Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/654

648 CAMDEN CAMEL is the centre of an active trade. A weekly newspaper is published here. IV. The capital of Washita county, Ark., 82 m. S. 8. W. of Little Rock; pop. in 1870, 1,612, of whom 612 were colored. It stands on a declivity of a range of hills, on the right hank of the Washita river, at the head of navigation for large steam- ers, and possesses great advantages for trade. It was formerly a rendezvous for hunters, known as Score d Fabre. It was settled in 1842, on the site of a dense forest. One daily and three weekly newspapers are published here. CAMDEN, a S. E. county of New South Wales, Australia, hounded E. by the Pacific, N. and W. by the Wollondilly river, and 8. by the Shoalhaven river; area, 2,200 sq. m. ; pop. in 1866, 22,734, since when it has largely increased. The soil is well watered and fer- tile, and it is the largest grain-producing county in the colony. It contains the cow pastures, so called from large herds of cattle found there which sprung from a few animals that escaped from the settlement soon after the foundation of the colony. Near Wollon- gong are the 'celebrated Fitzroy iron mines. Capital, Berrima. CAMDEN, Charles Pratt, earl, an English states- man, born in Devonshire in 1714, died in Lon- don, April 18, 1794. lie was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and was called to the bar in 1738, where, after passing a long period without practice, his rise was sudden and rapid. In 1752, upon the prosecution of a printer for a libel upon the house of commons, Pratt maintained, in opposition to the ruling of the judge, the doctrine of the right of juries to decide upon the nature and intention of al- leged libels. His position upon this occasion was the commencement of a contest which continued for 40 years, until his doctrine was finally established as law. In 1757 he was made attorney general and knighted. Upon the accession of George III. he was appointed chief justice of the court of common pleas, and accepted the appointment as a retirement from public life. But the arrest of John Wilkes, April 30, 1763, under a general warrant from the secretary of state and other similar cases, brought the political and legal questions con- cerning the legality of such warrants before that court, and he was called upon to take a position in defence of the liberties of the sub- ject. The principles which he then laid down have ever since been considered of the first importance. He was raised to the peerage, July 17, 1765, under the name of Baron Cam- den. He distinguished himself by his exertions in behalf of the American colonies, and on the formation of Lord Chatham's second adminis- tration he was made lord chancellor, July 30, 1766. He held this office for 3 years, with universal approbation, but occupied as a min- ister a doubtful position in relation to the American policy of the cabinet. Upon the resignation of Lord Chatham he was removed from his place, Jan. 17, 1770. From this time until the close of the American war he con- tinued in opposition to the government of Lord North, and distinguished himself by the elo- quence with which he contended in parliament for the rights of the Americans. After the resignation of Lord North's ministry in 1782, he was made president of the council, but re- signed the next year on the accession of the coalition ministry," and enlisted under the banner of the younger Pitt. The success of Pitt led to Camden's restoration to the same office, which he filled for nine years. On May 13, 1786, he was created Earl Camden and Viscount Bayham of Bayham Abbey, Sussex, and still took a considerable share in the busi- ness of the house of lords, notwithstanding his advanced age. In 1792, a short time before his death, he pressed the passage of Mr. Fox's declaratory libel bill- through the house of lords, against the opposition of Lord Thurlow, who had procured a unanimous opinion of the 12 judges against it; and its final success was mainly attributable to his courage and vigor. CAMDEN, William, a British historian and an- tiquary, born in London, May 2, 1551, died at Chiselhurst, Kent, Nov. 9, 1623. In 1571 he left the university of Oxford, having previously been educated at Christ's hospital and St. Paul's school, and in 1575 was appointed second master of Westminster school. In the following year he composed his celebrated descriptive work Britannia, written in elegant Latin, which was published in 1586, and passed through eight editions in four years. An English trans- lation, by Dr. Holland, appeared in 1610, and a later edition in 1637, and a new translation by Edmund Gibson, afterward bishop of Lon- don, in 1695 ; and an edition enlarged by Rich- ard Gough, the topographer, was published in 1789, in 3 vols. fol., increased to 4 vols. by John Nichols in 1806. In 1592 he became head master of Westminster school, and in 1597 was made Clarencieux king at arms. His next great work was the "Annals of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth," also written in Latin ; the first part of this was published in 1615, and though it was completed within the next two years, he determined that the second volume should not appear till after his death. He wrote many other works, among which was a Greek grammar published in 1597. He was interred in Westminster abbey, where a monument with his half-length statue, the left hand resting on "Britannia," still remains. He devoted the greater part of his fortune to the foundation of a professorship of history at Oxford, which bears his name. The " Camden Society," for the publication of early historical and literary remains, founded in 1838, was named in his honor. CAMEL (eamelus), a genus of ruminating ani- mals, without horns, forming a connecting link between the ruminants and pachyderms. It was one of the earliest animals domesticated by man, and is mentioned by the Hebrew wri- ters long befove the horse. It is not known