Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/126

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POWNALL
PRADO

pointed commissioner fur Massachusetts, in nego- tiations with the colonial authorities in New York, concerning military operations against the French, and in the samp year he was made lieutenant-gov- ernor i if New Jer-ev. Hi' was present at the meet- ing of the colonial governor with Gen. Edward ISraddock at Alexandria. In 1757 Pownall was made governor of Massachusetts, to succeed Shir- Icy. The accompanying engraving represents the old Province house, his residence in Boston. While conducting the government of that province, he built the furt that was named after him. on Penob- scot. river, and was active in the military campaign against the French. In 1759 he was appointed gov- ernor of South Carolina, but he never assumed the government of that colony, as he returned to Kn^- land and was almost immediately elected to parlia- ment. He was next made " director-general of con- trol," and joined the Knglish force in Germany. After the peace of Paris he was again returned to parliament, where he sat almost continuously til] 1781. He was the firm and consistent friend of the American idea. In 1767 he opposed parliamentary taxation of the colonies. In 1777, six years before the peace, he was the first to announce that Eng- land's "sovereignty over America was gone for- ever," and he then advocated a commercial treaty in order to frustrate French influence. II. was the first member of parliament to bring in a bill for peace with the colonies. Soon after the Al- bany congress Pownall formulated a plan for an English-speaking empire wlm-c seal of aul hunl was ultimately to be in this country. He believed that theAmericanshad equal constitu- 1 ioiial rights with ihc Knuli-h in Kngland. and his wonderful saga- city, ]icin-l rating thefuture so clear- ly as to make him

seem somewhat

visionary to contemporary "practical politicians," made him an- ticipate the political preponderance of the English race in America. Because he vas wedded neither to the American plan for independence of Knirland nor to the English plan for colonial subordination to the political emporium in London, he failed to exert on his contemporaries all the influence thai his singular ability warranted. Yet he always was eon-idered in parliament the chief authority on all exact question* of American affairs, whether pi lat- ing to South or North America. He was the first Km; I i -hnian of note that made politics in America a profound study. When the United States be- came independent he proclaimed that he regarded the future political supremacy of England as doubt- ful, and admitted that the aim of his life a con- solidated English-speaking empire was frust t a t ci I. As a sclent iM. I'ownall was much esteemed by Ben- jamin Franklin, whose close friend he was, even during the trying ordeal of the Revolutionary war. As an antiquary, scientist, and man of letters, Pow- nall stood high in England. He wrote extensively on Roman antiquities and published many papers in the " Gentleman's Magazine " on widely differ- ent subjects. But his great literary effort was one on the " Colonial Constitutions " (London, 1764). Though somewhat deformed by classical quotations, it works out in detail the first comprehensive argument for the equal political status of English freemen in America. In one. aspect this book and its views entitle Pownall to be regarded as al- most the first American statesman. Certainly he merits renown for being the first Englishman of education and influence that devoted his entire life to the amelioration of American political con- ditions. Pownall was a member of the Society of antiquaries, and a fellow of the Royal society. By some he was thought to be "Junius." I'ow- nall's political history is yet to be written. When it is written, if just to him, it will magnify the place that is commonly accorded to him by those historians that have treated the entire ep'och in which he lived. He was the author of many works, including Principles of Polity " (1752) : The Ad- ministration of the Colonies " (1764) ; " Descripl ion of the Middle Colonies of America" (1776): "A Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe on the Slate of Affairs between the Old and the New World" (1780) ; " Memorial to the Sovereigns of America" (1783): " Notices and Descriptions of the Antiqui- ties of the Provincia Romana of Gaul" (1788); "Intellectual Physics" (1795): "Letters advocat- ing Free-Trade" (1705): "An Antiquarian Ro- mance " 1 1 7! p."i i ; and a treatise un " Old Age."


POYAS, Catharine Gendron, author, b. in Charleston, S. t'., 27 April, 1813 ; d. there, 7 Feb., 1882. Her mother, Elizabeth Anne, published, under the title of " The Ancient Lady," several small books and pamphlets relating to the homes and genealogies of families in Carolina. Her daughter was educated in Charleston, wrote verses at an early age, and is the author of "Huguenot Daughters, and other Poems" (Charleston, 1849) and " Year of Grief" (1870).


POYDRAS. Julien, philanthropist, b.in Nantes, France. 3 April, 174(1; d. in Point Coupee, La,, 25 June, 1824. lie was first delegate to congress from the territory of Orleans, from :!1 May. 1809, till 3 .March. 1811 lie gave $100.000 for the founding of the Poydras orphan a-ylum al New Orleans, and left 1200,000 for a college at Point Coupee.


PRADO. Juan de. Spanish soldier, b. in Leon, Spain, in 1716; d. about 1770. He entered the army, took part in some of the wars of Spain in Africa, and was appointed governor-general of Cuba in 1760, but did not take possession of his office until February, 1761. On 6 July, 1762. an Kuglish force under Lord Albemarle began the siege of Havana, which was finally taken on lit Aug. On Prado's return to Spain, the Madrid government caused him to be tried by a court-mar- tial. He was convicted of incompetency and lack of energy in the defence of Havana, and was sen- tenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to ten years' imprisonment. He died in prison


PRADO. Mariano Ignaoio (prah'-doi. president of Peru, b. in Huanueo in 182li. He entered the army early and served in the provinces of the south, but was in Lima on leave of absence when (ien. Camilla's revolution against Echenique's government b,-_r;,n in 1S54. in which he participated, he was taken prisoner and banished to Chili, but soon returned, joined Castilla in the mountains, and marched with him against the capital a- i hi. I of the " Columna sagrada." He was political governor of Taona when Admiral Pinzon occupied the Chinchas islands, 14 April. 1sii4. issued a. proclamation for the defence of the country, and became prefect of Arequipa. But when the i- vanco-Pareja treaty was signed. Prado. on 2S Feb., 1865, marched against Lima, and entered the capital on 6 Nov. at the head of a victorious army, and