192 



NEUKOMM NEUTRALITY. 



Ister, he received a lieutenancy in a Spanish regiment 

 of cavalry, destined to march against the Moors, in 

 Africa. On account of his good behaviour, he was 

 promoted to a captaincy. In a sally from the for- 

 tress of Oran, he was made prisoner, and was sent to 

 the dey of Algiers, where lie is said to have served, 

 for eighteen years, as an interpreter, and to have 

 been employed in the most secret transactions. 

 When the I'orsicans, after several unsuccessful at- 

 tempts to free themselves from the oppressions of 

 Genoa, resolved, in I7o5, to form a government of 

 their own, they applied to the deys of Algiers and 

 Tunis for assistance, who actually sent two regiments 

 of cavalry, under the command of baron Neuhof, wilh 

 such military stores as the islanders needed. Neuhof 

 was received with great joy, and, in 1736, was crowned 

 king of Corsica with a wreath of laurel. He had 

 silver and copper coins struck, and established an 

 order of knighthood, under the name of the Order of 

 Deliverance. In November, 1736, he left Corsica in 

 order to obtain foreign assistance, and returned, in 

 1737, with military stores, purchased with the ad- 

 vances which some Dutch houses had made in con- 

 sideration of the promise of an advantageous com- 

 merce, in olive oil, witli the island. In 1738, however, 

 French troops again reduced Corsica under the do- 

 minion of the Genoese. Theodore had been obliged 

 to flee. In 1741, when the French retired, new 

 troubles arose; but Theodore could not maintain 

 himself against the Genoese and a Corsican opposi- 

 tion. He fled to England. Here his Dutch creditors 

 pursued him, and he was arrested for debt. In 1756, 

 Horace Walpole caused a subscription to be made 

 for him, and thus enabled him to make a settlement 

 with his creditors. But he died of grief, in December 

 of the same year. At the back of St Anne's, Soho, 

 in London, is a stone, erected by the earl of Orford 

 (Walpole), in 1758, with the following inscription: 



Near this place is interred 

 THEODORE, KING OP CORSICA, 



Who died in this Parish 

 December XI., MDCCLVI., 



Immediately after leaving 



The Kind's Bench Prison, 



By the Benefit of the Act of Insolvency ; 



In consequence of which 

 He registered his Kingdom of Corsica 



For the Use of hit Creditors I 

 The grave -great teacher to a level brings 

 Heroes and beggars, g;illty -slaves and kings ! 

 But THEODORE this moral learn'd, ere dead ; 

 Fate pour d its lessons on his living head, 

 Bestow 'd a kingdom, and denied him bread. 



NEUKOMM, SIGISMCND, a distinguished German 

 composer, was born July 10, 1778, in Salzburg, and 

 showed, as early as his sixth year, much talent for 

 music. In his 15th year, he was appointed organist 

 of the university in Salzburg, where he continued his 

 studies with great zeal. His father, teacher of calli- 

 graphy in the university, took great care of the 

 scientific and musical education of his son. Michael 

 Haydn instructed Neukomni in composition, and often 

 caused him to act for him as first organist to the 

 court. In his eighteenth year, he was appointed 

 correpetitor of the opera, at the theatre in Salzburg, 

 on winch he resolved to make music his exclusive 

 profession. In 1789, he went to Vienna, where 

 Joseph Haydn received him among his pupils, and 

 treated him like a son. Until 1804, he remained in 

 this situation, after which he was appointed chapel- 

 master and director to the German opera in St Peters- 

 burg. A severe disease obliged him to give up this 

 place. In 1807, he was elected a member of the 

 academy of music at Stockholm, and, in 1808, mem- 

 ber of the philharmonic societj at Petersburg. 

 During his residence in that city, he brought forward 

 several of his compositions, with great applause ; but 

 he could not be prevailed upon by his friends, and 



his master, Jos. Haydn, to publish any of them until 

 1808. He then went to Paris in order to study more 

 attentively the higher style of dramatic music, and 

 thence to Rio Janeiro, as composer to the prince of 

 Brazil. In 1824, he returned to Europe, and lived 

 with prince Talleyrand. In 1826, he went to Italy. 

 Among his chief works is his grand fantasia, for the 

 whole orchestra, a work equally bold in conception 

 find perfect in execution, by which he struck out a 

 new path. Three others followed this. Of his church 

 compositions, some of the most distinguished are his 

 Requiem, his Stabai Mater, and the cantata Dcr 

 Ostermorgen, by Tiedge. He has, besides, com- 

 posed many pieces, great and small, among which is 

 the grand opera Alexander; also psalms, cantatas, 

 &c. All his compositions are distinguished by their 

 thoroughness and purity. 



NEUROLOGY. See Anatomy. 



NEUROSES. See Nervous Diseases. 



NEUSTRI A, in the geography of the middle ages; 

 the western kingdom of the Franks, in the north ot 

 France, so called in opposition to Austrasia, (Austria, 

 Oestreich), the eastern kingdom of the same. The 

 term is derived from the negative particle ne (not), 

 and Austria. On the death of Clovis (511), his sons 

 divided his territories into two parts, which received 

 these names. Neustria lay between the Meuse, the 

 Loire, and the ocean. See France, and Merovin- 

 gians. 



NEUTERS. See Bees. 



NEUTRALITY (from the Latin neuter, neither) 

 means, in the law of nations, that state of a nation in 

 which it does not take part, directly or indirectly, in 

 a war between other nations. To maintain itself in 

 this state, a nation is often obliged to assume a 

 threatening position, to be able to repel, in case of 

 necessity, every aggression on the part of either of 

 the belligerents. Such neutrality is termed an armed 

 neutrality. From the state of neutrality arise certain 

 rights and obligations towards the belligerents. A 

 neutral nation is allowed to render any services to 

 either of the belligerents, which do not necessarily 

 tend to assist him in carrying on hostilities. It must 

 not send him troops, arms, or ammunition. It can- 

 not refuse to one what it has allowed the other; 

 for instance, the right of marching through its ter- 

 ritory, supplies of provisions, &c. With either of the 

 belligerents the neutral nation has the right to con- 

 clude treaties, if they are not intended to aid the 

 belligerent in the war, or do not necessarily presup- 

 pose a war. As, however, in war, force is the main 

 arbiter, it is most advisable for a neutral power to 

 conclude special treaties of neutrality, in which the 

 rights and duties of the neutral power are settled, as 

 it may be easily imagined that there will be always 

 many disputed points between it and the belligerents. 

 These doubtful points are chiefly the following: 

 Whether the neutral state can allow the belligerents 

 loans, commerce, and even the right of enlisting 

 troops ; what goods are to be considered prohibited ; 

 whether they can be seized ; whether a passage 

 through its territory is to be permitted to the troops 

 of the belligerents; how the unlawful requisitions of 

 one of the belligerents are to be opposed ; what 

 security is to be given on this account; the compen- 

 sation to be rendered if hostilities are committed in 

 the neutral territory, &c. In maritime wars, the 

 treatment of effects of the enemy on board neutral 

 vessels, or neutral eflects on board a hostile vessel, 

 give rise to very important questions. (See Contra- 

 band.) In former times, the principle was pretty 

 generally admitted, that the ownership of the goods 

 on board of the vessels was the only point to be con- 

 sidered, and not the property of the vessels them- 

 selves. The belligerents, therefore, seized merchan- 



