Western Empire
THE, a portion of the Roman empire, consisting of Italy, Illyricumma papir Gaunsi Britain, and Africa, which Valentinian I. reserved for himself when in 364 he shared the imperial authority with his brother Va lens, who reigned in Constantipople as Emperor of the East, and whose terriries comprised the E. half of the Baltories kan Peninsula, Greece, Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, as far as Persia. This partition of the Roman empire became final in 395, when Theodosius the Great divided the Roman world between his two sons, Honorius, who became Emperor of Rome and the West, and Arcadius, who became Emperor of Constantinople and the East. The Western Empire terminated in 476. See BYZANTINE EMPIRE: ROME.
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Western Maryland College
a coeducational institution in Westminster, Md.; founded in 1867 under the auspices of the Methodist Protestant Church; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 23; students, 275; president, Rev. T. H. Lewis, D. D., LL. D.
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Western Saratoga
name a given to Waukesha, Wis., which has numerous mineral springs.
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Westfield
a town of New Jersey, It is on the Central Railin Union co. road of New Jersey. It is chiefly a residential suburb of New York, and contains many fine residences. Pop. (1910) 6,420; (1920) 9,063.
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Westfield
a town in Hampden co., and on the Mass.; on the Westfield river, ver, New York, New Haven and Hartford and the Boston and Albany railroads; 9 miles west of Springfield. It comprises the villages of West Farms, Little River, Middle Farms, Mundale, East Farms, and Westfield Center. Here are the Western State Normal School, public library, high school, churches, electric lights, waterworks, and savings banks, and weekly and monthly It has manufactories of periodicals. organs, piano legs, paper, coffin trimsteam heaters, cigars, whips, etc. Pop. (1910) 16,044; (1920) mings, bicycles, 18,604.
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Westinghouse
GHOUSE, GEORGE, an American inventor; born in Central Bridge, N. Y., Oct. 6, 1846; removed to Schenectady, where he received a public school education; entered the machine shop of his father; and at the age of 15 designed a rotary engine. He served in the Union army in 1863-1864. His inventions include the Westinghouse air brake, electrical machinery, railroad sig nals, etc. In 1884 he was decorated with the Order of Leopold by the King of Belgium, and in 1889 with the Order of the Crown of Italy by the King of Italy, He died in 1914.
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Westminster
a district of London. It was formerly an independent city lying just above London on the left bank of the Thames. It was noted for its abbey, around which the ancient town of Westminster grew up. Westminster was a famous meeting place for church dignitaries. It was the favorite residence of William Rufus and other English monarchs. The suburb has long since become a part of the city. Westminster Hall , in which the Parliaments held their sessions, has been supplanted by the Houses of Parliament, making Westminster the political center of the nation. A famous bridge, known as Westminster Bridge, crosses the Thames here. The original structure was of stone resting on caissons, the most noteworthy that had been built up to that time. This bridge was begun in 1739 and completed in 1750. There were fifteen arches. The central span was seventy-six feet wide and fifty-eight feet above the Thames. In 1856-1862, it was replaced by the present bridge of seven iron arches, resting on granite piers. It is 1,160 feet long and eighty-five feet wide,--one of the notable bridges of the world. See Parliament
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Westminster Assembly
a famous convocation of divines summoned by the Long Parliament to advise "for the settling of the liturgy and the government of the Church of England." It met at Westminster July 1, 1643, and rose February 22, 1649. Most of the members were Presbyterians. The Assembly drew up a Directory of Public Worship, the Confession of Faith, and the Larger and Shorter Cathechisms. On the restoration of the Stuarts these manuals of faith and practice were rejected in England, but they were retained in Scotland. They are still the accredited standards of faith in the Presbyterian churches of that country, as well as in the Presbyterian churches abroad. See Catechism
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Westminster College
a coeducational institution in New Wilmington, Pa.; founded in 1852, under the auspices of the United Presbyterian Church; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 15; students, 200; president, W. C. Wallace, D. D.
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Westmoreland
a mountainous county in the northwest of England. It bears somewhat the same relation to London that the White Mountains do to Boston. The famous Lake Region, the rural residence of Southey, Wordsworth, and Coleridge, lies partly in the county. Lake Windermere on the Lancaster border is reputed the most beautiful sheet of water in England. The region is noted for rain, fogs, deep snows, and superb views. From a prosaic point of view it is given over to turnips and pasture for sheep and cattle.
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Westphalia (Name given at different)
the name given at different periods to (1) one of the circles of the old German empire, (2) one of Napoleon's kingdoms (1807-1813), conferred on his brother Jerome; and (3) now to a province of Prussia. The latter is bounded by Rhenish Prussia, Holland, Hanover, Brunswick, Hesse, and Nassau. Its area is 7,803 square miles. The surface in the S. and N. E. is generally mountainous; the northwest spreads out into extensive and often marshy plains, and belongs to the basin of the Ems; the northeast and a small part of the east to the basin of the Weser; the remainder, constituting the far larger portion of the whole, belongs to the basin of the Rhine, whose chief tributaries are the Ruhr and Lippe. Besides iron and coal in abundance the minerals include copper, lead, zinc, marble, slate, sulphur, antimony, and salt; and the manufactures are varied and important. The province is divided into the three circuits of Münster, Minden, and Arnsberg. Münster is the capital. Pop. about 4,500,000.
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Westphalia (PEACE OF the name given)
PEACE OF, the name given to the peace concluded in 1648 at Münster and Osnabrück, by which an end was put to the Thirty Years' War. By this peace the sovereignty of the members of the empire was acknowledged. The concessions that had been made to the Protestants since the religious peace in 1555 were confirmed. The elector-palatine had the palatinate of the Rhine and the electorate restored to him; Alsace was ceded to France; Sweden received western Pomerania, Bremen, Verden, and Brunswick were compensated by the secularization of numerous ecclesiastical foundations. The independence of the United Provinces was recognized by Spain, and that of Switzerland by the empire. See THIRTY YEARS' WAR.
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