Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/656

 644 GASTON GATES GASTON, William, an American jurist, born in New Berne, N. 0., Sept. 19, 1778, died in Ra- leigh, Jan. 23, 1844. He graduated at Princeton, N. J., in 1796, with the highest honors, studied law, and was admitted to the bar at New Berne in 1798. Two years later he was elected to the senate of North Carolina, and subsequently to the house of commons, of which he was speaker in 1808. In the same year he was cho- sen by the federalists a presidential elector, and in 1813 he was elected to congress, where he served for four years, and became one of the most influential leaders of the federal party. He opposed the loan bill, which proposed du- ring the war with Great Britain to place $25,- 000,000 at the disposal of the president, as was generally understood for the conquest of Can- ada. His speech, which was widely read and greatly admired, embraced a thorough discus- sion of the policy, object, and management of the war. In 1817 he retired from congress to devote himself to his profession, in which he soon attained the foremost rank in North Caro- lina. In 1835 he was a member of the con- vention to revise the state constitution, took a leading part in all important debates, and in a great measure guided the business of the convention. He spoke and voted against the proposition to deprive free colored men of the right of suffrage, which at that time they pos- sessed, but which was taken from them by the new constitution. In 1834 he was appointed a judge of the supreme court of North Caro- lina ; but he was a Roman Catholic, and by the constitution of that state, as commonly inter- preted, was therefore incapable of holding any state office. Such, however, was the universal regard for his character and ability that the clause in the constitution against the Catholics became a dead letter. He continued in this office till his death, which was sudden. GASTON DE FOIX, duke of Nemours, a French general, born in 1489, killed at Ra- venna, April 11, 1512. He was the son of Jean de Foix, viscount of Narbonne, and of Marie d'0r!6ans, sister of Louis XII. In 1505 he was made duke of Nemours. In the begin- ning of 1512, at the age of 23, he was ap- pointed commander of the French army in Italy, to carry on the war with Venice, the pope, and King Ferdinand of Spain, who had formed a "holy league" against Louis XII. He raised the siege of Bologna, defeated the Venetian army under the walls of Brescia, and on the same day carried that city by storm. A few weeks later, on April 11, he brought the allied army to a decisive action under the walls of Ravenna, and, in one of the most hotly contested battles ever fought, defeated them with a loss on both sides of 20,000 men. Flushed with victory, he was exasperated at the deliberate manner in which the Spanish in- fantry left the field, and charged them rashly in person, followed by Bayard and about 20 other knights. He broke their line, but his horse was wounded, and fell in the midst of the enemy. When Bayard reached him he was already dead. His loss so disheartened the French that they reaped little advantage from their great victory. A monument near Ravenna marks the place where he fell. GASTRIC JUICE. See DIGESTION. GATAKER, Thomas, an English ecclesiastic, born in London, Sept. 4, 1574, died June 27, 1654. He wrote several works illustrative of the Scriptures. In 1642 he wa"s chosen mem- ber of the assembly of divines at Westminster. In 1648 he remonstrated, in conjunction with 47 of his brethren, against the proceedings of the long parliament in relation to the king. In 1652 he published a critical edition of Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations," with notes, and an introductory discourse on the philoso- phy of the Stoics. The best edition of his works is that of Utrecht, 2 vols. folio, 1698. GATCHINA, a town of Russia, in the govern- ment and 28 m. S. S. W. of the city of St. Peters- burg, on a small lake formed by the Izhora river ; pop. in 1867, 8,337. It is the private property of the emperor, and is famous for the imperial palace, built by Prince Gregory Orloff, and purchased on his death by Catharine II., who presented it in 1784 to her son, the grand duke Paul. The latter made it his favorite residence, and in 1797 granted municipal fran- chises to the town which grew up around the palace. The grounds are extensive and well laid out, and the park is intersected by lakes and streams which abound in trout. The em- peror maintains a kennel here, but the palace is rarely inhabited by the present imperial family, and many of the paintings have been removed to the Hermitage. There are manu- factures of porcelain, cloths, and hats. GATES, a N. E. county of North Carolina, bordering on Virginia, bounded S. W. by Chowan and Nottaway rivers, the former of which is here navigable ; area, 353 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 7,724 of whom 3,207 were colored. The surface is generally level, and much of it is covered with oak and pine timber. The Dismal swamp occupies the extreme N. E. part. The principal exports are tar and lumber. The chief productions in 1870 were 158,070 bushels of Indian corn, 54,186 of sweet pota- toes, and 151 bales of cotton. There were 774 horses 1,353 milch cows, 2,521 other cattle, and 11,411 swine. Capital, Gatesville. GATES, Horatio, an American soldier, born in England in 1728, died in New York, April 10, 1806. He early entered the British army, and was an officer under Braddock, at whose defeat in 1755 he was severely wounded. After lie peace of 1763 he purchased an estate in Vir- ginia, where he resided till the organization of the continental army in 1775. Appointed ad- jutant general with the rank of brigadier, he accompanied Washington to Cambridge in July, 1775, and in June, 1776, received the chief command of the army which had just retreated from Canada. In the autumn following he joined Washington in New Jersey with a con-