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 180 LAS CASES Llorente, and published in Spanish and French, each edition in 2 vols. 8vo (Paris, 1822). LAS CASES, Emmanuel Angustin Dieudonne, sei- gneur de la Caussade and count de, a French historian, and companion of Napoleon at St. Helena, born at the chateau of Las Cases, near Revel, Languedoc, in 1766, died at Passy-sur- Seine, May 15, 1842. He was educated at the school of the Oratorians in Vendome, and at the military and naval schools of Paris, and served in the navy, becoming lieutenant at the age of 21. When the revolution broke out he took part with the royalists, emigrated, and was employed by the prince of Conde in many diplomatic missions, among others to Gustavus III. of Sweden, then at Aix-la-Chapelle, who became his friend. After the defeat of the Prussians in Champagne he fled to London, where he supported himself by teaching. When the emigres were recalled by Napoleon, Las Cases returned to Paris, and for some time lived in obscurity. But he was appointed chamberlain of the emperor in 1808, and in 1809 entered the army of Bernadotte. In 1810 he was appointed master of requests in the council of state, and in 1811 intrusted with the liquidation of the Austro-Illyrian debt. In 1812 he was appointed inspector of prisons, hospitals, and similar institutions, and of all the ports and naval stations from Toulon to Amsterdam. After the disasters of Moscow and Leipsic, Las Cases commanded the 10th legion of the national guard. In 1814 he op- posed Napoleon's abdication, and w^ent to Eng- land, whence he subsequently sent in his adhe- sion to the Bourbons. After the return from Elba he went back to France, and after Water- loo followed Napoleon to St. Helena. Here with his son he devoted himself to the care of the emperor, and passed his evenings in record- ing his remarks. Having written a letter to Lucien Bonaparte commenting on the treat- ment to which Napoleon was subjected, he was arrested, Nov. 27, 1816, and sent to the Cape of Good Hope, where he was confined eight months. He was taken to England, but not Buffered to land, and afterward conducted to Frankfort, where he at last received his liberty after 13 months' captivity. He afterward re- sided in Belgium, but it was not until the death of Napoleon that he was allowed to re- turn to France. He now published his St. Hele- na notes, which are said to have yielded him 2,000,000 francs. He was elected in 1831 and 1839 to the chamber of deputies, taking his seat with the ultra opposition. Besides his Memorial de Sainte-Helene (8 vols., 1822-'3), he composed an Atlas Mstorique et- geogra- pTiique (1803-'4), and an autobiography enti- tled Memoires cPE. A. Z>., comte de Las Cases, communiques par lui-meme (1819). LAS CENIZAS ("the ashes"), a volcano in Guatemala, Central America, one of the group known as the volcanoes of Pacaya, in lat. 14 21' N., Ion. 90 36' W., 19 m. S. W. of the city of Guatemala ; altitude, 5,100 ft. It has not been LASSA in a state of destructive eruption since 1776, in which year it destroyed the village of Tres Rios, 9 m. distant, filling up three considerable rivers, from which the village took its name. LASKER, Eduard, a German statesman of Jew- ish parentage, born at Jarocin, Posen, Oct. 14, 1829. He studied in Breslau, and found em- ployment in the judiciary service at Berlin, with which he resumed his connection in 1856, after having passed some time in London in studying English jurisprudence. He became known as a statesman by his work on the con- stitutional history of Prussia (new ed., Leipsic, 1873), and as a member since 1865 of the Prus- sian chamber, and subsequently of the North German and German imperial parliaments. He was one of the founders of the national lib- eral party, and promoter of the union of the southern and northern states of Germany (1866-'70). He is nov (1874) the foremost leader in the Reichstag, and a powerful sup- porter of Bismarck's policy. LASRI, Jan, commonly known as JOHN A LAS- CO, a Polish divine, born in Warsaw in 1499, died in Pinczow, Jan. 13, 1560. He was de- scended from a noble family, and had an uncle who was an archbishop. He entered the church, and rose to the rank of bishop; but having made the acquaintance of Zwingli and other reformers, he became a Protestant, and resigned his bishopric in 1537. After founding at Em- den the first Protestant church in that region, he went to London in 1549, where he had charge of a foreign Protestant congregation. Being compelled to leave England on the ac- cession of Mary in 1553, he went to Frankfort, where he organized the society of Protestant refugees from England and the Netherlands. He returned to his native country in 1556, be- came the head of the Protestant church in Little Poland, and exerted himself especially to bring about a union of all the Protestant churches of Poland. He left a large number of theological works. LAS PALMAS. See PALMAS. LAS PILAS, one of the great extinct volca- noes which constitute the volcanic chain of the Marrabios, extending across the plain of Leon, in Nicaragua. It is broad and comparatively low, but has a vast crater surrounded by many smaller craters, or ancient vents. It was near the foot of this volcano, in the plain of Leon, that a volcanic orifice opened on April 12, 1850, around which was speedily accumulated a great mass of lava, cinders, stones, and ashes, forming a cone several hundred feet in height, which by its accretions promised to add another high volcano to those which stud the plain. The eruption ceased however at the end of a month, and has not since been renewed. LASSA, or H'Lassa, a city of Asia, capital of Thibet, situated in a fertile plain on an affluent of the Sanpo or Dzang-bo-tzin, in lat. 30 48' N., Ion. 91 25', 600 m. N. N. E. of Calcutta; pop. about 50,000, a large portion of whom are Buddhist priests or lamas. The streets are