Part 37

CASS, LEWIS (1782-1866), American general and statesman, was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, on the 9th of October 1782. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, joined his father at Marietta, Ohio, about 1799, studied law there in the office of Return Jonathan Meigs (1765-1825), and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty. Four years later he became a member of the Ohio legislature. During the War of 1812 he served under General William Hull, whose surrender at Detroit he strongly condemned, and under General W.H. Harrison, and rose from the rank of colonel of volunteers to be major-general of Ohio militia and finally to be a brigadier-general in the regular United States army. In 1813 he was appointed governor of the territory of Michigan, the area of which was much larger than that of the present state. This position gave him the chief control of Indian affairs for the territory, which was then occupied almost entirely by natives, there being only 6000 white settlers. During the eighteen years in which he held this post he rendered valuable services to the territory and to the nation; he extinguished the Indian title to large tracts of land, instituted surveys, constructed roads, and explored the lakes and sources of the Mississippi river. His relations with the British authorities in Canada after the War of 1812 were at times very trying, as these officials persisted in searching American vessels on the Great Lakes and in arousing the hostility of the Indians of the territory against the American government. To those experiences was largely due the antipathy for Great Britain manifested by him in his later career. Upon the reorganization of President Jackson's cabinet in 1831 he became secretary of war, and held this office until 1836. It fell to him, therefore, to direct the conduct of the Black Hawk and Seminole wars. He sided with the president in his nullification controversy with South Carolina and in his removal of the Indians from Georgia, but not in his withdrawal of the government deposits from the United States Bank.

In 1836 General Cass was appointed minister to France, and became very popular with the French government and people. In 1842, when the Quintuple Treaty was negotiated by representatives of England, France, Prussia, Russia and Austria for the suppression of the slave trade by the exercise of the right of search, Cass attacked it in a pamphlet entitled "An Examination of the Questions now in Discussion between the American and British Government Concerning the Right of Search," and presented to the French government a formal memorial which was probably instrumental in preventing the ratification of the treaty by France. In this same year the Webster-Ashburton treaty between Great Britain and the United States was concluded, and, as England did not thereby relinquish her claim of the right to search American vessels, Cass, after having taken such a decided stand in this controversy, felt himself in an awkward position, and resigned his post. His attitude on this question made him very popular in America, and he was a strong, but unsuccessful, candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1844. From 1845 to 1848 and from 1849 to 1857 he was a member of the United States Senate, and in 1846 was a leader of those demanding the "re-annexation" of all the Oregon country south of 54 deg. 40' or war with England, and was one of the fourteen who voted against the ratification of the compromise with England at the 49th parallel. He loyally supported Polk's administration during the Mexican War, opposed the Wilmot Proviso, and advocated the Compromise Measures of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854. In his famous "Nicholson letter" of December 1847 he made what was probably the earliest enunciation of the doctrine of "popular sovereignty," namely, that the people of the territories should decide for themselves whether or not they should have slavery.

In 1848 he received the Democratic nomination for the presidency, but owing to the defection of the so-called "Barnburners" (see FREE-SOIL PARTY) he did not receive the united support of his party, and was defeated by the Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor. His name was again prominent before the Democratic convention of 1852, which, however, finally nominated Franklin Pierce. On account of his eminently conservative attitude on all questions concerning slavery, General Cass has been accused of pandering to the southern Democrats in order to further his political aspirations. His ideas of popular sovereignty, however, were not inconsistent with the vigorous Democratic spirit of the west, of which he was a typical representative, and it is not clear that he believed that the application of this principle would result in the extension of slavery. As the west became more radically opposed to slavery after the troubles in Kansas, Cass was soon out of sympathy with his section, and when the Republicans secured control of the legislature in 1857 they refused to return him to the Senate. President Buchanan soon afterward made him secretary of state, and in this position he at last had the satisfaction of obtaining from the British government an acknowledgment of the correctness of the American attitude with regard to the right of search (or "visitation," as Great Britain euphemistically termed it). In December 1860 he retired from the cabinet when the president refused to take a firmer attitude against secession by reinforcing Fort Sumter, and he remained in retirement until his death at Detroit, Michigan, on the 17th of June 1866. He wrote for the _North American_ and the _American Quarterly_ Reviews, and published _Inquiries Concerning the History, Traditions and Languages of Indians Living Within the United States_ (1823), and _France: Its King, Court and Government_ (1840).

See W.T. Young, _Life and Public Services of General Lewis Cass_ (Detroit, 1852); W.L.G. Smith, _Life and Times of Lewis Cass_ (New York, 1856). The best biography is by A.G. McLaughlin, _Lewis Cass_ (revised edition, Boston, 1899), in the "American Statesmen" series.

CASSABA, a town of Asia Minor, in the sanjak of Manisa, 63 m. E. of Smyrna, with which it is connected by rail. Pop. estimated at 23,000, of which two-thirds are Mussulman; but the estimate is probably excessive. It has considerable local trade, and exports the products of the surrounding district. Cotton is the most important article, and there are ginning factories in the town; the silkworm is largely raised and exported; and the "melons of Cassaba" are sent not only to Smyrna but to Constantinople. There are fragments of marbles built into the houses, but the modern town does not seem to occupy any ancient site of importance.

CASSAGNAC, BERNARD ADOLPHE GRANIER DE (1806-1880), French journalist, was born at Averon-Bergelle in the department of Gers on the 11th of August 1806. In 1832 he began his career as a Parisian journalist, contributing ardent defences of Romanticism and Conservatism to the _Revue de Paris_, the _Journal des Debats_, and to _La Presse_. Then he founded a political journal, _L'Epoque_ (1845-1848), in which his violent polemics in support of Guizot brought him notoriety and not a few duels. In 1851, in the _Constitutionnel_, he declared himself openly an imperialist; and in 1852 was elected as "official candidate" by the department of Gers. As journalist and deputy he actively supported an absolutist policy. He demanded the restoration of religion, opposed the laws in favour of the press, and was a member of the club of the rue de l'Arcade. In March 1868 he accused the Liberal deputies of having received money from the king of Prussia for opposing the emperor, and when called upon for proof, submitted only false or trivial documents. After the proclamation of the republic (4th of September 1870) he fled to Belgium. He returned to France for the elections of 1876, and was elected deputy. He continued to combat all the republican reforms, but with no advantage to his party. He died on the 31st of January 1880. In addition to his journalistic articles he published various historical works, now unimportant.

His son, PAUL ADOLPHE MARIE PROSPER GRANIER DE CASSAGNAC (1843-1904), while still young was associated with his father in both politics and journalism. In 1866 he became editor of the Conservative paper _Le Pays_, and figured in a long series of political duels. On the declaration of war in 1870 he volunteered for service and was taken prisoner at Sedan. On his return from prison in a fortress in Silesia he continued to defend the Bonapartist cause in _Le Pays_, against both Republicans and Royalists. Elected deputy for the department of Gers in 1876, he adopted in the chamber a policy of obstruction "to discredit the republican regime." In 1877 he openly encouraged MacMahon to attempt a Bonapartist _coup d'etat_, but the marshal's refusal and the death of the prince imperial foiled his hopes. He now played but a secondary role in the chamber, and occupied himself mostly with the direction of the journal _L'Autorite_, which he had founded. He was not re-elected in 1902, and died in November 1904. His sons took over _L'Autorite_ and the belligerent traditions of the family.

CASSANA, NICCOLO (1659-1714), often called NICOLETTO, Italian painter, was born at Venice, and became a disciple of his father, Giovanni Francesco Cassana, a Genoese, who had been taught the art of painting by Bernardino Strozzi ("il Prete Genovese"). Having painted portraits of the Florentine court, and also of some of the English nobility, Nicoletto was invited to England, and introduced to Queen Anne, who sat to him for her likeness, and conferred on him many marks of favour. He died in London in 1714, having given way to drinking in his later years. Cassana was a man of the most vehement temper, and would wallow on the ground if provoked with his work. One of his principal paintings is the "Conspiracy of Catiline," now in Florence.

CASSANDER (c. 350-297 B.C.), king of Macedonia, eldest son of Antipater, first appears at the court of Alexander at Babylon, where he defended his father against the accusations of his enemies. Having been passed over by his father in favour of Polyperchon as his successor in the regency of Macedonia, Cassander allied himself with Ptolemy Soter and Antigonus, and declared war against the regent. Most of the Greek states went over to him, and Athens also surrendered. He further effected an alliance with Eurydice, the ambitious wife of King Philip Arrhidaeus of Macedon. Both she and her husband, however, together with Cassander's brother, Nicanor, were soon after slain by Olympias. Cassander at once marched against Olympias, and, having forced her to surrender in Pydna, put her to death (316). In 310 or 309 he also murdered Roxana and Alexander, the wife and son of Alexander the Great, whose natural son Heracles he bribed Polyperchon to poison. He had already connected himself with the royal family by marriage with Thessalonica, Alexander the Great's half-sister, and, having formed an alliance with Seleucus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus, against Antigonus, he became, on the defeat and death of Antigonus in 301, undisputed sovereign of Macedonia. He died of dropsy in 297. Cassander was a man of literary taste, but violent and ambitious. He restored Thebes after its destruction by Alexander the Great, transformed Therma into Thessalonica, and built the new city of Cassandreia upon the ruins of Potidaea.

See Diod. Sic. xviii., xix., xx.; Plutarch, _Demetrius_, 18. 31, _Phocion_, 31; also MACEDONIAN EMPIRE.

CASSANDER (or CASSANT), GEORGE (1513-1566), Flemish theologian, born at Pitthem near Bruges, went at an early age to Louvain and was teaching theology and literature in 1541 at Bruges and shortly afterwards at Ghent. About 1549 he removed to Cologne, where, after a profound study of the points of difference between the Catholic and reformed churches, he devoted himself to the project of reunion, thus anticipating the efforts of Leibnitz. In 1561 he published anonymously _De Officiis pii ac publicae tranquillitatis vere amantis viri in hoc dissidio religionis_ (Basel), in which, while holding that no one, on account of abuses, has a right utterly to subvert the Church, he does not disguise his dislike of those who exaggerated the papal claims. He takes his standpoint on Scripture explained by tradition and the fathers of the first six centuries. At a time when controversy drowned the voice of reason, such a book pleased neither party; but as some of the German princes thought that he could heal the breach, the emperor Ferdinand asked him to publish his _Consultatio de Articulis Fidei inter Catholicos et Protestantes Controversis_ (1565), in which, like Newman at a later date, he tried to put a Catholic interpretation upon Protestant formularies. While never attacking dogma, and even favouring the Roman church on the ground of authority, he criticizes the papal power and makes reflections on practices. The work, attacked violently by the Louvain theologians on one side, and by Calvin and Beza on the other, was put on the Roman Index in 1617. He died at Cologne on the 3rd of February 1566. The collected edition of his works was published in 1616 at Paris. (E. Tn.)

CASSANDRA, in Greek legend, daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She was beloved of Apollo, who promised to bestow on her the spirit of prophecy if she would comply with his desires. Cassandra accepted the proposal; but no sooner had she obtained the gift than she laughed at the tempter, and refused to her promise. Apollo revenged himself by ordaining that her predictions should be discredited (Apollodorus iii. 12. 5); and hence it was in vain that on the arrival of Helen she prophesied the ruin of Troy. On the capture of that city she was ravished by Ajax, the son of Oileus, in the temple of Minerva (Strabo vi. p. 264). In the distribution of the booty, Cassandra fell to the lot of Agamemnon; but again her foresight was useless, for he would not believe her prediction that he should perish in his own country. The prophecy was fulfilled, for both were slain through the intrigues of Clytaemnestra (_Odyssey_, xi. 421 ff.). It is to be noticed that there is no mention in Homer of her prophetic gifts. Together with Apollo, she was worshipped under the name of Alexandra.

CASSANO ALL' IONIO, a town of Calabria, Italy, in the province of Cosenza; its railway station (6 m. S. of the town) is 37 m. N. by E. from the town of Cosenza, while it is 6 m. W. of Sibari, on the line between Metaponto and Reggio. Pop. 6842. It is very finely situated, 820 ft. above sea-level: the rock above it is crowned by a medieval castle commanding beautiful views: a tower is still pointed out as that from which the stone was thrown which killed Milo, but this rests on an erroneous identification of Cassano with the ancient Compsa (q.v.). There are warm sulphurous springs here which are used for baths.

CASSAVA, the name given to the farinaceous root of two species of Euphorbiaceous plants, the bitter cassava, _Manihot utilissima_, and the sweet cassava, _M. Aipi_, both highly important sources of food starches; Manihot is given as the native Brazilian name in Spanish writings of the 16th century. They are herbaceous or semi-shrubby perennials with very large fleshy, cylindrical, tapering roots as much as 3 ft. long and 6 to 9 in. in diameter, and filled with milky juice. The slender stems, 5 to 9 ft. high, bear large spreading long-stalked leaves, with the blade divided nearly to the base into three to seven long narrow segments. The plants are probably natives of South America, but the bitter cassava, which is the more important of the two in an economic sense, has been introduced into most tropical regions, and is extensively cultivated in west tropical Africa and the Malay Archipelago, from which, as well as from Brazil and other South American states, its starch in the form of tapioca is a staple article of export. The sap of the bitter cassava root contains hydrocyanic acid, and the root, being therefore highly poisonous, cannot be eaten in a fresh condition; while on the other hand the sweet cassava is perfectly innocuous, and is employed as a table vegetable. Exposure to heat dissipates the poisonous principle, and the concentrated juice is in that state used as the basis of cassareep and other sauces. From the bitter cassava roots many different food preparations are made in Brazil. The roots are preserved for use by being simply cleaned, sliced and dried; from such dried slices manioc or cassava meal, used for cassava cakes, &c., is prepared by rasping. The starch also is separated and used for food under the name of Brazilian arrowroot; and this, when agglomerated into pellets on hot plates, forms the tapioca (q.v.) of commerce. Cassava starch has a stellate hilum, which readily distinguishes it under the microscope from other starches.

[Illustration: Cassava or Manioc (_Manihot utilissima_), less than half nat. size.

1, An inflorescence showing at a a fruit which will presently separate into five one-seeded parts, about 1/2 nat. size.

2, Pistil of female flower.

3, Stamens and fleshy disc of male flower.

4, Seed with its appendage (strophiole or caruncle).]

CASSEL, a town of northern France in the department of Nord, 34 m. N.W. of Lille by rail. Pop. (1906) 1844. It stands on an isolated hill (515 ft.) from which portions of France, Belgium and England can be seen, with 32 towns and 100 villages, including St Omer, Dunkirk, Ypres and Ostend. The former hotel de ville (1634), the hotel de la Noble Cour, once the seat of the jurisdiction of maritime Flanders, now the town-hall, and the hotel des ducs d'Halluin are the historic buildings of the town. Cassel has a communal college. Its industrial establishments include tanneries, oil-mills, salt refineries and breweries, and there is trade in cattle and butter.

The town, supposed to occupy the site of _Castellum Menapiorum_, was a Roman station, as numerous remains of the Gallo-Roman period attest, and an important centre of roads. It is frequently mentioned in the wars of the middle ages, and was the scene of important battles in 1071, when Robert, count of Flanders, vanquished his rival Arnulf; 1328, when Philip of Valois defeated the Flemish; and 1677, when William of Orange was defeated by Philip, duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. General D.R. Vandamme (1770-1830) was born in the town.

CASSEL, or KASSEL, a city of Germany, capital of the former electorate of Hesse-Cassel, and, since its annexation by Prussia in 1866, capital of the province of Hesse-Nassau. Pop. (1885) 64,083; (1905) 120,446. It is pleasantly situated, in a hilly and well-wooded country, on both sides of the river Fulda, over which a stone bridge leads to the lower new town, 124 m. by rail N.N.E. from Frankfort-On-Main. The river is navigable for barges, and railways connect the town with all parts of Germany. The streets of the old town are narrow and crooked, and contain many picturesque gabled houses, generally of the 17th century, but those of the upper and lower new town, and the three suburbs, are not surpassed by any in Germany. The principal streets are the Konigs-strasse (5100 ft. long and 60 broad), the Schone Aussicht, and the Stande-platz (180 ft. broad with four rows of linden trees). The large Friedrichs-platz is 1000 by 450 ft. in area. In it stands a marble statue of the landgrave Frederick II. There is a fine view from the open side. The former residence of the electors (_Residenzschloss_) fronts this square, as well as the Museum Fridericianum, with a _facade_ of Roman-Ionic columns. The museum contains various valuable collections of curiosities, interesting mosaics, coins, casts, a library of 230,000 volumes, and valuable manuscripts. In the cabinet of curiosities there is a complete collection of clocks and watches from the earliest to the present time. Among these is the so-called Egg of Nuremberg, a watch made about 1500 by Peter Henlein. Among other public places and buildings worthy of notice are the Roman Catholic church, with a splendid interior; the Konigs-platz, with a remarkable echo; the Karls-platz, with the statue of the landgrave Charles; and the Martins-platz, with a large church--St Martin's--with twin towers, containing the burial-vaults of the Hessian princes. The gallery of paintings, housed in a handsome building erected in 1880 on the Schone Aussicht, contains one of the finest small collections in Europe, especially rich in the works of Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Van Dyck.

The town contains numerous educational institutions, including a technical college, a school of painting, a celebrated classical school, which the emperor William II. attended, and a military academy. The descendants of the French refugees who founded the upper new town have a church and hospital of their own. There are three Roman Catholic churches, an English church, and two synagogues. Music is much cultivated, and there is an opera with a first-rate orchestra, of which Ludwig Spohr was at one time conductor. The opera-house or theatre was built by Jerome Napoleon, but in 1906 money was voted for a new building on the Auetor. A new Rathaus (town-hall) has been erected. There are also the Bose Museum, containing collections of pictures and antiquities of Hessian origin, museums of natural history and ethnography, an industrial exhibition hall, and an industrial art school. A handsome Gothic Lutheran church was erected in 1892-1897, a post office (Renaissance) in 1881, and new administrative offices and law courts in 1876-1880. The municipal (or Murhard) library, in the Hanau park, contains 118,000 volumes. The most noticeable of the modern public monuments are those to the emperor William I. (1898), to the musician Spohr (1883), and the Lowenbrunnen (1881). In the Karlsaue, a favourite public promenade lying just below the Schone Aussicht, are the Orangerie and the marble baths. Cassel is the headquarters of the XI. German army corps, and has a large garrison. It is a favourite residence for foreigners and retired officers and government officials. The industries embrace engine-building, the manufacture of railway carriages and plant, scientific instruments, porcelain, tobacco and cigars, lithography, jute-spinning, iron-founding, brewing and gardening.

On a slope of the Habichtswald Mountains, 3 m. W. of Cassel, and approached by an avenue, is the summer palace of Wilhelmshohe, erected in 1787-1794. Napoleon III. resided here, as a prisoner of war, after the battle of Sedan. The surrounding gardens are adorned with fountains, cascades, lakes and grottos, the principal fountain sending up a jet of water 180 ft. high and 12 in. in diameter. Here also is an interesting building called the Lowenburg, erected in 1793-1796 in the style of a fortified castle, and containing among other things portraits of Tudors and Stuarts. The principal curiosity is the Karlsburg cascade, which is placed in a broad ravine, thickly wooded on both sides. A staircase of 900 steps leads to the top. On one of the landings is a huge rudely-carved stone figure of the giant Enceladus, and at the top is an octagon building called the Riesenschloss, surmounted by a colossal copper figure of the Farnese Hercules, 31 ft. high, whose club alone is sufficiently capacious to accommodate from eight to ten persons. In different parts of the park, and especially from the Octagon, charming views are obtained. The park was first formed by the landgrave Frederick II., the husband of Mary, daughter of George II. of England, and was finished by his successor the landgrave William, after whom it was named.