Washington Territory was admitted to the Union as a State by Act of Congress, November 11, 1889. It was part of the Louisiana purchase (see Annexations I.) and was for a time a part of Oregon. It was organized as a separate territory by Act of March 2, 1853. The northern boundary of this region was for a long time in dispute with Great Britain, but was settled in 1846. (See Northwest Boundary.) Washington has one seat in the House of Representatives and four electoral votes. The population according to the last census (1890) was 349,390. It was named in honor of George Washington. The Capital is Olympia.

Waterloo.-"A Waterloo" has come to be the synonym of a complete and irretrievable defeat. At Waterloo, a village of Belgium, on June 18, 1815, the English and Prussians, under the Duke of Wellington, completely routed Napoleon Bonaparte, who, with the French Army, had for years been maintaining a gigantic and successful struggle against many of the nations of Europe. By this defeat his power and prestige were hopelessly shattered.

Ways and Means, Committee of, is the most important of the standing committees of the House of Representatives. Its function is the ways and means of raising and collecting revenue; or, in other words, the general subject of government revenues; this includes the tariff and internal revenue, as well as the public debt and financial measures. Prior to 1865 the expenditure of the government was also within its scope. This is now in the hands of the Appropriations Committee. (See Appropriations.)

Webster, Daniel, was born at Salisbury, New Hampshire, January 18, 1782, and died at Marshfield, Massachusetts, October 24, 1852. He was a lawyer, and a graduate of Dartmouth. From 1813 to 1817 he represented New Hampshire in Congress as a Federalist, then removed to Boston, serving in Congress from Massachusetts from 1823 to 1827, in the Senate from 1827 to 1841, as Secretary of State from 1841 to 1843, again in the Senate from 1845 to 1850, and once more, from

1850 until his death, as Secretary of State. It is conceded that he was the foremost orator this country has ever possessed. His name is best known in connection with the Dartmouth College case (which see), and his debate with Senator Hayne on Foot's Resolution (which see). Although frequently mentioned as a candidate for the presidency he never attained even the formal nomination of his party, although in 1836 the Massachusetts electors cast their votes for him. In 1850 he made his famous Seventh of March speech, regarded by many as a final bid for the presidency. However that may be, he was not nominated, and died soon after.

We Have Been Unfortunate, but Not Disgraced. On the 28th of March, 1814, during the War of 1812, Captain David Porter lay in the harbor of Valparaiso, Chili, in the United States frigate Essex. Notwithstanding the fact that he was in neutral waters he was attacked by two British vessels, the frigate Phoebe and the sloop-of-war Cherub. His vessel had been crippled by a storm, but he fought bravely, till nearly all his men were disabled, and then struck his colors. He reported to the government, "We have been unfortunate, but not disgraced."

We Have Lived Long, but This is the Noblest Work of Our Whole Lives.-This remark was made by Robert R. Livingston after the Louisiana purchase in 1803. (See Annexations I.)

We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Ours.During the War of 1812 the control of Lake Erie became necessary to the Americans for an aggressive movement on Canada. To oppose the British squadron, under Commodore Barclay, of six vessels carrying sixty-three guns in all, Commodore Oliver H. Perry gathered nine vessels mounting in all fifty-four guns. On the 10th of September, 1813, he attacked the British, fought a desperate battle, in the course of which he performed the daring feat of transferring his flag from the Lawrence, which was badly injured, to the Niagara, and defeated the enemy. To General Harrison, who was anxiously awaiting on shore the event of the battle, he sent the

following dispatch: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop." This victory was celebrated in a rude song of the day, as follows:

To make the proud flag of Great Britain come down."

Well-Born, The.-A term of contempt applied to the Federalists. The term was used by John Adams during the discussion preceding the adoption of the Constitution. "The rich, the well-born and the able will," wrote he, "acquire an influence among the people that will soon be too much for simple honesty and plain sense in a House of Representatives.

We Love Him for the Enemies that He Has Made. This sentence was uttered by Edward S. Bragg, of Wisconsin, in the Democratic National Convention of 1884, in a speech urging the nomination of Grover Cleveland for President. The reference was to the minority of the New York delegation, which was opposed to Cleveland's nomination, and which had attempted to abolish the Unit Rule for the purpose of compassing his defeat. Cleveland was nominated. Western Reserve. (See Territories.) West Florida. (See Annexations II.)

West Point and Military Academy. (See United States Military Academy at West Point.)

West Virginia was once a part of Virginia, but its people did not sympathize with the pro-slavery and secession sentiments of the eastern portion of the State, and on the ratification of the ordinance of secession (see Virginia), a convention at Wheeling declared it null and void. A government was formed, claiming to be the government of Virginia, which gave its consent to the erection of a new State, and West Virginia was thus admitted to the Union by Act of December 31, 1862, which took effect June 19, 1863. The capital is Charleston. The population in 1880 was 618,457 and in

the last census (1890) 762,704. West Virginia is entitled to four seats in the House of Representatives and six electoral votes. It is considered a Democratic State. The name first proposed for the State was Kanawha. Popularly it is called the Pan-Handle State. (See Govvernors; Legislatures.)

Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way. The following lines are from a poem entitled "On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America," written in the first half of the last century by Bishop Berkeley, an English philosopher:

"Westward the course of empire takes its way;
The four first acts already past,

A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last."

The epigraph to Bancroft's "History of the United States" made the first line of the above read as follows:

"Westward the star of empire takes its way."

Wets. A term used chiefly, if not exclusively, in Georgia and applied to the Anti-Prohibitionists. Opposed to "Drys."

Wheeler, William A., was born at Malone, New York, June 30, 1819, where he died June 4, 1887. He was admitted to the bar and served in the State Legislature. He was in Congress from 1861 to 1877 as a Republican. He was elected Vice-President under Hayes. Whig Party. The opposition to Andrew Jackson took the form of the National Republican party on the part of those differing from him on economic principles; to these were added those that had upheld Nullification, and factious Democrats in some of the Southern States, notably in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, in the two latter States, headed by Hugh L. White. James Watson Webb, of the New York Courier and Enquirer, suggested the name of Whig for this combination, as indicating opposition to "executive usurpation," a meaning it was asserted to have had in England, and during the Revolution in America. Under this name were ulti

mately included the National Republicans and the Southern factions; the Nullifiers were never a portion of them; they formed a separate pro-slavery faction in the Democratic party. Harrison was the first nominee of the party and he was indorsed by numerous antiMasonic and other conventions. Three other candidates were placed in nomination beside the Democratic nominee, Van Buren, who was elected. In 1840 Harrison, a military and anti-Masonic man, was nominated; as Vice-President, Tyler, one of the Southern wing, was named. This combination received an overwhelmingly large electoral vote; the campaign had been a vigorous one, based on Harrison's military services, to the cry of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." The Whigs had a small majority, also, in both Houses. One month after his inauguration Harrison died. Soon after his accession Tyler broke with his party, the occasion being the veto by him of a National Bank Bill. The first platform of the party adopted in 1844 meant anything or nothing. Clay was nominated, and his defeat, to a great extent, was owing to the action of the Liberty party. The question of the annexation of Texas foreshadowed the importance that slavery was soon to assume. This topic it was the constant effort of the Northern Whigs to keep out of politics. Opposition to slavery meant rupture with the Southern Whigs, who were first pro-slavery and only then Whigs; advocacy of it meant the displeasure of Northern constituents. The Wilmot Proviso was accordingly supported by Northern Whigs, and opposed by the Southerners. Taylor was the nominee in 1848; no platform was adopted. He was elected largely on his military reputation. The Compromise of 1850 and all other measures affecting slavery found the Southern Whigs acting with the Democrats and against their Northern brothers in the party. These latter made every effort to keep the subject down, and every new piece of legislation on the subject was declared by them to be a "finality." In 1852 the platform contained a plank to that effect, and General Winfield Scott was named for President. Scott was completely defeated. The Southern