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 VATTEL VAUCANSON 277 oil till October, and thereby postponing final action on the question of infallibility. This letter, believed by the signers to be confidential, was not intended for the pope, but was de- spatched in all haste and printed by the Ga- zette de France July 20, and by the Augsburg " Gazette " on the 22d. At the same time the agence ffavas announced that the minority had drawn up a protest which was to be published outside of Rome. At the fourth solemn ses- sion, July 18, of 536 prelates present only two voted non placet, the others voting placet; 65 prelates absented themselves. Of the two dis- senting bishops, one before leaving the council hall gave in his adhesion to the pope in person. Cardinals Rauscher, Schwarzenberg, Mathieu, and Hohenlohe, inopportunists, who were ab- sent, immediately sent in their adhesion. All the other members of the minority accepted sooner or later the doctrine thus decreed. (See INFALLIBILITY, vol. ix., p. 265.) The rumor of the impending war between France and Ger- many made the members of the council anxious to return to their flocks. The pope authorized them to do so, with an injunction to return to Rome by Nov. 11. But the events following the capitulation of Sedan, the withdrawal of the French army from Rome, and the occupa- tion of that city by the Italian government, in- duced the pope to publish, Oct. 20, the bull Postquam Dei munere, suspending indefinitely the sessions of the council. See Acta et De- creta Sacrosancti et (Ecumenici Concilii Vati- cani (Freiburg, 1871) ; Cardinal Manning, " The Vatican Council and its Definitions " (London, 1871) ; and M. J. Chantrel, Histoire du concile du Vatican (2d ed., Paris, 1872). VATTEL, Emmerlc de, a Swiss publicist, born at Couvet, Neufchatel, Aug. 25, 1714, died in Neufchatel, Dec. 20, 1767. He was the son of a Protestant clergyman, and studied at Ba- sel and Geneva. After residing some years in Geneva and Berlin, he received an office at Dresden in 1744 ; from 1746 to 1758 he repre- sented Augustus of Saxony and Poland at Bern, and then became a privy councillor at Dres- den, returning to Switzerland shortly before his death. He wrote in defence of the system of Leibnitz and on other subjects ; but his principal work is Le droit des gens, ou prin- cipes de la loi naturelle appliques a la conduite et aux affaires des nations et des souverains (2 vols. 4to, Neufchatel, 1758), which has passed through numerous editions and has been trans- lated into several languages. The best known English translation is that of Joseph Chitty, "Law of Nations, or Principles of the Law of Nature applied to the Conduct and Affairs of Nations and Sovereigns " (London, 1797, many times edited and reprinted in England and the United States). Vattel's last production was Questions de droit naturel, et observations sur le traite du droit de la nature par M. le baron de TF0Z/(Bern, 1762). VAI'BAX, Sebastien Leprestre, marquis de, a French military engineer, born near Saulieu, Burgundy, May 15, 1633, died in Paris, March 30, 1707. In 1651 he enlisted in the army of the prince of Cond6, then in arms against the king. Returning to his allegiance, he was made a lieutenant, and in 1655 royal engineer ; and during the war against Spain in Flanders he successfully conducted several sieges under Turenne. On the conclusion of peace in 1659 he was employed in improving and construct- ing fortresses, in which he displayed remark- able skill and originality. In 1667 he was wounded at the siege of Douai. During the invasion of Holland, he took Maestricht and other strongholds (1673-'6) by means of his new system of attack. In 1677 he won new laurels by his capture of Valenciennes and Cambrai. In that year he was made com- missary general of fortifications, in which ca- pacity he devised and nearly completed that strong line of fortresses which protects the frontiers and sea coasts of France. In the war against the league of Augsburg he took Philippsburg, Mannheim, Mons, Namur, and other towns (1688-'93). In 1699 he was elect- ed an honorary member of the academy of sci- ences, and in 1703 was made marshal and con- ducted the siege of Breisach under the duke of Burgundy. During his military career he im- proved 300 old fortresses and built 33 new ones, conducted 53 sieges, and took part in 140 battles. His system of attacking a forti- fied place by regular approaches still practi- cally prevails. As a civil engineer, he con- structed the aqueduct of Maintenon, the mole at Honfleur, and several canals in the north and east of France, besides laying out and im- proving many seaports. Vauban wrote large- ly on a variety of subjects, and devoted much attention to political economy; but he pub- lished only his Projet d'une dixme royale (1707), a scheme for the collection from all classes, according to their means, of a single tax in lieu of all others, which the royal coun- cil ordered to be suppressed. His principal military writings, edited by Gen. de la Tour Foissac (3 vols., Paris, 1796), comprise his cele- brated Traite de Vattaque et de la defense des places and Traite des mines, originally pub- lished at the Hague in 1737, and frequently reprinted separately. A new edition of his Traite-des sieges, originally published in Berlin in 1747, appeared at Paris in 1829. Among his other works are selections from his manu- scripts (the greater part of which has been lost) entitled Mes oisivetes (4 vols., Paris, 1843-'6). See Notice Jiistorique sur Vauban, by De Chambray (Paris, 1845). YACCANSOJf, Jacques de, a French mechanician, born in Grenoble, Feb. 24, 1709, died in Paris, Nov. 21, 1782. He studied mechanics and anatomy for several years. The statue of the " Flute Player " in the gardens of the Tuileriee first suggested to him the project of making an automaton player, and he acquired great ce- lebrity by works of that class. (See AUTOMA- TON.) Cardinal Fleury appointed him inspec-