his favor, and he was elected Governor in that year and again in 1826. The lead of the Bucktails had passed to the Albany Regency (which see). In 1828 Clinton died, leaving his faction leaderless. It had always been a personal party. Clinton tolerated no equals.

The

position of his family had enabled him to carry out his desires, but the increase in the voting population had rendered it more and more difficult, and the entirely popular and democratic faction had supplanted him.

Clinton's Ditch is the name at first applied to the Erie Canal by those opposing it, DeWitt Clinton having been the chief promoter of the enterprise.

Cobden Club.-The Cobden Club, of England, takes its name from the great free-trader, Richard Cobden. It is the center of the free-trade doctrine in British politics. Protectionists in the United States are fond of asserting that the movement in this country for the reduction of duties to a revenue basis is fostered and encouraged by the Cobden Club, and that "British gold" helps to carry on the movement, which, if successful, they assert would be as advantageous to British manufacturing interests as it would be injurious to ours.

Coinage.-Previous to and during the Revolution the coins in use in this country were mostly foreign. The Constitution (Article 1, section 8, clause 5) vested in Congress the right to coin money and to regulate the value thereof. The Act of Congress of April 2, 1792, established the silver dollar as the standard, its weight being 416 grains of silver of .8924 of fineness, equivalent to 371 grains of pure silver; the relative value of gold to silver was established at one part of the former to fifteen of the latter; the fineness of gold coins was fixed at eleven parts of pure gold to one of alloy. The Act of June 28, 1834, changed weight and fineness of the gold dollar, making it 258 grains of .899225 of fineness, or 232 grains of pure gold. The Act of January 18, 1837, established .900 as the standard fineness of both gold and silver. It left the weight of the gold dollar unaltered (thus slightly increasing its value) and reduced the weight of the silver dollar to 412 grains

(thus leaving its value unchanged). The ratio of gold to silver was thus made one part of the former to 15.98 of the latter. The ratio in most European countries was one to 15.5. The result of this was that one part of gold imported into this country could be exchanged for 15.98 parts of silver, which when exported would yield one part of gold and leave a surplus of .48 parts of silver for the expenses of transportation and loss of interest while in transit, and yet give a profit on the transaction. This, of course, lead to heavy exports of silver, that element of our currency being very largely eliminated. In order to check the export of fractional silver coins, their weight was reduced to 384 grains of standard silver by Act of February 21, 1853, which law also stopped the coinage into fractional silver coins of silver bullion offered to the mints for that purpose, leaving this entirely in the hands of the government. The coinage of silver dollars was discontinued for thirty years by order of the Executive in 1806. They were then again coined as required by depositors of silver bullion until their coinage was suspended by Act of February 12, 1873. The Act of February 28, 1878, revived their coinage at the rate of at least two million dollars worth a month, and not to exceed four millions. This act is still in force. The Act of 1873 authorized the coinage of trade dollars of 420 grains; these were not coined for circulation as dollars, but for the convenience of merchants for export to the East, their weight and fineness being marked on the coin. Nevertheless, these coins circulated here, and the decline in silver rendered the coinage of bullion into trade dollars for use in circulation profitable to the owners of the bullion. Their coinage was, therefore, first restricted, and then, in April, 1878, suspended. Although these coins were never legal tender, yet for a time they circulated freely, and as the name "dollar" had given them at least a show of right for purposes of circulation, it was deemed right by Congress to indemnify the holders, who were presumed to have taken them on the strength of that

name.

The Forty-ninth Congress provided for the

redemption at the Treasury of all trade dollars that should be presented prior to September 3, 1887. There were thus redeemed $7,689,036 out of a total of $35,965,924 coin. The gold coinage at present consists of the double eagle (twenty dollars), the eagle (ten dollars), the half-eagle (five dollars), the quarter-eagle (two and one-half dollars), the three-dollar piece, the one-dollar piece. The silver coinage consists of the standard dollar, the halfdollar, the quarter-dollar, the dime. The base metal coinage consists of five, three, two and one-cent pieces. The gold coins and the standard silver dollar are legal tender to an unlimited amount; the half-dollars, quarterdollars and dimes to the maximum amount of ten dollars, and the base metal coins to the maximum amount of twenty-five cents in any one payment. The coinage of the United States mints has been as follows from 1793 to June 30, 1891. Gold, $1,549,927,749.50; silver, $638,444,073.20; minor, $22,842,245.95; total, $2,211,214,028.65. The Act of 1792 established a mint at Philadelphia. This remained the only institution of its kind until, in 1835, branches were established at Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dahlonega, Georgia, for the coinage of gold mined in those parts of the country, and at New Orleans for the coinage of silver imported from Mexico. In 1852, 1862 and 1863, respectively, mints were established at San Francisco, Denver and Carson City for the coinage of gold mined in the West. No coins were ever struck at the Denver mint, and in 1873 that and the mint at Charlotte were changed to assay offices. The operations of the mints at Dahlonega, Charlotte and New Orleans were suspended in 1861. The latter was reopened in 1879. Coinage at the mint of Carson City was suspended in 1885. In_1873 a bureau of the mint was established in the Treasury Department, under whose control all the mints were placed. Previously to this they had been branches of the Philadelphia mint, whose director was charged with their supervision.

Colfax, Schuyler, was born at New York, March 23, 1823. He was a journalist. He served in the

House from 1855 to 1869, being Speaker from 1863 to 1869. From 1869 to 1873 he was Vice-President of the United States. He was a Republican. He died January 13, 1885.

Colonization. It was the object of the colonization societies to aid and encourage free negroes to systematic colonization of the western coast of Africa. It was hoped thus to counteract and ultimately to suppress the slave trade. The idea seems to have originated as early as 1770 with the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D. D,, of Newport, but it was not until January 1, 1817, that the American Colonization Society was formally organized. Among its presidents were James Madison and Henry Clay. Some few negroes had previously emigrated to the British negro colony of Sierra Leone, but in 1820 the first organized attempt was made to found a colony. This was at Sherbro Island. The location proving unfortunate, land was purchased on the main land at Cape Mesurado, and early in 1822 colonists landed there. Between nine and ten thousand persons were sent thither up to 1856. In 1847 the colony declared itself an independent Republic under the name of Liberia. The colonization movement was at first encouraged by the slave-holders, as it tended to relieve the South of its free negroes; but as slaves became more valuable, fewer were freed by their masters, and these latter, from regarding slavery as an institution to be merely tolerated, came to assert the doctrine of its essential righteousness. Under these circumstances colonization fell into disfavor at the South, while at the North the Abolitionists regarded all such schemes as immoral temporizing.

Colonization, Political.-In elections it is a common form of fraud to bring into a doubtful district men from other parts, and to give them some show of a residence in that district so as to enable them to vote there and so turn the result. The voters thus moved or colonized can, of course, always be spared at the points from which they are taken, so that while the total vote of the party in the State remains unchanged, it will be

so distributed as to give to that party more Congressmen or members of the Legislature, as the case may be, than it would otherwise have had. This is called colonization, and its practice is confined almost exclusively to the larger cities. Lodging houses are frequently used for this purpose, and these are shockingly crowded with transplanted voters on the day preceding election, or registration, where that formality is required.

Colorado was organized as a Territory in 1861 from portions of Utah, Kansas, Nebraska and New Mexico. On August 1, 1876, President Grant proclaimed its admission to the Union. It is thus the youngest of the thirty-eight States. The capital is Denver. The population in 1880 was 194,327, and in the last census (1890) 419,198. Colorado has but one member of the House of Representatives and casts but three electoral votes, which are always counted on by the Republicans. It is commonly referred to as the Centennial State, referring to the year of its admission. (See Governors; Legislatures.)

Comity of Nations is the friendly spirit which exists between different nations, and which often impels a government to grant a favor to a foreign power that could not be demanded as a matter of right, either as coming under the general principles of international law or the provisions of existing treaties. Such were the surrender of Arguelles to Spain by Secretary Seward in 1864, and the surrender of William M. Tweed by Spain to us in 1876.

Commercial Agents. (See Foreign Service.)

Commercial Crises.-A period of prosperity will lead the business community, in the hope of still larger profits, to undue extension of all branches of profitable industries, or of industries believed to be so. In every civilized community business is now very largely based on credit, and this credit is at such times lavishly granted as one of the means of business extension. Overproduction, a fall in prices, failures of merchants and of banks follow. Complete distrust on every hand leads capitalists to lock their money in vaults, and