CONSTANTINOPLE (1,000), capital of the Turkish empire, on the Bosphorus, situated on a peninsula washed by the Sea of Marmora on the S. and by the Golden Horn on the N., on the opposite side of which creek lie the quarters of Galata and Pera, one of the finest commercial sites in the world; it became the capital of the Roman empire under Constantine the Great, who gave name to it; was capital of the Eastern empire from the days of Theodosius; was taken by the crusaders in 1204, and by Mahomet II. in 1452, at which time the Greek and Latin scholars fled the city, carrying the learning of Greece and Rome with them, an event which led to the revival of learning in Europe, and the establishment of a new era—­the Modern—­in European history.

CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS, or THE PALE, Roman emperor; after a struggle of three years reunited Britain with the empire, which had been torn from it by Allectus; was equally successful against the Alemanni, defeating them with great loss; died at York, on an expedition against the Picts; was succeeded by Constantine, his son (250-305).

CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY, the legislative body which the National Assembly of France resolved itself into in 1789, a name it assumed from the task it imposed on itself, viz., of making a constitution, a task which, from the nature of it proved impossible, as a constitution is an entity which grows, and is not made, nascitur, non fit.

CONSUELO, the heroine of George Sand’s novel of the name, her masterpiece; the impersonation of the triumph of moral purity over manifold temptations.

CONSUL, (1) one of the two magistrates of Rome elected annually after the expulsion of the kings, and invested with regal power; (2) a chief magistrate of the French Republic from 1799 to 1804; (3) one commissioned to protect, especially the mercantile rights of the subjects of a State in foreign country.

CONSULATE, name given to the French Government from the fall of the Directory till the establishment of the Empire.  At first there were three provisional consuls, Bonaparte, Sieyes, and Roger Ducos; then three consuls for ten years, Bonaparte, Cambaceres, and Lebrun, which was dissolved with the establishment of the Empire on the 20th May 1804.

CONTARI`NI, an illustrious Venetian family, which furnished eight Doges to the Republic, as well as an array of men eminent in the Church, statecraft, generalship, art, and letters.

CONTE, NICOLAS JACQUES, a French painter; distinguished for his mechanical genius, which was of great avail to the French army in Egypt (1755-1805).

CONTI, an illustrious French family, a younger branch of the house of Bourbon-Conde, all more or less distinguished as soldiers; FRANCOIS LOUIS especially, who was a man of supreme ability both in war and science, and had the merit to be elected king of Poland (1664-1709).

CONTINENTAL SYSTEM, Napoleon’s scheme for interdicting all commerce between the Continent and Great Britain, carried out with various issues till the fall of Napoleon.  See BERLIN and MILAN DECREES.