Page:A biographical dictionary of modern rationalists.djvu/470

 WALPOLE

WARD

the first &quot;Prime Minister&quot; 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 &quot; Every man has his price.&quot; 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 &quot; a sincere member of the Church of England,&quot; but in this we have to read political expediency. His chief biographer, A. C. Ewald, says that he was &quot; 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 &quot; (Sir 11. Walpole, 1878, p. 40). Later he repeats that Walpole was &quot; a sceptic as regards reli gion &quot; (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 &quot; the blind zeal and stupidity cleaving to superstition.&quot; 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 : &quot; Let this farce be played ; the Archbishop

will act it very well It will do the

Queennohurt.no more than any good&quot; (Lord Hervey s Memoirs, ii, 528). D. Mar. 18, 1745.

867

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 &quot; a non-Christian Theist,&quot; or &quot; Leader of the Free Religious Movement in London.&quot;

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

868