Tille. iipar Eiliiiburgh. In 18.54 he declined the chair of natural history in Edinburgh University. He contributed many articles to Blackwood's Mariazine and the quarterlies, and wrote several hooks on natural history and zoology. Consult Memoirs, by J. Hamilton (Edinburgh, 1859).
WILSON, James (1805-60). A British
economist, born at Hawick, in Ro.burghshire. He
published in 1839 Influences of the Corn Laws OS
Affectinfi All Classes of the Cotnmunitt/ (3d ed.
1840) . in which he showed that the duty on corn
was really no more beneficial to the agricultural
interest than it was to the manufacturing inter-
est, and by so doing contributed nmch toward
the ultimate success of the anti-corn-law move-
ment. In 1840 he published Fluctuations of Cur-
rency. Commerce, and Manufactures, in which he
pointed out the evil effects of the artificial opera-
tion of the corn laws. In the following year ap-
I>eared his The Revenue, or ^Yhat Uliall the Chan-
cellor Dot Two years afterwards he founded
The Economist, in which he advocated the anti-
corn-law movement. In 1847 he published Capi-
tal, Currency, and Bankinrj (2d ed. 1859), which
was a collection of essays already printed in The
Economist. In the same year he was returned to
Parliament from Westbury, and from 1853 to
18.58 held the position of Financial Secretary to
the Treasury. In October, 1859, he became finan-
cial member of the Council of India, where he
carried through a budget that provided for an
income tax, and established a sound paper cur-
rency redeemable in silver. A memoir was writ-
ten by his sonin-Iaw, Walter Bagehot (London,
1861)'.
WILSON, James (1835—). An American
Cabinet officer. He was born in Ayrshire. Scot-
land, emigrated with his parents to the United
States in 1852, lived for a short time at Korwich,
Conn., and in 1855 removed to Tama County,
Iowa, where after 1861 he engaged in farming.
He was a member of the State Assembly for
three terms, during the last of which he was
Speaker, and from 1873 to 1877 and again in
1883-85 was a member of Congress. In 1870-74
he was regent of the State University of Iowa;
in 1890-97 was director of the Agricultural E.-
periment Station; for a time was professor of
agriculture in the Iowa Agricultural College; and
in 1897 became Secretary of Agriculture in the
Cabinet of President McKinley. in which position
he was retained by President Roosevelt.
WILSON, James Grant (1832—). An
American editor and author, born in New York
City. He was educated chiefly by jjrivate
tutors and through European travel, founded
(1857) the Cliicago llceord, a journal of art and
literature, and entered the Union Army as major
and left it as brigadier-general (1865). He after-
wards lived in New York, W'as a ])opular speaker,
a frecpient contributor to periodicals, president of
the Society of American Authors, and, after 18S5,
of the New York Genealogical and Biogra])hical
Society. He edited Fitz-Greene Halleck's Poems
(1868): .'1 Memorial History of the City of yew
York (4 vols., 1892-93); Applcton's Cyclojwvdia
of American Biography (6 vols., 1887-89, with
John Fiske; vol. vii., 1900); and The (Irent Com-
manders iSeries (18 vols.). His chief books in-
clude: fiioqraphical Sketches of Illinois Officers
(1862-G3) -.^Lifc of Fitz-Urcene Hallcck (1869);
Sketches of Illustrious Holdiers (1874); Poets
and Poetry of Scotland (1870); Centennial His-
tory of the Diocese of New York, 1773-1885
(1886); Bryant and Bis Friends (1886); Com-
modore Isaac Hull and. the Frigate Constitution
(1889); Love in Letters (1896); Life of General
Grant (1897); The Presidents of the United
States. 17S9-1<)()1 (1902); and Thackeray in the
United States (1903).
WILSON, James Harrison (1837—). An
American soldier, born near Shawneetown, 111.
He graduated at West Point in 1860 and entered
the topographical engineers. During the Civil
War he acted as aide-de-camp to General Mc-
Clellan in the Maryland campaign; was chief
topographical engineer of the Army of the Ten-
nessee from October, 1862, until March, 1863;
was assistant engineer and inspector-general of
the Army of the Tennessee at Vicksburg and took
part in the operations about Chattanooga. He
was made brigadier-general of volunteers in
October, 1863. In February, 1864, he was
])ut in cliarge of the cavalry bureau at
Washington; then commanded the Third Cav-
alry Division under General Sheridan; was
brevetted major-general of vohmteers on Oc-
tober 5, 1864, for "gallant and meritorious
services" during the war: and on October 24,
1864, was i)ut in command of the cavalry corps
of the Military Division of the Mississippi. He
participated in the battles of Franklin and Nash-
ville, and, in ^larch, 1865, was sent on a cavalry
expedition into Georgia and Alabama, and in
twenty-eight days captured Selma. Montgomery,
Columbus,!Macon, and other places, with 288
guns and 6820 prisoners, including Jefferson
Davis. As a reward for these services he was on
April 20, 1865, made a major-general of volun-
teers. He resigned from the ai'my in 1870, and
engaged in large railroad and engineering opera-
tions at home and abroad. In May, 1898, he was
appointed major-general of volunteers, and com-
manded the First Division of the First Army
Corps in the campaign in Porto Rico. He took
part in the China relief expedition of 1900. He
published: Life of General U. S. Grant (1868),
with Charles A. Dana; and China: Trai-els and
Investigations in the Middle Kingdom (1887).
WILSON, John (1588-1667). A New Eng-
land clergyman. He was born at Windsor, Eng-
land, graduated at Cambridge in 1006, obtained
a fellowship and studied law three years. He
was ordained in the Church of England; became
chaplain to Lady Scudaniore; preached at Mort-
lake, Henley, Bumsted, Stoke, and Candish; was
minister of Sudbury, Essex, but was repeatedly
suspended by the Bishop's court because of his
Puritan svnipathies. He embarked for America
(1630) at the Isle of Wight, with Winthrop and
others of the Massachusetts Colony, and landed
at Salem, Mass. At Cliarlestown lie organized a
church, which afterwards became the First
Church of Boston; was ordained teacher in this
church by the imposition of the hands of the
members, and ordained as its pastor (1632).
In 1634 he visited England, returning the next
year with his wife, and Hugh Peters (q.v.). who
w.as compelled to leave for non-conformity. With
Governor Winthrop, Wilson opposed the Antino-
niian sentiments of .Tolin Wlieelwriglit and Anno
Hutchinson. He was chaplain to the troops ecnt
