VICTOR EMANUEL II. 



clared void, and asking that the heirs at law 

 be declared entitled to the same, according to 

 eir several interests. The Legislature consid- 

 ered the subject, and, upon the report of the 

 Judiciary Committee to whom it had been re- 

 ferred, in the name of the State, accepted Mr. 

 Huntington's bequest. 



VICTOR EMANUEL II., the first King of 

 united Italy, born March 14, 1820, died January 

 9, 1878. He was the oldest son of Charles Al- 

 bert, King of Sardinia. In the wars of his 

 father against Austria he saw active service, 

 distinguishing himself on all occasions by his 

 personal bravery. After the disastrous battle 

 of Novara his father abdicated in his favor, 

 March 23, 1849. The conditions under which 

 he ascended the throne were very difficult; 

 but by introducing reforms in the army and in 

 the finances, and by selecting capable minis- 

 ters, like D'Azeglio and Cavour, he raised the 

 condition of his country. The first important 

 act of his reign was his participation in the 

 Crimean war. In the war with Austria in 1859 

 he took part himself, together with his son 

 Humbert, and through it acquired Lombardy. 

 In 1860 he annexed Modena, Parma, Tuscany, 

 a large part of the Papal States, and the Two 

 Sicilies, and on March 17th assumed the title of 

 King of Italy. Venetia was added to his do- 

 minions after a short war, which he carried on 

 in 1866 in alliance with Prussia against Austria, 

 while the remainder of the Papal dominions 

 were added to Italy in 1870, and in 1871 Rome 

 became the capital of united Italy. He was 

 married in 1842 to the Archduchess Adelaide 

 of Austria, who died in 1855, and by whom 

 he had six children. His oldest son, who suc- 

 ceeds him on the throne, is Humbert, born 

 March 14, 1844, and married on April 22, 1868, 

 to Princess Maria Margaretha of Savoy. Of 

 his other children, Princess Clothilde was mar- 

 ried to Prince Napoleon; Pia is the present 

 Queen of Portugal; and Amadeus, Duke of 

 Aosta, was King of Spain from 1870 to 1873. 

 Victor Emanuel contracted a morganatic mar- 

 riage with Rosina Vercellana, whom he made 

 Countess de Mirafiore. The sons of this un- 

 ion caused him great trouble and annoyance. 

 Special works on Victor Emanuel and his reign 

 have been written by Riiffer (" Konig Victor 

 Emanuel," 1878) and Bersezio ("II Regno di 

 Vittorio Emmanuele II.," 1878). 



VICTORIA, ALEXANDRIA, Queen of the 

 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 Empress of India, Defender of the Faith, Sov- 

 ereign of the Orders of the Garter, Thistle, 

 Bath. St. Patrick, St. Michael, and St. George, 

 was born at Kensington Palace, London, May 

 24, 1819. Her parents resided at Darmstadt 

 until shortly before her birth, when they re- 

 moved to England. She is the sole child of 

 Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George 

 III. The death of the Princess Charlotte, wife 

 of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, afterward 

 King of the Belgians, and only child of George 

 IV., occurred on the 6th of November, 1817. 



VICTORIA, QUEEN. 819 



On the llth of July, 1818, the Duke of Clnr- 

 ence, afterward William IV., married Adelaide, 

 daughter of the Duke of Saxe Meiningen. On 

 the same day the Duke of Kent wedded Vic- 

 toria Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg, widow of 

 Charles Louis, Prince of Leiningen. The Prince 

 had died in 1813, leaving her with two chil- 

 drenCharles, Prince of Leiningen, who died 

 in 1859 ; and Anna, who married Prince Ho- 

 henlohe-Langenburg, and died in 1872. By 

 her second marriage the Duchess of Kent had 

 issue only the Princess Victoria. When she 

 was eight months old the Duke of Kent died 

 at Sidmouth, January 23, 1820, in the fifty- 

 second year of his age. The Duchess of Kent 

 summoned her brother, Prince Leopold, who 

 henceforward assumed a father's place toward 

 the youthful princess. Two daughters, both 

 of whom died in infancy, were born to the 

 Duke of Clarence, and the succession to the 

 throne was long doubtful. While carefully 

 trained for the exalted position she was des- 

 tined to fill, the Princess Victoria was sedu- 

 lously kept in ignorance of this brilliant but 

 uncertain future. When the Regency bill was 

 in progress, she was twelve years old, and a 

 genealogical table was purposely placed in her 

 historical book. Examining it, she first dis- 

 covered that she was heir apparent. She made 

 to her governess, the Baroness Lutzen, this 

 characteristic observation, " I see that I am 

 nearer to the throne than I thought I will be 

 good." A nation will attest how this childish 

 promise has been kept. The Duchess of Kent 

 devoted her life to superintending the educa- 

 tion of the Princess, which was intrusted to 

 the Duchess of Northumberland. Her chief 

 instructor was Mr. Davys, afterward Bishop 

 of Peterborough. Sound constitutional prin- 

 ciples and all princely lore were early instilled 

 into her mind. When Prince Leopold became 

 King of the Belgians, he did not relax his care 

 of his royal niece. Her life was spent in com- 

 parative retirement until she attained her eigh- 

 teenth year. Her accession was then evidently 

 close at hand, and under the difficulties of her 

 lofty position, his judgment and experience 

 were always at her command. He placed near 

 her his most trusted friend, Baron Stockmar, 

 a man thoroughly conversant with English 

 modes of thought and the English Constitu- 

 tion. 



On the 20th of June, 1837, William IV. died. 

 On the 28th of June the coronation of Queen 

 Victoria took place in Westminster Abbey. 

 Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister, was well 

 fitted to guide the youthful Queen ; but the 

 strife of parties was peculiarly fierce, and in 

 1839 he resigned. Sir Robert Peel attempted 

 to form an administration, which broke down 

 on the question of the retirement of the ladies 

 of the Queen's bedchamber. The Tories were 

 exasperated at this failure, which they attrib- 

 uted to the Queen's partiality for the ministers 

 who had first surrounded her, the first duty of 

 a constitutional monarch being to maintain a 



