Skip to content

Chapter III: American (16)

Text size

See Andrew Lang, _History of Scotland_, vol. iii. (1907);
Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_ (1897), _s.v._ "Cameronianer"; A.
Smellie, _Men of the Covenant_; Herkless, _Richard Cameron_; P.
Walker, _Six Saints of the Covenant._

CAMERON, SIMON (1799-1889), American politician, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on the 8th of March 1799. Left an orphan at the age of nine, he early entered journalism, and, in banking and railway enterprises, accumulated a considerable fortune. He became influential in Pennsylvania politics, and in 1845-1849 served in the United States Senate, being elected by a combination of Democratic, Whig and "American" votes to succeed James Buchanan. In 1854, having failed to secure the nomination for senator from the "Know-Nothing" Party, which he had recently joined, he became a leader of the "People's Party," as the Republican Party was at first called in Pennsylvania. In 1857 he was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican, despite a Democratic majority in the state legislature, a fact that gave rise to charges of bribery. His prominence as a candidate first for the presidential and then for the vice-presidential nomination in the Republican national convention of 1860 led to his being selected by President Lincoln as secretary of war. His administration of this office at a critical time was marked by his accustomed energy, but unfortunately also by partiality in the letting of government contracts, which brought about his resignation at Lincoln's request in January 1862 and his subsequent censure by the House of Representatives. Lincoln sent him as minister to Russia, but he returned in November 1862. He again served in the Senate (after 1872, being chairman of the committee on foreign relations) from 1867 until 1877, when he resigned to make room for his son, whose election he dictated. Cameron was one of the ablest political organizers the United States has ever known, and his long undisputed control of Pennsylvania politics was one of the most striking examples of "boss rule" in American history. The definition of an honest politician as "one who when he is bought will stay bought" has been attributed to him. He died on the 26th of June 1889.

His son JAMES DONALD CAMERON (1833- ) was born at Middletown, Pennsylvania, on the 14th of May 1833, graduated at Princeton in 1852, became actively interested in his father's banking and railway enterprises, and from 1863 to 1874 was president of the Northern Central railway. Trained in the political school of his father, he developed into an astute politician. From June 1876 to March 1877 he was secretary of war in President Grant's cabinet. In the Republican national convention of 1876 he took an influential part in preventing the nomination of James G. Elaine, and later was one of those who directed the policy of the Republicans in the struggle for the presidency between Tilden and Hayes. From 1877 until 1897 he was a member of the United States Senate, having been elected originally to succeed his father, who resigned in order to create the vacancy. He was chairman of the Republican national committee during the campaign of 1880.

CAMERON, VERNEY LOVETT (1844-1894), English traveller in Central Africa, was born at Radipole, near Weymouth, Dorsetshire, on the 1st of July 1844. He entered the navy in 1857, served in the Abyssinian campaign of 1868, and was employed for a considerable time in the suppression of the East African slave trade. The experience thus obtained led to his being selected to command an expedition sent by the Royal Geographical Society in 1873, to succour Dr. Livingstone. He was also instructed to make independent explorations, guided by Livingstone's advice. Soon after the departure of the expedition from Zanzibar, Livingstone's servants were met bearing the dead body of their master. Cameron's two European companions turned back, but he continued his march and reached Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, in February 1874, where he found and sent to England Livingstone's papers. Cameron spent some time determining the true form of the south part of the lake, and solved the question of its outlet by the discovery of the Lukuga river. From Tanganyika he struck westward to Nyangwe, the Arab town on the Lualaba previously visited by Livingstone. This river Cameron rightly believed to be the main stream of the Congo, and he endeavoured to procure canoes to follow it down. In this he was unsuccessful, owing to his refusal to countenance slavery, and he therefore turned south-west. After tracing the Congo-Zambezi watershed for hundreds of miles he reached Bihe and finally arrived at the coast on the 28th of November 1875, being the first European to cress Equatorial Africa from sea to sea. His travels, which were published in 1877 under the title _Across Africa_, contain valuable suggestions for the opening up of the continent, including the utilization of the great lakes as a "Cape to Cairo" connexion. In recognition of his work he was promoted to the rank of commander, made a Companion of the Bath and given the gold medal of the Geographical Society. The remainder of Cameron's life was chiefly devoted to projects for the commercial development of Africa, and to writing tales for the young. He visited the Euphrates valley in 1878-1879 in connexion with a proposed railway to the Persian Gulf, and accompanied Sir Richard Burton in his West African journey of 1882. At the Gold Coast Cameron surveyed the Tarkwa region, and he was joint author with Burton of _To the Gold Coast for Gold_ (1883). He was killed, near Leighton Buzzard, by a fall from horseback when returning from hunting, on the 24th of March 1894.

A second edition of _Across Africa_, with new matter and corrected
maps, appeared in 1885. A summary of Cameron's great journey, from his
own pen, appears in Dr Robert Brown's _The Story of Africa_, vol. ii.
pp. 266-279 (London, 1893).

CAMERON OF LOCHIEL, SIR EWEN (1629-1719), Scottish Highland chieftain, was the eldest son of John Cameron and the grandson of Alan Cameron, the head of the clan Cameron. Having lost his father in infancy he passed part of his youth with the marquess of Argyll at Inveraray, leaving his guardian about 1647 to take up his duties as chief of the clan Cameron, a position in which he succeeded his grandfather. In 1653 Lochiel joined the earl of Glencairn in his rising on behalf of Charles II., and after the defeat of this attempt he served the Royalist cause by harassing General Monk. In 1681 he was knighted by Charles II., and in July 1689 he was with Viscount Dundee at Killiecrankie. He was too old to share personally in the Jacobite rising of 1715, but his sympathies were with the Stuarts, and his son led the Camerons at Sheriffmuir. Lochiel, who died in February 1719, is called by Macaulay the "Ulysses of the Highlands." He was a man of enormous strength and size, and one who met him in 1716 says "he wrung some blood from the point of my fingers with a grasp of his hand." An incident showing his strength and ferocity in single combat is used by Sir Walter Scott in _The Lady of the Lake_ (canto v.). Lochiel's son and successor, John, who was attainted for sharing in the rebellion of 1715, died in Flanders in 1748. John's son Donald, sometimes called "gentle Lochiel," joined Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, in 1745, was wounded at Culloden, and escaped to France, dying in the same year as his father. The 79th regiment, or Cameron Highlanders, was raised from among the members of the clan in 1793 by Sir Alan Cameron (1753-1828).

See _Memoirs of Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel_ (Bannatyne Club, 1842).

CAMERONIANS, the name given to that section of the Scottish Covenanters (q.v.) who followed Richard Cameron (q.v.), and who were chiefly found among those who signed the Sanquhar Declaration in 1680. Known also as "Society Men," "Sanquharians" and "Hillmen," they became a separate church after the religious settlement of 1690, taking the official title of Reformed Presbyterians in 1743. Societies of Cameronians for the maintenance of the Presbyterian form of worship were formed about 1681; their testimony, "The Informatory Vindication," is dated 1687; and they quickly became the most pronounced and active adherents of the covenanting faith. Holding fast to the two covenants, the National Covenant of 1580 and the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, they wished to restore the ecclesiastical order which had existed between 1638 and 1649, and were dissatisfied with the moderate character of the religious settlement of 1690. Refusing to take the oaths of allegiance to an "uncovenanted" ruler, or to exercise any civil function, they passed through a period of trial and found some difficulty in maintaining a regular ministry; but in 1706 they were reinforced by some converts from the established church. They objected strongly to the proposal for the union of England and Scotland, and were suspected of abetting a rising which took place in the west of Scotland in 1706; but there appears to be no foundation for the statement that they intrigued with the Jacobites, and they gave no trouble to the government either in 1715 or in 1745. In 1712 they publicly renewed the covenants at Auchensauch Hill in Lanarkshire, and in 1743 their first presbytery was constituted at Braehead, while a presbytery was formed in North America in 1774. In 1863 the Cameronians, or Reformed Presbyterians, decided to inflict no penalties upon those members who had taken the oaths, or had exercised civil functions, and consequently a few congregations seceded. In 1876 the general body of the Reformed Presbyterians united with the Free Church of Scotland, leaving the few seceding congregations as the representatives of the principles of the Cameronians. In the British army the first battalion of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) is directly descended from the "Cameronian guard," which, composed of Cameronians, was embodied by the convention parliament in 1689, and was afterwards employed to restore order in the Highlands.

See J.H. Burton, _History of Scotland_, vols. vii. and viii.
(Edinburgh, 1905); and A. Lang, _History of Scotland_, vol. iv.
(Edinburgh, 1907).

CAMEROON[1] (Ger. _Kamerun_), a German protectorate in West Africa, bounded W. by the Atlantic, N.W. by British Nigeria, N. by Lake Chad, E. and S. by French Congo, save for a short distance on the south where it is conterminous with the Spanish Muni river settlement.

_Boundaries and Area._--The sea frontier extends from the Rio del Rey, just where the great bend of the coast-line east to south begins, forming the Bight of Biafra, to the Campo river, a distance of 200 m. The north-western boundary, laid down in an agreement between Germany and Great Britain on the 15th of November 1893, runs from the mouth of the Rio del Rey to the "rapids" of the Cross river in 8 deg. 48' E. Thence it is continued in a north-east line towards Yola, as far as the confines of that town. The boundary is then deflected south so as to leave Yola in British territory, turning north again to cross the Benue river at a spot 3 m. west of where the Faro joins the Benue. From this point the frontier goes north-east to the border of Lake Chad, 35 m. east of the meridian of the town of Kuka. The southern shores of Lake Chad for a distance of some 40 m. belong to the protectorate. The south and east boundaries were laid down by agreements between Germany and France on the 24th of December 1885, the 15th of March 1894 and the 18th of April 1908. The south boundary runs in a fairly direct line from the mouth of the Campo river to the river Dscha (or Ngoko), which it follows to its confluence with the Sanga. The eastern boundary runs from the Sanga irregularly north to 10 deg. N., where it approaches the British frontier at Yola, so that at its narrowest part the protectorate is little more than 50 m. across. From 10 deg. N. the frontier turns eastwards to the Logone, thence going north-east to the Shari river, which it follows to Lake Chad. The protectorate has an area of about 190,000 sq. m. Estimated population (1908) 3,500,000, of whom 1128 were whites.

_Origin of the Name._--The name Camaroes was first given by the Portuguese discoverers of the 15th and 16th centuries to a large bay or estuary, lying south-east of a great mountain close to the sea, met with after passing the Niger delta. This estuary they called the Rio dos Camaroes (the river of Prawns), from the abundance of the crustacea found therein. The name Camaroes was also used to designate the neighbouring mountains. The English usage until nearly the end of the 19th century was to confine the term "the Cameroons" to the mountain range, and to speak of the estuary as the Cameroons river. Locally it was often called "the Bay." On their acquisition of the country in 1884 the Germans extended the use of the name in its Teutonic form--Kamerun--to the whole protectorate.

_Physical Features._--Cameroon forms the north-west corner of the great Central African plateau. This becomes evident in its eastern section, where are wide-spreading plains, which farther west assume an undulating character, and gradually merge into a picturesque mountain range. This range, running from north to south, is flanked by a parallel and lower range in the west, with a wide valley between. In the north-west the Upper Guinea mountains send their eastern spurs across the boundary, and from a volcanic rift, which runs south-west to north-east, the Cameroon peak towers up, its summit 13,370 ft. high. This mountain, whose south-western base is washed by the Atlantic, is the highest point on the western side of Africa, and it alone of the great mountains of the continent lies close to the coast. From any vantage point, but especially from the sea, it presents a magnificent spectacle, while some 30 m. westward rises Clarence peak, the culminating point of Fernando Po. With an area, on an isolated base, of 700 to 800 sq. m., Cameroon mountain has but two distinct peaks, Great Cameroon and Little Cameroon (5820 ft.), which is from foot to top covered with dense forest. The native designation of the highest peak is Mongo-ma-Loba, or the Mountain of Thunder, and the whole upper region is usually called Mongo-mo-Ndemi, or the Mountain of Greatness. On the principal summit there are a group of craters. In 1909 the mountain was in eruption and huge streams of lava were ejected. Inland the Chebchi and Mandara mountains indicate the direction and extent of the rift.

The mountains of the plateau sweep grandly round to the east on reaching the eighth degree of N. lat. Here they give rise to a number of small rivers, which collect in the rift and form the Benue, the great eastern affluent of the Niger. This part of the protectorate is known as Adamawa (q.v.). Farther north, beyond the Mandara mountains, the country, here part of the ancient sultanate of Bornu, slopes to the shores of Lake Chad, and has a general level of 800 to 1000 ft. The greater part of Cameroon is thus a mountainous country, with, on the coast, a strip of low land. In the south this is very narrow; it widens towards the north savewhere the Cameroon peak reaches to the sea.

At the foot of the Cameroon peak a number of estuaries cut deep bays which form excellent harbours. The small rivers which empty into them can be ascended for some miles by steam launches. The principal estuary, which is over 20 m. wide, is called, as already noted, the Cameroon river or bay. The term river is more particularly confined to a ramification of the estuary which receives the waters of the Mungo river (a considerable stream which flows south from the Cameroon mountains), the Wuri, a river coming from the north-east, and various smaller rivers. Under the shadow of Cameroon peak lies the bay of Ambas, with the islands of Ndami (Ambas) and Mondola. It forms a tolerable harbour, capable of receiving large vessels.

Traversing the central portion of the country is a large river known in its upper course as the Lom, and in its lower as the Sanaga, which enters the ocean just to the south of the Cameroon estuary. Both the Lom and the Nyong (a more southerly stream) rise in the central plateau, from which they descend in splendid cascades, breaking through the parallel coast range in rapids, which indicate the extent of their navigability. The Lokunja and Kribi are smaller rivers with courses parallel to and south of the Nyong. In the south-east of the colony the streams--of which the chief are the Dscha and Bumba--are tributaries of the Sanga, itself an affluent of the Congo (q.v.). About 100 m. of the right bank of the Sanga, from the confluence of the Dscha upwards, are in German territory. In the north the country drains into Lake Chad through the Logone and Shari (q.v.). Including the headwaters of the Benue the colony has four distinct river-systems, one connecting with the Niger, another with the Congo, and a third with Lake Chad, the fourth being the rivers which run direct to the sea. The Niger and Shari systems communicate, with, at high water, but one obstruction to navigation. The connecting link is a marshy lake named Tuburi. From it issues the Kebbi (Mao Kebi) a tributary of the Benue, and through it flows a tributary of the Logone, the chief affluent of the Shari. The one obstruction in the waterway is a fall of 165 ft. in the Kebbi.

_Geology._--The oldest rocks, forming the greater mass of the hinterland, are gneisses, schists and granites of Archaean age. Along the Benue river a sandstone (Benue sandstone) forms the banks to 14 deg. E. Cretaceous rocks occur around the basalt platform of the Cameroon mountain and generally along the coastal belt. Basalt and tuff, probably of Tertiary age, form the great mass of the Cameroon mountain, also the island of Fernando Po. Extensive areas in the interior, more especially towards Lake Chad, are covered with black earth of alluvial or lacustrine origin.

_Climate._--The country lies wholly within the tropics and has a characteristic tropical climate. In the interior four seasons can be distinguished; a comparatively dry and a wet one alternating. July to October are the coldest months, and also bring most rain, but there is hardly a month without rain. On the coast the temperature is high all the year round, but on the plateau it is cooler. Malarial fever is frequent, and even the Africans, especially those coming from other countries, suffer from it. The middle zone of the Cameroon mountain has, however, a temperate climate and affords excellent sites for sanatoria.

_Flora and Fauna._--The southern part of the low coast is chiefly grass land, while the river mouths and arms of the bays are lined with mangroves. The mountainous region is covered with primeval forest, in which timber and valuable woods for cabinet-making are plentiful. Most important are the _Elaeis guineensis, Sterculia acuminata_ and the wild coffee tree. On Cameroon peak the forest ascends to 8000 ft.; above it is grass land. Towards the east the forest gradually grows thinner, assumes a park-like appearance, and finally disappears, wide grass uplands taking its place. The country north of the Benue is rich and well cultivated. Cotton and rubber are found in considerable quantities, and fields of maize, corn, rice and sugarcane bear witness to the fertility of the soil.

Animals are plentiful, including the great pachyderms and carnivora. The latter prey on the various kinds of antelopes which swarm on the grass lands. Two kinds of buffaloes are found in the forests, which are the home of the gorilla and chimpanzee. Large rodents, like the porcupine and cane rat, are numerous. Of birds there are 316 species, and several of venomous snakes.

_Inhabitants._--The north of Cameroon is inhabited by Fula (q.v.) and Hausa (q.v.) and allied tribes, the south by Bantu-speaking races. The Fula came from the north and north-east, gradually driving the Bantu-negroes before them. They brought horses and horned cattle, unknown in these regions until then, and they founded well-organized states, like that of Adamawa, now divided between Cameroon and the British protectorate of Nigeria. In the vicinity of the rivers Benue, Faro and Kebbi, the people, who are good agriculturists, raise cereals and other crops, while on the plateaus stock-raising forms the chief pursuit of the inhabitants. In this northern region villages are built in the Sudanese zeriba style, surrounded with thorn fences; more important places are enclosed by a well-built wall and strongly fortified. Of martial disposition, the people often waged war with their neighbours, and also amongst themselves until the pacification of the hinterland by Germany at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Bantu-negroes inhabit the country south of about 7 deg. N. Chief among the tribes are the Dualla (q.v.), the Ba-kwiri (q.v.), the Ba-Long, the Ba-Farami, the Wuri, the Abo and the Ba-Kundu. They build square houses, are active traders and are ruled by independent chiefs, having no political cohesion. Among the Dualla a curious system of drum signals is noteworthy. In the coast towns are numbers of Krumen, who, however, rarely settle permanently in the country. The Fula, as also most of the Hausa, are Moslems, the other tribes are pagans. Missionary societies, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, are represented in the colony, and their schools are well attended, as are the schools belonging to the government. In all the schools German is taught, but pidgin-English is largely spoken at the coast towns.

_Chief Towns._--Duala, the chief town in the protectorate, is situated on the Cameroon estuary at the mouth of the Wuri river in 4 deg. 2' N. 9 deg. 42' E. It consists of various trading stations and native towns close to one another on the south bank of the river and known, before the German occupation, as Cameroon, Bell town, Akwa town, &c. Hickory, on the north side of the stream and the starting point of the railway to the interior, is also part of Duala, which has a total population of 22,000, including about 170 Europeans. Duala is the headquarters of the merchants and missionaries. The principal streets are wide and tree lined, the sanitation is good. The government offices are placed in a fine park in which are statues of Gustav Nachtigal and others. The port is provided with a floating dock. The seat of government is Buea, a post 3000 ft. above the sea on the slopes of the Cameroon mountain. Victoria is a flourishing town in Ambas Bay, founded by the British Baptist missionaries expelled from Fernando Po in 1858 (see below). Batanga and Campo are trading stations in the southern portion of the colony. On the route from Duala to Lake Chad is the large commercial town of Ngaundere, inhabited chiefly by Hausas and occupied by the Germans in 1901. Another large town is Garua on the Benue river. Farther north and within 30 m. of Lake Chad is Dikwa (Dikoa), in Bornu, the town chosen by Rabah (q.v.) as his capital after his conquest of Bornu. Gulfei on the lower Shari and Kusseri on the Logone are also towns of some note. Ngoko is a trading station on the Dscha, in the south-east of the protectorate, near the confluence of that river with the Sanga.

_Products and Industry._--Cameroon is rich in natural products, one of the most important being the oil-palm. Cocoa cultivation was introduced by the Germans and proved remarkably successful. Rubber is collected from the Landolphia and various species of Ficus. Palm-oil, palm kernels, cocoa, copal, copra, Calabar beans, kola-nuts and ivory are the principal exports. There are several kinds of finely-grained wood, amongst which a very dark ebony is specially remarkable. Cotton, indigo and various fibres of plants deserve notice. The natives grow several kinds of bananas, yams and batatas, maize, pea-nuts, sugar-cane, sorghum and pepper. Minerals have not been found in paying quantities. Iron is smelted by the natives, who, especially amongst the Hausas, are very clever smiths, and manufacture fine lances and arrow heads, knives and swords, and also hoes. Dikwa is the centre of an important trade of which the chief articles are coffee, sugar, velvet, silk and weapons, as well as gold and silver objects brought by caravans from Tripoli. The natives round the Cameroon estuary are clever carvers of wood, and make highly ornamental figure heads for their canoes, which also sometimes show very fine workmanship. In the interior the people use the wild-growing cotton and fibres of plants to manufacture coarse drapery and plait-work. Plantations founded by German industry are fairly successful. Large reserves are set apart for the natives by government when marking off the land granted to plantation companies. The best-known of these companies, the _Sud-Kamerun_, holds a concession over a large tract of country by the Sanga river, exporting its rubber, ivory and other produce via the Congo. The principal imports are cotton goods, spirits, building material, firearms, hardware and salt. The annual value of the external trade in the period 1900-1905 averaged about L800,000. In 1907 the value of the trade had increased to L1,700,000. Some 70% of the import and export trade was with Germany, the remainder being almost entirely with Great Britain. The percentage of the trade with Germany was increasing, that with Britain decreasing.

_Communications._--There is regular steamship communication with Europe by German and British boats. On the rivers which run into the Cameroon estuary small steam launches ply. The protectorate belongs to the Postal Union, and is connected by cable with the British telegraph station at Bonny in the Niger delta.

An imperial guarantee of interest was obtained in 1905 for the construction of a railway from Hickory to Bayong, a place 100 m. to the north, the district traversed being fertile and populous. From Victoria a line runs to Soppo (22 m.) near Buea and is continued thence northward. Another line, sanctioned in 1908, runs S.E. from Duala to the upper waters of the Nyong. In the neighbourhood of government stations excellent roads have been built. The chief towns in the coast region are connected by telegraph and telephone.

_Government Revenue, &c._--The administration is under the direction of a governor appointed by and responsible to the imperial authorities. The governor is assisted by a chancellor and other officials and an advisory council whose members are merchants resident in the protectorate. Decrees having the force of law are issued by the imperial chancellor on the advice of the governor. In Adamawa and German Bornu are various Mahommedan sultanates controlled by residents stationed at Garua and Kusseri. Revenue is raised chiefly by customs dues on spirits and tobacco and a general 10% _ad valorem_ duty on most goods. A poll tax is imposed on the natives. The local revenue (L131,000 in 1905) is supplemented by an imperial grant, the protectorate in the first twenty-one years of its existence never having raised sufficient revenue to meet its expenditure, which in 1905 exceeded L230,000. Order is maintained by a native force officered by Germans.

_History._--Cameroon and the neighbouring coast were discovered by the Portuguese navigator, Fernando Po, towards the close of the 15th century. They were formerly regarded as within the Oil Rivers district, sometimes spoken of as the Oil Coast. Trading settlements were established by Europeans as early as the 17th century. The trade was confined to the coast, the Dualla and other tribes being recognized intermediaries between the coast "factories" and the tribes in the interior, whither they allowed no strange trader to proceed. They took a quantity of goods on trust, visited the tribes in the forest, and bartered for ivory, rubber and other produce. This method of trade, called the trust system, worked well, but when the country came under the administration of Germany, the system broke down, as inland traders were allowed to visit the coast. Before this happened the "kings" of the chief trading stations--Akwa and Bell--were wealthy merchant princes. From the beginning until near the end of the 19th century they were very largely under British influence. In 1837 the king of Bimbia, a district on the mainland on the north of the estuary, made over a large part of the country round the bay to Great Britain. In 1845, at which time there was a flourishing trade in slaves between Cameroon and America, the Baptist Missionary Society made its first settlement on the mainland of Africa, Alfred Saker (1814-1880) obtaining from the Akwa family the site for a mission station. In 1848 another mission station was established at Bimbia, the king agreeing to abolish human sacrifices at the funerals of his great men. Into the Cameroon country Saker and his colleagues introduced the elements of civilization, and with the help of British men-of-war the oversea slave trade was finally stopped (_c._ 1875). The struggles between the Bell (Mbeli) and Akwa families were also largely composed. In 1858, on the expulsion of the Baptists from Fernando Po (q.v.), Saker founded at Ambas Bay a colony of the freed negroes who then left the island, the settlement being known as Victoria. Two years after this event the first German factory was established in the estuary by Messrs Woermann of Hamburg. In 1870 the station at Bimbia was given up by the missionaries, but that at Akwa town continued to flourish, the Dualla showing themselves eager to acquire education, while Saker reduced their language to writing. He left Cameroon in 1876, the year before George Grenfell, afterwards famous for his work on the Congo, came to the country, where he remained three years. Like the earlier missionaries he explored the adjacent districts, discovering the Sanaga in its lower course. Although British influence was powerful and the British consul for the Oil Rivers during this period exercised considerable authority over the native chiefs, requests made by them--in particular by the Dualla chiefs in 1882--for annexation by Great Britain, were refused or neglected, with the result that when Germany started on her quest to pick up unappropriated parts of the African coast she was enabled to secure Cameroon. A treaty with King Bell was negotiated by Dr Gustav Nachtigal, the signature of the king and the other chiefs being obtained at midnight on the 15th of July 1884. Five days later Mr E.H. Hewett, British consul, arrived with a mission to annex the country to Great Britain.[2] Though too late to secure King Bell's territory, Mr Hewett concluded treaties with all the neighbouring chiefs, but the British government decided to recognize the German claim not only to Bell town, but to the whole Cameroon region. Some of the tribes, disappointed at not being taken over by Great Britain, refused to acknowledge German sovereignty. Their villages were bombarded and they were reduced to submission. The settlement of the English Baptists at Victoria, Ambas Bay, was at first excluded from the German protectorate, but in March 1887 an arrangement was made by which, while the private rights of the missionaries were maintained, the sovereignty of the settlement passed to Germany. The Baptist Society thereafter made over its missions, both at Ambas Bay and in the estuary, to the Basel Society.

The extension of German influence in the interior was gradually accomplished, though not without considerable bloodshed. That part of Adamawa recognized as outside the British frontier was occupied in 1901 after somewhat severe fighting. In 1902 the imperial troops first penetrated into that part of Bornu reserved to Germany by agreements with Great Britain and France. They found the country in the military occupation of France. The French officers, who stated that their presence was due to the measures rendered necessary by the ravages of Rabah and his sons, withdrew their troops into French territory. The shores of Lake Chad were first reached by a German military force on the 2nd of May 1902. In 1904 and again in 1905 there were native risings in various parts of the protectorate. These disturbances were followed, early in 1906, by the recall of the governor, Herr von Puttkamer, who was called upon to answer charges of maladministration. He was succeeded in 1907 by Dr T. Seitz. Collisions on the southern border of the protectorate between French and German troops led in 1905-1906 to an accurate survey of the south and east frontier regions and to a new convention (1908) whereby for the straight lines marking the frontier in former agreements natural features were largely substituted. Germany gained a better outlet to the Sanga river.

The ascent of the Cameroon mountain was first attempted by Joseph Merrick of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1847; but it was not till 1861 that the summit was gained, when the ascent was made by Sir Richard Burton, Gustav Mann, a noted botanist, and Senor Calvo. The starting-point was Babundi, a place on the seashore west of the mountain. From the south-east the summit was reached by Mary Kingsley in 1895.

See Mary H. Kingsley, _Travels in West Africa_ (London, 1897); Sir R.
Burton, _Abeokuta and the Cameroons Mountains_ (2 vols., London,
1863); E.B. Underhill, _Alfred Saker ... A Biography_ (London, 1884);
Sir H.H. Johnston, _George Grenfell and the Congo ... and Notes on the
Cameroons ..._ (London, 1908); Max Buchner, _Kamerun Skizzen und
Betrachtungen_ (Leipzig, 1887); S. Passarge, _Adamaua_ (Berlin, 1895);
E. Zintgraph, _Nord-Kamerun_ (Berlin, 1895); F. Hutter, _Wanderungen
und Forschungen im Nord-Hinterland von Kamerun_ (Brunswick, 1902); F.
Bauer, _Die deutsche Niger-Benue-Tsadsee-Expedition_, 1902-1903
(Berlin, 1904); C. Rene, _Kamerun und die deutsche Tsadsee Eisenbahn_
(Berlin, 1905); O. Zimmermann, _Durch Busch und Steppe vom Campo bis
zum Schari, 1892-1902_ (Berlin, 1909); also British Foreign Office
Reports. For special study of particular sciences see F. Wohltmann,
_Der Plantagenbau in Kamerun und seine Zukunft_ (Berlin, 1896); F.
Plehn, _Die Kamerunkuste, Studien zur Klimatologie, Physiologie und
Pathologie in den Tropen_ (Berlin, 1898); E. Esch, F. Solger, M.
Oppenheim and 0. Jaekel, _Beitrage zur Geologie von Kamerun_
(Stuttgart, 1904). For geology the following works may also be
consulted: Stromer von Reichenbach, _Geologie der deutschen
Schutzgebiete in Afrika_ (Berlin, 1896); A. von Koenen, "Uber
Fossilien der unteren Kreide am Ufer des Mungo in Kamerun," _Abh. k.
Wiss._, Gottingen, 1897; E. Cohen, "Lava vom Camerun-Gebirge," _Neues
Jahrb. f. Min._, 1887. (F. R. C.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This English form of the name, adopted in the 10th ed. of the
_Ency. Brit._, from the German, appears preferable both to the
un-English Kamerun and to the older and clumsy "the Cameroons."

[2] On the 26th of July a French gunboat also entered the estuary on
a belated annexation mission.

CAMILING, a town of the province of Tarlac, Luzon, Philippine Islands, on the Camiling river, about 80 m. N.N.W. of Manila. Pop. (1903) 25,243. In 1903 after the census had been taken, the adjacent towns of Santa Ignacia (pop. 1911) and San Clemente (pop. 1822) were annexed to Camiling. Its products are rice, Indian corn and sugar. Fine timber grows in the vicinity. The principal language is Ilocano; Pangasinan, too, is spoken. Being in an isolated position, very difficult of access during the rainy season, Camiling has always been infested with thieves and bands of outlaws, who come here for concealment.

CAMILLUS, MARCUS FURIUS, Roman soldier and statesman, of patrician descent, censor in 403 B.C. He triumphed four times, was five times dictator, and was honoured with the title of Second Founder of Rome. When accused of having unfairly distributed the spoil taken at Veii, which was captured by him after a ten years' siege, he went into voluntary exile at Ardea. The real cause of complaint against him was no doubt his patrician haughtiness and his triumphal entry into Rome in a chariot drawn by white horses. Subsequently the Romans, when besieged in the Capitol by the Gauls, created him dictator; he completely defeated the enemy (but see BRENNUS and ROME: _History_, ii., "The Republic") and drove them from Roman territory. He dissuaded the Romans, disheartened by the devastation wrought by the Gauls, from migrating to Veii, and induced them to rebuild the city. He afterwards fought successfully against the Aequi, Volsci and Etruscans, and repelled a fresh invasion of the Gauls in 367. Though patrician in sympathy, he saw the necessity of making concessions to the plebeians and was instrumental in passing the Licinian laws. He died of the plague in the eighty-first year of his age (365). The story of Camillus is no doubt largely traditional. To this element probably belongs the story of the schoolmaster who, when Camillas was attacking Falerii (q.v.), attempted to betray the town by bringing into his camp the sons of some of the principal inhabitants of the place. Camillus, it is said, had him whipped back into the town by his pupils, and the Faliscans were so affected by this generosity that they at once surrendered.

See Livy v. 10, vi. 4; Plutarch, _Camillus_. For the Gallic retreat,
see Polybius ii. 18; T. Mommsen, _Romische Forschungen_, ii. pp.
113-152 (1879).

CAMILLUS and CAMILLA, in Roman antiquity, originally terms used for freeborn children. Later, they were used to denote the attendants on certain priests and priestesses, especially the flamen dialis and flaminica and the curiones. It was necessary that they should be freeborn and the children of parents still alive (Dion. Halic. ii. 21). The name Camillus has been connected with the Cadmilus or Casmilus of the Samothracian mysteries, identified with Hermes (see CABEIRI).

CAMISARDS (from _camisade_, obsolete Fr. for "a night attack," from the Ital. _camiciata_, formed from _camicia_--Fr. _chemise_--a shirt, from the fact of a shirt being worn over the armour in order to distinguish friends from foes), the name given to the peasantry of the Cevennes who, from 1702 to 1705 and for some years afterwards, carried on an organized military resistance to the _dragonnades_, or conversion by torture, death and confiscation of property, by which, in the Huguenot districts of France, the revocation of the edict of Nantes was attempted to be enforced. The Camisards were also called Barbets ("water-dogs," a term also applied to the Waldenses), Vagabonds, Assemblers (_assemblee_ was the name given to the meeting or conventicle of Huguenots), Fanatics and the Children of God. They belonged to that romance-speaking people of Gothic descent whose mystic imagination and independent character made the south of France the most fertile nursing-ground of medieval heresy (see CATHARS and ALBIGENSES). At the time of the Reformation the same causes produced like results. Calvin was warmly welcomed when he preached at Nimes; Montpellier became the chief centre for the instruction of the Huguenot youth. It was, however, in the great triangular plateau of mountain called the Cevennes that, among the small farmers, the cloth and silk weavers and vine dressers, Protestantism was most intense and universal. These people were (and still are) very poor, but intelligent and pious, and of a character at once grave and fervent. From the lists of Huguenots sent from Languedoc to the galleys (1684 to 1762), we gather that the common type of _physique_ is "belle taille, cheveux bruns, visage ovale." The chief theatre of the revolt comprised that region of the Cevennes bounded by the towns of Florac, Pont-de-Montvert, Alais and Lasalle, thus embracing the southern portion of the department of Lozere (the Bas-Gevaudan) and the neighbouring district in the east of the department of Gard.

In order to understand the War of the Cevennes it is necessary to recall the persecutions which preceded and followed the revocation of the edict of Nantes. It is also necessary to remember the extraordinary religious movement which had for a great number of years agitated the Protestants of France. Faced by the violation of that most solemn of treaties, a treaty which had been declared perpetual and irrevocable by Henry IV., Louis XIII. and even Louis XIV. himself, they could not, in the enthusiasm of their faith, believe that such a crime would be left unpunished. But being convinced that no human power could give them liberty of conscience, they went to the Bible to find when their deliverance would come. As far back as 1686 Pierre Jurieu published his work _L'Accomplissement des propheties_, in which, speaking of the Apocalypse, he predicted the end of the persecution and the fall of Babylon--that is to say of Roman Catholicism--for 1689. The Revolution in England seemed to provide a striking corroboration of his prophecies, and the apocalyptic enthusiasm took so strong a hold on people's minds that Bossuet felt compelled to refute Jurieu's arguments in his _Apocalypse expliquee_, published in 1689. The _Lettres pastorales_ of Jurieu (Rotterdam, 1686-1687), a series of brief tracts which were secretly circulated in France, continued to narrate events and prodigies in which the author saw the intervention of God, and thus strengthened the courage of his adherents. This religious enthusiasm, under the influence of Du Serre, was manifested for the first time in the Dauphine. Du Serre, who was a pupil of Jurieu, communicated his mystic faith to young children who were called the "petits prophetes," the most famous of whom was a girl named "La belle Isabeau." Brought up on the study of the prophets and the Apocalypse, these children went from village to village quoting and requoting the most obscure and terrible passages from these ancient prophecies (see ANTICHRIST). It is necessary to remember that at this time the Protestants were without ministers, all being in exile, and were thus deprived of all real religious instruction. They listened with enthusiasm to this strange preaching, and thousands of those who were called New Catholics were seen to be giving up attendance at Mass. The movement advanced in Languedoc with such rapidity that at one time there were more than three hundred children shut up in the prisons of Uzes on the charge of prophesying, and the Faculty of Medicine of Montpellier, which was entrusted with their examination, went so far in their ignorance as to pronounce these irresponsible infants guilty of fanaticism. After the peace of Ryswick, 1697, the fierceness of the persecution was redoubled in the South. "I will show no mercy to the preachers," wrote the terrible Baville, the so-called "king of Languedoc," and he kept his word. The people of the Cevennes were in despair, for their loyalty to the king had been remarkable. In 1683 on the 6th of September an assembly composed of fifty pastors, sixty-four noblemen and thirty-four notables, held at Colognac, had drawn up a statement of its unalterable loyalty to Louis XIV. It is important to notice that the revolt of the Cevennes was essentially a popular movement. Among its leaders there was not a single nobleman, but only men of the people, a baker, a blacksmith, some ex-soldiers; but by far the most extraordinary characterisic is the presence, no longer of children, but of men and women who declared themselves inspired, who fell into religious ecstasies and roused in their comrades the most heroic bravery in battle and at the stake.

The assassination of the abbe du Chayla marks the beginning of the war of the Cevennes. The abbe, a veteran Catholic missionary from Siam, had been appointed inspector of missions in the Cevennes. There he introduced the "squeezers" (which resembled the Scottish "boot"), and his systematic and refined cruelty at last broke the patience of his victims. His murder, on the 23rd of July 1702, at Pont de Monvert, was the first blow in the war. It was planned by Esprit Seguier, who at once began to carry out his idea of a general massacre of the Catholic priests. He soon fell, and was succeeded by Laporte, an old soldier, who, as his troop increased, assumed the title of "the Colonel of the Children of God," and named his camp the "Camp of the Eternal." He used to lead his followers to the fight, singing Clement Marot's grand version of the 68th Psalm, "Que Dieu se montre seulement," to the music of Goudimel. Besides Laporte, the forest-ranger Castanet, the wool-carders Conderc and Mazel, the soldiers Catinat, Joany and Ravenel were selected as captains--all men whom the _theomanie_ or prophetic malady had visited. But the most important figures are those of Roland, who afterwards issued the following extraordinary despatch to the inhabitants of St Andre:--"Nous, comte et seigneur Roland, generalissime des Protestants de France, nous ordonnons que vous ayez a congedier dans trois jours tous les pretres et missionnaires qui sont chez vous, sous peine d'etre brules tout vifs, vous et eux" (Court, i.p. 219); and Jean Cavalier, the baker's boy, who, at the age of seventeen, commanded the southern army of the Camisards, and who, after defeating successively the comte de Broglie and three French marshals, Montrevel, Berwick and Villars, made an honourable peace. (See CAVALIER, JEAN.)

Cavalier for nearly two years continued to direct the war. Regular taxes were raised, arsenals were formed in the great limestone caves of the district, the Catholic churches and their decorations were burned and the clergy driven away. Occasionally routed in regular engagements, the Camisards, through their desperate valour and the rapidity of their movements, were constantly successful in skirmishes, night attacks and ambuscades. A force of 60,000 was now in the field against them; among others, the Irish Brigade which had just returned from the persecutions of the Waldenses. The rising was far from being general, and never extended to more than three or four thousand men, but it was rendered dangerous by the secret and even in many places the open support of the people in general. On the other hand their knowledge of a mountainous country clothed in forests and without roads, gave the insurgents an enormous advantage over the royal troops. The rebellion was not finally suppressed until Baville had constructed roads throughout this almost savage country.

Montrevel adopted a policy of extermination, and 466 villages were burned in the Upper Cevennes alone, the population being for the most part put to the sword. Pope Clement XI. assisted in this work by issuing a bull against the "execrable race of the ancient Albigenses," and promising remission of sins to the holy militia which was now formed among the Catholic population, and was called the Florentines, Cadets of the Cross or White Camisards. Villars, the victor of Hochstadt and Friedlingen, saw that conciliation was necessary; he took advantage of the feeling of horror with which the quiet Protestants of Nimes and other towns now regarded the war, and published an amnesty. In May 1704 a formal meeting between Cavalier and Villars took place at Nimes. The result of the interview was that a document entitled _Tres humble requete des reformes du Languedoc au Roi_ was despatched to the court. The three leading requests for liberty of conscience and the right of assembly outside walled towns, for the liberation of those sentenced to prison or the galleys under the revocation, and for the restitution to the emigrants of their property and civil rights, were all granted,--the first on condition of no churches being built, and the third on condition of an oath of allegiance being taken. The greater part of the Camisard army under Roland, Ravenel and Joany would not accept the terms which Cavalier had arranged. They insisted that the edict of Nantes must be restored,--"_point de paix, que nous n'ayons nos temples_." They continued the war till January 1705, by which time all their leaders were either killed or dispersed.

In 1709 Mazel and Claris, with the aid of two preaching women, Marie Desubas and Elizabeth Catalon, made a serious effort to rekindle revolt in the Vivarais. In 1711 all opposition and all signs of the reformed religion had disappeared. On the 8th of March 1715, by medals and a proclamation, Louis XIV. announced the entire extinction of heresy.

What we know of the spiritual manifestations in the Cevennes (which much resembled those of the Swedish Raestars of Smaland in 1844) is chiefly derived from _Le Theatre sacre des Cevennes_, London, 1707, reprinted at Paris in 1847; _A Cry From the Desert_, &c., by John Lacy, London, 1707; _La Clef des propheties de M. Marion_, London, 1707; _Avertissements prophetiques d'Elie Marion_, &c., London, 1707. About the date of these publications the three prophets of the Cevennes, Marion, Durand-Fage and Cavalier (a cousin of the famous Jean Cavalier) were in London and were objects of lively curiosity. The consistory of the French church in the Savoy sent a protest to the lord mayor against "cette secte impie et extravagante" and the matter was tried at the Guildhall. Misson, author of the _Theatre sacre_, declared in defence of the accused, that the same spirit which had caused Balaam's ass to speak could speak through the mouths of these prophets from the Cevennes. Marion and his two friends Fatio, a member of the Royal Society of London, and Daude, a leading savant, who acted as his secretaries, were condemned to the pillory and to the stocks. Voltaire relates (_Siecle de Louis XIV._ c. 36) that Marion wished to prove his inspiration by attempting to raise a dead body (Thomas Ernes) from St Paul's churchyard. He was at last compelled to leave England.[1]

The inspiration (of which there were four degrees, _avertissement, souffle, prophetie, dons_) was sometimes communicated by a kiss at the assembly. The patient, who had gone through several fasts three days in length, became pale and fell insensible to the ground. Then came violent agitations of the limbs and head, as Voltaire remarks, "quite according to the ancient custom of all nations, and the rules of madness transmitted from age to age." Finally the patient (who might be a little child, a woman, a half-witted person) began to speak in the good French of the Huguenot Bible words such as these: "Mes freres, amendez-vous, faites penitence, la fin du monde approche; le jugement general sera dans trois mois; repentez-vous du grand peche que vous avez commis d'aller a la messe; c'est le Saint-Esprit qui parle par ma bouche" (Brueys, _Histoire du fanatisme de notre temps_, Utrecht, 1737, vol. i. p. 153). The discourse might go on for two hours; after which the patient could only express himself in his native patois,--a Romance idiom,--and had no recollection of his "ecstasy." All kinds of miracles attended on the Camisards. Lights in the sky guided them to places of safety, voices sang encouragement to them, shots and wounds were often harmless. Those entranced fell from trees without hurting themselves; they shed tears of blood; and they subsisted without food or speech for nine days. The supernatural was part of their life. Much literature has been devoted to the discussion of these marvels. The Catholics Flechier (in his _Lettres choisies_) and Brueys consider them the product of fasting and vanity, nourished on apocalyptic literature. The doctors Bertrand (_Du magnetisme animal_, Paris, 1826) and Calmeil (_De la folie_, Paris, 1845) speak of magnetism, hysteria and epilepsy, a prophetic monomania based on belief in divine possession. The Protestants especially emphasized the spirituality of the inspiration of the Camisards; Peyral, _Histoire des pasteurs du desert_, ii. 280, wrote: "Il fallait a cet effort gigantesque un ressort prodigieux, l'enthousiasme ordinaire n'y eut pas suffi." Dubois, who has made a careful study of the problem, says: "L'inspiration cevenole nous apparait comme un phenomene purement spirituel." Conservative Catholics, such as Hippolyte Blanc in his book on _L'inspiration des Camisards_ (1859), regard the whole thing as the work of the devil. The publication of J.F.K. Hecker's work, _Die Volkskrankheiten des Mittelalters_, made it possible to consider the subject in its true relation. This was translated into English in 1844 by B.G. Babington as _The Epidemics of the Middle Ages_.

Although the Camisards were guilty of great cruelties in the prosecution of the war, there does not seem to be sufficient ground for the charge made by Marshal de Villars: "Le plupart de leurs chefs ont leurs demoiselles" (letter of 9th August 1704, in the _War Archives_, vol. 1797). Court replied to these unjust charges: "Their enemies have accused them of leading a life of licence because there were women in their camps. These were their wives, their daughters, their mothers, who were there to prepare their food and to nurse the wounded" (_Histoire_, vol. i. p. 71).

Comments

Log in to leave a comment.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Calhoun" to "Camoens"Chapter III: American (16)

0%36 min left in chapter