Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/557

* WHINCHAT. 4T1 WHIPPLE. cliattpriiif; note). A small, giound-kocping Eu- ropean bird {I'fulincola rubctra), seen in Great Jjiitain in suninicr, wherever fnrze (or 'whin') bushes grow. WHIP ( from ME. ichippen, ivhyppen, prob- ably a variant of icippcn, from MDutch, Dutch wippcn, to move up and down, shake; connected with Lat. vibrrirc, SUt. vip, to tremble). A term used in Englisli polities to designate the party representative Avhosc duty it i.s to notify mem- bers of Parliament belonging to his party of the near approach of a division and to eomi)el their attendance while the vote is being taken. The wliip of the party in power is appointed a junior lord of the Treasury, with some minor patronage, in order to increase his inlluence. WHIPPING. Corporal punishment meted out to pitty offenders by the criminal law of various countries. It is still used in Russia, England, and Delaware in the United States. It is sometimes administered in private, but more often in public, the culprit in some cases being tied to a so-called whipping-post. In early English times this form of punishment could not be inflicted on a gentleman. Init was frequentlj- inflicted upon the villein, tenivnt, and laborer. Until within a century whipjiing was even more common in Scotland than in England, but by the act 25 Viet., ch. 18, no person above the age of sixteen can now be whipped in that country. The act of 20 and 27 Viet., ch. 4-t (not applicable to Scotland), authorizes whipping in addition to penal servitude for various crimes in England, and this sentence is still in favor with many English magistrates. In both England and Scot- land the whipping of juvenile offenders is re- garded as a salutary discipline by a public opin- ion which is no longer quite in favor of the similar treatment of adults. In Russia the ter- rible punishment of the knout is inflicted on both common oriminals and political offenders. Many penologists believe that a substitution of whipping for imprisonment in a large class of cases would be Avise. For eor])oral punishment in the army and navy, see Flogging. WHIPTLE, ABR. .M (1733-1819). An American naval olficer, born at Providence. R. I. He was captain of the privateer Gamecock in the French and Indian War. and on one cruise took twenty -three prizes. On the night of .June 8-9, 1772, he commanded the eight long-boats that surprised and destroyed the British revenue vessel Gaspcc. In 177.5 he was jnit in command of two vessels belonging to Rhode Island, and soon afterwards captured one of the tenders of the frigate Rose. He did much damage to Brit- ish shipping, as captain successively of the Columbus, of the schooner Procidence, and of the frigate Froridence. In the last he slipped through the blockade of Rhode Island and carried important dispatches to France. In July, 1779, with the Providence and two other vessels, he fell in with a British merchant fleet of nearly 150 sail, convoyed by a seventy-four and some smaller vessels, and succeeded in capturing ten vessels, eight of which reached Boston, where they were sold for about $1,000,000. At the de- fense of Charleston. S. C. in 1780, he commanded the naval forces, wa^f captured, and remained a prisoner until the end of the war. In 1788 he settled in Marietta, Ohio. WHIPPLE, Edwi.n Percy (1819-80). An American critic, born at Gloucester, Mass. He was educated at Salem, Mass., and soon went into banking. By 1837 he devoted much of his time to debating and reading. He won notice in 1843 by a panegj-rie upon Klacaulay and soon began a long and distinguished career as a lecturer on literary ami biogrnpliical topics. His first book Was Es.stii/s and Reviews (1848), which was followed by Literature and Life (1849); Cliaractcr and C'haractcristie Urn ( 18(i ; Liter- ature of the Aye of Eli.^ahcth (18G9); Reeol- Icctions of Eminent Men (1880); American Literature and Other Papers (1887). Whipple, in his day, attained a high position as a critic, and was a formative force in American litera- ture; and some of his work, for example, the Age of Eli:iihetli, is still read. WHIPPLE, Henry Bex.tamin (1822-1901). A bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, born in Adams, N. Y. Be- cause of ill health he gave up his college course and engaged in business. In 1847 he began to study theology privately, was ordained priest in 1850. and became rector at Rome. New York. In 1857 he removed to Chicago. Two years later he was elected and consecrated Bishop of Min- nesota. He was a warm friend and defender of the Indians, among whom he established success- ful missions. He also distinguished himself as an advocate of free churches. He wrote much for current periodicals, and also an autobiography, Lir/hts and Shadows of a Long Episcopate (New York. 1899). WHIPPLE, Squire (1804-88). An Ameri- can civil engineer, born at Hardwick, Mass. He graduated at Union College in 1830: became a civil engineer on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad: in 1840 designed a successful scale for weighing canal boats: in the same year patented an iron bridge truss; and after 1852 erected several impoi'tant bridges of the ■Miipple trapezoidal' type. He was sometimes called the 'father of iron bridges.' In 1872 he patented a lift drawbridge, and in the follow- ing year built one over the Erie Canal at Utica. He published Treatise on Bridge Building (1847; enlarged ed. 1873) and The Doctrine of Central Forces (1800). WHIPPLE, William (1730-85). A signer of the Declaration of Independence, born at Kit- tery, Maine. He became the captain of a mercliant vessel before he was twenty-one years of age, and engaged in the West India trade and in slave-trading voyages to Africa. At the age of twenty-nine he w'-ithdrew from the sea, and entered business at Portsmouth, N. H. In 1775 he was a delegate to the New Hampshire Provin- cial Congress; was elected a member of the Provincial Council of Safety-; and was elected to the Continental Congress in Janiiary, 1776. He continued to be a member of the Congress until September. 1779; in 1777. as brigadier- general of militia, he commanded one of the New Hampshire brigades in the operations against Burgoyne, and helped negotiate the terms of surrender; and in 1778 commanded the New Hampshire troops in the operations against the British in Rhode Island. In 1780 he was elected to the State Assembly and was several times reelected. He was superintendent of finance