Encyclopædia americana. A popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, a new ed.; including a copious collection of original articles in American biography; on the basis of the 7th ed. of the German Conversations-lexicon. Ed. by Francis Lieber, assisted by E. Wigglesworth ...

37t4 CACAO — CACTUS.
an ingredient in pomatums. From the (e. g., to repiort opinions, to repair to a
nuts, when slightly roasted, an oil is certain place, to leave their place of resisometimes obtained by pressure, which is dence, or go into banishment) were issued
occasionally used ini medicine. in this form. Warrants also were often
CACHAO, KACHO, ECHO, 01or BAc-ING; issued in this form, because the courts,
capital of the kingdom of Tonquin, on and particularly the police, could not
the river Songkoi, about 100 miles from have acted without such authority in urits mouth. It is an open, straggling town, gent cases. To the lieutenant-general de
with wide streets, the houses of mud, or la police of Paris a number of them were
wood thatched with straw. It was for- always given, to fill out the blanks as
naelly the residence of the king; and the occasion might require. Without them,
English and Danes had factories there. he would not have been authorized to
It is a commercial place of some conse- arrest suspected persons. Frequently the
quence. Gold, beautiful silks, and the arrest by lettre de cachet was a favor on
finest lackered ware, is exported. Lat. the part of the king, as it withdrew the
21~ 25' N.; lon. 105~ 12' E. accused from the severer punishment to
CAICHELOT, (See Whales.) which he would have been liable upon a
CACHET, LETTRES DE; secret war- trial before the courts. (See Linguet's
rants, by means of which, under the Memoirs sur la Bastille, London, 1783,
former kings:of France, and their minis- and Mirabeau's Des Lettres de Cachet et
ters, any body could be imprisoned or des Prisons d'Eitat, 1782.) These letters
banished to a certain place, without any were detestable instruments of arbitrary
reason given. The introduction of them power, hostile to every principle of right.
is ascribed to the famous Capuchin padre (See Bastile.)
Joseph, under the ministry of cardinal CACIqUE; in some parts of America,
Richelieu. In this sense, the term lettres the title of the native chiefs at the time
de cachet is commonly used, but it has, in of the conquest by the Spaniards.
fact, a more extensive signification. All CACODE:MON. (See Demon.)
despatches from the royal state-chancery CACOPHONY; a fault of style, which
were issued either openly, as lettres pa- consists in a harsh and disagreeable sound,
tentes, or sealed, as lettres closes, or de produced by the meeting of two letters or
cachet. The first were always written two syllables, or by the too frequent repeupon parchment, the name of the king tition of the same letters or syllables. It
signed by a minister of state, counter- destroys the harmony of the whole pesigned by the minister, not folded, but riod; it is unpleasant in prose and intolonly the lower part turned over, and erable in verse. Thus the Roman was
stamped with the great seal of state. shocked with the
They commenced with the words, /tous 0 fortunatam natam, me consule Romam;
prs&ens et ia venir Salut! and ended with
the form Car tel est notre plaisir. In this an3 accordg to Juvenal, a few more
shape, all edicts, ordinances, charters, priv- sCh cacophonies would have saved
Cicero's head. A French ear is offended
ileges, &c. were issued, but all had to be with Voltaire for the expression glaca sa
recorded by the parliament of the dis- main. Pope says,
trict to which they referred. The represcitations of the parliament often pre-d oft heeartheopeu vowelstire.
vented these lettres patentes from being CACTus, in botany; a genus of sucCUcarried into effect. The others, the lettres lent plants, containing 28 species, pernacloses, were only written on paper, some nent in duration, singular and various in
in the name of the king (who spoke in structure, generally without leaves, havthle first person, and concluded with the ing the stem or branches jointed, for the
Iormula Stin ce je prie Dieu, qu'il vous most part armed with spines in bundles,
ait dans sa sainte et divine garde, and with which, in many species, bristles are
signed with lis hame), some by commis- intermixed. They are natives of South
sionr froml the king. In the latter case, America and the West Indies. Several
they began with the words De par le of the species are cultivated in other
roi: il est ordonne i, and were signed by countries, for curiosity, in green-houses.
a m-inister. They were then closed, and Gardeners divide them into, 1. melonsealed with the small royal seal, so that thistles; these are of a roundish form: 2.
the contents could not be seen. The torch-thistles; erect, supporting themlegltes closes were used for many purposes selves: 3. cereuses; creeping with latbesides that of arrests. All the orders eral roots: 4. prickly-pears, or Indian
sent to officers and private individuals Jigs; compressed, with proliferous joints