REPUBLICAN 



for the elective monarchy of Poland 

 was called a republic. 



The city-states of the ancient 

 world were mostly republics, which 

 generally succeeded earlier mon- 

 archies. Some were aristocratic 

 and some democratic, i.e. the 

 politically privileged classes were 

 small or large, but none were 

 democratic in the modern sense, 

 there being no representative 

 machinery, and large classes 

 slaves, resident aliens, and others 

 being without political rights. 



The weakness of the medieval 

 empire allowed the rise of republi- 

 can city-states in Italy, of which 

 the strongest was the close oligar- 

 chy of Venice, and the most bril- 

 liant and turbulent the democracy 

 of Florence. At the same time city 

 republics arose in Germany and 

 the Low Countries, and formed 

 federations, notably the Hanseatic 

 league, three members of which, 

 Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen, 

 maintained the medieval type in a 

 modified form until modern times. 

 San Marino and Andorra are two 

 other remarkable survivals. More 

 democratic, although often tending 

 to oligarchy, were the Swiss can- 

 tons, which in the 14th century 

 formed a federation, the model of 

 the modern federal republic. 



The republic of the United Pro- 

 vinces of the Netherlands, 1581, 

 set an example followed by the 

 British Commonwealth, 1649. 

 Both, however, adopted hereditary 

 rule, in the houses of Orange - 

 Nassau and Cromwell respectively, 

 thereby ceasing to be truly repub- 

 lican. The modern democratic re- 

 public begins with the adoption of 

 federal republicanism by the Brit- 

 ish colonies in North America, 

 1776, soon followed by the cen- 

 tralized French republic, 1793, 

 which, while itself passing into the 

 Napoleonic empire, endeavoured 

 to found daughter republics in 

 other countries. The U.S.A. and 

 France consciously imitated the 

 austere simplicity belonging to the 

 republican traditions of ancient 

 Greece and Rome. Latin America 

 followed the U.S.A. with republi- 

 can constitutions, some federal, 

 others centralized. 



A period followed in which the 

 monarchical principle gained 

 ground, though Brazil became a 

 republic in 1889, Portugal in 1910, 

 and the venerable Chinese empire 

 transformed itself, nominally at 

 least, into a federal republic of the 

 American type in 1912. The Great 

 War, with the collapse of the con- 

 tinental empires, made Europe and 

 the world predominantly republi- 

 can, federal republics being estab- 

 lished in Germany and Austria; 

 centralized republics in Poland, 



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Czecho-Slovakia, Finland, the Bal- 

 tic States, and the Caucasus ; and 

 an entirely new type, the Soviet 

 republic, in Russia and her remain- 

 ing dependencies. See Democracy ; 

 Federalism ; Government ; Oli- 

 garchy; Politics; Soviet. 



Republican. River of the 

 U.S.A. Formed by two forks in E. 

 Colorado, it follows a N.E., E., and 

 S.E. course, uniting with the 

 Smoky Hill River at Junction City 

 to form the Kansas River. It is 

 more than 500 m. long. 



Republican. Political party in 

 the U.S.A. The party organized by 

 Thomas Jefferson was the first to 

 bear this name, though it became 

 afterwards the Democratic one. 

 Between 1825 and 1830 this was a 

 Republican party, but the existing 

 one dates from the anti-slavery 

 agitation. It developed from a 

 union of Whigs, Democrats, and 

 others, men who were against the 

 extension of slavery, and the name 

 republican was adopted in 1854. 



The party secured the election of 

 Lincoln as president in 1860. It 

 controlled American politics to the 

 full extent of electing a president 

 and dominating the Senate and the 

 House of Representatives until 

 1874. The control of the latter 

 house was lost in 1874, but the 

 Republicans kept their hold upon 

 the presidency until the election of 

 Cleveland, a Democrat, in 1884. 

 From 1888-92 they were again 

 in power, but they were beaten in 

 1892. In 1896 the party had 

 majorities in both houses of Con- 

 gress, and their candidate was 

 elected president. In 1904 their 

 candidate, Roosevelt, was again 

 successful, as was Taft in 1 908. In 

 1912 Roosevelt and his followers 

 broke away from the party and 

 enabled the Democrats to bring 

 about the election of Wilson and to 

 obtain a majority in both Houses. 

 The Democrats remained in power 

 until the return of the Republican 

 Harding (q.v.) in 1920. 



The leading features of the 

 Republican programme have been 

 the strengthening of the central 

 government as against the local 

 spirit of the separate states ; the 

 maintenance of a gold standard ; 

 the recognition of the republic as a 

 world-power rather than a nation 

 in self-contained isolation ; and 

 the protection of American manu- 

 factures by a tariff system. 



Repudiation (Lat. repudiare, to 

 cast off). Aot of rejecting or dis- 

 carding anything. It is sometimes 

 used for the act of sending away a 

 wife, and in ecclesiastical law 

 means a refusal to accept a bene- 

 fice. Another use is when a state 

 refuses to acknowledge its debts ; 

 usually, this is a repudiation by 



REREDOS 



one government of liabilities con- 

 tracted by an earlier one. 



Requena. Town of Spain, in 

 tfie prov. of Valencia. It stands on 

 a hill, 25 m. direct and 47 m. by 

 rly. W. of Valencia. It has relics of 

 the old town walls, and a church 

 dating from the 13th century. 

 Silk worms, vines, cereals, fruit, 

 and saffron are cultivated. In the 

 vicinity are the mineral baths of 

 Fuente Podrida. It was taken by 

 the British in 1706, and retaken by 

 the French in the following year. 

 Pop. 16,000. 



Requests, COURT OF. Ancient 

 court of equity intended for the 

 relief of persons who addressed 

 the sovereign by petition. It was 

 composed of privy councillors, and 

 was abolished by the statute 16 

 Charles I, which also abolished the 

 Star Chamber. Court of Requests 

 was an alternative name for 

 tribunals intended for the re- 

 covery of small debts, and other- 

 wise known as courts of conscience 

 (q.v. ). These were abolished on the 

 institution of county courts, 1846. 



A letter of request is a document 

 used in proceedings under the 

 ecclesiastical law of England. 

 It is addressed from a diocesan 

 court to another ecclesiastical tri- 

 bunal, such as the court of arches 

 (q.v.), asking that a cause may be 

 instituted in the latter court. 



Requiem. Name given to the 

 Mass for the dead (Missa pro de- 

 functis), the word being the first 

 of the introit of this office Re- 

 quiem aeternam dona eis, Domine 

 Grant to them eternal rest, Lord. 

 The requiem mass, which is sung 

 on All Souls Day, Nov. 2, is cele- 

 brated with black vestments, and 

 the Credo and Gloria in Excelsis are 

 omitted. Music for sung requiems 

 has been written by many great 

 composers, among the most cele- 

 brated being those of Palestrina, 

 Vittoria, Mozart, Cherubini, Ber- 

 lioz, Brahms, and Verdi. 



Reredos (rear ; Fr. dos, Lat. 

 dorsum, back). In ecclesiastical 

 architecture, the screen or wall at 

 the back of an altar. Originally it 

 was merely a hanging of silk or 

 tapestry suspended from hooks in 

 the walls or ceiling of the sanctuary, 

 and in this form it was subject to 

 frequent changes, corresponding to 

 alterations in ritual. In the Middle 

 Ages it became more substantial, 

 but was still movable ; it was 

 customary to use it only for certain 

 festivals of the year. The Pala 

 d'Oro, in S. Mark's, Venice, is a 

 reredos of this description. With 

 the middle of the 16th century, the 

 fixed reredos came into use. 

 . In England it assumed early a 

 more definitely architectural char- 

 acter, and was covered with 



