Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/893

 TRIBUNE empire ten tribunes were annually elected. Tone but plebeians were eligible for the office; 3 that if a patrician wer& desirous of filling it, he was obliged to renounce his own order, early incumbents of the office exercised Authority within the city limits and over one lile of adjacent territory ; the doors of their louses were ordered to be open day and night, id all persons taking refuge there were as- ired of protection. For similar reasons they were forbidden to absent themselves from the city for a whole day. Although their lawful power was originally merely auxilium, or the right to afford protection, they assumed within few years the right to convoke the senate, ind in 454, after a long struggle, secured the ippointment of the three commissioners whose labors led to the codification of the laws of the twelve tables. During the second decemvi- rate the tribunate was suspended, but with the overthrow of that oligarchy it was restored with augmented powers ; and as the tribes now included patricians and their clients as well as plebeians, the tribunes became the protectors of all classes of citizens. They now also ac- quired the right to be present at the delibera- tions of the senate, and to take part in its discussions, although not allowed to pass with- in the doors of the senate house ; and hence they gradually assumed the privilege of inter- cession against any action taken by a magis- trate, and by the interposition of their veto were enabled to annul any decree of the sen- ate or stop any law, without cause or reason assigned. On the other hand, they sometimes interfered to compel the consuls to comply with decrees of the senate. About 132 B. C. they became senators by virtue of their office. They also assumed the right of commanding their viatores or attendants to seize a refractory magistrate, and imprison him, or even to hurl him from the Tarpeian rock. They possessed the exclusive power of proposing plebiscites to the comitia of the tribes ; and after these had obtained by the Hortensian law, 286 B. 0., the binding force of laws, the tribunes became a magistracy for the whole Roman people, in opposition to the senate and the oligarchical elements in general, although they had nothing to do with the administration of the govern- ment. Subsequent to 394 B. 0. the veto of a single tribune sufficed to render a resolution of his colleagues void ; and it was not until Tiberius Gracchus introduced the practice of appealing to the people to remove a tribune who obstinately adhered to his veto, that the harmonious working of the system was restored. During the latter period of the republic Sulla, in his reform of the constitution on an aristo- cratic basis, gave the tribunes merely the jus auxiliandi which they originally possessed. Pompey restored them to their former power, but under the empire, their privileges became much restricted, although until the 5th century they continued to have the right of interces- sion against decrees of the senate and on be- 795 VOL. xv. 55 TRIESTE 863 half of oppressed individuals. The emperors, though patricians, found it necessary to be tri- bunes, and the tribunicia potestas, conferred by the senate upon Augustus and his succes- sors, 'was considered an essential part of the imperial dignity. After Diocletian there was an officer called trilunus voluptatum, who was the superintendent of public amusements TRICHINA Sl'IRALlS. See ENTOZOA, vol. vi p. 669. TRICHINOPOLY, or Trichinapalll, a town of British India, capital of a district of the same name in Madras, on the right bank of the river Cavery, in lat. 10 47' N., Ion. 78 43' E., 190 m. S. S. W. of the city of Madras, with which it is connected by rail; pop. about 30,000. The fort of Trichinopoly is built on a granite rock about 600 ft. high. Outside the densely popu- lated native town, which was formerly enclosed within the walls of the fortress, are extensive barracks, hospitals, public rooms, a church and Roman Catholic chapel, and the tomb of Bish- op Heber, who died here. The surrounding country is fertile and populous ; and the island of Seringham, which is here formed by the Cavery, is famous for the size and wealth of the Hindoo pagodas upon it. Trichinopoly is the southernmost station of British troops in India, and was occupied by 169 European in- fantry in 1872-'3. Cotton cloths, hardware, harness, cheroots, indigo, and jewelry are manufactured and exported to different parts of India and Mauritius. Trichinopoly, after the death of its last rajah in 1732, fell under the sway of the nawaub of Arcot, and subse- quently changed hands several times, figuring conspicuously in the contests of the French and English for supremacy in India. It finally came under English government with the rest of the Carnatic in 1801. TRICOLOR. See FLAG, vol. vii., p. 250. TRICOUPIS, Spiridion, a Greek historian, born in Missolonghi in 1791, died in Athens, Feb. 24, 1873. He held important offices at Athens after the Greek revolution, which he had pro- moted, and was minister at London at various periods, lastly from 1850 till King Otho's downfall in 1862. He was a friend of Lord Byron, on whose death he pronounced one of his most celebrated orations. His chief work is 'laropia rsyf 'E/lAvvi/cjfc 'ETravaffrdaeug ("His- tory of the Greek Revolution," 4 vols., Lon- don, 1853-'7; 2ded., 1862). TRIER. See TBEVES. TRIESTE (Ger. Triest). I. A district of Cis- leithan Austria, forming a part of the Litto- rale, and bordering on the Adriatic, Gorz, and Istria; area, 36 sq. m.; pop. about 132,000, of whom more than one half are Slovens, more than one third Italians, 8 per cent. Germans, and 4i per cent. Jews. II. A city (anc. Ter- geste), capital of the district, and the principal seaport of Austria, beautifully situated at the head of the gulf of Trieste, or N. E. coast of the Adriatic, 70 m. E. N.-E. of Venice and 210 m. S. W. of Vienna; pop. in 1870, including