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* CONVENTION. 356 CONVERSION. The 'platforms,' as they are called, adopted at (State and national conventions, constitute the tleclarations of policy of the parties making thcui, upon which they seek the verdict of the people at the ensuing election. This declaration of principles has become one of the most impor- tant functions of political conventions, and often fon.stitutus the principal part of tlicir work. See Election; Nomination; Political Pabty. Consult Biyce, The American Commonipealth (ed. 1895). CONVENTION, National (Fr. convention natioiHilc) . The third assembly of the deputies of the French people chosen after 1789, and the on"; which assumed the government of France on the overthrow of the throne in 1792. After the Legislative Assembly had decreed the suspen- sion of the King, August 10, 1792, it voted the election of a National Convention, which com- menced its sittings on September 21, immediately after the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly. Its first act was to declare the abolition of the ■cingship. and to make France a republic. Upon this followed the trial and condemnation of the King. Through the support of excited mobs, the extreme Jacobin Party became pre- dominant in the Convention, where, from the elevated seats on which its members sat, it re- ceived the name of the Mountain. (See Mon- tagnakds.) The Revolutionary Tribunal and the Committee of Public Safety were created by this party. The Girondists (q.v. ), at first a I)owerful party, were destroyed, many of them perishing by the guillotine: and a new Constitu- tion, thoroughly democratic, was adopted August 10, 1793. Its operation, however, was suspended until peace should he restored. Meanwhile the rulers in the Convention displayed marvelous energy, almost a million citizens lieing placed under arms, and immense supplies of military stores being raised by means of continual requisi- tions. By order of the majority of the Conven- tion, thousands of its political opponents were thrown into prison, and the number who died by the guillotine increased daily lioth in Paris and throughout France. In the end the National Convention became subject to the dictatorial power of Eobespierre, and independent opinion as no longer expressed. The overthrow of Robespierre was followed by a great reaction ; the Jacobins were suppressed ; and finally, the remnant of the Convention, after concluding peace with Prussia and Spain, dissolved itself, October 26, 1795, leaving to the nation a new Constitution, which placed the Government in the hands of the Directory (q.v.). During its long lease of life the National Convention had passed over eight thousand decrees and acts, and had set into motion forces which profoundly in- fluenced the history of France and of Europe. Consult Barante, Histoire de la convention no- tionnle (2 vols., Paris, 1851-53). See Fbance; Danton : HEtiERT; Marat; Robespierre; etc. CONVENTIONAL. In art, a term which indicates that a work has been produced in ac- cordance, not with the absolute principles of beaut}' in form and color, but with the theories and rules concerning forms and colors which chance to prevail at a given time or in a given country or social class. An ar- tist who adheres too rigidly to such rules is said to be conventional. The term is also used to describe representations of natural ob- jects; as, for example, leaves which are not strictly true to nature. Such representations are frequently used for decorative efFect, and the objects are said to be conventionalized. CONVENTION PARLIAMENT. A Brit- ish term for a Parliament convened without royal authority. The English sovereign has a vested prerogative in- the assembling of Parliaments, hut when the Crovn is in abevance convention Parliaments meet — as before the restoration of Charles II. (1060), and when William and Mary were offered the sovereignty' after James II. had fled the kingdom (1689). The acts of such Par- liaments are subsequently ratified by a Parlia- ment summoned in due form. CONVERGENCE. See Series. CONVERSANO, kon'vcr-sa'n6. A city in southern Italy, in the Province of Bari, situated en an eminence about 20 miles southeast of the city of that name, and 5 miles from the Adriatic coast ( Map : Italy. M 7 ). It is the seat of a bishop, has a beautiful cathedral, a nunnery, and a castle which belonged to the family of Acquaviva. A trade in wine, oil. flax, cotton, and almonds is carried on. Population (commune), in 1881. 11.890; in 1901, 13,685. CONVERSAZIONE, kon'ver-sa'tse-o'na. (It., conversation ). A gathering for social purposes and conversation, where amateurs and others may meet for interchange of ideas on literature, art, or science. CONVERSION (Lat. connersio, from conver- tere, to turn, from com-, together -f- vertere, to turn; connected with OChurch Slav, vrutfti, Skt. vart, to turn, Goth, wairpan, AS. treor>an, OHG., Ger. uerdcn, to become). In logic, the transposi- tion of subject and predicate in a proposition — e.g. "No S is P" becomes by conversion "No P is S." Conversion is simjile when no other change is made in the original proposition than the trans- position of subject and predicate. It is limited or accidental {per accidens) when the quantity of the proposition is reduced from universality to particularity — e.g. "All S is P" becomes by limited conversion "Some P is S." Simple con- version here would be unwarranted. Conversion is 6)/ contraposition when it is preceded by ob- version (q.v.). The proposition obtained by con- version is called the converse of the original prop- osition. See Looic. CONVERSION. As a term of the com- mon law, the unauthorized assumption of the powers of the true owner over goods or personal property. The act of conversion may consist either in the destruction of the property, the sale or transfer of it to a third person, or the use of it as owner. For example, a person converts tne horse of another by wrongfully shooting it; an auctioneer or agent for B converts the furni- ture of A by selling it as the property of B, although he may believe that it is B's property; a manufacturer converts A's cotton or wool when he makes it into cloth, even though in good faith he thinks the cotton or wool is his own; a person who wrongfully draws out a gallon of liquor from a cask and fills up the cask with water converts the entire quantity. In each of these cases the converter wrongfully assumes the dominion over the property of a true owner, and exercises it to the exclusion of the true owner. The mere loss of property by a carrier, or its