Johnson impeachment was a confirmation of the principle as serted by the fathers of the Republic.

The subject of the next paper was "The Trial and Execntion of John Brown," by General Marcus J. Wright, of the War Records office, Washington, D. C. The paper was substantially an answer to Dr. H. von Holst's charges that John Brown did not receive a fair trial. General Wright reviewed the whole matter from notes and evidence taken at the time, and clearly established his thesis that every thing was done which the law required. The concluding paper of the morning session was "A Defense of Congressional Government," by Dr. Freeman Snow, of Harvard University. Dr. Snow said. that Americans are now engaged in drawing comparisons between the English and the American Constitutions, and, like Mr. Bagehot, they find nearly all the advantages on the side of the English. The multitude, it is said, needs leadership. Hence, if we would save our society from disintegration, wo must adopt the English system of responsible leadership. The error of this view, Mr. Snow contended, lies in looking too intently at the mere machinery of government, and not at society as a whole. The effect of obeying leaders is to take away from the masses the habit of thinking for themselves. If our government is at any time less efficient or less orderly, it is the safest in the long run, for it develops the capacity for selfgovernment among the people. Dependence upon leaders, as in the English system, has the opposite effect. Too much is expected of popular government. We should not expect perfection from an imperfect people. If we want more efficient legislation, we must send men to Washington for just that pur pose. The present condition of our politics is largely a legacy left us by the slavery struggle and the civil war. It is an abnormal condition of things and will pass away. It is even. now on the wane.

The evening session of Monday was at the Columbian University, Judge Chamberlain presiding. The papers were de voted to New England and the West. This feature of grouping contributions by large subjects, such as European History, National History, the North, the West, the South, and Historical Science, was generally recognized as a great improvement in the arrangement of historical material. The first paper of the evening was on "The Economic and Social History of New England, 1620-1789," by William B. Weeden, of Providence.

New England communities were founded on freehold land tenure; on a meeting, the local and social expression of religious life and family culture; and on a representative, democratic gathering corresponding to the old folk-mote of the Germanic race. Economically New England settlers profited by trade with the Indians through wampum. These beads were both jewelry and currency. As currency they were redeemable in beaver. When immigration was checked in 1640, the colonists built ships and bartered their own products among themselves. Vessels were loaded with fish, and sailed for the West Indies or Europe. Returning they brought iron, cordage, and all the goods needed by the new settlements. In this commerce the Puritans prayed, labored, and traded. Stephen Winthrop wrote to his father, after having sold his wine, "Blessed be God, well sold!" Commerce and the fisheries were nourished by home products. The New England whale fishery began in boats from the shore, and finally extended into every sea. The slave trado and the making of rum were important factors in the industrial life of the eighteenth century. Even the founder of Faneuil Hall helped forward this form of commercial intercourse. Economic history is the basis of political life. No grand theory of government caused our American colonies to form a republic. The economic resistance of strong citizens to stamp acts and other economic grievances won us our magnificent rights of freedom, as truly as the charters of mediaval cities were ob tained by purchase.

Mr. William Henry Smith, president of the Associated Press, New York, then read a valuable paper on "The Correspondence of the Pelham Family, and the Loss of Oswego to the British." Mr. Smith said that the president of the Association one year ago forcibly presented the importance of governmental aid in the collection of historical records, and commended the example of Canada to the attention of our legislators. If that admirable address by Dr. Poole penetrated to the interior of the Capitol, it would seem to be confined to the subterranean vaults, or buried beneath innumerable applications for office. The patriotic work of the Dominion of Canada should claim the attention of our great Republic. Mr. Smith said he was disposed to favor an extension of the Canadian Government over the United States long enough to inspire our legislators with sufficient patriotism to secure the collection and preservation of historical manuscripts relating to America. He then proceeded to illustrate the value of the papers of the Pelham family which

are now accessible, and relate largely to American affairs. The entire collection comprises 522 volumes, 305 of wh ch contain the official correspondence preserved by Thomas Pelham. It is arranged chronologically, from 1697-1768, and is especially rich in diplomatic papers relating to this country. Mr. Smith's paper will be published in full in the proceedings of the Association, and will doubtless bo highly suggestive to students of American history.

The next paper was on "The Early History of the Ballot in Connecticut," by Prof. Simeon E. Baldwin, of the law department of Yale University. The paper was read in an impressive manner and held attention. The professor said that election by ballot first appears in American history as a constitutional provision, in the constitution of Connecticut of 1639. It was coupled with a system of prior official nominations; as regards the "magistrates," or those who came to form the upper house of the legislature. Twenty were annually nominated, of whom twelve only could be elected. The list was arranged by the legislature, on the basis of a previous popular vote, and the present incumbents were always put first, in the order of their official seniority. Only as these died, or refused a renomination, was there practically any chance for the election of any of the last eight. The first name on the official ticket was always voted on first, and so on; no one being allowed to vote for more than twelve. This gave great stability to legislation, and was what kept Connecticut so long subject to a Church establishment. When the power of the Federalists had declined every where else, it was as strong as ever in the upper house. The representatives elected semi-annually shared the feeling of the day; but the councillors, or "assistants," stood for that of ten or twenty years before. From 1783 to 1801, only one was dropped without his consent; and it took a struggle of seventeen years longer to give a majority to the "Tolerationists" and Jeffersonians. Congressmen were elected in a similar manner, and with similar results, down to 1818. The legislature published the nominations (twice as many as there were places to fill), and arranged them so that the first half-those already in officewere almost invariably re-elected. The Colonial charter of 1662 made no mention of the ballot, or of an official ticket, but both had become so firmly imbedded in use, that they were read into it, between the lines, and stood as fundamental institutions of the commonwealth for nearly two hundred years.

At the close of the evening session, Theodore Roosevelt, of the U. S. Civil Service Commission, gave an ex tempore address upon "Certain Phases of the Western Movement during the Revolutionary War." He deplored the ignorance of Western history shown by Eastern historians. He likened the ignorance to that of the English regarding American history in general. Those who find American or Western history uninteresting and unpicturesque have only themselves to blame; for the fault lies in the critics, and not in the subject-matter, which is as heroic and inspiring as any great chapter in the history of the world. Mr. Roosevelt said the great West was won in the midst of war and revolution. He gave a graphic picture of the westward movement of the pioneers and the conquest of the Western country from the French and Indians. The motives of the first settlers were adventure, better lands, and the improvement of material conditions in life. Daniel Boone and his followers were joined by varions parties of hunters. The region of Kentucky, that old hunting-ground of Northern and Southern Indians, were successfully occupied, but only after Lord Dunmore's war. There was but one route to the West, and that lay through the Cumberland Gap, which the frontiersman had to protect. The conquest of the Illinois country was achieved by the expedition of George Rogers Clark and the Virginians. Few Revolutionary heroes deserve more credit than this bold and aggressive military leader, who conquered the West for the American Republic. Mr. Roosevelt described how government was organized in that Western country upon the basis of English institutions, with which the settlers were familiar. The reproduction of the old English military system and of representation based on military districts, with palisaded villages as the primary seats of self-government, is most curious and instructive. The county-type of organization was naturally copied by settlers who had come from Virginia and the South. The foundation of this great Federal Republic was laid by backwoodsmen, who conquered and held the land west of the Alleghanies, and thus prepared the way for the continental dominion of the English race in America. The westward move. ment of the early pioneers can be best understood in the light of the westward march of immigration in our own time.

A lively discussion followed Mr. Roosevelt's spirited presen tation of his subject, and exceptions were taken to his statement that there were no permanent settlements beyond the

Alleghanics until after the Revolution. Dr. Toner, of the Congressional Library, made a plea for the early settlers of the Ohio Valley, and Dr. Stillé, of Philadelphia, and Dr. Poole, of Chicago, entered the lists in behalf of numerous local settlements beyond the mountains. Mr. Roosevelt defended his thesis as a general proposition, and Mr. Edward G. Mason, president of the Chicago Historical Society, sustained him.

Tuesday morning the convention met once more in the Na. tional Museum, with a large and enthusiastic audience, to listen to a series of papers upon Southern history. In place of Edward Eggleston's paper on "Bacon's Rebellion," which he was prevented from giving, General Henry B. Carrington, who had just returned from Montana, spoke of "The Concentration of the Flathead Indians upon the Jocko Reservation," as betokening a better future for a tribe which, since the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1805, has been uniformly friendly with the whites. Chief Carlos and every member of the tribe had consented to the removal. Their lands in the Bitter Root Valley are to be sold for the benefit of the Indians to the highest bidder. General Carrington maintained that the history of this tribe shows that Christianity must precede civilization and is essential to Indian development.

"The Constitutional Aspects of Kentucky's Struggle for Autonomy, 1781-292," by Ethelbert D. Warfield, president of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, was the next theme of dis cussion. As early as 1776 Kentucky began to feel the necessity of self-government. In that year George Rogers Clark made the first demand for the separation of that region from Virginia. The mother colony allowed the institution of the county of Kentucky, which concession for the time allayed agitation. It broke out again in 1780, and soon became chronic. From the year 1781 to 1792, when Kentucky was admitted to the Union, no less than ten regular conventions were held and several irregular assemblies besides, in the interest of self-government for Kentucky. The history of the time is one of constant turmoil. Threats of violent separation, both from Virginia and the Union, were frequent; and yet not one action of an unconstitutional character stains the records of these various conventions. The conservative element was largely Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, and it held the balance of power, which was always exerted on the side of law and order. When the Constitution of the United States came before the