10. On the evening of the 9th of November, a fire broke out on the corner of Kingston and Summer streets, Boston, spread to the north-east, and continued with unabated fury until the morning of the 11th. The best portion of the city, embracing some of the finest blocks in the United States, was laid in ashes. The burnt district covered an area of sixty-five acres. Eight hundred buildings, property to the value of eighty million dollars, and fifteen lives were lost in the conflagration.

11. In the spring of 1872, Superintendent Odeneal had been ordered to remove the Modoc Indians from their lands on Lake Klamath, Oregon, to a new reservation. The Indians refused to go; and in the following November, a body of troops was sent to force them into compliance. The Modocs resisted, kept up the war during the winter, and then retreated into a volcanic region called the lava-beds. Here, in the spring of 1873, the Indians were surrounded. On the 11th of April, a conference was held between them and six members of the peace commission; but in the midst of the council the savages rose upon the kind-hearted men who sat beside them, and murdered General Canby and Dr. Thomas in cold blood. Mr. Meacham, another member of the commission, was shot, but escaped with his life. The Modocs were then besieged in their stronghold; but it was the 1st of June before Captain Jack and his band were obliged to surrender. The chiefs were tried by court-martial and executed in the following October.

12. In 1873 a difficulty arose in Louisiana which threatened the peace of the country. Owing to the existence of double electionboards, two sets of presidential electors had been chosen in the previous autumn. Two governors-William P. Kellogg and John McEnery-were elected; rival legislatures were returned by the hostile boards; and two State governments were organized. The dispute was referred to the President, who decided in favor of Governor Kellogg. On the 14th of September, 1874, a large party, led by D. B. Penn, rose in arms and took possession of the Statehouse. Governor Kellogg fled to the custom-house and appealed to the President. The latter ordered the adherents of Penn to disperse, and troops were sent to New Orleans to enforce the proclamation. On the assembling of the legislature in the following

December, the difficulty broke out more violently than ever, and the soldiery was again called in to settle the dispute.

13. About the beginning of President Grant's second term, the country was agitated by THE CREDIT MOBILIER INVESTIGATION in Congress. The Credit Mobilier was a joint stock company organized in 1863 for the pur

CHARLES SUMNER.

pose of constructing public works.

In 1867 another company which had undertaken to build the Pacific Railroad purchased the charter of the Credit Mobilier, and the capital was increased to three million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Owing to the profitableness of the work, the stock rose in value and large dividends were paid to the shareholders. In

1872 it became known that much of this stock was owned by members of Congress. A suspicion that those members had voted corruptly in matters affecting the Pacific Railroad, seized the public mind and led to a congressional investigation, in the course of which many scandalous transactions were brought to light.

14. In the autumn of 1873, occurred one of the most disastrous financial panics ever known in the United States. The alarm was given by the failure of Jay Cooke & Company of Philadelphia. Other failures followed in rapid succession. Depositors hurried to the banks and withdrew their money. Business was paralyzed, and many months elapsed before confidence was sufficiently restored

to enable merchants and bankers to engage in the usual transactions of trade.

15. In the last years, many public men have fallen by the hand of death. In December of 1869, Edwin M. Stanton died. . In 1870 General Robert E. Lee, president of Washington and Lee

University, General George H. Thomas, and Admiral Farragut passed away. In 1872 William H. Seward, Professor Morse, Horace Greeley, and General Meade were all called from the scene of their earthly labors. On the 7th of May, 1873, ChiefJustice Chase fell under a stroke of paralysis; and on the 11th of March, in the following year, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts died in Washington city. On the 31st of July, 1875, exPresident Andrew Johnson, who had been recently chosen United States senator from Tennessee, passed from among the living. On the 22d of the following November, Vice-President Henry Wilson, whose health had been gradually failing since his inauguration, sank into rest.

16. With the coming of 1876, the people made ready to celebrate THE CENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. The city of Philadelphia was the central point of interest. There, on the 10th of May, the great International Exposition was opened with im

posing ceremonies. In Fairmount Park, on the Schuylkill, were erected beautiful buildings to receive the products of art and industry from all nations. The Main Exposition Building, Machinery Hall, the Memorial Hall, the Horticultural and Agricultural

buildings, the United States
Government Building, and
'the Woman's Pavilion, were
the principal structures which
adorned the grounds. By the
beginning of summer these
stately edifices were filled to
overflowing with the richest
products, gathered from every
clime and country. On the
4th of July, the centennial of
the great Declaration was
commemorated in Philadel-
phia, with an impressive ora-
tion by William M. Evarts,

of New York, and a National Ode by the poet, Bayard Taylor. The average daily attendance of visitors at the Exposition was over sixty-one thousand. The grounds were open for one hundred and fifty-eight days; and the receipts for admission amounted to more than three million seven hundred thousand dollars. On the 10th of November, the Exhibition, the most succesful of its kind ever held, was formally closed by the President of the United States.

17. The last year of President Grant's administration was noted for THE WAR WITH THE SIOUX. These fierce savages had, in 1867, made a treaty with the United States, agreeing to relinquish all of the territory south of the Niobrara, west of the one hundred and fourth meridian, and north of the forty-sixth parallel. By this treaty the Sioux were confined to a large reservation in southwestern Dakota, and upon this reservation they agreed to retire by the first of January, 1876. But many of the tribes continued to roam at large through Wyoming and Montana, burning houses, stealing horses, and murdering whoever opposed them.

18. The Government now undertook to drive the Sioux upon

their reservation. A large force of regulars, under Generals Terry and Crook, was sent into the mountainous country of the Upper Yellowstone, and the savages, to the number of several thousand, were crowded back against the Big Horn Mountains and River. Generals Custer and Reno, who were sent forward with the Seventh Cavalry to discover the whereabouts of the Indians, found them encamped in a village on the left bank of the Little Horn.

19. On the 25th of June, General Custer, without waiting for reinforcements, charged headlong with his division into the Indian town, and was immediately surrounded. The struggle equaled in desperation and disaster any other Indian battle ever fought in America. General Custer and every man of his command fell in the fight. The whole loss of the Seventh Cavalry was two hundred and sixty-one killed, and fifty-two wounded. General Reno held his position on the bluffs of the Little Horn until General Gibbon arrived with reinforcements and saved the remnant from destruction.

20. Other divisions of the army were soon hurried forward, and during the summer and autumn, the Indians were beaten in several engagements. Negotiations were opened looking to the removal of the Sioux to the Indian Territory; but the project proved impracticable. On the 24th of November, the Sioux were decisively defeated by Colonel McKenzie, at a pass in the Big Horn Mountains. On the 5th of January, the savages were again overtaken and routed by the forces of Colonel Miles.

21. The remaining bands, under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, being able to offer no further serious resistance, escaped across the border and became subject to the authorities of Canada. Here they remained until the following autumn, when the Government opened negotiations with them for their return to their reservation. A commission, headed by General Terry, met Sitting Bull and his warriors at Fort Walsh, on the Canadian frontier. Here a conference was held on the 8th of October. Full pardon for past offenses was offered to the Sioux on condition of their peaceable return and future good behavior. But Sitting Bull and his chiefs rejected the proposal with scorn; the conference was broken off, and the savages were left at large in the British territory north of Milk River.