Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/919

* DARTMOUTH COLLEGE CASE. 797 DARWIN. tees of Dai'tniouth College, and giving thera full power to govern the college and to fill all vacancies in their body. In 181(1 the T.egislature of New Hampshire passed an act amending the original charter, providing for the appointment of eleven new trustees by the Governor of the State, and for a board of overseers to insjject and control the conduct of the trustees. The old trustees refused to accept the amended charter, and brought suit against the officers of the new board who had obtained possession of the col- lege property. The Supreme Court of Ixcw Hampshire upheld the constitutionality of the statute, and the case was then taken *)n writ of error to the Supreme Court of the United States. For the plaintiffs the main argument was made by Daniel Webster (q.v.), and for the defendants by William Wirt (q.v.). Attorney-General of the United States. In its decision, handed down in ISli), and in which all but one of the justices concurred, the court held, through Chief Justice Marshall, that the acts of the Xew Hampshire Legislature in question were unconstitutional and void. The college was declared to be a private and not a public corporation; the char- ter of such a corporation was declared to be a contract between the Cromi (to whose obliga- tions the State of New Hampshire had .succeeded) and the corporators and their successors, and the State statute which attempted to change the charter without the consent of the coi-pora- tion was held to be Avithin the prohibition of the Federal Constitution, that "no State shall . . . pass any . . . law impairing the obligation of contracts." The consequences of this decision have been very far-reaching, both in securing the inviolability of private trusts, and in limiting State sovereignty and extending, through the Federal courts, the authority of the Federal Constitution. The principles of the de- cision have been applied frequently both by Federal and State courts. The case is reported in 1 New Hampshire Reports, 111., and 4 Wheaton {United States) Reports, 518. For favorable comments on the decision, consult: Kent, Commentaries on American Law, vol. i. (Boston, 1884), Lect. xix. ; Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, vol. ii. (Boston, 1891): Pomeroy, Introduction to the Constitutional Law of the United States (9th ed.. Boston, 1886) : -Maine, Popular Corernmcnt (London, 1885). For a searching criticism of the case, consult Shirley. The Dartmouth College Causes (Saint Louis, 1879). DARTJ, di'ru', Pierre Antoine Noel Bruno (]7(7-lS29). A French historian, poet, and statesman, born at Montpellicr, .January 12, 1767. He entered the army in 1783, was im- prisoned (1792-93) on a charge of treason to the Republic for eighteen months, during which he produced a highly estfcmed translation of Horace. Under the Empire he served with dis- tinction as soldier and diplomat, and during the Restoration was made intendant-geni'ral by Louis XVin in 1814. At the second Restoration he re- tired for a time (1815-19) to priv.ate life and study, but was made member of the Chamber ot Peers in 1819 and became a distingmished de- fender of constitutional liberty. He died on his estate, near ileulan. Septemlier 5. 1829. His Histoire de la rnruhlique dc Venise, and His- toirc des diics de Bretaqne (1826). are impartial, erudite, and accurate.. His occasional verses are unimportant. Sainte-Beuve devotes three arti- cles to him in the Causeries (vol. i.x. ). A Life by Viennet is prefixed to the fourth edition of His- toire de la rcpubliijiie de Vcnisc (Paris, 1853). D'ARXJSMONT, da'ri.is'mON', Franxes. See Wright, Fan.ny. DAR'WEN. A town of Lancashire. Kngland. situated amid moorland hills, 3Vj miles soulli of Blackburn and IS miles northwest of Manchester (Map: England, D 3). It owes its imiiortancc to a trade with India and Chiiui in calicoes, for which it employs a large number of spindles and looms. The 'India Mill,' one of the finest in the country, covers an area of 31,000 square feet. The town also contains paper-staining works, pajicr-manu- factories, calico-printing establishments, works for the manufacture of fire-bricks, tiles, and sanitary tubes, iron and brass founding, bleach- ing, machine and reed making. Coal-mines and stone-quarries also find employment for a con- siderable number of the inhabitants. It has numerous ))laces of worshi]), large and commo- dious schools for elementary education, and a cooperative public hall. The municipality is enterprising and owns gas, water, electric-light- ing supply, tramways, slaughter-houses, markets, public baths, free library, technical school, ceme- tery, artisans' dwellings, and lodging-house, and a modern system of sewage disposal for fertiliz- ing purposes. The place was known as Over Dar- wen from the reign of Henry 11., and with sev- eral hamlets was incorixn-ated in 1878 as the municipal borough of Darwcn. Population, in 1851, 11,702; in 1891, 34.192: in 1901, 38,200. Consult Shaw, Eistory of Darwcn ,( London, 1891). DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809-82). The greatest English naturalist of the nineteenth cen- tury. He was born at Shrewsbury. February 12, 1809, the son of Dr. Robert W. Darwin, F.R.S., and grandson of Erassmus Darwin (q.v.). His mother was a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, the famous manufacturer of pottery. After attend- ing a public school at Slirewsbury for some years, he studied at Edinlnirgli I'niversity for two sessions, and then at Christ College, Cam- bridge, where he took his degree of B.A. in 1831. His father had originally intended him for the Church, but hcreditiiry tendencies toward natural history led him in another direction. Shortly after graduation he seized an ojiportu- nity to go around the world as naturalist in H.M. S. Beagle, commanded by Captain Fitzroy, R.N. This expedition, which continued from De- cember 27, 1831, to October 2, 1836, and spent much time in making surveys of southern South America, afforded Darwin a great opportunity for making original observations and for con,- templation. It was, indeed, his studies on the fauna of the Galapagos Islands th.at planted the germ of his evolutionary studies. The ac- count of his vovage. finally I'lSfiO) entitled Voi/- age of a Naturalist o» //. V. S. lieaglc. which has passed through many editions, is a classic work, and shows a degree of intelligence in the author that promised great things for his future. This voyage had a marked effect on Darwin's health. leaving him with a tendency toward nausea whichduring life permitted of only a limited amount of work each day. In the seclusion of his country place at Down, the great thinker was