BUTT, ISAAC. 



CALIFORNIA. 



103 



saw no other way of removing the evil. To 

 'Ivancement he had devoted all his time 

 :ml ivsutiiv.'s, living at times almost in pov- 

 erty. Mr. Burritt tli.-n ntirod to a Binull 

 t':inn which ho owned at New Britain, and 

 gave his attention to farming. He made a 

 brief visit to England in 1863, and during the 

 following two years he published three now 

 books and several volumes of general writings. 

 II.- was appointed United States Consul at 

 r>irmin_rli:iin in 1865, and held the office until 

 the changes in the English consulates by 

 President Grant. lie returned to America in 

 1870, and spent the remainder of his days in 

 his native village. He had published " Sparks 

 from the Anvil," London, 1848; "Miscellane- 

 ous Writings," 1850; "Olive Leaves," 1853; 

 " Thoughts of Things at Home and Abroad," 

 Boston, 1854 ; " A Walk from John O'Groat's 

 to Land's End," 1865 ; and " Lectures and 

 Speeches," 1869. 



BUTT, ISAAC, an Irish lawyer and states- 

 man, born in 1813, died May 5, 1879. He 

 was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where 

 he took high classical and mathematical honors 

 and distinguished himself as a speaker in the 

 debates of the College Historical Society. He 

 was elected at an early age to the Professor- 

 ship of Political Economy there, and was one 

 of the first editors of the "Dublin University 

 Magazine. '' Ho was called to the bar in 1838, 

 and practiced on the Munster Circuit with 

 great success. On his first entrance into pub- 

 lic life he was a strenuous champion of the 

 Conservative and Protestant party, and was 

 chosen an Alderman of the Corporation of 

 Dublin by that party, in order that he might 

 be opposed to Alderman 'Daniel O'Coniiell. 

 His Parliamentary career commenced by his 

 election for Harwich in May, 1852. A general 

 election followed soon after, when he stood at 

 Youghal against Hon. John Fortescue, and 

 was elected by a majority of two. He con- 

 tinued to sit for Youghal until 1865. At that 



time Mr. Gavan Duffy and Mr. George Henry 

 Moore were the moat conspicuous members of 

 the Irish party. Mr. Butt kept aloof from 

 them, remaining a Liberal-Conservative, and 

 avoiding the tenant-right and other popular 

 causes. Finally he became in the House an 

 assiduous though unattached follower of Lord 

 Palmerston. Ills speeches at that time were 

 short and devoid of any pretension to oratory. 

 It was only in 1871, after his return for Lim-- 

 erick in the National and Home-Rule party in- 

 terest, that the position of leader was accorded 

 to him by the Irish Liberal representatives. 

 The dissolution was preceded in 1873 by the 

 Home-Rule conference in Dublin, at which a 

 definite programme was adopted for the Home- 

 Rule movement ; and on that programme the 

 constituencies were appealed to in 1874. The 

 general election resulted in the return of fifty- 

 six or -seven followers of Mr. Butt, the Liberal 

 representatives having adopted the programme 

 of the conference, and Mr. Butt thus became 

 in the present Parliament the first Irish Parlia- 

 mentary leader of a majority of Irish represen- 

 tatives. In 1875 the Irish Parliamentary party 

 assumed a definite organization, and under Mr. 

 Butt's leadership procured considerable modi- 

 fication in the Peace Preservation Acts of the 

 Government. In the next session the Home- 

 Rule question came prominently forward, and 

 Mr. Butt drew up a series of bills for the re- 

 dress of Irish grievances, which were commit- 

 ted to the charge of various members of tho 

 party. Prominent among these were the Irish 

 University measure, the franchise bills, and the 

 land bills. The intermediate education bill of 

 1878 was suggested by Mr. Butt, and his last 

 appearances in the House were those in which 

 he advocated that measure. When a section 

 of the Home-Rule party adopted the policy 

 known as obstruction, Mr. Butt strenuously 

 opposed that proceeding as unconstitutional, 

 and thereby lost a considerable share of his 

 influence. 



C 



CALIFORNIA. The great subject of in- 

 terest in California during the year was the 

 new State Constitution. The Convention ad- 

 journed on March 3d, after having been in ses- 

 sion one hundred and fifty-seven days, and the 

 document it presented to the people was re- 

 ceived probably with more denunciations from 

 the press than had ever before been bestowed 

 upon a similar instrument. These were even 

 accompanied with reproaches against the mem- 

 bers of the Convention. This Constitution 

 was submitted to a vote of the people for ac- 

 ceptance and approved, at an election held on 

 May 7th. 



The chief feature of the Constitution con- 

 sists in some new regulations which it intro- 

 duces in the affairs of society, and which were 



supposed by many to be ruinous to present 

 methods, or to the interests involved in them ; 

 while others considered that these provisions 

 would tend to remove unjust and unequal 

 privileges which had grown up under the 

 operations of civil affairs. Some of the provi- 

 sions which are different from those generally 

 incorporated in the State Constitutions are 

 here presented. 



In the Bill of Rights it is provided that a 

 trial by jury may be waived in all criminal 

 cases not amounting to felony by consent of 

 parties, and in civil actions by consent of the 

 parties in such manner as may be prescribed 

 by law. In civil actions and misdemeanors 

 the jury may consist of twelve or any less num- 

 ber the parties may agree upon. Three fourths 



