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416 WADE WAGNER Asie Mineure au point de vue numismatique (1850); Melanges de numismatique et de phi- lologie (1861) ; dit de Diocletien (1864) ; the Greek and Latin inscriptions in the continua- tion of Philippe Le Bas's Voyage archeologique en Grece et en Asie Mineure (1868) ; and pastes des provinces asiatiques de Vempire remain de- pute leur origine jusqu'au regne de Diocletien (1872 et seq.). WADE, Benjamin Franklin, an American states- man, born in Springfield, Mass., Oct. 27, 1800. He worked as a farmer or laborer in summer and school teacher in winter till 1826, when he began to study law in Ohio, and in 1828 was admitted to the bar in Ashtabula co., where he has ever since resided. In 1835 he was elect- ed prosecuting attorney of that county, and in 1837 to the state senate, to which he was twice reflected. In 1847 he was chosen president judge of the third judicial district of the state. In 1851 he was elected United States senator, and reelected in 1857 and 1863. In the senate Mr. Wade was a steady opponent of all mea- sures favoring slavery. In 1852 he voted, with only five other senators, to repeal the fugi- tive slave law ; he also spoke and voted against the bill to abrogate the Missouri compromise, against the Lecompton constitution for Kan- sas in 1858, against appropriating $30,000,000 for the acquisition of Cuba, and against all the compromises between the north and south proposed after Mr. Lincoln's election in 1860. The homestead bill ho advocated for years, and it was in his charge when it was finally passed by the senate in 1862. From the outbreak of the civil war in 1861 Mr. Wade labored inces- santly for a more vigorous policy, was chair- man of the joint committee on the conduct of the war, and urged the enactment of a law to confiscate all the property of leading secession- ists and emancipate their slaves. As chair- man of the territorial committee, ho reported a bill in 1862 abolishing slavery in all the terri- tories of the government, and prohibiting it in any that might afterward be acquired. After t lin assassination of President Lincoln in 1865 ho became president pro tempore of the senate, and acting vice president of the United States ; and in March, 1867, he was elected president of the senate. In 1871 he was one of the com- mission sent to Santo Domingo to report upon its proposed annexation to the United States, a scheme of which he approved. WADEXA, a W. central county of Minnesota, drained by the Crow Wing river; area, 540 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 6; in 1875, 210. The surface is rolling and consists cheifly of prai- ries. Capital, Wadena. WADSWORTH, .lamps, an American philan- thropist, born in Durham, Conn., April 20, 1768, died in Geneseo, N. Y., June 8, 1844. lie graduated at Yale college in 1787, and in 1790 removed with his brother to the Genesee river, purchasing a large tract of land in what is now the town of Geneseo. In time he be- came one of the richest land proprietors in New York. He printed and circulated, at his own expense, publications on the subject of education, employed persons to lecture on it, and offered premiums to the towns which should first establish school libraries. As early as 1811 he proposed the establishment of nor- mal schools. He procured the enactment of the school library law in 1838, founded a library and institution for scientific lectures at Gene- seo and endowed it with $10,000, and in his sales of land always stipulated that a tract of 125 acres in each township should be granted free for a church, and another of the same size for a school. His donations to the cause of education exceeded $90,000. His son JAMES SAMUEL, born in 1807, distinguished himself by patriotism and philanthropy, and was mortal- ly wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, where he commanded a division, May 6, 1864, and died on the 8th. WAGER, in law, a contract by which two par- ties agree that a certain thing shall be done by one for the benefit of the other, on the happen- ing or not happening of a contingent event. Wagers were certainly valid contracts at com- mon law, but from early ages many exceptions were made. They were void if immoral, or opposed to public policy, or indecent, or tend- ing to restrain or prevent marriage. In the United States, the objection has been extended to any wager about the ago, height, weight, wealth, situation, or circumstances of any per- son, of any age or either sex. So, too, all wa- gers are void, and perhaps punishable, if such as to interfere with the free and honest exer- cise of the elective franchise. By the statute 8 and 9 Victoria, ch. 100, sec. 18, all wagers are null and void. Many of the states have simi- lar statutes, and the general tendency of adju- dication has been in the direction of making all wagers nullities. It may be said to be the general rule that money deposited on a wager may be recalled before the event is decided, and in many, perhaps in a majority of the states, at any time before it has been paid over. In some states by statute anything won on a wa- ger and actually paid over may be recovered by the loser, and wagers, particularly on elec- tions, are made punishable as offences. In Mis- souri, New York, and Wisconsin, by constitu- tional provisions, and in some other states by statutes, wagers on an election disqualify the parties making them from voting at that elec- tion. It may be doubted now whether an ac- tion by a winner of a mere wager or bet against a loser would be sustained in any court. WAGER OF BATTLE. See APPEAL, vol. i., p. 596. WAGER OF LAW. See CBIMINAL LAW, vol. v., p. 487. WAGNER. I. Richard (originally WILIIELM RICHARD), a German composer, born in Leip- 6ic, May 22, 1818. His father was an actuary of police, and died when the son was a few months old. Richard received an incomplete scholastic education, though his mind had a