to fasten them on their swelling bosom and march up and down the aisles; there they go. These men are engaged on a wager to see how high they can throw their hats. That young lady is crying real tears because Blaine is nominated, and for her sweet life she does not know what interest she has in the nomination, anyhow. In fact, it seems to be the non-voters that constitute the muscle and sinew of the campaign racketry—a word made indispensable by political conventions. All the time that we have been observing these trifles 10,000 sane persons have been continuously howling, shrieking, singing, snorting, clapping their hands, stamping their feet, waving their hats, waving their bonnets by their long strings, dancing in the irregular, accented way peculiar to savages and semicivilized communities, and they appear to think that all this is a demonstration in support of our free institutions. Now a few thousand people cry 'Sdown, sdown!' which undoubtedly means 'sit down,' but that only makes the rest crazier. The hoot goes up in pitch, thickens in volume, and the familiar tiger is introduced. The 'hi, hi' which is exasperating in the extreme except to devotees of Wagner, who naturally admire irregular musical forms, is also introduced, and is taken up and repeated like small chainlightning from east to west on a summer evening. Here is a man who cannot 'Hi, hi!' So he forms his lips into an O, and utters a monotone 'Coo, coo,' as if he thinks he is a mechanical cuckoo in a Swiss clock. There are at least a hundred dismal black umbrellas open and waving; yet we are under roof, and there is not a drop of rain. One umbrella has just turned inside out and performed hari-kari upon its own poor ribs, instead of, for justice's sake, upon those of its proprietor. The fat woman has lifted the little girl on the shoulders of a slim young man, and the child has put her hands together, and is saying, in a high, shrill key, 'God bless James G. Blaine; God bless James G. Blaine,' and we all wonder what for.

"Now a floral helmet, with a beautiful snowy plume of the finest imported horse-hair, is produced at the Chairman's desk, and the whole house goes simply wild. It is a happy thought, that it is.

"Now the din has grown perfectly infernal, just because somebody tried to stop it; and Good gracious, sir, will you kindly omit to knock a fellow's head off with your bootjack? That's what he brought to support our free institutions. He was 'shinin 'em up' out in the street, and has climbed in through a window, and is now

waving that deadly weapon over his head as if it were the banner Excelsior carried up the Alps. All this racketry has been going by the watch for seven minutes, for a week by one's lacerated ears; and all because James G. Blaine is nominated for President. At this moment there is not the slightest indication that it will ever stop. "But it is nothing to the racket there will be all over the United States before he is elected President.

COMMENTS ON THE CONVENTION.

"The distinguishing feature of the campaign for President is the effort of the office-holding element to secure delegates. As first shown in this paper, more than 100 holders of Federal positions from the Southern States alone appear in convention, all for Arthur. The majority of the non-office-holding delegates from the same States are selected only by sufferance of the former, who are the leaders and bosses of Republican politics. The influence of officeholding appears strong in the Administration's behalf in the North also, and it may safely be said that but for this agency, directly and indirectly, 200 of the 276 recorded for Mr. Arthur on the first ballot would have been added to the columns of other candidates.

"The immediate advisers of the President were not idle either. The work of Mr. Secretary Chandler shows up well in New Hampshire, the sole Republican State giving Arthur a majority of her votes yesterday. Mr. Commissioner Evans did his best in Kentucky. Assistant Postmaster-General Hatton worked hard though fruitlessly in Iowa. Postmaster-General Gresham himself was alert and early in Indiana, where, by smart tactics, ten Arthur delegates were secured, despite an absence of popular feeling in favour of the President's nomination.

"The reformers, independents, and conservatives of New England and New York rally about Edmunds. They gather some delegates for him, achieve a strategic victory at Utica, and then attack Mr. Blaine's reputation with an old charge. The son of neversatisfied Ohio plans a shrewd and not over-frank and creditable campaign, the while proclaiming himself not a candidate, managing at length to secure a bare majority of the delegates from his State.

"The various forces arrive at Chicago. It is soon discovered that the news we had received of Blaine's great strength with the Republican people, wherever there are Republican majorities, was

trustworthy. Despite the office-holders, the conservatives, Logan and Sherman, it is seen Blaine is ahead of any rival. With his delegates come not only the old-time enthusiasm, determination, and intensity of popular feeling at home, but politicians, shrewd, tireless, and experienced, which are new and welcome features in Blaine's convention management. They pull their coats. The field is worked row by row and hill by hill. It is apparent from the first that Blaine will win, barring accident. Only the blind, stupid, or indifferent could fail to see it. With such strength from the people and such an array of political sagacity to handle it, defeat would have been disgraceful.

"The Administration stands with its feet upon the South, reaching imploringly toward the North. Into the South, quick and sure, goes Elkins. Rather into the South had he gone two months ago by a well-kept secret conspiracy with Powell Clayton and Kerrens and Roots and others of Arkansas. This State comes to Chicago solid for Arthur. At the proper moment its nearly complete desertion to Blaine is announced. Arthur's foundation crumbles under his feet, and there is consternation among his followers. Man by man, by a hundred influences, some of them doubtless questionable, the Blaine operators break the lines of the Administration's solid South. It is the beginning of the practical triumph already seen to be logical.

"But a slight reverse comes. Powell Clayton, who arranged the Arkansas defection, is selected by the national committee for temporary chairman. He is a man of objectionable record. It is given out the chairmanship is his reward by the Blaine people for his treachery to Arthur. He is set up as Blaine's man. The opposition, quickly welded by opportunity, plans a sudden blow. It is delivered, and Blaine's man falls. It is hailed as an anti-Blaine triumph.

"Too late was it discovered that the selection of Clayton was an Arthur trap into which Blaine fell. The national committee was not a Blaine committee, and Clayton was first named by an Arthur man, Arthur members voting for him. The child was of course immediately said to belong to the Blaine managers, and they could not deny it without mortally offending Clayton. They fattened it and stood by it.

"Encouraged by its first tactical victory, the opposition makes renewed efforts. It has of necessity become a fight of the field against the favourite. It quickly degenerates into anything to

VOL. II

2 T

beat Blaine.' It is eager, bitter, and peculiar. Dudes and roughs, civil service reformers and office-holding bosses, short-hairs and college presidents-many men of various kinds of ambition or selfishness join in midnight conferences, cartoon circulation, or desperate parliamentary tactics. The first noticeable effect of the alliance to drag down the leader is a solidification of all his forces. The wavering become firm, the indifferent determined. Like an old guard they rally round their leader.

"The opposition flounders and struggles to make something of itself. It agrees to keep the prize from Blaine if possible, but it cannot agree that any other man shall have it. Harmony in spoilshunting becomes discord in spoils-dividing. Logan refuses all combination. The Lincoln boom collapses. The General Sherman scheme fails. To throw Arthur to Edmunds is impossible. To transfer Edmunds to Arthur is merely to send Logan and Sherman to Blaine. Logan will not have Edmunds; the Edmunds men do not want Logan. Arthur also prefers Blaine to Sherman. Gresham is looked upon as Arthur's man.

"Seeking but not finding the man with whom to beat Blaine, the opposition fights for time. It desperately contends for postponement of the inevitable. The end comes, as had been expected, and precisely as foreshadowed in these columns. Blaine's naked starting strength is about 360, but by prudent and skilful handling of individual delegates his managers poll only 334 on the first ballot. Their reserve strength does the business. The gain of fifteen votes from first ballot to second is the signal for the break. But so tenacious are the allies that a recess is demanded. Hardly fair play, even in the dubious game of politics. Intense feeling springs up. We have the singular spectacle of a mob of gentlemen. There is great danger that the convention will end in a row, and the nomination, if made, become a doubtful honour. One clear-headed man sees this danger, by timely word and commanding presence averts it, and on roll-call a recess is refused. The next ballot makes Blaine-Ohio starting the break, Illinois finishing it. Logan consents to take second place, and so Foraker's name is not presented by Ohio. The convention shouts for the ticket and adjourns, wondering how many New Yorkers will join in bolting it."

They did well to wonder, for it was the bolters of New York that turned the scale against the Republican candidate in the election.

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF

CALIFORNIA1

Adopted in Convention at Sacramento, March 3, A.D. 1879; submitted to and ratified by the People, May 7, 1879.

PREAMBLE AND DECLARATION OF RIGHTS

PREAMBLE

WE, the people of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this Constitution.

ARTICLE I

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS

SECTION 1. All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.

SEC. 2. All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people, and they have the right to alter or reform the same whenever the public good may require it.

SEC. 3. The State of California is an inseparable part of the American Union, and the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land.

SEC. 4. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall for ever be guaranteed in this State; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness or juror on account of his opinions on matters of religious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or the safety of the State.

SEC. 5. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require the suspension.

1 I take this from an official edition published in 1887, and containing a few amendments made since 1879.

For a reference to some of the more remarkable provisions, see note at end.