at all elections, and to inform yourself beforehand what measures and men you ought as a good citizen to support.

391. It is your duty to insist upon the prompt execution of the laws; to be ready, even at much personal inconvenience, to aid in their enforcement, if you are called upon by proper officers; and to resent with indignation every sign of lawlessness and violence, and require its vigorous suppression. For instance, if a riot should break out in a city where you are living, you are not to go out of town until it subsides; but you are to hasten to offer your support to the authorities, and to require their prompt and decisive action to restore order.

392. It is your duty-if you are a voter-to serve, when called on, as a grand or petit juror; and this at even great inconvenience.

393. It is your duty, if you are a man, to serve in the militia, if the law commands it; and every American voter ought to have a sufficient knowledge of the manual and use of arms to enable him to act efficiently if called out as part of the posse comitatus to put down a riot.

394. It is your duty to act generally with some political party, and to exert your influence upon its leaders to induce the nomination of capable and honest men for office. And it is your duty, if your party nominates a bad man, to vote against him, and thus keep the public and general good before your eyes, and set an example of true public spirit before your fellows.

395. It is your duty to watch the conduct of public officers, to see that they perform their duties and observe their constitutional limitations; and if they do not, then it is your duty to help to expose them, and at the elections to punish them. For it is only by such vigilance that a nation can preserve its liberties unimpaired.

396. These are your political duties, which you can not neglect or abjure without disgrace to yourself and harm to the country.

XXXVIII.

OF TRIAL BY JURY.

397. When a crime or an offense has been committed, and the police officers have arrested the person suspected of it, the prosecuting officer collects the evidence against him, and upon the meeting of the grand jury lays it before them in the form of an indictment. They investigate the charge; call witnesses before them if they wish, and if they have reason to believe guilt probable, they return the indictment with the indorsement, "A true bill." If they believe that the charges are not sustained, they make return "Not a true bill," whereupon the person is released; but he may be rearrested if, subsequently, new evidence is found against him.

398. The grand jury is a body of responsible citizens, usually twenty-three in number, selected under the eye of the court. We have, of course, grand juries for the Federal as well as for the state courts. Their authority to investigate crimes and offenses is not limited to cases laid before them by the prosecuting officer; they may make independent investigations, and if they find guilt or blame, may make what is called a presentment, which may thereupon be followed by an indictment, and this by trial. Upon the meeting of the grand jury, it is usual for the court to instruct them in their duties, and it may also direct their especial attention to notorious offenses. All their proceedings are secret, and the oath the grand jurors take makes secrecy a duty.

399. The object of a grand jury is to prevent injustice. If the prosecuting attorney were alone empowered to bring offenders to trial, he might either misuse this power for purposes of revenge, and thus annoy and disgrace innocent persons; or he might be bribed to withhold an indictment, and

thus favor the escape from justice of wealthy or powerful criminals. The powers of the grand jury are a check upon him; and their number, and the care usually taken to select only responsible and well-known citizens, makes the corruption of a grand jury improbable. The grand jury has power to compel the attendance of witnesses.

400. When a person charged with a crime or an offense is brought to trial, it is before a petit jury. The judge is not allowed to decide upon the guilt or innocence of the prisoner -for he might be prejudiced, or unduly influenced; twelve men, chosen from a numerous list of citizens, are appointed to hear the evidence, and to declare upon the question of guilt. In selecting a jury, the accused, and the plaintiff or the prosecuting attorney, have a right to "challenge" or object to a certain number peremptorily, or without giving reasons, and they may object to others if they can show that these are prejudiced. The judge attends to the pleadings of the lawyers; takes care that witnesses are properly sworn and examined; and, in his summing up to the jury, points out to them if the counsel on either side have made unsupported assertions, instructs the jury in their duty, and endeavors to clear the case of all extraneous matter; his charge is of course without bias or favor. Thereupon the jury retire to deliberate; and if they can unanimously agree, their foreman announces the verdict. The judge then delivers the sentence, as provided by the law. When an accused person has been regularly acquitted by the verdict of a jury, he can not again be brought to trial for the same offense.

401. Now you can see that it is highly important, for the cause of justice and public order and morality, that both the grand and petit juries shall be composed of intelligent and upright citizens; otherwise crime will go unpunished, and society will suffer in a way not easily repairable. Bear in mind, therefore, that to serve on a jury is one of the most important duties of an American citizen-a duty which he can not avoid without wronging the community of which he is a part.

XXXIX.

THE PRIMARY MEETING AND THE CAUCUS.

402. Party management begins in the townships and wards, and with the action of the body of members of the party in these districts. The primary meeting is the place where all the members of the political party may express their will, and where they choose delegates to the larger bodies called nominating conventions. If it were convenient, all the members of the party in a county might meet in one place, to select delegates or to nominate candidates; and in New Jersey and some other states this was formerly done. But the township or ward primary meeting is now general, because it is the least inconvenient. The primary meetings select delegates for the county, congressional, and state conventions; and these delegates, meeting in conventions on an appointed day, nominate the candidates for office. Any person who is a voter in the township or ward, and at the next preceding election is known to have voted with the party holding the primary meeting, may properly take part in it.

403. As party government is inevitable and necessary in a free country, it is the duty of every citizen to attend the primary meetings of the party with which he acts. If honest and intelligent men neglect the primaries, they thereby hand the control of their party over to bad men. It is important to the welfare of the country that both the great political parties shall be controlled by wise and honest men; for a corrupt or debased minority can offer but a feeble opposition to the majority, and in reality helps to strengthen and to debase the majority; whereas a powerful, honest, and intelligent minority compels the majority to govern carefully and honestly. The demoralization of the party which is in the minority may thus, as you see, bring calamities on a country.

404. "Politics" have always been, in every free state, an enticing profession, followed by many honest and highminded men out of a desire to see their favorite principles prevail; by other men to advance their private fortunes; and by yet others from a mixture or combination of both these motives. Our own politics are less corrupt, and our own politicians, taken as a class, are far more scrupulous than those of most free nations have been, either in ancient or modern times. When, therefore, men talk or write about the peculiar debasement of our politics, you need not entirely believe them. There is a good deal of irritating ignorance and some corruption among our political leaders, but not nearly as much as there is in England or France; it vexes us more because we meet it face to face. The truth is that our party politics are more intelligently, less dishonestly, and more honorably conducted than those of Great Britain, with which we are oftenest compared, and that the average of political morality is higher in the United States than in any other nation in the world.

405. In an ideal state, the people, gifted with unfailing discernment of merit, would select continually, and without prompting of any kind, the wisest and ablest men for their rulers; and these rulers would devise always the most beneficent and the noblest of policies for the nation. Practically, however, these matters are managed somewhat differently. The people are guided more or less by newspapers and by political leaders; men, able or the reverse, are brought into political life by careful management of their friends, or of the higher chiefs of a party, who are always on the lookout for capable men to help them; platforms are studied over and prepared by small coteries of politicians, to make them attractive to the people and conformable to the principles which the party desires to advance; and—to return to our primary meetings-the delegates chosen at these are for the most part selected beforehand by the political managers of a county or district, to insure the nomination of certain candidates. Thus where several persons desire a nomination