Collins, William, R.A., a distinguished English painter, born in London; he made his reputation by his treatment of coast and cottage scenes, and though he tried his skill in other subjects, it was in the subjects he started with that he achieved his greatest triumphs; among his best-known works are "The Blackberry Gatherers," "As Happy as a King," "The Fisherman's Daughter," and "The Bird-Catchers" (1788-1847).

Collinson, Peter, an English horticulturist, to whom we are indebted for the introduction into the country of many ornamental shrubs (1694-1768).

Collot d'Herbois, Jean Marie, a violent French Revolutionary, originally a tragic actor, once hissed off the Lyons stage, "tearing a passion to rags"; had his revenge by a wholesale butchery there; marched 209 men across the Rhône to be shot; by-and-by was banished beyond seas to Cayenne, and soon died there (1750-1790).

Collyer, Joseph, an eminent stipple engraver, born in London (1768-1827).

Colman, George, an English dramatist, born at Florence; bred for and called to the bar; author of a comedy entitled "The Jealous Wife," also of "The Clandestine Marriage"; became manager of Drury Lane, then of the Haymarket (1733-1794).

Colman, George, son of the preceding, and his successor in the Haymarket; author of "The Iron Chest," "John Bull," "The Heir at Law," &c. (1762-1836).

Colmar (30), the chief town of Upper Alsace, on the Lauch, on a plain near the Vosges, 42 m. SW. of Strasburg; passed into the hands of the French by treaty of Ryswick in 1697, was ceded to Germany in 1871.

Colocetronis, a Greek patriot, born in Messina, distinguished himself in the War of Independence, which he chiefly contributed to carry through to a successful issue (1770-1843).

Cologne (282), in German Köln, capital of Rhenish Prussia, and a fortress of first rank, on the left bank of the Rhine, 175 m. SE. of Rotterdam; is a busy commercial city, and is engaged in eau-de-Cologne, sugar, tobacco, and other manufactures. It has some fine old buildings, and a picture gallery; but its glory is its great cathedral, founded in the 9th century, burnt in 1248, since which time the rebuilding was carried on at intervals, and only completed in 1880; it is one of the masterpieces of Gothic architecture.

Cologne, The Three Kings of, the three Magi who paid homage to the infant Christ, and whose bones were consigned to the archbishop in 1164; they were called Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.

Colombia (4,000), a federal republic of nine States, occupying the isthmus of Panama and the NW. corner of S. America, between Venezuela and Ecuador. The country, nearly three times the size of France, though it has only a ninth of the population, comprises in the W. three chains of the Andes and the plateaus between them, in the E. plains well watered by tributaries of the Orinoco. The upper valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca are the centres of population, where the climate is delightful, and grain grows. Every climate is found in Colombia, from the tropical heats of the plains to the Arctic cold of the mountains. Natural productions are as various: the exports include valuable timbers and dye-woods, cinchona bark, coffee, cacao, cotton, and silver ore. Most of the trade is with Britain and the United States. Manufactures are inconsiderable. The mineral wealth is very great, but little wrought. The Panama Railway, from Colon to Panama, connects the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, and is a most important highway of commerce. The people are descendants of Spaniards and Indians; education is meagre, but compulsory; the State Church is Roman Catholic. The capital is Bogotá. Panama and Cartagena the chief ports.

Colombo (126), the capital of Ceylon, and the chief port on the W. coast; it is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and on the other by a lake and moat; is supplied with water and gas; has many fine buildings; has a very mixed population, and has belonged to Britain since 1796; communicates with Kandy by railway.

Colon, a town at the Atlantic terminus of the Panama Railway. See Aspinwall.

Colonna, an illustrious Italian family, to which belonged popes, cardinals, and generals.

Colonna, Victoria, a poetess, married to a member of the above family, who consoled herself for his early death by cultivating her poetic gift; one of her most devoted friends was Michael Angelo (1490-1547).

Colonne, Edouard, musical conductor, born at Bordeaux, conductor of what are known as "Colonne Concerts"; b. 1838.

Colonus, a demos of Attica, a mile NW. of Athens, the birthplace of Sophocles.

Colophon, an Ionian city in Asia Minor, N. of Ephesus, is supposed to give name to the device at the end of books, the cavalry of the place being famous for giving the finishing stroke to a battle.

Colora`do (412), an inland State of the American Union, traversed by the Rocky Mountains, and watered by the upper reaches of the S. Platte and Arkansas Rivers, is twice as large as England. The mountains are the highest in the States (13,000 to 14,000 ft.), are traversed by lofty passes through which the railways run, have rich spacious valleys or parks among them, and have great deposits of gold, silver, lead, and iron. There are also extensive coal-beds; hence the leading industries are mining and iron working. The eastern portion is a level, treeless plain, adapted for grazing. Agriculture, carried on with irrigation, suffers from insect plagues like the Colorado potato beetle. The climate is dry and clear, and attracts invalids. Acquired partly from France in 1804, and the rest from Mexico in 1848; the territory was organised in 1861, and admitted to the Union in 1876. The capital is Denver (107). There is a small Spanish-speaking population in the S.

Colossæ, a city in the S. of Phrygia, in Asia Minor, and the site of one of the earliest Christian churches.

Colossians, The Epistle to the, by St. Paul, directed mainly against two errors of that early date, that the fleshly nature of man is no adequate vehicle for the reception and revelation of the divine nature, and that for redemption recourse must be had to direct mortification of the flesh.

Colossus, any gigantic statue, specially one of Apollo in bronze, 120 ft. high, astride over the mouth of the harbour at Rhodes, reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world, erected in 280 B.C., destroyed by an earthquake 56 years after, and sold to a Jew centuries later for old metal; besides this are celebrated the statue of Memnon at Thebes, the Colossi of Athene in the Parthenon at Athens, and of Zeus at Olympia and at Tarentum, as well as others of modern date; for instance, Germania, 112 ft. high, in the Niederwald, and Liberty enlightening the World, 160 ft. high, in New York harbour.

Colot, the name of a family of French surgeons in the 16th and 17th century, distinguished for their skill in operating in the case of stone.

Colour-blindness, inability, still unaccounted for, to distinguish between colours, and especially between red and green, more common among men than women; a serious disqualification for several occupations, such as those connected with the study of signals.

Colour-sergeant, a sergeant whose duty is to guard the colours and those who carry them.

Colquhoun, John, a noted sportsman and writer on sport in Scotland, born in Edinburgh (1805-1885).

Colston, Edward, an English philanthropist, founded and endowed a school in Bristol for the education of 100 boys, as well as almshouses elsewhere (1636-1721).

Colt, Samuel, the inventor of the revolver, born in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.; having difficulty in raising money to carry out his invention it proved a commercial failure, but being adopted by the Government in the Mexican war it proved a success, since which time it has been everywhere in use (1814-1862).

Columba, St., the apostle of Christianity to the Scots, born in Donegal; coming to Scotland about 563, in his forty-second year, founded a monastery in Iona, and made it the centre of his evangelistic operations, in which work he was occupied incessantly till 596, when his health began to fail, and he breathed his last kneeling before the altar, June 9, 597.

Columban, St., an Irish missionary, who, with twelve companions, settled in Gaul in 585; founded two monasteries, but was banished for the offence of rebuking the king; went to Italy, founded a monastery at Bobbio, where he died 616.

Columbia, a district of 70 sq. m. in the State of Maryland, U.S., in which Washington, the capital of the Union, stands.

Columbia, British (100), the most westerly province in Canada, lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, the United States and Alaska, and is four times the size of Great Britain. It is a mountainous country, rugged and picturesque, containing the highest peaks on the continent, Mount Hooker, 15,700 ft., and Mount Brown, 16,000 ft, with a richly indented coast-line, off which lie Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver. The chief river is the Frazer, which flows from the Lake region southwards through the centre and then westward to the Gulf of Georgia; the upper waters of the Columbia flow southward through the E. of the State. The climate resembles that of northern England, but is in some parts very rainy. The chief industries are lumbering—the forests are among the finest in the world, fishing—the rivers abound in salmon and sturgeon, and mining—rich deposits of gold, silver, iron, copper, mercury, antimony, and many other valuable minerals are found; there are great coal-fields in Vancouver. In Vancouver and in the river valleys of the mainland are extensive tracts of arable and grazing land; but neither agriculture nor manufactures are much developed. Made a Crown colony in 1858, it joined the Dominion as a province in 1871. The completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 joined it to the eastern provinces. The capital is Victoria (17), in the S. of Vancouver.

Columbus (125), capital of Ohio, U.S., a manufacturing town.

Columbus, Bartholomew, cosmographer, brother of Christopher Columbus; accompanied him to St. Domingo, and became governor; d. 1514.

Columbus, Christopher, discoverer of America, on Oct. 12, 1492, after two months of great peril and, in the end, mutiny of his men, born in Genoa; went to sea at 14; cherished, if he did not conceive, the idea of reaching India by sailing westward; applied in many quarters for furtherance; after seven years of waiting, was provided with three small vessels and a crew of 120 men; first touched land at the Bahamas, visited Cuba and Hayti, and returned home with spoils of the land; was hailed and honoured as King of the Sea; he made three subsequent visits, and on the third had the satisfaction of landing on the mainland, which Sebastian Cabot and Amerigo Vespucci had reached before him; he became at last the victim of jealousy, and charges were made against him, which so cut him to the heart that he never rallied from the attack, and he died at Valladolid, broken in body and in soul; Carlyle, in a famous passage, salutes him across the centuries: "Brave sea-captain, Norse sea-king, Columbus my hero, royalist sea-king of all" (1438-1506).

Columella, Junius, a Latin writer of the 1st century, born at Cadiz; author of "De Re Rustica," in 12 books, on the same theme as Virgil's "Georgics," viz., agriculture and gardening; he wrote also "De Arboribus," on trees.

Colu`thus, a Greek epic poet of 6th century, born in Egypt; wrote the "Rape of Helen."

Colvin, Sidney, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Slade Professor of Art at Cambridge, born at Norwood; contributor to the journals on art and literature; has written Lives of Keats and Landor; friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, and his literary executor; b. 1845.

Comacchio (10), a walled town, 30 m. SE. of Ferrara; famous for fish, specially eel-culture in a large lagoon adjoining, 90 in. in circumference.

Combe, Andrew, M.D., a physician and physiologist, born in Edinburgh; studied under Spurzheim in Edinburgh and Paris, but on his return to his native city was seized with pulmonary consumption, which rendered him a confirmed invalid, so that he had to spend his winters abroad; was eminent as a physician; was a believer in phrenology; produced three excellent popular works on Physiology, Digestion, and the Management of Infancy (1797-1847).

Combe, George, brother of the preceding, born in Edinburgh; trained to the legal profession; like his brother, he became, under Spurzheim, a stanch phrenologist and advocate of phrenology; but his ablest and best-known work was "The Constitution of Man," to the advocacy of the principles of which and their application, especially to education, he devoted his life; he married a daughter of the celebrated Mrs. Siddons (1788-1858).

Combe, William, born in Bristol; author of the "Three Tours of Dr. Syntax"; inherited a small fortune, which he squandered by an irregular life; wrote some 86 works (1741-1823).

Combermere, Viscount, a British field-marshal, born in Denbighshire; served in Flanders, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in India; was present at the siege of Seringapatam; was sent to Spain in 1808; distinguished himself in the Peninsula, and particularly at Talavera; received a peerage in 1827; was made commander-in-chief in India, and Constable of the Tower in succession to Wellington in 1832 (1773-1865).

Comenius, John Amos, a Moravian educational reformer, particularly as regards the acquisition of languages in their connection with the things they denote; his two most famous books are his "Janua Linguarum" and his "Orbis Sensualium Pictus"; his principle at bottom was, words must answer to and be associated with things and ideas of things, a principle still only very partially adopted in education, and that only at the most elementary stages.

Comet, a member of the solar system under control of the sun, consisting of a bright nucleus within a nebulous envelope, generally extended into a tail on the rear of its orbit, which is extremely eccentric, pursuing its course with a velocity which increases as it approaches the sun, and which diminishes as it withdraws from it; these bodies are very numerous, have their respective periods of revolution, which have been in many cases determined by observation.

Comines, a French town in the dep. of Nord, France, 15 m. SW. of Courtrai.

Comines, Philippe de, a French chronicler, born at Comines; was of Flemish origin; served under Charles the Bold, then under Louis XI. and Charles VIII.; author of "Memoires," in seven vols., of the reigns of these two monarchs, which give a clear and faithful picture of the time and the chief actors in it, but with the coolest indifference as to the moral elements at work, with him the end justifying the means, and success the measure of morality (1443-1509).

Comitia, constitutional assemblies of the Roman citizens for electing magistrates, putting some question to the vote of the people, the declaration of war, &c.

Comity of nations, the name given for the effect given in one country to the laws and institutions of another in dealing with a native of it.

Commandite, Société en, partnership in a business by a supply of funds, but without a share in the management or incurring further liability.

Commelin, Isaac, Dutch historian; wrote the "Lives of the Stadtholders William I. and Maurice" (1598-1676).

Commentaries of Julius Cæsar, his memoirs of the Gallic and Civil Wars, reckoned the most perfect model of narration that in such circumstances was ever written, and a masterpiece.

Committee of Public Safety, a committee of nine created by the French Convention, April 6, 1793, to concentrate the power of the executive, "the conscience of Marat, who could see salvation in one thing only, in the fall of 260,000 aristocrats' heads"; notable, therefore, for its excesses in that line; was not suppressed till Oct. 19, 1796, on the advent of the Directory to power.

Com`modus, Lucius Aurelius, Roman emperor, son and successor of Marcus Aurelius; carefully trained, but on his father's death threw up the reins and gave himself over to every form of licentiousness; poison administered by his mistress Marcia being slow in operating, he was strangled to death by a hired athlete in 162.

Common Law is law established by usage and confirmed by judicial decision.

Common-sense, Philosophy of, the philosophy which rests on the principle that the perceptions of the senses reflect things as they actually are irrespectively of them.

Commune, The, a revolutionary power installed in Paris after the "admonitory" insurrection of March 18, 1871, and overthrown in the end of May.

Communism, community of property in a State.

Comne`nus, name of a dynasty of six emperors of Constantinople.

Como, Lake of, one of the chief lakes of Lombardy and the third in size, at the foot of the Pennine Alps, 80 m. long and 2½ at greatest breadth; is traversed by the Adda, and is famed for the beauty and rich variety of its scenery.

Comorin, Cape, a low sandy point, the most southerly of India, from which the seaman is beckoned off by a peak 18 m. inland.

Comoro Isles (63), an archipelago of four volcanic islands at the N. of the channel of Mozambique; under the protectorate of France since 1886; the people are Mohammedans, and speak Arabic.

Comparetti, an Italian philologist; his writings are numerous; b. 1835.

Compiègne (14), a quiet old town in the dep. of Oise, 50 m. NE. of Paris; has some fine old churches, but the chief edifice is the palace, built by St. Louis and rebuilt by Louis XIV., where the marriage of Napoleon to Maria Louisa was celebrated; here Joan of Arc was made prisoner in 1430, and Louis Napoleon had hunting ground.

Compton, Henry, bishop of London, son of the Earl of Northampton; fought bravely for Charles I.; was colonel of dragoons at the Restoration; left the army for the Church; was made bishop; crowned William and Mary when the archbishop, Sancroft, refused; d. 1713.

Comrie (8), a village in Perthshire, on the Earn, 20 m. W. of Perth, in a beautiful district of country; subject to earthquakes from time to time; birthplace of George Gilfillan.

Comte, Auguste, a French philosopher, born at Montpellier, the founder of Positivism (q. v.); enough to say here, it consisted of a new arrangement of the sciences into Abstract and Concrete, and a new law of historical evolution in science from a theological through a metaphysical to a positive stage, which last is the ultimate and crowning and alone legitimate method, that is, observation of phenomena and their sequence; Comte was first a disciple of St. Simon, but he quarrelled with him; commenced a "Cours de Philosophie Positive" of his own, in six vols.; but finding it defective on the moral side, he instituted a worship of humanity, and gave himself out as the chief priest of a new religion, a very different thing from Carlyle's hero-worship (1795-1857).

Comus, the Roman deity who presided over festive revelries; the title of a poem by Milton, "the most exquisite of English or any masks."

Comyn, John (the Black Comyn), Lord of Badenoch, a Scottish noble of French descent, his ancestor, born at Comines, having come over with the Conqueror and got lands given him; was one of the competitors for the Scottish crown in 1291, and lost it.

Comyn, John (the Red Comyn), son of the preceding; as one of the three Wardens of Scotland defended it against the English, whom he defeated at Roslin; but in 1304 submitted to Edward I., and falling under suspicion of Bruce, was stabbed by him in a monastery at Dumfries in 1306.

Concepcion (24), a town in Chile, S. of Valparaiso, with its port, Talcahuano, 7 m. off, one of the safest and most commodious in the country, and ranks next to Valparaiso as a trading centre.

Conception of our Lady, an order of nuns founded in Portugal in 1484; at first followed the rule of the Cistercians, but afterwards that of St. Clare.

Conciergerie, a prison in the Palais de Justice, Paris.

Conclave, properly the room, generally in the Vatican, where the cardinals are confined under lock and key while electing a Pope.

Concord, a town in U.S., 23 m. NW. of Boston; was the residence of Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne; here the first engagement took place in the American war in 1775.

Concord (17), capital of New Hampshire, U.S., a thriving trading place.

Concordat, The, a convention of July 15, 1801, between Bonaparte and Pius V., regulative of the relations of France with the Holy See.

Concorde, Place de la, a celebrated public place, formed by Louis XV. in 1748, adorned by a statue of him; at the Revolution it was called Place de la Revolution; here Louis XVI. and his queen were guillotined.

Concordia, the Roman goddess of peace, to whom Camillus the dictator in 367 B.C. dedicated a temple on the conclusion of the strife between the patricians and plebeians.

Condé, Henry I., Prince of, fought in the ranks of the Huguenots, but escaped the massacre of St. Bartholomew by an oath of abjuration (1552-1588).

Condé, House of, a collateral branch of the house of Bourbon, the members of which played all along a conspicuous rôle in the history of France.

Condé, Louis I., Prince of, founder of the house of Condé, a brave, gallant man, though deformed; distinguished himself in the wars between Henry II. and Charles V., particularly in the defence of Metz; affronted at court, and obnoxious to the Guises, he became a Protestant, and joined his brother the king of Navarre; became the head of the party, and was treacherously killed after the battle of Jarnac; he had been party, however, to the conspiracy of Amboise, which aimed a death-blow at the Guises (1530-1569).

Condé, Louis II., Prince of, named "the Great Condé," born at Paris; was carefully educated; acquired a taste for literature, which stood him in good stead at the end of his career; made his reputation by his victory over the Spaniards at Recroi; distinguished himself at Fribourg, Nordlingen, and Lens; the settlement of the troubles of the Fronde alienated him, so that he entered the service of Spain, and served against his country, but was by-and-by reconciled; led the French army to success in Franche-Comté and Holland, and soon after retired to Chantilly, where he enjoyed the society of such men as Molière, Boileau, and La Bruyère, and when he died Bossuet pronounced a funeral oration over his grave (1621-1686).

Condé, Louis Joseph, Prince de, born at Chantilly; served in the Seven Years' War; attended in the antechamber in the palace when Louis XV. lay dying; was one of the first to emigrate on the fall of the Bastille; seized every opportunity to save the monarchy; was declared a traitor to the country, and had his estates confiscated for threatening to restore Louis XVI.; organised troops to aid in the Restoration; settled at Malmesbury, in England, during the Empire; returned to France with Louis XVIII. (1736-1818).

Condillac, Étienne Bonnot, a French philosopher, born at Grenoble, of good birth; commenced as a disciple of Locke, but went further, for whereas Locke was content to deduce empirical knowledge from sensation and reflection, he deduced reflection from sensation, and laid the foundation of a sensationalism which, in the hands of his successors, went further still, and swamped the internal in the external, and which is now approaching the stage of self-cancelling zero; he lived as a recluse, and had Rousseau and Diderot for intimate friends (1715-1780).

Conditional Immortality, the doctrine that only believers in Christ have any future existence, a dogma founded on certain isolated passages of Scripture.

Condorcet, Marquis de, a French mathematician and philosopher, born near St. Quentin; contributed to the "Encyclopédie"; was of the Encyclopedist school; took sides with the Revolutionary party in the interest of progress; voted with the Girondists usually; suspected by the extreme party; was not safe even under concealment; "skulked round Paris in thickets and stone-quarries; entered a tavern one bleared May morning, ragged, rough-bearded, hunger-stricken, and asked for breakfast; having a Latin Horace about him was suspected and haled to prison, breakfast unfinished; fainted by the way with exhaustion; was flung into a damp cell, and found next morning lying dead on the floor"; his works are voluminous, and the best known is his "Exquisse du Progrès de l'Esprit Humain"; he was not an original thinker, but a clear expositor (1743-1794).

Condottie`ri, leaders of Italian free-lances, who in the 14th and 15th centuries lived by plunder or hired themselves to others for a share in the spoils.

Confederate States, 11 Southern States of the American Union, which seceded in 1861 on the question of slavery, and which occasioned a civil war that lasted till 1865.

Confederation of the Rhine, a confederation of 16 German States, which in 1806 dissolved their connection with Germany and leagued with France, and which lasted till disaster overtook Napoleon in Russia, and then broke up; the Germanic Confederation, or union of all the States, took its place, till it too was dissolved by the defeat of Austria in 1866, and which gave ascendency to Prussia and ensured the erection of the German empire on its ruins.

Conference, a stated meeting of Wesleyan ministers for the transaction of the business of their Church.

Confessions of Faith, are statements of doctrine very similar to Creeds, but usually longer and polemical, as well as didactic; they are in the main, though not exclusively, associated with Protestantism; the 16th century produced many, including the Sixty-seven Articles of the Swiss reformers, drawn up by Zwingli in 1523; the Augsburg Confession of 1530, the work of Luther and Melanchthon, which marked the breach with Rome; the Tetrapolitan Confession of the German Reformed Church, 1530; the Gallican Confession, 1559; and the Belgic Confession of 1561. In Britain the Scots Confession, drawn up by John Knox in 1560; the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England in 1562; the Irish Articles in 1615; and the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1647; this last, the work of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, has by its force of language, logical statement, comprehensiveness, and dependence on Scripture, commended itself to the Presbyterian Churches of all English-speaking peoples, and is the most widely recognised Protestant statement of doctrine; it has as yet been modified only by the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which adopted a Declaratory Statement regarding certain of its doctrines in 1879, and by the Free Church of Scotland, which adopted a similar statement in 1890.

Confessions of Rousseau, memoirs published after his death in 1788, in which that writer makes confession of much that was good in him and much that was bad.

Confessions of St. Augustine, an account which that Father of the Church gives of the errors of his youth and his subsequent conversion.

Confucius, the Latin form of the name of the great sage of China, Kung Futsze, and the founder of a religion which is based on the worship and practice of morality as exemplified in the lives and teachings of the wise men who have gone before, and who, as he conceived, have made the world what it is, and have left it to posterity to build upon the same basis; while he lived he was held in greater and greater honour by multitudes of disciples, till on his death he became an object of worship, and even his descendants came to be regarded as a kind of sacred caste; he flourished about 550 B.C.

Congé d'élire, a warrant granted by the Crown to the dean and chapter of a cathedral to elect a particular bishop to a vacant see.

Congo, the second in length and largest in volume of the African rivers, rises NE. of the Muchinga Mountains in Rhodesia, flows SW. through Lake Bangueola, then N. to the equator; curving in a great semicircle it continues SW., passes in a series of rapids through the coast range, and enters the S. Atlantic by an estuary 6 m. broad. It brings down more water than the other African rivers put together. The largest affluents are the Kassai on the left, and the Mobangi on the right bank; 110 m. are navigable to ocean steamers, then the cataracts intervene, and 250 m. of railway promote transit; the upper river is 2 to 4 m. broad, and navigable for small craft up to Stanley Falls, 1068 m. The name most associated with its exploration is H. M. Stanley; during its course of 3000 m. it bears several names.

Congo, French (5,000), a continuous and connected territory extending westward along the right bank of the Congo from Brazzaville to the mouth of the Mobangi, and as far as 4° N. run N. behind the Cameroons, and along the E. of Shari to Lake Tchad.

Congo Free State embraces most of the basin of the Congo, touching British territory in Uganda and Rhodesia, with a very narrow outlet to the Atlantic at the river mouth. It is under the sovereignty of Leopold II. of Belgium, who, in 1890, made over his rights to Belgium with power to annex the State in 1900. It is nine times the size of Great Britain, and continual native unrest gives great trouble to its administrators. Its waters are open to all nations, and traders exchange manufactured goods for ivory, palm-oil, coffee and caoutchouc, bees-wax and fruits. The climate is tropical, on the lower levels malarial. The population is from 20 to 40 millions. The centre of administration is Boma, 80 m. from the sea.

Congregationalism, the ecclesiastical system which regards each congregation of believers in Christ a church complete in itself, and free from the control of the other Christian communities, and which extends to each member equal privileges as a member of Christ's body. It took its rise in England about 1571, and the most prominent name connected with its establishment is that of Robert Brown (q. v.), who seceded from the Church of England and formed a church in Norwich in 1580. The body was called Brownists after him, and Separatists, as well as "Independents." The several congregations are now united in what is called "The Congregational Union of England and Wales."

Congress is a diplomatic conference at which the representatives of sovereign States discuss matters of importance to their several countries, the most celebrated of which are those of Münster and Osnabrück, which issued in the treaty of Westphalia in 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years' War; of Rastadt, at the end of Spanish Succession War, in 1797; of Vienna, at the end of Napoleon's wars, in 1815; of Paris, in 1856, at the end of Russian War; and of Berlin, in 1878, at the end of Russo-Turkish war; but the name has come to be applied in federal republics to the legislative assembly which directs national as distinct from State concerns. In the United States, Congress consists of the Senate, elected by the State legislatures and the House of Representatives, elected directly by the people. It meets on the first Monday in December, and receives the President's message for the year. It imposes taxes, contracts loans, provides for national defence, declares war, looks after the general welfare, establishes postal communication, coins money, fixes weights and measures, &c. &c., but it is prohibited from preferential treatment of the several States, establishing or interfering with religion, curtailing freedom of speech, or pursuing towards any citizen, even under legal forms, a course of conduct which is unjust or even oppressive.

Congress, the Belgian Constituent Assembly, 1830-1831.

Congreve, Richard, author of political tracts, was a pupil of Dr. Arnold's, and a disciple of Comte in philosophy; b. 1818.

Congreve, William, English comic dramatist, born near Leeds; entered a student of the Middle Temple, but soon abandoned law for literature; the "Old Bachelor" first brought him into repute, and a commissionership of substantial value; the production of "Love for Love" and the "Mourning Bride," a stilted tragedy, added immensely to his popularity, but his comedy "The Way of the World" being coldly received, he gave up writing plays, and only wrote a few verses afterwards; he was held in great esteem by his contemporaries, among others Dryden, Pope, and Steele (1670-1729).

Congreve, Sir William, an English artillery officer, inventor of the rocket which bears his name (1772-1828).

Coningsby, a novel by Disraeli.

Conington, John, classical scholar and professor of Latin at Oxford, born at Boston, translator of the "Æneid" of Virgil, "Odes, Satires, and Epistles" of Horace, and 12 books of the "Iliad" into verse, as well as of other classics; his greatest work is his edition of "Virgil" (1823-1869).

Conisburgh Castle, an old round castle referred to in "Ivanhoe," 5 in. SW. of Doncaster.

Coniston Water, a lake 5 m. long and ½ m. broad, at the foot of Coniston Fells, in Lancashire, with Brantwood on the E. side of it, the residence of John Ruskin.

Conkling, Roscoe, an American politician, a leading man on the Republican side; was a member of the House of Representatives, and also of the Senate; retired from politics, and practised law at New York (1828-1888).

Connaught (724), a western province of Ireland, 105 m. long and 92 m. broad, divided into five counties; is the smallest and most barren of the provinces, but abounds in picturesque scenery; the people are pure Celts.