8. Define the right of eminent domain.

9. Distinguish between taxes and the right of eminent domain. 10. What is the origin of the word "govern"?

II. Define government.

12. By whom is it supported, how is it kept alive, and by whom is it carried on?

13. Give illustrations of governments.

14. What one power must government have to be worthy of the name?

15. What was the principal weakness of the government during the American Revolution?

16. Compare this government with that of the United States since 1789.

.

17. If it is doubtful what the real government of a country is, how may the doubt be settled?

18. Illustrate by reference to France and England in the eighteenth century.

19. What is the difference between taxation and robbery ?

20. Under what conditions may taxation become robbery ?

21. To what are we easily attracted in our first study of history? 22. What ought to be learned from history?

23. What sort of knowledge is helpful in discharging the duties

of citizenship?

24. Show how "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS.

To the teacher. The object of this series of questions and suggestions is to stimulate reading, investigating, and thinking. It is not expected, indeed it is hardly possible, that each pupil shall respond to them all. A single question may cost prolonged study. Assign the numbers, therefore, to individuals to report upon at a subsequent recitation, one or more to each pupil, according to the difficulty of the numbers. Reserve some for class consideration or discussion. Now and then let the teacher answer a question himself, partly to furnish the pupils with good examples of answers, and partly to insure attention to matters that might otherwise escape notice.

1. Are there people who receive no benefit from their payment of taxes?

2. Are the benefits received by people in proportion to the

amounts paid by them?

3. Show somewhat fully what taxes had to do with the French

Revolution.

4. Show somewhat fully what taxes had to do with the American

Revolution.

5. Give illustrations of the exercise of the right of eminent domain in your own town or county or state.

6. Do railroad corporations exercise such a right? How do they succeed in getting land for their tracks?

7. In case of disagreement, how is a fair price determined for property taken by eminent domain ?

8. What persons are prominent to-day in the government of your own town or city? Of your own county? Of your own state? Of the United States?

9. Who constitute the government of the school to which you belong? Does this question admit of more than one answer? Has the government of your school any power to tax the people to support the school?

IO. What is the difference between a state and the government of a state?

11. Which is the more powerful branch of the English Parliament? Why?

12. Is it a misuse of the funds of a city to provide entertainments for the people July 4? To expend money in entertaining distinguished guests? To provide flowers, carriages, cigars, wines, etc., for such guests?

13. What is meant by subordinating public office to private ends? Cite instances from history.

14. What histories have you read? What one of them, if any, would you call a "child's history," or a "drum and trumpet" history? What one of them, if any, has impressed any lessons upon you?

15. Mention some principles that history has taught you.

16. Mention a few offices, and tell the sort of intelligence that is needed by the persons who hold them. What results might follow if such intelligence were lacking?

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.

It is designed in the bibliographical notes to indicate some authorities to which reference may be made for greater detail than is possible in an elementary work like the present. It is believed that the notes will prove a help to teacher and pupil in special investigations, and to the reader who may wish to make selections from excellent sources for purposes of self-culture. It is hardly necessary to add that it is sometimes worth much to the student to know where valuable information may be obtained, even when it is not practicable to make immediate use of it.

Certain books should always be at the teacher's desk during the instruction in civil government, and as easily accessible as the large dictionary; as, for instance, the following: The General Statutes of the state, the manual or blue-book of the state legislature, and, if the school is in a city, the city charter and ordinances. It is also desirable to add to this list the statutes of the United States and a manual of Congress or of the general government. Manuals may be obtained through representatives in the state legislature and in Congress. They will answer nearly every purpose if they are not of the latest issue. The Statesman's Year Book, published by Macmillan & Co., New York, every year, is exceedingly valuable for reference. Certain almanacs, particularly the comprehensive ones issued by the New York Tribune and the New York World, are rich in state and national statistics, and so inexpensive as to be within everybody's

means.

TAXATION AND GOVERNMENT. As to the causes of the American revolution, sec my War of Independence, Boston, 1889; and as to the weakness of the government of the United States before 1789, see my Critical Period of American History, Boston, 1888. As to the causes of the French revolution, see Paul Lacombe, The Growth of a People, N. Y., 1883, and the third volume of Kitchin's History of France, London, 1887 ; also Morse Stephens, The French Revolution, vol. i., N. Y., 1887; Taine, The Ancient Régime, N. Y., 1876, and The Revolution, 2 vols., N. Y., 1880. The student may read with pleasure and profit Dickens's Tale of Two Cities. For the student familiar

with French, an excellent book is Albert Babeau, Le Village sous l'ancien Régime, Paris, 1879; see also Tocqueville, L'ancien Régime et la Révolution, 7th ed., Paris, 1866. There is a good sketch of the causes of the French revolution in the fifth volume of Lecky's History of England in the Eighteenth Century, N. Y., 1887; see also Buckle's History of Civilization, chaps. xii.-xiv. There is no better commentary on my first chapter than the lurid history of France in the eighteenth century. The strong contrast to English and American history shows us most instructively what we have thus far escaped.

CHAPTER II.

THE TOWNSHIP.

§ 1. The New England Township.

Of the various kinds of government to be found in the United States, we may begin by considering that of the New England township. As we shall presently see, it is in principle of all known forms of government the oldest as well as the simplest. Let us observe how the New England township grew up.

When people from England first came to dwell in the wilderness of Massachusetts Bay, they settled in groups upon small irregular-shaped patches of land, which soon came to be known as townships. There were several reasons why they settled thus in small groups, instead of scattering about over the country and carving out broad estates for themselves. In the

New England was settled by church congregations.

first place, their principal reason for coming to New England was their dissatisfaction with the way in which church affairs were managed in the old country. They wished to bring about a reform in the church, in such wise that the members of a congregation should have more voice than formerly in the church-government, and that the minister of each congregation should be more independent than formerly of the bishop and of the civil government. They also wished to abolish sundry rites and customs of the church of which they