were scheming to defeat. Cut off from their conscience by selfish calculations and from their judgment by the tumultuous crowd of spectators, which alone made all attempt at deliberation an impossibility, they submitted without resistance to the pressure of the galleries masquerading as popular opinion, and made up of a claque and of a raving mob which, under ordinary circumstances, could only be formed by the inmates of all the lunatic asylums of the country who had made their escape at the same time. Here this mob discharges a great political function; it supplies the "enthusiasm" which is the primary element of the convention, which does duty for discussion and controls all its movements. Produced to order of the astute managers, "enthusiasm" is served out to the delegates as a strong drink, to gain completer mastery over their will. But in the fit of intoxication they yield to the most sudden impulses, dart in the most unexpected directions, and it is blind chance which has the last word. The name of the candidate for the Presidency of the Republic issues from the votes of the convention like a number from a lottery. And all the followers of the party, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are bound, on pain of apostasy, to vote for the product of that lottery. Yet, when you carry your thoughts back from the scene which you have just witnessed and review the line of Presidents, you find that if they have not all been great men far from it- they were all honourable men; and you cannot help repeating the American saying: "God takes care of drunkards, of little children, and of the United States!"

FOURTH CHAPTER

THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN

I

WHEN the curtain falls on the conventions, the first act of the formation of the American representative government is at an end; the nominations made by the rival parties are submitted to the sovereign people, and it is for the latter now to give its decision. Up to this point not much has been seen of the people, although it has been talked of a good deal; everybody quoted its authority, acted in its name, took pledges on its behalf, but this everybody was almost entirely made up of the class of professional politicians only. All that we have seen take place has taken place between them; they made plans, set on foot intrigues, conducted manœuvres against one another, negotiated, bargained, fought battles. The stake was the public weal, but the people appeared to have nothing to do but patiently await the decisions of the politicians, and then simply countersign them. However, the hour for signing is at hand, and the politicians, a prey to anxiety, alternating between hope and fear, are obliged to face the people restored ipso facto to the full exercise of its powers. Hitherto the contact between the party Organization and the electorate has been very slight; they were much less in touch with one another than we have seen to be the case with the party representatives and the bulk of the electors in England. The more or less methodical action exerted over the electoral masses by the English Caucus in the interval between the elections has no counterpart in the United States; here that action is compressed into the efforts made during the brief space of election time, and it is hardly a figure of speech to say that the American party Organization snatches the verdict from the electorate at a single stroke, that it carries the position by a sort of furi

ous assault. The result is not the less brilliant, on the contrary even; for the besieging army supplied by the American Organization is infinitely superior to the troops of the English Caucus in point of generalship, recruiting, dash, and discipline.

This is the proper time for reviewing that besieging army. We will begin with the staff. It is represented in the first place by the "national committees" of each party appointed every four years at the national conventions. Consisting of one representative from each State and each Territory, the national committee numbers about fifty members. Its principal duty consists of conducting the presidential campaign throughout the Union. After the close of the campaign the national committee subsists, but it falls into a state of suspended animation to revive at the expiration of three years on the approach of the next national convention, which it will convene and of which it will take charge until the latter is definitively organized. As it has not the character of a permanent representation of the party, the national committee of the party in power does not exercise any influence over the Administration or its policy. The chairman of the national committee of the victorious party is, perhaps, the only member who possesses a certain authority with the President. Among the other members of the committee some are consulted, when appointments to offices are concerned: if the party in a State has no Senator in the Congress of the United States, the member of the national committee from that State is the person who enjoys the influence belonging to the Senators in matters of patronage with the President. The chairman is chosen nominally by the committee, but in reality he is always selected by the presidential candidate, who has the greatest interest in the good management of the campaign. Once he has chosen his man, the candidate places his fortune unreservedly in his hands. The chairman wields the power of a commander-in-chief in regard to everybody. The members of the committee are his lieutenants, each in charge of his own State and working on the spot. The head-quarters, which had been always established at New York, has lately been transferred to Chicago. There the chairman presides over a small executive committee of a few members; the whole

national committee is seldom convened. If need be, the chairman dispenses even with the assistance of the executive committee; formal considerations are the last to trouble him; he summons to his counsels persons who have no title in the hierarchy of the organization, he sends for them from all quarters. Through the medium of the respective members of the national committee he is in constant communication with all the State committees, but he does not fail to address these latter directly, he corresponds with their members personally to swell their importance and spur them to action. Although he is supreme chief, his authority does not rest solely on the power of command entrusted to him, for his troops are supposed to consist of free men. Tact and other diplomatic virtues are the qualities which the chairman must possess in a high degree, which make his power a reality and extend his influence beyond the point where these powers come to an end. Not having the right to command, he can make himself accepted as umpire. The strife of factions which rends the parties in so many places, the rivalries of the big local politicians all fraught with dangers to the happy issue of the campaign, can be appeased by the skill and the tact of the national chairman intervening as mediator.

The most delicate of the duties devolving on the chairman is to procure the sinews of war, and to spend the money collected in the most judicious manner. He appeals for funds to the trusty followers of the party who believe that its success is bound up with the greatness of the country, to the clients of the party, if the latter has any special ones, such as, for instance, the manufacturers who benefit by the protectionist policy of the Republican party; the intimate friends of the candidates for the Presidency and the Vice-Presidency who are well off are not applied to the least. A clever, ingenious, and energetic chairman always manages to fill the chest. the important thing is to make a good use of the contents; for, besides the current expenses, there are others which demand much discrimination, especially the purchase of votes and of venal assistance. A little money well employed may be more useful than ten times the amount spent in other ways. Like a general who chooses the strategic points for the disposition. of his troops, the national chairman distributes and skilfully

But

brings to bear his pecuniary resources at the different points of the immense electoral battlefield formed by the Union. The members of the national committee communicate, for this purpose, to the chairman calculations made in concert with the local Organization, but it is the chairman's insight which decides. The powers of the chairman in all matters of finance are discretionary; he is accountable to no one. Besides, the expenditure incurred is wrapped in secrecy, for a good deal of it could not bear the light of day; and after the close of the campaign the national committee is in the habit of destroying all its papers; it makes "a bonfire of forgetfulness" of them. The legitimate duties of the national committee, which also require very large sums, consist mainly in organizing the oratorical and literary campaign on behalf of the "ticket" of the party over the whole area of the Republic. The methods of this propaganda will be examined further on in detail. I will only point out here that it is directed in each State by the respective member of the national committee, who conducts, like a commander of the corps, all the operations of the campaign in his State, under the orders of the executive committee at head-quarters.

Alongside the national committee, each of the two great parties possesses another central committee, at Washington, -the congressional committee. This committee is in some sort a reminiscence of the old congressional caucus, and is composed of members of Congress chosen by their colleagues and political co-religionists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The members of the Republican committee are appointed, to the number of one for each State, by the Republican Senators and Representatives of each State meeting in private caucus; the selections for the Democratic committee are made separately by the Representatives of each State choosing one from among their number, and by the Democratic Senators electing nine delegates in a general meeting. If the State has no Democratic Representatives or Senators, the congressional committee takes to itself an outside representative of the same State. The existence of the congressional committee is as temporary as that of the legislature from which it emanates, and it disappears with the expiration of the powers of the particular Congress. Considerations of general policy