[1]A grammarian of Patrae in Achaea (or Patara in Lycia), pupil of Eratosthenes (275-195B.C.), and author of a periplus and a collection of Delphic oracles.
[1]A grammarian of Patrae in Achaea (or Patara in Lycia), pupil of Eratosthenes (275-195B.C.), and author of a periplus and a collection of Delphic oracles.
CABER TOSSING(Gaeliccabar, a pole or beam), a Scottish athletic exercise which consists in throwing a section of a trunk of a tree, called the "caber," in such a manner that it shall turn over in the air and fall on the ground with its small end pointing in the direction directly opposite to the "tosser." Tossing the caber is usually considered to be a distinctly Scottish sport, although "casting the bar," an exercise evidently similar in character, was popular in England in the 16th century but afterwards died out. The caber is the heavy trunk of a tree from 16 to 20 ft. long. It is often brought upon the field heavier than can be thrown and then cut to suit the contestants, although sometimes cabers of different sizes are kept, each contestant taking his choice. The toss is made after a run, the caber being set up perpendicularly with the heavy end up by assistants on the spot indicated by the tosser, who sets one foot against it, grasps it with both hands, and, as soon as he feels it properly balanced, gives the word to the assistants to let go their hold. He then raises the caber and gets both hands underneath the lower end. "A practised hand, having freed the caber from the ground, and got his hands underneath the end, raises it till the lower end is nearly on a level with his elbows, then advances for several yards, gradually increasing his speed till he is sometimes at a smart run before he gives the toss. Just before doing this he allows the caber to leave his shoulder, and as the heavy top end begins to fall forward, he throws the end he has in his hands upwards with all his strength, and, if successful, after the heavy end strikes the ground the small end continues its upward motion till perpendicular, when it falls forward, and the caber lies in a straight line with the tosser" (W.M. Smith). The winner is he who tosses with the best and easiest style, according to old Highland traditions, and whose caber falls straightest in a direct line from him. In America a style called the Scottish-American prevails at Caledonian games. In this the object is distance alone, the same caber being used by all contestants and the toss being measured from the tosser's foot to the spot where the small end strikes the ground. This style is repudiated in Scotland. Donald Dinnie, born in 1837 and still a champion in 1890, was the best tosser of modern times.
See W.M. Smith,Athletics and Athletic Sports in Scotland(Edinburgh, 1891).
CABET, ÉTIENNE(1788-1856), French communist, was born at Dijon in 1788, the son of a cooper. He chose the profession of advocate, without succeeding in it, but ere long became notable as the persevering apostle of republicanism and communism. He assisted in a secondary way in the revolution of 1830, and obtained the appointment ofprocureur-généralin Corsica under the government of Louis Philippe; but was dismissed for his attack upon the conservatism of the government, in hisHistoire de la révolution de 1830. Elected, notwithstanding, to the chamber of deputies, he was prosecuted for his bitter criticism of the government, and obliged to go into exile in England in 1834, where he became an ardent disciple of Robert Owen. On the amnesty of 1839 he returned to France, and attracted some notice by the publication of a badly written and fiercely democratic history of the Revolution of 1789 (4 vols., 1840), and of a social romance,Voyage en Icarie, in which he set forth his peculiar views. These works met with some success among the radical working-men of Paris. Like Owen, he sought to realize his ideas in practice, and, pressed as well by his friends, he made arrangements for an experiment in communism on American soil. By negotiations in England favoured by Owen, he purchased a considerable tract of land on the Red river, Texas, and drew up an elaborate scheme for the intending colony, community of property being the distinctive principle of the society. Accordingly in 1848 an expedition of 1500 "Icarians" sailed to America; but unexpected difficulties arose and the complaints of the disenchanted settlers soon reached Europe. Cabet, who had remained in France, had more than one judicial investigation to undergo in consequence, but was honourably acquitted. In 1849 he went out in person to America, but on his arrival, finding that the Mormons had been expelled from their city Nauvoo (q.v.), in Illinois, he transferred his settlement thither. There, with the exception of a journey to France, where he returned to defend himself successfully before the tribunals, he remained, the dictator of his little society. In 1856, however, he withdrew and died the same year at St Louis.
SeeCommunism. Also Félix Bonnaud,Cabet et son œuvre, appel à tous les socialistes(Paris, 1900); J. Prudhommeaux,Icaria and its Founder, Étienne Cabet(Nîmes, 1907).
CABIN,a small, roughly built hut or shelter; the term is particularly applied to the thatched mud cottages of the negro slaves of the southern states of the Unites States of America, or of the poverty-stricken peasantry of Ireland or the crofter districts of Scotland. In a special sense it is used of the small rooms or compartments on board a vessel used for sleeping, eating or other accommodation. The word in its earlier English forms wascabaneorcaban, and thus seems to be an adaptation of the Frenchcabane; the French have takencabine, for the room on board a ship, from the English. In French and other Romanic languages, in which the word occurs,e.g.Spanishcabaña, Portuguesecabana, the origin is usually found in the Medieval Latincapanna. Isidore of Seville (Origines, lib. xiv. 12) says:—Tugurium(hut)parva casula est, quam faciunt sibi custodes vinearum, ad tegimen seu quasi tegurium. Hoc rustici Capannam vocant, quod unum tantum capiat(see Du Cange,Glossarium, s.v.Capanna). Others derive from Greekκάπη, crib, manger. Skeat considers the English word was taken from the Welshcaban, rather than from the French, and that the original source for all the forms was Celtic.
CABINET,a word with various applications which may be traced to two principal meanings, (1) a small private chamber, and (2) an article of furniture containing compartments formed of drawers, shelves, &c. The word is a diminutive of "cabin" and therefore properly means a small hut or shelter. This meaning is now obsolete; theNew English Dictionaryquotes from Leonard Digges'sStratioticos(published with additions by his son Thomas in 1579), "the Lance Knights encamp always in the field very strongly, two or three to a Cabbonet." From the use both of the article of furniture and of a small chamber for the safe-keeping of a collection of valuable prints, pictures, medals or other objects, the word is frequently applied to such a collection or to objects fit for such safe-keeping. The name ofCabinet du Roiwas given to the collection of prints prepared by the best artists of the 17th century by order of Louis XIV. These were intended to commemorate the chief events of his reign, and also to reproduce the paintings and sculptures and other art treasures contained in the royal palaces. It was begun in 1667 and was placed under the superintendence of Nicholas Clement (1647 or 1651-1712), the royal librarian. The collection was published in 1727. The plates are now in the Louvre. A "cabinet" editionof a literary work is one of somewhat small size, and bound in such a way as would suit a tasteful collection. The term is applied also to a size of photograph of a larger size than thecarte de visitebut smaller than the "panel." The political use of the term is derived from the private chamber of the sovereign or head of a state in which his advisers met.
Cabinet in Furniture.—The artificer who constructs furniture is still called a "cabinet-maker," although the manufacture of cabinets, properly so called, is now a very occasional part of his work. Cabinets can be divided into a very large number of classes according to their shape, style, period and country of origin; but their usual characteristic is that they are supported upon a stand, and that they contain a series of drawers and pigeon-holes. The name is, however, now given to many pieces of furniture for the safe-keeping or exhibition of valuable objects, which really answer very little to the old conception of a cabinet. The cabinet represented an evolution brought about by the necessities of convenience, and it appealed to so many tastes and needs that it rapidly became universal in the houses of the gentle classes, and in great measure took the impress of the peoples who adopted it. It would appear to have originated in Italy, probably at the very beginning of the 16th century. In its rudimentary form it was little more than an oblong box, with or without feet, small enough to stand upon a table or chair, filled with drawers and closed with doors. In this early form its restricted dimensions permitted of its use only for the safeguard of jewels, precious stones and sometimes money. One of the earliest cabinets of which we have mention belonged to Francis I. of France, and is described as covered with gilt leather, tooled with mauresque work. As the Renaissance became general these early forms gave place to larger, more elaborate and more architectural efforts, until the cabinet became one of the most sumptuous of household adornments. It was natural that the countries which were earliest and most deeply touched by the Renaissance should excel in the designing of these noble and costly pieces of furniture. The cabinets of Italy, France and the Netherlands were especially rich and monumental. Those of Italy and Flanders are often of great magnificence and of real artistic skill, though like all other furniture their style was often grievously debased, and their details incongruous and bizarre. Flanders and Burgundy were, indeed, their lands of adoption, and Antwerp added to its renown as a metropolis of art by developing consummate skill in their manufacture and adornment. The cost and importance of the finer types have ensured the preservation of innumerable examples of all but the very earliest periods; and the student never ceases to be impressed by the extraordinary variety of the work of the 16th and 17th centuries, and very often of the 18th also. The basis of the cabinet has always been wood, carved, polished or inlaid; but lavish use has been made of ivory, tortoise-shell, and those cut and polished precious stones which the Italians callpietra dura. In the great Flemish period of the 17th century the doors and drawers of cabinets were often painted with classical or mythological scenes. Many French and Florentine cabinets were also painted. In many classes the drawers and pigeon-holes are enclosed by folding doors, carved or inlaid, and often painted on the inner sides. Perhaps the most favourite type during a great part of the 16th and 17th centuries—a type which grew so common that it became cosmopolitan—was characterized by a conceit which acquired astonishing popularity. When the folding doors are opened there is disclosed in the centre of the cabinet a tiny but palatial interior. Floored with alternate squares of ebony and ivory to imitate a black and white marble pavement, adorned with Corinthian columns or pilasters, and surrounded by mirrors, the effect, if occasionally affected and artificial, is quite as often exquisite. Although cabinets have been produced in England in considerable variety, and sometimes of very elegant and graceful form, the foreign makers on the whole produced the most elaborate and monumental examples. As we have said, Italy and the Netherlands acquired especial distinction in this kind of work. In France, which has always enjoyed a peculiar genius for assimilating modes in furniture, Flemish cabinets were so greatly in demand that Henry IV. determined to establish the industry in his own dominions. He therefore sent French workmen to the Low Countries to acquire the art of making cabinets, and especially those which were largely constructed of ebony and ivory. Among these workmen were Jean Macé and Pierre Boulle, a member of a family which was destined to acquire something approaching immortality. Many of the Flemish cabinets so called, which were in such high favour in France and also in England, were reallyarmoiresconsisting of two bodies superimposed, whereas the cabinet proper does not reach to the floor. Pillared and fluted, with panelled sides, and front elaborately carved with masks and human figures, these pieces which were most often in oak were exceedingly harmonious and balanced. Long before this, however, France had its own school of makers of cabinets, and some of their carved work was of the most admirable character. At a somewhat later date André Charles Boulle made many pieces to which the name of cabinet has been more or less loosely given. They were usually of massive proportions and of extreme elaboration of marquetry. The North Italian cabinets, and especially those which were made or influenced by the Florentine school, were grandiose and often gloomy. Conceived on a palatial scale, painted or carved, or incrusted with marble andpietra dura, they were intended for the adornment of galleries and lofty bare apartments where they were not felt to be overpowering. These North Italian cabinets were often covered with intarsia or marquetry, which by its subdued gaiety retrieved somewhat their heavy stateliness of form. It is, however, often difficult to ascribe a particular fashion of shape or of workmanship to a given country, since the interchange of ideas and the imports of actual pieces caused a rapid assimilation which destroyed frontiers. The close connexion of centuries between Spain and the Netherlands, for instance, led to the production north and south of work that was not definitely characteristic of either. Spain, however, was more closely influenced than the Low Countries, and contains to this day numbers of cabinets which are not easily to be distinguished from the characteristic ebony, ivory and tortoise-shell work of the craftsmen whose skill was so rapidly acquired by the emissaries of Henry IV. The cabinets of southern Germany were much influenced by the models of northern Italy, but retained to a late date some of the characteristics of domestic Gothic work such as elaborately fashioned wrought-iron handles and polished steel hinges. Often, indeed, 17th-century South Germany work is a curious blend of Flemish and Italian ideas executed in oak and Hungarian ash. Such work, however interesting, necessarily lacks simplicity and repose. A curious little detail of Flemish and Italian, and sometimes of French later 17th-century cabinets, is that the interiors of the drawers are often lined with stamped gold or silver paper, or marbled ones somewhat similar to the "end papers" of old books. The great English cabinet-makers of the 18th century were very various in their cabinets, which did not always answer strictly to their name; but as a rule they will not bear comparison with the native work of the preceding century, which was most commonly executed in richly marked walnut, frequently enriched with excellent marquetry of woods. Mahogany was the dominating timber in English furniture from the accession of George II. almost to the time of the Napoleonic wars; but many cabinets were made in lacquer or in the bright-hued foreign woods which did so much to give lightness and grace to the British style. The glass-fronted cabinet for China or glass was in high favour in the Georgian period, and for pieces of that type, for which massiveness would have been inappropriate, satin and tulip woods, and other timbers with a handsome grain taking a high polish were much used.
(J. P.-B.)
The Political Cabinet.—Among English political institutions, the "Cabinet" is a conventional but not a legal term employed to describe those members of the privy council who fill the highest executive offices in the state, and by their concerted policy direct the government, and are responsible for all the acts of the crown. The cabinet now always includes the persons filling the following offices, who are therefore called "cabinet ministers," viz.:—the first lord of the treasury, the lord chancellor of England, the lord president of the council, the lord privy seal, the five secretaries of state, the chancellor of the exchequerand the first lord of the admiralty. The chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, the postmaster-general, the first commissioner of works, the president of the board of trade, the chief secretary for Ireland, the lord chancellor of Ireland, the president of the local government board, the president of the board of agriculture, and the president of the board of education, are usually members of the cabinet, but not necessarily so. A modern cabinet contains from sixteen to twenty members. It used to be said that a large cabinet is an evil; and the increase in its numbers in recent years has often been criticized. But the modern widening of the franchise has tended to give the cabinet the character of an executive committee for the party in power, no less than that of the prime-minister's consultative committee, and to make such a committee representative it is necessary to include the holders of all the more important offices in the administration, who are generally selected as the influential politicians of the party rather than for special aptitude in the work of the departments.
The word "cabinet," or "cabinet council," was originally employed as a term of reproach. Thus Lord Bacon says, in his essayOf Counsel(xx.), "The doctrine of Italy and practice of France, in some kings' times, hath introduced cabinet councils—a remedy worse than the disease"; and, again, "As for cabinet councils, it may be their mottoPlenus rimarum sum." Lord Clarendon—after stating that, in 1640, when the great Council of Peers was convened by the king at York, the burden of affairs rested principally on Laud, Strafford and Cottington, with five or six others added to them on account of their official position and ability—adds, "These persons made up the committee of state, which was reproachfully after called theJuncto, and enviously then in court theCabinet Council." And in the Second Remonstrance in January 1642, parliament complained "of the managing of the great affairs of the realm inCabinet Councilsby men unknown and not publicly trusted." But this use of the term, though historically curious, has in truth nothing in common with the modern application of it. It meant, at that time, the employment of a select body of favourites by the king, who were supposed to possess a larger share of his confidence than the privy council at large. Under the Tudors, at least from the later years of Henry VIII. and under the Stuarts, the privy council was the council of state or government. During the Commonwealth it assumed that name.
The Cabinet Council, properly so called, dates from the reign of William III. and from the year 1693, for it was not until some years after the Revolution that the king discovered and adopted the two fundamental principles of a constitutional executive government, namely, that a ministry should consist of statesmen holding the same political principles and identified with each other; and, secondly, that the ministry should stand upon a parliamentary basis, that is, that it must command and retain the majority of votes in the legislature. It was long before these principles were thoroughly worked out and understood, and the perfection to which they have been brought in modern times is the result of time, experience and in part of accident. But the result is that the cabinet council for the time beingisthe government of Great Britain; that all the powers vested in the sovereign (with one or two exceptions) are practically exercised by the members of this body; that all the members of the cabinet are jointly and severally responsible for all its measures, for if differences of opinion arise their existence is unknown as long as the cabinet lasts—when publicly manifested the cabinet is at an end; and lastly, that the cabinet, being responsible to the sovereign for the conduct of executive business, is also collectively responsible to parliament both for its executive conduct and for its legislative measures, the same men being as members of the cabinet the servants of the crown, and as members of parliament and leaders of the majority responsible to those who support them by their votes and may challenge in debate every one of their actions. In this latter sense the cabinet has sometimes been described as a standing committee of both Houses of Parliament.
One of the consequences of the close connexion of the cabinet with the legislature is that it is desirable to divide the strength of the ministry between the two Houses of Parliament. Pitt's cabinet of 1783 consisted of himself in the House of Commons and seven peers. But so aristocratic a government would now be impracticable. In Gladstone's cabinet of 1868, eight, and afterwards nine, ministers were in the House of Commons and six in the House of Lords. Great efforts were made to strengthen the ministerial bench in the Commons, and a new principle was introduced, that the representatives of what are called the spending departments—that is, the secretary of state for war and the first lord of the admiralty—should, if possible, be members of the House which votes the supplies. Disraeli followed this precedent but it has since been disregarded. In Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman's cabinet formed in 1905, six ministers were in the House of Lords and thirteen in the House of Commons.
Cabinets are usually convoked by a summons addressed to "His Majesty's confidential servants" by the prime minister; and the ordinary place of meeting is either at the official residence of the first lord of the treasury in Downing Street or at the foreign office, but they may be held anywhere. No secretary or other officer is present at the deliberations of this council. No official record is kept of its proceedings, and it is even considered a breach of ministerial confidence to keep a private record of what passed in the cabinet, inasmuch as such memoranda may fall into other hands. But on some important occasions, as is known from theMemoirs of Lord Sidmouth, theCorrespondence of Earl Grey with King William IV., and from Sir Robert Peel'sMemoirs, published by permission of Queen Victoria, cabinet minutes are drawn up and submitted to the sovereign, as the most formal manner in which the advice of the ministry can be tendered to the crown and placed upon record. (See also Sir Algernon West'sRecollections, 1899.) More commonly, it is the duty of the prime minister to lay the collective opinion of his colleagues before the sovereign, and take his pleasure on public measures and appointments. The sovereign never presides at a cabinet; and at the meetings of the privy council, where the sovereign does preside, the business is purely formal. It has been laid down by some writers as a principle of the British constitution that the sovereign is never present at a discussion between the advisers of the crown; and this is, no doubt, an established fact and practice. But like many other political usages of Great Britain it originated in a happy accident.
King William and Queen Anne always presided at weekly cabinet councils. But when the Hanoverian princes ascended the throne, they knew no English, and were barely able to converse at all with their ministers; for George I. or George II. to take part in, or even to listen to, a debate in council was impossible. When George III. mounted the throne the practice of the independent deliberations of the cabinet was well established, and it has never been departed from.
Upon the resignation or dissolution of a ministry, the sovereign exercises the undoubted prerogative of selecting the person who may be thought by him most fit to form a new cabinet. In several instances the statesmen selected by the crown have found themselves unable to accomplish the task confided to them. But in more favourable cases the minister chosen for this supreme office by the crown has the power of distributing all the political offices of the government as may seem best to himself, subject only to the ultimate approval of the sovereign. The prime minister is therefore in reality the author and constructor of the cabinet; he holds it together; and in the event of his retirement, from whatever cause, the cabinet is really dissolved, even though its members are again united under another head.
Authorities.—Sir W. Anson,Law and Custom of the Constitution(1896); W. Bagehot,The English Constitution; M.T. Blauvelt,The Development of Cabinet Government in England(New York, 1902); E. Boutmy,The English Constitution(trans. I.M. Eaden, 1891); A. Lawrence Lowell,The Government of England(1908), part I.; A.V. Dicey,Law of the Constitution(1902); Sir T. Erskine May,Constitutional History of England(1863-1865); H. Hallam,Constitutional History of England; W.E. Hearn,The Government of England(1867); S. Low,The Governance of England(1904); W. Stubbs,Constitutional History of England; Hannis Taylor,Origin and Growth of the English Constitution(Boston, 1889-1900);A. Todd,Parliamentary Government in England(1867-1869); much valuable information will also be found in such works as W.E. Gladstone'sGleanings; the third earl of Malmesbury'sMemoirs of an ex-Minister(1884-1885); Greville'sMemoirs; Sir A. West'sRecollections, 1832-1886 (1889), &c.
CABINET NOIR,the name given in France to the office where the letters of suspected persons were opened and read by public officials before being forwarded to their destination. This practice had been in vogue since the establishment of posts, and was frequently used by the ministers of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV.; but it was not until the reign of Louis XV. that a separate office for this purpose was created. This was called thecabinet du secret des postes, or more popularly thecabinet noir. Although declaimed against at the time of the Revolution, it was used both by the revolutionary leaders and by Napoleon. Thecabinet noirhas now disappeared, but the right to open letters in cases of emergency appears still to be retained by the French government; and a similar right is occasionally exercised in England under the direction of a secretary of state, and, indeed, in all civilized countries. In England this power was frequently employed during the 18th century and was confirmed by the Post Office Act of 1837; its most notorious use being, perhaps, the opening of Mazzini's letters in 1844.
CABLE, GEORGE WASHINGTON(1844- ) American author, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on the 12th of October 1844. At the age of fourteen he entered a mercantile establishment as a clerk; joined the Confederate army (4th Mississippi Cavalry) at the age of nineteen; at the close of the war engaged in civil engineering, and in newspaper work in New Orleans; and first became known in literature by sketches and stories of old French-American life in that city. These were first published inScribner's Monthly, and were collected in book form in 1879, under the title ofOld Creole Days. The characteristics of the series—of which the noveletteMadame Delphine(1881) is virtually a part—are neatness of touch, sympathetic accuracy of description of people and places, and a constant combination of gentle pathos with quiet humour. These shorter tales were followed by the novelsThe Grandissimes(1880),Dr Sevier(1883) andBonaventure(1888), of which the first dealt with Creole life in Louisiana a hundred years ago, while the second was related to the period of the Civil War of 1861-65.Dr Sevier, on the whole, is to be accounted Cable's masterpiece, its character of Narcisse combining nearly all the qualities which have given him his place in American literature as an artist and a social chronicler. In this, as in nearly all of his stories, he makes much use of the soft French-English dialect of Louisiana. He does not confine himself to New Orleans, laying many of his scenes, as in the short storyBelles Demoiselles Plantation, in the marshy lowlands towards the mouth of the Mississippi. Cable was the leader in the noteworthy literary movement which has influenced nearly all southern writers since the war of 1861—a movement of which the chief importance lay in the determination to portray local scenes, characters and historical episodes with accuracy instead of merely imaginative romanticism, and to interest readers by fidelity and sympathy in the portrayal of things well known to the authors. Other writings by Cable have dealt with various problems of race and politics in the southern states during and after the "reconstruction period" following the Civil War; while inThe Creoles of Louisiana(1884) he presented a history of that folk from the time of its appearance as a social and military factor. His dispassionate treatment of his theme in this volume and its predecessors gave increasing offence to sensitive Creoles and their sympathizers, and in 1886 Cable removed to Northampton, Massachusetts. At one time he edited a magazine in Northampton, and afterwards conducted the monthlyCurrent Literature, published in New York. HisCollected Workswere published in a uniform issue in 5 vols. (New York, 1898). Among his later volumes areThe Cavalier(1901),Bylow Hill(1902), andKincaid's Battery(1908).
CABLE(from Late Lat.capulum, a halter, fromcapere, to take hold of), a large rope or chain, used generally with ships, but often employed for other purposes; the term "cable" is also used by analogy in minor varieties of similar engineering or other attachments, and in the case of "electric cables" for the submarine wires (seeTelegraph) by which telegraphic messages are transmitted.[1]
The cable by which a ship rides at her anchor is now made of iron; prior to 1811 only hempen cables were supplied to ships of the British navy, a first-rate's complement on the East Indian station being eleven; the largest was 25 in. (equal to 2¼ in. iron cable) and weighed 6 tons. In 1811, iron cables were supplied to stationary ships; their superiority over hempen ones was manifest, as they were less liable to foul or to be cut by rocks, or to be injured by enemy's shot. Iron cables are also handier and cleaner, an offensive odour being exhaled from dirty hempen cables, when unbent and stowed inboard. The first patent for iron cables was by Phillip White in 1634; twisted links were suggested in 1813 by Captain Brown (who afterwards, in conjunction with Brown, Lenox & Co., planned the Brighton chain pier in 1823); and studs were introduced in 1816. Hempen cables are not now supplied to ships, having been superseded by steel wire hawsers. The length of a hempen cable is 101 fathoms, and a cable's length, as a standard of measurement, usually placed on charts, is assumed to be 100 fathoms or 600 ft. The sizes, number and lengths of cables supplied to ships of the British navy are given in the official publication, theShip's Establishment; cables for merchant ships are regulated by Lloyds, and are tested according to the Anchors and Chain Cables Act 1899.
In manufacturing chain cables, the bars are cut to the required length of link, at an angle for forming the welds and, after heating, are bent by machinery to the form of a link and welded by smiths, each link being inserted in the previous one before welding. Cables of less than 1¼ in. are welded at the crown, there not being sufficient room for a side weld; experience has shown that the latter method is preferable and it is employed in making larger sized cables. In 1898 steel studs were introduced instead of cast iron ones, the latter having a tendency to work loose, but the practice is not universal. After testing, the licensed tester must place on every five fathoms of cable a distinctive mark which also indicates the testing establishments; the stamp or die employed must be approved by the Board of Trade. The iron used in the construction, also the testing, of mooring chains and cables for the London Trinity House Corporation are subject to more stringent regulations.
Fig. 1.--Stud-link Chain.Fig.1.—Stud-link Chain.
Cables for the British navy and mercantile marine are supplied in 12½ fathom and 15 fathom lengths respectively, connected together by "joining shackles", D (fig. 1). Each length is "marked" by pieces of iron wire being twisted round the studs of the links; the wire is placed on the first studs on each side of the first shackle, on the second studs on each side of the second shackle, and so on; thus the number of lengths of cable out is clearly indicated. For instance, if the wire is on the sixthstuds on each side of the shackle, it indicates that six lengths or 75 fathoms of cable are out. In joining the lengths together, the round end of the shackle is placed towards the anchor. The end links of each length (C.C.) are made without studs, in order to take the shackle; but as studs increase the strength of a link, in a studless or open link the iron is of greater diameter. The next links (B.B.) have to be enlarged, in order to take the increased size of the links C.C. In the joining shackle (D), the pin is oval, its greater diameter being in the direction of the strain. The pin of a shackle, which attaches the cable to the anchor (called an "anchor shackle", to distinguish it from a joining shackle) projects and is secured by a forelock; but since any projection in a joining shackle would be liable to be injured when the cable is running out or when passing around a capstan, the pins are made as shown at D, and are secured by a small pin d. This small pin is kept from coming out by being made a little short, and lead pellets are driven in at either end to fill up the holes in the shackle, which are made with a groove, so that as the pellets are driven in they expand or dovetail, keeping the small pin in its place.[2]
Fig. 2.--Mooring Swivel.Fig.2.—Mooring Swivel.
The cables are stowed in chain lockers, the inboard ends being secured by a "slip" (in the mercantile marine the cable is often shackled or lashed to the kelson); the slip prevents the cable's inner end from passing overboard, and also enables the cable to be "slipped", or let go, in case of necessity. In the British navy, swivel pieces are fitted in the first and last lengths of cable, to avoid and, if required, to take out turns in a cable, caused by a ship swinging round when at anchor. With a ship moored with two anchors, the cables are secured to a mooring swivel (fig. 2), which prevents a "foul hawse",i.e.the cables being entwined round each other. When mooring, unmooring, and as may be necessary, cables are temporarily secured by "slips" shackled to eye or ring bolts in the deck (seeAnchor). The cable is hove up by either a capstan or windlass (seeCapstan) actuated by steam, electricity or manual power. Ships in the British navy usually ride by the compressor, the cable holder being used for checking the cable running out. When a ship has been given the necessary cable, the cable holder is eased up and the compressor "bowsed to"; in a heavy sea, a turn, or if necessary two turns, are taken round the "bitts," a strong iron structure placed between the hawse and navel ("deck") pipes. A single turn of cable is often taken round the bitts when anchoring in deep water. Small vessels of the mercantile marine ride by turns around the windlass; in larger or more modern vessels fitted with a steam windlass, the friction brakes take the strain, aided when required by the bitts, compressor or controller in bad weather.
(J. W. D.)
[1]The word "cable" is a various reading for "camel" in the Biblical phrase, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle" of Matt. xix. 24, Mark x. 25, and Luke xviii. 25, mentioned as early as Cyril of Alexandria (5th cent.); and it was adopted by Sir John Cheke and other 16th century and later English writers. The readingκάμιλοςforκάμηλοςis found in several late cursive MSS. Cheyne, in theEncy. Biblica, ascribes it to a non-Semitic scribe, and regardsκάμηλοςas correct. (See underCamel.)[2]The dimensions marked in the figure are those for 1-in. chains, and signify so many diameters of the iron of the common links; thus forming a scale for all sizes.
[1]The word "cable" is a various reading for "camel" in the Biblical phrase, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle" of Matt. xix. 24, Mark x. 25, and Luke xviii. 25, mentioned as early as Cyril of Alexandria (5th cent.); and it was adopted by Sir John Cheke and other 16th century and later English writers. The readingκάμιλοςforκάμηλοςis found in several late cursive MSS. Cheyne, in theEncy. Biblica, ascribes it to a non-Semitic scribe, and regardsκάμηλοςas correct. (See underCamel.)
[2]The dimensions marked in the figure are those for 1-in. chains, and signify so many diameters of the iron of the common links; thus forming a scale for all sizes.
CABLE MOULDING,in architecture, the term given to a convex moulding carved in imitation of a rope or cord, and used to decorate the mouldings of the Romanesque style in England, France and Spain. The word "cabling" by itself indicates a convex circular moulding sunk in the concave fluting of a classic column, and rising about one-third of the height of the shaft.
CABOCHE, SIMON.Simon Lecoustellier, called "Caboche", a skinner of the Paris Boucherie, played an important part in the Parisian riots of 1413. He had relations with John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, since 1411, and was prominent in the seditious disturbances which broke out in April and May, following on theÉtatsof February 1413. In April he stirred the people to the point of revolt, and was among the first to enter the hôtel of the dauphin. When the butchers had made themselves masters of Paris, Caboche became bailiff (huissier d'armes) and warden of the bridge of Charenton. Upon the publication of the great ordinance of May 26th, he used all his efforts to prevent conciliation between the Burgundians and the Armagnacs. After the fall of theCabochienparty on the 4th of August he fled to Burgundy in order to escape from royal justice. Doubtless he returned to Paris in 1418 with the Burgundians.
See Colville,Les Cabochiens et l'ordonnance de 1413(Paris, 1888).
CABOT, GEORGE(1751-1823), American political leader, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on the 16th of December 1751. He studied at Harvard from 1766 to 1768, when he went to sea as a cabin boy. He gradually became a ship-owner and a successful merchant, retiring from business in 1794. Throughout his life he was much interested in politics, and though his temperamental indolence and his aversion for public life often prevented his accepting office, he exercised, as a contributor to the press and through his friendships, a powerful political influence, especially in New England. He was a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1770-1780, of the state senate in 1782-1783, of the convention which in 1788 ratified for Massachusetts the Federal Constitution, and from 1791 to 1796 of the United States Senate, in which, besides serving on various important committees, he became recognized as an authority on economic and commercial matters. Among the bills introduced by him in the Senate was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. Upon the establishment of the navy department in 1798, he was appointed and confirmed as its secretary, but he never performed the duties of the office, and was soon replaced by Benjamin Stoddert (1751-1813), actually though not nominally the first secretary of the department. In 1814-1815 Cabot was the president of the Hartford Convention, and as such was then and afterwards acrimoniously attacked by the Republicans throughout the country. He died in Boston on the 18th of April 1823. In politics he was a staunch Federalist, and with Fisher Ames, Timothy Pickering and Theophilus Parsons (all of whom lived in Essex county, Massachusetts) was classed as a member of the "Essex Junto",—a wing of the party and not a formal organization. A fervent advocate of a strong centralized government, he did much to secure the ratification by Massachusetts of the Federal Constitution, and after the overturn of the Federalist by the Republican party, he wrote (1804): "We are democratic altogether, and I hold democracy in its natural operation to be a government of the worst".
See Henry Cabot Lodge'sLife and Letters of George Cabot(Boston, 1877).
CABOT, JOHN[Giovanni Caboto] (1450-1498), Italian navigator and discoverer of North America, was born in Genoa, but in 1461 went to live in Venice, of which he became a naturalized citizen in 1476. During one of his trading voyages to the eastern Mediterranean, Cabot paid a visit to Mecca, then the greatest mart in the world for the exchange of the goods of the East for those of the West. On inquiring whence came the spices, perfumes, silks and precious stones bartered there in great quantities, Cabot learned that they were brought by caravan from the north-eastern parts of farther Asia. Being versed in a knowledge of the sphere, it occurred to him that it would be shorter and quicker to bring these goods to Europe straight across the western ocean. First of all, however, a way would have to be found across this ocean from Europe to Asia. Full of this idea, Cabot, about the year 1484, removed with his family to London. His plans were in course of time made known tothe leading merchants of Bristol, from which port an extensive trade was carried on already with Iceland. It was decided that an attempt should be made to reach the island of Brazil or that of the Seven Cities, placed on medieval maps to the west of Ireland, and that these should form the first halting-places on the route to Asia by the west.
To find these islands vessels were despatched from Bristol during several years, but all in vain. No land of any sort could be seen. Affairs were in this state when in the summer of 1493 news reached England that another Genoese, Christopher Columbus, had set sail westward from Spain and had reached the Indies. Cabot and his friends at once determined to forgo further search for the islands and to push straight on to Asia. With this end in view application was made to the king for formal letters patent, which were not issued until March 5, 1496. By these Henry VII. granted to his "well-beloved John Cabot, citizen of Venice, to Lewis, Sebastian and Santius,[1]sonnes of the said John, full and free authority, leave and power upon theyr own proper costs and charges, to seeke out, discover and finde whatsoever isles, countries, regions or provinces of the heathen and infidels, which before this time have been unknown to all Christians". Merchandise from the countries visited was to be entered at Bristol free of duty, but one-fifth of the net gains was to go to the king.
Armed with these powers Cabot set sail from Bristol on Tuesday the 2nd of May 1497, on board a ship called the "Mathew" manned by eighteen men. Rounding Ireland they headed first north and then west. During several weeks they were forced by variable winds to keep an irregular course, although steadily towards the west. At length, after being fifty-two days at sea, at five o'clock on Saturday morning, June 24, they reached the northern extremity of Cape Breton Island. The royal banner was unfurled, and in solemn form Cabot took possession of the country in the name of King Henry VII. The soil being found fertile and the climate temperate, Cabot was convinced he had reached the north-eastern coast of Asia, whence came the silks and precious stones he had seen at Mecca. Cape North was named Cape Discovery, and as the day was the festival of St John the Baptist, St Paul Island, which lies opposite, was called the island of St John.
Having taken on board wood and water, preparations were made to return home as quickly as possible. Sailing north, Cabot named Cape Ray, St George's Cape, and christened St Pierre and Miquelon, which then with Langley formed three separate islands, the Trinity group. Hereabout they met great schools of cod, quantities of which were caught by the sailors merely by lowering baskets into the water. Cape Race, the last land seen, was named England's Cape.
The return voyage was made without difficulty, since the prevailing winds in the North Atlantic are westerly, and on Sunday, the 6th of August, the "Mathew" dropped anchor once more in Bristol harbour. Cabot hastened to Court, and on Thursday the 10th of August received from the king £10 for having "found the new isle". Cabot reported that 700 leagues beyond Ireland he had reached the country of the Grand Khan. Although both silk and brazil-wood could be obtained there, he intended on his next voyage to follow the coast southward as far as Cipangu or Japan, then placed near the equator. Once Cipangu had been reached London would become a greater centre for spices than Alexandria. Henry VII. was delighted, and besides granting Cabot a pension of £20 promised him in the spring a fleet of ten ships with which to sail to Cipangu.
On the 3rd of February 1498, fresh letters patent were issued, whereby Cabot was empowered to "take at his pleasure VI. englisshe shippes and theym convey and lede to the londe and iles of late founde by the seid John". Henry VII. himself also advanced considerable sums of money to various members of the expedition. As success seemed assured, it was expected the returns would be high.
In the spring Cabot visited Lisbon and Seville, to secure the services of men who had sailed along the African coast with Cam and Diaz or to the Indies with Columbus. At Lisbon he met a certain João Fernandes, called Llavrador, who about the year 1492 appears to have made his way from Iceland to Greenland. Cabot, on learning from Fernandes that part of Asia, as they supposed Greenland to be, lay so near Iceland, determined to return by way of this country. On reaching Bristol he laid his plans accordingly. Early in May the expedition, which consisted of two ships and 300 men, left Bristol. Several vessels in the habit of trading to Iceland accompanied them. Off Ireland a storm forced one of these to return, but the rest of the fleet proceeded on its way along the parallel of 58°. Each day the ships were carried northward by the Gulf Stream. Early in June Cabot reached the east coast of Greenland, and as Fernandes was the first who had told him of this country he named it the Labrador's Land.
In the hope of finding a passage Cabot proceeded northward along the coast. As he advanced, the cold became more intense and the icebergs thicker and larger. It was also noticed that the land trended eastward. As a result on the 11th of June in latitude 67° 30′ the crews mutinied and refused to proceed farther in that direction. Cabot had no alternative but to put his ships about and look for a passage towards the south. Rounding Cape Farewell he explored the southern coast of Greenland and then made his way a certain distance up the west coast. Here again his progress was checked by icebergs, whereupon a course was set towards the west. Crossing Davis Strait Cabot reached our modern Baffin Land in 66°. Judging this to be the Asiatic mainland, he set off southward in search of Cipangu. South of Hudson Strait a little bartering was done with the Indians, but these could offer nothing in exchange but furs. Our strait of Belle Isle was mistaken for an ordinary bay, and Newfoundland was regarded by Cabot as the main shore itself. Rounding Cape Race he visited once more the region explored in the previous summer, and then proceeded to follow the coast of our Nova Scotia and New England in search of Cipangu. He made his way as far south as the thirty-eighth parallel, when the absence of all signs of eastern civilization and the low state of his stores forced him to abandon all hope of reaching Cipangu on this voyage. Accordingly the ships were put about and a course set for England, where they arrived safely late in the autumn of 1498. Not long after his return John Cabot died.
His son,Sebastian Cabot(1476-1557),[2]is not independently heard of until May 1512, when he was paid twenty shillings "for making a carde of Gascoigne and Guyenne", whither he accompanied the English army sent that year by Henry VIII. to aid his father-in-law Ferdinand of Aragon against the French. Since Ferdinand and his daughter Joanna were contemplating the dispatch of an expedition from Santander to explore Newfoundland, Sebastian was questioned about this coast by the king's councillors. As a result Ferdinand summoned him in September 1512 to Logroño, and on the 30th of October appointed him a captain in the navy at a salary of 50,000 maravedis a year. A letter was also written to the Spanish ambassador in England to help Cabot and his family to return to Spain, with the result that in March 1514 he was again back at Court discussing with Ferdinand the proposed expedition to Newfoundland. Preparations were made for him to set sail in March 1516; but the death of the king in January of that year put an end to the undertaking. His services were retained by Charles V., and on the 5th of February 1518 Cabot was named Pilot Major and official examiner of pilots.
In the winter of 1520-1521 Sebastian Cabot returned to Englandand while there was offered by Wolsey the command of five vessels which Henry VIII. intended to despatch to Newfoundland. Being reproached by a fellow Venetian with having done nothing for his own country, Cabot refused, and on reaching Spain entered into secret negotiations with the Council of Ten at Venice. It was agreed that as soon as an opportunity offered Cabot should come to Venice and lay his plans before the Signiory. The conference of Badajoz took up his time in 1524, and on the 4th of March 1525 he was appointed commander of an expedition fitted out at Seville "to discover the Moluccas, Tarsis, Ophir, Cipango and Cathay."
The three vessels set sail in April, and by June were off the coast of Brazil and on their way to the Straits of Magellan. Near the La Plata river Cabot found three Spaniards who had formed part of De Solis's expedition of 1515. These men gave such glowing accounts of the riches of the country watered by this river that Cabot was at length induced, partly by their descriptions and in part by the casting away of his flag-ship, to forgo the search for Tarsis and Ophir and to enter the La Plata, which was reached in February 1527. All the way up the Parana Cabot found the Indians friendly, but those on the Paraguay proved so hostile that the attempt to reach the mountains, where the gold and silver were procured, had to be given up. On reaching Seville in August 1530, Cabot was condemned to four years' banishment to Oran in Africa, but in June 1533 he was once more reinstated in his former post of Pilot Major, which he continued to fill until he again removed to England.
As early as 1538 Cabot tried to obtain employment under Henry VIII., and it is possible he was the Sevillian pilot who was brought to London by the king in 1541. Soon after the accession of Edward VI., however, his friends induced the Privy Council to advance money for his removal to England, and on the 5th of January 1549 the king granted him a pension of £166, 13s. 4d. On Charles V. objecting to this proceeding, the Privy Council, on the zist of April 1550, made answer that since "Cabot of himself refused to go either into Spayne or to the emperour, no reason or equitie wolde that he shulde be forced or compelled to go against his will." A fresh application to Queen Mary on the 9th of September 1553 likewise proved of no avail.
On the 26th of June 1550 Cabot received £200 "by waie of the kinges Majesties rewarde," but it is not clear whether this was for his services in putting down the privileges of the German Merchants of the Steelyard or for founding the company of Merchant Adventurers incorporated on the 18th of December 1551. Of this company Cabot was made governor for life. Three ships were sent out in May 1553 to search for a passage to the East by the north-east. Two of the vessels were caught in the ice near Arzina and the crews frozen to death. Chancellor's vessel alone reached the White Sea, whence her captain made his way overland to Moscow. He returned to England in the summer of 1554 and was the means of opening up a very considerable trade with Russia. Vessels were again despatched to Russia in 1555 and 1556. On the departure of the "Searchthrift" in May 1556, "the good old gentleman Master Cabot gave to the poor most liberal alms, wishing them to pray for the good fortune and prosperous success of the 'Searchthrift'; and then, at the sign of the Christopher, he and his friends banqueted and made them that were in the company good cheer; and for very joy that he had to see the towardness of our intended discovery, he entered into the dance himself among the rest of the young and lusty company." On the arrival of King Philip II. in England Cabot's pension was stopped on the 26th of May 1557, but three days later Mary had it renewed. The date of Cabot's death has not been definitely discovered. It is supposed that he died within the year.
See G.P. Winship,Cabot Bibliography, with an Introductory Essay on the Careers of the Cabots(London, 1900); and H.P. Biggar, "The Voyages of the Cabots to North America and Greenland," in theRevue Hispanique, tome x. pp. 485-593 (Paris, 1903).
(H. P. B.)