Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/468

WITTE 398 WODEN tions on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament" (1774); etc. ("Works," 9 vols. Edinburgh, 1804). He died near Princeton, N. J., Sept. 15, 1794. WITTE, SERGEI YULIEVITCH, COUNT, a Russian statesman; born at Tiflis, in 1849. He was educated at the University of Odessa and for a time was engaged in journalism. He soon entered the government service, however, and during the Russo-Turkish War did distinguished service in the transporta- tion of troops. He was a member of the Imperial Railway Commission, and in 1883 published "Principles of Railway Tariffs." In 1892 he was appointed Minister of Communications, and soon aftei'ward became Minister of Finance. He brought about many reforms in in- dustrial development and introduced the gold standard. His efforts were especial- ly directed toward the completion of the Trans-Siberian railway. In 1903 he was appointed president of the Committee of Ministers. He was appointed senior Rus- sian delegate to negotiate peace with Japan, and at the Portsmouth Con- ference succeeded in obtaining favorable terms for Russia. He was created Count on his return, and became a powerful figure in the government during the Liberal upheaval which followed the Russo-Japanese War. He succeeded in obtaining from the Czar the manifesto of Aug. 30, 1905, and was appointed the first Russian Prime Minister. He was bitterly opposed by the Conservative circles and resigned office in 1906. He spent much time abroad and took no further part in governmental activities. He died in 1915. WITTEKIND, or WIDUKIND, the leader of the Saxons in their struggle with Karl the Great; came of a noble Westphalian house, and first appears at the head of the Saxon expedition against the Westphalian fortress of Eresburg (774). The emperor's retuni from con- quering the Lombards drove him across the Weser, and after vainly renewing the revolt in 776, he fled to Denmark, but returning during Karl's absence in Spain, laid waste the Rhineland and sur- prised and annihilated the Prankish army on the Siintelgebirge (782). Karl retaliated by executing 4,500 Saxon pris- oners, an action that roused the entire Saxon race to arms. The battle of Det- mold was drawn (783), but that of Osnabriick crushed Wittekind's hopes and forced him to enter on negotiations, whose issue was that in 785 he accepted baptism in the imperial camp at Attigny, in Champagne. Karl, it is said, made him Duke of the Saxons and lord of Engem, and from his castle of Babilonie, near Liibeck, he exercised a mild and righteous sway till 807, when he fell in battle with Ceroid, the Swabian duke. Various princely houses, as those of Brunswick- and Sardinia, claim Wittekind for the founder of their line. WITTENBERG, a town in Prussia; province of Saxony; on the Elbe, 45 miles S. E. of Madgeburg. It was while Luther was a professor in Wittenberg that he nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Schlosskirche, The university in which he was professor was united to Halle in 1817. The principal buildings are the Schlosskirche, in which both Luther and Melanchthon are buried; the Stadtkirche, where Luther and Melanch- thon preached; the remains of the Augustine monastery, with Luther's apartments; the houses of Melanchthon and Cranach; the town hall, the gymnasium, etc. Pop. about 25,000. WITTENBERG COLXEGE, a coedu- cational institution in Springfield, O., founded in 1845 under the auspices of the Lutheran Church; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 32; students, 1,050. President, C. G, Heckert, D. D. WITWATERSRAND (Anglicized White Water Range), the name of a height of land in the Transvaal, south Africa, running S. and S. W. of Pretoria, and located between the Klip and Vaal rivers on the S. and the Limpopo on the W. It is about 100 miles long and ex- tends nearly E. and W. with lat. 26° S. In 1886 gold was first discovered here, and since that date the region has de- veloped into one of the most famous gold mining districts in the world. The production of gold in 1919 was valued at £35,384,000. See Transvaal. WOBURN, a city in Middlesex co., Mass. ; on the Boston and Maine railroad ; 10 miles N. W. of Boston. It contains a public library, high school, Warren Academy, the birthplace of Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) preserved by an association, numerous churches, waterworks, electric street railroads, electric lights, National and State banks, and several newspapers. It has the largest leather industry in New Eng- land, and manufactories of shoes, chem- icals, glue, electric djmamos and lamps, etc. Pop. (1910) 15,308; (1920) 16,574. WODEN, or ODIN, the principal deity of the German and Scandinavian mythol- ogies, common to all Teutonic peoples, and in a measure, corresponding to the Zeus of the Greeks. Odin, while not the