Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/450

418 Haven, was a judge of one of the Connecticut courts, and sat in the legislatures of that state and Massachusetts. He is described as a genial man, of great frankness, who rendered all the affairs of his household perfectly systematic, and never was in debt. He read the Bible thoroughly, believed fully in its inspiration, had deep religious convictions, and during the last thirty-five years of his life was a member of an orthodox Congregational church. He was tall and slender, but perfectly erect. His wife survived him four years. They had one son and six daughters. Dr. Webster's life has been written by one of his daughters, as an introduction to his great dictionary, and by Horace E. Scudder, in the &ldquo;Men of Letters&rdquo; series (Boston, 1882).

WEBSTER, Pelatiah, political economist, b. in Lebanon, Conn., in 1725 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., in September, 1795. He was graduated at Yale in 1746, studied theology, and preached in Greenwich, Mass., in the winter of 1748-9. About 1755 he engaged in business in Philadelphia, where he ac- cumulated a small fortune, at the same time devot- ing himself to study and literary work. He was an active patriot during the Revolution, aiding the American cause with pen and purse, and in Febru- ary, 1788, was seized by the British and confined for 132 days in the city jail. Part of his property, to the value of £500, was confiscated. He gave much time to the study of the currency, finance, and the resources of the country, and was often consulted on these matters by members of congress. In his first essay, in October, 1776, he strongly urged the laying of a tax to provide for the speedy redemption of the continental currency, and in 1779 he began in Philadelphia the publication of a series of " Essays on Free Trade and Finance," of which seven were issued, the last in 1785. His " Dissertation on the Political Union and Constitu- tion of the Thirteen United States of North Amer- ica " (Philadelphia, 1783) is mentioned by James Madison as having an influence in directing the public mind to the necessity of a better form of government. Mr. Webster also published " Essay on Credit " (1786) ; " Reasons for repealing the Act of the Legislature which took away the Charter of the Bank of North America" (1786) ; and " Politi- cal Essays on the Nature and Operation of Money, Public Finances, and other Subjects, published during the American War" (1791).

WEBSTER, Richard, clergyman, b. in Albany, N. Y., 14 July, 1811 ; d. in Mauch Chunk, Pa., 19 June, 1856. His father, Charles R. Webster (1763- 1834). a bookseller of Albany, established and con- ducted the "Albany Gazette " (1784-1824), and pub- lished "Webster's Calendar" from 1784 till his death. The son was graduated at Union college in 1829 and at Princeton theological seminary in 1834, and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, 29 April, 1835. After laboring for a short time at South Easton, Pa., he organized a church at Mauch Chunk, 1 Nov., 1835, and was its pastor till his death. He also did much work in all parts of the coal region, and aided in founding about a dozen churches. Defective sight and hearing induced him to give much time to historical studies, and, besides frequent contributions to current religious literature under the signature of " K. H.," he issued a " Digest of the Acts of the General Assembly," and left a " History of the Presbyterian Church in America from its Origin till the Year 1760, with Biographical Sketches of its Early Minis- ters," which was published after his death by the Presbyterian historical society, with a memoir of the author by Rev. Cortlandt Van Rensselaer, D. D., and a historical introduction by Rev. Will- iam Blackwood, D. D. (Philadelphia, 1857).

WEBSTER, Warren, surgeon, b. in Gilmanton, N. H, 7 March, 1835. He was educated in New Hampshire and at medical schools in Boston and Paris, and graduated at the medical department of Harvard in 1860. Dr. Webster was appointed assistant surgeon in the U. S. army, 23 June, 1860, and after brief service on the frontier was ordered to Washington, where in 1861 he was placed in charge of Douglas general hospital, at the same time engaging in the organization and superintending the construction of other permanent military hos- pitals at Washington. He was on duty on the field at the second battle of Bull Run, and was made a medical inspector in the Army of the Potomac in 1862. Dr. Webster was present in the battle of Fredericksburg and active in the care of the wounded after Chancellorsville (1863), where he or- ganized numerous field hospitals, passing to and fro for the purpose within the opposing lines under flag of truce. He was in charge of McDougall general hospital, Fort Schuyler, N. Y., in 1863-'4, and then of De Camp general hospital, where in 1866, during the cholera epidemic, he greatly dis- tinguished himself. He was promoted surgeon with rank of major, 28 July, 1866, was medical di- rector of the 5th military district in 1868-'70, when he organized a quarantine system for the Texas coast, and afterward served at various military stations in California and the east. Dr. Webster was brevetted captain " for gallant and meritorious services " at Chancellorsville, major " for faithful and meritorious services" during the war, and lieutenant - colonel "for meritorious and distin- guished services at Hart's and David's islands, New York harbor, where cholera prevailed." He is the author of "The Army Medical Staff" (Boston, 1865); "Regulations for the Government of De Camp General Hospital" (New York, 1865); " Quarantine Regulations, 5th Military District (Austin, Tex., 1869); and "Sympathetic Diseases of the Eye," translated (New York, 1881).

WEDDERBURN, Alexander, Baron Loughborough, b. in Edinburgh, Scotland, 13 Feb., 1733 ; d. in Bayles, Berkshire, England, 3 Jan., 1805. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, called to the Scottish bar at nineteen years of age, and was rapidly rising in his profession when he became offended by a rebuke that was administered by one of the judges, removed to London, and was admitted to the English bar in 1757. He soon gained high reputation, especially in the great Douglas case in 1768-'9, in which the succession in that family had become a subject of litigation among its several branches. He obtained a seat in parliament, and on 26 Jan., 1771, became solicitor-general in the ministry of Lord North, in which office he added to his reputation by his defence of Lord Clive, who was accused of maladministration in the affairs of India. In January, 1774, when the petition of Massachusetts for the removal of Thomas Hutchinson and Andrew Oliver was laid before the privy council, Wedderburn defended those functionaries in a speech in which he made a gross attack upon Benjamin Franklin, the agent of the petitioners, stigmatizing him as a " true incendiary." He violently opposed the claims of the American colonies, and throughout the Revolution was a strong supporter of Lord North's ministry. When, in 1776, Fox directed the attention of that ministry to the assumption of power on the part of the government to raise taxes in America, or annihilate charters at its pleasure, as the two principal grievances of the colonists that needed revision