Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

TWEEDMOUTH, LORD (Sir Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks); born in 1820; died in Bath, England, March 4. He was a director of the East India company; represented Berwick from 1853 to 1881, and was an enthusiastic art collector. He was the father of Lady Aberdeen, wife of the present governor-general of Canada.

VAN BENEDEN, PIERRE JOSEPH, zoologist; born in Malines, Belgium, Dec. 19, 1809; died at Louvain, Jan. 8. The labors and observations of Van Beneden upon the Cetacea are regarded by naturalists as of the highest value. He also made important studies upon the Annelids, and his works on medical zoology are priceless. At the time of his death, he was one of the faculty of the University of Louvain.

VERNEY, SIR HARRY; died in Buckinghamshire, England, Feb. 12. He was for more than half a century a member of the British house of commons and held numerous crown and civic offices. second wife was a sister of Florence Nightingale.

His

VIETTE, JULES FRANÇOIS, public officer; born at Blamont, France, May 6, 1843; died in Paris Feb. 16. He became a councillor general in 1871. In 1876 he was elected a member of the chamber of deputies. He was re-elected in 1877, 1881, 1885, 1889, and 1893; was minister of agriculture from 1887 to 1889. Upon the forma tion of the Loubet cabinet early in 1892, M. Viette became minister of public works. This office he also held in the cabinets of M. Ribot and M. Dupuy. M. Viette was a distinguished scientist and mathematician.

VOKES, ROSINA, actress; born in England; died in Torquay, Devonshire, Jan. 27. In her line, which she had made exclusively her own, she was universally popular. Her last appearance in this country was on Dec. 9, 1893, at the National theater, Washington, D. C. She was accustomed to play only in one-act pieces, three of which were given each night, herself appearing in two of them. She was particularly vivacious in manner, a good singer, and an excellent dancer.

WERTHER, BARON CHARLES VON, diplomat; born in Königsberg, Prussia, in 1809; died in Munich, Bavaria, Feb. 9. The Prussian government appointed him minister to Switzerland in 1842, to Greece in 1844, to Denmark in 1849, to Russia in 1854, to Austria in 1859. He took an important part in drafting the treaty of Prague, and in 1869 was sent to Paris as ambassador of the North German Union. He was sent on a special mission to Constantinople in 1874, and was retired in 1877.

WADDINGTON, WILLIAM HENRY, diplomat; born of English parents in France in 1826; died in Paris Jan. 13. He was the only Englishman who ever held the office of prime minister of France. When M. Grévy acceded to power he invited M. Waddington to form a ministry; but the latter resigned after less than a year's tenure of office, owing to differences with his party on policy. After being out of public office for several years he was appointed in 1883 French ambassador to England, a post he held till a few months ago. He did much to preserve amicable relations between England and France, notably in regard to the occupation of Egypt.

[graphic][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

MARIE FRANÇOIS SADI CARNOT, fourth president of the present French republic, was born at Limoges, France, August 11, 1837, the eldest son of Lazare Hippolyte Carnot; and died by the hand of an anarchist assassin at Lyons, June 25, 1894.

His family have been distinguished in French annals since the end of the eighteenth century. His father, Lazare Hippolyte Carnot (born at St. Omer, 1801; died, 1888), was one of the leaders of the French democracy, having in his earlier years been a follower of Saint Simon. When Saint Simon's socialistic theories took their immoral development at the hands of Enfantin and others in a subversion of marriage and of the family relation, Hippolyte Carnot abandoned that school, and wrote vigorously in advocacy of a conservative type of socialism. In 1847 he declared himself a republican, and was for a time minister of public instruction. The invincible republican refused to accept the empire proclaimed under Napoleon III.; and, though repeatedly in his exile elected to the national assembly, declined to take the seat which required his oath of allegiance to the usurper. His irascible disposition presents a strong contrast to the calm, judicious temperament of his distinguished son; but in both men is seen the same sturdiness of conviction.

Hippolyte's father, the grandfather of President Carnot, was Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot, born at Nolay, Burgundy, in 1753, notable as the "organizer of victory" for the armies of the revolution and of the empire at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries. He early gained distinction for his skill in mathematical science and military engineering and tactics -skill which reappeared in his grandson the president.

Vol. 4.-18.

Copyright 1894, by Garretson, Cox & Co.

« AnteriorContinuar »