NEUTRALIZATION NEVIS. 



193 



ilise belonging to the enemy on board of neutral 

 vessels ; but they restored neutral properly seized 

 under the enemy's flag. But the endless investiga- 

 tions which this system caused, as a consequence of 

 it was the searching of neutral vessels, produced, by 

 degrees, a new and totally contrary principle, that 

 the flag protects the cargo (le navire neutre couvre la 

 cargaison ennemie, or le pavilion couvre la marchan- 

 dise), so that merchandise of the enemy under a 

 neutral flag was safe, but neutral merchandise under 

 a hostile flag was good prize. This principle, since 

 the middle of the seventeenth century, was adopted, 

 in several treaties, particularly between France and 

 other governments. Great Britain, however, wished 

 to enforce the former principle in the war with her 

 colonies in North America. The empress Catharine 

 of Russia, on the other hand, declared in 1780, that 

 she was willing, if necessary, to enforce by arms the 

 new principle, " free ships, free goods." This prin- 

 ciple formed the basis of the system of the armed 

 neutrality, in which France and Spain joined with 

 Russia, and to which also Denmark, Sweden, Hol- 

 land, Prussia, Austria, Portugal, and Naples acceded 

 by separate conventions with Russia. Britain op- 

 posed it ; yet she was obliged, several times, tacitly 

 to admit the principle. In the French revolutionary 

 war, and the hostilities between Britain and Napo- 

 leon, the former returned entirely to the old principle. 

 (See Continental System.) Since the peace of Paris, 

 this point has remained unsettled. It came up again 

 in the privateer wars of Colombia and the Greeks. 

 Respecting the armed neutrality of 1780, of which 

 count Bernstorff probably suggested the first idea, 

 see Memoir e sur le Neutralite armee, &c., par le 

 Comte de Gortz (Basle, 1821); Tooke's Life of 

 Catharine II. (vol. ii.) ; Dohm's Materialien fur 

 Statistik (6 vols. 1 782), ana Denkwurdigkeiten meiner 

 Zieit (1815, 2 vols.). During the recent struggle 

 between Poland and Russia, when Prussia was 

 obliged to make an explanation respecting the assis- 

 tance which she gave to the Russians, by allowing 

 them to retreat to her territory, without disarming 

 them, and to obtain provision, &c., from the same 

 quarter, the Prussian government declared that it 

 was not in a state of neutrality as to the two belli- 

 gerents, but in a state of non-activity. This state of 

 non-activity, however, allowed her to prevent the 

 passage of money sent from Britain to the Poles 

 through her territory ; also to stop the couriers of 

 other powers, and to disarm the Poles who had 

 entered her limits. For the principle of armed inter- 

 vention, see Intervention. 



NEUTRALIZATION, in chemistry, may be thus 

 explained : if we take a given quantity of sulphuric 

 acid diluted with water, and add it slowly to the 

 solution of soda by little at a time, and examine the 

 mixture after every addition, we shall find that, for a 

 considerable time, it will exhibit the properties of an 

 acid, reddening vegetable blues, and having a taste 

 perceptibly sour ; but these acid properties gradually 

 diminish after every addition of the alkaline solution, 

 and at last disappear altogether. If we still continue 

 to add the soda, the mixture gradually acquires alka- 

 line properties, converting vegetable blues to green, 

 and manifesting a urinous taste. These properties 

 become stronger and stronger, the greater the quan- 

 tity of the soda is which is added. Thus it appears, 

 that when sulphuric acid and soda are mixed to- 

 gether, the properties either of the one or the other 

 preponderate, according to the proportions of each ; 

 but there are certain proportions, according to which, 

 when they are combined, they mutually destroy or 

 disguise the properties of each other, so that neither 

 predominates, or rather so that both disappear. When 

 substances thus mutually disguise each other's pro- 

 v. 



perties, they are said to neutralize one another. This 

 property is common to a great number of bodies ; but 

 it manifests itself most strongly, and was first ob- 

 served, in the acids, alkalies, and earths. Hence the 

 salts which are combinations of these different bodies, 

 received long ago the name of neutral salts. 



NEUTRAL SALTS. See Salts. 



NEUWIED, PRINCE MAXIMILIAN ALEXANDER 

 PHILIP, born September 23, 1782, brother to the 

 reigning prince Augustus of Wied-Neuwied. Alex- 

 ander von Humboldt's fame inspired him to distin- 

 guish himself likewise by the observation of nature. 

 He went, in 1813, to England, and thence to Brazil. 

 In 1815, he left Rio Janeiro, with two other Germans, 

 Fellow and Freyreiss, and some armed companions, 

 and went to Cabo Frio, thence to Villa St Salvador 

 dos Campos dos Goaytacasas, nearer the sea. On 

 the Rio-Doce he became acquainted with the warlike 

 Botocudes, of whom he is the first who has given 

 accurate information. In 1816, he proceeded to 

 Villa Vigoza. On his way to Sta. Cruz and Villa 

 Belmonte, he touched upon Jauassema, where traces 

 of an extinct race of men are to be found. His 

 desire to visit less known countries induced him to 

 go as far as the frontiers of Minas Geraes. Through 

 almost impenetrable woods, his company made their 

 way with the axe to Villa de S. Pedro d'Alcantara, 

 and proceeded again through woods which they left 

 not until they had reached Barra da Vareda. The 

 state of his health induced him to return straight 

 through Sertam to Bahia, where he embarked, May 

 10, 1817, for Lisbon. The description of his journey 

 (2 vols. 4to, with many engravings and maps, Frank- 

 fort on the Maine, 1819) shows with what knowledge 

 and courage he has examined the country along the 

 eastern shore of Brazil, from 13 to 23 S. latitude. 

 He has also published treatises on subjects of natural 

 science in the transactions of the academy of natural- 

 ists at Bonn. Of his AbUldungen zur Naturgeschichte 

 Brazilians (Weimar, fol.), the llth number appeared 

 in 1827. His collections are very numerous and 

 valuable. 



NEUWIED ; capital and residence of the media- 

 tized prince of Neuwied, in Prussia, on the Rhine, 

 three leagues distant from Coblentz, in a beautiful 

 plain. It contains 4800 inhabitants, and manufactures 

 of various kinds of goods. It is not quite a century 

 old. Its prosperity has been greatly promoted by 

 the free exercise of religion, permitted to all deno- 

 minations ; so that it contains at present Protestants, 

 Catholics, Moravians,Mennonites, Quakers, Jews, &c. 



NEVA ; a river of Russia, which issues from lake 

 Ladoga, and, after a westerly course of about thirty- 

 five miles, flows into the gulf of Finland, below Peters- 

 burg, by three mouths. It is from 300 to 400 yards 

 wide, and ten or fifteen feet deep, and, of course, 

 navigable for vessels of considerable size. It is 

 generally frozen over from October to April. The 

 water is pure, and is used for drinking and cooking, 

 in Petersburg. 



NEVADOS DE ILLIMANI, or ILLIMANI ; a 

 high mountain belonging to the Andes, in Upper 

 Peru, about fifteen leagues from La Paz. It is one 

 of the richest gold mountains of South America. A 

 little silver has also been discovered there. 



NEVIS, or NIEVIS ; an island of the West Indies. 

 It is a beautiful spot, and little more than a single 

 mountain, whose base is about twenty-three miles in 

 circumference. That the island was the production 

 of a volcano, is very evident, a crater being visible 

 on the summit, and sulphur frequently discovered in 

 the cavities of the earth. It is well watered, and in 

 general fertile, producing much sugar. The exports 

 are estimated at 877,400 dollars. It belongs to the 

 British, and is divided info five parishes, containing 



