Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/316

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288
VICTORIA
VICUNA

VICTORIA, Guadalupe, Mexican president, b. in Tamazula, Durango, in 1789 ; d. in Perote, 21 March, 1843. His real name was Manuel Felix Fernandez, but after the death of Father Hidalgo in 1811 the young man abandoned the College of San II- defonso. where he was studying, and joined the patriotic ranks, adopting as a symbol of victory and in honor of the Virgin of Guada- lupe the name by which he is known in history. He first took part under Morelos in the siege of Oaxaca in 1812, and in 1814 was ap- pointed by the con- gress of Chilpanzin- go to organize the

revolution in the

province of Vera Cruz, where he soon became feared by the Spaniards, as his guerillas captured nearly every supply-train that left the port for Jalapa and the interior. In 1817, when the insur- rection was nearly everywhere subdued, and only Gen. Guerrero held out in the southwest, Victoria, unable to reach the latter chief, hid for nearly four years in the mountains of Vera Cruz, till the proclamation of the plan de Iguala in 1821. Then he joined Iturbide, but, as an ardent lover of lib- erty, was coldly received by the latter, who was already maturing his plan of monarchy, and after its establishment Victoria was imprisoned. In December, 1822, when Santa-Anna proclaimed the republic in Vera-Cruz, Victoria, who had escaped, joined him and was appointed commander of the city. After Iturbide's fall, Victoria was elected, on 1 April, 1823, to the executive council, but, being occupied in the siege of San Juan de Ulua, he did not take his seat till July, 1824. Shortly afterward he was elected the first constitutional g resident of Mexico, taking possession on 10 Oct. [is government was specially notable for the rec- ognition of the republic by England, the aboli- tion of slavery, which took place on 16 Sept., 1825, the surrender of the Spanish garrison of the castle of San Juan de Ulua, 18 Nov., 1825, and the first arrival of American settlers, under Stephen Austin, in Texas in the beginning of 1828. The last year of his administration was disturbed by several revolutions that were caused by the rivalry between the Scotch and York lodges, and the weak- ness of Victoria gave them free play. On 1 April, 1829, he delivered the executive to his successor, and retired from public life without appearing again in politics. He was a well-meaning and honest man, but of feeble character and easily con- trolled by his political followers.


VICTORIA, Pedro de, b. in Seville, Spain, in the latter part of the 16th century. He entered the Jesuit order, and was sent when young to America The perils to which he was exposed in a shipwreck on the coast of Peru, and his subse- quent adventures among the natives, form the subject of his work " Naufragio y peregrination en la costa del Peru " (1610). A Latin translation was published in 1647 under the title of "Argo- nauticorum Americanorum Historia."


VICTORIA, Tomas, Spanish missionary, b. in Victoria, Alava, early in the 16th century ; d. in Guatemala in 1600. He entered the Dominican order and came to New Spain, where he learned the Tarasco language, and was employed in the missions of the Pacific coast. Soon, he acquired the Zapotec language and went to the province of Oaxaca, and later to that of Guatemala, where he obtained such success that he was called the Elias of Guatemala. He left "Arte y Sermones doc- trinales en lengua de Zacatula," and several relig- ious tracts in manuscript in that dialect and the Quiche language.


VICUÑA, Manuel (ve-coon'-yah), Chilian arch-bishop, b. in Santiago, Chili, in 1778 ; d. in Valparaiso in 1843. After acquiring his primary edu- cation, he entered the College of San Carlos, and in a short time was graduated in theology. Soon afterward he entered the church, and, being or- dained priest, travelled through the country as a missionary with other young ecclesiastics. After the battle of Maypu he visited . the hospitals and personally assisted the wounded and dying. Hav- ing inherited a fortune, he employed a part of it in the construction of a house of retirement. In 1825 the bishop of Santiago, Jose Santiago Rodriguez, was exiled, and in 1830 Pope Leo XII. promoted Vicuna to the bishopric, in which office he labored for the re-establishment of the theological semi- nary. When Santiago was declared a metropolitan see. the government presented Vicufia as tlie first archbishop, and in June, 1840, Pope Gregory XVI. confirmed him. Afterward he was elected to con- gress and was a member of the council of state.


VICUÑA, Pedro Felix, Chilian journalist, b. in Santiago in 1806 ; d. there in 1874. He received an excellent education, in early life began to write for the newspapers, and at the age of twenty-one years was one of the founders and the first editor-in-chief of " El Mercurio," of Valparaiso. Afterward he successively belonged to the editorial staff of " El Telegrafo "'(1827) ; " El Censor " and " La Ley y la Justicia" (1828); "La Paz Perpetua" (1834) ; " El Elector " and " El Verdadero Liberal " (1841) ; * El Republicano " (1845) ; and " La Reforma " (1847). He was elected to the senate of the nation in 1865, and in that body was the author of the law that abolished , imprisonment for debt in 1870. He published " Unico asilo de las Republicas Hispano-Amerieanas " (Santiago, 1837) ; " El Porvenir del Hombre " (1858) ; and " La Hacienda Publica" (1864). — His son, Benjamin Vicufia-Mackenna, Chilian historian, b. in Santiago in 1831 ; d. in Santa Rosa del Colmo, 25 Jan., 1886, attended the Lyceum of Santiago and the National institute, and studied law in the University of Chili, but in 1849 he was expelled for his refusal to sign a congratulatory address to the secretary of justice. There was such indignation at this arbitrary act that the rector reinstated him against the desire of the government. When a revolution began in Santiago, 20 April, 1851, he took an active part in it, and, in an attempt on the armory of the Chacabuco regiment on 28 April, he was made a prisoner and condemned to death, but escaped and fled to the north in July. He participated in the outbreak in Serena on 7 Sept., and was appointed revolutionary governor of Illapel. The revolution was subdued in November, and, after hiding for a year and being again condemned to death, he sailed in 1852 for California. He travelled through the United States and Mexico, visited Canada, and in July, 1853, went to Europe, where he remained a year at the Agricultural college of Cirencester, studying natural science. In 1855 he travelled through Europe, and in the next year returned to Chili, where in 1856 he was admitted to the bar