New Caledonia, an island of the South Pacific Ocean, belonging to France, and lying about 720 miles east-north-east of the coast of Queensland, in Australia, in lat. 20°-22° 30' S., long. 1640-167° E., is about 200 miles in length, 30 miles in breadth, and has a popula- tion estimated at about 60,000. New Caledonia is of volcanic origin, is traversed in the direction of its length, from north-west to south-east, by a range of mountains, which in some cases reach the height of about 8000 feet, and is surrounded by sand-banks and coral-reefs. There are secure harbors at Port Balade and Port St. Vincent, the former on the north-east, the latter on the south- west part of the island. In the valleys the soil is fruit- ful, producing the cocoa-nut, banana, mango, breadfruit, etc. The sugar-cane is cultivated, and the vine grows wild. The coasts support considerable tracts of forest, but the mountains are barren.
The inhabitants of New Caledonia, who resemble the Papuan race, consist of different tribes. They speak a language kindred to the Australian tongues, an(i are hospitable and honest. They are a well-formed peoiile, tall and robust, but indolent. Their skin is deep black, and their hair coarse and bushy. They are fond of painting their faces, and even in settlements they wear but little clothing. Their huts, built of spars and reeds, thatched with bark, and entered by a very small open- ing, bear some resemblance to beehives.
New Caledonia was discovered by captain Cook in 1774. In 1853 the French took official pos.'^cssion of it, and it is now comprised under the same government with Otahcite and the Jlarquesas Isles. New Caledonia has hitherto been scarcely visited by Protestant mis- sionary enterprise. Some teachers from Samoa at- tempted to form a community on the Isle of Pines about 1852, but were driven away. French Roman Cntholic priests have, however, labored in this quarter for many
NEWCASTLE
NEW CHRISTIANS
years with great zeal and courage, wortliy of better re- sults than thcj- have secured. It is n<it easy to obtain a connected view of these attempts from the loose and disjointed statements contained in the Annuks de la Proparjation de la Foi, the only authority to which we have access. We find that for several years there have been a vicar apostolic of Melanesia and Micronesia, whose head-quarters have varied according to circum- stances. One of these dignitaries, bishop Epalle, was murdered in 1846, in the exercise of his vocation, at the Solomon Islands, in the neighborhood of New Guinea. The priests, his companions, absolutely forbade the re- prisals which a French officer would fain have exercised for his death, and the mission in that quarter has since been abandoned. Bishop Epalle has been succeeded in his vicariate by monseigneur Collomb, titular bishop of Antiphelle, whose head-quarters for some time were in New Caledonia. In 1845 and in 1846 we tind priests laboring with very indifferent success among these in- tractable savages ; and in 1847 a ferocious onslaught was made on their little quarters in Balad, in which two priests were killed, and bishop Collomb himself narrowly escaped with his life. The assault was wholly unpro- voked; but one of the party seems to have unfortu- nately exhibited a gun in self-defence, which height- ened the exasperation of the assailants. Violent though deserved retribution was taken for it by the crew of a French vessel of war. The French occupatioi; in this instance seems therefore to have been preceded for some years by the missionary efforts of their ecclesiastics. Very recently the labors of the Roman Catholic mis- sionaries have been crowned with greater success than heretofore. Several thousand natives have embraced Christianity, and formed prosperous settlements, where are now cultivated a variety of vegetables and fruits, in- cluding wheat and barley, besides the raising of live- stock. The number of islanders who have embraced Christianity is estimated at 5000. They are proving industrious and temperate citizens. During the last French revolutionary movement the Communists con- demned to penal life were sent to this island. See the (London) Qnarftrli/ Review, 1854, pt. i, p. 97 sq. ; see also Melanesia.
Ne^wcastle, Wii-LiAJt Cavexdish, Duke of, an English general who fought against the Covenanters, deserves a place here for the part he played in the war- fare of a State Church against nonconforming religion- ists. He was born in 1592. He was the nephew of AVilliam Cavendish, founder of the ducal house of Dev- onshire; succeeded in 1617 to large estates, and devoted himself to poetry, music, and other accomplishments. In 1620 he was raised to the peerage as baron Ogle and viscount Mansfield, and in 1628 was created earl of Newcastle-upon-'lyne. At the outbreak of the civil wars he sided with the king, to ^vhose treasury he con- tributed £10,000, and took the field at the head of 200 cavaliers. He was intrusted with the command of the four northern counties; and, raising an army of 10,000 men, he prostrated the power of the Parliament in that part of England, defeated Sir Thomas Fairfax at Ather- ton jMoor, June 30, 1643, and was made marquis of New- castle. Subsequently he held the Scots in check at Durham ; but was obliged in April, 1G44, in consequence of the defeat of colonel Bellasis at Selby, to throw him- self with all his forces into York, where for the next three months he sustained an investment by a greatly superior army under Fairfax. Upon the advance of the royal army under Rupert, he joined the latter, with the greater part of the garrison, and endeavored to persuade him that, having raised the siege, he had bet- ter defer a battle until the arrival of reinforcements. This advice was disregarded, and the battle of Marston IMoor was fought, which ruined the royal cause in the North. Jlarquis of Newcastle then forced his wa}' with a few followers to Scarborough, set sail for the Continent, and established himself in Antwerp. His estates hav- ing been sequestrated bj- Parliament in 1052, he lived