Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/333

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HUGHES
HUGUES
305

was his last important public service. His health had long been failing, and his closing years were spent in great debility. He was an active agent in the foundation of the American college in Rome, established the present theological semi- nary of the province at Troy, began the new St. Patrick's cathedral, introduced numerous relig- ious orders, especially those employed in teaching, and promoted free parish schools. The introduc- tion into the legislature of a bill for the regula- tion of church property led to a vigorous newspa- per controversy between the archbishop and Eras- tus Brooks (q. v.) respecting the tenure of such property in New York (1854). The archbishop re- published the letters, with the title " Brooksiana " (New York, 1855); and they were also reprinted by Mr. Brooks. Controversies in fact of a per- sonal or theological nature crowded upon him with hardly any cessation until almost his last days. The archbishop was a man of irreproach- able private life, generous, kind-hearted, high- minded, frank, simple in his habits, stately and polished in his manners, an agreeable talker, and a firm friend. In the pulpit a dignified and at- tractive presence added to the effect of his fine but unstudied delivery. His style in speaking was clear and forcible. His writings were diffuse and hasty, but they had the great merit of fastening the attention of the public, and they always served their purpose. His strong attachment to his na- tive land was often shown in conspicuous ways, but he was an ardent American, and vehemently opposed every project that tended to separate the Irish in this country from their native fellow-citi- zens. He had a great dislike for most of the Irish- Catholic newspapers and a contempt for the Irish revolutionary party. He had a high estimate of the episcopal office, ruling somewhat haughtily, but winning ready and cheerful obedience. On his own part he was a loyal subject of the holy see, and his devotion to the interests of his church was absolutely unselfish. He lived to see extraor- dinary changes in the condition of the -church under his care, as well as in the public temper, which no longer enjoyed the hot polemics of his earlier years. But he had been a great force in an era when a fighting bishop was needed. When the nuncio, Archbishop Bedini, asked an Ameri- can priest to explain wny Archbishop Hughes was held in so much higher popular consideration than other prelates, the answer was : " I think it is be- cause he is always game." His miscellaneous "Writings," comprising, besides works already mentioned, a great number of controversial, his- torical, and expository lectures, pamphlets, letters, etc., were collected by Laurence Kehoe (2 vols., New York, 1865). See also "Life of the Most Reverend John Hughes, D. D., First Archbishop of New York, with Extracts from his Private Corre- spondence," by John R. G. Hassard (1866).


HUGHES, Robert William, jurist, b. in Pow- hatan county, Va., 6 June, 1821. He was edu- cated at Caldwell institute, N. C, and taught in the high-school at Hillsborough, N. C, in 1840-'2. He removed to Richmond, Va., and edited the " Examiner " until 1857, and in 1858-'9 was one of the staff of the Washington " Union." He served in the Confederate army throughout the civil war, in 1865-'6 edited the Richmond "Re- public," and contributed to the "State" and " Journal." In June, 1869, while connected with the "State," he fought a duel with William E. Cameron of the Richmond " Index," in which the latter was wounded. He was U. S. attorney of the western district of Virginia in 1871-3, Republican candidate for governor in 1873, and from 1874 till the present date (1887) he has been United States judge for the eastern district of Virginia. He has published " The American Dollar " (Richmond, 1866) ; biographies of Gen. John B. Floyd and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston (New York, 1867) ; and " The Currency Question " (1879).


HUGHES, Thomas, British author, b. in Uff- ington, Berkshire, England. 20 Oct., 1823. He was educated at Rugby under Dr. Arnold, and at Oriel college. Oxford, where he was graduated in 1845. He was admitted to the bar in 1848, and was member of parliament for Lambeth from 1865 till 1868, when he was elected for Frome, which he represented till January, 1874. In 1869 he was appointed queen's counsel, and in 1869-'70 made the tour of the United States, and lectured in the principal cities. On 5 Oct., 1880, Mr. Hughes formally opened Rugby colony, Tenn., of which he has been superintendent ever since. Mrs. Hughes, the mother of the superintendent, has made her home at Rugby, and there Mr. Hughes spends his annual vacation. Among other works he has written " Tom Brown's School Davs " (London, 1856) ; " Tom Brown at Oxford " (1861) ; " Religio Laici" (1862); "Alfred the Great" (1869); and "Memoirs of a Brother" (1873). He has also written prefaces to English editions of Lowell's "Biglow Papers " and Walt Whitman's poems.


HUGUES, Victor, French soldier, b. in Marseilles in 1761 ; d. near Bordeaux in November, 1826. At the age of seventeen he was sent to Santo Domingo, where he prospered, and at the beginning of the French revolution in 1789 he professed the new democratic principles. In the ensuing troubles in the island he was transported to France. The committee of public safety appointed him prosecutor of Brest, and afterward of Rochefort. The convention which succeeded the committee of safety chose him in February, 1794, as commissioner to the French West Indies, with orders to reconquer Guadeloupe from the English. Hugues sailed from Aix on 23 April, 1794, on the frigate " La Pique," with only a small force. He sighted Pointe a Pit re on 24 May, and found it occupied by a strong British garrison. He then resolved to attack Basse Terre, and, landing there on 30 May, captured the fortress Fleur de l'Epee, which commanded the bay, drove the English out of the city, and, following them, besieged and took, 6 June, Pointe a Pitre, which was defended by 4,000 men. Meanwhile the English admiral Jervis had brought to the besieged some re-enforcements, and, unable to defend Pointe a Pitre against overwhelming forces, Hugues retreated to the country, and. calling to his aid the negroes, armed 2,000 of them, with which force he again assumed the offensive. On 6 Oct., he obliged the English general to surrender in his camp of Barville with his whole force, in which were comprised 800 French emigres and 900 colored soldiers. Hugues ordered 300 of the emigres to be shot as traitors, and condemned 100 of the colored soldiers to the public works. After this bloody execution, he set himself at work to pacify and organize the colony, visiting every city of importance and carrying with him the guillotine. For his cruelties he was soon called the " Robespierre " of the West Indies. Yet under his military rule Guadeloupe prospered greatly. Having received some re-enforcements from France, Hugues sent out several expeditions, which reconquered from the English Marie-Galante, Les Saintes, La Desirade, and Sainte-Lucie et Saint Martin, and he restored the latter island to its former owners, the Dutch, in 1795. The English