CAMBON, PIERRE PAUL (1843- ), French diplomatist, was born on the 20th of January 1843. He was called to the Parisian bar, and became private secretary to Jules Ferry in the prefecture of the Seine. After ten years of administrative work in France as secretary of prefecture, and then as prefect successively of the departments of Aube (1872), Doubs (1876), Nord (1877-1882), he exchanged into the diplomatic service, being nominated French minister plenipotentiary at Tunis. In 1886 he became French ambassador to Madrid; was transferred to Constantinople in 1890, and in 1898 to London. He was decorated with the grand cross of the Legion of Honour, and became a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
His brother, Jules Martin Cambon (1845- ), was called to the bar in 1866, served in the Franco-Prussian War and entered the civil service in 1871. He was prefect of the department of Nord (1882) and of the Rhone (1887-1891), and in 1891 became governor-general of Algeria (see Guyot, L’œuvre de M. Jules Cambon, Paris, 1897), where he had served in a minor position in 1874. He was nominated French ambassador at Washington in 1897, and in that capacity negotiated the preliminaries of peace on behalf of the Spanish government after the war with the United States. He was transferred in 1902 to Madrid, and in 1907 to Berlin.
CAMBORNE, a market town in the Camborne parliamentary division of Cornwall, England, on the Great Western railway, 13 m. E.N.E. of Penzance. Pop. of urban district (1901), 14,726. It lies on the northward slope of the central elevation of the county, and is in the neighbourhood of some of the most productive tin and copper mines. These and the manufacture of mining machinery employ most of the inhabitants. The parish church of St Martin contains several monuments and an ancient stone altar bearing a Latin inscription. There are science and art and mining schools, and practical mining is taught in South Condurrow mine, the school attracting a large number of students. It was developed from classes initiated in 1859 by the Miners’ Association, and a three years’ course of instruction is provided.
Camborne (Cambron, Camron) formed a portion of the extensive manor of Tehidy, which at the time of the Domesday Survey was held by the earl of Mortain and subsequently by the Dunstanville and Basset families. Its interests were economically insignificant until the beginning of the 18th century when the rich deposits of copper and tin began to be vigorously worked at Dolcoath. It has been estimated that in 1788 this mine alone had produced ore worth £2,000,000 and in 1882 ore worth £5,500,000. As the result of the prosperity of this and other mines in the neighbourhood the population in 1860 was double that of 1830, six times that of 1770 and fifteen times that of 1660. Camborne was the scene of the scientific labours of Richard Trevithick (1771-1833), the engineer, born in the neighbouring parish of Illogan, and of William Bickford, the inventor of the safety-fuse, a native of Camborne. Three fairs on the feasts of St Martin and St Peter and on 25th of February were granted in 1708. The two former are still held, the last has been transferred to the 7th of March. A Tuesday market formed the subject of a judicial inquiry in 1768, but since the middle of the 19th century it has been held on Saturdays.
CAMBRAI, a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Nord, 37 m. S.S.E. of Lille on the main line of the Northern railway. Pop. (1906) 21,791. Cambrai is situated on the right and eastern bank of the Scheldt (arms of which traverse the west of the town) and at one extremity of the canal of St Quentin. The fortifications with which it was formerly surrounded have been for the most part demolished. The fosses have been filled up and the ramparts in part levelled to make way, as the suburbs extended, for avenues stretching out on all sides. The chief survivals from the demolition are the huge square citadel, which rises to the east of the town, the chateau de Selles, a good specimen of the military architecture of the 13th century, and, among other gates, the Porte Notre-Dame, a stone and brick structure of the early 17th century. Handsome boulevards now skirt the town, the streets of which are clean and well-ordered, and a large public garden extends at the foot of the citadel, with a statue of Enguerrand de Monstrelet the chronicler. The former cathedral of Cambrai was destroyed after the Revolution. The present cathedral of Notre-Dame is a church of the 19th century built on the site of the old abbey church of St Sépulchre. Among other monuments it contains that of Fénelon, archbishop from 1695 to 1715, by David d’Angers. The church of St Géry (18th century) contains, among other works of art, a marble rood-screen of Renaissance workmanship. The Place d’Armes, a large square in the centre of the town, is bordered on the north by a handsome hôtel de ville built in 1634 and rebuilt in the 19th century. The Tour St Martin is an old church-tower of the 15th and 18th centuries transformed into a belfry. The triple stone portal, which gave entrance to the former archiepiscopal palace, is a work of the Renaissance period. The present archbishop’s palace, adjoining the cathedral, occupies the site of an old Benedictine convent.
Cambrai is the seat of an archbishop and a sub-prefect, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France. Its educational institutions include communal colleges, ecclesiastical seminaries, and schools of drawing and music. The library has over 40,000 volumes and there is a museum of antiquities and objects of art. The chief industry of Cambrai is the weaving of muslin (batiste) and other fine fabrics (see [Cambric]); wool-spinning and weaving, bleaching and dyeing, are carried on, as well as the manufacture of chicory, oil, soap, sausages and metal boxes. There are also large beet-sugar works and breweries and distilleries. Trade is in cattle, grain, coal, hops, seed, &c.
Cambrai is the ancient Nervian town of Camaracum, which is mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary. In the 5th century it was the capital of the Frankish king Raguacharius. Fortified by Charlemagne, it was captured and pillaged by the Normans in 870, and unsuccessfully besieged by the Hungarians in 953. During the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries it was the scene of frequent hostilities between the bishop and his supporters on the one hand and the citizens on the other; but the latter ultimately effected their independence. In 1478 Louis XI., who had obtained possession of the town on the death of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, handed it over to the emperor, and in the 16th century Charles V. caused it to be fortified with a strong citadel, for the erection of which the castles of Cavillers, Escaudoeuvres and many others were demolished. From that date to the peace of Nijmwegen, 1678, which assigned it to France, it frequently passed from hand to hand by capture or treaty. In 1793 it was besieged in vain by the Austrians. The League of Cambrai is the name given to the alliance of Pope Julius II., Louis XII., Maximilian I., and Ferdinand the Catholic against the Venetians in 1508; and the peace of Cambrai, or as it is also called, the Ladies’ Peace, was concluded in the town in 1529 by Louise of Savoy, mother of Francis I., and Margaret of Austria, aunt of Charles V., in the name of these monarchs. The bishopric of Cambrai dates from the 5th century, and was raised in 1559 to the rank of an archbishopric, which continued till the Revolution, and has since been restored. The bishops received the title of count from the emperor Henry I. (919-936), and in 1510 were raised to the dignity of dukes, their territory including the town itself and its territory, called Cambrésis.