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* VICTORIA. 121 VICTORIA. Francisco, Alaska, New Westminster, ami otlior points on the northwest coast. Esquimalt (q.v.), the liritisli Pacilic naval station, is tlirce miles distant. Victoria's public buildings include the fine Govcrnnicnt liuilding, opened in 1807, com- prising the Parliament House, a provincial mu- seum and library, and administrative ofTices. Other important edifices are the city hall, the Anglican and the Catholic cathedrals, the exhibi- tion building, the Anglican Women's College, hospitals, and charitable institutions. Victoria is favored with a pereniiiallv temperate (dimate. Population, in 1891, 16,841;' in 1901, 20,821. VICTORIA. The county-seat of Victoria County, Te.x., 128 miles southwest of Houston; on the Guadalupe River, and on the Southern Pacilic and the San Antonio and Aransas Pass railroads (Map: Texas, F 5). It is the seat of St. Joseph's College (Eoman Catludic), and has the Xazareth Seminary, an attractive court- house, and a handsome city hall. Victoria is of considerable importance as a shi])ping point for farm and dairy produce, and as the centre of large stock-raising interests. The industrial establishments include a large planing mill, cot- ton gins, an oil mill, etc. The water works are the property of the municipality. Population, in 1890, 304(1 ; in 1900, 4010. VICTORIA (Xeo-Lat., named in honor of Victoria, Queen of England). A genus of plants of the natural order Nymphoeaccf, resembling the common water-lily. Only one species is known, Victoria regia. This is said to have been first observed by Hiinke. about 1801. but was not described until 1832, when Piippig found it in the river Amazon. It is foinid in other waters of Xorthern South America. Its floating leaves are orbicular and attain a diameter of 5 to 6 feet ; have the margin turned up about two inches, are pur- VICTOBIA BEGIA. plish beneath, and exhibit prominent veins, fur- nished with prickles. The flowers rise among the leaves upon prickly stalks. They are more than a foot in diameter, white, internally rose-colored, and are very fragrant. The fruit is a capsule, almost globose, with a depression on the top, about half the size of a man's head, fleshy within, and divided into numerous cells, full of round farinaceous seeds, which are an agreeable article of food. The plant is called mais del agua, or water maize, in some parts of South America. To the cultivation of the plant special hot-houses have been devoted in some places in the United States and in Europe. It has been introduced into India from seeds produced in England. VICTORIA, Cr DAD. The capital of the State of Tamanlipas, Mexico. See CiL'DAD VICTORIA. VICTORIA (1819-1901). Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India. She was the daugliter and only cjiild of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourtli son of George III. Iler mother, Victoria Mary Louisa, fourth daughter of Francis, Dvike of Saxe- Coburg-Saalfeld, and sister of Leopold, King of the Belgians, was married to the Duke of Kent in 1818, four years after the death of her former husband, the Prince of Leiningen. Victoria (ba])tized as Alexandrina Victoria) was born Jfay 24, 1819, at Kensington Palace, whence her parents had temporarily removed from their home in Germany, in order that the child, a pos- sible claimant for the Britisli throne, might be born on English soil. The princess, left father- less when eight months of age, was taught by her mother and the Duchess of Northumberland. She ascemled the throne on the death of her uncle, William IV. (q.v.), June 20, 1837. Her uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, became King of Hanover in virtue of the Salic law, and thus terminated the connection which had lasted 123 years between the crowns of England 'and Han- over. Victoria was proclaimed .June 21. 1837, and crowned at Westminster, .Tune 28, 1838. On her accession she found at the head of the Wliig Government Viscount ilelbourne, by whom her early political course was largely influenced. Her long, prosperous, and comparatively peace- ful reign included the administrations of Mel- bourne (till 1841), Peel (1841-40), Russell (1846- 52 and 186.5-66), Derby (1852, 1858-59, and 1866- 68), Aberdeen (1852-55). Palmerston (1855-58 and 1859-65), Disraeli ( 1808. and as Earl of Bea- consfield, 1874-80), Gladstone (1808-74, 1880-85, 1886, and 1892-94), Salisbury (1885-86, 1880-92, and 1895 to the end of the reign), Rosebery (1894-95). Of the legislative record of her reign the most important events are the establishment of penny postage (1840). amendment of the poor laws of Scotland (1845) and Ireland (1847), re- peal of the corn laws ( 1840). the Irish encumbered estates act (1848), repeal of the navigation laws (1849), the removal of the disabilities of the .Jews ( 1858), the reform act of 1867, the disestab- lishment of the Irish Church (1869), elementary education act (1870) and abolition of religious tests in the universities (1871), Irish land acts (1870, 1881), abolition of purchase in the army (1871), Scotch educational act (1872), and the franchise bill of 1884. Events of national and international importance were numerous in her long reign, among them being the rebellion in Canada (18,37-.3S). Afghan War (1838-42), Opium War in China (1840-42), culmination of the repeal agitation in Ireland under O'Connell (1843), First Sikh War (1845-46), Irish famine (1846-47), chartist agitation (1848), Second Sikh War ( 1849), the establishment of a Catholic hierarchy in England (1850). Crimean War' (1854-.5(i), war with China (1856-158), Indian Mutiny (1857-58), transfer of India from the East Indian Company to the Cro%TO (1858), ex- pedition to China (1800), complicated relations with the L'nited States during the Civil War (1861-65), Canadian confederation (1867), Abys- sinian War (1867-68), Ashanti War (1873-74),