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 350 BROWN SPAR BROWN UNIVERSITY olic doctrines, but also discussing politics and literature. This periodical was suspended in 1864 and revived in 1873. He was invited by Dr. John H. Newman and others to accept a chair in the new university in Dublin, but he preferred to continue his labors in his native country. Translations of several of his works and essays have been published in Europe. BROWN SPAR, a name given to dolomite, the magnesian carbonate of lime, when this is of a brown or reddish-brown color, from a small percentage of oxide of iron or oxide of manganese. Crystals of spathic iron and the mineral inagnesite are sometimes called by the same name. BROWNSVILLE. I. A post borough of Fay ette co., Penn., on the Monongahela river, where it is crossed by the national road, about 30 m. S. of Pittsburgh ; pop. in 1870, 1,749. A bridge over the river has been erected here at a cost of $50,000, and another bridge, of cast iron, over Dunlap's creek, connects Browns- ville with the neighboring borough of Bridge- port. In the vicinity are rich mines of bitu- minous coal. The Monongahela is navigable to this point for large steamboats. II. A city, capi- tal of Cameron co., Texas, on the left bank of the Rio Grande, opposite Matamoros, about 35 m. from the gulf of Mexico, and 310 m. 8. of Austin; pop. in 1870, 4,905. It is easily acces- sible by steamboats, and contains a custom house and several churches. At the commence- ment of the war with Mexico, in 1846, the United States troops under Gen. Taylor occu- pied this place, threw up a strong work, and, leaving in it a small garrison, marched to the relief of Point Isabel, on the coast, where their supplies were threatened. In the mean time the Mexicans, under cover of the guns of Mata- moros, erected batteries, and on May 4 com- menced a bombardment of the fort, which lasted 160 hours. The Americans defended themselves with spirit, maintaining their posi- tion until the surrender of the city to Taylor, but losing their commander, Major Brown, who was killed by a shell on the 6th. It is in honor of this oflBcer that the town was named. There is now a fort (Fort Brown) with a garrison of United States troops at this point. III. A vil- lage, capital of Haywood co., Tenn., on the Memphis and Louisville railroad, 57 m. N. E. of Memphis; pop. in 1870, 2,454, of whom 1,016 were colored. It is situated in the midst of a rich, level country, is surrounded by cot- ton and maize plantations, and is the centre of an active trade. It contains a female college under the direction of the Baptists. BROWN UNIVERSITY (formerly Rhode Island College), a seat of learning in Providence, R. I., founded about the middle of the last cen- tury by the Philadelphia association of Baptist churches, at the special instigation of the Rev. Morgan Edwards, a Welsh clergyman of Phila- delphia. The Rev. James Manning, a native of New Jersey, and graduate of Princeton, was authorized in 1763 to broach the scheme to certain prominent Baptists of Newport, with whose aid the necessary money was raised, and a charter obtained in February, 1764, " for a college or university in the English colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England, in America." One of the pro- visions of this charter is as follows: "And furthermore, it is hereby enacted and declared, that into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests; but, on the contrary, all the members hereof shall for ever enjoy full, free, absolute, and un- interrupted liberty of conscience ; and that the public teaching shall, in general, respect the sciences, and that the sectarian differences of opinions shall not make any part of the public and classical instruction." The government of the college is vested in a board of fellows, con- sisting of 12 members, of whom 8, including the president, must be Baptists ; and a board of trustees, consisting of 36 members, of whom 22 must be Baptists, 5 Friends or Quakers, 4 Congregationalists, and 5 Episcopalians ; this proportion representing the different denomina- tions then existing in the colony. The instruc- tion and immediate government of the college rest in the president and board of fellows. In the spring of the year in which the college was established, instruction was commenced at Warren, under the direction of Mr. James Manning, who was formally elected its presi- dent in September, 1765. A local contest for the seat of the college was finally terminated in favor of Providence in 1770. During a part of the war of the revolution .instruction was suspended, and the college building was occu- pied by the state militia and by the troops of Rochambeau. Instruction was resumed in 1783. Mr. Manning was elected to congress in 1786, but soon resigned the post in conse- quence of its incompatibility with his duties to the college, and died in 1791, aged 53. Mr. Manning was succeeded by the Rev. Jonathan Maxcy, who resigned in 1802, and was succeeded by the Rev. Asa Messer, who was president till 1826. In 1804, during his presidency, the col- lege received the name of Brown university, in honor of Nicholas Brown, its most distinguish- ed benefactor. Mr. Messer was succeeded in 1827 by the Rev. Francis Wayland, D. D., who resigned in 1855, having by his personal char- acter and writings greatly extended the reputa- tion and influence of the university. The Rev. Barnas Sears, D. D., LL. D., was then chosen president, and resigned in 1867. He was suc- ceeded by the Rev. Alexis Caswell, D. D., LL. D., and the latter, in January, 1872, by the Rev. E. G. Robinson, D. D., LL. D. The officers of instruction are the president, nine professors, and three instructors, besides a li- brarian and register. The university has five college buildings, and a mansion house for the president. Its enclosures are graded and adorn- ed with elms, and comprise upward of 16 acres, situated on high land in the eastern section of the city. The college year is divided into two