Saint Arnaud

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

JACQUES LEROY DE, a French marshal; born in Paris, France, in 1801. He entered the army in 1817, but left it in 1827 to take part in the Greek struggle for independence. Returning to the French army in 1831, he six years later proceeded to join the foreign legion in north Africa, and laid the foundation of his reputation in the wars against the native tribes during the next 10 years. In 1847 he was made a general ST. ASAPH of brigade; and in the early part of 1851 he carried on a bloody but successful warfare with the Kabyles. Louis Napoleon, plotting the overthrow of the republic, was at this time on the lookout for resolute and unscrupulous accomplices; and he recalled General Saint Arnaud and appointed him to the command of the second division of the city forces. On Oct. 25 Saint Arnaud became war minister, and took an active part in the arrangements for the coup d'état of Dec. 2, and in the subsequent massacres at the barricades. For these services he was rewarded with the marshal's baton. On the breaking out of the Crimean War in 1854 he was intrusted with the command of the French forces, and co-operated with Lord Raglan in the battle of the Alma, Sept. 20. But nine days afterward he died on board ship, on his way home to France, Sept. 29, 1854. ST. ASAPH, a cathedral city of Flintshire, North Wales, on an eminence between the Elwy and Clwyd, 6 miles S. yl. The cathedral, 182 feet S. E. of Rhyl. the kingdom, and, long, is the smallest in the rebuilt after 1284, is a plain, cruciform, structure, mainly Decored sandstone struc rated in style, with a massive central tower 93 feet high, fine oak stalls. It was restored by Scott in 1867-1875. St. Kentigern is said to have founded about 560 a bishopric at Llanelwy, renamed St. Asaph after his favorite disciple. St. Asaph has a grammar school, founded about 1600, and rebuilt in 1882. Pop. about 7,000. ST. AUGUSTINE, a city, port of entry, and county-seat of St. John co., Fla.; on the Matanzas river, near the Atlantic Ocean, on the Florida and East Coast Canal and the Florida East Coast railroad; 36 miles S. of Jacksonville. It occupies a peninsula formed by the Matanzas river on the E. and the St. Sebastian river on the S. and W. Directly in front is Anastasia Island, forming a breakwater. Here are the State Institute for the Blind, Deaf, and Dumb, the Sisters of St. Joseph and St. Mary's Convents, Wilson Public Library, United States barracks, United States government building, the great Ponce de Leon, Cordova, and Alcazar hotels, and two newspapers. The chief industries are the manufacture of cigars and palmetto straw goods, dairying and the growing of agricultural and horticultural products. The city, however, is principally of importance as a winter resort. The climate is mild and equable, there being only a few days in winter when invalids cannot take regular out-door exercise. The gardens and squares are full of palmettoes, Spanish daggers, orange and citron trees, date palms, magnolia, and bananas. St. Augustine is the oldest town in the United States, a fort having been built here by the Spaniards in 1565. As early as 1512 Ponce de Leon landed near the site of the city. In 1763 it became a British possession, and during the Revolutionary War was an important military depot. Later it again passed into the hands of Spain, and was ceded to the United States in 1821. Pop. (1910) 5,494; (1920) 6,192. ST. BARTHOLOMEW, or ST. BAR- THÉLEMY, TH French West Indian a island, 190 miles E. of Porto Rico; area, 8 square miles. The treeless surface rises to 1,003 feet; the climate is very dry. French from 1648 till 1784, the island then was Swedish till 1877, when it was bought back by France for $55,000. ST. BARTHOLOMEW, MASSACRE OF, a massacre of the Huguenots which took place in Paris, France, beginning on the night of August 23-24 (St. Bartholomew's day), 1572. A large number of prominent Huguenots had been invited to the royal palace to participate in the wedding festivities of Henry of Navarre. While these guests were in the palace they were slaughtered without mercy, and at a signal the massacre quickly spread over the city. The anti-Huguenot leaders were Charles IX., the queen-mother Catharine de Medici, and the Duke of Guise. It has been said that the queen-mother instigated the king to his fatal persecution of the Huguenots. Coligny was the principal victim of the St. Bartholomew massacre, probably as much for political as for religious reasons. The massacre spread over France and about 30,000 lives were lost. A religious war immediately followed. It is disputed whether the massacre was deliberately planned or was the sudden result of the discovery of Huguenot plots, though the evidence points largely to the former.