688 



OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (WHICHCOTE WINDTHORST.) 



by so doing he provoked an outcry that contributed 

 to his own downfall. Returning to journalism, Weiss 

 undertook for a time the dramatic feuilleton for the 

 ' Journal des Debats," which lie abandoned to de- 

 vote himself to literature. He was the author of sev- 

 eral able works, and for the last six years of his life 

 was librarian at Fontainebleau. 



Whichcote, George, an English soldier, born in Lin- 

 colnshire, Dec. 21, 1794 ; died near Coventry, Aug. 

 26, 1891. He was a son of Sir Thomas Whichcote, 

 was educated at Kugby, and on leaving school en- 

 tered the army, receiving his commission in Januarj, 

 1811, and was sent to the Peninsula and took part in 

 the severe fighting under Wellington, being present 

 at Sabugal,"El Bodon, Alfayates, the storming of 

 Rederigo, Badajos, and the battles of Salamanca, 

 Vera, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Mvelle, Orthes, Tarbes, 

 and Toulouse. At Waterloo he commanded a com- 

 pany of the 52d Kegiment, which played an impor- 

 tant part in the events of the day. He was promoted 

 captain in 1818, major in 1825 ('when he was retired 

 on half-pay), lieutenant-colonel in 1838, colonel in 

 1851, major-general in 1857, lieutenant-general in 

 1864, and' general in 1871. 



White, Sir William Arthur, an English diplomatist, 

 born in 1822 ; died in Berlin, Dec. 28, 1891. The son of 

 a petty consular official of Irish origin, he learned from 

 Polish family connections to speak Polish and Ger- 

 man so well, that his English always retained a for- 

 eign accent, although he was educated on the Isle of 

 Man and at Cambridge. He was therefore specially 

 fitted for the appointment that he received of secre- 

 tary to the British consul-general at Warsaw in 

 1857, at a time when a new fermentation was arising 

 in Poland. He performed the duties that were com- 

 mitted to him with tact and discretion, was acting 

 consul-general for a time, was made vice-consul in 

 1861, and in 1864 was promoted to be consul at Dant- 

 sic, while continuing for a year longer to conduct 

 the affairs of the consulate-general in Warsaw. In 

 1866 he went for six months to Belgium as acting 

 consul-general, and then proceeded to his post at 

 Da_ntsiCj where he remained nine years. His famil- 

 iarity with Slavonic languages and witn the political 

 doings of Russia in the East were of service to the 

 Foreign Office, marking him as the proper man for 

 the post of political agent and consul-general at Bel- 

 grade in 1875, when the movement began that re- 

 sulted in the Servian war and the Russo-Turkish 

 war. He had thus crossed the border line between 

 the consular and the diplomatic service, but would 

 probably have never reached the upper grades, which 

 are the prizes for the diplomatic guild of the aristoc- 

 racy, had not Lord Salisbury, whom he assisted as a 

 specialist at the conference in Constantinople, noted 

 his remarkable knowledge and ability. From him 

 the Foreign Minister gained much of the information 

 that caused him to amend his views on the Eastern 

 question. He went to the Berlin Conference as an 

 expert, and for the services that he had rendered in 

 the preceding three years he was appointed minister 

 at Bucharest, afterward received the honor of knight- 

 hood, and from this period stood in the forefront of 

 events, was recognized as the greatest authority on 

 the Eastern question, and had the first claim to the 

 succession of the embassy at Constantinople. His 

 opjnions were decisive before he was sent on special 

 missions to Constantinople in 1885 and 1886. It was 

 his advice that determined the attitude taken up by 

 the British Government toward Bulgaria at the time 

 of the annexation of Eastern Roumelia and main- 

 tained ever since. On Oct. 11, 1886, he was appointed 

 ambassador to the Porte. His frank and open man- 

 ner, his resounding voice and imposing personality, 

 his penetration and ready memory, his store of infor- 

 mation gathered from ajl sorts of people and from 

 newspapers, his sagacity and fine tact, impressed the 

 Turks from the Sultan down, and gave him a personal 

 power and influence over his fellow-diplomats at 

 Constantinople that even the, Russians recognized by 

 calling him the English Ignatieff. In England lie 



was appreciated by Liberals and Tories alike as the 

 greatest expert in Eastern att'airs that was ever sent 

 to the Golden Horn, not less sagacious and adroit than 

 Lord Stratford de Redclift'e, and one whose place it 

 will be equally hard to fill. He took a leave of ab- 

 sence in June, 1891, to enjoy a vacation in Germany, 

 and died suddenly from an attack of infiuenza. 



Wills, William Gorman, a British dramatist, born in 

 County Kilkennv, Ireland, in 1830; died in London, 

 Dec. 14, 1891. lie was graduated with honors at 

 Trinity College, Dublin, studied art in that city, and 

 won some reputation as a painter of portraits. At 

 the age of twenty-seven he produced a successful 

 play, " The Man o' Airlie," which was placed on the. 

 stage in the United States by Lawrence Barrett. His 

 " Charles I " was the play in which Henry Irving 

 won his first renown as a tragedian, and the same act- 

 or presented his "Eugene Aram" and " Vaiider- 

 decken." " Jane Shore " was brought out in New 

 York by Genevieve Ward and " Olivia" by Fanny 

 Davenport. Other popular pieces written by him are 

 "Nell Gwynn" and "William and Susan." His last 

 work, " A Royal Divorce," founded on the story of 

 Bonaparte and Josephine, was produced in London 

 a few months before his death by Grace Hawthorne. 

 He was the author of several novels, of which " No- 

 tice to Quit" and " Wife's Evidence " were repub- 

 lished in the United States. 



Windthorst, Lndwig, a German statesman, born in 

 Kaldenhof, Hanover, Jan. 17, 1812 ; died in Berlin, 

 March 14, 1891. He was the son of Catholic parents, 



and his father, a wealthy farmer, sent him to the 

 ancient; Carolinum Gymnasium in the neighboring 

 town of Osnabriick to prepare for entrance in a theo- 

 logical seminary. Preferring a legal career, he studied 

 in Gottingen and Heidelberg, gained a reputation as 

 attorney for Catholic societies, was appointed chief 

 judge of the Court of Appeals at Celle in 1848, and 

 in tne following year entered the Second Chamber of 

 Hanover, in which he supported the Particularistic 

 or anti- Prussian partv, and took so prominent a posi- 

 tion that he became leader of the Ministerial party, 

 and in 1851 was elected president. Soon afterward 

 he was called into the Cabinet as Minister of Justice. 

 This post he held from November, 1851, till 1853, 

 winning much influence over King Georg V, whom 

 he persuaded to receive Catholics at court. In 1862 

 he was again appointed Minister of Justice in the 

 Brandis-Platen ministry, which favored an alliance 

 with Austria against Prussia. On his retirement, he 

 was appointed, in October, 1865, chief syndic of the 

 Crown at Celle. After the annexation of Hanover by 

 Prussia he was the King's representative in the 

 negotiations with Prince Bismarck for compensation, 

 which resulted in the treaty of Sept. 29, 1867, and till 

 the end of his life he acted as legal counsel and 

 political representative of the family of the Guelphs. 



