discouraging the consumption of spirits and other deleterious liquors, the government passed a bill suppressing the octros duties on the three “hygienic” drinks—wine, cider and beer. The act came into force at the beginning of 1901. But the most important measure of his later administration was the Associations Bill of 1901. Like many of his predecessors, he was convinced that the stability of the republic demanded some restraint on the intrigues of the wealthy religious bodies. All previous attempts in this direction had failed. In his speech in the Chamber M. Waldeck-Rousseau recalled the fact that he had endeavoured to pass an Associations Bill in 1882, and again in 1883. He declared that the religious associations were now being subjected for the first time to the regulations common to all others, and that the object of the bill was to ensure the supremacy of the civil power. The royalist bias given to the pupils in the religious seminaries was undoubtedly a principal cause of the passing of this bill; and the government further took strong measures to secure the presence of officers of undoubted fidelity to the republic in the higher positions on the staff. His speeches on the religious question were published in 1901 under the title of Associations et congrégations, following a volume of speeches on Questions sociales (1900). As the general election of 1902 approached all sections of the Opposition united their efforts, and M. Waldeck-Rousseau’s name served as a battle-cry for one side, and on the other as a target for the foulest abuse. The result was a decisive victory for republican stability. With the defeat of the machinations against the republic M. Waldeck-Rousseau considered his task ended, and on the 3rd of June 1902 he resigned office, having proved himself the “strongest personality in French politics since the death of Gambetta.” He emerged from his retirement to protest in the Senate against the construction put on his Associations Bill by M. Combes, who refused in mass the applications of the teaching and preaching congregations for official recognition. His health had long been failing when he died on the 10th of August 1904.
His speeches were published as Discours parlementaires (1889); Pour la république, 1883–1903 (1904), edited by H. Leyret; L’État et la liberté (1906); and his Plaidoyers (1906, &c.) were edited by H. Barboux. See also H. Leyret, Waldeck-Rousseau et la troisième république (1908), and the article France: History.
WALDEGRAVE, the name of an English family, taken from its early residence, Walgrave in Northamptonshire. Its founder was Sir Richard Waldegrave, or Walgrave, who was member of parliament for Lincolnshire in 1335; his son. Sir Richard Waldegrave (d. 1402), was speaker of the House of Commons in 1402. One of Sir Richard’s descendants was Sir Edward Waldegrave (c. 1517–1561) of Borley, Essex, who was imprisoned during the reign of Edward VI. for his loyalty to the princess, afterwards Queen Mary. By Mary he was knighted, and he received from her the manor of Chewton in Somerset, now the residence of Earl Waldegrave. He was a member of parliament and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. After Mary’s decease he suffered a reverse of fortune, and he was a prisoner in the Tower of London when he died on the 1st of September 1561. Sir Edward’s descendant, another Sir Edward Waldegrave, was created a baronet in 1643 for his services to Charles I.; and his descendant, Sir Henry Waldegrave, Bart. (1660–1689), was created Baron Waldegrave of Chewton in 1686. Sir Henry married Henrietta (d. 1730), daughter of King James II. and Arabella Churchill, and their son was James, 1st Earl Waldegrave (1684–1741).
Educated in France, James Waldegrave soon crossed over to England, and under George I. he declared himself a Protestant and took his seat as Baron Waldegrave in the House of Lords. Having become friendly with Sir Robert Walpole, he was sent to Paris as ambassador extraordinary in 1725, and from 1727 to 1730 he was British ambassador at Vienna. In 1729 he was created Viscount Chewton and Earl Waldegrave, and in 1730 he succeeded Sir Horatio Walpole as ambassador in Paris, filling this post during ten very difficult years. He died on the 11th of April 1741. Much of his diplomatic correspondence is in the British Museum.
His son James, the 2nd earl (1715–1763), was perhaps the most intimate friend of George II., and was for a time governor of his grandson, the future king George III. He was very much in evidence during the critical years 1755–1757, when the king employed him to negotiate in turn with Newcastle, Devonshire, Pitt and Fox about the formation of a ministry. Eventually, in consequence of a deadlock, Waldegrave himself was first lord of the treasury for five days in June 1757. He died on the 28th of April 1763, leaving some valuable and interesting Memoirs, which were published in 1821.
His brother John, the 3rd earl (1718–1784), was a soldier, who distinguished himself especially at the battle of Minden and became a general in 1772. He was a member of parliament from 1747 to 1763. His younger son, William Waldegrave (1753–1825), entered the British navy in 1766, and after many years of service was third in command at the battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. In 1800 he was created an Irish peer as Baron Radstock, and in 1802 he became an admiral. His son, George Granville, 2nd Baron Radstock (1786–1857), followed in his father’s footsteps, and was made a vice-admiral in 1851. In 1857 his son, Granville Augustus William (b. 1833), became 3rd Baron Radstock.
George, 4th Earl Waldegrave (1751–1789), the eldest son of the 3rd earl, was a soldier and a member of parliament. His sons, George (1784–1794) and John James (1785–1835), were the 5th and 6th earls. In 1797 the 6th earl inherited from Horace Walpole his famous residence, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, but his son, George Edward, the 7th earl (1816–1846), was obliged in 1842 to sell the valuable treasures collected there. His wife, Frances, Countess Waldegrave (1821–1879), a daughter of the singer John Braham, was a prominent figure in society. He was her second husband, and after his death she married George Granville Vernon Harcourt of Nuneham Park, Oxfordshire, and later Chichester Fortcscue, Baron Carlingford.
The 7th earl was succeeded by his uncle William (1788–1859), a son of the 4th earl, and in 1859 William’s grandson, William Frederick (b. 1851), became the 9th earl.
WALDEN, ROGER (d. 1406), English prelate, was a man of obscure birth, little or nothing, moreover, being known of his early years. He had some connexion with the Channel Islands, and resided for some time in Jersey; and he held livings in Yorkshire and in Leicestershire before he became archdeacon of Winchester in 1387. His days, however, were by no means fully occupied with his ecclesiastical duties, and in 1387 also he was appointed treasurer of Calais, holding about the same time other positions in this neighbourhood. In 1395, after having served Richard II. as secretary, Walden became treasurer of England, adding the deanery of York to his numerous other benefices. In 1397 he was chosen archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Thomas Arundel, who had just been banished from the realm, but he lost this position when the new king Henry IV. restored Arundel in 1399, and after a short imprisonment he passed into retirement, being, as he himself says, “in the dust and under feet of men.” In 1405, through Arundel’s influence, he was elected bishop of London, and he died at Much Hadham in Hertfordshire on the 6th of January 1406. An Historia Mundi, the manuscript of which is in the British Museum, is sometimes regarded as the work of Walden; but this was doubtless written by an earlier writer.
See J. H. Wylie, History of England under Henry IV. vol. iii. (1896).
WALDENBURG, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, 39 m. S.W. of Breslau by the line to Hirschberg and Görlitz Pop. (1901) 16,435. It contains a handsome town hall, three Protestant and two Roman Catholic churches. Waldenburg lies in the centre of the productive coal district of the Waldenburger Gebirge, a branch of the Sudetic chain, and its inhabitants are largely occupied in the mining industry. Among other industrial establishments are a large porcelain and earthenware factory, extensive fireclay works, glass works and a china-painting establishment; there are also numerous flax-spinneries and linen-factories in the neighbourhood. Adjoining the town on the south is the village of Oberwaldenburg, pop. (1905)
