Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/577

 SAINT PIERRE SAINT SEBASTIAN 553 SAINT PIERRE, a fortified seaport of the island of Martinique, on the N. W. coast ; pop. about 80,000. It was settled by the French in 1635, is the largest town in the French "West Indies, and is well built. There is an old Cath- olic college and a botanic garden. The harbor is much exposed. A railway to Fort Royal or Fort de France, the capital, was in progress of construction in 1875. SAINT PIERRE AND MIQUELON, a French col- ony, comprising the islands of St. Pierre and Great and Little Miquelon, off the S. coast of Newfoundland, and opposite the gulf of St. Lawrence ; area, 81 sq. m. ; permanent pop. in 1870, 4,750. It is of importance as a fish- ing rendezvous. The imports in 1870 were valued at 17,800,000 fr., the exports at 17,- 700,000 fr. The movement of shipping com- prised 1,549 entrances and 1,539 clearances. Capital, St. Pierre ; pop. 800. (See FISHERIES, vol. vii., p. 225.) SAINT-PIERRE, Charles Irenee Castel, abbe de, a French philanthropist, born near Barfleur, Normandy, Feb. 18, 1658, died in Paris, April 29, 1743. He was educated by the Jesuits at Caen and joined the priesthood. In 1686 he went to Paris with the geometrician Varignon, and in 1695 succeeded Bergeret in the acad- emy. In 1702 he became chaplain of the bishop of Orleans, who obtained for him the abbey of Tiron. In 1712 he attended the con- gress of Utrecht with Cardinal Polignac. His Projet de paix perpetuelle (3 vols., Utrecht, 1713-'17) was followed in 1718 by Discours sur la polysynodie, in which he severely judged Louis XIV., and advocated constitutional gov- ernment. He was consequently expelled from the academy, but an association known as club de Ventresol gave him opportunities to expound his humanitarian schemes, and be- came the nucleus of the future academy of moral and political sciences. The club was closed in 1731 by Cardinal Fleury, after seven years' existence. Most of his writings are included in his Outrages de politique et de morale (18 vols., Rotterdam, 1738-'41). SAINT-PIERRE, Jacques Henri Bernardln de, a French author, born in Havre, Jan. 19, 1737, died at Eragny-sur-Oise, Jan. 21, 1814. He was educated by a priest at Caen, and went with his uncle to Martinique as a sailor, but re- sumed his studies at Caen, and subsequently at the college and school of engineers at Rouen. He next served in the army as an engineer, and after various vicissitudes entered the Rus- sian army. He submitted to the empress Cath- arine II. his scheme for establishing on the shores of the Caspian a republic after the mod- el of that of Plato, which fell to the ground like most of his visionary conceptions. He next joined Radziwill in Poland, and in 1765 was repeatedly under arrest. A love affair with a Polish princess diverted his attention from the political affairs of Poland, and on her deserting him he went to Saxony, determined to have his revenge by fighting against the Poles ; but another romantic adventure drove him from Dresden, and failing to receive em- ployment from Frederick the Great, he re- turned in November, 1766, to France, whence he sailed as an engineer to Madagascar. On discovering that the real object of the expe- dition was the slave trade, he left it and re- mained at the isle of France as an engineer till 1771, when he returned to Paris. Here he associated with Rousseau and other celeb- rities, and was noted for his eccentricities and love of solitude. In l792-'3 he was director of the botanical garden; in 1794 he became professor of morals at the normal school, and in 1795 a member of the academy. Under the empire he had a pension of 2,000 francs. By his first wife, Mile. Didot, he had two children, Paul and Virginia. He married a second time in his 63d year. His principal works are : Voyage a Vile de France, &c. (2 vols., Paris, 1773 ; new ed., 1835) ; UArcadie (Angers, 1781 ; new ed., 2 vols., Paris, 1796); fitudes de la nature (5 vola., Paris, 1784; new ed., 6 vols., 1835-'6 ; English translation by H. Hunter, 5 vols., 1796) ; Paul et Virginie (1788), his most celebrated work, which has been translated into many languages; La chaumiere indienne (1790; new ed., including Le cafe de Surate, 1828) ; and Harmonies de la nature (3 vols., 1815 ; new ed., 4 vols., 1818). Aim6 Martin, who married his widow, published his com- plete works with a biographical notice (12 vols., 1818-'20; new ed., 9 vols., 1835), his posthumous works (2 vols., 1833-'6), and his Romans, contes et opuscules (2 vols., 1834). SAINT-QCENTIN, a town of France, in the department of Aisne, on the Somme, 80 m. N. E. of Paris ; pop. in 1872, 34,811. It is well built, the principal streets converging into the Grande Place, which contains the Gothic town hall supported by eight columns. A still more celebrated Gothic building is the cathedral. The town is a great centre of the cotton man- ufacture, and many other articles are made here, including woollens, machinery, and beet- root sugar. There is a brisk trade in grain, flax, hemp, cattle, &c. The canal of St. Quen- tin, which connects the basins of the Oise and Somme with that of the Scheldt, upward of 60 m. long, is of great commercial importance. Under the Romans the town was known as Augusta Vermanduorum. In the middle ages it was the capital of the duchy of Vermandois till 1215, when it was annexed to the crown. The Spaniards captured it in 1557 after a mem- orable battle (Aug. 10), and two years after- ward it was restored to France. During the Franco-German war, Jan. 19, 1871, it was again the scene of a great battle, resulting in the disbandment of the French northern army under Faidherbe. SAINT SEBASTIAN (Sp. San Sebastian), a sea- port of Spain, capital of Guipuzcoa, on the bay of Biscay, 39 m. N. N. W. of Pamplona ; pop. about 14,000. It occupies a low isthmus uniting Mt. Urgull, on which is the citadel, to