count de Tourville, 3 vols. 12mo, 1743.)—J. T.  * TOUSSAINT,, a Dutch novelist of distinction, was born at Alkmaar, 16th September, 1812. She began her literary career with her novel "Almagro," 1837, which was soon followed by "De Graaf van Devonshire," 1838; "De Engelsche in Rom," 1840; and "Het Huis Lauernesse," 1841 These productions found great favour not only with her countrymen, but also beyond the limits of her country, and thus she was led and inspired to still greater compositions—we mean her celebrated Leicester novels ("Leycester en Nederland," "De Frouwen van het Leycester 'sche Tigdperk;" and "Gideon Florensz," 1851-54, 9 vols.), in which she has displayed the consummate skill of the historical novelist, combined with great national feeling and true womanly piety. In 1851 she was married to the well-known painter Bosboom, at the Hague.—K. E.  TOUSSAINT,, a negro chief of extraordinary abilities, was born in St. Domingo on the plantation of the Count de Noe in 1743. His parents were slaves; his father, who was the son of an African king, having been taken prisoner by a hostile tribe and sold into slavery. Toussaint was taught to read and write by a fellow slave, who had been instructed by some benevolent missionaries. His integrity, talents, and acquirements gained him the complete confidence of his master, who appointed him superintendent of the other negroes on his estate. When the insurrection of the blacks of St. Domingo took place in 1791, Toussaint took no part in the atrocities which marked the struggle, but he contrived to save the lives of his master's family, and at great risk to himself secured their escape from the island. He then joined the insurgents, and at once assumed a leading rank in their army. The other chiefs became jealous of his rapidly extending influence, but he ultimately triumphed over their intrigues, and attained to the supreme command. He at first deemed it prudent to co-operate with the Spaniards, who occupied a portion of the island, and rendered them important aid in their contest with the French republicans. One of their commissioners said of him—"Cet homme fait ouverture partout" (That man makes an opening everywhere)—which led to his being called by the name of "Toussaint L'Ouverture, or Toussaint the Opener." But on receiving intelligence of the decree of the French convention of 4th February, 1794, by which the abolition of negro slavery was confirmed, he quitted the Spanish service and joined the French general Laveaux, governor of the colony, and was elevated to the rank of brigadier-general. He assisted in reducing the island again under the dominion of France; and in 1795 rescued Laveaux from the mulattos, who had revolted and thrown him into confinement. In gratitude for this service the French general appointed Toussaint lieutenant-governor of the colony, declaring his resolution, at the same time, to act by his advice in all matters, whether civil or military. A great improvement soon followed the appointment of Toussaint to this important office. He formed a regular army of black soldiers and officers, disciplined after the European model; established the reign of law and justice; constrained the negroes to labour steadily and diligently, though every trace of personal slavery was abolished; revived trade and commerce; erected churches; established schools; and by his integrity, skill, and prudence, changed the whole aspect of the country. The British who had landed in St. Domingo in 1793 still retained possession of several of its strongholds, but Toussaint exerted himself with such vigour and success to clear the island of their troops, that in 1798 General Maitland entered into a treaty with him for its evacuation, and in the name of the king of Great Britain presented Toussaint with a costly service of plate, and two brass cannons. He soon after suppressed a formidable insurrection of the mulattos, and in 1799 received from the first consul a confirmation of his authority as commander-in-chief in St. Domingo. But after the peace of Amiens in 1801, Bonaparte formed the resolution of overthrowing Toussaint and taking possession of St. Domingo, alleging privately to his minister Forfait, who remonstrated against the nefarious project, that he wanted to get rid of sixty thousand men. He accordingly sent a powerful fleet, having on board thirty-five thousand troops under 