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 COUNCIL BLUFFS COUNT 425 who enjoyed the special confidence of the king. Its decisions had no validity without the royal sanction. By the constitution proclaimed Jan. 31, 1850, and several times afterward modified by royal decree (last on May 17, 1867), the king is assisted in the administration of justice by a council of ministers appointed by royal decree. It now consists of eight ministers: of foreign affairs, of finance, of war, of the interior, of justice, of public instruction and ecclesiastical affairs, of agriculture, and of com- merce and public works. In the German em- pire, by the constitution of April 16, 1871, there is a federal council (Bundesrath) repre- senting the individual states, and appointed by the respective governments. It consists of 58 members, of whom 17 are appointed by Prus- sia, 6 by Bavaria, 4 each by Saxony and Wur- temberg, 3 each by Baden and Hesse, 2 each by Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Brunswick, and the remaining 17 by as many of the smaller states. In some of the United States there are bodies termed councils, which are elected to advise the governor in the executive part of his office, and have power to reject or confirm his nominations to office. COUNCIL BLUFFS, a city and the capital of Pottawattamie co., Iowa, on the E. bank of the Missouri river, 1,000 m. above St. Louis, and 120 m. W. by S. of Des Moines; pop. in 1860, 2,011 ; in 1870, 10,020. It has ample railroad communication by means of the Union Pacific, the Chicago and Northwestern, the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific, the Burlington and Missouri River, and the Kansas City, St. Jo- seph, and Council Bluffs lines. It also com- municates by horse railroad and ferry with Omaha, Neb., on the opposite bank, 4 m. dis- tant. The bridge connecting the two cities, known as the Missouri river bridge, is 2,750 ft. in length between the abutments, and has 11 spans. It rests on piers, each consisting of two hollow columns of wrought iron, If inch thick and 8| ft. in diameter, which are sunk to the bed rock of the river, in one case 82 ft., and filled with concrete and masonry. The bridge, which is 50 ft. above high-water mark, has a railroad track and accommodations for horse cars and ordinary travel. Council Bluffs is situated about 3 m. from the river, at the foot of the bluffs, which are high and precipitous. It embraces an area of 24 sq. m., extending N. and S. 4 m., and E. and W. 6 m. The streets cross each other at right angles, one set run- ning from the river to the bluffs. The city presents a neat appearance. The principal edifices are of brick. The most important public buildings are the county court house, erected in 1867 at a cost of $50,000 ; the city hall ; two public halls ; the high school build- ing, which cost $50,000, and has 6 acres of ground attached; and 6 ward school houses, erected at a cost of $60,000. The most im- portant manufactories are the Council Bluffs iron works and machine shops, the agricultural works, a carriage factory, 2 lumber wagon fac- tories, one manufactory each of brooms, candy, and soap, 2 steam flour mills, 3 breweries, a steam bakery, and a manufactory of furniture. There are two national banks, with a capital of $150,000, and a savings bank, with $25,000. Besides the high and ward schools, there is a grammar school, the whole being under the charge of a superintendent and 26 teachers, and having an average attendance of about 2,400 pupils. The Roman Catholics have a seminary for young ladies, with 70 pupils, and a boys' school, with 40 pupils. Two daily newspapers, three weeklies, and a monthly periodical are published. There is a library association, and a young men's Christian asso- ciation and reading room. The state institute for the deaf and dumb is in the vicinity. There are nine churches, viz. : Methodist (two), Bap- tist, Congregational, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Ujiitarian, and United Breth- ren. The site of Council Bluffs was occupied in 1846 by a Mormon settlement known as Kanesville. The city was incorporated under its present name in 1853. In 1804 Lewis and Clark held there a council with the Indians. COUNSELLOR. See LAWYER. COUNT (Fr. comte ; Ital. conte; Span. conde a title of nobility in continental Europe, cor- responding with that of earl in Great Britain. It is derived from the Latin comes, meaning companion, which under the republic desig- nated young Romans of family accompanying a proconsul or propraetor in order to acquire a practical knowledge of political and military affairs. Under the empire a number of persons belonging to the imperial household or retinue received the title of comes, with some addition designating their function or office. Comites as well as jurisconsult! surrounded the emperor when sitting as judge, to assist him in the hear- ing' of causes, which were thus judged with the same authority as in full senate. This mark of office became a title of dignity under Con- stantine the Great. As such it was soon con- ferred not only on persons of the palace, or companions of the prince, but also on most kinds of higher officers. These dignitaries, according to Eusebius, were divided into three classes, called respectively illustrious, most re- nowned, and most perfect. The senate was composed of the first two. Among the multi- tude of officers who at this period of the Roman empire were dignified by the title of comes, serving in a civil, legal, or religious capacity, we find comites of the treasury, of sacred ex- penditures, of the sacred council, of the palace, of the chief physicians, of commerce, of grain, of the domestics, of the horses of the prince or of the stable (comes stabuli, the origin of the modern constable), of the houses, of the nota- ries, of the laws, of the boundaries, marches, or marks (Lat. margo, Ger. MarTc, whence the later margrave and marquis), of the harbor of Rome, of heritages, &c. Most of these ti- tles were imitated, with slight modifications, in the feudal kingdoms which arose on the