[1] See map in _London Statistics_ (vol. xix., 1909), an annual
publication of the London County Council, which besides these
divisions shows "Water London," the London main drainage area, and
the Central Criminal Court district.
[2] Charing Cross station was the scene of a remarkable catastrophe
on the 5th of December 1905, when a large part of the roof collapsed,
and the falling débris did very serious damage to the Avenue theatre,
which stands close to the station at a lower level.
[3] The report appeared in eight volumes, the first of which,
containing the general conclusions to which allusion is here made,
bore the number, as a blue-book. Cd. 2597.
[4] Over 200 local acts were repealed by schemes made under the act
of 1899.
[5] A valuable article on "The Conqueror's Footprints in Domesday"
was published in the _English Historical Review_ in 1898 (vol. xiii.
p. 17). This article contains an account of Duke William's movements
after the battle of Senlac between Enfield, Edmonton, Tottenham and
Berkhampstead.
[6] "A map of London engraved on copper-plate, dated 1497," which was
bought by Ferdinand Columbus during his travels in Europe about
1518-1525, is entered in the catalogue of Ferdinand's books, maps,
&c., made by himself and preserved in the Cathedral Library at
Seville, but there is no clue to its existence.
[7] One is in the Guildhall Library, and the other among the Pepysian
maps in Magdalene College, Cambridge.
[8] This map of London by Norden is dated 1593, as stated above. The
same topographer published in his _Middlesex_ a map of Westminster as
well as this one of the City of London.
[9] Various changes in the names of the taverns are made in the folio
edition of this play (1616) from the quarto (1601); thus the Mermaid
of the quarto becomes the Windmill in the folio, and the Mitre of the
quarto is the Star of the folio.
[10] _The Great Revolt of 1381_ (Oxford, 1906), p. 27.
[11] In a valuable paper on "The Population of Old London" in
_Blackwood's Magazine_ for April 1891.
[12] The old Bills of Mortality, although of value from being the
only authority on the subject, were never complete owing to various
causes: one being that large numbers of Roman Catholics and
Dissenters were not registered in the returns of the parish clerk who
was a church officer. The bills were killed by the action of the
Registration Act for England and Wales, which came into operation
July 1, 1837. The weekly Returns of the Registrar-General began in
1840.
[13] "The invention of 'bills of mortality' is not so modern as has
been generally supposed, for their proper designation may be found in
the language of ancient Rome. Libitina was the goddess of funerals;
her officers were the Libitinarii _our_ undertakers; her temple in
which all business connected with the last rites was transacted, in
which the account of deaths--_ratio Libitinae_--was kept, served the
purpose of a register office."--_Journal Statistical Society_, xvii.
117 (1854).
[14] The return was made "by special command from the Right
Honourable the Lords of His Majesty's Privy Council." The Privy
Council were at this time apprehensive of an approaching scarcity of
food. The numbers (130,268) were made up as follows: London Within
the Walls 71,029, London Without the Walls 40,579, Old Borough of
Southwark (Bridge Without) 18,660.
[15] R. R. Sharpe, _London and the Kingdom_ (1894), i. 541.
LONDON CLAY, in geology, the most important member of the Lower Eocene
strata in the south of England. It is well developed in the London
basin, though not frequently exposed, partly because it is to a great
extent covered by more recent gravels and partly because it is not often
worked on a large scale. It is a stiff, tenacious, bluish clay that
becomes brown on weathering, occasionally it becomes distinctly sandy,
sometimes glauconitic, especially towards the top; large calcareous
septarian concretions are common, and have been used in the manufacture
of cement, being dug for this purpose at Sheppey, near Southend, and at
Harwich, and dredged off the Hampshire coast. Nodular lumps of pyrites
and crystals of selenite are of frequent occurrence. The clay has been
employed for making bricks, tiles and coarse pottery, but it is usually
too tenacious for this purpose except in well-weathered or sandy
portions. The base of the clay is very regularly indicated by a few
inches of rounded flint pebbles with green and yellowish sand, parts of
this layer being frequently cemented by carbonate of lime. The average
thickness of the London Clay in the London basin is about 450 ft.; at
Windsor it is 400 ft. thick; beneath London it is rather thicker, while
in the south of Essex it is over 480 ft. In Wiltshire it only reaches a
few feet in thickness, while in Berkshire it is some 50 or 60 ft. It is
found in the Isle of Wight, where it is 300 ft. thick at Whitecliff
Bay--here the beds are vertical and even slightly reversed--and in Alum
Bay it is 220 ft. thick. In Hampshire it is sometimes known as the
Bognor Beds, and certain layers of calcareous sandstone within the clays
are called Barnes or Bognor Rock. In the eastern part of the London
basin in east Kent the pebbly basement bed becomes a thick deposit (60
ft.), forming part of the Oldhaven and Blackheath Beds.
The London Clay is a marine deposit, and its fossils indicate a
moderately warm climate, the flora having a tropical aspect. Among the
fossils may be mentioned _Panopoea intermedia_, _Ditrupa plana_,
_Teredina personata_, _Conus concinnus_, _Rostellaria ampla_,
_Nautilus centralis_, _Belosepia_, foraminifera and diatoms. Fish
remains include _Otodus obliquus_, _Sphyroenodus crassidens_; birds
are represented by _Halcyornis Toliapicus_, _Lithornis_ and
_Odontopteryx_, and reptiles by _Chelone gigas_, and other turtles,
_Palaeophis_, a serpent and crocodiles. _Hyracotherium leporinum_,
_Palaeotherium_ and a few other mammals are recorded. Plant remains in
a pyritized condition are found in great abundance and perfection on
the shore of Sheppey; numerous species of palms, screw pines, water
lilies, cypresses, yews, leguminous plants and many others occur; logs
of coniferous wood bored through by annelids and _Teredo_ are common,
and fossil resin has been found at Highgate.
See EOCENE; also W. Whitaker, "The Geology of London and part of the
Thames Valley," _Mem. Geol. Survey_ (1889), and _Sheet Memoirs of the
Geol. Survey_, London, Nos. 314, 315, 268, 329, 332, and _Memoirs on
the Geology of the Isle of Wight_ (1889).
LONDONDERRY, EARLS AND MARQUESSES OF. The 1st earl of Londonderry was
Thomas Ridgeway (c. 1565-1631), a Devon man, who was treasurer in
Ireland from 1606 to 1616 and was engaged in the plantation of Ulster.
Ridgeway was made a baronet in 1611, Baron Ridgeway in 1616 and earl of
Londonderry in 1623. The Ridgeways held the earldom until March 1714,
when Robert, the 4th earl, died without sons. In 1726 Robert's
son-in-law, Thomas Pitt (c. 1688-1729), son of Thomas Pitt, "Diamond
Pitt," governor at Madras and uncle of the great earl of Chatham, was
created earl of Londonderry, the earldom again becoming extinct when his
younger son Ridgeway, the 3rd earl of this line, died unmarried in
January 1765. In 1796 Robert Stewart (1739-1821), of Mount Stewart, Co.
Down, was made earl of Londonderry in the Irish peerage. He had been
created Baron Londonderry in 1789 and Viscount Castlereagh in 1795; in
1816 he was advanced to the rank of marquess of Londonderry. The 3rd
marquess married the heiress of the Vane-Tempests and took the name of
Vane instead of Stewart; the 5th marquess called himself Vane-Tempest
and the 6th marquess Vane-Tempest-Stewart.
LONDONDERRY, CHARLES WILLIAM STEWART (VANE), 3RD MARQUESS OF
(1778-1854), British soldier and diplomatist, was the son of the 1st
marquess by a second marriage with the daughter of the 1st Earl Camden.
He entered the army and served in the Netherlands (1794), on the Rhine
and Danube (1795), in the Irish rebellion (1798), and Holland (1799),
rising to be colonel; and having been elected to parliament for Kerry he
became under secretary for war under his half-brother Castlereagh in
1807. In 1808 he was given a cavalry command in the Peninsula, where he
brilliantly distinguished himself. In 1809, and again in the campaigns
of 1810, 1811, having become a major-general, he served under Wellington
in the Peninsula as his adjutant-general, and was at the capture of
Ciudad Rodrigo, but at the beginning of 1812 he was invalided home.
Castlereagh (see LONDONDERRY, 2nd Marquess of) then sent him to Berlin
as minister, to represent Great Britain in the allied British, Russian
and Prussian armies; and as a cavalry leader he played an important part
in the subsequent fighting, while ably seconding Castlereagh's
diplomacy. In 1814 he was made a peer as Baron Stewart, and later in the
year was appointed ambassador at Vienna, and was a member of the
important congresses which followed. In 1822 his half-brother's death
made him 3rd marquess of Londonderry, and shortly afterwards,
disagreeing with Canning, he resigned, being created Earl Vane (1823),
and for some years lived quietly in England, improving his Seaham
estates. In 1835 he was for a short time ambassador at St Petersburg. In
1852, after the death of Wellington, when he was one of the
pall-bearers, he received the order of the Garter. He died on the 6th of
March 1854. He was twice married, first in 1808 to the daughter of the
earl of Darnley, and secondly in 1819 to the heiress of Sir Harry
Vane-Tempest (a descendant of Sir Piers Tempest, who served at
Agincourt, and heir to Sir Henry Vane, Bart.), when he assumed the name
of Vane. Frederick William Robert (1805-1872), his son by the first
marriage, became 4th marquess; and on the latter's death in 1872, George
Henry (1821-1884), the eldest son by the second marriage, after
succeeding as Earl Vane (according to the patent of 1823), became 5th
marquess. In 1884 he was succeeded as 6th marquess by his son Charles
Stewart Vane-Tempest-Stewart (b. 1852), a prominent Conservative
politician, who was viceroy of Ireland (1886-1889), chairman of the
London School Board (1895-1897), postmaster-general (1900-1902),
president of the Board of Education (1902-1905) and lord president of
the Council (1903-1905).
LONDONDERRY, ROBERT STEWART, 2ND MARQUESS OF (1769-1822), British
statesman, was the eldest son of Robert Stewart of Ballylawn Castle, in
Donegal, and Mount Stewart in Down, an Ulster landowner, of kin to the
Galloway Stewarts, who became baron, viscount, earl and marquess in the
peerage of Ireland. The son, known in history as Lord Castlereagh, was
born on the 18th of June in the same year as Napoleon and Wellington.
His mother was Lady Sarah Seymour, daughter of the earl of Hertford. He
went from Armagh school to St John's College, Cambridge, but left at the
end of his first year. With Lord Downshire, then holding sway over the
County Down, Lord Stewart had a standing feud, and he put forward his
son, in July 1790, for one of the seats. Young Stewart was returned, but
at a vast cost to his family, when he was barely twenty-one. He took his
seat in the Irish House of Commons at the same time as his friend,
Arthur Wellesley, M.P. for Trim, but sat later for two close boroughs in
England, still remaining member for Down at College Green.
From 1796, when his father became an earl, he took the courtesy title of
Viscount Castlereagh, and becoming keeper of the privy seal in Ireland,
he acted as chief secretary, during the prolonged absence of Mr Pelham,
from February 1797. Castlereagh's conviction was that, in presence of
threatened invasion and rebellion, Ireland could only be made safe by
union with Great Britain. In Lord Camden, as afterwards in Lord
Cornwallis, Castlereagh found a congenial chief; though his favour with
these statesmen was jealously viewed both by the Irish oligarchy and by
the English politicians who wished to keep the machine of Irish
administration in their own hands. Pitt himself was doubtful of the
expediency of making an Irishman chief secretary, but his view was
changed by the influence of Cornwallis. In suppressing Lord Edward
Fitzgerald's conspiracy, and the rebellion which followed in 1798,
Castlereagh's vigilance and firmness were invaluable. His administration
was denounced by a faction as harsh and cruel--a charge afterwards
repudiated by Grattan and Plunket--but he was always on the side of
lenity. The disloyal in Ireland, both Jacobins and priest-led, the
Protestant zealots and others who feared the consequence of the Union,
coalesced against him in Dublin. Even there Castlereagh, though defeated
in a first campaign (1799), impressed Pitt with his ability and tact,
with Cornwallis he joined in holding out, during the second Union
campaign (1800), the prospect of emancipation to the Roman Catholics.
They were aided by free expenditure of money and promises of honours,
methods too familiar in Irish politics. When the Act of Union was
carried through the Irish parliament, in the summer of 1800,
Castlereagh's official connexion with his native land practically ended.
Before the Imperial Parliament met he urged upon Pitt the measures which
he and Cornwallis thought requisite to make the Union effective. In
spite of his services and of Pitt's support, disillusion awaited him.
The king's reluctance to yield to the Roman Catholic claims was
underestimated by Pitt, while Cornwallis imprudently permitted himself
to use language which, though not amounting to a pledge, was construed
as one. George III. resented the arguments brought forward by
Castlereagh--"this young man" who had come over to talk him out of his
coronation oath. He peremptorily refused to sanction emancipation, and
Pitt and his cabinet made way for the Addington administration.
Thereupon Castlereagh resigned, with Cornwallis. He took his seat at
Westminster for Down, the constituency he had represented for ten years
in Dublin. The leadership of an Irish party was offered to him, but he
declined so to limit his political activity. His father accepted, at
Portland's request, an Irish marquessate, on the understanding that in
the future he or his heirs might claim the same rank in the Imperial
Legislature; so that Castlereagh was able to sit in the House of Commons
as Marquess in 1821-1822. Wilberforce discussed with Pitt the
possibility of sending out Castlereagh to India as governor-general,
when the friction between Lord Wellesley and the directors became grave;
but Pitt objected, as the plan would remove Castlereagh from the House
of Commons, which should be "the theatre of his future fame."
In 1802, Castlereagh, at Pitt's suggestion, became president of the
Board of Control in the Addington cabinet. He had, though not in office,
taken charge of Irish measures under Addington, including the repression
of the Rebellion Bill, and the temporary suspension of the Habeas Corpus
in 1801, and continued to advocate Catholic relief, tithe reform, state
payment of Catholic and dissenting clergy and "the steady application of
authority in support of the laws." To Lord Wellesley's Indian policy he
gave a staunch support, warmly recognized by the governor-general. On
Pitt's return to office (May 1804), Castlereagh retained his post, and,
next year, took over also the duties of secretary for war and the
colonies. Socially and politically, the gifts of his wife, Lady Emily
Hobart, daughter of a former Irish viceroy, whom he had married in 1794,
assisted him to make his house a meeting-place of the party; and his
influence in parliament grew notwithstanding his defects of style,
spoken and written. As a manager of men he had no equal. After Pitt's
death his surviving colleagues failed to form a cabinet strong enough to
face the formidable combination known as "All the Talents," and
Castlereagh acquiesced in the resignation. But to the foreign policy of
the Fox-Greville ministry and its conduct of the war he was always
opposed. His objections to the Whig doctrine of withdrawal from
"Continental entanglements" and to the reduction of military expenditure
were justified when Fox himself was compelled "to nail his country's
colours to the mast."
The cabinet of "All the Talents," weakened by the death of Fox and the
renewed quarrel with the king, went out in April 1807. Castlereagh
returned to the War Office under Portland, but grave difficulties arose,
though Canning at the Foreign Office was then thoroughly at one with him.
A priceless opportunity had been missed after Eylau. The Whigs had
crippled the transport service, and the operations to avert the ruin of
the coalition at Friedland came too late. The Tsar Alexander believed
that England would no longer concern herself with the Continental
struggle, and Friedland was followed by Tilsit. The secret articles of
that compact, denied at the time by the Opposition and by French
apologists, have now been revealed from official records in M. Vandal's
work, _Napoléon et Alexandre_. Castlereagh and Canning saw the vital
importance of nullifying the aim of this project. The seizure of the
Danish squadron at Copenhagen, and the measures taken to rescue the
fleets of Portugal and Sweden from Napoleon, crushed a combination as
menacing as that defeated at Trafalgar. The expedition to Portugal,
though Castlereagh's influence was able only to secure Arthur Wellesley a
secondary part at first, soon dwarfed other issues. In the debates on the
Convention of Cintra, Castlereagh defended Wellesley against
parliamentary attacks: "A brother," the latter wrote, "could not have
done more." The depression produced by Moore's campaign in northern
Spain, and the king's repugnance to the Peninsular operations, seemed to
cut short Wellesley's career; but early in 1809, Castlereagh, with no
little difficulty, secured his friend's appointment as commander-in-chief
of the second Portuguese expedition. The merit has been claimed for
Canning by Stapleton, but the evidence is all the other way.
Meanwhile, Castlereagh's policy led to a crisis that clouded his own
fortunes. The breach between him and Canning was not due to his
incompetence in the conduct of the Walcheren expedition, In fact,
Castlereagh's ejection was decided by Canning's intrigues, though
concealed from the victim, months before the armament was sent out to
the Scheldt. In the selection of the earl of Chatham as commander the
king's personal preference was known, but there is evidence also that it
was one of Canning's schemes, as he reckoned, if Chatham succeeded, on
turning him into a convenient ministerial figurehead. Canning was not
openly opposed to the Walcheren expedition, and on the Peninsular
question he mainly differed from Castlereagh and Wellington in fixing
his hopes on national enthusiasm and popular uprisings. Military opinion
is generally agreed that the plan of striking from Walcheren at Antwerp,
the French naval base, was sound. Napoleon heard the news with dismay;
in principle Wellington approved the plan. Castlereagh's proposal was
for a _coup de main_, under strict conditions of celerity and secrecy,
as Antwerp was unable to make any adequate defence. But Chatham, the
naval authorities and the cabinet proceeded with a deliberation
explained by the fact that the war secretary had been condemned in
secret. The expedition, planned at the end of March, did not reach
Walcheren till the end of July 1809; and more time was lost in movements
against Batz and Flushing, protracted until an unhealthy autumn
prostrated the army, which was withdrawn, discredited and disabled, in
September. Public opinion threw the whole blame upon Castlereagh, who
then found that, in deference to Canning, his colleagues had decreed his
removal half a year earlier, though they kept silence till the troops
were brought back from Walcheren. When Castlereagh learned from Percival
that the slur cast on him had its origin in a secret attack on him many
months before, he was cruelly hurt. The main charge against him was, he
says, that he would not throw over officers on whom unpopularity fell,
at the first shadow of ill-fortune. His refusal to rush into censure of
Moore, following Canning's sudden change from eulogy to denunciation,
requires no defence. According to the ideas then prevailing Castlereagh
held himself justified in sending a challenge to the original author, as
he held, of a disloyal intrigue against a colleague. In the subsequent
duel Canning was wounded and the rivals simultaneously resigned. In
private letters to his father and brother, Castlereagh urged that he was
bound to show that he "was not privy to his own disgrace." When Canning
published a lengthy explanation of his conduct, many who had sided with
him were convinced that Castlereagh had been much wronged. The excuse
that the protest upon which the cabinet decided against Castlereagh did
not mention the minister's name was regarded as a quibble. Men widely
differing in character and opinions--Walter Scott, Sidney Smith,
Brougham and Cobbett--took this view. Castlereagh loyally supported the
government in parliament, after Lord Wellesley's appointment to the
Foreign Office. Though Wellington's retreat after Talavera had been
included, with the disasters of the Corunna and Walcheren campaigns, in
the censures on Castlereagh, and though ministers were often depressed
and doubtful, Castlereagh never lost faith in Wellington's genius. Lord
Wellesley's resignation in 1812, when the Whigs failed to come to terms
with the regent, led to Castlereagh's return to office as foreign
secretary (March 1812). The assassination of Percival soon threw upon
him the leadership of the House of Commons, and this double burden he
continued to bear during the rest of his life.
From March 1812 to July 1822 Castlereagh's biography is, in truth, the
history of England. Though never technically prime minister, during
these years he wielded a power such as few ministers have exercised.
Political opponents and personal ill-wishers admitted that he was the
ablest leader who ever controlled the House of Commons for so long a
period. As a diplomatist, nobody save Marlborough had the same influence
over men or was given equal freedom by his colleagues at home.
Foreigners saw in him the living presence of England in the camp of the
Allies. At the War Office he had been hampered by the lack of technical
knowledge, while nature had not granted him, as an organizer, the powers
of a Carnot or Roon. But in diplomacy his peculiar combination of
strength and charm, of patience and conciliatory adroitness, was
acknowledged by all. At the Foreign Office he set himself at once to
meet Napoleon's designs in northern Europe, where Russia was preparing
for her life-and-death struggle. Lord Wellesley paid a high tribute to
Castlereagh's conduct in this situation, and Wellington declared that he
had then "rendered to the world the most important service that ever
fell to the lot of any individual to perform." Castlereagh wisely
rejected Napoleon's insincere overtures for peace. After the Moscow
_débâcle_ Napoleon's fate was affected not only by Wellington's progress
in Spain, but by the attitude of the northern powers and by the action
of Turkey, due to Castlereagh's opportune disclosure to the Porte of the
scheme of partition at Tilsit. At home, the repeal of the Orders in
Council was carried, the damage to British trade plainly outweighing the
injury inflicted on France by the restrictive system. The British
subsidies to the Allies were largely increased as the operations of 1813
developed, but all Castlereagh's skill was needed to keep the Coalition
together. The Allied powers were willing, even after Leipzig, to treat
with France on the basis of restoring her "natural frontiers"--the
Rhine, the Alps and the Pyrenees; but Castlereagh protested. He would
not allow the enemy to take ground for another tiger-spring. Before the
Conference of Châtillon, where Napoleon sent Caulaincourt to negotiate
for peace--with the message scribbled on the margin of his instructions,
"Ne signez rien"--Aberdeen wrote to hasten Castlereagh's coming:
"Everything which has been so long smothered is now bursting forth"; and
again, "Your presence has done much and would, I have no doubt, continue
to sustain them (the Allies) in misfortune." The Liverpool cabinet then
and later were as urgent in pressing him to return to lead the House of
Commons. He had lost his seat for Down in 1805, and afterwards sat for
British boroughs; but in 1812 he was re-elected by his old constituents;
and again in 1818 and 1820, sitting, after he became marquess of
Londonderry in 1821, for Orford. Early in 1814 his colleagues
reluctantly consented to his visit to the allied headquarters. The Great
Alliance showed signs of weakness and division. Austria was holding
back; Prussia had almost broken away; above all, the ambiguous conduct
of Alexander bred alarm and doubt. This situation became increasingly
serious while Napoleon was giving daily proofs that his military genius,
confronting a hesitant and divided enemy, was at its best. Castlereagh
strove to keep the Allies together, to give no excuse for those separate
arrangements upon which Napoleon was reckoning, to assert no selfish
policy for England, to be tied by no theoretical consistency. At the
Châtillon conferences England was represented by others, but Castlereagh
was present with supreme authority over all, and it was he who
determined the result. He declined to commit his country either to a
blank refusal to negotiate with Napoleon or to the advocacy of a Bourbon
restoration. He was ready to give up almost the whole of England's
conquests, but he insisted on the return of France within her ancient
limits as the basis of a settlement. Caulaincourt's advice was to take
advantage of these overtures; but his master was not to be advised. The
counter-projects that he urged Caulaincourt to submit to were advanced
after his victory at Montereau, when he boasted that he was nearer to
Munich than the Allies were to Paris. Even before the Châtillon
conference was dissolved (March 18th), Castlereagh saw that
Caulaincourt's efforts would never bend Napoleon's will. The Allies
adopted his view and signed the treaty of Chaumont (March 1st), "my
treaty," as Castlereagh called it, with an unusual touch of personal
pride; adding "Upon the face of the treaty this year our engagement is
equivalent to theirs united." The power of England when she threw her
purse into the scale had been just exhibited at Bar-sur-Aube, when at a
council of all the representatives of the powers the retreat of the
allied armies was discussed. Bernadotte, playing a waiting game in
Holland, was unwilling to reinforce Blücher, then in a dangerous
position, by the Russian and Prussian divisions of Winzingerode and
Bülow, temporarily placed under his orders. Having asked for and
received the assurance that the military leaders were agreed in holding
the transfer necessary, Castlereagh declared that he took upon himself
the responsibility of bringing the Swedish prince to reason. The
withholding of the British subsidies was a vital matter, not only with
Bernadotte but with all the powers. Castlereagh's avowed intention to
take this step without waiting for sanction from his cabinet put an end
to evasion and delay. Blücher was reinforced by the two divisions; the
battle of Laon was fought and won, and the allies occupied the French
capital. In April 1814 Castlereagh arrived in Paris. He did not disguise
his discontent with Napoleon's position at Elba, close to the French
coast, though he advised England not to separate herself at this crisis
from her allies. His uneasiness led him to summon Wellington from the
south to the Embassy in Paris. He hastened himself to London during the
visit of the allied sovereigns, and met with a splendid reception. He
was honoured with the Garter, being one of the few commoners ever
admitted to that order. When the House of Commons offered to the Crown
its congratulations upon the treaty of peace, Castlereagh's triumph was
signalized by a brilliantly eloquent panegyric from Canning, and by a
recantation of his former doubts and denunciations from Whitbread. His
own dignified language vindicated his country from the charge of selfish
ambition.
His appointment as British representative at Vienna, where the congress
was to meet in September, was foreseen; but meanwhile he was not idle.
The war with the United States, originating in the non-intercourse
dispute and the Orders in Council, did not cease with the repeal of the
latter. It lasted through 1814 till the signing of the treaty of Ghent,
soon before the flight from Elba. In parliament the ministry, during
Castlereagh's absence, had been poorly championed. Canning had thrown
away his chance by his unwise refusal of the Foreign Office. None of the
ministers had any pretension to lead when Castlereagh was busy abroad
and Canning was sulking at home, and Castlereagh's letters to
Vansittart, the chancellor of the exchequer, show how these difficulties
weighed upon him in facing the position at Vienna, where it was
imperative for him to appear. At Vienna he realized at once that the
ambition of Russia might be as formidable to Europe and to Great Britain
as that of the fallen tyrant. His aim throughout had been to rescue
Europe from military domination; and when he found that Russia and
Prussia were pursuing ends incompatible with the general interest, he
did not hesitate to take a new line. He brought about the secret treaty
(Jan. 3, 1815) between Great Britain, Austria and France, directed
against the plans of Russia in Poland and of Prussia in Saxony. Through
Castlereagh's efforts, the Polish and Saxon questions were settled on
the basis of compromise. The threat of Russian interference in the Low
Countries was dropped.
While the Congress was still unfinished, Napoleon's escape from Elba
came like a thunderclap. Castlereagh had come home for a short visit
(Feb. 1815), at the urgent request of the cabinet, just before the
flight was known. The shock revived the Great Alliance under the compact
of Chaumont. All energies were directed to preparing for the campaign of
Waterloo. Castlereagh's words in parliament were, "Whatever measures you
adopt or decision you arrive at must rest on your own power and not on
reliance on this man." Napoleon promptly published the secret treaty
which Castlereagh had concluded with Metternich and Talleyrand, and the
last left in the French archives. But Russia and Prussia, though much
displeased, saw that, in the face of Bonaparte's return, they dared not
weaken the Alliance. British subsidies were again poured out like water.
After Napoleon's overthrow, Castlereagh successfully urged his removal
to St Helena, where his custodians were charged to treat him "with all
the respect due to his rank, but under such precautions as should render
his escape a matter of impossibility." Some of the continental powers
demanded, after Waterloo, fines and cessions that would have crushed
France; but in November a peace was finally concluded, mainly by
Castlereagh's endeavours, minimising the penalties exacted, and
abandoning on England's part the whole of her share of the indemnity.
The war created an economic situation at home which strengthened the
Whigs and Radicals, previously discredited by their hostility to a
patriotic struggle. In 1816 the Income Tax was remitted, despite
Castlereagh's contention that something should first be done to reduce
the Debt Charge. His policy, impressed upon British representatives
abroad, was "to turn the confidence Great Britain inspired to the
account of peace, by exercising a conciliatory influence in Europe."
Brougham's action, at the end of 1815, denouncing the Holy Alliance,
even in its early form, was calculated to embarrass England, though she
was no party to what Castlereagh described as a "piece of sublime
mysticism and nonsense."
While he saw no reason in this for breaking up the Grand Alliance, which
he looked upon as a convenient organ of diplomatic intercourse and as
essential for the maintenance of peace, he regarded with alarm "the
little spirit of German intrigue," and agreed with Wellington that to
attempt to crush France, as the Prussians desired, or to keep her in a
perpetual condition of tutelage under a European concert from which she
herself should be excluded, would be to invite the very disaster which
it was the object of the Alliance to avoid. It was not till Metternich's
idea of extending the scope of the Alliance, by using it to crush "the
revolution" wherever it should raise its head, began to take shape, from
the conference of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) onward, that Great Britain's
separation from her continental allies became inevitable. Against this
policy of the reactionary powers Castlereagh from the first vigorously
protested. As little was he prepared to accept the visionary schemes of
the emperor Alexander for founding an effective "confederation of
Europe" upon the inclusive basis of the Holy Alliance (see ALEXANDER I.
of Russia).
Meanwhile financial troubles at home, complicated by the resumption of
cash payments in 1819, led to acute social tension. "Peterloo" and the
"Six Acts" were furiously denounced, though the bills introduced by
Sidmouth and Castlereagh were carried in both Houses by overwhelming
majorities. The danger that justified them was proved beyond contest by
the Cato Street Conspiracy in 1820. It is now admitted by Liberal
writers that the "Six Acts," in the circumstances, were reasonable and
necessary. Throughout, Castlereagh maintained his tranquil ascendancy in
the House of Commons, though he had few colleagues who were capable of
standing up against Brougham. Canning, indeed, had returned to office
and had defended the "Six Acts," but Castlereagh bore the whole burden
of parliamentary leadership, as well as the enormous responsibilities of
the Foreign Office. His appetite for work caused him to engage in
debates and enquiries on financial and legal questions when he might
have delegated the task to others. Althorp was struck with his
unsleeping energy on the Agricultural Distress Committee; "His
exertions, coupled with his other duties--and unfortunately he was
always obstinate in refusing assistance--strained his constitution
fearfully, as was shown by his careworn brow and increasing paleness."
In 1821, on Sidmouth's retirement, he took upon himself the laborious
functions of the Home Office. The diplomatic situation had become
serious. The policy of "intervention," with which Great Britain had
consistently refused to identify herself, had been proclaimed to the
world by the famous Troppau Protocol, signed by Russia, Austria and
Prussia (see TROPPAU, CONGRESS OF). The immediate occasion was the
revolution at Naples, where the egregious Spanish constitution of 1812
had been forced on the king by a military rising. With military revolts,
as with paper constitutions of an unworkable type, Castlereagh had no
sympathy; and in this particular case the revolution, in his opinion,
was wholly without excuse or palliation. He was prepared to allow the
intervention of Austria, if she considered her rights under the treaty
of 1813 violated, or her position as an Italian Power imperilled. But he
protested against the general claim, embodied in the Protocol, of the
European powers to interfere, uninvited, in the internal concerns of
sovereign states; he refused to make Great Britain, even tacitly, a
party to such interference, and again insisted that her part in the
Alliance was defined by the letter of the treaties, beyond which she was
not prepared to go. In no case, he affirmed, would Great Britain
"undertake the moral responsibility for administering a general European
police," which she would never tolerate as applied to herself.
To Troppau, accordingly, no British plenipotentiary was sent, since the
outcome of the conferences was a foregone conclusion; though Lord
Stewart came from Vienna to watch the course of events. At Laibach an
attempt to revive the Troppau proposals was defeated by the firm
opposition of Stewart; but a renewal of the struggle at Verona in the
autumn of 1822 was certain. Castlereagh, now marquess of Londonderry,
was again to be the British representative, and he drew up for himself
instructions that were handed over unaltered by Canning, his successor
at the Foreign Office, to the new plenipotentiary, Wellington. In the
threatened intervention of the continental powers in Spain, as in their
earlier action towards Naples and Sardinia, England refused to take
part. The Spanish revolutionary movement, Castlereagh wrote, "was a
matter with which, in the opinion of the English cabinet, no foreign
power had the smallest right to interfere." Before, however, the
question of intervention in Spain had reached its most critical stage
the development of the Greek insurrection against the Ottoman government
brought up the Eastern Question in an acute form, which profoundly
modified the relations of the powers within the Alliance, and again drew
Metternich and Castlereagh together in common dread of an isolated
attack by Russia upon Turkey. A visit of King George IV. to Hanover, in
October 1821, was made the occasion of a meeting between Lord
Londonderry and the Austrian chancellor. A meeting so liable to
misinterpretation was in Castlereagh's opinion justified by the urgency
of the crisis in the East, "a practical consideration of the greatest
moment," which had nothing in common with the objectionable
"theoretical" question with which the British government had refused to
concern itself. Yet Castlereagh, on this occasion, showed that he could
use the theories of others for his own practical ends; and he joined
cordially with Metternich in taking advantage of the emperor Alexander's
devotion to the principles of the Alliance to prevent his taking an
independent line in the Eastern Question. It was, indeed, the belief
that this question would be made the matter of common discussion at the
congress that led Castlereagh to agree to be present at Verona; and in
his _Instructions_ he foreshadowed the policy afterwards carried out by
Canning, pointing out that the development of the war had made the
recognition of the belligerent rights of the Greeks inevitable, and
quoting the precedent of the Spanish American colonies as exactly
applicable. With regard to the Spanish colonies, moreover, though he was
not as yet prepared to recognize their independence _de jure_, he was
strongly of opinion that the Spanish government should do so since
"other states would acknowledge them sooner or later, and it is to the
interest of Spain herself to find the means of restoring an intercourse
when she cannot succeed in restoring a dominion."
But the tragic ending of Castlereagh's strenuous life was near; and the
credit of carrying out the policy foreshadowed in the _Instructions_ was
to fall to his rival Canning. Lord Londonderry's exhaustion became
evident during the toilsome session of 1822. Both the king and
Wellington were struck by his overwrought condition, which his family
attributed to an attack of the gout and the lowering remedies employed.
Wellington warned Dr Bankhead that Castlereagh was unwell, and, perhaps,
mentally disordered. Bankhead went down to North Cray and took due
precautions. Castlereagh's razors were taken away, but a penknife was
forgotten in a drawer, and with this he cut his throat (August 12,
1822). He had just before said, "My mind, my mind, is, as it were,
gone"; and, when he saw his wife and Bankhead talking together, he
moaned "there is a conspiracy laid against me." It was as clear a case
of brain disease as any on record. But this did not prevent his enemies
of the baser sort from asserting, without a shadow of proof, that the
suicide was caused by terror at some hideous and undefined charge. The
testimony of statesmen of the highest character and of all parties to
Castlereagh's gifts and charm is in strong contrast with the flood of
vituperation and calumny poured out upon his memory by those who knew
him not.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Castlereagh's correspondence and papers were published
by his brother and successor (1850-1853) in twelve volumes. Sir
Archibald Alison's _Biography_ in three volumes came out in 1861, with
copious extracts from the manuscripts preserved at Wynyard. It was
made the subject of an interesting essay in the _Quarterly Review_ for
January 1862, reprinted in _Essays by the late Marquis of Salisbury_
(London, 1905). A graceful sketch by Theresa, Marchioness of
Londonderry (London, 1904), originally brought out in the _Anglo-Saxon
Review_, contains some extracts from Castlereagh's unpublished
correspondence with his wife, the record of an enduring and passionate
attachment which throws a new light on the man. (E. D. J. W.)
LONDONDERRY, a northern county of Ireland in the province of Ulster,
bounded N. by the Atlantic, W. by Lough Foyle and Donegal, E. by Antrim
and Lough Neagh, and S. by Tyrone. The area is 522,315 acres, or about
816 sq. m. The county consists chiefly of river valleys surrounded by
elevated table-lands rising occasionally into mountains, while on the
borders of the sea-coast the surface is generally level. The principal
river is the Roe, which flows northward from the borders of Tyrone into
Lough Foyle below Newton-Limavady, and divides the county into two
unequal parts. Farther west the Faughan also falls into Lough Foyle, and
the river Foyle passes through a small portion of the county near its
north-western boundary. In the south-east the Moyola falls into Lough
Neagh, and the Lower Bann from Lough Neagh forms for some distance its
eastern boundary with Antrim. The only lake in the county is Lough Finn
on the borders of Tyrone, but Lough Neagh forms about 6 m. of its
south-eastern boundary. The scenery of the shores of Lough Foyle and the
neighbouring coast is attractive, and Castlerock, Downhill, Magilligan
and Portstewart are favourite seaside resorts. On the flat Magilligan
peninsula, which forms the eastern horn of Lough Foyle, the base-line of
the trigonometrical survey of Ireland was measured in 1826. The scenery
of the Roe valley, with the picturesque towns of Limavady and Dungiven,
is also attractive, and the roads from the latter place to Draperstown
and to Maghera, traversing the passes of Evishgore and Glenshane
respectively, afford fine views of the Sperrin and Slieve Gallion
mountains.
The west of this county consists of Dalradian mica-schist, with some
quartzite, and is a continuation of the northern region of Tyrone. An
inlier of these rocks appears in the rising ground east of Dungiven,
including dark grey crystalline limestone. Old Red Sandstone and Lower
Carboniferous Sandstone overlie these old rocks in the south and east,
meeting the igneous "green rocks" of Tyrone, and the granite intrusive
in them, at the north end of Slieve Gallion. Triassic sandstone covers
the lower slope of Slieve Gallion on the south-east towards Moneymore,
and rises above the Carboniferous Sandstone from Dungiven northward.
At Moneymore we reach the western scarp of the white Limestone (Chalk)
and the overlying basalt of the great plateaus, which dip down
eastward under Lough Neagh. The basalt scarp, protecting chalk and
patches of Liassic and Rhaetic strata, rises to 1260 ft. in Benevenagh
north of Limavady, and repeats the finest features of the Antrim
coast. A raised shelf with post-glacial marine clays forms the flat
land west of Limavady. Haematite has been mined on the south flank of
Slieve Gallion.
The excessive rainfall and the cold and uncertain climate are
unfavourable for agriculture. Along the sea-coast there is a district
of red clay formed by the decomposition of sandstone, and near the
mouth of the Roe there is a tract of marl. Along the valleys the soil
is often fertile, and the elevated districts of the clay-slate region
afford pasture for sheep. The acreage of pasture-land does not greatly
exceed that of tillage. Oats, potatoes and turnips are chiefly grown,
with some flax; and cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry are kept in
considerable numbers. The staple manufacture of the county is linen.
The manufacture of coarse earthenware is also carried on, and there
are large distilleries and breweries and some salt-works. There are
fisheries for salmon and eels on the Bann, for which Coleraine is the
headquarters. The deep-sea and coast fisheries are valuable, and are
centred at Moville in Co. Donegal. The city of Londonderry is an
important railway centre. The Northern Counties (Midland) main line
reaches it by way of Coleraine and the north coast of the county, and
the same railway serves the eastern part of the county, with branches
from Antrim to Magherafelt, and Magherafelt to Cookstown (Co. Tyrone),
to Draperstown and to Coleraine, and from Limavady to Dungiven. The
Great Northern railway reaches Londonderry from the south, and the
city is also the starting-point of the County Donegal, and the
Londonderry and Lough Swilly railways.
The population decreases (152,009 in 1891; 144,404 in 1901) and
emigration is extensive, though both decrease and emigration are well
below the average of the Irish counties. Of the total, about 43% are
Roman Catholics, and nearly 50% Presbyterians or Protestant
Episcopalians. Londonderry (pop. 38,892), Coleraine (6958) and
Limavady (2692) are the principal towns, while Magherafelt and
Moneymore are lesser market towns. The county comprises six baronies.
Assizes are held at Londonderry, and quarter sessions at Coleraine,
Londonderry and Magherafelt. The county is represented in parliament
by two members, for the north and south divisions respectively. The
Protestant and Roman Catholic dioceses of Armagh, Derry and Down each
include parts of the county.
At an early period the county was inhabited by the O'Cathans or
O'Catrans, who were tributary to the O'Neills. Towards the close of the
reign of Elizabeth the county was seized, with the purpose of checking
the power of the O'Neills, when it received the name of Coleraine,
having that town for its capital. In 1609, after the confiscation of the
estates of the O'Neills, the citizens of London obtained possession of
the towns of Londonderry and Coleraine and adjoining lands, 60 acres out
of every 1000 being assigned for church lands. The common council of
London undertook to expend £20,000 on the reclamation of the property,
and elected a body of twenty-six for its management, who in 1613 were
incorporated as the Irish Society, and retained possession of the towns
of Londonderry and Coleraine, the remainder of the property being
divided among twelve of the great livery companies. Their estates were
sequestrated by James I., and in 1637 the charter of the Irish Society
was cancelled. Cromwell restored the society to its former position, and
Charles II. at the Restoration granted it a new charter, and confirmed
the companies in their estates. In the insurrection of 1641 Moneymore
was seized by the Irish, and Magherafelt and Bellaghy, then called
Vintner's Town, burned, as well as other towns and villages. There are
several stone circles, and a large number of artificial caves. The most
ancient castle of Irish origin is that of Carrickreagh; and of the
castles erected by the English those of Dungiven and Muff are in good
preservation. The abbey of Dungiven, founded in 1109, and standing on a
rock about 200 ft. above the river Roe, is a picturesque ruin.
LONDONDERRY, or DERRY, a city, county of a city, parliamentary borough
(returning one member) and the chief town of Co. Londonderry, Ireland, 4
m. from the junction of the river Foyle with Lough Foyle, and 95 m.
N.N.W. of Belfast. Pop. (1901) 38,892. The city is situated on an
eminence rising abruptly from the west side of the river to a height of
about 120 ft. The eminence is surrounded by hills which reach, a few
miles to the north, an elevation of upwards of 1500 ft., and the river
and lough complete an admirable picture. The city is surrounded by an
ancient rampart about a mile in circumference, having seven gates and
several bastions, but buildings now extend beyond this boundary. The
summit of the hill, at the centre of the town, is occupied by a
quadrangular area from which the main streets diverge. Some old houses
with high pyramidal gables remain but are much modernized. The
Protestant cathedral of St Columba, in Perpendicular style, was
completed from the design of Sir John Vanbrugh in 1633, at a cost of
£4000 contributed by the city of London, and was enlarged and restored
in 1887. The spire was added in 1778 and rebuilt in 1802. The bishop's
palace, erected in 1716, occupies the site of the abbey founded by
Columba. The abbot of this monastery, on being made bishop, erected in
1164 Temple More or the "Great Church," one of the finest buildings in
Ireland previous to the Anglo-Norman invasion. The original abbey church
was called the "Black Church," but both it and the "Great Church" were
demolished in 1600 and their materials used in fortifying the city.
There is a large Roman Catholic cathedral, erected c. 1870 and dedicated
to St Eugenius. For Foyle College, founded in 1617, a new building was
erected in 1814. This and the Academical Institution, a foundation of
1868, were amalgamated in 1896. Magee College, taking its name from its
foundress, Mrs Magee of Dublin, was instituted in 1857 as a
training-school for the Presbyterian ministry.
The staple manufacture of the town is linen (especially shirt-making),
and there are also shipbuilding yards, iron-foundries, saw-mills,
manure-works, distilleries, breweries and flour-mills. The salmon
fishery on the Foyle is valuable. The river affords a commodious
harbour, its greatest depth being 33 ft. at high tide, and 12 ft. at low
tide. It is under the jurisdiction of the Irish Society. The port has a
considerable shipping trade with Great Britain, exporting agricultural
produce and provisions. Regular services of passenger steamers serve
Londonderry from Glasgow, Liverpool, Morecambe, Belfast and local coast
stations. In 1898 Londonderry was constituted one of the six county
boroughs which have separate county councils.
About 5 m. W. of the city, on a hill 803 ft. high, is a remarkable fort,
consisting of three concentric ramparts, and an interior fortification
of stone. It is named the Grianan of Aileach, and was a residence of the
O'Neills, kings of Ulster. It was restored in 1878.
Derry, the original name of Londonderry, is derived from _Doire_, the
"place of oaks." It owes its origin to the monastery founded by Columba
about 546. With the bishopric which arose in connexion with this
foundation, that of Raphoe was amalgamated in 1834. From the 9th to the
11th century the town was frequently in the possession of the Danes, and
was often devastated, but they were finally driven from it by Murtagh
O'Brien about the beginning of the 12th century. In 1311 it was granted
by Edward II. to Richard de Burgh. After the Irish Society of London
obtained possession of it, it was incorporated in 1613 under the name of
Londonderry. From this year until the Union in 1800 two members were
returned to the Irish parliament. The fortifications, which were begun
in 1600, were completed in 1618. In 1688 Derry had become the chief
stronghold of the Protestants of the north. On the 7th of December
certain of the apprentices in the city practically put themselves and it
in a stage of siege by closing the gates, and on the 19th of April 1689
the forces of James II. began in earnest the famous siege of Derry. The
rector of Donaghmore, George Walker, who, with Major Baker, was chosen
to govern Derry, established fame for himself for his bravery and
hopefulness during this period of privation, and the historic answer of
"No surrender," which became the watchword of the men of Derry, was
given to the proposals of the besiegers. The garrison was at the last
extremity when, on the 30th of July, ships broke through the obstruction
across the harbour and brought relief. Walker and the siege are
commemorated by a lofty column (1828), bearing a statue of the governor,
on the Royal Bastion, from which the town standards defied the enemy;
and the anniversary of the relief is still observed.
LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879), English classical scholar, was born at
Poulton, Lancashire, on the 4th of November 1800, and educated at
Macclesfield grammar-school and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was
Craven university scholar in 1821 (bracketed with Lord Macaulay and
Henry Malden), wrangler and senior chancellor's medallist in 1822 and
became a fellow of Trinity in 1823. In 1824 he was elected professor of
ancient languages in the new university of Virginia at Charlottesville,
U.S.A., but after four years returned to England as the first Greek
professor at the newly founded university of London. In 1842 he
succeeded T. H. Key as professor of Latin at University College; in
1846-1849 he was reader in jurisprudence and civil law in the Middle
Temple, and finally (1849-1871) classical lecturer at Brighton College.
Subsequently he lived in retirement at Portfield, Chichester, in receipt
(from 1873) of a Civil List pension of £100 a year obtained for him by
Gladstone. He was one of the founders (1830), and for twenty years an
officer, of the Royal Geographical Society; an active member of the
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, for which he edited the
quarterly _Journal of Education_ (1831-1835) as well as many of its
text-books; the editor (at first with Charles Knight, afterwards alone)
of the _Penny Cyclopaedia_ and of Knight's _Political Dictionary_; and a
member of the Society for Central Education instituted in London in
1837. He contributed the Roman law articles to Smith's _Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Antiquities_, and wrote also for the companion
dictionaries of _Biography and Geography_. He is remembered, however,
mainly as the editor of the _Bibliotheca Classica_ series--the first
serious attempt to produce scholarly editions of classical texts with
English commentaries--to which he contributed the edition of Cicero's
_Orations_ (1851-1862). He died on the 10th of August 1879.
Among his other works are: _Summary of Herodotus_ (1829); editions of
Herodotus (1830-1833) and Xenophon's _Anabasis_ (1831); revised
editions of J. A. Macleane's Juvenal and Persius (1867) and Horace
(1869); the _Civil Wars of Rome_; a translation with notes of thirteen
of Plutarch's _Lives_ (1844-1848); translations of the _Thoughts of
Marcus Aurelius_ (1862) and the _Discourses of Epictetus_ (1877);
_Decline of the Roman Republic_ (1864-1874), 5 vols. See H. J.
Matthews, "In Memoriam," reprinted from the _Brighton College
Magazine_, 1879.
LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838- ), American lawyer and political leader, was
born in Buckfield, Oxford county, Maine, on the 27th of October 1838. He
graduated at Harvard in 1857, studied law at the Harvard Law School and
in 1861 was admitted to the bar. He practised in Boston, became active
in politics as a Republican, was a member of the Massachusetts House of
Representatives in 1875-1878 and its speaker in 1876-1878,
lieutenant-governor of the state in 1879, and governor in 1880-1882. In
1883-1889 he was a member of the National House of Representatives, and
from March 1897 to May 1902 was secretary of the navy, in the cabinet,
first of President McKinley and then of President Roosevelt. In 1902 he
became president of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College. His
publications include a version of the _Aeneid_ (1879), _After-Dinner and
Other Speeches_ (1895) and _The New American Navy_ (1903).
LONG BRANCH, a city of Monmouth county, New Jersey, U.S.A., on the
easternmost or "long" branch of the Shrewsbury river and on the Atlantic
coast, about 30 m. S. of New York City. Pop. (1890) 7231; (1900) 8872,
of whom 1431 were foreign-born and 987 were negroes; (1910 census)
13,298. It is served by the Pennsylvania, the Central of New Jersey, the
New York & Long Branch, and electric railways, and by steamboats to New
York. The carriage roads in the vicinity are unusually good. Long Branch
is one of the oldest American watering-places. It is situated on a bluff
which rises abruptly 20-35 ft. above the beach, and along the front of
which bulkheads and jetties have been erected as a protection from the
waves; along or near the edge of the bluff, Ocean Avenue, 60 ft. wide
and about 5 m. long (from Seabright to Deal), commands delightful views
of the ocean. A "bluff walk" runs above the water for 2 m. The city has
one public park, Ocean Park (about 10 acres), and two privately owned
parks, one of which is Pleasure Bay Park (25 acres), on the Shrewsbury
river, where operas are given in the open air. The principal public
institutions are the Monmouth Memorial Hospital and the Long Branch
Circulating Library. In Long Branch the Monmouth County Horse Show is
held annually in July. The southern part of Long Branch, known as
Elberon, contains some beautiful summer residences--in one of its
cottages General U. S. Grant spent his summers for many years, and in
another, the Francklyn, President J. A. Garfield died in 1881. In 1909 a
monument to Garfield was erected in Ocean Park. Adjoining Long Branch on
the N. is the borough of Monmouth Beach (incorporated in 1906;
population, 1910, 485). Before the War of Independence the site of Long
Branch was owned by Colonel White, a British officer. It was confiscated
as a result of the war, and late in the century its development as a
watering-place began. Long Branch was chartered as a city in 1904.
_LONGCHAMP, WILLIAM_ (d. 1197), chancellor of England and bishop of Ely,
entered public life at the close of Henry II.'s reign as official to the
king's son Geoffrey, for the archdeaconry of Rouen. Henry II., who
disliked him, called him the "son of two traitors." He soon deserted
Geoffrey for Richard, who made him chancellor of the duchy of Aquitaine.
He always showed himself an able diplomatist. He first distinguished
himself at Paris, as Richard's envoy, when he defeated Henry II.'s
attempt to make peace with Philip Augustus (1189). On Richard's
accession William became chancellor of the kingdom and bishop of Ely.
When Richard left England (Dec. 1189), he put the tower of London in his
hands and chose him to share with Hugh de Puiset, the great bishop of
Durham, the office of chief justiciar. William immediately quarrelled
with Hugh, and by April 1190 had managed to oust him completely from
office. In June 1190 he received a commission as legate from Pope
Celestine. He was then master in church as well as state. But his
disagreeable appearance and manners, his pride, his contempt for
everything English made him detested. His progresses through the country
with a train of a thousand knights were ruinous to those on whom
devolved the burden of entertaining him. Even John seemed preferable to
him. John returned to England in 1191; he and his adherents were
immediately involved in disputes with William, who was always worsted.
At last (June 1191) Geoffrey, archbishop of York and William's earliest
benefactor, was violently arrested by William's subordinates on landing
at Dover. They exceeded their orders, which were to prevent the
archbishop from entering England until he had sworn fealty to Richard.
But this outrage was made a pretext for a general rising against
William, whose legatine commission had now expired, and whose power was
balanced by the presence of the archbishop of Rouen, Walter Coutances,
with a commission from the king, William shut himself up in the Tower,
but he was forced to surrender his castles and expelled from the
kingdom. In 1193 he joined Richard in Germany, and Richard seems to have
attributed the settlement soon after concluded between himself and the
emperor, to his "dearest chancellor." For the rest of the reign
Longchamp was employed in confidential and diplomatic missions by
Richard all over the continent, in Germany, in France and at Rome. He
died in January 1197. His loyalty to Richard was unswerving, and it was
no doubt through his unscrupulous devotion to the royal interest that he
incurred the hatred of Richard's English subjects.
AUTHORITIES.--Benedictus, _Gesta Henrici_, vol. ii.; Giraldus
Cambrensis, _De Vita Galfridi_; Stubbs' Preface to Roger of Hoveden,
vol. iii.; L. Bovine-Champeaux, _Notice sur Guillaume de Longchamp_
(Évreux, 1885).
LONGCLOTH, a plain cotton cloth originally made in comparatively long
pieces. The name was applied particularly to cloth made in India.
Longcloth, which is now commonly bleached, comprehends a number of
various qualities. It is heavier than cambric, and finer than medium or
Mexican. As it is used principally for underclothing and shirts, most of
the longcloth sold in Great Britain passes through the hands of the
shirt and underclothing manufacturers, who sell to the shopkeepers,
though there is still a considerable if decreasing retail trade in
piece-goods. The lower kinds of longcloth, which are made from American
cotton, correspond in quality to the better kinds of "shirting" made for
the East, but the best longcloths are made from Egyptian cotton, and are
fine and fairly costly goods.
LONG EATON, an urban district in the Ilkeston parliamentary division of
Derbyshire, England, 10 m. E.S.E. of Derby, on the Midland railway. Pop.
(1891) 9636; (1901) 13,045. It lies in the open valley of the Trent, at
a short distance from the river, and near the important Trent Junction
on the Midland railway system. The church of St Lawrence has Norman
portions, and an arch and window apparently of pre-Conquest date. The
large industrial population of the town is occupied in the manufacture
of lace, which extended hither from Nottingham; there are also railway
carriage works. To the north is the township of SANDIACRE (pop. 2954),
where the church has a fine Decorated chancel.
LONGEVITY, a term applied to express either the length or the duration
of life in any organism, but, as cases of long duration excite most
interest, frequently used to denote a relatively unusual prolongation of
life. There is no reason to suppose that protoplasm, the living material
of organisms, has a necessarily limited duration of life, provided that
the conditions proper to it are maintained, and it has been argued that
since every living organism comes into existence as a piece of the
protoplasm of a pre-existing living organism, protoplasm is potentially
immortal. Living organisms exist, however, as particles or communities
of particles of protoplasm (see LIFE), and as such have a limited
duration of life. Longevity, as E. Ray Lankester pointed out in 1869,
for practical purposes must be understood to mean the "length of time
during which life is exhibited in an individual." The word "individual"
must be taken in its ordinary sense as a wholly or partially
independent, organized mass produced from a pre-existing organized mass,
as otherwise the problem will be confused by arguments as to the meaning
of biological individuality.
_Empirical Data._--A multitude of observations show that only a very
brief life, ranging from a few hours to a few days, is the normal fate
of the vast majority of single-celled organisms, whether these be animal
or vegetable or on the border-line between the two kingdoms. Death comes
to them rapidly from internal or external causes, or the individual life
ends in conjugation or division or spore-formation. Under special
conditions, natural or artificial, the individual life may be prolonged
by desiccation, or freezing, or by some similar arrest of functional
activity.
The duration of life among plants is varied. The popular division into
annuals, biennials and perennials is not absolute, for natural and
artificial conditions readily prolong the lives of annuals and biennials
for several seasons, whereas the case of perennials is much complicated
by the mode of growth, and the problem of individuality, however we
desire to exclude it, obtrudes itself. In the vast majority of cases
where a plant is obviously a simple individual, its life is short,
ranging from a few days in the case of fungi, to two seasons in the case
of biennial herbs. Most of the simple algae are annual, their life
enduring only for part of the year; the branching algae are more often
perennial, but in their cases not only are observations as to duration
lacking, but however simply we may use the term individual, its
application is difficult. The larger terrestrial plants with woody
tissues which we denote roughly as shrubs and trees have an
individuality which, although different from that of a hyacinth or
carrot, is usually obvious. Shrubs live from four to ten or more years,
and it apparently is the case that odoriferous shrubs such as sage and
lavender display the longer duration. Trees with soft wood, such as
poplars and willows, last for about fifty years, fruit-trees rather
longer. Estimates of the age which large trees can attain, based partly
on attempts to count the annual rings, have been given by many writers,
and range from about three hundred years in the case of the elm to three
to five thousand years in the case of _Sequoia gigantea_ of California,
and over five thousand years in that of the baobab (_Adansonia
digitata_) of Cape Verde. It is impossible to place exact reliance on
these estimates, but it is at least certain that very many trees have a
duration of life exceedingly great in comparison with the longest-lived
animals.
The duration of life amongst multicellular invertebrate animals is
little known, except in the frequent instances where it is normally
brief. Many sponges and polyps die at the end of the season, leaving
winter eggs or buds. The much-branched masses of the larger sponges and
compound hydrozoa certainly may be perennial. A sea-anemone (_Actinia
mesembryanthemum_), captured in 1828 by Sir John Dalyell, a Scottish
naturalist, and then guessed to be about seven years old, lived in
captivity in Edinburgh until 1887, the cause of death being unknown. As
other instances of great ages attained by sea-anemones are on record, it
is plain that these animals, although simple polyps, are long-lived.
Echinoderms are inferred to live to considerable ages, as they grow
slowly and as there is great difference in size amongst fully adult
specimens. On similar reasoning, considerable age is attributed to the
larger annulates and crustacea, but the smaller forms in many cases are
known to have very short lives. The variation in the length of life of
molluscs appears to be great. Many species of gastropods live only a few
years; others, such as _Natica heros_, have reached thirty years, whilst
the large _Tridacna gigas_ is stated to live from sixty to a hundred
years. Among insects, the adult stage has usually only a very short
duration of life, extending from a few hours to a few months, but the
larval stages may last much longer. Including these latter, the range of
duration among insects, taking the whole life from hatching to death,
appears to lie between the limits of a few weeks in the case of
plant-lice to seventeen years in the case of the American _Cicada
septemdecim_, the larva of which lives seventeen years, the adult only a
month. Most butterflies are annuals, but those which fail to copulate
may hibernate and live through a second season, whilst the lives of some
have been preserved artificially for seven years. Worker bees and drones
do not survive the season, but queens may live from two to five years.
In the case of vertebrates, the duration of life appears to be greater
among fish and reptiles than among birds and mammals. The ancient Romans
have noted that eels, kept in aquaria, could reach the age of sixty
years. Estimates based on size and rate of growth have led to the
inference that salmon may live to the age of a hundred years, whilst G.
L. L. Buffon set down the period of life of carp in ponds as one hundred
and fifty years, and there is evidence for a pike having reached the age
of over two centuries. More recently it has been claimed that the age of
fish can be ascertained exactly by counting the annual rings of the
otoliths. No great ages have as yet been recorded by this method,
whilst, on the other hand, by revealing great variations of weight and
size in fishes with the same number of annual rings, it has thrown doubt
on the validity of estimates of age based on size and rate of growth.
The evidence as a whole is unsatisfactory, but it is highly probable
that in the absence of accidents most fish can attain very great ages.
The duration of life among batrachia is little known, but small frogs
have been recorded as living over twelve years, and toads up to
thirty-six years.
Almost nothing is known as to the longevity of snakes and lizards, but
it is probable that no great ages are reached. Crocodiles, alligators
and caymans grow slowly and are believed to live very long. There is
exact evidence as to alligators in captivity in Europe reaching forty
years without signs of senescence, and some of the sacred crocodiles of
India are believed to be more than a hundred years old. Chelonians live
still longer. A tortoise has lived for eighty years in the garden of the
governor of Cape Town, and is believed to be at least two hundred years
old. There are records of small land-tortoises that have been kept in
captivity for over a century, whilst the very large tortoises of the
Galapagos Islands certainly attain ages of at least two centuries and
possibly much more. A considerable body of information exists regarding
the longevity of birds, and much of this has been brought together by J.
H. Gurney. From his lists, which include more than fifty species, it
appears that the duration is least in the case of small passerine and
picarian birds, where it ranges from eight or nine years (goat-suckers
and swifts) to a maximum of twenty-five years, the latter age having
been approached by larks, canaries and goldfinch. Gulls have been
recorded as living over forty years, ducks and geese over fifty years
(the duchess of Bedford has recorded the case of a Chinese goose having
been in possession of the same family for fifty-seven years). Parrots
frequently live over eighty years, swans nearly as long, ravens and owls
rather less, whilst there is excellent evidence of eagles and falcons
considerably exceeding a hundred years. Notwithstanding their relatively
large size, struthious birds do not reach great ages. The records for
cassowaries and rheas do not exceed thirty years, and the maximum for
ostriches is fifty years, and that on doubtful evidence.
Exact records regarding the longevity of mammals are surprisingly few.
There is no evidence as to Monotremes. The life of Marsupials in
captivity is seldom long; a phalanger has lived in the London Zoological
Gardens and showed no signs of age at more than ten years old; it may be
inferred that the larger forms are capable of living longer. Reliable
records as to Edentates do not exist; those in captivity have short
lives, but the size and structure of some of the extinct forms suggests
that they may have reached a great age. Nothing is known regarding the
longevity of Sirenians, except that they do not live long in captivity.
In the case of Cetaceans, estimates based on the growth of whale-bone
assign an age of several centuries to whale-bone whales; exact records
do not exist. More is known regarding Ungulates, as many of these are
domesticated, semi-domesticated or are frequently kept in captivity.
Great length of life has been assigned to the rhinoceros, but the
longest actual record is that of an Indian rhinoceros which lived for
thirty-seven years in the London Zoological Gardens. The usual duration
of life in the case of horses, asses and zebras is from fifteen to
thirty years, but instances of individuals reaching fifty years are
fairly well authenticated. Domestic cattle may live from twenty-five to
thirty years, sheep and goats from twelve to fourteen years, antelopes
rather longer, especially in the case of the larger forms. A giraffe has
lived for nineteen years in the London Zoological Gardens. Deer are
reputed to live longer than sheep, and records of individuals at the
London Gardens confirm this, but it is doubtful if they live as long as
cattle. Camels are long-lived, according to repute, but actual records
show no great age; a llama which died in the London Gardens at the age
of seventeen years showed unmistakable signs of senility. The
hippopotamus is another large ungulate to which great longevity has been
assigned, but the longest actual record is the case of a female born in
the London Gardens which died in its thirty-fifth year. The duration of
life assigned to domestic swine is about twenty years; an Indian wild
boar, alive in the London Zoological Gardens in 1910, and apparently in
full vigour, was fifteen years old. Elephants are usually supposed
capable of reaching great ages, but the actual records of menagerie and
military animals show that thirty to forty years is a normal limit.
Facts as to rodents are not numerous; the larger forms such as hares and
rabbits may live for ten years, smaller forms such as rats and mice, for
five or six years. Bats have a reputation for long duration of life, and
tropical fruit-bats are known to have lived for seventeen years. No
great ages have been recorded for Carnivora, but the average is fairly
high. Twenty-five years appears to be a limit very rarely exceeded by
lions, tigers or bears; domestic cats may live for from twelve to
twenty-three years, and dogs from sixteen to eighteen years, though
cases of as many as thirty-four years have been noted. Less is known of
the smaller forms, but menagerie records show that ages between twelve
and twenty are frequently reached. There were in 1910 in the London
Zoological Gardens, apparently in good health, a meerkat at least twelve
years old, a sand-badger fourteen years and a ratel nineteen years of
age. Records regarding monkeys are unsatisfactory, for these creatures
are notoriously delicate in captivity, and it is practically certain
that under such circumstances they rarely die of old age. A grey lemur
eleven years old and a chimpanzee eleven and a half, both in good health
in the London Zoological Gardens, appear to be the oldest primates
definitely recorded. Estimates based on size, condition of the skull and
so forth obtained by examination of wild specimens that have been killed
would seem to establish a rough correspondence between the size of
monkeys and their duration of life, and to set the limits as between
seven or eight and thirty years.