LONG ISLAND CITY LONGSTBEET length 118 miles; width varying from 15 to 23 miles; area, 1,682 square miles. It is connected with Manhattan by four bridges and three tunnels. The island is divided into Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties, and of its area that portion comprising Kings and Queens counties forms part of the city of New York under the names of Borough of Brooklyn and Borough of Queens. LONG ISLAND CITY, a former munic- ipality in Queens co., and the second city in size on Long Island, N. Y.; since Jan. 1, 1898, a part of the Borough of Queens in the Greater New York. Before the consolidation it comprised Hunter's Point, Ravenswood, Blissville, Dutch Kills, Steinway, and Astoria. It is separated from Brooklyn by Newtown creek, is con- nected with the Borough of Manhattan by several bridges and ferries, and contains extensive warehouses, oil re- fineries, lumber yards, machine shops, and many manufacturing establishments of the first magnitude. The increased transportation facilities in recent years have made Long Island City one of the most important manufacturing cities of the country. There are hospitals, banks, electric light and street railroad services, waterworks, and newspapers. Pop. (1890) as independent city, 30,396. LONG ISLAND SOUND, a large body of water lying between Long Island and New York and Connecticut; length, about 110 miles; width varying from 2 to 20 miles. On the W. it is connected with the Atlantic by a strait called the East River, New York Bay, and the Narrows, and on the E. by a narrow passage called the Race. The principal rivers flowing into the Sound from the mainland are the Housatonic, Connecticut, and Thames. It is the route of a very large and im- portant trade between the city of New York and the East, and is navigated by numerous regular lines of freight and passenger steamers. LONGITUDE, in astronomy, the dis- tance in degrees reckoned along the eclip- tic from the spring equinox to a circle at right angles to it passing through the heavenly body whose longitude is re- quired. A star situated directly in the line between the pole of the ecliptic and the venial equinox has no longitude. In place of celestial longitudes right ascen- sions are now generally noted. In geog- raphy, distance east or west on the sur- face of the globe. The longitude of a place is the arc of the equator intercepted between the meridian of the place and a meridian passing through some other place from which longitude is reckoned. Longitude, in the United States, la reckoned from the meridians of Washing- ton, Greenwich, and Paris. Longitude is expressed in degrees, minutes, and sec- onds, or in time, 15° being equivalent to one hour. It is reckoned to 180° E. or W. Heliocentric longitude, in astronomy, the longitude of a heavenly body as reckoned on or referred to a circle, of which the center coincides with that of the sun. See Latitude. LONG PARLIAMENT, in English his- tory. The fifth Parliament summoned by Charles I. It convened at West- minster, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1640. It executed Strafford and Laud, abolished the Star Chamber and the High Com- mission, instituted many other constitu- tional reforms, and provided against its dissolution or prorogation without its own consent. After having been reduced by the expulsion of 96 Presbyterian members, its remaining membership, known as the Rump (g. v.), executed the king and established the Commonwealth, but was dissolved by Cromwell, April 20, 1653. It was recalled twice in 1659. On Feb. 21, 1660, the expelled Pres- byterian members were reseated and the Long Parliament, thus restored, voted its own dissolution on March 16, 1660, LONG'S PEAK, named after Col. S. H. Long, engineer and explorer, one of the highest peaks (14,271 feet) of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. LONGSTBEET, JAMES, an American military officer; born in Edgefield dis- trict, S. C, Jan. 8, 1821. He was gradu- ated at the United States Military Acad- demy in 1842. He served with dis- tinction in the Mexican War, and after obtaining his captaincy, was brevetted major. After serving for some time in Texas, Longstreet was appointed, in 1858, paymaster in the regular army. Resigning his commission at the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the Confede- rates with the rank of Brigadier-General. He distinguished himself in the battle of Bull Run. In 1862 he was made Major-General, and earned great celeb- rity under General Lee, in the campaigns against Generals Pope, McClellan, and Burnside. After the battle of Freder- icksburg, General Longstreet was given the command of a corps, with the rank of Lieutenant-General. With this force he took an active and distinguished part in the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettys- burg, and Chickamauga. In the battle of the Wilderness, General Longstreet was dangerously wounded. After the fall of Richmond he surrendered, and lived in comparative retirement till 1869, when he was appointed Supervisor of
