Chapter IV: Part 4

The second period, which dates from 1533 to 1664, has been distinguished by four important assemblies of the spirituality of the realm in pursuance of a royal writ--the two first of which occurred in the reign of Edward VI., the third in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and the fourth in the reign of Charles II. The two earliest of these convocations were summoned to complete the work of the reformation of the Church of England, which had been begun by Henry VIII.; the third was called together to reconstruct that work, which had been marred on the accession of Mary (the consort of Philip II. of Spain), whilst the fourth was summoned to re-establish the Church of England, the framework of which had been demolished during the great rebellion. On all of these occasions the convocations worked hand in hand with the parliament of the realm under a licence and with the assent of the crown. Meanwhile the convocation of 1603 had framed a body of canons for the governance of the clergy. Another convocation requires a passing notice, in which certain canons were drawn up in 1640, but by reason of an irregularity in the proceedings of this convocation (chiefly, on the ground that its sessions were continued for some time after the parliament of the realm had been dissolved), its canons are not held to have any binding obligation on the clergy. The convocations had up to this time maintained their liberty of voting the subsidies of the clergy in the form of "benevolences" separate and apart from the "aids" granted by the laity in parliament, and one of the objections taken to the proceedings of the convocation of 1640 was that it had continued to sit and to vote its subsidies to the crown after the parliament itself had been dissolved. It is not, therefore, surprising on the restoration of the monarchy in 1661 that the spirituality was not anxious to retain the liberty of taxing itself apart from the laity, seeing that its ancient liberty was likely to prove of questionable advantage to it. It voted, however, a benevolence to the crown on the occasion of its first assembling in 1661 after the restoration of King Charles II., and it continued so to do until 1664, when an arrangement was made between Archbishop Sheldon and Lord Chancellor Hyde, under which the spirituality silently waived its long-asserted right of voting its own subsidies to the crown, and submitted itself thenceforth to be assessed to the "aids" directly granted to the crown by parliament. An act was accordingly passed by the parliament in the following year 1665, entitled An act to grant a Royal Aid unto the King's Majesty, to which aid the clergy were assessed by the commissioners named in the statute without any objection being raised on their part or behalf,[1] there being a proviso that in so contributing the clergy should be relieved of the liability to pay two subsidies out of four, which had been voted by them in the convocation of a previous year. In consequence of this practical renunciation of their separate _status_, as regards their liability to taxation, the clergy have assumed and enjoyed in common with the laity the right of voting at the election of members of the House of Commons, in virtue of their ecclesiastical freeholds.

The most important and the last work of the convocation during this second period of its activity was the revision of the Book of Common Prayer which was completed in the latter part of 1661.

Third period.

Claim of Lower House to sit independently.

Bangorian controversy.

Fourth period.

Fifth period.

The Revolution in 1688 is the most important epoch in the third period of the history of the synodical proceedings of the spirituality, when the convocation of Canterbury, having met in 1689 in pursuance of a royal writ, obtained a licence under the great seal, to prepare certain alterations in the liturgy and in the canons, and to deliberate on the reformation of the ecclesiastical courts. A feeling, however, of panic seems to have come over the Lower House, which took up a position of violent antagonism to the Upper House. This circumstance led to the prorogation of the convocation and to its subsequent discharge without any practical fruit resulting from the king's licence. Ten years elapsed during which the convocation was prorogued from time to time without any meeting of its members for business being allowed. The next convocation which was permitted to meet for business, in 1700, was marked by great turbulence and insubordination on the part of the members of the Lower House, who refused to recognize the authority of the archbishop to prorogue their sessions. This controversy was kept up until the discharge of the convocation took place concurrently with the dissolution of the parliament in the autumn of that year. The proceedings of the Lower House in this convocation were disfigured by excesses which were clearly violations of the constitutional order of the convocation. The Lower House refused to take notice of the archbishop's schedule of prorogation, and adjourned itself by its own authority, and upon the demise of the crown it disputed the fact of its sessions having expired, and as parliament was to continue for a short time, prayed that its sessions might be continued as a part of the parliament under the "praemunientes" clause. The next convocation was summoned in the first year of Queen Anne, when the Lower House, under the leadership of Dean Aldrich, its prolocutor, challenged the right of the archbishop to prorogue it, and presented a petition to the queen, praying her majesty to call the question into her own presence. The question was thereupon examined by the queen's council, when the right of the president to prorogue both houses of convocation by a schedule of prorogation was held to be proved, and further, that it could not be altered except by an act of parliament. During the remaining years of the reign of Queen Anne the two Houses of convocation were engaged either in internecine strife, or in censuring sermons or books, as teaching latitudinarian or heretical doctrines; and, when it had been assembled concurrently with parliament on the accession of King George I., a great breach was before long created between the two houses by the Bangorian controversy. Dr Hoadly, bishop of Bangor, having preached a sermon before the king, in the Royal Chapel at St James's Palace in 1717, against the principles and practice of the nonjurors, which had been printed by the king's command, the Lower House, which was offended by the sermon and had also been offended by a treatise on the same subject published by Dr Hoadly in the previous year, lost no time in representing the sermon to the Upper House, and in calling for its condemnation. A controversy thereupon arose between the two houses which was kept up with untiring energy by the Lower House, until the convocation was prorogued in 1717 in pursuance of a royal writ; from which time until 1861 no licence from the crown was granted to convocation to proceed to business. During this period, which may be regarded as the fourth distinguishing period in the history of the convocations of the Church of England, it was usual for a few members of the convocation to meet when first summoned with every new parliament, in pursuance of the royal writ, for the Lower House to elect a prolocutor, and for both houses to vote an address to the crown, after which the convocation was prorogued from time to time, pursuant to royal writs, and ultimately discharged when the parliament was dissolved. There were, however, several occasions between 1717 and 1741 when the convocation of the province of Canterbury transacted certain matters, by way of consultation, which did not require any licence from the crown, and there was a short period in its session of 1741 when there was a probability of its being allowed to resume its deliberative functions, as the Lower House had consented to obey the president's schedule of prorogation; but the Lower House having declined to receive a communication from the Upper House, the convocation was forthwith prorogued, from which time until the middle of the 19th century the convocation was not permitted by the crown to enjoy any opportunity even for consultation. The spirituality at last aroused itself from its long repose in 1852, and on this occasion the Upper House took the lead. The active spirit of the movement was Samuel Wilberforce, bishop of Oxford, but the master mind was Henry Phillpotts, bishop of Exeter. On the convocation assembling several petitions were presented to both houses, praying them to take steps to procure from the crown the necessary licence for their meeting for the despatch of business, and an address to the Upper House was brought up from the Lower House, calling the attention of the Upper House to the reasonableness of the prayer of the various petitions. After some discussion the Upper House, influenced mainly by the argument of Henry, bishop of Exeter, consented to receive the address of the Lower House, and the convocation was thereupon prorogued, shortly after which it was discharged concurrently with the dissolution of parliament. On the assembling of the next convocation of the province of Canterbury, no royal writ of exoneration having been sent by the crown to the metropolitan, the sessions of the convocation were continued for several days; and from this time forth convocation may be considered to have resumed its action as a consultative body, whilst it has also been permitted on more than one occasion to exercise its functions as a deliberative body. In 1865, under licence from the crown, the Convocations of Canterbury and York framed new canons in place of the 36th, 37th, 38th and 40th canons of 1603, and amended the 62nd and 102nd canons in 1888. In 1872 convocation was empowered by letters of business from the crown to frame resolutions on the subject of public worship, which resolutions were afterwards incorporated in the Act of Uniformity Amendment Act 1872.

As a deliberative body, convocation has done much useful work, but it suffers considerably from its unrepresentative nature. The non-beneficed clergy still remain without the franchise, but the establishment of Houses of Laymen (see LAYMEN, HOUSES OF) for both provinces has, to a certain extent, secured the co-operation of the lay element. Several attempts have been made to promote legislation to enable the convocations to reform their constitutions and to enable them to unite for special purposes; in 1905 a bill was introduced into the House of Lords. It did not, however, get beyond a first reading. In 1896 a departure was made in holding joint sessions of both convocations, in conjunction with the two Houses of Laymen, for consultative purposes. This body is now termed the Representative Church Council, and it adopted a Constitution in November 1905. All formal business is transacted in the separate convocations. It is usual for convocation to meet three times a year.

The order of convening the convocation of the province of Canterbury
is as follows. A writ issues from the crown, addressed to the
metropolitan archbishop of Canterbury, commanding him "by reason of
certain difficult and urgent affairs concerning us, the security and
defence of our Church of England, and the peace and tranquillity,
public good and defence of our kingdom, and our subjects of the same,
to call together with all convenient speed, and in lawful manner, the
several bishops of the province of Canterbury, and deans of the
cathedral churches, and also the archdeacons, chapters and colleges,
and the whole clergy of every diocese of the said province, to appear
before the said metropolitan in the cathedral church of St Paul,
London, on a certain day, or elsewhere, as shall seem most expedient,
to treat of, agree to and conclude upon the premises and other things,
which to them shall then at the same place be more clearly explained
on our behalf." In case the metropolitical see of Canterbury should be
vacant, the writ of the crown is addressed to the dean and chapter of
the metropolitical church of Canterbury in similar terms, as being the
guardians of the spiritualities of the see during a vacancy. Thereupon
the metropolitan, or, as the case may be, the dean and chapter of the
metropolitical church, issue a mandate to the bishop of London, as
dean of the province, and if the bishopric of London should be vacant,
then to the bishop of Winchester as subdean, which embodies the royal
writ, and directs the bishop to cause all the bishops of the province
to be cited, and through them the deans of the cathedral and
collegiate churches, and the archdeacons and other dignitaries of
churches, and each chapter by one, and the clergy of each diocese by
two sufficient proctors, to appear before the metropolitan or his
commissary, or, as the case may be, before the dean and chapter of the
metropolitical church or their commissary, in the chapter-house of the
cathedral church of St Paul, London, if that place be named in the
mandate, or elsewhere, with continuation and prorogation of days next
following, if that should be necessary, to treat upon arduous and
weighty affairs, which shall concern the state and welfare, public
good and defence of this kingdom and the subjects thereof, to be then
and there seriously laid before them, and to give their good counsel
and assistance on the said affairs, and to consent to such things as
shall happen to be wholesomely ordered and appointed by their common
advisement, for the honour of God and the good of the church.

The provincial dean, or the subdean, as the case may be, thereupon
issues a citation to the several bishops of the province, which
embodies the mandate of the metropolitan or of the dean and chapter of
the metropolitical church, as the case may be, and admonishes them to
appear, and to cite and admonish their clergy, as specified in the
metropolitical mandate, to appear at the time and place mentioned in
the mandate. The bishops thereupon either summon directly the clergy
of their respective dioceses to appear before them or their
commissaries to elect two proctors, or they send a citation to their
archdeacons, according to the custom of the diocese, directing them to
summon the clergy of their respective archdeaconries to elect a
proctor. The practice of each diocese in this matter is the law of the
convocation, and the practice varies indefinitely as regards the
election of proctors to represent the beneficed clergy. As regards the
deans, the bishops send special writs to them to appear in person, and
to cause their chapters to appear severally by one proctor. Writs also
go to every archdeacon, and on the day named in the royal writ, which
is always the day next following that named in the writ to summon the
parliament, the convocation assembles in the place named in the
archbishop's mandate. Thereupon, after the Litany has been sung or
said, and a Latin sermon preached by a preacher appointed by the
metropolitan, the clergy are praeconized or summoned by name to appear
before the metropolitan or his commissary; after which the clergy of
the Lower House are directed to withdraw and elect a prolocutor to be
presented to the metropolitan for his approbation. The convocation
thus constituted resolves itself at its next meeting into two houses,
and it is in a fit state to proceed to business.

The constitution of the convocation of the province of York differs
slightly from that of the convocation of the province of Canterbury,
as each archdeaconry is represented by two proctors, precisely as in
parliament formerly under the Praemunientes clause.

There are some anomalies in the diocesan returns of the two
convocations, but in all such matters the _consuetudo_ of the diocese
is the governing rule.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Wilkins, _Concilia Magnae Britannia et Hiberniae_ (4
vols. folio, 1737); Gibson, _Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani_ (2
vols. folio, 1713); Johnson, _A Collection of all the Ecclesiastical
Laws, Canons and Constitutions of the English Church_ (2 vols. 8vo,
1720); Gibson, _Synodus Anglicana_ (8vo, 1702, re-edited by Dr Edward
Cardwell, 8vo, 1854); Shower, _A Letter to a Convocation Man
concerning the Rights, Powers and Privileges of that Body_ (4to,
1697); Wake, _The Authority of Christian Princes over their
Ecclesiastical Synods asserted, occasioned by a late Pamphlet
intituled A Letter_ _to a Convocation Man_ (8vo, 1697); Atterbury,
_The Rights, Powers and Privileges of an English Convocation stated
and vindicated in answer to a late book of Dr Wake's_ (8vo, 1700);
Burnet, _Reflections on a Book intituled The Rights, Powers and
Privileges of an English Convocation stated and vindicated_ (4to,
1700); Kennet, _Ecclesiastical Synods and Parliamentary Convocations
of the Church of England historically stated and justly vindicated
from the Misrepresentation of Mr Atterbury_ (8vo, 1701); Atterbury,
_The Power of the Lower House of Convocation to adjourn itself_ (4to,
1701); Gibson, _The Right of the Archbishop to continue or prorogue
the whole Convocation_ (4to, 1701); Kennet, _The Case of the
Praemunientes_ (4to, 1701); Hooper, _The Narrative of the Lower House
vindicated from the Exceptions of a Letter, intituled The Right of the
Archbishop to continue or prorogue the Convocation_ (4to, 1702);
Atterbury, _The Case of the Schedule stated_ (4to, 1702); Gibson, _The
Schedule Reviewed, or the Right of the Archbishop to continue or
prorogue the whole Convocation, cleared from the Exception of a late
Vindication of the Narrative of the Lower House, and of a Book
intituled The Case of the Schedule stated_ (4to, 1702); Hody, _A
History of the English Councils and Convocation, and of the Clergy's
sitting in Parliament_ (8vo, 1702); Wake, _The State of the Church and
Clergy of England in their Councils, Synods, Convocations,
Conventions, and other Public Assemblies, occasioned by a book
intituled The Rights, Powers and Privileges of an English Convocation_
(fol., 1703); Burnet, _History of His Own Time_ (2 vols, folio, 1734),
re-edited by Dr Martin J. Routh (6 vols. 8vo, 1833); Hallam,
_Constitutional History of England_ (3 vols. 8vo, 1832); Cardwell,
_Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England_ (2 vols.,
1839); Cardwell, _A History of Conferences and other Proceedings
connected with the revision of the Common Prayer_ (8vo, 1841);
Cardwell, _Synodalia, a Collection of Articles of Religion, Canon and
Proceedings of Convocation in the Province of Canterbury_ (2 vols.
8vo, 1842); Lathbury, _A History of the Convocation of the Church of
England_ (2nd ed., 8vo, 1853); Trevor, _The Convocation of the two
Provinces_ (8vo, 1852); Pearce, _The Law relating to Convocations of
the Clergy_ (8vo, 1848); _Synodalia_, a Journal of Convocation,
commenced in 1852 (8vo); _The Chronicle of Convocation_, being a
record of the proceedings of the Convocation of Canterbury, commenced
in 1863 (8vo). (T. T.; T. A. I.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] It had always been the practice, when the clergy voted their
subsidies in their convocation, for parliament to authorize the
collection of each subsidy by the same commissioners who collected
the parliamentary aid.

CONVOLVULACEAE, a botanical natural order belonging to the series Tubiflorae of the sympetalous group of Dicotyledons. It contains about 40 genera with more than 1000 species, and is found in all parts of the world except the coldest, but is especially well developed in tropical Asia and tropical America. The most characteristic members of the order are twining plants with generally smooth heart-shaped leaves and large showy white or purple flowers, as, for instance, the greater bindweed of English hedges, _Calystegia sepium_, and many species of the genus _Ipomaea_, the largest of the order, including the "convolvulus major" of gardens, and morning glory. The creeping or trailing type is a common one, as in the English bindweed (_Convolvulus arvensis_), which has also a tendency to climb, and _Calystegia Soldanella_, the sea-bindweed, the long creeping stem of which forms a sand-binder on English seashores; a widespread and efficient tropical sand-binder is _Ipomaea Pes-Caprae_. One of the commonest tropical weeds, _Evolvulus alsinoides_, has slender, long-trailing stems with small leaves and flowers. In hot dry districts such as Arabia and north-east tropical Africa, genera have been developed with a low, much-branched, dense, shrubby habit, with small hairy leaves and very small flowers. An exceptional type in the order is represented by _Humbertia_, a native of Madagascar, which forms a large tree. The dodder (q.v.) is a genus (_Cuscuta_) of leafless parasites with slender thread-like twining stems. The flowers stand singly in the leaf-axils or form few or many flowered cymose inflorescences; the flowers are sometimes crowded into small heads. The bracts are usually scale-like, but sometimes foliaceous, as for instance in _Calystegia_, where they are large and envelop the calyx.

The parts of the flower are in fives in calyx, corolla and stamens, followed by two carpels which unite to form a superior ovary. The sepals, which are generally free, show much variation in size, shape and covering, and afford valuable characters for the distinction of genera or sub-genera. The corolla is generally funnel-shaped, more rarely bell-shaped or tubular; the outer face is often marked out in longitudinal areas, five well-defined areas tapering from base to apex, and marked with longitudinal striae corresponding to the middle of the petals, and alternating with five non-striated weaker triangular areas; in the bud the latter are folded inwards, the stronger areas being exposed and showing a twist to the right. The slender filaments of the stamens vary widely, often in the same flower; the anthers are linear to ovate in shape, attached at the back to the filament, and open lengthwise. Some importance attaches to the form of the pollen grains; the two principal forms are ellipsoidal with longitudinal bands forming the _Convolvulus_-type, and a spherical form with a spiny surface known as the _Ipomaea_-type. The ovary is generally two-chambered, with two inverted ovules standing side by side at the inner angle of each chamber. The style is simple or branched, and the stigma is linear, capitate or globose in form; these variations afford means for distinguishing the different genera. The fruit is usually a capsule opening by valves; the seeds, where four are developed, are each shaped like the quadrant of a sphere; the seed-coat is smooth, or sometimes warty or hairy; the embryo is large with generally broad, folded, notched or bilobed cotyledons surrounded by a horny endosperm. _Cuscuta_ has a thread-like, spirally twisted embryo with no trace of cotyledons.

1. Flower cut vertically.
2. Fruit, slightly reduced.
3. Seed cut lengthwise showing embryo.
4. Embryo taken out of seed.
5. Horizontal plan of arrangement of flower.]

The large showy flowers are visited by insects for the honey which is secreted by a ring-like disk below the ovary; large-flowered species of _Ipomaea_ with narrow tubes are adapted for the visits of honey-seeking birds.

The largest genus, _Ipomaea_, has about 400 species distributed throughout the warmer parts of the earth. _Convolvulus_ has about 150 to 200 species, mainly in temperate climates; the genus is principally developed in the Mediterranean area and western Asia. _Cuscuta_ contains nearly 100 species in the warmer and temperate regions; two are native in Britain.

The tubers of _Ipomaea Batatas_ are rich in starch and sugar, and, as the "sweet potato," form one of the most widely distributed foods in the warmer parts of the earth. Several members of the order are used medicinally for the strong purging properties of the milky juice (latex) which they contain; scammony is the dried latex from the underground stem of _Convolvulus Scammonia_, a native of the Levant, while jalap is the product of the tubercles of _Exogonium Purga_, a native of Mexico. Species of _Ipomaea_ (morning glory), _Convolvulus_ and _Calystegia_ are cultivated as ornamental plants. _Convolvulus arvensis_ (bindweed) is a pest in fields and gardens on account of its wide-spreading underground stem, and many of the dodders (_Cuscuta_) cause damage to crops.

CONVOY (through the Fr. from late Lat. _conviare_, to go along with, from Lat. _cum_, with, and _via_, way; "convey" has the same ultimate origin [see CONVEYANCE], neither word being connected, as has sometimes been supposed, with Lat. _convehere_, to carry together), a verb and noun now almost exclusively used in military and naval parlance. As a verb it signifies in the first instance to accompany or to escort; and in the 17th century we even hear of cavalry "convoying" infantry, but its meaning was soon complicated by the growing use of the word "convey" in the sense of "to carry," and as the usual task of an escort was that of accompanying and protecting vehicles containing supplies, the noun "convoy" (Fr. _convoi_) was introduced and has thenceforward in land warfare meant a train of vehicles containing stores for the use of troops and its guard or escort. Sometimes even the word is found in the meaning of the train of vehicles without implying that there is an escort, so far has the original meaning become obscured; but the idea of military protection is always present, whether this protection is given by a separate escort or provided by the weapons of the drivers themselves.

In naval warfare the term is used to describe a method adopted for defending merchant ships against capture. It was usually applied to the vessels to be protected--as for example "the Baltic convoy," or "Captain Montray's convoy." Until the 17th century the English term was "to waft" and the warship employed to guard the traders on their way was called "a wafter." The practice of sailing in convoy for mutual protection was common in the middle ages, when all ships were more or less armed and the war vessel was not entirely differentiated from the trader. Thus the ships of the great German confederation of cities known as the Hanseatic League were required to sail in convoy. So were the six trading squadrons which sailed yearly from Venice. The masters of all the vessels were required to obey the authority of an officer who had the general command. In the 16th century the Spanish trade with America was compelled by law to sail in convoys (_flotas_), in order to avoid the danger of capture by pirates to which single ships were exposed. In the 17th and 18th centuries the use of convoy was universal. Dutch, French or British ships were collected at a rendezvous, and were accompanied by warships till they reached the point at which they were compelled to separate in order to go to their various destinations. The main danger was near the enemy's ports. An example of the way the duty was discharged may be found in the Newfoundland convoy. They sailed from England under the direction of a naval officer and the protection of his ships, commonly a forty- or fifty-gun ship with a smaller vessel in attendance. The convoy sailed to the banks of Newfoundland. When they had filled up with stock fish, they were escorted across the Atlantic by the same officer. He accompanied those of them bound to the Mediterranean to the port of Leghorn, and, when they had unloaded and reloaded, saw them home. All cases were not so simple. The ships engaged in the East and West India trade, for instance, sailed together. In the Channel they were protected by the main strength of the fleet. When beyond the Scilly Islands they were left to the care of a smaller force, and continued together till in the neighbourhood of Madeira, when they separated. Convoys were subject to attack in two forms, by strong squadrons which overpowered the guard, and by privateers, corsairs and isolated cruisers. This latter peril was much increased in the case of British commerce by the reluctance of the merchant captains to obey the naval officers. They were very much inclined to separate from the convoy as they approached their destination in the hope of forestalling rivals. As a natural consequence they were frequently captured by hostile privateers. French naval officers had authority and large powers of punishment over merchant skippers. The British naval officers had not. In 1803-34, on the renewal of the war with France, the British government saw the necessity for regulating convoy more strictly than had hitherto been the case. It therefore passed "an act for the better protection of the trade of the United Kingdom during the present hostilities with France." By this act (the 43rd Geo. III. Cap. 57) all vessels not exempted by special licence were required to sail in convoy and to conform to strict regulations, under penalties of L1000 (or, when the goods included government stores, of L1500) and the loss of all claim to insurance in case of capture. (D. H.)

The object of convoying is to attach an official public character to the convoyed ships, i.e. a sort of assimilation of them to the escorting ship or ships of war. Thus European states and jurists hold that the declaration of the commander of the convoy, that there is no contraband of war on board the convoyed ships, pledges the national good faith, and must be assumed to be correct in the same way as it is assumed that the convoy itself is carrying no contraband of war. Great Britain has never taken this view. Down to 1907 she had maintained that it is materially impossible for any neutral state to exercise the necessary supervision to secure absolute accuracy of the ship's papers. Number 29, however, of the instructions given by the government to the British plenipotentiaries at the Hague Conference of 1907 stated that "H.M. government would ... be glad to see the right of search limited in every practicable way, e.g. by the adoption of a system of consular certificates declaring the absence of contraband from the cargo...." As the greater includes the smaller, we may assume that, if a consular certificate might suffice to exempt from the exercise of search, the state guarantee of a convoy would certainly suffice. The London Convention on the Laws and Customs of Naval War has laid down the rules as to convoys in the following terms:

Neutral vessels under national convoy are exempt from search. The
commander of a convoy gives, in writing, at the request of the
commander of a belligerent warship, all information as to the
character of the vessels and their cargoes, which could be obtained by
search.--Art. 61.

If the commander of the belligerent warship has reason to suspect that
the confidence of the commander of the convoy has been abused, he
communicates his suspicions to him. In such a case it is for the
commander of the convoy alone to investigate the matter. He must
record the result of such investigation in a report, of which a copy
is handed to the officer of the warship. If, in the opinion of the
commander of the convoy, the facts shown in the report justify the
capture of one or more vessels, the protection of the convoy must be
withdrawn from such vessels.--Art. 62. (T. BA.)

CONVULSIONS, the pathological condition of body associated with abnormal, violent and spasmodic contractions and relaxations of the muscles, taking the form of a fit. Convulsions may be a symptom resulting from various diseases, but the term is commonly restricted to the infantile variety, occurring in association with teething, or other causes which upset the child's nervous system. The treatment (plunging into a hot bath, or administration of chloroform) must be prompt, as convulsions are responsible for a large part of infant mortality.

The name "Convulsionaries" (Fr. _Convulsionnaires_) was given to certain Jansenist fanatics in France in the 18th century, owing to the convulsions, regarded by them as proofs of divine inspiration, which were the result of their religious ecstasies (see JANSENISM). The term "Convulsionists" is sometimes applied to them, as also, more loosely, to other religious enthusiasts who exhibit the same symptoms.

CONWAY, HENRY SEYMOUR (1721-1795), English field marshal and statesman, was the second son of Francis Seymour, of Ragley, Warwickshire, who took the name of Conway on succeeding to the estates of the earl of Conway in 1699 and was created Baron Conway in 1703 (see SEYMOUR or ST MAUR). Henry Seymour Conway's elder brother, Francis, 2nd Baron Conway, was created marquess of Hertford in 1793; his mother was a sister of Sir Robert Walpole's wife, and he was therefore first cousin to Horace Walpole, with whom he was on terms of intimate friendship throughout his life. Having entered the army at an early age, Conway was elected to the Irish parliament in 1741 as member for Antrim, which he continued to represent for twenty years; in the same year he became a member of the English House of Commons, sitting for Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire, and he remained in parliament, representing successively a number of different constituencies, almost without interruption for more than forty years. Meantime he saw much service in the army abroad, where he served with conspicuous bravery and not without distinction. In 1745 he became aide-de-camp to the duke of Cumberland in Germany, and was present at Fontenoy; in the following year he had command of a regiment at Culloden. In 1755 he went to Ireland as secretary to the lord-lieutenant, a position which he held for one year only; and on his return to England he received a court appointment, having already been promoted major-general. In 1757 he was associated with Sir John Mordaunt in command of an abortive expedition against Rochfort, the complete failure of which brought Conway into discredit and involved him in a pamphlet controversy. In 1759 he became lieutenant-general, and served under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick in the campaigns of 1761-1763. Returning to England he took part in the debates in parliament on the Wilkes case, in which he opposed the views of the court, speaking strongly against the legality of general warrants. His conduct in this matter highly incensed the king, who insisted on Conway being deprived of his military command as well as of his appointment in the royal household. His dismissal along with other officers was the occasion of another paper controversy in which Conway was defended by Horace Walpole, and gave rise to much constitutional dispute as to the right of the king to remove military officers for their conduct in parliament--a right that was tacitly abandoned by the Crown when the Rockingham ministry of 1765 reinstated the officers who had been removed.

In this ministry Conway took office as secretary of state, with the leadership of the House of Commons. In the dispute with the American colonies his sympathies were with the latter, and in 1766 he carried the repeal of the Stamp Act. When in July of that year Rockingham gave place to Chatham, Conway retained his office; and when Chatham became incapacitated by illness he tamely acquiesced in Townshend's reversal of the American policy which he himself had so actively furthered in the previous administration. In January 1768, offended by the growing influence of the Bedford faction which joined the government, Conway resigned the seals of office, though he was persuaded by the king to remain a member of the cabinet and "Minister of the House of Commons." When, however, Lord North became premier in 1770, Conway resigned from the cabinet and was appointed to the command of the royal regiment of horse guards; and in 1772 he became governor of Jersey, the island being twice invaded by the French during his tenure of command. In 1780 and 1781 he took an active part in opposition to Lord North's American policy, and it was largely as the result of his motion on the 22nd of February in the latter year, demanding the cessation of the war against the colonies, when the ministerial majority was reduced to one, that Lord North resigned office. In the Rockingham government that followed General Conway became commander-in-chief with a seat in the cabinet; and he retained office under Shelburne when Rockingham died a few months later. On Pitt's elevation to the premiership, Conway supported Fox in opposition; but after the dissolution of parliament in 1784 he retired from political life. He was made field marshal in 1793, and died at Henley-on-Thames on the 9th of July 1795. Conway married in 1747 Caroline, daughter of General Campbell (afterwards duke of Argyll), and widow of the earl of Aylesbury. He had one daughter, Anne, who married John Darner, son of Lord Milton, and who inherited a life interest in Strawberry Hill under the will of Horace Walpole.

Conway was personally one of the most popular men of his day. He was handsome, conciliatory and agreeable, and a man of refined taste and untarnished honour. As a soldier he was a dashing officer, but a poor general. He was weak, vacillating and ineffective as a politician, lacking in judgment and decision, and without any great parliamentary talent. In his later years he dabbled in literature and the drama, and interested himself in arboriculture in his retirement at Henley-on-Thames.

See Horace Walpole, _Letters_, edited by P. Cunningham (9 vols.,
London, 1857), many of the letters being addressed to Conway; _Memoirs
of the Last Ten years of the Reign of George II._ (2 vols., London,
1822); _Memoirs of the Reign of George III._, edited by Sir D. le
Marchant (4 vols., London, 1845); _Journal of the Reign of George
III._, 1771-1783 (2 vols., London, 1859). See also the duke of
Buckingham and Chandos, _Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George
III._ (4 vols., London, 1853). Much information about Conway will also
be found in the biographies of his leading contemporaries, Rockingham,
Shelburne, Chatham, Pitt and Fox. (R. J. M.)

CONWAY, HUGH, the nom-de-plume of FREDERICK JOHN FARGUS (1847-1885), English novelist, who was born at Bristol on the 26th of December 1847, the son of an auctioneer. He was intended for his father's business, but at the age of thirteen joined the training-ship "Conway" in the Mersey. In deference to his father's wishes, however, he gave up the idea of becoming a sailor, and returned to Bristol, where he was articled to a firm of accountants till on his father's death in 1868 he took over the family business. While a clerk he had written the words for various songs, adopting the nom-de-plume Hugh Conway in memory of his days on the training-ship. Mr Arrowsmith, the Bristol printer and publisher, took an interest in his work, and Fargus's first short story appeared in _Arrowsmith's Miscellany_. In 1883 Fargus published through Arrowsmith his first long story, _Called Back_, of which over 350,000 copies were sold within four years. A dramatic version of this book was produced in London in 1884, and in this year Fargus published another story, _Dark Days_. Ordered to the Riviera for his health, he caught typhoid fever, and died at Monte Carlo on the 15th of May 1885. Several other books from his pen appeared posthumously, notably _A Family Affair_.

CONWAY, MONCURE DANIEL (1832-1907), American clergyman and author, was born of an old Virginia family in Stafford county, Virginia, on the 17th of March 1832. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1849, studied law for a year, and then became a Methodist minister in his native state. In 1852, owing largely to the influence of Ralph Waldo Emerson, his religious and political views underwent a radical change, and he entered the Harvard Divinity School, where he graduated in 1854. Here he fell under the influence of "transcendentalism," and became an outspoken abolitionist. On his return to Virginia this fact and his rumoured connexion with the attempt to rescue the fugitive slave, Anthony Burns, in Boston aroused the bitter hostility of his old neighbours and friends, and in consequence he left the state. In 1854-1856 he was pastor of a Unitarian church at Washington, D.C., but his anti-slavery views brought about his dismissal. From 1856 to 1861 he was a Unitarian minister in Cincinnati, Ohio, where, also, he edited a short-lived liberal periodical called _The Dial_. Subsequently he was an editor of the _Commonwealth_ in Boston, Mass., and wrote _The Rejected Stone_ (1861) and _The Golden Hour_ (1862), both powerful pleas for emancipation. In 1862-1863, during the Civil War, he lectured in England in behalf of the North. From 1863 to 1884 he was the minister of the South Place chapel, Finsbury, London; and during this time wrote frequently for the London press. In 1884 he returned to the United States to devote himself to literary work. In addition to those above mentioned, his publications include _Tracts for To-day_ (1858), _The Natural History of the Devil_ (1859), _Testimonies Concerning Slavery_ (1864), _The Earthward Pilgrimage_ (1870), _Republican Superstitions_ (1872), _Idols and Ideals_ (1871), _Demonology and Devil Lore_ (2 vols., 1878), _A Necklace of Stories_ (1879), _Thomas Carlyle_ (1881), _The Wandering Jew_ (1881), _Emerson at Home and Abroad_ (1882), _Pine and Palm_ (2 vols., 1887), _Life and Papers of Edmund Randolph_ (1888), _The Life of Thomas Paine_ with an unpublished sketch of Paine by William Cobbett (2 vols., 1892), _Solomon and Solomonic Literature_ (1899), his _Autobiography_ (2 vols., 1900), and _My Pilgrimage to the Wise Men of the East_ (1906). Conway died on the 15th of November 1907.

CONWAY, SIR WILLIAM MARTIN (1856- ), English art critic and mountaineer, son of the Rev. William Conway, afterwards canon of Westminster, was born at Rochester, and was educated at Repton and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He became interested in early printing and engraving, and in 1880 made a tour of the principal libraries of Europe in pursuit of his studies, the result appearing in 1884 as a _History of the Woodcutters of the Netherlands in the Fifteenth Century_. His later works on art included _Early Flemish Artists_ (1887); _The Literary Remains of Albrecht Durer_ (1889); _The Dawn of Art in the Ancient World_ (1891), dealing with Chaldaean, Assyrian and Egyptian art; _Early Tuscan Artists_ (1902). From 1884 to 1887 he was professor of art at University College, Liverpool; and in 1901-1904 he was Slade professor of the fine arts at Cambridge. He was knighted in 1895. Sir Martin Conway early became a member of the Alpine Club, of which he was president from 1902 to 1904. In 1892 he beat the climbing record by ascending to a height of 23,000 ft. in the Himalayas in the course of an exploring and mountaineering expedition undertaken under the auspices of the Royal Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the British Association. In 1896-1897 he explored the interior of Spitsbergen, and in the next year he explored and surveyed the Bolivian Andes, climbing Sorata (21,500 ft.) and Illimani (21,200 ft.). He also ascended Aconcagua (23,080 ft.) and explored Tierra del Fuego. At the Paris exhibition of 1900 he received the gold medal for mountain surveys, and the founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1905. His expeditions are described in his _Climbing and Exploration in the Kara-Koram Himalayas_ (1894), _The Alps from End to End_ (1895), _The First Crossing of Spitsbergen_ (1897), _The Bolivian Andes_ (1901), &c.; _No Man's Land, a History of Spitsbergen from ... 1596 ..._ was published in 1906.

CONWAY (_Conwy_, or _Aberconwy_), a municipal borough in the Arfon parliamentary division of Carnarvonshire, N. Wales, 14 m. by the London & North-Western railway from Bangor, and 225 m. N.W. from London. Pop. (1901) 4681. The town is enclosed by a high wall, roughly triangular, about 1 m. round, with twenty-one dilapidated round towers, pierced by three principal gateways with two strong towers. The castle in the south-east angle, built in 1284 by Edward I., was inhabited, in 1389, by Richard II., who here agreed to abdicate. Held for Charles I. by Archbishop Williams, it was taken by General Mytton in 1646. Dismantled by the new proprietor, Earl Conway, it remains a ruin. It is oblong, with eight massive towers, and has, within, a hall 130 ft. in length, known as Llewelyn's. The parliamentary borough of Conway, returning, with five other towns, one member, extends over to the right bank of the stream Conwy (Conway). In 1885 the mayor of Conway was made a constable. Llandudno with Great and Little Orme's Heads are at some 4 m. distance. Two bridges, a tubular for the railway (40 ft. shorter than that of the Menai) and a suspension, designed by Stephenson (1846-1848) and Telford (1822-1826) respectively, cross the stream. St Mary's church is Gothic; the Elizabethan Plas Mawr is the _locale_ of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. There are still some fragments of the 1185 Cistercian Abbey. There are golf links here and at Llandudno. The Conwy stream, on which a steamboat runs from Deganwy (2 m. below Conway town) to Trefriw, opposite Llanrwst, in summer, has some coasting trade in sulphur and slates. It is about 30 m. long, its valley (a haunt of artists) containing the towns last mentioned and Bettws y coed. Its pearls are mentioned in Drayton's _Polyolbion_ and Spenser's _Faerie Queene_. Pearl fisheries existed at Conway for many centuries, dating back to the Roman occupation. Tacitus, _Agricola_, 12, says of Britain "gignit et Oceanus margarita, sed subfusca ac liventia," as are those found to-day. Diganhwy (Dyganwy, Deganwy) is mentioned in the _Mabinogion_ (_Geraint and Enid_), if the reading is sound; it is certainly mentioned in the _Annales Cambriae_ (years 812-822) and in the _Black Book of Caerfyrddin_ (Carmarthen), xxiii. 1. Caer-hyn, 4-1/2 m. from Conway, is on the highroad from London to Holyhead, and is the _Conovium_ of the Romans. The site of the camp can still be traced, consisting of a square, strengthened by four parallel walls, extending to a distance from the main work. The camp is on a height, with the Conwy in front and a wood on each flank. At the foot of the hill, near the stream, was a Roman bath, with walls, pavement and pillars. Camden's _Britannia_ mentions tiles, with marks of the 10th or Antoninus's legion, as being found here, perhaps mistakenly. _Gleini nadroedd_ (possibly amulets) and _vitrum_ have been found here. In Bwlch y ddwy faen ("two rock ravine"), on the way to Aber, are the remains of a Roman road and antiquities.

CONYBEARE, WILLIAM DANIEL (1787-1857), dean of Llandaff, one of the most distinguished of English geologists, who was born in London on the 7th of June 1787, was a grandson of John Conybeare, bishop of Bristol (1692-1755), a notable preacher and divine, and son of Dr William Conybeare, rector of Bishopsgate. Educated first at Westminster school, he went in 1805 to Christ Church, Oxford, where in 1808 he took his degree of B.A., with a first in classics and second in mathematics, and proceeded to M.A. three years later. Having entered holy orders he became in 1814 curate of Wardington, near Banbury, and he accepted also a lectureship at Brislington near Bristol. During this period he was one of the founders of the Bristol Philosophical Institution (1822). He was rector of Sully in Glamorganshire from 1823 to 1836, and vicar of Axminster from 1836 to 1844. He was appointed Bampton lecturer in 1839, and was instituted to the deanery of Llandaff in 1845. Attracted to the study of geology by the lectures of Dr John Kidd (q.v.) he pursued the subject with ardour. As soon as he had left college he made extended journeys in Britain and on the continent, and he became one of the early members of the Geological Society. Both Buckland and Sedgwick acknowledged their indebtedness to him for instruction received when they first began to devote attention to geology. To the _Transactions of the Geological Society_ as well as to the _Annals of Philosophy_ and _Philosophical Magazine_ he contributed many geological memoirs. In 1821 he distinguished himself by the description of a skeleton of the _Plesiosaurus_, discovered by Mary Anning, and his account has been confirmed in all main points by subsequent researches. Among his most important memoirs is that on the south-western coal district of England, written in conjunction with Dr Buckland, and published in 1824. He wrote also on the valley of the Thames, on Elie de Beaumont's theory of mountain-chains, and on the great landslip which occurred near Lyme Regis in 1839 when he was vicar of Axminster. His principal work, however, is the _Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales_ (1822), being a second edition of the small work issued by William Phillips (q.v.) and written in co-operation with that author. The original contributions of Conybeare formed the principal portion of this edition, of which only Part I., dealing with the Carboniferous and newer strata, was published. It affords evidence throughout of the extensive and accurate knowledge possessed by Conybeare; and it exercised a marked influence on the progress of geology in this country. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and a corresponding member of the Institute of France. In 1844 he was awarded the Wollaston medal by the Geological Society of London. The loss of his eldest son, W. J. Conybeare, preyed on his mind and hastened his end. He died at Itchenstoke, near Portsmouth, a few months after his son, on the 12th of August 1857. (Obituary in _Gent. Mag._ Sept. 1857, p. 335.)

His elder brother JOHN JOSIAS CONYBEARE (1779-1824), also educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and an accomplished scholar, became vicar of Batheaston, and was professor of Anglo-Saxon and afterwards of poetry at Oxford. He likewise was an ardent student of geology and communicated several important papers to the _Annals of Philosophy_ and the _Transactions of the Geological Society_ of London. (Obituary in _Ann. Phil._ vol. viii., Sept. 1824, p. 162.)

CONYBEARE, WILLIAM JOHN (1815-1857), English divine, son of Dean W. D. Conybeare, was born on the 1st of August 1815, and was educated at Westminster and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected fellow in 1837. From 1842 to 1848 he was principal of the Liverpool Collegiate Institution, which he left for the vicarage of Axminster. He published _Essays, Ecclesiastical and Social_, in 1856, and a novel, _Perversion, or the Causes and Consequences of Infidelity_, but is best known as the joint author (with J. S. Howson) of _The Life and Epistles of St Paul_ (1851). He died at Weybridge in 1857.

COODE, SIR JOHN (1816-1892), English engineer, was born at Bodmin, Cornwall, on the 11th of November 1816, the son of a solicitor. After considerable experience as an engineer in the west of England he came to London, and from 1844-1847 had a consulting practice in Westminster. In the latter year he was appointed resident engineer in charge of the extensive national harbour works at Portland then in progress. In 1856 he was appointed engineer-in-chief of this undertaking, and this post he retained till the completion of the works in 1872. His services at Portland were rewarded with a knighthood. He was now recognized as the leading authority on harbour construction, and his advice was sought by many of the colonial governments, especially by those of South Africa and Australia, and by the Indian government. After the Portland harbour his best-known work is the harbour of Colombo, Ceylon. He was made a K.C.M.G. in 1886. From 1884 till his death he was a member of the Suez Canal Commission, and from 1889-1891 president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He died at Brighton on the 2nd of March 1892.

COOK, ALBERT STANBURROUGH (1853- ), American scholar, was born on the 6th of March 1853 in Montville, Morris county, New Jersey. He graduated at Rutgers College in 1872, and also studied at Gottingen and Leipzig (1877-1878), and, after spending the years 1879-1881 as associate in English at Johns Hopkins University, in London, and under Sievers at Jena, he became in 1882 professor of English in the University of California, and in 1889 professor of English language and literature in Yale University. He re-organized the teaching of English in the state of California, and edited many texts for reading in secondary schools; but he is best known for his work in Old English and in poetics. He translated, edited, and revised Sievers' _Old English Grammar_ (1885), edited _Judith_ (1888), _The Christ of Cynewulf_ (1900), _Asser's Life of King Alfred_ (1905), and _The Dream of the Rood_ (1905), and prepared _A First Book in Old English Grammar_ (1894). He also edited, with annotations, _Sidney's Defense of Poesie_ (1890); _Shelley's Defense of Poetry_ (1891); _Newman's Poetry_ (1891); _Addison's Criticisms on Paradise Lost_ (1892); _The Art of Poetry_ (1892), being the essays of Horace, Vida and Boileau; and _Leigh Hunt's What is Poetry_ (1893); and published _Higher Study of English_ (1906).

COOK, EDWARD DUTTON (1829-1883), English dramatic critic and author, was born in London on the 30th of January 1829, the son of a solicitor. He was educated at King's College school, London, and, after four years in his father's office, obtained a situation in the London office of a railway company, at first utilizing only his spare time in literary work, but eventually devoting himself entirely to literature. He was dramatic critic of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ from 1867 to 1875, and of the _World_ from 1875 till his death. He also wrote freely on art topics, and was the author of several novels. He died in London on the 11th of September 1883.