Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/427

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MORDECAI
MOREAU
389

Ojojona. He escaped, and, when he was about to sail for Mexico, was prevailed on in Nicaragua to take command of a force from Leon to liberate Honduras and Salvador. He marched to Hon- duras, defeated the Federal troops at Trinidad, took possession of Comayagaia, and was declared president, and, col- lecting new forces, marched to Salva- dor, and on G Julv, 1828, totally defeat- ed a Guatemalan army. The army of the Federals under Montufar surren- dered on 10 Sept. near San Salvador, and the last divis- ion capitulated at San Antonio on 9 Oct. Morazan now occupied Ahuacha- pam with the allied forces of Salvador and Honduras, and

invested Guatemala

in February, 1829. He was defeated in Mixco, and retired to Antigua; but, after receiving re- enforcements, besieged Guatemala again, and oc- cupied the city on 13 April. Barrundia, as eld- est senator, was elected provisional president ; but, after defeating insurrections at Olancho and Yoro, Morazan, whose prestige was daily increasing, was elected to the Federal executive. He at once expelled the archbishop, Ramon Casaus, and the Franciscan and Dominican friars, who had vio- lently opposed the Liberal party, and congress decreed the extinction of the male monastic or- ders, and the confiscation of their property by the state. In 1832 the chief of the state of Sal- vador, Cornejo, rebelled against the Federal gov- ernment, and Morazan personally marched against him and defeated him at Jocoro on 14 ]March, oc- cupying the city of San Salvador on 28 March. In 1838 a revolution began in Guatemala under the leadership of Carrera {q. v.), and Morazan marched against him ; but, as he feared trouble in flonduras and Nicaragua also, he left in command Col. Agus- tin Guzman (q. v.), who was forced to make a treaty with Carrera in Rinconcito on 23 Dec. Morazan sevei'al times defeated the revolutionary forces in 1839, but meanwhile Carrera, assisted by the clergy and aristocracy, had overthrown the government of Guatemala. Morazan, by forced marches, captured that city at the head of 1,300 troops from Salvador on 18 March, 1840, but was besieged next day by Carrera with 5,000 men, and evacuated the city after a twenty-two hours' fight. Seeing the Federal power crumbling under the repeated revolutions, he re- signed the executive on 5 April, and went to Peru with his principal followers. There he found as- sistance from political friends and Central Ameri- can refugees, and, provided with arms and other resources, he invaded Costa Rica on 11 April, 1842, soon overthrew the government, and assumed the executive. He was preparing an expedition to in- vade the other Central American republics for the re-establishment of federal unit}', when the towns of Heredia, Alhajuela, and San Jose revolted, and he was delivered to the rebels and shot.


MORDECAI, Alfred, soldier, b. in Warrenton, N. C, 3 Jan., 1804 ; d. in Philadelphia, 23 Oct., 1887. He was graduated first in his class at the U. S. military academy in 1823, assigned to the corps of engineers, and was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy in 1823-'4 and principal assistant professor of engineering in 1824-'5. From 1825 till 1828 he was assistant en- gineer in the construction of Fort Monroe and Fort Calhoun, Va., and he was assistant to the chief engineer in Washington, D. C, from 1828 till 1832. He became captain of ordnance on 30 May, 1832, and in 1833-'4 was on leave of absence in Europe. In 1842 he became assistant to the chief of ordnance in Washington, D. C, and from 1839 till 18(J0 he was a member of the ordnance board. In 1840 he was a member of a commission to visit the arsenals and cannon-foundries of the principal powers of Europe, and in 1842 was as- sistant inspector of arsenals and engaged in con- structing ballistic pendulums. He was a member of a military commission to the Crimea in 1855-'7, and his observations, particularly on military or- ganization and ordnance, were published by order of congress (Washington, 1860). He was a mem- ber of the board to revise the course of instruction at the military academy in 1860. He was brevet- ted major on 30 May, 1848, for services during the war with Mexico, and became major of ordnance, 31 Dec, 1854. He resigned on 5 May, 1861, and from 1863 till 1866 was a railway engineer in Mexi- co. From 1867 till his death he was treasurer and secretary of the Pennsylvania canal company. He was the author of a " Digest of Military Laws " (Washington, 1833); "Ordnance Manual for the Use of Officers in the U. S. Army " (1841 ; 2d ed., 1850); "Reports of Experiments on Gunpowder" (1845 and 1849); and "Artillery for the U. S. Land Service, as devised and arranged by the Ord- nance Board," with plates (1849).


MORE, Nicholas, colonist, b. in England ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1689. He was a physician, and a man of more than ordinary abilities. On the organization of the Free society of traders in London, he was chosen its president, and came with William Penn to Pennsylvania, where he took up a large tract of land, embracing the manor of Moreland, now in the counties of Philadelphia and Montgomery. He was president of the first provincial assembly of Pennsylvania, which con- vened at Chester, 4 Dec. 1682, during the same year was appointed president judge of the several courts of Philadelphia, in 1683 was clerk to the provincial council, in 1684 was elected to the as- sembly and chosen speaker of the body, and by appointment became the first chief justice of the supreme court of the province. In 1685 he was again elected to the assembly. By his course as chief justice, he fell under such displeasure that the assembly presented articles of impeachment against him to the council, in which, among other offences, he was charged with "assuming to him- self an unlimited and arbitrary power in his office." This was probably the first case of impeachment in this country. As Penn had gone to England, a letter containing the impeachment was transmitted to him, but it did not receive his approbation. More still retained Penn's confidence, which was shown by his appointment in 1686 as one of the five com- missioners to whom the conduct of the govern- ment was intrusted.


MOREAU, Jean Victor (mo-ro), French soldier, b. in Morlay, 11 Aug., 1763; d. in Laun, Bohemia, 2 Sept., 1813. He was graduated in law at Rennes, and had applied for admission to the bar when he was elected, 10 Sept., 1791, chief of battalion of the Rennois volunteers. He was made a lieutenant-general in 1794, and led the Army of the Flanders in a successful campaign. In 1796 he took command of the Army of the Rhine and Moselle