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CAIRNS, J.—CAIRO
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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.


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’sKnowing 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° 3′ N. and 31° 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