317 



VICTOR, SEXTUS AURELIUS. 



VICTORIA. 



tical party at home, be has maintained a government, by constitutional 

 means, by which a large amount of freedom has been secured. 

 Austria, it is said, proffered him the possession of Parma, if he would 

 aunul the constitution, which offer he unhesitatingly rejected ; but 

 when Genoa revolted, expelled his garrison, and established a pro- 

 visional government, he at once adopted the most vigorous measures 

 for the suppression of the insurrection. General clella Marmora was 

 sent with a large force to besiege it ; he reduj^cT it to submission ; 

 and then Victor-Emmanuel endeavoured to conciliate the inhabitants 

 by justice and mildness, and by efforts to increase their trade and 

 prosperity. The kingdom was suffering from the many misfortunes 

 of tho past period, and particularly from those inflicted by the last 

 war; he took the best means for repairing them by adopting and 

 carrying into practice many of the principles of free trade, and the 

 construction of railroads, in order to promote the industry of his 

 people. His efforts have been remarkably successful; and while all the 

 rest of Italy has been the scene of continually recurring conspiracies 

 and insurrections, his dominions have been latterly exempt from them, 

 if we except an impotent attempt in Genoa, in 1857, to seize a fort, in 

 which strangers were chiefly concerned. His greatest difficulty has 

 arisen from the priestly party, who have opposed themselves to the 

 toleration he has introduced, and by whose efforts the kingdom has 

 been placed under a species of excommunication by the see of Rome ; 

 a measure that has produced little or no ill effect on his subjects. 

 In 1854, when Genoa was attacked by cholera, the example he set in 

 his efforts for the relief of the suffering won him the esteem of all 

 parties, and indeed his most extreme political opponents are forward 

 in their acknowledgments of his excellent qualities as a monarch. 

 In January 1855 he signed a convention with France and England 

 by which ho became a partaker in the war against Russia for the 

 defence of Turkey. A Sardinian force was despatched to the Crimea 

 under General della Marmora, where it greatly distinguished itself 

 in several actions, and particularly at the battle of Tchernaya. Sar- 

 dinia has in consequence taken an active part in all the negociations 

 for the settlement of the Turkish affairs ; and at the Conference at 

 Paris, the ambassador laid before the assembled representatives of 

 the various states an able paper on the troubled state of Italy. 

 The Sardinian states, from the wise use they have made of their 

 constitutional freedom, are looked up to by the real patriots of Italy, 

 as their guide in the acquisition of a beneficial liberty. In 1842, he 

 married an arch-duchess of Austria, who died in January 1855, several 

 children still surviving her. In November 1855 he visited England, 

 where he met with a cordial reception from the public as well as 

 from the royal family. 



VICTOR, SEXTUS AURELIUS. [AURELIUS VICTOR.] 

 * VICTORIA, ALEXANDRINA, Queen of the United Kingdom of 

 Great Britain and Ireland, was born at Kensington Palace, May 24, 

 1819. The Queen is the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth 

 sou of George III., and of Maria Louisa Victoria, a daughter of Francis, 

 Duke of Saxe-Coburg Saalfeld. The Duchess of Kent, who is the sister 

 of Leopold, King of Belgium, was the widow of the Prince of Leiningen, 

 on whose death in 1814, she had been left the guardian of her youthful 

 sons and the ruler of their territory, both which duties she fulfilled 

 with remarkable care and prudence. The Duke of Kent died on 

 January 23, 1820, leaving his widow in charge of their infant daughter. 

 From the earliest age the young princess was taught to seek health 

 by exercise and temperance ; to acquire fearlessness even from her 

 amusements, such as riding and sailing ; to practise a wise economy 

 united to a discriminating charity ; to cultivate a self-reliance that 

 should render her independent of and superior to mere favourites 

 and flatterers. As she advanced in years her intellectual development 

 was provided for with equal care, under the additional superintendence 

 of the Duchess of Northumberland. A knowledge of music, languages, 

 and some science, especially botany, was imparted to her ; and her 

 father having during the latter years of his life belonged to the Whig 

 party, her political instruction was chiefly derived from that source, and 

 Viscount Melbourne has had the credit of grounding her thoroughly 

 in the principles of the British constitution. On the accession of 

 Victoria to the throne on June 20, 1337, she found Lord Melbourne at 

 the head of the government, and she willingly continued him in that 

 post. On February 10, 1840, the Queen was married to Prince Albert- 

 Franz-August-Karl-Einmanuel, the second son of Ernst-Anton-Karl- 

 Ludwig, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. On November 21, the Princess 

 Royal was born, who is now (September 1857) betrothed to the 

 presumptive heir of the Prussian monarchy. On November 9, 1841, 

 was born Albert Edward, Prince of Wales ; on April 25, 1843, Alice 

 Maud Mary; on August 6, 1844, Alfred Ernest Albert; on May 25, 

 1846, Helena Augusta Victoria ; on March 18, 1848, Louisa Caroline 

 Alberta; on May 1, 1850, Arthur William Patrick Albert; on April 

 7, 1853, Leopold George Duncan Albert; and on April 15, 1857, 

 Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore. In her private life Queen Victoria 

 has uniformly practised the virtues inculcated in her childhood. She 

 has always displayed a considerate kindness, her name appearing as a 

 contributor to every beneficent project; a wise economy alike removed 

 from meanness and extravagance ; a love for the beauties of nature, 

 as shown by her selection of her residences at Osborne, in the Isle of 

 Wight, and of Balmoral, in the Highlands of Scotland, and by her 

 repeated excursions by land and sea, to visit the most remarkable 



spots of her own kingdom as well as those of others; and a patronage 

 of the fine and industrial arts. 



We have considered it desirable, in the instance of our present 

 queen, when the public events of the reign so completely belong to 

 our own immediate times, to deviate from the plan which has been, 

 pursued in _the biographies of the other English sovereigns. A 

 connected historical sketch could scarcely be given without some 

 expression of opinion ; and we therefore prefer to notice, in the dry 

 form of a chronological table, the most prominent circumstances of 

 the past twenty years. The historian of this remarkable period will 

 point to it as an epoch of unparalleled progress in all that makes a 

 nation prosperous and great. He will describe the steady advance of 

 the most enlarged principles of political action, without the slightest 

 disturbance of that respect for law and order, in the absence of which 

 no accession of freedom can be permanent. He will mark a growth 

 of industrial prosperity so mighty and so rapid, that it could only be 

 accomplished by a people living under the stability of a monarchy and 

 the liberty of a representative government. He will see the happiest 

 development of the aim at an universal social improvement, not to be 

 effected by sudden changes, but with an accelerated energy at every 

 step, which gives the hope that the inequalities in the condition of the 

 people may become far less onerous than in any previous period, and 

 eventually produce a community more united by common interests 

 than any other in the world. He will dwell upon the progress of the 

 civilising Arts how Music has again become an enjoyment for all ; 

 how Painting has received a more important impulse in the extension 

 of taste, than it ever derived from mere patronage ; how the higher 

 branches of Arb have come to the aid of manufactures; how, if 

 Literature has become less bold and original, it has applied itself to 

 the advance of the knowledge and amusement of a body of readers, 

 who have increased tenfold since Queen Victoria came to the crown. 

 Above all, it will record the growth of the domestic virtues; the 

 universal contempt with which the low indulgences of a former 

 generation are regarded ; and with some differences upon minor 

 points of doctrine and ceremonial observance, how the great religious 

 principle which has ever distinguished Protestant England prevails 

 throughout the land in companionship with that spirit of free inquiry, 

 derived from our scientific progress, from which truth has no reason 

 to shrink. How large a portion of the great characteristics of our 

 time have been derived from the influence of the personal character 

 of Queen Victoria, the future historian will feel it his duty to set 

 forth. It is impossible for any thinking man, who has had the happi- 

 ness to live under her benignant rule, not to feel how essentially that 

 rule has contributed to the welfare of his country. It is a great 

 feature of this reign, that during seventeen years it was a reign 

 without the excitement of foreign warfare. A prince with martial 

 propensities might have plunged the country into European and even 

 trans-Atlantic quarrels. But let it not be forgotten that, when the 

 sword was to be drawn in a just cause, a more animating example 

 was never presented than that derived from the patriotic spirit of 

 Victoria ; and that the world felt that, after forty years' peace, Great 

 Britain, under a queen, was as warlike as under the most chivalrous 

 leader, and far more just and considerate towards other nations, than 

 in the days when war was held the greatest glory. In the chrono- 

 logical table which follows, will be 'found the record of some events 

 which have a natural bearing upon the great characteristics of the 

 reign of this queen. But there are others, far more numerous, and 

 some more important, which cannot be indicated in such a form. 

 We only attempt to offer an aid to the memory of the reader when 

 he desires to know the date of some remarkable occurrence which 

 belongs to the public history of the period. For more precise 

 details he will consult the lives of the statesmen and warriors of tho 

 reign ; and, incidentally, of those eminent men who, in various walks, 

 have most essentially contributed to its intellectual and industrial 

 progress. 



1837. June 20, Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne, and was 

 proclaimed on June 21. The Duke of Cumberland succeeded his 

 brother as King of Hanover, as the succession is restricted to males, 

 and thus the connection of the royal family with the Continent was 

 sundered after continuing for 123 years. July 6, William IV. was 

 buried at Windsor. July 17, the Queen went in state, and dissolved the 

 parliament. On November 9, the Queen dined with the Lord Mayor 

 of London, at Guildhall, and the day was kept as a general holiday. 

 November 20, she in person opened the new parliament, and iu her 

 speech called attention to the insurrection iu Canada. December 14, 

 the Canadian rebels were defeated at St. Eustace in Lower Canada, 

 their chiefs saving themselves by flight. December 29, the American 

 United States steamboat Caroline, which had brought assistance to the 

 rebels, was attacked and burnt, on the territories of the United 

 States. 



1838. January 5, the Canadian insurgents, under Dr. Mackenzie, 

 surround Toronto, but are repulsed by the governor, Sir Francis 

 Head ; and a proclamation of the President of the United States 

 forbids the attacks of its citizens on neighbouring states. January 10, 

 the London Royal Exchange was burnt down. January 16, the Earl 

 of Durham was appointed governor-general of her majesty's posses- 



