Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/422

This page needs to be proofread.
396
SANTANDER
SARAVIA

of 2,400 men defeated the southern army of 15,000 men under Riviere Herard, 19 March, 1844. On 12 July, 1844, he was proclaimed supreme chief, after vanquishing his rival. Juan Duarte (g. <.). In the following November Santana was elected con-ti- tutional president, receiving also the title of liber- ator of the country. During the four years of his administration he promoted agriculture and com- merce, and sought to create financial resources. In 1848 the clerical party induced Soulouque (g. r.) to invade Dominican territory; but Santana was called to command the troops, defeated Soulouque, and. deposing President Jimenes, ruled as dictator till the election of Buenaventura Baez in October, 1849. He strongly favored the movement for an- nexation to the "United States, which Baez de- feated. Santana was re-elected president in 1853, and again defeated Soulouque's invasions in ls.V> and 1856 ; but the credit of the government de- clined, and he resigned early in 1857. Baez was now recalled, but was driven from the island by a re- volt in November. 1858, and Santana again assumed the executive. The internal struggles continued, and, despairing of his ability to preserve peace, San- tana opened negotiations with Spain, and, on 18 .March, 1861, the incorporation of Santo Domingo with the Spanish monarchy was proclaimed. San- tana was commissioned lieutenant-general in the Spanish army, and received patents of nobility and various decorations, which caused unsupported accusations of bribery to be made against him. He retired to his farm, and when the rebellion against the Spanish rule began he offered his services to the governor and marched to Azua. promptly quell- ing the insurrection ; but, when the opposition became general, he retired again, and died of re- morse shortly before the end of the Spanish rule. He is execrated by many of his countrymen for what they call his treason, yet the majority recog- nize his unselfish motives and his thorough honesty while at the head of the government, and his un- doubted bravery is acknowledged by all.


SANTANDER, Francisco de Paula (san-tan - dair), president of Colombia, b. in Rosario de Cucuta in 1792; d. in Bogota, 5 May, 1840. He studied in the College of San Bartolome in Bogota, and was about to be graduated in law. when the news arrived of the declaration of independence in Caracas in 1810, followed by the revolution in Cartagena. Santander immediately took part in the patriotic movement, and was appointed secre- tary of the military commander of Mariquita. In 1811 he joined the Federal forces under Baraya, in the campaign against the Unitarian forces under Narino, and he was taken prisoner, 9 Jan.. is|:i. In February, 1813, he joined the forces under Bolivar, and during that year and 1814 kept up a guerilla warfare against the Spanish troops in the district of Cueuta. When New Granada was in- vaded by Morillo, he retired in 1816 with the rem- nant of his forces to the province, of Casanare, joining there the rest of the dispersed patriot army under several chiefs. A meeting of all the inde- pendent leaders was held in Arauca on 16 July, and Santander wa- elected Commander-in-chief; but he was soon replaced by Gen. Paez (g. >-.). Santander left the army of Apure in February. 1S1 7. joined Bolivar's staff in April, and accompanied him in the campaign against Guayana and the unfortunate operations against Morillo in 1818. In August <>!' that year he was promoted brigadier and commis- sioned by Bolivar to prepare a force fur the cam paign of 1819. He joined Bolivar in (iiiasdiudito in June of that year, and his vote principally de- cided the invasion of New Granada, in which he participated, being promoted general of division on the battle-field of Boyaca on 7 Aug. When Boli- var returned to Venezuela, 20 Sept.. he appointed Santander vice-president of the state of C'undina- marca. and as such he sent troops to the smith against the Spanish president of Quito. The con- gress of Cucuta elected Santander on 30 Aug., 1821, vice-president of the newly constituted re- public of Colombia, and from December. 1821, until September, 1826. during Bolivar's absence in Quito and Peru, he was at the head of the execu- tive, acting with prudence and ability, and exert- ing himself to forward re-enforcements to Bolivar. He was re-elected in the same year : but after Boli- var's return he resigned, and began a systematic opposition to the latter, showing himself in the convention of Ocaiia, to which he was elected by the province of Bogota, to be a personal enemy of the liberator, under the pretext that the latter had tried to subvert the constitution for personal am- bition. Santander was even charged with com- plicity in the attempt to murder Bolivar on 25 Sept., 1828. and he was condemned to death on 7 Nov., but his sentence was commuted to banish- ment. He travelled through England, France, and Germany, and while absent was elected president of the new republic of New Granada for the term of 1832-'6. His administration was just and pro- gressive, especially in fostering primary education and introducing the Lancaster svstem in the com- mon schools, founding colleges in the provinces, and dividing the republic into three university districts. He was elected to congress in 1837, re- elected in 1839, and died during the session of that body. He wrote a justification of his conduct under the title " Apuntamientos para las Memorias de Colombia y Nueva Granada" (Bogota, 1837).


SARAIVA. Matheus (sah-rah-ee'-vah), Bra- zilian physician, b. in Rio Janeiro at the end of the 17th century ; d. there in 1761. He was graduated in medicine at the University of Coimbra, made a fellow of the Royal academy of London, and on his return to Brazil practised in Rio Janeiro, where he became famous for his charity. He wrote " Portugueza e America illustrada" (1750); "A voz evangelica por Sao Thomas," endeavoring to show that the apostle St. Thomas visited Brazil, and pretending to decipher sundry inscriptions and symbolical characters that he had met in the mountains of Itaquatiara in Minas Geraes (Rio Janeiro, 1752); "Polyanthea Phisocosmiea ou Moral, Politica, Instrucao Doutrinal e Historica," a work on the education of youth (1755) ; and I'< >li- anthea Brazilica medica historica," on endemic and epidemic diseases and their treatment (1757).


SARAYIA, Francisco (sah-rah'-ve-ah), Spanish missionary, b. in Seville about 1530 : d. in Villa-Alta, Mexico, 10 Aug., 1630. He went about l.Vio to Mexico, where he married and worked as a cabinet-maker, but after the death of his wife he entered the Dominican order in 1574. After his ordination he was sent to the parish of Villa-Alta. in the province of Oajaca. where lies i acquired the difficult language of the Chinantec Indians, and set out to convert that tribe, dwelling in caves on the mountains of Oajaca. He met with 1:1 vat success, persuading the. Indians to leave their mountains fastnesses, founding seerul large villages, and living for more than fifty years in their midst. He continued his missionary trips to the mountains when a nonagenarian with a broken leg, being carried by the Indians, and he did not return to his convent of Villa-Alta till he fell his last days approaching. He wrote < J ran llomiliano Chiuauteco," which lie copied with his own