Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/222

194 COMINES, a town of France, in the department of Nord and the arrondissement of Lille, on the River Lys, which there divides Belgium from France. It is a thriving manu facturing town, with breweries, linen and tape factories, bleachfields, and oil-works. The principal building is the collegiate church of St Peter s. It was in this place that Comines, the French chronicler, was born. Population in 1872, 4020 in the town, and 6353 in the commune.  COMINES, (1445-1509), called the father of modern history, was born at the castle of Comines. He lost both father and mother in his earliest years. In 1463 his godfather, Philip of Burgundy, summoned him to court, and soon after transferred him to the household of his son, afterwards known as Charles the Bold. He speedily acquired considerable influence over the mind of Charles, and in 1468 was appointed chamberlain and councillor; consequently when in the same year Louis XL entrapped himself at Peronne, Comines was able both to soften the passion of the duke and to give useful advice to the king, whose life he did much to save. Three years later he was charged with an embassy to Louis, who gained him over to himself by many brilliant promises. In 1472 he left Burgundy for the court of France. He was at once made chamberlain and councillor ; a pension of 6000 livres was bestowed on him; he received the principality of Talmont, the confiscated property of the family of La Tremville ; and many other dignities and presents of land were con ferred on him by the king. He was employed to carry out the intrigues of Louis in Burgundy, and spent several months as envoy in Italy. On his return he was received with the utmost favour, and in 1479 obtained a decree confirming him in possession of his principality. On the death of Louis a suit was commenced against Comines by the family of La Tremville, and he was cast in heavy damages. He plotted against the regent, Anne de Beaujeu, and joined the party of Orleans. Having at tempted to carry off the king, and so free him from the tutelage of his sister, he was arrested, and put in one of his old master s iron cages at Loches. In 1 489 he was banished to one of his own estates for ten years, and made to give bail to the amount of 10,000 crowns of gold for his good behaviour. Recalled to the council in 1 492, he strenu ously opposed the Italian expedition of Charles VIII., in which, however, he took part, notably as representing the king in the negotiations which resulted in the treaty of Ver- celli. During the rest of his life, notwithstanding the acces sion of Louis XII., whom he had served as duke of Orleans, he held no position of importance ; and his last days were disturbed by law suits. He died at Argenton in 1509. The Memoirs, to which Comines owes his reputation as a statesman and man of letters, were written during his latter years ; the first six books are assigned to 1488-94, and the next two to 1497-1501. Hallam says of them that they &quot; almost make an epoch in historical literature ;&quot; and Saint-Beuve, after speaking of Comines as being in date the first truly modern writer, and comparing him with Montaigne, says that his history remains the defini tive history of his time, and that from it all political history took its rise. None of this applause is undeserved, for the pages of Comines abound with excellences. He analyzes motives and pictures manners, he delineates men and de scribes events ; his reflections are pregnant with suggestive- ness, his conclusions strong with the logic of facts.

1em  COMITAN, or, a town of Mexico, in the state of Chiapas, on the River Grijalva, a tributary of tho Tabasco, about forty miles south-east of San Cristobal, tho capital of the state. It has a superb church, and a convent dedicated to St Domingo, from which it takes the more precise designation of San Domingo Comitan. The inhabitants derive their subsistence in great measure from agriculture ; but they also carry on a smuggling trade with Belize and Guatemala. Population about 10,000.  COMITIA, derived from con and ire, was employed by the Romans to denote an assembly of the people, called for the purpose of accepting or rejecting some proposition submitted to them by the heads of the state. It was a fundamental principle of the Roman constitution that the supreme power was inherent in the citizens, though it might be delegated by them to hereditary or to elected magistrates. All important matters, however, had to be brought before the sovereign people, who could either ratify or reject, but without discussion, the proposals made to them. Such, at least in theory, and, during the best days of the republic, in practice also, was the function of these popular assemblies. As may be readily understood, different elements had the ascendency among the Roman people at different periods in their history. So far as it was possible for a state exposed to so many and such various influ ences to be conservative of its political traditions, Rome, whether monarchical, republican, or imperial, was essen tially so. But under the force of circumstances innovations were introduced from time to time, which materially altered the position of the two political parties the patricians and the plebeians into which the state was early divided, and by whose dissensions it was long distracted. And in none of her institutions can the progress of the struggle be tween these rival factions be more clearly traced, than in the nature and powers of those assemblies or comitia, by which the supreme authority at Rome was in succession wielded. It is usual to describe the Roman comitia as of three kinds, named from the mode in which the people were organized and in which they voted the comitia curiata, or assembly of the curiae ; the comitia centuriata, or assembly of the centuries ; and the comitia tributa, or assembly of the tribes. To these some add a fourth, the comitia calata (from calare, to call) ; but as this assembly had neither political functions nor a separate organization, it is unnecessary to do more than mention the name.

1. Comitia Curiata. The assembly of the curiae is believed to have been coeval with the rise of Rome itself, and its origin is therefore rightly ascribed by tradition to the mythical founder of the city. The system seems to have been an essential part of the constitution of the early Latin communities, of which Rome was originally only one. Its primary object cannot now be satisfactorily determined ; but the purpose for which it came to be employed is sufficiently clear. From a very early period, the Roman curiae, or &quot; wardships,&quot; as they may be called, numbered thirty, being ten for each of the three once independent com munities the Ramnians, Tities, and Luceres from whose amalgamation the Roman people sprang. At first these curias were probably made up exclusively of the freeholders, or patricians, as the latter were afterwards designated, on whom devolved exclusively the right and duty of bearing arms. It has been maintained by some that the class of dependents called by Roman writers clients as well as the burgesses or citizens had a right to vote in the assembly of the curiae. No direct evidence, however, can be brought forward in support of this supposition, which in the nature of the case is highly improbable ; and, if allowed to be present at all, they were likely nothing more than spectators, 