I.-Courts of Record.

1. The Court for the trial of Impeachments.

2. The Court of Appeals.

3. The Supreme Court.

4. A Circuit Court in each county.

5. A Court of Oyer and Terminer in each county.

6. A Court of Common Pleas for the city and county of New York.

7. The Superior Court of the city of New York.

8. The Court of General Sessions of the Peace in and for the city and county of New York.

9. The Superior Court of Buffalo. 10. The City Court of Brooklyn. 11. The City Court of Long Island city. 12. The City Court of Yonkers.

13. A County Court in each county, except New York.

14. A Court of Sessions in each county, except New York.

15. The Marine Court of the city of New York.

16. The Mayor's Court of the city of Hudson.

17. The Recorder's Court of the city of Utica.

18. The Recorder's Court of the city of Oswego.

19. The Justices' Court of the city of Albany.

20. A Surrogate's Court in each county.

II.-Courts not of Record.

1. Courts of Justices of the Peace in each town, and in certain cities and villages. 2. Courts of special Sessions of the Peace in each town, and in certain cities and villages.

In addition to these courts, there are in each state the several courts of the United States, which are described in their proper place in this work.

The system of espionage in the United States is of various kinds, and it is very effective. It is doubtful if a better system exists in any other country; and considering the migratory habits, the influx of strangers and of foreigners, it is essential to the welfare of the community that the detective system should be well organised and wide-awake. But there are abuses. The town and village constables do not take high rank in the service, but help a little. The gossips of the community are also of assistance, and always can be relied upon to pry into every other person's

affairs, and to publish news of all kinds. There are state detectives, with headquarters here and there, and with members scouring the different towns, villages, cities, and counties. There are city detectives. There are numerous private detectives to be hired for particular jobs; and private detective agencies which supply detective services of all kinds -even armed men to serve as a guard, and to use their firearms on occasion. And not least of all there are the newspaper reporters, to be found in every nook and cranny, ever on the alert for something sensational-something to attract readers, give notoriety, and who cater for the craving for excitement and scandal and news of all sorts. There are swarms upon swarms of such detectives, both male and female. There is scarcely a limit to the devices employed to detect; and not infrequently the detective system-particularly the private detective system-is a means to black-mail, to trump up false charges, to bring about the ruin of innocent men or virtuous women, to obtain revenge, to manufacture evidence in divorce suits, to boycott, to effect other forms of devilry.

The facility with which individuals and public officials and the guardians of the inalienable rights of the people can be misled or got to forget decency or to tyrannise over those who are weaker or in their power is illustrated by the following example taken from The Daily Register,' an official law journal of the city and county of New York, of July 17, 1886, viz.:

"The main point of interest in the same case, and one on which Judge Morse dissented, turns on the use of evidence obtained by a detective, who was introduced to the accused in the assumed character of a lawyer or attorney whom they were

recommended to employ. The dissenting judge gives the following account of the transaction; and, assuming facts to be justly stated, his animadversions are certainly not too

severe :

"As related by their own oaths, the scheme, worked out by agreement between the prosecuting attorney, sheriff, and one Matt. Pinkerton, a detective, was to keep away from the respondents in this case all attorneys; to introduce Pinkerton as a lawyer, get him employed by them, and then, as their pretended counsel, worm out a confession from one or both of them, and by a betrayal of their confidence use the confession in evidence to convict them. Acting upon this preconcerted scheme, the prosecuting attorney and sheriff kept a letter written by Marshall G. Barker to Howard & Roos, attorneys at Kalamazoo, and also refused Mr Roos an interview with the respondents when he came to Paw Paw for the purpose of seeing them. They also keep all other counsel from them until a letter from the circuit judge informs them that the Barkers are entitled and have the right to see attorneys of their own choice.

"A detective, passing under the name of Stearns, is sent by Pinkerton from Chicago to meet the prosecuting attorney and act under his direction. The prosecuting attorney swears in substance that this man Stearns, under his advice and direction, forged a note, and went to the bank and attempted to pass it. The prosecuting attorney then drafted a complaint, procured some one to verify it, and arrested Stearns for forgery, and placed him in jail, where he could have access to the respondent. Another detective, Matt. Pinkerton, then arrives upon the scene, ostensibly as the attorney employed to defend Stearns, and passing under the name of A. S. Trude, a prominent

lawyer of Chicago. The sheriff swears that he introduced Pinkerton to the Barkers as an attorney, and as A. S. Trude, from Chicago, in Paw Paw, for the purpose of defending Stearns against the pretended charge of forgery. And while he detains the letter written by Marshall to Howard & Roos, and prevents the Barkers seeing or employing counsel, he advises the respondents to employ Pinkerton, alias A. S. Trude, as their attorney, which advice they accept and follow. The detective Pinkerton, personating Trude, becomes their attorney, and thereby secures the faith and confidence of the accused. He, as their attorney, advises them what story each shall tell in order to get Marshall off with a light sentence and to acquit William of any offence whatsoever. He gains a confession from each of them in accordance with his theory, which he writes down. The whole object of this scheme was to obtain such a confession and then to use it against them, as admitted by the prosecuting attorney and sheriff. The sheriff very frankly says upon the witness-stand that Pinkerton was introduced there for the purpose of gaining the confidence of the Barkers by the representations he might make to them the object was to get a confession from them;' that at the time he kept the letter from Marshall to Howard & Roos he did not want Barker to have an attorney until Pinkerton had got through his part with him.'

"When these confessions had been secured, the detective Stearns, who had been allowed the liberties of the jail upon a charge of forgery, was released and disappears. The Barkers are thereupon informed by the bogus Trude that Stearns was discharged in court because he had followed the advice of his attorney Trude.' While these respondents were thus confined in jail, denied the assistance

or sight of counsel, save this pretender, by whom they were being deceived and betrayed into admissions of guilt, the officials heretofore named employed another party in the jail, who took into his possession notes and letters from Marshall to William and from Marshall to his wife and from William to Marshall, and handed them as received to the wife of the sheriff.

"The written confessions obtained by Pinkerton in his character of Attorney Trude were procured for the express purpose of being used as evidence upon the trial, and were offered by the prosecuting attorney after the circumstances of their procuration had been detailed in court. They were very properly ruled out by the court, the circuit judge evincing throughout the whole trial a very manifest disposition to give, as far as was in his power, these men a fair and impartial trial; yet I cannot but think that he committed a very grave error in admitting the notes and letters in the keeping of the sheriff's wife in evidence. It had the effect of, partially at least, carrying out the conspiracy of the detectives and officials against the lives and liberties of the respondents as well as against the law. These notes and letters were written many of them during the time Pinkerton was acting as the pretended but trusted attorney of the Barkers, who were blindly and implicitly following his advice. Others were written after his real character was known to them, and bore evidence upon their face of the great wrong that he had done them in his dual capacity of attorney and detective. Nearly every one of them was tainted with the poison of this vile conspiracy against their rights as citizens, unless it be held that the mere fact of arrest for crime shall make a man a felon and serve as an antidote against any and all wrongs

that may be perpetrated upon the accused before trial.

6

“The majority of the court, while approving the manner in which the Circuit Court disposed of the admission of the word confession, justified the admission of the exhibits as follows: These exhibits were written notes which the witness testified were handed to him by one of the respondents to be delivered to the other, and, instead of delivering them, the witness handed them to the sheriff or to his wife. The witness identified the exhibits, and they were offered in evidence. The objection was that the handwriting was not proven. The court ruled that whether the handwriting be proved or not is a question that is necessarily involved in the question as to whether these papers should be admitted in evidence. The witness states that he received them from the parties, and that he handed them to Mrs Todd. If he did so receive them, they are admissible in evidence, and whether he received them and handed them to Mrs Todd is a question of fact for the jury; therefore, they will be received.' There was no error in this ruling." (People v. Barker, Mich., April 8, 1886; 27 North-Western Rep. 539.)

The enormous number of placeholders strikes the attention of the inquirer into the several systems of federal, state, county, town, city, and village government; and into the system of patronage, or non-elective office appointments. When it is ascertained that the emoluments of these offices are small, and not calculated to afford more than a respectable subsistence for a man and his family, it may be inferred that the bulk of the citizens cannot afford the lavish expenditures for which those on their travels in Europe have become famous. It is not always understood how the necessary means are obtained with which to live extrava

gantly, and also to amass a fortune of larger or smaller dimensions. Too frequently the dénouement comes in an unpleasant way after the horse has been taken out of the stable. In the State of New Jersey, with a population of 1,131,023 in 1880, there were in the 21 counties, 21 state senators, 60 assemblymen, 21 sheriffs, 63 coroners, 21 county clerks, 21 surrogates, 21 county collectors, 21 prosecutors of the pleas, 13 law judges, 50 lay judges, and about 1000 justices of the peacesay, total 1312. Add to these the number of state, town, village, city, and United States officers, and the subordinates, and the total number of office-holders forms a large percentage of the whole population of adult age, one-half of which is presumed to be female. When it is remembered that, besides the general elections in November, there are local elections at other times, it is no wonder that electioneering and politics form a kind of second nature in the citizen. Imbued from infancy with the excitement and wiles of politics, the wits of the young citizens are prematurely sharpened with knowledge of the baseness of man. They are apt to rapidly develop habits of chicanery, and to think slightingly of their seniors. The art

of pleasing to attain an end is natural, but the true ring of sincerity and unselfishness is usually wanting in politics and in politicians. Of course the animal nature is not eliminated from mankind because men are citizens of the United States. The different political parties have a distrust of each other collectively and singly, but this does not quite imply that the political distrust extends to the ordinary affairs of life or of business. Some laws of Congress and of state legislatures clearly indicate that politics may enter into all such affairs; and without doubt

political influence has often blindfolded law and equity and justice. There is no doubt that under the United States laws, when grand or petit jurors are drawn by the clerk of court, a commissioner is appointed by the judge, who must be a citizen of good standing residing in the district in which the court is held, and a well-known member of the principal political party in the district in which the court is held opposing that to which the clerk may belong; and that this and other precautions cropping out in Federal and state legislation indicate what a supreme hold upon moral principles the political habits have acquired. Somehow, a man's name is brought up as a candidate for office at a primary meeting in town or in city ward, and proceeds through county, or county and state conventions, to nomination by a political party, and subsequently to election. It requires much backing up from supporters. The first question is how to secure nomination in the primary meeting of electors, and then to carry the candidate through the different steps to election and victory. What is this backing up? That is a secret often explained in loud whispers: political influence sets the wheels of the machine in motion and keeps them running?

woman to become a "political influence"?

The immense power of the political machine is an acknowledged fact; and it was an unpleasant surprise to the old machine parties when, at the general elections in New York city in November 1886, the new Labour party sprung up as a giant competitor, and, defeating one, gave the victorious machine party a warm tussle. Since then, the Labour party in Cincinnati defeated the Democrats, and were about 600 short of electing the mayor. In Chicago, Il

linois, and in Jersey City, New Jersey, the Labour party has also shown itself very strong; and there can be little doubt that its Presidential candidate in 1888 will poll a large vote, and may possibly be elected. Considering what political parties ought to be, it does seem strange, paradoxically strange, that such an Act as the following should be passed by any state legislature, to wit:

"CHAPTER CCXI.

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and after the passage of this Act it shall be law

ful, and it is hereby made the duties of the judges, inspectors, and clerks, or other officers of the primary elections, meetings, or caucus, held for the purpose of nominating candidates for state, city, and county officers within the cities of the State of New Jersey, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, severally to take and subscribe to an oath or affirmation