ng with the affairs of crown colonies
and protectorates; (3) the General Department, dealing with legal,
financial and other general business. In addition to these three
departments, standing committees exist to take a collective view of
such matters as contracts, concessions, mineral and other leases, and
patronage.

COLONNA, a noble Roman family, second only to the Gaetani di Sermoneta
in antiquity, and first of all the Roman houses in importance. The popes
Marcellinus, Sixtus III., Stephen IV. and Adrian III. are said to have
been members of it, but the authentic pedigree of the family begins with
Pietro, lord of Columna, Palestrina and Paliano (about 1100), probably a
brother of Pope Benedict IX. His great grandson Giovanni had two sons,
respectively the founders of the Colonna di Paliano and Colonna di
Sciarra lines. The third, or Colonna-Romano line, is descended from
Federigo Colonna (1223). In the 12th century we find the Colonna as
counts of Tusculum, and the family was then famous as one of the most
powerful and turbulent of the great Roman clans; its feuds with the
Orsini and the Gaetani are a characteristic feature of medieval Rome and
the Campagna; like the other great nobles of the Campagna the Colonna
plundered travellers and cities, and did not even spare the pope himself
if they felt themselves injured by him. Boniface VIII. attempted to
break their power, excommunicated them in 1297, and confiscated their
estates. He proclaimed a crusade against them and captured Palestrina,
but they afterwards revenged themselves by besieging him at Anagni, and
Sciarra Colonna laid violent hands on His Holiness, being with
difficulty restrained from actually murdering him (1303). In 1347 the
Colonna, at that time almost an independent power, were defeated by Cola
di Rienzi, but soon recovered. Pope Martin V. (1417-1431) was a Colonna,
and conferred immense estates on his family, including Marino, Frascati,
Rocca di Papa, Nettuno, Palinao, &c., in the Campagna, and other fiefs
in Romagna and Umbria. Their goods were frequently confiscated and
frequently given back, and the house was subject to many changes of
fortune; during the reign of Pope Alexander VI. they were again humbled,
but they always remained powerful and important, and members of the
family rose to eminence as generals, prelates and statesmen in the
service of the Church or other powers. In the war of 1522 between France
and Spain there were Colonna