An Act passed in 1704, empowering Justices of the Peace to hand over to the military authorities, as recruits, all able-bodied men who were without visible means of subsistence. Valtelline, Massacre of the. A massacre of the Grisons Protestants in the Valtelline Valley in 1620, by Robustelli, acting with the connivance of the Austrians and the Spaniards. Vassalage. In the Middle Ages, the condition of feudal dependence, either upon the Lord Paramount, as in the case of the great territorial nobles, or upon a vassal of the Lord Paramount. Vassy, Massacre of. The massacre, in 1562, of a body of Huguenots who, in accordance with their strict legal rights, were holding a service outside the town of Vassy in Champagne. The murderers were the retinue of the Duc de Guise, and the victims numbered sixty, while over two hundred were wounded. This atrocity led to the outbreak of the first Huguenot War. Vatican Council. The Œcumenical Council held in Rome in 1870, at which the dogma of the Infallibility of the Pope was promulgated. Vavassors. The name given on the Continent to the vassals of the great feudal lords. Vehmgerichte. Secret tribunals established in Germany during the Middle Ages, to try persons arraigned on capital charges, and to carry out the sentence in case of conviction. The most famous was that of Westphalia. Any free born German was eligible as a member, or Freischöffe, and many German Princes were initiated. The powers of the Vehmgerichte were greatly curtailed by Maximilian, the original purpose of these tribunals having been overshadowed by their employment as vehicles of private vengeance, and they gradually lost all influence, till they were finally dissolved by Jerome Buonaparte in 1811. Veishya. The third, or agricultural, caste among the Hindus. Vellore, Mutiny of. A rising of native troops in the Madras Presidency in 1806, caused by a change in the headdress of the Sepoy, to whom it was suggested by agitators that he was to be forcibly Christianized. The rising was soon suppressed. Venezuela Boundary. In January 1895 Venezuelan troops crossed the Cuyuni river, part of the Schomburgk line, into British Guiana, and hoisted the Venezuelan flag in territory which had been occupied by the British colonists for many years. Obtaining no redress, Lord Salisbury issued an ultimatum, whereupon Venezuela appealed to the United States to intervene, in support of the Monroe doctrine. President Cleveland and Mr. Olney took a high hand, and went the length of appointing an American Commission to examine into the boundary question. After long negotiation arbitration was agreed upon, and a treaty settling the details was signed in February 1897. The award of the arbitrators was issued in 1899, and practically confirmed the British claim to the Schomburgk line, but gave Venezuela Barima Point, at the mouth of the Orinoco, and a tract of country west of the Wenama river. Venice, League of.