WALLACE WALSH. 



751 



received from the University of Dublin the honorary 

 degree of D. C. L. 



Wallace's attention has not been confined to scien- 

 tific subjects. Alter his return from the Pacific 

 islands he gave much attention to the phenomena of 

 spiritualism, into which he made close researches, 

 with the result of becoming firmly convinced that they 

 were actually the work of disembodied spirits. The 

 results of his observations in this direction were pub- 

 lished in 1874 in a series of essays in the Fort nii/h fly 

 Review, which were afterwards reprinted under the 

 title, Mil-tides and Modi-rn Spiritualism (1875). .Since 

 that date Wallace has written little upon the subject, 

 but is said to be still a firm believer in the spirit origin 

 of these phenomena. _At a later date he became 

 strongly interested in social and political problems, and 

 published Land Nationalization, its Necessity and 

 Aims (1882), in which he gave a sketch of the whole 

 subject of the tenure of land, and proposed a scheme 

 of occupancy under state control which he believed 

 would remedy the numerous evils of the present sys- 

 tem of land-holding. For the advocacy and promo- 

 tion of this scheme a Land Nationalization Society has 

 been formed, with Wallace as its presiding officer. A 

 later economic publication is his Had Times, with Sug- 

 gested Rcniediex (ISS'i). 



As a scientific thinker and observer Wallace occu- 

 pies a high position in the annals of modern science, 

 yet in the former has not attained the standing to 

 which his mental acumen seems to entitle him. Un- 

 like his fellow-theorist, Charles Darwin, lie has nut 

 devoted his lifo to the elucidation of a single problem, 

 f r attempted the exhaustive treatment of any topic, 

 but has given his attention to subject after subject 

 without an effort to probe any one to the bottom. 

 While unusually quick in the appreciation of cau.-es 

 and principles, as evidenced in his theory of natural 

 selection and many miner theoretical views, it is rather 

 quick ness than depth, his conceptions being reached at 

 a leap, as itvcre, and never pursued to their ultimate 

 wllh the hard and persistent labor of the great mas- 

 ters of thought II is scientific friends say that he is 

 almost intuitive in his readiness in solving a problem 

 iu nutural history, but his quickness does not seem 

 combined with persistence, and, with all his fine pow- 

 ers of thought, he has failed to win the leading posi- 

 tion in science which some of less native brilliancy of 

 thought have attained. As a writer he is comprehen- 

 sible and pleasing, his works being clearly and attract- 

 ively written, and full of that enthusiasm in his sub- 

 ject which is needed to arouse the interest of the 

 reader to its fullest extent. _ They have been widely 

 read and have aided much in the popularisation of 

 science. (c. M ) 



WALLACE, LEWIS, general and author, w:i.s ! <>rn i;i 

 Fountain CO., Ind.,iu llSl'T. sou of David Wallace (1 790- 

 18.30), formerly governor of that State. Ho studied law 

 and was admitted to the bar, but daring the Mexican 

 war threw up hi., practice and joined the army as second 

 lieutenant of First Indiana Volunteers. Alter tho war 

 he returned to the practice of his profession in his na- 

 tive State, of whose senate he was member for a 

 year. At the outbreak of the rclxllion ho was adju- 

 tant-general of Indiana, but in April. ISO), he was 

 chosen to the command of the Eleventh Indiana .Volun- 

 teers (three-months' men), anil served with it in West 

 Virginia, at the capture of Romm-y, and elsewhere. 

 This regiment's term expired in August, 1801. but, 

 mainly through his zeal and influence, it was forthwith 

 reorganized under his command. In September he 

 received his commission as brigadier general of volun- 

 teers, and was for a time stationed in Kentucky. He 

 commanded a division at the capture of Fort Ponel- 

 non, occupying the centre of the National lines, and 

 manifested such gallantry and skill that he was pro- 

 moted uiajor-gi-iieriil of volunteers, March 21, 18G2. 

 In the battle of Shiloh his division occupied Crump's 

 Lauding, on the Tennessee, some 8 miles lower down 



than the field of battle, and was not engaged the first 

 day. On the second day it rendered efficient service, 

 as it did also in the subsequent advance on Corinth. 

 In the court of inquiry, which sat in November to in- 

 quire into the conduct of Gen. Buell, Gen. Wallace was 

 president. In 1803 he prevented the capture of Cin- 

 cinnati by Gen. Kirby Smith, and was next year as- 

 signed to the command of the Middle Department and 

 Eighth Army Corps, with which he met Early marching 

 on Washington, but was defeated by him on the banks of 

 the Monocacy, Maryland, July 9, 1804. On this Gen. 

 Ord was directed by Halleck to supersede Wallace, 

 but Grant promptly reinstated him. He had, in fact, 

 succeeded in his main object, which tvas to give Grant 

 time to reinforce Washington from City Point. Ho 

 was a member of the commission which sat in 1865 for 

 the trial of the persons implicated in the assassination 

 of Prcs. Lincoln and the attempt on the life of Sec. 

 Suward. and was president of the court that tried Capt. 

 Wirz, of Audersonville prison. After the war Gen. 

 Wallace engaged in the practice of law at Crawfords- 

 ville, Ind. -Here also lie wrote his first work of fiction, 

 The Fair God (1873). a story of Mexico. In 1881 he 

 was sent as U. S. minister to Constantinople, and in 

 next year was made envoy extraordinary and minister 

 plenipotentiary at the same court. He returned to the 

 United States in 1885. 



Gen. Wallace has shown uncommon faculty of turn- 

 ing to new subjects of diverse kinds, and mastering 

 them with the zeal and enjoyment of youth. He was 

 distinguished as a soldier, a general, and a lawyer; he 

 handles the brush with the facility of an artist. Few 

 literary productions have so suddenly leapt into fnuio 

 as his Ben II ur (1880, New York"). The circulation, 

 of the latter work has been quite phenomenal, and an 

 eminent critic has said, "JSeti Ilnr is altogether the 

 most noteworthy novel ever written by an American." 

 In 1888 these were succeeded by another work, The 

 Boyhood af Christ, in which he has made use of the 

 stories in the Apocryphal Gospels. For the Presiden- 

 tial campaign of 1888 he wrote a biography of his 

 friend. Gen. Benjamin Harrison. In Harper s Maga- 

 zine for January. 1889, he published a tragedy in blank 

 verse, entitled Cnmmodnt. Gen. Wallace resides in 

 Crawfordsville, Ind., mainly occupied with literary 

 work. His wife, Mrs. Susan E. Wallace, is a brilliant 

 and picturesque writer of historical and descriptive 

 sketches. 



WALLACE, WILLIAM HARVEY LAMB (1821- 

 1802), general, was born at Urbana, Ohio, July 8, 

 1821. In 1833 be removed with his father to Illinois, 

 where he studied law in Springfield and Ottawa. On 

 the occurrence of the Mexican war, he enlisted in Col. 

 Hardin's regiment, the First Illinois Volunteers, rising 

 to be lieutenant and adjutant and was engaged in the 

 battle of Buena Vista. In 1853 he was elected State 

 attorney for the 9th circuit of Illinois, and in May, 

 1801, he was commissioned colonel of the Eleventh 

 Illinois regiment. At the capture of Fort Donelson 

 in February, 1802, he commanded & brigade in 

 McClernand's division and bore so conspicuous a part 

 that on March 21 lie was promoted brigadier-general. 

 At the battle of Shiloh he commanded the division of 

 Gen. C. F. Smith, absent on accountof sickness. When 

 the three other divisions were routed, Wallace, in con- 

 junction with Gen. Hurlbut, for six hours held the 

 field against the force of the enemy flushed with vic- 

 tory. At the end of the struggle Gen. Wallace fell 

 mortally wounded, "closing in death," says Horace 

 Greeley, "a day's work which had won for him the 

 admiration of all beholders and the gratitude of his 

 country." He died at Savannah, lenn., April 8, 

 1802. 



WALSH, ROBERT (1784-1859), author and jour- 

 nalist, was born in Baltimore in 1784, and was edu- 

 cated at the Catholic College there and Georgetown 

 College, D. C. After completing his course he went 

 to Europe, where he remained until his twenty-fifth 



