public, and who are loath to adopt new and improved methods of transacting business; it is also claimed that the officers of an administration should be in sympathy with its policy which the people have approved by their suffrage. The real reason, however, of the support for so long by politicians of the doctrine of rotation in office, seems to have been the desire to have at their command rewards for the political services of their followers, a patronage, by the promise of which they might aid their efforts at elections. Many politicians, however, have come to see that the advantages to them of the spoils system are accompanied by great disadvantages; their lives are made burdensome by constant solicitations for their influence in obtaining office for their friends and constituents. Added to this the civil service reformers have urged more weighty reasons. They maintain that public office is a public trust; that it should be conducted as economically and efficiently as possible; that the sole way of accomplishing these ends is to appoint to office only persons who are duly qualified, to promote them as they show themselves worthy, and to remove them only for misconduct or inefficiency; thus officeholders will be encouraged to devote themselves in earnest to their work. They assert that only a few important officials need to be changed with each administration in order to insure the adequate carrying out of its policy, and the subordinates should be free from the fear of removal for partisan reasons, which is entirely unnecessary. They point to the great success in every way which the adoption of these principles in the British civil service has effected. Another great evil of the spoils system was political assessments; as a condition of retaining their positions officials were made to contribute largely to the campaign fund of the party which was in power, thus infringing their individual rights and increasing the means of corruption in elections. It gradually came to be felt by the better class of citizens that these evils must be cured. The first important step in this direction was taken by the act of 1871 which appointed a civil service commission to ascertain the fitness

of candidates for public office; but Congress soon refused appropriations for it; its work was consequently suspended, and it proved of little value except in paving the way for a more complete measure. About the same

time competitive examinations were commenced by the Naval Officer at New York, and the Custom House at that place gradually came to adopt the system with excellent effect; but this was a merely local attempt and not required by law. Notwithstanding Grant's message to Congress urging the support of the commission authorized in 1871, the messages of Hayes, Garfield and Arthur calling for an efficient measure to reform the civil service, and executive orders forbidding political assessments (which orders soon became dead letters), nothing was accomplished till the latter part of 1882. Then a bill (often known as the Pendleton Bill) was introduced by a Democrat, Senator Pendleton, for reforming the civil service. It passed the Senate December 27th by a vote of thirty-eight to five; of the majority twenty-three were Republicans, fourteen Democrats and one Independent; of the minority all were Democrats. The House passed the bill on January 5, 1883, by a vote of one hundred and fifty-five to. forty-seven; of the majority one hundred and one were Republicans, fortynine Democrats and five Independents; of the minority seven were Republicans, thirty-nine Democrats and one Independent. It was approved by President Arthur January 16, 1883. This bill prohibited all political assessments and the appointment of more than two members of the same family to public office. It created a Civil Service Commission, consisting of three persons, not more than two from one political party, to be anpointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate; the present commission consists of Theo. Roosevelt of New York; H. S. Thompson of S. Carolina, and Chas. Lyman, of Connecticut. The rules framed by the commission for carrying out the purposes of the act are subject to the approval of the President. The act applies to offices of more than fifty persons in the departments at Washington and in the customs and postal

services, with certain exceptions, such as confidential clerks of heads of departments or offices, cashiers, and some other financial positions, deputy collectors, chiefs of bureaus or divisions, professional officers, officers required to be confirmed by the Senate, laborers and workmen. Local examining boards are appointed by the commission from officials at the respective places. Open and competitive examinations are held, but non-competitive examinations may be held when competent persons do not compete after due notice. Vacancies are filled by the selection of one of the four highest names on the eligible list, which are furnished to the appointing officer; persons honorably discharged from the army and navy are given a preference in appointments. Appointments are made for a probationary term of six months and are made permanent, subject to removal for cause, if the probationer has proved satisfactory. Promotions are also made as the result of examinations. The workings of this act have proved successful in the main in raising the efficiency of the service, and some of the States have adopted in their own jurisdictions similar systems. Both the Democratic and Republican party in their platforms uphold the principles of Civil Service Reform, but accusations of partial execution of the act will probably continue to be made against the party in power for the time being. (See Term and Tenure of Office.)

Civil War, otherwise called the Rebellion.-The essential cause of the Civil War was slavery; the ostensible reason, the doctrine of State Rights; the final pretext, the election of Lincoln. The growth of slavery in the South, and the resulting political conflicts between the South and the North for and against the protection and territorial extension of slavery gradually made the South the champion of the doctrine of State Rights, and led that section to maintain the right of any State to secede from the Union. (See Slavery; State Sovereignty.) The election of Lincoln showed that the power of the Democratic party was broken, and the South feared a vigorous policy against the extension of slavery and its

political supremacy. As the Southern States had declared they should do in the event of Lincoln's clection, they one by one passed ordinances of secession (see Secession) and formed a government under the name of the Confederate States of America. While this was going on it became evident that war would be the result. The first gun was fired on January 9, 1861, by batteries in Charleston harbor, which drove back the steamer Star of the West, bearing supplies to Fort Sumter. The actual outbreak of war, however, is dated from April 12th, when Fort Sumter was bombarded. The first blood was shed in Baltimore on April 19th in a street attack on the Sixth Massachusetts regiment, which was on its way to Washington. Bull Run (July 21, 1861) was the first great battle. It resulted in a severe defeat for the Union army; its effect was to encourage the South and raise a determined spirit in the North, and to unify both sections in support of their respective policies. The Mississippi was opened to Union vessels by the capture of New Orleans in April, 1862, and of Vicksburg and Port Hudson in July, 1863. The latter month also saw the Union victory of Gettysburg, by which the Confederate attempt to carry the war into the Northern States was overthrown. From July, 1863, the final victory of the national cause was assured. Sherman's march to the sea in the latter part of 1864, cut through the heart of the Confederacy and did incalculable damage to the Southern cause. The vigorous blows which, in 1864 and the spring of 1865, Grant dealt to Lee's army in Virginia, brought the war to a conclusion. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Johnston's army surrendered on April 26th, and within two months more all the Confederate forces had laid down their arms. The result of the war was to establish the fact that the United States is a nation and not a league of States, and that no State has the right to secede from the Union. It also resulted in the abolition of slavery. The proclamation of emancipation, issued by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared the freedom of all slaves within certain designated territory which was in

rebellion, and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, adopted after the war, extinguished slavery in the United States. (See Emancipation; Amendments to the Constitution.) The readmission to the Union of the States that had formed the Confederacy is treated under Reconstruction. The exclusion of representatives of the Confederate States from Congress during the war insured to the Republicans majorities in both houses. The Republican party advocated, and by its legislation enforced, a vigorous prosecution of the war, while the Democratic party, as a body, was not in hearty sympathy with it, though many War Democrats," as they were called, were not an inch behind the foremost Republicans. (See Amnesty; Drafts; and similar titles for subjects connected with legislation and the execution of the laws.)

Clay, Henry, was born in Hanover County, Virginia, April 12, 1777, and died in Washington, June 29, 1852. He was by profession a lawyer. In 1806 and 1807, and from 1809 to 1811, he was United States Senator from Kentucky; from 1811 to 1825 he was a Representative, and six times Speaker of the House. From 1825 to 1829 he was Secretary of State, and from 1836 to 1842, and from 1849 until his death he was again Senator. He was originally a War Democrat during the War of of 1812. He was then of the Adams and Clay Republicans, taking part in the scrub race for the presidency in 1825. He became the leader of the Whig party. In 1831 and 1844 he was the Whig candidate for President. Personally he was one of the most attractive and irresistible of men, and as a leader he was almost worshipped. He was particularly fertile in compromises, the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 being his best known achievements.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, The, was negotiated at Washington in April, 1850, by John M. Clayton, Secretary of State under Taylor, and Sir Edward Bulwer, British Minister to the United States. The treaty provided that neither the United States nor Great Britain should attempt to control a proposed canal across Nicarauga, in Central America. It provided further for the