TRIBRACHYS TRICOLORE. 



673 



Justinian, who named him, with nine other civi- 

 lians, to prepare the new code, with sixteen others 

 to compose the digest or pandects, and with two 

 others to draw up the institutes. (See Civil Law.) 

 Tribonian was charged with being the secret enemy 

 of Christianity, with atheism, and attachment to 

 paganism ; but these charges are not sustained by 

 sufficient proof. He died 545. 



TRIBRACHYS. See Rhythm. 



TRIBUNAL, with the Romans; an elevated 

 place where the pretor sat upon his sella curulis, 

 when acting as judge : his counsellors sat near him. 

 In the camp, the Roman general had also a tribunal 

 of turf, where he gave judgment. 



TRIBUNAT. The French constitution of 

 December 15, 1799, projected by Bonaparte and 

 Sieyes, committed the legislative power, though 

 more in appearance than in reality, to a body (corps 

 legislatif) of 300 men, and a tribunal of 100 mem- 

 bers chosen by the conservative senate, from the 

 three lists of candidates proposed by the depart- 

 mental colleges. To the three consuls was re- 

 served the right of initiating laws ; to the tribunal, 

 that of deliberating on subjects thus proposed, and 

 to the legislative body that of accepting or rejecting 

 measures thus proposed by the first, and discussed 

 by the second. The members of the council of 

 state, as the mouthpieces of the government, had a 

 considerable influence in each body. The tribunat 

 had also the privilege of expressing its wishes, and 

 making representations to the government, and 

 sometimes ventured to exercise this right. A tri- 

 bun was to be twenty-five years old, and have a 

 yearly income of 15,000 francs. The tribunat was 

 renewed every five years, by the re-election of one 

 fifth of its members yearly. The last voice of 

 freedom in the tribunat was Carnot's speech in op- 

 position to the election of Bonaparte, as emperor, 

 in 1804. By the senatus-consulte or g unique of May 

 18, 1804, its general meetings were abolished, and 

 it was permitted to meet only by sections, of which 

 there were three (for legislation, home affairs, and 

 finance). In 1807, the tribunat was suppressed. 



TRIBUNE (tribunus), among the Romans; ori- 

 ginally, the commander of a tribe, thence a public 

 officer, a commander in general. Thus there were 

 military tribunes, and tribunes of the public trea- 

 sury (tribuni militares and tribuni ararii). The 

 former commanded a division of a legion, consisting 

 usually of about 1000 men ; the latter assisted the 

 questors, particularly in the distribution of money. 

 The most important officers with this title were the 

 tribuni plebis, or tribunes of the people (i. e. of the 

 commons or plebeians), who were chosen from the 

 plebeians to defend the rights of their order against 

 the encroachments of the patricians. These tri- 

 bunes were not, strictly speaking, magistrates, or 

 invested with magisterial powers ; but they exer- 

 cised a great influence upon public affairs. The 

 occasion of the creation of this office was the se- 

 cession of the plebeians, on account of the oppres- 

 sion and injustice which they suffered from the pa- 

 tricians, to Mons Sacer, whence they refused to return 

 into the city, till they had procured the consent of 

 the senate to the creation of tribunes, whose per- 

 sons should be inviolable, to protect their rights. 

 They had the power of putting a negative upon the 

 decrees of the senate, and of stopping the proceed- 

 ings of magistrates by their veto (I forbid it) ; and 

 in process of time their influence was increased to 

 such a degree, that they often endangered the safety of j 

 the state. Their number was at first two, but was 



VI. 



afterwards increased to ten ; and as they were not 

 dignified with the name of magistrates, they en- 

 joyed none of the external marks of distinction 

 which were attached to the magisterial dignities in 

 Rome. 



TRIBUNE, in the French houses of legislature ; 

 the pulpit or elevated place from which the members 

 deliver their speeches, which they usually read, if 

 they treat a subject at length. In general, only 

 short replies are made ex temper e. Hence tribune 

 is often used metaphorically. See Tribunal. 



TRICOLORE. Whenever a great principle or 

 interest, good or had, brings large bodies of men 

 into direct opposition, it is the common and natural 

 course of things for some distinguishing cry or badge 

 to be adopted by all those who espouse the same 

 side ; and the more active and absorbing the oppo- 

 sition is, the more significant becomes the sign. 

 There is not time to give or receive long explana- 

 tions : the questions will be, Are you whig or tory? 

 patriot or royalist ? a friend of the government or 

 of revolution ? do you fight for the red or white 

 rose ? do you wear the white riband on your sleeve? 

 &c. These are the signs or watchwords in times 

 of great excitement. Such a sign is the French 

 tricolore (white, red, and blue). It is the emblem 

 of all who adhere to the principles of the new order 

 of things in France, of all whether monarchists or 

 republicans, Bonapartists or Orleanists, who main- 

 tain the principle of equality, under whatever mo- 

 difications. The white banner is the sign of the 

 ancient aristocracy, the Bourbons, and represents 

 the old order of things, under all modifications. The 

 tricolore was adopted, originally, by accident, but 

 has become a historical sign ; and even if the elder 

 line of the Bourbons could regain any permanent 

 power in France, it could only be by adopting the 

 tricolore ; i. e. by yielding to the spirit of modern 

 France, by becoming national. Bourrienne's Life of 

 Napoleon contains some interesting facts respecting 

 this badge. The comte d'Artois wore it in 1814. 

 Fouche, in 1815, advised Louis XVIII. to adopt it ; 

 but an intrigue prevented his so doing. " Why," 

 said the king, when Fouche urged this measure, 

 " should I change my badge for another ?" Afin 

 que personne autre que V. M. lie puisse le prendre," 

 answered the duke of Otranto. The first thing the 

 duke of Orleans did, when he hastened to Paris, 

 in the revolution of 1830, was to put on the trico- 

 lore. He gave a pledge by so doing, which was un- 

 derstood by all, and section sixty-seven was imme- 

 diately added to the constitution, which runs thus : 

 France resumes her colours : for the future, there will 

 be no other cockade than the tricoloured cockade. 

 This shows that the tricolore is considered the em- 

 blem of France, in opposition to the white the co- 

 lour of a family, the Bourbons, and, of course, all 

 the interests attached to, and represented by, that 

 family. 



The tricolore, according to the best accounts of 

 the time when it was adopted, owes its rank, as a 

 national colour, to chance. In a moment of enthu- 

 siasm, the patriots had ornamented themselves with 

 green leaves ; and this colour of hope was about to 

 be retained as the badge of their party, when it was 

 recollected that it was the colour of the comte d'Ar- 

 tois, the most unpopular prince of the whole royal 

 family. But a distinguishing sign was wanted ; 

 therefore the colours of the city of Paris, blue and 

 red, were taken and planted every where by the 

 citizens. In the mean time, the national guard had 

 been organized ; it was not hostile to the king ; and 

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