Popular History of England,
chapter 25._
_C. H. Pearson,
History of England during the Early and Middle Ages._
{3644}
WALES: A. D. 1402-1413.
Owen Glendower's Rebellion.
"Since the day when it was conquered by Edward I. Wales had
given the kings of England very little trouble. The Welsh
remained loyal to the son and grandson of their conqueror, and
were the most devoted friends of Richard II., even when he had
lost the hearts of his English subjects. But on the usurpation
of Henry [IV.] their allegiance seems to have been shaken: and
Owen Glendower, who was descended from Llewelyn, the last
native prince of Wales, laid claim to the sovereignty of the
country [A. D. 1402]. He ravaged the territory of Lord Grey of
Ruthin, and took him prisoner near Snowdon; then, turning
southwards, overran Herefordshire and defeated and took
prisoner Sir Edmund Mortimer, uncle to that young Earl of
March, who should have been heir to the crown after Richard
according to the true order of descent. In this battle upwards
of a thousand Englishmen were slain, and such was the fierce
barbarity of the victors that even the women of Wales
mutilated the dead bodies in a manner too gross to be
described, and left them unburied upon the field till heavy
sums were paid for their interment. It was necessary to put
down this revolt of Glendower, and the King collected an army
and went against him in person. It was the beginning of
September; but owing, as the people thought, to magical arts
and enchantments practised by the Welshman, the army suffered
dreadfully from tempests of wind, rain, snow, and hail before
it could reach the enemy. In one night the King's tent was
blown down, and he himself would have been killed if he had
not retired to rest with his armour on. Finally the enterprise
had to be abandoned. … Glendower continued as troublesome as
ever, and the King was unable from various causes to make much
progress against him. At one time money could not easily be
raised for the expedition. At another time, when he actually
marched into the borders of Wales [A. D. 1405], his advance
was again impeded by the elements. The rivers swelled to an
unusual extent, and the army lost a great part of its baggage
by the suddenness of the inundation. The French, too, sent
assistance to Glendower, and took Carmarthen Castle. Some time
afterwards [A. D. 1407] the King's son, Henry Prince of Wales,
succeeded in taking the castle of Aberystwith; but very soon
after Owen Glendower recovered it by stealth. In short, the
Welsh succeeded in maintaining their independence of England
during this whole reign, and Owen Glendower ultimately got
leave to die in peace." On the accession of Henry V. (A. D.
1413), "the Welsh, who had been so troublesome to his father,
admired his valour and claimed him as a true prince of Wales,
remembering that he had been born at Monmouth, which place was
at that time within the principality. They discovered that
there was an ancient prophecy that a prince would be born
among themselves who should rule the whole realm of England;
and they saw its fulfilment in King Henry V."
_J. Gairdner,
The Houses of Lancaster and York,
chapter. 4, section 3;
and chapter 5, section 1._
ALSO IN:
_J. H. Wylie,
History of England under Henry IV.,
volume 1, chapter 14._
----------WALES: End--------
WALES, Prince of.
"When Edward I. subdued Wales, he is said to have promised the
people of that country a native prince who could not speak
English, and taking advantage of the fact that his queen,
Eleanor, was delivered of a child at Carnarvon Castle, in
North Wales, he conferred the principality upon his infant son
Edward, who was yet unable to speak. By the death of his
eldest brother Alphonso, Edward became heir to the throne, to
which he afterwards succeeded as Edward II.; but from this
time forward, the principality has been appropriated solely to
the eldest sons of the kings of England, who previous to this
period had only borne the title of 'Lord Prince.' In 1841, for
the first time, the dukedom of Saxony was introduced among the
reputed titles of the Prince of Wales. This dignity his Royal
Highness derives merely in right of his own paternal descent.
… Without any new creation, and previous to his acquiring the
title of Prince of Wales, the heir-apparent of the sovereign
is Duke of Cornwall, the most ancient title of its degree in
England. Edward the Black Prince … was created the first Duke
of Cornwall in 1337. … The dukedom merges in the Crown when
there is no heir apparent, and is immediately inherited by the
prince on his birth, or by the accession of his father to the
throne, as the case may be. … The earldom of Chester is one of
the titles conferred by patent, but it was formerly a
principality, into which it had been erected by the 21st of
Richard II. In the reign of Henry IV., however, the act of
parliament by which it had been constituted was repealed, and
it has ever since been granted in the same patent which
confers the title of Prince of Wales. As the eldest sons of
the kings of Scotland have enjoyed the titles of Duke of
Rothsay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, and Hereditary Great
Steward of Scotland, those dignities are also invariably
attributed to the Prince of Wales."
_C. R. Dodd,
Manual of Dignities,
part 2._
WALI.
An Arabian title, given to certain governors of extensive
provinces under the caliphate. It seems to have had a
viceroyal significance, marking the bearer of it as an
immediate representative of the caliph.
_T. P. Hughes,
Dictionary of Islam._
WALID I., Caliph, A. D. 705-715.
Walid II., Caliph, 743-744.
WALKER, William:
Filibustering in Nicaragua.
See NICARAGUA: A. D. 1855-1860.
WALL IN BRITAIN, Roman.
See ROMAN WALLS IN BRITAIN.
WALL OF CHINA, The Great.
See CHINA: THE ORIGIN OF THE PEOPLE.
WALL OF PROBUS.
See GERMANY: A. D. 277.
WALLACE, William, and the Scottish struggle for independence.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1290-1305.
{3645}
WALLACHS,
WALLACHIANS.
WALLACHIA: The name.
This is one of the forms of a name which the ancient Germanic
peoples seem to have given to non-Germanic nations whom they
associated in any wise with the Roman empire.
See WELSH.
For an account of the Wallachians of southeastern Europe, and
their country.
See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES.
WALLENSTEIN, Campaigns of.
See GERMANY:
A. D. 1624-1626; 1627-1629; 1630; 1631-1632; and 1632-1634.
WALLHOF, Battle of (1626).
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1611-1629.
WALLINGFORD, Treaty of.
A treaty concluded, A. D. 1153, between King Stephen and
Matilda, who claimed the English crown as the heir of her
father, Henry I. By the treaty Stephen was recognized as king
and Matilda's son Henry (who became Henry II.) was made his
heir.
WALLOONS, The.
"In Namur, Liege, and Luxembourg, the speech is what is called
Walloon, the same word as Welsh, and derived from the German
root 'wealh,' a foreigner. By this designation the Germans of
the Flemish tongue denoted the Romano-Belgic population whose
language was akin to the French, and whom a hilly and
impracticable country (the forest districts of the Ardennes)
had more or less protected from their own arms. Now the
Walloon is a form of the Romano-Keltic so peculiar and
independent that it must be of great antiquity, i. e., as old
as the oldest dialect of the French, and no extension of the
dialects of Lorraine, or Champagne, from which it differs
materially. It is also a language which must have been formed
on a Keltic basis. … The Walloons, then, are Romano-Keltic;
whereas the Flemings are Germans, in speech and in blood."
_R. G. Latham,
Ethnology of Europe,
chapter 3._
See, also, NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1494-1519.
WALPOLE, The administration of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1714-1721, and 1727-1741.
WALPOLE COMPANY, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1765-1768.
WÄLSCH, The.
See VENEDI.
WALTER, the Penniless, Crusade of.
See CRUSADES: A. D. 1096-1099.
WAMPANOAGS,
POKANOKETS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY;
also, NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1674-1675, 1675, 1676-1678.
WAMPUM.
"Wampum, or wompam, according to Trumbull was the name of the
white beads made from stems or inner whorls of the Pyrula
Carica or Canaliculata periwinkle shells so common on all the
south Coast of New England. When strung they were called
wampon or wampom—peage or peake or peg, equivalent to 'strings
of white beads,' for peage means 'strung beads.' Color was the
basis of the nomenclature, as well as of the difference in
value. 'Wompi' was white; 'Sacki' was black; 'Suckauhock' was
the black beads made from the dark part of the poquauhock, the
common quahog, Venus' mercenaria or round clam shell. The
value of the black was generally twice that of the white. …
The word generally used among the Dutch who led in introducing
the bead currency of the Indians, Sewan or Zeewand, was more
general in its application than wampum. But whatever the
difficult Indian linguistic process may have been, the New
England men soon settled on wampum and peage as the working
names for this currency. The shell cylinders, black or white,
were about one-eighth of an inch in diameter and one-quarter
long. There were shorter beads used for ornaments, but there
is hardly any trace of them in the currency. … The Indians
strung the beads on fibres of hemp or tendons taken from the
flesh of their forest meat. … The strings of peage were
embroidered on strips of deer-skin, making the 'Máchequoce,' a
girdle or belt 'of five inches thicknesse,' or more, and to
the value of ten pounds sterling or more, which was worn about
the waist or thrown over the shoulders like a scarf. More than
10,000 beads were wrought into a single belt four inches wide.
These belts were in common use like the gold and jewelry of
our day. They also played the same symbolic part which
survives in the crown jewels and other regalia of civilized
nations. … Whenever the Indians made an important statement in
their frequent negotiations, they presented a belt to prove
it, to give force to their words. … It gave to the words the
weight of hard physical facts and made the expression an
emblem of great force and significance. The philologists call
this literary office, this symbolic function of wampum, an
elementary mnemonic record. The same was fulfilled by the
quippus, knotted strings or quipu of the ancient Peruvians. …
'This belt preserves my words' was a common remark of the
Iroquois Chief in council. … The Iroquois were a mighty
nation, almost an incipient state. Their only records were in
these mnemonic beads. … Tradition gives to the Narragansetts
the honor of inventing these valued articles, valuable both
for use and exchange. … The Long Island Indians manufactured
the beads in large quantities and then were forced to pay them
away in tribute to the Mohawks and the fiercer tribes of the
interior. Furs were readily exchanged for these trinkets,
which carried a permanent value, through the constancy of the
Indian desire for them. … After the use of wampum was
established in colonial life, contracts were made payable at
will in wampum, beaver, or silver. … The use began in New
England in 1627. It was a legal tender until 1661, and for
more than three quarters of a century the wampum was current
in small transactions."
_W. B. Weeden,
Indian Money as a Factor in New England Civilization._
See, also, MONEY AND BANKING: 17th CENTURY;
QUIPU; and MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1623-1629.
WANBOROUGH, Battle of.
See HWICCAS.
WANDIWASH, Battle of (1760).
See INDIA: A. D. 1758-1761.
WAPANACHKIK, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.
WAPENING, The.
The mediæval armed assembly of Ghent and other Flemish towns.
_J. Michelet,
History of France,
book 12, chapter 1._
WAPENTAKE, The.
See HUNDRED, THE.
WAPISIANAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CARIBS AND THEIR KINDRED.
WAPPINGERS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.
WAR OF 1812, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1804-1809; 1808;
and 1810-1812, to 1815 (JANUARY).
WAR OF JENKINS' EAR, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1739-1741.
WAR OF LIBERATION.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1812-1813, to 1813 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).
{3646}
WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION.
See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1740, to 1744-1745;
NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1745, and 1746-1747;
ITALY: A. D. 1741-1743, to 1746-1747;
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE: THE CONGRESS.
WAR OF THE FEDERATION.
See VENEZUELA: A. D. 1829-1886.
WAR OF THE LOVERS, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1578-1580.
WAR OF THE QUEEN'S RIGHTS.
See NETHERLANDS (THE SPANISH PROVINCES): A. D. 1667.
WAR OF THE REBELLION (of the American Slave States),
or War of Secession.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1860 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER), and after.
Statistics.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (MAY) STATISTICS.
WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1702, and after;
NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1702-1704, and after;
GERMANY: A. D. 1702, and after;
ITALY: A. D. 1701-1713;
NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1702-1710;
and UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.
WAR OF THE THREE HENRYS.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1584-1589.
WARAUS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CARIBS AND THEIR KINDRED.
WARBECK, PERKIN, Rebellion of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1487-1497.
WARBURG, Battle of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1760.
WARD, General Artemas, and the American Revolution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1775 (APRIL-MAY), (MAY-AUGUST), and (JUNE).
WARINGS, The.
See VARANGIANS.
WARNA,
VARNA, Battle of (1444).
See TURKS: A. D. 1402-1451.
WARREN, Dr. Joseph, and the American Revolution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (MAY), and (JUNE).
WARS OF RELIGION IN FRANCE, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1560-1563, to 1593-1598.
WARS OF THE ROSES.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1455-1471.
WARSAW: A. D. 1656.
Three days battle with Swedes and Brandenburgers.
Defeat of the Poles.
See BRANDENBURG: A. D. 1640-1688;
and SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1644-1697.
WARSAW: A. D. 1792-1794.
Occupied by the Russians.
Their forces expelled.
Capture of the city by Souvorof.
Its acquisition by Prussia.
See POLAND: A. D. 1791-1792; and 1793-1796.
WARSAW: A. D. 1807.
Created a Grand Duchy, and ceded to the King of Saxony.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1807 (JUNE-JULY).
WARSAW: A. D. 1815.
The Grand Duchy given to Russia.
See VIENNA, THE CONGRESS OF.
WARSAW: A. D. 1830-1831.
Revolt.
Attack and capture by the Russians.
See POLAND: A. D. 1830-1832.
WARTBURG,
Luther at.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1521-1522.
German students' demonstration (1817).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1817-1820.
WARTENBURG, Battle of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).
WARWICK, the King-maker.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1455-1471.
WARWICK PLANTATION.
See RHODE ISLAND: A. D. 1641-1647.
WASHAKIS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES, SHOSHONEAN FAMILY.
WASHINGTON, George:
First campaigns.
See OHIO (VALLEY): A. D. 1754, and 1755.
In the War of the American Revolution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1775 (MAY-AUGUST), to 1783 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER).
The framing of the Federal Constitution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787.
Presidential election and administration.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1789, to 1796.
Farewell Address.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1796.
----------WASHINGTON (City): Start--------
WASHINGTON (City): A. D. 1791.
The founding of the Federal Capital.
"One important duty which engaged the President's
[Washington's] attention during part of the recess [of
Congress] related to the purchase and survey of the new
Federal city. The site chosen on the Potomac by himself and
the commissioners, in conformity with law [see UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA: A. D. 1789-1792], lay a few miles to the north of
Mount Vernon on the Maryland side of the river, at the
confluence of the Eastern Branch, and just below Georgetown.
The tradition goes that, while a young surveyor scouring the
neighboring country, Washington had marked the advantages of
this spot for a great city. … The entire soil belonged in
large parcels to a few plain, easy, Maryland farmers, who rode
over to Georgetown for their flour and bacon. One of these
only, David Burns, was obstinate about making terms; and the
subsequent rise of land in the western quarter of the city,
which his farmhouse now occupied, rendered his little daughter
in time the heiress of Washington, and confirmed his claims to
historical consideration as the most conspicuous grantor of
the National Capital. For procuring this choice spot on behalf
of his countrymen, the President conducted the negotiations in
person, and the purchase of the Federal city was concluded
upon just and even generous terms. Each owner surrendered his
real estate to the United States with no restriction except
that of retaining every alternate lot for himself. The
government was permitted to reserve all tracts specially
desired at £25 an acre, while the land for avenues, streets,
and alleys should cost nothing. Thus the Federal Capital came
to the United States as substantially a free conveyance of
half the fee of the soil in consideration of the enhanced
value expected for the other half. … Major l'Enfant, a French
architect, was selected to plan and lay out the new city. The
highways were mapped and bounded substantially as they exist
at this day, being so spacious and so numerous in comparison
with building lots as to have admitted of no later change, in
the course of a century, except in the prudent direction of
parking, enlarging sidewalks, and leaving little plats in
front of houses to be privately cared for. Streets running due
north and south from the northern boundary to the Potomac were
intersected at right angles by others which extended east and
west.
{3647}
To mar the simplicity of this plan, however, which so far
resembled that of Philadelphia, great avenues, 160 feet wide,
were run diagonally, radiating like spokes, from such main
centres as Capitol Hill and the President's house. … This new
Capital, by the President modestly styled 'the Federal City,'
but to which the commissioners, by general acclamation,
proceeded in September to affix his illustrious name, was
America's first grand essay at a metropolis in advance of
inhabitants. … The founder himself entered with unwonted ardor
into the plans projected for developing this the new Capital.
Not only did he picture the city which bore his name as an
instructor of the coming youth in lessons of lofty patriotism,
but he prophesied for it national greatness apart from its
growth as the repository of the nation. He believed it would
become a prosperous commercial city, its wharves studded with
sails, enjoying all the advantages of Western traffic by means
of a canal linking the Potomac and Ohio rivers, so as to bring
Western produce to the seaboard. The ten-mile square which
comprised the territorial District of Columbia, inclusive of
the Capital, stretched across the Potomac, taking Georgetown
from the Maryland jurisdiction, and Alexandria from Virginia.
… The first corner-stone of this new Federal district was
publicly laid with Masonic ceremonies, and though the auction
sale of city lots in autumn proved disappointing, the idea
prevailed that the government would gain from individual
purchasers in Washington city a fund ample enough for erecting
there all the public buildings at present needed."
_J. Schouler,
History of the United States,
chapter 2, section 2 (volume 1)._
ALSO IN:
_M. Clemmer,
Ten Years in Washington,
chapters 1-3._
_C. B. Todd,
The Story of Washington,
chapters 1-2._
_J. A. Porter,
The City of Washington
(Johns Hopkins University Studies, series 3, numbers 11-12)._
WASHINGTON (City): A. D. 1814.
In the hands of the British.
Destruction of public buildings.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1814 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).
WASHINGTON (City): A. D. 1861 (April).
The threatening activity of rebellion.
Peril of the national capital.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (APRIL)
ACTIVITY OF REBELLION.
WASHINGTON (City): A. D. 1861 (April-May).
The coming of the first defenders of the national capital.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (APRIL),
and (APRIL-MAY: MARYLAND).
WASHINGTON (City): A. D. 1862 (April).
Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (APRIL-JUNE).
WASHINGTON (City): A. D. 1864.
Approached and threatened by Early.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (JULY: VIRGINIA-MARYLAND).
WASHINGTON (City): A. D. 1867.
Extension of suffrage to the Negroes.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1867 (JANUARY).
----------WASHINGTON (City): End--------
WASHINGTON, Fort: A. D. 1776.
Capture by the British.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1776 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER).
WASHINGTON,
The proposed state, to be formed west of Pennsylvania.
See NORTHWEST TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1784.
WASHINGTON (State): A. D. 1803.
Was it embraced in the Louisiana Purchase?
Grounds of American possession.
See LOUISIANA: A. D. 1798-1803.
WASHINGTON (State): A. D. 1846.
Possession for the United States secured by the settlement
of the Oregon boundary question with England.
See OREGON: A. D. 1844-1846.
WASHINGTON (State): A. D. 1889.
Admission to the Union.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1889-1890.
WASHINGTON, Treaty of (1842).
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1842 THE ASHBURTON TREATY.
Treaty of (1871).
See ALABAMA CLAIMS: A. D. 1871.
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, St. Louis.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: REFORMS &c.: A. D. 1865-1886.
WASHOAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: WASHOAN FAMILY.
WAT TYLER'S REBELLION.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1381.
WATAUGA ASSOCIATION, The.
See TENNESSEE: A. D. 1769-1772.
WATERFORD: A. D. 1170.
Stormed and taken by Strongbow.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1169-1175.
WATER-LILY SECT, The.
See TRIAD SOCIETY.
WATERLOO CAMPAIGN, Napoleon's.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1815 (JUNE).
WATERLOO FIELD, in Marlborough's Campaigns:
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1705.
WATERWAYS.
See (in Supplement) COMMERCE, MODERN.
WATHEK, Al, Caliph, A. D. 841-847.
WATLING STREET.
The Milky Way was known to our early English ancestors as
Watling Street, signifying the road "by which the hero-sons of
Waetla marched across" the heavens. When they settled in
England they transferred the name Watling Street to the great
Roman road which they found traversing the island, from London
to Chester. Portions of the road, in London and elsewhere,
still bear the name. Even in Chaucer's time the Milky Way
appears to have been sometimes called Watling Street.
_J. R. Green,
The Making of England,
page 166._
ALSO IN:
_T. Wright,
The Celt, the Roman and the Saxon._
See ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN.
WATT, James, and the Steam Engine.
See STEAM ENGINE: A. D. 1765-1785.
WATTIGNIES, Battle of (1793).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (JULY-DECEMBER) PROGRESS OF THE WAR.
WAUHATCHIE, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER: TENNESSEE).
WAYNE, General Anthony, and the storming of Stony Point.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1778-1779 WASHINGTON GUARDING THE HUDSON.
Chastisement of the Northwestern Indians.
See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1790-1795.
WAYNESBOROUGH, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1865 (FEBRUARY-MARCH: VIRGINIA).
WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE.
See CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.
WEALH.
See THEOW.
WEAVING BROTHERS, The.
See BEGUINES.
{3648}
WEBSTER, Daniel, and the Dartmouth College case.
See (in Supplement) DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
The Tariff Question.
See TARIFF LEGISLATION (UNITED STATES):
A. D. 1816-1824; and 1828.
Debate with Hayne.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1828-1833.
In the Cabinet of President Tyler.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1841; and 1842
THE ASHBURTON TREATY.
Seventh of March Speech.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1850.
In the Cabinet of President Fillmore.
The Hülsemann Letter.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1850-1851.
WECKQUAESGEEKS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.
WEDMORE, Peace of.
A treaty of peace concluded between King Alfred and the Danes,
by which the latter were bound to remain peacefully on that
side of England which lay north and east of "Watling Street"
(the Roman road from London to Chester) and to submit to
baptism.
_E. A. Freeman,
Norman Conquest,
chapter 2, section 4 (volume l)._
See ENGLAND: A. D. 855-880.
WEHLAU. Treaty of (1657).
See BRANDENBURG: A. D. 1640-1688.
WEIMAR.
For an account of the origin of the Duchy of Saxe Weimar;
See SAXONY: A. D. 1180-1553.
"Small indeed is the space occupied on the map by the Duchy of
Saxe-Weimar; yet the historian of the German Courts declares,
and truly, that after Berlin there is no Court of which the
nation is so proud. … Small among German princes is mine, poor
and narrow his kingdom, limited his power of doing good.' Thus
sings Goethe in that poem, so honourable to both, wherein he
acknowledges his debt to Karl August. … Weimar is an ancient
city on the Ilm, a small stream rising in the Thuringian
forests, and losing itself in the Saal, at Jena; this stream
on which the sole navigation seems to be that of ducks,
meanders peacefully through pleasant valleys, except during
the rainy season, when mountain-torrents swell its current and
overflow its banks. The Trent, between Trentham and
Stafford—'the smug and silver Trent' as Shakespeare calls
it—will give an idea of this stream. The town is charmingly
placed in the Ilm valley, and stands some eight hundred feet
above the level of the sea. 'Weimar,' says the old
topographer, Mathew Merian, 'is Weinmar, because it was the
wine market for Jena and its environs. Others say it was
because some one here in ancient days began to plant the vine,
who was hence called Weinmayer. But of this each reader may
believe just what he pleases.' On a first acquaintance, Weimar
seems more like a village bordering a park, than a capital
with a Court, having all courtly environments. … Saxe-Weimar
has no trade, no manufactures, no animation of commercial,
political, or even theological activity. This part of Saxony,
be it remembered, was the home and shelter of Protestantism in
its birth. Only a few miles from Weimar stands the Wartburg,
where Luther, in the disguise of Squire George, lived in
safety, translating the Bible, and hurling his inkstand at the
head of Satan, like a rough-handed disputant as he was. In the
marketplace of Weimar stand, to this day, two houses from the
windows of which Tetzel advertised his indulgences, and Luther
afterwards in fiery indignation fulminated against them. These
records of religious struggle still remain, but are no longer
suggestions for the continuance of the strife. … The theologic
fire has long burnt itself out in Thuringia. In Weimar, where
Luther preached, another preacher came, whom we know as
Goethe. In the old church there is one portrait of Luther,
painted by his friend Lucas Kranach, greatly prized, as well
it may be; but for this one portrait of Luther, there are a
hundred of Goethe. It is not Luther, but Goethe, they think of
here; poetry, not theology, is the glory of Weimar. And,
corresponding with this, we find the dominant characteristic
of the place to be no magnificent church, no picturesque
ancient buildings, no visible image of the earlier ages, but
the sweet serenity of a lovely park. The park fills the
foreground of the picture, and always rises first in the
memory. … Within its limits Saxe Weimar displayed all that an
imperial court displays in larger proportions: it had its
ministers, its army, its chamberlains, pages, and sycophants.
Court favour, and disgrace, elevated and depressed, as if they
had been imperial smiles, or autocratic frowns. A standing
army of six hundred men, with cavalry of fifty hussars, had
its War Department, with war minister, secretary, and clerk.
As the nobles formed the predominating element of Weimar, we
see at once how, in spite of the influence of Karl August, and
the remarkable men he assembled round him, no real public for
Art could be found there. Some of the courtiers played more or
less with Art, some had real feeling for it; but the majority
set decided faces against all the beaux esprits. … Not without
profound significance is this fact that in Weimar the poet
found a Circle, but no Public. To welcome his productions
there were friends and admirers; there was no Nation. Germany
had no public."
_G. H. Lewes,
The Life and Works of Goethe.
book 1, chapter 1._
WEISSENBURG, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1870 (JULY-AUGUST).
WELATABIANS, The.
See WILZEN.
WELDON RAILROAD,
Battles on the.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (AUGUST: VIRGINIA).
WELFS.
See GUELFS.
WELLESLEY, MARQUIS OF.
The Indian Administration of.
See INDIA: A. D. 1798-1805.
WELLESLEY COLLEGE.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: REFORMS &c.: A. D. 1804-1891.
WELLINGHAUSEN,
KIRCHDENKERN, Battle of(1761).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1761-1762.
WELLINGTON.
Campaigns of.
See INDIA: A. D. 1798-1805;
SPAIN: A. D. 1808-1809, to 1812-1814;
and FRANCE: A. D. 1815.
Ministry.
See ENGLAND: A. D.1827-1828; 1830.
WELSH, The Name of the.
"The Germans, like our own ancestors, called foreign, i. e.
non-Teutonic nations, Welsh. Yet apparently not all such
nations, but only those which they in some way associated with
the Roman Empire: the Cymry of Roman Britain, the Romanized
Kelts of Gaul, the Italians, the Roumans or Wallachs of
Transylvania and the Principalities. It does not appear that
either the Magyars or any Slavonic people were called by any
form of the name Welsh."
_J. Bryce,
The Holy Roman Empire,
chapter 17, foot-note._
"Wealhas, or Welshmen; … it was by this name, which means
'strangers,' or 'unintelligible people,' that the English knew
the Britons, and it is the name by which the Britons, oddly
enough, now know themselves."
_J. R. Green,
The Making of England,
page 122._
{3649}
WENCESLAUS,
WENZEL,
VACSLAV I.,
King of Bohemia, A. D. 1230-1253.
Wenceslaus I., King of Hungary, 1301-1305;
Wenceslaus III. of Bohemia, 1305-1306.
Wenceslaus II., King of Bohemia, 1278-1305.
Wenceslaus IV., King of Bohemia, 1378-1419;
King of Germany, 1378-1400.
WENDS, The.
"The Germans call all Slavonians Wends.
No Slavonian calls himself so."
_R. G. Latham,
The Germany of Tacitus; Prolegomena,
section 15._
See, also, SLAVONIC PEOPLES;
VENEDI; VANDALS; and AVARS: 7TH CENTURY.
WENTWORTH, Thomas (Earl of Strafford).
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1634-1637, 1640, 1640-1641;
and IRELAND: A. D. 1633-1639.
WENZEL.
See WENCESLAUS.
WERBACH, Battle of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1866.
WERBEN, The camp of Gustavus Adolphus at.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1631.
WERGILD.
"The principle that every injury to either person or property
might be compensated by a money payment was common to all the
northern nations. It was introduced into Gaul by the
conquering Franks, and into Britain by the English invaders.
Every man's life had a fixed money value, called the
'wergild.' In the case of a freeman, this compensation for
murder was payable to his kindred; in that of a slave, to his
master. The amount of the wergild varied, according to a
graduated scale, with the rank of the person slain."
_T. P. Taswell-Langmead,
English Constitutional History,
page 41._
WEROWANCE.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: POWHATAN CONFEDERACY.
WESLEYS, The, and early Methodism.
See METHODISTS.
WESSAGUSSET, Weston's settlement at.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1622-1628.
WESSEX, The Kingdom of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 477-527.
WEST INDIA COMPANY, The Dutch.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1621-1646.
WEST INDIA COMPANY, The French.
See CANADA: A. D. 1663-1674.
WEST INDIES, The.
"The name West Indies recalls the fact that the discovery of
the new world originated in an attempt to find a western route
to the eastern seas, and that, when Columbus crossed the
Atlantic and sighted land on the other side, he fancied he had
reached the further coasts of the Indies.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1484-1492, and 1492.
'In consequence of this mistake of Columbus,' says Adam Smith,
'the name of the Indies has stuck to those unfortunate
countries ever since.' The islands, or some of them, have long
borne the name of Antilles. Antillia or Antigua was a mythical
island [see ANTILLES] which found a place on mediæval maps,
and the name was applied by geographers to Hispaniola and Cuba
upon their first discovery. In modern times Cuba, Hispaniola
or Hayti, Jamaica, and Porto Rico have usually been known as
the Greater Antilles; and the ring of smaller islands,
including the Windward and the Leeward Islands, as the Lesser
Antilles. The terms Windward and Leeward themselves demand
some notice. The prevailing wind in the West Indies being the
north-east trade wind, the islands which were most exposed to
it were known as the Windward islands, and those which were
less exposed were known as the Leeward. According]y, the
Spaniards regarded the whole ring of Caribbean islands as
Windward islands, and identified the Leeward islands with the
four large islands which constitute the Greater Antilles as
given above. The English sailors contracted the area of
Windward and Leeward, subdividing the Caribbean islands into a
northern section of Leeward islands and a southern section of
Windward islands, which project further into the Atlantic. In
1671 this division was made a political one, and the English
Caribbean islands, which had before constituted one
government, were separated into two groups, under two
Governors-in-chief; the islands to the north of the French
colony of Guadeloupe forming the government of the Leeward
islands, the islands to the south of Guadeloupe forming the
government of the Windward islands. Latterly the signification
has been again slightly modified; and, for administrative
purposes under the Colonial Office, the Leeward islands group
now includes the more northerly section of the Caribbean
islands belonging to Great Britain, from the Virgin islands to
Dominica [embracing Antigua, St. Christopher or St. Kitts,
Nevis, Montserrat, the Virgin Islands, Dominica, Barbuda,
Redonda, and Anguilla]; while the Windward islands are
artificially restricted to St. Lucia, St. Vincent, the
Grenadines, and Grenada, the two most windward of all,
Barbados and Tobago, being separated from the group." Barbados
is a distinct crown colony, and Tobago is joined with Trinidad
to form another.
_C. P. Lucas,
Historical Geography of the British Colonies,
volume 2, section 2. chapters 1, and 4-7._
ALSO IN:
_C. H. Eden,
The West Indies._
_T. Southey,
Chronological History of the West Indies._
See, also, CUBA; HAYTI; and JAMAICA.
WEST POINT.
"The importance of fortifying the Hudson River at its narrow
passes among the Highlands was suggested to the Continental
Congress by the Provincial Assembly of New York at an early
period of the war [of Independence]. On the 6th of October,
1775, the former directed the latter to proceed to make such
fortifications as they should deem best. On the 18th of
November, Congress resolved to appoint a commander for the
fortress, with the rank of colonel, and recommended the New
York Assembly, or Convention, to empower him to raise a body
of 200 militia from the counties of Dutchess, Orange, and
Ulster, and a company of artillery from New York city, to
garrison them." As the result of these proceedings a fort
named "Constitution" was constructed on Martelaer's Rock (now
Constitution Island) opposite West Point, under the direction
of an English engineer, Bernard Romans. "After the capture of
Forts Clinton and Montgomery, near the lower entrance to the
Highlands, in 1777, and the abandonment of Fort Constitution
by the Americans a few days afterward, public attention was
directed to the importance of other and stronger
fortifications in that vicinity. … Washington requested
General Putnam to bestow his most serious attention upon that
important subject. He also wrote to Governor Clinton, at the
same time, desiring him to take the immediate supervision of
the work; but his legislative duties, then many and pressing,
made it difficult for him to comply. Clinton … made many
valuable suggestions respecting the proposed fortifications.
He mentioned West Point as the most eligible site for a strong
fort."
{3650}
In the spring of 1778, "a committee of the New York
Legislature, after surveying several sites, unanimously
recommended West Point as the most eligible. Works were
accordingly commenced there under the direction of Kosciuszko.
… Kosciuszko arrived on the 20th of March, and the works were
pushed toward completion with much spirit. The principal
redoubt, constructed chiefly of logs and earth, was completed
before May, and named Fort Clinton. … At the close of 1779,
West Point was the strongest military post in America. In
addition to the batteries that stood menacingly upon the
hilltops, the river was obstructed by an enormous iron chain.
… West Point was considered the keystone of the country during
the Revolution, and there a large quantity of powder, and
other munitions of war and military stores, were collected.
These considerations combined made its possession a matter of
great importance to the enemy, and hence it was selected by
Arnold as the prize which his treason would give as a bribe.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1780 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER)].
When peace returned, it was regarded as one of the most
important military posts in the country, and the plateau upon
the point was purchased by the United States Government. … The
Military Academy at West Point was established by an act of
Congress which became a law on the 16th of March, 1802. Such
an institution, at that place, was proposed by Washington to
Congress in 1793; and earlier than this, even before the war
of the Revolution had closed, he suggested the establishment
of a military school there. But little progress was made in
the matter until 1812."
_B. J. Lossing,
Field-book of the Revolution,
volume 1, pages 702-706._
ALSO IN:
_E. C. Boynton,
History of West Point._
----------WEST VIRGINIA: Start--------
WEST VIRGINIA: A. D. 1632.
Partly embraced in the Maryland grant to Lord Baltimore.
See MARYLAND: A. D. 1632.
WEST VIRGINIA: A. D. 1861 (April-June).
Opposition to Secession.
Loyal State Government organized.
See VIRGINIA; A. D. 1861 (JANUARY-JUNE).
WEST VIRGINIA: A. D. 1861 (JUNE-JULY).
General McClellan's successful campaign.
The Rebels driven out.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (JUNE-JULY: WEST VIRGINIA).
WEST VIRGINIA: A. D. 1861 (JUNE-NOVEMBER).
Steps taken toward separation from Virginia.
Constitutional Convention at Wheeling.
See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1861 (JUNE-NOVEMBER).
WEST VIRGINIA: A. D. 1861 (AUGUST-DECEMBER).
The campaign of Rosecrans against Lee.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (AUGUST-DECEMBER: WEST VIRGINIA).
WEST VIRGINIA: A. D. 1862 (APRIL-DECEMBER).
The completed separation from Old Virginia.
Admission to the Union.
The work of the convention at Wheeling which framed a
constitution for the new State of West Virginia was
satisfactorily performed, and "on the first Thursday of April,
1862, the people approved the constitution by a vote of 18,862
in favor of it with only 614 against it. The work of the
representatives of the projected new State being thus
ratified, the Governor called the Legislature of Virginia
together on the 6th day of May, and on the 13th of the same
month that body gave its consent, with due regularity, to 'the
formation of a new State within the jurisdiction of the said
State of Virginia.' A fortnight later, on the 28th of May,
Senator Willey introduced the subject in Congress by
presenting a memorial from the Legislature of Virginia,
together with a certified copy of the proceedings of the
Constitutional Convention and the vote of the people. The
constitution was referred to the Committee on Territories and
a bill favorable to admission was promptly reported by Senator
Wade of Ohio. The measure was discussed at different periods,
largely with reference to the effect it would have upon the
institution of slavery, and Congress insisted upon inserting a
provision that 'the children of slaves, born in the State
after the 4th day of July, 1863, shall be free; all slaves
within the said State who shall at that time be under the age
of ten years shall be free when they arrive at the age of
twenty-one years all slaves over ten and under twenty-one
shall be free at the age of twenty-five years; and no slave
shall be permitted to come into the State for permanent
residence therein.' This condition was to be ratified by the
convention which framed the constitution, and by the people at
an election held for the purpose, and, upon due certification
of the approval of the condition to the President of the
United States, he was authorized to issue his proclamation
declaring West Virginia to be a State of the Union. … On the
14th of July, three days before Congress adjourned, the bill
passed the Senate by a vote of 23 to 17. Mr. Rice of Minnesota
was the only Democrat who favored the admission of the new
State. … Mr. Chandler and Mr. Howard of Michigan voted in the
negative because the State had voluntarily done nothing
towards providing for the emancipation of slaves; Mr. Sumner
and Mr. Wilson, because the Senate had rejected the
anti-slavery amendment [proposed by Mr. Sumner, declaring
immediate emancipation in the new State]; Mr. Trumbull and Mr.
Cowan, because of the irregularity of the whole proceeding.
The bill was not considered in the House until the next
session. It was taken up on the 9th of December," and was
warmly debated. "On the passage of the bill the ayes were 96
and the noes were 55. The ayes were wholly from the Republican
party, though several prominent Republicans opposed the
measure. Almost the entire Massachusetts delegation voted in
the negative, as did also Mr. Roscoe Conkling, Mr. Conway of
Kansas and Mr. Francis Thomas of Maryland. The wide difference
of opinion concerning this act was not unnatural. But the
cause of the Union was aided by the addition of another loyal
commonwealth, and substantial justice was done to the brave
people of the new State. … To the old State of Virginia the
blow was a heavy one. In the years following the war it added
seriously to her financial embarrassment, and it has in many
ways obstructed her prosperity."
_J. G. Blaine,
Twenty Years of Congress,
volume 1, chapter 21._
In the legislative Ordinance of 1861 the proposed new State
was called Kanawha; but in the Constitutional Convention this
name was changed to West Virginia.
ALSO IN:
_V. A. Lewis,
History of West Virginia,
chapters 25-26._
_E. McPherson,
Political History of the United States during
the Great Rebellion,
pages 377-378._
_J. G. Nicolay and J. Hay,
Abraham Lincoln,
volume 6, chapter 14._
WEST VIRGINIA: A. D. 1862 (MAY-JUNE).
Fremont's Mountain Department.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA).
{3651}
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
See AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1800-1840.
WESTERN EMPIRE, The.
See ROME: A. D. 394-395, and 423-450;
and GERMANY: A. D. 800.
WESTERN LANDS, Cession of, to the United States by the States.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781-1786.
WESTERN RESERVE OF CONNECTICUT.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781-1786;
PENNSYLVANIA: A. D. 1753-1799;
and OHIO (VALLEY): A. D. 1786-1796.
WESTFALIA.
See WESTPHALIA.
WESTMINSTER, Provisions of.
See OXFORD, PROVISIONS OF.
WESTMINSTER, Statutes of.
See LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1275, and 1285.
WESTMINSTER, Treaty of.
See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1674.
WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES.
See ENGLAND: A. D.1643 (JULY); and 1646 (MARCH).
WESTMINSTER PALACE.
"Westminster was from the days of Edward the Confessor the
recognised home of the great council of the nation as well as
of the king. How this came about, history does not record; it
is possible that the mere accident of the existence of the
royal palace on the bank of the Thames led to the foundation
of the abbey, or that the propinquity of the abbey led to the
choice of the place for a palace; equal obscurity covers the
origin of both. … At Westminster Henry I held his councils,
and Stephen is said to have founded the chapel of his patron
saint within the palace. … From the very first introduction of
representative members the national council had its regular
home at Westminster. There, with a few casual exceptions, …
all the properly constituted parliaments of England have been
held. The ancient Palace of Westminster, of which the most
important parts, having survived until the fire of 1834 and
the construction of the New Houses of Parliament, were
destroyed in 1852, must have presented a very apt illustration
of the history of the Constitution which had grown up from its
early simplicity to its full strength within those venerable
walls. It was a curious congeries of towers, halls, churches,
and chambers. As the administrative system of the country had
been developed largely from the household economy of the king,
the national palace had for its kernel the king's court, hall,
chapel, and chamber. … As time went on, every apartment
changed its destination: the chamber became a council room,
the banquet hall a court of justice, the chapel a hall of
deliberation. … The King's Chamber, or Parliament Chamber, was
the House of Lords from very early times until the union with
Ireland, when the peers removed into the lesser or White Hall,
where they continued until the fire. The house of commons met
occasionally in the Painted Chamber, but generally sat in the
Chapter House or in the Refectory of the abbey, until the
reign of Edward VI, when it was fixed in S. Stephen's chapel.
… After the fire of 1834, during the building of the new
houses, the house of lords sat in the Painted Chamber, and the
house of commons in the White Hall or Court of Requests. It
was a curious coincidence, certainly, that the destruction of
the ancient fabric should follow so immediately upon the great
constitutional change wrought by the reform act, and scarcely
less curious that the fire should have originated in the
burning of the ancient Exchequer tallies, one of the most
permanent relics of the primitive simplicity of
administration."
_W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 20, sections 735-736 (volume 3)._
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.—ENGLAND.
WESTPHALIA:
The country so named.
See SAXONY: THE OLD DUCHY.
WESTPHALIA, The Circle of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1493-1519.
WESTPHALIA, The Kingdom of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1807 (JUNE-JULY);
1813(SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER), and (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).
WESTPHALIA, The Peace of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.
WESTPORT, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (MARCH-OCTOBER: ARKANSAS-MISSOURI).
WETTIN, House of.
See SAXONY: A. D. 1180-1553.
WEXFORD: Stormed by Cromwell (1649).
See IRELAND: A. D. 1649-1650.
WHIG PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1834.
WHIGS (WHIGGAMORS):
Origin of the name and the English Party.
"The southwest counties of Scotland have seldom corn enough to
serve them round the year: and the northern parts producing
more than they need, those in the west come in summer to buy
at Leith the stores that come from the north: and from a word
'whiggam,' used in driving their horses, all that drove were
called the 'whiggamors,' and shorter the 'whiggs.' Now in that
year [1648], after the news came down of Duke Hamilton's
defeat [at the battle of Preston—see ENGLAND: A. D. 1648
(APRIL-AUGUST)], the ministers animated their people to rise
and march to Edenburgh; and they came up marching on [at] the
head of their parishes, with an unheard-of fury, praying and
preaching all the way as they came. The marquis of Argile and
his party came and headed them, they being about 6,000. This
was called the 'whiggamors' inroad; and ever after that all
that opposed the court came in contempt to be called 'whiggs':
and from Scotland the word was brought into England, where it
is now one of our unhappy terms of distinction."
_G. Burnet,
History of My Own Time,
book 1 (Summary), section 43 (volume 1)._
"We find John Nicoll, the diarist, in 1666, speaking of the
west-country Presbyterians as 'commonly called the Whigs,
implying that the term was new. The sliding of the appellation
from these obscure people to the party of the opposition in
London a few years later, is indicated by Daniel Defoe as
occurring immediately after the affair of Bothwell Bridge in
1679. The Duke of Monmouth then returning from his command in
Scotland, instead of thanks for his good service, found
himself under blame for using the insurgents too mercifully.
'And Lauderdale told Charles, with an oath, that the Duke had
been so civil to the Whigs because he was himself a Whig in
his heart. This made it a court-word; and in a little while
all the friends and followers of the Duke began to be called
Whigs.'"
_R. Chambers,
Domestic Annals of Scotland,
volume 2, page 172._
ALSO IN:
_J. H. Burton,
History of Scotland,
chapter 74 (volume 7)._
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1680.
{3652}
WHIPS, Party.
The "party whips," in English politics, are "an extremely
useful and hard-working body of officials. Being charged with
the duty of keeping the respective sides in readiness for all
emergencies, they are generally to be found in the lobby,
where they make themselves acquainted with the incomings and
outgoings of members, and learn a good deal as to their
prospective movements. The whips are the gentlemen who issue
those strongly underlined circulars by which legislators are
summoned on important nights; and who, by their watchfulness
and attention, can generally convey reliable intelligence to
the party chiefs. If the Ministers, for example, are engaged
in any controversy, and their whips are not absolutely certain
of a majority, they would make arrangements for a succession
of men to keep on talking till the laggards could be brought
to their places." The whips also arrange "pairs," by which
members of opposite parties, or on opposite sides of a given
question, agree in couples, not to vote for a certain fixed
period of time, thereby securing freedom to be absent without
causing any loss of relative strength to their respective
parties. This arrangement is common in most legislative
bodies. "In addition to these duties, the whips of the
opposing forces have to move for the issue of new writs in the
place of deceased members—task never undertaken till they
have a candidate ready for the fray."
_Popular Account of Parliamentary Procedure,
page 18._
ALSO IN:
_E. Porritt,
The Englishman at Home,
page 198, and appendix K._
WHISKY INSURRECTION, The.
See PENNSYLVANIA: A. D. 1794.
WHISKY RING, The.
The Whisky Ring, so called, brought to light in the United
States in 1875, "was an association, or series of
associations, of distillers and Federal officials for the
purpose of defrauding the Government of a large amount of the
tax imposed on distilled spirits, and, further, of employing a
part of the proceeds in political corruption. On the trial of
the indictments a number of Federal officers were convicted."
_A. Johnston,
History of American Politics,
chapter 23._
ALSO IN:
_The Whisky Frauds: Testimony Taken
(44th Congress, 1st Session,
H. R. Mis. Doc's, Number 186, volume 9)._
WHITE BOYS.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1760-1798.
WHITE CAMELLIA, Knights of the.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1866-1871.
WHITE CASTLE OF MEMPHIS, The.
See ATHENS: B. C. 460-449.
WHITE CITY, The.
See BELGRADE.
WHITE COCKADE, The.
"This is the badge at the same time of the House of Stuart and
of the House of Bourbon."
_E. E. Morris,
The Early Hanoverians,
page 138._
WHITE COMPANY, The.
See ITALY: A. D. 1343-1393.
WHITE CROSS, Order of the.
An order founded by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 1814.
WHITE EAGLE, Order of the.
A Polish order of knighthood, instituted in 1325 by
Ladislaus IV., and revived by Augustus in 1705.
WHITE FRIARS.
See CARMELITE FRIARS.
WHITE GUELFS (Bianchi).
See FLORENCE: A. D. 1295-1300, and 1301-1313.
WHITE HOODS OF FRANCE.
"The Caputiati, or Capuchons, or White Hoods, [was] a sect
originating with a wood-cutter of Auvergne, by name Durand,
about the year 1182. Their primary object was the maintenance
of peace, and the extermination of the disbanded soldiery,
whom the English kings had spread over the south of France,
and [who] were now ravaging the country under the name of
Routiers or Cotereaux. The members of this religious
association were bound by no vow, and made no profession of
any particular faith; they were only distinguished by the
white head-gear that gave them their name, and wore a little
leaden image of the Virgin on their breast. They found favour
at first with the bishops, especially in Burgundy and the
Berri, and were even, from the best political causes,
countenanced by Philip Augustus. They thus rose to such a
degree of power that on the 20th of July, 1183, they
surrounded a body of 7,000 of the marauding party, and
suffered not one man to escape. They were, however, soon
intoxicated with success, and threw out some hints about
restoring the primæval liberty of mortals and universal
equality; thereby incurring the displeasure of Hugo Bishop of
Auxerre, who took arms against them, and put an end to the
sect by the might of the sword in 1186."
_L. Mariotti,
Frà Dolcino and his times,
chapter 1._
WHITE HOODS OF GHENT, The.
See FLANDERS: A. D. 1379-1381.
WHITE HOUSE, The.
The plain white freestone mansion at Washington in which the
President of the United States resides during his term of
office is officially styled the "Executive Mansion," but is
popularly known as the White House. "It was designed by James
Hoban in 1792. The corner-stone was laid on October 13, 1792,
and its construction went on side by side with that of the
Capitol. … President John Adams and his wife, on arriving … in
November, 1800, found it habitable, although but six of its
rooms were furnished. … In his design Hoban copied closely the
plan of a notable Dublin palace, the seat of the Dukes of
Leinster."
_C. B. Todd,
The Story of Washington,
page 264._
ALSO IN:
_M. Clemmer,
Ten Years in Washington,
chapter 19._
WHITE HUNS, The.
See HUNS, WHITE.
WHITE MONKS.
See CISTERCIAN ORDER.
WHITE MOUNTAIN, Battle of the (1620).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1620.
WHITE OAK ROAD, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1865 (MARCH-APRIL: VIRGINIA).
WHITE OAK SWAMP, Retreat through.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (JUNE-JULY: VIRGINIA).
WHITE PENITENTS,
WHITE COMPANIES.
"The end of the 14th century witnessed a profound outburst of
popular devotion. The miserable condition of the Church,
distracted by schism, and the disturbed state of every country
in Europe, awoke a spirit of penitence and contrition at the
prospect of another great Jubilee, and the opening of a new
century.
{3653}
Bands of penitents wandered from place to place, clad in white
garments; their faces, except the eyes, were covered with
hoods, and on their backs they wore a red cross. They walked
two and two, in solemn procession, old and young, men and
women together, singing hymns of penitence, amongst which the
sad strains of the 'Stabat Mater' held the chief place. At
times they paused and flung themselves on the ground,
exclaiming 'Mercy,' or 'Peace,' and continued in silent
prayer. All was done with order and decorum; the processions
generally lasted for nine days, and the penitents during this
time fasted rigorously. The movement seems to have originated
in Provence, but rapidly spread through Italy. Enemies were
reconciled, restitution was made for wrongs, the churches were
crowded wherever the penitents, or 'Bianchi' ['White
Penitents,' 'White Companies,' 'Whitemen' are various English
forms of the name] as they were called from their dress, made
their appearance. The inhabitants of one city made a
pilgrimage to another and stirred up their devotion. The
people of Modena went to Bologna; the Bolognese suspended all
business for nine days, and walked to Imola, whence the
contagion rapidly spread southwards. For the last three months
of 1399 this enthusiasm lasted, and wrought marked results
upon morals and religion for a time. Yet enthusiasm tended to
create imposture."
_M. Creighton,
History of the Papacy during the Period of the Reformation,
volume 1, pages 145-146._
ALSO IN:
_T. A. Trollope,
History of the Commonwealth of Florence,
volume 2, page 297._
See, also, FLAGELLANTS.
WHITE PLAINS, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1776 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER).
WHITE RUSSIA.
See RUSSIA, GREAT, &c.
WHITE SEA, The.
See ÆGEAN.
WHITE SHIP, The sinking of the.
William, the only legitimate son of Henry I. of England,
accompanied his father on a visit to Normandy (A. D. 1120).
"When they were about to return by the port of Barfleur, a
Norman captain, Thomas Fitz-Stephen, appeared and claimed the
right of taking them in his ship, on the ground that his
father had been captain of the 'Mora,' in which the Conqueror
crossed to invade England. The king did not care to alter his
own arrangements, but agreed that his son should sail in the
'Blanche Nef' [the White Ship] with Fitz-Stephen. William
Ætheling, as the English called him, was accompanied by a
large train of unruly courtiers, who amused themselves by
making the sailors drink hard before they started, and
dismissed the priests who came to bless the voyage with a
chorus of scoffing laughter. It was evening before they left
the shore, and there was no moon; a few of the more prudent
quitted the ship, but there remained nearly 300—a dangerous
freight for a small vessel. However, fifty rowers flushed with
wine made good way in the waters; but the helmsman was less
fit for his work, and the vessel struck suddenly on a sunk
rock, the Raz de Catteville. The water rushed in, but there
was time to lower a boat, which put off with the prince. When
in safety, he heard the cries of his sister, the countess of
Perche, and returned to save her. A crowd of desperate men
leaped into the boat; it was swamped, and all perished."
_C. H. Pearson,
History of England during the Early and Middle Ages,
volume 1, page 445._
WHITE TERROR, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1794-1795 (JULY-APRIL).
WHITE TOWER, The.
See TOWER OF LONDON.
WHITE TOWN, The.
See ROCHELLE.
WHITE VALLEY, Battle of the (1476).
See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: 14-18TH CENTURIES.
WHITNEY, Eli, and the invention of the cotton-gin.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1793 WHITNEY'S COTTON-GIN; and 1818-1821.
WICHITAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY.
WIDE AWAKES.
In the American presidential canvass of 1860, there were
organized among the supporters of Abraham Lincoln numerous
companies of young Republicans who undertook the parades and
torchlight processions of the campaign in a systematic and
disciplined way that was then quite new. They were simply
uniformed in glazed-cloth caps and capes and took the name of
Wide Awakes.
WIGHT, Isle of: Conquest by the Jutes.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 449-473.
WIGHT, Isle of: A. D. 1545.
Occupation by the French.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1532-1547.
WILDCAT BANKS.
"During Jackson's struggle with the Bank of the United States
[see UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1833-1836, and 1835-1837]
many new banks had been formed in various States, generally
with little or no capital to pay the notes which they issued.
They bought large quantities of cheaply printed bills. As
these bills had cost them very little, they could afford to
offer a higher price in paper money for lands in distant
States and Territories than others could afford to offer in
gold and silver. Having bought the lands for this worthless
money, the wildcat bankers sold them for good money, hoping
that their own bills would not soon find their way back for
payment. If they were disappointed in this hope, the bank
'failed,' and the managers started a new one."
_A. Johnston,
History of the United States for Schools,
section 496._
See, also: MONEY AND BANKING: A. D. 1837-1841.
WILDERNESS, Hooker's Campaign in the.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (APRIL-MAY: VIRGINIA).
WILDERNESS, Battle of the.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (MAY: VIRGINIA) GRANT'S MOVEMENT.
WILHELMINA, Queen of the Netherlands, A. D. 1890-.
WILKES, John, The case of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1762-1764; and 1768-1774.
WILKINSON, General James, and Aaron Burr.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1806-1807.
Command on the Northern frontier.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1813 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER).
WILLIAM (of Holland),
King of Germany: A. D. 1254-1256.
William (called The Silent), Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau,
Stadtholder of the United Provinces, 1558-1584.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1555-1559, to 1581-1584.
William I.,
German Emperor, 1870-1888;
King of Prussia, 1861-1888.
William I. (called The Conqueror),
King of England (and Duke of Normandy), 1066-1087.
William I., King of Naples and Sicily, 1154-1166.
William I., King of the Netherlands, 1815-1840.
William II., German Emperor and King of Prussia, 1888-.
William II. (called Rufus or The Red), King of
{3654}
England, 1087-1100.
William II., King of Naples and Sicily, 1166-1189.
William II., King of the Netherlands, 1840-1849.
William II., Prince of Orange,
Stadtholder of the United Provinces, 1647-1650.
William III., King of Naples and Sicily, 1194.
William III., King of the Netherlands, 1849-1890.
William III., Prince of Orange and
Stadtholder of the United Provinces, A. D. 1672-1702;
King of England (with Queen Mary, his Wife), 1689-1702.
William IV., King of England, 1830-1837.
William IV. (called The Lion), King of Scotland, 1165-1214.
WILLIAM HENRY, Fort: A. D. 1757.
The French capture and the massacre of prisoners.
See CANADA: A. D. 1756-1757.
WILLIAMS, Roger,
Founder of Rhode Island and Apostle of Religious Liberty.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1636;
and RHODE ISLAND: A. D. 1631-1636, to 1683.
WILLIAMS COLLEGE.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: AMERICA: A. D. 1793.
WILLIAMSBURG, Canada, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1813 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER).
WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (MAY: VIRGINIA).
WILLOWS, Battle of the.
See GOTHS (VISIGOTHS): A. D. 378.
WILMINGTON, Delaware: A. D. 1638.
The founding of the city.
See DELAWARE: A. D. 1638-1640.
WILMINGTON, Delaware: A. D. 1865.
Occupied by the National forces.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1865 (FEBRUARY-MARCH: NORTH CAROLINA).
WILMOT PROVISO, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1845-1846.
WILSON, James, and the framing of the Federal Constitution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787.
WILSON TARIFF ACT, The.
See TARIFF LEGISLATION (UNITED STATES): A. D. 1894.
WILSON'S CREEK, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (JULY-SEPTEMBER: MISSOURI).
WILSON'S RAID.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (APRIL-MAY).
WILZEN,
WELATABIANS, The.
"The Wilzen, as the Franks called them, or the Welatabians, as
they called themselves, were perhaps the most powerful of the
Sclavonian tribes, and at [the time of Charlemagne] occupied
the southern coast of the Baltic; their immediate neighbors
were the Abodrites, old allies of the Franks, whom they
harassed by continual raids." Charlemagne led an expedition
into the country of the Wilzen in 789 and subdued them.
_J. I. Mombert,
History of Charles the Great,
book 2, chapter 4._
WIMPFEN, Battle of (1622).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1621-1623.
WINCEBY FIGHT (1643).
The sharp encounter known as Winceby Fight, in the English
civil war, was one of Cromwell's successes, which drove the
royalist forces out of the Lincolnshire country, and compelled
the Marquis of Newcastle, who was besieging Hull, to abandon
the siege. "Cromwell himself was nearer death in this action
than ever in any other; the victory, too, made its due figure,
and 'appeared in the world.' Winceby, a small upland hamlet,
in the Wolds, not among the Fens, of Lincolnshire, is some
five miles west of Horncastle. The confused memory of this
Fight is still fresh there." The Fight occurred October 10,
1643.
_T. Carlyle,
Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches,
letter 18 (volume 1)._
See HULL.
WINCHESTER, General:
Defeat at the Raisin.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1812-1813 HARRISON'S NORTHWESTERN CAMPAIGN.
WINCHESTER, England:
Origin of.
"There can be little doubt that a town, of greater or less
importance, has existed since the earliest dawn of English
history on the same place where stands the Winchester of
to-day. … If the first founders of the ancient city were
Celtic Britons, covering with their rude dwellings the summit
and sides of S. Catherine's Hill they were certainly conquered
by the Belgæ, also probably of Celtic origin, who, crossing
over from Gaul, established themselves in a large district of
southern England. But whether in their time Winchester was
called Caer Gwent is doubtful; very probably it was simply
Gwin or Gwent, the white place. … But as there is no question
of the Roman occupation of Britain, first by Julius Cæsar,
later on by Claudius and Vespasian, so we know that the
settlement on the Itchen was turned into Venta Belgarum, and
S. Catherine's Hill converted into a Roman camp. … Venta, as
well as many other towns, was completely Romanised. … But the
time arrived when Rome could no longer defend herself at home,
and was thus forced to leave Britain to contend with the wild
Northmen who had already begun their inroads. The Britons
implored their former masters to come back and help them, but
in vain. … We know how Vortigern, chief among the southern
British kings, invited the Saxon adventurers to help him
against the Picts and Scots, who encroached more and more in
Britain. … In 495 (as we learn from the Brito-Welsh
Chronicle), there · came two ealdormen to Britain, Cerdic and
Cymric,' who landed at Hamble Creek, and eventually, after
many battles much extolled in the Saxon Chronicle, became
kings of the West Saxons. Cerdic is said to have been crowned
in Venta, to have slaughtered most of the inhabitants and all
the priests, and to have converted the cathedral into a
heathen temple. … The name Venta now becomes Wintana, with the
affix of 'ceaster,' Saxon for fortified place."
_A. R. R. Bramston and A. C. Leroy,
Historic Winchester,
chapter I._
See, also, VENTA.
WINCHESTER, Virginia: A. D. 1862.
Defeat of General Banks.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862 (MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA).
WINCHESTER, Virginia: A. D. 1864.
Sheridan's victory.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (AUGUST-OCTOBER: VIRGINIA).
WINCHESTER SCHOOL.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.—ENGLAND.
WINDSOR CASTLE:
Rebuilt by Edward III.
See GARTER, KNIGHTS OF THE.
WINDWARD ISLANDS, The.
See WEST INDIES.
WINEDI.
See VENEDI.
{3655}
WINGFIELD, Battle of.
Fought, A. D. 655, between King Oswin of Northumberland and
King Penda of Mercia, the latter being defeated and slain.
WINKELRIED, Arnold von, at the battle of Sempach.
See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1386-1388.
WINNEBAGOES, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SIOUAN FAMILY.
WINSLOW, Edward, and the Plymouth colony.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D.1623-1629 (PLYMOUTH), and after.
WINTHROP, John, and the colony of Massachusetts Bay.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1629-1630, and after.
WINTHROP, John, Jr., and the founding of Connecticut.
See CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1634-1637.
WINTHROP, Theodore:
Death at Big Bethel.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (JUNE: VIRGINIA).
WIPPED'S-FLEET, Battle of.
The decisive battle fought, A. D. 465, between the Jutes under
Hengest and the Britons, which settled the conquest of Kent by
the former.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 449-473.
WISBY, Its Code of Maritime Laws.
See HANSA TOWNS.
WISBY: A. D. 1361.
Taken and plundered by the Danes.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES: A. D. 1018-1397.
----------WISCONSIN: Start--------
WISCONSIN:
The aboriginal inhabitants.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES:: SIOUAN FAMILY.
WISCONSIN: A. D. 1634-1673.
Visited by Nicolet, and traversed by Marquette and Joliet.
See CANADA: A. D. 1634-1673.
WISCONSIN: A. D. 1763.
Cession to Great Britain.
See SEVEN YEARS WAR: THE TREATIES.
WISCONSIN: A. D. 1763.
The King's proclamation excluding settlers.
See NORTHWEST TERRITORY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1763.
WISCONSIN: A. D. 1774.
Embraced in the Province of Quebec.
See CANADA: A. D. 1763-1774.
WISCONSIN: A. D. 1784.
Included in the proposed states of Sylvania, Michigania
and Assenisipia.
See NORTHWEST TERRITORY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1784.
WISCONSIN: A. D. 1785.
Partially covered by the western land claims of
Massachusetts, ceded to the United States.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781-1786.
WISCONSIN: A. D. 1787.
The Ordinance for the Government of the Northwest Territory.
Perpetual exclusion of Slavery.
See NORTHWEST TERRITORY: A. D. 1787.
WISCONSIN: A. D. 1805-1848.
Territorial vicissitudes.
Admission into the Union as a State.
From 1805 to 1809, Wisconsin formed a part of Indiana
Territory. From 1809 to 1818 her territory was embraced In the
Territory of Illinois, excepting a small projection at the
northeast which was left out of the described boundaries and
belonged nowhere. When Illinois became a State, in 1818, and
her present boundaries were established, an the country north
of them was joined to Michigan Territory. In 1834 that huge
Territory was still further enlarged by the temporary addition
to it of a great area west of the Mississippi, embracing the
present states of Iowa, Minnesota and part of Dakota. It was
an unwieldy and impracticable territorial organization, and
movements to divide it, which had been on foot long before
this last enlargement, soon attained success. In 1836, the
year before Michigan became a State, with her present limits,
the remaining Territory was organized under the name of
Wisconsin. Two years later, "by act of June 12, 1838, congress
still further contracted the limits of Wisconsin by creating
from its trans-Mississippi tract the Territory of Iowa. This,
however, was in accordance with the original design when the
country beyond the Mississippi was attached to Michigan
Territory for purposes of temporary government, so no
objection was entertained to this arrangement on the part of
Wisconsin. The establishment of Iowa had reduced Wisconsin to
her present limits, except that she still held, as her western
boundary, the Mississippi river to its source, and a line
drawn due north therefrom to the international boundary. In
this condition Wisconsin remained until the act of congress
approved August 6, 1846, enabling her people to form a state
constitution. … Wisconsin was admitted into the Union, by act
approved May 29, 1848, with her present limits."
_R. G. Thwaites,
The Boundaries of Wisconsin
(Wisconsin State Historical Society Collections,
volume 11, pages 455-468)._
ALSO IN:
_B. A. Hinsdale,
The Old Northwest,
chapter 17._
WISCONSIN: A. D. 1832.
The Black Hawk War.
See ILLINOIS: A. D. 1832.
WISCONSIN: A. D. 1854.
Early formation of the Republican Party.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1854-1855.
----------WISCONSIN: End--------
WISCONSIN, University of.
"In 1838, two years after organization as a Territory,
Wisconsin petitioned Congress for aid to establish a
university. The request was granted, the usual seventy-two
sections of land were set aside for this object, and the
Territorial Legislature at once passed a law establishing the
University of the Territory of Wisconsin. The organization of
a board of trustees was, however, the only other action which
took place previous to the adoption of the State Constitution
In 1848; this provided for the establishment of a State
university 'at or near the seat of government,' and stated,
emphatically, that the lands granted for a university should
constitute a perpetual fund, the income of which should be
devoted to the support of this institution. This declaration
was apparently to little purpose, as the State has treated
these domains as granted absolutely, and not as held in trust.
There is probably no worse example of mismanaged public
educational funds on record than is to be found in connection
with this institution. … The entire sum realized from the
46,080 acres was only 'about $150,000.' The University of
Wisconsin was established in 1850 on the basis of the funds
thus secured, but even while passing laws for the sale of the
university lands the Legislature realized that the income
would be insufficient to support the institution, and they
therefore petitioned Congress for seventy-two additional
sections in lieu of the saline lands granted to the State in
1848 but never located. Congress granted this petition in
1854. … An opportunity to atone for past errors was now
afforded the Legislature. It began to be realized, after it
was too late to enact suitable laws to remedy the evil, that
the best lands had been sold at a disadvantage.
{3656}
It was felt that, whereas the policy pursued had benefited the
State at large, it was not faithful to the increase of the
seminary fund. … After fully examining the claims of the
regents and the condition of the university in 1872 for four
years, this body granted $10,000 annually, to atone for the
injustice done by the State in selecting for an endowment
unproductive lands."
_F. W. Blackmar,
History of Federal and State Aid to Higher Education
in the United States (Bureau of Education,
Circular of Information, 1890, number 1), pages 250-251._
WISHOSKAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: WISHOSKAN FAMILY.
WISIGOTHS.
See GOTHS (VISIGOTHS).
WISMAR.
See HANSA TOWNS.
WITCHCRAFT, Salem.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1692; and 1692-1693.
WITE-THEOW.
See THEOW.
WITENAGEMOT, The.
"The Witenagemot or assembly of the wise. This [in old English
history] is the supreme council of the nation, whether the
nation be Kent or Mercia as in the earlier, or the whole gens
Anglorum et Saxonum, as in the later history. The character of
the national council testifies to its history as a later
development than the lower courts, and as a consequence of the
institution of royalty. The folkmoot or popular assembly of
the shire is a representative body to a certain extent: it is
attended by the representatives of the hundreds and townships,
and has a representative body of witnesses to give validity to
the acts that are executed in it. … The council of the
aggregated state is not a folkmoot but a witenagemot. … On
great occasions … we must understand the witenagemot to have
been attended by a concourse of people whose voices could be
raised in applause or in resistance to the proposals of the
chiefs. But that such gatherings shared in any way the
constitutional powers of the witan, that they were organised
in any way corresponding to the machinery of the folkmoot,
that they had any representative character in the modern
sense, as having full powers to act on behalf of constituents,
that they shared the judicial work, or except by applause and
hooting influenced in any way the decision of the chiefs,
there is no evidence whatever. … The members of the assembly
were the wise men, the sapientes, witan; the king, sometimes
accompanied by his wife and sons; the bishops of the kingdom,
the ealdormen of the shires or provinces, and a number of the
king's friends and dependents. … The number of the witan was
thus never very large."
_W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 6, sections 51-52 (volume 1)._
The constitution and powers of the witenagemot are very fully
discussed by Mr. Kemble, who gives also a list of the recorded
witenagemots, with comments on the business transacted in
them.
_J. M. Kemble,
The Saxons in England,
book 2, chapter 6 (volume 2)._
ALSO IN:
_R. Gneist,
The English Parliament._
See, also, PARLIAMENT, THE ENGLISH:
EARLY STAGES OF ITS EVOLUTION; and ENGLAND: A. D. 958.
WITIGIS, King of the Ostrogoths.
See ROME: A. D. 535-553.
WITT, John De, The administration and the murder of.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1647-1650; 1651-1660, to 1672-1674.
WITTELSBACH, The House of.
See BAVARIA: A. D. 1180-1356.
WITTENBERG, Luther at.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1017, and after.
WITTENBERG UNIVERSITY.
See EDUCATION, MEDIÆVAL: GERMANY.
WITTENWEIHER, Battle of (1638).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.
WITTSTOCK, Battle of (1636).
See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.
WITUMKAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY.
WIZA.
See THRACIANS.
WOCCONS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SIOUAN FAMILY.
WOIPPY, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1870 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).
WOIWODES,
VOIVODES,
WAIWODES.
See POLAND: A. D. 1078-1652;
and BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES: A. D. 1341-1356 (SERVIA).
WOLFE, General, Victory and death of.
See CANADA: A. D. 1759.
WOLFENBÜTTEL, Duchy of.
See SAXONY: A. D. 1178-1183.
WOLSEY, The ministry and fall of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1513-1529; and 1527-1534.
WOMAN ORDER, General Butler's.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (MAY-DECEMBER: LOUISIANA).
----------WOMAN'S RIGHTS: Start--------
WOMAN'S RIGHTS.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE: A. D. 1790-1849.
The pioneer advocates.
"In 1790, Mary Wollstonecraft's 'Vindication of the Rights of
Women,' published in London, attracted much attention from
liberal minds. She examined the position of woman in the light
of existing civilizations, and demanded for her the widest
opportunities of education, industry, political knowledge, and
the right of representation. … Following her, came Jane
Marcet, Eliza Lynn, and Harriet Martineau—each of whom in the
early part of the 19th century exerted a decided influence
upon the political thought of England. … Frances Wright, a
person of extraordinary powers of mind, born in Dundee,
Scotland, in 1797, was the first woman who gave lectures on
political subjects in America. When sixteen years of age she
heard of the existence of a country in which freedom for the
people had been proclaimed; she was filled with joy and a
determination to visit the American Republic where the
foundations of justice, liberty, and equality had been so
securely laid. In 1820 she came here, traveling extensively
North and South. She was at that time but twenty-two years of
age. … Upon her second visit she made this country her home
for several years. Her radical ideas on theology, slavery, and
the social degradation of woman, now generally accepted by the
best minds of the age, were then denounced by both press and
pulpit, and maintained by her at the risk of her life. … In
1832, Lydia Maria Child published her 'History of Woman,'
which was the first American storehouse of information upon
the whole question, and undoubtedly increased the agitation.
In 1836, Ernestine L. Rose, a Polish lady—banished from her
native country by the Austrian tyrant, Francis Joseph, for her
love of liberty—came to America, lecturing in the large cities
North and South upon the 'Science of Government.' She
advocated the enfranchisement of woman. Her beauty, wit, and
eloquence drew crowded houses.
{3657}
About this period Judge Hurlbut, of New York, a leading member
of the Bar, wrote a vigorous work on 'Human Rights,' in which
he advocated political equality for women. This work attracted
the attention of many legal minds throughout that State. In
the winter of 1836, a bill was introduced into the New York
Legislature by Judge Hertell, to secure to married women their
rights of property. This bill was drawn up under the direction
of Honorable John Savage, Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court,
and Honorable John C. Spencer, one of the revisers of the
statutes of New York. It was in furtherance of this bill that
Ernestine L. Rose and Paulina Wright at that early day
circulated petitions. The very few names they secured show the
hopeless apathy and ignorance of the women as to their own
rights. As similar bills were pending in New York until
finally passed in 1848, a great educational work was
accomplished in the constant discussion of the topics
involved. During the winters of 1844-5-6, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, living in Albany, made the acquaintance of Judge
Hurlbut and a large circle of lawyers and legislators, and,
while exerting herself to strengthen their convictions in
favor of the pending bill, she resolved at no distant day to
call a convention for a full and free discussion of woman's
rights and wrongs. … In 1840, Margaret Fuller published an
essay in the Dial, entitled 'The Great Lawsuit, or Man vs.
Woman: Woman vs. Man.' In this essay she demanded perfect
equality for woman, in education, industry, and politics. It
attracted great attention and was afterward expanded into a
work entitled 'Woman in the Nineteenth Century.' … In the
State of New York, in 1845, Reverend Samuel J. May preached a
sermon at Syracuse, upon 'The Rights and Conditions of Women,'
in which he sustained their right to take part in political
life, saying women need not expect 'to have their wrongs fully
redressed, until they themselves have a voice and a hand in
the enactment and administration of the laws.' … In 1849,
Lucretia Mott published a discourse on woman, delivered in the
Assembly Building, Philadelphia, in answer to a Lyceum lecture
which Richard H. Dana, of Boston, was giving in many of the
chief cities, ridiculing the idea of political equality for
woman. … It was her early labors in the temperance cause that
first roused Susan B. Anthony to a realizing sense of woman's
social, civil, and political degradation, and thus secured her
life-long labors for the enfranchisement of woman. In 1847 she
made her first speech at a public meeting of the Daughters of
Temperance in Canajoharie, New York. The same year Antoinette
L. Brown, then a student at Oberlin College, Ohio, the first
institution that made the experiment of co-education,
delivered her first speech on temperance in several places in
Ohio, and on Woman's Rights, in the Baptist church at
Henrietta, New York. Lucy Stone, a graduate of Oberlin, made
her first speech on Woman's Rights the same year in her
brother's church at Brookfield, Massachusetts. Nor were the
women of Europe inactive."
_E. C. Stanton, S. B. Anthony, and M. J. Gage, editors,
History of Woman Suffrage,
chapter 1._
WOMAN'S RIGHTS: A. D. 1804-1891.
The higher Education of women in America.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: REFORMS &C.: A. D. 1804-1891.
WOMAN'S RIGHTS: A. D. 1839-1848.
Legal emancipation of women in the United States.
See LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1839-1848.
WOMAN'S RIGHTS: A. D. 1840-1890.
The organized agitation.
"In 1840 a 'World's Antislavery Convention' was held in
London, and all Antislavery organizations throughout the world
were invited to join in it, through their delegates. Several
American societies accepted the invitation, and elected
delegates, six or eight of whom were women, Lucretia Mott and
Mrs. Wendell Phillips among them. The excitement caused by
their presence in London was intense, for the English
Abolitionists were very conservative, and never dreamed of
inviting women to sit in their Convention. And these women who
had come among them had rent the American Anti-slavery
Societies in twain, had been denounced from the pulpit,
anathematized by the press, and mobbed by the riffraff of the
streets. … A long and acrimonious debate followed on the
admission of the women. … When the vote was taken, the women
delegates were excluded by a large majority. William Lloyd
Garrison did not arrive in London until after the rejection of
the women. When he was informed of the decision of the
Convention he refused to take his seat with the delegates. And
throughout the ten days' sessions he maintained absolute
silence, remaining in the gallery as a spectator. … The London
Convention marked the beginning of a new era in the woman's
cause. Hitherto, the agitation of the question of woman's
equal rights had been incidental to the prosecution of other
work. Now the time had come when a movement was needed to
present the claims of woman in a direct and forcible manner,
and to take issue with the legal and social order which denied
her the rights of human beings, and held her in everlasting
subjection. At the close of the exasperating and insulting
debates of the 'World's Antislavery Convention,' Lucretia Mott
and Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton agreed to hold a Woman's
Rights Convention on their return to America, and to begin in
earnest the education of the people on the question of woman's
enfranchisement. Mrs. Stanton had attended the Convention as a
bride, her husband having been chosen a delegate. Accordingly
the first Woman's Rights Convention of the world was called at
Seneca Falls, New York, on the 19th and 20th of July, 1848. It
was attended by crowds of men and women, and the deepest
interest was manifested in the proceedings. 'Demand the
uttermost,' said Daniel O'Connell, 'and you will get
something.' The leaders in the new movement, Lucretia Mott and
Mrs. Stanton, with their husbands, and Frederick Douglass,
acted on this advice. They demanded in unambiguous terms all
that the most radical friends of women have ever claimed. …
The Convention adjourned to meet in Rochester, New York,
August 2, 1848. … A third Convention was held at Salem, Ohio,
in 1850; a fourth in Akron, Ohio, in 1851; a fifth in
Massillon, Ohio, in 1852; another at Ravenna, Ohio, in 1853,
and others rapidly followed. The advocates of woman suffrage
increased in number and ability. Superior women, whose names
have become historic, espoused the cause—Frances D. Gage,
Hannah Tracy Cutler, Jane G. Swisshelm, Caroline M. Severance,
Celia C. Burr, who later be·came Mrs. C. C. Burleigh,
Josephine S. Griffing, Antoinette L. Brown, Lucy Stone, Susan
B. Anthony, Paulina W. Davis, Caroline H. Dall, Elizabeth
Oakes Smith, Ernestine L. Rose, Mrs. C. H. Nichols, Dr.
Harriot K. Hunt; the roll-call was a brilliant one,
representing an unusual versatility of culture and ability.
{3658}
The First National Woman Suffrage Convention was held in
Worcester, Massachusetts, October 23 and 24, 1850. It was more
carefully planned than any that had yet been held. Nine States
were represented. The arrangements were perfect—the addresses
and papers were of the highest character—the audiences were at
a white heat of enthusiasm. The number of cultivated people
who espoused the new gospel for women was increased by the
names of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, Bronson and
Abby May Alcott, Thomas W. Higginson, William I. Bowditch,
Samuel E. and Harriet W. Sewall, Henry Ward Beecher, Henry B.
Blackwell, Ednah D. Cheney, Honorable John Neal, Reverend
William H. Channing, and Wendell Phillips. … A dozen years
were spent in severe pioneer work and then came the four years
Civil War. All reformatory work was temporarily suspended, for
the nation then passed through a crucial experience, and the
issue of the fratricidal conflict was national life or
national death. The transition of the country from peace to
the tumult and waste of war was appalling and swift, but the
regeneration of its women kept pace with it. … The development
of those years, and the impetus they gave to women, which has
not yet spent itself, has been wonderfully manifested since
that time. … It has been since the war, and as the result of
the great quickening of women which it occasioned, that women
have organized missionary, philanthropic, temperance,
educational, and political organizations, on a scale of great
magnitude. … In 1869, two great National organizations were
formed. One styled itself 'The National Woman Suffrage
Association,' and the other was christened 'The American Woman
Suffrage Association.' The first established its headquarters
in New York, and published a weekly paper, 'The Revolution,'
which was ably edited by Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony. 'The
American' made its home in Boston, and founded 'The Woman's
Journal,' which was edited by Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Mrs.
Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Lucy Stone, William Lloyd Garrison and
Thomas W. Higginson. … After twenty years of separate
activities, a union of the two national organizations was
effected in 1890, under the composite title of 'The National
American Woman Suffrage Association.'"
_M. A. Livermore,
Woman in the State
(Woman's Work in America, chapter 10)._
WOMAN'S RIGHTS: A. D. 1842-1892.
Women in the Medical profession.
"The first advocate for women medical students, Miss Elizabeth
Blackwell, after many years of struggle obtained entrance into
the medical faculty of Geneva in 1842; in 1847 she received
her doctor's degree, and went to England, Germany, and finally
to Paris, to complete her studies. Her example fired others.
In that same year a medical college for women was founded in
Boston, in 1850 a similar one in Philadelphia, one in New York
in 1868, and in Chicago in 1870. Soon after, the greater
number of universities in America were thrown open to women,
and by this their studies were largely extended. The
difficulties proved far greater in Europe. The universities of
Zurich in 1864, and of Berne in 1872, were the first to
receive lady students for the study of medicine. In 1868 the
Medical Faculty of Paris, chiefly through the intervention of
the Empress Eugenie, first admitted lady students to follow
the medical course. In Italy, in 1876, they obtained equal
success; in Russia, an ukase of the Czar Alexander II., of
November 2nd, 1872, conferred upon ladies the right to attend
the medical courses in the Medico-Chirurgical Academy of St.
Petersburg, but this permission was subsequently withdrawn on
political grounds, on the accession of a new government. In
1874 the first school of medicine for women was started in
London; in 1876 they were admitted to the study of medicine in
Dublin. In Germany and Austro-Hungary women are not allowed to
enter the universities, although ladies' associations have
obtained thousands of signatures to petition both parliaments
on the subject. From statistical sources, we learn that there
are seventy lady doctors in practice in London, five in
Edinburgh, and two in Dublin. Seven hundred lady doctors
practise in Russia, of whom fifty-four are the heads of
clinical schools and laboratories. In Italy, at the same time,
there were only six. Spain has but two qualified lady doctors.
Roumania, also, has two. Sweden, Norway, and Belgium have
likewise comparatively few. In Berlin there are Dr. Franziska
Tiburtius and Dr. Lehmus (who founded a poly-clinical school
which is increasing year by year), Dr. Margaret
Mengarin-Traube and Fraulein Kuhnow. In Austria, Dr. Rosa
Kerschbaumer is the sole possessor of Government authority to
practise her profession. In India, where native religion
forbids their women calling in men doctors, there has been a
strong movement in favour of ladies, and they have now one
hundred lady doctors, three of whom are at the head of the
three most important hospitals. The largest number of women
practising medicine is in America."
_A. Crepaz,
The Emancipation of Women,
pages 99-103._
"The medical faculty of the University of Paris opened its
doors to women in 1868, but at first only a very few availed
themselves of the privileges thus offered. In 1878 the number
in attendance was 32; during the next ten years (1878-1888) it
increased to 114, and is at present 183, of whom the great
majority (167) are Russians. The remainder are Poles,
Rumanians, Servians, Greeks, and Scotch, and only one German."
_The Nation,
February 14, 1895._
WOMAN'S RIGHTS: A. D. 1865-1883.
The higher Education of Women in England.
See EDUCATION, MODERN: REFORMS &c.: A. D. 1865-1883.
WOMAN'S RIGHTS: A. D. 1869-1894.
Progress in Europe and America.
A certain number of the English cities "occupy a privileged
position, under the title of 'municipal boroughs.' These alone
are municipal corporations, enjoying a considerable degree of
autonomy by virtue of charters of incorporation granted in the
pleasure of the crown. … The other cities have as such no
legal existence: they are simply geographical units. In past
times the privilege of incorporation was often granted to
wretched little hamlets. But whether they were once of
consequence or not, the municipal corporations degenerated
everywhere into corrupt oligarchies. The municipal reform of
1835 destroyed these hereditary cliques and extended the
municipal franchise to all the inhabitants who paid the poor
tax as occupants of realty.
{3659}
But in doing this … it was expressly provided in the Municipal
Corporations Act of 1835 that the electoral franchise in the
municipal boroughs should belong to male persons only. Before
long the unorganized condition of the larger towns that were
not municipal boroughs received the attention of Parliament.
It did not grant them communal autonomy,—there could be no
question of that,—but conceded special powers to establish
sanitary systems and to undertake works of public utility such
as lighting, paving, sewerage, etc. The special acts passed
for these purposes from time to time, as the necessity for
them arose, were consolidated and made general in two
statutes: the Public Health Act of 1848, for a class of towns
designated as 'local government districts,' and the
Commissioners' Clauses Act of 1847, for the cities described
as 'improvement commissions districts.' These acts gave to
these urban agglomerations an incipient municipal
organization, by establishing boards of health in some, and in
others commissions to direct the public works. In both these
classes of 'nascent, half-developed municipalities,' which had
scarcely emerged from the parochial phase of local
self-government, the authorities—i. e. the members of the
boards of health and the commissioners—were elected, as in
the parishes, by the rate-payers without distinction of sex.
As these cities enlarged and developed, they were admitted to
the honor of municipal incorporation. But since the Municipal
Corporations Act limited the franchise to men, it resulted
that while the city which was promoted to the rank of
municipal borough saw its rights increased, a part of its
inhabitants—the women—saw theirs suppressed. This anomaly gave
the advocates of woman suffrage a chance to demand that the
ballot be granted to women in the municipal boroughs. In 1869
Mr. Jacob Bright introduced such a measure in the House of
Commons, and it was adopted almost without discussion. … But
when the English legislator placed the administration of the
'nascent, half-developed municipalities'—which were only
temporarily such and which might become cities of the first
rank—on the same plane, as far as the suffrage of women was
concerned, with the government of the parishes, he substituted
a fluctuating for a permanent test, and as a result wiped out
his own line of demarcation. When this fact was brought out,
Parliament could not but recognize and bow to it. This
recognition was decisive: it resulted in the overthrow of the
electoral barriers against women in the entire domain of local
self-government. The clause which, upon the proposal of Mr.
Jacob Bright, was inserted in section 9 of the municipal act
of 1869, found its way into the revised municipal act of 1882.
Section 63 of this latter act reads: 'For all purposes
connected with and having reference to the right to vote at
municipal elections, words importing in this act the masculine
gender include women.' This clause gave women the ballot in
the municipal boroughs, but did not make them eligible to
office. And as the general qualification for municipal
suffrage is the occupancy by the elector in his own name of a
house subject to the poor tax, the law includes independent
women only, not married women. … When in 1881 the municipal
suffrage was extended to women in Scotland, the question
whether the separated woman could vote was decided in her
favor. But of course this does not change the position of
married women in England. A year after the introduction of the
municipal suffrage of women they obtained (in 1870) the school
vote also, in connection with the establishment of the
existing system of primary instruction. … It still remained
for women to make their way into the local government of the
county; but county government, although representative, was
not elective. In 1888 county councils were established, chosen
by the ratepayers. The analogy of the municipal councils
demanded that women should be included among the electors of
the new local assemblies. Accordingly the Local Government Act
of 1888 admits women to the electorate in England, and the act
of 1889 gives them the same right in Scotland. … In Sweden
local self-government is exercised in first instance, in the
city and country communes, by the tax-payers in general
assembly, or town meeting, where their votes are reckoned in
proportion to the taxes paid, according to a graded scale,
just as in the English vestries. In the cities with a
population above 3,000 the taxpayers elect a communal council.
… In the full assemblies of the communes that have no
councils, and in the elections at which councillors are
chosen, unmarried women have the same right of participation
as men. … The next higher instance of local self-government
consists of provincial councils (landstings). All the
municipal electors, women not excepted, vote for the members
of these councils. … In Norway women have no share in local
government, except in the school administration. … In Denmark
women are entirely excluded from local government; but they
have been admitted to it in one Danish dependency—Iceland. …
Finland, which was attached to Sweden for centuries before it
fell under the sway of Russia, is still influenced by the
movement of legislation in the former mother-country. … The
law of February 6, 1865, concerning the rural communes,
admitted women to communal rights under almost the same
conditions as in Sweden. … The law of April 14, 1856,
concerning the organization of the rural communes in the six
eastern provinces of the kingdom of Prussia (section 6), as
well as the analogous law of March 19, 1856, for the province
of Westphalia (section 15), provide that persons of female sex
who possess real property carrying with it the right to vote
shall be represented—the married women by their husbands, the
single women by electors of the male sex. A similar provision
was adopted for the province of Schleswig-Holstein, after its
annexation by Prussia (law of September 22, 1867, section 11).
But in the Rhine province, where the administrative and the
private law still show deep traces of the French influence,
women are expressly excluded from the communal franchise. … In
Saxony women are admitted to the communal vote in the country
districts on the same terms as men. … Eligibility to communal
office is denied to women in all the countries enumerated
above. In Austria, as one consequence of the revolutionary
movement of 1848, the legislator endeavored to infuse fresh
life into the localities by giving a liberal organization to
the rural communes. The law of 1849 granted communal rights to
all persons paying taxes on realty and industrial enterprises,
and also to various classes of 'capacities'—ministers of
religion, university graduates, school principals and teachers
of the higher grades, etc.
{3660}
Among the electors of the first and most important group,
based wholly upon property, were included women, minors,
soldiers in active service and some other classes of persons
who, as a rule, were excluded from suffrage, on condition that
their votes be cast through representatives. … The Russian
village community, the mir, which has come down across the
centuries into our own time with very few changes in its
primitive organization, is a typical example of rudimentary
local self-government, where all who have an interest, not
excepting the women, have a right to be heard in the common
assemblies. … In the Dominion of Canada local suffrage has
only recently been granted to women. The first law regulating
this matter was passed in the province of Ontario (Upper
Canada) in 1884. This law has served as an example, and in
part also as a model, for the other provinces. The electoral
rights granted to women by the legislation of the province of
Ontario may be grouped under four heads:
(a) participation in municipal elections,
(b) participation in municipal referenda,
(c) participation in school-board elections, and
(d) eligibility to office.
All unmarried women and widows twenty-one years of age,
subjects of her Majesty and paying municipal taxes on real
property or income, may vote in municipal elections. …
Finally, all taxpayers resident in the school district are
recognized by the laws of 1885 and 1887 as eligible to the
office of school trustee. … Female suffrage does not exist in
the great French-speaking province of Quebec (Lower Canada),
in New Brunswick or in Prince Edward Island. … In almost all
the continental [Australasian] colonies the municipal suffrage
rests upon the same basis as does the parish franchise of the
mother-country, i. e. the possession or occupation of real
property. … [In the United States] several States have granted
to women simply the right of being elected to school offices,
provided always that they possess the qualifications
prescribed for men. The question is thus decided in
California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine,
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. … At the present time the
system of granting to women both rights—eligibility and
suffrage—in school matters has been adopted in the following
states besides Massachusetts: Colorado, North and South
Dakota, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and
Wisconsin and the territory of Arizona. Of course to this list
must be added Wyoming, where women vote at all elections, and
Kansas, where they possess complete local suffrage. Finally,
Kentucky and Nebraska admit women only to the school
franchise, and that only under special conditions."
_M. Ostrogorski,
Local Woman Suffrage
(Political Science Quarterly, December, 1891)._