Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/247

NESHOBA NESSELRODE 239 and intestinal derangements. 7. Tetanus or locked- jaw, a rigid spasm of the voluntary mus- cles arising from an exalted state of the reflex function of the spinal cord, sometimes sponta- neous, but more often the result of punctured or lacerated wounds. 8. The rare and curious derangements known as catalepsy and ecstasy. It is doubtful whether in all these cases struc- tural disease of the nervous tissues do not real- ly exist, and may not be discoverable by more complete examination. Accounts of these dis- eases will be found under appropriate heads. Structural diseases of the nervous system, or those in which the nervous symptoms arise from some morbid change or lesion in the nerve structures, may be divided into : 1, diseases of the brain and spinal cord and their cover- ings or membranes (see BEAIN, DISEASES OF THE) ; and 2, diseases of the nerves. The lat- ter are not numerous. (See NEURALGIA.) Epi- lepsy, sometimes a purely functional disease of the nervous system, and sometimes organic in its origin, is described under its own head. NESHOBi, an E. county of Mississippi, inter- sected by Pearl river and drained by its branch- es; area, 600 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 7,439, of whom 1,703 were colored. Much of the land is uncultivated. The chief productions in 1870 were 176,189 bushels of Indian corn, 27,624 of sweet potatoes, 2,971 Ibs. of tobacco, 2,492 bales of cotton, 6,471 Ibs. of wool, and 5,438 gallons of sorghum molasses. There were 1,549 horses, 513 mules and asses, 2,813 milch cows, 4,773 other cattle, 4,409 sheep, and 11,- 774 swine. Capital, Philadelphia. NESS, a W. central county of Kansas, water- ed by Walnut creek and PawnBe fork, affluents of the Arkansas ; area, 900 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 2. The surface consists of rolling prai- ries, and the soil is productive. NESSELRODE, Karl Robert TOD, count, a Rus- sian statesman, born on board a Russian frig- ate in the port of Lisbon, Dec. 14, 1780, died in St. Petersburg, March 23, 1862. He was baptized in the Protestant faith on board an English ship. He belonged to a noble Ger- man family settled in Livonia, and at the time of his birth his father was ambassador to Por- tugal. He began his career in the military service, but early became attache to the vari- ous embassies of his father. Subsequently he served in that capacity with the embassies at Paris and the Hague. He gained the favor of the emperor Alexander by the brilliant style of his diplomatic compositions (which how- ever were drawn up by his secretary), and received an appointment in the ministry of foreign affairs in St. Petersburg. As coun- cillor of the cabinet he was frequently brought into personal contact with the emperor, who learned to appreciate his knowledge of in- ternational law and of European affairs. At the same time he knew how to disguise his superiority under an appearance of modesty, and to make the ideas which originated from his own mind appear to proceed from his 593 VOL. XIL 16 master. The favorable impression he thus produced led to his being intrusted with the ministry of foreign affairs before he was 32 years old (1812), at first under Count Razu- movski ; and he began from that time to con- trol the relations of Russia with foreign coun- tries. He formed the coalition with England and Prussia in 1813, and the negotiations and treaties with England, Sweden, Prussia, and Austria, which determined the result of the conflict with France, were almost all concluded under his influence. In the night of March 30-31, 1814, he signed the capitula- tion of Paris, which put an end to the wars of the first French empire (excepting, the hun- dred days); and 42 years afterward he re- tired from public service after the signing of the treaty of peace in Paris, March 80, 1856, which terminated the war with Napoleon III. and his allies. At the congress of Vienna (1814-'15) Nesselrode was the first to assume for Russia that attitude of superiority which, combined with a tone of courteous and bland moderation in communicating with other na- tions, has since given to Russian statecraft a distinguished position in the diplomatic world. Sympathizing most with Austria, he endeav- ored at the same time to maintain intimate relations with Prussia, and also showed great moderation toward France, effectually oppo- sing at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) Great Britain's desire of prolonging the oc- cupation of France by foreign garrisons, and exerting himself to obtain a reduction of the enormous fines imposed upon her after the bat- tle of Waterloo. Louis XVIII. and his minis- ter Richelieu showed their gratitude to Nes- selrode and his colleague Pozzo di Borgo, and immense amounts of money passed into the hands of both. The great wealth secured by him on that and other occasions made him one of the richest men of Europe. He was one of the most extensive sheep graziers in Russia, his flocks amounting to more than 150,000, and his personal property was enor- mous. But the prosaic tenor of his mind was not congenial to the poetical and mystical dis- position of Alexander, who regarded the holy alliance as a religious matter, while Nesselrode looked upon it merely as a political power. While preserving the first place in the foreign ministry, he was to some extent supplanted for a while in the emperor's confidence by Count Capo d'Istria, who was appointed as his colleague ; but the outbreak of the Greek rev- olution led to his withdrawal and left Nessel- rode sole master of the foreign office. The revolutionary movements which at the same period agitated Italy, Spain, and Portugal, caused Nesselrode and Metternich to adopt a stringent policy, which had reached its climax at the time of the death of Alexander I. in 1825. Nesselrode continued to enjoy the con- fidence of the new czar Nicholas, whose en- ergy and commanding individuality, however, made his position less influential than it had