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and vessels in danger from stress of weather may seek shelter in such harbor if there be no other refuge. A blockade, when terminated, is said to be raised, and due notice of this fact should be given to neutral governments.

Blockade-Runner.-A term applied to a vessel that endeavors to evade the blockade of a coast or harbor. During the Civil War many vessels succeeded in running the Union blockade of the Southern harbors and coasts, carrying cotton from the Confederates and bringing food supplies and munitions of war to them.

Bloody Bill. (See Force Bill.)

Bloody Shirt.-Since the Civil War, politicians of the Republican party have from time to time attempted to draw votes and gain partisan advantages by appeals to the passions raised by that struggle. The phrase, "bloody shirt," is employed in reference to the now dead issues involved in that struggle, and a politician reviving them for partisan purposes is said to "wave the bloody shirt."

Bluebacks. A name popularly applied to the Confederate currency by reason of its appearance, and to distinguish it from the greenbacks of the North.

Blue Hen.-A name sometimes applied to the State of Delaware, originating, it is said, in a remark of Captain Caldwell, of the First Delaware regime

that

fighting cock could be truly game whose mother a blue hen. The State was once proud of its famous blue hen breed of fighting cocks.

Blue Laws are such as relate to matters that are at present usually left to the private conscience of indi viduals. Before the Revolution the statute books cf the Colonies were full of laws enforcing attendance on church worship, forbidding smoking in the public streets, prohibiting theatres, and the like. Some of the States, the older ones especially, still retain laws forbidding blasphemy and regulating work and travel. on Sundays. Connecticut has acquired unpleasant notoriety in this respect. Such Blue Laws as still remain unrepealed in the various States are seldom en forced at the present time.

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Blue-Light Federalists.—This term was applied to the Federalist opponents of the war of 1812. The harbor of New London was at that time blockaded by the British. Two frigates, with Decatur in command, were in the harbor, and several attempts on their part to get to sea at night failed. Decatur maintained that on each occasion blue lights had been burned at the mouth of the harbor as signals to the British fleet. It was charged that these signals had been given by Federalists opposed to the war-hence the name.

Blue Lodges.-A name applied to societies organized in Missouri, after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, for the purpose of taking "possession of Kansas on behalf of slavery.

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Blue Nose. A name colloquially given to an inhabitant of Nova Scotia, and sometimes extended to apply to any Canadian.

Bolters. To bolt means to spring out suddenly, and in political parlance it means to leave a political party when it is no longer deemed safe or to one's interest to remain with it. Those that leave a party under these circumstances are called bolters. A bolt is usually only a temporary defection, the bolters generally being the adherents of some man who aspires to nomination for office, and whose desire is not gratified. It is quite commen for determined minority to threaten to bolt a confan egy dess its desires are humored.

Boodle was originally a vulgarism for money, and more particularly for booty; a phrase used in bar-rooms and at the street corners. Gradually some of the more ulgar and sensational newspapers begun to make use of itin their articles dealing with the classes that were themselves in the habit of employing the term. Among these, the majority of the Aldermen of New York City were at that time numbered, and the bribes that these were supposed to be in the habit of receiving were referred to under that name. The charges of bribery were brought prominently forward by the investigation in 1886 by a committee of the Assembly into the circumstances attending the grant by the Aldermen in the previous year

of a charter for a street railroad on Broadway .n that city. Jacob Sharp, a man largely interested in New York street railroads, was popularly thought to have bribed the Aldermen to grant the franchise. Much interest in the investigation was manifested by the public, and the terms boodle and boodlers were continually used by the newspapers. The general use into which thei term was thus brought added to the fact that it is a concise term, tended to purge it of its vulgar associations and to give it standing in the vocabulary of the day. The term boodler is now universally applied to bribetakers, more particularly to those connected with municipal governments, and most accurately to bribed Aldermen. The New York boodlers were indicted on the strength of the revelations made by the Assembly Committee. Of twenty-four members of the Board of Aldermen two were not bribed, as is proved by their voting against the franchise; two are dead; four have fled to foreign countries; three have turned informers; one is insane; three have been convicted and are in Sing Sing Prison; in the case of one the jury disagreed on the first trial and he has not yet been retried; while eight are under indictment, but have not yet been tried. Jacob Sharp was indicted for bribing the Aldermen; he was tried, convicted and imprisoned in the County Jail pending an appeal. The Court of Appeals granted a new trial on the strength of errors in the former, and Sharp went at large on bail, and died pending a new trial.

Border Ruffians.-A name applied to Missourians that (about 1854) made a practice of crossing into Kansas to drive out the Free-State settlers, or to carry the elections. They took no trouble to conceal their illegal voting; in one case 604 votes were cast, of which but twenty were legal. This is but a sample. Encounters between them and the Free-State settlers were frequent.

Border States.-Those of the Slave-States, adjoining the Free-States, were so called; namely: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, although North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas were sometimes included under that name. Their nearness to the Free

States caused frequent attempts on the part of slaves to escape and from them came the most bitter complaints about the non-execution of fugitive slave laws. They objected to making slavery an issue, and political parties that strove to remain neutral on that subject, as the American and Constitutional Union parties, had their support. During the Rebellion, Virginia was the only one of the Border States proper that seceded.

Border War.-A name applied to the hostilities that took place between the Free-State emigrants to Kansas and the slave-holders from Missouri, when, in 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill left the question of slavery in that Territory to be settled by the inhabitants. Bloody encounters were frequent and several pitched battles were fought.

Boss. (See Political Boss.)

Boss Rule is the absolute control of a political organization by one leader or a small set of leaders. Bounties. (See Subsidies.)

Bounty Jumping.-During the Civil War sums of money were at times offered by the authorities as an inducement to volunteers for the army and navy. A person who received this money and then failed to serve as he had promised, was said to be a "bounty-jumper."

Bourbons. The house of Bourbon is the family of kings that ruled France for over two hundred years, from 1589 to the time of French revolution, 1791. One of their characteristics was an obstinate refusal to keep pace with events. Experience taught them nothing. This trait in their character has caused their name to be applied (in American political parlance) to any statesman or politician that clings to dead issues and refuses to accommodate himself to changes.

Boys, The.-This name is applied to the professional politicians peculiarly common in cities, to whom politics is a business out of which (though seldom holding office themselves) they make a living. By them principally is the politics of cities prostituted, and their efforts to retain control of political matters are frequently successful even in the face of organized apposition, princi

pally because they rally in defense of their livelihood, while honest citizens, though vitally affected, do not have their own interest in the matter brought home to them with the same force, and are consequently less active and less energetic. Moreover, the local organization is almost exclusively in the hands of these political "workers," as they are called, and even reputable party members, though knowing its corruption, recognize its efficiency in gaining votes, and while they would not personally resort to the means employed, they will yet indirectly give it their support. The organization when in the hands of professional politicians of the above type is known as the Machine.'

Brave. (See Tamamny).

Breckenridge, John Cabell, was born at Lexington, Kentucky, January 21, 1825, and died May 17, 1875. He was Vice-President of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He was the presidential candidate of the southern wing of the Democratic party in 1860. He was defeated, but was chosen to the United States Senate. During the extra session of 1861 he was active in the Senate. Then he went over to the Confederacy, and became a Major-General in its service. He was expelled from the Senate, December, 1861.

Brigadiers, Rebel. (See Rebel Brigadiers.)

Broad Construction. (See Construction of the Constitution.)

Broad Seal War was a controversy as to the election in 1838 of representatives to Congress from New Jersey. In that State up to 1846 all the representatives of the State, six in number, were elected on a general ticket. In 1838 there was a Democratic majority of about one hundred votes in 57,000. Owing to certain irregularities, the State Board of Canvassers gave the certificates under the broad seal of the State to the Whig candidates. As the House without New Jersey's members stood one hundred and eighteen Whigs to one hundred and nineteen Democrats, success in this controversy meant control of the House. After considerable confusion a compromise Speaker was elected and the Democratic members were finally seated.

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