Book: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4

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Professor Cairnes's son, CAPTAIN W.E. CAIRNES (1862-1906), was an able
writer on military subjects, being author of _An Absent-minded War_ (1900),
_The Coming Waterloo_ (1905), &c.

[v.04 p.0952]

CAIRNGORM, a yellow or brown variety of quartz, named from Cairngorm or
Cairngorum, one of the peaks of the Grampian Mountains in Banffshire,
Scotland. According to Mr E.H. Cunningham-Craig, the mineral occurs in
crystals lining cavities in highly-inclined veins of a fine-grained granite
running through the coarser granite of the main mass: Shallow pits were
formerly dug in the kaolinized granite for sake of the cairngorm and the
mineral was also found as pebbles in the bed of the river Avon. Cairngorm
is a favourite ornamental stone in Scotland, being set in the lids of
snuff-mulls, in the handles of dirks and in brooches for Highland costume.
A rich sherry-yellow colour is much esteemed. Quartz of yellow and brown
colour is often known in trade as "false topaz," or simply "topaz." Such
quartz is found at many localities in Brazil, Russia and Spain. Much of the
yellow quartz used in jewellery is said to be "burnt amethyst"; that is, it
was originally amethystine quartz, the colour of which has been modified by
heat (see AMETHYST). Yellow quartz is sometimes known as citrine; when the
quartz presents a pale brown tint it is called "smoky quartz"; and when the
brown is so deep that the stone appears almost black it is termed morion.
The brown colour has been referred to the presence of titanium.

CAIRNS, HUGH MCCALMONT CAIRNS, 1ST EARL (1819-1885), Irish statesman, and
lord chancellor of England, was born at Cultra, Co. Down, Ireland, on the
27th of December 1819. His father, William Cairns, formerly a captain in
the 47th regiment, came of a family[1] of Scottish origin, which migrated
to Ireland in the time of James I. Hugh Cairns was his second son, and was
educated at Belfast academy and at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating with
a senior moderatorship in classics in 1838. In 1844 he was called to the
bar at the Middle Temple, to which he had migrated from Lincoln's Inn.
During his first years at the chancery bar, Cairns showed little promise of
the eloquence which afterwards distinguished him. Never a rapid speaker, he
was then so slow and diffident, that he feared that this defect might
interfere with his legal career. Fortunately he was soon able to rid
himself of the idea that he was only fit for practice as a conveyancer. In
1852 he entered parliament as member for Belfast, and his Inn, on his
becoming a Q.C. in 1856, made him a bencher.

In 1858 Cairns was appointed solicitor-general, and was knighted, and in
May of that year made two of his most brilliant and best-remembered
speeches in the House of Commons. In the first, he defended the action of
Lord Ellenborough, who, as president of the board of control, had not only
censured Lord Canning for a proclamation issued by him as governor-general
of India but had made public the despatch in which the censure was
conveyed. On the other occasion referred to, Sir Hugh Cairns spoke in
opposition to Lord John Russell's amendment to the motion for the second
reading of the government Reform Bill, winning the most cordial
commendation of Disraeli. Disraeli's appreciation found an opportunity for
displaying itself some years later, when in 1868 he invited him to be lord
chancellor in the brief Conservative administration which followed Lord
Derby's resignation of the leadership of his party. Meanwhile, Cairns had
maintained his reputation in many other debates, both when his party was in
power and when it was in opposition. In 1866 Lord Derby, returning to
office, had made him attorney-general, and in the same year he had availed
himself of a vacancy to seek the comparative rest of the court of appeal.
While a lord justice he had been offered a peerage, and though at first
unable to accept it, he had finally done so on a relative, a member of the
wealthy family of McCalmont, providing the means necessary for the
endowment of a title.

The appointment of Baron Cairns of Garmoyle as lord chancellor in 1868
involved the superseding of Lord Chelmsford, an act which apparently was
carried out by Disraeli with less tact than might have been expected of
him. Lord Chelmsford bitterly declared that he had been sent away with less
courtesy than if he had been a butler, but the testimony of Lord Malmesbury
is strong that the affair was the result of an understanding arrived at
when Lord Chelmsford took office. Disraeli held office on this occasion for
a few months only, and when Lord Derby died in 1869, Lord Cairns became the
leader of the Conservative opposition in the House of Lords. He had
distinguished himself in the Commons by his resistance to the Roman
Catholics' Oath Bill brought in in 1865; in the Lords, his efforts on
behalf of the Irish Church were equally strenuous. His speech on
Gladstone's Suspensory Bill was afterwards published as a pamphlet, but the
attitude which he and the peers who followed him had taken up, in insisting
on their amendments to the preamble of the bill, was one difficult to
maintain, and Lord Cairns made terms with Lord Granville in circumstances
which precluded his consulting his party first. He issued a circular to
explain his action in taking a course for which many blamed him. Viewed
dispassionately, the incident appears to have exhibited his statesmanlike
qualities in a marked degree, for he secured concessions which would have
been irretrievably lost by continued opposition. Not long after this, Lord
Cairns resigned the leadership of his party in the upper house, but he had
to resume it in 1870 and took a strong part in opposing the Irish Land Bill
in that year. On the Conservatives coming into power in 1874, he again
became lord chancellor; in 1878 he was made Viscount Garmoyle and Earl
Cairns; and in 1880 his party went out of office. In opposition he did not
take as prominent a part as previously, but when Lord Beaconsfield died in
1881, there were some Conservatives who considered that his title to lead
the party was better than that of Lord Salisbury. His health, however,
never robust, had for many years shown intermittent signs of failing. He
had periodically made enforced retirements to the Riviera, and for many
years had had a house at Bournemouth, and it was here that he died on the
2nd of April 1885.

Cairns was a great lawyer, with an immense grasp of first principles and
the power to express them; his judgments taking the form of luminous
expositions or treatises upon the law governing the case before him, rather
than of controversial discussions of the arguments adduced by counsel or of
analysis of his own reasons. Lucidity and logic were the leading
characteristics of his speeches in his professional capacity and in the
political arena. In an eloquent tribute to his memory in the House of
Lords, Lord Chief Justice Coleridge expressed the high opinion of the legal
profession upon his merits and upon the severe integrity and single-minded
desire to do his duty, which animated him in his selections for the bench.
His piety was reflected by that of his great opponent, rival and friend,
Lord Selborne. Like Lord Selborne and Lord Hatherley, Cairns found leisure
at his busiest for teaching in the Sunday-school, but it is not recorded of
them (as of him) that they refused to undertake work at the bar on
Saturdays, in order to devote that day to hunting. He used to say that his
great incentive to hard work at his profession in early days was his desire
to keep hunters, and he retained his keenness as a sportsman as long as he
was able to indulge it. Of his personal characteristics, it may be said
that he was a spare man, with a Scottish, not an Irish, cast of
countenance. He was scrupulously neat in his personal appearance, faultless
in bands and necktie, and fond of wearing a flower in his button-hole. His
chilly manner, coupled with his somewhat austere religious principles, had
no doubt much to do with the fact that he was never a popular man. His
friends claimed for him a keen sense of humour, but it was not to be
detected by those whose knowledge of him was professional rather than
personal. Probably he thought the exhibition of humour incompatible with
the dignity of high judicial position. Of his legal attainments there can
be no doubt. His influence upon the legislation of the day was largely felt
where questions affecting religion and the Church were involved and in
matters peculiarly affecting his own profession. His power was felt, as has
been said, both when he was in office and when his party was in opposition.
He had been chairman of the committee on judicature reform, and although he
was not in office when the Judicature Act was passed, all the reforms in
the legal procedure of his day owed much to him. He took part, when out of
office, in the passing of the Married Women's Property Act, and was
directly responsible for the Conveyancing Acts of 1881-1882, and [v.04
p.0953] for the Settled Land Act. Many other statutes in which he was
largely concerned might be quoted. His judgments are to be found in the Law
Reports and those who wish to consider his oratory should read the speeches
above referred to, or that delivered in the House of Lords on the
Compensation for Disturbance Bill in 1880, and his memorable criticism of
Mr Gladstone's policy in the Transvaal, after Majuba Hill. (See Hansard and
_The Times_, 1st of April 1881.) His style of delivery was, as a rule, cold
to a marked degree. The term "frozen oratory" has been applied to his
speeches, and it has been said of them that they flowed "like water from a
glacier.... The several stages of his speech are like steps cut out in ice,
as sharply defined, as smooth and as cold." Lord Caims married in 1856 Mary
Harriet, eldest daughter of John McNeill, of Parkmount, Co. Antrim, by whom
he had issue five sons and two daughters. He was succeeded in the earldom
by his second but eldest surviving son, Arthur William (1861-1890), who
left one daughter, and from whom the title passed to his two next younger
brothers in succession, Herbert John, third earl (1863-1905), and Wilfrid
Dallas, fourth earl (b. 1865).

AUTHORITIES.--See _The Times_, 3rd and 14th of April 1885; _Law Journal,
Law Times, Solicitors' Journal_, 11th of April 1885; the _Law Magazine_,
vol. xi. p. 133; the _Law Quarterly_, vol. i. p. 365; _Earl Russell's
Recollections; Memoirs of Lord Malmesbury_; Sir Theodore Martin, _The Life
of the Prince Consort_; E. Manson, _Builders of our Law_; J.B. Atlay,
_Victorian Chancellors_, vol. ii.

[1] See _History of the family of Cairnes or Cairns_, by H.C. Lawlor
(1907).

CAIRNS, JOHN (1818-1892), Scottish Presbyterian divine, was born at Ayton
Hill, Berwickshire, on the 23rd of August 1818, the son of a shepherd. He
went to school at Ayton and Oldcambus, Berwickshire, and was then for three
years a herd boy, but kept up his education. In 1834 he entered Edinburgh
University, but during 1836 and 1837, owing to financial straits, taught in
a school at Ayton. In November 1837 he returned to Edinburgh, where he
became the most distinguished student of his time, graduating M.A. in 1841,
first in classics and philosophy and bracketed first in mathematics. While
at Edinburgh he organized the Metaphysical Society along with A. Campbell
Fraser and David Masson. He entered the Presbyterian Secession Hall in
1840, and in 1843 wrote an article in the _Secession Magazine_ on the Free
Church movement, which aroused the interest of Thomas Chalmers. The years
1843-1844 he spent at Berlin studying German philosophy and theology. He
was licensed as preacher on the 3rd of February 1845, and on the 6th of
August ordained as minister of Golden Square Church, Berwick-on-Tweed.
There his preaching was distinguished by its impressiveness and by a broad
and unaffected humanity. He had many "calls" to other churches, but chose
to remain at Berwick. In 1857 he was one of the representatives at the
meeting of the Evangelical Alliance in Berlin, and in 1858 Edinburgh
University conferred on him an honorary D.D. In the following year he
declined an invitation to become principal of Edinburgh University. In 1872
he was elected moderator of the United Presbyterian Synod and represented
his church in Paris at the first meeting of the Reformed Synod of France.
In May 1876, he was appointed joint professor of systematic theology and
apologetics with James Harper, principal of the United Presbyterian
Theological College, whom he succeeded as principal in 1879. He was an
indefatigable worker and speaker, and in order to facilitate his efforts in
other countries and other literatures he learnt Arabic, Norse, Danish and
Dutch. In 1890 he visited Berlin and Amsterdam to acquaint himself with the
ways of younger theologians, especially with the Ritschlians, whose work he
appreciated but did not accept as final. On his return he wrote a long
article on "Recent Scottish Theology" for the _Presbyterian and Reformed
Review_, for which he read over every theological work of note published in
Scotland during the preceding half-century. He died on the 12th of March,
1892, at Edinburgh. Among his principal publications are _An Examination of
Ferrier's "Knowing and Being," and the Scottish Philosophy_--(a work which
gave him the reputation of being an independent Hamiltonian in philosophy);
_Memoir of John Brown, D.D._ (1860); _Romanism and Rationalism_ (1863);
_Outlines of Apologetical Theology_ (1867); _The Doctrine of the
Presbyterian Church_ (1876); _Unbelief in the 18th Century_ (1881);
_Doctrinal Principles of the United Presbyterian Church_ (Dr Blair's
Manual, 1888).

See MacEwen's _Life and Letters of John Cairns_ (1895).

(D. MN.)

CAIRNS, a seaport of Nares county, Queensland, Australia, 890 m. direct
N.N.W. of Brisbane. Pop. (1901) 3557. The town lies parallel with the sea,
on the western shore of Trinity Bay, with an excellent harbour, and a long
beach, finely timbered. Cairns is the natural outlet for the gold-fields,
tin-mines and silver-fields of the district and for the rich copper
district of Chillagoe. A government railway, 48 m. long, runs to Mareeba,
whence a private company's line continues to Mungana, 100 m. W. There is
also a line belonging to a private company connecting Chillagoe with
Mareeba. In the vicinity of Cairns are extensive sugar plantations, with
sugar mills and refineries; the culture of coffee and tobacco has rapidly
extended; bananas, pine-apples and other fruits are exported in
considerable quantities and there is a large industry in cedar. The Barron
Falls, among the finest in Australia, are near Kuranda, 19 m. from Cairns.
Cairns became a municipality in 1885.

CAIRO (Arabic _Misr-al-Kahira_, or simply _Misr_), the capital of modern
Egypt and the most populous city in Africa, on the Nile, 12 m. S. of the
apex of the Delta, in 30 deg. 3' N. and 31 deg. 21' E. It is 130 m. S.E. of
Alexandria, and 148 E. of Suez by rail, though only 84 m. from the
last-named port by the overland route across the desert, in use before the
opening of the Suez Canal. Cairo occupies a length of 5 m. on the east bank
of the Nile, stretching north from the old Roman fortress of Babylon, and
covers an area of about 8 sq. m. It is built partly on the alluvial plain
of the Nile valley and partly on the rocky slopes of the Mokattam hills,
which rise 550 ft. above the town.

The citadel, which is built on a spur of the Mokattam hills, occupies the
S.E. angle of the city. The prospect from the ramparts of this fortress is
one of striking picturesqueness and beauty. Below lies the city with its
ancient walls and lofty towers, its gardens and squares, its palaces and
its mosques, with their delicately-carved domes and minarets covered with
fantastic tracery, the port of Bulak, the gardens and palace of Shubra, the
broad river studded with islands, the valley of the Nile dotted with groups
of trees, with the pyramids on the north horizon, and on the east the
barren cliffs, backed by a waste of sand. Since the middle of the 19th
century the city has more than doubled in size and population. The newer
quarters, situated near the river, are laid out in the fashion of French
cities, but the eastern parts of the town retain, almost unimpaired, their
Oriental aspect, and in scores of narrow, tortuous streets, and busy
bazaars it is easy to forget that there has been any change from the Cairo
of medieval times. Here the line of fortifications still marks the eastern
limits of the city, though on the north large districts have grown up
beyond the walls. Neither on the south nor towards the river are there any
fortifications left.

_Principal Quarters and Modern Buildings._--From the citadel a straight
road, the Sharia Mehemet Ali, runs N. to the Ezbekia (Ezbekiyeh) Gardens,
which cover over 20 acres, and form the central point of the foreign
colony. North and west of the Ezbekia runs the Ismailia canal, and on the
W. side of the canal, about half a mile N. of the Gardens, is the Central
railway station, approached by a broad road, the Sharia Clot Bey. The Arab
city and the quarters of the Copts and Jews lie E. of the two streets
named. West of the Ismailia canal lies the Bulak quarter, the port or
riverside district. At Bulak are the arsenal, foundry and railway works, a
paper manufactory and the government printing press, founded by Mehemet
Ali. A little distance S.E. of the Ezbekia is the Place Atabeh, the chief
point of intersection of the electric tramways which serve the newer parts
of the town. From the Place Atabeh a narrow street, the Muski, leads E.
into the heart of the Arab city. Another street leads S.W. to the Nile, at
the point where the Kasr en Nil or Great Nile bridge spans the river,
leading to Gezira Bulak, an island whereon is a palace, now turned into a
hotel, polo, cricket and tennis grounds, and a racecourse. The districts
between the bridge, the Ezbekia [v.04 p.0954] and the Ismailia canal, are
known as the Ismailia and Tewfikia quarters, after the khedives in whose
reigns they were laid out. The district immediately south of the bridge is
called the Kasr el-Dubara quarter. Abdin Square, which occupies a central
position, is connected with Ezbekia Gardens by a straight road. The narrow
canal, El Khalig, which branched from the Nile at Old Cairo and traversed
the city from S.W. to N.E., was filled up in 1897, and an electric tramway
runs along the road thus made. With the filling up of the channel the
ancient festival of the cutting of the canal came to an end.

The government offices and other modern public buildings are nearly all in
the western half of the city. On the south side of the Ezbekia are the post
office, the courts of the International Tribunals, and the opera house. On
the east side are the bourse and the Credit Lyonnais, on the north the
buildings of the American mission. On or near the west side of the gardens
are most of the large and luxurious hotels which the city contains for the
accommodation of Europeans. Facing the river immediately north of the Great
Nile bridge are the large barracks, called Kasr-en-Nil, and the new museum
of Egyptian antiquities (opened in 1902). South of the bridge are the
Ismailia palace (a khedivial residence), the British consulate general, the
palace of the khedive's mother, the medical school and the government
hospital. Farther removed from the river are the offices of the ministries
of public works and of war--a large building surrounded by gardens--and of
justice and finance. On the east side of Abdin Square is Abdin palace, an
unpretentious building used for official receptions. Adjoining the palace
are barracks. N.E. of Abdin Square, in the Sharia Mehemet Ali, is the Arab
museum and khedivial library. Near this building are the new courts of the
native tribunals. Private houses in these western districts consist chiefly
of residential flats, though in the Kasr el-Dubara quarter are many
detached residences.

_The Oriental City._--The eastern half of Cairo is divided into many
quarters. These quarters were formerly closed at night by massive gates. A
few of these gates remain. In addition to the Mahommedan quarters, usually
called after the trade of the inhabitants or some notable building, there
are the Copt or Christian quarter, the Jews' quarter and the old "Frank"
quarter. The last is the Muski district where, since the days of Saladin,
"Frank" merchants have been permitted to live and trade. Some of the
principal European shops are still to be found in this street. The Copt and
Jewish quarters lie north of the Muski. The Coptic cathedral, dedicated to
St Mark, is a modern building in the basilica style. The oldest Coptic
church in Cairo is, probably, the Keniset-el-Adra, or Church of the Virgin,
which is stated to preserve the original type of Coptic basilica. The
Coptic churches in the city are not, however, of so much interest as those
in Old Cairo (see below). In the Copt quarter are also Armenian, Syrian,
Maronite, Greek and Roman Catholic churches. In the Copt and Jewish
quarters the streets, as in the Arab quarters, are winding and narrow. In
them the projecting upper stories of the houses nearly meet. Sebils or
public fountains are numerous. These fountains are generally two-storeyed,
the lower chamber enclosing a well, the upper room being often used for
scholastic purposes. Many of the fountains are fine specimens of Arab
architecture. While the houses of the poorer classes are mean and too often
dirty, in marked contrast are the houses of the wealthier citizens, built
generally in a style of elaborate arabesque, the windows shaded with
projecting cornices of graceful woodwork (_mushrebiya_) and ornamented with
stained glass. A winding passage leads through the ornamental doorway into
the court, in the centre of which is a fountain shaded with palm-trees. The
principal apartment is generally paved with marble; in the centre a
decorated lantern is suspended over a fountain, while round the sides are
richly inlaid cabinets and windows of stained glass; and in a recess is the
_divan_, a low, narrow, cushioned seat. The basement storey is generally
built of the soft calcareous stone of the neighbouring hills, and the upper
storey, which contains the harem, of painted brick. The shops of the
merchants are small and open to the street. The greater part of the trade
is done, however, in the bazaars or markets, which are held in large
_khans_ or storehouses, of two storeys and of considerable size. Access to
them is gained from the narrow lanes which usually surround them. The khans
often possess fine gateways. The principal bazaar, the Khan-el-Khalil,
marks the site of the tombs of the Fatimite caliphs.

_The Citadel and the Mosques._--Besides the citadel, the principal edifices
in the Arab quarters are the mosques and the ancient gates. The citadel or
El-Kala was built by Saladin about 1166, but it has since undergone
frequent alteration, and now contains a palace erected by Mehemet Ali, and
a mosque of Oriental alabaster (based on the model of the mosques at
Constantinople) founded by the same pasha on the site of "Joseph's Hall,"
so named after the prenomen of Saladin. The dome and the two slender
minarets of this mosque form one of the most picturesque features of Cairo,
and are visible from a great distance. In the centre is a well called
Joseph's Well, sunk in the solid rock to the level of the Nile. There are
four other mosques within the citadel walls, the chief being that of Ibn
Kalaun, built in A.D. 1317 by Sultan Nasir ibn Kalaun. The dome has fallen
in. After having been used as a prison, and, later, as a military
storehouse, it has been cleared and its fine colonnades are again visible.
The upper parts of the minarets are covered with green tiles. They are
furnished with bulbous cupolas. The most magnificent of the city mosques is
that of Sultan Hasan, standing in the immediate vicinity of the citadel. It
dates from A.D. 1357, and is celebrated for the grandeur of its porch and
cornice and the delicate stalactite vaulting which adorns them. The
restoration of parts of the mosque which had fallen into decay was begun in
1904. Besides it there is the mosque of Tulun (c. A.D. 879) exhibiting very
ancient specimens of the pointed arch; the mosque of Sultan El Hakim (A.D.
1003), the mosque el Azhar (the splendid), which dates from about A.D. 970,
and is the seat of a Mahommedan university; and the mosque of Sultan
Kalaun, which is attached to the hospital or madhouse (_muristan_) begun by
Kalaun in A.D. 1285. The whole forms a large group of buildings, now
partially in ruins, in a style resembling the contemporaneous medieval work
in Europe, with pointed arches in several orders. Besides the mosque proper
there is a second mosque containing the fine mausoleum of Kalaun. Adjacent
to the _muristan_ on the north is the tomb mosque of al Nasir, completed
1303, with a fine portal. East of the Khan-el-Khalil is the mosque of El
Hasanen, which is invested with peculiar sanctity as containing relics of
Hosain and Hasan, grandsons of the Prophet. This mosque was rebuilt in the
19th century and is of no architectural importance. In all Cairo contains
over 260 mosques, and nearly as many _zawias_ or chapels. Of the gates the
finest are the Bab-en-Nasr, in the north wall of the city, and the
Bab-ez-Zuwela, the only surviving part of the southern fortifications.

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