Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/93

 CASTLEBAR CASTLEREAGH 85 bring it to the proper degree of fluidity. It is considered rather a refractory metal, liable to fly, and requires skill and experience for its mastery. The pouring is done in the same man- ner as for bell casting, and the same crucibles and furnaces are used. After the metal has cooled the flask is removed, the loam knocked otl', and the branches of metal which fill the spaces of the air holes as well as those for pour- ing are cut off. When the statue is cast in sec- tions the edges are made somewhat thicker than the other parts, and lips are also provided, to meet in the interior so that they may be bolted together. The thickness of the edges is for supplying material for hammering them to- gether till the seams are obliterated. The parts are usually immersed for a few hours in a weak pickle of acidulated water, for the purpose of loosening and aiding in the removal of silicious matter which has become incorporated with the surface of the bronze. All the sections are then bolted together, the edges smoothly ham- mered till the joints are perfect, all roughnesses filed away, and the whole surface chased with appropriate tools. An old method, which is still employed in Italy, is to make a core com- posed of potter's clay, brick dust, cow's hair, or some other composition, and over this model the figure in wax. Then the outer mould is formed upon this, of some composition, of which loam forms the principal part. Iron rods for supports and tubes are provided and adjusted in the same way as in piece moulding. The whole is then dried and baked in an oven un- til the wax is melted and cleaned, and the mould rendered sufficiently porous. CASTLEBAR, a town of Ireland, capital of county Mayo, at the N. end of a lake of the same name, 41 m. N. N. "W. of Galway ; pop. about 3,000. The principal street is a mile long, and it contains a square with handsome houses. It has a fine parish church, a Catho- lic chapel, a Wesleyan meeting house, several schools and hospitals, barracks for artillery and infantry, a court house, and a county jail. The principal trade is in agricultural products. Linen, linen yarn, and other articles are manu- factured. The town was captured in 1798 by a French force under Gen. Humbert, who had landed at Killala bay ; but they evacuated it shortly afterward, on the approach of the British under Lord Cornwallis. CASTLE CARET, a market town and parish of Somersetshire, England, on the Great West- ern railway, 22 m. S. S. W. of Bath ; pop. in 1871, 5,518. It contains a manor house in which Charles II. took refuge after the battle of Worcester. CASTLEMAIN, a town of Australia, in the colony of Victoria, situated at the junction of Barker's and Forest creeks, 65 m. N. W. of Melbourne ; pop. in 1871, 7,308. In the early days of gold mining it was a place of great im- portance, the diggings in the neighborhood be- ing among the first discovered in Australia. It is a principal station on the Victoria railway. CASTLEREAGH, Robert Stewart, viscount and marquis of Londonderry, a British statesman, born at the family seat of Mount Stewart, county Down, Ireland, June 18, 1769, died by his own hand at his seat of North Cray place, Kent, England, Aug. 12, 1822. He attended the grammar school at Armagh, and completed his education at Cambridge. In 1789 he was elected to the Irish parliament for the county Down, after a sharp contest, which is said to have cost his family over 25,000. In 1794 he was returned to the British house of com- mons, as a member for the borough of Tre- gony. In May, 1796, he was again returned to the British parliament for Orford ; but re- linquishing his seat in July, 1797, he was re- elected to the Irish parliament, as representa- tive of the county Down, and appointed keeper of the privy seal of Ireland. In 1796 he be- came Viscount Castlereagh, on the elevation of his father to the marquisate of Londonderry. In the beginning of 1798 he became chief sec- retary to the lord lieutenant, and an Irish privy councillor. The rebellion which invited and accompanied the landing of Gen. Humbert in 1798 was crushed by Castlereagh. It was mainly through his instrumentality that the act of union was passed. When this measure was consummated, he quitted the Irish govern- ment, execrated by the majority of his country- men. He represented his native county in the first imperial parliament, which assembled in February, 1801, and also in the second, which convened in September of the ensuing year. In the beginning of 1802 he was appointed a privy councillor of Great Britain, and presi- dent of the board of control. He retained that office after the retirement of Mr. Pitt, and throughout the Addington administration. In July, 1805, after Mr. Pitt's return to power, Castlereagh joined his cabinet as secretary at war and for the colonies. Having lost his seat for Down, he was returned in 1806 for Bo- roughbridge ; and relinquishing his office after Mr. Pitt's death, he was returned for the fol- lowing parliament, in the same year, for the borough of Plympton Earle. He now went into opposition against Fox and Grenville, and attacked their peace policy. In 1807, upon the formation of the Portland cabinet, he again became secretary at war, and was reflected by his last constituency for the parliament which met in May of that year. While a member of this administration, he incurred in 1809 the responsibility of the ill-advised Wal- cheren expedition, in reference to which Mr. Canning, his colleague and secretary for foreign affairs, assailed him with such warmth of per- sonality, that a duel ensued between them, and both retired from office. Castlereagh soon returned to the ministry, and assumed Canning's post, in which he gained a position so commanding, that on Mr. Perceval's death, in 1812, he was regarded as the ministerial leader in the house of commons. In Novem- ber, 1812, he was once more returned for the