Congress

Congress, an assembly either of sovereign princes, or of the delegated representatives of sovereign states, for the purpose of considering matters of international interest. Even in America, though the term has now a different meaning, it had a similar origin, the first congress being that of the delegates from the various British colonies, who met on the 7th October 1765, for the purpose of considering their grievances. Previous to signing a treaty of peace, a meeting of plenipotentiaries usually takes place, to which the name of a congress is sometimes applied, though it seems more properly to be reserved for those more important meetings at which extensive schemes of future policy are determined on, and the balance of power amongst the various European states readjusted. To this class belonged the famous Congress of Vienna in 1815; that of Carlsbad in 1819, for regulating the affairs of Germany; that of Paris at the end of the Russian war of 1854-56; and that at Berlin after the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78. There is scarcely any difference between a congress and a diplomatic Conference (q.v.).