History for ready reference, Volume 1, A-Elba

by J. N. Larned

Church, as might be expected, were not of the very highest.
There was among them no St. Francis, no St. Louis. The
uniformity which pervades everything Byzantine prevented the
development of such salient characters as are found in the
West. It is difficult, no doubt, to form a true estimate of
the influence of religion on men's lives in Eastern countries,
just as it is of their domestic relations, and even of the
condition of the lower classes, because such matters are
steadily ignored by the contemporary historians. But all the
evidence tends to show that individual rather than heroic
piety was fostered by the system which prevailed there. That
at certain periods a high tone of spirituality prevailed among
certain classes is sufficiently proved by the beautiful hymns
of the Eastern Church, many of which, thanks to Dr. Neale's
singular felicity in translation, are in use among ourselves.
But the loftier development of their spirit took the form of
asceticism, and the scene of this was rather the secluded
monastery, or the pillar of the Stylite, than human society at
large. But if the Eastern Church did not rise as high as her
sister of the West, she never sank as low."
H. F. Tozer, The Church and the Eastern Empire,
pages 45-46.
{456}
"The Greek Church, or, as it calls itself, the Holy Orthodox,
Catholic, Apostolic, Oriental Church, has a venerable if not
an eventful history. Unlike the Church of the West, it has not
been moulded by great political movements, the rise and fall
of kingdoms, and the convulsions which have passed over the
face of modern society. Its course has been out of the sight
of European civilisation, it has grown up among peoples who
have been but slightly affected, if they have been affected at
all, by the progressive movements of mankind. It has no middle
ages. It has no renaissance. It has no Reformation. It has
given birth to no great universities and schools of learning.
It has no Protestantism. It remains very much as the fourth
and fifth centuries left it. ... When the royal throne in the
days of the first Christian Emperor was removed from Rome to
Constantinople, there arose at once a cause of strife between
the bishops of old and new Rome, as Byzantium or
Constantinople was named. Each claimed pre-eminence, and each
alternately received it from the governing powers, in Church
and State. One Council decreed (A. D. 381) that the Bishop of
the new Rome should be inferior only to that of the old;
another declared (A. D. 451) the equality of both prelates.
The Patriarch of Constantinople at the close of the sixth
century claimed superiority over all Christian Churches,--a
claim which might have developed, had circumstances favoured
it, into an Eastern Papacy. The assumption was, however, but
short-lived, and the Bishop of Rome, Boniface, obtained from
the Emperor Phocas in 606 the much-coveted position. The
Eastern Church submitted, but from this time looked with a
jealous eye on her Western sister. She noted and magnified
every point of divergence between them. Differences or
apparent differences in doctrine and ritual were denounced as
heresies. Excommunications fulminated between the Eastern and
Western city, and ecclesiastical bitterness was intensified by
political intrigue. ... In the ninth century the contest grew
very fierce. The holder of the Eastern see, Photius,
formulated and denounced the terrible doctrinal and other
defections of the Western prelate and his followers. The list
is very formidable. They, the followers of Rome, deemed it
proper to fast on the seventh day of the week--that is on the
Jewish Sabbath; in the first week of Lent they permitted the
use of milk and cheese; they disapproved wholly of the
marriage of priests; they thought none but bishops could
anoint with the holy oil or confirm the baptized, and that
they therefore anointed a second time those who had been
anointed by presbyters; and fifthly, they had adulterated the
Constantinopolitan Creed by adding to it the words Filioque,
thus teaching that the Holy Spirit did not proceed only from
the Father, but also from the Son. This last was deemed, and
has always been deemed by the Greek Church the great heresy of
the Roman Church. ... The Greek Church to-day in all its
branches--in Turkey, Greece, and Russia--professes to hold
firmly by the formulas and decisions of the seven Œcumenical
or General Councils, regarding with special honour that of
Nice. The Nicene and Athanasian Creeds are the symbols of its
faith, the Filioque clause being omitted from the former, and
the eighth article reading thus: 'And in the Holy Ghost, the
Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, and
with the Father and Son together is worshipped and glorified.'
... The Greek Church, unlike the Latin, denounces the use of
images as objects of devotion, and holds in abhorrence every
form of what it terms 'image worship.' Its position in this
manner is very curious. It is true, no figures of our Lord, of
the Virgin, or saints, such as one sees in churches, wayside
chapels, and in the open fields in countries where the Roman
Church is powerful, are to be seen in Russia, Greece, or any
of those lands where the Eastern Church is supreme. On the
other hand, pictures of the plainest kind everywhere take
their place, and are regarded with the deepest veneration."
J. C. Lees, The Greek Church, (in the Churches of
Christendom). lecture 4.
See, also,
FILIOQUE CONTROVERSY.
CHRISTIANITY: A. D. 337-476.
The fall of Imperial Rome.
The rise of Ecclesiastical Rome.
The political and religious history of the Empire from the
death of Constantine is so fully narrated under Rome that mere
mention here of a few events will suffice, viz.: the revival
of Paganism under the Emperor Julian; the reascendency of
Christianity; the formal establishment of Christianity as the
religion of the Romans, by the suffrages of the senate; the
final division of the Empire into East and West between the
sons of Theodosius; the three sieges and the sacking of Rome
by Alaric; the legal separation of the Eastern and Western
Empires; the pillage of Rome by the Vandals and its final
submission to the barbarians.
See ROME: A. D. 337-361, to 445-476.
For an account of the early bishops of Rome, see PAPACY.
"A heathen historian traces the origin of the calamities which
he records to the abolition of sacrifice by Theodosius, and
the sack of Rome to the laws against the ancient faith passed
by his son. This objection of the heathens that the overthrow
of idolatry and the ascendency of Christianity were the cause
of the misfortunes of the empire was so wide spread, and had
such force with those, both Pagans and Christians, who
conceived history to be the outcome of magical or demonic
powers, that Augustine devoted twelve years of his life to its
refutation. His treatise, 'De Civitate Dei,' was begun in 413,
and was not finished till 426, within four years of his death.
Rome had once been taken; society, consumed by inward
corruption, was shaken to its foundations by the violent onset
of the Teutonic tribes; men's hearts were failing them for
fear; the voice of calumny cried aloud, and laid these woes to
the charge of the Christian faith. Augustine undertook to
refute the calumny, and to restore the courage of his
fellow-Christians. Taking a rapid survey of history, he asks
what the gods had ever done for the well-being of the state or
for public morality. He maintains that the greatness of Rome
in the past was due to the virtues of her sons, and not to the
protection of the gods. He shows that, long before the rise of
Christianity, her ruin had begun with the introduction of
foreign vices after the destruction of Carthage, and declares
that much in the ancient worship, instead of preventing, had
hastened that ruin. He rises above the troubles of the
present, and amid the vanishing glories of the city of men he
proclaims the stability of the city of God. At a time when the
downfall of Rome was thought to presage approaching doom,
Augustine regarded the disasters around him as the
birth-throes of a new world, as a necessary moment in the
onward movement of Christianity."
W. Stewart, The Church of the 4th and 5th Centuries (St.
Giles' Lectures, 4th series).
{457}
"There is as little ground for discovering a miraculous, as
there is for disowning a providential element in the course of
events. The institutions of Roman authority and law had been
planted regularly over all the territory which the conquering
hordes coveted and seized; alongside of every magistrate was
now placed a minister of Christ, and by every Hall of Justice
stood a House of Prayer. The Representative of Cæsar lost all
his power and dignity when the armies of Cæsar were scattered
in flight; the minister of Christ felt that behind him was an
invisible force with which the hosts of the alien could not
cope, and his behaviour impressed the barbarian with the
conviction that there was reality here. That beneficent
mission of Leo, A. D. 452, of which Gibbon says: 'The pressing
eloquence of Leo, his majestic aspect and sacerdotal robes,
excited the veneration of Attila for the spiritual father of
the Christians'--would be but an instance of what many
nameless priests from provincial towns did, 'not counting
their lives dear to them.' The organisation of the Latin state
vitalised by a new spiritual force vanquished the victors. It
was the method and the discipline of this organisation, not
the subtlety of its doctrine, nor the fervour of its
officials, that beat in detail one chief with his motley
following after another. Hence too it came about that the
Christianity which was adopted as the religion of Europe was
not modified to suit the tastes of the various tribes that
embraced it, but was delivered to each as from a common
fountain-head. ... It was a social triumph, proceeding from
religious motives which we may regard with unstinted
admiration and gratitude."
J. Watt, The Latin Church
(St. Giles' Lectures, 4th series.)
"The temporal fall of the Imperial metropolis tended to throw
a brighter light upon her ecclesiastical claims. The
separation of the East and the West had already enhanced the
religious dignity of the ancient capital. The great Eastern
patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem had up to
that time all held themselves equal, if not superior to Rome.
Constantinople had even assumed certain airs of supremacy over
all. The General Councils which had defined the Faith at Nicæa
and Constantinople had been composed almost wholly of
Orientals. The great Doctors of the Church, the men who had
defended or diffused the common Faith, had been mostly Greeks
by origin and language. None had been Romans, and it was
rarely, till the fourth century, that any of them had written
in the Latin tongue. When Athanasius, exiled from Alexandria,
came to Italy and Gaul, it was three years before he could
learn enough of the language of the West to address its
congregations in public. But this curious fact shows that the
Western Christians were now no longer the little Greek colony
of the first and second centuries. Christianity had become the
national religion of the native races. The Romans might now
feel that they were becoming again a people; that their
glorious career was assuming, as it were, a new point of
departure. ... For at this moment the popular instinct could
not fail to perceive how strongly the conscience of the
barbarians had been affected by the spiritual majesty of
Christian Rome. The Northern hordes had beaten down all armed
resistance. They had made a deep impression upon the strength
of the Eastern Empire; they had, for a moment at least,
actually overcome the Western; they had overrun many of the
fairest provinces, and had effected a permanent lodgement in
Gaul and Spain, and still more recently in Africa. Yet in all
these countries, rude as they still were, they had submitted
to accept the creed of the Gospel. There was no such thing as
a barbarian Paganism established within the limits of the
Empire anywhere, except perhaps in furthest Britain."
C. Merivale, Four lectures on some Epochs of Early
Church History, pages 130-136.
"When the surging tides of barbarian invasion swept over
Europe, the Christian organization was almost the only
institution of the past which survived the flood. It remained
as a visible monument of what had been, and, by so remaining,
was of itself an antithesis to the present. The chief town of
the Roman province, whatever its status under barbarian rule,
was still the bishop's see. The limits of the old 'province,'
though the boundary of a new kingdom might bisect them, were
still the limits of his diocese. The bishop's tribunal was the
only tribunal in which the laws of the Empire could be pleaded
in their integrity. The bishop's dress was the ancient robe of
a Roman magistrate. The ancient Roman language which was used
in the Church services was a standing protest against the
growing degeneracy of the 'vulgar tongue.' ... As the forces
of the Empire became less and less, the forces of the Church
became more and more. The Churches preserved that which had
been from the first the secret of Imperial strength. For
underneath the Empire which changed and passed, beneath the
shifting pageantry of Emperors who moved across the stage and
were seen no more, was the abiding empire of law and
administration,--which changed only as the deep sea changes
beneath the windswept waves. That inner empire was continued
in the Christian Churches. In the years of transition from the
ancient to the modern world, when all civilized society seemed
to be disintegrated, the confederation of the Christian
Churches, by the very fact of its existence upon the old
imperial lines, was not only the most powerful, but the only
powerful organization in the civilized world. It was so vast,
and so powerful, that it seemed to be, and there were few to
question its being, the visible realization of that Kingdom of
God which our Lord Himself had preached."
E. Hatch; The Organization of the Christian Churches,
pages 160-178.
{458}
CHRISTIANITY: A. D. 347-412.
The Syrian Churches.
"St. Chrysostom was born there A. D. 347; and it was in his
time that Antioch, with its hundred thousand Christians,
became the leading Church in Asia, especially in the Arian
controversy [see ARIANISM], for Arianism was very prevalent
there. But all this lies outside our period. The so-called
'School of Antioch' has its origin just before ... our period
[311, Wiltsch]. Dorotheus, ... and the martyr Lucian may be
regarded as its founders. In contrast to the allegorising
mysticism of the School of Alexandria, it was distinguished by
a more sober and critical interpretation of Scripture. It
looked to grammar and history for its principles of exegesis.
But we must not suppose that there was at Antioch an
educational establishment like the Catechetical School at
Alexandria, which, by a succession of great teachers, kept up
a traditional mode of exegesis and instruction. It was rather
an intellectual tendency which, beginning with Lucian and
Dorotheus, developed in a definite direction in Antioch and
other Syrian Churches. ... These notices of the Churches of
Jerusalem, Cæsarea in Palestine, and Antioch must suffice as
representative of the Syrian Churches. The number of these
Churches was considerable even in the second century, and by
the beginning of the fourth was very large indeed, as is seen
by the number of bishops who attend local Councils."
A. Plummer, The Church of the Early Fathers, chapter 3.
"It has often astonished me that no one has ever translated
the letters of St. Jerome. The letters of St. Augustine have
been translated, and are in many parts very entertaining
reading, but they are nothing in point of living interest when
compared with St. Jerome's. These letters illustrate life
about the year 400 as nothing else can. They show us, for
instance, what education then was, what clerical life
consisted in; they tell us of modes and fashions, and they
teach us how vigorous and constant was the communication at
that same period between the most distant parts of the Roman
empire. We are apt to think of the fifth century as a time
when there was very little travel, and when most certainly the
East and West--Ireland, England, Gaul and Palestine--were much
more widely and completely separated than now, when steam has
practically annihilated time and space. And yet such an idea
is very mistaken. There was a most lively intercourse existing
between these regions, a constant Church correspondence kept up
between them, and the most intense and vivid interest
maintained by the Gallic and Syrian churches in the minutest
details of their respective histories. Mark now how this
happened. St. Jerome at Bethlehem was the centre of this
intercourse. His position in the Christian world in the
beginning of the fifth century can only be compared to, but
was not at all equalled by, that of John Calvin at the time of
the Reformation. Men from the most distant parts consulted
him. Bishops of highest renown for sanctity and learning, like
St. Augustine, and Exuperius of Toulouse in southern France,
deferred to his authority. The keen interest he took in the
churches of Gaul, and the intimate knowledge he possessed of
the most petty local details and religious gossip therein, can
only be understood by one who has studied his very abusive
treatise against Vigilantius or his correspondence with
Exuperius. ... But how, it may be asked, was this
correspondence carried on when there was no postal system?
Here it was that the organization of monasticism supplied a
want. Jerome's letters tell us the very name of his postman.
He was a monk named Sysinnius. He was perpetually on the road
between Marseilles and Bethlehem. Again and again does Jerome
mention his coming and his going. His appearance must indeed
have been the great excitement of life at Bethlehem.
Travelling probably via Sardinia, Rome, Greece, and the
islands of the Adriatic, he gathered up all kinds of clerical
news on the way--a piece of conduct on his part which seems to
have had its usual results. As a tale-bearer, he not only
revealed secrets, but also separated chief friends, and this
monk Sysinnius with his gossips seems to have been the
original cause of the celebrated quarrel between Augustine and
Jerome."
G. T. Stokes, Ireland and the Celtic Church,
pages 170-172.
CHRISTIANITY: A. D. 496-800.
The Frankish Church to the Empire of Charlemagne.
"The baptism of Chlodovech [Clovis--see FRANKS: A. D. 481-
511] was followed by the wholesale conversion of the Franks.
No compulsion was used to bring the heathen into the Church.
As a heathen, Chlodovech had treated the Church with
forbearance; he was equally tolerant to heathenism when he was
a Christian. But his example worked, and thousands of noble
Franks crowded to the water of regeneration. Gregory of Tours
reckons the Franks as Christians after the baptism of their
king, which took place at Christmas, A. D. 496. His conversion
made no alteration in the policy and conduct of Chlodovech; he
remained the same mixture of cunning and audacity, of cruelty
and sensuality, that he was before. ... But, though his
baptism was to him of no moral import, its consequences were
wide spreading. When Gregory of Tours compares the conversion
of Chlodovech with that of Constantine the Great, he was fully
in the right. ... And the baptism of Chlodovech declared to
the world that the new blood being poured into the veins of
the old and expiring civilization, had been quickened by the
same elements, and would unite with the old in the new
development. ... That many of those who were baptized carried
with them into their new Christianity their old heathen
superstitions as well as their barbarism is certain; and the
times were not those in which the growth of the great
Christian graces was encouraged; the germs, however, of a new
life were laid."
S. Baring-Gould, The Church in Germany, chapter 3.
"The details of the history of the Merovingian period of
Frankish history are extraordinarily complicated; happily, it
is not at all necessary for our purpose to follow them. ... In
the earlier years after the conquest, all ranks of the clergy
were filled by Gallo-Romans. The Franks were the dominant
race, and were Christian, but they were new converts from a
rude heathenism, and it would take some generations to raise
up a 'native ministry' among them. Not only the literature of
the (Western) Church, but all its services, and, still more,
the conversational intercourse of all civilized and Christian
people, was in Latin. Besides, the Franks were warriors, a
conquering caste, a separate nation; and to lay down the
battle-axe and spear, and enter into the peaceful ranks of the
Romano-Gallic Church, would have seemed to them like changing
their nationality for that of the more highly cultured,
perhaps, but, in their eyes, subject race. The Frank kings did
not ignore the value of education. Clovis is said to have
established a Palatine school, and encouraged his young men to
qualify themselves for the positions which his conquests had
opened out to them.
{459}
His grandsons, we have seen, prided themselves on
their Latin culture. After a while, Franks aspired to the
magnificent positions which the great sees of the Church
offered to their ambition; and we find men with Teutonic
names, and no doubt of Teutonic race, among the bishops. ...
For a still longer period, few Franks entered into the lower
ranks of the Church. Not only did the priesthood offer little
temptation to them, but also the policy of the kings and
nobles opposed the diminution of their military strength, by
refusing leave to their Franks to enter into holy orders or
into the monasteries. The cultured families of the cities
would afford an ample supply of men for the clergy, and
promising youths of a lower class seem already not
infrequently to have been educated for the service of the
Church. It was only in the later period, when some approach
had been made to a fusion of the races, that we find Franks
entering into the lower ranks of the Church, and
simultaneously we find Gallo-Romans in the ranks of the
armies. ... Monks wielded a powerful spiritual influence. But
the name of not a single priest appears in the history of the
times as exercising any influence or authority. ... Under the
gradual secularization of the Church in the Merovingian
period, the monasteries had the greatest share in keeping
alive a remnant of vital religion among the people; and in the
gradual decay of learning and art, the monastic institution
was the ark in which the ancient civilization survived the
deluge of barbarism, and emerged at length to spread itself
over the modern world."
E. L. Cutts, Charlemagne, chapters 5 and 7.
"Two Anglo-Saxon monks, St. Wilfrid, bishop of York, and St.
Willibrord undertook the conversion of the savage fishermen of
Friesland and Holland at the end of the seventh and beginning
of the eighth century; they were followed by another
Englishman, the most renowned of all these missionaries,
Winfrith, whose name was changed to Boniface, perhaps by the
Pope, in recognition of his active and beneficent apostleship.
When Gregory II. appointed him bishop of Germany (723), he
went through Bavaria and established there the dioceses of
Frisingen, Passau, and Ratisbon. When Pope Zacharias bestowed
the rank of metropolitan upon the Church of Mainz in 748, he
entrusted its direction to St. Boniface, who from that time
was primate, as it were, of all Germany, under the authority
of the Holy See. St. Boniface was assassinated by the Pagans
of Friesland in 755."
V. Duruy, History of the Middle Ages, book 3, chapter 8.
"Boniface, whose original name was Winfrid, was of a noble
Devonshire family (A. D. 680), educated at the monastery of
Nutcelle, in Hampshire, and at the age of thirty-five years
had obtained a high reputation for learning and ability, when
(in A. D. 716), seized with the prevalent missionary
enthusiasm, he abandoned his prospects at home, and set out
with two companions to labour among the Frisians. ... Winfrid
was refused permission by the Duke to preach in his dominions,
and he returned home to England. In the following spring he
went to Rome, where he remained for some months, and then,
with a general authorization from the pope to preach the
gospel in Central Europe, he crossed the Alps, passed through
Bavaria into Thuringia, where he began his work. While here
the death of Radbod, A. D. 719, and the conquest of Frisia by
Charles Martel, opened up new prospects for the evangelization
of that country, and Boniface went thither and laboured for three
years among the missionaries, under Willibrord of Utrecht.
Then, following in the track of the victorious forces of
Charles Martel, he plunged into the wilds of Hessia, converted
two of its chiefs whose example was followed by multitudes of
the Hessians and Saxons, and a monastery arose at Amöneburg as
the head-quarters of the mission. The Bishop of Rome being
informed of this success, summoned Boniface to Rome, A. D.
723, and consecrated him a regionary bishop, with a general
jurisdiction over all whom he should win from paganism into
the Christian fold, requiring from him at the same time the
oath which was usually required of bishops within the
patriarchate of Rome, of obedience to the see. ... Boniface
was not only a zealous missionary, an earnest preacher, a
learned scholar, but he was a statesman and an able
administrator. He not only spread the Gospel among the
heathen, but he organized the Church among the newly converted
nations of Germany; he regulated the disorder which existed in
the Frankish Church, and established the relations between
Church and State on a settled basis. The mediæval analysts
tell us that Boniface crowned Pepin king, and modern writers
have usually reproduced the statement. 'Rettberg, and the able
writer of the biography of Boniface in Herzog (Real Ecyk, s.
v.), argue satisfactorily from Boniface's letters that he took
no part in Pepin's coronation.' When Boniface withdrew from
the active supervision of the Frankish Churches, it is
probable that his place was to some extent supplied in the
councils of the mayor and in the synods of the Church by
Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, a man whose character and
influence in the history of the Frank Church have hardly
hitherto been appreciated."
E. L. Cutts, Charlemagne, chapter 12.
"Both Karlmann and Pippin tried to reform certain abuses that
had crept into the Church. Two councils, convoked by Karlmann,
the one in Germany (742), the other in the following year at
Lestines (near Charleroi, in Belgium), drew up decrees which
abolished superstitious rites and certain Pagan ceremonies,
still remaining in force; they also authorized grants of
Church lands by the 'Prince' for military purposes on
condition of a payment of an annual rent to the Church; they
reformed the ecclesiastical life, forbade the priests to hunt
or to ride through the woods with dogs, falcons, or
sparrow-hawks; and, finally, made all priests subordinate to
their diocesan bishops, to whom they were obliged to give
account each year of their faith and their ministry--all of
which were necessary provisions for the organization of the
ecclesiastical hierarchy and for the regulation of church
government. Similar measures were taken by the Council of
Soissons, convoked by Pippin in 744. In 747, Karlmann
renounced the world and retired to the celebrated Italian
monastery of Monte Cassino. As he left he entrusted his
children to the care of their uncle, Pippin, who robbed them
of their inheritance and ruled alone over the whole Frankish
Empire. ... Charlemagne enlarged and completed the work which
had only been begun by Charles Martel and Pippin. ... The
Middle Ages acknowledged two Masters, the Pope and the
Emperor, and these two powers came, the one from Rome, and the
other from Austrasian France. ... The mayors of Austrasia,
Pippin of Heristal, and Charles Martel, rebuilt the Frankish
monarchy and prepared the way for the empire of Charlemagne;
... the Roman pontiffs ... gathered around them all the
churches of the West, and placed themselves at the head of the
great Catholic society, over which one day Gregory VII. and
Innocent III. should claim to have sole dominion."
V. Duruy, History of the Middle Ages, pages 119-122, 108.
See MAYORS OF THE PALACE;
FRANKS: A. D. 768-814;
and PAPACY: A. D. 755-774, and 774.
{460}
The coronation of Charlemagne at Rome by Pope Leo III. (see
ROMAN EMPIRE, A. D. 800) gave the Western Church the place in
the state it had held under the earlier Roman emperors. The
character of so great a man, the very books he read and all
that fed the vigorous ideal element in so powerful a spirit
are worthy of interest; for this at least he sought to
accomplish--to give order to a tumultuous and barbarian
world, and to establish learning, and purify the church:
"While at table, he liked to hear a recital or a reading, and
it was histories and the great deeds of past times which were
usually read to him. He took great pleasure, also, in the
works of St. Augustine, and especially in that whose title is
'De Civitate Dei.' ... He practiced the Christian religion in
all its purity and with great fervour, whose principles had
been taught him from his infancy. ... He diligently attended
... church in the evening and morning, and even at night, to
assist at the offices and at the holy sacrifice, as much as
his health permitted him.' He watched with care that nothing
should be done but with the greatest propriety, constantly
ordering the guardians of the church not to allow anything to
be brought there or left there inconsistent with or unworthy
of the sanctity of the place. ... He was always ready to help
the poor, and it was not only in his own country, or within
his own dominions that he dispensed those gratuitous
liberalities which the Greeks call 'alms,' but beyond the
seas--in Syria, in Egypt, in Africa, at Jerusalem, at
Alexandria, at Carthage, everywhere where he learned that
Christians were living in poverty--he pitied their misery and
loved to send them money. If he sought with so much care the
friendship of foreign sovereigns, it was, above all, to
procure for the Christians living under their rule help and
relief. Of all the holy places, he had, above all, a great
veneration for the Church of the Apostle St. Peter at Rome."
Eginhard, Life of Charlemagne.
"The religious side of Charles' character is of the greatest
interest in the study of his remarkable character as a whole
and his religious policy led to the most important and durable
results of his reign. He inherited an ecclesiastical policy
from his father; the policy of regulating and strengthening
the influence of the Church in his dominions as the chief
agent of civilization, and a great means of binding the
various elements of the empire into one; the policy of
accepting the Bishop of Rome as the head of Western
Christianity, with patriarchal authority over all its
Churches."
E. L. Cutts, Charlemagne, chapter 23.
The following is a noteworthy passage from Charlemagne's
Capitulary of 787: "It is our wish that you may be what it
behoves the soldiers of the church to be;--religious in
heart, learned in discourse, pure in act, eloquent in speech;
so that all who approach your house in order to invoke the
Divine Master, or to behold the excellence of the religious
life, may be edified in beholding you, and instructed in
hearing you discourse or chant, and may return home rendering
thanks to God most High. Fail not, as thou regardest our
favour, to send a copy of this letter to all thy suffragans
and to all the monasteries; and let no monk go beyond his
monastery to administer justice or to enter the assemblies and
the voting-places. Adieu."
J. B. Mullinger, The Schools of Charles the Great.
CHRISTIANITY: 5th-7th Centuries.
The Nestorian, Monophysite and Monothelite Controversies.
See NESTORIAN AND MONOPHYSITE, and MONOTHELITE.
CHRISTIANITY: 5th-9th Centuries.
The Irish Church and its missions.
The story of the conversion of Ireland by St. Patrick, and of
the missionary labors of the Church which he founded, is
briefly told elsewhere.
See IRELAND: 5TH-8TH CENTURIES.
"The early Church worked her way, in the literal sense of the
word, 'underground,' under camp and palace, under senate and
forum. But turn where we will in these Celtic missions, we
notice how different were the features that marked them now.
In Dalaradia St. Patrick obtains the site of his earliest
church from the chieftain of the country, Dichu. At Tara, he
obtains from King Laoghaire a reluctant toleration of his
ministry. In Connaught he addresses himself first to the
chieftains of Tirawley, and in Munster baptizes Angus, the
king, at Cashel, the seat of the kings. What he did in Ireland
reproduces itself in the Celtic missions of Wales and
Scotland, and we cannot but take note of the important
influence of Welsh and Pictish chiefs. ... The people may not
have adopted the actual profession of Christianity, which was
all perhaps that in the first instance they adopted from any
clear or intelligent appreciation of its superiority to their
former religion. But to obtain from the people even an actual
profession of Christianity was an important step to ultimate
success. It secured toleration at least for Christian
institutions. It enabled the missionaries to plant in every
tribe their churches, schools, and monasteries, and to
establish among the half pagan inhabitants of the country
societies of holy men, whose devotion, usefulness, and piety
soon produced an effect on the most barbarous and savage
hearts.'"
G. F. Maclear, Conversion of the West: The Celts,
chapter 11.
"The Medieval Church of the West found in the seventh century
an immense task before it to fulfil. ... The missionaries who
addressed themselves to the enormous task of the conversion of
Germany may be conveniently divided into three groups--the
British, the Frankish, and, entering somewhat later into an
honourable rivalry with these, the Anglo-Saxon. A word or two
upon each of these groups. The British--they include Irish and
Scotch--could no longer find a field for the exercise of their
ministry in England, now that there the Roman rule and
discipline, to which they were so little disposed to submit,
had everywhere won the day. Their own religious houses were
full to overflowing. At home there was little for them to do,
while yet that divine hunger and thirst for the winning of
souls, which had so possessed the heart of St. Patrick, lived
on in theirs. To these so minded, pagan Germany offered a welcome
field of labour, and one in which there was ample room for all.
{461}
Then there were the Frankish missionaries, who enjoyed the support
of the Frankish kings, which sometimes served them in good
stead; while at other times this protection was very far from
a recommendation in their eyes who were easily persuaded to
see in these missionaries the emissaries of a foe. Add to
these the Anglo-Saxons; these last, mindful of the source from
which they had received their own Christianity, making it a
point to attach their converts to Rome, even as they were
themselves bound to her by the closest ties. The language
which these spoke--a language which as yet can have diverged
very little from the Low German of Frisia, must have given to
them many facilities which the Frankish missionaries possessed
in a far slighter degree, the British not at all; and this may
help to account for a success on their parts far greater than
attended the labours of the others. To them too it was mainly
due that the battle of the Creeds, which had been fought and
lost by the Celtic missionaries in England, and was presently
renewed in Germany, had finally the same issues there as in
England. ... At the same time, there were differences in the
intensity and obstinacy of resistance to the message of truth,
which would be offered by different tribes. There was ground,
which at an early day had been won for the Gospel, but which
in the storms and confusion of the two preceding centuries had
been lost again; the whole line, that is, of the Danube and
the Rhine, regions fair and prosperous once, but in every
sense wildernesses now. In these we may note a readier
acceptance of the message than found place in lands which in
earlier times that message had never reached; as though
obscure reminiscences and traditions of the past, not wholly
extinct, had helped to set forward the present work."
R C. Trench, Lectures on Medieval Church History,
lecture 5.
"From Ireland came Gallus, Fridolin, Kilian, Trutbert and
Levin. ... The order in which these men succeeded one another
cannot always be established, from the uncertainty of the
accounts. ... We know thus much, that of all those
above-mentioned, Gallus was the first, for his labours in
Helvetia (Switzerland) were continued from the preceding into
the period of which we are now treating. On the other hand, it
is uncertain as to Fridolin whether he had not completed his
work before Gallus, in the sixth century, for in the opinion
of some he closed his career in the time of Clodoveus I., but,
according to others, he is said to have lived under Clodoveus
II., or at another period. His labours extended over the lands
on the Moselle, in the Vosges Mountains, over Helvetia, Rhætia
and Nigra Silva (the Black Forest). He built the monastery of
Sekkinga on the Rhine. Trutbert was a contemporary and at the
same time a countryman of Gallus. His sphere of action is said
to have been Brisgovia (Breisgau) and the Black Forest. Almost
half a century later Kilian proclaimed the gospel in Franconia
and Wirtzburg, with two assistants, Colonatus and Totnanus. In
the latter place they converted duke Gozbert, and were put to
death there in 688. After the above mentioned missionaries
from Ireland, in the seventh century, had built churches and
monasteries in the southern Germany, the missionaries from
Britain repaired with a similar purpose, to the northern
countries. ... Men from other nations, as Willericus, bishop
of Brema, preached in Transalbingia at the beginning of the
ninth century. Almost all the missionaries from the kingdom of
the Franks selected southern Germany as their sphere of
action: Emmeran, about 649, Ratisbona, Rudbert, about 696,
Bajoaria (Bavaria), Corbinian the country around Frisinga,
Otbert the Breisgau and Black Forest, and Pirminius the
Breisgau, Bajoaria, Franconia, Helvetia, and Alsatis."
J. E. T. Wiltsch, Handbook of the Geography and
Statistics of the Church, 11. 1, pages 365-367.
CHRISTIANITY: A. D. 553-800.
The Western Church.
Rise of the Papacy.
"Though kindly treated, the Church of Rome did not make any
progress under the Ostrogoths. But when their power had been
broken (553), and Rome had been placed again under the
authority of the Emperor of Constantinople [see ROME: A. D.
535-553], the very remoteness of her new master insured to the
Church a more prosperous future. The invasion of the Lombards
drove a great many refugees into her territory, and the Roman
population showed a slight return of its old energy in its
double hatred toward them, as barbarians and as Arians. ... It
was at this favorable point in the state of affairs, though
critical in some respects, that Gregory the Great made his
appearance (590-604). He was a descendant of the noble Anicia
family, and added to his advantages of birth and position the
advantages of a well-endowed body and mind. He was prefect of
Rome when less than thirty years old, but after holding this
office a few months he abandoned the honors and cares of
worldly things for the retirement of the cloister. His
reputation did not allow him to remain in the obscurity of
that life. Toward 579 he was sent to Constantinople by Pope
Pelagius II. as secretary or papal nuncio, and he rendered
distinguished services to the Holy See in its relations with
the Empire and in its struggles against the Lombards. In 590
the clergy, the senate, and the people raised him with one
accord to the sovereign pontificate, to succeed Pelagius. As
it was still necessary for every election to be confirmed by
the Emperor at Constantinople, Gregory wrote to him to beg him
not to sanction this one; but the letter was intercepted and
soon orders arrived from Maurice ratifying the election.
Gregory hid himself, but he was discovered and led back to
Rome. When once Pope, though against his will, he used his
power to strengthen the papacy, to propagate Christianity, and
to improve the discipline and organization of the Church. ...
Strengthened thus by his own efforts, he undertook the
propagation of Christianity and orthodoxy both within and
without the limits of the old Roman Empire. Within those
limits there were still some who clung to paganism, in Sicily,
Sardinia, and even at the very gates of Rome, at Terracina,
and doubtless also in Gaul, as there is a constitution of
Childebert still extant dated 554, and entitled: 'For the
abolition of the remains of idolatry.' There were Arians very
near to Rome--namely, the Lombards; but through the
intervention of Theudalinda, their queen, Gregory succeeded in
having Adelwald, the heir to the throne, brought up in the
Catholic faith; as early as 587 the Visigoths in Spain, under
Reccared, were converted. ... The Roman Empire had perished,
and the barbarians had built upon its ruins many slight
structures that were soon overthrown.
{462}
Not even had the Franks, who were destined to be perpetuated
as a nation, as yet succeeded in founding a social state of
any strength; their lack of experience led them from one
attempt to another, all equally vain; even the attempt of
Charlemagne met with no more permanent success. In the midst
of these successive failures one institution alone, developing
slowly and steadily through the centuries, following out the
spirit of its principles, continued to grow and gain in power,
in extent and in unity. ... The Pope had now become, in truth,
the ruler of Christendom. He was, however, still a subject of
the Greek Emperor; but a rupture was inevitable, as his
authority, on the one hand, was growing day by day, and the
emperor's on the contrary, was declining."
V. Duruy, History of the Middle Ages,
pages 114-115, 108-109, 117.
"The real power which advanced the credit of the Roman see
during these ages was the reaction against the Byzantine
despotism over the Eastern Church; and this is the explanation
of the fact that although the new map of Europe had been
marked out, in outline at least, by the year 500, the Roman
see clung to the eastern connection until the first half of
the eighth century. ... In the political or diplomatic
struggle between the Church and the Emperors, in which the
Emperors endeavored to make the Church subservient to the
imperial policy, or to adjust the situation to the necessities
of the empire, and the Church strove to retain its autonomy as
a witness to the faith and a legislator in the affairs of
religion, the Bishop of Rome became, so to speak, the
constitutional head of the opposition; and the East was
willing to exalt his authority, as a counterpoise to that of
the Emperor, to any extent short of acknowledging that the
primacy implied a supremacy."
J. H. Egar, Christendom: Ecclesiastical and Political,
from Constantine to the Reformation, page 99.
"The election system was only used for one degree of the
ecclesiastical dignitaries, for the bishopric. The lower
dignitaries were chosen by the bishop. They were divided into
two categories of orders--the higher and the lower orders.
There were three higher orders, namely, the priests, the
deacons, and the sub-deacons, and four lower orders, the
acolytes, the door-keepers, the exorcists, and the readers.
The latter orders were not regarded as an integral part of the
clergy, as their members were the servants of the others. As
regards the territorial divisions, the bishop governed the
diocese, which at a much later date was divided into parishes,
whose spiritual welfare was in the hands of the parish priest
or curate (curio). The parishes, taken together, constituted
the diocese; the united dioceses, or suffragan bishoprics,
constituted the ecclesiastical province, at whose head stood
the metropolitan or archbishop. When a provincial council was
held, it met in the metropolis and was presided over by the
metropolitan. Above the metropolitans were the Patriarchs, in
the East, and the Primates in the West, bishops who held the
great capitals or the apostolic sees, Constantinople,
Alexandria, Antioch, Rome, Jerusalem, Cesarea in Cappadocia,
Carthage in Africa, and Heraclius in Thrace; among them Rome
ranked higher by one degree, and from this supreme position
exercised a supreme authority acknowledged by all the Church."
V. Duruy, History of the Middle Ages, pages 109-110.
"The divergence of the two Churches, Eastern and Western, was
greater in reality than it appears to be from a superficial
view. It was based on essential variations in the character
and disposition of the people in the East and in the West, on
the nature of their civilization, and on the different, almost
antagonistic, development of the Christian idea in one Church
and in the other. ... The Eastern Church rejoiced in its
direct affiliation with apostolic times, in its careful
preservation of traditions, and was convinced of its especial
right to be considered the true heir and successor of Christ.
... The letter of the law superseded the spirit; religion
stiffened into formalism; piety consisted in strict observance
of ceremonial rites; external holiness replaced sincere and
heartfelt devotion. ... Throughout the West the tendency was
in a contrary direction--towards the practical application of
the religious idea. The effete, worn-out civilization of the
past was there renovated by contact and admixture with young
and vigorous races, and gained new strength and vitality in
the struggle for existence. The Church, freed from control,
became independent and self-asserting; the responsibility of
government, the preservation of social order, devolved upon
it, and it rose proudly to the task."
A. F. Heard, The Russian Church and Russian
Dissent, pages 6-10.
"On the overthrow of the Western Empire, and the
demonstration, rendered manifest to all, that with the
complete triumph of the new world of secular polities a new
spiritual development, a new phase of Divine guidance, was
opening, the conscience of the believers was aroused to a
sense of the sinfulness of their cowardly inactivity. 'Go ye
into all nations, and baptize them,' had been the last words
of their blessed Master. ... It is to this new or revived
missionary spirit which distinguished the sixth century, of
which I would place Pope Gregory the First, or the Great, as
the central figure, that I desire now to introduce you.
Remember that the Empire, which had represented the unity of
mankind, had become disintegrated and broken into fragments.
Men were no longer Romans, but Goths and Sueves, Burgundians
and Vandals, and beyond them Huns, Avars, Franks, and
Lombards, some with a slight tincture of Christian teaching,
but most with none. ... Let but the Gospel be proclaimed to
all, and leave the issue in God's hands! Such was the contrast
between the age of Leo and the age of Gregory! ... The
conversion of Clovis and the Franks is, I suppose, the
earliest instance of a Christian mission carried out on a
national scale by the common action of the Church represented
by the Pope and See of Rome. It becomes accordingly a great
historical event, deserving the earnest consideration not of
Churchmen only, but of all political enquirers."
C. Merivale, Four Lectures on some Epochs of Early
Church History, pages 172-177.
{463}
"Christianity thus renewed its ardor for proselytism, and
Gregory contributed to its success most wisely by enjoining
precepts of moderation upon his missionaries, and by the
skillful manner in which he made the transition to Catholicism
easy to the pagans; he wrote to Augustine: 'Be careful not to
destroy the pagan temples; it is only necessary to destroy the
idols, then to sprinkle the edifice with holy water, and to
build altars and place relics there. If the temples are well
built, it is a wise and useful thing for them to pass from the
worship of demons to the worship of the true God; for while
the nation sees its old places of worship still standing, it
will be the more ready to go there, by force of habit, to
worship the true God.' In the interior Gregory succeeded in
arranging the different degrees of power in the Church, and in
forcing the recognition of the supreme power of the Holy See.
We find him granting the title of Vicar of Gaul to the bishop
of Arles, and corresponding with Augustine, archbishop of
Canterbury, in regard to Great Britain, with the archbishop of
Seville in regard to Spain, with the archbishop of
Thessalonica in regard to Greece, and, finally, sending
legates 'a latere' to Constantinople. In his Pastoral, which
he wrote on the occasion of his election, and which became an
established precedent in the West, he prescribed to the
bishops their several duties, following the decisions of many
councils. He strengthened the hierarchy by preventing the
encroachments of the bishops upon one another: 'I have given
to you the spiritual direction of Britain,' he wrote to the
ambitious Augustine, 'and not that of the Gauls.' He
rearranged the monasteries, made discipline the object of his
vigilant care, reformed Church music, and substituted the
chant that bears his name for the Ambrosian chant, 'which
resembled,' according to a contemporary, 'the far-off noise of
a chariot rumbling over pebbles.' Rome, victorious again with
the help of Gregory the Great, continued to push her conquests
to distant countries after his death."
V. Duruy, History of the Middle Ages, page 116.
See,
CHRISTIANITY: A. D. 496-800,
and ROME: A. D. 590-640.
CHRISTIANITY: A. D. 597-800.
The English Church.
"It seems right to add a word of caution against the common
confusion between the British Church and the English Church.
They were quite distinct, and had very little to do with one
another. To cite the British bishops at the Councils of Arles
and Rimini as evidence of the antiquity of the English Church
is preposterous. There was then no England; and the ancestors
of English Churchmen were heathen tribes on the continent. The
history of the Church of England begins with the episcopate of
Archbishop Theodore (A. D. 668), or at the very earliest with
the landing of Augustine (A. D. 597). By that time the British
Church had been almost destroyed by the heathen English. ...
Bede tells us that down to his day the Britons still treated
English Christians as pagans."
A. Plummer, The Church of the Early Fathers, chapter 8.
"About the year 580, in the pontificate of Pelagius, Gregory
occupied the rank of a deacon among the Roman clergy. He was
early noted for his zeal and piety; coming into large
possessions, as an off-shoot of an ancient and noble family,
he had expended his wealth in the foundation of no less than
seven monasteries, and had become himself the abbot of one of
them, St. Andrew's, at Rome. Devoted as he was from the first
to all the good works to which the religious profession might
best apply itself, his attention was more particularly turned
to the cause of Christian missions by casually remarking a
troop of young slaves exhibited for sale in the Roman market.
Struck with the beauty or fresh complexion of these strangers,
he asked whether they were Christians or Pagans. They were
Pagans, it was replied. How sad, he exclaimed, that such fair
countenances should lie under the power of demons. 'Whence came
they?'--'From Anglia.'--'Truly they are Angels. What is the
name of their country?'--'Deira.'--'Truly they are subject to
the wrath of God: ira Dei. And their king?'--'Is named
Ælla.'--'Let them learn to sing Allelujah.' Britain had lately
fallen under the sway of the heathen Angles. Throughout the
eastern section of the island, the faith of Christ, which had
been established there from early times, had been, it seems,
utterly extirpated. The British church of Lucius and Albanus
still lingered, but was chiefly confined within the ruder
districts of Cornwall, Wales, and Cumbria. The reported
destruction of the people with all their churches, and all
their culture, begun by the Picts and Scots, and carried on by
the Angles and their kindred Saxons, had made a profound
impression upon Christendom. The 'Groans of the Britons' had
terrified all mankind, and discouraged even the brave
missionaries of Italy and Gaul. ... Gregory determined to make
the sacrifice himself. He prevailed on the Pope to sanction
his enterprise; but the people of Rome, with whom he was a
favourite, interposed, and he was constrained reluctantly to
forego the peril and the blessing. But the sight he had
witnessed in the market-place still retained its impression
upon him. He kept the fair-haired Angles ever in view; and
when, in the year 592, he was himself elevated to the popedom,
he resolved to send a mission, and fling upon the obscure
shores of Britain the full beams of the sun of Christendom, as
they then seemed to shine so conspicuously at Rome. Augustine
was the preacher chosen from among the inmates of one of
Gregory's monasteries, for the arduous task thus imposed upon
him. He was to be accompanied by a select band of twelve
monks, together with a certain number of attendants. ... There
is something very remarkable in the facility with which the
fierce idolaters, whose name had struck such terror into the
Christian nations far and near, yielded to the persuasions of
this band of peaceful evangelists."
C. Merivale, Four lectures on some Epochs of Early
Church History, pages 192-198.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 597-685.
The Roman missionaries in England landed in Kent and appear to
have had more influence with the petty courts of the little
kingdoms than with the people. The conversion of the North of
England must be credited to the Irish monastery on the island
of Iona. "At the beginning of the sixth century these Irish
Christians were seized with an unconquerable impulse to wander

afar and preach Christianity to the heathen. In 563 Columba,
with twelve confederates, left Ireland and founded a monastery
on a small island off the coast of Scotland (Iona or Hy),
through the influence of which the Scots and Picts of Britain
became converted to Christianity, twenty-three missions among
the Scots and eighteen in the country of the Picts having been
established at the death of Columba (597). Under his third
successor the heathen Saxons were converted; Aedan, summoned
by Osward of Northumbria, having labored among them from 635
to 651 as missionary, abbot, and bishop. His successors,
Finnan and Colman, worthily carried on his work, and
introduced Christianity into other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms near
East Anglia, Mercia, and Essex."
H. Zimmer, The Irish Element in Mediæval Culture,
pages 19-21.
{464}
"Two bands of devoted men had hitherto been employed in the
conversion of England, the Roman, assisted by their converts
and some teachers from France, and the Irish, who were plainly
the larger body. Between the two there were the old
differences as to the time of keeping Easter and the form of
the clerical tonsure. ... Thus, while Oswy [King of Mercia]
was celebrating Easter according to the custom he had learnt
at Iona, his queen Earfleda observed it according to the rule
which she had learnt in Kent, and was still practising the
austerities of Lent. These differences were tolerated during
the Episcopate of Aidan and Finan, but when Finan died and was
succeeded by Colman, the controversy" was terminated by Oswy,
after much debate, with the words--"'I will hold to St. Peter,
lest, when I present myself at the gates of Heaven, he should
close them against me.' ... Colman, with all his Irish
brethren, and thirty Northumbrians who had joined the
monastery, quitted Lindisfarne and sailed to Iona."
G. F. Maclear, Conversion of the West: The English,
pages 81-85.
The impartial historian to whom we owe all the early history
of the English Church, thus records the memory of these
devoted men as it remained in the minds of Englishmen long
after their departure. It is a brief passage, one like those
in the greater Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, which must
stand for much we do not know. Referring to their devoted
lives--"For this reason the religious habit was at that time
in great veneration; so that wheresoever any clergyman or monk
happened to come, he was joyfully received by all persons, as
God's servant; and if they chanced to meet him upon the way,
they ran to him, and bowing, were glad to be signed with his
hand, or blessed with his mouth. Great attention was also paid
to their exhortations; and on Sundays they flocked eagerly to
the church, or the monasteries, not to feed their bodies, but
to hear the word of God; and if any priest happened to come
into a village, the inhabitants flocked together to hear from
him the word of life; for the priests and clergymen went into
the village on no other account than to preach, baptize, visit
the sick, and, in few words, to take care of souls; and they
were so free from worldly avarice, that none of them received
lands and possessions for building monasteries, unless they
were compelled to do so by the temporal authorities; which
custom was for some time after observed in all the churches of
the Northumbrians. But enough has now been said on this
subject."
The Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England;
ed. by J. A. Giles, book 3, chapter 26.
The English Church passed through several stages during this
period. A notable one was the rise and fall of a loose
monastic system which attracted men and women of the better
classes, but for lack of a strict rule brought itself into
disrepute. Another was the development of classical learning
and the foundation of the school at Jarrow in Northumberland
resulting in making England the intellectual centre of the
world. Venerable Bede, who wrote the Ecclesiastical History of
the English Church, was the greatest teacher of this epoch;
and Alcuin, a Northumbrian by birth, and of the school at
York, of the next. Invited by Charlemagne to the Frankish
Court, he carried English learning to the Continent, and
although he died at the time of the foundation of the Empire,
left his influence in many ways on the development of European
culture. A single fact of interest will suffice, to show the
close connection of this early history with that of Rome and
the continent--viz., to Alcuin we are largely indebted for the
parent script which formed our Roman letters. (I. Taylor,
The Alphabet, volume 2, page 180.) Northumbrian learning and the
rich libraries of ancient and Anglo-Saxon literature were
destroyed by the Danes, who, in their incursions, showed for a
long time peculiar animosity to monks and monasteries.
Although the service of this early Anglo-Saxon Church was
partly in the vernacular, and large portions, if not all, of
the Gospels had been translated, little remains to us of its
early religious literature. The translations of the Gospel
into Anglo-Saxon that have come down to us are to be
attributed to a late period.
CHRISTIANITY: 9th Century.
The Bulgarian Church.
"In the beginning of this 9th century, a sister of the
reigning Bulgarian king, Bogoris, had fallen as a captive into
the keeping of the Greek emperor. For thirty-eight years she
lived at Constantinople, and was there instructed in the
doctrines of the Christian Faith. Meanwhile, the
administration passed into the hands of the empress Regent,
Theodora. She was interested in a certain monk named Cupharas,
who had been taken prisoner by the Bulgarians, and with a view
to his redemption, she opened negotiations with Bogoris. An
exchange of prisoners was finally effected. The sister of
Bogoris was restored to him, while Cupharas was permitted to
return to Constantinople. Before the release of the pious
monk, however, he had striven, though quite unavailingly, to
win the Bulgarian prince to the service of the Cross. These
fruitless endeavors were supplemented by the entreaties of the
king's sister, on her return from Constantinople. ... At last,
fear snapped the fetters which love had failed to disengage.
... His baptism was celebrated at midnight with profoundest
secrecy. The rite was administered by no less a personage than
the patriarch Photius. He emphasized the solemnity of the
occasion by presenting the neophyte with a lengthy treatise on
Christianity, theoretical and practical, considered mainly in
its bearings on the duties of a monarch. The emperor Michael
stood sponsor by proxy, and the Bulgarian king received, as
his Christian name, that of his imperial god-father. ... The
battle-cries of theology rang over Christendom, and the world
was regaled with the spectacle of a struggle between the rival
Churches for the possession of Bulgaria, a country till
recently so conspicuously destitute of dogma of any kind. The
Bulgarians themselves, doubtless much astonished at the uproar
for their sake, and, surely, more perplexed than ever by the
manners and customs of Christianity, began to waver in their
adherence to the Western Church, and to exhibit symptoms of an
inclination to transfer their allegiance to Constantinople.
The strife went on for years. At last, A. D. 877, the Latin
clergy having been dismissed from the country, Pope John VIII.
solemnly expostulated, protesting against the Greek
proclivities of the Bulgarians, and predicting dire results
from their identity with a Church which was rarely free from
heresy in one form or another. Nevertheless, the Byzantine
leanings of Bulgaria did culminate in union with the Eastern Church.
{465}
A Greek archbishop and bishops of the same communion, settled
in the country. ... 'The Eastern branch' of the Slavonic
languages, properly so called, 'comprehends the Russian, with
various local dialects, the Bulgarian, and the Illyrian. The
most ancient document of this Eastern branch is the so-called
ecclesiastical Slavonic, i. e., the ancient Bulgarian, into
which Cyrillus and Methodius translated the Bible in the
middle of the 9th century. This is still the authorized
version of the Bible for the whole Slavonic race, and to the
student of the Slavonic languages it is what Gothic is to the
student of German.'"
G. F. Maclear, Conversion of the West: The Slavs,
pages 54-69.
CHRISTIANITY: 9th Century.
Conversion of Moravia.
"In the opening years of the 9th century, Moravia stretched
from the Bavarian borders to the Hungarian river Drina, and
from the banks of the Danube, beyond the Carpathian mountains,
to the river Stryi in Southern Poland. Into this territory
Christianity had been ushered as early as A. D. 801, by
Charlemagne, who, as his custom was, enforced baptism at the
point of the sword, at least as far as the king was concerned.
Efforts were subsequently made by the archbishops of Salzburg
and Passau to fan this first feeble flicker into something
like a flame. But no success attended their exertions.
Paganism was overpoweringly strong, and Christianity not only
weak, but rude and uncouth in type. ... The story of this
country, during the process of emancipation from paganism, is
but a repetition of the incidents with which, in neighbouring
states, we have already become familiar. Ramifications of the
work of Cyril and Methodius extended into Servia. The Slavonic
alphabet made way there, as in Bohemia and Moravia, for
Christianity. The Servians 'enjoyed the advantage of a liturgy
which was intelligible to them; and we find that, early in the
10th century, a considerable number of Slavonian priests from
all the dioceses were ordained by the bishop of Nona, who was
himself a Slavonian by descent.'"
G. F. Maclear, Conversion of the West: The Slavs,
chapter 4.
CHRISTIANITY: 9th-10th Centuries.
The Eastern Church as a missionary Church.
"If the missionary spirit is the best evidence of vitality in
a church, it certainly was not wanting in the Eastern Church
during the ninth and tenth centuries of our era. This period
witnessed the conversion to Christianity of the principal
Slavonic peoples, whereby they are both linked with
Constantinople, and bound together by those associations of
creed, as well as race, which form so important a factor in
the European politics of the present day. The Moravians, the
Bulgarians, and the Russians were now brought within the fold
of the Church; and the way was prepared for that vast
extension of the Greek communion by which it has spread, not
only throughout the Balkan peninsula and the lands to the
north of it, but wherever Russian influence is found--as far
as the White Sea on the one side, and Kamtchatka on the other,
and into the heart of Central Asia. The leaders in this great
work were the two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, who in
consequence of this, have since been known as the Apostles of
the Slavonians. What Mezrop did for the Armenians, what
Ulfilas did for the Goths, was accomplished for that race by
Cyril in the invention of a Slavonic alphabet, which from this
cause is still known by the name of the Cyrillic. The same
teacher, by his translation of the Scriptures into their
tongue, provided them with a literary language, thereby
producing the same result which Luther's Bible subsequently
effected for Germany, and Dante's Divina Commedia for Italy.
It is no matter for surprise that, throughout the whole of
this great branch of the human race--even amongst the
Russians, who owed their Christianity to another source--the
names of these two brothers should occupy the foremost place
in the calendar of Saints. It is not less significant that
their names are not even mentioned by the Byzantine
historians."
H. F. Tozer, The Church and the Eastern Empire, chapter 7.
CHRISTIANITY: 9th-11th Centuries.
The Western Church as a missionary Church.
The earlier missions of the Western Church have been
described, but it is noteworthy that again and again missions
to the same regions are necessary. It requires such a map as
the one accompanying this article to make plain the slowness
of its diffusions and the long period needed to produce even a
nominally Christian Europe. "The views of Charlemagne for the
conquest and conversion of the Northern heathens [see SAXONS:
A. D. 772-804], were not confined to the limits, wide as they
were, of Saxony. The final pacification effected at Salz,
seemed to open his eyes to more extensive enterprises in
prospect. Political may have combined with religious motives
in inducing him to secure the peace of his new frontiers, by
enlisting the tribes of Denmark under the banner of the Cross,
and he conceived the idea of planting a church in the
neighbourhood of Hamburg, which should become a missionary
centre. This plan, though interrupted by his death, was not
neglected by his son Louis le Debonnaire, or 'the Pious.' ...
But it is easier to propose such a plan than find one willing
to carry it out. The well-known ferocity of the Northmen long
deterred anyone from offering himself for such a duty. At
length he received intelligence from Wala, the abbot of
Corbey, near Amiens, that one of his monks was not unwilling
to undertake the perilous enterprise, The intrepid volunteer
was Anskar."
G. F. Maclear, Conversion of the West: The Northmen,
chapter 2.
"In 822, Harold, the king of Jutland, and claimant of the
crown of Denmark, came to seek the help of Louis the Pious,
the son, and one of the successors, of Charlemagne. ... On
Harold's return to Denmark he was accompanied by Anskar, who
well deserves to be called the apostle of Scandinavia. ...
Thus Anskar and Autbert set out in the train of Harold, and
during the journey and voyage a kindly feeling sprang up
between the royal and the missionary families. Harold got no
cordial greeting from his proud heathen subjects when he
announced to them that he had done homage to the emperor, and
that he had embraced the gospel. He seems to have been very
sincere and very earnest in his endeavours to induce his
nobles and subjects to abandon idolatry and embrace
Christianity. To expect that he was altogether judicious in
these efforts would be to suppose that he had those views
regarding the relation that ought to subsist between rulers
and subjects, ... views regarding liberty of conscience and
the right of private judgment. ...
{466}
The result was that after two years, in 828, he was compelled
to abdicate the throne. ... The position of Anskar, difficult
as it was while Harold was on the throne, became still more
difficult after his abdication. ... But just at the time when
the door was shut against him in Denmark, another was opened
in Sweden, which promised to be wider and more effectual. ...
He was kindly received by the Swedish king, who gave him
permission to preach, and his subjects freedom to accept and
profess the gospel of Christ. As Anskar had been led to
expect, so he found, many Christian captives, who had been
brought from other countries,--France, Germany, Britain,
Ireland,--and who, having been as sheep without a shepherd,
gladly received from Anskar those consolations and
exhortations which were fitted to alleviate the sorrows of
their captivity. ... After a year and a half's stay in Sweden,
Anskar returned home, and gladdened the heart of the good
emperor, and doubtless of many others, by the cheering
prospect he was able to present of the acceptance of the
gospel by the Swedes. He was now made nominally bishop of
Hamburg, but with the special design of superintending and
conducting missionary operations both in Denmark and
Sweden.... Horik, king of Denmark, who had driven Harold from
his throne, ... had been hitherto an uncompromising enemy of
the gospel. Anskar undertook the management of some political
negotiations with him, and in the conduct of them made so
favourable an impression on him that he refused to have any
other negotiator or ambassador of the German king at his
court. He treated him as a personal friend, and gave him full
liberty to conduct missionary operations. These operations he
conducted with his usual zeal, and by God's blessing, with
much success. Many were baptized. The Christians of Germany
and Holland traded more freely with the Danes than before, and
the Danes resorted in larger numbers as traders to Holland and
Germany; and in these and other ways a knowledge of the
gospel, and some apprehension of the blessings which it brings
with it, were diffused among the people. ... Although the
Norwegians were continually coming into contact, in the
varying relations of war and peace, with the Swedes and the
Danes, the French and the Germans, the English and the Irish,
and although in this way some knowledge of the Christian
system must have been diffused among them, yet the formal
introduction of it into their country was a full century later
than its introduction into Denmark and Sweden."
Thomas Smith, Mediæval Missions, pages 122-138.
"The conversions in Denmark were confined to the mainland. The
islands still remained pagan, while human victims continued to
be offered till the Emperor Henry I. extorted from Gorm, the
first king of all Denmark, in A. D. 934, protection for the
Christians throughout his realm, and the abolition of human
sacrifices. In Sweden, for seventy years after Anskar's death,
the nucleus of a Christian Church continued to be restricted
to the neighbourhood of Birka, and the country was hardly
visited by Christian missionaries."
G. F. Maclear, Conversion of the West:
The Northmen, chapter 2.
"It is very remarkable that, in the whole history of the
introduction of Christianity into Norway and Iceland,
extending over a period of a century and a half, we meet not
with the name of any noted bishop, or ecclesiastic, or
missionary. There were, no doubt, ecclesiastics employed in
the work, and these would appear to have been generally
Englishmen; but they occupied a secondary place, almost their
only province being to baptize those whom the kings compelled
to submit to that ordinance. The kings were the real
missionaries; and one cannot help feeling a kind of admiration
for the ferocious zeal which one and another of them
manifested in the undertaking,--even as the Lord commended the
unjust steward because he had done wisely, although his wisdom
was wholly misdirected. The most persistent and the most
successful of these missionary kings was Olaf the Thick, who
came from England in 1017, and set himself with heart and soul
to the work of the demolition of heathenism, and the
substitution of Christianity as the national religion."
Thomas Smith, Mediæval Missions, pages 140-141.
CHRISTIANITY: 10th Century.
The Russian Church.
"In the middle of the 10th century, the widowed Princess Olga,
lately released from the cares of regency, travelled from Kief
to Constantinople. Whether her visit had political objects, or
whether she was prompted to pay it solely, as some say, by a
desire to know more of the holy faith of which only glimpses
had been vouchsafed her at home, cannot be positively decided.
But her sojourn in the imperial city was a turning-point in
her career. Baptism was administered to her by the patriarch
Polyeuctes, the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus
officiating as sponsor. Polyeuctes then solemnly addressed the
princess, predicting that through her instrumentality Russia
should be richly blessed. 'Olga,' writes M. Mouravieff, 'now
become Helena by baptism, that she might resemble both in name
and deed the mother of Constantine the Great, stood meekly
bowing down her head, and drinking in, as a sponge that is
thirsty of moisture, the instructions of the prelate.' ...
Some latent impressions favourable to Christianity her
youngest grandson, Vladimir, doubtless owed to her.
Nevertheless when, at the death of his brother Yarapolk, for
which indeed he was held responsible, he mounted the throne,
no signs of a gracious character revealed themselves. He was,
on the contrary, a bitter and bigoted pagan. ... It seems to
have occurred to many missionaries of varying types, that a
chief of such mark should not be left at the mercy of his own
violent passions. The spiritual well-being of Vladimir
accordingly became the object of laborious journeys, of much
exertion, and of redundant eloquence. ... Last of all came a
Greek emissary. He was neither 'a priest nor a missionary, but
a philosopher.' ... Like Bogoris, the wild Russian chief was
greatly moved. ... The following year the king laid before the
elders of his council the rival pleas of these variously
recommended forms of faith, and solicited their advice. The
nobles mused awhile, and then counselled their master to
ascertain how each religion worked at home. This, they
thought, would be more practical evidence than the plausible
representations of professors. On this suggestion Vladimir
acted. Envoys were chosen,--presumably, for their powers of
observation,--and the embassy of inquiry started. 'This public
agreement,' says the historian of the Russian Church,
'explains in some degree the sudden and general acceptance of
Christianity which shortly after followed in Russia.
{467}
It is probable that not only the chiefs, but the common people
also, were expecting and ready for the change.' A report, far
from encouraging, was in due time received from the
ambassadors. Of the German and Roman, as well as the Jewish,
religions in daily life, they spoke in very disparaging terms,
while they declared the Mussulman creed, when reduced to
practice, to be utterly out of the question. Disappointed in
all these quarters, they now proceeded, by command, to
Constantinople, or, as the Russians called it, Tzaragorod. ...
Singularly enough, the Russian envoys, accustomed, as we must
suppose them to have been, only to the barest simplicity of
life, had complained not only of the paucity of decoration in
the Latin churches, but of a lack of beauty in their
appointments. Thus the preparations of the patriarch were
accurately fitted to their expectant frame of mind. They were
led into the church of S. Sophia, gleaming with variegated
marbles, and porphyries, and jasper, at that time 'the
masterpiece of Christian architecture.' The building glittered
with gold, and rich mosaics. The service was that of a high
festival, either of St. John Chrysostom, or of the Death of
the Virgin, and was conducted by the patriarch in person, clad
in his most gorgeous vestments. ... On their return to
Vladimir, they dilated with eager delight on the wonders they
had seen. The king listened gravely to their glowing account
of 'the temple, like which there was none upon earth.' After
sweetness, they protested, bitterness would be unbearable, so
that--whatever others might do--they at all events should at
once abandon heathenism. While the king hesitated, his boyers
turned the scale by reminding him that if the creed of the
Greeks had not indeed had much to recommend it, his pious and
sagacious grandmother, Princess Olga, would not have loved and
obeyed it. Her name acted like a talisman. Vladimir resolved
to conform to Christianity. But still, fondly clinging to the
habits of his forefathers, he cherished the idea of wooing and
winning his new religion by the sword. ... Under the auspices
of the sovereign, the stately church of St. Basil soon arose,
on the very spot recently occupied by the temple of Perun.
Kief became the centre of Christian influence, whence
evangelizing energies radiated in all directions. Schools and
churches were built, while Michael, the first metropolitan,
attended by his bishops, 'made progresses into the interior of
Russia, everywhere baptizing and instructing the people.' The
Greek canon law came into force, and the use of the
service-book and choral music of the Greek communion became
general, while, in the Slavonic Scriptures and Liturgy of
Cyril and Methodius, a road was discovered which led straight
to the hearts of the native population. 'Cyril and Methodius,
if anyone, must be considered by anticipation as the first
Christian teachers of Russia; their rude alphabet first
instructed the Russian nation in letters, and, by its quaint
Greek characters, still testifies in every Russian book, and
on every Russian house or shop, the Greek source of the
religion and literature of the empire.'"
G. F. Maclear, Conversion of the West: The Slavs,
chapter 5.
"As in the first centuries it was necessary that the leaven of
Christianity should gradually penetrate the entire
intellectual life of the cultivated nations, before a new
spiritual creation, striking its root in the forms of the
Grecian and Roman culture, which Christianity appropriated,
could in these forms completely unfold itself; so after the
same manner it was necessary that the leaven of Christianity
which ... had been introduced into the masses of the untutored
nations, should gradually penetrate their whole inward life,
before a new and peculiar spiritual creation could spring out
of it, which should go on to unfold itself through the entire
period of the middle ages. And the period in which we now are
must be regarded as still belonging to the epoch of transition
from that old spiritual creation which flourished on the basis
of Grecian and Roman culture to the new one."
A. Neander, General History of the Christian Religion
and Church, volume 3, page 456.
We leave the author's sentence incomplete, that it may
express the more fully all the subsequent history of
Christianity.
----------CHRISTIANITY: End----------
CHRISTINA, Queen-regent of Spain, A. D. 1833-1841.
Christina, Queen of Sweden, A. D. 1633-1654.
CHRISTINOS, The.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1833-1846.
CHRISTOPHER I., King of Denmark. A. D. 1252-1259.
Christopher II., A. D. 1319-1334.
Christopher III., King of Denmark,
Sweden and Norway, A. D. 1439-1448.
CHRYSE.
Vague reports of a region called Chryse (the Golden),
somewhere beyond the Ganges, and of an island bearing the same
name, off the mouths of the Ganges, as well as of another
island called Argyre (the Silver Island), were prevalent among
the early Roman geographical writers. They probably all had
reference to the Malay peninsula, which Ptolemy called the
Golden Chersonese.
E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Grog., chapter 25.
CHRYSLER'S FARM, Battle of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1813 (OCTOBER-NOVEMBER).
CHRYSOBULUM.
See GOLDEN BULL, BYZANTINE.
CHRYSOPOLlS.
Modern Scutari, opposite Constantinople; originally the port
of the city of Chalcedon.
CHRYSOPOLIS, Battle of (A. D. 323).
See Rome: A. D. 305-323.
CHUMARS.
See CASTE SYSTEM OF INDIA.
CHUMASHAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CHUMASHAN FAMILY.
CHUR, The Bishopric of.
See TYROL,
and SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1396-1499.
CHURCH, The Armenian.
See ARMENIAN CHURCH.
CHURCH OF BOHEMIA, The Utraquist National.
See BOHEMIA: A. D. 1434-1457.
CHURCH IN BRAZIL, Disestablishment of the.
See BRAZIL: A. D. 1889-1891.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND: Origin and Establishment.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1527-1534; 1531-1563; and 1535-1539.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND: The Six Articles.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1539.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND: The completed Church-reform under Edward VI.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1547-1553.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND: The doubtful conflict of religions.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1553.
{468}
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
Romanism restored by Mary.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1555-1558.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
Recovery of Protestantism under Elizabeth.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1558-1588.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
The Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1559.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
Rise of Puritanism.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1559-1566; 1564-1565 (?).
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
The Despotism of Laud.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1633-1640.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
Rise of the Independents.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1638-1640.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
The Root and Branch Bill.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1641 (MARCH-MAY).
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
The Westminster Assembly.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1643 (JULY), and 1646 (MARCH).
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
The Solemn League and Covenant.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1643 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
The Restoration.
The Savoy Conference.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1661 (APRIL-JULY).
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
The Act of Uniformity and persecution of Nonconformists.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1662-1665.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
Charles' Declaration of Indulgence, and the Test Act.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1672-1673, and 1687.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
James' Declaration of Indulgence.
Trial of the seven Bishops.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1687-1688.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND:
The Church and the Revolution.
The Non-Jurors.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1689 (APRIL-AUGUST).
CHURCH OF ENGLAND: A. D. 1704.
Queen Anne's Bounty.
See QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND: A. D. 1711-1714.
The Occasional Conformity Bill and the Schism Act.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1711-1714.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND: A. D. 1833-1845.
The Oxford or Tractarian Movement.
See OXFORD OR TRACTARIAN MOVEMENT.
----------CHURCH OF ENGLAND: End----------
CHURCH OF FRANCE.
See GALLICAN CHURCH.
CHURCH, The Greek or Eastern.
See CHRISTIANITY: A. D. 330-1054.
CHURCH OF IRELAND, Disestablishment of the.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1868-1870.
CHURCH OF LATTER DAY SAINTS.
See MORMONISM: A. D. 1805-1830.
CHURCH OF ROME.
See PAPACY.
CHURCH, The Russian.
The great schism known as Raskol.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1655-1659.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
Its birth.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1547-1557.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The First Covenant.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1557.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
Rebellion and triumph of the Lords of the Congregation.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1558-1560.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
Restoration of Episcopacy.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1572.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The First National Covenant.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1581.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The Black Acts.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1584.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
Appropriation of Church lands.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1587.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The Five Articles of Perth.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1618.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
Laud's liturgy and Jenny Geddes' stool.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1637.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The signing of the National Covenant.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1638.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The First Bishops' War.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1638-1640.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The Second Bishops' War.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1640.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The Westminster Assembly.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1643 (JULY).
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The Solemn League and Covenant.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1643 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
Montrose and the Covenanters.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1644-1645.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The restored king and restored prelacy.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1660-1666.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
Persecutions of the Covenanters.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1669-1679: 1679; 1681-1689.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The Revolution and re-establishment of the Presbyterian
Church.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1688-1690.
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND:
The Disruption.
Formation of the Free Church.
See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1843.
----------CHURCH OF SCOTLAND: End----------
CHURUBUSCO, Battle of.
See MEXICO: A. D. 1847 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER).
CIBALIS, Battle of (A. D. 313).
See ROME: A. D. 305-323.
CIBOLA, The Seven Cities of.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PUEBLOS.
CICERO, and the last years of the Roman Republic.
See ROME: B. C. 69-63, to 44-42.
CILICIA.-KILIKIA.
An ancient district in the southeastern corner of Asia Minor,
bordering on Syria. It was a satrapy of the Persian Empire,
then a part of the kingdom of the Selucidæ, and afterwards a
Roman province. The chief city of Cilicia was Tarsus, a very
ancient commercial emporium, whose people were noted for
mental acuteness. The Apostle Paul is to be counted among the
distinguished natives of Tarsus, and a quite remarkable number
of eminent teachers of philosophy were from the same
birthplace.
CILICIA, Pirates of.
During the Mithridatic wars piracy was developed to alarming
proportions in the eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea.
Distracted by civil conflicts and occupied by foreign ones,
simultaneously, the Romans, for a considerable period, gave no
proper heed to the growth of this lawlessness, until they
found their commerce half destroyed and Rome and Italy
actually threatened with starvation by the intercepting of
their supplies from abroad. The pirates flourished under the
protection and encouragement of the king of Pontus, at whose
instance they established their chief headquarters, their
docks, arsenals and magazines, at various points on the coast
of Cilicia. Hence the name Cilician came to be applied to all
the pirates of the time. This era of piracy was brought to an
end, at last, by Pompey, who was sent against them, B. C. 67,
with extraordinary powers conferred by the law known as the
Lex Gabinia. He proceeded to his undertaking with remarkable
energy and ability, and his hunting down of the freebooters
which he accomplished effectually within three months from the
day his operations began, was really the most brilliant
exploit of his life.
H. G. Liddell, History of Rome, book 7, chapter 63.
ALSO IN:
C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 1.
G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 3, chapter 6-7.
{469}
CILICIAN GATES.
A pass through the Taurus range of mountains, opening from
Cappadocia into Cilicia, was anciently called the Pylæ Ciliciæ
or Cilician Gates. The city of Tyana was situated at the
entrance to the pass. Both Xenophon and Alexander, who
traversed it, seem to have regarded the pass as one which no
army could force if properly defended.
E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography,
chapter 10, section 2. and chapter 12, section 1.
CILURNUM.
A Roman city in Britain, "the extensive ruins of which, well
described as a British Pompeii, are visible near the modern
hamlets of Chesters."
T. Wright, Celt, Roman and Saxon, chapter 5.
CIMARRONES, The.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1572-1580,
and JAMAICA: A. D. 1655-1796.
CIMBRI AND TEUTONES, The.
"For a considerable period [second century, B. C.] an
'unsettled people' had been wandering along the northern verge
of the country occupied by the Celts on both sides of the
Danube. They called themselves the Cimbri, that is, the
Chempho, the champions, or, as their enemies translated it,
the robbers; a designation, however, which to all appearance
had become the name of the people even before their migration.
They came from the north, and the first Celtic people with
whom they came in contact were, so far as is known, the Boii,
probably in Bohemia. More exact details as to the cause and
the direction of their migration have not been recorded by
contemporaries and cannot be supplied by conjecture. ... But
the hypothesis that the Cimbri, as well as the similar horde
of the Teutones which afterwards joined them, belonged in the
main not to the Celtic nation, to which the Romans at first
assigned them, but to the Germanic, is supported by the most
definite facts: viz., by the existence of two small tribes of
the same name--remnants left behind to all appearance in their
primitive seats--the Cimbri in the modern Denmark, the
Teutones in the north-east of Germany in the neighbourhood of
the Baltic, where Pytheas, a contemporary of Alexander the
Great, makes mention of them thus early in connection with the
amber trade; by the insertion of the Cimbri and Teutones in
the list of the Germanic peoples among the Ingævones alongside
of the Chauci; by the judgment of Cæsar, who first made the
Romans acquainted with the distinction between the Germans and
the Celts, and who includes the Cimbri, many of whom he must
himself have seen, among the Germans; and lastly, by the very
names of the people and the statements as to their physical
appearance and habits. ... On the other hand it is conceivable
enough that such a horde, after having wandered perhaps for
many years, and having doubtless welcomed every
brother-in-arms who joined it in its movements near to or
within the land of the Celts, would include a certain amount
of Celtic elements. ... When men afterwards began to trace the
chain, of which this emigration, the first Germanic movement
which touched the orbit of ancient civilization, was a link,
the direct and living knowledge of it had long passed away."
T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 4, chapter 5.
"The name Kymri, or Cymri, still exists. It is the name that
the Welsh give themselves, but I am not aware that any other
people have called them by that name. These Kymri are a branch
of the great Celtic people, and this resemblance of the words
Kymri and Cimbri has led many modern writers to assume that
the Cimbri were also a Celtic people, as many of the ancient
writers name them. But these ancient writers are principally
the later Greeks, who are no authority at all on such a
matter. ... The name Cimbri has perished in Germany, while
that of the Teutones, by some strange accident, is now the
name of the whole Germanic population."
G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 2, chapter 4.
ALSO IN:
W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 7, chapter 9.
CIMBRI: B. C. 113-102.
Battles with the Romans.
The Cimbri and the Teutones made their first appearance on the
Roman horizon in the year 113 B. C. when they entered Noricum.
The Noricans were an independent people, as yet, but accepted
a certain protection from Rome, and the latter sent her
consul, Carbo, with an army, to defend them. Carbo made an
unfortunate attempt to deal treacherously with the invaders
and suffered an appalling defeat. Then the migrating
barbarians, instead of pressing into Italy, on the heels of
the flying Romans, turned westward through Helvetia to Gaul,
and occupied themselves for four years in ravaging that
unhappy country. In 109 B. C., having gathered their plunder
into the fortified town of Aduatuca and left it well
protected, they advanced into the Roman province of Narbo,
Southern Gaul, and demanded land to settle upon. The Romans
resisted and were again overwhelmingly beaten. But even now
the victorious host did not venture to enter Italy, and
nothing is known of its movements until 105 B. C., when a
third Roman army was defeated in Roman Gaul and its commander
taken prisoner and slain. The affrighted Romans sent strong
re-enforcements to the Rhone; but jealousy between the consul
who commanded the new army and the proconsul who retained
command of the old delivered both of them to destruction. They
were virtually annihilated, Oct. 6, B. C. 105, at Arausio
(Orange), on the left bank of the Rhone. It is said that
80,000 Roman soldiers perished on that dreadful field, besides
half as many more of camp followers. "This much is certain,"
says Mommsen, "that only a few out of the two armies succeeded
in escaping, for the Romans had fought with the river in their
rear. It was a calamity which materially and morally far
surpassed the day of Cannæ." In the panic which this disaster
caused at Rome the constitution of the Republic was broken
down. Marius, conqueror of Jugurtha, was recalled from Africa
and not only re-elected to the Consulship, but invested with
the office for five successive years. He took command in Gaul
and found that the formidable invaders had moved off into
Spain. This gave him time, fortunately, for the organizing and
disciplining of his demoralized troops. When the barbarians
reappeared on the Rhone, in the summer of 102 B. C., he faced
them with an army worthy of earlier Roman times. They had now
resolved, apparently, to force their way, at all hazards, into
Italy, and had divided their increasing host, to move on Rome
by two routes. The Cimbri, reinforced by the Tigorini, who had
joined them, made a circuit to the Eastern Alps, while the
Teutones, with Ambrones and Tougeni for confederates crossed
the Rhone and attacked the defenders of the western passes.
Failing to make any impression on the fortified camp of Marius
the Teutones rashly passed it, marching straight for the coast
road to Italy.
{470}
Marius cautiously followed and after some days gave battle to
the barbarians, in the district of Aquæ Sextiæ, a few miles
north of Massilia. The Romans that day took revenge for
Arausio with awful interest. The whole barbaric horde was
annihilated. "So great was the number of dead bodies that the
land in the neighborhood was made fertile by them, and the
people of Massilia used the bones for fencing their
vineyards." Meantime the Cimbri and their fellows had reached
and penetrated the Brenner pass and were in the valley of the
Adige. The Roman army stationed there had given way before
them, and Marius was needed to roll the invasion back. He did
so, on the 30th of July B. C. 101, when the Cimbri were
destroyed, at a battle fought on the Raudine Plain near
Vercellæ, as completely as the Teutones had been destroyed at
Aquæ Sextiæ.
T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 4, chapter 5.
ALSO IN:
W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 7, chapter 9.
CIMBRIAN CHERSONESUS.
The modern Danish promontory of Jutland; believed to have been
the home of the Cimbri before they migrated southwards and
invaded Gaul.
CIMINIAN FOREST, The.
The mountains of Viterbo, which formed anciently the frontier
of Rome towards Etruria, were then covered with a thick
forest--"the 'silva Ciminia' of which Livy gives so romantic a
description. It was, however, nothing but a natural division
between two nations which were not connected by friendship,
and wished to have little to do with each other. ... This
forest was by no means like the 'silva Hercynia' with which
Livy compares it, but was of just such an extent that,
according to his own account, the Romans only wanted a couple
of hours to march through it."
B. G. Niebuhr, Lectures on the History of Rome, lecture 44.
CIMMERIANS, The.
"The name Cimmerians appears in the Odyssey,--the fable
describes them as dwelling beyond the ocean-stream, immersed
in darkness and unblessed by the rays of Helios. Of this
people as existent we can render no account, for they had
passed away, or lost their identity and become subject,
previous to the commencement of trustworthy authorities: but
they seem to have been the chief occupants of the Tauric
Chersonese (Crimea) and of the territory between that
peninsula and the river Tyras (Dneister) at the time when the
Greeks first commenced their permanent settlements on those
coasts in the seventh century B. C. The numerous localities
which bore their name, even in the time of Herodotus, after
they had ceased to exist as a nation,--as well as the tombs of
the Cimmerian kings then shown near the Tyras,--sufficiently
attest the fact; and there is reason to believe that they
were--like their conquerors and successors the Scythians--a
nomadic people, mare-milkers, moving about with their tents
and herds, suitably to the nature of those unbroken steppes
which their territory presented, and which offered little
except herbage in profusion. Strabo tells us--on what
authority we do not know--that they, as well as the Trêres and
other Thracians, had desolated Asia Minor more than once
before the time of Ardys [King of Lydia, seventh century B.
C.] and even earlier than Homer."
G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 17.
See, also, CUMÆ.
CIMON, Career of.
See ATHENS: B. C. 477-462, to 460-449.
CIMON, Peace of.
See ATHENS: B. C. 460-449.
CINCINNATI: A. D. 1788.
The founding and naming of the city.
In 1787 "an offer was made to Congress by John Cleve Symmes
[afterwards famous for his theory that the earth is hollow,
with openings at the poles], to buy two millions of acres
between the Little and the Great Miamis. Symmes was a
Jerseyman of wealth, had visited the Shawanese country, had
been greatly pleased with its fertility, and had come away
declaring that every acre in the wildest part was worth a
silver dollar. It was too, he thought, only a question of
time, and a very short time, when this value would be doubled
and tripled. Thousands of immigrants were pouring into this
valley each year, hundreds of thousands of acres were being
taken up, and the day would soon come when the rich land along
the Miamis and the Ohio would be in great demand. There was
therefore a mighty fortune in store for the lucky speculator
who should buy land from Congress for five shillings an acre
and sell it to immigrants for twenty. But ... his business
lagged, and though his offer to purchase was made in August,
1787, it was the 15th of May, 1788, before the contract was
closed. In the meantime he put out a pamphlet and made known
his terms of sale. A copy soon fell into the hands of Matthias
Denman. He became interested in the scheme and purchased that
section on which now stands the city of Cincinnati. One third
he kept, one third he sold to Robert Patterson, and the
remainder to John Filson. The conditions of the purchase from
Symmes gave them two years in which to begin making clearings
and building huts. But the three determined to lose no time,
and at once made ready to layout a city directly opposite that
spot where the waters of the Licking mingled themselves with
the Ohio. Denman and Patterson were no scholars. But Filson
had once been a schoolmaster, knew a little of Latin and
something of history, and to him was assigned the duty of
choosing a name for the town. ... He determined to make one,
and produced a word that was a most absurd mixture of Latin,
Greek and French. He called the place Losantiville, which,
being interpreted, means the city opposite the mouth of the
Licking. A few weeks later the Indians scalped him."
J. B. McMaster, History of the People of the U. S.,
volume 1, page 516.
The name given a little later to Filson's settlement was
conferred on it by General St. Clair, Governor of the
Territory, in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati.
See NORTHWEST TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES: A. D. 1788-1802.
ALSO IN:
F. W. Miller, Cincinnati's Beginnings.
CINCINNATI: A. D. 1863.
Threatened by John Morgan's Rebel Raid.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (JULY: KENTUCKY).
----------CINCINNATI: End----------
{471}
CINCINNATI, The Society of the.
"Men of the present generation who in childhood rummaged in
their grandmothers' cosy garrets cannot fail to have come
across scores of musty and worm-eaten pamphlets, their yellow
pages crowded with italics and exclamation points, inveighing
in passionate language against the wicked and dangerous
Society of the Cincinnati. Just before the army [of the
American Revolution] was disbanded, the officers, at the
suggestion of General Knox, formed themselves [April, 1783]
into a secret society, for the purpose of keeping up their
friendly intercourse and cherishing the heroic memories of the
struggle in which they had taken part. With the fondness for
classical analogies which characterized that time, they
likened themselves to Cincinnatus, who was taken from the plow
to lead an army, and returned to his quiet farm so soon as his
warlike duties were over. They were modern Cincinnati. A
constitution and by-laws were established for the order, and
Washington was unanimously chosen to be its president. Its
branches in the several states were to hold meetings each
Fourth of July, and there was to be a general meeting of the
whole society every year in the month of May. French officers
who had taken part in the war were admitted to membership, and
the order was to be perpetuated by descent through the eldest
male representatives of the families of the members. It was
further provided that a limited membership should from time to
time be granted, as a distinguished honour, to able and worthy
citizens, without regard to the memories of the war. A golden
American eagle attached to a blue ribbon edged with white was
the sacred badge of the order; and to this emblem especial
favour was shown at the French court, where the insignia of
foreign states were generally, it is said, regarded with
jealousy. No political purpose was to be subserved by this
order of the Cincinnati, save in so far as the members pledged
to one another their determination to promote and cherish the
union between the states. In its main intent the society was
to be a kind of masonic brotherhood, charged with the duty of
aiding the widows and the orphan children of its members in
time of need. Innocent as all this was, however, the news of
the establishment of such a society was greeted with a howl of
indignation all over the country. It was thought that its
founders were inspired by a deep-laid political scheme for
centralizing the government and setting up a hereditary
aristocracy. ... The absurdity of the situation was quickly
realized by Washington, and he prevailed upon the society, in
its first annual meeting of May, 1784, to abandon the

principle of hereditary membership. The agitation was thus
allayed, and in the presence of graver questions the
much-dreaded brotherhood gradually ceased to occupy popular
attention."
J. Fiske, The Critical Period of American History, chapter 3.
J. B. McMaster, History of the People of the U. S.,
volume 1, chapter 2.
"The hereditary succession was never abandoned. A
recommendation to that effect was indeed made to the several
State Societies, at the first General Meeting in Philadelphia.
... But the proposition, unwillingly urged, was accepted in
deprecatory terms by some, and by others it was totally
rejected. ... At the second General Meeting, it was resolved
'that the alterations could not take effect until they had
been agreed to by all the State Societies.' They never were so
agreed to, and consequently the original Institution remains
in full force. Those Societies that accepted the proposed
alterations unconditionally, of course perished with their own
generation."
A. Johnston, Some Accounts of the Society of the Cincinnati
(Pennsylvania Historical Society Memoirs,
volume 6, pages 51-53).
"The claim to membership has latterly been determined not by
strict primogeniture, but by a 'just elective preference,
especially in the line of the first-born,' who has a moral but
not an absolutely indisputable right; and membership has
always been renewed by election. ... Six only of the original
thirteen states--Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South Carolina--are still [in
1873] represented at the General Meetings. The largest
society, that of Massachusetts, consisting originally of 343
members, now [1873] numbers less than 80; that of New York,
from 230 had in 1858 decreased to 73; the 268 of Pennsylvania
to about 60; the 110 of New Jersey, in 1866, to 60; and the
131 of South Carolina was, in 1849, reduced to 71."
F. S. Drake, Memorials of the Society of the
Cincinnati of Mass., page 37.
CINCO DE MAYO, Battle of (1862).
See MEXICO: A. D. 1861-1867.
CINE, The.
Kinsfolk of the head of the tribe, among the ancient Irish.
CINQ MARS, Conspiracy of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1641-1642.
CINQUE PORTS, The.
"Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, Romney, Hythe--this is the order
in which the Cinque Ports were ranked in the times when they
formed a flourishing and important confederation. Winchelsea
and Rye were added to these five ... soon after the Norman
Conquest. ... The new comers were officially known as 'the two
Ancient Towns.' When therefore we wish to speak of this famous
corporation with strict accuracy we say, 'The five Cinque
Ports and two Ancient Towns.' The repetition of the number
'five' in this title probably never struck people so much as
we might expect, since it very soon came to be merely a
technical term, the French form of the word being pronounced,
and very often spelt 'Synke' or 'Sinke,' just as if it was the
English 'Sink.' ... The difference between the Cinque Ports
and the rest of the English coast towns is plainly indicated
by mediæval custom, since they were generally spoken of
collectively as 'The Ports.' ... Most writers upon this
subject ... have been at pains to connect the Cinque Ports by
some sort of direct descent with the five Roman stations and
fortresses which, under the Comes Littoris Saxonici [see SAXON
SHORE, COUNT OF], guarded the south-eastern shores of
Britain."
M. Burrows, The Cinque Ports, chapter 1-3.
"Our kings have thought them [the Cinque Ports] worthy a
peculiar regard; and, in order to secure them against
invasions, have granted them a particular form of government.
They are under a keeper, who has the title of Lord Warden of
the Cinque Ports (an officer first appointed by William the
Conqueror), who has the authority of an admiral among them,
and issues out writs in his own name. The privileges anciently
annexed to these ports and their dependents were [among
others]: An exemption from all taxes and tolls. ... A power to
punish foreigners, as well as natives, for theft. ... A power
to raise mounds or banks in any man's land against breaches of
the sea. ... To convert to their own use such goods as they
found floating on the sea; those thrown out of ships in a
storm; and those driven ashore when no wreck or ship was to be
seen. To be a guild or fraternity, and to be allowed the
franchises of court-leet and court-baron. A power to assemble
and keep a portmote or parliament for the Cinque Ports.
{472}
... Their barons to have the privilege of supporting the
canopy over the king's head at his coronation. In return for
these privileges the Cinque Ports were required to fit out 57
ships, each manned with 21 men and a boy, with which they were
to attend the king's service for 15 days at their own expense;
but if the state of affairs required their assistance any
longer they were to be paid by the crown. ... As the term
baron occurs continually throughout all the charters of the
Ports, it may not be improper to inform our readers that it is
of the same import as burgess or freeman. ... The
representatives of the Ports in parliament are to this day
styled barons." The post of Warden of the Cinque Ports,
"formerly considered of so much honour and consequence, is now
converted into a patent sinecure place, for life, with a
salary of £4,000 a year."
History of the Boroughs of Great Britain; together with the
Cinque Ports, volume 3.
The office of Warden of the Cinque Ports has been held during
the present century by Mr. Pitt, the Earl of Liverpool, the
Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Dalhousie, Viscount
Palmerston, and Earl Granville.
CINTRA, Convention of.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1808-1809 (AUGUST-JANUARY).
CIOMPI, Tumult of the.
See FLORENCE: A. D. 1378-1427.
CIRCARS, OR SIRKARS, The northern.
See INDIA: A. D. 1758-1761.
CIRCASSIANS.
See CAUCASUS.
CIRCLES OF GERMANY, The.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1493-1519.
CIRCUMCELLIONES, The.
See DONATISTS.
CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE WORLD: A. D. 1519-1522.
Magellan's voyage: the first in history.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1519-1524.
CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE WORLD: A. D. 1577-1580.
Drake's voyage.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1572-1580.
----------CIRCUMNAVIGATION: End----------
CIRCUS, Factions of the Roman.
"The race, in its first institution [among the Romans], was a
simple contest, of two chariots, whose drivers were
distinguished by white and red liveries: two additional
colours, a light green and a cerulian blue, were afterwards
introduced; and as the races were repeated twenty-five times,
one hundred chariots contributed in the same day to the pomp
of the circus. The four factions soon acquired a legal
establishment and a mysterious origin, and their fanciful
colours were derived from the various appearances of nature in
the four seasons of the year. ... Another interpretation
preferred the elements to the seasons, and the struggle of the
green and blue was supposed to represent the conflict of the
earth and sea. Their respective victories announced either a
plentiful harvest or a prosperous navigation, and the
hostility of the husbandmen and mariners was somewhat less
absurd than the blind ardour of the Roman people, who devoted
their lives and fortunes to the colour which they had
espoused. ... Constantinople adopted the follies, though not
the virtues, of ancient Rome; and the same factions which had
agitated the circus raged with redoubled fury in the
hippodrome. Under the reign of Anastasius [A. D. 491-518] this
popular frenzy was inflamed by religious zeal; and the greens,
who had treacherously concealed stones and daggers under
baskets of fruit, massacred, at a solemn festival, 3,000 of
their blue adversaries. From the capital this pestilence was
diffused into the provinces and cities of the East, and the
sportive distinction of two colours produced two strong and
irreconcilable factions, which shook the foundations of a
feeble government. ... A sedition, which almost laid
Constantinople in ashes, was excited by the mutual hatred and
momentary reconciliation of the two factions." This fearful
tumult, which acquired the name of the Nika sedition, from the
cry, "Nika" (vanquish), adopted by the rioters, broke out in
connection with the celebration of the festival of the Ides of
January, A. D. 532. For five days the city was given up to the
mob and large districts in it were burned, including many
churches and other stately edifices. The emperor Justinian
would have abandoned his palace and throne, but for the heroic
opposition of his consort, Theodora. On the sixth day, the
imperial authority was re-established by the great soldier,
Belisarius, after 30,000 citizens had been slain in the
hippodrome and in the streets.
E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 40.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717
CIRCUS MAXIMUS AT ROME, The.
"The races and wild beast shows in the circi were among the
most ancient and most favourite Roman amusements, and the
buildings dedicated to these sports were numerous, and nearly
equal in magnificence to the amphitheatres. The Circus
Maximus, which was first provided with permanent seats for the
spectators as early as the time of Tarquinius Priscus, was
successively restored and ornamented by the republican
government in 327 and 174 B. C. and by Julius Cæsar, Augustus,
Claudius, Domitian and Trojan. The result was a building
which, in dimensions and magnificence, rivalled the Coliseum,
but has, unfortunately, proved far less durable, scarcely a
vestige of it now being left."
R. Burn, Rome and the Campagna,
introduction and chapter 12.
See, also, FORUM BOARIUM.
CIRENCESTER, Origin of.
See CORINIUM.
CIRRHA.
See DELPHI.
CIRRHÆAN, OR KIRRHÆAN WAR, THE.
See ATHENS: B. C. 610-586, and DELPHI.
CIRTA.
An ancient Numidian city. The modern town of Constantina in
Algeria is on its site.
See NUMIDIANS.
CISALPINE GAUL (GALLIA CISALPINA).
See ROME: B. C. 390-347.
CISALPINE REPUBLIC.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1796-1797 (OCTOBER-APRIL);
1797 (MAY--OCTOBER);
1799 (APRIL-SEPTEMBER); and 1801-1803.
CISLEITHANIA.
See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1866-1867.
CISPADANE GAUL.
Cisalpine Gaul south of the Padus, or Po.
See PADUS.
CISPADANE REPUBLIC, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1796-1797 (OCTOBER-APRIL),
and 1797 (MAY-OCTOBER).
CISSIA (KISSIA).
See ELAM.
{473}
CISTERCIAN ORDER.
The Monastery of Citeaux.
"Harding was an Englishman who spent his boyhood in the
monastery of Sherborne in Dorset, till he was seized with a
passion for wandering and for study which led him first to
Scotland, then to Gaul, and at last to Rome. It chanced that
on his return thence, passing through the duchy of Burgundy,
he stopped at the abbey of Molêmes. As he saw the ways and
habits familiar to his childhood reproduced in those of the
monks, the wanderer's heart yearned for the peaceful life
which he had forsaken; he took the vows, and became a brother
of the house. But when, with the zeal of a convert, he began
to look more closely into his monastic obligations, he
perceived that the practice of Molêmes, and indeed of most
other monasteries, fell very far short of the strict rule of
S. Benedict. He remonstrated with his brethren till they had
no rest in their minds. At last after long and anxious debates
in the chapter, the abbot determined to go to the root of the
matter, and appointed two brethren, whose learning was
equalled by their piety, to examine diligently the original
rule and declare what they found in it. The result of their
investigations justified Harding's reproaches and caused a
schism in the convent. The majority refused to alter their
accustomed ways; finding they were not to be reformed, the
zealous minority, consisting of Robert the abbot, Harding
himself (or Stephen as he was called in religion) and sixteen
others equally 'stiff-necked in their holy obstinacy,' left
Molêmes, and sought a new abode in the wilderness. The site
which they chose--in the diocese of Chalon-sur-Saône, not far
from Dijon--was no happy valley, no 'green retreat' such as
the earlier Benedictine founders had been wont to select. It
was a dismal swamp overgrown with brushwood, a forlorn,
dreary, unhealthy spot, from whose marshy character the new
house took its name of 'the Cistern'--Cistellum, commonly
called Citeaux. There the little band set to work in 1098 to
carry into practice their views of monastic duty. ...
Three-and-twenty daughter houses were brought to completion
during his [Harding's] life-time. One of the earliest was
Pontigny, founded in 1114, and destined in after-days to
become inseparably associated with the name of another English
saint. Next year there went forth another Cistercian colony,
whose glory was soon to eclipse that of the mother-house
itself. Its leader was a young monk called Bernard, and the
place of its settlement was named Clairvaux. From Burgundy and
Champagne the 'White Monks,' as the Cistercians were called
from the colour of their habit, soon spread over France and
Normandy. In 1128 they crossed the sea and made an entrance
into their founder's native land."
K. Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings,
volume 1, chapter 1.
ALSO IN: S. R. Maitland, The Dark Ages, 21.
CITEAUX, The Monastery of.
See CISTERCIAN ORDER.
CITIES, Chartered.
See COMMUNE;
also BOROUGHS, and GUILDS.
CITIES, Free, of Italy.
See ITALY: A. D. 1056-1152, and after.
CITIES, Imperial and Free, of Germany
"The territorial disintegration of Germany [see GERMANY: 13TH
CENTURY] had introduced a new and beneficial element into the
national life, by allowing the rise and growth of the free
cities. These were of two classes: those which stood in
immediate connection with the Empire, and were practically
independent republics; and those which, while owning some
dependence upon spiritual or temporal princes, had yet
conquered for themselves a large measure of self-government.
The local distribution of the former, which is curiously
unequal, depended upon the circumstances which attended the
dissolution of the old tribal dukedoms. Wherever some powerful
house was able to seize upon the inheritance, free cities were
few: wherever the contrary was the case, they sprang up in
abundance. In Swabia and on the Rhine there were more than a
hundred: Franconia on the contrary counted only Nürnberg and
five smaller cities: Westphalia, Dortmund and Herford: while
in Bavaria, Regensburg stood alone. ... The Imperial free
cities ... were self-governed, under constitutions in which
the aristocratic and the democratic elements mingled in
various proportions: they provided for their own defence: they
were republics, in the midst of States where the personal will
of the ruler counted for more and more. ... In these cities
the refined and luxurious civilization, to which the princes
were indifferent, and on which the knights waged predatory
war, found expression in the pursuit of letters and the
cultivation of the arts of life. There, too, the Imperial
feeling, which was elsewhere slowly dying out of the land,
retained much of its force. The cities held, so to speak,
directly of the Empire, to which they looked for protection
against powerful and lawless neighbours, and they felt that
their liberties and privileges were bound up with the
maintenance of the general order. ... In them, too, as we
might naturally expect, religious life put on a freer aspect."
C. Beard, Martin Luther and the Reformation, page 16.
"Prior to the peace of Luneville [1801], Germany possessed 133
free cities, called Reichstädte. A Reichstadt ('civitas
imperii') was a town under the immediate authority of the
Emperor, who was represented by an imperial official called a
Vogt or Schultheis. The first mention of the term 'civitas
imperii' (imperial city) occurs in an edict of the emperor
Frederick II. [1214-1250], in which Lubeck was declared a
'civitas imperii' in perpetuity. In a later edict, of the year
1287, we find that King Rudolf termed the following places
'civitates regni' (royal cities), viz., Frankfort, Friedberg,
Wetzlar, Oppenheim, Wesel, and Boppart. All these royal cities
subsequently became imperial cities in consequence of the
Kings of Germany being again raised to the dignity of
Emperors. During the reign of Louis the Bavarian [1314-1347]
Latin ceased to be the official language, and the imperial
towns were designated in the vernacular 'Richstat.' In course
of time the imperial towns acquired, either by purchase or
conquest, their independence. Besides the Reichstädte, there
were Freistädte, or free towns, the principal being Cologne,
Basle, Mayence, Ratisbon, Spires, and Worms. The free towns
appear to have enjoyed the following immunities:--1. They were
exempt from the oath of allegiance to the Emperor. 2. They
were not bound to furnish a contingent for any expedition
beyond the Alps. 3. They were free from all imperial taxes and
duties. 4. They could not be pledged. 5. They were
distinguished from the imperial towns by not having the
imperial eagle emblazoned on the municipal escutcheon."
Subsequently "the free towns were placed on the same footing
as the Reichstädt, and the term 'Freistadt,' or free town, was
disused. The government of the imperial towns was in the hands
of a military and civil governor. ... On the imperial towns
becoming independent, the administration of the town was
entrusted to a college of from four to twenty-four persons,
according to the population, and the members of this kind of
town council were called either Rathsmann, Rathsfreund, or
Rathsherr, which means councilman or adviser.
{474}
The town councillors appear to have selected one or more of
their number as presidents, with the title of Rathsmeister,
Burgermeister, or Stadtmeister. ... Many of the imperial towns
gained their autonomy either by purchase or force of arms. In
like manner we find that others either lost their privileges
or voluntarily became subjects of some burgrave or
ecclesiastical prince, e. g., Cologne, Worms, and Spires
placed themselves under the jurisdiction of their respective
archbishops, whereas Altenburg, Chemnitz and Zwickau were
seized by Frederick the Quarrelsome in his war with the
Emperor; whilst others, like Hagenau, Colmar, Landau, and
Strasburg, were annexed or torn from the German Empire. As the
Imperial towns increased in wealth and power they extended the
circle of their authority over the surrounding districts, and,
in order to obtain a voice in the affairs of the empire, at
length demanded that the country under their jurisdiction
should be represented at the Reichstag (Imperial Diet). To
accomplish this, they formed themselves into Bunds or
confederations to assert their claims, and succeeded in
forcing the Emperor and the princes to allow their
representatives to take part in the deliberations of the Diet.
The principal confederations brought into existence by the
struggles going on in Germany were the Rhenish and Suabian
Bunds, and the Hansa. [See HANSA TOWNS.] ... At the Diet held
at Augsburg in 1474, it appears that almost all the imperial
towns were represented, and in 1648, on the peace of
Westphalia, when their presence in the Diet was formally
recognized, they were formed into a separate college. ... By
the peace of Luneville four of the imperial towns, viz.,
Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne, Spires, and Worms, were ceded to
France. In 1803, all the imperial towns lost their autonomy
with the exception of the following six:--Augsburg, Nuremberg,
Frankfort, Lubeck, Hamburg, and Bremen; and in 1806 the first
three, and in 1810 the others, shared the same fate, but in
1815, on the fall of Napoleon, Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, and
Frankfort, recovered their freedom, and were admitted as
members of the German Bund, which they continued to be up to
the year 1866."
W. J. Wyatt, History of Prussia, volume 2, pages 427-432.
"According to the German historians the period of the greatest
splendour of these towns was during the 14th and 15th
centuries. ... In the 16th century they still enjoyed the same
prosperity, but the period of their decay was come. The
Thirty-Years War hastened their fall, and scarcely one of them
escaped destruction and ruin during that period. Nevertheless,
the treaty of Westphalia mentions them positively, and asserts
their position as immediate states, that is to say, states
which depended immediately upon the Emperor; but the
neighbouring Sovereigns, on the one hand, and on the other the
Emperor himself, the exercise of whose power, since the
Thirty-Years War, was limited to the lesser vassals of the
empire, restricted their sovereignty within narrower and
narrower limits. In the 18th century, 51 of them were still in
existence, they filled two benches at the diet, and had an
independent vote there; but, in fact, they no longer exercised
any influence upon the direction of general affairs. At home
they were all heavily burthened with debts, partly because
they continued to be charged for the Imperial taxes at a rate
suited to their former splendour, and partly because their own
administration was extremely bad. It is very remarkable that this
bad administration seemed to be the result of some secret
disease which was common to them all, whatever might be the
form of their constitution. ... Their population decreased,
and distress prevailed in them. They were no longer the abodes
of German civilization; the arts left them, and went to shine
in the new towns created by the Sovereigns, and representing
modern society. Trade forsook them--their ancient energy and
patriotic vigour disappeared. Hamburg almost alone still
remained a great centre of wealth and intelligence, but this
was owing to causes quite peculiar to herself."
A. de Tocqueville, State of Society in France before
1789, note C.
See, also, HANSA TOWNS.
Of the 48 Free Cities of the Empire remaining in 1803, 42 were
then robbed of their franchises, under the exigencies of the
Treaty of Luneville (see GERMANY: A. D. 1801-1803). After the
Peace of Pressburg only three survived, namely, Hamburg,
Lubeck and Bremen (see GERMANY: A. D. 1805-1806). These were
annexed to France by Napoleon in 1810.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1810 (FEBRUARY-DECEMBER).
The Congress of Vienna, in 1815, restored freedom to them, and
to Frankfort, likewise, and they became members of the
Germanic Confederation then formed.
See VIENNA, THE CONGRESS of.
Lubeck gave up its privileges as a free city in 1866, joining
the Prussian Customs Union. Hamburg and Bremen did the same in
1888, being absorbed in the Empire. This extinguished the last
of the "free cities."
See GERMANY: A. D. 1888.
CITY.
See BOROUGH.
CITY OF THE VIOLET CROWN.
"Ancient poets called Athens 'The City of the Violet Crown,'
with an unmistakable play upon the name of the Ionian stock to
which it belonged, and which called to mind the Greek word for
violet."
G. Schömann, Antiquities of Greece: The State,
part 3, chapter 3.
CITY REPUBLICS, Italian.
See ITALY: A. D. 1056-1152.
CIUDAD RODRIDGO: A. D. 1810-1812.
Twice besieged and captured by the French and by the English.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1810-1812.
CIVES ROMANI AND PEREGRINI.
"Before the Social or Marsic war (B. C. 90) there were only
two classes within the Roman dominions who were designated by
a political name, Cives Romani, or Roman citizens, and
Peregrini, a term which comprehended the Latini, the Socii and
the Provinciales, such as the inhabitants of Sicily. The Cives
Romani were the citizens of Rome, the citizens of Roman
colonies and the inhabitants of the Municipia which had
received the Roman citizenship."
G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, chapter 17.
See, also, ROME: B. C. 90-88.
CIVIL RIGHTS BILL,
The First.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1866 (April).-
The Second, and its declared unconstitutionality.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1875.
{475}
CIVIL-SERVICE REFORM IN ENGLAND.
"It was not till long after 1832 that the inherent mischief of
the partisan system [of appointments in the national civil
service] became manifest to the great body of thinking people.
When that result was attained, the final struggle with
patronage in the hands of members of Parliament began on a
large scale. It seems to have been, even then, foreseen by the
best informed that it could not be removed by any partisan
agency. They began to see the need of some method by which
fitness for the public service could be tested otherwise than
by the fiat of a member of Parliament or the vote of the
Cabinet or the Treasury. What that method should be was one of
the great problems of the future. No government had then
solved it. That there must be tests of fitness independent of
any political action, or mere official influence, became more
and more plain to thinking men. The leaders of the great
parties soon began to see that a public opinion in favor of
such tests was being rapidly developed, which seriously
threatened their power, unless the party system itself could
be made more acceptable to the people. ... There was an
abundance of fine promises made. But no member gave up his
patronage--no way was opened by which a person of merit could
get into an office or a place except by the favor of the party
or the condescension of a member. The partisan blockade of
every port of entry to the public service, which made it
tenfold easier for a decayed butler or an incompetent cousin
of a member or a minister, than for the promising son of a
poor widow, to pass the barrier, was, after the Reform Bill as
before, rigidly maintained. Fealty to the party and work in
its ranks--subserviency to members and to ministers--and
electioneering on their behalf--these were the virtues before
which the ways to office and the doors of the Treasury were
opened. Year by year, the public discontent with the whole
system increased. ... During the Melbourne administration,
between 1834 and 1841, a demand for examinations, as a
condition for admission to the service, came from two very
different quarters. One was the higher officials, who declared
that they could not do the public work with such poor servants
as the partisan system supplied. The other was the more
independent, thoughtful portion of the people, who held it to
be as unjust as it was demoralizing for members of Parliament
and other officers to monopolize the privilege of saying who
might enter the public service. Lord Melbourne then yielded so
far as to allow pass examinations to be instituted in some of
the larger offices; and he was inclined to favor competitive
examinations, but it was thought to be too great an innovation
to attempt at once. These examinations--several of them being
competitive--introduced by public officers in self-defence
many years previous to 1853, had before that time produced
striking results. In the Poor Law Commission, for example,
they had brought about a reform that arrested public
attention. Under the Committee on Education, they had caused
the selection of teachers so much superior 'that higher
salaries were bidden for them for private service.' ... These
examinations were steadily extended from office to office down
to the radical change made in 1853. ... It had been provided,
long before 1853, that those designed for the civil service of
India, should not only be subjected to a pass examination, but
should, before entering the service, be subjected to a course
of special instruction at Haileybury College, a sort of civil
West Point. This College was abolished in 1854, but equivalent
instruction was elsewhere provided for. The directors had the
patronage of nomination for such instruction. ... If it seems
strange that a severe course of study, for two years in such a
college, was not sufficient to weed out the incompetents which
patronage forced into it, we must bear in mind that the same
influence which sent them there was used to keep them there.
... Both the Derby and the Aberdeen administrations, in 1852
and 1853, took notice that the civil service was in a
condition of peril to British India; and, without distinction
of party, it was agreed that radical reforms must be promptly
made. There was corruption, there was inefficiency, there was
disgraceful ignorance, there was a humiliating failure in the
government to command the respect of the more intelligent
portion of the people of India, and there was a still more
alarming failure to overawe the unruly classes. It was as bad
in the army as in the civil offices. ... There was, in short,
a hotbed of abuses prolific of those influences which caused
the fearful outbreak of 1857. It was too late when reform was
decided upon, to prevent the outbreak, but not too late to
save British supremacy in India. A change of system was
entered upon in 1853. The 36th and 37th clauses of the India
act of that year provided 'that all powers, rights, and
privileges of the court of directors of the said India Company
to nominate or appoint persons to be admitted as students ...
shall cease; and that, subject to such regulations as might be
made, any person, being a natural born subject of her Majesty,
who might be desirous of presenting himself, should be
admitted to be examined as a candidate.' Thus, it will be
seen, Indian patronage received its death-blow, and the same
blow opened the door of study for the civil service of India
to every British citizen. ... In 1853, the British Government
had reached a final decision that the partisan system of
appointments could not be longer tolerated. Substantial
control of nominations by members of Parliament, however
guarded by restrictions and improved by mere pass
examinations, had continued to be demoralizing in its effect
upon elections, vicious in its influence upon legislation, and
fatal to economy and efficiency in the departments. ... The
administration, with Lord Aberdeen at its head, promptly
decided to undertake a radical and systematic reform. ... It
was decided that, in the outset, no application should be made
to Parliament. The reform should be undertaken by the English
Executive ... for the time being. The first step decided upon
was an inquiry into the exact condition of the public service.
Sir Stafford Northcote (the present Chancellor of the
Exchequer) and Sir Charles Trevelyan were appointed in 1853 to
make such inquiry and a report. They submitted their report in
November of the same year. ... A system of competitive
examinations ... [was] recommended. ... The report was
accompanied with a scheme for carrying the examinations into
effect, from which quote the following passages.
{476}
... 'Such a measure will exercise the happiest influence in
the education of the lower classes throughout England, acting
by the surest of all motives--the desire a man has of
bettering himself in life. ... They will have attained their
situations in an independent manner through their own merits.
The sense of this conduct cannot but induce self-respect and
diffuse a wholesome respect among the lower no less than the
higher classes of official men. ... The effect of it in giving
a stimulus to the education of the lower classes can hardly be
overestimated.' Such was the spirit of the report. This was
the theory of the merit system, then first approved by an
English administration for the home government. I hardly need
repeat that the examinations referred to as existing were
(with small exception) mere pass examinations, and that the
new examinations proposed were open, competitive examinations.
... But the great feature of the report, which made it really
a proposal for the introduction of a new system, was its
advocacy of open competition. Except the experiment just put
on trial in India, no nation had adopted that system. It was
as theoretical as it was radical. ... A chorus of ridicule,
indignation, lamentation, and wrath arose from all the
official and partisan places of politics. The government saw
that a further struggle was at hand. It appeared more clear
than ever that Parliament was not a very hopeful place in
which to trust the tender years of such a reform. ... The
executive caused the report to be spread broadcast among the
people, and also requested the written opinions of a large
number of persons of worth and distinction both in and out of
office. The report was sent to Parliament, but no action upon
it was requested. ... About the time that English public
opinion had pronounced its first judgment upon the official
report, and before any final action had been taken upon it,
the Aberdeen administration went out. ... Lord Palmerston came
into power early in 1855, than whom, this most practical of
nations never produced a more hard-headed, practical
statesman. ... Upon his administration fell the duty of
deciding the fate of the new system advocated in the report.
... He had faith in his party, and believed it would gain more
by removing grave abuses than by any partisan use of
patronage. ... Making no direct appeal to Parliament, and
trusting to the higher public opinion, Lord Palmerston's
administration advised that an order should be made by the
Queen in Council for carrying the reform into effect; and such
an order was made on the 21st of May, 1855."
D. B. Eaton, Civil Service in Great Britain.
CIVIL-SERVICE REFORM IN THE UNITED STATES.
"The question as to the Civil Service [in the United States]
arises from the fact that the president has the power of
appointing a vast number of petty officials, chiefly
postmasters and officials concerned with the collection of the
federal revenue. Such officials have properly nothing to do
with politics, they are simply the agents or clerks or
servants of the national government in conducting its
business; and if the business of the national government is to
be managed on such ordinary principles of prudence as prevail
in the management of private business, such servants ought to
be selected for personal merit and retained for life or during
good behaviour. It did not occur to our earlier presidents to
regard the management of the public business in any other
light than this. But as early as the beginning of the present
century a vicious system was growing up in New York and
Pennsylvania. In those states the appointive offices came to
be used as bribes or as rewards for partisan services. By
securing votes for a successful candidate, a man with little
in his pocket and nothing in particular to do could obtain
some office with a comfortable salary. It would be given to
him as a reward, and some other man, perhaps more competent
than himself, would have to be turned out in order to make
room for him. A more effective method of driving good citizens
'out of politics' could hardly be devised. It called to the
front a large class of men of coarse moral fibre. ... The
civil service of these states was seriously damaged in
quality, politics degenerated into a wild scramble for
offices, salaries were paid to men who did little or no public
service in return, and the line which separates taxation from
robbery was often crossed. About the same time there grew up
an idea that there is something especially democratic, and
therefore meritorious, about 'rotation in office.'" On the
change of party which took place upon the election of Jackson
to the presidency in 1828, "the methods of New York and
Pennsylvania were applied on a national scale. Jackson
cherished the absurd belief that the administration of his
predecessor Adams had been corrupt, and he turned men out of
office with a keen zest. During the forty years between
Washington's first inauguration and Jackson's the total number
of removals from office was 74, and out of this number 5 were
defaulters. During the first year of Jackson's ad-
ministration the number of changes made in the civil service
was about 2,000. Such was the abrupt inauguration upon a
national scale of the so-called Spoils System. The phrase
originated with W. L. Marcy, of New York, who, in a speech in
the senate in 1831 declared that 'to the victors belong the
spoils.' ... In the canvass of 1840 the Whigs promised to
reform the civil service, and the promise brought them many
Democratic votes; but after they had won the election they
followed Jackson's example. The Democrats followed in the same
way in 1845, and from that time down to 1885 it was customary
at each change of party to make a 'clean sweep' of the
offices. Soon after the Civil War the evils of the system
began to attract serious attention on the part of thoughtful
people."
J. Fiske, Civil Government in the United States,
pages 261-264.
"It was not until 1867 that any important move was made
[toward a reform]. ... This was by Mr. Jencks, of Rhode
Island, who introduced a bill, made an able report and several
speeches in its behalf. Unfortunately, death soon put an end
to his labors and deprived the cause of an able advocate. But
the seed he had sown bore good fruit. Attention was so
awakened to the necessity of reform, that President Grant, in
his message in 1870, called the attention of Congress to it,
and that body passed an act in March, 1871, which authorized
the President to prescribe, for admission to the Civil
Service, such regulations as would best promote its
efficiency, and ascertain the fitness of each candidate for
the position he sought. For this purpose, it says, he may
'employ suitable persons to conduct such inquiries, and may
prescribe their duties, and establish regulations for the
conduct of persons who may receive appointments in the Civil
Service.'
{477}
In accordance with this act, President Grant appointed a Civil
Service Commission, of which George William Curtis was made
chairman, afterwards succeeded by Dorman B. Eaton, and an
appropriation of $25,000 was made by Congress to defray its
expenses. A like sum was voted next year; but after that
nothing was granted until June, 1882, when, instead of $25,000
asked for by the President, $15,000 was grudgingly
appropriated. It is due to Mr. Silas W. Burt, Naval Officer in
New York, who had long been greatly interested in the subject
of Reform, to say that he deserves the credit of having been
the first to introduce open competitive examinations. Before
the appointment of Grant's committee, he had held such an
examination in his office. ... Under Grant's commission, open
competitive examinations were introduced in the departments at
Washington, and Customs Service at New York, and in part in
the New York Post office. Although this commission labored
under many disadvantages in trying a new experiment, it was
able to make a very satisfactory report, which was approved by
the President and his cabinet. ... The rules adopted by
Grant's commission were prepared by the chairman, Mr. Curtis.
They were admirably adapted for their purpose, and have served
as the basis of similar rules since then. The great interest
taken by Mr. Curtis at that time, and the practical value of
his work, entitled him to be regarded as the leader of the
Reform. ... Other able men took an active part in the
movement, but the times were not propitious, public sentiment
did not sustain them, and Congress refused any further
appropriation, although the President asked for it. As a
consequence, Competitive Examinations were everywhere
suspended, and a return made to 'pass examinations.' And this
method continued in use at Washington until July, 1883, after
the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act. ... President
Hayes favored reform of the Civil Service, and strongly urged
it in his messages to Congress; yet he did things not
consistent with his professions, and Congress paid little
attention to his recommendations, and gave him no effectual
aid. But we owe it to him that an order was passed in March,
1879, enforcing the use of competitive examinations in the New
York Custom House. The entire charge of this work was given to
Mr. Burt by the Collector. ... In 1880, Postmaster James
revived the competitive methods in some parts of his office.
... When the President, desiring that these examinations
should be more general and uniform, asked Congress for an
appropriation, it was refused. But, notwithstanding this,
competitive examinations continued to be held in the New York
Custom House and Post office until the passage of the Reform
Act of 1883. Feeling that more light was needed upon the
methods and progress of reform in other countries, President
Hayes had formally requested Mr. Dorman B. Eaton to visit
England for the purpose of making such inquiries. Mr. Eaton
spent several months in a careful, thorough examination; and
his report was transmitted to Congress in December, 1879, by
the President, in a message which described it as an elaborate
and comprehensive history of the whole subject. This report
was afterwards embodied in Mr. Eaton's 'Civil Service in Great
Britain.' ... For this invaluable service Mr. Eaton received
no compensation from the Government, not even his personal
expenses to England having been paid. And to Mr. Eaton is due,
also, the credit of originating Civil Service Reform
Associations."
H. Lambert, The Progress of Civil Service Reform in the
United States, pages 6-10.
"The National Civil Service Reform League was organized at
Newport, R. I., on the 11th of August, 1881. It was the result
of a conference among members of civil service reform
associations that had spontaneously arisen in various parts of
the country for the purpose of awakening public interest in
the question, like the clubs of the Sons of Liberty among our
fathers, and the anti-slavery societies among their children.
The first act of the League was a resolution of hearty
approval of the bill then pending in Congress, known as the
Pendleton bill. Within less than two years afterward the Civil
Service law was passed in Congress by a vote in the Senate of
38 yeas to 5 nays, 33 Senators being absent, and in the House
only a week later, by a vote of 155 yeas to 47 nays, 87
members not voting. In the House the bill was put upon its
passage at once, the Speaker permitting only thirty minutes
for debate. This swift enactment of righteous law was due,
undoubtedly, to the panic of the party of administration, a
panic which saw in the disastrous result of the recent
election a demand of the country for honest politics; and it
was due also to the exulting belief of the party of opposition
that the law would essentially weaken the dominant party by
reducing its patronage. The sudden and overwhelming vote was
that of a Congress of which probably the members had very
little individual knowledge or conviction upon the subject.
But the instinct in regard to intelligent public opinion was
undoubtedly sure, and it is intelligent public opinion which
always commands the future. ... The passage of the law was the
first great victory of the ten years of the reform movement.
The second is the demonstration of the complete practicability
of reform attested by the heads of the largest offices of
administration in the country. In the Treasury and Navy
departments, the New York Custom House and Post Office, and
other important custom houses and post offices, without the
least regard to the wishes or the wrath of that remarkable
class of our fellow-citizens, known as political bosses, it is
conceded by officers, wholly beyond suspicion of party
independence, that, in these chief branches of the public
service, reform is perfectly practicable and the reformed
system a great public benefit. And, although as yet these
offices are by no means thoroughly reorganized upon reform
principles, yet a quarter of the whole number of places in the
public service to which the reformed methods apply are now
included within those methods."
G. W. Curtis, Address at Annual Meeting of the National
Civil-Service Reform League. 1891.
CIVILIS, Revolt of.
See BATAVIANS: A. D. 69.
CIVITA-CASTELLAN A, Battle of (1798).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1798-1799(AUGUST-APRIL).
CIVITELLA, Siege of (1557).
See FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.
CLAIR-ON-EPTE, Treaty of.
See NORMANS: A. D. 876-911.
{478}
CLAIRVAUX, The Monastery of.
St. Bernard, "the greatest reformer of the abuses of the
monastic life, if not the greatest monk in history [A. D.
1091-1153] ... revived the practice in the monastery of
Citeaux, which he first entered, and in that of Clairvaux,
which he afterwards founded, of the sternest discipline which
had been enjoined by St. Benedict. He became the ideal type of
the perfect monk. ... He was not a Pope, but he was greater
than any Pope of his day, and for nearly half a century the
history of the Christian Church is the history of the
influence of one monk, the Abbot of Clairvaux."
C. J. Stillé, Studies in Mediæval History, chapter 12.
"The convent of Citeaux was found too small for the number of
persons who desired to join the society which could boast of
so eminent a saint. Finding his influence beneficial, Bernard
proceeded to found a new monastery. The spot which he chose
for his purpose was in a wild and gloomy vale, formerly known
as the Valley of Wormwood. ... The district pertained to the
bishopric of Langres; and here Bernard raised his far famed
abbey of Clairvaux."
H. Stebbing, History of Christ's Universal Church,
chapter 26.
ALSO IN:
A. Butler, Lives of the Saints, volume 8.
W. F. Hook, Ecclesiastical Biog., volume 2.
J. C. Morison, Life and Times of St. Bernard.
See, also, CISTERCIAN ORDER.
CLANS, Highland.
"The word Clan signifies simply children or descendants, and
the clan name thus implies that the members of it are or were
supposed to be descended from a common ancestor or eponymus,
and they were distinguished from each other by their
patronymics, the use of surnames in the proper sense being
unknown among them. [See GENS, ROMAN.] ... In considering the
genealogies of the Highland clans we must bear in mind that in
the early state of the tribal organisation the pedigree of the
sept or clan, and of each member of the tribe, had a very
important meaning. Their rights were derived through the
common ancestor, and their relation to him, and through him to
each other, indicated their position in the succession, as
well as their place in the allocation of the tribe land. In
such a state of society the pedigree occupied the same
position as the title-deed of the feudal system, and the
Sennachies were as much the custodiers of the rights of
families as the mere panegyrists of the clan. ... During the
16th century the clans were brought into direct contact with
the Crown, and in the latter part of it serious efforts were
made by the Legislature to establish an efficient control over
them. These gave rise to the Acts of 1587 and 1594; ... but
they were followed in a few years by an important Statute,
which had a powerful effect upon the position of the clans,
and led to another great change in the theory of their
descent. ... The chiefs of the clans thus found themselves
compelled to defend their rights upon grounds which could
compete with the claims of their eager opponents, and to
maintain an equality of rank and prestige with them in the
Heralds' Office, which must drive them to every device
necessary to effect their purpose; and they would not hesitate
to manufacture titles to the land when they did not exist, and
to put forward spurious pedigrees better calculated to
maintain their position when a native descent had lost its
value and was too weak to serve their purpose. From this
period MS. histories of the leading Highland families began to
be compiled, in which these pretensions were advanced and
spurious charters inserted. ... The form which these
pretentious genealogies took was that of making the eponymus
or male ancestor of the clan a Norwegian, Dane, or Norman, or
a cadet of some distinguished family, who succeeded to the
chiefship and to the territory of the clan by marriage with
the daughter and heiress of the last of the old Celtic line,
thus combining the advantage of a descent which could compete
with that of the great Norman families with a feudal
succession to their lands; and the new form of the clan
genealogy would have the greater tendency to assume this form
where the clan name was derived not from a personal name or
patronymic but from a personal epithet of its founder. ... The
conclusion, then, to which [an] analysis of the clan pedigrees
which have been popularly accepted at different times has
brought us, is that, so far as they profess to show the origin
of the different clans, they are entirely artificial and
untrustworthy, but that the older genealogies may be accepted
as showing the descent of the clan from its eponymus or
founder, and within reasonable limits for some generations
beyond him, while the later spurious pedigrees must be
rejected altogether. It may seem surprising that such spurious
pedigrees and fabulous origins should be so readily credited
by the Clan families as genuine traditions, and receive such
prompt acceptance as the true fount from which they sprung;
but we must recollect that the fabulous history of Hector
Boece was as rapidly and universally adopted as the genuine
annals of the national history, and became rooted in those
parts of the country to which its fictitious events related as
local traditions. When Hector Boece invested the obscure
usurper Grig with the name and attributes of a fictitious
king, Gregory the Great, and connected him with the royal line
of kings, the Clan Gregor at once recognised him as their
eponymous ancestor, and their descent from him is now
implicitly believed in by all the MacGregors. It is possible,
however, from these genealogies, and from other indications,
to distribute the clans in certain groups, as having
apparently a closer connection with each other, and these
groups we hold in the main to represent the great tribes into
which the Gaelic population was divided before they became
broken up into clans. The two great tribes which possessed the
greater part of the Highlands were the Gallgaidheal or Gael in
the west, who had been under the power of the Norwegians, and
the great tribe of the Moravians, or Men of Moray, in the
Central and Eastern Highlands. To the former belong all the
clans descended of the Lords of the Isles, the Campbells and
Macleods probably representing the older inhabitants of their
respective districts; to the latter belong in the main the
clans brought in the old Irish genealogies from the kings of
Dalriada of the tribe of Lorn, among whom the old Mormaers of
Moray appear. The group containing the Clan Andres or old
Rosses, the Mackenzies and Mathesons, belong to the tribe of
Ross, the Clan Donnachy to Athole, the Clan Lawren to
Stratherne, and the Clan Pharlane to Lennox, while the group
containing the MacNabs, Clan Gregor, and Mackinnons, appear to
have emerged from Glendochart, at least to be connected with
the old Columban monasteries. The Clans, properly so called,
were thus of native origin; the surnames partly of native and
partly of foreign descent."
W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland, book 3, chapter 9 (volume 3).
{479}
CLARENDON, The Constitutions and the Assize of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1162-1170.
CLARIAN ORACLE, The.
See ORACLES OF THE GREEKS.
CLARK, George Rogers, and the conquest of the Northwest.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1778-1779.
CLAUDIUS, Roman Emperor, A. D. 41-54.
Claudius II., A. D. 268-270.
CLAVERHOUSE AND THE COVENANTERS.
See SCOTLAND: A. D.1679; 1681-1689, and 1689 (JULY).
CLAY, Henry,
The war of 1812.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1810-1812.
Negotiation of the Treaty of Ghent.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1814 (DECEMBER).

The Tariff question.
See TARIFF LEGISLATION (UNITED STATES): A. D. 1816-1824,
and 1832; and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1828-1833.
The Missouri Compromise.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1818-1821.
In the Cabinet of President John Quincy Adams.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A.. D. 1825-1828.
Defeat in the Presidential election.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1844.
The Compromise Measures of 1850.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1850.
CLAYBANKS AND CHARCOALS.
During the American civil war the Conservative and Radical
factions in Missouri were sometimes called Claybanks and
Charcoals.
J. G. Nicolay and J. Hay, Abraham Lincoln, volume 8, page 204.
CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY, The.
See NICARAGUA: A. D. 1850.
CLEAR GRITS.
See CANADA: A. D. 1840-1867.
CLEISTHENES, Constitution of,
See ATHENS: B. C. 510-507.
CLEMENT II., Pope, A. D. 1046-1047.
Clement III., Pope, A. D. 1187-1191.
Clement IV., Pope, A. D. 1265-1268.
Clement V., Pope, A. D. 1305-1314..
Clement VI., Pope, A. D. 1342-1352.
Clement VII., Pope, A. D. 1378-1394 (Antipope at Avignon).
Clement VII., Pope, A. D. 1523-1534.
Clement VIII., Pope, A. D. 1591-1605.
Clement IX., Pope, A. D. 1667-1669.
Clement X., Pope, A. D. 1670-1676.
Clement XI., Pope, A. D. 1700-1721.
Clement XII., Pope, A. D. 1730-1740.
Clement XIII., Pope, A. D. 1758-1769.
Clement XIV., Pope, A. D. 1769-1774.
CLEOMENIC (KLEOMENIC) WAR, The.
See GREECE: B. C. 280-146.
CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR.
See ALEXANDRIA: B. C. 48-47.
And Mark Antony.
See ROME: B. C. 31.
CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES.
"The two obelisks known as Cleopatra's Needles were originally
set up by Thothmes III. at Heliopolis. Augustus transferred
them to Alexandria, where they remained until recently. At
present (July, 1880) one ornaments the Thames Embankment
[London] while the other is on its way to the United States of
America."
G. Rawlinson, History of Ancient Egypt, chapter 20, note.
The obelisk last mentioned now stands in Central Park, New
York, having been brought over and erected by Commander
Gorringe, at the expense of the late William H. Vanderbilt.
H. H. Gorringe, Egyptian Obelisks.
See, also, EGYPT: ABOUT B. C. 1700-1400.
CLEPHES, King of the Lombards, A. D. 573-586.
CLERGY, Benefit of.
See BENEFIT OF CLERGY.
CLERGY RESERVES.
See CANADA: A. D. 1837.
CLERMONT.
See GERGOVIA OF THE ARVERNI.
CLERMONT, The Council of.
Speech of Pope Urban.
See CRUSADES: A. D. 1094.
CLERUCHI.
See KLERUCHS.
CLEVELAND, Grover:
First Presidential election and administration.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1884 to 1889.
Defeat in Presidential election.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1888.
Second Presidential election.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1892.
CLEVELAND:
The founding and naming of the City (1796).
See OHIO: A. D. 1786-1796.
CLICHY CLUB.--CLICHYANS, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1797 (SEPTEMBER).
CLIENTES, Roman.
"To [the Roman] family or household united under the control
of a living master, and the clan which originated out of the
breaking up of such households, there further belonged the
dependents or 'listeners' (clientes, from 'cluere'). This term
denoted not the guests, that is, the members of similar
circles who were temporarily sojourning in another household
than their own, and still less the slaves who were looked upon
in law as the property of the household and not as members of
it, but those individuals who, while they were not free
burgesses of any commonwealth, yet lived within one in a
condition of protected freedom. The class included refugees
who had found a reception with a foreign protector, and those
slaves in respect to whom their master had for the time being
waived the exercise of his rights, and so conferred on them
practical freedom. This relation had not properly the
character of a relation 'de jure,' like the relation of a man
to his guest or to his slave: the client remained non-free,
although good faith and use and wont alleviated in his case
the condition of non-freedom. Hence the 'listeners' of the
household (clientes) together with the slaves strictly
so-called formed the 'body of servants' ('familia') dependent
on the will of the 'burgess' ('patronus,' like 'patricius')."
T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 1, chapter 5.
ALSO IN:
Fustel De Coulanges, The Ancient City,
book 4, chapter 1 and 6.
CLINTON, Dewitt, and the Erie Canal.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1817-1825.
CLINTON, George, The first Governor of New York.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1777.
CLINTON, General Sir Henry,
and the war of the American Revolution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1775 (APRIL-MAY); 1776 (JUNE), (AUGUST);
1778 (JUNE); 1778-1779; 1780 (FEBRUARY-AUGUST);
1781 (JANUARY).
CLINTONIANS AND BUCKTAILS.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1817-1819.
CLISSAU OR CLISSOW, Battle of (1702).
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1701-1707.
CLIVE'S CONQUESTS AND RULE IN INDIA.
See INDIA: A. D. 1743-1752, to 1757-1772.
{480}
CLOACA MAXIMA OF ROME, The.
"Even at the present day there stands unchanged the great
sewer, the 'cloaca maxima,' the object of which, it may be
observed, was not merely to carry away the refuse of the city,
but chiefly to drain the large lake which was formed by the
Tiber between the Capitoline, Aventine and Palatine, then
extended between the Palatine and Capitoline, and reached as a
swamp as far as the district between the Quirinal and Viminal.
This work, consisting of three semicircles of immense square
blocks, which, though without mortar, have not to this day
moved a knife's breadth from one another ... equalling the
pyramids in extent and massiveness, far surpasses them in the
difficulty of its execution. It is so gigantic, that the more
one examines it the more inconceivable it becomes how even a
large and powerful state could have executed it. ... Whether
the cloaca maxima was actually executed by Tarquinus Priscus
or by his son Superbus is a question about which the ancients
themselves are not agreed, and respecting which true
historical criticism cannot presume to decide. But this much
may be said, that the structure must have been completed
before the city encompassed the space of the seven hills and
formed a compact whole. ... But such a work cannot possibly
have been executed by the powers of a state such as Rome is
said to have been in those times."
B. G. Niebuhr, Lectures on the History of Rome,
lectures 5 and 8.
CLODOMIR, King of the Franks, at Orleans, A. D. 511-524.
CLONARD, Monastery of.
A great monastery founded in Meath, Ireland, by St. Finnian,
in the sixth century, "which is said to have contained no
fewer than 3,000 monks and which became a great
training-school in the monastic life." The twelve principal
disciples of Finnian were called the "Twelve Apostles of
Ireland," St. Columba being the chief.
W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland, book 2, chapter 2.
CLONTARF, Battle of.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1014.
CLONTARF MEETING, The.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1841-1848.
CLOSTER-SEVEN, Convention of.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1757 (JULY-DECEMBER), and 1758.
CLOTHAIRE I., King of the Franks, A. D. 511-561.
Clothaire II., King of the Franks (Neustria), A. D. 584-628;
(Austrasia), 613--622; Burgundy, 613--628.
Clothaire III., King of the Franks (Neustria and Burgundy),
A. D. 660-670.
Clothaire IV., King of the Franks
(Austrasia), A. D. 717-719.
CLOVIS, King of the Franks, A. D. 481-511.
Clovis II., King of the Franks (Neustria), A. D. 638-654;
(Austrasia), 650-654; (Burgundy), 638-654.
Clovis III., King of the Franks (Neustria and Burgundy),
A. D. 691-695.
CLUBS, Ancient Greek.
See LESCHE, HETÆRIES, ERANI and THIASI.
CLUBS: The Beef Steak,
"In 1735 there was formed in the capital [London] the
celebrated Beef Steak Club, or 'Sublime Society of Beef
Steaks,' as its members always desired to be designated. The
origin of this club is singular, and was in this wise. Rich,
a celebrated harlequin, and patentee of Covent Garden Theatre
in the time of George II., while engaged during the daytime
in directing and controlling the arrangements of the stage
scenery was often visited by his friends, of whom he had a
very numerous circle. One day, while the Earl of Peterborough
was present, Rich felt the pangs of hunger so keenly that he
cooked a beef-steak and invited the earl to partake of it,
which he did, relishing it so greatly that he came again,
bringing some friends with him on purpose to taste the same
fare. In process of time the beef-steak dinner became an
institution. Some of the chief wits and greatest men of the
nation, to the number of 24, formed themselves into a
society, and took as their motto 'Steaks and Liberty.' Among
its early celebrities were Bubb Doddington, Aaron Hill, Dr.
Hoadley, Richard Glover, the two Colmans, Garrick and John
Beard. The number of the 'steaks' remained at its original
limit until 1785, when it was augmented by one, in order to
secure the admission of the Heir-Apparent."
W. C. Sydney, England and the English in the 18th Century,
chapter 6 (volume 1).
CLUBS: The Brothers'.
In 1711, a political club which took this name was founded in
London by Henry St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, to
counteract the "extravagance of the Kit Cat" and "the
drunkenness of the Beefsteak." "This society ... continued for
some time to restrain the outburst of those elements of
disunion with which the Harley ministry was so rife. To be a
member of this club was esteemed a distinguished honour. They
addressed each other as 'brother'; and we find their ladies in
their correspondence claiming to be enrolled as sisters. The
members of this club were the Dukes of Ormond, Shrewsbury,
Beaufort; the Earls of Oxford, Arran, Jersey, Orrery,
Bathurst; Lords Harley, Duplin, Masham; Sir Robert Raymond,
Sir William Windham, Colonel Hill, Colonel Desney, St. John,
Granville, Arbuthnot, Prior, Swift, and Friend."
G. W. Cooke, Memoirs of Bolingbroke,
volume 1, chapter 10.
CLUBS:
The Clichy.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1797 (SEPTEMBER).
CLUBS:
The French Revolutionary.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1790.
CLUBS:
The Hampden.
See ENGLAND: A.. D. 1816-1820.
CLUBS:
Dr. Johnson's.
"During his literary career Dr. Johnson assisted in the
foundation of no fewer than three clubs, each of which was
fully deserving of the name. In 1749 he established a club at
a house in Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row, and only the year before
he died he drafted a code of rules for a club, of which the
members should hold their meetings, thrice in each week, at
the Essex Head in the Strand; an establishment which was then
kept by a former servant of his old friends the Thrales. Those
members who failed to put in an appearance at the club were
required to forfeit the sum of two pence. There is an
interesting account of one of the meetings of the Ivy Lane
Club, at which Johnson presided, in Sir John Hawkins's
biography of him. ... The next club with which Johnson became
acquainted was the most influential of them all, and was the
one which is now chiefly remembered in connection with his
name. It was, however, a plant of slow and gradual growth. The
first meeting of its members, who exulted in the designation
of 'The Club,' was held in 1763 at a hostelry called the
Turk's Head, situated in Gerard Street, Soho.
{481}
'The Club' retained that title until after the funeral of Garrick,
when it was always known as 'The Literary Club.' As its
numbers were small and limited, the admission to it was an
honour greatly coveted in political, legal, and literary
circles. 'The Club' originated with Sir Joshua Reynolds, then
President of the Royal Academy, who at first restricted its
numbers to nine, these being Reynolds himself, Samuel Johnson,
Edmund Burke, Dr. Christopher Nugent (an accomplished Roman
Catholic physician), Bennet Langton, Topham Beauclerk, Sir
John Hawkins, Oliver Goldsmith, and M. Chamier, Secretary in
the War Office. The members assembled every Monday evening
punctually at seven o'clock, and, having partaken of an
inexpensive supper, conversed on literary, scientific and
artistic topics till the clock indicated the hour of retiring.
The numbers of the Literary Club were subsequently augmented
by the enrolment of Garrick, Edward Gibbon, Lord Charlemont,
Sir William Jones, the eminent Oriental linguist, and James
Boswell, of biographical fame. Others were admitted from time
to time, until in 1791 it numbered 35. In December, 1772, the
day of meeting was altered to Friday, and the weekly suppers
were commuted to fortnightly dinners during the sitting of
parliament. Owing to the conversion of the original tavern
into a private house, the club moved, in 1783, first to
Prince's, in Sackville Street; next to Le Telier's in Dover
Street; then, in 1792, to Parsloe's in St. James's Street; and
lastly, in February, 1799, to the Thatched House Tavern in St.
James's Street, where it remained until long after 1848."
W. C. Sydney, England and the English in the 18th
Century, chapter 6 (volume 1).
CLUBS:
The King's Head.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1678-1679.
CLUBS:
The Kit Cat.
"The Kit Cat Club was instituted in 1699. Its most illustrious
members were Congreve, Prior, Sir John Vanbrugh, the Earl of
Orrery, and Lord Somers; but the members becoming more
numerous, the most violent party obtained the majority, and
the Earl and his friends were less regular in their
attendance. ... The Kit Cat took its name from a pastry-cook
[Christopher Katt], whose pies formed a regular dish at the
suppers of the club."
G. W. Cooke, Memoirs of Bolingbroke,
volume 1, chapter 10, foot-note.
ALSO IN:
J. Timbs, Clubs and Club Life in London, pages 47-53.
W. C. Sydney, England and the English in the 18th century,
chapter 6.
CLUBS:
The Mohocks.
See MOHOCKS.
CLUBS:
The October and the March.
"The October Club came first into importance in the latest
years of Anne, although it had existed since the last decade
of the 17th century. The stout Tory squires met together in
the 'Bell' Tavern, in narrow, dirty King Street, Westminster,
to drink October ale, under Dahl's portrait of Queen Anne, and
to trouble with their fierce uncompromising Jacobitism the
fluctuating purposes of Harley and the crafty counsels of St.
John. The genius of Swift tempered their hot zeal with the
cool air of his 'advice.' Then the wilder spirits seceded, and
formed the March Club, which retained all the angry Jacobitism
of the parent body, but lost all its importance."
J. McCarthy, History of the Four Georges, volume 1, chapter 5.
ALSO IN:
W. C. Sydney, England and the English in the 18th
century, chapter 6.
CLUBMEN.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1645 (JULY-AUGUST).
CLUGNY, OR CLUNY, The Monastery of.
The famous monastery of Clugny, or Cluny, was founded A. D.
910, at Cluny, near Macon, in Burgundy, by the abbot Count
Berno, who had previously established and ruled the monastery
of Gigni, near Lyons. It was founded under the auspices and at
the expense of William, Count of Auvergne, commonly called
William the Pious. "In the disastrous times which followed the
death of Charles the Great and the failure of his scheme to
reorganize the Western world under a single head, the
discipline of the religious houses fell with everything else;
fell, not perhaps quite so soon, yet by the end of the ninth
century had fallen almost as low as it was possible to fall.
But here symptoms of a moral reaction showed themselves
earlier than elsewhere. The revival dates from 910, the year
of the foundation of the Monastery of Clugny in Burgundy,
which was destined to exercise an enormous influence on the
future of the Church. While matters at Rome were at their
worst, there were silently training there the men who should
inaugurate a new state of things [notably Hildebrand,
afterwards Pope Gregory VII.] Already, so one said at the
time, the whole house of the Church was filled with the sweet
savour of the ointment there poured out. It followed that
wherever in any religious house there were any aspirations
after a higher life, any longings for reformation, that house
affiliated itself to Clugny; thus beginning to constitute a
Congregation, that is a cluster of religious houses, scattered
it might be over all Christendom, but owning one rule,
acknowledging the superiority of one mother house, and
receiving its abbots and priors from thence. In the Clugnian
Congregation, for example, there were about two thousand
houses in the middle of the twelfth century--these mostly in
France; the Abbot, or Arch-Abbot, as he was called, of Clugny,
being a kind of Pope of Monasticism, and for a long time, the
Pope excepted, quite the most influential Church-ruler in
Christendom."
R. C, Trench, Lect's on Mediæval Church History,
chapter 8.
ALSO IN:
S. R. Maitland, The Dark Ages, chapter 18-26.
A. F. Villemain, Life of Gregory, VII. book 1.
S. R. Gardiner and J. B. Mullinger, Introduction to
the Study of English History, chapter 3, section 8.
E. F. Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the
Middle Ages, book 3, no. 4.
CLUNIAC MONKS.
See CLUGNY.
CLUSIUM, Battle of (B. C. 83).
See ROME: B. C. 88-78.
CLYPEUS, The.
The round iron shield of the Romans.
E. Guhl and W. Koner, Life of the Greeks and Romans,
section 107.
CNOSSUS.
See CRETE.
CNUT.
See CANUTE.
CNYDUS, Battle of (B. C. 394).
See GREECE: B. C. 399-387.
COAHUILTECAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: COAHUILTECAN FAMILY.
COAJIRO, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: COAJIRO.
COALITION MINISTRY OF FOX AND LORD NORTH.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1782-1783; and 1783-1787.
COALITIONS AGAINST NAPOLEON.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1805 (JANUARY-APRIL);
{482}
COALITIONS AGAINST NAPOLEON:
GERMANY: A. D. 1812-1813, and 1813 (MAY-AUGUST),
and FRANCE: A. D. 1814-1815.
COALITIONS AGAINST REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER);
1798-1799 (AUGUST-APRIL).
COBBLER'S LEAGUE, The.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1524-1525.
COBDEN, Richard, and the Free Trade movement.
See TARIFF LEGISLATION (ENGLAND):
A. D. 1836-1839; 1842; 1845-1846;
and TARIFF LEGISLATION (FRANCE): A. D. 1853-1860.
COBDEN-CHEVALIER COMMERCIAL TREATY, The.
See TARIFF LEGISLATION (FRANCE): A. D. 1853-1860.
COBURG, Origination of the Dukedom of.
See SAXONY: A. D. 1180-1553.
COCCIUM.
An important Roman town in Britain, the remains of which are
supposed to be found at Ribchester.
T. Wright, Celt, Roman and Saxon, chapter 5.
COCHIBO, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.
COCHIQUIMA, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.
COCO TRIBES.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: GUCK OR COCO GROUP.
COCONOONS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MARIPOSAN FAMILY.
COCOSATES, The.
See AQUITAINE, THE ANCIENT TRIBES.
COD, Cape: A. D. 1602.
Named by Bartholomew Gosnold.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1602-1605.
COD, Cape: A. D. 1605.
Called Cap Blanc by Champlain.
See CANADA (NEW FRANCE): A. D. 1603-1605.
COD, Cape: A. D. 1609.
Named New Holland by Hudson.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1609.
----------COD, Cape: End----------
CODE NAPOLEON, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1801-1804.
CODES.
See LAWS, &c.
CODS, The.
See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1345-1354;
and 1482-1493.
CŒLE-SYRIA.
"Hollow Syria"--the long, broad, fertile and beautiful valley
which lies between the Libanus and Antilibanus ranges of
mountains, and is watered by the Orontes and the Leontes or
Littany rivers. "Few places in the world are more remarkable,
or have a more stirring history, than this wonderful vale."
G. Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies: Babylonia, chapter 1.
CŒNOBIUM.--CŒNOBITES.
"The word 'Cœnobium' is equivalent to 'monasterium' in the
later sense of that word. Cassian distinguishes the word thus.
'Monasterium,' he says, 'may be the dwelling of a single monk,
Cœnobium must be of several; the former word,' he adds,
'expressed only the place, the latter the manner of living.'"
I. G. Smith, Christian Monasticism, page 40.
ALSO IN:
J. Bingham, Antiquity of the Christian Church,
book 7, chapter 2, section 3.
COFAN, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.
COGNOMEN, NOMEN, PRÆNOMEN.
See GENS, ROMAN.
COHORTS.
See LEGION, ROMAN.
COIMBRA: Early history.
See PORTUGAL: EARLY HISTORY.
COLBERT, The System of.
Colbertism.
See TARIFF LEGISLATION: A. D. 1664-1667 (FRANCE).
Also, FRANCE: A. D. 1661-1683.
COLCHESTER, Origin of.
When Cæsar first opened to the Romans some knowledge of
Britain, the site of modern Colchester was occupied by an
"oppidum," or fastness of the Trinobantes, which the Romans
called Camulodunum. A little later, Camulodunum acquired some
renown as the royal town of the Trinobantine king, or prince,
Cunobelin,--the Cymbeline of Shakespeare. It was after the
death of Cunobelin, and when his son Caractacus was king,
during the reign of the emperor Claudius, that the Romans
began their actual conquest of Britain. Claudius was present,
in person, when Camulodunum was taken, and he founded there
the first Roman colony in the island, calling it Claudiana
Victricensis. That name was too cumbrous to be preserved; but
the colonial character of the town caused it to be called
Colonia-ceaster, the Colonia fortress,--abbreviated, in time,
to Colne-ceaster, and, finally, to Colchester. The colony was
destroyed by the Iceni, at the time of their rising, under
Boadicea, but was reconstituted and grew into an important
Roman town.
C. L. Cutts, Colchester, ch, 1-6.
COLCHESTER: A. D. 1648.
The Roundhead siege and capture.
On the collapse of the Royalist rising of 1648, which produced
what is called the Second Civil War of the Puritan
revolutionary period, Colchester received the "wreck of the
insurrection," so far as London and the surrounding country
had lately been threatened by it. Troops of cavaliers, under
Sir Charles Lucas and Lord Capel, having collected in the
town, were surrounded and beleaguered there by Fairfax, and
held out against their besiegers from June until late in
August. "After two months of the most desperate resistance,
Colchester, conquered by famine and sedition, at last
surrendered (Aug. 27); and the next day a court-martial
condemned to death three of its bravest, defenders, Sir
Charles Lucas, Sir George Lisle, and Sir Bernard Gascoign, as
an example, it was said, to future rebels who might be tempted
to imitate them. In vain did the other prisoners, Lord Capel
at their head, entreat Fairfax to suspend the execution of the
sentence, or at least that they should all undergo it, since
all were alike guilty of the offence of these three. Fairfax,
excited by the long struggle, or rather intimidated by Ireton,
made no answer, and the condemned officers were ordered to be
shot on the spot." Gascoign, however, was reprieved at the
last moment.
F. P. Guizot, History of the English Revolution, book 8.
ALSO IN:
C. R. Markham, Life of the Great Lord Fairfax, chapter 26-27.
----------COLCHESTER: End----------
COLCHIANS, The.
"The Colchians appear to have been in part independent, in
part subject to Persia. Their true home was evidently that
tract of country [on the Euxine] about the river Phasis. ...
Here they first became known to the commercial Greeks, whose
early dealings in this quarter seem to have given rise to the
poetic legend of the Argonauts. The limits of Colchis varied
at different times, but the natural bounds were never greatly
departed from. They were the Euxine on the east, the Caucasus
on the north, the mountain range which forms the watershed
between the Phasis (Rion) and the Cyrus (Kur) on the west, and
the high ground between Batoum and Kars (the Moschian
mountains) on the south. ... The most interesting question
connected with the Colchians is that connected with their
nationality. They were a black race dwelling in the midst of
whites, and in a country which does not tend to make its
inhabitants dark complexioned. That they were comparatively
recent immigrants from a hotter climate seems therefore to be
certain. The notion entertained by Herodotus of their Egyptian
extraction appears to have been a conjecture of his own. ...
Perhaps the modern theory that the Colchians were immigrants
from India is entitled to some share of our attention. ... If
the true Colchi were a colony of blacks, they must have become
gradually absorbed in the white population proper to the
country."
G. Rawlinson, History of Herodotus,
book 7, appendix. 1.
See, also, ALARODIANS.
{483}
COLD HARBOR, First and second battles of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1862
(JUNE-JULY: VIRGINIA),
and 1864 (MAY-JUNE: VIRGINIA).
COLDEN, Cadwallader, The lieutenant-governorship of.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1773-1774 to 1775 (APRIL-SEPTEMBER).
COLIGNY, Admiral de,
The religious wars in France.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1560-1563 to 1572.
American Colonies.
See FLORIDA: A. D. 1562-1563, 1564-1565, and 1565.
COLLAS, The.
See PERU: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.
COLLEGIA.
Numerous associations called "collegia" existed in ancient
Rome, having various purposes. Some were religious
associations (collegia templorum); some were organizations of
clerks or scribes; some were guilds of workmen; some appear to
have had a political character, although the political clubs
were more commonly called "sodalitates."
G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 3, chapter 11.
COLLINE GATE, D'HERBOIS Battle of the (B. C. 83).
See ROME: B. C. 88-78.
COLLOT, and the French Revolutionary Committee of Public Safety.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (JUNE-OCTOBER), to
1794-1795 (JULY-APRIL).
COLMAR, Cession to France.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.
COLMAR, Battle of (1674).
See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1674-1678.
COLOGNE: Origin.
See COLONIA AGRIPPINENSIS.
COLOGNE: The Electorate.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1125-1152.
COLOGNE: In the Hanseatic League.
See HANSA TOWNS.
----------COLOGNE: End----------
COLOMAN.
See KOLOMAN.
COLOMBEY-NOUILLY, OR BORNY, Battle of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1870 (JULY-AUGUST).
COLOMBIA, United States of.
See COLOMBIAN STATES.
COLOMBIAN STATES, The.
This general title will be used, for convenience, to cover,
for considerable periods of their history, the territory now
divided between the republics of Venezuela, Ecuador, and the
United States of Colombia (formerly New Granada), the latter
embracing the Isthmus of Panama. The history of these
countries being for a long time substantially identical in the
main, and only distinguishable at intervals, it seems to be
difficult to do otherwise than hold it, somewhat arbitrarily,
under one heading, until the several currents of events part
company distinctly.
COLOMBIAN STATES:
The aboriginal inhabitants.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CHIBCHA.
COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1536-1731.
The Spanish conquest of New Granada.
Creation of the new vice-royalty.
"For some time after the disastrous failure of the attempt of
Las Casas to found a colony on the Pearl coast of Cumaná, the
northern portion of Spanish South America, from the Orinoco
westwards, is almost lost to history. The powers working for
good had signally failed, and the powers of evil seemed to
have it almost all their own way. ... Lying behind these
extensive coasts to the westward in the interior, is the
region to which the Spaniards gave the name of the kingdom of
New Granada, the name being applied in consequence of a
resemblance which was detected between the plain around Santa
Fe de Bogotá and the royal Vega which adjoins the historical
Moorish capital. New Granada was a most extensive region,
comprising as it did the entire country from sea to sea in the
north, lying between 60° and 78° longitude, and from 6° to 15°
of latitude." The Spanish conquest of New Granada was achieved
in the main by Ximenes de Quesada, who invaded the country
from the north, although the governor of Quito, Benalcazar,
entered it likewise from the south. "Ximenes de Quesada came
to America about the year 1535, in the suite of the Governor
of Santa Marta, by whom he was selected to lead an expedition
against the Chibchas, who dwelt on the plain of Bogotá and
around the headwaters of the Magdalena. Setting out in April
1536 with 800 men, he succeeded in pushing his way through the
forest and across innumerable streams. He contrived to subsist
for eight months, during which he traversed 450 miles,
enduring meanwhile the very utmost exertions and privations
that human nature could support. ... When he had surmounted
the natural difficulties in his path, his remaining force
consisted of but 166 men, with 60 horses. On March 2d, 1537,
he resumed his advance; and, as usually happened, the mere
sight of his horsemen terrified the Indians into submission.
At Tunja, according to the Spanish historians, he was
treacherously attacked whilst resting in the palace of one of
the chiefs. ... In any case, the chief was taken, and, after
much slaughter, Ximenes found himself the absolute possessor
of immense riches, one golden lantern alone being valued at
6,000 ducats. From Tunja Ximenes marched upon the sacred city
of Iraca, where two Spanish soldiers accidentally set fire to
the great Temple of the Sun. The result was that, after a
conflagration which lasted several days, both the city and the
temple were utterly destroyed. ... On the 9th of August, 1538,
was founded the city of Bogotá. Ximenes was soon here joined
by Frederman, a subject of the Emperor Charles V., with 160
soldiers, with whom he had been engaged in conquering
Venezuela; and likewise by Benalcazar, the conqueror of Quito.
This latter warrior had crossed the continent in triumph at
the head of 150 Spaniards, together with a multitude of native
followers."
{484}
In the intrigues and jealous rivalries between the three which
followed, Ximenes de Quesada was pushed aside, at first, and
even fined and banished by the Emperor; but in the end he
triumphed and was appointed marshal of the kingdom of New
Granada. "On his return to Bogotá in 1551, he, to his credit,
exhibited an energy in protecting the people of the country
against their invaders, equal to that which he had displayed
in effecting their conquest. Ten years later he commanded a
force organized to repel an attack from the ruler of
Venezuela; shortly after which he was appointed Adelantado of
the Kingdom of New Granada. He devoted three years, and an
enormous amount of toil and money, to an absurd expedition in
quest of the fabled El Dorado [see EL DORADO]." Quesada died
of leprosy in 1572. Until 1718 the kingdom of New Granada
remained subject to the Viceroy of Peru. In that year the
Viceroyalty of Peru "was divided into two portions, the
northern region, from the frontiers of Mexico as far as to the
Orinoco, and on the Southern Sea from Veragua to Tumbez,
forming the Viceroyalty of New Granada, of which the capital
was Bogota. To this region, likewise, was assigned the inland
province of Quito. The Viceroyalty of New Granada, in fact,
comprised what now [1884] forms the Republic of Venezuela, the
United States of Columbia, and the Republic of Equador." In
1731 "it was deemed expedient to detach from the Viceroyalty
of New Granada the provinces of Venezuela, Maracaibo, Varinas,
Cumaná, and Spanish Guyana, and to form them into a separate
Captain-Generalship, the residence of the ruler being fixed at
Caracas in Venezuela."
R. G. Watson, Spanish and Portuguese South America,
volume 2, chapter 9.
COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1810-1819.
The struggle for independence and its achievement.
Miranda and Simon Bolivar.
The Earthquake in Venezuela.
The founding of the Republic of Colombia.
"The Colombian States occupy the first place in the history of
South American independence. ... The Colombian States were
first in the struggle because they were in many ways nearest
to Europe. It was through them that intercourse between the
Pacific coast and Europe was mainly carried on: Porto Bello
and Carthagena were thus the main inlets of European ideas.
Besides, there was here constant communication with the West
Indies; and government, population and wealth were less
centralised than in the more important viceroyalties of Mexico
and Peru. The Indians of New Granada had always been a
restless race, and the increase of taxation which was resorted
to for the defence of the coast in the war with Great Britain
(1777-1783) produced discontents among the whole population,
both red and white. ... The French Revolution, coming soon
afterwards, was another link in the chain of causes. ... In
Venezuela, which the industry of its inhabitants had raised
from a poor mission district to a thriving commercial
province, the progress of modern ideas was yet faster. ... The
conquest of Trinidad by England in 1797 gave a new turn to the
movement. ... It was from Trinidad that the first attempts
were made to excite the Spanish colonists to revolution.
Francis Miranda, by whom this was done, was a type of many
other men to whom is due the credit of leading the South
American peoples to independence. He was a native of Caraccas,
and when a young man had held a French commission in the
American War of Independence. On his return to Venezuela in
1783 he found the populace, as we have already mentioned, in
an excited state, and finding that he was suspected of designs
for liberating his own country, he went to Europe, and again
attached himself to the French service. ... Being proscribed
by the Directory, he turned to England, and ... when the war
[between England and Spain] broke out afresh in 1804, and
England sent out an expedition to invade Buenos Ayres, Miranda
believed that his opportunity was come. In 1806, by English
and American aid, he sailed from Trinidad and landed with 500
men on the coast of Venezuela. But the 'Colombian Army,' as
Miranda named it, met with a cool reception among the people.
His utter inability to meet the Spanish forces compelled him
to retreat to Trinidad, nor did he reappear on the continent
until after the revolution of 1810. The principal inhabitants
of Caraccas had been meditating the formation of a provisional
government, on the model of the juntas of Spain, ever since
the abdication of the king [see SPAIN: A. D. 1807-1808]; but
it was not until 1810, when the final victory of Napoleon in
Spain appeared certain, that they made a decisive movement in
favour of independence. Spain, for the time at least, was now
blotted out of the list of nations. Acting, therefore, in the
name of Ferdinand VII., they deposed the Spanish colonial
officers, and elected a supreme junta or council. Similar
juntas were soon established in New Granada, at Santa Fe,
Quito, Carthagena, and the other chief towns of the
Viceroyalty ... and the fortune of the patriot party in new
Granada, from their close neighbourhood, was closely linked
with that of the Venezuelans. The Regency of Cadiz, grasping
for itself all the rights and powers of the Spanish nation,
determined to reduce the colonists to subjection. They
therefore declared the port of Caraccas in a state of
blockade, as the British government had done in the previous
generation with that of Boston; and, as in the case of Boston,
this resolution of the Regency amounted to a declaration of
war. ... A congress of all the provinces of Venezuela now met
at Caraccas, and published a declaration of independence on
the 5th of July, 1811, and those of Mexico and New Granada
soon followed. ... The powers of nature seemed to conspire
with the tyranny of Europe to destroy the young South American
Republic. On the 26th of March, 1812, Venezuela was visited by
a fearful earthquake, which destroyed the capital [Caraccas]
and several other towns, together with 20,000 people, and many
others perished of hunger and in other ways. This day was Holy
Thursday; and the superstitious people, prompted by their
priests, believed this awful visitation to be a judgment from
God for their revolt. The Spanish troops, under Monteverde,
now began a fresh attack on the disquieted Venezuelans.
Miranda, who on his return had been placed at the head of the
army, had in the meantime overrun New Granada, and laid the
foundation of the future United States of Colombia. But the
face of affairs was changed by the news of the earthquake.
Smitten with despair, his soldiers now deserted to the
royalists; he lost ground everywhere; the fortress of Puerto
Cavello, commanded by the great Bolivar, then a colonel in the
service of the Republic, was surrendered through treachery.
{485}
On the 25th of June Miranda himself capitulated, with all his
forces; and Venezuela fell once more into the hands of the
royalists. Miranda himself was arrested, in defiance of the
terms of the surrender, and perished in an European dungeon,
as Toussaint had perished a few years before. ... Monteverde
emptied the prisons of their occupants, and filled them with
the families of the principal citizens of the republic; and
Caraccas became the scene of a Reign of Terror. After
Miranda's capitulation, Bolivar had gone to New Granada, which
still maintained its independence, and entered into the
service of that republic. Bolivar now reappeared in a new
character, and earned for himself a reputation in the history
of the new world which up to a certain point ranks with that
of Washington. Simon Bolivar, like Miranda, was a native of
Caraccas. ... Like Miranda, he had to some extent learned
modern ideas by visiting the old world and the United States.
When the cruelties of Monteverde had made Venezuela ripe for a
new revolt, Bolivar reappeared on his native soil at the head
of a small body of troops from the adjacent republic. The
successes which he gained so incensed the royalists that they
refused quarter to their prisoners, and war to the death
('guerra a muerte') was proclaimed. All obstacles disappeared
before Bolivar's generalship, and on the 4th of August, 1813,
he publicly entered Caraccas, the fortress of Puerto Cavello
being now the only one in the possession of the royalists.
Bolivar was hailed with the title of the liberator of
Venezuela. He was willing to see the republic restored; but
the inhabitants very properly feared to trust at this time to
anything but a military government, and vested the supreme
power in him as dictator (1814). The event indeed proved the
necessity of a military government. The defeated royalists
raised fresh troops, many thousands of whom were negro slaves,
and overran the whole country; Bolivar was beaten at La
Puerta, and forced to take refuge a second time in New
Granada; and the capital fell again into the hands of the
royalists. ... The War of Independence had been undertaken
against the Regency; and had Ferdinand, on his restoration to
the throne in 1814, shown any signs of conciliation, he might
yet have recovered his American provinces. But the government
persisted in its course of absolute repression. ... New
Granada, where Bolivar was general in chief of the forces, was
the only part where the insurrection survived; and in 1815 a
fleet containing 10,000 men under General Morillo arrived off
Carthagena, its principal port. ... Carthagena was only
provisioned for a short time: and Bolivar, overpowered by
numbers, quitted the soil of the continent and went to the
West Indies to seek help to relieve Carthagena, and maintain
the contest for liberty." Obtaining assistance in Hayti, he
fitted out an expedition "which sailed in April from the port
of Aux Cayes. Bolivar landed near Cumana, in the eastern
extremity of Venezuela, and from this point he gradually
advanced westwards, gaining strength by slow degrees. In the
meantime, after a siege of 116 days, Carthagena surrendered;
5,000 of its inhabitants had perished of hunger. Both
provinces were now in Morillo's hands. Fancying himself
completely master of the country, he proceeded to wreak a
terrible vengeance on the Granadines. But at the news of
Bolivar's reappearance, though yet at a distance, the face of
affairs changed. ... His successes in the year 1817 were sure,
though slow: in 1818, after he had been joined by European
volunteers, they were brilliant. Bolivar beat the royalists in
one pitched battle after another [Sagamoso, July 1, 1819, and
Pantano de Bargas, July 25]: and at length a decisive victory
was won by his lieutenant, Santander, at Boyaca, in New
Granada, August 1, 1819. This battle, in which some hundreds
of British and French auxiliaries fought on the side of
liberty, completely freed the two countries from the yoke of
Spain."
E. J. Payne, History of European Colonies, chapter 16.
ALSO IN:
C. S. Cochrane, Journal of a Residence in Colombia,
volume 1, chapters 6-8.
H. Brownell, North and South America Illustrated,
pages 316-334.
C. Cushing, Simon Bolivar
(N. Am. Review, January, 1829, and January, 1830).
H. L. V. D. Holstein, Memoirs of Bolivar, chapter 3-20.
Major Flintner, History of the Revolution of Caraccas.
COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1819-1830.
The glory and the fall of Bolivar.
Dissolution of the Colombian Federation.
Tyranny under the Liberator, and monarchical schemes.
Three days after the battle of Boyaca, Bolivar entered Bogota
in triumph. "A congress met in December and decided that
Venezuela and Nueva Granada should form one republic, to be
called Colombia. Morillo departed for Europe in 1820, and the
victory gained by Bolivar at Carabobo on June 24, 1821,
decided the fate of Colombia. In the following January General
Bolivar assembled an army at Popayan to drive the Spaniards
out of the province of Quito. His second in command, General
Sucre, led an advanced guard, which was reinforced by a
contingent of volunteers from Peru, under Santa Cruz. The
Spanish General Ramirez was entirely defeated in the battle of
Pichincha, and Quito was incorporated with the new republic of
Colombia."
C. R. Markham, Colonial History of South America
(Narrative and Critical History of America,
volume 8, chapter 5).
"The provinces of New Granada and Venezuela, together with the
Presidency of Quito, now sent delegates to the convention of
Cucuta, in 1821, and there decreed the union of the three
countries as a single state by the name of the Republic of
Colombia. The first Colombian federal constitution was
concocted by the united wisdom of the delegates; and the
result might easily have been foreseen. It was a farrago of
crude and heterogeneous ideas. Some of its features were
imitated from the American political system, some from the
English, some from the French. ... Bolivar of course became
President: and the Republic had need of him. The task of
liberation was not yet completed. Carthagena, and many other
strong places, remained in Spanish hands. Bolivar reduced
these one by one, and the second decisive victory of Carabobo,
in 1822, finally secured Colombian freedom. The English claim
the chief share in the battle of Carabobo: for the British
legion alone carried the main Spanish position, losing in the
feat two-thirds of its numbers. The war now fast drew to its
close. The republic was able to contest with the invaders the
dominion of the sea: General Padilla, on the 23rd of July,
1823, totally destroyed the Spanish fleet: and the Spanish
commander finally capitulated at Puerto Cavello in December.
{486}
All these hard-won successes were mainly owing to the bravery
and resolution of Bolivar. Bolivar deserves to the full the
reputation of an able and patriotic soldier. He was now set
free ... to render important services to the rest of South
America: and among the heroes of independence perhaps his name
will always stand first. But Bolivar the statesman was a man
very different from Bolivar the general. He was alternately
timid and arbitrary. He was indeed afraid to touch the
problems of statesmanship which awaited him: but instead of
leading the Colombian people through independence to liberty,
he stubbornly set his face against all measures of political
or social reform. His fall may be said to have begun with the
moment when his military triumphs were complete. The
disaffection to the constitution of the leading people in
Venezuela and Ecuador [the new name given to the old province
of Quito, indicating its position at the equator] in 1826 and
1827, was favoured by the Provincial governors, Paez and
Mosquera; and Bolivar, instead of resisting the disintegration
of the state, openly favoured the military dictatorships which
Paez and Mosquera established. This policy foreshadowed the
reign of absolutism in New Granada itself. Bolivar ... had now
become not only the constitutional head of the Colombian
federation, but also the military head of the Peruvian
republics [see PERU: A. D. 1820-1826, 1825-1826, and
1826-1876]: and there can be no doubt that he intended the
Colombian constitution to be reduced to the Peruvian model. As
a first step towards reuniting all the South American nations
under a military government, Paez, beyond reasonable doubt,
with Bolivar's connivance, proclaimed the independence of
Venezuela, April 30th, 1826. This practically broke up the
Colombian federation: and the destruction of the constitution,
so far as it regarded New Granada itself, soon followed.
Bolivar had already resorted to the usual devices of military
tyranny. The terrorism of Sbirri, arbitrary arrests, the
assumption of additional executive powers, and, finally, the
suppression of the vice-presidency, all pointed one way. ...
At length, after the practical secession of Venezuela and
Ecuador under their military rulers, Congress decreed a
summons for a Convention, which met at Ocaña in March, 1828.
... The liberals, who were bent on electoral reform and
decentralization, were paralyzed by the violent bearing of the
Bolivian leaders: and Bolivar quartered himself in the
neighbourhood, and threatened the Convention at the head of an
army of 3,000 veterans. He did not, however, resort to open
force. Instead of this, he ordered his party to recede from
the Convention: and this left the Convention without the means
of making a quorum. From this moment the designs of Bolivar
were unmistakable. The dissolution of the Convention, and the
appointment of Bolivar as Dictator, by a junta of notables,
followed as a matter of course; and by the 'Organic decree' of
August 1828, Bolivar assumed the absolute sovereignty of
Colombia. A reign of brute force now followed: but the triumph
of Bolivar was only ephemeral. ... The Federation was gone:
and it became a question of securing military rule in the
separate provinces. A portentous change now occurred in
Ecuador. The democratic party under Flores triumphed over the
Bolivians under Mosquera: and Paez assured his chief that no
help was to be expected from Venezuela. At the Convention of
Bogota, in 1830, though it was packed with Bolivar's nominees,
it became clear that the liberator's star had set at last. ...

This convention refused to vote him President. Bolivar now
withdrew from public life: and a few months later, December
17, 1830, he died broken-hearted at San Pedro, near Santa
Martha. Bolivar, though a patriot as regarded the struggle
with Spain, was in the end a traitor to his fellow citizens.
Recent discoveries leave little doubt that he intended to
found a monarchy on the ruins of the Spanish dominion. England
and France, both at this time strongly conservative powers,
were in favour of such a scheme; and a Prince of the House of
Bourbon had already been nominated to be Bolivar's successor."
E. J. Payne, History of European Colonies, chapter 16.
"About one month before his death, General Bolivar, the
so-called 'Liberator' of South America, wrote a letter to the
late General Flores of Ecuador, in which the following
remarkable passages occur, which have never before been
published in the English language: 'I have been in power for
nearly 20 years, from which I have gathered only a few
definite results: 1. America, for us, is ungovernable. 2. He
who dedicates his services to a revolution, plows the sea. 3.
The only thing that can be done in America, is to emigrate. 4.
This country will inevitably fall into the hands of the
unbridled rabble, and little by little become a prey to petty
tyrants of all colors and races.'"
F. Hassaurek, Four Years among Spanish-Americans,
chapter 12.
ALSO IN:
J. M. Spence, The Land of Bolivar, volume 1, chapter 7.
E. B. Eastwick, Venezuela, chapter 11 (Battle of
Carabobo).
COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1821-1854.
Emancipation of slaves.
The abolition of slavery in the three republics of New
Granada, Venezuela and Ecuador was initiated in the Republic
of Colombia, while it embraced them all. "By a law of the 21st
of July, 1821, it was provided that the children of slaves,
born after its publication in the principal cities of the
republic, should be free. ... Certain revenues were
appropriated to the creation of an emancipation fund in each
district. ... Aside from a certain bungling looseness with
which almost all Spanish-American laws are drawn, it [the act
of 1821] contains some very sensible regulations, and served
to lay a solid foundation for the work of emancipation, since
completed by the three republics which then constituted
Colombia." In Ecuador the completion of emancipation was
reached in 1854.
F. Hassaurek, Four Years among Spanish-Americans,
pages 330-333.
COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1826.
The Congress of Panama.
"The proposition for assembling this body emanated from
Bolivar, who, in 1823, as president of Colombia, invited the
governments of Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Buenos Ayres, to form
a confederacy of the Spanish-American states, by means of
plenipotentiaries to be convened, in the spirit of classic
analogy, in the isthmus of Panama. To this invitation the
governments of Peru and Mexico promptly acceded, Chile and
Buenos Ayres neglected or declined to be represented in the
assembly, for the reasons which we shall presently state.
{487}
This magnificent idea of a second Achæan League seized on the
imaginations of many speculative and of some practical men in
America and Europe, as destined to create a new era in the
political history of the world by originating a purer system
of public law, and almost realizing Bernardin de Saint
Pierre's league of the modern nations. In its original shape,
it was professedly a plan of a belligerent nature, having for
its main object to combine the revolutionized states against
the common enemy. But time was required for carrying it into
effect. Meanwhile the project, magnified by the course of
events, began to change its complexion. The United States were
invited to participate in the Congress, so as to form an
American policy, and a rallying point for American interests,
in opposition to those of Europe; and, after the discussions
which are so familiar to all, the government of the United
States accepted the invitation, and despatched its
representatives to Panama. ... In the interval, between the
proposal of the plan and its execution, Central America was
added to the family of American nations, and agreed to take
part in the Congress. At length, after many delays, this
modern Amphictyonic Council, consisting of plenipotentiaries
from Colombia, Central America, Peru and Mexico, assembled in
the city of Panama, June 22, 1826, and in a session of three
weeks concluded various treaties; one of perpetual union,
league, and confederation; others relating to the contingents
which the confederates should contribute for the common
defence; and another for the annual meeting of the Congress in
time of war. Having thus promptly despatched their private
affairs, the assembly adjourned to Tacubaya in Mexico, on
account of the insalubrious climate of Panama, before the
delegation of the United States had arrived; since when it has
justly acquired the epithet of 'introuvable,' and probably
never will reassemble in its original form. Is there not a
secret history of all this? Why did Chile and Buenos Ayres
refuse to participate in the Congress? Why has it now vanished
from the face of the earth? The answer given in South America
is, that Bolivar proposed the assembly as part of a grand
scheme of ambition,--ascribed to him by the republican party,
and not without some countenance from his own conduct,--for
establishing a military empire to embrace the whole of
Spanish-America, or at least an empire uniting Colombia and
the two Perus. To give the color of plausibility to the
projected assembly, the United States were invited to be
represented; and it is said Bolivar did not expect, nor very
graciously receive, their acceptance of the invitation."
C. Cushing, Bolivar and the Bolivian Constitution (N. A.
Review, January, 1830).
In the United States "no question, in its day, excited more
heat and intemperate discussion, or more feeling between a
President and Senate, than this proposed mission to the
Congress of American nations at Panama; and no heated question
ever cooled off and died out so suddenly and completely. ...
Though long since sunk into oblivion, and its name almost
forgotten, it was a master subject on the political theatre
during its day; and gave rise to questions of national and of
constitutional law, and of national policy, the importance of
which survive the occasion from which they sprung; and the
solution of which (as then solved), may be some guide to
future action, if similar questions again occur. Besides the
grave questions to which the subject gave rise, the subject
itself became one of unusual and painful excitement. It
agitated the people, made a violent debate in the two Houses
of Congress, inflamed the passions of parties and individuals,
raised a tempest before which Congress bent, made bad feeling
between the President [John Quincy Adams] and the Senate; and
led to the duel between Mr. Randolph and Mr. Clay. It was an
administration measure, and pressed by all the means known to
an administration. It was evidently relied upon as a means of
acting upon the people--as a popular movement which might have
the effect of turning the tide which was then running high
against Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay. ... Now, the chief benefit to
be derived from its retrospect--and that indeed is a real
one--is a view of the firmness with which was then maintained,
by a minority, the old policy of the United States, to avoid
entangling alliances and interference with the affairs of
other nations;--and the exposition of the Monroe doctrine,
from one so competent to give it as Mr. Adams."
T. H. Benton, Thirty Years' View, chapter 25 (volume 1).
ALSO IN:
G. F. Tucker, The Monroe Doctrine, chapter 3.
C. Schurz, Life of Henry Clay, chapter 11 (volume 1).
International American Conference (of 1889): Reports and
Discussions, volume 4, History appendix.
COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1830-1886.
Revolutions and civil wars.
The New Confederation (1863) of the United States of Colombia.
The Republic of Colombia.
"New Granada was obliged in 1830 to recognize the disruption
of Colombia, which had long been an accomplished fact. From
this date the three states have a separate history, which is
very much of a piece, though Venezuela was for some years
preserved from the intestine commotions which have from the
beginning distracted New Granada and Ecuador. ... Mosquera,
who had won the election which decided the fate of Bolivar did
not long occupy the presidency. ... Mosquera was soon driven
out by General Urdanete, who was now at the head of the
conservative or Bolivian party. But after the death of their
leader, this party suffered a natural relapse, and Urdanete
was overthrown early in 1831. The history of New Granada may
be said really to commence with the presidency of Bolivar's
old rival and companion in arms, Santander, who was elected
under the constitution of 1832. ... His presidency ... was a
comparatively bright episode: and with its termination in 1836
begins the dark and troubled period which the Granadines
emphatically designate by the name of the 'Twelve Years.' The
scanty measure of liberalism which Santander had dealt out to
the people was now withdrawn. Marquez, his successor, was a
sceptic in politics and a man of infirm will. ... Now began
the ascendancy of clericalism, of absolutist oligarchy, and of
government by the gallows. This same system continued under
President Herran, who was elected in 1841; and then appeared
on the scene, as his chief minister, the famous Dr. Ospina,"
who brought back the Jesuits and curtailed the constitution.
Liberalism again gained ground, electing General Lopez to the
presidency in 1849 find once more expelling the Jesuits. In
April 1854 a radical revolution overturned the constitution
and President Obando was declared dictator. The conservatives
rallied, however, and regained possession of the government
before the close of the year.
{488}
In 1857 Ospina entered on the presidency and civil war soon
raged throughout the country. "After a hundred fights the
revolution triumphed in July, 1861. ... Mosquera, who was now
in possession of the field, was a true pupil of Bolivar's, and
he thought the time had come for reviving Bolivar's plans. ...
In 1863 Mosquera's new Federal Constitution was proclaimed.
Henceforth each State [of the eight federal States into which
the 44 provinces of New Granada were divided] became
practically independent under its own President; and to mark
the change the title of the nation was altered. At first it
was called the Granadine Confederation: but it afterwards took
the name of Colombia [the United States of Colombia], which
had formerly been the title of the larger Confederation under
Bolivar. Among the most important facts in recent Colombian
history is the independence of the State of Panama, which has
become of great importance through the construction of the
railway connecting the port of Colon, or Aspinwall, as it was
named by the Americans, on the Atlantic, with that of Panama
on the Pacific. This rail way was opened in 1855; and in the
same year Panama declared itself a sovereign state. The State
of Panama, after many years of conservative domination, has
now perhaps the most democratic government in the world. The
President is elected for two years only, and is incapable of
re-election. Panama has had many revolutions of its own; nor
has the new Federal Constitution solved all the difficulties
of the Granadine government. In 1867 Mosquera was obliged to
have recourse to a coup d'état, and declared himself dictator,
but he was soon afterwards arrested; a conservative revolution
took place; Mosquera was banished; and Gutierrez became
President. The liberals, however, came back the next year,
under Ponce. Since 1874 [the date of writing being 1879],
General Perez has been President of Colombia."
E. J. Payne, History of European Colonies, chapter 16.
"The federal Constitution of 1863 was clearly formed on the
model of the Constitution of the United States of America. It
remained in force until 1886, when it was superseded by a law
which gave the State a centralized organization and named it
the 'Republic of Colombia.'"
Constitution of the Republic of Colombia, with
Historical Introduction by B. Moses (Supplement to Annals
of American Academy of Political and Social Science,
January, 1893).
COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1885-1891.
The Revolution of 1885.
The constitution of 1886.
The presidency of Dr. Nuñez.
"Cartagena is virtually the centre of political power in
Colombia, for it is the residence of President Nuñez, a
dictator without the name. Before the revolution of 1885,
during which Colon was burned and the Panama Railway protected
by American marines, the States enjoyed a large measure of
home rule. The insurgents who were defeated in that struggle
were Radicals and advanced Liberals. They were making a stand
against centralized government, and they were overthrown. When
the followers of Dr. Nuñez were victorious, they transformed
the constitutional system of the country. ... Dr. Nuñez, who
had entered public life as a Radical agitator, swung
completely around the circle. As the leader of the National
party he became the ally of Clericalism, and the defender of
ecclesiastical privilege. Being a man of unrivalled capacity
for directing public affairs and enforcing party discipline,
he has established a highly centralized military government
without incurring unpopularity by remaining constantly in
sight and openly exercising authority. ... Strong government
has not been without its advantages; but the system can hardly
be considered either republican or democratic. ... Of all the
travesties of popular government which have been witnessed in
Spanish America, the political play enacted in Bogotá and
Cartagena is the most grotesque. Dr. Nuñez is known as the
titular President of the Republic. His practice is to go to
the capital at the beginning of the presidential term, and
when he has taken the oath of office to remain there a few
weeks until all matters of policy and discipline are arranged
among his followers. He then retires to his country-seat in
Cartagena, leaving the vice-President to bear the burdens of
state."
I. N. Ford, Tropical America, chapter 12.
COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1892.
Re-election of President Nuñez.
In 1892, Dr. Rafael Nuñez was elected President for a fourth
term, the term of office being six years.
Statesman's Year-book, 1893.
----------COLOMBIAN STATES: End----------
COLONI.
See DEDITITIUS.
COLONIA AGRIPPINENSIS.
Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus and the mother of Nero,
founded on the Rhine the Colonia Agrippinensis (modern
Cologne)--probably the only colony of Roman veterans ever
established under female auspices. The site had been
previously occupied by a village of the Ubii. "It is curious
that this abnormal colony has, alone, of all its kindred
foundations, retained to the present day the name of Colonia."
C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 50.
COLONIA, URUGUAY.
See ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1580-1777.
COLONIZATION SOCIETY, The American.
See SLAVERY, Negro: A. D. 1816-1847.
COLONNA, The.
See Roman: 13TH-14TH CENTURIES,
and A. D. 1347-1354;
also PAPACY: A. D. 1294-1348.
COLONUS, The.
See SLAVERY, MEDIÆVAL: GERMANY.
COLORADO: A. D. 1803-1848.
Acquisition of the eastern part in the Louisiana Purchase and
the western part from Mexico.
See LOUISIANA: A. D. 1798-1803; and MEXICO: A. D. 1848.
COLORADO: A. D. 1806-1876.
Early explorations.
Gold discoveries.
Territorial and state organization.
The first American explorer to penetrate to the mountains of
Colorado was Lieutenant Zebulon Pike, sent out with a small
party by General Wilkinson, in 1806. He approached within 15
miles of the Rocky Mountain Peak which bears his name. A more
extensive official exploration of the country was made in 1819
by Major Stephen H. Long, whose report upon the whole region
drained by the Missouri, Arkansas and Platte rivers and their
tributaries was unfavorable and discouraging. Fremont's
explorations, which touched Colorado, were made in 1843-44.
"The only persons encountered in the Rocky mountains by
Frémont at this time were the few remaining traders and their
former employees, now their colonists, who lived with their
Mexican and Indian wives and half-breed children in a
primitive manner of life, usually under the protection of some
defensive structure called a fort.
{489}
The first American families in Colorado were a part of the
Mormon battalion of 1846, who, with their wives and children,
resided at Pueblo from September to the spring and summer of
the following year, when they joined the Mormon emigration to
Salt Lake. ... Measures were taken early in March, 1847, to
select locations for two United States forts between the
Missouri and the Rocky mountains, the sites selected being
those now occupied by Kearney City and Fort Laramie. ... Up to
1853 Colorado's scant population still lived in or near some
defensive establishment, and had been decreasing rather than
increasing for the past decade, owing to the hostility of the
Indians." In 1858 the first organized searching or prospecting
for gold in the region was begun by a party of Cherokee
Indians and whites. Other parties soon followed; the search
succeeded; and the Pike's Peak mining region was speedily
swarming with eager adventurers. In the fall of 1858 two rival
towns were laid out on the opposite sides of Cherry Creek.
They were named respectively Auraria and Denver. The struggle
for existence between them was bitter, but brief. Auraria
succumbed and Denver survived, to become the metropolis of the
Mountains. The first attempt at political organization was
made at the Auraria settlement, in November, 1858, and took
the form of a provisional territorial organization, under the
name of the Territory of Jefferson; but the provisional
government did not succeed in establishing its authority,
opposed as it was by conflicting claims to territorial
jurisdiction on the part of Utah, New Mexico, Kansas,
Nebraska, and Dakota. At length, on the 28th of February,
1861, an act of Congress became law, by which the proposed new
territory was duly created, but not bearing the name of
Jefferson. "The name of Colorado was given to it at the
suggestion of the man selected for its first governor. ...
'Some,' says Gilpin, 'wanted it called Jefferson, some
Arcadia. ... I said the people have to a great extent named
the States after the great rivers of the country ... and the
great feature of that country is the great Colorado river.'"
Remaining in the territorial condition until July 1876,
Colorado was then admitted to the Union as a state.
H. H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States,
volume 20: Colorado, chapter 2-6.
----------COLORADO: End----------
COLOSSEUM, OR COLISEUM, The.
"The Flavian Amphitheatre, or Colosseum, was built by
Vespasian and Titus in the lowest part of the valley between
the Cælean and Esquiline Hills, which was then occupied by a
large artificial pool for naval fights ('Naumachia'). ... The
exact date of the commencement of the Colosseum is doubtful,
but it was opened for use in A. D. 80. ... As built by the
Flavian Emperors the upper galleries ('mœniani') were of wood,
and these, as in the case of the Circus Maximus, at many times
caught fire from lightning and other causes, and did much
damage to the stone-work of the building."
J. H. Middleton, Ancient Rome in 1885, chapter 10.
ALSO IN:
J. H. Parker. Archaeology of Rome, part 7.
R Burn, Rome and the Campagna, chapter 9, part 2.
See, also, ROME: A. D. 70-96.
COLOSSUS OF RHODES.
See RHODES.
COLUMBAN CHURCH, The.
The church, or the organization of Christianity, in Scotland,
which resulted from the labors of the Irish missionary,
Columba, in the sixth century, and which spread from the great
monastery that he founded on the little island of Iona, or Ia,
or Hii, near the greater island of Mull. The church of
Columba, "not only for a time embraced within its fold the
whole of Scotland north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde, and
was for a century and a half the national church of Scotland,
but was destined to give to the Angles of Northumbria the same
form of Christianity for a period of thirty years." It
represented some differences from the Roman church which two
centuries of isolation had produced in the Irish church, from
which it sprang.
W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland, book 2, chapter 3.
ALSO IN:
Count de Montalembert,
The Monks of the West, book 9 (volume 3).
G. F. Maclear, Conversion of the West: The Celts,
chapter 7-10.
See CHRISTIANITY: 5TH-9TH CENTURIES, and 597-800.
COLUMBIA, The District of.
See WASHINGTON (CITY): A. D. 1791.
COLUMBIA, The District of: A. D. 1850.
Abolition of slave-trade in.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1850.
COLUMBIA, The District of: A. D. 1867.
Extension of suffrage to the Negroes.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1867 (JANUARY).
----------COLUMBIA, The District of: End----------
COLUMBIA, S. C., The burning of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865
(FEBRUARY-MARCH: THE CAROLINAS).
COLUMBIA, Tennessee., Engagement at.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (NOVEMBER: TENNESSEE).
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, The World's.
See CHICAGO: A. D. 1892-1893.
also C. D. Arnold, Author H. D. Higinbotham,
Official Views Of The World's Columbian Exposition,
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22847
COLUMBIAN ORDER, The.
See TAMMANY SOCIETY.
COLUMBUS, Voyages of.
See AMERICA: A. D.1484-1492; 1492; 1493-1496; 1498-1505.
COMANA.
Comana, an ancient city of Cappadocia, on the river Sarus
(Sihoon) was the seat of a priesthood, in the temple of Enyo,
or Bellona, so venerated, so wealthy and so powerful that the
chief priest of Comana counted among the great Asiatic
dignitaries in the time of Cæsar.
G. Long, Decline of the Roman Rep., 'volume 5, chapter 22.
COMANCHES, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES:
SNOSHONEAN FAMILY, and KIOWAN FAMILY,
and APACHE GROUP.
COMANS, The.
See KIPCHAKS; PATCHINAKS; COSSACKS,
and HUNGARY: A. D. 1114-1301.
COMBAT, Judicial.
See WAGER OF BATTLE.
COMES LITTORIS SAXONICI.
See SAXON SHORE, COUNT OF.
COMES PALATII.
See PALATINE COUNTS.
COMITATUS.--COMITES.--GESITHS.--THEGNS.
Comitatus is the name given by Tacitus to a body of warlike
companions among the ancient Germans "who attached themselves
in the closest manner to the chieftain of their choice. They
were in many cases the sons of the nobles who were ambitious
of renown or of a perfect education in arms. The princeps
provided for them horses, arms, and such rough equipment as
they wanted. These and plentiful entertainment were accepted
instead of wages. In time of war the comites fought for their
chief, at once his defenders and the rivals of his prowess.
... In the times of forced and unwelcome rest they were
thoroughly idle; they cared neither for farming nor for
hunting, but spent the time in feasting and in sleep. ...
{490}
Like the Frank king, the Anglo-Saxon king seems to have
entered on the full possession of what had been the right of
the elective principes [to nominate and maintain a comitatus,
to which he could give territory and political power]: but the
very principle of the comitatus had undergone a change from
what it was in the time of Tacitus, when it reappears in our
historians, and it seems to have had in England a peculiar
development and a bearing of special importance on the
constitution. In Tacitus the comites are the personal
following of the princeps; they live in his house, are
maintained by his gifts, fight for him in the field. If there
is little difference between companions and servants, it is
because civilization has not yet introduced voluntary
helplessness. ... Now the king, the perpetual princeps and
representative of the race, conveys to his personal following
public dignity and importance. His gesiths and thegns are
among the great and wise men of the land. The right of having
such dependents is not restricted to him, but the gesith of
the ealdorman or bishop is simply a retainer, a pupil or a
ward: the free household servants of the ceorl are in a
certain sense his gesiths also. But the gesiths of the king
are his guard and private council; they may be endowed by him
from the folkland and admitted by him to the witenagemot. ...
The Danish huscarls of Canute are a late reproduction of what
the familia of the Northumbrian kings must have been in the
eighth century. ... The development of the comitatus into a
territorial nobility seems to be a feature peculiar to English
history. ... The Lombard gasind, and the Bavarian sindman were
originally the same thing as the Anglo-Saxon gesith. But they
sank into the general mass of vassalage as it grew up in the
ninth and tenth centuries. ... Closely connected with the
gesith is the thegn; so closely that it is scarcely possible
to see the difference except in the nature of the employment.
The thegn seems to be primarily the warrior gesith; in this
idea Alfred uses the word as translating the 'miles' of Bede.
He is probably the gesith who has a particular military duty
in his master's service: But he also appears as a landowner.
The ceorl who has acquired five hides of land, and a special
appointment in the king's hall, with other judicial rights,
becomes thegn-worthy. ... And from this point, the time of
Athelstan, the gesith is lost sight of, except very
occasionally; the more important members of the class having
become thegns, and the lesser sort sinking into the ranks of
mere servants to the king. The class of thegns now widens; on
the one hand the name is given to all who possess the proper
quantity of land, whether or no they stand in the old relation
to the king; on the other the remains of the old nobility
place themselves in the king's service. The name of thegn
covers the whole class which after the Conquest appears under
the name of knights, with the same qualification in land and
nearly the same obligations. It also carried so much of
nobility as is implied in hereditary privilege. The thegn-born
are contrasted with the ceorl-born; and are perhaps much the
same as the gesithcund. ... Under the name of thegn are
included however various grades of dignity. The class of
king's thegns is distinguished from that of the medial thegns,
and from a residuum that falls in rank below the latter. ...
The very name, like that of the gesith, has different senses
in different ages and kingdoms; but the original idea of
military service runs through all the meanings of thegn, as
that of personal association is traceable in all the
applications of gesith."
William Stubbs, Constitutional History of England,
chapter 2, section 14 and chapter 6, section 63-65.
ALSO IN:
T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders,
book 4, chapter 7.
See, also, COUNT AND DUKE.
COMITIA CENTURIATA.
"Under the original constitution of Rome, the patricians alone
... enjoyed political rights in the state, but at the same
time they were forced to bear the whole burden of political
duties. In these last were included, for example, the tilling
of the king's fields, the construction of public works and
buildings; ... citizens alone, also, were liable to service in
the army. ... The political burdens, especially those
connected with the army, grew heavier, naturally, as the power
of Rome increased, and it was seen to be an injustice that one
part of the people, and that, too, the smaller part, should
alone feel their weight. This led to the first important
modification of the Roman constitution, which was made even
before the close of the regal period. According to tradition,
its author was the king Servius Tullius, and its general
object was to make all men who held land in the state liable
to military service. It thus conferred no political rights on
the plebeians, but assigned to them their share of political
duties. ... According to tradition, all the freeholders in the
city between the ages of 17 and 60, with some exceptions, were
divided, without distinction as to birth, into five classes
('classis,' 'a summoning,' 'calo') for service in the infantry
according to the size of their estates. Those who were
excepted served as horsemen. These were selected from among
the very richest men in the state. ... Of the five classes of
infantry, the first contained the richest men. ... The members
of the first class were required to come to the battle array
in complete armor, while less was demanded of the other four.
Each class was subdivided into centuries or bodies of a
hundred men each, for convenience in arranging the army. There
were in all 193 centuries. ... This absolute number and this
apportionment were continued, as the population increased and
the distribution of wealth altered, until the name century
came to have a purely conventional meaning, even if it had any
other in the beginning. Henceforth a careful census was taken
every fourth year, and all freeholders were made subject to
the 'tributum.' The arrangement of the people thus described
was primarily made simply for military purposes. ...
Gradually, however, this organization came to have political
significance, until finally these men, got together for what
is the chief political duty in a primitive state, enjoyed what
political privileges there were. ... In the end, this
'exercitus' of Servius Tullius formed another popular
assembly, the Comitia Centuriata, which supplanted the comitia
curiata entirely, except in matters connected with the
religion of the family and very soon of purely formal
significance. This organization, therefore, became of the
highest civil importance, and was continued for civil purposes
long after the army was marshalled on quite another plan."
A. Tighe, Development of the Roman Const., chapter 4.
ALSO IN:
W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 6, chapter 1
W. Ramsay, Manual of Roman Antiquity, chapter 4.
{491}
COMITIA CURIATA.
"In the beginning, any member of any one of the clans which
were included in the three original Roman tribes, was a Roman
citizen. So, too, were his children born in lawful wedlock,
and those who were adopted by him according to the forms of
law. Illegitimate children, on the other hand, were excluded
from the number of citizens. These earliest Romans called
themselves patricians (patricii, children of their fathers'),
for some reason about which we cannot be sure. Perhaps it was
in order to distinguish themselves from their illegitimate
kinsmen and from such other people as lived about, having no
pretense of blood connection with them, and who were,
therefore, incapable of contracting lawful marriages,
according to the patrician's view of this religious ceremony.
The patricians ... were grouped together in families, clans
and tribes, partly on the basis of blood relationship, but
chiefly on the basis of common religious worship. Besides
these groups, there was still another in the state, the curia,
or 'ward,' which stood between the clan and the tribe. In the
earliest times, tradition said, ten families formed a clan,
ten clans a curia and ten curiæ a tribe. These numbers, if
they ever had any historical existence, could not have
sustained themselves for any length of time in the case of the
clans and families, for such organisms of necessity would
increase and decrease quite irregularly. About the nature of
the curia we have practically no direct information. The
organization had become a mere name at an early period in the
city's history. Whether the members of a curia thought of
themselves as having closer kinship with one another than with
members of other curiæ is not clear. We know, however, that
the curiæ were definite political sub-divisions of the city,
perhaps like modern wards, and that each curia had a common
religious worship for its members' participation. Thus much,
at any rate, is significant, because it has to do with the
form of Rome's primitive popular assembly. When the king
wanted to harangue the people ('populus,' cf. 'populor,' 'to
devastate') he called them to a 'contio' (compounded of 'co'
and 'venio'). But if he wanted to propose to them action which
implied a change in the organic law of the state, he summoned
them to a comitia (compounded of 'con' and 'eo'). To this the
name comitia curiata was given, because its members voted by
curiæ. Each curia had one vote, the character of which was
determined by a majority of its members, and a majority of the
curiæ decided the matter for the comitia."
A. Tighe, Development of the Roman Const., chapter 3.
ALSO IN:
T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 1, chapter 5.
F. De Coulanges, The Ancient City,
book 3, ch.. 1, and book 4 chapter 1.
See, also, COMITIA CENTURIATA, and CONTIONES.
COMITIA TRIBUTA, The.
See ROME: B. C. 472-471.
COMMAGENE, Kingdom of.
A district of northern Syria, between Cilicia and the
Euphrates, which acquired independence during the disorders
which broke up the empire of the Seleucidæ, and was a separate
kingdom during the last century B. C. It was afterwards made a
Roman province. Its capital was Samosata.
COMMENDATION.
See BENEFICIUM
COMMERCIUM.
See MUNICIPIUM.
COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY,
The French Revolutionary.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (MARCH-JUNE),
and (JUNE-OCTOBER).
COMMITTEE ON THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861-1862 (DECEMBER-MATCH: VIRGINIA).
COMMODUS, Roman Emperor, A. D. 180-192.
COMMON LAW, English.
"The municipal law of England, or the rule of civil conduct
prescribed to the inhabitants of this kingdom, may with
sufficient propriety be divided into two kinds; the 'lex non
scripta,' the unwritten or common law; and the 'lex scripta,'
the written or statute law. The 'lex non scripta,' or
unwritten law, includes not only general customs, or the
common law properly so called, but also the particular customs
of certain parts of the kingdom; and likewise those particular
laws that are by custom observed only in certain courts and
jurisdictions. When I call these parts of our law 'leges non
scriptre,' I would not be understood as if all those laws were
at present merely oral, or communicated from the former ages
to the present solely by word of mouth. ... But, with us at
present, the monuments and evidences of our legal customs are
contained in the records of the several courts of justice, in
books of reports and judicial decisions, and in the treatises
of learned sages of the profession, preserved and handed down
to us from the times of highest antiquity. However, I
therefore style these parts of our law 'leges non scriptre,'
because their original institution and authority are not set
down in writing, as Acts of Parliament are, but they receive
their binding power, and the force of laws, by long and
immemorial usage, and by their universal reception throughout
the kingdom."
Sir W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England.
introduction, section 3.
ALSO IN:
H. S. Maine, Ancient Law, chapter 1.
J. N. Pomeroy, Introduction to Municipal Law,
sections. 37-42.
COMMON LOT, OR COMMON LIFE, Brethren of the.
See BRETHREN OF THE COMMON LOT.
"COMMON SENSE" (Paine's Pamphlet),
The influence of.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 (JANUARY-JUNE).
COMMONS, The.
See ESTATES, THE THREE.
COMMONS, House of.
See PARLIAMENT, THE ENGLISH,
and KNIGHTS OF THE SHIRE.
COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND, Establishment of the.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1649 (FEBRUARY).
COMMUNE, The.
The commonalty; the commons. In feudal usage, the term
signified, as defined by Littré, the body of the bourgeois or
burghers of a town who had received a charter which gave them
rights of self-government. "In France the communal
constitution was during this period (12th century) encouraged,
although not very heartily, by Lewis VI., who saw in it one
means of fettering the action of the barons and bishops and
securing to himself the support of a strong portion of his
people. In some cases the commune of France is, like the
guild, a voluntary association, but its objects are from the
first more distinctly political. In some parts of the kingdom
the towns had risen against their lords in the latter half of
the eleventh century, and had retained the fruits of their
hard-won victories.
{492}
In others, they possessed, in the
remaining fragments of the Karolingian constitution, some
organisation that formed a basis for new liberties. The great
number of charters granted in the twelfth century shows that
the policy of encouraging the third estate was in full sway in
the royal councils, and the king by ready recognition of the
popular rights gained the affections of the people to an
extent which has few parallels in French history. The French
charters are in both style and substance very different from
the English. The liberties which are bestowed are for the most
part the same, exemption from arbitrary taxation, the right to
local jurisdiction, the privilege of enfranchising the villein
who has been for a year and a day received within the walls,
and the power of electing the officers. But whilst all the
English charters contain a confirmation of free and good
customs, the French are filled with an enumeration of bad
ones. ... The English have an ancient local constitution the
members of which are the recipients of the new grant, and
guilds of at least sufficient antiquity to render their
confirmation typical of the freedom now guaranteed; French
communia is a new body which, by the action of a sworn
confederacy, has wrung from its oppressors a deliverance from
hereditary bondage. ... The commune lacks too the ancient
element of festive religious or mercantile association which
is so conspicuous in the history of the guild. The idea of the
latter is English, that of the former is French or Gallic. Yet
notwithstanding these differences, the substantial identity of
the privileges secured by these charters seems to prove the
existence of much international sympathy. The ancient
liberties of the English were not unintelligible to the
townsmen of Normandy; the rising freedom of the German cities
roused a corresponding ambition in the towns of Flanders; and
the struggles of the Italian municipalities awoke the energies
of the cities of Provence. All took different ways to win the
same liberties. ... The German Hansa may have been derived
from England; the communa of London was certainly derived from
France. ... The communa of London, and of those other English
towns which in the twelfth century aimed at such a
constitution, was the old English guild in a new French garb:
it was the ancient association, but directed to the attainment
of municipal rather than mercantile privileges."
William Stubbs, Constitutional History of England,
chapter 11.
"Oppression and insurrection were not the sole origin of the
communes. ... Two causes, quite distinct from feudal
oppression, viz., Roman traditions and Christian sentiments,
had their share in the formation of the communes and in the
beneficial results thereof. The Roman municipal regimen, which
is described in M. Guizot's 'Essais sur l'Histoire de France'
(1st Essay, pages 1-44), [also in 'History of Civilization,' volume
2, lecture 2] did not every where perish with the Empire; it
kept its footing in a great number of towns, especially in
those of Southern Gaul."
F. P. Guizot, Popular History of France, chapter 19.
ALSO IN:
Sir J. Stephen, Lectures on the History of France, lecture 5.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1070-1125;
also, CURIA, MUNICIPAL,
and GUILDS OF FLANDERS.
COMMUNE, The Flemish.
See GUILDS OF FLANDERS.
COMMUNE OF PARIS,
The Revolutionary, of 1792.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (AUGUST).
The rebellion of the.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1871 (MARCH-MAY).
----------COMMUNE OF PARIS: End----------
COMMUNE, The Russian.
See MIR.
COMMUNE, The Swiss.
See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1848-1890.
COMMUNEROS, The.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1814-1827.
COMNENIAN DYNASTY.
The dynasty of Byzantine emperors founded, A. D. 1081, by
Alexius Comnenos, and consisting of Alexius I., John II.,
Manuel 1., Alexius II., and Andronicus I., who was murdered A.
D. 1185.
See CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1081.
COMPAGNACCI, The.
See FLORENCE: A. D. 1490-1498.
COMPASS, Introduction of the Mariner's.
"It is perhaps impossible to ascertain the epoch when the
polarity of the magnet was first known in Europe. The common
opinion which ascribes its discovery to a citizen of Amalfi in
the 14th century, is undoubtedly erroneous. Guiot de Provins,
a French poet who lived about the year 1200, or, at the
latest, under St. Louis, describes it in the most unequivocal
language. James de Vitry, a bishop in Palestine, before the
middle of the 13th century, and Guido Guinizzelli, an Italian
poet of the same time, are equally explicit. The French, as
well as Italians, claim the discovery as their own; but
whether it were due to either of these nations, or rather
learned from their intercourse with the Saracens, is not
easily to be ascertained. ... It is a singular circumstance,
and only to be explained by the obstinacy with which men are
apt to reject improvements, that the magnetic needle was not
generally adopted in navigation till very long after the
discovery of its properties, and even after their peculiar
importance had been perceived. The writers of the 13th
century, who mention the polarity of the needle, mention also
its use in navigation; yet Capmany has found no distinct proof
of its employment till 1403, and does not believe that it was
frequently on board Mediterranean ships at the latter part of
the preceding age."
H. Hallam, The Middle Ages, chapter 9, part 2, with note.
"Both Chaucer, the English, and Barbour, the Scottish, poet,
allude familiarly to the compass in the latter part of the
14th century."
G. L. Craik, History of British Commerce, volume 1, page 138.
"We have no certain information of the directive tendency of
the natural magnet being known earlier than the middle or end
of the 11th century (in Europe, of course). ... That it was
known at this date and its practical value recognized, is
shown by a passage from an Icelandic historian, quoted by
Hanstien in his treatise of Terrestrial Magnetism. In this
extract an expedition from Norway to Iceland in the year 868
is described; and it is stated that three ravens were taken as
guides, for, adds the historian, 'in those times seamen had no
loadstone in the northern countries.' This history was written
about the year A. D. 1068, and the allusion I have quoted
obviously shows that the author was aware of natural magnets
having been employed as a compass. At the same time it fixes a
limit of the discovery in northern countries. We find no
mention of artificial magnets being so employed till about a
century later."
Sir W. Thompson, quoted by R. F. Burton in Ultima Thule,
volume 1, page 312.
{493}
COMPIEGNE: Capture of the Maid of Orleans (1430).
See FRANCE. A. D. 1429-1431.
COMPOUND HOUSEHOLDER, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1865-1868.
COMPROMISE, The Crittenden.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (DECEMBER).
COMPROMISE, The Flemish, of 1565.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1562-1566.
COMPROMISE, The Missouri.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1818-1821.
COMPROMISE MEASURES OF 1850, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1850.
COMPROMISE TARIFF OF 1833, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1828-1833.
COMPURGATION.
Among the Teutonic and other peoples, in early times, one
accused of a crime might clear himself by his own oath,
supported by the oaths of certain compurgators, who bore
witness to his trustworthiness.
See WAGER OF LAW.
COMSTOCK LODE, Discovery of the.
See NEVADA: A. D. 1848-1864.
COMUM, Battle of (B. C. 196).
See ROME: B. C. 295-191.
CONCIONES, The Roman.
See CONTIONES, THE.
CONCON, Battle of (1891).
See CHILE: A. D. 1885-1891.
CONCORD.
Beginning of the War of the American Revolution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (APRIL).
CONCORDAT OF BOLOGNA, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1515-1518.
CONCORDAT OF NAPOLEON, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1801-1804.
CONCORDAT OF 1813, The.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814.
CONDÉ, The first Prince Louis de, and the French wars of religion.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1560-1563, and 1563-1570.
CONDÉ, The Second Prince Louis de (called The Great).
Campaigns in the Thirty Years War, and the war with Spain.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1642-1643; 1643;
GERMANY: A. D. 1640-1645; 1643-1644.
In the wars of the Fronde.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1647-1648; 1649; 1650-1651; 1651-1653.
Campaigns against France in the service of Spain.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1653-1656, and 1655-1658.
Last campaigns.
See NETHERLANDS (HOLLAND): A. D. 1672-1674 and 1674-1678.
CONDÉ, The House of.
See BOURBON, THE HOUSE OF,
CONDÉ: A. D. 1793.-Siege and capture by the Austrians.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (JULY-DECEMBER).
CONDÉ: A. D. 1794.
Recovery by the French.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1794 (MARCH-JULY).
----------CONDÉ: End----------
CONDORE, OR KONDUR, Battle of (1758).
See INDIA: A. D. 1758-1761.
CONDOTTIERE.
In the general meaning of the word, a conductor or leader;
applied specially, in Italian history, to the professional
military leaders of the 13th and 14th centuries, who made a
business of war very much as a modern contractor makes a
business of railroad construction, and who were open to
engagement, with the troops at their command, by any prince,
or any free city whose offers were satisfactory.
CONDRUSI, The.
See BELGÆ.
CONESTOGAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SUSQUEHANNAS.
CONFEDERACY OF DELOS, OR THE DELIAN.
See GREECE: B. C. 478-477,
and ATHENS: B. C. 466-454, and after.
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.
Constitution and organization of the government.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (FEBRUARY).
CONFEDERATION, Articles of (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1777-1781.
CONFEDERATION, Australian.
See AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1885-1892.
CONFEDERATION, The Germanic,
of 1814.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1814-1820.
Of 1870.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1870 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER).
CONFEDERATION, The North German.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1866.
CONFEDERATION, The Swiss.
See SWITZERLAND.
CONFEDERATION OF THE BRITISH AMERICAN PROVINCES.
See CANADA: A. D. 1867.
CONFEDERATION OF THE RHINE, The.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1805-1806; 1806 (JANUARY-AUGUST);
and 1813 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER);
also, FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (JANUARY-MARCH).
CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1530-1531.
CONFLANS, Treaty of.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1461-1468.
CONFUCIANISM.
See CHINA: THE RELIGIONS.
CONGO FREE STATE, The Founding of the.
"Since Leopold II.'s accession to the throne [of Belgium], his
great object has been to secure colonial possessions to
Belgium for her excess of population and production. To this
end he founded, in October, 1876, with the aid of eminent
African explorers, the International African Association. Its
object was to form committees in several countries, with a
view to the collection of funds, and to the establishment of a
chain of stations across Africa, passing by Lake Tanganyika,
to assist future explorers. Accordingly committees were
formed, whose presidents were as follows: in England, the
Prince of Wales; in Germany the Crown Prince; in Italy the
King's brother; in France, M. de Lesseps; and in Belgium, King
Leopold. Sums of money were subscribed, and stations were
opened from Bagomoyo (just south of Zanzibar) to Lake
Tanganyika; but when toward the close of 1877, Stanley
reappeared on the Atlantic coast and revealed the immense

length of the marvelous Congo River, King Leopold at once
turned his attention in that direction. That he might not put
himself forward prematurely, he acted under cover of an
association and a committee of exploration, which were in
reality formed and entirely supported by the King's energy and
by the large sums of money that he lavished upon them. Through
this association King Leopold maintained Stanley for five
years on the Congo. During this time a road was made from the
coast to Stanley Pool, where the navigable portion of the
Upper Congo commences; and thus was formed the basis of the
future empire. During this period Stanley signed no less than
four thousand treaties or concessions of territory, on which
upward of two thousand chiefs had placed their marks in sign
of adhesion.
{494}
At a cost of many months of transportation, necessitating the
employment of thousands of porters, light steamers were placed
on the upper river which was explored as far as Stanley Falls.
Its numerous tributaries also were followed up as far as the
rapids that interrupt their courses. Many young Belgian
officers and other adventurous explorers established
themselves on the banks of the Congo and the adjoining river,
the Kouiliou, and founded a series of stations, each occupied
by one or two Europeans and by a few soldiers from Zanzibar.
In this way the country was insensibly taken possession of in
the most pacific manner, without a struggle and with no
bloodshed whatever; for the natives, who are of a very gentle
disposition, offered no resistance. The Senate of the United
States, which was called upon, in 1884, to give an opinion on
the rights of the African Association, made a careful
examination of the matter, and recognized the legality of the
claims and title deeds submitted to them. A little later, in
order to mark the formation of a state, the Congo Association
adopted as its flag a gold star on a blue ground. A French
lawyer. M. Deloume, in a very well-written pamphlet entitled
'Le Droit des Gens dans l'Afrique Equatoriale,' has proved
that this proceeding was not only legitimate, but necessary.
The embryo state, however, lacked one essential thing, namely,
recognition by the civilized powers. It existed only as a
private association, or, as a hostile publicist expressed it,
as 'a state in shares, indulging in pretensions of
sovereignty.' Great difficulties stood in the way of realizing
this essential condition. Disputes, on the one hand with
France and on the other with Portugal, appeared inevitable.
... King Leopold did not lose heart. In 1882 he obtained from
the French government an assurance that, while maintaining its
rights to the north of Stanley Pool, it would give support to
the International Association of the Congo. With Portugal it
seemed very difficult to come to an understanding. ... Prince
Bismarck took part in the matter, and in the German Parliament
praised highly the work of the African Association. In April,
1884, he proposed to France to come to an understanding, and
to settle all difficulties by general agreement. From this
proposition sprang the famous Berlin conference, the
remarkable decisions of which we shall mention later. At the
same time, before the conference opened, Germany signed an
agreement with the International Association of the Congo, in
which she agreed to recognize its flag as that of a state, in
exchange for an assurance that her trade should be free, and
that German subjects should enjoy all the privileges of the
most favored nations. Similar agreements were entered upon
with nearly all the other countries of the globe. The
delegates of the Association were accepted at the conference
on the same footing as those of the different states that were
represented there, and on February 26, the day on which the
act was signed, Bismarck expressed himself as follows: 'The
new State of the Congo is destined to be one of the chief
safe-guards of the work we have in view, and I sincerely trust
that its development will fulfill the noble aspirations of its
august founder.' Thus the Congo International Association,
hitherto only a private enterprise, seemed now to be
recognized as a sovereign state, without having, however, as
yet assumed the title. But where were the limits of its
territory. ... Thanks to the interference of France, after
prolonged negotiations an understanding was arrived at on
February 15, 1885, by which both parties were satisfied. They
agreed that Portugal should take possession of the southern
bank of the Congo, up to its junction with the little stream
Uango, above Nokki, and also of the district of Kabinda
forming a wedge that extends into the French territory on the
Atlantic Ocean. The International Congo Association--for such
was still its title--was to have access to the sea by a strip
of land extending from Manyanga (west of Leopoldville) to the
ocean, north of Banana, and comprising in addition to this
port, Boma and the important station of Vivi. These treaties
granted the association 931,285 square miles of territory,
that is to say, a domain eighty times the size of Belgium,
with more than 7,500 miles of navigable rivers. The limits
fixed were, on the west, the Kuango, an important tributary of
the Congo; on the south, the sources of the Zambesi; on the
east, the Lakes Bangweolo, Moero, and Tanganyika, and a line
passing through Lake Albert Edward to the river Ouelle; on the
north, a line following the fourth degree of latitude to the
Mobangi River on the French frontier. The whole forms one
eleventh part of the African continent. The association became
transformed into a state in August 1885, when King Leopold,
with the authorization of the Belgian Chambers, notified the
powers that he should assume the title of Sovereign of the
Independent State of the Congo, the union of which with
Belgium was to be exclusively personal. The Congo is,
therefore, not a Belgian colony, but nevertheless the Belgian
Chambers have recently given valuable assistance to the King's
work; first, in taking, on July 26, 1889, 10,000,000 francs'
worth of shares in the railway which is to connect the seaport
of Matadi with the riverport of Leopoldville, on Stanley Pool,
and secondly by granting a loan of 25,000,000 francs to the
Independent State on August 4, 1890. The King, in a will laid
before Parliament, bequeaths all his African possessions to
the Belgian nation, authorizing the country to take possession
of them after a lapse of ten years."
E. de Laveleye, The Division of Africa
(The Forum, January, 1891).
ALSO IN:
H. M. Stanley, The Congo, and the Founding of its Free
State.
CONGREGATION OF THE ORATORY, The.
"Philip of Neri, a young Florentine of good birth (1515-1595;
canonised 1622) ... in 1548 instituted at Rome the Society of
the Holy Trinity, to minister to the wants of the pilgrims at
Rome. But the operations of his mission gradually extended
till they embraced the spiritual welfare of the Roman
population at large, and the reformation of the Roman clergy
in particular. No figure is more serene and more sympathetic
to us in the history of the Catholic reaction than that of
this latter-day 'apostle of Rome.' From his association, which
followed the rule of St. Augustine, sprang in 1575 the
Congregation of the Oratory at Rome, famous as the seminary of
much that is most admirable in the labours of the Catholic
clergy."
A. W. Ward, The Counter-Reformation, page 30.
{495}
"In the year 1766, there were above a hundred Congregations of
the Oratory of S. Philip in Europe and the East Indies; but
since the revolutions of the last seventy years many of these
have ceased to exist, while, on the contrary, within the last
twelve years two have been established in England."
Mrs. Hope, Life of S. Philip Neri, chapter 24.
ALSO IN:
H. L. S. Lear, Priestly Life in France, chapter 4.
CONGREGATIONALISM.
See INDEPENDENTS.
CONGRESS, Colonial, at Albany.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1754.
CONGRESS, Continental,
The First.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1774 (SEPTEMBER),
and (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER).
The Second.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (MAY-AUGUST).
CONGRESS, The First American.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1690.
CONGRESS, The Pan-American.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1889-1890.
CONGRESS, The Stamp Act.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1765.
CONGRESS OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, The.
See AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, THE CONGRESS AND TREATY.
CONGRESS OF BERLIN.
See TURKS: A. D. 1878.
CONGRESS OF PANAMA.
See COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1826.
CONGRESS OF PARIS.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1854-1856,
and DECLARATION OF PARIS.
CONGRESS OF RASTADT, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (APRIL-SEPTEMBER).
CONGRESS OF VERONA, The.
See VERONA, THE CONGRESS OF.
CONGRESS OF VIENNA.
See VIENNA, CONGRESS OF.
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.
"The Constitution created Congress and conferred upon it
powers of legislation for national purposes, but made no
provision as to the method by which these powers should be
exercised. In consequence Congress has itself developed a
method of transacting its business by means of committees. The
Federal Legislature consists of two Houses--the Senate, or
Upper and less numerous branch, and the House of
Representatives, or the Lower and more numerous popular
branch. The Senate is composed of two members from each State
elected by the State legislatures for a term of six years, one
third of whom retire every two years. The presiding officer is
the Vice-President. Early in each session the Senate chooses a
President pro tempore, so as to provide for any absence of the
Vice-President, whether caused by death, sickness, or for
other reasons. The House of Representatives is at present
[1891] composed of 332 members and four delegates from the
Territories. These delegates, however, have no vote, though
they may speak. The House is presided over by a Speaker,
elected at the beginning of each [Congress]. A quorum for
business is, in either House, a majority. Congress meets every
year in the beginning of December. Each Congress lasts two
years and holds two sessions--a long and a short session. The
long session lasts from December to midsummer [or until the
two Houses agree upon an adjournment]. The short session lasts
from December, when Congress meets again, until the 4th of
March. The term of office then expires for all the members of
the House and for one-third of the Senators. The long session
ends in even years (1880 and 1882, etc.), and the short
session in odd years (1881 and 1883). Extra sessions may be
called by the President for urgent business. In the early part
of the November preceding the end of the short session of
Congress occurs the election of Representatives. Congressmen
then elected do not take their seats until thirteen months
later, that is, at the reassembling of Congress in December of
the year following, unless an extra session is called. The
Senate frequently holds secret, or, as they are called,
executive sessions, for the consideration of treaties and
nominations of the President, in which the House of
Representatives has no voice. It is then said to sit with
closed doors. An immense amount of business must necessarily
be transacted by a Congress that legislates for nearly
63,000,000 of people. ... Lack of time, of course, prevents a
consideration of each bill separately by the whole
legislature. To provide a means by which each subject may
receive investigation and consideration, a plan is used by
which the members of both branches of Congress are divided
into committees. Each committee busies itself with a certain
class of business, and bills when introduced are referred to
this or that committee for consideration, according to the
subjects to which the bills relate. ... The Senate is now
divided between 50 and 60 committees, but the number varies
from session to session. ... The House of Representatives is
organized into 60 committees [appointed by the Speaker],
ranging, in their number of members, from thirteen down. ...
The Committee of Ways and Means, which regulates customs
duties and excise taxes, is by far the most important. ...
Congress ordinarily assembles at noon and remains in session
until 4 or 5 P. M., though towards the end of the term it
frequently remains in session until late in the night. ...
There is still one feature of Congressional government which
needs explanation, and that is the caucus. A caucus is the
meeting of the members of one party in private, for the
discussion of the attitude and line of policy which members of
that party are to take on questions which are expected to
arise in the legislative halls. Thus, in Senate caucus, is
decided who shall be members of the various committees. In
these meetings is frequently discussed whether or not the
whole party shall vote for or against this or that important
bill, and thus its fate is decided before it has even come up
for debate in Congress."
W. W. and W. F. Willoughby, Government and
Administration of the U. S. (Johns Hopkins University
Studies, series ix., numbers 1-2), chapter 9.
ALSO IN:
W. Wilson, Congressional Government, chapter 2-4.
J. Bryce, The American Commonwealth,
part 1, chapter 10-21 (volume l).
A. L. Dawes, How we are Governed, chapter 2.
The Federalist, numbers. 51-65.
J. Story, Commentaries on the Constitutional of the
United States, book 3, chapters 8-31 (volumes 2-3).
CONI.
Sieges (1744 and 1799).
See ITALY: A. D. 1744;
and FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (AUGUST-DECEMBER).
CONIBO, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ANDESIANS.
CONNAUGHT, Transplantation of the Irish people into.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1653.
{496}
CONNECTICUT: The River and the Name.
"The first discoveries made of this part of New England were
of its principal river and the fine meadows lying upon its
bank. Whether the Dutch at New Netherlands, or the people of
New Plymouth, were the first discoverers of the river is not
certain. Both the English and the Dutch claimed to be the
first discoverers, and both purchased and made a settlement of
the lands upon it nearly at the same time. ... From this fine
river, which the Indians call Quonehtacut, or Connecticut, (in
English the long river) the colony originally took its name."
B. Trumbull, History of Connecticut, chapter 2.
According to Dutch accounts, the river was entered by Adriaen
Block, ascended to latitude 41° 48', and named Fresh River, in
1614.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1610-1614.
CONNECTICUT: The Aboriginal inhabitants.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1631.
The grant to Lord Say and Sele, and others.
In 1631, the Earl of Warwick granted to Lord Say and Sele,
Lord Brooke, Sir Richard Saltonstall, and others, "the
territory between Narragansett River and southwest towards New
York for 120 miles and west to the Pacific Ocean, or,
according to the words of President Clap of Yale College,
'from Point Judith to New York, and from thence a west line to
the South Sea, and if we take Narragansett River in its whole
length the tract will extend as far north as Worcester. It
comprehends the whole of the colony of Connecticut and more.
This was called the old patent of Connecticut, and had been
granted the previous year, 1630, by the Council of Plymouth
[or Council for New England] to the Earl of Warwick. Yet
before the English had planted settlements in Connecticut the
Dutch had purchased of the Pequots land where Hartford now
stands and erected a small trading fort called 'The House of
Good Hope.'"
C. W. Bowen, Boundary Disputes of Connecticut, page 15.
In 1635, four years after the Connecticut grant, said to have
been derived originally from the Council for New England, in
1630, had been transferred by the Earl of Warwick to Lord Say
and Seal and others, the Council made an attempt, in
connivance with the English court, to nullify all its grants,
to regain possession of the territory of New England and to
parcel it out by lot among its own members. In this attempted
parcelling, which proved ineffectual, Connecticut fell to the
lot of the Earl of Carlisle, the Duke of Lennox, and the Duke
of Hamilton. Modern investigation seems to have found the
alleged grant from the Council of Plymouth, or Council for New
England, to the Earl of Warwick, in 1630, to be mythical. "No
one has ever seen it, or has heard of anyone who claims to
have seen it. It is not mentioned even in the grant from
Warwick to the Say and Sele patentees in 1631. ... The deed is
a mere quit-claim, which warrants nothing and does not even
assert title to the soil transferred. ... Why the Warwick
transaction took this peculiar shape, why Warwick transferred,
without showing title, a territory which the original owners
granted anew to other patentees in 1635, are questions which
are beyond conjecture."
A. Johnston, Connecticut, chapter 2.
See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1635.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1634-1637.
The pioneer settlements.
"In October, 1634, some men of Plymouth, led by William
Holmes, sailed up the Connecticut river, and, after bandying
threats with a party of Dutch who had built a rude fort on the
site of Hartford, passed on and fortified themselves on the
site of Windsor. Next year Governor Van Twiller sent a company
of seventy men to drive away these intruders, but after
reconnoitering the situation the Dutchmen thought it best not
to make an attack. Their little stronghold at Hartford
remained unmolested by the English, and, in order to secure
the communication between this advanced outpost and New
Amsterdam, Van Twiller decided to build another fort at the
mouth of the river, but this time the English were beforehand.
Rumours of Dutch designs may have reached the ears of Lord Say
and Sele and Lord Brooke--'fanatic Brooke,' as Scott calls him
in 'Marmion'--who had obtained from the Council for New
England a grant of territory on the shores of the Sound. These
noblemen chose as their agent the younger John Winthrop, son
of the Massachusetts governor, and this new-comer arrived upon
the scene just in time to drive away Van Twiller's vessel and
build an English fort which in honour of his two patrons he
called 'Say-Brooke.' Had it not been for seeds of discontent
already sown in Massachusetts, the English hold upon the
Connecticut valley might perhaps have been for a few years
confined to these two military outposts at Windsor and
Saybrooke. But there were people in Massachusetts who did not
look with favour upon the aristocratic and theocratic features
of its polity. The provision that none but church-members
should vote or hold office was by no means unanimously
approved. ... Cotton declared that democracy was no fit
government either for church or for commonwealth, and the
majority of the ministers agreed with him. Chief among those
who did not was the learned and eloquent Thomas Hooker, pastor
of the church at Newtown. ... There were many in Newtown who
took Hooker's view of the matter; and there, as also in
Watertown and Dorchester, which in 1633 took the initiative in
framing town governments with selectmen, a strong disposition
was shown to evade the restrictions upon the suffrage. While
such things were talked about, in the summer of 1633, the
adventurous John Oldham was making his way through the forest
and over the mountains into the Connecticut valley, and when
he returned to the coast his glowing accounts set some people
to thinking. Two years afterward, a few pioneers from
Dorchester pushed through the wilderness as far as the
Plymouth men's fort at Windsor, while a party from Watertown
went farther and came to a halt upon the site of Wethersfield.
A larger party, bringing cattle and such goods as they could
carry, set out in the autumn and succeeded in reaching
Windsor. ... In the next June, 1636, the Newtown congregation,
a hundred or more in number, led by their sturdy pastor, and
bringing with them 160 head of cattle, made the pilgrimage to
the Connecticut valley. Women and children took part in this
pleasant summer journey; Mrs. Hooker, the pastor's wife, being
too ill to walk, was carried on a litter. Thus, in the
memorable year in which our great university was born, did
Cambridge become, in the true Greek sense of a much-abused
word, the metropolis or 'mother town' of Hartford. The
migration at once became strong in numbers.
{497}
During the past twelvemonth a score of ships had brought from
England to Massachusetts more than 3,000 souls, and so great
an accession made further movement easy. Hooker's pilgrims
were soon followed by the Dorchester and Watertown
congregations, and by the next May 800 people were living in
Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield. As we read of these
movements, not of individuals, but of organic communities,
united in allegiance to a church and its pastor, and fervid
with the instinct of self-government, we seem to see Greek
history renewed, but with centuries of added political
training. For one year a board of commissioners from
Massachusetts governed the new towns, but at the end of that
time the towns chose representatives and held a General Court
at Hartford, and thus the separate existence of Connecticut
was begun. As for Springfield, which was settled about the
same time by a party from Roxbury, it remained for some years
doubtful to which state it belonged."
J. Fiske, The Beginnings of New England., chapter 3.
ALSO IN:
J. G. Palfrey, History of New England, volume 1, chapter 11.
G. L. Walker, History of the First Church in Hartford,
chapter 4-5.
M. A. Green, Springfield, 1636-1886, chapter 1.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1636-1639.
The constitutional evolution.
"It must be noted that [the] Newtown, Watertown, and
Dorchester migrations had not been altogether a simple
transfer of individual settlers from one colony to another. In
each of these migrations a part of the people was left behind,
so that the Massachusetts towns did not cease to exist. And
yet each of them brought its Massachusetts magistrates, its
ministers (except Watertown), and all the political and
ecclesiastical machinery of the town; and at least one of them
(Dorchester) had hardly changed its structure since its
members first organized in 1630 at Dorchester in England. The
first settlement of Connecticut was thus the migration of
three distinct and individual town organizations out of the
jurisdiction of Massachusetts and into absolute freedom. It
was the Massachusetts town system set loose in the wilderness.
At first the three towns retained even their Massachusetts
names; and it was not until the eighth court meeting, February
21 1636 (7), that it was decided that the plantacon [c tilde]
nowe called Newtowne slalbe called & named by the name of
Harteforde Towne, likewise the plantacon [c tilde] nowe called
'Watertowne shalbe called & named Wythersfeild,' and the
plantacon [c tilde] called Dorchester shalbe called Windsor.'
On the same day the boundaries between the three towns were
'agreed' upon, and thus the germ of the future State was the
agreement and union of the three towns. Accordingly, the
subsequent court meeting at Hartford, May 1, 1637, for the
first time took the name of the 'Genrall Corte,' and was
composed, in addition to the town magistrates who had
previously held it, of 'comittees' of three from each town. So
simply and naturally did the migrated town system evolve, in
this binal assembly, the seminal principle of the Senate and
House of Representatives of the future State of Connecticut.
The Assembly further showed its consciousness of separate
existence by declaring 'an offensive warr ag' the Pequoitt,'
assigning the proportions of its miniature army and supplies
to each town, and appointing a commander. ... So complete are
the features of State-hood, that we may fairly assign May 1,
1637, as the proper birthday of Connecticut. No king, no
Congress, presided over the birth: its seed was in the towns.
January 14, 1638 (9), the little Commonwealth formed the first
American Constitution at Hartford. So far as its provisions
are concerned, the King, the Parliament, the Plymouth Council,
the Warwick grant, the Say and Sele grant, might as well have
been non-existent: not one of them is mentioned. ... This
constitution was not only the earliest but the longest in
continuance of American documents of the kind, unless we
except the Rhode Island charter. It was not essentially
altered by the charter of 1662, which was practically a royal
confirmation of it; and it was not until 1818 that the
charter, that is the constitution of 1639, was superseded by
the present constitution. Connecticut was as absolutely a
state in 1639 as in 1776."
A. Johnston, The Genesis of a New England State
(Johns Hopkins University Studies, number 11).
The following is the text of those "Fundamental Orders"
adopted by the people dwelling on Connecticut River, January
14, 1638 (9), which formed the first of written constitutions:
"FORASMUCH as it hath pleased the Allmighty God by the wise
disposition of his diuyne pruidence so to Order and dispose of
things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor,
Harteford and Wethersfield are now cohabiting and dwelling in
and vppon the River of Conectecotte and the Lands thereunto
adioyueing; And well knowing where a people are gathered
togather the word of God requires that to mayntayne the peace
and vnion of such a people there should be an orderly and
decent Gouerment established according to God, to order and
dispose of the affayres of the people at all seasons as
occation shall require; doe therefore assotiate and conioyne
our selues to be as one Publike State or ComonweIth; and doe,
for our selues and our Successors and such as shall be
adioyned to vs att any tyme hereafter, enter into Combination
and Confederation togather, to mayntayne and prsearue the
liberty and purity of the gospell of our Lord Jesus wch we now
prfesse, as also the disciplyne of the Churches, wch according
to the truth of the said gospell is now practised amongst vs;
As also in or Ciuell Affaires to be guided and gouerned
according to such Lawes, Rules, Orders and decrees as shall be
made, ordered & decreed, as followeth:--1. It is Ordered,
sentenced and decreed, that there shall be yerely two generall
Assemblies or Courts, the one the second thursday in Aprill,
the other the second thursday in September following; the
first shall be called the Courte of Election, wherein shall be
yerely Chosen fro tyme to tyme soe many Magestrats and other
publike Officers as shall be found requisitte: Whereof one to
be chosen Gouernour for the yeare ensueing and vntill another
be chosen, and noe other Magestrate to be chosen for more than
one yeare; pruided allwayes there be sixe chosen besids the
Gouernour; wch being chosen and sworne according to an Oath
recorded for that purpose shall haue power to administer
iustice according to the Lawes here established, and for want
thereof according to the rule of the word of God; wch choise
shall be made by all that are admitted freemen and haue taken
the Oath of Fidellity, and doe cohabitte wthin this
Jurisdiction, (hauing beene admitted Inhabitants by the maior
prt of the Towne wherein they liue,) or the mayor prte of such
as shall be then prsent.
{498}
2. It is Ordered, sentenced and decreed, that the Election of
the aforesaid Magestrats shall be on this manner: euery prson
prsent and quallified for choyse shall bring in (to the prsons
deputed to receaue the) one single papr wth the name of him
written in yt whom he desires to haue Gouernour, and he that
hath the greatest nuber of papers shall be Gouernor for that
yeare. And the rest of the Magestrats or publike Officers to
be chosen in this manner: The Secretary for the tyme being
shall first read the names of all that are to be put to choise
and then shall seuerally nominate them distinctly, and euery
one that would haue the prson nominated to be chosen shall
bring in one single paper written vppon, and he that would not
haue him chosen shall bring in a blanke: and euery one that
hath more written papers then blanks shall be a Magistrat for
that yeare; wth papers shall be receaued and told by one or
more that shall be then chosen by the court and sworne to be
faythfull therein: but in case there should not be sixe chosen
as aforesaid, besids the Gouernor, out of those wch are
nominated, then he or they wch haue the most written paprs
shall be a Magestrate or Magestrats for the ensueing yeare, to
make up the foresaid nuber. 3. It is Ordered, sentenced and
decreed, that the Secretary shall not nominate any prson, nor
shall any prson be chosen newly into the Magestraey wch was
not prpownded in some Generall Courte before, to be nominated
the next Election; and to that end yt shall be lawfull for ech
of the Townes aforesaid by their deputyes to nominate any two
who they conceaue fitte to be put to election; and the Courte
may ad so many more as they, iudge requisitt. 4. It is
Ordered, sentenced and decreed that noe prson be chosen
Gouernor aboue once in two yeares, and that the Gouernor be
always a meber of some approved congregation, and formerly of
the Magestracy wthin this Jurisdiction; and all the Magestrats
Freemen of this Comonwelth: and that no Magestrate or other
publike officer shall execute any prte of his or their Office
before they are seuerally sworne, wch shall be done in the
face of the Courte if they be prsent, and in case of absence
by some deputed for that purpose. 5. It is Ordered, senteneed
and decreed, that to the aforesaid Courte of Election the
seurall Townes shall send their deputyes, and when the
Elections are ended they may prceed in any publike searuice as
at other Courts. Also the other Generall Courte in Septemher
shall be for makeing of lawes, and any other publike occation,
wch conserns the good of the Comonwelth. 6. It is Ordered,
sentenced and decreed, that the Gournor shall, ether by
himselfe or by the secretary, send out sumons to the
Constables of eur Towne for the cauleing of these two standing
Courts, on month at lest before their seu'all tymes: And also
if the Gournor and the gretest prte of the Magestmts see cause
vppon any spetiall occation to call a generall Courte, they
may giue order to the secretary soe to doe wthin fowerteene
dayes warneing; and if vrgent necessity so require, vppon a
shorter notice, giueing sufficient grownds for yt to the
deputyes when they meete, or els be questioned for the same;
And if the Gournor and Mayor prte of Magestrats shall ether
neglect or refuse to call the two Generall standing Courts or
ether of the, as also at other tymes when the occutions of the
Comonwelth require, the Freemen thereof, or the Mayor prte of
them, shall petition to them soe to doe: if then yt be ether
denyed or neglected the said Freemen or the Mayor prte of them
shall haue power to giue order to the Constables of the
seuerall Townes to doe the same, and so may meete togather,
and chuse to themselues a Moderator, and may prceed to do any
Acte of power, wch any other Generall Courte may. 7. It is
Ordered, sentenced and decreed that after there are warrants
giuen out for any of the suid Generall Courts, the Constable
or Constables of ech Towne shall forthwth give notice
distinctly, to the inhabitants of the same, in some Pubhke
Assembly or by goeing or sending fro howse to howse, that at a
place and tyme by him or them lymited and sett, they meet and
assemble the selues togather to elect and chuse certen
deputyes to be att the Generall Courte then following to
agitate the afayres of the comonwelth; wch said Deputyes shall
be choseu by all that are admitted Inhabitants in the seurall
Townes and haue taken the oath of fidellity; pruided that non
be chosen a Deputy for any Generall Courte wch is not a
Freeman of this Comonwelth. The foresaid deputyes shall be
chosen in manner following; euery prson that is prsent and
quallified as before exprssed, shall bring thr names of such,
written in seurrall papers, as they desire to haue chosen for
that Imployment, and these 3 or 4, more or lesse, being the
nuber agreed on to be chosen for that tyme, that haue greatest
nuber of papers written for the shall be deputyes for that
Courte; whose names shall be endorsed on the backe side of the
warrant and returned into the Courte, wth the Constable or
Constables hand vnto the same. 8. It is Ordered, sentenced and
decreed, that Wyndsor, Hartford and Wethersfield shall haue
power, ech Towne, to send fower of their freemen as deputyes
to euery Generall Courte; and whatsoeuer other Townes shall be
hereafter added to this Jurisdiction, they shall send so many
deputyes as the Courte shall judge meete, a reasonable
prportion to the nuber of Freemen that are in the said Townes
being to be attended therein; wch deputyes shall have the
power of the whole Towne to giue their voats and alowance to
all such lawes and orders as may be for the publike good, and
unto wch the said Townes are to be bownd. 9. It is ordered and
decreed, that the deputyes thus chosen shall haue power and
liberty to appoynt a tyme and a place of meeting togather
before any Generall Courte to aduise and consult of all such
things as may concerne the good of the publike, as also to
examine their owne Elections, whether according to the order,
and if they or the gretest prte of them find any election to
be illegall they may seclud such for prsent fro their meeting,
and returne the same and their resons to the Courte; and if yt
proue true, the Courte may fyne the prty or prtyes so
intruding and the Towne, if they see cause, and giue out a
warrant to goe to a newe election in a legall way, either in
prte or in whole. Also the said deputyes shall haue power to
fyne any that shall be disorderly at their meetings, or for
not coming in due tyme or place according to appoyntment; and
they may returne the said fynes into the Courte if yt be
refused to be paid, and the tresurer to take notice of yt, and
to estreete or levy the same as he doth other fynes.
{499}
10. It is Ordered, sentenceJ and decreed, that euery Generall
Courte, except such as through neglecte of the Gou'nor and the
greatest prte of Magestrats the Freemen themselves doe call,
shall consist of the Gouernor, or some one chosen to moderate
the Court, and 4 other Magestruts at lest, wth the mayor prte
of the deputyes of the seuerall Townes legally chosen; and in
case the Freemen or mayor prte of the, through neglect or
refusall of the Gouernor and mayor prte of the magestrats,
shall call a Courte, yt shall consist of the mayor prte of
Freemen that are prsent or their deputyes, wty a Moderator
chosen by the: In wch said Generall Courts shall consist the
supreme power of the Comonwelth, and they only shall haue
power to make laws or repeale the, to graunt leuyes, to admitt
of Freemen, dispose of lands vndisposed of, to seuerall Townes
or prsons, and also shall haue power to call ether Courte or
Magestrate or any other prson whatsoeuer into question for any
misdemeanour, and may for just causes displace or deale
otherwise according to the nature of the offence; and also may
deale in any other matter that concerns the good of this comon
welth, excepte election of Magestrats, wch shall be done by
the whole boddy of Freemen. In wch Courte the Gouernour or
Moderator shall haue power to order the Courte to giue liberty
of spech, and silence vncensonable and disorderly speakeings,
to put all things to voate, and in case the voate be equall to
haue the casting voice. But non of these Courts shall be
adiorned or dissolued wthout the consent of the maior prte of
the Court. 11. It is ordered, sentenced and decreed, that when
any Gemerall Courte vppon the occations of the Comonwelth haue
agreed vppon any sume or somes of mony to be leuyed vppon the
seuerall Townes wthin this Jurisdiction, that a Comittee be
chosen to sett out and appoynt wt shall be the prportion of
euery Towne to pay of the said leuy, prvided the Comittees be
made vp of an equall nuber out of each Towne. 14th January,
1638, the 11 Orders abouesaid are voted."
Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, volume 1.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1637.
The Pequot War.
See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1637.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1638.
The planting of New Haven Colony.
"In the height of the Hutchinson controversy [see
MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1636-1638], John Davenport, an eminent
nonconformist minister from London, had arrived at Boston, and
with him a wealthy company, led by two merchants, Theophilus
Eaton and Edward Hopkins. Alarmed at the new opinions and
religious agitations of which Massachusetts was the seat,
notwithstanding very advantageous offers of settlement there,
they preferred to establish a separate community of their own,
to be forever free from the innovations of error and
licentiousness. Eaton and others sent to explore the coast
west of the Connecticut, selected a place for settlement near
the head of a spacious bay at Quinapiack [or Quinnipiack], or,
as the Dutch called it, Red Hill, where they built a hut and
spent the winter. They were joined in the spring [April, 1638]
by the rest of their company, and Davenport preached his first
sermon under the shade of a spreading oak. Presently they
entered into what they called a 'plantation covenant,' and a
communication being opened with the Indians, who were but few
in that neighborhood, the lands of Quinapiack were purchased,
except a small reservation on the east side of the bay, the
Indians receiving a few presents and a promise of protection.
A tract north of the bay, ten miles in one direction and
thirteen in the other, was purchased for ten coats; and the
colonists proceeded to lay out in squares the ground-plan of a
spacious city, to which they presently gave the name of New
Haven."
R. Hildreth, History of the U. S., volume 1, chapter 9.
"They formed their political association by what they called a
'plantation covenant,' 'to distinguish it from a church
covenant, which could not at that time be made.' In this
compact they resolved, 'that, as in matters that concern the
gathering and ordering of a church, so likewise in all public
offices which concern civil order, as choice of magistrates
and officers, making and repealing of laws; dividing
allotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature,'
they would 'be ordered by the rules which the Scriptures hold
forth.' It had no external sanction, and comprehended no
acknowledgment of the government of England. The company
consisted mostly of Londoners, who at home had been engaged in
trade. In proportion to their numbers, they were the richest
of all the plantations. Like the settlers on Narragansett Bay,
they had no other title to their lands than that which they
obtained by purchase from the Indians."
J. G. Palfrey, History of New England, volume 1, chapter 13.
ALSO IN:
C. H. Levermore, The Republic of New Haven, chapter 1.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1639.
The Fundamental Agreement of New Haven.
"In June, 1639, the whole body of settlers [at Quinnipiack, or
New Haven] came together to frame a constitution. A tradition,
seemingly well founded, says that the meeting was held in a large
barn. According to the same account, the purpose for which
they had met and the principles on which they ought to proceed
were set forth by Davenport in a sermon. 'Wisdom hath builded
her house, she hath hewn out seven pillars,' was the text.
There is an obvious connection between this and the subsequent
choice of seven of the chief men to lay the foundation of the
constitution. ... Davenport set forth the general system on
which the constitution ought to be framed. The two main
principles which he laid down were, that Scripture is a
perfect and sufficient rule for the conduct of civil affairs,
and that church-membership must be a condition of citizenship.
In this the colonists were but imitating the example of
Massachusetts. ... After the sermon, five resolutions
[followed by a sixth, constituting together what was called
the 'fundamental agreement' of New Haven Colony], formally
introducing Davenport's proposals, were carried. If a church
already existed, it was not considered fit to form a basis for
the state. Accordingly a fresh one was framed by a curiously
complicated process. As a first step, twelve men were elected.
These twelve were instructed, after a due interval for
consideration, to choose seven out of their own number, who
should serve as a nucleus for the church. At the same time an
oath was taken by the settlers, which may be looked on as a
sort of preliminary and provisional test of citizenship,
pledging them to accept the principles laid down by Davenport.
Sixty-three of the inhabitants took the oath, and their
example was soon followed by fifty more. By October, four
months after the original meeting, the seven formally
established the new commonwealth. They granted the rights of a
freeman to all who joined them, and who were recognized
members either of the church at New Haven or of any other
approved church. The freemen thus chosen entered into an
agreement to the same effect as the oath already taken. They
then elected a Governor and four Magistrates, or, as they were
for the present called, a Magistrate and four Deputies. ...
The functions of the Governor and Magistrates were not
defined. Indeed, but one formal resolution was passed as to
the constitution of the colony, namely, 'that the Word of God
shall be the only rule attended unto in ordering the affairs
of government.'"
J. A. Doyle, The English in America: The Puritan Colonies,
volume 1, chapter 6.
{500}
"Of all the New England colonies, New Haven was most purely a
government by compact, by social contract. ... The free
planters ... signed each their names to their voluntary
compact, and ordered that 'all planters hereafter received in
this plantation should submit to the said foundamentall
agreement, and testifie the same by subscribing their names.'
It is believed that this is the sole instance of the formation
of an independent civil government by a general compact
wherein all the parties to the agreement were legally required
to be actual signers thereof. When this event occurred, John
Locke was in his seventh year, and Rousseau was a century
away."
C. H. Levermore, The Republic of New Haven, page 23.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1640-1655.
The attempted New Haven colonization on the Delaware.
Fresh quarrels with the Dutch.
See NEW JERSEY: A. D. 1640-1655.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1643.
The confederation of the colonies.
The progress and state of New Haven and the River Colony.
See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1643.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1650.
Settlement of boundaries with the Dutch of New Netherland.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1650.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1656-1661.
The persecution of Quakers.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1656-1661.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1660-1663.
The beginning of boundary conflicts with Rhode Island.
See RHODE ISLAND: A. D. 1660-1663.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1660-1664.
The protection of the regicides at New Haven.
"Against the colony of New Haven the king had a special
grudge. Two of the regicide judges, who had sat in the
tribunal which condemned his father, escaped to New England in
1660 and were well received there. They were gentlemen of high
position. Edward Whalley was a cousin of Cromwell and Hampden.
... The other regicide, William Goffe, as a major-general in
Cromwell's army, had won such distinction that there were some
who pointed to him as the proper person to succeed the Lord
Protector on the death of the latter. He had married Whalley's
daughter. Soon after the arrival of these gentlemen, a royal
order for their arrest was sent to Boston. ... The king's
detectives hotly pursued them through the woodland paths of
New England, and they would soon have been taken but for the
aid they got from the people. Many are the stories of their
hairbreadth escapes. Sometimes they took refuge in a cave on a
mountain near New Haven, sometimes they hid in friendly
cellars; and once, being hard put to it, they skulked under a
wooden bridge, while their pursuers on horseback galloped by
overhead. After lurking about New Haven and Milford for two or
three years, on hearing of the expected arrival of Colonel
Nichols and his commission [the royal commission appointed to
take possession of the American grant lately made by the king
to his brother, the Duke of York], they sought a more secluded
hiding place near Hadley, a village lately settled far up the
Connecticut river, within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.
Here the avengers lost the trail, the pursuit was abandoned,
and the weary regicides were presently forgotten. The people
of New Haven had been especially zealous in shielding the
fugitives. ... The colony, moreover, did not officially
recognize the restoration of Charles II. to the throne until
that event had been commonly known in New England for more
than a year. For these reasons, the wrath of the king was
specially roused against New Haven."
J. Fiske, The Beginnings of New England,
pages 192-194.
ALSO IN:
G. H. Hollister, History of Connecticut, volume 1, chapter 11.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1662-1664.
The Royal Charter and annexation of New Haven to the River Colony.
"The Restoration in England left the New Haven colony under a
cloud in the favor of the new government: it had been tardy
and ungracious in its proclamation of Charles II.; it had been
especially remiss in searching for the regicide colonels,
Goffe and Whalley; and any application for a charter would
have come from New Haven with a very ill grace. Connecticut
was under no such disabilities; and it had in its Governor,
John Winthrop [the younger, son of the first governor of
Massachusetts], a man well calculated to win favor with the
new King. ... In March, 1660, the General Court solemnly
declared its loyalty to Charles II., sent the Governor to
England to offer a loyal address to the King and ask him for a
charter, and laid aside £500 for his expenses. Winthrop was
successful, and the charter was granted April 20, 1662. The
acquisition of the charter raised the Connecticut leaders to
the seventh heaven of satisfaction. And well it might, for it
was a grant of privileges with hardly a limitation.
Practically the King had given Winthrop 'carte blanche,' and
allowed him to frame the charter to suit himself. It
incorporated the freemen of Connecticut as a 'body corporate
and pollitique,' by the name of 'The Governor and Company of
the English Collony of Conecticut in New England in America.'
... The people were to have all the liberties and immunities
of free and natural subjects of the King, as if born within
the realm. It granted to the Governor and Company all that
part of New England south of the Massachusetts line and west
of the 'Norroganatt River commonly called Norroganatt Bay' to
the South Sea, with the 'Islands thereunto adioyneinge.' ...
It is difficult to see more than two points in which it [the
charter] altered the constitution adopted by the towns in
1639. There were now to be two deputies from each town; and
the boundaries of the Commonwealth now embraced the rival
colony of New Haven. ... New Haven did not submit without a
struggle, for not only her pride of separate existence but the
supremacy of her ecclesiastical system was at stake. For three
years a succession of diplomatic notes passed between the
General Court of Connecticut and 'our honored friends of New
Haven, Milford, Branford, and Guilford.' ...
{501}
In October, 1664, the Connecticut General Court appointed the
New Haven magistrates commissioners for their towns, 'with
magistraticall powers,' established the New Haven local
officers in their places for the time, and declared oblivion
for any past resistance to the laws. In December, Milford
having already submitted, the remnant of the New Haven General
Court, representing New Haven, Guilford, and Branford, held
its last meeting and voted to submit, 'with a salvo jure of
our former rights and claims, as a people who have not yet
been heard in point of plea.' The next year the laws of New
Haven were laid aside forever, and her towns sent deputies to
the General Court at Hartford. ... In 1701 the General Court
... voted that its annual October session should thereafter be
held at New Haven. This provision of a double capital was
incorporated into the constitution of 1818, and continued
until in 1873 Hartford was made sole capital."
A. Johnston, The Genesis of a New England State,
pages 25-28.
ALSO IN:
B. Trumbull, History of Connecticut, volume 1, chapter 12.
Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1665-78.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1664.
Royal grant to the Duke of York, in conflict with the charter.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1664.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1666.
The New Haven migration to Newark, N. J.
See NEW JERSEY: A. D. 1664-1667.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1674-1675.
Long Island and the western half of the colony granted to the
Duke of York.
In 1674, after the momentary recovery of New York by the
Dutch, and its re-surrender to the English, "the king issued a
new patent for the province, in which he not only included
Long Island, but the territory up to the Connecticut River,
which had been assigned to Connecticut by the royal
commissioners. The assignment of Long Island was regretted,
but not resisted; and the island which is the natural sea-wall
of Connecticut passed, by royal decree, to a province whose
only natural claim to it was that it barely touched it at one
corner. The revival of the duke's claim to a part of the
mainland was a different matter, and every preparation was
made for resistance. In July, 1675, just as King Philip's war
had broken out in Plymouth, hasty word was sent from the
authorities at Hartford to Captain Thomas Bull at Saybrook
that Governor Andros of New York was on his way through the
Sound for the purpose, as he avowed, of aiding the people
against the Indians. Of the two evils, Connecticut rather
preferred the Indians. Bull was instructed to inform Andros,
if he should call at Saybrook, that the colony had taken all
precautions against the Indians, and to direct him to the
actual scene of conflict, but not to permit the landing of any
armed soldiers. 'And you are to keep the king's colors
standing there, under his majesty's lieutenant, the governor
of Connecticut; and if any other colors be set up there, you
are not to suffer them to stand. ... But you are in his
majesty's name required to avoid striking the first blow; but
if they begin, then you are to defend yourselves, and do your
best to secure his majesty's interest and the peace of the
whole colony of Connecticut in our possession.' Andros came
and landed at Saybrook, but confined his proceedings to
reading the duke's patent against the protest of Bull and the
Connecticut representatives."
A. Johnston, Connecticut, chapter 12.
Report of Regents of the University on the Boundaries of
the State of New York, page 21.
ALSO IN:
C. W. Bowen, The Boundary Disputes of Connecticut,
pages 70-72.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1674-1678.
King Philip's War.
See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1674-1675; 1675; 1676-1678.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1685-1687.
The hostile king and the hidden charter.
Sir Edmund Andros in possession of the government.
"During the latter years of the reign of Charles II. the king
had become so reckless of his pledges and his faith that he
did not scruple to set the dangerous example of violating the
charters that had been granted by the crown. Owing to the
friendship that the king entertained for Winthrop, we have
seen that Connecticut was favored by him to a degree even
after the death of that great man. But no sooner had Charles
demised and the sceptre passed into the hands of his bigoted
brother, King James II., than Connecticut was called upon to
contend against her sovereign for liberties that had been
affirmed to her by the most solemn muniments known to the law
of England. The accession of James II. took place on the 6th
day of February 1685, and such was his haste to violate the
honor of the crown that, early in the summer of 1685, a quo
warranto was issued against the governor and company of
Connecticut, citing them to appear before the king, within
eight days of St. Martin's, to show by what right and tenor
they exercised certain powers and privileges." This was
quickly followed by two other writs, conveyed to Hartford by
Edward Randolph, the implacable enemy of the colonies. "The
day of appearance named in them was passed long before the
writs were served." Mr. Whiting was sent to England as the

agent of the colony, to exert such influences as might be
brought to bear against the plainly hostile and unscrupulous
intentions of the king; but his errand was fruitless. "On the
28th of December another writ of quo warranto was served upon
the governor and company of the colony. This writ bore date
the 23d of October, and required the defendants to appear
before the king' within eight days of the purification of the
Blessed Virgin.' ... Of course, the day named was not known to
the English law, and was therefore no day at all in legal
contemplation." Already, the other New England colonies had
been brought under a provisional general government, by
commissioners, of whom Joseph Dudley was named president.
President Dudley "addressed a letter to the governor and
council, advising them to resign the charter into the king's
hands. Should they do so, he undertook to use his influence in
behalf of the colony. They did not deem it advisable to comply
with the request. Indeed they had hardly time to do so before
the old commission was broken up, and a new one granted,
superseding Dudley and naming Sir Edmund Andros governor of
New England. Sir Edmund arrived in Boston on the 19th of
December, 1686, and the next day he published his commission
and took the government into his hands. Scarcely had he
established himself, when he sent a letter to the governor and
company of Connecticut, acquainting them with his appointment,
and informing them that he was commissioned by the king to
receive their charter if they would give it up to him."
G. H. Hollister, History of Connecticut,
volume 1, chapter 14.
{502}
On receipt of the communication from Andros, "the General
Court was at once convened, and by its direction a letter was
addressed to the English Secretary of State, earnestly
pleading for the preservation of the privileges that had been
granted to them. For the first time they admitted the
possibility that their petition might be denied, and in that
case requested to be united to Massachusetts. This was
construed by Sir Edmund as a virtual surrender; but as the
days went by he saw that he had mistaken the spirit and
purpose of the colony. Andros finally decided to go in person
to Connecticut. He arrived at Hartford the last day of
October, attended by a retinue of 60 officers and soldiers.
The Assembly, then in session, received him with every outward
mark of respect. After this formal exchange of courtesies, Sir
Edmund publicly demanded the charter, and declared the
colonial government dissolved. Tradition relates that Governor
Treat, in calm but earnest words, remonstrated against this
action. ... The debate was continued until the shadows of the
early autumnal evening had fallen. After candles were lighted,
the governor and his council seemed to yield; and the box
supposed to contain the charter was brought into the room, and
placed upon the table. Suddenly the lights were extinguished.
Quiet reigned in the room, and in the dense crowd outside the
building. The candles were soon relighted; but the charter had
disappeared, and after the most diligent search could not be
found. The common tradition has been, that it was taken under
cover of the darkness by Captain Joseph Wadsworth, and hidden
by him in the hollow trunk of a venerable and noble oak tree
standing near the entrance-gate of Governor Wyllys's mansion.
The charter taken by Captain Wadsworth was probably the
duplicate, and remained safely in his possession for several
years. There is reason to believe that, some time before the
coming of Andros to Hartford, the original charter had been
carefully secreted, and the tradition of later times makes it
probable that, while the duplicate charter that was taken from
the table was hidden elsewhere, the original charter found a
safe resting place in the heart of the tree that will always
be remembered as The Charter Oak. This tree is said to have
been preserved by the early settlers at the request of the
Indians. 'It has been the guide of our ancestors for
centuries,' they said, 'as to the time of planting our corn.
When the leaves are the size of a mouse's ears, then is the
time to put it in the ground.' The record of the Court briefly
states that Andros, having been conducted to the governor's
seat by the governor himself, declared that he had been
commissioned by his Majesty to take on him the government of
Connecticut. The commission having been read, he said that it
was his Majesty's pleasure to make the late governor and
Captain John Allyn members of his council. The secretary
handed their common seal to Sir Edmund, and afterwards wrote
these words inclosing the record: 'His Excellency, Sir Edmund
Andros, Knight, Captain-General and Governor of his Majesty's
Territory and Dominion in New England, by order from his
Majesty, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, the 31st of
October, 1687, took into his hands the government of this
colony of Connecticut, it being by his Majesty annexed to the
Massachusetts and other colonies under his Excellency's
government. Finis.' Andros soon disclosed a hand of steel
beneath the velvet glove of plausible words and fair
promises."
E. B. Sanford, History of Connecticut, chapter 16.
ALSO IN:
J. G. Palfrey, History of New England,
book 3, chapter 13 (volume 3).
See, also, NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1686,
and MASSACHUSETTS: 1671-1686.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1689-1697.
King William's War.
See CANADA (NEW FRANCE): A. D. 1689-1690; and 1692-1697.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1689-1701.
The reinstatement of the charter government.
"April, 1689, came at last. The people of Boston, at the first
news of the English Revolution, clapped Andros into custody.
May 9, the old Connecticut authorities quietly resumed their
functions, and called the assembly together for the following
month. William and Mary were proclaimed with great fervor. Not
a word was said about the disappearance or reappearance of the
charter; but the charter government was put into full effect
again, as if Andros had never interrupted it. An address was
sent to the king, asking that the charter be no further
interfered with; but operations under it went on as before. No
decided action was taken by the home government for some
years, except that its appointment of the New York governor,
Fletcher, to the command of the Connecticut militia, implied a
decision that the Connecticut charter had been superseded.
Late in 1693, Fitz John Winthrop was sent to England as agent
to obtain a confirmation of the charter. He secured an
emphatic legal opinion from Attorney General Somers, backed by
those of Treby and Ward, that the charter was entirely valid,
Treby's concurrent opinion taking this shape: 'I am of the
same opinion, and, as this matter is stated, there is no
ground of doubt.' The basis of the opinion was that the
charter had been granted under the great seal; that it had not
been surrendered under the common seal of the colony, nor had
any judgment of record been entered against it; that its
operation had merely been interfered with by overpowering
force; that the charter therefore remained valid; and that the
peaceable submission of the colony to Andros was merely an
illegal suspension of lawful authority. In other words, the
passive attitude of the colonial government had disarmed
Andros so far as to stop the legal proceedings necessary to
forfeit the charter, and their prompt action, at the critical
moment, secured all that could be secured under the
circumstances. William was willing enough to retain all
possible fruit of James's tyranny, as he showed by enforcing
the forfeiture of the Massachusetts charter; but the law in
this case was too plain, and he ratified the lawyers' opinion
in April, 1694. The charter had escaped its enemies at last,
and its escape is a monument of one of the advantages of a
real democracy. ... Democracy had done more for Connecticut
than class influence had done for Massachusetts."
A. Johnston, Connecticut, chapter 12.
{503}
"The decisions which established the rights of Connecticut
included Rhode Island. These two commonwealths were the
portion of the British empire distinguished above all others
by the largest liberty. Each was a nearly perfect democracy
under the shelter of a monarchy. ... The crown, by reserving
to itself the right of appeal, had still a method of
interfering in the internal affairs of the two republics. Both
of them were included among the colonies in which the lords of
trade advised a complete restoration of the prerogatives of
the crown. Both were named in the bill which, in April, 1701,
was introduced into parliament for the abrogation of all
American charters. The journals of the house of lords relate
that Connecticut was publicly heard against the measure, and
contended that its liberties were held by contract in return
for services that had been performed; that the taking away of
so many charters would destroy all confidence in royal
promises, and would afford a precedent dangerous to all the
chartered corporations of England. Yet the bill was read a
second time, and its principle, as applied to colonies, was
advocated by the mercantile interest and by 'great men' in
England. The impending war with the French postponed the
purpose till the accession of the house of Hanover."
G. Bancroft, History of the U. S. (Author's
last revision), part 3, chapter 3 (volume 2).
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1690.
The first Colonial Congress.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1690.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1702-1711.
Queen Anne's War.
See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1702-1710;
and CANADA (NEW FRANCE): A. D. 1711-1713.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1744-1748.
King George's War and the taking of Louisbourg.
See NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1744; 1745; and 1745-1748.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1753-1799.
Western territorial claims.
Settlements in the Wyoming Valley.
Conflicts with the Penn colonists.
See PENNSYLVANIA; A. D. 1753-1799.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1754.
The Colonial Congress at Albany, and Franklin's plan of union.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1754.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1755-1760.
The French and Indian War, and conquest of Canada.
See CANADA (NEW FRANCE): A. D. 1750-1753; 1755; 1756;
1756-1757; 1758; 1759; 1760;
NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1749-1755; 1755;
Ohio (VALLEY): A. D. 1748-1754; 1754; 1755;
CAPE BRETON ISLAND: A. D. 1758-1760.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1760-1765.
The question of taxation by Parliament.
The Sugar Act.
The Stamp Act.
The Stamp Act Congress.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1760-1775; 1763-1764; 1765; and 1766.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1765.
The revolt against the Stamp Act.
"The English government understood very well that the colonies
were earnestly opposed to the Stamp Act, but they had no
thought of the storm of wrath and resistance which it would
arouse. It was a surprise to many of the leaders of public
affairs in America. ... Governor Fitch and Jared Ingersoll,
with other prominent citizens who had done all in their power
to oppose the scheme of taxation ... counselled submission.
They mistook the feeling of the people. ... The clergy were
still the leaders of public opinion, and they were united in
denunciation of the great wrong. Societies were organized
under the name of the Sons of Liberty, the secret purpose of
which was to resist the Stamp Act by violent measures if
necessary. ... Mr. Ingersoll, who had done all in his power to
oppose the bill, after its passage decided to accept the
position of stamp agent for Connecticut. Franklin urged him to
take the place, and no one doubted his motives in accepting
it. The people of Connecticut, however, were not pleased with
this action. ... He was visited by a crowd of citizens, who
inquired impatiently if he would resign." Ingersoll put them
off with evasive replies for some time; but finally there was
a gathering of a thousand men on horseback, from Norwich, New
London, Windham, Lebanon and other towns, each armed with a
heavy peeled club, who surrounded the obstinate stamp agent at
Wethersfield and made him understand that they were in deadly
earnest. "'The cause is not worth dying for,' said the
intrepid man, who would never have flinched had he not felt
that, after all, this band of earnest men were in the right. A
formal resignation was given him to sign. ... After he had
signed his name, the crowd cried out, 'Swear to it!' He begged
to be excused from taking an oath. 'Then shout Liberty and
Property,' said the now good-natured company. To this he had
no objection, and waved his hat enthusiastically as he
repeated the words. Having given three cheers, the now
hilarious party dined together." Ingersoll was then escorted
to Hartford, where he read his resignation publicly at the
court-house.
E. B. Sanford, History of Connecticut, chapter 29.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1766.
The repeal of the Stamp Act.
The Declaratory Act.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1766.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1766-1768.
The Townshend duties.
The Circular Letter of Massachusetts.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1766-1767, and 1767-1768.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1768-1770.
The quartering of troops in Boston.
The "Massacre" and the removal of the troops.
See BOSTON: A. D. 1768, and 1770.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1769-1784.
The ending of slavery.
See SLAVERY, NEGRO: A. D. 1769-1785.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1770-1773.
Repeal of the Townshend duties except on tea.
Committees of Correspondence instituted.
The tea ships and the Boston Tea-party.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1770, and 1772-1773;
and BOSTON: A. D. 1773.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1774.
The Boston Port Bill.
The Massachusetts Act.
The Quebec Act.
The First Continental Congress.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1774.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1775.
The beginning of the War of the American Revolution.
Lexington.
Concord.
New England in arms and Boston beleaguered.
Ticonderoga.
Bunker Hill.
The Second Continental Congress.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1776.
Assumes to be a "free, sovereign and independent State."
"In May, 1776, the people had been formally released from
their allegiance to the crown; and in October the general
assembly passed an act assuming the functions of a State. The
important section of the act was the first, as follows: 'That
the ancient form of civil government, contained in the charter
from Charles the Second, King of England, and adopted by the
people of this State, shall be and remain the civil
Constitution of this State, under the sole authority of the
people thereof, independent of any king or prince whatever.
And that this Republic is, and shall forever be and remain, a
free, sovereign and independent State, by the name of the
State of Connecticut.' The form of the act speaks what was
doubtless always the belief of the people, that their charter
derived its validity, not from the will of the crown, but from
the assent of the people. And the curious language of the last
sentence, in which 'this Republic' declares itself to be 'a
free, sovereign, and independent State,' may serve to indicate
something of the appearance which state sovereignty doubtless
presented to the Americans of 1776-89."
A. Johnston, Connecticut, chapter 16.
See, also, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776-1779.
{504}
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1776-1783.
The war and the victory.
Independence achieved.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776 to 1783.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1778.
The massacre at the Wyoming settlement.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1778 (JULY).
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1779.
Tryon's marauding expeditions.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1778-1779.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1786.
Partial cession of western territorial claims to the United States.
The Western Reserve in Ohio.
See
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1781-1786;
PENNSYLVANIA: A. D. 1753-1799;
and OHIO: A. D. 1786-1796.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1788.
Ratification of the Federal Constitution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1787-1789.
CONNECTICUT: A. D. 1814.
The Hartford Convention.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1814 (DECEMBER).
----------CONNECTICUT: End----------
CONNECTICUT TRACT, The.
See NEW YORK: A. D. 1786-1799.
CONNUBIUM.
See MUNICIPIUM.
CONON, Pope, A. D. 686-687.
CONOYS.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.
CONRAD I.,
King of the East Franks (Germany),
(the first of the Saxon line), A. D. 911-919.
Conrad II., King of the Romans (King of Germany), A. D. 1024-1039;
King of Italy, 1026-1039; King of Burgundy, 1032-1039;
Emperor, 1027-1039.
Conrad III., King of Germany (the first of the Swabian or
Hohenstauffen dynasty), 1137-1152.
Conrad IV., King of Germany, 1250-1254.
CONSCRIPT FATHERS.
The Roman senators were so called,--"Patres Conscripti." The
origin of the designation has been much discussed, and the
explanation which has found most acceptance is this: that
when, at the organization of the Republic, there was a new
creation of senators, to fill the ranks, the new senators were
called "conscripti" ("added to the roll") while the older ones
were called "patres" ("fathers"), as before. Then the whole
senate was addressed as "Patres et Conscripti," which lapsed
finally into "Patres-Conscripti."
H. G. Liddell, History of Rome, book 1, chapter 4.
CONSCRIPTION, The first French.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1798-1799 (AUGUST-APRIL).
CONSCRIPTION IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (MARCH).
CONSERVATIVE PARTY, The English.
The name "Conservative," to replace that of Tory (see ENGLAND:
A. D. 1680 for the origin of the latter) as a party
designation, was first introduced in 1831, by Mr. John Wilson
Croker, in an article in the Quarterly Review. "It crept
slowly into general favour, although some few there were who
always held out against it, encouraged by the example of the
late leader of the party, Lord Beaconsfield, who was not at
all likely to extend a welcome to anything which came with Mr.
Croker's mark upon it."
L. J. Jennings, The Croker Papers, volume 2, page 198.
CONSILIO DI CREDENZA.
See ITALY: A. D. 1056-1152.
CONSISTORY, The Papal.
See CURIA, PAPAL.
CONSISTORY COURTS OF THE BISHOPS.
"The duties of the officials of these courts resembled in
theory the duties of the censors under the Roman Republic. In
the middle ages, a lofty effort had been made to overpass the
common limitations of government, to introduce punishment for
sins as well as crimes, and to visit with temporal penalties
the breach of the moral law. ... The administration of such a
discipline fell as a matter of course, to the clergy. ... Thus
arose throughout Europe a system of spiritual surveillance
over the habits and conduct of every man, extending from the
cottage to the castle, taking note of all wrong dealing, of
all oppression of man by man, of all licentiousness and
profligacy, and representing upon earth, in the principles by
which it was guided, the laws of the great tribunal of
Almighty God. Such was the origin of the church courts,
perhaps the greatest institutions yet devised by man. But to
aim at these high ideals is as perilous as it is noble; and
weapons which may be safely trusted in the hands of saints
become fatal implements of mischief when saints have ceased to
wield them. ... The Consistory Courts had continued into the
sixteenth century with unrestricted jurisdiction, although
they had been for generations merely perennially flowing
fountains, feeding the ecclesiastical exchequer. The moral
conduct of every English man and woman remained subject to
them. ... But between the original design and the degenerate
counterfeit there was this vital difference,--that the
censures were no longer spiritual. They were commuted in
various gradations for pecuniary fines, and each offence
against morality was rated at its specific money value in the
Episcopal tables. Suspension and excommunication remained as
ultimate penalties; but they were resorted to only to compel
unwilling culprits to accept the alternative. The
misdemeanours of which the courts took cognizance were
'offences against chastity,' 'heresy,' or 'matter sounding
thereunto,' 'witchcraft,' 'drunkenness,' 'scandal,'
'defamation,' 'impatient words,' 'broken promises,' 'untruth,'
'absence from church,' 'speaking evil of saints,' 'non-payment
of offerings,' and other delinquencies incapable of legal
definition."
J. A. Froude. History of England, chapter 3.
CONSPIRACY BILL, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1858-1859.
CONSTABLE, The.
"The name is derived from the 'comes stabuli' of the Byzantine
court, and appears in the west as early as the days of Gregory
of Tours. The duties of the constables of France ... and those
of the constables of Naples ... are not exactly parallel with
[those of] the constables of England. In Naples the constable
kept the King's sword, commanded the army, appointed the
quarters, disciplined the troops and distributed the
sentinels; the marshals and all other officers being his
subordinates. The French office was nearly the same. In
England, however, the marshal was not subordinate to the
constable. Probably the English marshals fulfilled the duties
which had been in Normandy discharged by the constables. The
marshal is more distinctly an officer of the court, the
constable one of the castle or army. ... The constable ...
exercised the office of quartermaster-general of the court and
army and succeeded to the duties of the Anglo-Saxon staller."
William Stubbs, Constitutional History of England,
chapter 11, section 122, and note.
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CONSTABLE OF FRANCE.
"No other dignity in the world has been held by such a
succession of great soldiers as the office of Constable of
France. The Constable was originally a mere officer of the
stables, but his power had increased by the suppression of the
office of Grand Seneschal, and by the time of Philip Augustus
he exercised control over all the military forces of the
crown. He was the general in chief of the army and the highest
military authority in the kingdom. The constables had for four
centuries been leaders in the wars of France, and they had
experienced strange and varied fortunes. The office had been
bestowed on the son of Simon de Montfort, and he for this
honor had granted to the king of France his rights over those
vast domains which had been given his father for his pious
conquests. [See ALBIGENSES: A. D. 1217-1229.] It had been
bestowed on Raoul de Nesle, who fell at Courtrai, where the
French nobility suffered its first defeat from Flemish boors;
on Bertrand de Guesclin, the last of the great warriors, whose
deeds were sung with those of the paladins of Charlemagne; on
Clisson, the victor of Roosebeck [or Rosebecque]; on Armagnac,
whose name has a bloody preeminence among the leaders of the
fierce soldiery who ravaged France during the English wars; on
Buchan, whose Scotch valor and fidelity gained him this great
trust among a foreign people; on Richemont, the companion of
Joan Darc; on Saint Pol, the ally of Charles the Bold, the
betrayer and the victim of Louis XI.; on the Duke of Bourbon,
who won the battle of Pavia against his sovereign, and led his
soldiers to that sack of Rome which made the ravages of
Genseric and Alaric seem mild; on Anne of Montmorenci, a
prominent actor in every great event in France from the battle
of Pavia against Charles V. to that of St. Denis against
Coligni; on his son, the companion of Henry IV. in his youth,
and his trusted adviser in his age. ... The sword borne by
such men had been bestowed [1621] on Luines, the hero of an
assassination, who could not drill a company of infantry; it
was now [1622] given to the hero of many battles [the Duke of
Lesdeguières], and the great office was to expire in the hands
of a great soldier."
J. B. Perkins, France under Mazarin, volume 1, page 94.
CONSTANCE, The Council of.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1414-1418.
CONSTANCE, Peace of (1183).
See ITALY: A. D. 1174-1183.
CONSTANS I.,
Roman Emperor, A. D. 337-350.
Constans II., Roman Emperor (Eastern), A. D. 641-668.
CONSTANTINA, The taking of (1837).
See BARBARY STATES: A. D. 1830-1846.
CONSTANTINE, Pope, A. D. 708-715.
Constantine I. (called The Great), Roman Emperor, A. D. 306-337.
The Conversion.
See ROME: A. D. 323.
The Forged Donation of.
See PAPACY: A. D. 774 (?).
Constantine II., Roman Emperor, A. D. 337-340.
Constantine III., Roman Emperor in the East, A. D. 641.
Constantine IV. (called Pogonatus),
Roman Emperor in the East, A. D. 668-685.
Constantine V. (called Copronymus),
Emperor in the East (Byzantine, or Greek), A. D. 741-775.
Constantine VI., Emperor in the East
(Byzantine, or Greek), A. D. 780-797.
Constantine VII. (called Porphyrogenitus),
Emperor in the East (Byzantine, or Greek), A. D. 911-950.
Constantine VIII. (colleague of Constantine VII.),
Emperor in the East (Byzantine, or Greek), A. D. 944.
Constantine IX., Emperor in the East
(Byzantine, or Greek), A. D. 963-1028.
Constantine X., Emperor in the East (Byzantine, or Greek),
A. D. 1042-1054.
Constantine XI., Emperor in the East
(Byzantine, or Greek), A. D. 1059-1067.
Constantine XII., nominal Greek Emperor in the East,
about A. D. 1071..
Constantine XIII. (Polæologus), Greek Emperor
of Constantinople, A. D. 1448-1453.
Constantine the Usurper.
See BRITAIN: A. D. 407.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 330.
Transformation of Byzantium.
"Constantine had for some time contemplated the erection of a
new capital. The experience of nearly half a century had
confirmed the sagacity of Diocletian's selection of a site on
the confines of Europe and Asia [Nicomedia] as the whereabouts
in which the political centre of gravity of the Empire rested.
At one time Constantine thought of adopting the site of
ancient Troy, and is said to have actually commenced building
a new city there. ... More prosaic reasons ultimately
prevailed. The practical genius of Constantine recognized in
the town of Byzantium, on the European side of the border line
between the two continents, the site best adapted for his new
capital. All subsequent ages have applauded his discernment,
for experience has endorsed the wisdom of the choice. By land,
with its Asian suburb of Chrysopolis [modern Scutari], it
practically spanned the narrow strait and joined Europe and
Asia: by sea, it was open on one side to Spain, Italy, Greece,
Africa, Egypt, Syria; on the other to the Euxine, and so by
the Danube it had easy access to the whole of that important
frontier between the Empire and the barbarians; and round all
the northern coasts of the sea it took the barbarians in
flank. ... The city was solemnly dedicated with religious
ceremonies on the 11th of May, 330, and the occasion was
celebrated, after the Roman fashion, by a great festival,
largesses and games in the hippodrome, which lasted forty
days. The Emperor gave to the city institutions modelled after
those of the ancient Rome."
E. L. Cutts, Constantine the Great, chapter 29.
"The new walls of Constantine stretched from the port to the
Propontis ... at the distance of fifteen stadia from the
ancient fortification, and, with the city of Byzantium, they
enclosed five of the seven hills which, to the eyes of those
who approach Constantinople, appear to rise above each other
in beautiful order. About a century after the death of the
founder, the new buildings ... already covered the narrow
ridge of the sixth and the broad summit of the seventh hill.
... The buildings of the new city were executed by such
artificers as the reign of Constantine could afford; but they
were decorated by the hands of the most celebrated masters of
the age of Pericles and Alexander. ... By his commands the
cities of Greece and Asia were despoiled of their most
valuable ornaments."
E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 17.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717
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"The new city was an exact copy of old Rome. ... It was
inhabited by senators from Rome. Wealthy individuals from the
provinces were likewise compelled to keep up houses at
Constantinople, pensions were conferred upon them, and a right
to a certain amount of provisions from the public stores was
annexed to these dwellings. Eighty thousand loaves of bread
were distributed daily to the inhabitants of Constantinople.
... The tribute of grain from Egypt was appropriated to supply
Constantinople, and that of Africa was left for the
consumption of Rome."
G. Finlay, Greece under the Romans, chapter 2.
ALSO IN:
J. B. Bury, History of the later Roman Empire,
book 1, chapter 5 (volume 1).
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 363-518.
The Eastern Court from Valens to Anastatius.
Tumults at the capital.
See ROME: A. D. 363-379 to 400-518.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 378.
Threatened by the Goths.
See GOTHS: A. D. 379-382.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 400.
Popular rising against the Gothic soldiery.
Their expulsion from the city.
See ROME: A. D. 400-518.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 511-512.
Tumults concerning the Trisagion.
During the reign of Anastatius, at Constantinople, the fierce
controversy which had raged for many years throughout the
empire, between the Monophysites (who maintained that the
divine and the human natures in Christ were one), and the
'adherents of the Council of Chalcedon (which declared that
Christ possessed two natures in one person), was embittered at
the imperial capital by opposition between the emperor, who
favored the Monophysites, and the patriarch who was strict in
Chalcedonian orthodoxy. In 511, and again in 512, it gave rise
to two alarming riots at Constantinople. On the first
occasion, a Monophysite or Eutychian party "burst into the
Chapel of the Archangel in the Imperial Palace and dared to
chant the Te Deum with the addition of the forbidden words,
the war-cry of many an Eutychian mob, 'Who wast crucified for
us.' The Trisagion, as it was called, the thrice-repeated cry
to the Holy One, which Isaiah in his vision heard uttered by
the seraphim, became, by the addition of these words, as
emphatic a statement as the Monophysite party could desire of
their favourite tenet that God, not man, breathed out his soul
unto death outside the gates of Jerusalem. ... On the next
Sunday the Monophysites sang the verse which was their war-cry
in the great Basilica itself." The riot which ensued was
quieted with difficulty by the patriarch, to whom the emperor
humbled himself. But in the next year, on a fast-day (Nov. 6)
the Monophysites gave a similar challenge, singing the
Trisagion with the prohibited words added, and "again psalmody
gave place to blows; men wounded and dying lay upon the floor
of the church. ... The orthodox mob streamed from all parts
into the great forum. There they swarmed and swayed to and fro
all that day and all that night, shouting forth, not the
greatness of the Ephesian Diana, but 'Holy, Holy, Holy,'
without the words' 'Who wast crucified.' They hewed down the
monks,--a minority of their class,--who were on the side of
the imperial creed, and burned their monasteries with fire."
After two days of riot, the aged emperor humbled himself to
the mob, in the great Circus, offered to abdicate the throne
and made peace by promises to respect the decrees of
Chalcedon.
T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, book 4, chapter 10.
See, also, NESTORIAN AND MONOPHYSITE CONTROVERSY.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 532.
The Sedition of Nika.
See CIRCUS, FACTIONS OF THE ROMAN.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 542.
The Plague.
See PLAGUE: A. D. 542-594.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 553.
General Council.
See THREE CHAPTERS, THE DISPUTE OF THE.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 626.
Attacked by the Avars and Persians.
See ROME: A. D. 565-628.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 668-675.
First siege by the Saracens.
"Forty-six years after the flight of Mahomet from Mecca his
disciples appeared in arms under the walls of Constantinople.
They were animated by a genuine or fictitious saying of the
prophet, that, to the first army which besieged the city of
the Cæsars, their sins were forgiven. ... No sooner had the
Caliph Moawiyah [the first of the Ommiade caliphs, seated at
Damascus,] suppressed his rivals and established his throne,
than he aspired to expiate the guilt of civil blood by the
success of this holy expedition; his preparations by sea and
land were adequate to the importance of the object; his
standard was entrusted to Sophian, a veteran warrior. ... The
Greeks had little to hope, nor had their enemies any reasons
of fear, from the courage and vigilance of the reigning
Emperor, who disgraced the name of Constantine, and imitated
only the inglorious years of his grandfather Heraclius.
Without delay or opposition, the naval forces of the Saracens
passed through the unguarded channel of the Hellespont, which
even now, under the feeble and disorderly government of the
Turks, is maintained as the natural bulwark of the capital.
The Arabian fleet cast anchor and the troops were disembarked
near the palace of Hebdomon, seven miles from the city. During
many days, from the dawn of light to the evening, the line of
assault was extended from the golden gate to the Eastern
promontory. ... But the besiegers had formed an insufficient
estimate of the strength and resources of Constantinople. The
solid and lofty walls were guarded by numbers and discipline;
the spirit of the Romans was rekindled by the last danger of
their religion and empire; the fugitives from the conquered
provinces more successfully renewed the defence of Damascus
and Alexandria; and the Saracens were dismayed by the strange
and prodigious effects of artificial fire. This firm and
effectual resistance diverted their arms to the more easy
attempts of plundering the European and Asiatic coasts of the
Propontis; and, after keeping the sea from the month of April
to that of September, on the approach of winter they retreated
four score miles from the capital, to the isle of Cyzicus, in
which they had established their magazine of spoil and
provisions. So patient was their perseverance, or so languid
were their operations, that they repeated in the six following
summers the same attack and retreat, with a gradual abatement
of hope and vigour, till the mischances of shipwreck and
disease, of the sword and of fire, compelled them to
relinquish the fruitless enterprise. They might bewail the
loss, or commemorate the martyrdom, of 30,000 Moslems who fell
in the siege of Constantinople. ... The event of the siege
revived, both in the East and West, the reputation of the
Roman arms, and cast a momentary shade over the glories of the
Saracens. ... A peace, or truce of thirty years was ratified
between the two Empires; and the stipulation of an annual
tribute, fifty horses of a noble breed, fifty slaves, and
3,000 pieces of gold, degraded the majesty of the commander of
the faithful."
E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 52.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717
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CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 680.
General Council.
See MONOTHELITE CONTROVERSY.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 717-718.
The second siege by the Saracens.
"When Leo [the Isaurian] was raised to the [Byzantine] throne
[A. D. 717], the empire was threatened with immediate ruin.
Six emperors had been dethroned within the space of twenty-one
years. ... The Bulgarians and Sclavonians wasted Europe up to
the walls of Constantinople; the Saracens ravaged the whole of
Asia Minor to the shores of the Bosphorus. ... The Caliph
Suleiman, who had seen one private adventurer succeed the
other in quick succession on the imperial throne, deemed the
moment favourable for the final conquest of the Christians;
and, reinforcing his brother's army [in Asia Minor], he
ordered him to lay siege to Constantinople. The Saracen empire
had now reached its greatest extent. From the banks of the
Sihun and the Indus to the shores of the Atlantic in
Mauretania and Spain, the order of Suleiman was implicitly
obeyed. ... The army Moslemah led against Constantinople was
the best-appointed that had ever attacked the Christians: it
consisted of 80,000 warriors. The Caliph announced his
intention of taking the field in person with additional
forces, should the capital of the Christians offer a
protracted resistance to the arms of Islam. The whole
expedition is said to have employed 180,000 men. ... Moslemah,
after capturing Pergamus, marched to Abydos, where he was
joined by the Saracen fleet. He then transported his army
across the Hellespont, and marching along the shore of the
Propontis, invested Leo in his capital both by land and sea.
The strong walls of Constantinople, the engines of defence
with which Roman and Greek art had covered the ramparts, and
the skill of the Byzantine engineers, rendered every attempt
to carry the place by assault hopeless, so that the Saracens
were compelled to trust to the effect of a strict blockade for
gaining possession of the city. ... The besiegers encamped
before Constantinople on the 15th August 717. The Caliph
Suleiman died before he was able to send any reinforcements to
his brother. The winter proved unusually severe." Great
numbers of the warriors from the south were destroyed by the
inclemency of a climate to which they had not become inured;
many more died of famine in the Moslem camp, while the
besieged city was plentifully supplied. The whole undertaking
was disastrous from its beginning to its close, and, exactly
one year from the pitching of his camp under the Byzantine
walls, "on the 15th of August 718, Moslemah raised the siege,
after ruining one of the finest armies the Saracens ever
assembled. ... Few military details concerning Leo's defence
of Constantinople have been preserved, but there can be no
doubt that it was one of the most brilliant exploits of a
warlike age. ... The vanity of Gallic writers has magnified
the success of Charles Martel over a plundering expedition of
the Spanish Arabs into a marvellous victory, and attributed
the deliverance of Europe from the Saracen yoke to the valour
of the Franks. A veil has been thrown over the talents and
courage of Leo, a soldier of fortune, just seated on the
imperial throne, who defeated the long-planned schemes of
conquest of the Caliphs Welid and Suleiman. It is unfortunate
that we have no Isaurian literature. ... The war was languidly
carried on for some years and the Saracens were gradually
expelled from most of their conquests beyond Mount Tauris."
G. Finlay, History of the Byzantine
Empire from 716 to 1057, chapter 1.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 747.
The Great Plague.
See PLAGUE: A. D. 744-748.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 754.
The Iconoclastic Council.
See ICONOCLASTIC CONTROVERSY.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 865.
First attack by the Russians.
"In the year 865, a nation hitherto unknown made its first
appearance in the history of the world, where it was destined
to act no unimportant part. Its entrance into the political
system of the European nations was marked by an attempt to
take Constantinople, a project which it has often revived. ...
In the year 862, Rurik, a Scandinavian or Varangian chief,
arrived at Novgorod, and laid the first foundation of the
state which has grown into the Russian empire. The Russian
people, under Varangian domination, rapidly increased in
power, and reduced many of their neighbours to submission. ...
From what particular circumstance the Russians were led to
make their daring attack on Constantinople is not known. The
Emperor Michael [III.] had taken the command of an army to act
against the Saracens, and Oryphas, admiral of the fleet, acted
as governor of the capital during his absence. Before the
Emperor had commenced his military operations, a fleet of 200
Russian vessels of small size, taking advantage of a
favourable wind, suddenly passed through the Bosphorus, and
anchored at the mouth of the Black River in the Propontis,
about 18 miles from Constantinople. This Russian expedition
had already plundered the shores of the Black Sea, and from
its station within the Bosphorus it ravaged the country about
Constantinople, and plundered the Prince's Islands, pillaging
the monasteries and slaying the monks as well as the other
inhabitants. The Emperor, informed by Oryphas of the attack on
his capital hastened to its defence. ... It required no great
exertions on the part of the imperial officers to equip a
force sufficient to attack and put to flight these invaders;
but the horrid cruelty of the barbarians, and the wild daring
of their Varangian leaders, made a profound impression on the
people of Constantinople."
G. Finlay, History of the Byzantine Empire,
book 1, chapter 3, section 3.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 907-1043.
Repeated attacks by the Russians.
Notwithstanding an active and increasing commercial
intercourse between the Greeks and the Russians,
Constantinople was exposed, during the tenth century and part
of the eleventh, to repeated attacks from the masterful
Varangians and their subjects. In the year 907, a fleet of
2,000 Russian vessels or boats swarmed into the Bosphorus, and
laid waste the shores in the neighborhood of Constantinople.
"It is not improbable that the expedition was undertaken to
obtain indemnity for some commercial losses sustained by
imperial negligence, monopoly or oppression. The subjects of
the emperor were murdered, and the Russians amused themselves
with torturing their captives in the most barbarous manner.
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At length Leo [VI.] purchased their retreat by the payment of a
large sum of money. ... These hostilities were terminated by a
commercial treaty in 912." There was peace under this treaty
until 941, when a third attack on Constantinople was led by
Igor, the son of Rurik. But it ended most disastrously for the
Russians and Igor escaped with only a few boats. The result
was another important treaty, negotiated in 945. In 970 the
Byzantine Empire was more seriously threatened by an attempt
on the part of the Russians to subdue the kingdom of Bulgaria;
which would have brought them into the same dangerous
neighborhood to Constantinople that the Russia of our own day
has labored so hard to reach. But the able soldier John
Zimisces happened to occupy the Byzantine throne; the Russian
invasion of Bulgaria was repelled and Bulgaria, itself, was
reannexed to the Empire, which pushed its boundaries to the
Danube, once more. For more than half a century,
Constantinople was undisturbed by the covetous ambition of her
Russian fellow Christians. Then they invaded the Bosphorus
again with a formidable armament; but the expedition was
wholly disastrous and they retreated with a loss of 15,000
men. "Three years elapsed before peace was re-established; but
a treaty was then concluded and the trade at Constantinople
placed on the old footing. From this period the alliance of
the Russians with the Byzantine Empire was long uninterrupted;
and as the Greeks became more deeply imbued with
ecclesiastical prejudices, and more hostile to the Latin
nations, the Eastern Church became, in their eyes, the symbol
of their nationality, and the bigoted attachment of the
Russians to the same religious formalities obtained for them
from the Byzantine Greeks the appellation of the most
Christian nation."
G. Finlay, History of the Byzantine Empire,
from 716 to 1057, book 2, chapter 3, section 2.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1081.
Sacked by the rebel army of Alexius Comnenus.
Alexius Comnenus, the emperor who occupied the Byzantine
throne at the time of the First Crusade, and who became
historically prominent in that connection, acquired his crown
by a successful rebellion. He was collaterally of the family
of Isaac Comnenus, (Isaac I.) who had reigned briefly in
1057-1059,--he, too, having been, in his imperial office, the
product of a revolution. But the interval of twenty-two years
had seen four emperors come and go--two to the grave and two
into monastic seclusion. It was the last of these--Nicephorus
III. (Botaneites) that Alexius displaced, with the support of
an army which he had previously commanded. One of the gates of
the capital was betrayed to him by a German mercenary, and he
gained the city almost without a blow. "The old Emperor
consented to resign his crown and retire into a monastery.
Alexius entered the imperial palace, and the rebel army
commenced plundering every quarter of the city. Natives and
mercenaries vied with one another in license and rapine. No
class of society was sacred from their lust and avarice, and
the inmates of monasteries, churches, and palaces were alike
plundered and insulted. This sack of Constantinople by the
Sclavonians, Bulgarians, and Greeks in the service of the
families of Comnenus, Ducas, and Paleologos, who crept
treacherously into the city, was a fit prologue to its
sufferings when it was stormed by the Crusaders in 1204. From
this disgraceful conquest of Constantinople by Alexius
Comnenus, we must date the decay of its wealth and civic
supremacy, both as a capital and a commercial city. ... The
power which was thus established in rapine terminated about a
century later in a bloody vengeance inflicted by an infuriated
populace on the last Emperor of the Comnenian family,
Andronicus I. Constantinople was taken on the 1st of April,
1081, and Alexius was crowned in St. Sophia's next day."
G. Finlay, History of the Byzantine and Greek
Empires, from 716 to 1453, book 3, chapter 1.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1204.
Conquest and brutal sack by Crusaders and Venetians.
See CRUSADES: A. D. 1201-1203;
and BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 1203-1204.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1204-1261.
The Latin Empire and its fall.
Recovery by the Greeks.
See ROMANIA, THE EMPIRE OF,
and BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 1204-1205.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1261.
Great privileges conceded to the Genoese.
Pera and its citadel Galata given up to them.
See GENOA: A. D. 1261-1299.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1261-1453.
The restored Greek Empire.
On the 25th of July, A. D. 1261. Constantinople was surprised
and the last Latin emperor expelled by the fortunate arms of
Michael Palæologus, the Greek usurper at Nicæa. (See GREEK
EMPIRE OF NICÆA.) Twenty days later Michael made his triumphal
entry into the ancient capital. "But after the first transport
of devotion and pride, he sighed at the dreary prospect of
solitude and ruin. The palace was defiled with smoke and dirt
and the gross intemperance of the Franks; whole streets had
been consumed by fire, or were decayed by the injuries of
time; the sacred and profane edifices were stripped of their
ornaments; and, as if they were conscious of their approaching
exile, the industry of the Latins had been confined to the
work of pillage and destruction. Trade had expired under the
pressure of anarchy and distress, and the numbers of
inhabitants had decreased with the opulence of the city. It
was the first care of the Greek monarch to reinstate the
nobles in the palaces of their fathers. ... He repeopled
Constantinople by a liberal invitation to the provinces, and
the brave 'volunteers' were seated in the capital which had
been recovered by their arms. Instead of banishing the
factories of the Pisans, Venetians, and Genoese, the prudent
conqueror 'accepted their oaths of allegiance, encouraged
their industry, confirmed their privileges and allowed them to
live under the jurisdiction of their proper magistrates. Of
these nations the Pisans and Venetians preserved their
respective quarters in the city; but the services and power of
the Genoese [who had assisted in the reconquest of
Constantinople] deserved at the same time the gratitude and
the jealousy of the Greeks. Their independent colony was first
planted at the seaport town of Heraclea in Thrace. They were
speedily recalled, and settled in the exclusive possession of
the suburb of Galata, an advantageous post, in which they
revived the commerce and insulted the majesty of the Byzantine
Empire. The recovery of Constantinople was celebrated as the
era of a new Empire."
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The new empire thus established in the ancient Roman capital
of the east made some show of vigor at first. Michael
Palæologus "wrested from the Franks several of the noblest
islands of the Archipelago--Lesbos, Chios, and Rhodes. His
brother Constantine was sent to command in Malvasia and
Sparta; and the Eastern side of the Morea, from Argos and
Napoli to Cape Tænarus, was repossessed by the Greeks. ... But
in the prosecution of these Western conquests the countries
beyond the Hellespont were left naked to the Turks; and their
depredations verified the prophecy of a dying senator, that
the recovery of Constantinople would be the ruin of Asia." Not
only was Asia Minor abandoned to the new race of Turkish
conquerors--the Ottomans--but those most aggressive of the
proselytes of Islam were invited in the next generation to
cross the Bosphorus, and to enter Thrace as partisans in a
Greek civil war. Their footing in Europe once gained, they
devoured the distracted and feeble empire piece by piece,
until little remained to it beyond the capital itself. Long
before the latter fell, the empire was a shadow and a name. In
the very suburbs of Constantinople, the Genoese podesta, at
Pera or Galata, had more power than the Greek Emperor; and the
rival Italian traders, of Genoa, Venice and Pisa, fought their
battles under the eyes of the Byzantines with indifference,
almost, to the will or wishes, the opposition or the help of
the latter. "The weight of the Roman Empire was scarcely felt
in the balance of these opulent and powerful republics. ...
The Roman Empire (I smile in transcribing the name) might soon
have sunk into a province of Genoa, if the ambition of the
republic had not been checked by the ruin of her freedom and
naval power. A long contest of 130 years was determined by the
triumph of Venice. ... Yet the spirit of commerce survived

that of conquest; and the colony of Pera still awed the
capital and navigated the Euxine, till it was involved by the
Turks in the final servitude of Constantinople itself."
E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 62-63.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717
ALSO IN:
G. Finlay, History of the Byzantine and
Greek Empires, book 4, chapter 2.
See, also,
TURKS (THE OTTOMANS): A. D. 1240-1326; 1326-1359;
1360-1389; 1389-1403, &c.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1348-1355.
War with the Genoese.
Alliance with Venice and Aragon.
John Cantacuzenos, who usurped the throne in 1347, "had not
reigned a year before he was involved in hostilities with the
Genoese colony of Galata, which had always contained many warm
partisans of the house of Paleologos [displaced by
Cantacuzenos]. This factory had grown into a flourishing town,
and commanded a large portion of the Golden Horn. During the
civil war, the Genoese capitalists had supplied the regency
with money, and they now formed almost every branch of the
revenue which the imperial government derived from the port.
... The financial measures of the new emperor reduced their
profits. ... The increased industry of the Greeks, and the
jealousy of the Genoese, led to open hostilities. The
colonists of Galata commenced the war in a treacherous manner,
without any authority from the republic of Genoa (1348). With
a fleet of only eight large and some small galleys they
attacked Constantinople while Cantacuzenos was absent from the
capital, and burned several buildings and the greater part of
the fleet he was then constructing. The Empress Irene, who
administered the government in the absence of her husband,
behaved with great prudence and courage and repulsed a bold
attack of the Genoese. Cantacuzenos hastened to the capital,
where he spent the winter in repairing the loss his fleet had
sustained. As soon as it was ready for action, he engaged the
Genoese in the port, where he hoped that their naval skill
would be of no avail, and where the numerical superiority of
his ships would insure him a victory. He expected, moreover,
to gain possession of Galata itself by an attack on the land
side while the Genoese were occupied at sea. The cowardly
conduct of the Greeks, both by sea and land, rendered his
plans abortive. The greater part of his ships were taken, and
his army retreated without making a serious attack.
Fortunately for Cantacuzenos, the colonists of Galata received
an order from the Senate of Genoa to conclude peace. ... Their
victory enabled them to obtain favourable terms, and to keep
possession of some land they had seized, and on which they
soon completed the construction of a new citadel. The friendly
disposition manifested by the government of Genoa induced
Cantacuzenos to send ambassadors to the Senate to demand the
restoration of the island of Chios, which had been conquered
by a band of Genoese exiles in 1346. A treaty was concluded,
by which the Genoese were to restore the island to the Emperor
of Constantinople in ten years. ... But this treaty was never
carried into execution, for the exiles at Chios set both the
republic of Genoa and the Greek Empire at defiance, and
retained their conquest." The peace with Genoa was of short
duration. Cantacuzenos was bent upon expelling the Genoese
from Galata, and as they were now involved in the war with the
Venetians which is known as the war of Caffa he hoped to
accomplish his purpose by joining the latter. "The Genoese had
drawn into their hands the greater part of the commerce of the
Black Sea. The town of Tana or Azof was then a place of great
commercial importance, as many of the productions of India and
China found their way to western Europe from its warehouses.
The Genoese, in consequence of a quarrel with the Tartars, had
been compelled to suspend their intercourse with Tana, and the
Venetians, availing themselves of the opportunity, had
extended their trade and increased their profits. The envy of
the Genoese led them to obstruct the Venetian trade and
capture Venetian ships, until at length the disputes of the
two republics broke out in open war in 1348. In the year 1351,
Cantacuzenos entered into an alliance with Venice, and joined
his forces to those of the Venetians, who had also concluded
an alliance with Peter the Ceremonious, king of Aragon.
Nicholas Pisani, one of the ablest admirals of the age,
appeared before Constantinople with the Venetian fleet; but
his ships had suffered severely from a storm, and his
principal object was attained when he had convoyed the
merchantmen of Venice safely into the Black Sea. Cantacuzenos,
however, had no object but to take Galata; and, expecting to
receive important aid from Pisani, he attacked the Genoese
colony by sea and land. His assault was defeated in
consequence of the weakness of the Greeks and the lukewarmness
of the Venetians.
{510}
Pisani retired to Negropont, to effect a junction with the
Catalan fleet; and Pagano Doria, who had pursued him with a
superior force, in returning to Galata to pass the winter,
stormed the town of Heracleia on the Sea of Marmora, where
Cantacuzenos had collected large magazines of provisions, and
carried off a rich booty, with many wealthy Greeks, who were
compelled to ransom themselves by paying large sums to these
captors. Cantacuzenos was now besieged in Constantinople, ...
The Genoese, unable to make any impression on the city,
indemnified themselves by ravaging the Greek territory on the
Black Sea. ... Early in the year 1352, Pisani returned to
Constantinople with the Catalan fleet, under Ponzio da
Santapace, and a great battle was fought between the allies
and the Genoese, in full view of Constantinople and Galata.
The scene of the combat was off the island of Prote, and it
received the name of Vrachophagos from some sunken rocks, of
which the Genoese availed themselves in their manœuvres. The
honour of a doubtful and bloody day rested with the Genoese.
... Pisani soon quitted the neighbourhood of Constantinople,
and Cantacuzenos, having nothing more to hope from the
Venetian alliance ... concluded a peace with the republic of
Genoa. In this war he had exposed the weakness of the Greek
empire, and the decline of the maritime force of Greece, to
all the states of Europe. The treaty confirmed all the
previous privileges and encroachments of the colony of Galata
and other Genoese establishments in the Empire."
G. Finlay, History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires,
716-1453, book 4, chapter 2, section 4.
The retirement of the Greeks from the contest did not check
the war between Genoa and Venice and the other allies of the
latter, which was continued until 1355. The Genoese were
defeated, August 29, 1353, by the Venetians and Catalans, in a
great battle fought near Lojera, on the northern coast of
Sardinia, losing 41 galleys and 4,500 or 5,000 men. They
obtained their revenge the next year, on the 4th of November,
when Paganino Doria surprised the Venetian admiral, Pisani, at
Portolongo, opposite the island of Sapienzu, as he was
preparing to go into winter-quarters. "The Venetians sustained
not so much a defeat as a total discomfiture; 450 were killed;
an enormous number of prisoners, loosely calculated at 6,000,
and a highly valuable booty in prizes and stores, were taken."
In June, 1355, the war was ended by a treaty which excluded
Venice from all Black Sea ports except Caffa.
W. C. Hazlitt, History of the Venetian
Republic, chapter 18-19 (volume 3).
ALSO IN:
F. A. Parker, The Fleets of the World, pages 88-94.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1453.
Conquest by the Turks.
Mahomet II., son of Amurath II. came to the Ottoman throne, at
the age of twenty-one, in 1451. "The conquest of
Constantinople was the first object on which his thoughts were
fixed at the opening of his reign. The resolution with which
he had formed this purpose expressed itself in his stern reply
to the ambassadors of the Emperor, offering him tribute if he
would renounce the project of building a fort on the European
shore of the Bosporus, which, at the distance of only five
miles from the capital, would give him the command of the
Black Sea. He ordered the envoys to retire, and threatened to
flay alive any who should dare to bring him a similar message
again. The fort was finished in three months and garrisoned
with 400 janizaries; a tribute was exacted of all vessels that
passed, and war was formally declared by the Sultan.
Constantine [Constantine Palæologus, the last Greek Emperor]
made the best preparations in his power for defence; but he
could muster only 600 Greek soldiers." In order to secure aid
from the Pope and the Italians, Constantine united himself
with the Roman Church. A few hundred troops were then sent to
his assistance; but, at the most, he had only succeeded in
manning the many miles of the city wall with 9,000 men, when,
in April, 1453, the Sultan invested it. The Turkish army was
said to number 250,000 men, and 420 vessels were counted in
the accompanying fleet. A summons to surrender was answered
with indignant refusal by Constantine, "who had calmly
resolved not to survive the fall of the city," and the final
assault of the furious Turks was made on the 29th of May,
1453. The heroic Emperor was slain among the last defenders of
the gate of St. Romanos, and the janizaries rode over his dead
body as they charged into the streets of the fallen Roman
capital. "The despairing people--senators, priests, monks,
nuns, husbands, wives and children--sought safety in the
church of St. Sophia. A prophecy had been circulated that here
the Turks would be arrested by an angel from heaven, with a
drawn sword; and hither the miserable multitude crowded, in
the expectation of supernatural help. The conquerors followed,
sword in hand, slaughtering those whom they encountered in the
street. They broke down the doors of the church with axes,
and, rushing in, committed every act of atrocity that a
frantic thirst for blood and the inflamed passions of demons
could suggest. All the unhappy victims were divided as slaves
among the soldiers, without regard to blood or rank, and
hurried off to the camp; and the mighty cathedral, so long the
glory of the Christian world, soon presented only traces of
the orgies of hell. The other quarters of the city were
plundered by other divisions of the army. ... About noon the
Sultan made his triumphal entry by the gate of St. Romanos,
passing by the body of the Emperor, which lay concealed among
the slain. Entering the church, he ordered a moolah to ascend
the bema and announce to the Mussulmans that St. Sophia was
now a mosque, consecrated to the prayers of the true
believers. He ordered the body of the Emperor to be sought,
his head to be exposed to the people, and afterwards to be
sent as a trophy, to be seen by the Greeks, in the principal
cities of the Ottoman Empire. For three days the city was
given up to the indescribable horrors of pillage and the
license of the Mussulman soldiery. Forty thousand perished
during the sack of the city and fifty thousand were reduced to
slavery."
C. C. Felton, Greece, Ancient and Modern:
Fourth course, lecture 6.
ALSO IN:
G. Finlay, History of the Byzantine and
Greek Empires from 716 to 1453, book 4, chapter 2.
E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 68.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1453-1481.
The city repopulated and rebuilt.
Creation of the Turkish Stamboul.
{511}
"It was necessary for Mohammed II. to repeople Constantinople,
in order to render it the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The
installation of an orthodox Patriarch calmed the minds of the
Greeks, and many who had emigrated before the siege gradually
returned, and were allowed to claim a portion of their
property. But the slow increase of population, caused by a
sense of security and the hope of gain, did not satisfy the
Sultan, who was determined to see his capital one of the
greatest cities of the East, and who knew that it had formerly
exceeded Damascus, Bagdad and Cairo, in wealth, extent and
population. From most of his subsequent conquests Mohammed
compelled the wealthiest of the inhabitants to emigrate to
Constantinople, where he granted them plots of land to build
their houses. ... Turks, Greeks, Servians, Bulgarians,
Albanians, and Lazes, followed one another in quick
succession, and long before the end of his reign
Constantinople was crowded by a numerous and active
population, and presented a more flourishing aspect than it
had done during the preceding century. The embellishment of
his capital was also the object of the Sultan's attention. ...
Mosques, minarets, fountains and tombs, the great objects of
architectural magnificence among the Mussulmans, were
constructed in every quarter of the city. ... The picturesque
beauty of the Stamboul of the present day owes most of its
artificial features to the Othoman conquest, and wears a
Turkish aspect. The Constantinople of the Byzantine Empire
disappeared with the last relics of the Greek Empire. The
traveller who now desires to view the vestiges of a Byzantine
capital, and examine the last relics of Byzantine
architecture, must continue his travels eastward to
Trebizond."
G. Finlay, History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires,
from 716 to 1453, book 4, chapter 2, section 7.
CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 1807.
Threatened by a British fleet.
See TURKS: A. D. 1806-1807.
----------CONSTANTINOPLE: End----------
CONSTANTINOPLE, Conference of (1877).
See TURKS: A. D. 1861-1877.
CONSTANTIUS I., Roman Emperor, A. D. 305-306.
Constantius II., A. D. 337-361.
CONSTITUTION, The battles of the frigate.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1812-1813, and 1814.
CONSTITUTION OF ARAGON AND CASTILE (the old monarchy).
See CORTES, THE EARLY SPANISH.
----------CONSTITUTION OF ARAGON AND CASTILE: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.
The subjoined text of the Constitution of the Argentine
Republic is a translation "from the official edition of 1868,"
taken from R. Napp's work on "The Argentine Republic,"
prepared for the Central Argentine Commission on the Centenary
Exhibition at Philadelphia, 1876. According to the "Statesman's
Year-Book" of 1893, there have been no modifications since
1860:
Part I.
Article I.
The Argentine Nation adopts the federal-republican, and
representative form of Government, as established by the
present Constitution.
Article 2.
The Federal Government shall maintain the Apostolic Roman
Catholic Faith.
Article 3.
The authorities of the Federal Government shall reside in the
city which a special law of Congress may declare the capital
of the Republic, subsequently to the cession by one or more of
the Provincial Legislatures, of the territory about to be
federalized.
Article 4.
The Federal Government shall administer the expenses of the
Nation out of the revenue in the National Treasury, derived
from import and export duties; from the sale and lease of the
public lands; from postage; and from such other taxes as the
General Congress may equitably and proportionably lay upon the
people; as also, from such loans and credits as may be decreed
by it in times of national necessity, or for enterprises of
national utility.
Article 5.
Each Province shall make a Constitution for itself, according
to the republican representative system, and the principles,
declarations and guarantees of this Constitution; and which
shall provide for (secure) Municipal Government, primary
education and the administration of justice. Under these
conditions the Federal Government shall guarantee to each
Province the exercise and enjoyment of its institutions.
Article 6.
The Federal Government shall intervene in the Provinces to
guarantee the republican form of Government, or to repel
foreign invasion, and also, on application of their
constituted authorities, should they have been deposed by
sedition or by invasion from another Province, for the purpose
of sustaining or re-establishing them.
Article 7.
Full faith shall be given in each Province to the pubic acts,
and judicial proceedings of every other Province; and Congress
may by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts
and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
Article 8.
The citizens of each Province shall be entitled to all the
rights, privileges and immunities, inherent to the citizens of
all the several Provinces. The reciprocal extradition of
criminals between all the Provinces, is obligatory.
Article 9.
Throughout the territory of the Nation, no other than the
National Custom-Houses shall be allowed, and they shall be
regulated by the tariffs sanctioned by Congress.
Article 10.
The circulation of all goods produced or manufactured in the
Republic, is free within its borders, as also, that of all
species of merchandise which may be dispatched by the
Custom-Houses of entry.
Article 11.
Such articles of native or foreign production, as well as
cattle of every kind, which pass from one Province to another,
shall be free from all transit-duties, and also the vehicles,
vessels or animals, which transport them; and no tax, let it
be what it may, can be henceforward imposed upon them on
account of such transit.
Article 12.
Vessels bound from one Province to another, shall not be
compelled to enter, anchor, or pay transit-duties; nor in any
case can preferences be granted to one port over another, by
any commercial laws or regulations.
Article 13.
New Provinces may be admitted into the Nation; but no Province
shall be erected within the territory of any other Province,
or Provinces, nor any Province be formed by the junction of
various Provinces, without the consent of the legislatures of
the Provinces concerned, as well as of Congress.
{512}
Article 14.
All the inhabitants of the Nation shall enjoy the following
rights, according to the laws which regulate their exercise:
viz.. to labor and to practice all lawful industry; to trade
and navigate; to petition the authorities; to enter, remain
in, travel over and leave, Argentine territory; to publish
their ideas in the public-press without previous censure; to
enjoy and dispose of their property; to associate for useful
purposes; to profess freely their religion; to teach and to
learn.
Article 15.
In the Argentine Nation there are no slaves; the few which now
exist shall be free from the date of the adoption of this
Constitution, and a special law shall regulate the indemnity
acknowledged as due by this declaration. All contracts for the
purchase and sale of persons is a crime, for which those who
make them, as well as the notary or functionary which
authorizes them, shall be responsible, and the slaves who in
any manner whatever may be introduced, shall be free from the
sole fact that they tread the territory of the Republic.
Article 16.
The Argentine Nation does not admit the prerogatives of blood
nor of birth; in it, there are no personal privileges or
titles of nobility. All its inhabitants are equal in presence
of the law, and admissible to office without other condition
than that of fitness. Equality is the basis of taxation as
well as of public-posts.
Article 17.
Property is inviolable, and no inhabitant of the Nation can be
deprived of it, save by virtue of a sentence based on law. The
expropriation for public utility must be authorized by law and
previously indemnified. Congress alone shall impose the
contributions mentioned in Article 4. No personal service
shall be exacted save by virtue of law, or of a sentence
founded on law. Every author or inventor is the exclusive
proprietor of his work, invention or discovery, for the term
which the law accords to him. The confiscation of property is
henceforward and forever, stricken from the Argentine
penal-code. No armed body can make requisitions, nor exact
assistance of any kind.
Article 18.
No inhabitant of the Nation shall suffer punishment without a
previous judgment founded on a law passed previously to the
cause of judgment, nor be judged by special commissions, or
withdrawn from the Judges designated by law before the opening
of the cause. No one shall be obliged to testify against
himself; nor be arrested, save by virtue of a written order
from a competent authority. The defense at law both of the
person and his rights, is inviolable. The domicil, private
papers and epistolary correspondence, are inviolable; and a
law shall determine in what cases, and under what imputations,
a search-warrant can proceed against and occupy them. Capital
punishment for political causes, as well as every species of
torture and whippings, are abolished for ever. The prisons of
the Nation shall be healthy and clean, for the security, and
not for the punishment, of the criminals detained in them, and
every measure which under pretext of precaution may mortify
them more than such security requires, shall render
responsible the Judge who authorizes it.
Article 19.
Those private actions of men that in nowise offend public
order and morality, or injure a third party, belong alone to
God, and are beyond the authority of the magistrates. No
inhabitant of the Nation shall be compelled to do what the law
does not ordain, nor be deprived of anything which it does not
prohibit.
Article 20.
Within the territory of the Nation, foreigners shall enjoy all
the civil rights of citizens; they can exercise their
industries, commerce or professions, in accordance with the
laws; own, buy and sell real-estate; navigate the rivers and
coasts; freely profess their religion, and testate and marry.
They shall not be obliged to become citizens, nor to pay
forced contributions. Two years previous residence in the
Nation shall be required for naturalization, but the
authorities can shorten this term in favour of him who so
desires it, under the allegation and proof of services
rendered to the Republic.
Article 21.
Every Argentine citizen is obliged to arm himself in defense
of his country and of this Constitution, according to the laws
which Congress shall ordain for the purpose, and the decrees
of the National Executive. For the period of ten years from
the day on which they may have obtained their citizenship,
this service shall be voluntary on the part of the
naturalized.
Article 22.
The people shall not deliberate nor govern save by means of
their Representatives and Authorities, created by this
Constitution. Every armed force or meeting of persons which
shall arrogate to itself the rights of the people, and
petition in their name, is guilty of sedition.
Article 23.
In the event of internal commotion or foreign attack which
might place in jeopardy the practice of this Constitution, and
the free action of the Authorities created by it, the Province
or territory where such disturbance exists shall be declared
in a state of siege, all constitutional guarantees being
meantime suspended there. But during such suspension the
President of the Republic cannot condemn nor apply any
punishment per se. In respect to persons, his power shall be
limited to arresting and removing them from one place to
another in the Nation, should they not prefer to leave Argentine
territory.
Article 24.
Congress shall establish the reform of existing laws in all
branches, as also the trial by Jury.
Article 25.
The Federal Government shall foment European immigration; and
it cannot restrict, limit, nor lay any impost upon, the entry
upon Argentine territory, of such foreigners as come for the
purpose of cultivating the soil, improving manufactures, and
introducing and teaching the arts and sciences.
Article 26.
The navigation of the interior rivers of the Nation is free to
all flags, subject only to such regulations as the National
Authority may dictate.
Article 27.
The Federal Government is obliged to strengthen the bonds of
peace and commerce with foreign powers, by means of treaties
which shall be in conformity with the principles of public law
laid down in this Constitution.
Article 28.
The principles, rights and guarantees laid down in the
foregoing articles, cannot be altered by any laws intended to
regulate their practice.
Article 29.
Congress cannot grant to the Executive, nor the provincial
legislatures to the Governor of Provinces, any "extraordinary
faculties," nor the "sum of the public power," nor
"renunciations or supremacies" by which the lives, honor or
fortune of the Argentines shall be at the mercy of any
Government or person whatever. Acts of this nature shall be
irremediably null and void, and shall subject those who frame,
vote, or sign them, to the pains and penalties incurred by
those who are infamous traitors to their country.
{513}
Article 30.
This Constitution can be reformed in whole or in part. The
necessity for the reform shall be declared by Congress by at
least a two-thirds vote; but it can only be accomplished by a
convention called ad hoc.
Article 31.
This Constitution, and the laws of the Nation which shall be
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made or which
shall be made with Foreign Powers, shall be the supreme law of
the land; and the authorities of every Province shall be bound
thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any Province
to the contrary notwithstanding, excepting in the case of
Buenos-Aires, in the treaties ratified after the compact of
November 11th, 1859.
Article 32.
The Federal Congress shall not dictate laws restricting the
liberty of the press, nor establish any federal jurisdiction
over it.
Article 33.
The enumeration in this Constitution of certain rights and
guarantees, shall not be construed to deny or disparage other
rights and guarantees, not enumerated; but which spring from
the principle of popular sovereignty, and the republican form
of Government.
Article 34.
The Judges of the Federal courts shall not be Judges of
Provincial tribunals at the same time; nor shall the federal
service, civil as well as military, constitute a domicil in
the Province where it may be exercised, if it be not
habitually that of the employé; it being understood by this,
that all Provincial public-service is optional in the Province
where such employé may casually reside.
Article 35.
The names which have been successively adopted for the Nation,
since the year 1810 up to the present time; viz., the United
Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, Argentine Republic and
Argentine Confederation, shall henceforward serve without
distinction, officially to designate the Government and
territory of the Provinces, whilst the words Argentine Nation
shall be employed in the making and sanction of the laws.
Part II.--Section I.
Article 36.
All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a
Congress composed of two Chambers, one of National Deputies,
and the other of Senators of the Provinces and of the capital.
Chapter I.
Article 37.
The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of representatives
elected directly by the people of the Provinces, for which
purpose each one shall be considered as a single electoral
district, and by a simple plurality of votes in the ratio of
one for each 20,000 inhabitants, or for a fraction not less
than 10,000.
Article 38.
The deputies for the first Legislature shall be nominated in
the following proportion: for the Province of Buenos-Aires,
twelve; for that of Córdoba, six; for Catamarca, three;
Corrientes, four; Entre-Rios, two; Jujui, two; Mendoza, three;
Rioja, two; Salta, three; Santiago, four; San Juan, two;
Santa-Fé, two; San Luis, two; and for that of Tucumán, three.
Article 39.
For the second Legislature a general census shall be taken,
and the number of Deputies be regulated by it; thereafter,
this census shall be decennial.
Article 40.
No person shall be a Deputy who shall not have attained the
age of twenty-five years, have been four years in the exercise
of citizenship, and be a native of the Province which elects
him, or a resident of it for the two years immediately
preceding.
Article 41.
For the first election, the provincial Legislatures shall
regulate the method for a direct election of the National
Deputies. Congress shall pass a general law for the future.
Article 42.
The Deputies shall hold their place for four years, and are
re-eligible; but the House shall be renewed each biennial, by
halves; for which purpose those elected to the first
Legislature, as soon as the session opens, shall decide by lot
who shall leave at the end of the first period.
Article 43.
In case of vacancy, the Government of the Province or of the
capital, shall call an election for a new member.
Article 44.
The origination of the tax-laws and those for the recruiting
of troops, belongs exclusively to the House of Deputies.
Article 45.
It has the sole right of impeaching before the Senate, the
President, Vice-President, their Ministers, and the members of
the Supreme Court and other inferior Tribunals of the Nation,
in suits which may be undertaken against them for the improper
discharge of, or deficiency in, the exercise of their
functions; or for common crimes, after having heard them, and
declared by a vote of two thirds of the members present, that
there is cause for proceeding against them.
Chapter II.
Article 46.
The Senate shall be composed of two Senators from each
Province, chosen by the Legislatures thereof by plurality of
vote, and two from the capital elected in the form prescribed
for the election of the President of the Nation. Each Senator
shall have one vote.
Article 47.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained the
age of thirty years, been six years a citizen of the Nation,
enjoy an annual rent or income of two thousand hard-dollars,
and be a native of the Province which elects him, or a
resident of the same for the two years immediately preceding.
Article 48.
The Senators shall enjoy their trust for nine years, and are
indefinitely re-eligible; but the Senate shall be renewed by
thirds each three years, and shall decide by lot, as soon as
they be all re-united, who shall leave at the end of the first
and second triennial periods.
Article 49.
The Vice-President of the Nation shall be President of the
Senate; but shall have no vote, except in a case of a tie.
Article 50.
The Senate shall choose a President pro-tempore who shall
preside during the absence of the Vice-President, or when he
shall exercise the office of President of the Nation.
Article 51.
The Senate shall have sole power to try all impeachments
presented by the House of Deputies. When sitting for that
purpose they shall be under oath. When the President of the
Nation is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside. No person
shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of
the members present.
Article 52.
Judgment in case of impeachment, shall not extend farther than
to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy
any office of honor, trust, or profit under the Nation. But
the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable to
indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to law,
before the ordinary tribunals.
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Article 53.
It belongs, moreover, to the Senate, to authorize the
President to declare martial law in one or more points of the
Republic, in case of foreign aggression.
Article 54.
When any seat of a Senator be vacant by death, resignation or
other reason, the Government to which the vacancy belongs,
shall immediately proceed to the election of a new member.
Chapter III.
Article 55.
Both Chambers shall meet in ordinary session, every year from
the 1st May until the 30th September. They can be
extraordinarily convoked, or their session be prolonged by the
President of the Nation.
Article 56.
Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and
qualifications of its own members. Neither of them shall enter
into session without an absolute Majority of its members; but
a smaller number may compel absent members to attend the
sessions, in such terms and under such penalties as each House
may establish.
Article 57.
Both Houses shall begin and close their sessions
simultaneously. Neither of them whilst in sessions can suspend
its meetings for more than three days, without the consent of
the other.
Article 58.
Each House may make its rules of proceeding, and with the
concurrence of two-thirds punish its members for disorderly
behavior in the exercise of their functions, or remove, and
even expel them from the House, for physical or moral
incapacity occurring after their incorporation; but a majority
of one above one half of the members present, shall suffice to
decide questions of voluntary resignation.
Article 59.
In the act of their incorporation the Senators and Deputies
shall take an oath to properly fulfil their charge, and to act
in all things in conformity to the prescriptions of this
Constitution.
Article 60.
No member of Congress can be indicted, judicially
interrogated, or molested for any opinion or discourse which
he may have uttered in fulfilment of his Legislative duties.
Article 61.
No Senator or Deputy, during the term for which he may have
been elected, shall be arrested, except when taken 'in
flagrante' commission of some crime which merits capital
punishment or other degrading sentence; an account thereof
shall be rendered to the Chamber he belongs to, with a verbal
process of the facts.
Article 62.
When a complaint in writing be made before the ordinary courts
against any Senator or Deputy, each Chamber can by a
two-thirds vote, suspend the accused in his functions and
place him at the disposition of the competent judge for trial.
Article 63.
Each of the Chambers can cause the Ministers of the Executive
to come to their Hall, to give such explanations or
information as may be considered convenient.
Article 64.
No member of Congress can receive any post or commission from
the Executive, without the previous consent of his respective
Chamber, excepting such as are in the line of promotion.
Article 65.
The regular ecclesiastics cannot be members of Congress, nor
call the Governors of Provinces represent the Province which
they govern.
Article 66.
The Senators and Deputies shall be remunerated for their
services, by a compensation to be ascertained by law.
Chapter IV.
Article 67.
The Congress shall have power:--
1. To legislate upon the Custom-Houses and establish import
duties; which, as well as all appraisements for their
collection, shall be uniform throughout the Nation, it being
clearly understood that these, as well as all other national
contributions, can be paid in any money at the just value
which may be current in the respective Provinces. Also, to
establish export duties.
2. To lay direct taxes for determinate periods, whenever the
common defense and general welfare require it, which shall be
uniform throughout the territory of the Nation.
3. To borrow money on the credit of the Nation.
4. To determine the use and sale of the National lands.
5. To establish and regulate a National Bank in the capital,
with branches in the Provinces, and with power to emit bills.
6. To regulate the payment of the home and foreign debts of
the Nation.
7. To annually determine the estimates of the National
Administration, and approve or reject the accounts of
expenses.
8. To grant subsidies from the National Treasury to those
Provinces, whose revenues, according to their budgets, do not
suffice to cover the ordinary expenses.
9. To regulate the free navigation of the interior rivers,
open such ports as may be considered necessary, create and
suppress Custom-Houses, but without suppressing those which
existed in each Province at the time of its incorporation.
10. To coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign
coin, and adopt a uniform system of weights and measures for
the whole Nation.
11. To decree civil, commercial, penal and mining Codes, but
such Codes shall have no power to change local jurisdiction;
their application shall belong to the Federal or Provincial
courts, in accordance with such things or persons as may come
under their respective jurisdiction; especially, general laws
embracing the whole Nation, shall be passed upon
naturalization and citizenship, subject to the principle of
native citizenship; also upon bankruptcy, the counterfeiting
of current-money and public State documents; and such laws as
may be required for the establishment of trial by Jury.
12. To regulate commerce by land and sea with foreign nations,
and between the Provinces.
13. To establish and regulate the general post-offices and
post-roads of the Nation.
14. To finally settle the National boundaries, fix those of
the Provinces, create new Provinces, and determine by a
special legislation, the organization and governments, which
such National territories as are beyond the limits assigned to
the Province, should have.
15. To provide for the security of the frontiers; preserve
peaceful relations with the Indians, and promote their
conversion to Catholicism.
16. To provide all things conducive to the prosperity of the
country, to the advancement and happiness of the Provinces,
and to the increase of enlightenment, decreeing plans for
general and university instruction, promoting industry,
immigration, the construction of railways, and navigable
canals, the peopling of the National lands, the introduction
and establishment of new industries, the importation of
foreign capital and the exploration of the interior rivers, by
protection laws to these ends, and by temporary concessions
and stimulating recompenses.
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17. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court,
create and suppress public offices, fix their attributes,
grant pensions, decree honors and general amnesties.
18. To accept or reject the resignation of the President or
Vice-President of the Republic, and declare new elections; to
make the scrutiny and rectification of the same.
19. To ratify or reject the treaties made with other Nations
and the Concordats with the Apostolic See, and regulate the
patronage of advowsons throughout the Nation.
20. To admit religious orders within the Nation, other than
those already existing.
21. To authorize the Executive to declare war and make peace.
22. To grant letters of marque and reprisal, and to make rules
concerning prizes.
23. To fix the land and sea forces in time of peace and war:
and to make rules and regulations for the government of said
forces.
24. To provide for calling forth the militia of all, or a part
of, the Provinces, to execute the laws of the Nation, suppress
insurrections or repel invasions. To provide for organizing,
arming, and disciplining said militia, and for governing such
part of them as may be employed in the service of the Nation,
reserving to the Provinces respectively, the appointment of
the corresponding chiefs and officers, and the authority of
training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by
Congress.
25. To permit the introduction of foreign troops within the
territory of the Nation, and the going beyond it of the
National forces.
26. To declare martial law in any or various points of the
Nation in case of domestic commotion, and ratify or suspend
the declaration of martial law made by the executive during
the recess.
27. To exercise exclusive legislation over the territory of
the National capital, and over such other places acquired by
purchase or cession in any of the Provinces, for the purpose
of establishing forts, arsenals, warehouses, or other needful
national buildings.
28. To make all laws and regulations which shall be necessary
for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all
others vested by the present Constitution in the Government of
the Argentine Nation.
Chapter V.
Article 68.
Laws may originate in either of the Houses of Congress, by
bills presented by their members or by the Executive,
excepting those relative to the objects treated of in Article
44.
Article 69.
A bill being approved by the House wherein it originated,
shall pass for discussion to the other House. Being approved
by both, it shall pass to the Executive of the Nation for his
examination; and should it receive his approbation he shall
publish it as law.
Article 70.
Every bill not returned within ten working-days by the
Executive, shall be taken as approved by him.
Article 71.
No bill entirely rejected by one House, can be presented again
during that year. But should it be only amplified or corrected
by the revising House, it shall return to that wherein it
originated; and if there the additions or corrections be
approved by an absolute majority, it shall pass to the
Executive. If the additions or corrections be rejected, it
shall return to the revising House, and if here they be again
sanctioned by a majority of two-thirds of its members, it
shall pass to the other House, and it shall not be understood
that the said additions and corrections are rejected, unless
two-thirds of the members present should so vote.
Article 72.
A bill being rejected in whole or in part by the Executive, he
shall return it with his objections to the House in which it
originated; here it shall be debated again; and if it be
confirmed by a majority of two-thirds, it shall pass again to
the revising House. If both Houses should pass it by the same
majority, it becomes a law, and shall be sent to the Executive
for promulgation. In such case the votes of both Houses shall
be by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons so voting
shall be recorded, as well as the objections of the Executive,
and shall be immediately published in the daily-press. If the
Houses differ upon the objections, the bill cannot be renewed
during that year.
Article 73.
The following formula shall be used in the passage of the
laws: "The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine
Nation in Congress assembled, etc.. decree, or sanction, with
the force of law."
Section II.--Chapter I.
Article 74.
The Executive power of the Nation shall be exercised by a
citizen, with the title of "President of the Argentine
Nation."
Article 75.
In case of the sickness, absence from the capital, death,
resignation or dismissal of the President, the Executive power
shall be exercised by the Vice-President of the Nation. In
case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability of the
President and Vice-President of the Nation, Congress will
determine which public functionary shall then fill the
Presidency, until the disability be removed or a new President
be elected.
Article 76.
No person except a natural-born citizen or a son of a
natural-born citizen brought forth abroad, shall be eligible
as President or Vice-President of the Nation; he is required
to belong to the Apostolic-Roman-Catholic communion, and
possess the other qualifications required to be elected
Senator.
Article 77.
The President and Vice-President shall hold office during the
term of six years; and cannot be re-elected except after an
interval of an equal period.
Article 78.
The President of the Nation shall cease in his functions the
very day on which his period of six years expires, and no
event whatever which may have interrupted it, can be a motive
for completing it at a later time.
Article 79.
The President and Vice-President shall receive a compensation
from the National Treasury, which cannot be altered during the
period for which they shall have been elected. During the same
period they cannot exercise any other office nor receive any
other emolument from the Nation, or any of its Provinces.
Article 80.
The President and Vice-President before entering upon the
execution of their offices, shall take the following oath
administered by the President of the Senate (the first time by
the President of the Constituent Congress) in Congress
assembled: "I (such an one) swear by God our Lord, and by
these Holy Evangelists, that I will faithfully and
patriotically execute the office of President (or
Vice-President) of the Nation, and observe and cause to be
faithfully observed, the Constitution of the Argentine Nation.
If I should not do so, let God and the Nation indict me."
{516}
Chapter II.
Article 81.
The election of the President and Vice-President of the
Nation, shall be made in the following manner:-The capital and
each of the Provinces shall by direct vote nominate a board of
electors, double the number of Deputies and Senators which
they send to Congress, with the same qualifications and under
the same form as those prescribed for the election of
Deputies. Deputies or Senators, or officers in the pay of the
Federal Government cannot be electors. The electors being met
in the National-capital and in that of their respective
Provinces, four months prior to the conclusion of the term of
the out-going President, they shall proceed by signed ballots,
to elect a President, and Vice-President, one of which shall
state the person as President, and the other the person as
Vice-President, for whom they vote. Two lists shall be made of
all the individuals elected as President, and other two also,
of those elected as Vice-President, with the number of votes
which each may have received. These lists shall be signed by
the electors, and shall be remitted closed and sealed, two of
them (one of each kind) to the President of the Provincial
Legislature, and to the President of the Municipality in the
capital, among whose records they shall remain deposited and
closed; the other two shall be sent to the President of the
Senate (the first time to the President of the Constituent
Congress).
Article 82.
The President of the Senate (the first time that of the
Constituent Congress) all the lists being received, shall open
them in the presence of both Houses. Four members of Congress
taken by lot and associated to the Secretaries, shall
immediately proceed to count the votes, and to announce the
number which may result in favor of each candidate for the
Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the Nation. Those who have
received an absolute majority of all the votes in both cases,
shall be immediately proclaimed President and Vice-President.
Article 83.
In case there be no absolute majority, on account of a
division of the votes, Congress shall elect one of the two
persons who shall have received the highest number of votes.
If the first majority should have fallen to a single person,
and the second to two or more, Congress shall elect among all
the persons who may have obtained the first and second
majorities.
Article 84.
This election shall be made by absolute plurality of votes,
and voting by name. If, on counting the first vote, no
absolute majority shall have been obtained, a second trial
shall be made, limiting the voting to the two persons who
shall have obtained the greatest number of suffrages at the
first trial. In case of an equal number of votes, the
operation shall be repeated, and should the result be the
same, then the President of the Senate (the first time that of
the Constituent Congress) shall decide it. No scrutiny or
rectification of these elections can be made, unless
three-fourth parts of all the members of the Congress be
present.
Article 85.
The election of the President and Vice-President of the
Nation, shall be concluded in a single meeting of the
Congress, and thereafter, the result and the electoral lists
shall be published in the daily-press.
Chapter III.
Article 86.
The President of the Nation has the following attributes:--
1. He is the supreme chief of the Nation, and is charged with
the general administration of the country.
2. He issues such instructions and regulations as may be
necessary for the execution of the laws of the Nation, taking
care not to alter their spirit with regulative exceptions.
3. He is the immediate and local chief of the National
capital.
4. He participates in making the laws according to the
Constitution; and sanctions and promulgates them.
5. He nominates the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the
Inferior Federal tribunals, and appoints them by and with the
consent and advice of the Senate.
6. He has power to pardon or commute penalties against
officers subject to Federal jurisdiction, preceded by a report
of the proper Tribunal, excepting in case of impeachment by
the House of Deputies.
7. He grants retiring-pensions, leaves of absence and
pawnbrokers' licences, in conformity to the laws of the
Nation.
8. He exercises the rights of National Patronage in the
presentation of Bishops for the cathedrals, choosing from a
ternary nomination of the Senate.
9. He grants letters-patent or retains the decrees of the
Councils, the bulls, briefs and rescripts of the Holy Roman
Pontiff, by and with the consent of the Supreme Court, and
must require a law for the same when they contain general and
permanent dispositions.
10. He appoints and removes Ministers Plenipotentiary and
Chargé d'Affaires, by and with the consent and advice of the
Senate; and himself alone appoints and removes the Ministers
of his Cabinet, the officers of the Secretary-ships, Consular
Agents, and the rest of the employés of the Administration
whose nomination is not otherwise ordained by this
Constitution.
11. He annually opens the Sessions of Congress, both Houses
being united for this purpose in the Senate Chamber, giving an
account to Congress on this occasion of the state of the

Nation, of the reforms provided by the Constitution, and
recommending to its consideration such measures as may be
judged necessary and convenient.
12. He prolongs the ordinary meetings of Congress or convokes
it in extra session, when a question of progress or an
important interest so requires.
13. He collects the rents of the Nation and decrees their
expenditure in conformity to the law or estimates of the
Public expenses.
14. He negotiates and signs those treaties of peace, of
commerce, of navigation, of alliance, of boundaries and of
neutrality, requisite to maintain good relations with foreign
powers; he receives their Ministers and admits their Consuls.
15. He is commander in chief of all the sea and land forces of
the Nation.
16. He confers, by and with the consent of the Senate, the
high military grades in the army and navy of the Nation; and
by himself on the field of battle.
17. He disposes of the land and sea forces, and takes charge
of their organization and distribution according to the
requirements of the Nation.
18. By the authority and approval of Congress, he declares war
and grants letters of marque and reprisal.
{517}
19. By and with the consent of the Senate, in case of foreign
aggression and for a limited time, he declares martial law in
one or more points of the Nation. In case of internal
commotion he has this power only when Congress is in recess,
because it is an attribute which belongs to this body. The
President exercises it under the limitations mentioned in
Article 23.
20. He may require from the chiefs of all the branches and
departments of the Administration, and through them from all
other employés, such reports as he may believe necessary, and
they are compelled to give them.
21. He cannot absent himself from the capital of the Nation
without permission of Congress. During the recess he can only
do so without permission on account of important objects of
public service.
22. The President shall have power to fill all vacancies that
may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting
commissions, which shall expire at the end of their next
session.
Chapter IV.
Article 87.
Five Minister-Secretaries; to wit, of the Interior; of Foreign
Affairs; of Finance; of Justice, Worship and Public
Instruction; and of War and the Navy; shall have under their
charge the dispatch of National affairs, and they shall
counter-sign and legalize the acts of the President by means
of their signatures, without which requisite they shall not be
efficacious. A law shall determine the respective duties of
the Ministers.
Article 88.
Each Minister is responsible for the acts which he legalizes,
and collectively, for those which he agrees to with his
colleagues.
Article 89.
The Ministers cannot determine anything whatever, by
themselves, except what concerns the economical and
administrative regimen of their respective Departments.
Article 90.
As soon as Congress opens, the Ministers shall present to it a
detailed report of the State of the Nation, in all that
relates to their respective Departments.
Article 91.
They cannot be Senators or Deputies without resigning their
places as Ministers.
Article 92.
The Ministers can assist at the meetings of Congress and take
part in its debates, but they cannot vote.
Article 93.
They shall receive for their services a compensation
established by law, which shall not be increased or
diminished, in favor or against, the actual incumbents.
Section III.--Chapter I.
Article 94.
The Judicial Power of the Nation shall be exercised by a
Supreme Court of Justice, and by such other inferior Tribunals
as Congress may establish within the dominion of the Nation.
Article 95.
The President of the Nation cannot in any case whatever,
exercise Judicial powers, arrogate to himself any knowledge of
pending causes, or reopen those which have terminated.
Article 96.
The Judges of the Supreme Court and of the lower
National-Tribunals, shall keep their places quamdiu se bene
gesserit, and shall receive for their services a compensation
determined by law, which shall not be diminished in any manner
whatever during their continuance in office.
Article 97.
No one can be a member of the Supreme Court of Justice, unless
he shall have been an attorney at law of the Nation for eight
years, and shall possess the qualifications required for a
Senator.
Article 98.
At the first installation of the Supreme Court, the
individuals appointed shall take an oath administered by the
President of the Nation, to discharge their functions, by the
good and legal administration of Justice according to the
prescriptions of this Constitution. Thereafter, the oath shall
be taken before the President of the Court itself.
Article 99.
The Supreme Court shall establish its own internal and
economical regulations, and shall appoint its subaltern
employés.
Chapter II.
Article 100.
The Judicial power of the Supreme Court and the lower
National-Tribunals, shall extend to all cases arising under
this Constitution, the laws of the Nation with the reserve
made in clause 11 of Article 67, and by treaties with foreign
nations; to all cases affecting ambassadors, public Ministers
and foreign Consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime
jurisdiction; to controversies to which the Nation shall be
party; to controversies between two or more Provinces; between
a Province and the citizens of another; between the citizens
of different Provinces; and between a Province or its
citizens, against a foreign State or citizen.
Article 101.
In these cases the Supreme Court shall exercise an appelate
jurisdiction according to such rules and exceptions as
Congress may prescribe; but in all cases affecting
ambassadors, ministers and foreign consuls, or those in which
a Province shall be a party, it shall exercise original and
exclusive jurisdiction.
Article 102.
The trial of all ordinary crimes except in cases of
impeachment, shall terminate by jury, so soon as this
institution be established in the Republic. These trials shall
be held in the same Province where the crimes shall have been
committed, but when not committed within the frontiers of the
Nation, but against International Law, Congress shall
determine by a special law the place where the trial shall
take effect.
Article 103.
Treason against the Nation shall only consist in levying war
against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and
comfort. Congress shall fix by a special law the punishment of
treason; but it cannot go beyond the person of the criminal,
and no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood to
relatives of any grade whatever.
Article 104.
The Provinces keep all the powers not delegated by this
Constitution to the Federal Government, and those which were
expressly reserved by special compacts at the time of their
incorporation.
Article 105.
They create their own local institutions and are governed by
these. They elect their own Governors, their Legislators and
other Provincial functionaries, without intervention from the
Federal Government.
Article 106.
Each Province shall make its own Constitution in conformity
with the dispositions of Article 5.
Article 107.
The Provinces with the consent of Congress can celebrate
contracts among themselves for the purposes of administering
justice and promoting economical interests and works of common
utility, and also, can pass protective laws for the purpose
with their own resources, of promoting manufactures,
immigration, the building of railways and canals, the peopling
of their lands, the introduction and establishment of new
industries, the import of foreign-capital and the exploration
of their rivers.
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Article 108.
The Provinces cannot exercise any powers delegated to the
Nation. They cannot celebrate compacts of a political
character, nor make laws on commerce or internal or external
navigation; nor establish Provincial Custom-Houses, nor coin
money, nor establish Banks of emission, without authority of
Congress; nor make civil, commercial, penal or mining Codes
after Congress shall have sanctioned those provided for in
this Constitution; nor pass laws upon citizenship or
naturalization; bankruptcy, counterfeiting money or public
State-documents; nor lay tonnage dues; nor arm vessels of war
or raise armies, save in the case of foreign invasion, or of a
danger so imminent that it admits of no delay, and then an
account thereof must be immediately given to the Federal
Government; or name or receive foreign agents; or admit new
religious orders.
Article 109.
No Province can declare or make war to another Province. Its
complaints must be submitted to the Supreme Court of Justice
and be settled by it. Hostilities de facto are acts of
civil-war and qualified as seditious and tumultuous, which the
General Government must repress and suffocate according to
law.
Article 110.
The Provincial Governors are the natural agents of the Federal
Government to cause the fulfilment of the laws of the Nation.
See ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1880-1891.
----------CONSTITUTION OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE.
Introduced in 1867.
See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1866-1867, and 1866-1887.
CONSTITUTION OF BELGIUM.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1830-1884.
CONSTITUTION OF BOLIVIA.
See PERU: A. D. 1825-1826, and 1826-1876.
----------End----------
CONSTITUTION OF BRAZIL.
The following text of the Constitution of the United States of
Brazil, adopted February 24, 1891, is taken from a translation
published in Bulletin No. 7 of the Bureau of American
Republics, Washington:
We, the representatives of the Brazilian people, united in
constitutional congress, to organize a free and democratic
regime, do establish, decree and promulgate the following
constitution of the Republic of the United States of Brazil:
Article 1.
The Brazilian nation, adopting as a form of government the
Federal Republic proclaimed November 15, 1889, constitutes
itself, by the perpetual and indissoluble union of its former
provinces, the United States of Brazil.
Article 2.
Each of the former provinces shall constitute a State, and the
former municipal district shall form the Federal District,
continuing to be the capital of the Union until the following
article shall be carried in to effect.
Article 3.
In the center there is allotted as the property of the Union a
zone of 14,400 square kilometres, which in due time shall be
laid off for the establishment of the future federal capital.
Sole paragraph.--After the change of site of the
capital, the present Federal District shall constitute a
State.
Article 4.
The States shall have the right to incorporate themselves one
with another, sub-divide themselves, dismember themselves to
join with others or form new States, with the consent of the
respective local legislatures in two successive annual
sessions and the approval of the national Congress.
Article 5.
It shall be the duty of each State to provide, at its own
expense, for the necessities of its government and
administration; but the Union shall extend assistance to any
State which, in case of public calamity, shall demand it.
Article 6.
The Federal Government shall not interfere in matters
pertaining peculiarly to the States, save:
(1) To repel foreign invasion, or the invasion of one State by
another.
(2) To maintain the federative republican form of government.
(3) To reestablish order and tranquillity in the States at the
request of the respective governments.
(4) To assure the execution of the laws and federal decrees.
Article 7.
It is the exclusive prerogative of the Union to decree:
(1) Duties on imports from foreign countries.
(2) Duties of entry, departure, and stay of vessels; the
coasting trade for national articles being free of duties, as
well as for foreign merchandise that has already paid an
import duty.
(3) Stamp duties, save the restrictions imposed by article 9,
§1. No.1.
(4) Postal and federal telegraphic taxes.
§1. The Union alone shall have the power:
(1) To establish banks of emission.
(2) To create and maintain custom-houses.
§2. The taxes decreed by the Union shall be uniform for all
the States.
§3. The laws of the Union and the acts and decisions of its
authorities shall be executed throughout the country by
federal officials, except that the enforcement of the former
may be committed to the governments of the States, with the
consent of the said States.
Article 8.
The Federal Government is forbidden to make distinctions and
preferences in favor of the ports of any of the States against
those of others.
Article 9.
The States alone are competent to decree taxes:
(1) On the exportation of merchandise of their own production.
(2) On landed property.
(3) On the transmission of property.
(4) On industries and professions.
§ 1. The States also have the exclusive right to decree:
(1) Stamp duties on instruments emanating from their
respective governments and business of their internal economy.
(2) Contributions touching their own telegraphs and postal
service.
§ 2. The products of the other States are exempt from imposts
in the State whence they are exported.
§3. It is lawful for a State to levy duties on imports of
foreign goods only when intended for consumption in its own
territory; but it shall, in such case, cover into the federal
treasury the amount of duties collected.
§4. The right is reserved to the States of establishing
telegraph lines between the different points of their own
territory, and between these and those of other States not
served by federal lines; but the Union may take possession of
them when the general welfare shall require.
{519}
Article 10.
The several States are prohibited from taxing the federal
property or revenue, or anything in the service of the Union,
and vice versa.
Article 11.
It is forbidden to the States, as well as to the Unions:
(1) To impose duties on the products of the other States, or
of foreign countries, in transit through the territory of any
State, or from one State to another, as also on the vehicles,
whether by land or water, by which they are transported.
(2) To establish, aid, or embarrass the exercise of religious
worship.
(3) To enact ex post facto laws.
Article 12.
In addition to the sources of revenue set forth in articles 7
and 9, it shall be lawful for the Union, as well as for the
States, cumulatively or otherwise, to create any others
whatsoever which may not be in contravention of the terms of
articles 7, 9, and 11, § 1.
Article 13.
The right or the Union and of the States to legislate in
regard to railways and navigation of internal waters shall be
regulated by federal law. Sole paragraph.--The
coastwise trade shall be carried on in national vessels.
Article 14.
The land and naval forces are permanent national institutions,
intended for the defense of the country from foreign attack
and the maintenance of the laws of the land. Within the limits
of the law, the armed forces are from their nature held to
obedience, each rank to its superior, and bound to support all
constitutional institutions.
Article 15.
The legislative, executive, and judicial powers are organs of
the national sovereignty, harmonious and independent among
themselves.
Article 16.
The legislative power is vested in the national Congress, with
the sanction of the President of the Republic.
§ 1. The national Congress is composed of two branches, the
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
§ 2. The elections for senators and for deputies shall be held
simultaneously throughout the country.
§ 3. No person shall be senator and deputy at the same time.
Article 17.
The Congress shall assemble in the federal capital on the 3d
day of May of each year, unless some other day shall be fixed
by law, without being convoked, and shall continue in session
4 months from the date of the opening, and may be prorogued,
adjourned, or convoked in extraordinary session.
§ 1. The Congress alone shall have the power to deliberate on
the prorogation or extension of its session.
§ 2. Each legislature shall last for 3 years.
§ 3. The governor of any State in which there shall be a
vacancy in the representation, including the case of
resignation, shall order a new election to be held at once.
Article 18.
The Chamber and the Senate shall hold their sessions apart and
in public, unless otherwise resolved by a majority vote, and
shall deliberate only when, in each of the chambers, there
shall be present an absolute majority of its members. Sole
paragraph.--To each of the chambers shall belong the right
to verify and recognize the powers of its members, to choose
its own presiding officers, to organize its internal
government, to regulate the service of its own police rules,
and to choose its own secretaries.
Article 19.
The deputies and senators can not be held to account for their
opinions, expressions, and votes in the discharge of their
mandate.
Article 20.
Deputies and senators, from the time of receiving their
certificate of election until a new election, can not be
arrested or proceeded against criminally without the
permission of their respective chambers, except in the case of
a flagrant crime, in which bail is inadmissible. In such case,
the prosecution being carried to exclusive decision, the
prosecuting authority shall send the court records to the
respective chamber for its decision on the prosecution of the
charge, unless the accused shall prefer immediate judgment.
Article 21.
The members of the two chambers, on taking their seats, shall
take a formal obligation, in public session, to perform their
duties faithfully.
Article 22.
During the sessions the senators and deputies shall receive an
equal pecuniary salary and mileage, which shall be fixed by
Congress at the end of each session for the following one.
Article 23.
No member of the Congress, from the time of his election, can
make contracts with the executive power or receive from it any
paid commission or employment.
§ 1. Exceptions to this prohibition are:
(1) Diplomatic missions.
(2) Commissions or military commands.
(3) Advancement in rank and legal promotion.
§ 2.
No deputy or senator, however, can accept an appointment for
any mission, commission, or command mentioned in Nos. 1 and 2
of the preceding paragraph, without the consent of the chamber
to which he belongs, when such acceptance would prevent the
exercise of his legislative duties, except in case of war or
such as involve the honor or integrity of the nation.
Article 24.
No deputy or senator can be president or form part of a
directory of any bank, company, or enterprise which enjoys the
favors of the Federal Government defined in and by law.
Sole paragraph.--Nonobservance of the provisions of the
foregoing article by any deputy or senator shall involve the
loss of his seat.
Article 25.
The legislative commission shall be incompatible with the
exercise of any other functions during the sessions.
Article 26.
The conditions for eligibility to the national Congress are:
(1) To be in possession of the rights of Brazilian citizenship
and to be registered as a voter.
(2) For the Chamber, to have been for more than 4 years a
Brazilian citizen; and for the Senate, for more than 6 years.
This provision does not include those citizens referred to in
No.4, article 69.
Article 27.
The Congress shall by special legislation declare the cases of
electoral incompetency.
Article 28.
The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of the
representatives of the people, elected by the States and the
Federal District by direct suffrage, the representation of the
minority being guarantied.
§ 1. The number of the deputies shall be fixed by law in such
a way as not to exceed one for each 70,000 inhabitants, and
that there shall not be less than four for each State.
§ 2. To this end the Federal Government shall at once order a
census to be taken of the population of the Republic, which
shall be revised every 10 years.
Article 29.
To the Chamber belongs the initiative in the adjournment of
the legislative sessions and in all legislation in regard to
taxation, to the determination of the size of the army and
navy, in the discussion of propositions from the executive
power, and in the decision to proceed or not in charges
against the President of the Republic under the terms of
article 53, and against the ministers of state in crimes
connected with those of the said President.
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Article 30.
The Senate shall be composed of citizens eligible under the
terms of article 26 and more than 35 years of age, to the
number of three senators for each State and three for the
Federal District, chosen in the same manner as the deputies.
Article 31.
The mandate of a senator shall continue for 9 years, and
one-third of the Senate shall be renewed every 3 years.
Sole paragraph.--A senator elected in place of another
shall exercise his mandate during the remainder of
the term of the latter.
Article 32.
The Vice President of the Republic shall be the president of
the Senate, where he shall vote only in case of tie, and shall
be replaced in case of absence or impediment by the vice
president of that body.
Article 33.
The Senate alone shall have the power to try and sentence the
President of the Republic and the other federal officers
designated by the constitution, under the conditions and in
the manner which it prescribes.
§ 1. The Senate, when sitting as a tribunal of justice, shall
be presided over by the president of the federal supreme
court.
§ 2. It shall not pass sentence of condemnation unless
two-thirds of its members be present.
§ 3. It shall not impose other penalties than the loss of
office and prohibition from holding any other, without
prejudice to the action of ordinary justice against the
condemned.
Article 34.
The national Congress shall have exclusive power:
(1) To estimate the revenue, and fix the expenditures of the
Federal Government annually, and take account of the receipts
and expenditures of each financial budget.
(2) To authorize the executive to contract loans and make
other operations of credit.
(3) To legislate in regard to the public debt and furnish
means for its payment.
(4) To control the collection and disposition of the national
revenue.
(5) To regulate international commerce, as well as that of the
States with each other and with the Federal District; to
establish and regulate the collection of customs duties in the
ports, create or abolish warehouses of deposit.
(6) To legislate in regard to navigation of rivers running
through more than one State, or through foreign territory.
(7) To determine the weight, value, inscription, type, and
denomination of the currency.
(8) To create banks of emission, legislate in regard to this
emission and to tax it.
(9) To fix the standard of weights and measures.
(10) To determine definitely the boundaries of the States
between each other, those of the Federal District, and those
of the national territory with the adjoining nations.
(11) To authorize the Government to declare war, if there be
no recourse to arbitration or in case of failure of this, and
to make peace.
(12) To decide definitively in regard to treaties and
conventions with foreign nations.
(13) To remove the capital of the Union.
(14) To extend aid to the States in the case referred to in
article 5.
(15) To legislate in regard to federal postal and telegraph
service.
(16) To adopt the necessary measures for the protection of the
frontiers.
(17) To fix every year the number of the land and naval
forces.
(18) To make laws for the organization of the army and navy.
(19) To grant or refuse to foreign forces passage through the
territory of the country to carry on military operations.
(20) To mobilize and make use of the national guard or local
militia in the cases designated by the Constitution.
(21) To declare a state of siege at one or more points in the
national territory, in the emergency of an attack by foreign
forces, or internal disturbance, and to approve or suspend the
state of siege proclaimed by the executive power or its
responsible agents in the absence of the Congress.
(22) To regulate the conditions and methods of elections for
federal offices throughout the country.
(23) To legislate upon the civil, criminal, and commercial
laws and legal procedures of the federal judiciary.
(24) To establish uniform naturalization laws.
(25) To create and abolish federal public offices, to fix the
duties of the same, and designate their salaries.
(26) To organize the federal judiciary according to the terms
of article 55 and the succeeding, section 3.
(27) To grant amnesty.
(28) To commute and pardon penalties imposed upon federal
officers for offenses arising from their responsibility.
(29) To make laws regarding Government lands and mines.
(30) To legislate in regard to the municipal organization of
the Federal District, as well as to the police, the superior
instruction and other services which in the capital may be
reserved for the Government of the Union.
(31) To govern by special legislation those points of the
territory of the Republic needed for the establishment of
arsenals, other establishments or institutions for federal
uses.
(32) To settle cases of extradition between the States.
(33) To enact such laws and resolutions as may be necessary
for the exercise of the powers belonging to the Union.
(34) To enact the organic laws necessary for the complete
execution of the requirements of the Constitution.
(35) To prorogue and adjourn its own sessions.
Article 35.
It shall belong likewise to the Congress, but not exclusively:
(1) To watch over the Constitution and the laws, and provide
for necessities of a federal character.
(2) To promote in the country the development of literature,
the arts, and sciences, together with immigration,
agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, without privileges
such as would obstruct the action of the local governments.
(3) To create institutions of higher instruction and of high
school education in the States.
(4) To provide for high school instruction in the Federal
District.
Article 36.
Save the exceptions named in article 27, all bills may
originate, indifferently, in the Chamber or in the Senate, and
may be introduced by any of their members.
Article 37.
A bill, after being passed in one of the chambers, shall be
submitted to the other, and, if the latter shall approve the
same, it shall send it to the executive, who, if he approve
it, shall sanction and promulgate it.
§ 1. If, however, the President of the Republic shall consider
it unconstitutional, or contrary to the good of the nation, he
shall refuse his sanction to the same within 10 working days,
counted from that on which he received it (the bill), and
shall return it, within the same period, to the chamber in
which it originated, with his reasons for his refusal.
§ 2. The failure of the executive to signify his disapproval
within the above-named 10 days shall be considered as an
approval, and in case his sanction be refused after the close
of the session of the Congress, the President shall make
public his reasons therefor.
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§ 3. The bill sent back to the chamber where it originated
shall be discussed and voted upon by call of names, and shall
be considered as passed if it obtain two-thirds of the votes
of the members present; and, in this case, it shall be sent to
the other chamber, whence, if it receive the same majority, it
shall return, as a law, to the executive to be formally
promulgated.
§ 4. The sanction and promulgation shall be effected in the
following forms:
(1) "The national Congress enacts and I sanction the following
law (or resolution)."
(2) "The national Congress enacts and I promulgate the
following law (or resolution)."
Article 38.
If the law be not promulgated by the President of the Republic
within 48 hours, in the cases provided for in §§ 2 and 3 of
the preceding article, the president of the Senate, or the
vice president, if the former shall not do so in the same
space of time, shall promulgate it, making use of the
following formula: "I, president (or vice president) of the
Senate, make known to whomsoever these presents may come, that
the national Congress enacts and promulgates the following law
(or resolution)."
Article. 39.
A bill from one chamber, amended in the other, shall return to
the former, which, if it accept the amendments, shall send it,
changed to conform with the same, to the executive.
§ 1. In the contrary case, it shall go back to the amending
chamber, where the alterations shall be considered as
approved, if they receive the vote of two-thirds of the
members present; in the latter case, the bill shall return to
the chamber where it originated, and there the amendments can
be rejected only by a two-thirds vote.
§ 2. If the alterations be rejected by such vote, the bill
shall be submitted without them to the approval of the
executive.
Article 40.
Bills finally rejected or not approved, shall not be presented
again in the same legislative session.
Article 41.
The executive power shall be exercised by the President of the
United States of Brazil, as elective chief of the nation.
§ 1. The Vice President, elected simultaneously with the
President, shall serve in place of the latter in case of
impediment and succeed him in case of vacancy in the
Presidency.
§ 2. In case of impediment or vacancy in the Vice Presidency,
the following officers, in the order named, shall be called to
the Presidency: The vice president of the Senate, the
president of the Chamber of Deputies, the president of the
federal supreme court.
§ 3. The following are the conditions of eligibility to the
Presidency or Vice Presidency of the Republic:
(1) Must be a native of Brazil.
(2) Must be in the exercise of political rights.
(3) Must be more than 35 years of age.
Article 42.
In case of vacancy from any cause in the Presidency or Vice
Presidency before the expiration of the first 2 years of the
Presidential term, a new election shall be held.
Article 43.
The President shall hold his office during 4 years, and is not
eligible for reelection for the next succeeding term.
§ 1. The Vice President who shall fill the Presidency during
the last year of the Presidential term shall not be eligible
to the Presidency for the next term of that office.
§ 2. On the same day on which his Presidential term shall
cease the President shall, without fail, cease to exercise the
functions of his office, and the newly elected President shall
at once succeed him.
§ 3. If the latter should be hindered or should fail to do so,
the succession shall be effected in accordance with §§ 1 and 2
of article 41.
§ 4. The first Presidential term shall expire on the 15th of
November, 1894.
Article 44.
On taking possession of his office, the President, in a
session of the Congress, or, if it be not assembled, before
the federal supreme court, shall pronounce the following
affirmation: "I promise to maintain the federal Constitution
and comply with its provisions with perfect loyalty, to
promote the general welfare of the Republic, to observe its
laws, and support the union, integrity, and independence of
the nation."
Article 45.
The President and Vice President shall not leave the national
territory without the permission of the Congress, under
penalty of loss of office.
Article 46.
The President and Vice President shall receive the salary
fixed by the Congress in the preceding Presidential term.
Article 47.
The President and Vice President shall be chosen by direct
suffrage of the nation and an absolute majority of the votes.
§ 1. The election shall take place on the first day of March
in the last year of the Presidential term, and the counting of
the votes cast at the different precincts shall at once be
made in the respective capitals of the States and in the
federal capital. The Congress shall make the count at its
first session of the same year, with any number of members
present.
§ 2. If none of those voted for shall have received an
absolute majority, the Congress shall elect, by a majority of
votes of those present, one of the two who, in the direct
election, shall have received the highest number of votes. In
case of a tie the older shall be considered elected.
§ 3. The manner of the election and of the counting of the
votes shall be regulated by ordinary legislation.
§ 4. The relatives, both by consanguinity and by marriage, in
the first and second degrees, of the President and Vice
President shall be ineligible for the offices of President and
Vice President, provided the said officials are in office at
the time of the election or have left the office even 6 months
before.
Article 48.
To the President of the Republic shall belong the exclusive
right to--
(1) Sanction, promulgate, and make public the laws and
resolutions of the Congress; issue decrees, instructions, and
regulations for their faithful execution.
(2) Choose and dismiss at will the cabinet officers.
(3) Exercise or appoint some one to exercise supreme command
over the land and naval forces of the United States of Brazil,
as well as over the local police, when called to arms for the
internal or external defense of the Union.
(4) Govern and distribute, under the laws of the Congress,
according to the necessities of the National Government, the
land and naval forces.
(5) Dispose of the offices, both military and civil, of a
federal character, with the exceptions specified in the
Constitution.
(6) Pardon crimes and commute penalties for offenses subject
to federal jurisdiction, save in the cases mentioned in
article 34, No. 28, and article 52, § 2.
(7) Declare war and make peace, under the provisions of
article 34, No. 11.
(8) Declare war at once in case of foreign invasion or
aggression.
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(9) Give an annual statement to the national Congress of the
condition of the country, with a recommendation
of pressing provisions and reforms, through a message,
which he shall send to the secretary of the Senate on the day
of the opening of the legislative session.
(10) Convoke the Congress in extra session.
(11) Appoint the federal judges when proposed by the supreme
court.
(12) Appoint the members of the federal supreme court and
ministers of the diplomatic corps, with the approval of the
senate; and, in the absence of the Congress, appoint them in
commission until considered by the senate.
(13) Appoint the other members of the diplomatic corps and
consular agents.
(14) Maintain relations with foreign states.
(15) Declare, directly, or through his responsible agents, a
state of siege at any point of the national territory, in case
of foreign aggression or serious internal disturbance.
(Article 6, No.3; article 34, No. 21; and article 80.)
(16) Set on foot international negotiations, celebrate
agreements, conventions, and treaties, always ad referendum to
the Congress, and approve those made by the States in
conformity with article 65, submitting them when necessary to
the authority of the Congress.
Article 49.
The President of the Republic shall be assisted by the
ministers of state (cabinet officers), agents of his
confidence, who sign the acts and preside over their
respective departments into which the federal administration
is divided.
Article 50.
The cabinet ministers shall not exercise any other employment
or function of a public nature, be eligible to the Presidency
or Vice Presidency of the Union, or be elected deputy or
senator. Sole paragraph.--Any deputy or senator, who
shall accept the position of cabinet minister, shall lose his
seat in the respective chamber, and a new election shall at
once be held, in which he shall not be voted for.
Article 51.
The cabinet ministers shall not appear at the sessions of the
Congress, and shall communicate with that body in writing only
or by personal conference with the committees of the chambers.
The annual report of the ministers shall be addressed to the
President of the Republic, and distributed to all the members
of the Congress.
Article 52.
The cabinet ministers shall not be responsible to the Congress
or to the courts for advice given to the President of the
Republic.
§ 1. They shall be responsible, nevertheless, with respect to
their acts, for crimes defined in the law.
§ 2. For common crimes and those for which they are
responsible they shall be prosecuted and tried by the federal
supreme court, and for those committed jointly with the
President of the Republic, by the authority competent to judge
this latter.
Article 53.
The President of the United States of Brazil shall be brought
to trial and judgment, after the Chamber of Deputies shall
have decided that he should be tried on the charges made
against him, in the federal supreme court, in the case of
common crimes, and in those of responsibility, in the Senate.
Sole paragraph.--As soon as it shall be decided to try
him on the charges brought, the President shall be suspended
in the exercise of the duties of his office.
Article 54.
Crimes of responsibility on the part of the President of the
Republic are such as are directed against--
(1) The political existence of the Union.
(2) The Constitution and the form of the Federal Government.
(3) The free exercise of the political powers.
(4) The legal enjoyment and exercise of political or
individual rights.
(5) The internal security of the country.
(6) The purity of the administration.
(7) The constitutional keeping and use of the public funds.
(8) The financial legislation enacted by the Congress.
§ 1. These offenses shall be defined in a special law.
§ 2. Another law shall provide for the charges, the trial, and
the judgment.
§ 3. Both these laws shall be enacted in the first session of
the first Congress.
Article 55.
The judicial power of the Union shall be lodged in a federal
supreme court, sitting in the capital of the Republic, and as
many inferior federal courts and tribunals, distributed
through the country, as the Congress shall create.
Article 56.
The federal supreme court shall be composed of fifteen
justices, appointed under the provisions of article 48, No.
12, from among the oldest thirty citizens of well-known
knowledge and reputation who may be eligible to the Senate.
Article 57.
The federal justices shall hold office for life, being
removable solely by judicial sentence.
§ 1. Their salaries shall be fixed by law of the Congress, and
can not be diminished.
§ 2. The Senate shall try the members of the federal supreme
court for crimes of responsibility, and this latter the lower
federal judges.
Article 58.
The federal courts shall choose their presidents from among
their own members, and shall organize their respective
clerical corps.
§ 1. In these corps the appointment and dismissal of the
respective clerks, as well as the filling of the judicial
offices in the respective judicial districts, shall belong to
the presidents of the respective courts.
§ 2. The President of the Republic shall appoint from among
the members of the federal supreme court the attorney-general
of the Republic, whose duties shall be defined by law.
Article 59.
To the federal supreme court shall belong the duty of--
(1) Trying and judging by original and exclusive
jurisdiction--
(a) The President of the Republic for common crimes, and the
cabinet ministers in the cases specified in article 52.
(b) The ministers of the diplomatic corps for common crimes
and those of responsibility.
(c) Cases and disputes between the States and the Union, or
between the States one with another.
(d) Disputes and claims between foreign states and the Union,
or between foreign nations and the States.
(e) Conflicts between the federal courts one with another, or
between these and those of the States, as well as those
between the courts of one State and those of another.
(2) Deciding, on appeal, questions pronounced upon by the
lower federal courts and tribunals, as well as those mentioned
in § 1 of the present article and in article 60.
(3) Reviewing the proceedings of finished trials, under the
provisions of article 81.
§ 1. Decisions of State courts in last appeal can be carried
to the federal supreme court--
(a) When the validity or application of the federal laws or
treaties is called in question and the decision of the State
court shall be against the same.
(b) When the validity of laws or acts of the governments of
the States in respect to the Constitution or of the federal
laws is contested and the State court shall have decided in
favor of the validity of the acts or laws in question.
§ 2. In the cases which involve the application of the laws of
the States, the federal court shall consult the jurisprudence
of the local tribunals, and vice versa, the State court shall
consider that of the federal tribunals when the interpretation
of the laws of the Union is involved.
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Article 60.
It shall belong to the federal courts to decide--
(a) Cases in which the plaintiff or the defendant shall rest
the case on some provision of the federal Constitution.
(b) All suits brought against the Government of the Union or
the national treasury based on constitutional provisions, on
the laws and regulations of the executive power, or on
contracts made with the said Government.
(c) Suits arising from compensations, claims, indemnification
of damages, or any others whatsoever brought by the Government
of the Union against private individuals, and vice versa.
(d) Litigations between a State and the citizens of another,
or between citizens of different States having differences in
their laws.
(e) Suits between foreign states and Brazilian citizens.
(f) Actions begun by foreigners, and based either on contracts
with the Federal Government or on conventions or treaties of
the Union with other nations.
(g) Questions of maritime law and navigation, whether on the
sea or on the rivers and lakes of the country.
(h) Questions of international law, whether criminal or civil.
(i) Political crimes.
§ 1. Congress is forbidden to commit any part of the federal
jurisdiction to the State courts.
§ 2. Sentences and orders of the federal judges will be
executed by federal court officers, and the local police shall
assist them when called upon by the same.
Article 61.
The decisions of the State courts or tribunals in matters
within their competence shall put an end to the suits and
questions, except as to
(1) habeas corpus, or
(2) effects of a foreigner deceased in cases not provided for
by convention or treaty. In such cases there shall be
voluntary recourse to the federal supreme court.
Article 62.
The State courts shall not have the power to intervene in
questions submitted to the federal tribunals, or to annul,
alter, or suspend the sentences or orders of these latter;
and, reciprocally, the federal judiciary can not interfere in
questions submitted to the State courts, or annul, alter, or
suspend their decisions or orders, except in the cases
provided in this Constitution.
Article 63.
Each State shall be governed by the constitution and laws
which it shall adopt, respect being observed for the
constitutional principles of the Union.
Article 64.
The unexplored mines and wild lands lying within the States
shall belong to these States respectively; and to the Union
only as much territory as may be necessary for the defense of
the frontiers, for fortifications, military works, and federal
railways. Sole paragraph.--The national properties,
not necessary for the service of the Union, shall pass to the
domain of the States in whose territory they may be situated.
Article 65.
The States shall have the right to--
(1) Conclude agreements and conventions among themselves, if
such be not of a political character. (Article 48, No. 16.)
(2) Exercise in general any and every power or right not
denied expressly by the Constitution, or implicitly in its
express terms.
Article 66.
It is forbidden to the States to--
(1) Refuse to recognize public documents of the Union, or of
any of the States, of a legislative, administrative, or
judicial character.
(2) Reject the currency or notes issued by banks, which
circulate by act of the Federal Government.
(3) Make or declare war, one with another, or make reprisals.
(4) Refuse the extradition of criminals demanded by the
justice of other States, or of the Federal District, in
conformity with the laws of Congress which relate to this
subject. (Article 41, No. 32.)
Article 67.
Save the restrictions specified in the Constitution, and the
federal laws, the Federal District shall be governed directly
by the municipal authorities. Sole paragraph.--Expenses
of a local character in the capital of the Republic must be
provided for exclusively by the municipal authorities.
Article 68.
The States shall organize themselves in such a manner as to
assure the autonomy of the municipalities in everything that
concerns their peculiar interests.
Article 69.
The following shall be Brazilian citizens:
(1) Natives of Brazil, though of foreign parentage (father),
provided he be not in the service of his nation.
(2) Sons of a Brazilian father, and illegitimate sons of a
Brazilian mother, born in foreign parts, if they take up their
residence (domicile) in the republic.
(3) Sons of a Brazilian father who may be in another country
in the service of the Republic, although they do not make
their domicile in Brazil.
(4) Foreigners, who, being in Brazil on the 15th of November,
1889, shall not declare, within 6 months from the time when
the Constitution enters into force, their desire to preserve
their original nationality.
(5) Foreigners who possess property (real estate) in Brazil
and are married to Brazilian women, or have Brazilian
children, provided they reside in Brazil, unless they shall
declare their intention of not changing their nationality.
(6) Foreigners naturalized in any other way.
Article 70.
Citizens of more than 21 years of age, and registered
according to law, shall be electors.
§ 1. The following shall not be registered as electors for
federal or State elections:
(1) Beggars.
(2) Persons ignorant of the alphabet.
(3) Soldiers on pay, except alumni of the military schools of
higher instruction.
(4) Members of monastic orders, companies, congregations, or
communities of whatsoever denomination, who are subject to
vows of obedience, rule, or statute, which implies the
surrender of individual liberty.
§ 2. Citizens who can not be registered shall not be eligible.
Article 71.
The rights of the Brazilian citizen can be suspended or lost
only in the following cases:
§ 1. The rights may be suspended--
(a) For physical or moral incapacity.
(b) For criminal conviction, during the operation of the
sentence.
§ 2. They may be lost--
(a) By naturalization in a foreign country.
(b) By acceptance of employment or pension from a foreign
power, without permission of the federal executive.
§ 3. The means of reacquiring lost rights of the Brazilian
citizen shall be specified by federal law.
Article 72.
The Constitution secures to Brazilians and foreigners residing
in the country the inviolability of their rights touching
individual liberty, and security, and property, in the
following terms:
§ 1. No person shall be forced to do, or leave undone,
anything whatever, except by virtue of law.
§ 2. Before the law all persons are equal. The Republic does
not recognize privileges of birth, or titles of nobility, and
abolishes all existing honorary orders, with all their
prerogatives and decorations, as well as all hereditary and
conciliar titles.
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§ 3. All persons and religious professions may exercise,
publicly and freely, the right of worship, and may associate
themselves for that purpose, acquire property, observance
being had to the provisions of the common law.
§ 4. The Republic recognizes only the civil marriage, the
celebration of which shall be gratuitous.
§ 5. The cemeteries shall be secular in character, and be
managed by the municipal authorities, being free to all
religious sects for the exercise of their respective rites as
regards their members, provided they do not offend public
morals or the laws.
§ 6. The instruction given in the public institutions shall be
secular.
§ 7. No sect or church shall receive official aid, nor be
dependent on, nor connected with, the Government of the Union,
or of the States.
§ 8. All persons have the right of free association and
assembly, without arms; and the police force shall not
intervene, except to maintain the public order.
§ 9. Any person whatsoever shall have the right to address, by

petition, the public powers, denounce abuses of the
authorities, and appeal to the responsibility of the accused.
§ 10. In time of peace any person may, without passport, enter
or leave the territory of the Republic, with his fortune and
goods, whenever and however he may choose.
§ 11. The house is the inviolable asylum of the person; no one
can enter it at night without the consent of the inhabitant,
except to aid the victims of a crime or disaster; nor by day,
unless in the cases and in the form prescribed by law.
§ 12. The expression of opinion shall be free, in respect to
whatever subject, through the press or through the tribune,
without subjection to censorship, each one being responsible
for the abuses he may commit, in the cases and in the form
prescribed by law. Anonymous publications are forbidden.
§ 13. Cases of flagrante delicto alone excepted, no arrest
shall be made, unless after declaration of the charge (save in
cases determined by law), and by written order of the
competent authorities.
§ 14. No person shall be kept in prison without charge
formally made, save the exceptions mentioned in the law, or
taken to prison, or detained there, if he give bail, in cases
where such is lawful.
§ 15. No person shall be condemned, except by competent
authority, and in virtue of law already existing and in the
form prescribed by it.
§ 16. The law shall secure to the accused the fullest defense
by all the recourses and means essential to the same,
including the notice of the charge, delivered to the prisoner
within 24 hours and signed by the proper authority along with
the names of the accusers and witnesses.
§ 17. The rights of property are maintained in all their
plenitude, and no disappropriation shall be made, except from
necessity or public utility, and indemnity shall, in such
cases, be made beforehand. Mines belong to the owners of the
soil, under the limitations to be established by the law to
encourage the development of this branch of industry.
§ 18. Correspondence under seal is inviolable.
§ 19. No penalty shall extend beyond the person of the
delinquent.
§ 20. The penalty of the galleys is abolished, as also
judicial banishment.
§ 21. The death penalty is abolished, except in the cases
under military law in time of war.
§ 22. The habeas corpus shall always be granted when the
individual suffers violence or compulsion, through illegality
or abuse of power, or considers himself in imminent danger of
the same.
§ 23. There shall be no privileged tribunal, except in such
cases as, from their nature, belong to special courts.
§ 24. The free exercise of any profession, moral,
intellectual, or industrial, is guarantied.
§ 25. Industrial inventions belong to their authors, to whom
the law will grant a temporary privilege, or to whom the
Congress will give a reasonable premium, when it is desirable
to make the invention public property.
§ 26. To authors of literary and artistic works is guarantied
the exclusive right of reproducing them through the press or
by any other mechanical process, and their heirs shall enjoy
the same right during the space of time determined by the law.
§ 27. The law shall also secure the rights of property in
trade-marks.
§ 28. No Brazilian can be deprived of his civil and political
rights on account of religious belief or duty, nor be exempted
from the performance of any civic duty.
§ 29. Those who shall claim exemption from any burden imposed
by the laws of the Republic on its citizens, on account of
religious belief, or who shall accept any foreign decoration
or title of nobility, shall lose all their political rights.
§ 30. No tax of any kind shall be collected except in virtue
of a law authorizing the same.
§ 31. The institution of trial by jury is maintained.
Article 73.
Public offices, civil or military, are accessible to all
Brazilian citizens, always observing the conditions of
particular capacity fixed by the law; but the accumulation of
remunerations is forbidden.
Article 74.
Commissions, offices, and positions not subject to removal are
guarantied in all their plenitude.
Article 75.
Only such public officials as have become infirm in the
service of the nation shall be retired on pay.
Article 76.
Officers of the army and navy shall lose their commissions
only in case of condemnation to more than 2 years in prison,
pronounced in judgment by the competent tribunals.
Article 77.
There shall be a special court for the trial of military
offenses committed by soldiers or marines.
§ 1. This court shall be composed of a supreme military
tribunal, whose members shall hold their seats for life, and
of the councils necessary for the formulation of the charge
and the judgment of the crimes.
§ 2. The organization and powers of the supreme military
tribunal shall be determined by law.
Article 78.
The enumeration of the rights and guaranties expressed in the
Constitution does not exclude other guaranties and rights, not
enumerated, but resulting from the form of government
established and principles settled by said Constitution.
Article 79.
The citizen vested with the functions of either of these three
federal powers shall not exercise those of another.
Article 80.
Any part of the territory of the Union may be declared in
state of siege, and the constitutional guaranties suspended
for a determined period, whenever the security of the Republic
so demands in case of foreign aggression or intestine
disturbance. (Article 34, No. 21.)
§ 1. The power to execute the above provision may, if the
Congress be not in session and the country be in imminent
peril, be used by the federal executive. (Article 48, No. 15.)
§ 2. In the exercise of this power, during the state of siege,
the executive shall be restricted to the following
measures of repression against persons:
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(1) To their detention in a place not allotted to persons
accused of common crimes.
(2) To banishment to other parts of the national territory.
§ 3. As soon as the Congress shall have assembled, the
President of the Republic shall make a report to that body of
the exceptional measures which may have been taken.
§ 4. The authorities who shall have ordered such measures
shall be responsible for any abuses that may have been
committed.
Article 81.
In criminal cases, trials concluded may be reviewed at any
time, in favor of the condemned parties, by the federal
supreme court, for the purpose of correcting or of confirming
the sentence.
§ 1. The law shall determine the cases and the form of such
revision, which may be asked for by the condemned, by anyone
of the people, or by the attorney-general of the Republic, ex
officio.
§ 2. In such revision the penalties imposed by the sentence
reviewed can not be increased.
§ 3. The provisions of the present article are applicable to
military trials.
Article 82.
Public officers shall be strictly responsible for the abuses
and omissions that occur in the exercise of the duties of
their offices, as well as for the indulgences and negligences
for which they do not hold their subordinates responsible.
Sole paragraph.--They shall all be bound by formal
obligation, on taking possession of their offices, to
discharge the lawful duties of the same.
Article 83.
Until revoked, the laws of the ancien regime shall remain in
force, in as far as they are not, explicitly or implicitly,
contrary to the system of government established by the
Constitution, and to the principles laid down in the same.
Article 84.
The federal government guaranties the payment of the public
debt, both internal and foreign.
Article 85.
The officers of the line and of the annexed classes of the
navy shall have the same commissions and advantage as those of
the army of corresponding rank.
Article 86.
Every Brazilian shall be bound to military service in defense
of the country and the Constitution, as provided by the
federal laws.
Article 87.
The federal army shall be made up of contingents which the
states and the Federal District are bound to furnish,
constituted in conformity with the annual law regulating the
number of the forces.
§ 1. The general organization of the army shall be determined
by a federal law, in accordance with No. 18 of article 34.
§ 2. The Union shall have charge of the military instruction
of the troops and of the higher military instruction.
§ 3. Compulsory recruiting for military purposes is abolished.
§ 4. The army and navy shall be made up by volunteering
without bounties, or, if this means be not sufficient, by lot
previously determined. The crews for the navy shall be made up
from the naval school, the schools of marine apprentices, and
the merchant marine, by means of lot.
Article 88.
In no case, either directly or indirectly, alone or in
alliance with another nation, shall the United States of
Brazil engage in a war of conquest.
Article 89.
A tribunal of accounts shall be instituted for the auditing of
the receipt and expense accounts and examining into their
legality before their presentation to the Congress. The
members of this tribunal shall be appointed by the President
of the Republic, with the approval of the Senate, and can lose
their seats only by sentence.
Article 90.
The Constitution may be amended, at the initiative of the
national Congress, or of the legislatures of the States.
§ 1. An amendment shall be considered as proposed, when,
having been presented by one-fourth, at least, of the members
of either house of the Congress, it shall have been accepted
in three readings (discussions) by two-thirds of the votes in
both houses of the Congress, or when it shall have been asked
for by two-thirds of the States represented, each one by a
majority of the votes of its legislature, said votes to be
taken in the course of 1 year.
§ 2. The proposed amendment shall be considered approved, if,
in the following year, after three discussions, it shall have
been adopted by a majority of two-thirds of the votes in the
two houses of the Congress.
§ 3. The amendment adopted shall be published with the
signatures of the presidents and clerks of the two chambers,
and be incorporated into the Constitution as a part of the
same.
§ 4. No project having a tendency to abolish the federative
republican form, or the equal representation of the States in
the Senate, shall be admitted for consideration in the
Congress.
Article 91.
This Constitution, after approval, shall be promulgated by the
president of the Congress and signed by the members of the
same.
Temporary Provisions.
Article I.
After the promulgation of this Constitution, the Congress, in
joint assembly, shall choose consecutively, by an absolute
majority of votes in the first balloting, and, if no candidate
shall receive such, by a plurality in the second balloting,
the President and Vice President of the United States of
Brazil.
§ 1. This election shall be in two distinct ballotings, for
the President and Vice President respectively, the ballots for
President being taken and counted, in the first place, and
afterwards for Vice President.
§ 2. The President and Vice President, thus elected, shall
occupy the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the Republic
during the first Presidential term.
§ 3. For said election there shall be no incompatibilities
admitted.
§ 4. As soon as said election shall be concluded, the Congress
shall consider as terminated its mission in joint session and,
separating into Chamber and Senate, shall enter upon the
exercise of its functions as defined by law, on the 15th of
June of the present year, and can not in any case be
dissolved.
§ 5. In the first year of the first legislature, among its
preparatory measures, the Senate shall designate the first and
second third of its members, whose term of office shall cease
at the end of the first and second 3-year terms.
§ 6. The discrimination shall be made in three lists,
corresponding to the three classes, allotting to them the
senators of each State and of the Federal District according
to the number of votes received by them respectively, so as to
allot to the third for the last 3 years the one receiving the
highest number of votes in the Federal District and in each
State, and to the other two-thirds the remaining two names in
the order of the number of votes received by them
respectively.
§ 7. In case of tie, the oldest shall be preferred, and if the
ages are equal, the choice shall be made by lot.
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Article 2.
The State which, by the end of the year 1892, shall not have
adopted its constitution, shall, by act of the federal
legislative power, be placed under that of one of the other
States, which it shall judge most suitable, until the State
thus subjected to said constitution, shall amend it in the
manner provided in the same.
Article 3.
As fast as the States shall be organized, the Federal
Government shall deliver to them the administration of the
services which belong to them, and shall settle the
responsibility of the federal administration in all that
relates to said services and to the payment of the respective
officials.
Article 4.
While, during the period of organization of their services,
the States shall be engaged in regulating their expenses, the
Federal Government shall, for this purpose, open special
credits to them, under conditions determined by the Congress.
Article 5.
In the States which shall become organized the classification
of the revenues established in the Constitution shall enter
into force.
Article 6.
In the first appointments for the federal magistracy and for
that of the States, the preference shall be given to the
justices and magistrates of the higher courts of the greatest
note. Such as are not admitted into the new organization of
the judiciary, and have served 30 years, shall be retired on
full pay. Those who have served for less than 30 years shall
continue to receive their salaries until they shall be
employed, or retired with pay corresponding to their length of
service. The payment of salaries of magistrates retired or set
aside shall be made by the Federal Government.
Article 7.
To D. Pedro de Alcantara, ex-Emperor of Brazil, a pension is
granted, to run from the 15th of November, 1889, sufficient to
guaranty him a decent subsistence during his lifetime. The
Congress, at its first session, shall fix the amount of said
pension.
Article 8.
The Federal Government shall acquire for the nation the house
in which Dr. Benjamin Constant Botelho de Magalhães died, and
shall have placed on it a memorial slab in memory of that
great patriot, the founder of the Republic. Sole
paragraph.--The widow of the said Dr. Benjamin Constant
shall have, during her lifetime, the usufruct of the said
house. We order, then, all the authorities to whom the
recognition and execution of this Constitution belongs, to
execute it and have it executed and observed faithfully and
fully in all its provisions. Let the same be published and
observed throughout the territory of the nation.
Hall of the sessions of the National Constitutional Congress,
in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the year 1891, and the third
of the Republic.
See BRAZIL: 1889-1891.
----------CONSTITUTION OF BRAZIL: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF CALIFORNIA.
For an account of the main features of this singular
constitution,
See CALIFORNIA: A. D. 1877-1880.
----------CONSTITUTION OF CALIFORNIA: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF CANADA.
CONSTITUTION OF CANADA: A. D. 1774.
The Quebec Act.
See CANADA: A. D. 1763-1774.
CONSTITUTION OF CANADA: A. D. 1791.
The Constitutional Act.
See CANADA: A. D. 1791.
CONSTITUTION OF CANADA: A. D. 1840.
The Union Act.
See CANADA: A. D. 1840-1867.
CONSTITUTION OF CANADA: A. D. 1867.
The British North America Act.
The history of the Confederation of the provinces of British
North America, forming the Dominion of Canada, is given
briefly under CANADA: A. D. 1867. The following is the text of
the Act of the Parliament of Great Britain by which the
Confederation was formed and its constitution established:
An Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New
Brunswick, and the Government thereof; and for purposes
connected therewith.
29TH MARCH, 1867.
WHEREAS the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New
Brunswick have expressed their desire to be federally united
into one Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, with a constitution similar in
principle to that of the United Kingdom: And whereas such a
Union would conduce to the welfare of the Provinces and
promote the interests of the British Empire; And whereas on
the establishment of the Union by authority of Parliament it
is expedient, not only that the Constitution of the
Legislative Authority in the Dominion be provided for, but
also that the nature of the Executive Government therein be
declared: And whereas it is expedient that provision be made
for the eventual admission into the Union of other parts of
British North America: Be it therefore enacted and declared by
the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in
this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the
same, as follows:
1. This Act may be cited as The British North America Act,
1867.
2. The provisions of this Act referring to Her Majesty the
Queen extend also to the heirs and successors of Her Majesty,
Kings and Queens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland.
3. It shall be lawful for the Queen, by and with the advice of
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, to declare by
Proclamation that, on and after a day therein appointed, not
being more than six months after the passing of this Act, the
Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick shall form
and be one Dominion under the name of Canada; and on and after
that day those three Provinces shall form and be one Dominion
under that name accordingly.
4. The subsequent provisions of this Act shall, unless it is
otherwise expressed or implied, commence and have effect on
and after the Union, that is to say, on and after the day
appointed for the Union taking effect in the Queen's
Proclamation; and in the same provisions, unless it is
otherwise expressed or implied, the name Canada shall be taken
to mean Canada as constituted under this Act.
5. Canada shall be divided into four Provinces, named Ontario,
Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
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6. The parts of the Province of Canada (as it exists at the
passing of this Act) which formerly constituted respectively
the Provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada shall be deemed
to be severed, and shall form two separate Provinces. The part
which formerly constituted the Province of Upper Canada shall
constitute the Province of Ontario; and the part which
formerly constituted the Province of Lower Canada shall
constitute the Province of Quebec.
7. The Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shall have
the same limits as at the passing of this Act.
8. In the general census of the population of Canada, which is
hereby required to be taken in the year one thousand eight
hundred and seventy-one, and in every tenth year thereafter,
the respective populations of the four Provinces shall be
distinguished.
9. The Executive Government and authority of and over Canada
is hereby declared to continue and be vested in the Queen.
10. The provisions of this Act referring to the Governor
General extend and apply to the Governor General for the time
being of Canada, or other the Chief Executive Officer or
Administrator, for the time being carrying on the Government
of Canada on behalf and in the name of the Queen, by whatever
title he is designated.
11. There shall be a Council to aid and advise in the
Government of Canada, to be styled the Queen's Privy Council
for Canada; and the persons who are to be members of that
Council shall be from time to time chosen and summoned by the
Governor General and sworn in as Privy Councillors, and
members thereof may be from time to time removed by the
Governor General.
12. All powers, authorities, and functions which under any Act
of the Parliament of Great Britain, or of the Parliament of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or of the
Legislature of Upper Canada, Lower Canada, Canada, Nova
Scotia, or New Brunswick, are at the Union vested in or
exerciseable by the respective Governors or Lieutenant
Governors of those Provinces, with the advice, or with the
advice and consent, of the respective Executive Councils
thereof, or in conjunction with those Councils, or with any
number of members thereof, or by those Governors or Lieutenant
Governors individually, shall, as far as the same continue in
existence and capable of being exercised after the Union in
relation to the Government of Canada, be vested in and
exerciseable by the Governor General, with the advice or with
the advice and consent of or in conjunction with the Queen's
Privy Council for Canada, or any members thereof, or by the
Governor General individually, as the case requires, subject
nevertheless (except with respect to such as exist under Acts
of the Parliament of Great Britain or of the Parliament of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) to be abolished
or altered by the Parliament of Canada.
13. The provisions of this Act referring to the Governor
General in Council shall be construed as referring to the
Governor General acting by and with the advice of the Queen's
Privy Council for Canada.
14. It shall be lawful for the Queen, if Her Majesty thinks
fit, to authorize the Governor General from time to time to
appoint any person or any persons, jointly or severally, to be
his Deputy or Deputies within any part or parts of Canada, and
in that capacity to exercise during the pleasure of the
Governor General such of the powers, authorities, and
functions of the Governor General as the Governor General
deems it necessary and expedient to assign to him or them,
subject to any limitations or directions expressed or given by
the Queen; but the appointment of such a Deputy or Deputies
shall not affect the exercise by the Governor General himself
of any power, authority or function.
15. The Command-in-Chief of the Land and Naval Militia, and of
all Naval and Military Forces, of and in Canada, is hereby
declared to continue and be vested in the Queen.
16. Until the Queen otherwise directs, the seat of Government
of Canada shall be Ottawa.
17. There shall be one Parliament for Canada, consisting of
the Queen, an Upper House styled the Senate, and the House of
Commons.
18. The privileges, immunities, and powers to be held,
enjoyed, and exercised by the Senate and by the House of
Commons, and by the members thereof respectively, shall be
such as are from time to time defined by Act of the Parliament
of Canada, but so that the same shall never exceed those at
the passing of this Act held, enjoyed, and exercised by the
Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland and by the members thereof.
19. The Parliament of Canada shall be called together not
later than six months after the Union.
20. There shall be a Session of the Parliament of Canada once
at least in every year, so that twelve months shall not
intervene between the last sitting of the Parliament in one
Session and its first sitting in the next Session.
21. The Senate shall, subject to the provisions of this Act,
consist of seventy-two members, who shall be styled Senators.
22. In relation to the constitution of the Senate, Canada
shall be deemed to consist of three divisions--1. Ontario; 2.
Quebec; 3. The Maritime Provinces, Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick; which three divisions shall (subject to the
provisions of this Act) be equally represented in the Senate
as follows: Ontario by twenty-four Senators; Quebec by
twenty-four Senators; and the Maritime Provinces by
twenty-four Senators, twelve thereof representing Nova Scotia,
and twelve thereof representing New Brunswick. In the case of
Quebec each of the twenty-four Senators representing that
Province shall be appointed for one of the twenty-four
Electoral Divisions of Lower Canada specified in Schedule A.
to chapter one of the Consolidated Statutes of Canada.
23. The qualification of a Senator shall be as follows:
(l) He shall be of the full age of thirty years:
(2) He shall be either a natural born subject of the Queen, or
a subject of the Queen naturalized by an Act of the Parliament
of Great Britain, or of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, or of the Legislature of one of
the Provinces of Upper Canada, Lower Canada, Canada, Nova
Scotia, or New Brunswick, before the Union, or of the
Parliament of Canada after the Union:
(3) He shall be legally or equitably seised as of freehold for
his own use and benefit of lands or tenements held in free and
common socage, or seised or possessed for his own use and
benefit of lands or tenements held in franc-alleu or in
roture, within the Province for which he is appointed, of the
value of four thousand dollars, over and above all rents,
dues, debts, charges, mortgages, and incumbrances due or
payable out of or charged on or affecting the same:
{528}
(4) His real and personal property shall be together worth
$4,000 over and above his debts and liabilities:
(5) He shall be resident in the Province for which he is
appointed:
(6) In the case of Quebec he shall have his real property
qualification in the Electoral Division for which he is
appointed, or shall be resident in that Division.
24. The Governor General shall from time to time, in the
Queen's name, by instrument under the Great Seal of Canada,
summon qualified persons to the Senate; and, subject to the
provisions of this Act, every person so summoned shall become
and be a member of the Senate and a Senator.
25. Such persons shall be first summoned to the Senate as the
Queen by warrant under Her Majesty's Royal Sign Manual thinks
fit to approve, and their names shall be inserted in the
Queen's Proclamation of Union.
26. If at any time on the recommendation of the Governor
General the Queen thinks fit to direct that three or six
members be added to the Senate, the Governor General may by
summons to three or six qualified persons (as the case may
be), representing equally the three divisions of Canada, add
to the Senate accordingly.
27. In case of such addition being at any time made the
Governor General shall not summon any person to the Senate,
except on a further like direction by the Queen on the like
recommendation, until each of the three divisions of Canada is
represented by twenty-four Senators and no more.
28. The number of Senators shall not at any time exceed
seventy-eight.
29. A Senator shall, subject to the provisions of this Act,
hold his place in the Senate for life.
30. A Senator may by writing under his hand addressed to the
Governor General resign his place in the Senate, and thereupon
the same shall be vacant.
31. The place of a Senator shall become vacant in any of the
following cases:
(1) If for two consecutive Sessions of the Parliament he fails
to give his attendance in the Senate:
(2) If he takes an oath or makes a declaration or
acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a
foreign power, or does an act whereby he becomes a subject or
citizen, or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject
or citizen of a foreign power:
(3) If he is adjudged bankrupt or insolvent, or applies for
the benefit of any law relating to insolvent debtors, or
becomes a public defaulter:
(4) If he is attainted of treason or convicted of felony or of
any infamous crime:
(5) If he ceases to be qualified in respect of property or of
residence; provided, that a Senator shall not be deemed to
have ceased to be qualified in respect of residence by reason
only of his residing at the seat of the Government of Canada
while holding an office under that Government requiring his
presence there.
32. When a vacancy happens in the Senate by resignation,
death, or otherwise, the Governor General shall by summons to
a fit and qualified person fill the vacancy.
33. If any question arises respecting the qualification of a
Senator or a vacancy in the Senate the same shall be heard and
determined by the Senate.
34. The Governor General may from time to time, by instrument
under the Great Seal of Canada, appoint a Senator to be
Speaker of the Senate, and may remove him and appoint another
in his stead.
35. Until the Parliament of Canada otherwise provides, the
presence of at least fifteen Senators, including the Speaker,
shall be necessary to constitute a meeting of the Senate for
the exercise of its powers.
36. Questions arising in the Senate shall be decided by a
majority of voices, and the Speaker shall in all cases have a
vote, and when the voices are equal the decision shall be
deemed to be in the negative.
37. The House of Commons shall, subject to the provisions of
this Act, consist of one hundred and eighty-one members, of
whom eighty-two shall be elected for Ontario, sixty-five for
Quebec, nineteen for Nova Scotia, and fifteen for New
Brunswick.
38. The Governor General shall from time to time, in the
Queen's name, by instrument under the Great Seal of Canada,
summon and call together the House of Commons.
39. A Senator shall not be capable of being elected or of
sitting or voting as a member of the House of Commons.
40. Until the Parliament of Canada otherwise provides,
Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick shall, for the
purposes of the election of members to serve in the House of
Commons, be divided into Electoral Districts as follows:--
(1) Ontario shall be divided into the Counties, Ridings of
Counties, Cities, parts of Cities, and Towns enumerated in the
first Schedule to this Act, each whereof shall be an Electoral
District, each such District as numbered in that Schedule
being entitled to return one member.
(2) Quebec shall be divided into sixty-five Electoral
Districts, composed of the sixty-five Electoral Divisions into
which Lower Canada is at the passing of this Act divided under
chapter two of the Consolidated Statutes of Canada, chapter
seventy-five of the Consolidated Statutes for Lower Canada,
and the Act of the Province of Canada of the twenty-third year
of the Queen, chapter one, or any other Act amending the same
in force at the Union, so that each such Electoral Division
shall be for the purposes of this Act an Electoral District
entitled to return one member.
(3) Each of the eighteen Counties of Nova Scotia shall be an
Electoral District. The County of Halifax shall be entitled to
return two members, and each of the other Counties one member.
(4) Each of the fourteen Counties into which New Brunswick is
divided, including the City and County of St. John, shall be
an Electoral District; the City of St. John shall also be a
separate Electoral District. Each of those fifteen Electoral
Districts shall be entitled to return one member.
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41. Until the Parliament of Canada otherwise provides, all
laws in force in the several Provinces at the Union relative
to the following matters or any of them, namely,--the
qualifications and disqualifications of persons to be elected
or to sit or vote as members of the House of Assembly or
Legislative Assembly in the several Provinces, the voters at
elections of such members, the oaths to be taken by voters,
the returning officers, their powers and duties, the
proceedings at elections, the periods during which elections
may be continued, the trial of controverted elections, and
proceedings incident thereto, the vacating of seats of
members, and the execution of new writs in case of seats
vacated otherwise than by dissolution,--shall respectively
apply to elections of members to serve in the House of Commons
for the same several Provinces. Provided that, until the
Parliament of Canada otherwise provides, at any election for a
Member of the House of Commons for the District of Algoma, in
addition to persons qualified by the law of the Province of
Canada to vote, every male British subject aged twenty-one
years or upwards, being a householder, shall have a vote.
42. For the first election of members to serve in the House of
Commons the Governor General shall cause writs to be issued by
such person, in such form, and addressed to such returning
officers as he thinks fit. The person issuing writs under this
section shall have the like powers as are possessed at the
Union by the officers charged with the issuing of writs for
the election of members to serve in the respective House of
Assembly or Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada,
Nova Scotia, or New Brunswick; and the Returning Officers to
whom writs are directed under this section shall have the like
powers as are possessed at the Union by the officers charged
with the returning of writs for the election of members to
serve in the same respective House of Assembly or Legislative
Assembly.
43. In case a vacancy in the representation in the House of
Commons of any Electoral District happens before the meeting
of the Parliament, or after the meeting of the Parliament
before provision is made by the Parliament in this behalf, the
provisions of the last foregoing section of this Act shall
extend and apply to the issuing and returning of a writ in
respect of such vacant District.
44. The House of Commons on its first assembling after a
general election shall proceed with all practicable speed to
elect one of its members to be Speaker.
45. In case of a vacancy happening in the office of Speaker by
death, resignation or otherwise, the House of Commons shall
with all practicable speed proceed to elect another of its
members to be Speaker.
46. The Speaker shall preside at all meetings of the House of
Commons.
47. Until the Parliament of Canada otherwise provides, in case
of the absence for any reason of the Speaker from the chair of
the House of Commons for a period of forty-eight consecutive
hours, the House may elect another of its members to act as
Speaker, and the member so elected shall during the
continuance of such absence of the Speaker have and execute
all the powers, privileges, and duties of Speaker.
48. The presence of at least twenty members of the House of
Commons shall be necessary to constitute a meeting of the
House for the exercise of its powers, and for that purpose the
Speaker shall be reckoned as a member.
49. Questions arising in the House of Commons shall be decided
by a majority of voices other than that of the Speaker, and
when the voices are equal, but not otherwise, the Speaker
shall have a vote.
50. Every House of Commons shall continue for five years from
the day of the return of the writs for choosing the House
(subject to be sooner dissolved by the Governor General), and
no longer.
51. On the completion of the census in the year one thousand
eight hundred and seventy-one, and of each subsequent
decennial census, the representation of the four Provinces
shall be re-adjusted by such authority, in such manner and
from such time as the Parliament of Canada from time to time
provides, subject and according to the following rules:--
(1) Quebec shall have the fixed number of sixty-five members:
(2) There shall be assigned to each of the other Provinces
such a number of members as will bear the same proportion to
the number of its population (ascertained at such census) as
the number sixty-five bears to the number of the population of
Quebec (so ascertained):
(3) In the computation of the number of members for a Province
a fractional part not exceeding one-half of the whole number
requisite for entitling the Province to a member shall be
disregarded; but a fractional part exceeding one-half of that
number shall be equivalent to the whole number:
(4) On any such re-adjustment the number of members for a
Province shall not be reduced unless the proportion which the
number of the population of the Province bore to the number of
the aggregate population of Canada at the then last preceding
re-adjustment of the number of members for the Province is
ascertained at the then latest census to be diminished by
one-twentieth part or upwards: (5) Such re-adjustment shall
not take effect until the termination of the then existing
Parliament.
52. The number of members of the House of Commons may be from
time to time increased by the Parliament of Canada, provided
the proportionate representation of the Provinces prescribed
by this Act is not thereby disturbed.
53. Bills for appropriating any part of the public revenue, or
for imposing any tax or impost, shall originate in the House
of Commons.
54. It shall not be lawful for the House of Commons to adopt
or pass any vote, resolution, address, or bill for the
appropriation of any part of the public revenue, or of any tax
or impost, to any purpose that has not been first recommended
to that House by message of the Governor General in the
Session in which such vote, resolution, address, or bill is
proposed.
55. Where a bill passed by the Houses of the Parliament is
presented to the Governor General for the Queen's assent, he
shall declare according to his discretion, but subject to the
provisions of this Act and to Her Majesty's instructions,
either that he assents thereto in the Queen's name, or that he
withholds the Queen's assent, or that he reserves the bill for
the signification of the Queen's pleasure.
56. Where the Governor General assents to a bill in the
Queen's name, he shall by the first convenient opportunity
send an authentic copy of the Act to one of Her Majesty's
Principal Secretaries of State, and if the Queen in Council
within two years after receipt thereof by the Secretary of
State thinks fit to disallow the Act, such disallowance (with
a certificate of the Secretary of State of the day on which
the Act was received by him) being signified by the Governor
General, by speech or message to each of the Houses of the
Parliament, or by proclamation, shall annul the Act from and
after the day of such signification.
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57. A bill reserved for the signification of the Queen's
pleasure shall not have any force unless and until within two
years from the day on which it was presented to the Governor
General for the Queen's assent, the Governor General
signifies, by speech or message to each of the Houses of the
Parliament or by proclamation, that it has received the assent
of the Queen in Council. An entry of every such speech,
message, or proclamation shall be made in the Journal of each
House, and a duplicate thereof duly attested shall be
delivered to the proper officer to be kept among the Records
of Canada.
58. For each Province there shall be an officer, styled the
Lieutenant Governor, appointed by the Governor General in
Council by instrument under the Great Seal of Canada.
59. A Lieutenant Governor shall hold office during the
pleasure of the Governor General; but any Lieutenant Governor
appointed after the commencement of the first Session of the
Parliament of Canada shall not be removable within five years
from his appointment, except for cause assigned, which shall
be communicated to him in writing within one month after the
order for his removal is made, and shall be communicated by
message to the Senate and to the House of Commons within one
week thereafter if the Parliament is then sitting, and if not
then within one week after the commencement of the next
Session of the Parliament.
60. The salaries of the Lieutenant Governors shall be fixed
and provided by the Parliament of Canada.
61. Every Lieutenant Governor shall, before assuming the
duties of his office, make and subscribe before the Governor
General, or' some person authorized by him, oaths of
allegiance and office similar to those taken by the Governor
General.
62. The provisions of this Act referring to the Lieutenant
Governor extend and apply to the Lieutenant Governor for the
time being of each Province or other the chief executive
officer or administrator for the time being carrying on the
government of the Province, by whatever title he is
designated.
63. The Executive Council of Ontario and of Quebec shall be
composed of such persons as the Lieutenant Governor from to
time thinks fit, and in the first instance of the following
officers, namely:--The Attorney-General, the Secretary and
Registrar of the Province, the Treasurer of the Province, the
Commissioner of Crown Lands, and the Commissioner of
Agriculture and Public Works, with in Quebec the Speaker of
the Legislative Council and the Solicitor General.
64. The Constitution of the Executive Authority in each of the
Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shall, subject to
the provisions of this Act, continue as it exists at the Union
until altered under the authority of this Act.
65. All powers, authorities, and functions which under any Act
of the Parliament of Great Britain, or of the Parliament of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or of the
Legislature of Upper Canada, Lower Canada, or Canada, were or
are before or at the Union vested in or exerciseable by the
respective Governors or Lieutenant Governors of those
Provinces, with the advice, or with the advice and consent, of
the respective Executive Councils thereof, or in conjunction
with those Councils, or with any number of members thereof, or
by those Governors or Lieutenant Governors individually,
shall, as far as the same are capable of being exercised after
the Union in relation to the Government of Ontario and Quebec,
respectively, be vested in, and shall or may be exercised by
the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and Quebec respectively,
with the advice or with the advice and consent of or in
conjunction with the respective Executive Councils, or any
members thereof, or by the Lieutenant Governor individually,
as the case requires, subject nevertheless (except with
respect to such as exist under Acts of the Parliament of Great
Britain, or of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland), to be abolished or altered by the
respective Legislatures of Ontario and Quebec.
66. The provisions of this Act, referring to the Lieutenant
Governor in Council shall be construed as referring to the
Lieutenant Governor of the Province acting by and with the
advice of the Executive Council thereof.
67. The Governor General in Council may from time to time
appoint an administrator to execute the office and functions
of Lieutenant Governor during his absence, illness, or other
inability.
68. Unless and until the Executive Government of any Province
otherwise directs with respect to the Province, the seats of
Government of the Provinces shall be as follows, namely,--of
Ontario, the City of Toronto; of Quebec, the City of Quebec;
of Nova Scotia, the City of Halifax; and of New Brunswick, the
City of Fredericton.
69. There shall be a Legislature for Ontario consisting of the
Lieutenant Governor and of one House, styled the Legislative
Assembly of Ontario.
70. The Legislative Assembly of Ontario shall be composed of
eighty-two members, to be elected to represent the eighty-two
Electoral Districts set forth in the first Schedule to this
Act.
71. There shall be a Legislature for Quebec consisting of the
Lieutenant Governor and of two Houses, styled the Legislative
Council of Quebec and the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.
72. The Legislative Council of Quebec shall be composed of
twenty-four members, to be appointed by the Lieutenant
Governor in the Queen's name, by instrument under the Great
Seal of Quebec, one being appointed to represent each of the
twenty-four Electoral Divisions of Lower Canada in this Act
referred to, and each holding office for the term of his life,
unless the Legislature of Quebec otherwise provides under the
provisions of this Act.
73. The qualifications of the Legislative Councillors of
Quebec shall be the same as those of the Senators for Quebec.
74. The place of a Legislative Councillor of Quebec shall
become vacant in the cases, 'mutatis mutandis' in which the
place of Senator becomes vacant.
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75. When a vacancy happens in the Legislative Council of
Quebec, by resignation, death, or otherwise, the Lieutenant
Governor, in the Queen's name, by instrument under the Great
Seal of Quebec, shall appoint a fit and qualified person to
fill the vacancy.
76. If any question arises respecting the qualification of a
Legislative Councillor of Quebec, or a vacancy in the
Legislative Council of Quebec, the same shall be heard and
determined by the Legislative Council.
77. The Lieutenant Governor may from time to time, by
instrument under the Great Seal of Quebec, appoint a member of
the Legislative Council of Quebec to be Speaker thereof, and
may remove him and appoint another in his stead.
78. Until the Legislature of Quebec otherwise provides, the
presence of at least ten members of the Legislative Council,
including the Speaker, shall be necessary to constitute a
meeting for the exercise of its powers.
79. Questions arising in the Legislative Council of Quebec
shall be decided by a majority of voices, and the Speaker
shall in all cases have a vote, and when the voices are equal
the decision shall be deemed to be in the negative.
80. The Legislative Assembly of Quebec shall be composed of
sixty-five members, to be elected to represent the sixty-five
Electoral Divisions or Districts of Lower Canada in this Act
referred to, subject to alteration thereof by the Legislature
of Quebec: Provided that it shall not be lawful to present to
the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec for assent any bill for
altering the limits of any of the Electoral Divisions or
Districts mentioned in the second Schedule to this Act, unless
the second and third readings of such bill have been passed in
the Legislative Assembly with the concurrence of the majority
of the members representing all those Electoral Divisions or
Districts, and the assent shall not be given to such bills
unless an address has been presented by the Legislative
Assembly to the Lieutenant Governor stating that it has been
so passed.
81. The Legislatures of Ontario and Quebec respectively shall
be called together not later than six months after the Union.
82. The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and of Quebec shall
from time to time, in the Queen's name, by instrument under
the Great Seal of the Province, summon and call together the
Legislative Assembly of the Province.
83. Until the Legislature of Ontario or of Quebec otherwise
provides, a person accepting or holding in Ontario or in
Quebec any office, commission, or employment, permanent or
temporary, at the nomination of the Lieutenant Governor, to
which an annual salary, or any fee, allowance, emolument, or
profit of any kind or amount whatever from the Province is
attached, shall not be eligible as a member of the Legislative
Assembly of the respective Province, nor shall he sit or vote as
such; but nothing in this section shall make ineligible any
person being a member of the Executive Council of the
respective Province, or holding any of the following offices,
that is to say, the offices of Attorney-General, Secretary and
Registrar of the Province, Treasurer of the Province,
Commissioner of Crown Lands, and Commissioner of Agriculture
and Public Works and, in Quebec, Solicitor-General, or shall
disqualify him to sit or vote in the House for which he is
elected, provided he is elected while holding such office.
84. Until the Legislatures of Ontario and Quebec respectively
otherwise provide, all laws which at the Union are in force in
those Provinces respectively, relative to the following
matters, or any of them, namely,--the qualifications and
disqualifications of persons to be elected or to sit or vote
as members of the Assembly of Canada, the qualifications or
disqualifications of voters, the oaths to be taken by voters,
the Returning Officers, their powers and duties, the
proceedings at elections, the periods during which such
elections may be continued, and the trial of controverted
elections and the proceedings incident thereto, the vacating
of the seats of members and the issuing and execution of new
writs in case of seats vacated otherwise than by dissolution,
shall respectively apply to elections of members to serve in
the respective Legislative Assemblies of Ontario and Quebec.
Provided that until the Legislature of Ontario otherwise
provides, at any election for a member of the Legislative
Assembly of Ontario for the District of Algoma, in addition to
persons qualified by the law of the Province of Canada to
vote, every male British subject, aged twenty-one years or
upwards, being a householder, shall have a vote.
85. Every Legislative Assembly of Ontario and every
Legislative Assembly of Quebec shall continue for four years
from the day of the return of the writs for choosing the same
(subject nevertheless to either the Legislative Assembly of
Ontario or the Legislative Assembly of Quebec being sooner
dissolved by the Lieutenant Governor of the Province), and no
longer.
86. There shall be a session of the Legislature of Ontario and
of that of Quebec once at least in every year, so that twelve
months shall not intervene between the last sitting of the
Legislature in each Province in one session and its first
sitting in the next session.
87. The following provisions of this Act respecting the House
of Commons of Canada, shall extend and apply to the
Legislative Assemblies of Ontario and Quebec, that is to
say,--the provisions relating to the election of a Speaker
originally and on vacancies, the duties of the Speaker, the
absence of the Speaker, the quorum, and the mode of voting, as
if those provisions were here re-enacted and made applicable
in terms to each such Legislative Assembly.
88. The constitution of the Legislature of each of the
Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shall, subject to
the provisions of this Act, continue as it exists at the Union
until altered under the authority of this Act; and the House
of Assembly of New Brunswick existing at the passing of this
Act shall, unless sooner dissolved, continue for the period
for which it was elected.
89. Each of the Lieutenant Governors of Ontario, Quebec, and
Nova Scotia shall cause writs to be issued for the first
election of members of the Legislative Assembly thereof in
such form and by such person as he thinks fit, and at such
time and addressed to such Returning Officer as the Governor
General directs, and so that the first election of member of
Assembly for any Electoral District or any subdivision thereof
shall be held at the same time and at the same places as the
election for a member to serve in the House of Commons of
Canada for that Electoral District.
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90. The following provisions of this Act respecting the
Parliament of Canada, namely,--the provisions relating to
appropriation and tax bills, the recommendation of money
votes, the assent to bills, the disallowance of Acts. and the