Chapter IV: Concerning the infallible teaching of the Roman (14)

"On the morning of the 10th of January, 1840, the people of
the United Kingdom rose in the possession of a new power—the
power of sending by the post a letter not weighing more than
half an ounce upon the prepayment of one penny, and this
without any regard to the distance which the letter had to
travel. … To the sagacity and the perseverance of one man, the
author of this system, the high praise is due, not so much
that he triumphed over the petty jealousies and selfish fears
of the post-office authorities, but that he established his
own convictions against the doubts of some of the ablest and
most conscientious leaders of public opinion. … Mr. Rowland
Hill in 1837 published his plan of a cheap and uniform
postage. A Committee of the House of Commons was appointed in
1837, which, continued its inquiries throughout the session of
1838, and arrived at the conviction that 'the mode recommended
of charging and collecting postage, in a pamphlet published by
Mr. Rowland Hill,' was feasible, and deserving of a trial
under legislative sanction. … Lord Ashburton, although an
advocate of Post-office Reform, held that the reduction to a
penny would wholly destroy the revenue. Lord Lowther, the
Postmaster-General, thought twopence the smallest rate that
would cover the expenses.
{2581}
Colonel Maberly, the secretary to the post office, considered
Mr. Hill's plan a most preposterous one, and maintained that
if the rates were to be reduced to a penny, the revenue would
not recover itself for forty or fifty years. … Public opinion,
however, had been brought so strongly to bear in favour of a
penny rate, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Spring
Rice, on the 5th of July, 1839, proposed a resolution, 'that
it is expedient to reduce the postage on letters to one
uniform rate of a penny postage, according to a certain amount
of weight to be determined—that the parliamentary privilege
of franking should be abolished, and that official franking be
strictly limited—the House pledging itself to make good any
deficiency that may occur in the revenue from such reduction
of the postage.' A Bill was accordingly passed to this effect
in the House of Commons, its operation being limited in its
duration to one year, and the Treasury retaining the power of
fixing the rates at first, although the ultimate reduction was
to be to one penny. This experimental measure reduced all
rates above fourpence to that sum, leaving those below
fourpence unaltered. With this complication of charge the
experiment could not have a fair trial, and accordingly on the
10th of January, 1840, the uniform half-ounce rate became by
order of the Treasury one penny. … In 1840 the number of
letters sent through the post had more than doubled, and the
legislature had little hesitation in making the Act of 1839
permanent, instead of its duration being limited to the year
which would expire in October. A stamped envelope, printed
upon a peculiar paper, and bearing an elaborate design, was
originally chosen as the mode of rendering prepayment
convenient to the sender of a letter. A simpler plan soon
superseded this attempt to enlist the Fine Arts in a plain
business operation. The plan of prepaying letters by affixing
a stamp bearing the head of the ruler of the country, came
into use here in May, 1840 [see, also, ENGLAND: A. D. 1840].
The habit of prepayment by postage stamps has now become so
universal throughout the world, that in 1861 the system was
established in eighty different countries or colonies."

_C. Knight,
Popular History of England,
volume 8, chapter 24._

The first postal system in the American colonies was privately
established in New England in 1676, by John Heyward, under
authority from the General Court of the colony of
Massachusetts. "In 1683 the government of Penn established a
postal system for the Colony of Pennsylvania. In 1700 Colonel
J. Hamilton organized 'his postal establishment for British
America' including all the English colonies, but soon after
disposed of his right to the English crown. In 1710 the
English Parliament established by law the first governmental
postal system with the general office at New York, which
continued until in 1776 the Continental Congress adopted and
set in action the postal system proposed by Franklin, who was
appointed the first Postmaster General. The first law of the
Federal Congress continued this system in operation as
sufficient for the public wants, but the postal service was
not finally settled until the act of 1792. This law (1792)
fixed a tariff which with unimportant changes remained in
force until the adoption of the system of Uniform Postage in
the United States. Single, double and triple letters were
charged 8, 16 and 24 cents respectively when sent to other
countries, and four cents plus the internal postage when
arriving from foreign countries. The internal postage between
offices in the United States was 6, 8, 10, 15, 17, 20, 22 and
25 cents for distances of 30, 60, 100, 150, 200, 250, 350, or
400 miles respectively for single letters, and double, triple,
etc., this for double, triple, etc. letters. A single letter
was defined by the law to be a single sheet or piece of paper,
a double letter, two sheets or pieces of paper, etc. … The
earliest letters which we have seen, consist of single sheets
of paper folded and addressed upon the sheet. An envelope
would have subjected them to double postage."

_J. K. Tiffany,
History of the Postage Stamps,
introduction._

By an act of March 3, 1845, the postage rates in the United
States were reduced to two—namely, 5 cents for 300 miles or
under, and 10 cents for longer distances. Six years later
(March 3, 1851) the minimum rate for half an ounce became 3
cents (if prepaid) with the distance covered by it extended to
3,000 miles; if not prepaid, 5 cents. For distances beyond
3,000 miles, these rates were doubled. In 1856 prepayment was
made compulsory; and by an act signed March 3, 1863, the 3
cent rate for half–ounce letters was extended to all distances
in the United States.

_J. Rees,
Footprints of a Letter-Carrier,
page 264._

In 1883 the rate in the United States was reduced to 2 cents
for all distances, on letters not exceeding half an ounce. In
1885 the weight of a letter transmissible for 2 cents was
increased to one ounce. The use of postage stamps was first
introduced in the United States under an act of Congress
passed in March, 1847. Stamped envelopes were first provided
in 1853. The first issue of postal cards was on the 1st of
May, 1873, under an act approved June 8, 1872. The registry
system was adopted July 1, 1855. Free delivery of letters in
the larger cities was first undertaken on the 1st of July
1863.

_D. M. Dickinson,
Progress and the Post
(North American Review, October, 1889)._

ALSO IN:
_Annual Report of the Postmaster-General
of the United States, 1893,
pages 543-558
(Description of all Postage Stamps and
Postal Cards issued)._

POSTAL MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM, The.

The postal money-order system, though said to be older in
practical existence, was regularly instituted and organized in
England, in its present form, in 1859. It was adopted in the
United States five years later, going into operation in
November, 1864.

_D. M. Dickinson,
Progress and the Post
(North American Review, October, 1889)._

ALSO IN:
_Appleton's Annual Cyclopœdia, 1887,
page 687._

POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS.

Postal savings banks were first brought into operation in
England in 1861. "One shilling is the smallest sum that can be
deposited. The Government has, however, … issued blank forms
with spaces for twelve penny postage-stamps, and will receive
one of these forms with twelve stamps affixed as a deposit.
This plan was suggested by the desire to encourage habits of
saving among children, and by the success of penny banks in
connection with schools and mechanics' institutes. No one can
deposit more than £30 in one year, or have to his credit more
than £150 exclusive of interest. When the principal and
interest together amount to £200, interest ceases until the
amount has been reduced below £200.
{2582}
Interest at two and a half per cent is paid, beginning the
first of the month following the deposit and stopping the last
of the month preceding the withdrawal, but no interest is paid
on any sum less than a pound or not a multiple of a pound. The
interest is added to the principal on the 31st of December of
each year. … The English colonies … have established postal
savings-banks of a similar character. … The Canadian system …
went into operation in 1868. … Influenced by the success of
the English system of postal savings-banks, the governments on
the Continent of Europe have now nearly all made similar
provisions for the investment of the surplus earnings of the
people. The Italian system … went into operation February 20,
1876. … In France the proposal to establish postal
savings-banks was frequently discussed, but not adopted until
March 1881, although the ordinary savings-banks had for
several years been allowed to use the post-offices as places
for the receipt and repayment of deposits. … The Austrian
postal savings-banks were first opened January 12, 1883. … The
Belgian system has been [1885] in successful operation for
more than fifteen years; that of the Netherlands was
established some three years ago; while Sweden has just
followed her neighbors, Denmark and Norway, in establishing
similar institutions. In 1871 Postmaster-General Creswel
recommended the establishment of postal savings depositories
in connection with the United States post-offices, and two
years later he discussed the subject very fully in his annual
report. Several of his successors have renewed his
recommendation;" but no action has been taken by Congress.

_D. B. King,
Postal Savings-Banks
(Popular Science Monthly, December, 1885)._

POSTAL TELEGRAPH, The.

"The States of the continent of Europe were the first to
appreciate the advantages of governmental control of the
telegraph. … From the beginning they assumed the erection and
management of the telegraph lines. It may be said that in
taking control of the telegraphs the monarchical governments
of the Old World were actuated as much by the desire to use
them for the maintenance of authority as by the advantages
which they offered for the service of the people. To a certain
extent this is doubtless true, but it is none the less true
that the people have reaped the most solid benefits, and that
the tendency has been rather to liberalize government than to
maintain arbitrary power. … The greatest progress and the best
management have alike been shown in those countries where the
forms of government are most liberal, as in Switzerland and
Belgium. … In Great Britain the telegraph was at first
controlled by private parties. … In July, 1868, an act was
passed 'to enable Her Majesty's Postmaster-General to acquire,
work, and maintain electric telegraphs.' … The rate for
messages was fixed throughout the kingdom at one shilling for
twenty words, excluding the address and signature. This rate
covered delivery within one mile of the office of address, or
within its postal delivery." The lines of the existing
telegraph companies were purchased on terms which were
commonly held to be exorbitant, and Parliament, changing its
original intention, conferred on the post-office department a
monopoly of the telegraphs. Thus "the British postal telegraph
was from the first handicapped by an enormous interest charge,
and to some extent by the odium which always attaches to a
legal monopoly. But notwithstanding the exorbitant price paid
for the telegraph, the investment has not proved an
unprofitable one."

_N. P. Hill,
Speech in the Senate of the United States,
January 14, 1884, on a Bill to Establish Postal Telegraphs,
("Speeches and Papers," pages 200-215)._

POSTAL UNION, The.

The Postal Union, which now embraces most of the civilized and
semi-civilized countries of the world, was formed originally
by a congress of delegates, representing the principal
governments of Europe, and the United States of America, which
assembled at Berne, Switzerland, in September, 1874. A treaty
was concluded at that time, which established uniform rates of
postage (25 centimes, or 5 cents, on half-ounce letters),
between the countries becoming parties to it, and opening the
opportunity for other states to join in the same arrangement.
From year to year since, the Postal Union has been widened by
the accession of new signatories to the treaty, until very few
regions of the globe where any postal system exists lie now
outside of it. The late accessions to the Postal Union have
been North Borneo, the German East African Protectorate, and
the British Australasian Colonies, in 1801; Natal and
Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1802; the South African Republic
(Transvaal) in 1803. By the action of an international postal
congress, held at Vienna, in 1801, a kind of international
clearing-house for the Postal Union was established at Berne,
Switzerland, and the settlement of accounts between its
members has been greatly facilitated thereby.

POSTUMIAN ROAD.

One of the great roads of the ancient Romans. It led from
Genoa to Aquileia, by way of Placentia, Cremona and Verona.

_T. Mommsen,
History of Rome,
book 4, chapter 11._

POTESTAS.

The civil power with which a Roman magistrate was invested was
technically termed potestas.

_W. Ramsay,
Manual of Roman Antiquity.,
chapter 5._

POTESTAS TRIBUNITIA, The.

The powers and prerogatives of the ancient tribunitian office,
without the office itself, being conferred upon Augustus and
his successors, became the most important element, perhaps, of
the finally compacted sovereignty of the Roman emperors.

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 30._

POTIDÆA, Siege of.

The city of Potidæa, a Corinthian colony founded on the long
peninsula of Pallene which projects from the Macedonian coast,
but which had become subject to Athens, revolted from the
latter B. C. 432, and was assisted by the Corinthians. This
was among the quarrels which led up to the Peloponnesian War.
The Athenians reduced the city and expelled the inhabitants
after a siege of three years.

_Thucydides,
History,
books 1-2._

See, also, GREECE: B. C. 432;
and ATHENS: B. C. 430-429.

POTOMAC, Army of the:
Its creation and its campaigns.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1861 (JULY-NOVEMBER); 1862 (MARCH-JULY), and after.

POTOSI, The Spanish province of.
Modern Bolivia.

See ARGENTINE REPUBLIC: A. D. 1580-1777.

{2583}

POTTAWATOMIES.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY, AND OJIBWAS.

POUNDAGE.

See TUNNAGE AND POUNDAGE.

POWHATANS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: POWHATAN CONFEDERACY.

POYNING'S ACTS.

See IRELAND: A. D. 1494.

PRÆFECTS. PREFECTS. PRÉFÊTS.

See ROME: B. C. 31-A. D. 14;
and PRÆTORIAN PRÆFECTS.

PRÆMUNIRE, Statute of.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1306-1393.

PRÆNESTE, Sulla's capture of.

Præneste, the ancient city of the Latins, held against Sulla,
in the first civil war, by young Marius, was surrendered after
the battle at the Colline Gate of Rome. Sulla ordered the male
inhabitants to be put to the sword and gave up the town to his
soldiers for pillage.

_W. Ihne,
History of Rome,
book 7, chapter 19._

PRÆNOMEN. NOMEN. COGNOMEN.

See GENS.

PRÆTOR.

See ROME: B. C. 366.

----------PRÆTORIANS: Start--------

PRÆTORIAN GUARDS. PRÆTORIANS.

"The commander–in-chief of a Roman army was attended by a
select detachment, which, under the name of 'Cohors
Praetoria,' remained closely attached to his person in the
field, ready to execute his orders, and to guard him from any
sudden attack. … Augustus, following his usual line of policy,
retained the ancient name of 'Praetoriae Cohortes,' while he
entirely changed their character. He levied in Etruria,
Umbria, ancient Latium, and the old Colonies, nine or ten
Cohorts, consisting of a thousand men each, on whom he
bestowed double pay and superior privileges. These formed a
permanent corps, who acted as the Imperial Life Guards, ready
to overawe the Senate, and to suppress any sudden popular
commotion."

_W. Ramsay,
Manual of Roman Antiquity,
chapter 12._

The Prætorian Guard had been quartered, during the reign of
Augustus, and during the early years of the reign of Tiberius,
in small barracks at various points throughout the city, or in
the neighboring towns. Sejanus, the intriguing favorite of
Tiberius, being commander of the formidable corps, established
it in one great permanent camp, "beyond the north-eastern
angle of the city, and between the roads which sprang from the
Viminal and Colline gates." This was done A. D. 23.

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 45._

See, also, ROME: A. D. 14-37.

PRÆTORIANS: A. D. 41.
Their elevation of Claudius to the throne.

See ROME: A. D. 41.

PRÆTORIANS: A. D. 193.
Murder of Pertinax and sale of the empire.

See ROME: A. D. 192-284.

PRÆTORIANS: A. D. 193.
Reconstitution by Severus.

Severus, whose first act on reaching Rome had been to disarm
and disband the insolent Guard which murdered Pertinax and
sold the empire to Julianus, had no thought of dispensing with
the institution. There was soon in existence a new
organization of Prætorians, increased to four times the
ancient number and picked from all the legions of the
frontiers.

_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 5._

PRÆTORIANS: A. D. 238.
Murder of Balbinus and Pupienus.

See ROME: A. D. 192-284.

PRÆTORIANS: A. D. 312.
Abolition by Constantine.

"By the prudent measures of Diocletian, the numbers of the
Prætorians were insensibly reduced, their privileges
abolished, and their place supplied by two faithful legions of
Illyricum, who, under the new titles of Jovians and
Herculians, were appointed to perform the service of the
imperial guards. … They were old corps stationed at Illyricum;
and, according to the ancient establishment, they each
consisted of 6,000 men. They had acquired much reputation by
the use of the plumbatæ, or darts loaded with lead."

_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 13, with foot-note._

Restored and augmented by Maxentius, during his brief reign,
the Prætorians were finally abolished and their fortified camp
destroyed, by Constantine, after his victory in the civil war
of A. D. 312.

_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 13._

----------PRÆTORIANS: End--------

PRÆTORIAN PRÆFECTS.

"As the government degenerated into military despotism, the
Prætorian præfect, who in his origin had been a simple captain
of the guards, was placed not only at the head of the army,
but of the finances, and even of the law. In every department
of administration he represented the person, and exercised the
authority, of the emperor. The first præfect who enjoyed and
abused this immense power was Plautianus, the favourite
minister of Severus. … They [the Prætorian præfects) were
deprived by Constantine of all military command as soon as
they had ceased to lead into the field, under their immediate
orders, the flower of the Roman troops; and at length, by a
singular revolution, the captains of the guards were
transformed into the civil magistrates of the provinces.
According to the plan of government instituted by Diocletian,
the four princes had each their Prætorian præfect; and, after
the monarchy was once more united in the person of
Constantine, he still continued to create the same number of
four præfects, and intrusted to their care the same provinces
which they already administered.

1. The Præfect of the East stretched his ample jurisdiction"
from the Nile to the Phasis and from Thrace to Persia.

"2. The important provinces of Pannonia, Dacia, Macedonia, and
Greece, acknowledged the authority of the Præfect of
Illyricum.

3. The power of the Præfect of Italy" extended to the Danube,
and over the islands of the Mediterranean and part of Africa.

"4. The Præfect of the Gauls comprehended under that plural
denomination the kindred provinces of Britain and Spain, and …
to the foot of Mount Atlas.

… Rome and Constantinople were alone excepted from the
jurisdiction of the Prætorian præfects. … A perfect equality
was established between the dignity of the two municipal, and
that of the four Prætorian præfects."

_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapters 5 and 17._

See, also, ROME: B. C. 31-A. D. 14.

PRÆTORIUM, The.

"In the very early days of Rome, before even Consuls had a
being, the two chief magistrates of the republic bore the
title of Praetors. Some remembrance of this fact lingering in
the speech of the people gave always to the term Prætorium
(the Praetor's house) a peculiar majesty, and caused it to be
used as the equivalent of palace. So in the well-known
passages of the New Testament, the palace of Pilate the
Governor at Jerusalem, of Herod the King at Caesarea, of Nero
the Emperor at Rome, are all called the Praetorium. From the
palace the troops who surrounded the person of the Emperor
took their well-known name, 'the Praetorian Guard.'"

_T. Hodgkin,
Italy and Her Invaders,
book 1, chapter 3 (volume 1)._

{2584}

PRAGA, Battle of (1831).

See POLAND: A. D. 1830-1832.

----------PRAGMATIC SANCTION: Start--------

PRAGMATIC SANCTION.

"No two words convey less distinct meaning to English ears
than those which form this title: nor are we at all prepared
to furnish an equivalent. Perhaps 'a well considered
Ordinance' may in some degree represent them: i. e. an
Ordinance which has been fully discussed by men practised in
State Affairs. But we are very far from either recommending or
being satisfied with such a substitute. The title was used in
the Lower [the Byzantine] Empire, and Ducange ad v. describes
'Pragmaticum Rescriptum seu Pragmatica Sanctio' to be that
which 'ad hibitâ diligente causæ cognitione, ex omnium
Procerum consensu in modum sententiæ lecto, a Principe
conceditur.'"

_E. Smedley,
History of France,
part 1, chapter 15, footnote._

"Pragmatic Sanction being, in the Imperial Chancery and some
others, the received title for Ordinances of a very
irrevocable nature, which a sovereign makes, in affairs that
belong wholly to himself, or what he reckons his own rights."

_T. Carlyle,
History of Frederick II.,
book 5, chapter 2._

"This word [pragmatic] is derived from the Greek 'pragma,'
which means 'a rule.'"

_E. de Bonnechose,
History of France,
volume 1, epoch 2, book 1, chapter 5, foot-note._

The following are the more noted ordinances which have borne
this name.

PRAGMATIC SANCTION: A. D. 1220 and 1232.
Of the Emperor Frederick II.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1250-1272.

PRAGMATIC SANCTION:A. D. 1268 (?).
Of St. Louis.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1268.

PRAGMATIC SANCTION: A. D. 1438.
Of Charles VII. of France, and its abrogation.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1438; and 1515-1518.

PRAGMATIC SANCTION:A. D. 1547.
Of the Emperor Charles V. for the Netherlands.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1547.

PRAGMATIC SANCTION: A. D. 1718.
Of the Emperor Charles VI.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1718-1738; and 1740 (OCTOBER).

----------PRAGMATIC SANCTION: End--------

----------PRAGUE: Start--------

PRAGUE: A. D. 1348-1409.
The University and the German secession.

See EDUCATION, MEDIÆVAL: GERMANY;
and BOHEMIA: A. D. 1405-1415.

PRAGUE: A. D. 1620.
Battle of the White Mountain.
Abandonment of crown and capital by Frederick.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1620.

PRAGUE: A. D. 1631.
Occupied and plundered by the Saxons.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1631-1632.

PRAGUE: A. D. 1648.
Surprise and capture of the Kleinsite by the Swedes.
Siege of the older part of the city.
The end of the Thirty Years War.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1646-1648.

PRAGUE: A. D. 1741.
Taken by the French, Saxons and Bavarians.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1741 (AUGUST-NOVEMBER).

PRAGUE: A. D. 1742.
The French blockaded in the city.
Retreat of Belleisle.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1742 (JUNE-DECEMBER).

PRAGUE: A. D. 1744.
Won and lost by Frederick the Great.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1743-1744; and 1744-1745.

PRAGUE: A. D. 1757.
Battle.
Prussian victory
Siege.
Relief by Count Daun.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1757 (APRIL-JUNE).

PRAGUE: A. D. 1848.
Bombardment by the Austrians.

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1848-1849.

----------PRAGUE: End--------

PRAGUE, Congress of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (MAY-AUGUST).

PRAGUE,
Treaty of (1634).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.

Treaty of (1866).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1866.

PRAGUERIE.

The commotions produced by John Huss, at Prague, in the
beginning of the 15th century, gave the name Praguerie, at
that period, to all sorts of popular disturbances.

PRAIRIAL, The month.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (OCTOBER)
THE NEW REPUBLICAN CALENDAR.

PRAIRIAL FIRST, The insurrection of.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1795 (APRIL).

PRAIRIAL TWENTY-SECOND, Law of the.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1794 (JUNE-JULY).

PRAIRIE GROVE, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER: MISSOURI-ARKANSAS).

PRAKRITA.

See SANSKRIT

PRATO, The horrible sack of (1512).

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1502-1569.

PRECIANI, The.

See AQUITAINE: THE ANCIENT TRIBES.

PRECIEUSES.

See RAMBOUILLET, HÔTEL DE.

PRECIOUS METALS, Production of.

See MONEY AND BANKING: 16-17TH CENTURIES, and 1848-1893.

PREFECTS. PRÉFÊTS. PRÆFECTS.

See ROME: B. C. 31-A. D. 14;
and PRÆTORIAN PRÆFECTS.

PREMIER. PRIME MINISTER.

See CABINET, THE ENGLISH.

PREMISLAUS, King of Poland, A. D. 1289-1296.

PREMONSTRATENSIAN ORDER.

This was the most important branch of the Regular Canons of
St. Augustine, founded by St. Norbert, a German nobleman, who
died in 1134. It took its name from Pre-montre, in Picardy,
where the first house was established.

_E. L. Cutts,
Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages,
chapter 3._

ALSO IN:
_J. Alzog,
Manual of Universal Church History,
section 243 (volume 2)._

See AUSTIN CANONS.

PRESBURG, OR PRESSBURG, Peace of (1805).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1805-1806.

----------PRESBYTERIANS: Start--------

PRESBYTERIANS, English,
in the Civil War.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1643 (JULY),
and (JULY-SEPTEMBER); 1646 (MARCH);
1647 (APRIL-AUGUST); (AUGUST-DECEMBER); 1648.

PRESBYTERIANS:
At the Restoration.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1658-1660; 1661; and 1662-1665.

PRESBYTERIANS:
In Colonial Massachusetts.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1646-1651.

PRESBYTERIANS:
Scotch-Irish.

See SCOTCH-IRISH.

PRESBYTERIANS:
Scottish.

See CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

----------PRESBYTERIANS: End--------

PRESCOTT, Colonel William, and the battle of Bunker Hill.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (JUNE).

{2585}

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

"The executive power shall be vested in a President of the
United States of America. He shall hold his office during the
term of four years, and, together with the Vice-President,
chosen for the same term, be elected as follows: Each State
shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may
direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of
Senators and Representatives to which the State may be
entitled in the Congress [and these electors, meeting in their
respective States, shall vote for President and
Vice-President, transmitting certified lists of their votes to
the President of the Senate of the United States, who shall
count them in the presence of the two Houses of Congress; and
if no person is elected President by a majority of all the
votes cast, then the House of Representatives shall elect a
President from the three persons who received the highest
numbers of the votes cast by the electors, the representation
from each State having one vote in such election]. … No person
except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United
States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall
be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any
person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained
to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a
resident within the United States. … The President shall be
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States,
and of the militia of the several States, when called into the
actual service of the United States; he may require the
opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the
executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties
of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant
reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States,
except in cases of impeachment. He shall have power, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties,
provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he
shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and
consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers
of the United States whose appointments are not herein
otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law;
but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such
inferior officers as they think proper in the President alone,
in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. The
President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting
commissions which shall expire at the end of their next
session. He shall from time to time give to the Congress
information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their
consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both
houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between
them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn
them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive
ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care
that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all
the officers of the United States. The President,
Vice-President, and all civil officers of the United States,
shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and
conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and
misdemeanors."

_Constitution of the United States,
article 2, and article 12 of amendments._

The provisions of the Constitution regarding the Presidential
succession, in case of the death or resignation of both
President and Vice-President, are: 'In case of the removal of
the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or
inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said
office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the
Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death,
resignation, or inability both of the President and
Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as
President, and such officer shall act accordingly until the
disability be removed or a President shall be elected.'

_(Article II, Section 6.)_

In pursuance of the power thus granted to it in the last half
of this section, Congress in 1792 passed an act declaring that
in case of the death, resignation, etc., of both the President
and Vice-President, the succession should be first to the
President of the Senate and then to the Speaker of the House.
This order was changed by the act of 1886, which provided that
the succession to the presidency should be as follows:

1. President.
2. Vice-President.
3. Secretary of State.
4. Secretary of the Treasury.
5. Secretary of War.
6. Attorney General.
7. Postmaster General.
8. Secretary of the Navy.
9. Secretary of the Interior.

In all cases the remainder of the four-years' term shall be
served out. This act also regulated the counting of the votes
of the electors by Congress, and the determination of who were
legally chosen electors.

_Statutes of the United States passed at 1st Session
of 49th Congress, page 1._

ALSO IN:
_E. Stanwood,
History of Presidential Elections,
chapter 27._

_J. Story,
Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States,
book 3, chapters 36-37 (volume 3)._

_The Federalist,
numbers 66-76._

_J. Bryce,
The American Commonwealth,
chapters 5-8 (volume 1)._

PRESIDIO.

See TEXAS: A. D. 1819-1835

PRESS, The.

See PRINTING.

PRESSBURG, or PRESBURG, Treaty of (1805).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1805-1800.

PRESS-GANG.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1812.

PRESTER JOHN, The Kingdom of.

"About the middle of the eleventh century stories began to be
circulated in Europe as to a Christian nation of north-eastern
Asia, whose sovereign was at the same time king and priest,
and was known by the name of Prester John. Amid the mass of
fables with which the subject is encumbered, it would seem to
be certain that, in the very beginning of the century, the
Khan of the Keraït, a tribe whose chief seat was at Karakorum,
between Lake Baikal and the northern frontier of China, was
converted to Nestorian Christianity—it is said, through the
appearance of a saint to him when he had lost his way in
hunting. By means of conversation with Christian merchants, he
acquired some elementary knowledge of the faith, and, on the
application of Ebed-Jesu, metropolitan of Maru, to the
Nestorian patriarch Gregory, clergy were sent, who baptized
the king and his subjects, to the number of 200,000. Ebed-Jesu
consulted the patriarch how the fasts were to be kept, since
the country did not afford any corn, or anything but flesh and
milk; and the answer was, that, if no other Lenten provisions
were to be had, milk should be the only diet for seasons of
abstinence. The earliest western notice of this nation is
given by Otho of Freising, from the relation of an Armenian
bishop who visited the court of pope Eugenius III. This report
is largely tinctured with fable, and deduces the Tartar
chief's descent from the Magi who visited the Saviour in His
cradle.
{2586}
It would seem that the Nestorians of Syria, for the sake of
vying with the boasts of the Latins, delighted in inventing
tales as to the wealth, the splendour, and the happiness of
their convert's kingdom; and to them is probably to be
ascribed an extravagantly absurd letter, in which Prester John
is made to dilate on the greatness and the riches of his
dominions, the magnificence of his state and the beauty of his
wives, and to offer the Byzantine emperor, Manuel, if he be of
the true faith, the office of lord chamberlain in the court of
Karakorum. In 1177 Alexander III. was induced by reports which
a physician named Philip had brought back from Tartary, as to
Prester John's desire to be received into communion with the
pope, to address a letter to the king, recommending Philip as
a religions instructor. But nothing is known as to the result
of this; and in 1202 the Keraït kingdom was overthrown by the
Tartar conqueror Genghis Khan. In explanation of the story as
to the union of priesthood with royalty in Prester John, many
theories have been proposed, of which two may be mentioned
here: that it arose out of the fact of a Nestorian priest's
having got possession of the kingdom on the death of a khan;
or that, the Tartar prince's title being compounded of the
Chinese 'wang' (king) and the Mongol 'khan,' the first of
these words was confounded by the Nestorians of Syria with the
name John, and the second with 'cohen' (a priest). … The
identification of Prester John's kingdom with Abyssinia was a
mistake of Portuguese explorers some centuries later."

_J. C. Robertson,
History of the Christian Church,
book 6, chapter 11, with foot-note (volume 5)._

ALSO IN:
_Colonel H. Yule,
Note to 'The Book of Marco Polo,'
volume 1, pages 204-209._

PRESTON,
Battle of (1648).

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1648 (APRIL-AUGUST).

Battle of (1715).

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1715.

PRESTON PANS, Battle of (1745).

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1745-1746.

PRESTONBURG, Battle of.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1862 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY: KENTUCKY-TENNESSEE).

PRETAXATION.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1125-1152.

PRETENDERS, The Stuart.

See JACOBITES.

PRICE'S RAID.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1864 (MARCH-OCTOBER: ARKANSAS-MISSOURI).

PRIDE'S PURGE.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1648 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER).

PRIEST'S LANE, The.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1631-1632.

PRIM, General, Assassination of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1866-1873.

PRIMATES. METROPOLITANS. PATRIARCHS.

In the early organization of the Christian Church, the bishops
of every province found it necessary "to make one of
themselves superior to all the rest, and invest him with
certain powers and privileges for the good of the whole, whom
they therefore named their primate, or metropolitan, that is,
the principal bishop of the province. … Next in order to the
metropolitans or primates were the patriarchs; or, as they
were at first called, archbishops and exarchs of the diocese.
For though now an archbishop and a metropolitan be generally
taken for the same, to wit, the primate of a single province;
yet anciently the name archbishop was a more extensive title,
and scarce given to any but those whose jurisdiction extended
over a whole imperial diocese, as the bishop of Rome,
Alexandria, Antioch, &c."

_T. Bingham,
Antiquities of the Christian Church,
book 2, chapters 16-17 (volume 1)._

See, also, CHRISTIANITY; A. D. 312-337.

PRIME MINISTER, The English.

See CABINET, THE ENGLISH.

PRINCE, Origin of the title.

See PRINCEPS SENATUS.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

"Prince Edward's Island, the smallest province of the Dominion
[of Canada], originally called St. John's Island, until 1770
formed part of Nova Scotia. The first Governor was Walter
Patterson. … The first assembly met in 1773." In 1873 Prince
Edward Island consented to be received into the Confederation
of the Dominion of Canada—the latest of the provinces to
accede to the Union, except Newfoundland, which still (1894)
remains outside.

_J. E. C. Munro,
The Constitution of Canada,
chapter 2._

See, also,
CANADA: A. D. 1867; and 1869-1873.

PRINCE OF THE CAPTIVITY.

See JEWS: A. D. 200-400.

PRINCE OF WALES.

See WALES, PRINCE OF.

PRINCEPS SENATUS.

"As the title of imperator conferred the highest military rank
upon Augustus and his successors, so did that of princeps
senatus, or princeps (as it came to be expressed by an easy
but material abridgment), convey the idea of the highest civil
preeminence consistent with the forms of the old constitution.
In ancient times this title had been appropriated to the first
in succession of living censorii, men who had served the
office of censor; and such were necessarily patricians and
senators. The sole privilege it conferred was that of speaking
first in the debates of the senate; a privilege however to
which considerable importance might attach from the exceeding
deference habitually paid to authority and example by the
Roman assemblies. … The title of princeps was modest and
constitutional; it was associated with the recollection of the
best ages of the free state and the purest models of public
virtue; it could not be considered beyond the deserts of one
who was undoubtedly the foremost man of the nation. … The
popularity which the assumption of this republican title
conferred upon the early emperors may be inferred from the
care with which it is noted, and its constitutional functions
referred to by the writers of the Augustan age and that which
succeeded it. But it was an easy and natural step in the
progress of political ideas to drop the application of the
title, and contract it from prince of the senate, to prince
merely. The original character of the appellation was soon
forgotten, and the proper limits of its privileges confounded
in the more vague and general prerogative which the bare
designation of first or premier seemed to imply."

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 31._

ALSO IN:
_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 3, note by Dr. W. Smith._

PRINCETON, Battle of (1777).

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1776-1777 WASHINGTON'S RETREAT.

PRINCIPES.

See LEGION, THE ROMAN.

{2587}

----------PRINTING AND THE PRESS: Start--------

PRINTING AND THE PRESS: A. D. 1430-1456.
The invention of movable type.
Rival claims for Coster and Gutenberg.
The first Printed Book.

"Before arriving at the movable type placed side by side, and
forming phrases, which appears to us to-day so simple and so
ordinary, many years passed. It is certain that long before
Gutenberg a means was found of cutting wood and metal in
relief and reproducing by application the image traced. …
Remembering that the numerous guilds of 'tailleurs d' images,'
or sculptors in relief, had in the Middle Ages the specialty
of carving ivories and of placing effigies on tombs, it can be
admitted without much difficulty that these people one day
found a means of multiplying the sketches of a figure often
asked for, by modelling its contour in relief on ivory or
wood, and afterwards taking a reproduction on paper or
parchment by means of pressure. When and where was this
discovery produced? We cannot possibly say; but it is certain
that playing cards were produced by this means, and that from
the year 1423 popular figures were cut in wood, as we know
from the St. Christopher of that date belonging to Lord
Spencer. … It is a recognised fact that the single sheet with
a printed figure preceded the xylographic book, in which text
and illustration were cut in the same block. This process did
not appear much before the second quarter of the 15th century,
and it was employed principally for popular works which were
then the universal taste. The engraving also was nothing more
than a kind of imposition palmed off as a manuscript; the
vignettes were often covered with brilliant colours and gold,
and the whole sold as of the best quality. … An attempt had
been made to put some text at the foot of the St. Christopher
of 1423, and the idea of giving more importance to the text
was to the advantage of the booksellers. … At the epoch of the
St. Christopher, in 1423, several works were in vogue in the
universities, the schools, and with the public. … To find a
means of multiplying these treatises at little cost was a
fortune to the inventor. It is to be supposed that many
artisans of the time attempted it; and without doubt it was
the booksellers themselves, mostly mere dealers, who were
tempted to the adventure by the sculptors and wood-cutters.
But none had yet been so bold as to cut in relief a series of
blocks with engravings and text to compose a complete work.
That point was reached very quickly when some legend was
engraved at the foot of a vignette, and it may be thought that
the 'Donatus' [i. e. the Latin Syntax of Ælius Donatus] was
the most ancient of books so obtained among the 'Incunabuli,'
as we now call them, a word that signifies origin or cradle.
The first books then were formed of sheets of paper or
parchment, laboriously printed from xylographic blocks, that
is to say wooden blocks on which a 'tailleur d' images' had
left in relief the designs and the letters of the text. He had
thus to trace his characters in reverse, so that they could be
reproduced as written; he had to avoid faults, because a
phrase once done, well or ill, lasted. It was doubtless this
difficulty of correction that gave the idea of movable types.
… This at least explains the legend of Laurent Coster, of
Haarlem, who, according to Hadrian Junius, his compatriot,
discovered by accident the secret of separate types while
playing with his children. And if the legend of which we speak
contains the least truth, it must be found in the sense above
indicated, that is in the correction of faults, rather than in
the innocent game of a merchant of Haarlem. … Movable type,
the capital point of printing, the pivot of the art of the
Book, developed itself little by little, according to needs,
when there was occasion to correct an erroneous inscription;
but, in any case, its origin is unknown. Doubtless to vary the
text, means were found to replace entire phrases by other
phrases, preserving the original figures; and thus the light
dawned upon these craftsmen, occupied in the manufacture and
sale of their books. According to Hadrian Junius, Laurent
Janszoon Coster (the latter name signifying 'the discoverer')
published one of the celebrated series of works under the
general title of 'Speculum' which was then so popular, … the
'Speculum Humanæ Salvationis.' … Junius, as we see, attributes
to Laurent Coster the first impression of the 'Speculum,' no
longer the purely xylographic impression of the 'Donatus' from
an engraved block, but that of the more advanced manner in
movable types [probably between 1430 and 1440]. In point of
fact, this book had at least four editions, similar in
engravings and body of letters, but of different text. It must
then be admitted that the fount was dispersed, and typography
discovered. … All the xylographic works of the 15th century
may be classed in two categories: the xylographs, rightly so
called, or the block books, such as the 'Donatus,' and the
books with movable types, like the 'Speculum,' of which we
speak. … The movable types used, cut separately in wood, were
not constituted to give an ideal impression. We can understand
the cost that the execution of these characters must have
occasioned, made as they were one by one, without the
possibility of ever making them perfectly uniform. Progress
was to substitute for this irregular process types that were
similar, identical, easily produced, and used for a long time
without breaking. Following on the essays of Laurent Coster,
continuous researches bore on this point. … Here history is
somewhat confused. Hadrian Junius positively accuses one of
Laurent Coster's workmen of having stolen the secrets of his
master and taken flight to Mayence, where he afterwards
founded a printing office. According to Junius, the metal type
was the discovery of the Dutchman, and the name of the thief
was John. Who was this John? Was it John Gænsefleisch, called
Gutenberg, or possibly John Fust? But it is not at all
apparent that Gutenberg, a gentleman of Mayence, exiled from
his country, was ever in the service of the Dutch inventor. As
to Fust, we believe his only intervention in the association
of printers of Mayence was as a money-lender, from which may
be comprehended the unlikelihood of his having been with
Coster, the more so as we find Gutenberg retired to
Strasbourg, where he pursued his researches. There he was, as
it were, out of his sphere, a ruined noble whose great
knowledge was bent entirely on invention. Doubtless, like many
others, he may have had in his hands one of the printed works
of Laurent Coster, and conceived the idea of appropriating the
infant process.
{2588}
In 1439 he was associated with two artisans of the city of
Strasbourg, ostensibly in the fabrication of mirrors, which
may be otherwise understood as printing of 'Speculums,' the
Latin word signifying the same thing. … Three problems
presented themselves to him. He wanted types less fragile than
wooden types and less costly than engraving. He wanted a press
by the aid of which he could obtain a clear impression on
parchment or paper. He desired also that the leaves of his
books should not be anopistograph, or printed only on one
side. … Until then, and even long after, the xylographs were
printed 'au frotton,' or with a brush, rubbing the paper upon
the forme coated with ink, thicker than ordinary ink. He
dreamed of something better. In the course of his work John
Gutenberg returned to Mayence. The idea of publishing a Bible,
the Book of books, had taken possession of his heart. … The
cutting of his types had ruined him. … In this unhappy
situation, Gutenberg made the acquaintance of a financier of
Mayence, named Fust, … who put a sum of 1,100 florins at his
disposal to continue his experiments. Unfortunately this money
disappeared, it melted away, and the results obtained were
absolutely ludicrous. … About this time a third actor enters
on the scene. Peter Schoeffer, of Gernsheim, a writer,
introduced into the workshop of Gutenberg to design letters,
benefited by the abortive experiments, and taking up the
invention at its dead-lock, conducted it to success. John of
Tritenheim, called Trithemius, the learned abbot of Spanheim,
is the person who relates these facts; but as he got his
information from Schoeffer himself, too much credence must not
be given to his statements. Besides, Schoeffer was not at all
an ordinary artisan. If we credit a Strasbourg manuscript
written by his hand in 1449, he was a student of the 'most
glorious university of Paris.'" How much Schoeffer contributed
to the working out of the invention is a matter of conjecture;
but in 1454 it was advanced to a state in which the first
known application of it in practical use was made. This was in
the printing of copies of the famous letters of indulgence
which Pope Nicholas V. was then selling throughout Europe.
Having the so far perfected invention in hand, Fust and
Schoeffer (the latter now having married the former's
granddaughter) wished to rid themselves of Gutenberg. "Fust
had a most easy pretext, which was to demand purely and simply
from his associate the sums advanced by him, and which had
produced so little. Gutenberg had probably commenced his
Bible, but, in face of the claims of Fust, he had to abandon
it altogether, types, formes, and press. In November, 1455, he
had retired to a little house outside the city, where he tried
his best, by the aid of foreign help, to establish a workshop,
and to preserve the most perfect secrecy. Relieved of his
company, Fust and Schoeffer were able to take up the
impression of the Bible and to complete it without him. … One
thing is certain: that the Bible of Schoeffer, commenced by
Gutenberg or not, put on sale by Fust and Schoeffer alone
about the end of 1455 or beginning of 1456, proves to be the
first completed book. … It is now called the Mazarine Bible,
from the fact that the copy in the Mazarin Library was the
first to give evidence concerning it. The book was put on sale
at the end of 1455 or beginning of 1456, for a manuscript note
of a vicar of St. Stephen at Mayence records that he finished
the binding and illuminating of the first volume on St.
Bartholomew's Day [June 13], 1456, and the second on the 15th
of August. … All these remarks show that the printers did not
proclaim themselves, and were making pseudo-manuscripts. …
Many of the copies are illuminated with as much care and
beauty as if they were the finest manuscripts. … Copies are by
no means uncommon, most of the great libraries having one, and
many are in private collections."

_H. Bouchot,
The Printed Book,
chapter 1._

"The general consent of all nations in ascribing the honour of
the invention of printing to Gutenberg seems at first sight a
very strong argument in his favour; but if Gutenberg were not
the first to invent and use movable types, but the clever man
who brought to perfection what already existed in a crude
state, we can quite imagine his fame to have spread everywhere
as the real inventor. As a master in the art of printing,
Gutenberg's name was known in Paris so early as 1472. … Mr.
Hessels … believes that the Coster mentioned in the archives
as living in Haarlem, 1436-83, was the inventor of types, and
that, taken as a whole, the story as told by Junius is
substantially correct. Personally I should like to wait for
more evidence. There is no doubt that the back-bone of the
Dutch claim lies in the pieces and fragments of old books
discovered for the most part in the last few decades, and
which give support to, at the same time that they receive
support from, the Cologne Chronicler. … These now amount to
forty-seven different works. Their number is being added to
continually now that the attention of librarians has been
strongly called to the importance of noting and preserving
them. They have been catalogued with profound insight by Mr.
Hessels, and for the first time classified by internal
evidence into their various types and classes. But, it may
well be asked, what evidence is there that all these books
were not printed long after Gutenberg's press was at work? …
The earliest book of Dutch printing bears date 1473, and not a
single edition out of all the so-called Costeriana has any
printer's name or place or date. To this the reply is, that
these small pieces were school-books or absies and such-like
works, in the production of which there was nothing to boast
of, as there would be in a Bible. Such things were at all
times 'sine ulla nota,' and certain to be destroyed when done
with, so that the wonder would be to find them so dated, and
the very fact of their bearing a date would go far to prove
them not genuine. These fragments have been nearly all
discovered in 15th-century books, printed mostly' in various
towns of Holland. … Mr. Hessels quotes forty-seven different
books as 'Costeriana,' which include four editions of the
Speculum, nineteen of Donatus, and seven of Doctrinale. The
Donatuses are in five different types, probably from five
different Dutch presses. Compared with the earliest dated
books of 1473 and onwards, printed in Holland, they have
nothing in common, while their brotherhood to the Dutch MSS.
and block-books of about thirty years earlier is apparent.
Just as astronomers have been unable to explain certain
aberrations of the planets without surmising a missing link in
the chain of their knowledge, so is it with early typography.
That such finished works as the first editions of the Bible
and Psalter could be the legitimate predecessors of the
Costeriana, the Bruges, the Westminster press, and others, I
cannot reconcile with the internal evidence of their
workmanship. But admit the existence of an earlier and much
ruder school of typography, and all is plain and harmonious."

_W. Blades,
Books in Chains, and other Bibliographical Papers,
pages 149-158._

ALSO IN:
_J. H. Hessels,
Gutenberg: was he the Inventor of Printing?_

_C. H. Timperley,
Encyclopœdia of Literature and Typographical Anecdote,
pages 101-120._

_H. N. Humphreys,
History of the Art of Printing,
chapters 3-4._

{2589}

PRINTING AND THE PRESS: A. D. 1457-1489.
Progress and diffusion of the art.