CONFLUENTES 106 CONGER in part punishment of a crime. The subject of confiscating the property of those in rebellion was warmly discussed both in and out of the United States Congress at the beginning of the Civil War. A bill "to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," etc., ap- proved Aug. 6, 1861, providing for the immediate confiscation of all property belonging to office-holders under the Con- federate government, and confiscation within 60 days after the President's Am- nesty Proclamation of all property be- longing to disloyal citizens or privates in the Confederate army, was passed by the House July 11, 1862, and the Senate the next day; and after a slight modifica- tion, suggested by the president in his veto of the same, on constitutional grounds, it was again passed by both houses on the 16th, and approved, be- coming a law the next day. On July 22, the president issued an order that prop- erty needed for the support of the armies of the United States should be seized. After the United States entered the World War a number of German and Austrian ships in American harbors were seized. A custodian was also ap- pointed for alien enemy property for the period of the war. A presidential procla- mation, March 20, 1918, confiscated 68 Dutch ships in United States ports under the law of augury. CONELUENTES. See CoBLENZ. CONFORMABLE STRATA, beds which lie parallel to each other, the ac- cumulation of the upper strata having followed the deposition of the underly- ing beds without any break or prolonged interruption. Conformity thus points to a continuity of the same physical con- ditions. CONFUCIUS, or KONG-FU-TSE, that is, "the teacher, Kong," the famous Chi- nese sage; born about 550 B. c. in the province of Shantung, state of Lu. His father, Shuh-liang-heih, who was of royal descent, died three years later, and the boy was reared in comparative pov- erty by his mother, Ching-tsai. At the age of 17 he was made inspector of corn- markets, at 19 he married, and after about four years of domesticity, in which a son and two daughters were born him, he began his career as a teacher. In 517 B. c. he was induced by two mem- bers of one of the principal houses in Lu, who had joined his band of disciples, to visit the capital with them, where he had interviews with Laotze, the founder of Taoism. Driven from Lu to Tsi by a revolution, he soon returned thither with an increasing following, and at the age of 52 was made chief magistrate of the city of Chung-too. So striking a refor- mation was effected by him that he was chosen minister of crime, and with the aid of two powerful disciples elevated the state of Lu to a leading position in the kingdom. Its marquis, however, soon after gave himself up to debauch- ery, and Confucius became a wanderer in many states for 13 years. In 483 he returned to Lu, but would not take office. The deaths of his favor- ite disciples. Yen Hwin and Tze-lu, in 481 and 478 did much to further his own, which took place in the latter year. Confucius left no woi'k detailing his moral and social system, but the five canonical books of Confucianism are the "Yih-king," the "Shu-king," the "Shi- GRAVE OF CONFUCIUS, CHEFOO, CHINA king,"' the "Le-king," and the "Chun- tsien," with which are grouped the "Four Books," by disciples of Confucius, the "Ta-heo or Great Study," the "Chung- Yung or Invariable Mean," the "Tun-yu or Philosophical Dialogues," and the "Hi-tse," written by Meng-tse or Men- cius. The teaching of Confucius has had, and still has, an immense inf.uence in China. All his teaching was devoted to practical morality and to the duties of man in this world in relation to his fellowmen. It is doubtful if he had any real belief in a personal god. CONGER, a large sea-eel. Conger vulgaris of Cuvier, Munena Conger of Linnaeus. It is of the family Muraenidse. It is 5, 6, or, in rare eases, even 10 feet
