Equality: in virtue of which
(1) all must be judged by the very same laws and subject to
equal duty, service and contributions;
(2) no titles of nobility, hereditary honors, and
distinctions will be conceded, nor employments or offices
the salaries or emoluments of which continue after the
termination of service;
(3) no other official salutation than "citizen" and "you"
will be given to employés and corporations. The present
enumeration does not impose upon the States the obligation
to accord other guarantees to their inhabitants.
Article 16.
The laws in the States will prescribe penalties for the
infractions of these guarantees, establishing modes of
procedure to make them effective.
Article 17.
Those who may issue, sign, or execute, or order executed any
decrees, orders, or resolutions that violate or in any manner
infringe upon the guarantees accorded to Venezuelans are
culpable and must be punished according to the law. Every
citizen is empowered to bring charges.
Article 18.
The National Legislature will be composed of two chambers, one
of Senators and another of Deputies.
Article 19.
The States will determine the mode of election of Deputies.
Article 20.
To form the Chamber of Deputies, each State will name, by
popular election in accordance with paragraph 22 of Article 13
of this Constitution, one Deputy for each thirty-five thousand
inhabitants and another for an excess not under fifteen
thousand. In the same manner it will elect alternates in equal
number to the principals.
Article 21.
The Deputies will hold office for four years, when they will
be renewed in their entirety.
Article 22.
The prerogatives of the chamber of Deputies are:
First, to examine the annual account that the President of the
United States of Venezuela must render;
Second, to pass a vote of censure of the Ministers of the
Cabinet, in which event their posts will be vacant;
Third, to hear charges against the persons in charge of the
office of the National Executive for treason to the country,
for infraction of the constitution, or for ordinary crimes;
against the ministers and other National employés for
infraction of the Constitution and laws and for fault in the
discharge of their duties according to article 75 of this
constitution and of the general laws of the Republic. This
attribute is preventative and neither contracts nor diminishes
those that other authorities have to judge and punish.
Article 23.
When a charge is instituted by a Deputy or by any corporation
or individual the following rules will be observed:
(1) there will be appointed, in secret session, a commission
of three deputies;
(2) the commission will, within three days, render an opinion,
declaring whether or not there is foundation for instituting a
cause;
(3) the Chamber will consider the information and decide upon
the cause by the vote of an absolute majority of the members
present, the accusing Deputy abstaining from voting.
Article 24.
The declaration that there is foundation for the cause
operates to suspend from office the accused and incapacitates
him for the discharge of any public function during the trial.
Article 25.
To form this Chamber each State, through its respective
legislature, will elect three principal Senators and an equal
number of alternates to supply the vacancies that may occur.
Article 26.
To be a Senator it is required that he shall be a Venezuelan
by birth and thirty years of age.
Article 27.
The Senators will occupy their posts for four years and be
renewed in their entirety.
Article 28.
It is the prerogative of the Senate to substantiate and decide
the causes initiated in the Chamber of Deputies.
Article 29.
If the cause may not have been concluded during the sessions,
the Senate will continue assembled for this purpose only until
the cause is finished.
Article 30.
The National Legislature will assemble on the 20th day of
February of each year or as soon thereafter as possible at the
capital of the United States without the necessity of previous
notice. The sessions will last for seventy days to be
prolonged until ninety days at the judgment of the majority.
Article 31.
The Chambers will open their sessions with two-thirds of their
number at least; and, in default of this number, those present
will assemble in preparatory commission and adopt measures for
the concurrence of the absentees.
Article 32.
The sessions having been opened, they may be continued by
two-thirds of those that may have installed them, provided
that the number be not less than half of all the members
elected.
Article 33.
Although the Chambers deliberate separately, they may assemble
together in the Congress when the constitution and laws
provide for it or when one of the two Chambers may deem it
necessary. If the Chamber that is invited shall agree, it
remains to it to fix the day and the hour of the joint
session.
Article 34.
The sessions will be public and secret at the will of the
Chamber.
Article 35.
The Chambers have the right:
(1) to make rules to be observed in the sessions and to
regulate the debates;
(2) to correct infractors;
(3) to establish the police force in the hall of sessions;
(4) to punish or correct spectators who create disorder;
(5) to remove the obstacles to the free exercise of their
functions;
(6) to command the execution of their private resolutions;
(7) to judge of the qualifications of their members and to
consider their resignations.
Article 36.
One of the Chambers cannot suspend its sessions nor change its
place of meeting without the consent of the other; in case of
disagreement they will reassemble together and execute that
which the majority resolves.
Article 37.
The exercise of any other public function, during the
sessions, is incompatible with those of a Senator or Deputy.
The law will specify the remunerations that the members of the
national Legislature shall receive for their services. And
whenever an increase of said remunerations is decreed, the law
that sanctions it will not begin to be in force until the
following period when the Chambers that sanctioned it shall
have been renewed in their entirety.
Article 38.
The Senators and Deputies shall enjoy immunity from the 20th
day of January of each year until thirty days after the close
of the sessions and this consists in the suspension of all
civil or criminal proceeding, whatever may be its origin or
nature; when anyone shall perpetrate an act that merits
corporal punishment the investigation shall continue until the
end of the summing up and shall remain in this state while the
term of immunity continues.
Article 39.
The Congress will be presided over by the President of the
Senate and the presiding officer of the Chamber of Deputies
will act as Vice-President.
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Article 40.
The members of the Chambers are not responsible for the
opinions they express or the discourses they pronounce in
session.
Article 41.
Senators and deputies that accept office or commission from
the National Executive thereby leave vacant the posts of
legislators in the Chambers to which they were elected.
Article 42.
Nor can senators and deputies make contracts with the general
Government or conduct the prosecution of claims of others
against it.
Article 43.
The National Legislature has the following prerogatives:
(1) to dissolve the controversies that may arise between two
or more States;
(2) to locate the Federal District in an unpopulated territory
not exceeding three miles square, where will be constructed
the capital city of the Republic. This district will be
neutral territory, and no other elections will be there held
than those that the law determines for the locality, The
district will be provisionally that which the constituent
assembly designated or that which the National Legislature may
designate;
(3) to organize everything relating to the custom-houses,
whose income will constitute the treasure of the Union until
these incomes are supplied from other sources;
(4) to dispose in everything relating to the habitation and
security of ports and seacoasts;
(5) to create and organize the postal service and to fix the
charges for transportation of correspondence;
(6) to form the National Codes in accordance with paragraph
19, article 13 of this Constitution;
(7) to fix the value, type law, weight, and coinage of
national money, and to regulate the admission and circulation
of foreign money;
(8) to designate the coat-of-arms and the national flag which
will be the same for all the States;
(9) to create, abolish, and fix salaries for national offices;
(10) to determine everything in relation to the national debt;
(11) to contract loans upon the credit of the nation;
(12) to dictate necessary measures to perfect the census of
the current population and the national statistics;
(13) to annually fix the armed forces by sea and land and to
dictate the army regulations;
(14) to decree rules for the formation and substitution of the
forces referred to in the preceding clause;
(15) to declare war and to require the National Executive to
negotiate peace;
(16) to ratify or reject the contracts for national public
works made by the President with the approval of the Federal
Council, without which requisite they will not be carried into
effect;
[Transcriber's note: (17) is missing.]
(18) to annually fix the estimates for public expenses;
(19) to promote whatever conduces to the prosperity of the
country and to its advancement in the general knowledge of the
arts and sciences;
(20) to fix and regulate the national weights and measures;
(21) to grant amnesties;
(22) to establish, under the names of territories, special
regulations for the government of regions inhabited by
unconquered and uncivilized Indians. Such territories will be
under the immediate supervision of the Executive of the Union;
(23) to establish the modes of procedure and to designate the
penalties to be imposed by the Senate in the trials originated
in the Chamber of Deputies;
(24) to increase the basis of population for the election of
deputies;
(25) to permit or refuse the admission of foreigners into the
service of the Republic;
(26) to make laws in respect to retirements from the military
service and army pensions;
(27) to dictate the law of responsibility on the part of all
national employés and those of the States for infraction of
the constitution and the general laws of the Union;
(28) to determine the mode of conceding military rank or
promotion;
(29) to elect the Federal Council provided for in this
constitution and to convoke the alternates of the senators and
deputies who may have been chosen for it.
Article 44.
Besides the preceding enumeration the National Legislature may
pass such laws of general character as may be necessary, but
in no case can they be promulgated, much less executed, if
they conflict with this constitution, which defines the
prerogatives of the public powers in Venezuela.
Article 45.
The laws and decrees of the National Legislature may be
proposed by the members of either chamber, provided that the
respective projects are conformed to the rules established for
the Parliament of Venezuela.
Article 46.
After a project may have been presented, it will be read and
considered in order to be admitted; and if it is, it must
undergo three discussions, with an interval of at least one
day between each, observing the rules established for debate.
Article 47.
The projects approved in the chamber in which they were
originated will be passed to the other for the purposes
indicated in the preceding article, and if they are not
rejected they will be returned to the chamber whence they
originated, with the amendments they may have undergone.
Article 48.
If the chamber of their origin does not agree to the
amendments, it may insist and send its written reasons to the
other. They may also assemble together in Congress and
deliberate, in general commission, over the mode of agreement,
but if this can not be reached, the project will be of no
effect after the chamber of its origin separately decides upon
the ratification of its insistence.
Article 49.
Upon the passing of the projects from one to the other
chamber, the days on which they have been discussed will be
stated.
Article 50.
The law reforming another law must be fully engrossed and the
former law, in all its parts, will be annulled.
Article 51.
In the laws this form will be used: "The Congress of the
United States of Venezuela decrees."
Article 52.
The projects defeated in one legislature cannot be
reintroduced except in another.
Article 53.
The projects pending in a chamber at the close of the sessions
must undergo the same three discussions in succeeding
legislatures.
Article 54.
Laws are annulled with the same formalities established for
their sanction.
Article 55.
When the ministers of Cabinet may have sustained, in a
chamber, the unconstitutionality of a project by word or in
writing, and, notwithstanding this, it may have been
sanctioned as law, the National Executive, with the
affirmative vote of the Federal Council, will suspend its
execution and apply to the legislatures of the States, asking
their vote in the matter.
Article 56.
In case of the foregoing article, each State will represent
one vote expressed by the majority of the members of the
legislature present, and the result will be sent to the High
Federal Court in this form: "I confirm" or "I reject."
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Article 57.
If a majority of the legislatures of the States agree with the
Federal Executive, the High Federal Court will confirm the
suspension, and the Federal Executive himself will render an
account to the next Congress relative to all that has been
done in the matter.
Article 58.
The laws will not be observed until after being published in
the solemn form established.
Article 59.
The faculty conceded to sanction a law is not to be delegated.
Article 60.
No legislative disposition will have a retroactive effect,
except in matters of judicial procedure and that which imposes
a lighter penalty.
Article 61.
There will be a Federal Council composed of one senator and
one deputy for each State and of one more deputy for the
Federal District, who will be elected by the Congress each two
years from among the respective representations of the States
composing the Federation and from that of the Federal
District. This election will take place in the first fifteen
days of the meeting of Congress, in the first and third year
of the constitutional period.
Article 62.
The Federal Council elects from its members the President of
the United States of Venezuela, and in the same manner the
person who shall act in his stead in case of his temporal or
permanent disability during his term. The election of a person
to be President of the United States of Venezuela who is not a
member of the Federal Council, as well as of those who may
have to act in his stead in case of his temporal or permanent
disability, is null of right and void of efficacy.
Article 63.
The members of the Federal Council hold office for two years,
the same as the President of the United States of Venezuela,
whose term is of equal duration; and neither he nor they can
be reëlected for the term immediately succeeding, although
they may return to occupy` their posts as legislators in the
chambers to which they belong.
Article 64.
The Federal Council resides in the district and exercises the
functions prescribed in this constitution. It cannot
deliberate with less than an absolute majority of all its
members; it dictates the interior regulations to be observed
in its deliberations, and annually appoints the person who
shall preside over its sessions.
Article 65.
The prerogatives of the President of Venezuela are:
(1) To appoint and remove the cabinet ministers;
(2) to preside over the cabinet, in whose discussions he will
have a vote, and to inform the Council of all the matters that
refer to the General Administration;
(3) to receive and welcome public ministers;
(4) to sign the official letters to the Sovereigns or
Presidents of other countries;
(5) to order the execution of the laws and decrees of the
National Legislature, and to take care that they are complied
with and executed;
(6) to promulgate the resolutions and decrees that may have
been proposed and received the approbation of the Federal
Council, in conformity with article 66 of this constitution;
(7) to organize the Federal District and to act therein as the
chief civil and political authority established by this
constitution;
(8) to issue registers of navigation to national vessels;
(9) to render an account to Congress, within the first eight
days of its annual session, of the cases in which, with the
approval of the Federal Council, he may have exercised all or
any of the faculties accorded to him in article 66 of this
compact;
(10) to discharge the other functions that the national laws
entrust to him.
Article 66.
Besides the foregoing prerogatives, that are personal to the
president of the United States of Venezuela, he can, with the
deliberate vote of the Federal Council, exercise the
following:
(1) To protect the Nation from all exterior attack;
(2) to administer the public lands, mines, and salt mines of
the States as their delegate;
(3) to convoke the National Legislature in its regular
sessions, and in extraordinary session when the gravity of any
subject demands it;
(4) to nominate persons for diplomatic positions,
consuls-general, and consuls; those named for the first and
second positions must be Venezuelans by birth;
(5) to direct negotiations and celebrate all kinds of treaties
with other nations, submitting these to the National
Legislature;
(6) to celebrate contracts of national interest in accordance
with the laws and to submit them the legislatures for their
approval;
(7) to nominate the employés of hacienda, which nominations
are not to be made by any other authority. It is required that
these employés shall be Venezuelan by birth;
(8) to remove and suspend employés of his own free motion,
ordering them to be tried if there should be cause for it;
(9) to declare war in the name of the Republic when Congress
shall have decreed it;
(10) in the case of foreign war he can,
first, demand from the States the assistance necessary for
the national defense;
second, require, in anticipation, the contributions and
negotiate the loans decreed by the National Legislature;
third, arrest or expel persons who pertain to the nation
with which war is carried on and who may be opposed to the
defense of the country;
fourth, to suspend the guaranties that may be incompatible
with the defense of the country, except that of life;
fifth, to select the place to which the General Power of
the Federation may be provisionally translated when there
may be grave reasons for it;
sixth, to bring to trial for treason to the country those
Venezuelans who may be, in any manner, hostile to the
national defense;
seventh, to issue registers to corsairs and privateers and
to prescribe the laws that they must observe in cases of
capture;
(11) to employ the public force and the powers contained in
numbers 1, 2, and 5 of the preceding clause with the object of
reëstablishing constitutional order in case of armed
insurrection against the institutions of the Nation;
(12) to dispose of the public force for the purpose of
quelling every armed collision between two or more States,
requiring them to lay down their arms and submit their
controversies to the arbitration to which they are pledged by
number 30, article 14 of this constitution;
(13) to direct the war and to appoint the person who shall
command the army;
(14) to organize the national force in time of peace;
(15) to concede general or particular exemptions;
(16) to defend the territory designated for the Federal
District when there may be reasons to apprehend that it will
be invaded by hostile forces.
Article 67.
The President of the United States of Venezuela shall have the
ministers for his cabinet that the law designates. It will
determine their functions and duties and will organize their
bureaus.
Article 68.
To be a minister of the cabinet it is required that the person
shall be twenty-five years of age, a Venezuelan by birth or
five years of naturalization.
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Article 69.
The ministers are the natural and proper organs of the
President of the United States of Venezuela. All his acts must
be subscribed by them and without such requisite they will not
be complied with nor executed by the authorities, employees,
or private persons.
Article 70.
All the acts of the ministers must be conformed to this
Constitution and the laws; their personal responsibility is
not saved, although they may have the written order of the
President.
Article 71.
The settlement of all business, except the fiscal affairs of
the bureaus, will be determined in the council of ministers,
and their responsibility is collective and consolidated.
Article 72.
The ministers, within the five first sessions of each year,
will render an account to the Chambers of what they may have
done or propose to do in their respective branches. They will
also render written or verbal reports that may be requested of
them, reserving only that which, in diplomatic affairs, it may
not be convenient to publish.
Article 73.
Within the same period, they will present to the National
Legislature the estimates of public expenditures and the
general account of the past year.
Article 74.
The ministers have the right to be heard in the Chambers, and
are obliged to attend when they may be called upon for
information.
Article 75.
The ministers are responsible:
(1) for treason to the country;
(2) for infraction of this Constitution or the laws;
(3) for malversation of the public funds;
(4) for exceeding the estimates in their expenditures;
(5) for subornation or bribery in the affairs under their
charge or in the nominations for public employees;
(6) for failure in compliance with the decisions of the
Federal Council.
Article 76.
The High Federal Court will be composed of as many judges as
there may be States of the Federation and with the following
qualities:
(1) A judge must be a Venezuelan by birth;
(2) he must be thirty years of age.
Article 77.
For the nomination of judges of the High Federal Court the
Congress will convene on the fifteenth day of its regular
sessions and will proceed to group together the representation
of each State from which to form a list of as many candidates
for principal judges and an equal number of alternates as
there may be States of the Federation. The Congress, in the
same or following session, will elect one principal and one
alternate for each State, selecting them from the respective
lists.
Article 78. The law will determine the different functions of the
judges and other officers of the High Federal Court.
Article 79.
The judges and their respective alternates will hold office
for four years. The principals and their alternates in office
can not accept during this period any office in the gift of
the executive without previous resignation and lawful
acceptance. The infraction of this disposition will be
punished with four years of disability to hold public office
in Venezuela.
Article 80.
The matters within the competence of the High Federal Court
are:
(1) to take cognizance of civil or criminal causes that may be
instituted against diplomatic officers in those cases
permitted by the law of nations;
(2) to take cognizance of causes ordered by the President to
be instituted against cabinet ministers when they may be
accused according to the cases provided for in this
Constitution. In the matter of the necessity of suspension
from office, they will request the President to that effect
and he will comply;
[Transcriber's note: (3) is absent.]
(4) to have jurisdiction of the causes of responsibility
instituted against diplomatic agents accredited to another
nation for the wrong discharge of their functions;
(5) to have jurisdiction in civil trials when the nation is
defendant and the law sanctions it;
(6) to dissipate the controversies that may arise between the
officials of different States in political order in the matter
of jurisdiction or competence;
(7) to take cognizance of all matters of political nature that
the States desire to submit for their consideration;
(8) to declare which may be the law in force when the national
and State laws may be found to conflict with each other;
(9) to have jurisdiction in the controversies that may result
from contracts or negotiations celebrated by the president of
the federation;
(10) to have jurisdiction in causes of imprisonment;
(11) to exercise other prerogatives provided for by law.
Article 81.
The Court of Appeals referred to in paragraph 20, article 13
of this Constitution, is the tribunal of the states; it will
be composed of as many judges as there are states of the
federation, and their terms of office will last for four
years.
Article 82.
A judge of the Court of Appeals must have the following
qualifications:
(1) he must be an attorney at law in the exercise of his
profession, and must have had at least six years practice;
(2) he must be a Venezuelan, thirty years of age.
Article 83.
Every four years the legislature of each State will form a
list of as many attorneys, with the qualifications expressed
in the preceding article, as there are States, and will remit
it, duly certified, to the Federal Council in order that this
body, from the respective lists, may select a judge for each
State in the organization of this high tribunal.
Article 84.
After the Federal Council may have received the lists from all
the States, it will proceed, in public session, to verify the
election; forming thereafter a list of the attorneys not
elected, in order that from this general list, which will be
published in the official paper, the permanent vacancies that
may occur in the Court of Appeals may be filled by lot. The
temporary vacancies will be filled according to law.
Article 85.
The Court of Appeals will have the following prerogatives:
(1) to take cognizance of criminal causes or those of
responsibility that may be instituted against the high
functionaries of the different States, applying the laws of
the States themselves in matters of responsibility, and in
case of omission of the promulgation of a law of
constitutional precept, it will apply to the cause in question
the general laws of the land;
(2) to take cognizance and to decide in cases of appeal in the
form and terms directed by law;
(3) to annually report to the National Legislature the
difficulties that stand in the way of uniformity in the matter
of civil or criminal legislation;
(4) to dispose of the rivalries that may arise between the
officers or functionaries of judicial order in the different
States of the federation and amongst those of a single State,
provided that the authority to settle them does not exist in
the State.
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Article 86.
The National Executive is exercised by the Federal Council,
the President of the United States of Venezuela, or the person
who fills his vacancies, in union with the cabinet ministers
who are his organs. The President of Venezuela must be a
Venezuelan by birth.
Article 87.
The functions of National Executive can not be exercised
outside of the federal district except in the case provided
for in number 5, paragraph 10, article 66 of the Constitution.
When the President, with the approval of the Council, shall
take command of the army or absent himself from the district
on account of matters of public interest that demand it, he
can not exercise any functions and will be replaced by the
Federal Council in accordance with article 62 of this
Constitution.
Article 88.
Everything that may not be expressly assigned to the general
administration of the nation in this Constitution is reserved
to the States.
Article 89.
The tribunals of justice in the States are independent; the
causes originated in them will be concluded in the same States
without any other review than that of the Court of Appeals in
the cases provided for by law.
Article 90.
Every act of Congress and of the National Executive that
violates the rights guaranteed to the States in this
Constitution, or that attacks their independence, must be
declared of no effect by the High Court, provided that a
majority of the legislatures demands it.
Article 91.
The public national force is divided into naval and land
troops, and will be composed of the citizen militia that the
States may organize according to law.
Article 92.
The force at the disposal of the federation will be organized
from citizens of a contingent furnished by each State in
proportion to its population, calling to service those
citizens that should render it according to their internal
laws.
Article 93.
In case of war the contingent can be augmented by bodies of
citizen militia up to the number of men necessary to fill the
draft of the National Government.
Article 94.
The National Government may change the commanders of the
public force supplied by the States in the cases and with the
formalities provided for in the national military law and then
their successors will be called for from the States.
Article 95.
The military and civil authority can never be exercised by the
same person or corporation.
Article 96.
The nation, being in possession of the right of ecclesiastical
patronage, will exercise it as the law upon the subject may
direct.
Article 97.
The Government of the Federation will have no other resident
employees with jurisdiction or authority in the States than
those of the States themselves. The officers of hacienda,
those of the forces that garrison national fortresses,
arsenals created by law, navy-yards, and habilitated ports,
that only have jurisdiction in matters peculiar to their
respective offices and within the limits of the forts and
quarters that they command, are excepted; but even these must
be subject to the general laws of the State in which they
reside. All the elements of war now existing belong to the
National Government; nevertheless it is not to be understood
that the States are prohibited from acquiring those that they
may need for domestic defense.
Article 98.
The National Government can not station troops nor military
officers with command in a State, although they may be from
that or another State, without permission of the government of
the State in which the force is to be stationed.
Article 99.
Neither the National Executive nor those of the States can
resort to armed intervention in the domestic contentions of a
State; it is only permitted to them to tender their good
offices to bring about a pacific solution in the case.
Article 100.
In case of a permanent or temporary vacancy in the office of
President of the United States of Venezuela, the States will
be immediately informed as to who has supplied the vacancy.
Article 101.
Exportation in Venezuela is free and no duty can be placed
upon it.
Article 102.
All usurped authority is without effect and its acts are null.
Every order granted for a requisition, direct or indirect, by
armed force or by an assemblage of people in subversive
attitude is null of right and void of efficacy.
Article 103.
The exercise of any function not conferred by the constitution
or laws is prohibited to every corporation or authority.
Article 104.
Any citizen may accuse the employees of the nation or the
States before the chamber of deputies, before their respective
superiors in office, or before the authorities designated by
law.
Article 105.
No payment shall be made from the National Treasury for which
Congress has not expressly provided in the annual estimate,
and those that may infringe this rule will be civilly
responsible to the National Treasury for the sums they have
paid out. In every payment from the public Treasury the
ordinary expenses will be preferred to the extraordinary
charges.
Article 106.
The offices of collection and disbursement of the national
taxes shall be always separate, and the officers of collection
may disburse only the salaries of their respective employees.
Article 107.
When, for any reason, the estimate of appropriations for a
fiscal period have not been made, that of the immediately
preceding period will continue in force.
Article 108.
In time of elections, the public national force or that of the
States themselves will remain closely quartered during the
holding of popular elections.
Article 109.
In international treaties of commerce and friendship this
clause will be inserted, to wit: "all the disagreements
between the contracting parties must be decided without an
appeal to war, by the decision of a power or friendly powers."
Article 110.
No individual can hold more than one office within the gift of
Congress and the National Executive. The acceptance of any
other is equivalent to resignation of the first. Officials
that are removable will cease to hold office upon accepting
the charge of a Senator or Deputy when they are dependents of
the National Executive.
Article 111.
The law will create and designate other national tribunals
that may be necessary.
Article 112.
National officers can not accept gifts, commissions, honors,
or emoluments from a foreign nation without permission from
the National Legislature.
Article 113.
Armed force can not deliberate; it is passive and obedient. No
armed body can make requisitions nor demand assistance of any
kind, but from the civil authorities, and in the mode and form
prescribed by law.
{610}
Article 114.
The Nation and the States will promote foreign immigration and
colonization in accordance with their respective laws.
Article 115.
A law will regulate the manner in which national officers,
upon taking charge of their posts, shall take the oath to
comply with their duties.
Article 116.
The National Executive will negotiate with the Governments of
America over treaties of alliance or confederation.
Article 117.
The law of Nations forms a part of the National Legislation;
its dispositions will be specially in force in cases of civil
war, which can be terminated by treaties between the
belligerents who will have to respect the humanitarian customs
of Christians and civilized nations, the guarantee of life being,
in every case, inviolable.
Article 118.
This constitution can be reformed by the National Legislature
if the legislatures of the States desire it, but there shall
never be any reform except in the parts upon which the
majority of the States coincide; also a reform can be made
upon one or more points when two-thirds of the members of the
National Legislature, deliberating separately and by the
proceedings established to sanction the laws, shall accord it;
but, in this second case, the amendment voted shall be
submitted to the legislatures of the States, and it will stand
sanctioned in the point or points that may have been ratified
by them.
Article 119.
This constitution will take effect from the day of its
official promulgation in each State, and in all public acts
and official documents there will be cited the date of the
Federation to begin with February 20, 1859, and the date of
the law to begin with March 28, 1864.
Article 120.
The constitutional period for the offices of the General
Administration of the Republic will continue to be computed
from February 20, 1882, the date on which the reformed
constitution took effect.
Article 121.
For every act of civil and political life of the States of the
Federation, its basis of population is that which is
determined in the last census approved by the National
Legislature.
Article 122.
The Federal Constitution of April 27, 1881, is repealed. Done
in Caracas, in the Palace of the Federal Legislative Corps,
and sealed with the seal of Congress on the 9th day of April,
1891. The 28th year of the Law and the 33rd year of the
Federation.
(Here follow the signatures of the Presidents,
Vice-Presidents, and Second Vice-Presidents of the Senate and
Chamber of Deputies, together with those of the Senators and
Deputies of the various States, followed by those of the
President and the ministers of his cabinet.)
See VENEZUELA: A. D. 1869-1892.
----------CONSTITUTION OF VENEZUELA: End----------
CONSTITUTION OF THE WATAUGA ASSOCIATION
(the first Western American Commonwealth).
See TENNESSEE: A. D. 1769-1772.
CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON.
The "Constitutions of Clarendon" were a series of declarations
drawn up by a council which King Henry II. of England convened
at Clarendon, near Winchester, in 1164, and which were
intended to determine the law on various points in dispute
between the Crown and the laity, on one side, and the Church
on the other. The issues in question were those which brought
Henry into collision with Thomas Becket, Archbishop of
Canterbury. The general provisions embodied in the
Constitutions of Clarendon "would now be scarcely challenged
in the most Catholic country in the world.
1. During the vacancy of any archbishopric, bishopric, abbey,
or priory of royal foundation, the estates were to be in the
custody of the Crown. Elections to these preferments were to
be held in the royal chapel, with the assent of the king and
council.
2. In every suit to which a clerk was a party, proceedings
were to commence before the king's justices, and these
justices were to decide whether the case was to be tried
before a spiritual or a civil court. If it was referred to a
spiritual court, a civil officer was to attend to watch the
trial, and if a clerk was found guilty of felony the Church
was to cease to protect him.
3. No tenant-in-chief of the king, or officer of his
household, was to be excommunicated, or his lands laid under
an interdict, until application had been first made to the
king, or, in his absence, to the chief justice.
4. Laymen were not to be indicted in a bishop's court, either
for perjury or other similar offence, except in the bishop's
presence by a lawful prosecutor and with lawful witnesses. If
the accused was of so high rank that no prosecutor would
appear, the bishop might require the sheriff to call a jury to
inquire into the case.
5. Archbishops, bishops, and other great persons were
forbidden to leave the realm without the king's permission.
6. Appeals were to be from the archdeacon to the bishop, from
the bishop to the archbishop, from the archbishop to the king,
and no further; that, by the king's mandate, the case might be
ended in the archbishop's court.
The last article the king afterwards explained away. It was
one of the most essential, but he was unable to maintain it;
and he was rash, or he was ill-advised, in raising a second
question, on which the pope would naturally be sensitive,
before he had disposed of the first."
_J. A. Froude, Life and Times of Becket, pages 31-32._
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1162-1170.
CONSTITUTIONS, Roman Imperial.
See CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS.
CONSTITUTIONAL UNION PARTY, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (APRIL-NOVEMBER).
CONSUL, Roman.
When the Romans had rid themselves of their kings and
established a republic, or, rather, an aristocratic
government, "the civil duties of the king were given to two
magistrates, chosen for a year, who were at first called
'prætores' or generals, 'judices' or judges, or consules (cf.
con 'together' and salio 'to leap') or 'colleagues.' In the
matter of their power, no violent departure was made from the
imperium of the king. The greatest limitation on the consuls
was the short period for which they were at the head of the
state; but even here they were thought of, by a fiction, as
voluntarily abdicating at the expiration of their term, and as
nominating their successors, although they were required to
nominate the men who had already been selected in the 'comitia
centuriata.' Another limitation was the result of the dual
character of the magistracy. The imperium was not divided
between the consuls, but each possessed it in full, as the
king had before. When, therefore, they did not agree, the veto
of the one prevailed over the proposal of the other, and there
was no action."
_A. Tighe, Development of the Roman Constitution, chapter 4._
{611}
"As judges, the consuls occupied altogether the place of the
kings. They decided the legal disputes of the citizens either
personally or by deputy. Their criminal jurisdiction was
probably limited to the most important cases. ... In the
warlike state of the Romans the military character of the
consuls was no doubt most prominent and most important. When
the consul led the army into the field he possessed the
unlimited military power of the kings (the imperium). He was
entrusted with the direction of the war, the distribution of
the booty, and the first disposal of the conquered land. ...
The oldest designation for the consuls, therefore, was derived
from their military quality, for they were called prætors,
that is, commanders. It was, however, precisely in war that
the division of power among two colleagues must often have
proved prejudicial ... and the necessity of unity in the
direction of affairs was felt to be indispensable. The
dictatorship served this purpose. By decree of the senate one
of the consuls could be charged with naming a dictator for six
months, and in this officer the full power of the king was
revived for a limited period. The dictatorship was a formal
suspension of the constitution of the republic. ... Military
was substituted for common law, and Rome, during the time of
the dictatorship, was in a state of siege."
_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 2, chapter 1,
and book 6, chapter 3-5._
In the later years of the Roman empire, "two consuls were
created by the sovereigns of Rome and Constantinople for the
sole purpose of giving al date to the year and a festival to
the people. But the expenses of this festival, in which the
wealthy and the vain aspired to surpass their predecessors,
insensibly arose to the enormous sum of four score thousand
pounds; the wisest senators declined a useless honour which
involved the certain ruin of their families, and to this
reluctance I should impute the frequent chasms in the last age
of the consular Fasti. ... The succession of consuls finally
ceased in the thirteenth year of Justinian [A. D. 541] whose
despotic temper might be gratified by the final extinction of
a title which admonished the Romans of their ancient freedom.
Yet the annual consulship still lived in the minds of the
people; they fondly expected its speedy restoration ... and
three centuries elapsed after the death of Justinian before
that obsolete dignity, which had been suppressed by custom,
could be abolished by law. The imperfect mode of
distinguishing each year by the name of a magistrate was
usefully supplied by the date of a permanent era."
_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 40.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_
"There were no consuls in 531 and 532. The Emperor held the
office alone in 533, and with a colleague in 534. Belisarius
was sole consul in 535. The two following years, having no
consuls of their own, were styled the First and Second after
the Consulship of Belisarius. John of Cappadocia gave his name
to the year 538, and the years 539 and 540 had again consuls,
though one only for each year. In 541 Albinus Basilius sat in
the curule chair, and he was practically the last of the long
list of warriors, orators, demagogues, courtiers, which began
(in the year 500 B. C.) with the names of Lucius Junius Brutus
and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus. All the rest of the years of
Justinian, twenty-four in number, were reckoned as Post
Consulatum Basilii."
_T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders.
book 5, chapter 14._
See, also, ROME B. C. 500.
CONSULAR TRIBUNES, Roman.
The plebeians of Rome having demanded admission for their
order to the consulship, a compromise was arranged, B. C. 444,
which settled that, thereafter, "the people should be free to
elect either consuls--that is, patricians according to the old
law--or in their place other officers under the title of
'military tribunes with consular power,' consisting of
patricians and plebeians. ... It is not reported in what
respect the official competency of the consular tribunes was
to differ from that of the consuls. Still, so much is plain,
that the difference consisted not alone in name. The number of
the consular tribunes was in the beginning fixed at three."
_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 2, chapter 11._
CONSULATE GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER).
CONTINENTAL ARMY.
"The Continentals" of the American Revolution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (MAY-AUGUST).
CONTINENTAL CURRENCY, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1780 (JANUARY-APRIL).
CONTINENTAL SYSTEM OF NAPOLEON, The.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1801-1802, and 1806-1810.
CONTIONES, OR CONCIONES.
The contiones, or conciones, at Rome, were assemblies of the
people, "less formal than the comitia," held for the mere
purpose of discussing public questions, and incapable of
passing any binding resolution. "They could not be called
together by anybody except the magistrates, neither had every
man the liberty of speaking in them, of making proposals or of
declaring his opinion; ... but even in this limited manner
public questions could be discussed and the people could be
enlightened. ... The custom of discussing public questions in
the contiones became general after the comitia of the tribes
had obtained full legislative competency."
_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 6, chapter 1._
See, also, COMITIA CURIATA.
CONTRABANDS.
In the early part of the American civil war of 1861-65, the
escaped slaves of the Confederates, who came within the Union
lines, were called contrabands, General Butler having supplied
the term by declaring them to be "contraband of war."
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (MAY).
CONTRERAS, Battle of.
See MEXICO: A. D. 1847 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER).
CONVENT,
See MONASTERY.
CONVENTICLE ACT, The.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1662-1665.
CONVENTION,
The French National, of the great Revolution.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1792 (AUGUST),
and 1792 (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER), to 1705 (OCTOBER-DECEMBER).
CONVOCATION.
The assemblies of the clergy in the two ecclesiastical
provinces of England are called the Convocation of Canterbury
and the Convocation of York. The former, which is the superior
body, frequently receives the name of Convocation, simply. It
is constituted upon the model of Parliament, and is, in fact,
the Parliament of the Church of England. It has two Houses:
the upper one consisting of the Archbishop and his Bishops;
the lower one composed of deans, archdeacons and proctors,
representing the inferior clergy. The Convocation of York has
but one House. Since 1716 Convocation has possessed slight
powers.
{612}
CONWAY CABAL, The.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1777-1778.
COOMASSIE, Burning of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1873-1880.
COPAIC REEDS.
See BŒOTIA.
COPAN, Ruins of.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: MAYAS;
and MEXICO, ANCIENT.
COPEHAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: COPEHAN FAMILY.
COPENHAGEN: A. D. 1362.
Taken and pillaged by the Hanseatic League.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES: A. D. 1018-1397.
COPENHAGEN: A. D. 1658-1660.
Sieges by Charles X. of Sweden.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1644-1697.
COPENHAGEN: A. D. 1700.
Surrender to Charles XII. of Sweden.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (SWEDEN): A. D. 1697-1700.
COPENHAGEN: A. D. 1801.
Bombardment by the English fleet.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1801-1802.
COPENHAGEN: A. D. 1807.
Bombardment of the city by the English.
Seizure of the fleet.
See SCANDINAVIAN STATES: A. D. 1807-1810.
----------COPENHAGEN: End----------
COPPERHEADS.
During the American Civil War, the Democratic Party in the
Northern States "comprised two well-recognized classes: The
Anti-War (or Peace) Democrats, commonly called 'Copperheads,'
who sympathized with the Rebellion, and opposed the War for
the Union; and the War (or Union) Democrats, who favored a
vigorous prosecution of the War for the preservation of the
Union."
_J. A. Logan, The Great Conspiracy, page 574, foot-note._
See, also, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (OCTOBER).
COPREDY BRIDGE, Battle of.
See ENGLAND: A. D. 1644 (JANUARY-JULY).
COPTS, The.
The descendants of the ancient Egyptian race, who form to this
day the larger part of the population of Egypt.
See EGYPT: ORIGIN OF THE ANCIENT PEOPLE.
COPTOS.
Destroyed by Diocletian.
See ALEXANDRIA: A. D. 296.
COR, The.
See EPHAH.
CORBIE,
Spanish capture of (1636).
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1635-1638.
CORCYRA.
See KORKYRA.
CORDAY, Charlotte, and the assassination of Marat.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (JULY).
CORDELIERS.
See MENDICANT ORDERS.
CORDELIERS, Club of the.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1790.
CORDOVA (Spain): A. D. 711.
Surrender to the Arab-Moors.
See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.
CORDOVA: A. D. 756-1031.
The Caliphate at.
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST AND EMPIRE: A. D. 756-1031.
CORDOVA: A. D. 1235.
Capture by the King of Castile.
See SPAIN: A. D. 1212-1238.
----------CORDOVA: End----------
CORDOVA (Mexico), Treaty of.
See MEXICO: A. D. 1820-1826.
CORDYENE.
See GORDYENE.
COREA.
See COREA in Supplement (volume 5).
COREISH, KOREISH.
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST AND EMPIRE: A.. D. 609-632.
COREY, Martha and Giles,
The execution for witchcraft of.
See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1692.
CORFINIUM, Cæsar's Capture of.
See ROME: B. C. 50-49.
CORFU, Ancient.
See KORKYRA.
CORFU: A. D. 1216-1880.
Since the fall of the Greek Empire.
Corfu was won by the Venetians in the early years of the Latin
conquest of the Greek empire (1216), but was presently lost,
to come back again into the possession of the republic 170
years later. "No part of Greece has been so often cutoff from
the Greek body. Under Pyrrhos and Agathoklês, no less than
under Michael Angelos and Roger, it obeyed an Epeirot or
Sicilian master. ... At last, after yet another turn of
Sicilian rule, it passed for 400 years [1386-. 1797] to the
great commonwealth [of Venice]. In our own day Corfu was not
added to free Greece till long after the deliverance of Attica
and Peloponnesos. But, under so many changes of foreign
masters, the island has always remained part of Europe and of
Christendom. Alone among the Greek lands, Corfu has never
passed under barbarian rule. It has seen the Turk only, for
one moment, as an invader [see TURKS: A. D. 1714-1718], for
another moment as a nominal overlord."
_E. A. Freeman, Historical Geography of Europe, page 408._
See IONIAN ISLANDS: To 1814.
----------CORFU: End----------
CORINIUM.
A Roman city in Britain, on the site of which is the modern
city of Cirencester. Some of the richest mosaic pavements
found in England have been uncovered there.
_T. Wright. Celt, Roman and Saxon, chapter 5._
CORINTH.
Corinth, the chief city and state, in ancient times, of the
narrow isthmus which connects Peloponnesus with northern
Greece, "owed everything to her situation. The double sea by
the isthmus, the confluence of the high road of the whole of
Hellas, the rocky citadel towering aloft over land and sea,
through which rushed--or around which flowed--an abundance of
springs; all these formed so extraordinary a commixture of
advantages, that, if the intercourse with other countries
remained undisturbed, they could not but call forth an
important city. As in Argolis, so on the isthmus also, other
besides Dorian families had in the days of the migration
helped to found the new state. ... By the side of the Dorian,
five non-Dorian tribes existed in Corinth, attesting the
multitude and variety of population, which were kept together
as one state by the royal power of the Heraclidæ, supported by
the armed force of the Dorians. In the ninth century [B. C.]
the royal power passed into the hands of a branch of the
Heraclidæ deriving its descent from Bacchis [one of the
earliest of the kings]; and it was in the extraordinary genius
of this royal line that the greatness of the city originated.
The Bacchiadæ opened the city to the immigration of the
industrious settlers who hoped to make their fortunes more
speedily than elsewhere at this meeting point of all Greek
high-roads of commerce. They cherished and advanced every
invention of importance. ... They took commerce into their own
hands, and established the tramway on the isthmus, along which
ships were, on rollers, transported from one gulf to the
other. ... They converted the gulf which had hitherto taken
its name from Crisa into the Corinthian, and secured its
narrow inlet by means of the fortified place of Molycria. ...
They continued their advance along the coast and occupied the
most important points on the Achelous."
_E. Curtius, History of Greece, book 2, chapter 1._
{613}
CORINTH: B. C. 745-725.
Constitutional Revolution.
End of Monarchy.
The prytanes.
Commercial progress.
A violent contention which arose between two branches of the
Bacchiadæ "no doubt gave the nobles of Corinth power and
opportunity to end the struggle by a change in the
constitution, and by the discontinuance of the monarchy; this
occurred in the year 745 B. C., after eight generations of
kings. ... Yet the place at the head of the commonwealth was
not to be entirely taken away from the ancient royal house. A
presiding chief (a prytanis), newly elected each year by the
whole nobility from the members of the royal race, was
henceforward to conduct the government [see PRYTANIS]. It was
a peculiar arrangement which this change introduced into
Corinth. We may assume that the sovereignty was transferred to
the nobles collectively, or to their representative. This
representation seems to have been so regulated that each of
the eight tribes sent an equal number of members to the
Gerousia, i. e. the council of elders. ... But the first of
these eight tribes, to which belonged the royal family, was
privileged. From it was chosen the head of the state, an
office for which only a Bacchiad was eligible--that is, only a
member of the old royal house, which took the foremost place
in the first tribe. This clan of the Bacchiadæ is said to have
contained 200 men. 'They were numerous and wealthy,' says
Strabo. Accordingly the royal house did not exclusively retain
the first rank in the state, but only in conjunction with the
families connected with it by kindred and race. ... The new
constitution of Corinth, the government by nobles, under the
dynastic presidency of one family, became a type for other
cantons. It was a Corinthian of the Bacchiadæ who, twenty or
thirty years after the introduction of the prytanes, regulated
the oligarchy of the Thebans and gave them laws (about 725 B.
C.) ... The fall of the monarchy in Corinth at first brought
with it disastrous consequences for the power and prestige of
the commonwealth. The communities of the Megarians--either
because the new government made increased demands upon them,
or because they considered their allegiance had ceased with
the cessation of monarchy, and thought the moment was
favourable--deserted Corinth and asserted their freedom. The
five communities on the isthmus united together around the
territory of Megara, lying in the plain by the Saronic Gulf,
where the majority of the Doric tribes had settled; the city
of Megara, in the vicinity of two ancient fortresses ...
became the chief centre of the communities, now associated in
one commonwealth. ... The important progress of Corinth under
the prytany of the Bacchiadæ was not due to successes upon the
mainland, but in another sphere. For navigation and commerce
no canton in Hellas was more favourably situated. Lying on the
neck of the isthmus, it extended from sea to sea, an
advantageous position which had indeed first attracted the
Phœnicians thither in ancient times. ... Corinth, says
Thucydides, was always from the first a centre of commerce,
and abounded in wealth; for the population within and without
the Peloponnesus communicated with each other more in ancient
times by land across the isthmus than by sea. But when the
Hellenes became more practised in navigation, the Corinthians
with their ships put down piracy and established marts on both
sides; and through this influx of riches their city became
very powerful."
_M. Duncker, History of Greece, book 3, chapter 3 (volume 2)._
CORINTH: B. C. 509-506.
Opposition to the desire of Sparta to restore tyranny at
Athens.
See ATHENS: B. C. 509-506.
CORINTH: B. C. 481-479.
Congress and organized Hellenic union against Persia.
See GREECE: B. C.481-479.
CORINTH: B. C. 458-456.
Alliance with Ægina in unsuccessful war with Athens and Megara.
See GREECE: B. C. 458-456.
CORINTH: B. C. 440.
Opposition to Spartan interference with Athens in Samos.
See ATHENS: B. C. 440-437.
CORINTH: B. C. 435-432.
Quarrel with Korkyra.
Interference of Athens.
Events leading to the Peloponnesian War.
See GREECE: B. C. 435-432.
CORINTH: B. C. 432.
Great sea-fight with the Korkyrians and Athenians.
See GREECE: B. C. 432.
CORINTH: B. C. 429-427.
The Peloponnesian War: sea-fights and defeats.
Fruitless aid to the Mitylenæans.
See GREECE: B. C. 429-427.
CORINTH: B. C. 421.
Opposition to the Peace of Nicias.
See GREECE: B. C. 421-418.
CORINTH: B. C. 415-413.
Help to Syracuse against the Athenians.
See SYRACUSE: B. C. 415-413.
CORINTH: B. C. 395-387.
Confederacy against Sparta.
The Corinthian War.
Battle on the Nemea.
The Peace of Antalcidas.
See GREECE: B. C. 399-387.
CORINTH: B. C. 368-365.
Attempt of Epaminondas to surprise the city.
Attempt of the Athenians.
See GREECE: B. C. 371-362.
CORINTH: B. C. 337.
Congress of Greek states to acknowledge the hegemony of Philip
of Macedon.
See GREECE: B. C. 357-336.
CORINTH: B. C. 244.
Capture by Antigonus Gonatus, king of Macedon.
See MACEDONIA, &c.: B. C. 277-244.
CORINTH: B. C. 243-146.
In the Achaian League.
See GREECE: B. C. 280-146.
CORINTH: B. C. 146.
Sack by the Romans.
See GREECE: B. C. 280-146.
CORINTH: B. C. 44.
Restoration by Cæsar.
"In the desolate land of Greece, Cæsar, besides other plans,
... busied himself above all with the restoration of Corinth.
Not only was a considerable burgess-colony conducted thither,
but a plan was projected for cutting through the isthmus, so
as to avoid the dangerous circumnavigation of the Peloponnesus
and to make the whole traffic between Italy and Asia pass
through the Corintho-Saronic gulf."
_T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 5, chapter 11._
"Cæsar sent to Corinth a large number of freedmen, and other
settlers were afterwards sent by Augustus; but it is certain
that many Greeks came to live in the new Corinth, for it
became a Greek town. Corinth was a mass of ruins when the new
settlers came, and while they were removing the rubbish, they
grubbed up the burial places, where they found a great number
of earthen figures and bronze urns, which they sold at a high
price and filled Rome with them."
_G. Long, Decline of the Roman Republic, volume 5, chapter 32._
{614}
"Corinth rapidly rose under these auspices, became a centre of
commerce and art, and took the lead among the cities of
European Hellas. Here was established the seat of the Roman
government of Achaia, and its population, though the
representations we have received of it are extravagant,
undoubtedly exceeded that of any Grecian rival."
_C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 40._
CORINTH: A. D. 267.
Ravaged by the Goths.
See GOTHS: A. D. 258-267.
CORINTH: A. D. 395.
Plundered by the Goths.
See GOTHS: A. D. 395.
CORINTH: A. D. 1146.
Sacked by the Normans of Sicily.
Abduction of silk weavers.
See BYZANTINE EMPIRE: A. D. 1146.
CORINTH: A. D. 1445.
Destruction by the Turks.
The fortifications of the isthmus of Corinth were stormed and
the Peloponnesus invaded by Amurath II. in 1445. "Corinth
itself, a city sanctified by its antiquity, by its gods, by
its arts, by the beauty of its women, by its fountains, its
cypresses, its very ruins themselves, whence its unrivalled
situation had always restored it, fell anew, buried in its
flames, by the hands of Tourakhan, that ancient and ambitious
vizier of Amurath. Its flames were seen from Athens, from
Ægina, from Lepanto, from Cytheron, from Pindus. The
inhabitants, as also those of Patras, were led into slavery in
Asia, to the number of 60,000."
_A. Lamartine, History of Turkey, book 11, section 10._
CORINTH: A. D. 1463-1464.
Unsuccessful siege by the Venetians.
Fortification of the Isthmus.
See GREECE: A. D. 1454-1479.
CORINTH: A. D. 1687.
Taken by the Venetians.
See TURKS: A. D. 1684-1696.
CORINTH: A. D. 1822.
Revolt, siege and capture by the Turks.
See GREECE: A. D. 1821-1829.
----------CORINTH: End----------
CORINTH, Mississippi, Siege and Battle.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (APRIL-MAY: TENNESSEE--MISSISSIPPI),
and (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER: MISSISSIPPI).
CORINTH CANAL, The.
"On Sunday [August 6, 1893] the canal across the Isthmus of
Corinth--[projected by Cæsar--see ROME: B. C. 45-44] begun by
Nero, and completed, nearly 2,000 years later, by a Greek
engineer, M. Matsas--was opened by the King of Greece, who
steamed through the canal in his yacht, accompanied by a
procession consisting of four Greek torpedo-boats and other
vessels, including three English men-of-war and an English
despatch-boat. The canal ... will be practicable for all but
the largest vessels."
_The Spectator, Aug. 12, 1893._
[Transcriber's note: "It was planned by the Hungarian
architects István Türr and Béla Gerster... Its
construction was started by a French company, which ceased
works only after the two ends had been dug, due to
financial difficulties. A Greek company took over, the main
contractor being Antonis Matsas, and continued (and
completed) the project."
http://wiki.phantis.com]
CORINTHIAN TALENT.
See TALENT.
CORINTHIAN WAR, The.
See GREECE: B. C. 399-387.
CORIONDI, The.
See IRELAND, TRIBES OF ANCIENT.
CORITANI, OR CORITAVI.
A British tribe which occupied the lower valley of the Trent
and its vicinity.
See BRITAIN, CELTIC TRIBES.
CORN LAWS (English) and their repeal.
See TARIFF LEGISLATION (ENGLAND):
A. D. 1815-1828; 1836-1839; 1842; and 1845-1846.
CORNABII, OR CORNAVII, The.
An ancient British tribe which dwelt near the mouths of the
Dee and the Mersey.
See BRITAIN, CELTIC TRIBES.
CORNWALL, Duchy of.
In the division of the spoils of his conquest of England,
William the Conqueror gave to his brother Robert almost the
whole shire of Cornwall, besides other vast estates. "Out of
those possessions," says Mr. Freeman, "arose that great
Earldom, and afterwards Duchy, of Cornwall, which was deemed
too powerful to be trusted in the hands of any but men closely
akin to the royal house, and the remains of which have for
ages formed the appanage of the heir-apparent to the Crown."
See, also, WALES, PRINCE OF.
CORNWALLIS, Charles, Lord.
In the War of the American Revolution.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1776 (AUGUST), (SEPTEMBER-NOVEMBER);
1780 (FEBRUARY-AUGUST); 1780-1781;
1781 (JANUARY-MAY); 1781 (MAY-OCTOBER).
Indian administration.
See INDIA: A. D. 1785-1793.
Irish administration.
See IRELAND: A. D. 1798-1800.
CORON, Battle of (B. C. 281).
See MACEDONIA, &c.: B. C. 297-280.
CORONADO, Expedition of.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: PUEBLOS.
CORONATION.
"The royal consecration in its most perfect form included both
coronation and unction. The wearing of a crown was a most
ancient sign of royalty, into the origin of which it is
useless now to inquire; but the solemn rite of crowning was
borrowed from the Old Testament by the Byzantine Cæsars; the
second Theodosius was the first emperor crowned with religious
ceremonies in Christian times. The introduction of the rite of
anointing is less certainly ascertained. It did not always
accompany coronation, and, although usual with the later
emperors is not recorded in the case of the earlier ones."
_William Stubbs, Constitutional History of England,
chapter 6, section 60._
CORONATION STONE.
See SCOTLAND: 8TH-9TH CENTURIES;
also, LIA FAIL.
CORONEIA, Battles of (B. C. 447 and B. C. 394).
See GREECE: B. C. 449-445; and B. C. 399-387.
CORPS DE BELGIQUE.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1864 (OCTOBER).
CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS, The.
"The Corpus Juris Civilis represents the Roman law in the form
which it assumed at the close of the ancient period (a
thousand years after the decemviral legislation of the Twelve
Tables), and through which mainly it has acted upon modern
times. It was compiled in the Eastern Roman Empire (the
Western ceased in 476 A. D.) under the Emperor Justinian, ...
who reigned 527-565 A. D. The plan of the work, as laid out
by [his great law-minister] Tribonian, included two principal
parts, to be made from the constitutions of the Roman
emperors, and from the treatises of the Roman lawyers. The
constitutiones' (law-utterances) of the emperors consisted
of--
1. 'Orationes,' proposals of law, submitted to and adopted by
the Senate;
2. 'Edicta,' laws issued directly by the emperor as head of
the state;
3. 'Mandata,' instructions addressed by the emperor to high
officers of law and justice;
4. 'Decreta,' decisions given by the emperor in cases brought
before him by appeal or otherwise;
5. 'Rescripta,' answers returned by the emperor when consulted
on questions of law by parties in a suit or by magistrates.
{615}
... Three or four collections had
already been made, in which the most important constitutions
were selected from the mass, presented in a condensed form,
and arranged according to their subjects. The last and most
elaborate of these collections was the Theodosian Code,
compiled about a century before the accession of Justinian; it
is still in great part extant. ... The new Codex
Constitutionem, prepared in little more than a year, was
published in April, 529. The next work was to digest the
treatises of the most eminent law writers. Thirty-nine were
selected, nearly all of whom lived between 100 B. C. and 250
A. D. Their books (2,000 in number) were divided among a body
of collaborators (sixteen besides Tribonian), each of whom
from the books assigned to him extracted what he thought
proper. ... and putting the extracts (9,000 in all) under an
arranged series of heads. ... The Digest--or Pandects
(all-receiving), as it is also called from the multiplicity of
its sources--was issued with authority of law, in December,
533. ... While the Digest or Pandects forms much the largest
fraction of the Corpus Juris, its relative value and
importance are far more than proportionate to its extent. The
Digest is, in fact, the soul of the Corpus. ... To bring the
Codex Constitutionem into better conformity with the Digest,
it was revised in 534 and issued as we now have it in November
of that year. ... The Corpus Juris includes also an elementary
text-book, the Institutiones (founded on the 'institutiones' of
Gaius, who flourished about 150). ... The Institutes, Digest
and Codex were given, as a complete body of law, to the
law-schools at Constantinople, Rome, Berytus, Alexandria,
Cæsarea, to be studied in their five years' curriculum. In the
courts it was to supersede all earlier authorities. ... Later
statutes of Justinian, arranged in order of time, form the
Novels ('novellae constitutione,' most of them in Greek), the
last component of the Corpus Juris."
_J. Hadley, Introduction to Roman Law, lecture 1._
ALSO IN: _J. E. Goudsmit, The Pandects._
CORREGIDOR.
See ALCALDE.
CORSICA: Early history.
"The original inhabitants of Corsica are supposed to have been
Ligurians, but at a very early period the people had
commercial intercourse with Spain, Ionia and Tuscany. The
island was subsequently occupied by the Carthaginians, who,
however, were expelled by the Romans during the first Punic
war. A few years later Corsica came under the dominion of
Rome, and that sway was nominally maintained until the
downfall of the Empire. It then fell under the dominion of the
Vandals, and after their expulsion owned successively the rule
of the Goths, the Saracens and the Pisans, and finally of the
Genoese. It came into the possession of the latter people in
the year 1120. Pisa subsequently made several attempts to
drive out her rivals, but they were in the end void of
results. But in 1448, Genoa, having sustained great losses in
the constant wars in which she was engaged, was induced to
surrender the administration of Corsica and of her colonies in
the Levant to a corporation known as the Bank of St George.
From that time the island was administered by governors
appointed by the Bank of St George, almost precisely in the
manner in which, in England, up to 1859, the East Indies were
administered by an 'imperium in imperio.'"
G. B. Malleson, Studies from Genoese History, chapter 3.
CORSICA: A. D, 1558-1559.
Revolt against the Genoese rule, and re-subjection.
See GENOA: A. D. 1528-1559;
and FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.
CORSICA: A. D. 1729-1769.
The Struggle for independence.
Romance of King Theodore.
The Paolis.
Cession to France.
The revolt of 1558 was renewetl in 1564, but ended in 1567,
upon the death of its leader, Sampiero. For the next century
and a half, Corsica remained inactive; "depressed and
miserable under renewed Genoese exactions and tyrannies, but
too exhausted to resume hostilities. In 1729, however,
fighting again broke out, suddenly roused by one of the many
private wrongs then pressing upon the lower orders, and the
rebellion soon spread over the whole island. It was well
organized under two leaders of energy and ability, and was
more determined in its measures than ever. ... Genoa had
recourse to the emperor of Germany, from whom she bought
several thousand mercenaries, who were sent across the sea to
try their skill upon these unconquerable islanders. ... The
courage and chivalry of his insular foes ... won for them the
regard of the opposing General Wachtendonk; and, chiefly
through his mediation, a treaty, supposed to be favourable to
the islanders, was concluded between Genoa and the Corte
legislative assembly in 1732. Wachtendonk remained in the
island another year to see the treaty carried out, and in
June, 1734, the German general returned to his own country.
... But he had scarcely retired before the treaty was broken.
Genoa began anew her system of illegal arrests and attempted
assassinations; and, once more, the people arose under
Hyacinth Paoli, an obscure native of the little village of
Morosaglia, but a man of spirit and talent, and a scholar.
Under the direction of this man, and of Giafferi, his
colleague, a democratic constitution, in the highest degree
prudent and practical, was framed for the Corsican people. ...
Early in the next year occurred a strange and romantic
adventure in this adventureful country. A man, handsome and
well-dressed, surrounded by obsequious courtiers, and attended
by every luxury, landed in the island from a vessel
well-furnished with gold, ammunition, and arms. This man was a
German adventurer, Baron Theodore von Neuhoff, who, after a
romantic youth, had suddenly conceived a desire to become king
of Corsica. He was a man of great talent and personal
fascination, of good judgment, and enthusiastic disposition.
He had fallen in love with the bravery and determination of
the Corsicans, and longed to head such a nation. He had put
himself into communication with the leading islanders; and,
having really some little influence at the continental courts,
persuaded them that he had much more. He offered to obtain
such assistance from foreign potentates, by his persuasions,
as should effectually oust the Genoese; and, in return,
requested the crown of Corsica. His genius and his enthusiasm
were so great, and his promises so dazzling, that, after some
hesitation, the poor Corsicans, in their despair, seized upon
this last straw; and in March, 1736, Theodore was crowned
king. His exertions for the good of this country were
untiring. He established manufactures and promoted with all
his power art and commerce, at the same time that, with all
the force of his genius, he endeavoured to persuade foreign
powers to lend their assistance to his new subjects in the
field.
{616}
His style of living meanwhile was regal and sumptuous. ...
Towards the conclusion of his first year of sovereignty,
Theodore left Corsica on a continental tour, with the avowed
object of hastening the promised succour. In two years he
returned, bringing with him three large and several smaller
war vessels, handsomely laden with ammunition, which had
actually been raised by means of his talents and persuasive
faculties, chiefly amongst the Dutch. But, meanwhile, the
Corsicans had had other affairs to which to attend. France had
interfered at the request of Genoa; and negotiations were
actively going on, which the arrival of the pseudo-king could
only interrupt. Theodore, although now so well attended, found
himself unheeded and disregarded; and after a few months was
forced to leave his new kingdom to its fate, and to return to
the continent. Five years later, in 1743, he again returned,
again well equipped, this time with English vessels, but with
the same ill success. Convinced now that his chance was over
and his dream of royalty destroyed, Theodore returned to
England with a sore heart, spending his remaining years in
this asylum for dethroned kings and ruined adventurers. His
tomb may be seen in Westminster Abbey. For the next five and
twenty years the war continued between Corsica and Genoa,
still fought out on the blood-deluged plains of the unhappy
little island. But the republic of Genoa was now long past her
prime, and her energies were fading into senility; and, had it
not been for the ever-increasing assistance of France, her
intrepid foes would long ere this have got the better of her.
In May, 1768, a treaty was signed between Genoa and France, by
which the republic ceded her now enfeebled claims on Corsica
to her ally, and left her long-oppressed victim to fight the
contest out with the French troops. During this time, first
Gaffori, then Pasquale Paoli, were the leaders of the people.
Gaffori, a man of refinement, and a hero of skill and
intrepidity, was murdered in a vendetta in 1753, and in 1755
Pasquale, youngest son of the old patriot Hyacinth Paoli, left
his position as officer in the Neapolitan service, and landed,
by the general desire of his own people, at Aleria, to
undertake the command of the Corsican army. ... From 1764 to
1768 a truce was concluded between the foes. ... In August,
1768, the truce was to expire; but, before the appointed day
had arrived, an army of 20,000 French suddenly swooped down
upon the luckless island. ... It was a hopeless struggle for
Corsica; but the heroism of the undaunted people moved all
Europe to sympathy. ... The Corsicans at first got the better
of their formidable foe, at the Bridge of Golo, in the taking
of Borgo, and in other lesser actions. ... Meanwhile, the
country was being destroyed, and the troops becoming
exhausted. ... The battle of Ponte Nuovo, on the 9th of May,
1769, at once and forever annihilated the Corsican cause. ...
After this victory, the French rapidly gained possession of
the whole island, and shortly afterwards the struggle was
abandoned. ... In the same year, 1769, Napoleon Buonaparte was
born in the house out of the Place du Marché at Ajaccio. 'I
was born,' he said himself in a letter to Paoli, 'the year my
country died.'"
_G. Forde, A Lady's Tour in Corsica, volume 2, chapter 18._
ALSO IN:
_P. Fitzgerald, Kings and Queens of an Hour, chapter 1._
_J. Boswell, Journal of a Tour to Corsica._
Corsica: A. D. 1794.
Conquest by the English.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1794 (MARCH-JULY).
Corsica: A. D. 1796.
Evacuated by the English.
Reoccupied by the French.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1796 (SEPTEMBER).
----------Corsica: End----------
CORTENUOVA, Battle of (1236).
See ITALY: A. D. 1183-1250.
CORTES, HERNANDO,
Conquest of Mexico by.
See MEXICO: A. D. 1519 to 1521-1524.
CORTES, The early Spanish.
The old monarchical constitutions of Castile and Aragon.
"The earliest instance on record of popular representation in
Castile occurred at Burgos, in 1169; nearly a century
antecedent to the celebrated Leicester parliament. Each city
had but one vote, whatever might be the number of its
representatives. A much greater irregularity, in regard to the
number of cities required to send deputies to cortes [the name
signifying 'court'] on different occasions, prevailed in
Castile, than had ever existed in England; though, previously
to the 15th century, this does not seem to have proceeded from
any design of infringing on the liberties of the people. The
nomination of these was originally vested in the householders
at large, but was afterwards confined to the
municipalities,--a most mischievous alteration, which
subjected their election eventually to the corrupt influence
of the crown. They assembled in the same chamber with the
higher orders of the nobility and clergy, but on questions of
moment, retired to deliberate by themselves. After the
transaction of other business, their own petitions were
presented to the sovereign, and his assent gave them the
validity of laws. The Castilian commons, by neglecting to make
their money grants depend on corresponding concessions from
the crown, relinquished that powerful check on its operations
so beneficially exerted in the British parliament, but in vain
contended for even there till a much later period than that
now under consideration. Whatever may have been the right of
the nobility and clergy to attend in cortes, their sanction
was not deemed essential to the validity of legislative acts;
for their presence was not even required in many assemblies of
the nation which occurred in the 14th and 15th centuries. The
extraordinary power thus committed to the commons was, on the
whole, unfavorable to their liberties. It deprived them of the
sympathy and cooperation of the great orders of the state,
whose authority alone could have enabled them to withstand the
encroachments of arbitrary power, and who, in fact, did
eventually desert them in their utmost need. ... The Aragonese
cortes was composed of four branches, or arms; the ricos
hombres, or great barons; the lesser nobles, comprehending the
knights; the clergy; and the commons. The nobility of every
denomination were entitled to a seat in the legislature. The
ricos hombres were allowed to appear by proxy, and a similar
privilege was enjoyed by baronial heiresses. The number of
this body was very limited, twelve of them constituting a quorum.
{617}
The arm of the ecclesiastics embraced an ample delegation from
the inferior as well as higher clergy. It is affirmed not to
have been a component of the national legislature until more
than a century and a half after the admission of the commons.
Indeed, the influence of the church was much less sensible in
Aragon than in the other kingdoms of the Peninsula. ... The
commons enjoyed higher consideration and civil privileges. For
this they were perhaps somewhat indebted to the example of
their Catalan neighbors, the influence of whose democratic
institutions naturally extended to other parts of the
Aragonese monarchy. The charters of certain cities accorded to
the inhabitants privileges of nobility, particularly that of
immunity from taxation; while the magistrates of others were
permitted to take their seats in the order of hidalgos. From a
very early period we find them employed in offices of public
trust, and on important missions. The epoch of their admission
into the national assembly is traced as far back as 1133,
several years earlier than the commencement of popular
representation in Castile. Each city had the right of sending
two or more deputies selected from persons eligible to its
magistracy; but with the privilege of only one vote, whatever
might be the number of its deputies. Any place which had been
once represented in cortes might always claim to be so. By a
statute of 1307, the convocation of the states, which had been
annual, was declared biennial. The kings, however, paid little
regard to this provision, rarely summoning them except for
some specific necessity. The great officers of the crown,
whatever might be their personal rank, were jealously excluded
from their deliberations. ... It was in the power of any
member to defeat the passage of a bill, by opposing to it his
veto or dissent, formally registered to that effect. He might
even interpose his negative on the proceedings of the house,
and thus put a stop to the prosecution of all further business
during the session. This anomalous privilege, transcending
even that claimed in the Polish diet, must have been too
invidious in its exercise, and too pernicious in its
consequences, to have been often resorted to. This may be
inferred from the fact that it was not formally repealed until
the reign of Philip II., in 1502. ... The cortes exercised the
highest functions, whether of a deliberative, legislative, or
judicial nature. It had a right to be consulted on all matters
of importance, especially on those of peace and war. No law
was valid, no tax could be imposed, without its consent; and
it carefully provided for the application of the revenue to
its destined uses. It determined the succession to the crown,
removed obnoxious ministers, reformed the household and
domestic expenditure of the monarch, and exercised the power,
in the most unreserved manner, of withholding supplies, as
well as of resisting what it regarded as an encroachment on
the liberties of the nation. ... The statute-book affords the
most unequivocal evidence of the fidelity with which the
guardians of the realm discharged the high trust reposed in
them, in the numerous enactments it exhibits for the security
both of person and property. Almost the first page which meets
the eye in this venerable record contains the General
Privilege, the Magna Charta, as it has been well denominated,
of Aragon. It was granted by Peter the Great to the cortes at
Saragossa, in 1283. It embraces a variety of provisions for
the fair and open administration of justice; for ascertaining
the legitimate powers intrusted to the cortes; for the
security of property against exactions of the crown; and for
the conservation of their legal immunities to the municipal
corporations and the different orders of nobility. ... The
Aragonese, who rightly regarded the General Privilege as the
broadest basis of their liberties, repeatedly procured its
confirmation by succeeding sovereigns. ... The judicial
functions of the cortes have not been sufficiently noticed by
writers. They were extensive in their operation, and gave it
the name of the General Court."
_W. H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella, introduction, section 1-2._
"Castile bore a closer analogy to England in its form of civil
polity than France or even Aragon. But the frequent disorders
of its government and a barbarous state of manners rendered
violations of law much more continual and flagrant than they
were in England under the Plantagenet dynasty. And besides
these practical mischiefs, there were two essential defects in
the constitution of Castile, through which perhaps it was
ultimately subverted. It wanted those two brilliants in the
coronet of British liberty, the representation of freeholders
among the commons, and trial by jury. The cortes of Castile
became a congress of deputies from a few cities, public
spirited, indeed, and intrepid, as we find them in bad times,
to an eminent degree, but too much limited in number, and too
unconnected with the territorial aristocracy, to maintain a
just balance against the crown. ... Perhaps in no European
monarchy except our own was the form of government more
interesting than in Aragon, as a fortunate temperament of law
and justice with the royal authority. ... Blancas quotes a
noble passage from the acts of cortes in 1451. 'We have always
heard of old time, and it is found by experience, that seeing
the great barrenness of this land, and the poverty of the
realm, if it were not for the liberties thereof, the folk
would go hence to live and abide in other realms and lands
more fruitful.' This high spirit of freedom had long animated
the Aragonese. After several contests with the crown in the
reign of James I., not to go back to earlier times, they
compelled Peter III. in 1283 to grant a law called the General
Privilege, the Magna Charta of Aragon, and perhaps a more full
and satisfactory basis of civil liberty than our own." They
further "established a positive right of maintaining their
liberties by arms. This was contained in the Privilege of
Union granted by Alfonso III. in 1287, after a violent
conflict with his subjects; but which was afterwards so
completely abolished, and even eradicated from the records of
the kingdom, that its precise words have never been recovered.
... That watchfulness over public liberty which originally
belonged to the aristocracy of ricos hombres ... and which was
afterwards maintained by the dangerous Privilege of Union,
became the duty of a civil magistrate whose office and
functions are the most pleasing feature in the constitutional
history of Aragon. The Justiza or Justiciary of Aragon has
been treated by some writers as a sort of anomalous
magistrate. ... But I do not perceive that his functions were,
in any essential respect, different from those of the chief
justice of England, divided, from the time of Edward I., among
the judges of the King's Bench. ...
{618}
All the royal as well as territorial judges were
bound to apply for his opinion in case of legal difficulties
arising in their courts, which he was to certify within eight
days. By subsequent statutes of the same reign it was made
penal for anyone to obtain letters from the king, impeding the
execution of the Justiza's process, and they were declared
null. Inferior courts were forbidden to proceed in any
business after his prohibition. ... There are two parts of his
remedial jurisdiction which deserve special notice. These are
the processes of juris firma, or firma del derechio, and of
manifestation. The former bears some analogy to the writs of
'pone' and 'certiorari' in England, through which the Court of
King's Bench exercises its right of withdrawing a suit from
the jurisdiction of inferior tribunals. But the Aragonese
juris firma was of more extensive operation. ... The process
termed manifestation afforded as ample security for personal
liberty as that of juris firma did for property."
_H. Hallam, The Middle Age, chapter 4 (volume 2)._
For some account of the loss of the old constitutional
liberties of Castile and Aragon, under Charles V.,
See SPAIN: A. D. 1518-1522.
"The councils or meetings of the bishops after the reconquest,
like the later Councils of Toledo, were always 'jussu regis,'
and were attended by counts and magnates 'ad videndum sine ad
audiendum verbum Domini.' But when the ecclesiastical business
was ended, it was natural that the lay part of the assembly
should discuss the affairs of the kingdom and of the people;
and insensibly this after-part of the proceedings grew as the
first part diminished in importance. The exact date when the
Council merged into the Curia or Cortes is difficult to
determine; Señor Colmeiro takes the so-named Council of Leon
in 1020 as the true starting-point of the latter. The early
monarchy of Spain was elective, and the acclamation of the
assembled people (plebs) was at least theoretically necessary
to render the king's election valid. The presence of the
citizens at the Cortes or Zamora, though stated by Sandoval
and Morales, is impugned by Señor Colmeiro; but at the Council
of Oviedo in 1115 were present bishops of Spain and Portugal
'cum principibus et plebe praedictae regionis,' and these
latter also subscribed the Acts. Still, though present and
making their influence more and more felt, there is no record
of a true representation of cities until Alfonso IX. convoked
the Cortes of Leon in 1188, 'cum archiepiscopo, et episcopis,
et magnatibus regni mei et cum electis civibus ex singulis
civitatibus'; from this time the three estates--clergy,
nobles, citizens--were always represented in the Cortes of
Leon. Unfortunately, the political development of Castille did
not synchronise with that of Leon. In general, that of
Castille was fully half a century later. We pass by as more
than doubtful the alleged presence of citizens at Burgos in
1169; the 'majores civitatum et villarum' at the Cortes of
Carrion in 1188 were not deputies, but the judges or governors
of twenty-eight cities. It is not till the united Cortes of
both kingdoms met at Seville in 1250, that we find true
representation in Castille. Castille was always more feudal
than Leon. It is in this want of simultaneous development, and
in the presence of privileged classes, that we find the germ
of the evils which eventually destroyed the liberties of
Spain. Neither the number of deputies nor of the cities
represented was ever fixed; at Burgos, in 1315, we find 200
deputies (procuradores) from 100 cities; gradually the number
sank till seventeen, and finally twenty-two, cities alone were
represented. The deputies were chosen from the municipality
either by lot, by rotation, or by election; they were the mere
spokesmen of the city councils, whose mandate was imperative.
Their payment was at first by the cities, but, after 1422, by
the king; and there are constant complaints that the salary
was insufficient. The reign of Juan II. (1406-54) was fatal to
the liberties of Castille; the answers to the demands and
petitions of the deputies were deferred; and, in fact, if not
in form, the law that no tax should be levied without consent
of the Cortes was constantly violated. Still, but for the
death of Prince Juan, in 1497, and the advent of the Austrian
dynasty with the possession of the Low Countries, the old
liberties might yet have been recovered. ... With the Cortes
of Toledo, in 1538, ended the meeting of the three estates.
The nobility first, then the clergy, were eliminated from the
Cortes, leaving only the proctors of the cities to become
servile instruments for the purposes of taxation."
_W. Webster, Review of Colmeiro's
"Cortes de los Antiguos Reinos de Leon y de Castilla"
(Academy, Aug. 16, 1884)._
CORUNNA, Battle of (1809).
See SPAIN: A. D. 1808-1809 (AUGUST-JANUARY).
CORUPEDION, Battle of.
A battle fought in western Phrygia, B. C. 281, in which
Lysimmachus, one of the disputants for Alexander's empire, was
defeated by Seleucus, and slain.
_C. Thirlwall, History of Greece, chapter 60._
CORVÉE.
One of the feudal rights possessed in France (under the old
regime, before the Revolution) "by the lord of the manor over
his subjects, by means of which he could employ for his own
profit a certain number of their days of labour, or of their
oxen and horses. The 'Corvée à volonté,' that is to say, at
the arbitrary will of the Seigneur, had been completely
abolished [before the Revolution]: forced labour had been for
some time past confined to a certain number of days a year."
_A. de Tocqueville, On the State of Society in France
before 1789, note 4 E. (p. 499)._
CORVUS, The Roman.
See PUNIC WAR, THE FIRST.
COS, OR KOS.
One of the islands in the Ægean called the Sporades, near the
Carian coast of Asia Minor. The island was sacred to
Asclepius, or Æsculapeus, and was the birthplace of the
celebrated physician Hippocrates, as well as of the painter
Apelles. It was an Æolian colony, but joined the Dorian
confederacy.
COSIMO DE' MEDICI,
The ascendancy at Florence of.
See FLORENCE: A. D. 1433-1464.
COSMOS, COSMIOS, COSMOPOLIS.
See DEMIURGI.
{619}
COSSACKS, The.
"The origin of the Cossack tribes is lost in the obscurity of
ages; and many celebrated historians are still divided in
opinion as to whence the term Cossack, or rather Kosaque, is
properly to be derived. This word, indeed, is susceptible of
so many etymological explanations, as scarcely to offer for
anyone of them decided grounds of preference. Everything,
however, would seem to favour the belief that the word
Cossack, or Kosaque, was in much earlier use in the vicinity
of the Caucasus than in the Ukraine. ... Sherer, in his
'Annals of Russia Minor,' (La Petite Russie,) traces back the
origin of the Cossacks to the ninth century; but he does not
support his assertion by any facts clothed with the dignity of
historical truth. It appears certain, however, that the vast
pasture lands between the Don and the Dnieper, the country
lying on the south of Kïow, and traversed by the Dnieper up to
the Black Sea, was the principal birthplace of the Cossacks.
When, in 1242, Batukhan came with 500,000 men to take
possession of the empire which fell to his share of the vast
inheritance left by Tchingis Khan [see MONGOLS: A. D.
1229-1294], he extirpated many nations and displaced many
others. One portion of the Komans flying from the horrors of
this terrific storm, and arriving on the borders of the
Caspian Sea, on the banks of the Iaïk, (now Ouralsek,) turned
to the left, and took refuge between the embouchures of that
river, where they dwelt in small numbers, apart from their
brethren, in a less fertile climate. These were,
incontestably, the progenitors of the Cossacks of the Iaïk,
who are, historically, scarcely important enough for notice.
... At the approach of this formidable invasion towards the
Don, that portion of the Komans located on the left bank took
refuge in the marshes, and in the numerous islands formed by
that river near its embouchure. Here they found a secure
retreat; and from thence, having, from their new position,
acquired maritime habits and seafaring experience, they not
only, themselves, resorted to piracy as a means of existence,
but likewise enlisted in a formidable confederacy, for
purposes of rapine and pillage, all the roving and
discontented tribes in their surrounding neighbourhood. These
latter were very numerous. The Tartars, ever but indifferent
seamen, had not the courage to join them in these piratical
expeditions. This division of the Komans is indubitably the
parent stock of the modern Cossacks of the Don, by far the
most numerous of the Cossack tribes: by amalgamation; however,
with whole hosts of Tartar and Calmuck hordes, lawless,
desperate, and nomadic as themselves, they lost, in some
degree, the primitive and deeply marked distinctive character
of their race. The Komans of the Dnieper offered no more
energetic resistance to the invading hordes of Batukhan than
had been shown by their brethren of the Don: they dispersed in
various directions, and from this people, flying at the
advance of the ferocious Tartars, descended a variety of
hordes, who occasionally figure in history as distinct and
independent nations. ... [They] ultimately found a permanent
resting-place in the wild islets of the Dnieper, below the
cataracts, where dwelt already a small number of their ancient
compatriots, who had escaped the general destruction of their
nation. This spot became the cradle of the Cossacks of the
Ukraine, or of the tribes known in after times as the Polish
Cossacks. When Guedynum, Grand Duke of Lithuania, after having
defeated twelve Russian princes on the banks of the Piërna,
conquered Kïow with its dependencies in 1320, the wandering
tribes scattered over the steppes of the Ukraine owned his
allegiance. After the victories of Olgierd, of Vitold, and of
Ladislas Iagellon, over the Tartars and the Russians, large
bodies of Scythian militia, known subsequently by the
comprehensive denomination of Cossacks, or Kosaques, served
under these conquerors: and after the union of the Grand Duchy
of Lithuania with Poland, in 1386, they continued under the
dominion of the grand dukes of Lithuania, forming, apparently,
an intermediate tribe or caste, superior to the peasantry and
inferior to the nobles. At a later period, when the Ukraine
was annexed to the Polish crown, they passed under the
protection of the kings of Poland. ... Although there may,
doubtless, exist several species or castes of Cossacks, and to
whom Russia in order to impose on Europe, is pleased to give
as many different names, yet there never have been, nor will
there ever be, properly speaking, more than two principal
tribes of the Cossack nation, namely the Cossacks of the Don,
or Don-Cossacks, and the Cossacks of the Black Sea, known in
ancient times as the Polish Cossacks, or Zaporowscy Kozacy.
... The Cossacks [of the Don] ... have rendered signal service
to Russia, which, ever since the year 1549, has taken them
under her protection, without, however, the existence of any
official act, treaty, or stipulation, confirming their
submission to that power. ... The Don-Cossacks enjoy a certain
kind of liberty and independence; they have a hetman, attaman,
or chief, nominated by the Emperor of Russia; and to this
chief they yield an obedience more or less willing and
implicit; in general, they are commanded only by Cossack
officers, who take equal rank in the Russian army. They have a
separate war administration of their own; although they are
compelled to furnish a stated number of recruits who serve in
a manner for life, inasmuch as they are rarely discharged
before attaining sixty years of age: on the whole, their
condition is happier than that of the rest of the Russian
population. They belong to the Greek-Russian church. The
existence of this small republic of the Don, in the very heart
of the most despotic and most extensive empire in the world,
appears to constitute a problem, the solution of which is not
as yet definitely known, and the ultimate solution of which
yet remains to be ascertained."
_H. Krasinski, The Cossacks of the Ukraine, chapter 1._
The Cossacks of the Ukraine transferred their allegiance from
the King of Poland to the Czar of Russia in 1654, after a
revolt led by their hetman, Bogdan Khmelnitski, in which they
were assisted by the neighboring Tartars, and which was
accompanied by terrible scenes of slaughter and destruction.
See POLAND: A. D. 1648-1654.
COSSÆANS, The.
See KOSSÆANS.
COSTA RICA: A. D. 1502.
Discovery by Columbus.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1498-1505.
COSTA RICA: A. D. 1813-1871.
Independence of Spain.
Brief annexation to Mexico.
The failures of federation, the wars and revolutions of
Central America.
See CENTRAL AMERICA: A. D. 1821-1871.
COSTA RICA: A. D. 1850.
The Clayton Bulwer Treaty and the projected Nicaragua Canal.
See NICARAGUA: A. D. 1850.
----------COSTA RICA: End----------
COSTANOAN FAMILY, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: COSTANOAN FAMILY.
COSTER, Laurent, and the invention of printing.
See PRINTING: A. D. 1430-1456.
COTARII.
See SLAVERY, MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN: ENGLAND.
620
COTHON OF CARTHAGE, The.