CONGO-B ATTA CONG RESS. 



395 



luce or luno, which furnishes a fine white bread. The 

 soil produces three crops of maize annually. Among 

 the trees, the baobab is mentioned : it is of enormous 

 size, and its fruit is eaten by the natives. The soil 

 produces an immense variety of plants. Iron and 

 copper, porphyry, jasper, marble, salt, crystal, gold, 

 and silver are found in the mountains. Congo, like 

 the rest of Guinea, abounds in wild animals : the ele- 

 phant, leopard, lion, boar, porcupine, jackal, zebra, 

 different kinds of antelopes, and a great variety of 

 apes, are the principal. The rivers contain croco- 

 diles, hippopotami, and turtles. The coast swarms 

 with fish. The reptiles are numerous, and many of 

 them venomous ; among them are the gigantic boa, 

 tiie chameleon, and the flying lizard or palm rat, 

 which is worshipped by the natives. Ostriches, pea- 

 cocks, parrots, &c., inhabit the deserts and forests. 

 A great number of noxious insects live likewise in 

 this rich country, e. g., mosquitoes, the banzo (of 

 which the sting is said to be mortal), formidable ants, 

 the insoudi (which enter the trunks of elephants, and 

 cause them to die with madness), &c. Bees are nu- 

 merous. Almost all domestic animals, introduced 

 by the Portuguese, thrive pretty well. Though this 

 country abounds in all the productions of the tropics, 

 there appears to be no commerce carried on, except 

 that in slaves, of whom, vast numbers are annually 

 carried to Brazil. The population is uncertain, be- 

 cause the missionaries seem to have exaggerated it, 

 and other travellers have only visited a small part 

 of the country. The natives of Congo are of a mid- 

 dle size ; their colour and features are less strongly 

 marked than those of the other Negroes. They 

 kill a number of slaves over the grave of their so- 

 vereign, who are intended to serve him in heaven, 

 and to give testimony of his life. They seem less 

 intelligent than the other Negro tribes. This cir- 

 cumstance, together with their groat indolence, is a 

 great obstacle to their civilization. Polygamy exists 

 among them, and, though adultery is" rigorously 

 punished, they will often sell their wives for a glass 

 of brandy to a European. They worship fetiches, 

 with which they cover themselves, and adore images, 

 in which a similarity with the Egyptian physiognomy 

 is said to have been discovered. Murder is punished 

 by death ; almost all other crimes by slavery. The 

 kingdom is divided into several provinces, of which 

 there seem to be six principal ones Barnba, Batta, 

 Pango, S. Salvador, Sandi, and Soriho. Chiefs, who 

 have the titles of dukes, counts, and marquises, rule 

 imder the Portuguese. In each province is a capital 

 or banzo. Banza Congo, which, by the Portuguese, 

 is called S. Salvador, is the capital of the whole 

 kingdom. Congo was discovered by the Portuguese, 

 in 1487, under the command of Diego Cam, who 

 ascended the river Zaire. Soon after, the Portuguese 

 sent troops there, and obtained possession of the 

 country, partly by force, and partly by cunning. 

 Their missionaries met with much success, and there 

 are still many Catholics in the country, but many 

 have returned to idolatry, which is more conform- 

 able to their savage state. The government is despo- 

 tic. This kingdom has been important to the Portu- 

 guese, on account of the slaves which it afforded. 

 Among slave-dealers, the Congo men are generally 

 not considered so strong and powerful as slaves from 

 some other parts of Africa. 



CONGO-BATTA ; a city of Congo, thirty leagues 

 N. E. of S. Salvador. It is celebrated for its slave- 

 market. 



CONGREGATIONS, in the papal government; 

 meetings or committees, consisting of cardinals, and 

 officers of the pope, to administer the various depart- 

 ments, secular and spiritual, of the papal dominion. 

 To these belong the inquisition (congregation of the 



holy office), the congregation for the explanation and 

 execution of the decrees of the council of Trent (de 

 concilia), the congregation de propaganda fide. (See 

 Propaganda.) Thus there is also a military con- 

 gregation, the president of which is likewise a pre- 

 late. 



Congregation also signifies a society of several con- 

 vents of the same rule, which, together, form an or- 

 ganized corporation, hold chapters, and elect superi- 

 ors. The province of an ecclesiastical order is also 

 called a congregation. 



Congregation is likewise used to signify an assem 

 blymet for the worship of God, and for religious in- 

 struction. 



CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES; such as 

 maintain the independence of each congregation or 

 society of Christians, as to the right of electing a pas- 

 tor, t and of governing the church. 



CONGREGATIONALIST ; a member of a Con- 

 gregational church. 



CONGRESS, in international politics; a meeting 

 of the rulers or representatives of several states, witli 

 a view of adjusting disputes between different govern- 

 ments. The history of Europe may, in a certain re- 

 spect, be divided into three periods. In the first, it 

 was split up into a great number of small divisions, 

 which were in a state of perpetual contest. In the 

 second, these were consolidated into larger masses, 

 which continued the former conflicts on a larger scale. 

 The third period is the present, in which nations have 

 begun to understand their interest more clearly, and 

 to hold the difference of language and the natur- 

 al divisions of mountains and rivers as trifles, in com- 

 parison with the great interests of liberty and human- 

 ity. Europe is now divided into two great parties, 

 who carry on a war of principles : the one may be 

 called the party of legitimacy, feudalism, despotism 

 &c. ; the other that of liberty and equal laws. '1 hits 

 the opposing masses in Europe have become continual- 

 ly fewer and more comprehensive, and the nature 

 of the contest more intellectual. Mr Canning's re- 

 marks on this point, in his speech on the occasion 

 of sending troops to Lisbon to assist the liberal party, 

 do him honour. Congresses began on the second 

 period, and they bear the character of the times in 

 which they have been held. Of late years, they have 

 become much increased in dignity and importance, 

 having been employed, since the commencement of 

 the third period, which we may date from the con- 

 gress at Vienna or the congress at Aix-la-Chapelle, 

 to adjust political interests on a much larger scale 

 than they were adjusted originally. See the last para- 

 graph of this article. 



A congress is a simple means of determining, in a 

 diplomatic way, the conflicting claims of belligerent 

 powers, or of states whose interests interfere with each 

 other, and thus of preparing or concluding peace, or 

 preventing a rupture, and of mediating between the 

 different interests of different nations. At the same 

 time, it is very common for a congress to assume il- 

 legal power in respect to particular governments or 

 nations, because a congress affords governments of 

 the same way of thinking so much opportunity of 

 concentrating their forces. The plenipotentiaries of 

 the dissentient, or of the mediating powers, assemble 

 at an appointed place, commonly on neutral ground, 

 and, partly by notes, partly by verbal communica- 

 tion, carry on their negotiations. It is necessary to 

 distinguish the preliminiary congress, in which the 

 preliminaries are settled (such as the consent and the 

 representation of the different powers, the place and 

 time of the meeting, the extent of the neutral ground, 

 the security of ambassadors and public messengers, 

 the ceremonial, and the method of transacting busi- 

 I ness), from the principal congress, which is to bring 



