In 1851 his father, a strong anti-slavery man, removed to Illinois, a free state, settling near Alton in Madison co. In the spring of 1834 John M. and his brother Elihu entered Alton College, organized on the manual labor system; but the want of money soon compelled him to leave college. He worked awhile in a cooper's shop, then became a pedler, and finally, in the fall of 1838, became a teacher of a district school near Canton. In the following summer, he cast his first vote for the democratic ticket, Senator Douglas being then a candidate for congress. During the winter of 1838-9 he obtained a copy of Blackstone, and began reading with a view to the study of law; and the following spring entered the office of John L. Greathouse, then a lawyer of considerable note in Carlinville, Macoupin co. Thither he walked from St. Louis; and on his arrival found himself possessed of $14 in money, an indifferent suit of clothes, and one extra shirt. Less than two months after this, at the request of leading democratic politicians, he became a candidate for county clerk, entered actively into the canvass, but was defeated. He was admitted to the bar in 1839, but had a hard struggle to earn a sufficient income. In 1840 he engaged actively in the presidential canvass, supporting Mr. Van Buren. He was married in December, 1842. He was elected probate justice in 1843. In 1847 he was elected to the Illinois state constitutional convention, but, owing to a combination against him, was defeated for probate justice at the same election. In 1848, however, his victorious competitor having resigned, he was elected by a large majority. In 1849, under the new constitution, he was elected county judge, which office he held until 1851, when he was elected to the state senate for four years. In 1854 he opposed the Nebraska bill; and, differing from his party, he resigned went before the people on the new issue, and was again returned to the senate in 1855, when he became the warm supporter of the freeschool system, homestead law, and other important measures. In 1856 he was president of the first Illinois republican state convention at Bloomington. He was also a member of the national republican convention, and advocated the nomination of Judge McLean, although personally preferring Fremont. Having resigned his seat in the sen ate on the ground that, having changed his political views and connections subsequent to his election, self-respect and a proper regard for the true principles of representative government demanded such a course, he engaged actively in the canvass for Fremont.

In 1859 he was nominated for congress, but was defeated, but in 1860 was chosen elector-at-large on the republican ticket, and cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln. In 1861 he was a delegate to the peace congress at Washington, and favored the compromise measures adopted by the convention. When the second call for troops was made he came forward and was unanimously elected colonel of the 14th Illinois volunteers. In November, 1861, he was commissioned brigadier-general, and was in the army under Bragg on its retreat to Chattanooga. In 1862 he commanded a division under General Pope in the operations against New Madrid and Island No. 10, and later took part in the operations against Corinth. He was engaged in the battle of Murfreesboro, in December, 1862. For his gallantry at the battle of Stone River he was promoted to be major-general of volunteers. He commanded a division in the battle of Chickamauga, and was promoted to command the 14th army corps in October, 1863, and took part in the operations around Chattanooga, including the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, in November. He took

part in the operations against the Confederates in the Atlantic campaign, and was relieved at his own request on August 4, 1864. He was placed in command of the military department of Kentucky in February, 1865, and retained it till May of the following year. He resigned his command in 1866.

The next year he removed to Springfield. Ill. In 1868 he was elected governor of Illinois as a republican. In 1872 he left the republican party on account of what he regarded as its tendency toward federal centralization. In 1876 he was prominently mentioned in the St. Louis democratic convention as a candidate for the presidency as a "hard-money" man, in opposition to the greenback inflationists. He was one of the democratic visitors to Louisiana after the presidential election of 1876. In 1877 he was the democratic candidate for senator from Illinois, but was defeated, as he was twice thereafter. He was a delegate-at-large to the national convention of 1884, and in 1888 was nominated for governor of Illinois, but made an unsuccessful contest. In 1890 General Palmer was again nominated for the United States senate, and this time was successful. His adherents carried the state by 30,000 majority; there were 101 democratic members of the Illinois legislature elected, who voted for him on 153 ballots. On the 154th the independents voted with the democrats, and he was elected United States senator for the term expiring March 4, 1897.

BUCKNER, GENERAL SIMON BOLIVAR, first candidate of the national democratic party for the vice-presidency, was born in Kentucky in 1823; graduated at West Point in 1844; was assistant professor of ethics at West Point from August, 1845, to May, 1846. Served with distinction in the Mexican war, being brevetted first lieutenant for gallantry at Contreras and Chorubusco, where he was wounded, and captain for gallantry at Molino del Rey. Was appointed assistant instructor of infantry tactics at West Point, Aug., 1848, and resigned Mar. 25, 1855. Was superintendent of construction of the custom house at Chicago in 1855, and colonel of the volunteers then raised in Illinois for the Utah expedition, but not mustered into service. He then practiced law, and became the most prominent of the Knights of the Golden Circle in Kentucky. After the civil war began, he was made commander of the state guard of Kentucky, and adjutant-general of the state. On Sep. 12, 1861, he issued from Russellville an address to the people of Kentucky, calling on them to take up arms against the usurpation of Abraham Lincoln, after which he occupied Bowling Green. After the capture of Fort Henry he evacuated that place and withdrew to Fort Donelson, where he commanded a brigade in the battles of Feb. 13, 14, and 15, 1862, and, after the escape of Generals Pillow and Floyd, surrendered the fort, Feb. 16, to General Grant, with 16,000 prisoners and vast stores. After a term of imprisonment in Fort Warren, Boston, he was exchanged in Aug., 1862. He afterward commanded the 1st division of General Hardee's corps in Bragg's army in Tennessee. Later he was made a major-general and assigned to the 3d grand division; was in the battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, and surrendered with Kirby Smith's army to Osterhaus at Baton Rouge, La., May 26, 1865.

In 1887 General Buckner was elected governor of Kentucky. His friendship with General Grant after the war, was very close, and at the time of the failure of Ward & Grant he rendered General Grant most timely assistance. He was one of the pall-bearers at the latter's funeral.

The Socialist-Labor Convention.-Eighty-eight delegates attended the national convention of the socialist labor party, held in New York city July 4-10. The following states were represented:

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Mary

land, and California.

The Socialist-Labor Platform.-The platform is largely a transcript of German socialism, the fundamental principle of which is hostility to the private ownership of land, mines, factories, and other means of production, as well as all means for trans-. porting and distributing wealth.

SOCIALIST-LABOR
PLATFORM.

VICE-PRESIDENT.

The platform holds that both the machinery of government and the machinery of production must belong to the people in common; asserts that "private property in the natural sources of production and in the instruments of labor is the obvious cause of all economic servitude and political dependence;" demands federal government ownership of all means of public transportation and communication," and municipal government ownership of "all industries requiring municipal franchises; free inventions, with government remuneration to the inventor; income and inheritance taxes; compulsory education, with public assistance when necessary; repeal of all pauper, tramp, conspiracy, and sumptuary laws;""unabridged right of combination;" child and female labor legislation; abolition of convict contract labor system; public employment of all unemployed; employers' liability law; referendum; abolition of the veto power of the executive (national, state, and municipal); abolition of the United States senate and state upper chambers; universal suffrage and proportional representation; recall of public officers by their constituencies; uniform laws throughout the United States; free administration of justice; and abolition of capital punishment.

Matchett and Maguire Nominated.-On July 9 the

convention nominated Charles H. Matchett of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Mathew Maguire of Paterson, N. J., for the presidency and vice-presidency respectively, the vote for president standing: Matchett, 43; Maguire, 23; and William Watkins of Ohio, 4.

MATCHETT, CHARLES H., socialist-labor candidate for the presidency, was born in Boston, Mass., in 1843, and as a young man served in the United States navy. In the civil war he fought on board the gunboat Isaac Smith. He afterward became a carpenter, but is now employed as an expert electrician by the New York & New Jersey Telephone Company. Joined the socialist movement in 1885, and was instrumental in putting forward Henry George as the candidate of the united labor party for the mayoralty of New York city in 1886. In 1892 Mr. Matchett was socialist labor candidate for the vice-presidency; and in 1894 for the governorship of New York

state.

MAGUIRE, MATHEW, socialist-labor candidate for the vice-presidency, was born in New York in 1850. He was from an early age a trades union advocate, and is now editor and publisher of the People, a socialist organ, in Paterson, N. J. He was among the first organizers of the Central Labor Union.

Other Political Notes.-On July 28 Mr. Joshua Levering was formally notified in Baltimore, Md., of his nomination for the presidency by the prohibition party national convention held in Pittsburg (p. 290), and read at the notification meeting his letter of acceptance. The notification of Mr. Hale Johnson, prohibition candidate for the vice-presidency, took place at Chicago, Ill., August 13.

A noteworthy incident of the campaign was the appearance in mid-July of an open lerter from Hon. Andrew D. White, ex-president of Cornell University, ex-minister to Germany and Russia, and member of the VenezuelaGuiana Boundary Commission, addressed to prominent democrats from various parts of the country-among them, J. Stirling Morton of Nebraska, W. L. Wilson of West Virginia, E. F. Uhl and W. E. Quinby of Michigan, Wayne MacVeagh of Pennsylvania, F. R. Coudert, C. S. Fairchild, Roswell P. Flower, A. S. Hewitt, Carl Schurz, J. DeWitt Warner, and E. P. Wheeler of New York. After an elaborate historical and philosophical discussion of the principles of democracy, the letter appeals for support of all patriotic and intelligent citizens for Messrs. McKinley and Hobart, depicts the action of the Chicago convention as diametrically opposed to true democracy, and denounces the ticket and platform there chosen as extremely dangerous in tendency.

NOTE. Returns received up to November 6 assured the election of Mr.

THE OTTOMAN CRISIS.

THE quarter shows four chief aspects of this crisis: the revived Armenian question, the Cretan question, the Macedonian question, the Druse rebellion in Syria.

The Armenian Question.-This is still persistently haunting all the purlieus of European diplomacy. Repeatedly hushed, declared closed, and officially retired, it continually recurs and stalks forth. About the middle of July, tidings of renewal of massacre in previous weeks showed the civilized world that the Turk and his government were still the same as of old, still clinging to the barbarism of the middle ages, still insanely practicing the frightful cruelties of ancient Oriental despotism. On July 16 reports reached Western Europe and America, of the killing by the Kurds of 400 (afterward officially reported 600) Armenians at Eguin in the Diarbekr district; and on July 18, of disorder in the vilayet of Sivas, in which 60 Mussulmans and 340 Armenians were killed. A few days later, from the city of Van, came tidings which

McKinley by about 275 electoral votes (about 50 more than the 224 necessary to elect), and by a popular plurality of about 1,000,000, the largest ever given in the history of the country.

The states carried by republicans were: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hamsphire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin-273 electoral votes.

The states carried in Mr. Bryan's interest were: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi. Missouri, Mon tana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington-167 votes.

South Dakota and Wyoming (7 votes) were still in doubt.

The extent of the republican victory is shown by several considerations. The votes in Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia. and Kentucky, with marked republican gains in Tennessee, North Carolina Virginia, Missouri, Florida, and Texas, indicate the first decisive breach made in the Solid South; for, since 1876, when Hayes carried Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, which were then still partially under federal military control, no Southern or border state had cast its vote for a republican presidential candidate. For the first time also in recent years has a national candidate received a majority of all votes cast. Garfield (1880), Cleveland (1884 and 1892), Harrison (1888)-all had popular majorities against them. McKinley, however, has a large majority over all opponents combined.

Abroad the election attracted unusual attention, the result being greeted in England and on the continent with more general signs of approval than any other event in American affairs since the Civil War.

As to the complexion of the 55th Congress, returns for the house indicate a probable republican plurality of about eighty, and an absolute majority of sixty-five, the division being about as follows: Republicans 211, Democrats 129, Populists 17.

The senate is more in doubt, the result as regards republican strength against silver pressure apparently depending upon the legislatures chosen in a few of the states-as North Carolina, South Dakota, and Washington-and upon the attitude of the sound money democratic senators.

The enactment of a measure to counteract the current public deficit, by a tariff revision calculated to raise the public revenue, will probably be among the earliest tasks undertaken by the incoming administration.