A compromise proposed by Count Corti, Italian Ambassador to the Porte in 1880, to meet the difficulties raised by Turkey in carrying out the provisions of the Berlin Treaty, relative to Montenegro. He proposed that Turkey should retain Gussinje and Plava, ceding instead Kutschi-Kraina and Podgoritza.
Corvée.
Enforced labour on the roads and other public works, exacted from the French peasant before the Revolution. The same system prevailed in Egypt prior to the English occupation.
Cossacks.
The inhabitants of the debateable land between the Russian frontier and the Crim Tartars. The most important of these communities were those of the Dnieper and the Don. They retained a certain degree of independence until the reign of Catherine II of Russia. The soldiers of the military cordon established by the Russians and Poles along their southern frontiers were also known as Cossacks.
Cottereaux.
Bands of mercenaries in the French service during the twelfth century.
Cotton Famine.
The name given to the distress in Lancashire in 1862, in consequence of the cessation of cotton shipments from America during the Civil War, by which thousands of operatives were thrown out of employment. Large sums were received by subscriptions in aid, and in August of that year the Relief Act was passed, by which loans were granted to the guardians to enable them to establish relief works.