Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/629

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LA FUENTE Y ALCANTARA
LAGOS
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ties when congress was dissolved by Gen. Paredes; but after the triumph of the revolution of the "Ciudadela," in August, 1846, he was appointed by Gen. Salas councillor of state, and in October secretary of foreign relations, which place he occupied until Gomez Farias assumed the executive in December. Santa- Anna offered him a seat in the cabinet in 1847; but he refused. After the conclusion of peace with the United States he was elected senator, and, declining the appointment of minister to Paris and Rome, continued in the senate till the dissolution of congress in 1853 by Vice-President Ceballos. Foreseeing the consequences of Santa-Anna's return to power, Lafragua retired from public life and favored the plan of Ayutla. Gen. Alvarez offered him the government of Puebla and the Spanish mission ; but he refused, and on the accession of Gen. Comonfort the latter appointed Lafragua, in December, 1855, secretary of the interior, and he was one of Comonfort's most faithful advisers during his administration. In February, 1857, he was sent as minister to Madrid, and, after the fall of Comonfort in January. 1858, he continued to represent the Liberal government of Juarez, protesting against the admission of a minister from Miramon till he was relieved in 1800 at his own request. After travelling through Europe and the United States, he returned to Mexico in November, 1861, and remained there during the intervention and the empire, but firmly refused a seat in the cabinet, which was several times tendered him by Maximilian. On 20 June, 1867, he was commissioned by Gen. Marquez to treat with Diaz about the surrender of Mexico; but. before he could leave, the city was attacked from all sides and occupied next day. On 3 Aug.. Lafragua was appointed professor of history and chronology and member of the commission to form the civil code, and in 1868 he was elected member of the supreme court of justice and director of the national library. and commissioned to form the penal code. In June, 1872, he was appointed secretary of foreign relations, resigning his seat on the supreme bench, and, after the death of Juarez in July, he presented his resignation together with the other ministers; but it was not accepted by Lerdo de Tejada, and when congress elected him again to the supreme court. 7 Dec, 1873, that body allowed him to continue as secretary of foreign relations, so that he held both posts till his death.


LA FUENTE Y ALCANTARA, Miguel, Spanish historian, b. in Archidona, Malaga, 10 July, 1817; d. in Havana, Cuba, in August, 1850. lie studied law, devoted himself to historical investigations, became secretary of the cortes, and was appointed fiscal, or attorney-general, in the island of Cuba. He had barely arrived in Havana when he was attacked by the local fever and died. He published "Historia de Granada" (4 vols., Granada, 1843-8; 2 vols., Paris, 1851), and also wrote works on hunting, and on the characters and revolutions of the different races in Spain, especially of the Moors during the s middle ages.


LA GALLISSONNIERE, Roland Michael Barrin, Count de, French governor of Canada, b. in France early in the 18th century; d. there, 26 Oct., 1756. He was a distinguished officer in the navy, and administered the government of Canada from 1747 till 1749, during the imprisonment in England of the governor, Admiral De la Jonquiere. His administration of the affairs of the colony was marked by disputes with the British and their colonists in relation to their right of way in and about the peninsula of Nova Scotia and the Ohio. He constructed forts throughout the province, and projected the settling of the French Canadians, who lived on the peninsula, on the north shore of the Bay of Fundy, a scheme that received the approval of the French ministry, and was carried into effect. On his return to France, he went into active service and was intrusted with the transport of land-forces to Minorca, for the siege of Fort Mahon. When returning with the French fleet, he met Admiral Byng's squadron (British) and defeated it, for which Byng was tried by court-martial, sentenced, and shot. Count De la Gallissonniere was of short stature, deformed, and scarcely more distinguished for his naval skill and administrative ability than for his scientific attainments.


LAGES, Joao Vieira de Carvalho (lah-zhavs), Marquis of, Brazilian soldier, b. in Olivenca. Portugal, in 1781; d. in Rio Janeiro, Brazil, 1 April. 1847. He entered the army in 1801. and at the French invasion of Portugal in 1807 accompanied the royal family to Brazil. As a captain he fought in the campaigns against the rebels of Do Sul in Brazil in 1811-12 and 1816-'17, and in the latter campaign did good work in fortifying important places. He was appointed commandant of the colony of Nova Friburgo in 1821. and in 1822 joined the party that advocated the independence of Brazil. The following year the emperor. Pedro I., raised him to the nobility, and promoted him to brigadier. He was appointed secretary of war and Baron of Lages in 1824, in 1826 counsellor of state, and in 1828 general of the army. In 1831 he was again appointed secretary of war. and, although the country was in a state of revolution, he established the schools of the arsenal and a powder-factory. During the regency of 1831-'40 Lages was twice called to be secretary of war. in which post he contributed in 1840 to the declaration of Pedro II.'s majority. In that year he received the title of Marquis of Lages.


LAGOS. Manoel Ferreira (lah'-gos), Brazilian writer, b. in Rio Janeiro in 1816; d. there, 23 Oct., 1867. He studied in his native city, but refused to write the required thesis, and could not be graduated. In 1839 he began to write for the journal of the "Instituto geographico Brazileiro," and in 1845 he was appointed secretary of that body. In 1852 he was elected vice-president of a scientific commission to the north of the empire, and on his return he gave lectures, exposing the falsehoods of many that had written about that part of the country. He was then appointed chief clerk of the secretary of state, in 1854 became keeper of the National library, and the same year established the sections of zoology and comparative anatomy in the National institute. He was appointed representative of Brazil at the Paris exposition of 1867. Besides writing for the journal of the "Instituto geographico Brazileiro," he contributed to the official gazette and several other papers, and wrote many important works, the manuscripts of which were purchased bv the government of Brazil.


LAGOS, Pedro (lah'-gos), Chilian soldier, b. in Chilian in December, 1827; d. in Santiago in October, 1884. In his early youth he entered the army as a common soldier, and during the civil war of 1851 did good service in the battle of Petorca on 14 Oct. and in that of Longomilla on 8 Dec. and was promoted major. In the civil war of 1859 he served again under the government, became brevet colonel, and, after numerous campaigns against the Araticanians, was promoted colonel by congress in 1875. He was for many years commander of the Chilian frontier against the Araucanians. and in 1878 was appointed inspector-general of the national guard. During the war against Peru and Bolivia he was in command