Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/421

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ant-governor. He succeeded Robert Johnson in the governorship in May, 1735, and died while still in office. Hewitt describes him as "a plain, honest man, but little distinguished either for his knowl- edge or valor." He was easily accessible to de- signing men, and was persuaded to sign land-war- rants by planters, who saw their opportunity to gain great possessions. Some of the largest estates in South Carolina were acquired through his oblig- ing way of signing official papers.


BROUGHTON, William Robert, naval officer, b. in Gloucestershire, England, in 1763 ; d. in Florence, Italy, 12 March, 1821. He entered the royal navy as a midshipman in 1774, and was at- tached to the sloop " Falcon." He participated in the naval attack on Bunker Hill (17 June, 1775), and was soon afterward captured in an attempt to bring off a schooner that had run aground at Cape Ann. He was exchanged in December, 1776, and served on the American station until 1778. After several years of service in East Indian waters, he was appointed, in 1790, to the command of the " Chatham," a brig attached to Vancouver's voy- age of discovery on the northwest coast of Amer- ica. With this vessel he was engaged in a sur- vey of Columbia river and the coasts adjacent. Vancouver named a group of islands in the Pacific " Broughton's Archipelago," but the title has not survived. In 1793 he was sent home with de- spatches, and travelled over-land from San Bias to "V era Cruz, a distance of about six hundred miles in a straight line. The original journal kept during this journey is preserved in the library of the royal united service institution in London. He reached England in the autumn of 1793, and on 3 Oct. was placed in command of the " Provi- dence," a vessel of four hundred tons, in which he again sailed for the northwest coast of America ; but he found the place of rendezvous deserted, Vancouver having sailed some time before. This voyage terminated his American record. He crossed the Pacific, and subsequently rendered dis- tinguished service in the British navy, rising to the rank of captain. In 1804 he published "A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean," confined mainly to the Asiatic coasts.


BROUSE, William Henry, Canadian physician, b. in Matilda, Dundas, Ontario, in 1824. He was educated at McGill college, Montreal, and Victoria college, Cobourg, receiving the degree of M. D. from the former in 1847, and that of M. A. from the latter in 1849. He is surgeon of the 56th battalion of volunteer infantry, a member of the senate of Victoria college, and appointed member of the medical examining board. Upper Canada, in 1850. He was elected to the Dominion parliament for South Grenville in 1872, re-elected in 1874, and called to the senate in 1878.


BROUSSEAU, Jean Baptist, Canadian journalist, b. at Beloeil, county Vercheres, province of Quebec, 1 Jan., 1841. He was educated at St. Hyacinthe and L'Assomption colleges in his native province, studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Lower Canada in July, 1863. He was editor of " Le Messager de Sorel " from 1874 till 1876, and co-editor of " La Gazette de Sorel " from 1874 to 1876. He was elected to the provincial legislature in 1878, and took part in the famous debate on the constitutionality of the dismissal of the De Boucherville cabinet by Lieut. -Gov. Letellier.


BROWN, Aaron Venable, statesman, b. in Brunswick co., Va., 15 Aug., 1795; d. in Wash- ington. D. C, 8 March, 1859. He was graduated at Chapel Hill university (N. C.) in 1814, removed with his parents to Tennessee in 1815, studied law, and when admitted to practice became the partner of James K. Polk. From 1821 till 1832 he was al- most continuously a member of the state legisla- ture. He was elected to congress in 1839, and re- elected in 1841 and 1843. On retiring from con- gress, in 1845, he was chosen governor of Tennes- see, serving until 1847. He was a delegate to the southern conven- tion at Nash- ville in 1850, and is the author of " The Tennes- see Platform," brought forward at that time, a document that aroused much comment. In 1852 he was a delegate to the democratic con- vention in Balti- more, and re- ported the plat- form that was

adopted. The last office held by Mr. Brown was that of postmaster-general in President Buchan- an's cabinet. Among the measures adopted dur- ing his administration of this office was the estab- lishment of a new and shorter oceanic mail-route to California by way of Tehuantepec, and of the transcontinental mail-routes from St. Louis west- ward, prior to the construction of the railroads. He was for twenty years one of the most trusted leaders of the democratic party. A volume of his speeches was published in Nashville in 1854.


BROWN, Adam, Canadian merchant, b. in Ed- inburgh, Scotland, 3 April, 1826. He was edu- cated in his native city and in Montreal, to which place the family had emigrated in 1833. After passing through various grades in the mercantile service he accepted, in 1850, a place in the firm of Donald Mclnnes, in Hamilton, Ontario. Subse- quently he became a partner in the wholesale grocery house of W. P. McLaren, in the same city, and still later principal of the firm of Brown, Gil- lespie & Co. Mr. Brown has been president of the dominion board of trade, and is also president or director of various railways, besides holding many other offices of honor and responsibility.


BROWN, Albert Gallatin, statesman, b. in Chester District, S. C, 31 May, 1813 ; d. near Jack- sonville, Miss., 12 Jiuie, 1880. His parents re- moved to jMississippi while he was a child. He took a boyisii interest in military affairs, and was made a brigadier-general in the state militia when only nineteen years of age. He adopted the law as a profession, gaining admission to the bar in 1834, and was a member of the state legislature from 1835 till 1839, and member of congress from Mississippi in 1840-'l. He was also a judge of the circuit superior court in 1841-'3 ; governor of Mississippi on successive re-elections from 1843 till 1848; again member of congress from 1848 till 1854 ; and U. S. senator from 1854 till 1858. He was re-elected for six years, beginning 4 March, 1859, but resigned in 1861 to join in the rebellion. His colleague in the U. S. senate at the time was Jefferson Davis, and they both attended the caucus of seceding senators, held in Washington 6 Jan., 1861. He was an uncompromising adherent of the democratic party in the south. A volume of his speeches was published in 1859.