PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

John Lothrop Motley: A Memoir. By OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co. 16mo, pp. 278.

Heredity, with Preludes on Current Events. By JOSEPH COOK. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co. 12mo, pp. 268.

A Popular Treatise on the Currency Question. Written from a Southern Point of View. By ROBERT W. HUGHES. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 12mo, pp. 213.

Visions of the Future, and Other Discourses. By O. B. FROTHINGHAM. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 12mo, pp. 269.

Putnam's Library Companion. Vol. II. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 8vo, pp. 80.

The American Catalogue. Vol. I.: Authors and Titles; Part 2: EdwardsLennox. 4to, pp. 200. New York: F. Leypoldt.

The Irrepressible Conflict between Labor and Capital: A Brief Summary of some of the Chief Causes and Results of the Late Civil War in the United States, as presented in the Translator's Preface to Adolphe Granier de Cas sagnac's History of the Working and Burgher Classes. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger. 12mo, pp. 349.

The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R. A. By PHILIP GILBERT HAMERTON. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 16mo, pp. 401.

Eden Dell, or Love's Wanderings, and Other Poems. By GEORge W. WARDER. Kansas City: Press of Ramsey, Millett & Hudson. 12mo, pp. 358. Spiritual Manifestations. By CHARLES BEECHER. Boston: Lee & Shepard. 12mo, pp. 322.

Life and Times of Stein; or, Germany and Prussia in the Napoleonic Age. By J. R. SEELEY, M. A. In two vols. Boston; Roberts Brothers. 8vo, pp. 546, 568.

The Aryan Household: Its Structure and its Development. An Introduetion to Comparative Jurisprudence. By WILLIAM EDWARD HEARN, LL. D. London: Longmans, Green & Co. Melbourne: George Robertson. 8vo, pp. 494.

The Evangelistic Baptism indispensable to the Church for the Conversion of the World. By the Rev. JAMES GALL. Edinburgh and London: Gall & Inglis. 12mo, pp. 306.

The Worn-out Shoe, and Other Poems, Sentimental and Religious. By I. E. DIEKENGA. St. Louis: Chancy R. Barns. 16mo, pp. 80.

Practical Theology: A Manual for Theological Students. By Professor J. J. VAN OOSTERZEE, D. D. Translated and adapted to the Use of English Readers by MAURICE J. EVANS, B. A. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 8vo, pp. 620.

Philosophy, Historical and Critical. By ANDRÉ LEFÈVRE. Translated, with an Introduction, by A. H. KEANE, B. A. London: Chapman & Hall. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 12mo, pp. 598.

Elements of General and Christian Theology. By L. T. TOWNSEND, D.D. New York: Nelson & Phillips. 16mo, pp. 79.

Lectures on Preaching. By MATTHEW SIMPSON, D. D., LL. D. New York: Nelson & Phillips. 12mo, pp. 336.

Memoir of the Rev. Francis Hodgson, B. D., Scholar, Poet, and Divine. With numerous Letters from Lord Byron and others. By his Son, the Rev. JAMES T. HODGSON, M. A. In two vols. London: Macmillan & Co. 12mo, pp. 297, 347.

The Odyssey of Homer, done into English Prose. M. A., and A. LANG, M. A. London: Macmillan & Co.

By S. H. BUTCHER, 12mo, pp. 416.

Short History of German Literature. By JAMES K. HOSMER. St. Louis:

G. I. Jones & Co. Crown 8vo, pp. 391.

American Publishers and English Authors. By STYLUS. Eugene L. Didier. 8vo, pp. 23.

Baltimore:

Bibelots and Curios: A Manual for Collectors, with a Glossary of Technical Terms. By FRÉDÉRIO VORS. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 24mo, pp. 116.

The Disturbing Element; or, Chronicles of the Bluebell Society. By CHARLOTTE M. YONGE. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 24mo, pp. 203.

Studies in the Model Prayer. By GEORGE D. BOARDMAN, D. D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 12mo, pp. 201.

Health, and how to promote it. By RICHARD MOSHERRY, M. D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 12mo, pp. 185.

The English Reformation; how it came about and why we should uphold it. By CUNNINGHAM GEIKIE, D. D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 12mo, pp. 512.

Records of a Girlhood. By FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 12mo, pp. 605.

St. Paul at Athens: Spiritual Christianity in relation to some Aspects of Modern Thought. By CHARLES SHAKSPEARE, B. A. With a Preface by the Rev. Canon FARRAR, D. D. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 12mo, pp. 167.

Goethe and Schiller: Their Lives and Works. on Goethe's "Faust." By HJALMAR H. BOYESEN. ner's Sons. 12mo, pp. 424.

Including a Commentary New York: Charles Scrib

Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, as illustrated by the Re

ligions of India. By F. MAX MÜLLER, M. A. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 12mo, pp. 382.

Paris Universal Exposition, MDCCCLXXVII. Official Catalogue of the United States Exhibitors. Compiled by THOMAS R. PICKERING, and published by direction of the Commissioner-General. London: printed at the Chiswick Press. 16mo, pp. 255.

Faith and Reason; Heart-, Soul-, and, Hand-Work: A Concise Account of the Christian Religion and of all the Prominent Religions before and since Christianity. By HALSEY R. STEVENS. New York: Charles P. Somerby. 12mo, pp. 441.

The Roman Empire of the Second Century; or, the Age of the Antonines. By W. W. CAPES, M. A. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 16mo, pp.

226.

Gleanings of Past Years. By the Right Hon. W. E. GLADSTONE, M. P. In two vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 16mo, pp. 248, 363.

The Reign of the Stoics. History, Religion, Maxims of Self-Control, SelfCulture, Benevolence, Justice, Philosophy. By FREDERIO MAY HOLLAND. New York: Charles P. Somerby. 12mo, pp. 248.

NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.

No. CCLXX.

MAY, 1879.

I.

OUR ELECTION LAWS.

A GOVERNMENT based upon popular suffrage can be successful in the best sense only to the extent that the popular voice is freely expressed, fairly and honestly ascertained, and fully obeyed. It is therefore of the greatest consequence that the purity and sanctity of the ballot should be guarded by the wisest and best legislation that statesmanship can devise. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of this subject in a government such as ours, where the supreme power is vested only in the people, to be exercised by means of the ballot. Fairness and honesty in the conduct of elections will alone keep pure the sources of power in this Government, and thus promote peace and good order, and give stability to our institutions. Our election laws ought to be framed and executed with a view to securing these great ends, but truth compels the statement that our statutes are exceedingly imperfect in themselves, and, what is worse, are too often administered in the interest, not of purity and justice, but of party. It is not to be denied that many of the wisest and best of our citizens consider that our institutions are in peril from the fact that popular elections are so frequently controlled by fraud and violence. Wise and prudent citizens may well say that, if we lose faith in the machinery provided for the expression of the popular will, we must also eventually lose faith in VOL. CXXVIII.-NO. 270.

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our form of free government, since it can be valuable only in proportion as it is in fact, as well as in theory, a government by the people. As our population increases and our great cities multiply, the problem of how to secure and preserve freedom and fairness in elections grows annually more grave and difficult. It is to-day a question of how to secure and record a fair and honest expression from nearly nine millions of voters. Within the lifetime of some of the present generation it will become a question of dealing with at least thirty millions of voters. To be assured that this problem has been solved is to know that our greatest danger has been removed, and therefore every citizen should be willing to contribute something toward its solution. These considerations have induced me to undertake the task of submitting, for the consideration of the readers of "The North American Review," a statement of some defects in our election laws, and of suggesting the remedies. Let me premise that the ends to be aimed at by legislation upon this subject are (1), to secure to all legal voters equal and ample opportunity to vote, and to exclude all others; and (2), to secure a fair canvass and an honest declaration of the result of every election. No difference of opinion can exist among honest men as to the propriety, nay, the necessity of securing these ends, which all will admit constitute the foundation upon which the fabric of free government rests. To render them secure, is to perpetuate our institutions and transmit them pure and strong to future generations. It would seem that no State should hesitate to provide the legislation necessary to secure ends so manifestly just, and so essential to the very existence of free government, and yet great frauds are annually perpetrated. Many of the laws upon this subject were originally enacted for the government of a largely rural and agricultural population, who needed few if any restraints, and they have been copied and applied to communities very differently situated from such a population, and, as a whole, by no means so well disposed toward law and order. Assuming that the ends to be sought are freedom and equality among voters, and honesty and perfect fairness in the count, and that these great ends are not always secured under existing laws, let us inquire how we may remedy existing evils by legislation. I maintain that plain, simple, and ample remedies are within our reach, the adoption of which would injure none, while, as nearly as human laws can do so, they would protect the rights of all.

First in importance as a means of securing freedom in elections,