NEWBURGH
NEWFOUNDLAND
ence libraries in America. Mr. Newberry died at sea, Nov. 6, 1868.
New'burgh, N. Y., capital of Orange County, lies on the right bank of the Hudson, in the beautiful Highlands. It has foundries, boiler works and shipyards; manufactures woolen and cotton goods, leather, soap, brushes and paints; and ships large quantities of butter, grain, flour and coal. In the Revolutionary War the American army disbanded here on June 23, 1783. Population 27,805.
New'buryport', Mass , a city and port of entry, is on the south bank of the Merrimac, three miles from its mouth and 37 miles by rail northeast of Boston. At Newburyport the river is spanned by a chain bridge, America's first suspension bridge, built in 1792, A long, shady, high street, with a pond of six acres, is the city's chief ornament. Shipbuilding is carried on, and there are a number of large cotton and shoe factories and a silver factory, besides manufactories of combs, hats and pumps. Here George White-field, who died in 1770, is buried, and here Wm. Lloyd Garrison was born. Population 14,949
New'castle=upon=Tyne, a city and county by itself, lies upon Tyne River ,in Northumberland, 117 miles south of Edinburgh. During the Roman occupation of Britain it was a military station, and afterward became a monastic settlement and was known as Monkchester. In 1080 Robert of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror, constructed a fort which he called Newcastle. The city is built mostly on slopes and rising ground, and shows the combined effects of ancient and modern architecture. Among interesting buildings are the Norman Keep, the Black Gate, the St. Nicholas cathedral and -the churches of St. John and St. Andrew. Newcastle has a large public library, two colleges, the Royal Infirmary, Jesus' Hospital and the Keelmen's Hospital. Its principal manufactures are marine and locomotive engines, machinery, heavy ordnance, carriages, harness, lead, glass, earthenware, cement, brick, tile. It has since the i3th century been the most important coal-shipping center in Europe Population 215,328 See histories of the town by J. R. Boyle and others.
New'comb, Simon, a distinguished mathematical astronomer, born at Wallace, Nova Scotia, March 12, 1835. Coming to the United States in 1853, he secured, through the influence of Joseph Henry, an appointment as computer on the Nautical Almanac in 1857 He graduated from Lawrence Scientific School, at Cambridge in 1858, and spent three years there as a graduate student, at the end of which time he went to the Naval Observatory in Washington as professor of mathematics in the United States navy. His work here in connection with the establishment of the 2 £-inch equatorial,
the various expeditions to observe transits of Venus and solar eclipses, his superintendence of the Nautical Almanac and his important memoirs on celestial dynamics placed him in the front rank of astronomers. In 1884 he accepted the chair of mathematics at Johns Hopkins University, while retaining his work in Washington. Professor Newcomb is a man of extraordinarily wide interests, and has thought and written much on subjects outside of his own specialty, particularly on political economy,, He has beer1 the recipient of many honorary degrees and of medrls and honorary memberships from learned "ocieties. His publications embrace Popular Astronomy^ Elements of Astronomy, The Stars, Astronomy for Everybody, Pohticat Economy and Reminiscences of an Astronomer,
Newfoundland is the most ancient of the British colonies. For over a century it was the only colony owned and governed by England in the new world. In 1497 John Cabot made the voyage from Bristol to Newfoundland, which lies north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Cape Breton, and is separated from Labrador by the Straits of Belle Isle, only 10 miles wide in places. Cape Breton is 50 miles distant to the south.
History. It is alleged that the West-of-England fishermen kept their profitable voyages to Newfoundland concealed from the Crown for 50 years and that they were able to (do this by bribing the officials. One writer says that it was the great trade and fishery of Newfoundland that first drew Englishmen from the narrow ?eas and made them a nation of sailors. In the reign of Elizabeth 10,000 men were employed in the Newfoundland business, which amounted to more than £500,000 a year. The English Newfoundland fishermen played a gallant part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Newfoundland was colonized by hard-working, humble settlers from Devonshire. Charles II sold Placentia and the western part of the island to Louis XIV, and this was the commencement of the vexed French-Shore question. The end of the seven years' conflict between England and France (1757—63) was signalized in Newfoundland by one of the most brilliant actions of the whole war, the defeat of the French and the recapture of St. Johns in 1762, The policy of England towards Newfoundland for a long time was anything but generous. A witness before a committee of the House of Commons in 1793 said: "The island of Newfoundland has been considered in all former times as a great ship moored near the Banks during the fishing-season for the convenience of English fishermen only.'* The first civil governor was appointed in 1825, and the first general election for a local House of Assembly was in 1832. Responsible government came in 1853. Not until 1881 was the railway, which has
