Part 218

A large body of the Suevi, a formidable German tribe, the name of which has survived in modern Suabia, crossed the Rhine and entered Gaul about B. C. 61. They came at the invitation of the Arverni and Sequani of Gaul, who were forming a league against the Ædui, their rivals, and who sought the aid of the German warriors. The latter responded eagerly to the call, and, having lodged themselves in the country of the Sequani, summoned fresh hordes of their countrymen to join them. The Gauls soon found that they had brought troublesome neighbors into their midst, and they all joined in praying Cæsar and his Roman legions to expel the insolent intruders. Cæsar had then just entered on the government of the Roman Gallic provinces and had signalized his first appearance in the field by stopping the attempted migration of the Helvetii, destroying two thirds of them, and forcing the remnant back to their mountains. He welcomed an opportunity to interfere further in Gallic affairs and promptly addressed certain proposals to the Suevic chieftain, Ariovistus, which the latter rejected with disdain. Some negotiations followed, but both parties meant war, and the question, which should make a conquest of Gaul, was decided speedily at a great battle fought at some place about 80 miles from Vesontio (modern Besançon) in the year 58 B. C. The Germans were routed, driven into the Rhine and almost totally destroyed. Ariovistus, with a very few followers, escaped across the river, and died soon afterwards.

_C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 6._

ALSO IN: _Cæsar, Gallic Wars, book 1, chapters 31-53._

_Napoleon III., History of Cæsar, book 3, chapter 4._

SUEVI: A. D. 406-409. Final invasion of Gaul.

See GAUL: A. D. 406-409.

SUEVI: A. D. 409-414. Settlement in Spain.

See SPAIN: A. D. 409-414.

SUEVI: A. D. 409-573. Their history in Spain.

"The Suevi kept their ground for more than half a century in Spain, before they embraced the Christian religion and became Arians. Being surrounded on all sides by the Visigoths, their history contains merely an account of the wars which they had to maintain against their neighbours: they were long and bloody; 164 years were passed in fighting before they could be brought to yield. In 573, Leovigild, king of the Visigoths, united them to the monarchy of Spain."

_J. C. L. de Sismondi, Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 7 (volume l)._

See, also, VANDALS: A. D. 428, and GOTHS (VISIGOTHS): A. D. 507-712.

SUEVI: A. D. 460-500. In Germany.

Those tribes of the Suevic confederacy which remained on the German side of the Rhine, while their brethren pressed southwards, along with the Vandals and Burgundians, in the great invasive movement of 406, "dwelt in the south-west corner of Germany, in the region which is now known as the Black Forest, and away eastwards along the Upper Danube, perhaps as far as the river Lech. They were already mingled with the Alamanni of the mountains, a process which was no doubt carried yet further when, some thirty years after the time now reached by us [about 460] Clovis overthrew the monarchy of the Alamanni [A. D. 496], whom he drove remorselessly forth from all the lands north of the Neckar. The result of these migrations and alliances was the formation of the two great Duchies with which we are so familiar in the mediaeval history of Germany—Suabia and Franconia. Suabia, which is a convertible term with Alamannia, represents the land left to the mingled Suevi and Alamanni; Franconia that occupied east of the Rhine by the intrusive Franks."

_T. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, book 4, chapter 1 (volume 3)._

See, also, ALEMANNI: A. D. 496-504.

SUEVI: End--------

SUEVIC SEA.

The ancient name of the Baltic.

SUEZ CANAL, Opening of the (1869).

See EGYPT: A. D. 1840-1869.

SUFFERERS' LANDS, The.

See OHIO: A. D. 1786-1796.

SUFFETES.

"The original monarchical constitution [of Carthage]—doubtless inherited from Tyre—was represented (practically in Aristotle's time, and theoretically to the latest period) by two supreme magistrates called by the Romans Suffetes. Their name is the same as the Hebrew Shofetim, mistranslated in our Bible, Judges. The Hamilcars and Hannos of Carthage were, like their prototypes, the Gideons and the Samsons of the Book of Judges, not so much the judges as the protectors and rulers of their respective states."

_R. B. Smith, Carthage and the Carthaginians, chapter 1._

See, also, JEWS: ISRAEL UNDER THE JUDGES.

SUFFOLK RESOLVES, The.

See BOSTON: A. D. 1774.

SUFFRAGE, Woman.

See WOMAN SUFFRAGE.

SUFFRAGE QUALIFICATION IN ENGLAND.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1884-1885.

SUFIS.

A sect of Mahometan mystics. "The final object of the Sufi devotee is to attain to the light of Heaven, towards which he must press forward till perfect knowledge is reached in his union with God, to be consummated, after death, in absorption into the Divine Being."

_J. W. H. Stobart, Islam and its Founder, chapter 10._

SUGAMBRI, SICAMBRI.

See USIPETES; also FRANKS: ORIGIN, and A. D. 253.

SUGAR ACT, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1763-1764.

SUGAR-HOUSE PRISONS, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1776-1777 PRISONERS AND EXCHANGES.

SUIONES, The.

"Next [on the Baltic] occur the communities of the Suiones, seated in the very Ocean, who, besides their strength in men and arms, also possess a naval force. … These people honour wealth." "The Suiones inhabited Sweden and the Danish isles of Funen, Langland, Zeeland, Laland, etc. From them and the Cimbri were derived the Normans."

_Tacitus, Germany, Oxford Translation, chapter 44 and note._

SULIOTES, The.

"The heroic struggle of the little commonwealth over a number of years, [1787-1804] against all the resources and ingenuity of Ali Pacha [vizir of Jannina] is very stirring and full of episode. … The origin of the Suliotes is lost in obscurity. … The chief families traced their origin to different villages and districts; and, though their language was Greek, they appear to have consisted, for the most part, of Christian Albanians, with a small admixture of Greeks, who, flying from the oppression of the invaders, had taken refuge in the well-nigh inaccessible mountains of Chamouri (Chimari) [in Epirus], and had there established a curious patriarchal community. … At the time when they became conspicuous in history the Suliotes were possessed of four villages in the great ravine of Suli, namely, Kiapha, Avariko, Samoniva, and Kako-Suli, composing a group known as the Tetrachorion; and seven villages in the plains, whose inhabitants, being considered genuine Suliotes, were allowed to retire into the mountain in time of war. … {3039} They also controlled between 50 and 60 tributary villages, with a mixed population of Greeks and Albanians; but these were abandoned to their fate in war. In the early part of the last century the Suliotes are said not to have had more than 200 fighting-men, although they were almost always engaged in petty warfare and marauding expeditions; and at the period of their extraordinary successes the numbers of the Suliotes proper never exceeded 5,000 souls, with a fighting strength d 1,500 men, who were, however, reinforced at need by the women. Their government was purely patriarchal; they had neither written laws nor law courts, and the family formed the political unit of the State. The families were grouped together in tribal alliances called Pharas, of which there were 29 in the Tetrachorion and 18 in the Heptachorion. All disputes were settled by arbitration by the heads of the Pharas; and these 47 elders formed a sort of general Council, the matter for discussion being almost exclusively war. As they were gradually driven from the plains which had supported them to the mountains, which produced nothing but pasture for their flocks, they were of necessity compelled to support themselves by marauding expeditions, which involved them in perpetual difficulties with the surrounding Ottoman governors. The historian of Suli enumerates no less than eight wars in which the community was involved before their great struggle with Ali."

_R. Rodd, The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece, chapter 10._

SULLA, Proscriptions by and Dictatorship of.

See ROME: B. C. 88-78.

SULLIVAN, General John, and the War of the American Revolution.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1775 (MAY-AUGUST); 1776 (AUGUST); 1779 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).

SULTAN, The Title.

Gibbon (chapter 57) represents that the title of Sultan was first invented for Mahmud the Gaznevide, by the ambassador of the Caliph of Bagdad, "who employed an Arabian or Chaldaic word that signifies 'lord' and 'master.'" But Dr. William Smith in a note to this passage in Gibbon, citing Weil, says: "It is uncertain when the title of Sultan was first used, but it seems at all events to have been older than the time of Mahmud. It is mentioned by Halebi, under the reign of Motawaccel; but according to Ibn Chaldun it was first assumed by the Bowides."

See TURKS: A. D. 999-1183.

SUMIR, SHUMIR.

See BABYLONIA, PRIMITIVE.

SUMTER, The Confederate cruiser.

See ALABAMA CLAIMS: A. D. 1861-1862.

SUMTER, Fort: Start--------

SUMTER, Fort: A. D. 1860. Occupied and held by Major Anderson, for the United States Government.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1860 (DECEMBER).

SUMTER, Fort: A. D. 1861 (April). Bombardment and reduction by the Rebel batteries.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 MARCH-APRIL).

SUMTER, Fort: A. D. 1863. Attack and repulse of the Monitors.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (APRIL: SOUTH CAROLINA).

SUMTER, Fort: A. D. 1863. Bombardment and unsuccessful assault.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (AUGUST-DECEMBER: SOUTH CAROLINA).

SUMTER, Fort: A. D. 1865 (February-April). Recovery by the nation. The restoring of the flag.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (FEBRUARY: SOUTH CAROLINA).

SUMTER, Fort: End--------

SUNNAH, The.

See ISLAM.

SUNNI SECT, The.

See ISLAM.

SUOVETAURILIA.

Expiatory sacrifices of pigs, sheep and oxen, offered by the ancient Romans at the end of a lustrum and after a triumph.

_E. Guhl and W. Koner, Life of the Greeks and Romans, section 103._

SUPERIOR, Lake, The discovery of.

See CANADA: A. D. 1634-1673.

SUPREMACY, The Acts of.

The first Act of Supremacy, which established the independence of the Church of England and broke its relations with Rome, was passed by the English Parliament during the reign of Henry VIII., in 1534. It enacted "that the King should be taken and reputed 'the only Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England called Ecclesia Anglicana, and shall have and enjoy, annexed and united to the imperial Crown of this realm, as well the title and style thereof, as all honours, dignities, pre-eminencies, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities, to the said dignity of Supreme Head of the same church belonging and appertaining'; with full power to visit, reform, and correct all heresies, errors, abuses, offences, contempts and enormities which, by any manner of spiritual authority or jurisdiction, ought to be reformed or corrected."

_T. P. Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History, chapter 11._

The Act of Supremacy was repealed in the reign of Mary and re-enacted with changes in that of Elizabeth, 1559.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1527-1534; and 1559.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, The.

"On the 24th day of September, 1789, the act organizing the Supreme Court; was passed. The Court was constituted with a Chief Justice and five associates. John Jay was appointed the first Chief Justice by Washington. Webster said of him that when the ermine fell upon his shoulders, it touched a being as spotless as itself. The Court first convened in February, 1790, in New York. It does not appear from the reports that any case then came before it. Jay remained Chief Justice until 1795, when he resigned to become governor of the State of New York. A Chief Justice in our day would hardly do this. His judicial duties were so few that he found time, in 1794, to accept the mission to England to negotiate the treaty so famous in history as 'Jay's Treaty.' John Rutledge of South Carolina was appointed to succeed Jay, but he was so pronounced in his opposition to the treaty, and so bitter in his denunciation of Jay himself, that the federal Senate refused to confirm him. William Cushing of Massachusetts, one of the associate justices, was then nominated by Washington, and was promptly confirmed; but he preferred to remain associate justice, and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut was made Chief Justice. He held the office until 1801, when John Marshall of Virginia was appointed by President Adams. Marshall held the office thirty-four years. He was known at the time of his appointment as an ardent Federalist. {3040} In our time he is known as 'the great Chief Justice.' Roger B. Taney was the next incumbent. He was appointed by President Jackson. His political enemies styled him a renegade Federalist, and said that his appointment was his reward for his obsequious obedience, while Secretary of the Treasury, to President Jackson. But Taney, despite the Dred Scott decision, was an honest man and a great judge. His opinions are models of lucid and orderly discussion, and are of admirable literary form. He held the office for twenty-eight years, and upon his death in 1864, President Lincoln appointed Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio. Chief Justice Chase died in 1874. President Grant then appointed Morrison R. Waite of Ohio. He died in 1888. Melville W. Fuller, of Illinois, is the present [1889] incumbent, his appointment having been made by President Cleveland. … In 1807 an associate judge was added by Congress; two more were added in 1837, and one in 1863. They were added to enable the Court to perform the work of the circuits, which increased with the growth of the country."

_J. S. Landon, The Constitutional History and Government of the United States, lecture 10._

"The Supreme court is directly created by Article iii., section 1 of the Constitution, but with no provision as to the number of its judges. Originally there were six; at present there are nine, a chief justice, with a salary of $10,500 (£2,100), and eight associate judges (salary $10,000). The justices are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. They hold office during good behaviour, i. e. they are removable only by impeachment. They have thus a tenure even more secure than that of English judges, for the latter may be removed by the Crown on an address from both Houses of Parliament. … The Fathers of the Constitution were extremely anxious to secure the independence of their judiciary, regarding it as a bulwark both for the people and for the States against aggressions of either Congress or the President. They affirmed the life tenure by an unanimous vote in the Convention of 1787, because they deemed the risk of the continuance in office of an incompetent judge a less evil than the subserviency of all judges to the legislature, which might flow from a tenure dependent on legislative will. The result has justified their expectations. The judges have shown themselves independent of Congress and of party, yet the security of their position has rarely tempted them to breaches of judicial duty. Impeachment has been four times resorted to, once only against a justice of the Supreme court, and then unsuccessfully. Attempts have been made, beginning from Jefferson, who argued that judges should hold office for terms of four or six years only, to alter the tenure of the Federal judges, as that of the State judges has been altered in most States; but Congress has always rejected the proposed constitutional amendment. The Supreme court sits at Washington from October till July in every year."

_J. Bryce, The American Commonwealth, part 1, chapter 22 (volume 1)._

"It is, I believe, the only national tribunal in the world which can sit in judgment on a national law, and can declare an act of all the three powers of the Union to be null and void. No such power does or can exist in England. Anyone of the three powers of the state, King, Lords, or Commons, acting alone, may act illegally; the three acting together cannot act illegally. An act of parliament is final; it may be repealed by the power which enacted it; it cannot be questioned by any other power. For in England there is no written constitution; the powers of Parliament, of King, Lords, and Commons, acting together, are literally boundless. But in your Union, it is not only possible that President, Senate, or House of Representatives, acting alone, may act illegally; the three acting together may act illegally. For their powers are not boundless, they have no powers but such as the terms of the constitution, that is, the original treaty between the States, have given them. Congress may pass, the President may assent to, a measure which contradicts the terms of the constitution. If they so act, they act illegally, and the Supreme Court can declare such an act to be null and void. This difference flows directly from the difference between a written and an unwritten constitution. It does not follow that every state which has a written constitution need vest in its highest court such powers as are vested in yours, though it certainly seems to me that, in a federal constitution, such a power is highly expedient. My point is simply that such a power can exist where there is a written constitution; where there is no written constitution, it cannot."

_E. A. Freeman, The English People in its Three Homes: Lectures to American Audiences, pages 191-192._

SURA, Battle of (A. D. 530).

See PERSIA: A. D. 226-627.

SURENA.

The title of the commander-in-chief or field-marshal of the Parthian armies, whose rank was second only to that of the king. This title was sometimes mistaken by Greek writers for an individual name, as in the case of the Parthian general who defeated Crassus.

_G. Rawlinson, Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy, page 23._

SURGERY.

See MEDICAL SCIENCE.

SURINAM.

See GUIANA: A. D. 1580-1814.

SURPLUS, The distribution of the.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1835-1837.

SURRATT, Mrs.: The Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1865 (APRIL 14TH).

SUSA. SUSIANA. SHUSHAN.

Originally the capital of the ancient kingdom of Elam, Shushan, or Susiana, or Susa, as it has been variously called, was in later times made the principal capital of the Persian empire, and became the scene of the Biblical story of Esther. A French expedition, directed by M. Dieulafoy and wife, undertook an exploration of the ruins of Susa in 1885 and has brought to light some remarkably interesting and important remains of ancient art. The name Susiana was applied by the Greeks to the country of Elam, as well as to the capital city, and it is sometimes still used in that sense.

_Z. A. Ragozin, Story of Media, Babylon and Persia, appendix to chapter 10._

See, also, ELAM; and BABYLONIA: PRIMITIVE.

SUSIAN GATES.

A pass in the mountains which surrounded the plain of Persepolis, the center of ancient Persia proper. Alexander had difficulty in forcing the Gates.

_G. Grote, History of Greece, part 2, chapter 93._

SUSIANA.

See SUSA.

SUSMARSHAUSEN, Battle of(1648).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1646-1648.

SUSQUEHANNA COMPANY, The.

See PENNSYLVANIA: A. D. 1753-1799.

SUSQUEHANNAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SUSQUEHANNAS.

{3041}

SUSSEX.

Originally the kingdom formed by that body of the Saxon conquerors of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries which acquired the name of the South Saxons. It is nearly represented in territory by the present counties of Sussex and Surrey.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 477-527.

SUTRIUM, Battle of.

A victory of the Romans over the Etruscans, among the exploits ascribed to the veteran Q. Fabius Maximus.

_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 3, chapter 10._

SUTTEE, Suppression of, in India.

See INDIA: A. D. 1823-1833.

SUVARROF, SUWARROW, Campaigns of.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1762-1796; also FRANCE: A. D. 1798-1799 (AUGUST-APRIL); 1799 (APRIL-SEPTEMBER), and (AUGUST-DECEMBER).

SVASTIKA, The.

See TRI-SKELION.

SWAANENDAEL.

See DELAWARE: A. D. 1629-1631.

SWABIA.

See SUABIA.

SWAMP ANGEL, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1863 (AUGUST-DECEMBER: SOUTH CAROLINA).

SWAN, The Order of the.

A Prussian order of knighthood, instituted in the 15th century, which disappeared in the century following, and was revived in 1843.

SWANS, The Road of the.

See NORMANS.

SWEATING SICKNESS, The.

The "Sudor Anglicus," or Sweating Sickness was a strange and fearful epidemic which appeared in England in 1485 or 1486, and again in 1507, 1518, 1529, and 1551. In the last three instances it passed to the continent. Its first appearance was always in England, from which fact it took one of its names. Its peculiar characteristic was the profuse sweating which accompanied the disease. The mortality from it was very great.

_J. H. Baas, Outlines of the History of Medicine, pages 318-319._

See, also, PLAGUE, ETC.: A. D. 1485-1593.

SWEDEN: Early inhabitants.

See SUIONES.

SWEDEN: History.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES.

SWEDEN: Constitution.

See CONSTITUTION OF SWEDEN.

SWEENEY, Peter B., and the Tweed Ring.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1863-1871.

SWERKER I., King of Sweden, A. D. 1155.

SWERKER II., King of Sweden, 1199-1210.

SWERKERSON.

See CHARLES SWERKERSON; and JOHN SWERKERSON.

SWERRO, King of Norway, A. D. 1186-1202.

SWEYN I., King of Denmark, A. D. 991-1014.

Sweyn II., King of Denmark, 1047-1076.

Sweyn III., King of Denmark, 1156-1157.

Sweyn Canutson, King of Norway, 1030-1035.

SWISS CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1848-1890; and CONSTITUTION OF SWITZERLAND.

SWITZERLAND: Start--------

SWITZERLAND: Early inhabitants.

See HELVETII; ALEMANNI: A. D. 496-504; BURGUNDIANS: A. D. 443-451; also, below: THE THREE FOREST CANTONS.

SWITZERLAND: The Three Forest Cantons, their original Confederation (Eidgenossenschaft), and their relations with the House of Austria. History divested of Legend.