Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/50

40 His first care on attaining to undivided power was to remove all who might disturb its tranquillity. The sons of Edmund Ironside were sent out of the kingdom, and Edwy his brother was put to death ; while Edric of Mercia soon met the fate he deserved, and many other leading men were banished or slain. The sternness of Canute s early measures was, however, more the effect of policy than of a cruel disposition, for in a little time he showed himself a just and beneficent ruler. After exacting a danegeld for the paymsnt of his Danish host, he sent it home, with the exception of forty ships and of the household troops that attended on himself. Henceforward he put off the character of conqueror, and governed England like a native English man, enforcing the old English laws or enacting wise new ones, repressing disorder, and in every way attending to the interests of his subjects. He was careful of the interests of the church, though it had always been one of the great centres of resistance to Danish invasions, and was not afraid to raise Englishmen, such as Earl Godwin, to the highest posts in his government. A letter written to his English subjects from Rome, to which he had made a pilgrimage, is the best commentary on the motives which directed his reign ; he is determined to make amends for the faults of his early years, to persevere in a just and pious government, to repress extortion, and in every way to promote the welfare of his subjects. The internal state of the kingdom was one of unprecedented peace and order, during which it recovered from the ravages and misgovernment of the generation preceding ; and he left a happy memory of him self among the people. The well-known story of the rebuke he gave to his nattering courtiers, which rests on excellent authority, is a proof of this; and the well known song he composed, when rowing near the monastery of Ely, is not only an example of his genial popular sympathies, but entitles him to a place among the creators of English poetry. He was far more than king of England, however ; he was the ruler of a vast northern empire, composed of five or &ix monarchies though the old historians differ in the enumeration of them. He succeeded to the usual over- lordship over Wales and Scotland, asserting it in the latter case by force of arms. Shortly after his secure installation on the English throne, he superseded his brother Harold on that of Denmark ; he repelled an attack of the Wends on his dominions there, and in those early times obtained a rectification of the Danish frontier from the emperor of Germany. Though at first unsuccessful in an invasion of Norway, be added that kingdom to his empire in 1028. He was now one of the most powerful and respected rulers of Christendom. He died at Shaftesbury in 1035, in the fortieth year of his age, and the twentieth of his reign. The best proof of his energy and ability is that the hetero- geneous and geographically disconnected empire, which he governed so well, fell to pieces immediately after his death. (Freeman s History of the Norman Conquest, vol. i. ; Palgrave s History of the Anglo-Saxons; Green s Short History of the English People. )  CANVAS, a name applied to several kinds of stout cloth, made of hemp or- linen fibres, and used for the sails of vessels, the ground of oil paintings, and various other purposes. Originally canvas was made solely from hemp, whence the name, which is corrupted from Cannabis, the classical and scientific name for the hemp plant. Being most extensively employed as sail-cloth, the term came to designate the sails of a ship generally, for which, however, although hempen canvas is still used, linen or mixed fibres are now more generally preferred.  CAOUTCHOUC. See.  CAPE BRETON, an island of British America, to the north-east of Nova Scotia, from which it is separated by a strait about fifteen miles long and a mile wide, known as the Gut of Canceau or Canso. It lies between 45 27 and 47 3 N. lat., and between 59 47 and 61 32 W. long. ; its length from north to south is about 110 miles, its width about 87 miles, and its area 2,650,000 acres. Except on the north-west, the coast is much broken ; and the island is nearly divided into two by the large irregular lakes of Bras d Or, which communicate with the sea by two channels on the north-east. The most important bays are Aspee, St Anne s, Sydney, Mira, Louisbourg, Gabarus, St Peter s, and Mabou ; and the principal rivers are the Denys, the Margarie, the Baddeck, the Wagamatcook, the Mabou, and the Grand. There are several fresh-water lakes, of which Lake Ainslie in the west is the most extensive. The surface of the island is broken in several places by ranges of hills of moderate elevation, and the northern promontory consists of a plateau, which in some parts has a height above the sea of 1200 feet. The prevailing rocks belong to the carboniferous formations, interrupted here and there by igneous or metamorphic upheavals. About the half of the surface is said to be capable of cultivation ; but in 18G1 there w T ere only 198,550 acres cleared and under tillage. In winter the thermometer sometimes falls to 32 and generally to 20 below zero ; while in summer it rises to 96 in the shade, and the mean temperature is about 60. The commercial resources of the island consist chiefly in its timber, its agricultural productions, its minerals, and its fisheries. Nearly covered with forest at the time of its discovery, it still exports pine, oak, beech, maple, birch, and ash. Oats, wheat, turnips, and potatoes are extensively cultivated ; horses, cattle and sheep are roared in consider able numbers ; and cheese and butter form important items in its produce. Coal, limestone, and gypsum are worked, and excellent iron ore and slate are also to be found. Salt- springs of some value exist in different parts. The coal mines, which are chiefly situated towards the south-east, have been worked from an early period. The Bras d Or Lakes and the neighbouring seas supply an abundance of salmon, cod, mackerel, herring, shad, and white-fish, and the fisheries employ about 3000 men. The number of schools in 18G1 was 212 ; and in the same year there were 104 churches. The principal sects are the Roman Catholic Church, which had then 33,386 adherents, and the Presby terians of the Lower Provinces with 19,982. The in habitants are now mainly of Scottish descent, with a certain proportion of Acadiansand Irish. A few hundred Micmac Indians, who are principally employed in making fish- barrels and butter-firkins, are still to be found. By the census of 1871 the total population amounted to 75,483, of whom 5264 were inhabitants of Sydney. In 1861 ar.d 1851 the numbers were respectively 63,083 and 27,580.

