WALPOLE
WARD
the first "Prime Minister" of England.
In 1742 his many enemies united and
brought him down, and he was created
Earl of Orford. The dignity and serenity
of his retirement made a deep impression ;
but Walpole had always been temperate
with his enemies. He was one of the
great statesmen of British history, and,
while he freely and cynically used the
parliamentary corruption he found at
hand, he was never guilty of peculation
(which was terribly common), and he never
accepted a gift from the King. It is not
strictly true that he said " Every man
has his price." He meant, and said, every
man in a particular parliamentary group.
Walpole was, however, cynical enough in
private matters, preferring cynicism to the
hypocrisy of his contemporaries. He
described himself in the House as " a
sincere member of the Church of England,"
but in this we have to read political
expediency. His chief biographer, A. C.
Ewald, says that he was " a man whose
life reflected a genial paganism, who re
garded all creeds with the impartiality of
indifference, and w y ho looked upon religion
as a local accident and as the result of
hereditary influences " (Sir 11. Walpole,
1878, p. 40). Later he repeats that
Walpole was " a sceptic as regards reli
gion " (p. 446). His views were, in fact,
so little concealed that Pierre Desmaiseaux
[SEE] dedicated to him his translation of
Bayle s Dictionary, and in his dedicatory
letter lashes " the blind zeal and stupidity
cleaving to superstition." His son Horace
tells us that his father refused to read
Butler s Analogy when the Queen pressed
him to do so (Letters, iii, 5). It is probable
that Walpole and the Queen (a Deist)
understood each other. It was Sir Robert
who, when Queen Caroline was dying, and
there was a discussion as to whether the
Archbishop should minister to her, said :
" Let this farce be played ; the Archbishop
will act it very well It will do the
Queennohurt.no more than any good" (Lord Hervey s Memoirs, ii, 528). D. Mar. 18, 1745.
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WALSH, the Rev. Walter, D.D.,
Theistic preacher. B. 1857. Ed. Dundee High School and Glasgow University. From 1880 to 1886 Mr. Walsh was minister at Pitlochry, from 1887 to 1897 at New castle, and from 1897 to 1912 at Dundee. He has been in London since 1913, and has succeeded Mr. Voysey as minister of the Theistic Church. At Newcastle he was for six years on the School Board, and at Dundee he served on the City Council from 1906 to 1912. His degree was conferred by Pittsburg University. He is Vice-President of the Universal Peace Union, and has been British delegate to many international congresses. He describes himself as " a non-Christian Theist," or " Leader of the Free Religious Movement in London."
WALTHER, Professor Johannes,
Ph.D., German geologist. B. July 20, 1860. Ed. Jena, Leipzig, and Munich Universities. Walther completed his educa tion by extensive travel in the Mediter ranean region, North Africa, India, North America, and Transcaspasia. From 1886 to 1906 he was a private teacher at Jena University. In the latter year he was appointed Haeckel Professor of Geology, and he is now professor of geology and palaeontology at Halle University and Director of the Royal Geological Institute. He has written a large number of w 7 orks on his science. Dr. Walther was a pupil of Haeckel, and he thinks that Haeckel must be named after Goethe and Hum- boldt (Was Wir Ernst Haeckel Verdanken, ii, 181). He is a thorough and outspoken Monist.
WARD, Lester Frank, American socio logist. B. June 18, 1841. Ed. Columbia University. After graduating, Ward studied at the Law School of the University, and he then worked for seven years in the Treasury Department. He had taken an early interest in geology, and after serving for some time as assistant geologist he was in 1881 appointed a palaeontologist on
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