COLPORTAGE. 180 COLTON. COLTORTAGE (from Fr. colporter, to cany mi <iiif'.s iiet-k. from col, Lat. coUum, neck -f iioilvr. Lat. porlarr, to carry). 'Die distri- bution of religious ])ul)licalioiis, books, tracts, and jH'riodicals, by carriers called colporteurs. COLQXJHOUN, ko-lioon'. Archibald Ross 1840 — ). An English traveler, born at sea oft' the Ca])e of Good Hope. He liecame associated with the Indian Department of Public Works in 1871. After acting as secretary of the British Commission to Siam, he in 1881-82 and 1883-84 made extensive tours of exploration in order to find a convenient route for a railway between India and C'hina. He became administrator of Maslioiialand in ISflO, and subsequently visited Central America as a representative of the Pan- ama and Nicaragua canal projects. His publica- tions include Across Chrysc (2 vols. 1883) ; The Opening of China (1884); English Policy ■in the Far East (1885) ; The Key of the Pacific (1895) ; China in Transformation (1898) ; Over- land to China (1901) ; he was also joint author of a Report on railway communication between India and China (18S5) to the establishment of which he has devoted his best energies. COLQUHOUN, Tonx (1805-85). A Scottish writer on sport. He was born at Edinburgh, and was educated at the university in that city. In 1840 he recorded his manifold adventures as a sportsman in the extremely interesting and popu- lar volume entitled Tlw Moor and the Loch, which has passed through six editions. COLQUHOUN, Patrick (1745-1820). An English police magistrate and writer, distin- guished for his efTorts in behalf of adminis- trative reform and the amelioration of the •condition of the poor. He was born at Dum- barton, and at an early age went to Virginia, where he l)ecame a successful merchant. Return- ing to Glasgow in 1700. he became prominent in public ati'airs. and in 1782 founded the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, the oldest institution of its kind in Great Britain. He removed to Lon- don in 1789, and published there in 1795 his famous Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis, in which he advocated a complete reform of the police system of that city. Several of the i-ecom- mendations made by him in the work, which passed through seven editions, were subsefiuently adopted. In consequence of the numerous im- portant municipal reforms introduced by him, he was appointed magistrate at Westminster, Lon- don, in 1798. COLQUHOUN, Sir P.trick, or Mac Chom- BAICII UE (1815-91). An English lawyer. He was a great-grandson of Patrick Colquhoun (q.v.) and was educated at Westminster. Cambridge, and Heidelberg. He was for many years a mem- ber of the diplomatic service, more particularly in Saxony, where he was counselor of legation imtil 1866. He also held the position of Chief .Justice of the Supreme Court of the Ionian Isl- ands while these were under British rule (1861- 04). His principal work is the Summary of the Roman Ciril laip (1849-00). COL'QUITT, Alfred Holt (1824-94). An xmerican soldier and politician, the son of Wal- ter T. Colquitt (q.v.). He was born in Walton County, Ga., graduated at Princeton in 1844, and was admitted to the bar in the following year. He volunteered for service in the United States Army at the beginning of the Mexican War; was soon afterwards appointed major, and served as an aide to General Taylor at the battle of Buena Vista. From 1853 to 1855 he was a prominent Democratic member of Congress, but at the ex- piration of his term declined a reuomination. On the approach of the Civil War he became an active secessionist, and was a prominent member of the Georgia secession convention. He enlisted in the Confederate Army early in 1801 ; quickly rose from the rank of captain to that of major- general : was engaged in most of the operations in Virginia; distinguished himself at Antietam and Petersburg, and was in command at the liat- tle of OUistee, Fla. After the war lie was Gover- nor of Georgia from 1870 to 1S82. and was a member of the United States Senate from 1882 until his deatli. COLQUITT, Walter T. (1799-1855). An American lawyer and politician, born in Halifax County, Va. He studied at Princeton, read law at Milledgeville. Ga., was called to the bar in 1820, and practiced with eminent success, first at Sparta and later at Cowpens. In 1834 and 1837 he was a member of the State Senate of Georgia, and from 1839 until his resignation in 1840 oc- cupied a seat in the Federal House of Represen- tatives. In 1842-43 he was again in Congress, and from 1S43 vuitil his resignation in 1848 was a United States Senator. He was originally a States-rights Miig, but became a Van Buren Democrat. During the Mexican War he was strongly opposed to the Wilmot Proviso ( q.v. ) . COLT, kolt, Samuel (1814-62). An American manufactur.er. inventor of the revolver. He was born in Hartford, Conn., where he worked in his father's factory. Oljtaining a knowledge of chem- istry, he lectured on that subject in the LTnited States and Canada, and in 1835 secured patents for a revolving pistol, a wooden model of which he had made while at sea when a boy. In the same year the Patent Arms Company was formed for the manufactui-e of his invention, but became insolvent in 1842 through insufficient demand for its product. In 1847 Colt contracted to make 1000 weapons for General Taylor, and the im- provement of the revolver, together with the in- creased demand for it, set the business on a stable footing, while new imjirovements were constantly made in the Aveapon. In 1852 he built a large armory in Hartford, where, besides firearms, machineiy is made for their manufac- ture in other places, notably at the English and the Russian arsenals. He invented a battery for submarine harbor defense, and in 1843 laid and successfully tested in New York Harbor the first submarine telegraph cable. His line was insu- lated with a comliination of cotton yarn, bees- wax, and asphaltum, incased in a lead pipe, gutta-percha not then having been discovered. COLTON, kol'ton, Walter (1797-1851). An American writer. He was born in Rutland. Vt.. graduated at Yale and Andover, and for several years was ])rofessor of moral philosophy and belles-lettres in the Middletown (Connecticut) Academy. Tn 1831 he became chaplain in the iia-y. He was made alcalde of Jlonterey. Cal.. in 1845. and founded the Californian. the first newspaper published in that State. He also built the first school-house and made the first an- nouncement of the discovery of gold. Colton edited newspapers in Washington, Charlestown, Mass., and Philadelphia, and published Ship and
