continued; "Browning seems to be becoming very popular. I had read very little of him, and that little I did not like; but I thought I must try again. So the other day I took up his last volume, and the very first line of the first poem was this: 'Where the quiet-colored end of evening smiles!' How can an end smile? Evening may do so, but 'the quiet-colored end'! The next line was: Miles and miles' so that the end was not merely smiling, but it smiled miles and miles! It was impossible for me to read any more. I see that people nowadays admire these things, and are not offended by the violations of good grammar and rhetoric, but I can't understand it!"

It has often occurred to me, since, that Halleck's feudal inclinations sprang from the partial suppression - or, at least, the imperfect development of his æsthetic nature. With all his monarchical faith, he was a sincere and devout lover of his country, and there is no touch of disloyalty to the principles of her government in his poetry. Perhaps, also, he unconsciously exaggerated his views, since they might indirectly explain his silence to the generation for which he did not and could not sing. During the latter years of his life he was overlooked except by the circle of old friends who knew the pure integrity and nobility of his nature, and in many of whom the music of his early fame still found an echo. To these, and to a small circle of cultivated men in other parts of the country, his monument is due.

I saw him last, about the beginning of the war, on one of his visits to New York. Calling with a friend at the quiet hotel where he was wont to lodge, I found that he was ill, and would have withdrawn; but he sent down a request that we should go to his room. With unnecessary courtesy, he had risen from his bed and taken an arm-chair: he looked weak and suffering; but his kindliness and gentle grace were so perfect as to be really touching. It was impossible to detect how much effort he made to converse cheerfully; the spirit of the knightly gentleman controlled his body, and gave him a factitious ease, which I trust we did not abuse.

No great poet is ever suddenly born into an age barren of poetry. He has his forerunners as well as his successors. Our only earlier poet than Halleck is Richard H. Dana, who still lightly wears the snows of his ninety winters; but his strains are few and grave,

and they reached the public after the ringing lyrics of the former. We must count them both as forerunners of the greater names in American Literature that have since come, and the greater that may yet come. If Halleck attained an easier fame than would be possible to like achievement now, we must not forget that it was through rising so much higher than those before and beside him. For a short time he was the representative of our poetry as Irving was of our prose; and both were the prophecies of their later brethren. It is idle to speculate (although the world is very fond of so speculating) upon what might have been the result if an author had yielded to, or resisted, this or that influence. Most lives shape themselves, in spite of seeming possibilities; and they do not often fail fairly to represent the quality of the man. Taking both his literary record and the somewhat uneventful story of his modest life, we shall find no reason to diminish our offering of respect and honor to Fitz-Greene Halleck,

BAYARD TAYLOR.

ART. IV. THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION.

II.

THE imperfections in our National Constitution, demonstrated by experience, have come near making shipwreck of the nation upon several occasions, threaten to do it again if not repaired, and should command the attention of the American people. When time has demonstrated imperfections in any system of government, the power of amendment is the only safety that government has from revolution and destruction. The capability of the British Constitution for reform has repeatedly saved that government from revolution; and our fathers, perceiving this great truth, wisely provided in the Constitution for its amendment by two distinct methods.

Perhaps it might not be improper here to explain the interest I take in this question and my connection with it. I had my attention called to the defects of the electoral system some years ago, and in December, 1872, I offered the following resolution in the Senate:

"Resolved, That the Committee on Privileges and Elections be instructed to examine and report, at the next session of Congress, upon the best and most practicable mode of electing the President and VicePresident, and providing a tribunal to adjust and decide all contested questions connected therewith, with leave to sit during vacation."

The resolution was adopted in March, 1873, and the committee met in the city of New York in September, was in deliberation for several weeks, and finally agreed on the form of an amendment to the Constitution, to be reported to the Senate at the next session. This amendment was reported in May, 1874, and is as follows:

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is hereby proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several States, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the Constitution, to wit:

ARTICLE

"I. The President and Vice-President shall be elected by the direct vote of the people in the manner following: Each State shall be divided into districts, equal in number to the number of Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress, to be composed of contiguous territory, and to be as nearly equal in population as may be; and the person having the highest number of votes in each district for President shall receive the vote of that district, which shall count one presidential vote.

"II. The person having the highest number of votes for President in a State shall receive two presidential votes from the State at large.

"III. The person having the highest number of presidential votes in the United States shall be President.

"IV. If two persons have the same number of votes in any State, it being the highest number, they shall receive each one presidential vote from the State at large; and if more than two persons shall have each the same number of votes in any State, it being the highest number, no. presidential vote shall be counted from the State at large. If more persons than one shall have the same number of votes, it being the highest number in any district, no presidential vote shall be counted from that district.

"V. The foregoing provisions shall apply to the election of VicePresident.

"VI. The Congress shall have power to provide for holding and conducting the elections of President and Vice-President, and to establish tribunals for the decision of such elections as may be contested.

"VII. The States shall be divided into districts by the legislatures thereof, but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter the same."

My attention was called strongly to the necessity for action by an occurrence which took place at the counting of the electoral vote in February, 1873. We had at that time what was called the Twenty-second Joint Rule, providing a plan and method for counting the electoral vote, and declaring the election of a President. It provided that when the two Houses were assembled to witness the counting of the vote, if any Senator or member of the House should make an objection to the counting of an electoral vote, for any reason, however trivial or immaterial, the two Houses should at once separate, the Senate return to its chamber, and each House vote upon the objection without debate; and

unless the objection was overruled by both Houses, the vote objected to was to be thrown out, and lost. When the State of Arkansas was called at that counting, an objection was made to receiving the vote of the State, because the Governor's certificate, showing the appointment of the electors, did not bear the impress of the great seal of the State. There was an impression of a seal upon the paper, which was very indistinct. By taking a glass and looking at it you could see upon it the words, "Secretary of State," and none others; and it was said that this impression was not made by the great seal of the State, but by a departmental seal kept by the Secretary of State. The House of Representatives overruled the objection. The Senate refused to overrule it; and the votes of Arkansas were thrown out, and nearly half a million of people disfranchised.

The Constitution of the United States provides, that "Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector."

Each State is to appoint its electors in such manner as the legislature shall provide. This power of the State to appoint electors is conferred by the Constitution of the United States, and not by the constitution of the State; and the exercise of it cannot be controlled by a State constitution. The method of appointing electors is always under the control of the State legislature, and the legislature may repeal at any time a law that may have been passed, providing for the election of electors by the people. It is a matter entirely within the control of the legislature, and there is no provision made in the Constitution whereby the appointment of an elector can be contested, and the States, except Louisiana, have made no provision for contesting the fraudulent appointment of an elector. Though electors may have been chosen by violence or manifest fraud, and though the whole world may know it, their votes must be received and counted; and there is no power in Congress or anywhere else to reject such a vote. This is clearly one of the great imperfections of our system, to begin with. The Convention of 1787 had more