Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/681

 BIRON BIRON 661 Ala., May 29, 1825, practised law in Philadel- phia, and during the civil war distinguished himself as a brigadier and major general of volunteers in the army of the Potomac, par- ticularly at Yorktown, Williamsburg, and the battles before Richmond, nnd at the second bat- tle of Bull Run. He died in Philadelphia, Oct. 18, 1864. Another son, WILLIAM, entered the army as captain at the beginning of the war, rose to the rank of major general of volunteers, and now (1873) lives in Florida. A third son, the youngest, FITZ HUGII, died in the service with the rank of colonel. BIKO.V I. Arniand de Gontant, baron, after- ward duke de, a French general, born about 1524, killed July 26, 1592. He was educated among the pages of Margaret, queen of Navarre, served in Piedmont under Marshal Brissac, distinguished himself during the religious wars in the Catholic army, fighting at the battles of Dreux, St. Denis, and Moncontour, and was created grand master of artillery in 1569. He was suspected of a secret inclination to Protes- tantism, and owed his safety on the eve of St. Bartholomew to his precaution in shutting himself up in the arsenal. He negotiated with the Huguenots the peace of St. Germain, re- ceived the baton of marshal of France in 1577, held various commands in Guienne and the Low Countries, was one of the first to recog- nize Henry IV., contributed to the victories of Arques and Ivry, and was killed at the siege of Epernay. lie was the godfather of Cardinal Richelieu. II. Charles de Gontant, duke de, son of the preceding, a French general, called the "lightning" of France, born in 1562, be- headed July 31, 1602. His valor was dis- tinguished at the battles of Arques and Ivry, at the sieges of Paris and Rouen, of Amiens and La Fere, and in the encounter at Aumale. He was made admiral of France in 1592, mar- shal in 1594, governor of Burgundy in 1595, duke and peer in 1598, and was ambassador to the court of Elizabeth of England and to the Swiss cantons. Notwithstanding the favors bestowed upon him by Henry IV., excited by mercenary motives, he plotted with Savoy and Spain for the dismemberment of France. His intrigues were discovered by the king, who pardoned him once, and even after he renewed his treason Henry was disposed to indulgence, provided he would confess and repent of his crime. Biron, however, denying everything, was committed to the Bastile, and speedily con- demned and executed. HI. Arniand l,ouis de Gontant, duke de, born in Paris, April 15, 1747, executed there, Dec. 31, 1793. He is better known as the duke de Lauzun, which was his title till 1788, when he succeeded his uncle as duke de Biron. In 1778 he published a pamphlet on the state of defence of England and its foreign possessions, and was placed in command of an expedition against the British colonies of Sen- egal and Gambia, Africa, which he reduced early in 1779. Having squandered his fortune, he joined Lafayette in 1780 hi America, and in July, 1781, commanded an unsuccessful expe- dition designed to capture New York from the British. He took part in the siege of York- town, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis. In 1789 he was chosen by the nobility deputy to the states general, and after- ward accompanied Talleyrand in his mission to England. In July, 1792, he was appointed general-in-chief of the army of the Rhine, and in May, 1793, of the army of the coast at La Rochelle. He captured Saumur, and defeated the Vendeans ; but being accused of incivism for having twice offered his resignation, and for his leniency toward the Vendeans, he was brought before the revolutionary tribunal of Fouquier-Tinville, and condemned to death on the charge of having conspired against the re- public. BIRON (originally BIKEU or BUHKEN), Ernest John, duke of Courland, born in 1687, died Oct. 28, 1772. The grandson of a groom, he entered as equerry the household of Anna Ivanovna, niece of Peter the Great, and be- came her favorite and lover during her reign in Courland and residence in Mitau. After Anna became empress, she took him with her to St. Petersburg and made him grand chamberlain. He now adopted the coat of arms and the name of the celebrated French ducal family of Biron. As the favorite of the empress, he ruled absolutely over Russia ; and hundreds, if not thousands, were put to death by his command. The nobility of Courland, who a few years before had refused to ad- mit his name in the rolls of their caste, fright- ened by his ferocity, elected him as their sov- ereign duke. Named by Anna regent of the empire and tutor of her nephew and succes- sor Ivan during his minority, the ambitious adventurer was suspected of a design to push aside his pupil, and to seize the imperial crown for his own eldest son, marrying him to the grand duchess Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great. His reign as regent lasted but a few weeks. As early as 1740, Field Marshal Mun- nich, once his accomplice, secretly conspired against him, and on the night of Nov. 20 gave orders to seize him in his bed and to put him in irons. He was shut up first in the fortress of Schlusselburg ; then after his condemnation to death in 1741, and the commutation of this penalty into exile for life, he was sent to Pelim in Siberia, and confined in a prison specially prepared for him by the orders of Miinnich. The princess Anna Carlovna, mother of the in- fant sovereign, was proclaimed by Miinnich re- gent of the empire, but was in her turn over- thrown in 1741 by Elizabeth, who sent Miinnich to Siberia, to replace Biron, whom she recalled from his prison and exile. Biron was ordered to reside in the city of Yaroslav. When Peter III. succeeded Elizabeth in 1762, he recalled Biron to St. Petersburg, and Catharine II. sub- sequently restored to him his forfeited duchy of Courland. On Jan. 20, 1763, Biron entered his capital of Mitau, and his rule was just and