Universal suffrage was adopted in France in 1791, in Germany in 1871, and in Spain in 1890, but in Great Britain, and most European countries, the suffrage is limited by a household or other qualification. Universal suffrage was one of the six points of the charter.

Comity of Nations is the international courtesy by which effect is given to the laws of one state within the territory and against the citizens of another state. The surrender of W M. Tweed, by the Spanish government to our own, when he was trying to escape with his plunder, is an instance of its operation.

Civil Service is a term comprising all officers of the Government who do not belong to the military or naval services and are engaged in the administration of the civil affairs of the State, such as the collection of the revenue, the administration of law and justice, the performance of the executive duties of the goverment, and the representation of the country abroad.

The blue book of the City of New York shows that there are 6,724 persons paid by the city for their services. Of these 2,722, including the mayor, aldermen, heads of city departments and teachers and other employees of the board of education are exempt from civil service rules, and 4,002 are included under the rules, of whom 2,760 are appointed only after competitive examination.

Among strange political terms the "Barnburners" were democrats who withdrew from their party in 1846. They opposed the formation of all corporations because they were afraid the United States Bank would be re-established. The name refers to the story of the man who burnt his barn to get rid of the rats.

The "colonial system" is a theory long acted on by European nations, that their settlements abroad were to be treated as proprietary domains, exploited for the benefit of the mother-country, which did everything it could to import their produce as cheaply as possible, and encourage them to a large consumption of home manufactures.

Entente Cordiale (Fr., "cordial understanding") is a term that originated, according to Littre, in the French chamber of deputies in 1840-41, and which from having been first used especially to denote the friendly relations and disposition existing between France and Great Britain has come to be used in regard to the amicable relations of other countries.

Voting in France is twofold: (1.) Scrutin d'Arrondissement, or the single ballot system, whereby each arrondissement (district of a department) returns its own member for Parliament; (2) Scrutin de Liste, or the multiple ballot system, whereby all the candidates offer themselves for the department, and are put upon the same list, each elector having as many votes as there are seats for the department.

Conservative as a term for one of the two great parties in English politics, was first used in an article in the Quarterly for January 1830, and was by Macaulay in the Edinburgh for 1832 referred to as a "new cant word." Nevertheless it began to supersede Tory about the time of the Reform Bill controversies. In this country it is applied to the Democracy because of their jealous care for personal and local rights.

Closure, originating in the French cldture, is a parliamentary method introduced into the English House of Commons in 1882, by which power is given to the speaker or the chairman of committees, to close a debate when it seems to him that the subject has been discussed, and he is authorized to do so by a motion duly supported. The equivalent of closure obtains in American usage through the "previous question."

The Hartford Convention was an assemblage of delegates from the New England States, at Hartford, Conn., December 15, 1814. It sat twenty days with closed doors, and as it was supposed to be of a treasonable character, it was watched by a military officer of the Government. The convention, at rising, proposed certain amendments to the Constitution; but though no treasonable act was committed, and no treasonable intention proved, the Federalist party never recovered from the odium of its opposition to the Government, and "Hartford Convention Federalists' ' was long a term of reproach.

Non-intercourse Act was passed by Congress February 27, 1809, suspending all trade between the United States and either France or England. The offence of England was its claim of the right of search, which compelled American vessels to surrender any British subjects who formed part of their crew. The offence of France was the Continental system. Napoleon, having removed all obstructions to American trade, Congress renewed intercourse with France November 2, 1810; but the breaking out of the second American war with Great Britain in May, 1812, continued the non-intercourse till after the battle of Waterloo, when friendly relations were restored.

The term cabal is employed to denote a small, intriguing, factious party, united for political or personal ends. It had been previously used to denote a secret committee or cabinet, when, during 1667-73, it was especially applied to Charles II's infamous ministry, consisting of five members, whose initials, by a strange coincidence, made up the word Cabai, - viz., Clifford, Ashley (Shaftesbury), Buckingham, Arlington and Lauderdale.

A caucus is a private meeting of politicians to agree upon candidates for an ensuing election, or to fix the business to be laid before a general meeting of their party. The term originated in the United States, where the caucus has become a fixed fact, the "ticket" for federal, state, and municipal offices, being always decided upon by the party leaders. Of late years the system has been introduced into England, but is chiefly used by the Radicals.

The Know-nothings, or "Natives" (1853), were a political society in the United States of America who declared that the right of citizenship should be restricted to "natives," or those born of American parents in America. They were opposed to Catholicism, as inconsistent with the spirit of republicanism. When asked any question respecting their society, their only reply was, "I know nothing." They split on the slave question and died out as a distinct party.