Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/803

Rh Kaleh. In the 1 2th and 13th centuries the princes of Georgia were successful in reducing Circassia into the condition of a province ; and are said to have also been the first to introduce Christianity into the country a religion which they continued to profess (in name at least) till the 18th century, when they were converted to Islamism by the teaching of a fanatical devotee named Mansur. The common people, however, retain to a great extent their pagan customs and beliefs. After they had succeeded in throwing off the Georgian yoke, the Circassians passed for a time under the rule of the Tartar khans of the Crimea, from whom they emancipated themselves, with the assistance of Ivan I., czar of Russia. But the Russian monarchs do not appear to have regarded their conquest as a matter of much importance, until the time of Peter the Great. That powerful monarch, perceiving how much the possession of the Caucasus would contribute to his political and commercial influence in Western and Central Asia, made an unsuccessful attempt to reduce it permanently under his dominion. Catherine II. pursued a similar line of policy. Georgia having been harassed by the successive invasions of the Persians and Turks, the prince of that country at last threw himself under the protection of the Russians, and became tributary to their power. The River Kouban being afterwards fixed as the southern boundary of the Muscovite empire, the Russians became ambitious of extending their dominion uninterruptedly to the extreme limits of Georgia. In the wars which now took place between the Russians and the Turks, the latter used every exertion, by exciting the fanatical feelings of the Cir cassians against the infidels, to induce them to harass the Russians by frequent incursions into their territory. After various vicissitudes of fortune, the Turks were worsted, and compelled by the treaty of Adrianople in 1829 to cede a considerable portion of their territory to the czar. Assuming a right of political sovereignty which they had never possessed, they included Circassia in this cession. The Circassians, refusing to acknowledge the right of the sultan (whom they had never recognized as their sovereign, though acknowledging him as head of their religion) thus to dispose of their country, were now exposed to the hostility of the Russians, who determined to become masters of the territory on the coasts of the Black Sea, and indeed of the whole Caucasian region, by force of arms. This was the origin of that remorseless war which was carried on with so much animosity down to a very recent period, and cost the Russians an incredible amount of blood and treasure. A brief outline of the leading events which characterized this long-protracted struggle will be found in the article. After the Circassians were finally reduced to submission, the inhabitants of the sea-coast, rather than submit to the regulations imposed by the Russian Govern ment, determined to quit their country, and emigrate in a mass to Turkey. Not less than half a million of people carried out this resolution, and were settled in different parts of the Turkish empire, the greater part of them in Asia Minor, but some also in the mountain country on the borders of Bulgaria and Servia. Since that period the whole tract along the sea-coast from Anapa to Sukhum Kaleh, which was that best known as Circassia, has been almost entirely destitute of inhabitants. But the northern slopes of the Caucasus, and the valleys descending towards the Kuban, are still occupied by tribes of Circassian race ; and the Kabardans, a kindred tribe, but of less warlike character, extending eastwards to beyond the Terek, have long settled down quietly in the condition of Russian subjects.  CIRCE, in classical mythology, the daughter of Sol and Perse, or of Hyperion and Aerope, or, according to some, of ^Eetes, king of Colchis (whom others call her brother), was a famous sorceress. Having murdered her husband, the prince of Colchis, she was expelled by her subjects, and placed by her father on the solitary island of JEssa, on the coast of Italy. Here she was found by Ulysses and his companions ; the latter she changed into swine, but the hero, protected by the herb moly which he had received from Mercury, not only forced her to restore them, but also gained her love. For a year he relinquished himself to her endearments ; but at length he aroused himself, and after descending at her advice to the lower world, to consult the prophet Tiresias as to the fate which awaited him, lie left her. The metamorphoses by Circe of Scylla and of Picus, king of the Ausonians, are celebrated by Ovid.  CIRCEII, a town of ancient Italy, in Latium, at the foot of Mons Circeius, or Capo Circello, a short distance from the sea, and 10 or 12 miles along the coast from Terracina. It was originally colonized by the Romans in the reign of Tarquin the Proud, who deemed the position favourable for commerce and for repressing the inroads of the Volsci. From its foundation till the date of the Latin War, 340 B.C., it seems at one time to have been subject to the Romans, at another to have espoused the cause of the Volsci, and sometimes to have been independent of both powers. After the Latin War it was recolonized by the Romans ; but it continued gradually to decline till the emperors Tiberius and Domitian, attracted to it by the pleasantness of its situation and the excellence of its oysters, erected villas in the neighbourhood. Its ruins are still distinctly visible on the Monte della Cittadella, and consist of walls and gateways built of polygonal blocks.  CIRCUIT, a law term, signifying the periodical progress of a legal tribunal for the sake of carrying out the adminis tration of the law in the several provinces of a country. It has long been applied to the journey or progress which the judges have been in the habit of making twice every year, through the several counties of England, to hold courts and administer justice, where recourse could not be had to the king s court at Westminster. The country, including Wales, is now, by Order in Council (under the Judicature Act, 1875), dated 5th February 1876, divided into seven circuits, viz., the Northern, North-Eastern, Midland, South- Eastern, Oxford, Western, North Wales, and South Wales Circuits. Counsel are not expected to practice on a circuit other than that to which they have attached themselves, unless they receive a special retainer. This and similar regulations are enforced by the discipline of the circuit bar mess only. In Scotland the judges of the supreme criminal court, or High Court of Justiciary, form also three separate circuit-courts, consisting of two judges each ; and the country, with the exception of the Lothians, is divided into corresponding districts, called the Northern, &quot;Western, and Southern Circuits. In certain burghs of each circuit two courts are held in the year, in spring and autumn, called Circuit Courts. One more is held at Glasgow during the Christmas recess. Ireland is divided into the North-East and the North- West Circuits, the Home Circuit, and those of Leinster, Connaught, and Munster.  CIRCUMCISION. The importance of this rite is so largely due to its quasi-sacramental character in Judaism, that any inquiry into its history and meaning must be prefaced by a reference to the Old Testament.

I. There are three distinct narratives in the sacred litera ture of the Jews which claim to be considered. It is related in Gen. xvii. that when Abram the Hebrew was ninety-nine years of age, he became a party on behalf of himself and his descendants to a covenant with his God. Of this covenant the sign and condition was circumcision, which was directed to be performed (a peculiarity of Judaism) en 