Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/38

time attached to the Marine hospital at Rimouski. He sat in the legislative assembly from 1847 till 1857, and represented Canada at the Paris ex- hibition of 1855, and at that of London in 1867. He was a member of the board of prison-inspectors and deputy minister of agriculture and statistics, contributed largely to the Canadian press, and was editor of the " Courrier du Canada " from 1857 till 1859. Mr. Tache was British delegate from Canada at the International sanitary conference of 1881 at Washington, and has been on several important commissions in Canada. He received the degree of D. L. from Laval universitv in 1883, and the con- federation medal in 1886. lie has taken an active part in charitable and religious movements in Can- ada. While Canadian commissioner at the Paris exhibition in 1855, he published " Esquisse sur le Canada," a work that deals with the past and present condition of the country. Its object was to make Canada better known in France, especially as a field of emigration, and in this respect it was very suc- cessful. His other works are " Notice historio- graphique sur la fete celebree a Quebec le 16 juin, 1859, jour du 200 me anniversaire de Farrivee de Mgr. de Laval en Canada" (Quebec, 1859); " L'Canada et l'exposition universelle " (1856) ; " La pleiade rouge," a political satire (1854) ; " Le de- fricheur de langue," a burlesque tragedy in verse ; " Tenure seigneuriale en Canada, et projet de com- mutation, suivi de tableaux relatifs aux fiefs et seigneuries du Bas-Canada " (1854) ; and " Des provinces de l'Amerique du Nord et d'une union federale " (1858). He was one of the founders of the " Soirees Canadiennes," in which he published two purely literary works entitled " Trois legendes de mon pays, ou l'evangile ignore, l'evangile preche, l'evangile accepte," and " Forestiers et voyageurs." — Joseph Charles's brother, Alexander A htonine, Canadian R. C. archbishop, b. in Riviere-du-Loup, Canada, 23 July, 1823, was graduated at the Col- lege of St. Hyacinth, and studied theology in the Seminary of Montreal. He returned to St. Hya- cinth as professor of mathematics, but, after teach- ing a few months, went to Montreal and became a monk of the Oblate order. He volunteered at once for missionary service among the Indians of the Red river, and, after a journey of sixty-two days, during which he encountered sufferings and priva- tions of every kind, reached St. Boniface on 25 Aug., 1845. He was raised to the priesthood on 12 Oct. following, being the first priest ordained on the banks of the Red river. In July, 1846, he set out for lle-a-la-Crosse, and, after spending a few months at this mission, he went to labor among the Indians that lived around the lakes, several hundred miles to the northwest. On one of his journeys he slept for sixty nights in the open air in winter, and he often travelled thirty or forty leagues with the temperature twenty-five or thirty degrees below zero, in the hope of converting a single Indian. His zeal and talents became known throughout Canada, and, although only twenty-six years old, he was recommended for. the post of coadjutor bishop of St. Boniface in 1850. lie was summoned to France by the superior of the Oblate Fathers, and consecrated bishop of Arath in partibus in the cathedral of Viviers on 23 Nov., 1851. After a visit to Rome he returned to Canada in February, 1852, and on 10 Sept. reached Ile-a-la-Crosse, which he had determined to make the centre of his labors in the northwest. He set about founding new missions, obtained missionaries, male and female, to aid him, and many schools, colleges, convents, and chapels were built. Bishop Taehe's efforts were directed also to the establishment of a French- Canadian population in the northwest, and he has done much to develop and strengthen the feel- ing of French-Canadian nationality among the in- habitants of the Red river country. He became bishop of St. Boniface, 7 June, 1853. In 1869 he laid the grievances of the Metis before the Canadian govern- ment, and endeav- ored, without sue- cess, to persuade the latter not to make any changes in the political sit- uation of the in- habitants of the Red river without consulting them. He then sailed for Italy in order to

take part in the

council of the Vatican at Rome. Meanwhile the troubles came to acrisis, and the Canadian ministry, alarmed at the attitude of the Metis, and regretting too late that they had not followed his advice, begged him to come to their assistance. He at once returned to Canada, and reached the Red river on 9 March. 1870, empowered, in the name of the imperial and Dominion governments, to offer a full pardon for all political offences committed during the insur- rection. St. Boniface was erected into a metro- politan see on 22 Sept., 1871, and Bishop Tache was appointed archbishop. He has written " Vingt an- nees de missions dans le nord-ouest de l'Amerique " (Montreal, 1866), and " Esquisse sur le nord-ouest de l'Amerique" (Montreal, 1869). The latter has been translated into English by Capt. D. R. Cam- eron, and is considered the most complete work on the resources of the Red river, the nature of its products, and the different races of men and ani- mals that inhabit the country. Archbishop Tache is a contributor to the " Annales de la propagation de la foi," published by the Oblate Fathers in France.

TACON, Miguel (tan-cone'), Spanish sold le r, b. in Cartagena, Colombia, in 1777 ; d. in Madrid, Spain, in 1855. He first served in the navy, but in 1806 he entered the army with the commission of lieutenant-colonel. He was appointed in 1809 governor of Popayan. When the Spanish possessions in South America began to rise against the home government, Tacon took the field against the patriots, and, having been defeated in Palace, 5 April, 1811, he fled to Peru, where he remained until 1819. He was then made brigadier and sent to Spain by the viceroy of Peru to inform the Madrid government of the bad condition of the struggle against the patriot forces. He was appointed governor of Malaga, and in 1834 was made ieutenant-general and appointed governor-general of Cuba. During his administration, from 7 June, 1834, to 23 April, 1838, he did much that was good together with many acts of despotism. He repressed the criminal classes, reformed the morals of the island greatly, and suppressed corruption among public officers and servants of the government. He caused the construction of sewers in Havana, paved the streets of the city, built a great prison, encouraged the construction of a theatre, which was named for him, established several public markets, lighted the streets, and erected many public buildings. But during his administration