WANKERWAR. 



875 



Foreign countries after finishing their apprentice- 

 ship. Formerly, they were bound by law, in all 

 German states, to travel in this way, otherwise 

 they could not make their masterpieces ; that is, 

 those specimens of their skill, by which they prov- 

 ed to the corporation that they were fit to become 

 masters, and which they are still bound to exhibit 

 in several parts of Germany where corporations 

 exist. Whether this habit of wandering arose from 

 the universal disposition of the Germans for travel- 

 ling into foreign countries, which scatters German 

 mechanics all over the world, or from the unsettled 

 habits of many classes in the middle ages, as the 

 knights, the vacantivi (see School), or the frequent 

 campaigns of the Germans in Italy, where the ser- 

 vants of the noblemen learned many arts not known 

 in Germany, we cannot here discuss. In summer, 

 mechanics may always be seen on the roads in Ger- 

 many, carrying knapsacks and sometimes a few 

 tools. They receive dinner and lodging, or money, 

 from the corporation in each place, or from the 

 master- workmen, if there are only a few in a place. 

 Many peculiarities and absurdities are connected 

 with this receiving of presents. Instead of a pass- 

 port, they carry " wandering-books," so called, 

 which must be kept in good order, and shown to 

 the police of the places through which they pass. 



WANKER, FERDINAND GEMINIAN, doctor of 

 theology, professor of moral philosophy in the uni- 

 versity of Freiburg, was born in 1758, in Freiburg, 

 in the Brisgau, was made professor of morals in 

 1788, and elected archbishop, but died in 1824, be- 

 fore the papal confirmation arrived from Rome. His 

 works would prove instructive to many Catholics 

 who believe that they abandon their faith if they 

 give up certain things which are inconsistent with 

 the present state of intelligence, or with the testi- 

 mony of history. Among his works are the follow- 

 ing : On Reason and Revelation, with a View to 

 the Moral Wants of Mankind, (Vienna, 1802, 2d 

 ed., Freiburg) ; On the Matrimonial Tie, consi- 

 dered with Respect to Natural Law and Pure Mo- 

 rality, (1810) ; and System of Christian Morals. 



WAPATOO ISLAND; an island of North 

 America, formed by the junction of the Multnomah 

 with the Columbia, twenty miles long and ten 

 broad. Its numerous ponds abound with the com- 

 mon arrow-head, (sagittaria sagittifolid), to the root 

 of which is attached a bulb, growing in the mud. 

 This bulb, to which the Indians give the name of 

 wapatoo, is the great article of food, and almost the 

 staple article of commerce on the Columbia. It is 

 never out of season, so that, at all times of the year, 

 the valley is frequented by the neighbouring Indians, 

 who come to gather it. It is collected chiefly by the 

 women, who take a light canoe in a pond where the 

 water is as high as the breast, and, by means of 

 their toes, separate the root from the bulb, which on 

 being freed from the mud, rises immediately to the 

 surface of the water, and is thrown into the canoe. 

 This plant is found through the whole extent of the 

 Columbia valley, but does notgrow farther eastward. 



WAPPING ; a commercial district of London in 

 Middlesex, on the north bank of the Thames, one 

 of the out-parishes of London, on the east side of the 

 city, inhabited chiefly by persons employed in trade 

 connected with the shipping of the port of London ; 

 pop. in 1841, of St John's parish, Wapping, 4103. 

 Here are the London docks, St Catharine's docks, 

 &c., and the stupendous warehouses belonging to the 

 custom-house, ic. See London. 



W AR, in general ; a state of hostility and vio- 



lence between individuals, or, in a more common 

 sense, between sovereign nations, who, having no 

 superior power to which to appeal for the decision 

 of their disputes, have recourse to force and arms. 

 In contradistinction to international or public war, 

 civil war designates a similar state of violence 

 existing between different portions or members of 

 the same nation. International wars were gener- 

 ally distinguished into offensive wars, or wars of 

 attack, and defensive wars, or wars of defence. 

 The party which carries on what is called an of- 

 fensive war is not, however, by any means, always 

 the original author of the hostile measures, since 

 the seeming assailant is often forced into his posi- 

 tion by the violation of his rights, or the menacing 

 posture of the other party. It is well known that 

 both belligerents aim to acquire the credit of acting 

 on the defensive, partly to conciliate public opinion, 

 which, though often mistakenly, commonly pro- 

 nounces a defensive war justifiable, and condemns 

 an offensive war; and sometimes, also, to secure 

 the assistance of foreign powers, which has been 

 guarantied, by treaty, to one or both parties, who 

 may become the object of offensive measures. The 

 right of declaring war, in monarchical governments, 

 is commonly in the king, as the actual sovereign 

 power, or the head of the executive, as in constitu- 

 tional monarchies. In England and France, the 

 king has the right to declare war and make peace ; 

 but this power is virtually controlled by the legis- 

 lative power to grant or withhold supplies. In the 

 United States, the constitution provides that the 

 congress shall have power to declare war, grant let- 

 ters of marque and reprisal, raise and support armies, 

 and provide and maintain a navy. It is not, in 

 modern times, a common practice to make a formal 

 declaration of war, or official previous notice to the 

 enemy ; but a domestic manifesto of the sovereign 

 to his subjects, or to the nation, is considered as 

 sufficient to apprize neutrals that a war actually 

 exists. Thus, in the war between England and 

 France, in 1778, the recalling of the British minister 

 from Paris was considered the first public act of 

 hostility; and there was no other declaration of 

 war. So, in the war of 1812, between Great Bri- 

 tain and the United States, hostilities were com- 

 menced, on the part of America, as soon as the ne- 

 cessary act of congress was passed, without waiting 

 to communicate its intentions to the British go- 

 vernment. Individuals have no right to commit 

 acts of hostility, except in self-defence, without a 

 commission from the proper authorities, and are 

 liable to be treated as pirates and robbers if they 

 undertake hostilities on their own responsibility. 

 (See Privateers, and Prize.) On the rights and 

 duties of belligerents in general, see the articles 

 Nations, Law of; and Conquest. See likewise, 

 Soldiers, Strategy, Military Sciences, Army, Navy, 

 Tirailleurs, &c. 



War, Private, or Club-Law (jus manuarium ; in 

 German, Faustrecht, fist-law). Throughout the 

 countries which composed the Carlovingian empire, 

 no feudal right was more universally established 

 and exercised than that of private war, the imme- 

 diate cause and systematic commencement of which 

 are sufficiently to be found in the anarchy of 

 the ninth and tenth centuries. During the abey- 

 ance of all regal or national authority, the great 

 feudatories were, in fact, in the condition of foreign 

 powers to each other : they were without any com- 

 mon superior jurisdiction, to which, had they been 

 inclined, they could appeal for the redress of in- 



