Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/483

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CHAMPOLLION 419 CHANCELLOR lished his "The Savages." In May, 1604, he sailed with De Monts along the shores of Nova Scotia, wintered on the island of St. Croix, and founded a colony at Port Royal. From 1604 to 1606 he made careful surveys and charts of the coast as far as Cape Cod. He revisited France in 1607, but sailed again in 1608, and founded Quebec, which, owing to the de- velopment of its fur-trade, rapidly in- creased in size. In 1609 he accompanied an Algonquin and Huron expedition against the Iroquois, and thereby discov- ered Lake Champlain, on the borders of which the Iroquois were defeated. From September, 1609, to March, 1610, he was engaged in bringing over French me- chanics for his colony. He became lieu- tenant-governor of New France (Oct. 8, 1612) ; fortified Quebec (1620) ; but was compelled (1629) to surrender to an English fleet, and was taken to England. Released in 1632, he sailed again for New France, with three well-equipped vessels, and spent his last years in the government and development of the French colonies. He died in Quebec, Dec. 25, 1635. CHAMPOLLION, JEAN FRAN9OIS (shan-pol-yon'), a French scholar, cele- brated for his discoveries in the depart- ment of Egyptian hieroglyphics, born in Figeac, Dec. 23, 1790. At an early age he devoted himself to the study of He- brew, Arabic, Coptic, etc., and in 1809 became Professor of History at Grenoble. He soon, however, retired to Paris, where, with the aid of the trilingual in- scription of the Rosetta Stone and the suggestions thrown out by Dr. Thomas Young, he at length discovered the key to the graphic system of the Egyptians, the three elements of which — figurative, ideographic, and alphabetic — he ex- pounded before the Institute in a series of memoirs in 1823. These were pub- lished in 1824 at the expense of the state, under the title of "Hieroglyphic System of the Ancient Egyptians." He died in Paris, March 4, 1832. CHAMPS-ELYSEES (cshon'za-le-za') , [Fr. "Elysian Fields"], a place of public resort in Paris, which consists of an avenue and the gardens surrounding it. These extend from the Place de la Con- corde to the Place de I'Etoile, a distance of IM miles. It became the property of the crown in 1616 and was ceded to the city in 1828. Its lower end forms a park, flanked by the Palais de ITElys^e, and by the two Palais des Beaux-Arts. CHANCEL, the E. end of a church, in which the altar is placed. It was for- merly, and is even now in places, di- vided from the body of the church by a screen or lattice-work, and is raised by steps above the level of the body of the church. CHANCELLOR, in ancient times a petty officer stationed at the fence of bars or lattice-work in a law-court, to introduce such functionaries as were en- titled to pass inside. The Lord Chancellor of England was originally the king's chief secretary, to whom petitions were referred, whence he was called referendarnus. This title subsequently gave place to chancellor, which first occurs, according to Selden, in English history about A. D, 920. Be- ing generally an ecclesiastic, he became keeper of the king's conscience. Having to express the sovereign's views in cases appealed to him from the courts of law, he gradually acquired a great legal standing himself, and finally developed into the potent personage now denom- inated the Loi'd Chancellor, or more fully the Lord High Chancellor. He is now the highest judicial functionary in the kingdom; he is keeper of the great seal; he presides in the House of Lords, of which he is prolocutor; he is a cabinet minister and privy councillor; presides in what was the Court of Chancery (once spelled chancelry), but is now the Chancery Division of the Supreme Court; appoints all justices of the peace throughout the kingdom; is the general guardian of all infants, idiots, and luna- tics; visitor of the hospitals and colleges of royal foundation; and patron of all livings under a specified value. He goes out with the ministry of which he is a member. The Chancellor of the Exchequer of England is, properly, the under-treas- urer of the exchequer, the head treas- urership being held, not by an individ- ual, but by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. The chancellor has, how- ever, a very powerful voice in connec- tion with the exchequer. He must be in the House of Commons, and may be its leader, and also Prime Minister. The Chancellor of the former German Empire was an officer, the extent of whose power and influence had never been exactly defined. In modern Ger- many since the unification of the Ger- man Empire the office was made illustri- ous by its association with the name of Bismarck, the first to hold that position under the new regime. In general terms it may be stated that the German Chan- cellor was an executive of very gi-eat powers, being at once the adviser and prime minister of the Emperor. He combined the functions of one of the American department secretaries with those of the promoter and originator of