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276 twenty years, contributing in many ways toward developing the resources of the colony. He found- ed at Cape Francais the Academy of the Phila- delphes, which under his auspices published many valuable manuscripts concerning the early history, discovery, and natural history of the island, sent out several scientific expeditions, and greatly fos- tered national education. After his return to Eu- rope in 1788, Venant wrote, at the solicitation of the Paris societe d'agriculture, memoirs on the culture of cotton, coffee, indigo, tobacco, and sugar-cane, and urged the introduction of such occupations in southern Prance. His works include " Des colo- nies modernes sous la zone torride, et particuliere- ment de celle de Saint-Domingue " (Paris, 1802).

VENEGAS, Francisco Javier de, viceroy of Mexico, b. in Ecija, Spain, about 1760 ; d. in Madrid about 1820. He entered military life, and in 1805 retired on half-pay as lieutenant-colonel. When Spain was invaded by the French troops in 1808, he returned to active service, participated in the victory of Baylen in July of that year, and under the pro- tection of the minister Saave- draobtained rap- id promotions. He held the rank of major-gener- al, and had been sent as viceroy to New Granada, when the Span- ish council of regency in 1810 resolved to ap- point him vice- Ls as his energetic character seemed adapted to quell the popular com- motion that had begun in that country. He received news of his promotion in Carthagena shortly before his departure for Bogota and arrived in Vera Cruz, 25 Aug., 1810. On the road to the capital he heard of a threatened outbreak in Queretaro, and two days after his arrival in Mexico the revolution of Miguel Hidalgo took place in Dolores, 16 Sept., 1810. With great activity Venegas gathered forces to oppose the advancing host of the insurgents, and after the defeat of Gen. Trujillo at Monte de las Cruces, 29 Oct., he sent two brigades against the retiring Hidalgo, who was defeated at Aculco on 7 Nov. He was greatly assisted by the energy of Gen. Felix Maria Calleja, who on 17 Jan., 1811, totally defeated the insurgents at Calderon, and in the same year took Zitacuaro from Ignaeio Lopez Rayon. Continued success made- Calleja believe himself superior to Venegas ; from that time he began a secret opposition to the viceroy, and the latter, to keep him from the capital, sent him against Morelos's forces in Cuautla. But when the latter town was abandoned by Morelos after a seventy days' defence, on 2 May, 1812, and Calleja with his tired forces did not pursue the enemy, Venegas censured him severely, and the former resigned. In the same year Venegas took the oath on the new constitution, and repressed a seditious movement in the capital with the utmost cruelty, ordering the execution of several accused persons for whom the prosecutor had only demanded im- prisonment. In other instances he had acted against the decrees of the Spanish cortes, and this, together with the intrigues of Calleja's friends, caused the regency to order his recall in February, 1813. He delivered the executive to Calleja on 4 March, and left Mexico on the 13th of that month, with the reputation of an honest and energetic but haughty and cruel ruler. In Spain he submitted to the French government, and was rewarded with the titles of Marquis de la Reunion and member of the supreme council of war. After the restoration of Ferdinand VII. he retired to private life.

VENEGAS, Miguel (vay-nay'-gas), Mexican author, b. in Puebla, 4 Oct., 1680 ; d. near the city of Mexico in 1764. He entered the Society of Jesus at Tepozotlan on 30 Aug., 1700, was a pro- fessor of Latin and rhetoric in 1708, and of moral theology in 1714. and was subsequently a mission- ary among the Indians of Mexico and California. He rendered important services to his order in the administration of the latter country, and collected a large number of documents on its history, geog- raphy, and on the lives of its missionaries. At length he was forced by feeble health to live in re- tirement, and spent the remainder of his life on the estate of Chicomocelo in literary occupations and the practice of religious exercises. He wrote many works, among them : " Hymnus in laudem B. Mariae Virginis de Guadalupe," in Latin and in Spanish (Mexico, 1765) ; " Manual de Parrocos para administrar los Sacramentos a Indios y Espa- iioles" (1768); *• Templo mistico de la Gracia, de- lineado en la admirable vida y virtudes heroicas del Ven. P. Juan Bautista Zappa, misionero de la Nueva Espafia " (Barcelona, 1754) ; and " Vida ad- mirable del P. Juan Maria Salvatierra, Conquista- dor de Californias " (Mexico. 1755). The work on which his reputation rests is " Noticia de la Cali- fornia y su Conquista temporal y esniritual hasta el tiempo presente" (3 vols., Madrid, 1757). It is full of details on the manners of the Indian tribes and the lives of the missionaries. He availed him- self of the manuscripts of his predecessors and con- temporaries, and the interest the work excited is shown by the fact that it was translated into the principal modern languages. The English transla- tion bears the title " Natural and Civil History of California " (2 vols., London, 1759). The French and Dutch translations were made from the Eng- lish, and do not give the author's name. His life was written by Salvador Granada (Mexico, 1765).

VENNOR, Henry George, Canadian mete- orologist, b. in Montreal, 30 Dec, 1840 ; d. there, 8 July, 1884. He was graduated at McGill uni- versity in 1860, taking the zoological and geo- logical courses under Sir William Dawson, studied civil engineering, and took a course of chemistry in Montreal medical college. For five years after leaving the university he was in business, but found time to make a large collection of the birds and fossils of Montreal island, and also made a study of the weather. In 1865 he became assistant to Sir William Logan, of the geological survey of Canada, with whom he spent a season in examining Manatoulin island in Lake Huron. There he con- tributed letters to the Montreal " Witness," made a collection of the birds of Lake Huron, and pre- pared a list of all that bred on the island. He was placed on the permanent staff of the geological survey in 1866, was elected a fellow of the Royal geological society of England in 1870, and con- tinued his geological surveys till 1881, when he left the service of the government and opened a mining agency in Montreal. While employed on the survey he traced the rivers Lievre, Reuge, and Gatineau to their sources, and succeeded in direct-