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gave much offence to the company's old servants. In 1807, he was elected member of parliament, and made second secretary to the treasury, under the duke of Portland, but quitted both places in about two years, on being appointed envoy extraordinary to Spain. He was then also admitted of the privy council, and, soon after, was made knight of the Bath, and appointed ambassador. While in this situation, he had some extraordinary honors conferred on him by the king of Spain, but, in 1821, was recalled, and the next year sent to Vienna. In 1828, he was created a baron by the title of lord Cowley.-Another brother, William, born in 1763, takes the name of Pole from a rich relation, who, dying in 1778, made him heir to a large fortune. He was created baron in 1821, by the title of Maryborough, and has held several lucrative posts.

enormously expensive, not to say extravagant (he added 12,000,000 to the debt of the East India company), and accused him of being guilty of great injustice to the native powers, particularly to the nabob of Oude; while, on the other hand, his partisans urged that the critical circumstances of the time compelled a vast expenditure, and that his conduct to the Indian princes was justified by their persevering hostility. Mr. Paull presented articles of impeachment against him to the house of commons, but they were not followed up; and a vote was obtained in the marquis's favor. When, in 1807, the duke of Portland became minister, the king wished lord Wellesley to be secretary of state; but he did not accept the office. In 1809, he went as ambassador to Spain, and evinced his usual ability in negotiation. On the death of the duke of Portland, he accepted WELLINGTON, Arthur Wellesley, duke the office of secretary of state, and showed of, fourth son of the earl of Mornington, therein great attachment to the Spanish and brother of marquis Wellesley, was cause. In 1812, he resigned his place, born in Ireland, in May, 1769. He was being dissatisfied, it was thought, that he first placed at Eton school, and then sent was not made first lord of the treasury, to the military school of Angers, in when Mr. Perceval was elevated to that France. He entered into the army as high office. The prince regent was ensign of the forty-first regiment, and, by anxious to retain lord Wellesley, but interest and purchase, became, in 1793, could not accomplish it. From that pe- lieutenant-colonel of the thirtieth regiriod, his lordship continued in opposition ment of foot. The next year, he accomfor several years. During the time that panied lord Moira to Ostend, and comhe was out of office, he brought forward manded a brigade in the retreat of the a motion in favor of the Irish Catholics, duke of York through Holland. In 1796, which was lost by only a small majority. he embarked for the East Indies; but the In 1822, he was appointed lord-lieutenant fleet which he was on board of being of Ireland, and held this post till 1828, driven back by contrary winds, the deswhen he was succeeded by the marquis_tination of the regiment was altered, and of Anglesea. In 1794, the marquis married a French lady, named Roland, by whom he had had several children; but after their marriage, they ceased to live together. She died in 1816; and, in 1825, the marquis married Mrs. Patterson (whose maiden name was Caton), granddaughter of the late Charles Carroll. He is the author of Substance of a Speech in the House of Commons, on the Address (1794); Notes relative to the Peace concluded with the Mahrattas (4to., 1804), in which he has given a succinct history of Indian affairs; Letters to the Government of Fort St. George, relative to the new Form of Government established there (1812); and Letters to the Directors of the East India Company, on the India Trade (8vo., 1812.)-His brother Henry (lord Cowley), born in 1773, accompanied the marquis to India, in quality of secretary, and, in 1802, was nominated governor of Oude, by the marquis, which

he was sent on the recruiting service, to Ireland. In 1797, he accompanied his brother, lord Wellesley, to India, and was employed in the attack on Tippoo, and at the capture of Seringapatam. After this conquest, he was named one of the commissioners to fix the divisions of the territory, and was appointed, by his brother, governor of Seringapatam. He had soon the good fortune to defeat an India adventurer, named Dhoondiah Waugh, and, a short time after, was made major-general. He was next employed, with 12,000 men, in the war of the Mahrattas (q. v.), to support the Peishwa; and he advanced to Poonah just in time to save it from destruction. The forces of Scindiah and the rajah of Berar having been joined by Holkar, he attacked them at Assaye, gave them a complete defeat, and compelled them to submit to such a peace as the English chose to dictate.-See Thorn's Memoir of the War in India, from 1803 to

1806 (London, 1817). For this he was honored with the order of the Bath; and he returned to England in 1805. On his return, he married a lady of the family of lord Longford, to whom he had been previously engaged. Soon after this, he commanded, for a short time, a brigade under lord Cathcart, in Hanover. The command of the fifteenth regiment was next bestowed on him. He now, for a while, devoted himself to civil occupations, and was sent to Ireland as secretary of state, under the duke of Richmond. He next accompanied lord Cathcart in his expedition to Copenhagen. The houses of parliament having voted thanks to the officers on this service, sir Arthur, who was then returned member of parliament for Newport, in the Isle of Wight, was thanked by the speaker, in his place in the house. In 1808, he received orders to sail for the Peninsula, which he reached shortly after the defeat of the Spanish generals Cuesta and Blake. After a conference with admiral Cotton, he landed at the mouth of the Mondego river, and, being joined by general Spencer, with 5000 men, marched towards Lisbon. The twenty-first of August, he fought the battle of Vimeira (q. v.); but sir Hugh Dalrymple, arriving, took the command, and made the convention of Cintra. Sir Arthur Wellesley returned to England, and, in 1809, was again sent to Lisbon, with more troops, and the commission of commander-in-chief. He then marched for Oporto, from which he drove marshal Soult, and, entering Spain, fought the battle of Talavera de la Reyna, in which he foiled the French in all their attacks on his position, but was obliged to move off the next morning, and leave his sick and wounded to the mercy of the enemy. (See Spain, and Soult.) He was, however, for this exploit, created a viscount, and received the thanks of parliament. In 1810, Masséna, with a formidable army, entered Portugal, in the full confidence of driving the English army from that country. On this occasion, lord Wellington adopted the defensive plan suggested by Dumouriez, in a work on the subject. He first withdrew to the position of Busaco (q. v.), where he was attacked by the French, who were repulsed with mutual slaughter. The position of Busaco being rendered untenable by the wrong movement of a corps on his left flank, he fell back to the lines of Torres Vedras (q. v.), which had long been constructing. Masséna (q. v.) advanced, but was, from the

impregnable strength of the lines, obliged to remain six months before them inactive, during which his convoys were cut off by the Spaniards. He then, at length, made a most masterly retreat, and lord Wellington blockaded Ålmeida; but Masséna found means to draw off the garrison, after a battle at Fuentes d'Onor, in which his lordship had some advantage. In June, his lordship besieged and assaulted Badajoz, but was repulsed with loss. He soon after passed the Tagus, to oppose Marmont (q. v.), who had succeeded Masséna; and he was successful in taking Ciudad Rodrigo by storm. In consequence of this success, the regency of Spain bestowed on him the title of duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, and the rank of a grandee of Spain. The English parliament had before settled on him £2000 a year, and they now gave him a second £2000, and the prince regent made him an earl. Having taken Badajoz, in a second attack, he advanced to Salamanca, defeated Marmont, and pursued the French to Burgos, which be besieged. For this he was rewarded with £200,000 and the title of marquis. He had already been created marquis of Torres Vedras, by the Portuguese government. Burgos, however, obstinately held out, and thus gave time to the French to reinforce the western army of Portugal, and to march the army of Soult from the southern provinces. By this means the enemy were rendered too powerful to allow of his maintaining his ground; and he accordingly raised the siege of Burgos, and commenced his retreat, during which he was considerably harassed by the French, who took his heavy artillery and the greater part of his baggage. In 1813, after Napoleon's disasters in Russia, and the best French troops in Spain had been replaced by conscripts, he repaired to Cadiz, to make arrangements with the regency of Spain, who placed the whole of the Spanish army under his command. The remnant of the French army was encamped on the Douro; he, however, made good the passage, turned their position, and they retreated to Burgos, then to Vittoria (q. v.), where he intercepted them, May 13, 1813, and took their baggage, artillery, and a great number of prisoners. He was now raised to the rank of field-marshal, and the Spanish government created him duke of Vittoria. He next besieged Pampeluna and St. Sebastian, and repulsed marshal Soult in several attacks which that general made to relieve them. Lord Wellington

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then forced the passage of the Bidassoa, and entered France. Soult endeavored to impede his march, but was repulsed on several occasions; and at Toulouse the last battle was fought.-See Napier's History of the War in the Peninsula (4 vols., 1828-1832). The peace immediately followed, and the return of the Bourbons. Wellington was created a duke, and returned to London, after an absence of five years, and again received the thanks of the houses of parliament, who voted him a gift of £400,000. In July he was nominated ambassador extraordinary to France, and was then sent to the congress at Vienna. While he was there, Napoleon escaped from the isle of Elba. He was instantly named, by the allied sovereigns, generalissimo of the European troops. He fixed his headquarters at Brussels, and issued a proclamation. Hostilities commenced, and Napoleon, after having defeated the Prussians at Ligny, was completely routed at Waterloo, by the fortunate arrival of Bülow and Blücher. (See Waterloo.) Wellington then advanced to Paris, and an end was put to the war under the walls of Paris. See Sherer's Military Memoirs of the Duke of Wellington (2 vols., London, 1832). The parliament of England now voted him a further sum of £200,000; and the sovereigns of Europe all bestowed on him rewards and honors. afterwards commanded the army of occupation in France, and was at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1818, where he was attended by a guard of honor, like a prince of the blood. In 1822, he was British minister plenipotentiary at the congress of Verona, and, in accordance with the policy of Canning, refused to participate in the measures of the powers against Spain. In 1826, he was sent to St. Petersburg to congratulate Nicholas on his accession to the throne. On the appointment of Canning to the premiership, in 1827, Wellington resigned his seat in the cabinet, with the other ministers opposed to Catholic relief (see Catholie Emancipation); and, in 1828, having overturned the Goderich administration, which had given him the important post of commander-in-chief of the army, he himself assumed the premiership, although, at the previous session of parliament, he had declared his entire unfitness for high civil office. In December, 1830, he was obliged to give way, in turn, to the present whig ministry. Such is a rapid sketch of the forty-years' public life of this distinguished man, as a gene

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ral, a diplomatist, and a minister. The details of his history and conduct in these different characters are too well known to need repetition.*

WELLS; a city of England, in Somersetshire, nineteen miles south-west of Bath, 121 west of London: lon. 2° 50′ W., lat. 51° 11' N.; population, 6649. United with Bath, it forms a bishop's see. It is situated in a diversified and picturesque country, having fertile and extensive meadows to the south, east and west. It is small, compact, generally well built, and contains one of the most magnificent cathedrals in England (381 feet long, 131 broad, with a quadrangular tower 178 feet high). It receives its name from a remarkable spring, called St. Andrew's well (vulgarly bottomless well).

WELSER; an old patrician family in Augsburg, now extinct. A Julius Welser is mentioned under the emperor Otho I, who was made a noble, in 959, on account of his services in the war against the Hungarians.-His son Octavianus settled in Augsburg; and from him sprung the family which became so famous.Bartholomew Welser was privy counsellor of Charles V, and so wealthy that, with the family of the Fugger, he lent 1,200,000 florins to the emperor. With the consent of the emperor, he equipped, in 1528, three vessels in Spain, which sailed under

*He was created baron Douro of Wellesley in the county of Somerset, and viscount Wellington of Talavera, and of Wellington, in 1809; earl of Wellington in 1812; marquis of Wellington in 1812; marquis of Douro and duke of Wellington in 1814. He is also duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, and a grandee of the first class in Spain; duke of Vittoria, marquis of Torres Vedras and count Vimeira in Portugal, and prince of Waterloo in the Netherlands. He is likewise knight of the noble order of the garter, knight grand cross of the Bath, &c., &c. Previous to the change of ministry in 1830, his grace was at once field-marshal in the army; colonel of the royal regiment of horseguards; colonel-in-chief of the rifle brigade; constable of the Tower; prime minister (first lord of the treasury); a lord of trade and plantations; lord-warden commissioner for the affairs of India; of the Cinque Ports; lord-lieutenant of the county of Hants, &c., &c., and, including his pensions, salaries, and the interest on grants, in the receipt of £48,000 per annum from the public. In addition to these honors and distinctions, he was field-marshal in the Portuguese, Spanish, Netherlandish, Austrian, Russian and Prussian service. The king of Portugal gave him a service of plate of the value of about $700,000; the emperor of Austria, and the kings of Prussia and Saxony, splendid services of Vienna, Berlin and Misnian porcelain; the city of London a shield of massive silver, upwards of three feet in diameter, with representations of his victories in relief, &c. His eldest son and heir, Arthur, marquis of Douro, was born in 1807, and his other son, Charles, in 1808.

the command of Ambrose Dalfinger, of Ulm, to America, and took possession of the province of Venezuela, which the emperor made over to Welser as a pledge. 480 Germans accompanied this expedition to Venezuela, in order to settle there; but their avarice is said to have involved them in quarrels with the natives, of whom they destroyed great numbers, and they were at length cut off themselves. The Welser family remained, nevertheless, twentysix years in possession of Venezuela; but, after the death of Charles V, the Spaniards deprived them of it. During the same period, the Welsers, together with some merchants of Nuremberg, sent a vessel to the East Indies, in order to seek new channels of commerce. The journal of this journey of discovery is said to be still in existence.-The celebrated Philip pina Welser was niece of the above-mentioned Welser, and daughter of his brother Francis. She had received an uncommonly good education, and was of great beauty, so that Ferdinand (whose father subsequently became the emperor Ferdinand I) fell in love with her, in 1547, in Augsburg. She refused all the offers of the young duke (then but nineteen years old), except on condition of marriage. The ceremony was privately performed, in 1550, without the knowledge of his father, or his uncle Charles V. The archduke Ferdinand was much incensed when he heard of it, and, for a long time, refused to see his son. In foreign countries, this mesalliance also excited much attention. It was not till after eight years that the father was reconciled. Philippina died, thirty years after the marriage, at Inspruck, in 1580. The archduke, her husband, honored her memory by a medal, with the inscription Dive Philippina. Of her two sons, the eldest, Andrew, became cardinal; the second, Charles, distinguished himself in the wars in Spain and Hungary, and died, in 1618, without leaving any children.

WEN; an encysted tumor. Encysted tumors are formed, in the midst of the cellular substance under the skin, of that which separates the muscles, or even of that which enters into the structure of the different organs. These tumors are comprehended in a membrane called a cyst. The causes of their formation are unknown, but a strongly-marked tendency to such swellings exists in particular individuals, which leads to the suspicion of constitutional causes. An encysted tumor, in its commencement, is always exceed ingly small, and perfectly indolent; and it

is often many years before it attains a considerable size. These swellings are usually spherical, except when this form is altered by the disposition of the surrounding parts. Practitioners are not acquainted with any effectual means of stopping the growth of them. The best mode of treatment is amputation of the whole swelling.

WENCESLAUS (Wenzel), emperor of Germany (frequently called only king of the Germans, because he was not crowned in Rome), and king of Bohemia, of the house of Luxemburg, eldest son of Charles IV (q. v.), was born in 1361. The lawless state of Germany, at that period, might have bid defiance to the talents and spirit of the greatest ruler; how much more to a Wenceslaus! At the age of two years, he was crowned king of Bohemia. When six years old, be infeoffed a duke, who kneeled before him, at the command of his father. At the age of ten years, he was married. Two years later, he was invested with the mark of Brandenburg, and made to take part in state affairs; and he was hardly eighteen years old when he sueceeded his father (in 1378) on the imperial throne. Of the admonitions which his father gave him shortly before his death, he disregarded the most important-"Keep the pope, the priesthood and the Germans your friends." Pride and cruelty were the predominant traits of his character; and his inclinations led him to low sensuality. Perhaps his conduct may be in part attributed to the consequences of an attempt to poison him, which was followed by a disease of the liver, attended with a burning thirst. Two circumstances rendered his situation particularly difficult. In the beginning of his reign, the schisin in the church became peculiarly glaring, in consequence of the election of two popes, and had the most injurious influence on political affairs. The abomina-" ble jus manuarium, or right of private war, was universal in Germany, owing to the want of civil order, and of an energetic administration. Private leagues were formed to procure that redress of wrongs which the laws could not afford; and a confederation of the wealthy and powerful cities in Suabia and on the Rhine, opposed the jealous, arrogant and tyrannical nobility and princes, who, in various parts of Germany, also formed alliances. Wenceslaus, in the midst of his revelry and debauchery, looked supinely on the disorders of the empire, and seems to have secretly encouraged the great league of the cities, in order to weaken

the power of the princes. At length the fear of seeing the royal authority almost annihilated by these leagues, induced him to endeavor to counteract them. In 1387, a violent war broke out between the confederated cities on one side, and the princes, counts and lords on the other, in which the cities were obliged to yield, after the battle of Döffingen. Wenceslaus remained at Prague; and it is said that he answered the deputies, who invited him to come to Germany to restore peace, in terms to the following effect: "I do not know that I am bound to reconcile the estates, as I did not cause their quarrels; and I fear the fate of the wolf, in the fable, who attempted to reconcile two quarrelling rams." At all events, he acted according to this principle. The defeats suffered by the cities obliged them to remain quiet, and Wenceslaus willingly fulfilled the wish of the members of the empire, to extinguish, by force, all debts due to Jews, for which all debtors were obliged to pay fifteen per cent. of the debts to the emperor, who was the legal protector of the Jews! In Bohemia, Wenceslaus was disliked on account of his preference of the Germans, and his arbitrary spirit. He alienated the nobility by exacting the restoration of the crown domains, which had been mortgaged to them, and excited general odium on account of the cruelty with which he acted in his disputes with the clergy. His brother, the king of Hungary, and his cousin, the margrave of Moravia, were hostile to him; and thus originated, in 1394, a conspiracy of the Bohemian nobles, who surprised him, and kept him prisoner. After some months he was released; but his authority was gone in Germany. He was accused of having made John Galeazzo Visconti duke of Milan for money, and thus diminished the territory of the empire. Dissensions broke out every where; and the part which circumstances compelled him to take in ecclesiastical affairs, contributed much to deprive him of the German crown. He united with France, to induce the popes, elected in Rome and Avignon, to resign, and to reestablish peace in the church, by a new election; and he undertook, particularly, to induce Boniface to resign; but this pope had been recognised by most of the electors, and they were dissatisfied with the measure of Wenceslaus, particularly the archbishop of Mayence, who owed his elevation to this pope. At last the electors resolved to deprive him of the crown, but disagreed respecting who should succeed

him; so that, in 1400, the electors of Mayence, Treves, Cologne, and the Palatinate, only, pronounced his deposition. Wenceslaus remained inactive, but, nevertheless, found several supporters, because most of the members of the empire were dissatisfied with the steps of those electors. His successor, Robert, could do as little to remedy the deeprooted evils of the empire as Wenceslaus. The latter quarrelled again with his brother Sigismund, who took him prisoner, and kept him a year and a half in Vienna. Robert died in 1410, and Sigismund, to whom Wenceslaus resigned his claims, was elected emperor. He remained in possession of Bohemia, and was only disturbed by the commotions caused by Huss. He died of apoplexy, in 1419, upon hearing of the insurrection of the Hussites, after the execution of Huss (q. v.), whom he had endeavored to protect. Modern historians have attempted to find apologies for his conduct. Certainly all is not true which was said of him in his time, but his faults deprive him of all esteem.

WENDS; the name given by the Germans to a particular branch of that great Sclavonic family, the settlements of which in the northern and eastern part of Germany, from the Elbe along the Baltic to the Vistula, and, towards the south, as far as Bohemia, were known as early as the sixth century. It included, 1. the Obotrites, in Mecklenburg, a powerful tribe, under their own kings. Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, almost extirpated them in the twelfth century. 2. The Pomeranians and Wiltzians, from the Oder to the Vistula. Their princes united themselves with Germany in 1181, and did not become extinct until 1637. 3. The Ukers (Frontier Wends; see Ukraine), and other tribes in the five Brandenburg marks. Albert the Bear, margrave of Brandenburg, conquered and extirpated them, not because they were heathens, but because they were Sclavonians. 4. The Sorbians (more properly Serbians), between the Saale and Elbe: ancient Misnia, therefore, was called by the Bohemians, Srbsko. 5. Lusitzians (improperly Lusatians), in the margraviate of Upper and Lower Lusatia. The Serbians had their own lords, princes and kings, and extended their dominion over the whole of the present Osterland, Misnia, the two Lusatias, Anhalt, the Electoral Circle, and the southern part of Brandenburg. In the tenth century, German colonists became intermingled with them. The mountains, particularly, became peo

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