[1] On the much discussed tablet, which is said to date from his 11th
year, the writer had at first written "10th year of Cyrus," and then
corrected this date into "1st year of Cambyses"; see Strassmaier,
_Inschriften von Cambyses_, No. 97.
CAMDEN, CHARLES PRATT, 1ST EARL (1714-1794), lord chancellor of England,
was born in Kensington in 1714. He was a descendant of an old Devonshire
family of high standing, the third son of Sir John Pratt, chief-justice
of the king's bench in the reign of George I. He received his early
education at Eton and King's College, Cambridge. In 1734 he became a
fellow of his college, and in the following year obtained his degree of
B.A. Having adopted his father's profession, he had entered the Middle
Temple in 1728, and ten years later he was called to the bar. He
practised at first in the courts of common law, travelling also the
western circuit. For some years his practice was so limited, and he
became so much discouraged, that he seriously thought of turning his
back on the law and entering the church. He listened, however, to the
advice of his friend Sir Robert Henley, a brother barrister, afterwards
known as Lord Chancellor Northington, and persevered, working on and
waiting for success. The first case which brought him prominently into
notice and gave him assurance of ultimate success was the government
prosecution, in 1752, of a bookseller, William Owen, for a libel on the
House of Commons.
His speech for the defence contributed much to the verdict for the
defendant. In 1757, through the influence of William Pitt (afterwards
earl of Chatham), with whom he had formed an intimate friendship while
at Eton, he received the appointment of attorney-general. The same year
he entered the House of Commons as member for the borough of Downton in
Wiltshire. He sat in parliament four years, but did not distinguish
himself as a debater. His professional practice now largely increased.
One of the most noticeable incidents of his tenure of office as
attorney-general was the prosecution of Dr. J. Shebbeare (1709-1788), a
violent party writer of the day, for a libel against the government
contained in his notorious _Letters to the People of England_, which
were published in the years 1756-1758. As a proof of Pratt's moderation
in a period of passionate party warfare and frequent state trials, it is
noted that this was the only official prosecution for libel which he set
on foot. In January 1762 Pratt was raised to the bench as chief-justice
of the common pleas. He was at the same time knighted. Soon after his
elevation the nation was thrown into great excitement about the
prosecution of John Wilkes, and the question involved in it of the
legality of "general warrants." Chief-Justice Pratt pronounced, with
decisive and almost passionate energy, against their legality, thus
giving voice to the strong feeling of the nation and winning for himself
an extraordinary degree of popularity as one of the "maintainers of
English constitutional liberty." Honours fell thick upon him in the form
of addresses from the city of London and many large towns, and of
presentations of freedom from various corporate bodies. In July 1765 he
was raised to the peerage as Baron Camden, of Camden Place, in the
county of Kent; and in the following year he was removed from the court
of common pleas to take his seat as lord chancellor (July 30, 1766).
This seat he retained less than four years; for although he discharged
its duties in so efficient a manner that, with one exception, his
decisions were never reversed on appeal, he took up a position of such
uncompromising hostility to the governments of the day, the Grafton and
North administrations, on the greatest and most exciting matters, the
treatment of the American colonies and the proceedings against John
Wilkes, that the government had no choice but to require of him the
surrender of the great seal. He retired from the court of chancery in
January 1770, but he continued to take a warm interest in the political
affairs and discussions of the time. He continued steadfastly to oppose
the taxation of the American colonists, and signed, in 1778, the protest
of the Lords in favour of an address to the king on the subject of the
manifesto of the commissioners to America. In 1782 he was appointed
president of the council under the Rockingham administration, but
retired in the following year. Within a few months he was reinstated in
this office under the Pitt administration, and held it till his death.
Lord Camden was a strenuous opponent of Fox's India Bill, took an
animated part in the debates on important public matters till within two
years of his death, introduced in 1786 the scheme of a regency on
occasion of the king's insanity, and to the last zealously defended his
early views on the functions of juries, especially of their right to
decide on all questions of libel. He was raised to the dignity of an
earl in May 1786, and was at the same time created Viscount Bayham. Earl
Camden died in London on the 18th of April 1794. His remains were
interred in Seale church in Kent.
CAMDEN, JOHN JEFFREYS PRATT, 2ND EARL and 1ST MARQUESS (1759-1840), only
son of the 1st earl, was born on the 11th of February 1750, and was
educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1780 he was chosen member of
parliament for Bath, and he obtained the lucrative position of teller of
the exchequer, an office which he kept until his death, although after
1812 he refused to receive the large income arising from it. In the
ministry of William Pitt, Pratt was successively a lord of the admiralty
and a lord of the treasury; then, having succeeded his father in the
earldom in 1794, he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1795.
Disliked in Ireland as an opponent of Roman Catholic emancipation and as
the exponent of an unpopular policy, Camden's term of office was one of
commotion and alarm, culminating in the rebellion of 1798. Immediately
after the suppression of the rising he resigned, and in 1804 became
secretary for war and the colonies under Pitt, and in 1805 lord
president of the council. He was again lord president from 1807 to 1812,
after which date he remained for some time in the cabinet without
office. In 1812 he was created earl of Brecknock and Marquess Camden. He
died on the 8th of October 1840, and was succeeded by his only son,
George Charles, 2nd marquess (1799-1866). The present marquess is his
descendant. Camden was chancellor of the university of Cambridge and a
knight of the Garter.
CAMDEN, WILLIAM (1551-1623), English antiquary and historian, was born
in London on the 2nd of May 1551. His father, Sampson Camden, a native
of Lichfield, had settled in London, and, as a painter, had become a
member of the company of painter-stainers. His mother, Elizabeth,
belonged to the old Cumberland family of Curwen. Young Camden received
his early education at Christ's Hospital and St Paul's school, and in
1566 went to Magdalen College, Oxford, probably as a servitor or
chorister. Failing to obtain a demyship at Magdalen he removed to
Broadgates Hall, afterwards Pembroke College, and later to Christ
Church, where he was supported by his friend, Dr Thomas Thornton, canon
of Christ Church. As a defender of the established religion he was soon
engaged in controversy, and his failure to secure a fellowship at All
Souls' College is attributed to the hostility of the Roman Catholics. In
1570 he supplicated in vain for the degree of B.A., and although a
renewed application was granted in 1573 it is doubtful if he ever took a
degree; and in 1571 he went to London and devoted himself to antiquarian
studies, for which he had already acquired a taste.
Camden spent some time in travelling in various parts of England
collecting materials for his _Britannia_, a work which was first
published in 1586. Owing to his friendship with Dr Gabriel Goodman, dean
of Westminster, Camden was made second master of Westminster school in
1575; and when Dr Edward Grant resigned the headmastership in 1593 he
was appointed as his successor. The vacations which he enjoyed as a
schoolmaster left him time for study and travel, and during these years
he supervised the publication of three further editions of the
_Britannia_. Although a layman he was granted the prebend of Ilfracombe
in 1589, and in 1597 he resigned his position at Westminster on being
made Clarencieux king-at-arms, an appointment which caused some
ill-feeling, and the York herald, Ralph Brooke, led an attack on the
genealogical accuracy of the _Britannia_, and accused its author of
plagiarism. Camden replied to Brooke in an appendix to the fifth edition
of the _Britannia_, published in 1600, and his reputation came through
the ordeal untarnished. Having brought out an enlarged and improved
edition of the _Britannia_ in 1607, he began to work on a history of the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, to which he had been urged by Lord Burghley in
1597. The first part of this history dealing with the reign down to 1588
was published in 1615 under the title _Annales rerum Anglicarum et
Hibernicarum regnante Elizabetha_. With regard to this work some
controversy at once arose over the author's treatment of Mary, queen of
Scots. It was asserted that Camden altered his original narrative in
order to please James I., and, moreover, that the account which he is
said to have given to his friend, the French historian, Jacques de Thou,
differed substantially from his own. It seems doubtful if there is any
truth in either of these charges. The second part of this work, finished
in 1617, was published, after the author's death, at Leiden in 1625 and
in London in 1627. In 1622 Camden carried out a plan to found a history
lectureship at Oxford. He provided an endowment from some lands at
Bexley, and appointed as the first lecturer, his friend, Degory Wheare.
The present occupant of the position is known as the Camden professor of
ancient history. His concluding years were mainly spent at Chislehurst,
where he had taken up his residence in 1609, and in spite of recurring
illnesses he continued to work at material for the improvement of the
_Britannia_ and kindred subjects. He died at Chislehurst on the 9th of
November 1623, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a monument now
stands to his memory.
The _Britannia_, the first edition of which is dedicated to Burghley, is
a survey of the British islands written in elegant Latin. It was first
translated into English in 1610, probably under the author's direction,
and other translations have subsequently appeared, the best of which is
an edition edited by Richard Gough and published in three volumes in
1789, and in four volumes in 1806. The _Annales_ has been translated
into French, and English translations appeared in 1635, 1675 and 1688.
The Latin version was published at Leiden in 1639 and 1677, and under
the editorship of T. Hearne at Oxford in 1717. In addition to these
works Camden compiled a Greek grammar, _Institutio Graecae Grammatices
Compendiaria_, which became very popular, and he published an edition of
the writings of Asser, Giraldus Cambrensis, Thomas Walsingham and
others, under the title, _Anglica, Hibernica, Normannica, Cambrica, a
veteribus scripta_, published at Frankfort in 1602, and again in 1603.
He also drew up a list of the epitaphs in Westminster Abbey, which was
issued as _Reges, Reginae, Nobiles et alii in ecclesia collegiata Beati
Petri Westmonasterii sepulti_. This was enlarged and published again in
1603 and 1606. In 1605 he published his _Remains concerning Britain_, a
book of collections from the _Britannia_, which quickly passed through
seven editions; and he wrote an official account of the trial of the
Gunpowder Plot conspirators as _Actio in Henricum Garnetum, Societatis
Jesuiticae in Anglia superiorem et caeteros_.
Camden, who refused a knighthood, was a man of enormous industry, and
possessed a modest and friendly disposition. He had a large number of
influential friends, among whom were Archbishop Ussher, Sir Robert
Cotton, John Selden, the French jurist Brisson, and Isaac Casaubon. His
correspondence was published in London in 1691 by Dr Thomas Smith under
the title, _Vita Gulielmi Camdeni et Illustrium virorum ad G. Camdenum
Epistolae_. This-volume also contains his _Memorabilia de seipso_; his
notes of the reign of James I.; and other interesting matter. In 1838
the Camden Society was founded in his honour, and much valuable work has
been done under its auspices.
CAMDEN, a city and the county-seat of Camden county, New Jersey, U.S.A.,
on the Delaware river, directly opposite Philadelphia, Pa. Pop. (1880)
41,659; (1890) 58,313; (1900) 75,935, of whom 10,097 were foreign-born
and 5576 were negroes; (1910) 94,538. It is a terminus of the Atlantic
City, the West Jersey & Sea Shore, and the Pennsylvania (Amboy division)
railways, and is also served by river and coasting steamboat lines.
Camden is practically a suburb of Philadelphia, with which it is
connected by ferries. It has several pleasant residential sections, and
among its public buildings are the city hall, the Camden county court
house, the post office, the free public library, the Cooper hospital and
the West Jersey homeopathic hospital. The high school has a thoroughly
equipped manual training department. The city owns and operates its
water-works system, and is an important manufacturing and ship-building
centre, among its manufactories being chemical works; asbestos,
wall-paper, oil-cloth and morocco-leather factories; woollen, worsted
and yarn mills; preserving factories; iron and steel mills; boot and
shoe factories; and ship-yards. In 1900 the total value of the city's
manufactured products was $20,451,874 (of which $17,969,954 was the
value of factory products, which in 1905 had increased 86.5% to
$33,587,273), several of the largest items being worsted goods
($2,090,991 in 1900, and $2,528,040 in 1905); leather, tanned, curried
and finished ($1,515,935 in 1900, and $6,364,928 in 1905); oil-cloth
($1,638,556 in 1900); pickles, preserves and sauces ($685,358 in 1900),
and wooden ships and boats ($409,500 in 1900, and $361,089 in 1905, when
the value of the iron and steel ship-building industry was $4,673,504).
The first settlers on the site of Camden came in 1679, but for a century
the settlement consisted of isolated farms and a small group of houses
about the ferry by which travellers from the east crossed to
Philadelphia. The early settlers were largely Quakers. About 1773 Jacob
Cooper laid out a town near the ferry, and gave it the name Camden in
honour of Lord Chancellor Camden, who had been one of the strongest
opponents of the Stamp Act. The settlement, however, was known variously
as "Pluckemin," "The Ferry" and "Cooper's Ferry" until about the time of
the War of 1812. Until 1828 it was administratively a part of the town
of Newton, Gloucester county, but in that year, with more than a
thousand inhabitants, it was chartered as a city under its present name.
During the British occupation of Philadelphia in the War of
Independence, a British force was stationed here, and Camden was the
scene of several skirmishes between the British troops and the New
Jersey irregular militia. Camden was the home of Walt Whitman from 1873
until his death.
CAMDEN, a town and the county-seat of Kershaw county, South Carolina,
U.S.A., near the Wateree river, 33 m. N.E. of Columbia. Pop. (1890)
3533; (1900) 2441; this decrease was due to the separation from Camden
during the decade of its suburb "Kirkwood," re-annexed in 1905; (1910)
3569. It is served by the Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard Air Line and
the Southern railways. Camden is situated about 100 ft. above the river,
which is navigable to this point. The town is a winter resort, chiefly
for Northerners. Cotton, grain and rice are produced in the vicinity,
and there are some manufactories, including cotton mills, a cotton-seed
oil mill and planing mills. Camden, first known as Pine Tree Hill, is
one of the oldest interior towns of the state, having been settled in
1758; in 1768 the present name was adopted in honour of Lord Chancellor
Camden. The town was first incorporated in 1791; its present charter
dates from 1890. For a year following the capture of Charleston by the
British in May 1780, during the War of Independence, Camden was the
centre of important military operations. It was occupied by the British
under Cornwallis in June 1780, was well fortified and was garrisoned by
a force under Lord Rawdon. On the 16th of August Gen. Horatio Gates,
with an American force of about 3600, including some Virginia militia
under Charles Porterfield (1750-1780) and Gen. Edward Stevens
(1745-1820), and North Carolina militia under Gen. Richard Caswell
(1729-1789), was defeated here by the British, about 2000 strong, under
Lord Cornwallis, who had joined Rawdon in anticipation of an attack by
Gates. Soon after the engagement began a large part of the Americans,
mostly North Carolina and Virginia militia, fled precipitately, carrying
Gates with them; but Baron De Kalb and the Maryland troops fought
bravely until overwhelmed by numbers, De Kalb himself being mortally
wounded. A monument was erected to his memory in 1825, Lafayette laying
the corner-stone. The British loss in killed, wounded and missing was
324; the American loss was about 800 or 900 killed and 1000 prisoners,
besides arms and baggage. On the 3rd of December Gates was superseded by
Gen. Nathanael Greene, who after Cornwallis had left the Carolinas,
advanced on Camden and arrived in the neighbourhood on the 19th of April
1781. Considering his force (about 1450) insufficient for an attack on
the fortifications, he withdrew a short distance north of Camden to an
advantageous position on Hobkirk's Hill, where on the 25th of April
Rawdon, with a force of only 950, took him somewhat by surprise and
drove him from the field. The casualties on each side were nearly equal:
American 271; British 258. On the 8th of May Rawdon evacuated the town,
after burning most of it. On the 24th of February 1865, during the Civil
War, a part of Gen. W.T. Sherman's army entered Camden and burned
stores of tobacco and cotton, and several buildings. (See AMERICAN WAR
OF INDEPENDENCE.)
See also T.J. Kirkland and R.M. Kennedy, _Historic Camden_ (Columbia,
S.C., 1905).
CAMEL (from the Arabic _Djemal_ or the Heb. _Gamal_), the name of the
single-humped Arabian _Camelus dromedarius_, but also applied to the
two-humped central Asian _C. bactrianus_ and to the extinct relatives of
both. The characteristics of camels and their systematic position are
discussed under the headings TYLOPODA and ARTIODACTYLA. The two living
species are distinguishable at a glance. It may be mentioned that the
Bactrian camel, which is a shorter-legged and more ponderous animal than
the Arabian species, grows an enormously long and thick winter coat,
which is shed in blanket-like masses in spring. The Arabian camel, which
is used not only in the country from which it takes its name, but also
in North Africa and India, and has been introduced into Australia and
North America, is known only as a domesticated animal. On the other
hand, the Bactrian species, which is employed throughout a large tract
of central Asia in the domesticated condition, appears, according to
recent researches, to exist in the wild state in some of the central
Asian deserts. From the examination of specimens collected by Dr Sven
Hedin, Professor W. Leche shows that the wild Bactrian camel differs
from the domesticated breed of central Asia in the following external
characters: the humps are smaller; the long hair does not occupy nearly
so much of the body; the colour is much more rufous; and the ears and
muzzle are shorter. Many important differences are also recorded between
the skulls of the two animals, and it is especially noteworthy that the
last lower molar is smaller in the wild than in the tame race. In
connexion with this point it should be noticed that, unlike what occurs
in the yak, the wild animal is not larger than the tame one, although it
is incorrect to say that the former is decidedly the inferior of the
latter in point of stature. Dr Leche also institutes a comparison
between the skeletons of the wild and the tame Bactrian camel with the
remains of certain fossil Asiatic camels, namely, _Camelus knoblochi_
from Sarepta, Russia, and _C. alutensis_ from the Aluta valley, Rumania.
This comparison leads to the important conclusion that the wild Bactrian
_Camelus bactrianus ferus_ comes much nearer to the fossil species than
it does to the domesticated breed, the resemblance being specially
noticeable in the absolutely and relatively small size of the last
molar. In view of these differences from the domesticated breed, and the
resemblance of the skull or lower jaw to that of the extinct European
species, it becomes practically impossible to regard the wild camels as
the offspring of animals that have escaped from captivity.
On the latter hypothesis it has been generally assumed that the wild
camels are the descendants of droves of the domesticated breed which
escaped when certain central Asian cities were overwhelmed by
sand-storms. This theory, according to Professor Leche, is rendered
improbable by Dr Sven Hedin's observations on the habits and mode of
life of the wild camel. The habitat of the latter extends from the lower
course of the Keria river to the desert at the termination of that
river, and thence to the neighbourhood of the Achik, the ancient bed of
the Tarim river. These animals also occur in the desert district south
of the Tarim; but are most abundant in the deserts and mountains to the
southward of Kuruktagh, where there are a few brackish-water pools, and
are also common in the barren mountains between Kuruktagh and Choetagh.
Large herds have also been observed in the deserts near Altyntagh. The
capacity of camels for travelling long distances without water--owing to
special structural modifications in the stomach--is familiar to all.
That the Arabian species was one of the earliest animals to be
domesticated is evident from the record of Scripture, where six thousand
camels are said to have formed part of the wealth of the patriarch Job.
Camels also formed part of the present which Pharaoh gave to Abraham,
and it was to a company of Ishmaelites travelling from Gilead to Egypt
on camels, laden with spices, much as their Arabian descendants do at
the present day, that Joseph was sold by his brothers.
The hump (or humps) varies in size according to the condition of the
animal, becoming small and flaccid after hard work and poor diet.
During the rutting-season male camels become exceedingly savage and
dangerous, uttering a loud bubbling roar and engaging in fierce contests
with their fellows. The female carries her young for fully eleven
months, and produces only one calf at a time, which she suckles for a
year. Eight days after birth the young Arabian camel stands 3 ft. high,
but does not reach its full growth till its sixteenth or seventeenth
year; it lives from forty to fifty years. The flesh of the young camel
resembles veal, and is a favourite food of the Arabs, while camel's milk
forms an excellent and highly nutritious beverage, although it does not
furnish butter. The long hair is shorn every summer, and woven into a
variety of stuffs used by the Arab for clothing himself and his family,
and covering his tent. It was in raiment of camel's hair that John the
Baptist appeared as a preacher. The hair imported into Europe is chiefly
used in the manufacture of small brushes used by painters, while the
thick hide is formed into a very durable leather. The droppings are used
as fuel, and from the incinerated remains of these sal-ammoniac is
extracted, which was at one time largely exported from Egypt.
The Bactrian camel is, if possible, of still more importance to many of
the central Asian Mongol races, supplying them alike with food and
raiment. It is, however, as "the ship of the desert," without which vast
tracts of the earth's surface could scarcely be explored, that the camel
is specially valuable. In its fourth year its training as a beast of
burden begins, when it is taught to kneel and to rise at a given signal,
and is gradually accustomed to bear increasing loads. These vary in
weight from 500 to 1000 lb., according to the variety of camel employed,
for of the Arabian camel there are almost as many breeds as there are of
the horse. When crossing a desert camels are expected to carry their
loads 25 m. a day for three days without drink, getting a supply of
water, however, on the fourth; but the fleeter breeds will carry their
rider and a bag of water 50 m. a day for five days without drinking.
When too heavily laden the camel refuses to rise, but on the march it is
exceedingly patient under its burden, only yielding beneath it to die.
Relieved from its load it does not, like other animals, seek the shade,
even when that is to be found, but prefers to kneel beside its burden in
the broad glare of the sun, seeming to luxuriate in the burning sand.
When overtaken by a dust-storm it falls on its knees, and stretching its
neck along the sand, closes its nostrils and remains thus motionless
till the atmosphere clears; and in this position it affords some shelter
to its driver, who, wrapping his face in his mantle, crouches behind his
beast.
The food of the camel consists chiefly of the leaves of trees, shrubs
and dry hard vegetables, which it is enabled to tear down and masticate
by means of its powerful front teeth. As regards temperament, if, writes
Sir F. Palgrave, "docile means stupid, well and good; in such a case the
camel is the very model of docility. But if the epithet is intended to
designate an animal that takes an interest in its rider so far as a
beast can, that in some way understands his intentions, or shares them
in a subordinate fashion, that obeys from a sort of submissive or
half-fellow-feeling with his master, like the horse or elephant, then I
say that the camel is by no means docile--very much the contrary. He
takes no heed of his rider, pays no attention whether he be on his back
or not, walks straight on when once set agoing, merely because he is too
stupid to turn aside, and then should some tempting thorn or green
branch allure him out of the path, continues to walk on in the new
direction simply because he is too dull to turn back into the right
road. In a word, he is from first to last an undomesticated and savage
animal rendered serviceable by stupidity alone, without much skill on
his master's part, or any co-operation on his own, save that of an
extreme passiveness. Neither attachment nor even habit impresses him;
never tame, though not wide-awake enough to be exactly wild."