A conference of the Powers held at Berlin in 1884-5. It declared for freedom of commerce in the basin and mouths of the Congo, and along the coast from Gaboon to Angola, and appointed an international commission to regulate the navigation of the Congo and the Niger. It recognised the neutrality of the Congo Free State, decreed the abolition of slave gangs and slave markets, and all monopolies, and insisted that foreigners should enjoy equal rights with the subjects of the sovereign state. Congregation, Lords of the. The leaders of the reforming party in Scotland, who issued the First Covenant in 1557, took this title. Congress. The Parliament of the United States, consisting of two Chambers, a House of Representatives, and a Senate. The former consists of a certain number of members from each state, elected by direct popular vote. The number of representatives of each state is in proportion to the population, as shown in the decennial census. The Senate is composed of two members from each state, irrespective of population, elected by the respective state legislatures. One third of the Senate retires annually. Congresses. _See_ Aix-la-Chapelle, Arras, Berlin, Brussels, Carlsbad, Châtillon, Congo, General, Hague, Heilbronn, Kilkenny, Laibach, Troppau, Vienna, Verona. Conservative. This name came into use to designate the Tory party about 1837. It was first employed by John Wilson Croker, in an article in the _Quarterly Review_. Consistoriali. A secret society, established in Naples, with the Papal authorization, during the first decade of the nineteenth century, to oppose the Carbonari and support the Church. Consistorium. A tribunal established in Geneva by Calvin in 1541, to deal with offences against religion and morals. Its rule was terribly severe, all amusements being proscribed and all criticism of the Calvinist doctrine being sternly repressed. In five years the Consistorium imprisoned over 800 persons, and put to death fifty-eight. Consistory. An assembly of the Cardinals, in the presence of the Pope; summoned for the transaction of business. Consolato del Mare. A code of maritime law, said to have been compiled, from Roman and Rhodian laws, by the trading communities of Barcelona about the middle of the thirteenth century. Other authorities attribute it to the Venetians or the Pisans. Conspiracies, Plots, etc. _See_ Alexander, Amboise, Ankarstrôm. Army, Assassination, Atterbury, Babington, Biron, Booth, Bridal of Norwich, Burr, Bye, Catherine, Cato Street, Cinq Mars, Craigmillar, Despard, Dutch, Emmett, Falieri, Fieschi, Gowrie, Gunpowder, Hunting of Braemar, Incident, Jerviswood, Malet, Meal Tub, Orsini, Overton, Pablen, Pazzi, Pichegru, Popish, Porcari, Strelitzi, Ridolfi, Rye House, Queensberry, Throgmorton, Tiepoli, Venner, Vowel, Waller. Constance, Council of.