COMMUNITY COMNENI. 



ed in the various constitutions of the cities ami towns, 

 and in the representation of boroughs in parliament. 

 Only those towns which were in existence at the es- 

 tablishment of these Germanic institutions, or which 

 remained as relics of the Roman and British times, 

 owe their representation in parliament to their im- 

 portance as towns. All other places hold their pri- 

 vileges as royal boroughs, which were originally the 

 sole possessors of the corporate rights of towns. A s 

 these boroughs were created for the defence of the 

 country, and the protection of the royal interests, we 

 may see in this reason why they are so much more 

 numerous in the frontier counties, and especially in 

 Cornwall, than in other parts. 



The formation and constitution of municipal com- 

 munities, in other European states, has taken a near- 

 ly similar course, although the description of this 

 course, as given by Eichhorn, is not of universal ap- 

 plication. The Burgwardeien, which are found to 

 have existed in Meissen and Brandenburg in the tenth 

 century, are nearly related to the English boroughs, 

 in like manner as the older towns and cities, which 

 have remained as specimens of the Roman times and 

 institutions, have served as models for towns of mo- 

 dern origin, and for the establishment of their city- 

 privileges (libertas Romano). These municipal com- 

 munities seem to have taken an important part in the 

 representation of the country ; in the establishment 

 of which, the old notions respecting the character 

 and rights of a community seem to have had as great 

 or a greater share Uian the modern and most unjust 

 notion of a representation of the landed interest. 

 England is the only country in which the boroughs 

 and the free possessors of landed estates have con- 

 tinued to form one body or chamber of representa- 

 tion tlie commons to which they have always be- 

 longed ; while, in other countries, the gentlemen or 

 knighthood have united themselves to the nobility, 

 and thus become separated in then; interests from the 

 towns. But, in almost all parts of the European 

 continent, the representatives of the towns appear to 

 have lost much of their influence, to which various 

 causes seem to have contributed. The most impor- 

 tant among them has been the internal corruptions 

 of the institutions of the towns themselves. The 

 constitution of the German towns has generally suf- 

 fered an injurious cliange, by the establishment of a 

 chief magistrate for lite, who has the power of ap- 

 pointing his inferiors in office, who are naturally se- 

 lected From among his own friends and dependents. 

 Though, hi the large towns, the high and indepen- 

 dent character of the burgesses, and their republican 

 institutions, have been strong obstacles to these 

 abuses, or the occasion of their being quickly cor- 

 rected (as has been the case in all the imperial cities, 

 and in the large towns of other countries) ; on the 

 other hand, there has grown up, in the small towns, 

 a contracted policy and cast of feeling, hi accordance 

 with the diminutiveness of their influence and im- 

 portance, which has made them proverbial, in Ger- 

 many, for narrowness of spirit. In this manner, all 

 true public spirit has been lost. The mismanagement 

 and corruption of the governments of the towns have 

 destroyed their prosperity, and, with it, the old citizen 

 spirit ; and few towns are to be found in Germany, 

 where just complaints are not heard of the corrup- 

 tion of old institutions, and the waste of the property 

 of the place. These defects in the government of 

 the towns, and the frequent contests between the 

 burgesses and their magistrates, attracted the atten- 

 tion of government still more, from the fact that an- 

 other branch of the popular authority the adminis- 

 tration of justice had entirely departed from its 

 original ' character. This portion of their authority 

 had been wrested from the burgesses by the increas- 



ing subtleties of the law, and had passed into the 

 hands of functionaries who were seldom able to com- 

 mand public confidence and respect ; and the IOVMI- 

 officers could, in truth, be no longer regarded as the 

 agents of the municipality, even oefore they b-i>an, 

 both in name and in reality, to assume the cliaracter 

 and duties of state and police-officers. This occur- 

 red first in France, where the royal treasury was, tor 

 a short time, supplied by the sale of these offices. 

 This example was followed by other states, especial 

 ly in Germany, after the time of Frederic II. of 

 Prussia, where it was first seen, that, upon every re- 

 form of the towns and their institutions, something 

 valuable was taken from them, and sacrificed to the 

 cause of absolute authority. In Prussia, roi approach 

 to a freer government of municipalities took place 

 by the ordinance of Nov. 10, 1808, which has served 

 as a model for several other German states, but, if 

 carefully examined, will appear valuable only as de- 

 monstrating how necessary some approach to popular 

 institutions is, even in an absolute monarchy. It is 

 the work of the Prussian minister Stein. In re- 

 publics, the organization of the municipalities, the 

 establishment and due regulation of popular rights 

 and privileges, is of the greatest importance. See 

 the articles City and Town. 



COMNENI ; an extinct family of sovereigns, re- 

 cording to an unsupported tradition, of Italian origin, 

 which numbered, on the throne of Constantinople 

 (from 1057 to 1204) and on that of Trebisond (from 

 1204 to 1461), eighteen emperors, besides nineteen 

 kings, and numerous independent princes. See 

 Byzantine Empire, and Trebisond. When the crusa- 

 ders had overturned the throne of the Comneni in 

 Constantinople, and established the Latin empire 

 there, in 1204, a prince of the ancient house of the 

 Comneni founded an independent state at Trebisond, 

 in Asia Minor, where he was governor. The last 

 sovereign of this house was David Comnenus. From 

 him, it is said, was descended Demetrius Comnenus, 

 a French captain of dragoons, who died without chil- 

 dren, at Paris, in 1821, with the title of marechal dt 

 camp. But his descent cannot be historically traced. 

 Ducange, an accurate, faithful, and learned historian, 

 asserts, without hesitation, that Mohammed II., the 

 conqueror of Constantinople, after he had obtained 

 the empire of Trebisond, so called (which was scarce- 

 ly as large as a French department), from the empe- 

 ror David, by a treaty, sent for this prince and his 

 seven children to Constantinople. In order to get 

 possession of the income which had been secured to 

 the Greek prince, he ordered him to be put to death, 

 with all his children, at Adrianople, in 1462, under 

 pretence of a conspiracy. This is confirmed, accord- 

 ing to Ducange, by all contemporary writers Chal- 

 coudylas, Ducas, Phranzes. A later historian main- 

 tains tliat one of his children was carried off unhurt 

 to Laconia (Maina), where the family maintained a 

 war with the Turks, generation after generation, for 

 200 years. Betrayed, but not conquered, Constan- 

 tine Comnenus emigrated at last from Maina, land- 

 ed, in 1676, at Genoa, accompanied by several 

 Greeks, and planted a colony in the isle of Corsica. 

 His posterity governed this district, inheriting the 

 dignity and title of capitano ; but, when Corsica was 

 joined to France, they lost their possessions. This 

 account, however, is not credible ; for no mention 

 whatever is made in contemporary history, either of 

 a child of David Comnenus, or of his posterity, after 

 1462. Demetrius Comnenus, indeed, who pretend- 

 ed to be the last branch of the family of Corsican 

 colonists (born in Corsica, in 1750), was recognized 

 by the French government as a descendant of David 

 Comnenus, by a royal decree of 1782, registered duly 

 by the parliament ; but this recognition was effected 



